Interlude
-Collab Between Pezz570 and Fetzen-
Týfurkh
Chres Sansus
-Collab Between Pezz570 and Fetzen-
Týfurkh
Chres Sansus
@fetzen
Year 4256
2nd day of the month of Olfaccium
Morning
Chres eyed the giant man towering beside him. On the one hand, he was glad to have someone else here to help him search for Sil. The man served as a distraction. A distraction from his thoughts and inner worries. On the other hand, Chres had no desire to form any kind of deeper relationship with Týfurkh or the others. The closer Chres got with the rest, the more likely he would be to stick around longer. In the end, he wanted nothing more than for this whole thing to be over and done with. The sooner he finished in this town, the sooner he could move on to getting himself kill without a guilty conscience holding him back.
Frowning, Chres lowered his gaze towards the ground. Why had Týfurkh asked to join him anyway? The man had been quite peeved with Sil's insults regarding him the day before. Chres barely even knew the man. So to be honest, the man's actions didn't make much sense to Chres.
Chres tightened the cloak around him. The cloak was a different one from the cloak they had been given the night before. In fact, each of them had been provided with such a cloak to be used when traveling outside the tunnels. Chres couldn't help but find their generosity suspicious, but wasn't about to complain. The cloak was dry after all.
The cloak came with many pockets, including one where they could tuck away one of the Crystal Jade Candles that the group had been able to snag during the day the inn burned down. So long as the crystal jade candle stayed tucked away within the shade of the cloak, its glow would protect them from the prying eyes of the Sightless. And should its protection fail? Well... Chres and the rest had already seen what a single broken crystal jade candle could do to the cult. This time, Chres did not intend to leave safety without one.
It had taken a while to find one of those cloaks that was an appropriate fit for Týfurkh and in fact one could very well argue if it was such at all, but they had insisted on him wearing one so vigorously that it seemed almost suspicious. It was a useful piece of clothing with all of its pockets, but the pactmaker also hoped that it was just that.
Standing next to Chres, Týfurkh did some final checks on his crossbow. Maybe going without it would have made him less obvious, but just in case things would go wrong he'd still feel better with it. Luckily they were two, so that meant two sets of eyes to be on the lookout for both cultists and their actual goals. These were Sil and one, preferably two horses. He was happy to have Chres around not only because of that, but also because the man would make him feel a bit less lonely in the ravaged city. Going without any sort of company would have been a straight contradiction to any statement he had made towards DB some hours earlier anyway.
"Are you ready? If so then let's head out right away. I'd suggest making the search for Sil our highest priority. Do you have any idea where your companion might be?"
Chres looked to Týfurkh. Why? Why did he care? Was he working an angle here?
It had been a bit of a hassle just for the two of them to leave the tunnels. The tunnels had no indication that helped them identify where they were. In the end the two of them had to ask for assistance from one of the slaves. The two were then given a guide and led an exit.
Chres shook his head to the man's question. "She won't respond to any of my prodding." He said. "So the only lead we've got is to check where we've been." He nodded up ahead. "Starting with the safe house we stayed at the night the Inn burned down."
The building seemed dark and abandoned. Much like it did the night they came there. Chres opened the door and called out Sil's name, but received no response. Frowning, Chres began scouting out the rooms.
"You say Sil is our highest priority... are you implying we have other priorities?" Chres glanced over his back towards the tall man. "May I ask what exactly you're out here looking for?"
"I wouldn't call it a real priority compared to seeking Sil, but I have been planning on returning to the nation of hearing and making a report about the abrupt change in my previous journey once there is the opportunity. Therefore I need to gather some supplies in the city and, if it's possible, something to ride on."
Chres cocked his head to the side curiously. Report? To whom?
Týfurkh wondered if Chres would see any problem with that plan, but continued searching through the various parts of the building as well. A few minutes later it was time to summarize the humble results: "There's no living being here. I suppose you've been unlucky finding anything as well? Then... if backtracking correctly, the next stop would be the belltower. However we'd also have to follow the path we took from there to here in order to do things right."
The way the pactmakers had taken from said location to the safehouse had been a rather hurried walk, so at least for Týfurkh remembering the details about it was quite a bit of a challenge. "I think we came through that narrow alley over there. Where was the last time you have seen Sil?"
"The bell tower..." Chres said uneasily.
They would need to tread lightly. Was it even safe to go back to the tower? No... probably not. Perhaps they could pay some kids to scout out the place.
Chres motioned to the exit. "Perhaps this time we should take the long way there..." He said.
They left the building in silence. Chres rubbing his chin in thought. Týfurkh seemed to be on the optimistic side. Talking like they would live through this. Chres wasn't sure he shared the man's optimism.
"The Nation of Hearing, huh?" Chres said making conversation. "Never pinned you as a scholarly type, though I suppose not everyone there is a scholar." Chres chuckled at that. "Must have quite the story to have come all the way over here."
"Maybe you'd be a little surprised if you knew more about me." Týfurkh smirked slightly, looking at Chres to see his first reaction for a moment before continuing: "No, just kidding. I wouldn't consider myself to be anyone particular. I did have a task however when I tried to take a rest in this town, and that task has been disrupted by what is going on here and now I find myself in an entirely different situation. I simply feel obliged to inform those I'm working with about the fact that there will be delays at least, maybe even complete cancellation."
Chres nodded. He suspected many in the group felt the same. We all seem to have different objectives. He thought.
