Chapter 574: Adult conversation
The scene moved forward by a few hours, keeping the reunion intimate and focusing on the true weight of the hundred years Sylphie had lived through.
A few hours had passed since the meal, though neither of them had paid much attention to the time. The dishes had already been washed, the green flame in the small kitchen had been reduced to a faint glow, and the light outside was beginning to shift slowly between the branches of the World Tree. In that place, however, even the passing of hours seemed unreliable. The sky did not fully obey ordinary cycles, and the brightness seemed to answer more to Yggdrasil’s will than to the position of any true sun.
Kael and Sylphie were now settled on the sofa near the fireplace. The elf lay with her head on his lap, her body partially covered by a thin blanket woven from plant fibers. Her long white hair spread across Kael’s legs and the dark fabric of the sofa, while she kept her eyes half closed, content simply to remain close to him without some obligation separating them.
One of Kael’s hands rested on her shoulder, while the other moved slowly through her hair. His fingers slid carefully between the strands, undoing small tangles and repeating the gesture without hurry. Sylphie seemed to enjoy the attention more than she would admit. Whenever he stopped for a few seconds, she subtly leaned her head into his hand, encouraging him to continue without needing to ask directly.
For a while, neither of them spoke. The fireplace crackled softly, the vines along the ceiling moved slowly, and the wind outside brushed the wooden walls without finding a single gap. It was a comfortable silence, but Kael still carried questions he could not ignore.
He looked at Sylphie’s peaceful face before finally speaking.
"How are you really?"
She slowly opened her eyes, though she did not lift her head from his lap.
"I already said I am better now."
"You know that was not what I asked."
Sylphie remained quiet for a few seconds. Her gaze shifted toward the fireplace, following the movement of the low flames as if she needed to find the right way to answer. Kael did not pressure her. He simply continued stroking her hair, making it clear he would wait as long as necessary.
"A hundred years is not a small thing," he said. "Even here, even with time working differently. You lived through all of it. I do not want to pretend a few hours with me make what happened disappear."
Sylphie let out a slow sigh and closed her eyes again.
"It does not disappear."
The answer was honest enough to make Kael’s fingers hesitate for an instant. He resumed the motion soon after, but Sylphie had noticed the change.
"At first, it was very bad," she confessed. "I did not know this place, did not understand the rules, and could not measure time correctly. Sometimes I slept for one night and woke with the feeling that weeks had passed. Other times, I trained for months and discovered that almost nothing had changed in the outside world."
She adjusted her face against his legs, searching for a more comfortable position before continuing.
"I tried to keep a routine. I woke up, took care of the house, trained with Yggdrasil, studied the roots, and then wrote letters. She did not always allow them to be sent immediately because the connections between worlds were unstable. Some letters took years to leave this place. Others probably never arrived."
Kael frowned slightly when he heard that.
"You sent letters?"
Sylphie opened her eyes and looked at him.
"Yes."
"To whom?"
"To Irelia, Amelia, and a few other people. I could not send them directly to you while you were unconscious, and later Yggdrasil said your travels made it difficult to find a safe connection."
Kael went still for a few seconds, processing the information with an expression Sylphie recognized immediately.
"You did not know," she concluded.
"No."
She made a small grimace.
"That is going to cause an uncomfortable conversation when we return."
"It will."
"Do not be angry with them."
"I will try."
Sylphie reached up and touched his arm.
"Kael."
"I did not promise anything."
Despite the subject, she smiled for a moment. The expression faded when she returned to the harder memories.
"The first years were the worst because I could still feel you through the bond, but I could not reach you. Sometimes your presence felt weak. At other times, it disappeared completely. I did not know whether it was because of the distance, the coma, or the barriers of this place."
Kael lowered his eyes.
Sylphie continued before he could interrupt.
"There were nights when I thought you had died and no one wanted to tell me. I would leave the house, find Yggdrasil, and demand that she show me the state of your soul. She almost always refused, saying I needed to learn to trust."
"That sounds exactly like her."
"I hated when she did that."
"With good reason."
Sylphie let out another sigh, but there was less weight in it than before.
"Later, I learned to find you on my own. Not completely, but I could tell your soul was still connected to the world. That helped. It was one of the first things I learned without her direct guidance."
Kael continued running his fingers through her hair, though his gaze had grown more distant.
"And the other problems?"
Sylphie thought for a few seconds.
"My body nearly rejected primordial mana during the first twenty years."
His hand stopped again.
She looked up.
"You could have started with that."
"I survived."
"Sylphie."
"You use that answer all the time."
Kael had no immediate argument, which seemed to satisfy her discreetly.
"The mana here does not work like ours," she explained. "It does not enter only the magical channels. It tries to occupy everything. Body, memory, instinct, soul. During the first years, I was constantly ill. I had fevers that lasted weeks, lost consciousness, and woke in different places because the roots carried me to regions where the energy was more stable."
"Yggdrasil allowed that to happen?"
"She monitored everything."
"That did not answer the question."
Sylphie raised an eyebrow, but chose not to argue that point.
"Sometimes she had to remove part of the mana from my body before I collapsed. Other times, I managed to expel the excess myself. It took me decades to find a balance."
Kael looked at her more closely.
"Decades."
"Yes."
"You speak about it very naturally."
"Because it passed."
"That does not make it less serious."
Sylphie noticed the tension in his voice and caught his hand before he could continue stroking her hair. She intertwined her fingers with his and watched his face for a few seconds.
"I had good moments too," she said. "It was not a hundred years of suffering."
Kael did not look convinced, but he listened.
"I learned things I never could have learned in the outside world. I saw forests that exist between dimensions, cared for creatures that had already been alive before the first cities, and helped an entire region of the Tree recover from a spiritual disease."
