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Arafunn invited me and Aquarina to cook with him. I don't know why, I am pretty sure he could just cook himself, but perhaps he wanted to teach us how to make meatloaf. I actually know, I've seen my mother do it and I've even memorized it, so I don't really know what's his plan.
Maybe he just want to interact with us as we are the daughters of his friends? I suppose. I wonder if he got any son or daughter himself, being so old, there's no way he doesn't have a descendant…
"Alright girls, you two are going to help me! Aquarina, use water magic with this hard bread and break it into crumbs, all watered down into a mass." Said Arafunn.
"Huh? That sounds a bit disgusting, how are we going to eat this?" She asked.
"It is an old recipe, when you make this mushed bread with water, this dough-like thing can be used with the meat to give it a lot of consistency! It is also a good way to use old bread instead of throwing I away, right? It is a technique that poor people like me use!" Laughed Arafunn.
"Ooohh… Okay then." Said Aquarina. She grabbed the hard pieces of brad and began to slowly tear them apart over a bowl, adding water using magic, she made the bread get very wet, slowly tearing apart and becoming a mushy paste. It didn't looked appetizing.
"You know? There's another technique you can do with hard bread!" Said Arafunn. "If you pour some water over the hard bread and then put it inside an oven or over some fire in a pan, it will slowly warm up, and the water over it will evaporate, making the hard brad become very soft again!" Said Arafunn.
"You sure know a lot about how to use hard bread, bard…" Sighed my mother. "You got the talent to earn a lot more money, I don't know why you're so obsessed with living like a homeless man."
"Haha, dear Faylen, don't you get it? there is a charm in living like this, wandering around, free as the wind, the ceiling is the sky, the bed is the grass below my feet, I eat what I find, and make some money along my journey by singing… I guess it is hard to understand for a little princess!" Laughed Arafunn.
"I-I am not a spoiled princess! I always hated being one, in fact…" Sighed my mother, crossing her arms angrily.
"C-Come on, don't get so angry now." My father began to calm down my mother. "Arafunn, please don't remind her of that… In fact we are currently moving there…"
"Oh, is that so? Oh right, I saw that group of tents with Amazon, I guess you're really moving out of the jungle!" Said Arafunn. "Oh my, oh my, that sounds really dangerous… You're planning to cross the sea too?"
"Yeah, that's the plan." Said my mother. "We are doing this because I know it is safer there. After all you know how the people of the empire would treat the amazon…"
"Ah, yeah… Thankfully Bright Dawn is very isolated from the rest of the continent so they won't make a fuss in here, although they're still staying far away." Said Arafunn. "Anyways, how about I accompany you? I was planning to go to Atlanta anyways… Or the beast-kin continent, whichever one. Been a few decades since I visited them."
"Sure, we'll love to have you around." Said my father. "But you should stop with your stupid jokes or my patience is going to run low in no time, Arafunn, you're warned." Said my father rather menacingly.
"Hahaha. Come on, Allan, you got a bit too grumpy out of nowhere… Ah! Right, you humans grow old so fast, are you already an old man? How old are you- Oh, you're over thirty now! That's a lot for humans, isn't it?" Asked Arafunn.
"That's still young! I am as young as I used to be, I am still a teenager in heart, you elf!" Said my father angrily.
"Ah, it has really been that long?" Sighed my mother. "For me it felt… like an instant."
My mother said such words as she looked down into the floor. I suppose it must feel like that for her, someone who has lived over six hundred years… I suppose even time itself goes fast for her in some way, it is the perception inside of her mind like this? But it feels so long since I was born… Does she sees it as little time? It has been… seven years!
"Mommy don't say that!" I said angrily.
"Eh?! S-Sylphy…?!" She asked nervously.
"I was born over 7 years ago, isn't that a lot of time? It felt like a lot to me!" I said.
"…Certainly, it felt like that to me as well when I was younger, but as you grow older… and older… It is… like a passing wind…" She sighed.
"Ugh! Mom, stop being so gloomy!" I said.
"I-I am not being gloomy!" She said angrily.
"Okay, okay, let's calm down for now, we don't want to discuss pointless stuff, right?" Asked my father. "Faylen, I'm sure you're lying, you always say stuff like this anyways, even though each day seems long to me, I see you enjoy each day as well… I know your perception of time is changing with us."
"W-What gives you the right to say that?" Asked my mother while blushing.
"I am your husband?" Asked my father.
"Ah… Right…" She said. "W-Well, whatever's the case, enough blabber for now, let's cook something! Arafunn, I hope your meatloaf can contend against my pizza."
"Pizza? You're making pizza today, mom?!" I asked.
"Yep! I got all the ingredients now, so let's make something in that old oven of yours, Arafunn." Said my mother.
"How wonderful, you got suddenly pumped up! Haha, you're really changed, haven't you?" Arafunn laughed, poking at my mother. I can see that he likes to tease people.
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