The soft light of late afternoon filtered through the school's colorful stained glass windows, tinging the corridors with warm shades of amber and violet. The distant sound of students returning to their routines filled the room with a comforting familiarity, as if everything was returning to normal... or almost.
At the top of an internal staircase, sitting on a ledge padded with enchanted cushions, Erika and Stella looked out over the schoolyard. The veteran swordswoman had her hair down for the first time in days, and Stella was still wiping her eyes with a finely embroidered handkerchief, her face slightly swollen from crying.
"You should have seen your face when you saw me," said Erika, trying to lighten the mood with a tired smile.
"You... you're very cruel, you know that?" mumbled Stella, sniffling. "I thought you were dead! You were always so... so impossible to take down. I thought..." her voice faltered, and new tears threatened to flow.