Silently, Týfurkh agreed with taking the long way. It would take a lot longer and expose them on the streets for a longer time span as well, but rushing right into the hot zone again would be murderous. Also going the long route would make their search for Sil more thorough. The man started going onwards, thinking that the route he took would make clear that he agreed with Chres' opinion.
"Not everyone in the Nation Of Hearing is a scholar indeed. I'd not even say that everyone in the Nation Of Hearing can... well... listen carefully and with respect. However we value diplomacy a little bit more I guess and personally I hope that what the group of people I'm along with is working on will make a significant improvement on that."
"Sounds like every other place I know, just with its own quirks." Chres said. "I've been to the capital a few times, you know? Can't say I was much of a fan. Go out for a drink and then you'll suddenly meet someone giving you a 10 minute long lecture explaining why and how you're a menace to society."
Chres smiled sadly. Those days are over though. He thought touching his flask full of water. Now, I only dare drink water.
Týfurkh was dangerously close to an outburst of laughter that, given his size, would have had quite the potential to trigger some unwanted attention. He tried his best to contain it, but a distinct chuckle still was noticeable. It was not the first time for him to be told that the people of the Nation Of Hearing had a potential of being... excessively talkative. He was very, very far away from interpreting this as any kind of insult though. "Well I guess every nation has its own quirks. Someone of a certain other nation maybe would have used the ten minutes to draw a sketch about your future self after it, full of booze, just accidentally stumbled into a cesspool?"
Chres smiled. "Yes," He agreed. "I suppose someone of another nation would."
So far their journey into the town was uneventful, but that didn't make it any less spooky. If one knew how places like this normally looked like it was easy to notice that something wasn't alright. Týfurkh listened to the few songs of birds that could be heard, but they too were not filled with so much joy as they ought to be.
"Maybe you should try the waters of Syefjalla?" Syefjalla was a town located close to a rather active, but non so volatile vulcano. "The ubiquitous deposits of freshly frozen lava, gases raising from the underground and heat give the ground water a rather unique taste there. Mix that with the process of beer making and the result is quite interesting."
"Interesting? In what way?" Chres asked.
"There's a sulfurous, bitter-sweet taste to it and you can feel gases tingling on your tongue when they come out of the liquid. Some people also swear that they could feel some kind of mineralic residue on their teeth afterwards, but personally I would doubt that for the lack of personal experience. It's also not always the same, depending on how and where the vulcano was active by the time the water was extracted."
Chres smiled. "I see." He said. "Seems like you're a scholar afterall."
They continued on much like that. Making small talk here and there. Eventually, they made their way back to the opening with the tower. Carely they looked out into the open trying to see if the cult was near.
"Problem is, we have no way of knowing who's with The Cult and who is not." He said to Týfurkh. "Perhaps it would be best to ask around... Maybe even pay someone to take a look."
"Pay someone? Sounds like an unconventional but good idea. The only problem I see with it is that we can't even be sure if the one we pay is of a neutral party or not. Still... probably better than going in there ourselves."
Týfurkh glanced around the corner. It seemed that either the fighting had remained inside the tower after their departure or that a profound cleanup had already been done: no bodies, no blood stains and no dropped weapons were to be seen from where they were.
"I suggest we use some cover story when asking around. That bell coming down must have made an awful sound even outside of the building, so what if we pretend wondering what has happened and ask for the general state of affairs? Just to get a rough idea of what's going on."
Chres nodded. It sounded like a plan to him.
The two of them circled the area, stopping people here and there. They all gave the same general story with the occasional outlandish detail here. Some claimed that a group of thugs had stopped at the tower and vandalized the area. Others said it was the cult attacking an innocent group of bystanders.
Interestingly enough one of the tales even appeared to be about Sil. The man claimed a giant familiar with wings flew to the tower singing and dancing between the raindrops. During her dance, she accidentally kicked the bell and sent it crashing down on a group of cultists. Of course the same man then proceeded to tell them that he was the real King of Sight and that the current King was an impostor who stole his identity. Chres tried steering the conversation back to Sil, but unfortunately the man seemed dead set on shifting towards birds. Apparently birds knew all the secrets of the world because their eyes were so sharp that they could see the difference between truth and lies. Not only that, Týfurkh and Chres were in luck! For the man had an incredible ability allowing him to birds too!
“I can prove it!” He said. “All I need is two gold coins!”
Chres rubbed his forehead and sighed as they walked away from the clearing with the tower. "Well that was a waste of time." He said. "We might as well hit up the market square next. We can take care of your business there while we are at it."
”If the situation would be less serious I’d say it was a pretty good piece of amusement -- until the moment he tried to lure gold coins out of our pockets, of course…” Týfurkh shook his head slightly, wondering if what the cult was doing had other effects than the obvious ones as well. Coming across a few people other than standard was completely normal, but that last weirdo certainly had the potential to top everything.
The market square was a few blocks away from the belltower, a few minutes walk at ordinary speed perhaps. ”I wouldn’t be surprised if the traders there are greedy and want coins for answers, but let’s see.” Týfurkh fumbled around in his pockets, searching for what money he actually had left. ”If you see a horse with light brown fur and a small dent in its left ear chances are pretty good it’s the one I’ve lost.”
The marketplace was rectangular-shaped, spanning across the length of about half a dozen buildings in one and another three in the other direction. There was quite a bunch of more or less small stalls present and even more people roaming around them, but overall things were far from exhausting the space available. ”Shall we stay together or shall I go left and you go right?”
"Together.” Chres said. "I’ll keep look out while you barter with the merchants. Stay away from the food stalls though. We learned yesterday that they have Cultists supporters there.”
