by Kiri Komori
“Did you turn your bag over when you looked?! Maybe you dropped it under your bed?!”
“I looked everywhere!”
What’s with this guy?! How do you lose your engagement ring on the day you’re gonna propose?!
“Hey, what’s with all the racket?” Dad asked, walking into the coffee corner.
“Dad! This good-for-nothing said he lost his ring!”
“You lost your ring…? Wh-What?! Are you serious?! The Twin Moons are tonight!”
“So, I, er… I’ve been wondering if you can use alchemy to transmute me a new ring, Tinaris…” Roin mumbled awkwardly.
“A ring? With alchemy?!” I asked him, my eyes round with shock.
You can make rings with alchemy? I-I’ve never done that!
“You’re trying to sponge off Tina?!” Dad snapped at him.
“I mean, I don’t have any other real way out of this! I’ll keep looking! But what if I don’t find it…?”
“I’m, uh, not sure if I can transmute a ring…”
“I think you can, but…” Dad answered with a frown. “Tina, you’re more of an alchemical apothecary. Transmuting metals is a different field.”
“N-Noo…”
There are different alchemy fields…? But he’s in really big trouble. Maybe I can pull it off, anyway…?
“I’ll go look up metal transmutation in the study…”
“I don’t mind you trying, but keep in mind that there are more prohibitions on transmuting metal compared to transmuting potions,” Dad warned me. “If anything’s too complicated, check with me, all right?”
“Roger that.” I nodded.
“Roin, you go look through your room again.” Dad turned to Roin. “Calm down and be thorough. Check your pockets and inside your bed.”
“I-I’ll try…”
And be more careful this time, you ditz! I thought to myself.
I hurried over to the study and scanned the books from the bookshelf’s alchemy corner.
I think a book about transmuting metal was around here…
I took a book with a gray binding and opened it. It looked to be the right one.
Alchemy: Metal Transmutation Edition
“Geh.”
What is this…? This is nothing like the alchemy I know!
“You will need a circuit for transmutation,” the book said.
What’s a circuit?! I thought all you needed for alchemy is a pot and an alchemy staff or spoon!
“This is the process of mixing metals to create new, different kinds of metal. However, the transmutation and production of gold, silver, and platinum follow the following rules…”
No, this is nothing like what I know! I don’t want to do something annoying like this; I just want to refine and fashion metal! And this is supposed to be a beginner’s book too…
And I couldn’t obtain a pot capable of containing hot metal. Or an alchemy staff for mixing molten metals either!
I couldn’t see how I could do it. Roin was finished. He’d have to propose without a ring. Case closed. I’m no good with this kind of alchemy. This morning, Enofa said I had a talent for alchemy, but transmuting metal was way out of my league.
Maybe we could just make a handmade substitute without alchemy? Maybe Enofa would like a ring made of beads? If it’s a ring her lover made her with all his heart…then even a handmade one from cheap beads would work!
“I gotta find a book for making handmade jewelry and stuff!”
There!
It must have been one of Grandma’s books. I pulled it off the shelf and checked the table of contents. Knitting patchworks, embroidery, pressed flowers…
“Pressed flowers…?”
My eyes stopped there for some reason. I flipped over to the right page and indeed found a pressed flower between the pages.
A lily of the valley?
I saw them growing around a tree planted in an isolated house in my neighborhood in my past life. It really lingered in my memory, because I remembered seeing a lot of them sitting in potted plants, but the owner of the house warned, “They’re pretty but venomous. Be careful.”
It was stuck against the faint pink paper, and behind it was a written date and the words “Pieris Flower.” Right next to it was apparently a description of its symbolism in flower language…
“The two of us, together forever, on this journey called life.”
“This is it…!”
Doesn’t this sound like something you’d say when proposing to someone?!
It was only flower language, but it was pretty romantic. I didn’t know Grandma was into this sort of thing.
That thought saddened me. She passed away when I was only three. If she was still around, and I knew she had these kinds of hobbies, we could talk about it so much more…
“Flowers, huh…? I remember back in elementary school, we’d make floral wreaths with shepherd’s purses. And necklaces and rings… Rings…”
It wasn’t that I’d forgotten, but I stumbled over that word. Rings.
“…Wouldn’t that be really pretty?”
The only problem was if Roin could make it.
I’m sure even a good-for-nothing like him could make something that simple! I mean, he’s a minstrel; he’s used to handling instruments.
I hurried downstairs, where I found Roin having breakfast. I excitedly told him my idea.
“You can make a ring with flowers?” he asked me.
“Well, you take flowers with long stems and twist them, so they’re as thick as a finger… But I think I have a good idea.”
“A good idea?” Roin and Dad repeated.
Yep. A good idea. The kind a man would never come up with. Looking at Grandma’s book helped me come up with it.
“We can use pressed flowers. I found a book about flower language in the study, so we can use it to see what meanings flowers growing around here have, and have Roin propose that way! And then, once you give her the flower ring, we could preserve it by making it into a pressed flower.”
“Oh…!” Roin’s eyes widened.
“That’s a pretty romantic idea,” Dad said, rubbing his chin. “And it’s pretty economical too.”
