This story is part of the Wanderer series.
A thin stream of water coated the ceramic tiles, running down the steep slope. Inside, Rin sat at the dining table, hunched over with her chin pressed against the table top, her mouth tucked into her crossed arms. She blankly stared forward, eyes glazing over the cold stove dully lit by the kitchen window. Soft thumps gently tapped the roof above, providing a soothing blanket of ambient noise that could aid anyone into deep slumber.
Yuka sat on the side perpendicular to Rin, facing towards the open sliding door. With her elbows tucked into her sides, her hands worked with two knitting needles, keeping herself busy.
Tilting her head to the side, Rin shifted her gaze towards the door, idly peering through slit eyes at the gentle curtain of silver droplets.
“Of course it rains once we get here.”
Yuka smiles, keeping her eyes on her work. “Well, I could use a break from our journey before I start cleaning up the garden.”
Raising her head and pressing her cheek into her palm, Rin sighed. “I was going to bring Nozomi closer to the Tree today, but I don’t think she’ll want to go out in this rain.”
“There’s always tomorrow,” she chuckled.
“Or later, at this rate,” Rin added. “With all this rain. Even if it’s just wet, she would probably slip and fall.”
Yuka responded with a muted murmur, staying focused on her task. Rin continued to watch the rain, her mind wandering as it grasped for something to keep her occupied. Reflecting on her words a little longer, her eyes then lit up.
“Where did she go anyway, after eating breakfast?”
Yuka finally looked up from her knitting, turning towards the stairwell. “Did she go back upstairs?”
Sliding her chair back, Rin stood up. “She didn’t possibly go outside, did she?”
Without waiting for a response, Rin walked towards the open door and stepped out onto the sheltered deck. It did not occur to her to check upstairs first.
Glancing left and right, she did not see her. Then, she chose a direction and set off, following the deck as it wrapped around the house. On the adjacent side, she still did not see Nozomi, seeing the empty deck dead end into one of the cottage’s protruding walls. She retraced her steps to the back of the house again and took the other direction. Turning the corner, she still did not see Nozomi, but continued along anyway as the deck on this side of the house wrapped all the way to the front porch. There, she found her, crouched down in front of the door with her one arm on top of the other on her knees. She glanced up as Rin approached.
“What are you doing out here?” Rin mumbled, pretending she was not at least a little curious.
“Hm?” she started, not hearing all of Rin’s words clearly under the blanket of pattering. “I’m looking at the rain.”
Coming to a stop by her side, Rin looked out over the stretch of tallgrass, wet and shiny from the weather. Nozomi turned her gaze back out with her.
“You’re that bored, huh?” Rin mused, finding herself able to relate.
“No, this is fun to watch,” she piped up. “I haven’t seen rain this closely before.”
Rin subtly scrunched her face in disbelief. “You’ve never seen rain before? Are you kidding me?”
“No, I have seen rain before!” Nozomi pushed back. “Just not this close!”
The statement did not clear up Rin’s confusion. “What do you mean?”
Stretching out a hand, Nozomi reached beyond the shade of the roof. “I can reach out and touch the water. I can feel it hit my hand. And I can hear it all around me, bouncing off of everything!”
She smiled enthusiastically as she described her newfound experience. Stood beside her, Rin gazed out at the lush, wet landscape, crossing her arms as she still wore a puzzled expression.
“That’s just rain, though. If you… truly lived up high in a flying castle, wouldn’t you see rain all the time?”
“No, Sen didn’t let it rain in our castle,” Nozomi explained, retracting her arm to her knees. She did not shake off the beads of water on her hand, rubbing it instead into her other bicep. “All we had was foggy clouds that made everything feel wet. Or sometimes little drops of water she called ‘drizzle.’”
Rin let her shoulders sag while keeping an eyebrow raised. “How sheltered is this girl?” she thought to herself.
With a sudden beam spreading across her face, Nozomi sprung up from her crouch, straightening her arms to her sides. Surprised by the motion, Rin instinctively reached out and grabbed her shoulder. She knew too well at this point what Nozomi meant to do.
“Don’t go out,” she said with a stern face.
Nozomi flinched, abruptly looking back at her with naive alarm. “Why not?”
This made her pause, caught off guard by Nozomi’s wide, curious eyes. She recalled her previous thoughts, realizing she was only enforcing Nozomi’s sheltered state.
“Just… Stay within the house’s garden, okay? Do not go into the forest.”
Her restrictions only seemed to make Nozomi even more curious. “What’s bad about the forest?”
“You’ll… You’ll catch a cold…” she came up on the spot. “… or something, if you’re out too long.”
“I won’t get cold, don’t worry!” Nozomi set off with a grin.
“Just…! Don’t go too far, okay?!” Rin shouted after her.
“Okay! Okay!” she hastily conceded, rushing away at speed before Rin could change her mind and drag her back. Rin recognized this and, with a frown, threw out one last jab.
“Don’t blame me if you slip and fall!”