Cultists in the food stalls? Hopefully those cultists would only be there, Týfurkh thought while already being tempted to answer his own question with an answer he couldn’t prefer. Trying to recognize those stalls ahead in time and skipping them, he got to work and started talking. Many of the merchants proved anything but helpful with regard to either task, but one told a story about a strange silvery feathered bird that had followed him through the night. “It watched from afar,” he claimed, "Leering at me intently. ‘Leave me alone!’ I shouted at it. It raised its head as if amused. With a flap of its wings it seemed to transform. Smaller and smaller it became. All the while its figure growing grotesque... appendages sprouting from its side. The finally it shrank to the point where I could no longer ever see where it had gone. It could be right here, even now! A familiar for sure, I tell you!”
Týfurkh glanced over towards Chres, wondering if the hint sounded credible enough for him to follow it. Chres merely glanced back and shrugged. It was shaped like a bird afterall.
Then, more in the distance, Týfurkh saw something else: A certain creature with hooves and a large dent in one of its ears. A cart was attached to it as it was going to be loaded with the items of a stall being packed again. The giant hurried towards it, knowing that time was of the essence now.
At first there was gentle and very modest inquiry, an attempt to tell the true story why he had lost his mount while omitting those parts that included fighting with cultists. Then Týfurkh listed quite a bunch of the less obvious properties of his horse which only a previous owner could know about without close inspection, but was met with hard-to-beat arguments ranging from ‘You could have had a look at it by chance at some point before!’ to ‘And ? You lost it, I found it. Now it’s mine!’.
A steady crescendo in each of the men’s volume and a deal which included Týfurkh having to unload the cart again and to pay some coin for his own property, Týfurkh’s mood was anything but good when he returned to Chres: ”This is ridiculous! I now have essentially bought the horse almost twice!” Turning his head around once more to the man at the stall he yelled at him furiously: ”And I don’t have a fat ass that shouldn’t sit on that thing, but you are someone who wouldn’t have stood a chance in a fight against me!” Týfurkh was brooding somewhat as he returned to Chres’ side.
Chres simply smiled. "Well...” He said. "I guess that makes it twice as special.”
He glanced over at the beast and idly wondered how the poor thing ever managed to carry the giant in the first place.
“-raving about puddles, I tell you!” A man exclaimed to his companion nearby. Chres’ head perked up. “She was drawing on the ground, rambling about puddles. Big puddles, small puddles, sky puddles-”
“Sky puddles?” The man’s companion interrupted. He raised an eyebrow in amusement.
"Excuse me, Sir” Chres heard himself say. "Who said this?”
The man and his companion looked up at Chres. They seemed surprised to hear some stranger take interest in their conversation.
“Some crazy, lost familiar up by where the docks-” The man started, but Chres was already off in a sprint.
I’ve been so foolish. He thought. Of course she was at the Dockside View! The inn where this whole mess started! But that place burnt down to the ground... Why is she there now?
Týfurkh only saw the back of Chres as the man was already about to disappear in a narrow sideway. What had the other man said? The Docks? Sil being there didn’t make that much sense to him, but who was he to know much about Chres’ familiar? Anyway, if he didn’t want to lose the other man in a network of streets he hardly knew much about, he’d have to follow quickly.
Týfurkh was pretty used to drawing attention and making people turn their heads in order to stare at him, but that was on foot. Him riding down the street at speed brought the entire thing to a somewhat new level, but at least there weren’t that many people out there he’d have to worry about in terms of an emergency stop.
”Chres?” he called out to the front of him. ”Stop, please! I’m confident there are faster ways than you running like a madman! Need a ride?”
Chres glanced behind him as if surprised. Týfurkh? Right. In his haste, he left the man behind. Chres slowed to a walk. The giant was right. All he was doing right now was drawing attention to them.
Chres nodded to the giant and climbed the man’s mount. While getting on the horse, the creature whined as if displeased by the extra weight. Chres couldn’t help but feel sorry for the animal. With his size, armor and accessories, Týfurkh must have weighed quite a bit.
There wasn’t much room atop the horse, but Chres made the best of it that he could.
”The Dockside View.” Chres said. ”The inn we stayed at which the cult burnt to the ground. It is the only other place we’ve been to that we haven’t checked.”
Týfurkh felt more sorry for Chres as he felt for the horse. The latter had been the giant’s companion for quite a while by now and thus was used to carrying an extreme burden, but he wasn’t so sure about the former feeling comfortable given what little space was left on the saddle.
Still it was safe to say that the additional weight didn’t make them any faster, but only the contrary. However it was still faster than going by foot and saved precious stamina just in case things would become ugly. Týfurkh struggled a bit to remember where the Dockside View was, but ultimately he turned to the right and made the mount going.
”If Sil likes water then the Dockside View sounds like a logical place to go. Do you have any idea what might have caused your familiar to disappear in the first place ? Any ongoing dispute or so perhaps ?”
Týfurkh hoped that the cult wouldn’t be present at the docks. A place where ships could make port and bring in supplies and relief forces sounded like an attractive place to take a hold of though… at least if he would have been to lead them.
”I suggest we go in from the smallest alley we can find. I don’t trust the overall calmness here…”
Chres nodded. ”I… I don’t know why she left. She said she has to know, but she never said what she had to know.”
He shook his head. ”I keep wondering if it is because of me.” He said. ”Maybe if I tried to understand her better… to actually know her... ”
Chres sighed. ”I never asked for a familiar.” He said. ”Perhaps she’s just picked up on that… She was something just given to me… A gift… from my wife... ”
Chres looked down at his ring. He had taken to playing with the accessory again. Twisting it around his finger.
