So my yearly writing month has accomplished more than one thing. Not only did I complete Ob19 ahead of schedule, I also edited the previous chapters to flow better, to correct mistakes, and for various stuff. Hehehe. Anyway, onward!
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Asaph had returned, bringing the chill with him as though it had come carefully packaged in the crate with his beloved gem. Snow fell lightly, delicately, as it never had on my hometown. It had always been heavy and deep, and mother and I often had to remain inside for days. This dusting gave the town the feeling of spirits, and the constant shiver that ran through me had little to do with the cold.
That day, as even the faint light from behind thick clouds did nothing to dissipate the pallor of still morning, I dressed in the chilly room. The factory would warm the place; indeed, the house was never as cold as it would be without it due to the everpresent heat from the core furnace, but at this hour it wasn't nearly enough.
Following the scent of breakfast, I found not my father in the kitchen but Helen. "Oh, Jiri!" she chirped, turning a pancake over on the skillet. "I knew you'd be getting up soon, but I wasn't sure exactly when Asaph was coming."
It took me a moment. I had in fact left a note on the counter that I would be meeting with Asaph in the morning, and he usually came to fetch me quite early, but papa never seemed to notice such things. For Helen to do so took me by surprise. "What's that smell?" I asked. There was a strange scent, familiar, but nothing like papa's pancakes.
"Oh, just some of this." She scooped more onto the skillet before handing me a small bottle off the counter. "I brought it from home. It's orange extract, gives the pancakes a little flair."
The bottle was already uncapped and a caricature of oranges wafted around. It was as though someone had created an olfactory sketch of an orange, recognizable, and at once meaning to and not meaning to be one. "How very strange," I must have said, or something like it, because she laughed.
"Strange?" she chuckled, gently retrieving the bottle. "I guess so. I picked it up in college. My roommate was from Trinacria and she loved stuff like this. I thought she overdid it most of the time with all the food, but this is pretty good. Here, try some." In a move quicker than I had thought her capable of, she had torn off a piece and pressed it to my lips.
First was the scent, like an orange perfume, and the taste carried that to the back of my mouth. There was a sharpness around the edges that I didn't recognize, that had the makings of a brilliant contrast, as art critics go on about things like light and shadow. It clung to my palate as though it wanted me to taste every morsel, and would not let go until I did so. I eagerly set into the plate she had put on the counter for me, after a moment remembering to check my composure, but I was pleased that I had kept to my manners.
"So I've heard about your hobby," she said, leaning next to me as the next batch sizzled.
Did she mean collecting? My studies? ...god, please let it be my studies. If my father ever found out about the true direction of my time with Asaph, it would be the end of everything. He had no understanding of the finer things, and Asaph had said that people like that meet people like us with hostility. Slowly I lowered my eyelids and, as calmly as I could, asked "Pardon?"
A gentle smile touched her lips but it did nothing to calm my racing nerves. "Your pictures. Corbin says you're buying up magazines and asking the factory workers to bring in their old ones so you can put the pictures up in your room. You know, I'd like to see that sometime, when you're not getting ready to go somewhere."
I relaxed, letting out a sigh and setting down the fork that my hand had tightened around without my notice. I supposed I was further away from polite society than I wanted to think. Although with my father's ignorance, my chosen path could remain set.
Soon after, there was a knock at the door, and my heart settled. My initial nervousness at Helen's statement, although she had meant nothing of the sort by it, had lingered. "That will be Asaph. I'll be back this evening."
"All right, call if you'll be later than eleven. Corbin says you have an essay to write up."
"I wrote it last night." My remote tutor assigned us essays regularly, and I had done mine on a painting I had taken a shine to. I couldn't possibly study it properly until I saw it in person, but it existed on a distant continent, far beyond my present means, so I had to settle for pictures.
"That was fast. But you're so smart it's no problem for you, is it?" she said as she followed me to the entryway and opened the closet.
"Not usually. It's very simple work." I threw open the door and was immediately disappointed.
Rather than Asaph, his chauffeur Igasho was waiting for me. But, like a gentleman himself, Igasho bowed to me. "Master Asaph is awaiting the arrival of the new student. He sent me to fetch you in his stead."
I nodded. "Thank you. I'll be out in a moment."
As I started to close the door, Helen caught it. "Aren't you going to invite him in?" she asked, handing me my coat. "It's cold out there."
Pausing, I considered this. He hadn't asked to enter, and he had the car. On the other hand, protocol demanded that he not make such a request on his own. A second later I reopened the door. "Would you like to come in?"
Helen smiled. I couldn't see it, but I am positive of it.
The drive was mostly in silence. Although it was nearly eight am, the world was still cast in darkness, and the drive from Seafoam took only half an hour. Sleep tugged at me, although I had been well-rested the night before, and I caught myself nodding off. The soft music from the radio wasn't helping matters any either, with delicate violins as subtle as cobwebs emanating from the speaker.
