“Ready to hand the apron over for a while Krysm?” Crystal’s voice was sad but hopeful at the same time, always leaving the promise that The Blessing would be here for the owner when she returned from her travels. Krysm had done so much for the community since she’d opened her bar here a few months after the war and had charmed people like the Elder herself had not been able to. Now, some unexpected business and some much needed relaxation time had brought Krysm to the point of asking Crystal if she’d watch over the empty building while she left. Though the older elf with the air of secrecy around her didn’t say too much about where she was going, the auburn haired woman wasn’t sure she wanted to know where exactly she was going. Preferring to think she was visiting pointy tipped eared grandchildren, questions didn’t exactly flow freely from Crystal’s lips as she sat at the bar watching Krysm getting ready to step to the stage where the band usually played charmingly, getting ready to make the announcement that this would be the last night for the Blessing for quite some time.

A pair of gray leggings had somehow found their way onto Crystal’s legs tonight, cutting off at mid calf as she turned on the stool to watch the band play their final song. She wasn’t used to wearing leggings under her clothing, but the air had simply been too chilly to not wear something with the skirt that ended around three inches above her knee. Somehow, with her height, it always seemed to look shorter than she thought decent for a woman of her age, though she only looked to be in her mid to late twenties. When she was on the streets of Genil, she was Crystal Dinaia, an Elder and a person of a respectable position. She dressed accordingly when she was there, business clothing and pearls, but here, she was someone else entirely. Crystal was the young woman in the Blessing that she’d been longing to be for more than three hundred years. A long sleeved white shirt made out of t-shirt material fell to her thighs, covering the waist band on her denim skirt, the bottom hem ragged from working in the garden in it. Rather than zipping, it buttoned up with sweet little bronze buttons, worn into their button holes well. Her gray pumps had been forgotten somewhere after she’d come in the door, probably hiding under the bar or a random table.

Crystal’d spent most of the afternoon at Kentaro’s manor, finding footholds in a friendship she still didn’t understand. Coming here to talk to Krysm, a nice lady who had become something of a confidant, she’d been dismayed at the closing of the Blessing. It was her frequenting spot, close to home, yet an atmosphere that made her forget who exactly she was. Or maybe, that was just the alcohol. She’d left his house giddy almost, revived and relaxed, but finding that when she returned home, sleep was the furthest thing from her mind. The other Elder had said things that she couldn’t begin to decipher alone. Simple girl talk had been needed, but she’d been greeted with much more. As she lounged, elbows on the bar and her legs crossed in front of her, she imagined the windows of the Blessing in the Flask darkened and the doors barred. She patted the keys in her pocket and shook her head slowly, her coppery-red hair falling and rearranging itself in little ribbons from the movement. Things like this were inevitable.

“So you were a teacher? With three kids? That’s an almost unimaginable task…” Crystal poured herself a glass of tea as well as she observed the man. He seemed gentile enough, honest even, as he spoke about his past. It always interested her to hear about other places, other worlds she assumed, because almost all of them were unlike the others. It had always been her obligation to keep the names of the worlds of arrivers to herself though, even if said places matched up with others she’d heard about earlier. Some people who arrived here wanted a fresh start, somewhere where the past didn’t matter and the future was unlimited and she respected that wish. She didn’t honestly know what she would do if someone from her world and time was to approach her, if she would admit that she was the same Crystal from that time so far in her past.

The next question stunned her for a moment because it was so close to her own thoughts. She sucked in a bit too much tea and proceeded to cough after swallowing it, then went for another sip to calm the raspy feeling in her throat. What had she truly liked to do in the past? “Before I came here, I suppose I was doing much the same thing I’m doing now, except in much smaller doses. I was an attorney, but I was on the wrong side of the lines. I defended criminals and despite the fact that I proved a few innocent men innocent, I proved more guilty men innocent.” She set her class down and her hand rubbed some of the condensation off onto the bar. As the water droplets moved down the clear material, she wiped her hand on her skirt and smiled almost secretively, “But that wasn’t what I liked to do. I got an adrenaline rush out of it, yes, but what really caused my soul to soar was to paint. Watercolors primarily. Something about the serene value that just made it worthwhile.”