”Do you have any family?” He found himself asking. ”Anybody waiting for you back at home?”
”Technically yes, I do have family. A rather extensive one actually, even though I only really know those relatives closest to me. However…” A rather odd pause ensued. ”We aren’t exactly on good terms. Not anymore with my father at least. He never truly accepted that I decided to join the Order Of Canor instead of doing all the sowing and ploughing for the rest of my life and he’s still somewhat angry at me for that. I hope that they’re alright though, haven’t seen them in quite a while.”
Týfurkh had reached the end of his speech, taking a few moments to look at the road ahead and to continue navigating them through the maze of streets and sideways. Since Chres was sitting behind him he couldn’t see what he was doing, only hear what he was saying.
”In case you’re wondering, the Order Of Canor is the entity I’m working for and which has taught me those magic tricks. And you? How did you get here?”
”The Order of Candor.” Chres repeated. ”Never heard of them. You say they taught you how to wield your magical abilities?”
Chres thought of that for a moment, before shaking his head. ”I… I sort of wandered here.” Chres said slowly. ”I came here looking for a means to… rest.”
It wasn’t a lie, though it was a misdirection. Chres had come here hope to find a suitable means for him to die.
”Yes, they did so. It actually was one of their members who helped me out in a bit of a helpless moment using his abilities when I had first contact with them. He said I’d have talent, so I considered it and ultimately joined them. Guess I was lucky…”
Aside from that, Týfurkh felt rather inconclusive about what to make out of Chres’ response. It sounded quite a bit like one of those answers when there was more behind it, but Týfurkh felt that it might not be the best moment to start digging while they were searching for the familiar Chres had lost.
The location they were heading for came closer no moment too soon as it seemed that the horse was about to give out beneath the two men’s combined weight. When Týfurkh dismounted, the sheer relief was almost palpable. ”So I guess there’s more than enough of a burned down mess here to keep us busy for a while. Shall we just walk along and see what we can find ?”
Chres nodded silently. The place was what one would expect of a building put to the flame. There wasn’t much left of the place sadly. A few walls survived here and there. Broken glass where the windows had been. Plates of metal that had survived the flames...
”Sil?” Chres called out hesitantly. He took care of where he stepped. Testing his footing in surviving floorboards that looked dubious at best.
Chres placed his hand against the remains of a doorway. ”Sil, you there?”
As if in response, the building creaked audibly. Chres jumped back as a pile of rubble tore a hole through the flooring on which he last stood.
Sucking in a breath, Chres stared at the gap in the floor that could have been him.
”That could have been bad...” He said, waving away the debris that clouded up around him. ”Perhaps coming here wasn’t such a good-”
Chres words trailed off. As the debris began to clear, He could make out a faint green light coming from the remains of the basement below.
”Sil!” He shouted. He reacted without thinking, summoning his stored body heat and Weaving it into a slide that dropped into the pit below. Without a thought for his own safety, he slid down the heat construct and into the ruins below.
”Sil!” Chres called out again as his feet landed on the ground below. Immediately he took off. ”What’s wrong? Why did you come all the way-”
Chres’s pace slowed. The glow he had seen… It hadn’t been her. Chres knelt to the ground and pulled out a crystal jade candle sticking out from the rubble. He stared as the candle glowed dimly in the shade the basement provided.
Týfurkh heard something coming down and turned his head to that direction, only to see a gaping hole in the floor without knowing what had caused it. Chres was still standing there, looking a little bit shocked. The next moment however, after Týfurkh had turned away only to be attracted again by another suspicious sound, the man was gone.
A voice was heard, somewhat muffled by what was left of the floor beneath his feet. It was Chres calling out for Sil, enthusiastically at first but not so much soon later. ”Did you find her ?” Týfurkh asked through the hole below, unable to clearly identify the object that was emitting that dim light through all the dust.
”Shall I come down ?”
”No...” Chres said. ”Just a crystal jade candle.”
He pocketed the candle and looked up to the giant man. ”I don’t think she’s here.” He said. ”Just another false lead.”
It took some time to get out of the ruined building’s lower floor. Mostly because Chres decided it would be wise to exit with more care than when he entered. Once below the opening from where he had slid down, Chres raised his foot as if stepping onto higher ground. As his foot lowered, he quickly Weaved a small foothold to rest his foot on. Then, pushing off the foothold, he repeated the process with his other foot. The effect made it appear as if Chres was climbing an invisible staircase, when in actuality, he was just making small heat constructs to act as platforms off the ground.
”We spent enough time chasing the wind…” Chres said grimly, after climbing out of the hole. ”Let’s head back.”
Their route home led them east, along Shimmer Lake’s bank. They decided to not risk cutting straight through the city, closer to territory patrolled by the cult. Týfurkh had taken to riding his horse back, while Chres had preferred sticking to his own two feet. He kept up with the horse’s slow trot, his hand absently petting the horse’s side. His mind, however, dallied.
Chres stared northward, rather than straight ahead. His eyes taking in the beauty that was Shimmer Lake. The docks and boats may have burned away, but the lake remained as pristine as ever. Its surface reflected the distorted green sun’s light in such a way that would bring a painter to tears.
It felt strange to not hear Sil’s excitement at seeing a ‘puddle’ so massive. His year of companionship with her had affected him far more than he knew. If only-
”Don’t you see?! It all makes sense now! The puddles are all connected!”
Chres’ head perked up. Was that Sil’s voice?