“You don’t have to spend money if all you want to do is make a woman happy,” I said cheerily.
“R-Really?” Dad asked.
“Really,” I maintained.
Dad just didn’t get women.
Roin opened the book and started picking flowers. It occurred to me we wouldn’t actually have that extra firewood he was supposed to chop though…
“I think he’ll be worrying over which flowers to pick all day long,” Dad said with a wry smile.
“What about Enofa?”
“She had her breakfast and then went fishing at Rhiode. I guess she figured he’d need some alone time.” Dad jerked his chin in Roin’s direction.
Yeah, figures. He looked paler than a corpse when I came downstairs…
“Enofa’s such a sweet lady,” I said.
“She’s probably too good for a guy like him.” Dad shook his head.
I had to solemnly agree.
♣♣♣
TO my surprise, Roin kept agonizing over which flower to choose for half the day. His expression was full of tension and urgency, making it hard for me to approach him.
I’m kinda scared. Is this actually going to turn out well…?
With Roin being…well, like that, Dad decided to go look through their cottage and see if he could find the ring. Enofa ate her lunch next to the lake, too, out of consideration for Roin. I spotted her looking up and mumbling, “They really are moving closer…” to herself, with flushed cheeks.
And that only made me feel like she was getting her hopes up extra high…
“T-Tinaris…” Roin approached me.
“Yes?”
“Th-This flower right here. Does it, uhh, bloom around here?” he asked, pointing at a picture in the book.
“Hmm…”
A flower would be ideal for the proposal, but if it didn’t grow around Rofola, we wouldn’t be able to get it. To that end, I went out with Roin to look for flowers, which was also a convenient excuse for me to gather spare ingredients for alchemy. From Roin’s perspective, my job was to look at what flowers grew around Rofola and tell him what they symbolized in flower language.
“That’s a Lemone flower. It means, ‘I’m your slave’…”
A-Are you sure that’s the kind of message you want to send here…?
“But yes, it grows around here. You can find some halfway up the mountain.”
“A-All right, then let’s go with that.”
“Are you sure that’s what you want?”
Consider what this flower means!
“Yes. Since the moment I met her, I…I’ve been a slave to her love…”
“Er, all right. Then let’s go look for it.”
“Y-You were supposed to be moved by that…” Roin told me desperately.
“Well, I wasn’t. Not even a bit,” I told him curtly.
“Aww…”
And he’s supposed to be a minstrel. I thought he’d have more of a poetic way with words.
Anyway, let’s just hike the mountain. If it gets too dark, we might run into a bigbear. Those things are nocturnal creatures, so we’d be better off going there before nightfall.
“Can you fight if you have to, Roin?”
“N-No, not at all.”
“We should have Dad come with us. It’d be dangerous if we ran into a boar or a bear.”
“Huh? There are boars and bears on the mountain?!”
I was a bit anxious, since this was later than we usually went to the mountain. I decided to stop by the cottage and call for Dad. When I explained the situation, he grimaced. I wasn’t sure if it was because he didn’t find the ring or because of the symbolism behind the flower Roin picked.
“You can fight, owner?”
“More or less. I lost my dominant arm, but I can manage with my left. I should be able to fight off a bear, no problem.”
“Really…?”
“Maybe we can have bear stew to celebrate your proposal, eh? Though drawing out all the blood might take a while, so it won’t be today. Ahaha!”
“Ugh… No thank you…” Roin muttered.
I preferred boar stew, personally. The first time I ate it, I had my reservations, but it tasted similar to pork. It was juicier and its flavor was a bit odd, but it was still tasty. In terms of personal taste, I was of the opinion that either of them would probably work if we had some soup made from kelp from the lake.
If we could cook it with soy sauce and miso, it’d definitely taste better than just adding salt and pepper! Guaranteed! I need to get my hands on some soy sauce and miso! If I can find something like soybeans, I think I could manage the rest with alchemy!
“Tina, where on the mountain is that flower?” Dad asked, snapping me out of my culinary delusions.
“Halfway up,” I answered.
Right, we have to hurry, or it’ll be dark by the time we come back. We can’t leave Enofa anxious for long… Though Roin is so nervous, it probably looks suspicious.
We started walking the unpaved trail up the mountain. My short child legs made it even harder to walk. I hoped that someday, when I struck gold, I could have this road paved. But right now, that was a pipe dream…
Aaaah, I wish I could learn how to make all sorts of tonics already…!
“Hey, Roin?” Dad said.
“Y-Yes?”
“You’re a minstrel, right? Are you gonna sing when you propose?”
“Oh, um, yes, that was my idea at first… But I decided against it.”
“How come?” I asked.
“I use my music to make money… So rather than that, I want her to hear my true feelings. And I feel like my music would just be noise that drowns it out.”
Noise… Really? But well, if he feels that way… Ah!
“There it is! That’s the Lemone flower!
“Is that it?”
Just as we reached the halfway point, I spotted small, yellow flowers blooming on the side of the trail. They had moderately long stems, and despite being small, their color was vivid. As an aside, transmuting Lemone flowers with water created an antidiarrheal medicine.