"Sir," I heard a voice saying; Igasho of course, "we've arrived."
"Of course, of course..." I muttered, shaking my head to clear my mind as the car rolled to a stop.
Inside I was greeted by an attending servant I hadn't met before, who took my coat and leaned down to untie my shoes. Instinctively I pulled back, but he told me that the rain meant I would have to change into slippers, which he lay before me. They were soft and formed and just my size, and I wondered briefly how Asaph knew such a thing until I remembered that he had purchased a great deal of my wardrobe.
"They're in the sitting room," the servant informed me. "Follow me."
It was the room where Asaph and I had played chess, to the right of the entryway, and it dawned on me as I was led there that I hadn't given much thought to the new student. It didn't matter, though, since she was waiting just past the doorway.
I knew I had met her before, as one remembers the form of a sculpture. Not wanting to be impolite, I bowed to her, and she held out her hand. "Have you figured out what to do with it?" she asked with a smile before giggling airily.
Oh, that was it! I took her hand and whispered "Miss...Veronica," hoping that she hadn't caught my slight pause. There were so many people to remember, but I was learning them well. I glanced up at Asaph, standing off to the side, and he nodded, so I brushed my lips against the back of her hand and smiled up at her.
"You're learning. But that's good, that's what I'm here for too." Another laugh and she gently pulled her hand back. "Now rise, Sir Jiri."
I had to smile at that. "I'm no sir."
"Your Highness then?"
"I'm no king either."
She leaned in towards me. "Then what are you?"
Asaph touched her shoulder. "The both of you are here to learn. And someday you may associate with kings and nobility as easily as some people associate with their grocers." Reaching over with his other arm, he pulled me in. "Now come, I was introducing Miss Veronica to Madame Remi."
He spoke of one of his first acquisitions, a piece by a painter known for fantasy sequences fashioned so realistically that she was rumored in her lifetime to have the ability to enter new worlds. Veronica seemed taken by the use of color to represent emotion; rather than relying on greys and blues for sadness, Madame Remi had tinted the defeated warriors in white. I had wondered initially if this was to represent their passage as spirits, and Asaph had said that they were very much alive. But then he had stopped and wondered himself if they weren't lost souls just the same.
What had captivated me, however, was the realism. The fighters were as real as seeing people through a television screen, and the forest looked as though someone had shrunk a real one. But the detail that had caught my eye was the bent old man off to the side. He was nearly obscured, standing in a shadow of deep purple as nearly blending in with the ruined walls of the ancient, overgrown building serving as the backdrop. He seemed forlorn, staring at the soldiers with an utterly lost expression.
Veronica had noticed him as well, holding her finger a respectful distance from the canvas as she indicated him. "Was he the one the warriors had fought?" She was correct; Asaph had told me that, but she had figured it out on her own, and so he brightened, but only briefly.
"What makes you say that?" he asked cautiously, not wanting to tip his hand too much.
"He's shaded in green, so I think he may be a forest guardian. But mostly it's the movement on his hands. They're a peculiar color, like she went over them in the faintest red, and they're blurred. Madame Remi didn't make mistakes like that, so it was intentional. He cast some sort of spell on them, and I think it made him lose his mind."
"Lose his mind?" I blurted out. It was a perplexing statement and I felt I had to question it.
Asaph scowled at me but it quickly passed. "Go on, Veronica."
She laughed, and that too dissipated. "His expression. He hadn't intended to hurt them so badly, and I don't think he was entirely there at the time."
"Hmm. Jirarudan, why don't you tell Miss Veronica your conclusion."
"Oh?" Why would he want me to do that? "All right. When I first saw this, I thought as though his powers were beyond his control because he had only just come by them. They're quite new, and so he doesn't know what to do with them."
Veronica's face lit up. "Yes, that makes sense! Look how he's standing among younger plants."
Oh, was he? I hadn't noticed that, and based my assumption on his expression alone.
But Asaph drew us both together, between us and kneeling. "Such brilliant minds you both possess! Such brilliant Collectors you'll be!"
We spent the next several hours similarly discussing and dissecting further works. She was introduced to Milotic, which seemed to have mellowed sinced I first saw it.
"Does it sing?" Veronica asked, petting it and remarking on the feel of the scales.
"It...hasn't in a few weeks," Asaph admitted with some reluctance. "The water is being heated, and it doesn't seem to like that, but it's a necessity in this climate."
"Well, just the same, I'm glad Ralts lives inside with me."
Asaph seemed quite impressed by her, and in hindsight I believe it was because she understood why keeping it in a pokéball wasn't an option.
Soon it was time for lunch, and I again sat at Asaph's right, Veronica at his left. The serving girl set the plates before us, uncovering them to reveal chicken with what I later learned to be lingonberries, and a bed of whipped potatoes. Veronica said she had had such a dish at the Castle, the poshest establishment in Viridian, and had asked if it could be prepared.
