"Well, what do we have here?" Was the first thing Arielle said upon seeing Briar.
"Long time no see, Arielle." Briar smiled.
"Too long." Arielle scowled. "I had thought that you had completely forgotten I existed and would only come to see me at my deathbed. You elves and your long lives…you forget that some of us can't live that long."
"How could I ever forget?" Briar asked. "You remind me of it every time I see you, although you still look like you haven't aged a day."
"That's due to my own efforts. But even I cannot fully escape the mortality of my natural lifespan. I can only delay it for a few years." Arielle grumped. "So you're here to help out your newest little sister?"
"But of course." Briar's ear suddenly flicked back towards the door. She gave a knowing look to Arielle, and used several hand signs.
"Aish! Chalk it up to me being soft hearted, then. Come here, girl." Arielle nodded in understanding as she winked at Robin.
"So how is Stella doing?" Briar asked.
"That old bat will outlive me and my grandkids combined." Arielle grumbled. "She's fine. I even saw her last week when I went to replenish supplies for the salon."
"Oh? We're heading through her territory after this. Could you let her know that we'll be stopping by?" Briar asked.
"I can. Goodness, girl, how much time have you spent outside without properly shading your face?" Arielle asked, concerned.
"...it was unavoidable." Robin replied.
Briar then waved her hands and removed the 'freckles' she had added to Robin's face. Arielle rolled her eyes at Briar. "Of course, only you would bring me such a case. I can see your skin is a bit rough from exposure. Here, I have a face pack treatment that should help with that immensely."
Despite their being there for show, somehow Robin still ended up with a facepack on her face, something she had never been interested in before. Robin resisted the urge to remove the pack from her face. It felt weird.
"So, I heard you're originally from my homeland?" Robin asked Adelle, trying to take her mind off of it.
"Ah yes, the southern shires of Braxton Kingdom-"
"No, not that homeland." Briar interrupted.
"Wha-oh heavens!" Arielle glanced at Robin. "You're from that far off…Briar, why didn't you mention this before!" Arielle raised her fists pretending she was going to hit Briar. Briar simply smiled.
"Well….you never asked." Briar inclined her head gracefully, merriment gleaming in her eyes.
"Oh dear. Was it by birth? Or immigration?" Arielle asked.
"From what I gathered, immigration." Briar said. "She's had a rough time getting here. She lost her parents at a young age, and her extended relatives were pure garbage. They took her into their home trying to take advantage of her young age to steal her rightful inheritance. Then she was separated from her only brother so suddenly. Her mother is from these parts, you see. It was a miracle and a half that she encountered me on her journey, but I couldn't just leave her be."
"Oh you poor thing!" Adelle said, tears gathering in her eyes. "You must've been through so much on your own!"
Robin felt embarrassed. Did she really seem so pathetic in front of others? She glanced at Briar, uncertain how to respond. Briar smiled mysteriously upon hearing a sniffle coming from behind the consultation door. It seemed their eavesdropper had a sympathetic heart, at least.
"Um…It was hard, yes." Robin agreed. "But…I'm not certain that it's something to cry over?" Robin said awkwardly. Adelle quickly grabbed a handkerchief as the tears streamed out all the more.
"Oh you brave little thing! You've been so strong this whole time!" Adelle hugged Robin, sobbing.
Robin just sat there with a look of pure confusion. Briar chuckled, and took out a crystal ball, saving the image in order to tease a certain admirer of Robin's.
'Don't just watch, help me!' was Robin's silent plea to Briar.
It was at that point that Briar heard the subtle footsteps of someone walking away from the door. Briar patted Arielle's back.
"Come now, the person herself isn't crying about it anymore. If you keep crying, do you want her to also be sad once again? Really Arielle, you're beginning to frighten my cute little sister." Briar teased.
"You can't expect me to stop so quickly once I've started, meanie! You know I can't help but cry when I hear about such sad things!" Arielle sniffled.
~~~
Outside the doors of Arabesque Beauty Salon, a cloaked figure stood alone in thought. A small group of likewise cloaked figures then approached the lone one.
"So? Shall we apply for another day of leave to pursue the suspects, Lady Allison? Or shall I inform the squad that we're returning to the border guard?" One of the cloaked figures asked.
"...inform the squad…there's nothing suspicious about these travellers. We're returning to the border guard." Lady Allison replied, pulling her cloaked hood low over her face, despite the heat. She walked away from the Salon with slow footsteps.
~~~
"So you're trying to find your way home to reach your brother, oh I am starting to feel emotional again. Of course I'll help out! I'll do even better than that. I'll personally write you a letter for Stella." Arielle blew her nose before heading into the back room to write a letter.
"So, what do you think?" Briar asked.
"You are all so very…kind." Robin said, looking troubled. "I wish I had met people like you two earlier."
"You are kind too, Robin." Briar said. "In your own way."
"I may be many things, but…I don't consider that to be one of them. My mother was kind. I am not." Robin denied.
"Love has many forms, as does kindness." Briar said mysteriously. "You perhaps cannot see it for what it is, but you are indeed kind…." Her voice petered off as she hesitated.
"Robin…Do you hate yourself?" Briar asked, thinking of something.
"What brought this on, all of a sudden?" Robin asked.
"Do you blame yourself for being not enough, weak? Do you despise yourself for being ignorant or indecisive? Do you berate yourself for keeping up your pretense, creating misunderstandings?"
Briar continued to ask. "Do you…hate the you who cannot do things well?"
Robin fell silent.
"If you hate yourself, you will not be able to help yourself." Briar said, with a concerned tone. "And if you cannot help yourself, you will inevitably hurt yourself, and those around you. Robin, you can't continue like this."
"I would never let it get so far as to harm others." Robin said, looking away.
"Robin…sometimes that isn't up to you. The people around you can be hurt simply by watching you hurt yourself. That's because they care about you. Just like how Adelle cried over your past, would you make your friends cry over you in the future? Would you cause them to feel pain because of your self affliction?"
"..." Robin was silent. She knew she probably needed to obtain help. But she couldn't bring herself to ask for it. Suddenly, Christian's words came to mind.
'I want you to rely on us more. Don't half kill yourself before asking for help. I wouldn't want one of my good friends to end up dead one day due to carelessness.'
Robin closed her eyes. 'Fair enough.'
"...then, what do I need to do?" She looked up at Briar.
"You need to forgive yourself." Briar said. "You need to forgive yourself and forgive others as well."
"I can't forgive them." Robin said.
"Forgiveness doesn't mean you let them off for what they have done. It means to hope that after they have made amends, that they will be a better person going forwards.". Briar said.
"Surely, you had wanted them to be truly sorry for all they had done? You wanted them to apologize?"
"...They wouldn't. Not until they had seen their own coffins." Robin said.
"Humor me. What if one of them did? Could you hope they would continue to live as a better person, doing no harm?" Briar asked. "You don't have to ever see them again, or interact with them. Would you wish they do so?"
"That…would be all that I could ask for." Robin said bitterly. "But I waited for so long and they were unrepentant. Why would they change now?"
"It doesn't matter if they change now or at the moment of their deaths. What matters is that you no longer wish them ill." Briar said. "You can't hate others without also hating yourself. You need to forgive them in order to also forgive yourself."
Robin thought about it.
"Robin, a person is like a one way mirror. The things you do to others are also reflected upon yourself. Do you want your relatives to go forward and do no more harm?"
"...They have done enough harm. It's time to stop." Robin finally said. "What they have done is hor
rible. I would never want them to continue to do so, neither to me, or to anyone else. I only ever wanted them to stop."