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"Alfred, you have nearly begun to live" it was a soft and caring voice that went through Alfred's mind.

"Who is it?" he asked confused and a bit scared but the voice was so familiar and yet so strange.

"Don't be there where you are or you'll never live" the voice wasn't on a specific spot or hearing range, it just said it.

"But you said that I've nearly begun to live" he was bathed in purest and whitest light, saw upon himself and realized he was naked but didn't care at that moment. He turned and turned but never really saw a difference in the light in the turns "What are you trying to say? And where am I?" The voice constantly changed locations of hearing spot.

"You are so close, yet so far. You need to see into yourself, end the inner strife and move from where you are"

"What strife? I had and still have countless of them..."

"You haven't realized what of them are the most important to you" The voice began to change age sound, from young to old and vice versa.

"My guilt and Varva's death, my crush on Arthur," listed Arthur who tried to focus but the light began to get darker "my family and the society, my school... Who are you?" The darkness spread through the light which slowly came closer to him, made him frightened.

"My name is of no importance but what's important is who you are"

"What am I supposed to do?" The darkness surrounded him completely.

"Follow what's important to you" Then out of nowhere a star shone and went farther and farther away from Alfred who tried to reach it with all his might but then the darkness finally engulfed him.

He opened his eyes and blinked few times to clear the vision, moved his eyes and saw that he was still in the marble room of the Monastery of the Goddess Helva in Calvin. The soothing and calming music was still playing. He wondered for how long he had been asleep and therefore tried to lie up. This time it was not so painful, not as much as he expected to his delight. He tried out the limits of the wounded shoulder and found out that he could move it a little but it still felt sore and the pain made the movements still really slow. He sat up on the edge of the bed and it was first now he came to the realization that he didn't wear his own clothes but the clothes that felt light and warm, more comfortable than the clothes he ever wore which made him wish that he owned these. Right in front of him there was a smooth and wooden table with light brown color to match better with the whitish color of the marble room. On the table there was a handheld mirror and a handheld bell which reminded him what the assistant said. He tumbled in his memories but finally remembered her name and it was Anva, the assistant of the Headmaster Miana. He took the mirror and held it so he could see himself.

"What kind of dream was that?" thought Alfred and sighed, lowered the mirror "I'm in an inner strife?" he asked himself, closed his eyes and tried to recognize who's voice it was but at that moment he couldn't decide who it was. He placed the mirror on the table and looked down upon it; saw himself looked up to himself and said:

"What's important to me?" Since he got introduced to magic, he some sort expected unrealistically that his own mirror image would answer his question. After few seconds of silence he sighed, realized that it was useless and he was not a magician or sorcerer or whatever they called a person with control of magic.

"I won't stand here and do nothing when Craig's responsible for my sister's and probably other's deaths. It is only fair and that's what's important now!" He felt determined more than ever and decided to ring the bell with vicious shakes. Soon after the assistant Anva entered the room and looked glad but also a bit worried.

"Mister Alfred, you're finally awake" she said softly and walked in front of him and the wooden table "You have slept for nearly 12 hours." she sat down on the decorated and possibly comfortably chair.

"That much?" said Alfred surprised and wondered how it can be he slept for so long

"Yes, Mister Alfred, we got worried, at least I did, that you might have entered a magical slumber" Anva saw the confusion on Alfred face, said the following: "Let me explain: The music is for healing purpose but if the music sounds terrible for the patient the wounds would get worse, that's not the case with you. If the music is too good for the patient he or she might get into a magical slumber that can't be interrupted and since the music is the source it must continue until the patient wakes up or else there might be a chance for you to enter an 'eternal' slumber"

"You mean death?" he had his eyes wide open of fright, felt something getting twisted inside of him.

"No, Mister Alfred, the slumber would just get prolonged where it could take weeks or maybe months before the patient would wake up again, but it is misleading, I agree on that" She nodded conformal for what she said and saw that Alfred took a deep breath of relief. She continued:

"We have considered many times to rename it but we couldn't really find a fitting name to a sleep that gets randomly prolonged. What relieves me is that I see that Headmistress Miana is right, as always"

"Right about what?" he forgot his determination and got all curious; maybe it's something about the dream he had, perhaps it was Headmistress Miana that was the voice in his dream. It could explain a lot for she was the one that controlled the music and maybe she had other kind of magic up in her sleeve.

