Recollections Of A Lone Tarragon

~Section 8~ C'est la vie

"Yeah?" Cordelia turned to Shuumei.

Shuumei smiled. "Thank you for coming over."

Cordelia smiled back. "No problem! I'm here anytime!"

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Why am I awake at a time like this? It's not even morning yet. Cordelia thought to herself as she regained consciousness. She didn't want to open her eyes to the darkness, so she let her eyes stay shut. A few seconds later, a sound increasing in volume was heard from the next room. What's that sound? As the volume increased, Cordelia really recognized what it was. SHIT. That's why I'm awake? And since, Robin's room is next to this one...

Cordelia immediately opened her eyes to see that Shuumei was not next to her. She turned around and saw Shuumei with a lit candle sitting in her vanity chair.

"I see. They woke you up too..."

"Too? Shuumei, how long has this-"

"Don't worry about that. Can you sleep through this?" Cordelia shook her head. "Then, I suppose we should go to Alexiel's room."

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"What made you come here? You know that I'm still-" Alexiel scolded Shuumei.

"The usual." Shuumei monotonously said.

He sighed. "Again? Shuumei, you should take the bed behind the partition. You have bags under your eyes." Shuumei simply waved to the both of them and headed off to the bed.

Cordelia frowned. "How about me?"

"We need to talk." Alexiel made eye contact with Cordelia. "What happened?"

"Well," Cordelia scratched her cheek with her index finger. She started to explain to Alexiel about the things that happened in Frieden-Mir and with the politics in Niwak.

"I see...Is that all?" Alexiel asked.

"Well, I also learned a little bit of alchemy."

Alexiel's eyes sparkled and stared at Cordelia with puppy eyes. "Can you teach me?"

"Sure, but hey, what did you mean by 'usual'?" Cordelia asked as she set up her station.

Alexiel's hand shook violently. "Well, this usually happens and it happens all night long." Alexiel shakily stated. He took a deep breath and stopped shaking. "Anyways, did you notice anything weird when you came here?"

"Yeah, well, Kren didn't greet me and when I was cleaning up in Shuumei's room, you two didn't even greet each other in the hallway when you usually do."

"Yeah, well, I'm angry at him." He stared at Cordelia. Cordelia nodded for him to continue as she poured water repeatedly through layers of rock, sand, and charcoal and boiled water in a cauldron with a bowl and lid with a cold material. "He just flat out ignored you literally a day after he confessed to you. A lot of people didn't notice your relationship, but I did. I don't even know how they didn't notice!" He yelled as Cordelia poured water into the cauldron. "After you went to live with that Iris girl, I confronted Kren about it, but he had the nerve to ignore me!"

Cordelia's eyes looked downcast. "I see...I'm-"

"Don't you dare apologize!" Alexiel shouted at Cordelia. "This isn't your fault; it's rightfully his's, so don't-!" Alexiel stopped himself and stared at the basin of Cordelia was holding. "How?" He raised his eyebrow. "How did you do that?"

"Hmm?" Cordelia frowned.

"That's pure water! There's no way you can do that without dying!"

Cordelia tilted her head. "Eh? I can show you how to make it."