Chương 123: The Elf Who Went Out for Ice Cream

When Kichan returned from sending the international parcel, a bag of ice cream lay on the table. His parents had bought it on their walk around the neighborhood. Some had red beans inside, some were coated in chocolate, and one bag held several small bars.

"This is cold," Riphiel said after a bite.

"It's ice cream."

"I understand that it is cold. Why is it sweet?"

"Because there's sugar in it."

"Then why does it melt?"

"Stop asking questions and eat. It's dripping." Kichan held out a tissue. White ice cream ran down the back of her hand. Her tongue was faster than the tissue. Across the table, Argaon held a wrapper between his forepaws in yellow cat form. He licked too quickly and opened his mouth, apparently stung by the cold.

"This is attacking me."

"Then stop eating it."

"I don't want to." He lowered his head again. Batu had been given a large bowl of water with a few ice cubes. The saber-toothed tiger crunched one between his molars, then stared at the bar in Riphiel's hand.

"That's not for you," Kichan said. Batu lapped at the ice water. Wrappers accumulated on the table. His mother lifted the empty bag.

"Who ate the last one?" Riphiel and Argaon looked at Kichan together. He finished the chocolate on the end of his stick.

"What?"

"Give me another."

"There aren't any."

"You just ate one."

"That was the last one." Riphiel inspected the empty bag herself. She even turned it upside down and shook it.

"Go and buy more."

"You go." Kichan pointed through the window toward the apartment complex's main gate. A little grocery store with a lit sign stood beside the entrance.

"See it out front? Go there and buy the same ones." He took bills and coins from his wallet and put them in her hand. Riphiel looked at the store before the money.

"Will they not melt if I walk?"

"It's right there. How would they melt?" She was already heading for the door. She tied the cloth over her long ears and hastily slipped on her shoes. She left her sword behind. Instead, she tapped Batu's armor. Batu sprang up.

"Hey. I said walk." Riphiel climbed onto his back.

"This is faster."

"You can't ride that through the complex--" The door shut. Kichan ran to the window. Batu emerged from the apartment building. Riphiel held the edge of his armor with one hand and the money with the other. In the low mana, Argaon's illusion was already fraying at the edges. As Batu picked up speed, the outline of a shaggy large dog peeled away from his back. Metal armor caught the streetlight. Long fangs appeared.

"Argaon," Kichan called. Argaon was on the table, licking chocolate from a wrapper.

"Cover him up, will you?"

"I'm eating." Batu was already passing the main gate. The wind of their run pushed Riphiel's ear covering back. The knot came loose, and the cloth fell to the road. Her long ears stood fully exposed through her hair. Riphiel looked back. After glancing between the fallen cloth and the grocery sign, she simply leaned forward.

"Why isn't she picking it up?" Kichan muttered. People standing outside the store each took a step back. An armored saber-toothed tiger stopped at the entrance. A small girl of extraordinary beauty climbed down from his back. Long ears showed plainly through her hair. Riphiel scanned the faces and went inside. A moment later, she came out with both hands full of the same ice cream. She even opened one and ate it on the ride home. Kichan waited at the front door.

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"I told you to walk."

"They did not melt." She offered him a bar. He did not take it.

"Cover your ears first."

"The cloth fell off."

"I know." Riphiel went inside as though nothing had happened. Batu followed. In a vehicle parked across the road, a camera shutter clicked again and again. Riphiel's face. The long ears exposed through her hair. Batu's armor and fangs. All three were in the same frame.

His father appeared on the left screen. He was climbing the apartment stairs on a rainy day, dragging one leg. The same man climbed the stairs on the right screen. This time, he carried a shopping bag and went up two floors without stopping. The next photograph was his mother. The woman who had carried a stack of flyers with a pain-relief patch on her shoulder was, days later, walking with bottled water and rice in both hands.

"Medical records?"

"No new treatment."

"Medication brought into the home?"

"None confirmed." The man listening to the report moved to the next photograph. His parents' gait and faces had changed since the day Han Kichan returned. The cause was inside the home. But they could not see inside. The curtains were drawn. An agent who approached the front door had been forced back by an enormous animal. Plans to install a new camera were on hold too.

"You said the animal was a dog."

"That was how it looked at first." Another agent played a video. The apartment entrance opened. A small girl rode out on a huge animal. As they passed beneath a streetlight, the shaggy-dog outline broke apart. Armor. Long fangs. Heavy forepaws low to the ground. The video paused.

"It appears to be a saber-toothed tiger."

"An extinct animal coming out of an apartment building?"

"The armor is not ornamental either. There are impact marks on its surface." The video resumed. As the tiger accelerated, a cloth fell from the girl's head. Ears emerged from her hair. Long. Pointed. Even enlarged, the image showed no adhesive seam or prosthetic edge. Whenever the wind parted her hair, the bases of her ears moved with her skin. The last photograph had been taken at the grocery entrance. The girl was looking up. No one viewing it spoke at once.

