At the Northern Fort

When I woke up from my dream, it was already morning. Just next to her, Mother woke up, yawning.

Today I was sleeping in bed with my mother, so my father slept alone on the dead leaves. I always lie on my back with my hands on my chest and sleep in a tight position, but does it hurt?

"Good morning, Mother."

"Good morning, Milfilia."

Mother says, kissing my round forehead.

Meanwhile, after stretching out on the bed, I looked up at my mother and asked.

"Hey, Mother, where's my grandmother?"

Milfilia's grandmother?

"It's about your mother."

I know the word 'grandmother', but I'll teach my mother that the word 'my grandmother' doesn't seem to fit in.

The family of the Spirit is basically mother and son, father and son, parents and children. It is unusual for parents and children, grandmothers and mothers and children to live with three or more people.

It may be the first time in the spirit world that there are four people living in Sannarsis, or that we are three together with my father. So much so that the consciousness of the family is different from that of human beings.

It seems that Mother was surprised that I was interested in Mother's mother.

Why are you suddenly asking about my mother?

"Um..."

I was told by a strange young man in a dream, so it seems strange to me.

I rushed to spin my head as I squeezed my hind legs around my ears. And I came up with a good reason.

"Um, there's something called 'Kasoku Day' soon." That day, the gangsters will express their gratitude to their own people. When you told me about it, I thought about it too. "I wonder if my mother and father, my tender little brother and I are still coming to me." I was wondering if I had a grandmother like Heidelin's grandmother. "

I said the long excuse quickly. Typical behavior of a lying person.

But Mother was so dull that she seemed to be fooled by my lies.

"Thinking about my family and thinking about my grandmother, milfilia has changed." Because normal spirits don't include grandmothers and grandfathers in their families. "

While my father was still sleeping in peace, my mother continued.

“My mother - Milfilia's grandmother lives in a much colder place than she used to be.”

"If it's colder than here..."

If I were a human, I wouldn't want to go to such a place, but I'm a little excited because I'm a frozen creature of snow spirits.

"When was the last time your mother had an encounter with your grandmother?"

At least since I was born, I thought I hadn't seen you. I might have been there to see you while I was playing at the fort.

However, it seemed that my mother had not seen her parents for longer than I expected.

She put her hand on her chin and thought, "Hmm." Then Mother answered.

Well, we haven't seen each other for nearly a hundred years.

"You're hiccuping me..."

Mother says to me that she is exhausted.

"I don't have to go all the way to see you, so I don't have any errands."

My mother is overprotective to me, but she seems to be light on my parents. Maybe that's the relationship between the spirits and their parents.

I suggested by waving my tail.

Well then, let's go see Grandma now.

"From now on? Well, I don't mind..."

"Then let's wake Father up together." If I leave my father alone, I might get sick without my mother or me when I wake up. "

When I said that, I slapped my sleeping father's cheek and woke him up.

"Let's go to Grandma's together!"

And when I wake up and take my father who doesn't understand anything, my mother and I go to my grandmother.

Mother arrived at a place where the snowy, pure white earth lasted forever. There are no trees or plants, and the ground is cracked and folded, and it is raised.

(Huh? But the water is peeking from the cracked ground. It's the ocean.)

In other words, the ice beneath my standing foot must be thick, not earth. I felt like I was looking at the surrounding landscape, and I thought this place was like the Antarctic or the Arctic on Earth.

Or rather, if you look at my feet, there is a hole right next to me, and you can see the dark blue sea. The hole that seems to have cracked in the ice is big enough to make my body slip in.

"I don't know... if it falls, it might blow."

It's too scary.

On the other hand, if you look up in the sky, the weather is good and you can see some clouds, but it's not snowing. However, the wind is quite strong.

"Did you still live here?" I spent time here until I was alone. I miss it. "

Mother looked back and continued toward the opponent who was there.

"It's been a long time, Mother."

When my father and I saw you, there were big silver foxes lying on the ice with their eyes closed. The beautiful fur is swaying and waving in the wind.

"Wow, it's huge."