"That you, Mister Alfred, would awake within 12 hours and she actually said 12 hours. I doubted her but the doubt got washed away when I heard the bell"

He got reminded for why he rang the bell and therefore asked:

"By the way, where's Arthur?" A million thoughts went through his just awakened mind, confusing him a bit which made him sigh shortly. Anva didn't answer right away since she sensed that he had more in mind and she was right; he continued his question"... And can I come to talk with Headmistress Miana?"

"Arthur has taken a walk on the hills around the monastery a little while ago to get some fresh air. When he heard Miana's prediction he said he would be there until you'll come to him" Anva explained softly and tried to answer the question carefully since she was there when Alfred and Arthur shouted at each other.

Alfred's head was still a bit fuzzy after one of his longest sleeps in his life so it took few seconds before he fully understood her answer while he stroke his eyelids to awaken more.

"About Headmistress Miana: She's cooking dinner with Sister Clara and Sister Miriam"

"Dinner?" thought Alfred unclear and asked "What time is it, Anva?"

"Please call me Sister Anva, as you should with my other Sisters. The time is about 7 at evening so you've awaken in appropriate time for eating if you want to join us" she finished her saying by folding her hands together so the white and blue colors of her clothing intertwined.

Alfred just realized how hungry he was at that moment even though it didn't growled for food. He explained as it growled while he was asleep which would make sense. He also felt that he was really thirsty for his lips felt quite sticky and uncomfortable; after all last he had eaten was before the assault of Craig and his bandit members and that was about more than a day ago. Before he would care about his intentions with Miana and Arthur he wanted something to satisfy his crucial needs and therefore asked:

"Could I get something to eat and drink for I'm quite hungry and thirsty, Sister Anva?"

"We expected that so we readied a smaller meal and a bottle of water for you, Mister Alfred" answered Anva right away, continued with "Now sit down and relax while I get your meal" and walked out of the room gently on feet.

He never felt that terrible before: He got stabbed through his shoulder; he found out that the accident at the rope bridge was not an accident, instead it was a murder initiated by the wolf bandit leader Craig; he had serious argument with his crush for the first time and he hadn't got something to drink nor eat either for about 24 hours. He wasn't even in his own clothes even though it didn't count as something bad since the clothes he wore now was the most comfortable he ever tried and his own clothes probably was nasty and heavy of blood and sweat. Where they were and what status they had was something he wanted to find out after he had talked with both Arthur and Headmistress Miana.

The door opened and in came Anva with a plate of some steak and potatoes, a bottle of water and a glass. He never felt so happy for food than he did now; after a abrupt "Thank you" he ate the meal in no time and emptied the bottle of water right after. It wasn't so much to fill the hollow stomach of Alfred's but it certainly helped on it, gave him a bit of strength he needed to walk firmly and properly. After the meal he wanted to ask three last things for Anva. He doubted at first though because he didn't want to be rude or a rascal but asked anyway:

"What kind of specie are you, Sister Anva?"

"Oh yes, I seem to always forget that there aren't many people who are able to guess my specie origin: I'm mixed specie between a shepherd and a jackal, Mister Alfred" she nodded when she finished her sentence.

The second question was about where to find Arthur which Anva answered by saying that Arthur was in the hills that could be found behind the monastery and he should just follow a little track that had been formed by the nuns and people who wanted to go to the hills, easing their minds as their purpose.

"Can these clothes take the chilly weather, Sister Anva?" asked Alfred as the last question, stroke the clothes as he asked to feel their comfortable clothe stuff.

"Yes it can but it is recommended that you take something over to ensure your recovery"

"There's no need; I'm used to the cold from the North so this is fine" he smiled lightly as a conformal sign to Anva about his claim.