It was a neighborhood grocery, without special lighting or makeup. But sharing the frame with ordinary people made her face look stranger still. Too even. Too sharply defined. It was hard to explain unless she was something made to look human. The man returned to the first screen. The recovered parents. On the next screen, the girl with long ears. Then the armored saber-toothed tiger. All had come from Han Kichan's home.

"Do we mark it confirmed?"

"At the very least, that girl is not from here."

"When Han Kichan is with her?"

"We do not approach."

"The animal?"

"Not when it is with her either." The man replayed Riphiel leaving the grocery. She held ice cream in both hands. The moment she climbed onto the tiger, she tore open a wrapper.

"She seems to like those." Short lines appeared in a corner of the screen. `Interest: sweet foods. ` `Monitor for unaccompanied outings. ` At home, Riphiel was pushing the ice cream to the back of the freezer. Argaon climbed above the vegetable drawer and stretched out a paw.

"Just one."

"No."

"You bought several."

"With my money."

"It was Kichan's money." Riphiel shut the freezer.

"I went to get them. They are my share."

"Batu went to get them." Batu yawned in front of the refrigerator. After a moment's thought, Riphiel took out a bar and set it before him.

"Your share."

"What about me?"

"Have some ice." Argaon's tail struck the refrigerator door. Kichan washed the fallen ear covering and laid it on the table.

"Walk next time."

"I will be even faster next time."

"That's not what I meant." Riphiel was already opening another bar.

The back of the freezer was empty. Riphiel even checked the vegetable drawer. Argaon might have hidden some there. Nothing.

"Kichan." An answer came from the living room.

"What?"

"There is no ice cream."

"You ate it all."

"That is why there is none." Kichan did not look up from his phone.

"Buy some tomorrow."

"The store is still open."

"You've had enough today." Riphiel closed the freezer. Argaon lay stretched along the back of the sofa.

"I didn't get any either."

"You had two."

"Small ones." Riphiel went to her room. She did not shut the door. Kichan would notice if she did. In a small dish on the desk lay the change from her first trip to the grocery. Coins and folded bills. She put them in her pocket. She tied on her ear covering and pulled up her hood. She did not touch the sword. Kichan had told her several times that people did not carry blades here. The television was on in the living room. His parents watched the late news, and Kichan folded the postal receipt at the table.

Batu lay between the bedroom and the front door. Riphiel crouched before him.

"You guard the house." Batu opened his eyes. She scratched him between the armor plates and stood. Before he could get up to follow, Kichan's father sneezed in the living room. The tiger's ears turned that way. Riphiel opened the front door in that moment. A television commercial swallowed the sound of it closing.

The second trip was short. She knew where to turn. She had learned what the crossing lights meant and which way the grocery's glass door opened. The owner recognized her.

"No big dog today?" Riphiel did not understand the words, but she understood the gesture imitating Batu. She shook her head. From the freezer she chose the same wrappers as last time. Not one, but four. She paid and opened one as soon as she left the store. Cold sweetness spread through her mouth. She lowered her hood a little.

"Yes. This is it." A man stood at the mouth of the alley. A woman approached from the other side. Eating her ice cream, Riphiel watched their feet. Their paces differed, but their eyes went to the same places. Her wrists and waist. She took the bar from her mouth.

"Block my way and you will get hurt." The man reached out. Riphiel caught and twisted his wrist. Turning, she drove him into the wall. The ice cream fell from her hand. Behind her, the woman pressed a small canister. White vapor spread before Riphiel's face. Holding her breath, Riphiel struck the woman's chin with her elbow. The woman fell backward. Two more people emerged from opposite ends of the alley. An electrified net spread open. Riphiel seized one edge and pulled. The man holding it stumbled toward her.

Her knee drove into his stomach. A second net covered her shoulders. Current surged through it. Her fingers locked. She clenched her teeth and took another step. In the low mana, her body would not respond as it normally did. White vapor hissed from beside her again. This time, she could not hold her breath. Her knees hit the ground.

"Do not touch me." She bit the nearest ankle. Someone screamed. Three people piled onto her. Riphiel twisted until her hood tore. Even after her shoulder struck the alley wall, she broke one person's nose. One last surge of current. Her body fell sideways. A torn bag of ice cream hung from her fingertips. A vehicle door opened. As they carried her inside, the bag scraped the ground. The plastic split, and the remaining ice cream fell into the alley. The door shut. The black vehicle left.

Melting ice cream and torn plastic remained on the ground. A dark green thread pulled from Riphiel's hood clung to them.

At home, Batu lifted his head. He raised his nose toward the entrance. Riphiel's scent led to the door. But there were no footsteps from her inside.