First of all, I am surprised at the size of the grandmother I saw for the first time. It may be a little bigger than the giant bird, Grandma Hyderine. When I got up, I was almost three meters tall.

And the next thing I noticed was that even if my mother called out, I wouldn't open my eyes. Furthermore, some parts of his body were crumbling like snow.

"What's the matter?" Grandma? "

Mother?

My mother and I called, but there was still no response.

Then Mother thinks for a while.

"Apparently... this is a near-death situation." Now it is about to end its life. I've never seen a spirit die before..... "

My mother was calm when she was about to die. But I don't want my grandmother to die yet. "I'm selfish, but I've managed to meet you..."

"Wait, Grandma! Don't worry, Grandma!"

Ki-chan walks in front of Grandma's big face while making a fuss.

Grandma!

Then the big white fox slowly opened its eyes.

"... it's noisy"

A clear and beautiful voice echoes, very similar to, but lower than, Mother.

Who are you?

Looking down at me, I saw my mother and father.

"And Snowlea and... the spirits of the water?" You're the first visitor in a long time, aren't you? "

It looks like I've never met my father, but I can see that he's the Water Spirit.

The grandmother muttered when she saw her mother's big stomach.

Oh, is Snowlea wearing it?

When she lifted her head and took a prone position, the grandmother started a snowstorm that enveloped her body. And when the blizzard disappeared, a part of the body that had collapsed like snow had been restored.

Grandma continues.

"I was just about to go to sleep for a long time." Snowlea, did you bring them here? What do you want from me? "

"I don't need anything in particular..." Milfilia said she wanted to see her grandmother, so she brought her with her. "

Mother and grandmother speak in the same way, even though they are parents and children.

Milfilia?

"I'm a child of mine." For Mother, it's a grandson. Isn't it cute? "

I squeak and say hello. However, Grandma was still caught by the word "grandson", so her mother explained.

"Milfilia is an unusual child." They are friendly and friendly with humans. That's why I often think of things with human common sense. My grandmother doesn't think she's just a mother, she thinks she's part of the family. "

"That's why I came to see my grandmother. It's mine."

Taking over the mother's words, she continued to step on the spot in excitement.

"You know, my brother will be born soon!" My grandmother's mama is going to be alone. So my father here is my father, and for my grandmother, my stepbrother-in-law-- "

It was a grandmother who was watching me with interest as she spoke with a rough sniff, but she didn't seem to understand the content of the story so she asked her mother for an explanation.

"What is this child saying, Snowrea?" What about my brother? Does he not know that the Spirit can only make one heir? "

Mother laughed and explained to the grandmother who was tilting her neck.

"This child's influence is changing the world of spirits, Mother." The idea that only the mother, the child, the father and the child are part of the family will continue to grow old. "

And they shall speak of their relationship with their father, and of the Son of the Water Spirit, which is in their bellies. Grandma seemed surprised that I had the perception of a family of five, including my father, brother, and grandmother.

"It's really changed." It's funny, but it's funny. "

I ask my grandmother, who stares at me much smaller than me, again.

"Grandma, what are you talking about?"

"I am Sirayuki. Is Milfilia good with humans?"

Yeah! I have a lot of friends.

"I see. Can spirits get along with humans?" I was never involved with humans after all. There are no humans living on this icy land. "

Grandma Sirauki keeps narrowing her eyes to look at the distance.

"I have visited the land where many people live in the past, but I did not intend to actively engage with humans. I felt like a completely different creature from us, and I gave up getting along from the beginning."

Because I have memories of my previous life as a human, I know a lot about humans, and I don't think it's another creature, so Grandma Shirayuki's story was fresh. That's what some spirits think.

When the conversation stops, I ask.

"Grandma Shirayuki, you said you were about to fall asleep, but you were about to die?"

According to what I heard from Grandma Heydrine before, spirits have no fixed lifespan. If you get tired of living, you die. In other words, you can decide to die on your own.

"That's right. I thought it was about time." It's not hard or painful, it's not particularly pleasant to be alive. "