The same pale hand that had once learnt to clutch a pen, with ink stains streaming along the tiny palm; is now clasping a shimmering sword, not only with experience but with considerable expertise.
The same gentle feet that had once learnt to hold her weight; are now poised for rapid movement, ready to leap and shift at an instant’s warning.
Fredi had changed.
As little as Alfdin wants to admit it, she knows her little sister has changed.
Fredi’s messy hair is shorter, no longer to her waist. Fighting had proved to be a challenge with her previous blonde cascading locks, something no ponytail or plait could fix. Her new look, with a short pixie haircut, suits her new personality better. Alfdin knows that. But, Alfdin misses the other Fredi. The younger Fredi.
The Fredi that giggled uncontrollably whenever she saw any dog in the street, and chased every butterfly within her sight. The Fredi that smiled, and sat and listened to Alfdin’s stories about dangerous dragons and mighty adventures, and didn’t ask strategic questions. The questions were simpler back then.
“How big was the dragon? Bigger than our entire house?” had morphed into “So, did you attack the underbelly or the cheek?”
Alfdin loves Fredi. She really does. But it isn’t the same.
And it never would be.
Alfdin no longer heard her sister’s childlike voice in her head on missions. Didn’t need to. Fredi was right there.
Going on adventures with Fredi always felt strange. What had previously been times of chaos and recklessness, had transformed into moments of systematically making sure Fredi was in the least possible danger.
It had been frustrating for Fredi, and for Alfdin too.
The sisterly relationship that had previously been so impenetrable, has been reduced to that of friends in an adventuring group.
The lasting memories of their childhood burned strong for both of them. Was it possible that Alfdin has changed? That Fredi is just following her lead?
No. It can’t be. Alfdin hasn’t changed that much. It had always been her dream to adventure. Fredi had always wanted to be a nurse.
Fredi had wanted to be a nurse.
The same girl who now decapitates orcs, goblins and even trolls, without a second thought, could not be the young girl who had cried when she stepped on miniscule ants, who had wanted to be a nurse to save helpless victims of war.
The same girl who is left to her own devices, killing nameless creatures left and right, is the one who wanted to save lives and swore to Alfdin that she would never take one.
Alfdin knows that just healing the innocent isn’t possible anymore, and so does Fredi. Fredi is protecting, just not in the way either of them had imagined.
The world is changing.
And in the blink of an eye, so is Fredi.