"Move aside, amateur! Let us professionals do our job!" A cheeky dwarf joked as he prodded Liam to make room for them. Liam returned to Chelsea's side. He glanced down at his dirt-covered appearance and flicked an arm. Instantly, the dirt slid off him, onto the ground.

"Oh? What sort of trick was that?" Chelsea asked, interested.

"The kind that is built on years of practice." Liam replied. "Is this the whole reason for our outing? Or is there something more you wanted to surprise me with?"

"Yup! Now that we're done here, let's go visit the food stall market and get something to eat! You helped too, so you can come as well." Chelsea grinned at Gerard.

"You mean it!?" He asked.

"'The worker is worth his wages, after all.'" Chelsea chuckled. "Besides, even if we didn't invite you, wouldn't you have come along anyways?" Gerard thought that this made sense, and nodded. While the dwarves worked to dig out the cave, the trio made their way to the markets.

-----

Robin got bored of juggling light spheres while waiting for the dwarves to dig her out. She had been practicing her magic for the past half hour. But, all that she managed to do was light the rough stone room up like it was a disco.

Then she remembered the camera she had in her magic bag. She took it out, and caressed the familiar piece of home. But, it wasn't the camera, itself, that was the important part. It was the memories contained within it.

Robin hesitated. She knew that what she was going to do would open up old wounds in her heart. But, she couldn't help herself. The screen lit up when she pushed the b.u.t.ton. And she started to go through the memories surrounding the photos contained within.

In the dark stone room, there was nothing to distract her from the screen's bright images. A little girl energetically playing at the park with her family on a late spring picnic...the imbalanced flower crowns the girl's mother helped her make...the little girl beaming down at the camera from up in a tree...the older brother trying to sneak some of the food out of the picnic basket, and getting caught....all those memories were re-lived in her mind, both cherished and painful.

Those golden days could never return. Like the sand in an hour gla.s.s, it slipped through the fingers like air. She paused at what she knew was the last memory.

It was taken shortly before her tenth birthday. Robin remembered clearly her mom asking her what sort of cake she wanted. She couldn't decide. So, they had gone through the family recipe book together. Her father had snapped a picture of them from the doorway while Her older brother was grabbing a snack. And she could see her dad in the picture from the reflection of a nearby wall mirror.

Robin stared long and hard at that picture, and whispered. "Many would be so happy just to come to another world like this... But, I would have preferred to start my whole life over from the beginning, just to see you again..." She blinked away the tears that caused her vision to blur, and pressed the b.u.t.ton. It was the end of her memories.

But instead of coming back to the starting photo, Robin was confused to see pictures of a manor garden that looked vaguely familiar. She continued looking through the new pictures. A b.u.t.terfly on a flower...A green trellis arching over the garden entrance...and finally, a wide shot, with a familiar figure heading towards a vaguely familiar mansion.

Robin blinked, in confusion. Wasn't that Christian? When did she...ah. Robin recalled the time she damaged her mana core. 'It was around then, wasn't it?' She mused, thinking over the journey so far.

She stared at the photo before deciding not to delete it. It was already there. She might as well keep it as a souvenir. Robin sighed and tapped the screen, bringing it back to the first image before turning the camera off.

The old memories cannot be returned to, that was an unfortunate certainty. But, because of Christian's photo, Robin realized that she had more moments that she had come to treasure in addition to the old memories. She could smile and laugh now, as she had done six years ago. It seemed that she would be leaving in a better state than she had arrived.

A pin seemed to p.r.i.c.k her heart at the thought that, she would eventually have to leave this world.

'Huh?' Robin frowned as she quickly examined her mana core.

'...Everything seemed fine, then where did that pain come from?'

Robin didn't make the connection. She could smile back then because she loved and depended on her family. The reason why she could smile now was because she had friends. They were good friends, and were becoming closer as her time with them lengthened. That's why, she didn't notice that the idea of parting with them was just beginning to become something painful.

---------

At the city gates, the guards, though doubled, were rubbing their eyes. The hot tropical sun that could only burn away the jungle mists in the afternoon felt like a warm spring day to them. Many of them were originally supposed to be off duty on their rest day. Even the king slime, Nodd, was taking refuge under the shelter of the large stone gateway. The warm sun, and lack of travelers bored them to the point where they were falling asleep standing up. The heat from the sun that collected in the air over the road created a blurry mirage-like haze.

One of the guards shook himself, and lifted his head in an attempt to clear his head of the urge to sleep. He blinked as he slowly brought his eyes to focus once more. Then he noticed something was different about the afternoon haze. There was a disconnected wobbly patch in the distance, which slowly grew larger.

It took the guard a moment, but them he Patted his fellow guard on the shoulder, waking him from his standing doze. The guard pointed at the spot in the distance. The other guard glanced at it and nodded back at the first guard.

Someone was coming. He patted the other guards awake as well, and they straightened themselves up to stand at attention once more. Only, who was it that was bold enough to be travelling in the afternoon heat?

--------

"By tha king's crown, where is that second cousin o' yers?" Ayva frowned at the stonemason boss. He turned his head away from a dwarf that was whispering something in his ear.

"Ah...about that...ya see, I just heard that he was caught up in a landslide, and they're busy diggin' im out."

"Oh? was he injured?" Ayva asked, concerned.

"No, no, we don't know yet. But seeing that it was merely topsoil, he wouldn't be too badly injured." The stonemason felt cold sweat gathering on his brow. "By my reckonings, he should be here within tha hour. But...Seeing what happened here, I suspect that landslide t'were no coincidence."

"We'll have ta look into et ta be sure." Ayva nodded, picking up the makes.h.i.+ft phone again.

"You all right down there, deary? Not feeling faint or short of breath, are ye?" She asked.

"....Ah, no, I-..*sniff*..I'm fine." The voice came faintly back. Ayva paused, hearing Robin trying to cover up the fact that she had cried.

"Yer sure?" She asked, trying not to alarm the nearby Christian, who was glowering at the phone.

"Yes, of course I'm sure! It's just there's a lot of dust down here. I got something in my eye is all. Now the tears won't stop." Robin said, using the small pile of dust down below her as a scapegoat.

"I hear that salt water is good fer getting dust out o' tha eyes. Don't rub 'em or it'll make it worse. D'you hear me?" Ayva asked.

Robin laughed. "Yes, Aunt Ayva~." She joked. In all truth, Ayva was a comforting dwarf to be around. Robin had called her that because a part of her wished that she had been her aunt. If only Ayva had been there when Robin's life had taken a turn for the worse, then she might not have fallen into her uncle's cruel scheme.

"Aunt Ayva, huh? I like it. Good, from now on, you call me Aunt. Ah've always wanted a niece- or a nephew." Ayva ordered.