”Sky puddles, ground puddles, the yellow puddles you humans make- They’re all one! All puddles are connected! EVERYTHING is a puddle!”
Yes… yes that definitely was Sil! Chres looked ahead to where a bemused crowd had gathered around the tiny familiar.
”It’s her...” Chres heard himself say. Strange how every other time that thought had led him to rush into action. This time, however, he found himself standing there from shock and surprise.
”You know… at some point you need to explain to me why Sil is all about ‘puddles’...”
Chres simply shook his head. ”In all honesty, I don’t even know.” He sighed.
Týfurkh felt happy for Chres to have found his familiar again, but he also knew that this feeling might only be a fraction of what his companion was experiencing right now. He himself had never had a familiar, even though he had played with the thought a bit in the past. He also had never been able to figure out what kind of familiar would be best for both of them.
Carefully, Týfurkh approached the crowd. He did want the crowd to dissipate, but he didn’t want to trigger that so fast that Sil would be in any danger of getting trampled. Slowly he rode closer and then continued on fool. He didn’t know how Sil would react to him, so he directed his steps more towards the people in order to… start nudging them. Gently.
”I followed them as they fell from the sky, you see? They eat each other, just like sky puffs. Little by little they get bigger until they become giant ground puddles like this one here!”
Chres shook his head and followed the giant’s lead. The people he nudged aside gave him an annoyed look.
”We are all the same you see?” Sil continued. ”Humans eat puddles too! Why? Because they are puddles! It’s why humans leak puddles, bleed puddles, spit puddles- You’re all just living puddle-skins, eating skinless puddles so that you can become bigger puddles.” She emphasized her point by patting the stomach of one of the larger bystanders.
By this point Chres had made it to the edge of the crowd. ”Sil!” He hissed.
”Animals, you ask? Yes they are puddles too! Fish? Puddles. Plants? Puddles! Octavapoo? Yes, he’s definitely a puddle.”
”Sil!” Chres said more urgently.
”But what about me? What kind of puddle am I? Well you see-”
”Sil!” This time Chres said his name loud enough for everyone to hear.
Sil’s head jerked up in hesitation. Slowly, she looked to Chres.
”Chres?” She said.
”Sil… what are you doing here?”
”I-” She started, but she cut off the rest of her sentence. Her eyes widening almost as if in fear.
”N-no… I can’t…” There was a tremble in her words. Was that actual fear in her voice?
A spike of concern rose in Chres’ chest. He carefully took a step forward. ”Sil, it’s okay.” He said soothingly. ”Talk to me, Sil.”
”I can’t…” She whispered. Her form hovering away from Chres’ advances.
”Help me understand what’s wrong.”
”I can’t!” She said more insistently.
”Why?” He asked, doing his best to keep the frustration out of his voice.
”Because I don’t know!” Sil shouted back. ”Because I never know! Because I never-”
Her words trailed off. She hung her had towards the ground. Hand raised between her chest. There was a troubled look on her face. A look so foriegn yet familiar. A look which roused the memories deep inside.
”Because…” She repeated. Her voice softer this time. ”Because I never seem to know...”
Then it clicked. She had finally come to realize the thing that made her different. The thing about her that others could tell instantly. It wasn’t that she didn’t know what was wrong. It was that she had come to realize that she didn’t understand the world like everyone else.
”Oh, Sil...” He said. His words were a mere whisper. He felt his heart go out to her. What must it feel like to suddenly realize that your mental capacity was not up to par with everyone else’s?
”Why?” She asked despondently. ”Why is it that I don’t know?”
”I-” Chres said hesitantly. ”I don’t think I have an answer for that.”
”But you always seem to know...” She replied.
”It may seem that way, but I think you’ll find that I know about as much as anybody else.”
”You mean anybody else, aside from me.”
Chres frowned at her words. ”What happened, Sil? What happened in the tower.”
”I- I don’t know. Everything was so bright and colorful. Then, suddenly, it was like my eyes opened. Noeyes wasn’t playing with Lynx... he was hurting him. And there I was just prancing along like… like...”
Sil furrowed her brow, as if trying to remember something. ”You see… this is what happens… I don’t even remember what we were talking about!”
”Sil-”
”I thought if I tried to focus… focus for once on actually knowing something, then it might make it better. So I followed the puddles. I tried to get to know the puddles… But in the end...”
Sil looked up to the onlooking crowd. They had taken to whispering and pointing at both Chres and Sil.
”Puddles, Chres… What nonsense was I even saying to these people?”
He looked from them to her. ”Come on, Sil.” Ches said in a comforting voice. ”Let’s go home.”
He lay a finger beneath her form. She looked to it with hesitation. Then with a despondent nod, she took a seat upon his finger.
”Show’s over, people.” He said to the gossiping crowd.
Most of the crowd dispersed, though not without some disappointed groans. A few people lingered, but they too left as they realized that Chres had no intention of staying.
With a nod to Týfurkh. They headed on their way back.
The first several minutes were done so in silence. Chres’ mind a whirlpool of questions and concerns. Sil’s perhaps the same. But as they made their way away from the lake, Chres opened his mouth to speak.
”You know,” Chres started. ”There are things you know which I wish I knew half as well as you did.”
Sil gave Chres a skeptical look. ”Yeah,” She said. ”Like what?”
”You know how to have fun.” Sil gave Chres a frown.
”I’m serious!” Chres said defensively. ”Without you around, I would sulk so much that the rest of the world would probably just lock me away so I wouldn’t go around dampening the atmosphere! You, Sil, know how to make every day interesting.”
