"Yeah, little Gwen has always had her own ideas. She's super reliable!"
"Yeah, she always has that blank expression. So cool... When will I be able to be like her?"
"You just need to stop being such a chatterbox."
"We're counting on you, little Gwen!"
The tall girl reached up and swept back her long hair, its white strands flowing like water through a glacier.
She pointed in a direction. "Over there."
Gwen and her friends immediately fell silent. After a while, several translucent figures floated out of the fortifications and peered cautiously in the direction she had indicated.
There was nothing there.
"Little Gwen, why over there? How did you know?"
"Could she have just guessed?"
Even Gwen wore a suspicious look.
But the girl did not answer. She looked directly at Gwen, her white eyes meeting Gwen's white eyes. "Gwen, find the thread."
Gwen froze, then slowly closed her eyes. When she opened them again, her noisy friends had all vanished. In their place were thread after thread.
"This one is Zoe's. These two belong to those two big brothers. This one... um, this one belongs to Lord Theus. This one..."
Gwen grasped the thread in her hand. A warm, familiar feeling welled up inside her as she followed its direction with her gaze.
The other end seemed to be somewhere nearby.
"This is... another Gwen's?"
No one answered her. Her friends were no longer beside her. She was alone.
Unaccustomed to it, Gwen hesitated for a moment. Then she stood and looked in that direction again, her gaze much firmer than before.
"I'll go take a look first... Does another Gwen really exist?"
Gwen gripped her longsword, slashing and blocking mechanically.
This time, she did not even have the spare time to feel tired or think.
This