It took a while before Renee realized she was a little bit lost. She tried retracing her step for a bit and looking outside the window to help her determine which part of the building she was in, but she eventually gave up and returned to the balcony. Impulsively, she sat perched on the edge of the railing as she looked over the view of the world. She knew that if she lost her balance and fell forward, she might plummet down to her death, but she didn’t feel an ounce of fear. As she watched the birds fly past, an idea came to her. 

She had seen Lirion create a nythral before. Why can’t she create one of her own to help her find what she was looking for? 

Renee brought her hands together and summoned mana into the cups of her palms. She closed her hands and concentrated, then opened her palms again. Glowing white butterflies burst forth from her hand, taking off into the sky. Their delicate wings shimmered like stars as they scattered into the air.

“Fly high,” Renee smiled proudly at her creations, then jokingly added, “And lead me to what my heart desires.” Hopefully, if her will was conveyed properly, one of them will come back to lead her to the library or help her return to the more familiar areas of the Court of Saints.

It did not take long for one of them to come back. Renee eagerly swung her legs back over the railing so she could hop down from the balcony railing and chase after the butterfly. It led her down a hallway, down some flights of stairs, and into places where Renee still hadn’t ventured yet. 

Is it leading me to the library?

Renee then heard the unmistakable sound of piano music echoing through the empty hallway.

“That’s not what I asked for.” Renee muttered to the butterfly, but curiosity drove her forward. Following the sound of music in addition to the butterfly, Renee came across an unfamiliar room where someone was playing on a piano alone by themselves.

When they heard Renee’s footsteps approaching, the music came to a sudden halt. 

“Who’s there?” Lirion’s voice came through the doorway. 

“It’s me.” Renee popped her head through the doorway. “Hello, Lirion.”

“You again.” Lirion noted before turning back to the piano. Renee noticed that he was looking at her butterfly, which was now perched on his hand. 

Unlike the other saints, who wore clothes that resemble some sort of saint uniform or fall into some ambiguous formal dress code, Lirion didn’t wear as many layers, despite the fact that it was only a few days after the Winter Solstice and they were still in the middle of winter. He seemed to have opted out of the overcoat and only wore a white vest with gold details over a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up. He was still wearing his cravat pinned with a brooch at his throat. 

Perhaps, as someone used to the colder climates in Asteria, he was feeling a little too warm in Elysia. The air in this room was already cooler than outside, which Renee suspected was due to his magic.

Without a fitted overcoat, his shoulders seemed even broader and the muscle definitions in his torso and upper arms were much more visible. Perhaps because he was recruited as a saint at only twenty years old, he still retained a bit of boyish youthness to his slim form. His movements had an air of aristocratic grace to them, unlike Ardien, whose movements were steady and firm due to his swordsmanship skill. 

 Renee forced herself to look away when she realized she was ogling him a little too openly. Luckily, he seemed more distracted by the butterfly on his hand.

There was a beat of silence before the butterfly dissipated, reaching the end of its limited lifespan as the mana that made up its form finally burnt out.

“I didn’t know you played the piano.” Renee spoke again. “You’re very good.”

“Thank you,” Lirion replied, then he resumed playing again, his delicate, long fingers flying skillfully across the keys. She didn’t know that those hands, which were capable of destroying nythrals, were also capable of creating such musical performance.

Renee was enthralled by the music. It was light and delicate, a mix of contentment and sadness, regret and hope. It was so beautiful that Renee didn’t budge from the doorway. Instead, she leaned her head against it as she relished in the music.

The song regretfully came to an end, its last few notes lingering in the air before fading into silence.

“That was beautiful.” Renee finally said.

“My mother wrote that piece.” Lirion replied. “She loved music.”

Renee suddenly didn’t know what to say next. She didn’t expect Lirion to say something like that.

“What brings you here?” Lirion thankfully broke the awkward silence, turning to look at her again.

“I was looking for the library.” Renee explained. “I just wanted to read some history books.”