”Is that… Is that a good thing?” She asked in an honest tone.
”For someone like me, yes.” He said with a nod.
”But there are so many other things I don’t understand.”
”And that is absolutely okay.”
”Why?”
”Because nobody is capable of understanding everything. Because some people are better at understanding certain things more than others. It's okay to not understand things, so long as your heart is in the right place and you keep that lovely smile of yours on that face.”
Sil smiled softly. Her eyes wandering over to Týfurkh’s horse. ”You know what?” She asked.
”What?” Chres replied.
”I think Metalman was big enough without the donkey.”
”That’s a horse, Sil.” Týfurkh replied while avoiding to sound like a teacher. He felt happy for Chris finally having found his familiar, even though he could not make much sense out of the latter’s strict preferences for… puddles. ”And that’s only armor. I’m not actually made out of metal. Luckily!” Him made out of metal… how much worse would everyday life be that way?
”Will you promise me not to run away that soon again? Finding you was quite a bit of an effort and a dangerous one as well.” he asked friendly, clearly hoping for only one kind of response.
”’Not Metalman’ asks Sil a question...” Sil said to herself while raising a finger to her lips. ”I proooomise…-” She paused mid-sentence. Tilting her head to the side, she looked as if she were deep in thought. ”-nothing.” She finished with a grin.
Giggling to herself, Sil fluttered over to the horse. ”Good donkey.” She said patting the horse on the head.
Chres looked to Týfurkh and shrugged. You couldn’t win every battle he supposed. With a soft smile he glanced back at Sil. She had perched herself atop the horse’s head and began humming happily to herself.
She seemed like her normal self… but what had that all been about? He had never seen Sil act so serious before. So… aware… except… except on the nights when the shadows seemed darkest. Those nights were he serious had considered finally taking out his cord of rope and wrapping it around his neck. The thought made him shiver.
Was Sil changing or had something triggered this behavior? Chres shook his head. What was the point? He no longer had the means to get the answers to these questions. Chres had seen to that himself.
A darkness hovered over Chres. A darkness he had hoped would lessen upon finding Sil.
Oh Chres... Chres thought to himself. Ever always the fool...
2nd day of the month of Olfaccium
Morning
Chres eyed the giant man towering beside him. On the one hand, he was glad to have someone else here to help him search for Sil. The man served as a distraction. A distraction from his thoughts and inner worries. On the other hand, Chres had no desire to form any kind of deeper relationship with Týfurkh or the others. The closer Chres got with the rest, the more likely he would be to stick around longer. In the end, he wanted nothing more than for this whole thing to be over and done with. The sooner he finished in this town, the sooner he could move on to getting himself kill without a guilty conscience holding him back.
Frowning, Chres lowered his gaze towards the ground. Why had Týfurkh asked to join him anyway? The man had been quite peeved with Sil's insults regarding him the day before. Chres barely even knew the man. So to be honest, the man's actions didn't make much sense to Chres.
Chres tightened the cloak around him. The cloak was a different one from the cloak they had been given the night before. In fact, each of them had been provided with such a cloak to be used when traveling outside the tunnels. Chres couldn't help but find their generosity suspicious, but wasn't about to complain. The cloak was dry after all.
The cloak came with many pockets, including one where they could tuck away one of the Crystal Jade Candles that the group had been able to snag during the day the inn burned down. So long as the crystal jade candle stayed tucked away within the shade of the cloak, its glow would protect them from the prying eyes of the Sightless. And should its protection fail? Well... Chres and the rest had already seen what a single broken crystal jade candle could do to the cult. This time, Chres did not intend to leave safety without one.
It had taken a while to find one of those cloaks that was an appropriate fit for Týfurkh and in fact one could very well argue if it was such at all, but they had insisted on him wearing one so vigorously that it seemed almost suspicious. It was a useful piece of clothing with all of its pockets, but the pactmaker also hoped that it was just that.
Standing next to Chres, Týfurkh did some final checks on his crossbow. Maybe going without it would have made him less obvious, but just in case things would go wrong he'd still feel better with it. Luckily they were two, so that meant two sets of eyes to be on the lookout for both cultists and their actual goals. These were Sil and one, preferably two horses. He was happy to have Chres around not only because of that, but also because the man would make him feel a bit less lonely in the ravaged city. Going without any sort of company would have been a straight contradiction to any statement he had made towards DB some hours earlier anyway.
"Are you ready? If so then let's head out right away. I'd suggest making the search for Sil our highest priority. Do you have any idea where your companion might be?"
Chres looked to Týfurkh. Why? Why did he care? Was he working an angle here?
It had been a bit of a hassle just for the two of them to leave the tunnels. The tunnels had no indication that helped them identify where they were. In the end the two of them had to ask for assistance from one of the slaves. The two were then given a guide and led an exit.
Chres shook his head to the man's question. "She won't respond to any of my prodding." He said. "So the only lead we've got is to check where we've been." He nodded up ahead. "Starting with the safe house we stayed at the night the Inn burned down."
The building seemed dark and abandoned. Much like it did the night they came there. Chres opened the door and called out Sil's name, but received no response. Frowning, Chres began scouting out the rooms.
"You say Sil is our highest priority... are you implying we have other priorities?" Chres glanced over his back towards the tall man. "May I ask what exactly you're out here looking for?"
"I wouldn't call it a real priority compared to seeking Sil, but I have been planning on returning to the nation of hearing and making a report about the abrupt change in my previous journey once there is the opportunity. Therefore I need to gather some supplies in the city and, if it's possible, something to ride on."