She smiled faintly at the memory.
"There was a forest north of here that had completely lost the ability to produce new seeds. The trees remained alive, but they knew they would be the last of their species. I spent almost seven years trying to understand the problem."
"And did you?"
"I did."
The quiet pride in her voice made Kael smile.
"How?"
"There was a current of corrupted mana beneath the roots. It did not kill the trees, but it altered the memories they carried into the seeds. I had to cleanse the flow little by little without destroying the old memories."
Kael remained silent, waiting for her to continue.
"When the first tree bloomed again, the entire forest reacted. Every leaf moved at the same time, even without wind. It was the first time in many years that I felt being here had created something truly good."
"That is impressive."
"I know."
Kael let out a low laugh at the answer.
Sylphie placed a hand over her own chest again and continued.
"There was also a creature living beneath this house for almost thirty years. I thought it was only part of the roots moving until I realized it was stealing food at night."
"What was it?"
"A kind of mole made of wood."
"That sounds harmless."
"It was the size of the house."
Kael slowly looked around.
"And you let something that size live underneath this place?"
"It had babies."
"That does not make it safer."
"It made it harder to drive away."
Sylphie smiled when she saw his expression.
"In the end, I built a space for them near the lower roots. They still appear sometimes. One of them ate half the kitchen wall a few years ago."
"Now I am beginning to understand why you let vines grow everywhere."
"They repair the wood."
"Practical."
The lighter tone lasted for a few moments, but Kael had not forgotten the earlier parts. Sylphie noticed it in the way he avoided looking directly at her and in the subtle stiffness of his shoulders.
"You are blaming yourself."
Kael did not answer.
She tightened her fingers around his.
"Kael."
"I should have been here."
"You were in a coma."
"I should have prevented that."
"You nearly died."
"Exactly."
Sylphie raised herself slightly, supporting her weight on one elbow so she could look at him more directly. The blanket slid partially from her shoulder, but she did not care.
"It was my choice to come with Yggdrasil."
Kael finally looked at her.
"You did not have many options."
"I had some."
"Which?"
"Stay beside you without knowing when you would wake, while remaining too weak to prevent something similar from happening again. Or accept Yggdrasil’s proposal, come here, and learn to protect you, myself, and the people we love."
She took a deep breath before continuing.
"When you fell into the coma, the best thing I could do was become stronger. I did not want to remain someone who simply waited for you to solve everything."
"You were never that."
"I felt like I was."
Kael did not answer immediately.
Sylphie rested her head on his lap again, but kept her eyes on his face.
"I chose to come. Yggdrasil did not drag me here. She was controlling, difficult, irritating, and often cruel in her methods, but the original decision was mine."
Kael resumed stroking her hair, this time more slowly.
"It was not part of the plan for me to nearly die."
Sylphie let out a short, humorless laugh.
"Good to know."
"I am not joking."
"Neither am I."
He leaned his head back against the sofa.
"Things got out of control."
"That also happens often around you."
"I am noticing a pattern."
"Everyone else noticed first."
Kael glanced at her, but Sylphie had already closed her eyes, pretending innocence.
After a few seconds, she spoke again.
"I was very worried."
The humor left her voice.
"During the first days, I nearly gave up on coming. I wanted to stay close to you until you woke. I wanted to be the first person you saw."
Kael remained silent.
"Yggdrasil guaranteed you would wake up. She said your soul was damaged, but still bound strongly enough to your body. She said you needed time, not me sitting beside the bed and destroying my own health."
"She said it like that?"
"With more irritating words."
"I thought so."
Sylphie breathed slowly.
"I only accepted because she showed me part of your soul. I saw that you were still there. Weak, distant, but alive. Then I made an agreement with her."
Kael frowned.
"What agreement?"
"I would come. I would train. I would do whatever was necessary. But she would notify me immediately if your condition worsened."
"And did she?"
"A few times."
Kael’s hand stopped in her hair.
Sylphie opened her eyes.
"You relapsed. Your body nearly stopped twice."
He went completely still.
"I did not know."
"There was no way for you to know."
"And you stayed here anyway."
"Because returning would not have saved you."
The answer was firm, though painful.
"I wanted to return. I wanted to cross the roots and stay beside you, even if it was useless. But I understood that would only have eased my guilt, not helped you."
Kael lowered his gaze toward her.
"You changed a lot."
Sylphie smiled tiredly.
"A hundred years usually does that."
"I still feel like I should apologize."
"You can."
He looked surprised.
Sylphie shifted a little more on his lap.
"Apologize for frightening me. For almost dying. For always thinking you can carry everything alone. But do not apologize for the choice I made."
Kael remained silent for a few seconds.
Then he leaned down and kissed her forehead.
"I am sorry I frightened you."
"I accept."
"I am sorry I nearly died."
"That will require compensation."
"What kind?"
"I will decide later."
Kael smiled.
"And I am sorry for trying to carry everything alone."
Sylphie gave him a small but sincere smile.
"I only accept that one when you stop doing it."
"Then it will take a while."
"I have experience waiting."
The line came with a smile, but it struck Kael hard enough to make some of the lightness leave his face.
Sylphie noticed immediately and raised one hand to his cheek.
"Do not turn everything into guilt."
"I am trying."
"Then try better."
He held her hand and kissed her fingers.
"You became demanding."
"I became a goddess."
"That explains a lot."
Sylphie let out a low laugh and settled fully against his lap again. Kael pulled the blanket over her body and continued stroking her hair while silence returned to the small house.
This time, however, the silence was not hiding questions.
It merely allowed the answers to settle between them.
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