The next morning, Fiona woke up to the distinct feeling of something heavy on her stomach.
'Uh! I felt asleep last night..but why my body feels so heavy?'
She blinked.
And immediately groaned. She forgot that she was with Lily last night, and they slept together inside the tent.
"Hey…Lily...wake up, you little girl!"
A small, sleepy hum answered her.
Fiona sighed and looked down—only to see Lily sprawled out across her like a particularly clingy cat.
Her arms were wrapped around Fiona's waist, her face buried in her stomach, and she was completely dead asleep, again.
Fiona stared at the ceiling of the tent.
'How did I end up in this situation?',
With a small smile in her face. She found it was a bit funny.
Last night, Lily had fallen asleep beside her by the fire. Fiona had helped her back to her tent and had planned to leave after that. But apparently, that hadn't been enough for the clingy little gremlin, because at some point, she had sneaked back in and turned Fiona into her personal pillow.
'Is this what siblings would do everytime they sleep? My,my! This was becoming a trend for me forever....'', She thought and dreamed about what would happened next if she spent her entire life with this little girl.
"…Lily," Fiona tried again, nudging her.
No response.
Fiona pinched her cheek.
Lily whined and swatted at her hand, still half-asleep.
"Umhh! Five more minutes pleasee…" she muttered.
Fiona stared at her.
Then, she grabbed Lily's ears and started tugging.
"Ouch! Ouch! Stop! What are you doing, Big sis! Noo!" Lily screeched, jolting upright.
Fiona smirked.
"Good morning, my little princess. How does it feels?", said her with an innocent smile on her face.
Lily clutched her ears and glared.
"You know what? You're a demon, Jeannie!" she grumbled.
Fiona grinned.
'If only you knew the truth, little brat...'
Despite the rough wake-up, the morning passed peacefully.
They started to walked around the city, because Lily wanted her sister to accompanied her along this day.
Several place in the city were still in the middle of rebuilding after Aldric's rebellion, but the tension from yesterday had eased slightly. Whatever happened, life must be go on.
Marianne was busy handling reports, which meant Fiona was left in charge of watching Lily.
'Oh! Luckily for you, i'm busy right now. Too many things that i should finished in the office with Commander Alfonso and several high ranking knights. You can have your happy time with Lily right now, because you have several days of holiday. Good luck for you, My Friend'.
Remembering What Marianne said in the early morning, It really Made Fiona a bit offended.
'Damn,you, Marianne! Act like a big sis. Now i'm not sure about who is the real Lily's sister right now!' , She never stopped to cursed her along the road.
And right now, Fiona was grabbing Lily's hand, guiding her, or, more accurately—Lily was dragging Fiona around like an excited puppy.
"Jeannie, look! The training grounds!", Said her with full of excitement on her face.
Then to made her stopped ran around, Fiona started to approach the knights nearby and ask a sparring duel.
As expected, she lost again.
This time she jumped too high and stucked at the tree nearby. Lily ended up laughing at her.
"Jeannie, let's get food!"
This time, Lily saw a merchant who sold a tasty looking food.
"Sir, how much the price for this?", Fiona kindly asked the merchant who was a very old man with white beard.
"What?! You want to buy all my cookings?! Sure! Why not,little knight!! Come here! I will cook the best for you!"
The Old man was very happy and he started to cooked with a happiest expression he could Made, unaware of Fiona's suffering expression behind.
'Why don't you stay at your home instead of coming here again, You Old Man!!!'
After knowing the Old man was unable to Heard well, she started to cursed him internally, while she was smiling with awkward expression outside.
After leaving the Old Man's outlet, both of them decided to go home.
'My Gosh! All my money was gone...'
Fiona looked at her hand-made small bag, with only several silver coins remained with pain. She wanted to cried.
"Jeannie, can I ride on your shoulders?"
Fiona groaned.
"Lily, you're not a little kid anymore,right?"
She looked at Lily with a tired expression.
However, when she saw Lily's begging expression, she sighed and gave up.
'Why was I suddenly turned into a babysitter?'
That day, peoples saw a knight with her sister clinging on her shoulders with happy face.
Still, Fiona herself didn't mind.
Lily was in a surprisingly good mood today, and Fiona found herself enjoying the casual, carefree moments they shared.
At one point, Lily dragged her to a bakery's kitchen and demanded that they cook together.
Fiona raised an eyebrow. "You? Cooking?"
Lily huffed. "Hey! I'm not that bad!"
The moment she tried to crack an egg, she somehow managed to set a towel on fire.
Fiona watched in mute horror.
"…How the hell you called yourself not that bad?!"
"I DON'T KNOW!"
The head chef had immediately kicked them out after that.
As the day wound down, before back at home, the two of them found themselves sitting on a grassy hill just outside near their home, watching the sunset.
Lily hugged her knees, a small smile on her face.
"…Today was really fun," she murmured.
Fiona smirked. "Aside from the part where you nearly burned down the kitchen?"
Lily pouted. "That was an accident!"
Fiona laughed, shaking her head. "Sure, sure."
A comfortable silence settled between them.
Then, Lily spoke.
"…Jeannie."
Her voice was soft.
Fiona glanced at her. "Yeah?"
Lily hesitated, then looked up.
"…Do you think I'll ever be strong enough?"
Fiona paused.
There was something raw in Lily's voice.
Something uncertain and vulnerable.
Fiona let out a slow breath.
"…What do you mean?"
Lily hugged her knees tighter.
"I mean…" She bit her lip. "I want to be someone who can protect others. I want to be like Marianne.or like you. Someone who doesn't have to be saved all the time."
Fiona's gaze softened.
"…Lily."
Lily looked up.
Fiona reached over and flicked her forehead.
Lily yelped. "Ouch! Again?!"
Fiona smirked. "Because you're being stupid again."
Lily pouted. "Hey—"
"You don't need to be like Marianne," Fiona said simply. "Or like me. You just need to be yourself.."
Lily blinked.
Fiona stretched out, lying back on the grass.
"You're already strong, Lily," she murmured. "You just don't realize it yet. Perhaps, someday in the future, you will realize..that you, are stronger than all of us."
Lily was silent for a long moment.
Then, she smiled.
"…Thanks, Jeannie."
Fiona smirked. "Anytime, little brat."
Lily punched her arm.
Fiona laughed.
And as the sun dipped below the horizon, she let herself enjoy this small, fleeting moment of peace.