Chres cocked his head to the side curiously. Report? To whom?
Týfurkh wondered if Chres would see any problem with that plan, but continued searching through the various parts of the building as well. A few minutes later it was time to summarize the humble results: "There's no living being here. I suppose you've been unlucky finding anything as well? Then... if backtracking correctly, the next stop would be the belltower. However we'd also have to follow the path we took from there to here in order to do things right."
The way the pactmakers had taken from said location to the safehouse had been a rather hurried walk, so at least for Týfurkh remembering the details about it was quite a bit of a challenge. "I think we came through that narrow alley over there. Where was the last time you have seen Sil?"
"The bell tower..." Chres said uneasily.
They would need to tread lightly. Was it even safe to go back to the tower? No... probably not. Perhaps they could pay some kids to scout out the place.
Chres motioned to the exit. "Perhaps this time we should take the long way there..." He said.
They left the building in silence. Chres rubbing his chin in thought. Týfurkh seemed to be on the optimistic side. Talking like they would live through this. Chres wasn't sure he shared the man's optimism.
"The Nation of Hearing, huh?" Chres said making conversation. "Never pinned you as a scholarly type, though I suppose not everyone there is a scholar." Chres chuckled at that. "Must have quite the story to have come all the way over here."
"Maybe you'd be a little surprised if you knew more about me." Týfurkh smirked slightly, looking at Chres to see his first reaction for a moment before continuing: "No, just kidding. I wouldn't consider myself to be anyone particular. I did have a task however when I tried to take a rest in this town, and that task has been disrupted by what is going on here and now I find myself in an entirely different situation. I simply feel obliged to inform those I'm working with about the fact that there will be delays at least, maybe even complete cancellation."
Chres nodded. He suspected many in the group felt the same. We all seem to have different objectives. He thought.
Silently, Týfurkh agreed with taking the long way. It would take a lot longer and expose them on the streets for a longer time span as well, but rushing right into the hot zone again would be murderous. Also going the long route would make their search for Sil more thorough. The man started going onwards, thinking that the route he took would make clear that he agreed with Chres' opinion.
"Not everyone in the Nation Of Hearing is a scholar indeed. I'd not even say that everyone in the Nation Of Hearing can... well... listen carefully and with respect. However we value diplomacy a little bit more I guess and personally I hope that what the group of people I'm along with is working on will make a significant improvement on that."
"Sounds like every other place I know, just with its own quirks." Chres said. "I've been to the capital a few times, you know? Can't say I was much of a fan. Go out for a drink and then you'll suddenly meet someone giving you a 10 minute long lecture explaining why and how you're a menace to society."
Chres smiled sadly. Those days are over though. He thought touching his flask full of water. Now, I only dare drink water.
Týfurkh was dangerously close to an outburst of laughter that, given his size, would have had quite the potential to trigger some unwanted attention. He tried his best to contain it, but a distinct chuckle still was noticeable. It was not the first time for him to be told that the people of the Nation Of Hearing had a potential of being... excessively talkative. He was very, very far away from interpreting this as any kind of insult though. "Well I guess every nation has its own quirks. Someone of a certain other nation maybe would have used the ten minutes to draw a sketch about your future self after it, full of booze, just accidentally stumbled into a cesspool?"
Chres smiled. "Yes," He agreed. "I suppose someone of another nation would."
So far their journey into the town was uneventful, but that didn't make it any less spooky. If one knew how places like this normally looked like it was easy to notice that something wasn't alright. Týfurkh listened to the few songs of birds that could be heard, but they too were not filled with so much joy as they ought to be.
"Maybe you should try the waters of Syefjalla?" Syefjalla was a town located close to a rather active, but non so volatile vulcano. "The ubiquitous deposits of freshly frozen lava, gases raising from the underground and heat give the ground water a rather unique taste there. Mix that with the process of beer making and the result is quite interesting."
"Interesting? In what way?" Chres asked.
"There's a sulfurous, bitter-sweet taste to it and you can feel gases tingling on your tongue when they come out of the liquid. Some people also swear that they could feel some kind of mineralic residue on their teeth afterwards, but personally I would doubt that for the lack of personal experience. It's also not always the same, depending on how and where the vulcano was active by the time the water was extracted."
Chres smiled. "I see." He said. "Seems like you're a scholar afterall."
They continued on much like that. Making small talk here and there. Eventually, they made their way back to the opening with the tower. Carely they looked out into the open trying to see if the cult was near.
"Problem is, we have no way of knowing who's with The Cult and who is not." He said to Týfurkh. "Perhaps it would be best to ask around... Maybe even pay someone to take a look."
"Pay someone? Sounds like an unconventional but good idea. The only problem I see with it is that we can't even be sure if the one we pay is of a neutral party or not. Still... probably better than going in there ourselves."
Týfurkh glanced around the corner. It seemed that either the fighting had remained inside the tower after their departure or that a profound cleanup had already been done: no bodies, no blood stains and no dropped weapons were to be seen from where they were.
"I suggest we use some cover story when asking around. That bell coming down must have made an awful sound even outside of the building, so what if we pretend wondering what has happened and ask for the general state of affairs? Just to get a rough idea of what's going on."
Chres nodded. It sounded like a plan to him.
The two of them circled the area, stopping people here and there. They all gave the same general story with the occasional outlandish detail here. Some claimed that a group of thugs had stopped at the tower and vandalized the area. Others said it was the cult attacking an innocent group of bystanders.
