Aisling jumped down from the carriage without a word and headed toward the sea on her own.
Reaching a high point, Aisling stood atop a small hill and silently gazed at the boundless deep-blue ocean before her.
"Beautiful, isn't it?"
Roy dragged his still-unsteady body behind Aisling. Looking at her absentminded silhouette as she stared out at the sea, he teased her in a relaxed tone.
"This is a massive saltwater lake that no merchant could ever exhaust in a lifetime. Sometimes I wonder..."
Aisling continued gazing calmly at the sea, seemingly deaf to Roy's words behind her. She silently raised her left hand and pointed at the empty bay before them, muttering blankly to herself.
"Tell me, what lies on the other side of the sea?"
Seeing that Aisling seemed a little possessed, Roy assumed her teenage delusions were acting up again. But after mocking her over Jiahao on the train and causing a whole mess, he truly did not dare spoil her mood this time. He could only cautiously ask her back in a weak voice.
"Do you mean... freedom?"
Aisling said nothing in response. After a moment, she calmly began telling a story of her own accord.
"When I was little, my parents took me on a vacation to the French coast. That was the first time I saw the sea, and also the only time."
Roy did not interrupt her. He quietly listened as Aisling told him about her childhood.
"I was seven that year. Looking at the endless ocean, I—someone who had never experienced a magical surge my entire life—revealed my talent as a wizard for the first time..."
"Standing on a beach along France's western coast, facing that endless azure sea, I suddenly saw a much older version of myself standing in another bay.