“Let’s try making one right now,” I said.
“Right here?!”
“It could wither, so we could put a few of them in this bottle.”
“Oh, ah, er, r-right.”
The bottle I brought had some water on the bottom. I put five flowers in it. I didn’t want Roin to screw up, so I thought having him practice making a flower ring might be a good idea.
I mean, he can’t be that clumsy, but better safe than sorry.
“Like this?” he asked after a short while, showing me the result.
“I didn’t think you’d do it this quickly… Huh, it looks fine.”
Apparently, my concerns were unfounded. He did a pretty good job.
“Ooh… It’s pretty cute…” I continued. “If you have a daughter, you could play with her and teach her how to make these.”
“You said you two travel with a troupe, right…?” Dad asked. “If you start a family, wouldn’t you be better off settling down somewhere?
“Oh, well…I was thinking the same thing and asked our troupe leader about it. They told me they knew someone in a small country to the east who could help us build a house…”
“A small country to the east?”
“Yeah, a new country that’s been established in recent years. I think they’re building up a few towns… Ah, but yesterday when I was eating outside, I thought that maybe living in an inn like this one might be nice. Dinner under the starry sky, with your family and guests… It’s great.”
I felt the same way. This really was a lovely way to live…and I was glad Roin thought so too. This inn was a bigger blessing than we deserved.
“Really? That’s good to hear,” Dad said with a lukewarm grin. “But running an inn isn’t something you can do without devotion. You see, we’re lucky to have food from the mountain and the lake, but living away from the countries means consumables are hard to come by. Roadside inns need approval from the countries running the highways, and sometimes you gotta drive away bandits. Not to mention that you need to be pretty much self-sufficient…”
“U-Ugh… Yeah, it makes sense. Well, I still need to talk it over with Enofa too…”
“Yeah, you should… But I do understand how you feel. Running an inn with your family is a leisurely way of life.”
“Yes!” I wholeheartedly agreed.
I loved my life right now. When Grandpa died, and it was just Dad and me, I was worried about how things would turn out. But even on days where we had no guests, I could practice alchemy and gather ingredients. There was plenty to do even with all the work at the inn! And I got to meet all sorts of nice, interesting guests. Like now!
These were all things I could never imagine in my past life, where I was a shy, gloomy girl. It was strange. There was so much to do, but every day was fun and fulfilling. Back then, I would work and work, only for nothing to go right. I hated how sad and pathetic I was. Maybe it was all because of how young I’d become?
“Oh, we should be getting off the mountain. The sun’s setting.”
“L-Let’s hurry back!” I said.
But Roin was silent.
“You all right, Roin?” Dad asked him. “You ready for this? The moons should eclipse soon.”
“Y-Yeah…”
I looked up at the sky, and Dad was right. The two moons were beginning to intersect. Once the two moons intersected, the unified moon would reflect on the surface of the lake…forming the Twin Moons. An astrological event that occurs once every eighteen years, where there are two moons—one in the sky and one on the ground.
Dad and I hurried down the mountain so we could make dinner. I was anxious to see how Roin’s marriage proposal would go!
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“Looking at the moon, it’ll be a few hours until it happens, so we can take our time and cook,” Dad said.
“Right!” I agreed excitedly.
“Oh, Tinaris, could you tell me more about pressing the flower?” Roin asked me.
“Oh, right.”
Thinking about dinner made me forget about it…
“Don’t worry, we can still make it,” I told him.
“Thank you!”
“Pressed flowers are very easy to make.”
“They are?”
“You put two sheets of paper between a book’s pages, and then you put the flower you want to press between them. If you just press it between the book’s pages, the flower’s juices might dirty the book, so you should use thick paper. That’s all you need to know.”
“Huh? That’s it?!”
“You just have to wait until the flower loses all its moisture and leave it until it becomes a nice pressed flower… You can leave it pressed to the paper and use it as a bookmark… Do you have a book you can use, Roin?”
“…I don’t think so, actually. Would a notebook do?”
“I think anything that’d press the flower would… But make sure there’s weight applied to it.”
“Oh, that should be fine. I keep it closed with a string.”
“Then you should be fine. So long as you don’t lose this one too.”
“I-I’ll be careful.”
Please do.
“I’ll go help Dad make dinner then… What are you going to do, Roin?”
“C-Calm my nerves.”
“Okay…?”
♣♣♣
AND finally, the moons intersected. Dad, Roin, and I joined Enofa on the banks of the Rhiode to watch this unusual phenomenon. And, well…
“You sure hooked a whole lot of fish,” Dad commented.
“Well, I spent the whole day fishing…”
It looked like we’d be having fish for breakfast tomorrow. And we’d be able to dry them for later too. We’d kept the celebratory meal for after the proposal, so I was pretty hungry.
“Let’s eat outside today too,” Dad suggested.
“Oh, then let’s get everything ready.” I nodded.
And so, the two of us left, leaving the couple alone. The preparations looked just about perfect!
“How is it going?”
We reached the front door and then turned around. The moons almost completely overlapped each other in the sky. The eclipsed moons were then reflected on the lake surface.
