Resonance.
What a subtle word.
Back at Rhodes Island, Silence truly loved Ifrit, even harboring something akin to a desire for atonement. That love came from above, carrying strictness; no matter what she said, it would be seen as parental discipline.
But on closer thought, something had indeed been missing from Ifrit's upbringing.
Her own kind.
Ifrit's growth had lacked others like her.
Warfarin lowered her head and spoke as she pondered, "Have you ever thought about why it had to be here? Why this particular place?"
"Don't start talking about currents of fate or anything. I don't believe in predestination."
Silence, on the other hand, remained perfectly calm.
She had lived nowhere near as long as Warfarin. The latter shook her head with a sigh, unwilling to argue about it further, and instead turned her attention to the two girls in detective capes, finding them far more interesting.
Slurp.
If only she could get a taste of the Queen of Thunder's fresh blood. That would be even more wonderful.
The two girls entered a clothing store and briefly disappeared from their sight. Silence felt her heart skip a beat and hurriedly dragged Warfarin inside.
"We're looking for two people..."
Ifrit thought about the various traces she had seen along the way, then uncertainly blurted out her description.
She said, "Those two had a really strong smell on them. They were filthy, like they'd crawled out of a dumpster. Do you remember them?"
"Playing detective?"
The clerk was happy to talk to children. Ifrit's crystals were concealed by her detective cape, and no one could tell that she was Infected now. Naturally, there was none of the discrimination that came with it.
The clerk scratched her head. She had not thought anything was unusual at first, but after hearing Ifrit's