But something was wrong. A cloud of garlic choked nearly everything, and the taste of it in the potatoes was nearly unbearable.
"Pardon me," Asaph said simply, and excused himself from the room, into the kitchen. Veronica and I waited for a moment before either of us spoke, and begun at the same time, as voices behind the door were raised.
"So you're from Seafoam, right?" she asked, clipping my own comment, but it was no loss at all.
"I am. There's not much there if you're not a tourist or a surfer though."
She shook her head with a force that could nearly be described as violent. "Don't you know what lives there? It's amazing!"
"Um..." Such a question confounded me, but she continued without me.
"Articuno, you silly boy! It lives on one of the islands off the coast, but it's been spotted there a bunch of times."
Yet another familiar name...yes, it was one of the Legendary Birds Asaph had spoken of. But that meant it was connected to...I could scarcely believe it. "A...did you say Articuno? The legendary Bird of Ice?"
"Yep! The one and only! Well, it's the prettiest, anyway."
I lived near to a Legendary, moreover one with a link to my Lugia...the very consideration was overwhelming, and I had to take a drink of tea to settle myself. "Beautiful..." I whispered.
"Yes...beautiful. I have to start saying that instead of 'pretty', don't I? But really it's both. Although nothing compared to Cresselia, or Equuorn, or things like that."
I had heard of neither before then, and would later discover that the latter was a unicorn possessing healing powers, native to a region far around the world that I have yet to visit. Now I doubt I ever shall. But I get ahead of myself.
"Sorry. I love the Legendaries..." She grinned conspiratorially, but paused as a woman stomped out of the kitchen, tears running down her face and a high toque clenched in her fist. Asaph followed, silent but quite stern. Once the two had exited into the hallway, Veronica picked up where she left off. "I want one. I want all of them really, but I'd have nowhere to put them. But to have just one...if I had to pick, it'd have to be Cresselia. It's the crescent moon, and absolutely stunning. And they say it brings good dreams and fights the bad ones. Why, you'd never have to worry about nightmares again!" A shout from outside wavered her smile, but she pulled it back again just as swiftly. "Jiri, do you know much about the Legendaries of...oh, where are you from again? Before Seafoam."
"An unpleasant, unimportant place. Nothing worth discussing, and nothing interesting in it." The words tumbled out rapidly and I had to cover my abruptness. She was someone I could tell, at least in moderation. "Veronica...what do you know of Lugia?"
There was silence, and her eyes widened. For a moment I thought I had somehow offended her. There was a lot about Lugia I had yet to discover, and apparently still is. But then she laughed. "It's the moon too, you know, to Ho-Oh's sun. But that's about all they have in common, I think. It lives on the sea floor, but that's really strange for a bird. Wouldn't it need hollow bones to fly? Unless it doesn't have them..." A pause while she took a drink, longer than usual. "I'm sorry. I tend to run at the mouth when I get started on them. That's why I didn't bring them up when we talked before at the party."
"Perfectly all right." I had relaxed at her eagerness. "It's a psychic type, isn't it? Maybe that protects it. Am I to assume no one's ever studied one?"
"There's not a lot known about it. Or really a lot of Legendaries. Just from the old stories, and a lot of those aren't reliable."
"Yes." I smiled, thinking of one of the few things I'd been able to find. "I doubt it can truly cause a forty-day storm merely by flapping." The thought of those majestic wings was enough to cause distraction, though, but I hardly had time for that.
"Personally, I think," she leaned in before continuing, "most of those are deliberate to keep people away. If the Legendaries had such terrible powers, we'd all be in trouble. I think the people who come up with this stuff are just, as they say, blowing smoke."
It made sense. There were many inanimate objects, jewels especially, rumored to be cursed. It would only stand to reason that people would imbue pokémon with such superstitions as well, particularly those ones that less enlightened people would see as holy.
Asaph approached then, so Veronica finished with a quick "Tell me if you see Articuno."
"I will," I smiled. The very idea was thrilling. Logically I knew that it was unlikely; I had spent the past seven months of my life there and never heard a word about the beast, but emotionally I was stricken with excitement.
"I'm sorry for my absence," Asaph said, resuming his seat. "What did you two talk about?"
"Oh nothing," Veronica giggled. "Just shooting the breeze."
"I'm glad you're getting along." He seemed to be back to his old self, smiling kindly at us. "Elma will be preparing a replacement; it should be ready soon. In the meantime we're going to have an impromptu lesson--how to fire an employee."
I saw Kuri again years later, working as a waitress. I doubt she ever worked for society again.
The rest of the day passed in a similar manner to the first part, with Veronica and I unable to continue our conversation. She asked me for my telephone number, but because I would have to speak downstairs, I declined. However, the Tonio event was but a few weeks away, just past the first of the year, and Asaph insisted that we both attend.
Looking for wings of ice yielded nothing, but I watched over the ocean every day just the same.