He left the Monastery of Her Goddess Helva; it was evening and it was around in the middle of the autumn. He couldn't find the sun nor stars or the moon either but there was light enough to find the little track that was placed behind the monastery, lead to the hills. He stopped walking briefly to take a deep breath; he wanted to make things right with Arthur right now and didn't really give Headmistress Miana and bandit leader Craig a thought. He followed the path and saw just now that the leaves of the bushes and trees had just turned reddish, yellowish, orange and brownish; they were far south of Melren after all but they didn't reach the warm places yet. A branch stood in the way and as soon he turned it to the site he found a little hill where he could barely see a draft of a person who sat on a stone beside a little bush. He walked up at the hill and could shortly after see that it was Arthur.

"Hey, Arthur" he softly said and slowly walked closer.

"Oh hey, Alfred. You're awake" replied Arthur, sounded a bit surprised and turned to see his friend.

"Yeah" they made an eye contact to each other, even in the dimness.

"So... how's your arm and shoulder, Alfred?" Arthur turned his look from Alfred's eyes to the somewhat visible bandages beneath the monastery clothes.

"It's okay now so... don't worry about" he gently placed his hand on the bandages to show it didn't hurt so much.

"Good to hear, Alfred. I suppose you also got something to eat. Their meals are great compared to the Melren's standards"

"Yes, that's true" even though he didn't think of it like that and quickly said to change subject "So... what are you doing here, Arthur?"

"The nuns and the local people said this place can calm and ease your mind, especially at evenings and nights so... that's what I'm doing I guess"

Now the scenario where Alfred shouted at Arthur showed clearly in Alfred's mind and felt guilty and sorry for Arthur thus said the following:

"I'm... I'm really sorry that I... shouted at you... Arthur" Alfred broke the eye contact and looked over the hill and saw many higher and smaller hills alike.

"No, it's fine. I'm sorry that I shouted at you too" Arthur followed Alfred example and looked over the hill and continued "it's just such a huge change for your life, I mean... you told me that you and your family was convinced that it was an accident and now... you got informed it was a murder. It must be hard; I just didn't grab the gravity of it" Arthur alternately looked at the nature and Alfred as he spoke and placed his head on his hands when he finished his saying.

Alfred had all forgot about his parents and friends at home, didn't had a single thought of them. This was such information of really great importance: If he were to inform his parents about it they would probably speak with their society and try to find the murderer at any cost. There would be doubts if it would be done by justice or lust for revenge for wolves had their pride as one of their priorities which Alfred didn't recognize in him.

He felt such guilt that he accused his crush for not had tried tragedies; he could imagine how hard it must be to know that your friends were still there but unable to meet and not knowing how they were. To not know something can be painful and he knew that because he didn't know if Arthur would respond positively to Alfred's love towards him. He didn't feel that he deserved such an amazing friend as a lover and looked down on the ground when he thought that.

"I hope we still can be acquaintances..." said Alfred in nearly a whisper but got interrupted:

"What do you mean by that, Alfred? We're still friends and you're still a special and very important to me and I don't know how to describe it but... it's like I can feel what you feel, like we're synchronized or something" he looked tense at Alfred and stood up.

"We'll work things out, Alfred, we will" after he said that he gave Alfred a soft but caring hug which was a surprise for Alfred: He slightly opened his mouth and opened his eyes a little more but few seconds after he grasped the meaning of it and responded the hug with his own.

"The night is young, Alfred. Maybe we should just sit here and watch the stars appear" said Arthur tenderly and sat down at the stone again.

"Maybe we should" the guilt got washed away when he heard the words from Arthur himself and felt such an relief, forgot all about Headmistress Miana and Craig, his parents and friends.

Arthur patted on the rock where there was space enough for another one to sit down. It might not be reasonable but Alfred felt a bit indulgent when he gave a smile as a "Yes" to Arthur's suggestion to sit down and watch the sky to be lit. His heart raced of joy and felt a little brush of mutual feelings.

"The things would work out with him... with my crush" thought Alfred and sat down beside his important relationship.

As he sat down a star lit on the sky far to the south.