“Unfortunately, there isn’t a library here anymore. Matthias didn’t like the thought of a library that the general public can’t access, so he donated all the books to the University of Elysia.”

“He did?” Renee asked, then snorted. “Of course he did. That sounded like something he would do.”

It was a good decision, really. Books should be read, not hoarded, so Matthias had made a very reasonable decision, in Renee’s opinion.

“Well, it’s too late for me to go out to town now.” Renee left the doorway and flopped down on the bench beside Lirion.

“What are you doing?” Lirion asked.

“Can we play a duet together?” Renee asked brightly. She knew she was being a bit cheeky with her forwardness, but she wanted to stay and get to know Lirion better. 

“…Do you know how to play?”

In response, Renee laid her fingers on the keys and played a few notes. 

Lirion then placed his own fingers back on the keys. 

“Do you have a piece in mind?” Lirion asked. 

“Not really. I’ll just follow your lead this time.”

Lirion started off with a pleasant tune, and Renee added her melody into it, merging the two seamlessly. As their fingers danced across the piano, Renee felt a fluttering sensation in her stomach. She wasn’t sure if it was from nervousness, excitement, or something else.

She tried sparking a conversation with him. “How come I don’t see you in the dining hall during meal times?”

“Communal meal time is not required.” Lirion answered without even looking at her.

He wasn’t wrong. Shen rarely shows up either, which is why Matthias often acted as the de facto leader of the saints.

“So, did your mother teach you the piano?”

“Yes, she used to play for me and my sister.”

“Do you know how to play any other instrument?”

“No, I didn’t have much time outside of piano and lessons.”

Lirion’s answer was straight to the point and left no room for further conversation so Renee struggled to find another topic to talk about.

“I never thanked you for helping me out of the aether plane back then.” Renee said. “Thank you for that. And thank you for taking the blame when I used my own mana in the aether plane, although I’m not sure why you did it.”

Lirion shrugged. “I’m already disliked, so why not add another mistake to the list?”

Renee gave him a look of confusion as her playing picked up a bit of speed. “You’re not disliked. The other saints clearly treated you as family.”

“Clearly, they do.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Maybe they act nice to my face, but I’m sure they are talking about me behind my back.”

Renee wasn’t fully sure how to respond to that, but her fingers started pounding out music notes more and more aggressively as tension started rising.

Lirion continued speaking. “I’m sure they are talking about you too, being the only girl in here. That’s the kind of people they are, pretending to be all perfect and divine, but alienating anyone who doesn’t fit in—”

“Stop!” Renee shouted. Her playing came to a sudden and discordant stop as she smashed a bunch of keys together in her anger. “Don’t talk about them like that!”

Lirion seemed slightly taken aback by her passionate outburst. “Why are you defending them if you heard what they said about you when they first met you?”

“Firstly, it wasn’t all of them. Secondly, just because they have a bad personality doesn’t mean they are bad people. I’m sure they wouldn’t have been chosen to be saints if they were.”

She had read all about the things they did for the sake of humanity and met the future incarnations of themselves. They weren’t bad people. They all willingly sacrificed their life to seal Eris and save the world.

“Well, Eislyn clearly made a mistake with me.”

“No, she didn’t.” Renee contradicted him. “You’re letting your doubts and insecurity get the best of you. You’re better than that, Lirion.”

Lirion stood up from the bench, slamming his hands into the piano keys as well. “You know nothing about me.”

But she did. She knew him as someone who comforted her when she blamed herself for her parents’ coma. He was someone who offered a lost girl his coat because he thought she was cold, and fought off a pack of aggressive nythrals while protecting her. Why can’t he see himself that way? 

Renee took a deep breath, trying to calm back down. “Before you judge your fellow saints so harshly, you should do some research first. For example, look up what the Kin Law is. It was a rather recent amendment to the code of saints.”

After she said her piece, she got up from the piano bench and swept out of the room.