Interestingly enough one of the tales even appeared to be about Sil. The man claimed a giant familiar with wings flew to the tower singing and dancing between the raindrops. During her dance, she accidentally kicked the bell and sent it crashing down on a group of cultists. Of course the same man then proceeded to tell them that he was the real King of Sight and that the current King was an impostor who stole his identity. Chres tried steering the conversation back to Sil, but unfortunately the man seemed dead set on shifting towards birds. Apparently birds knew all the secrets of the world because their eyes were so sharp that they could see the difference between truth and lies. Not only that, Týfurkh and Chres were in luck! For the man had an incredible ability allowing him to birds too!
“I can prove it!” He said. “All I need is two gold coins!”
Chres rubbed his forehead and sighed as they walked away from the clearing with the tower. "Well that was a waste of time." He said. "We might as well hit up the market square next. We can take care of your business there while we are at it."
”If the situation would be less serious I’d say it was a pretty good piece of amusement -- until the moment he tried to lure gold coins out of our pockets, of course…” Týfurkh shook his head slightly, wondering if what the cult was doing had other effects than the obvious ones as well. Coming across a few people other than standard was completely normal, but that last weirdo certainly had the potential to top everything.
The market square was a few blocks away from the belltower, a few minutes walk at ordinary speed perhaps. ”I wouldn’t be surprised if the traders there are greedy and want coins for answers, but let’s see.” Týfurkh fumbled around in his pockets, searching for what money he actually had left. ”If you see a horse with light brown fur and a small dent in its left ear chances are pretty good it’s the one I’ve lost.”
The marketplace was rectangular-shaped, spanning across the length of about half a dozen buildings in one and another three in the other direction. There was quite a bunch of more or less small stalls present and even more people roaming around them, but overall things were far from exhausting the space available. ”Shall we stay together or shall I go left and you go right?”
"Together.” Chres said. "I’ll keep look out while you barter with the merchants. Stay away from the food stalls though. We learned yesterday that they have Cultists supporters there.”
Cultists in the food stalls? Hopefully those cultists would only be there, Týfurkh thought while already being tempted to answer his own question with an answer he couldn’t prefer. Trying to recognize those stalls ahead in time and skipping them, he got to work and started talking. Many of the merchants proved anything but helpful with regard to either task, but one told a story about a strange silvery feathered bird that had followed him through the night. “It watched from afar,” he claimed, "Leering at me intently. ‘Leave me alone!’ I shouted at it. It raised its head as if amused. With a flap of its wings it seemed to transform. Smaller and smaller it became. All the while its figure growing grotesque... appendages sprouting from its side. The finally it shrank to the point where I could no longer ever see where it had gone. It could be right here, even now! A familiar for sure, I tell you!”
Týfurkh glanced over towards Chres, wondering if the hint sounded credible enough for him to follow it. Chres merely glanced back and shrugged. It was shaped like a bird afterall.
Then, more in the distance, Týfurkh saw something else: A certain creature with hooves and a large dent in one of its ears. A cart was attached to it as it was going to be loaded with the items of a stall being packed again. The giant hurried towards it, knowing that time was of the essence now.
At first there was gentle and very modest inquiry, an attempt to tell the true story why he had lost his mount while omitting those parts that included fighting with cultists. Then Týfurkh listed quite a bunch of the less obvious properties of his horse which only a previous owner could know about without close inspection, but was met with hard-to-beat arguments ranging from ‘You could have had a look at it by chance at some point before!’ to ‘And ? You lost it, I found it. Now it’s mine!’.
A steady crescendo in each of the men’s volume and a deal which included Týfurkh having to unload the cart again and to pay some coin for his own property, Týfurkh’s mood was anything but good when he returned to Chres: ”This is ridiculous! I now have essentially bought the horse almost twice!” Turning his head around once more to the man at the stall he yelled at him furiously: ”And I don’t have a fat ass that shouldn’t sit on that thing, but you are someone who wouldn’t have stood a chance in a fight against me!” Týfurkh was brooding somewhat as he returned to Chres’ side.
Chres simply smiled. "Well...” He said. "I guess that makes it twice as special.”
He glanced over at the beast and idly wondered how the poor thing ever managed to carry the giant in the first place.
“-raving about puddles, I tell you!” A man exclaimed to his companion nearby. Chres’ head perked up. “She was drawing on the ground, rambling about puddles. Big puddles, small puddles, sky puddles-”
“Sky puddles?” The man’s companion interrupted. He raised an eyebrow in amusement.
"Excuse me, Sir” Chres heard himself say. "Who said this?”
The man and his companion looked up at Chres. They seemed surprised to hear some stranger take interest in their conversation.
“Some crazy, lost familiar up by where the docks-” The man started, but Chres was already off in a sprint.
I’ve been so foolish. He thought. Of course she was at the Dockside View! The inn where this whole mess started! But that place burnt down to the ground... Why is she there now?
Týfurkh only saw the back of Chres as the man was already about to disappear in a narrow sideway. What had the other man said? The Docks? Sil being there didn’t make that much sense to him, but who was he to know much about Chres’ familiar? Anyway, if he didn’t want to lose the other man in a network of streets he hardly knew much about, he’d have to follow quickly.
Týfurkh was pretty used to drawing attention and making people turn their heads in order to stare at him, but that was on foot. Him riding down the street at speed brought the entire thing to a somewhat new level, but at least there weren’t that many people out there he’d have to worry about in terms of an emergency stop.
”Chres?” he called out to the front of him. ”Stop, please! I’m confident there are faster ways than you running like a madman! Need a ride?”
Chres glanced behind him as if surprised. Týfurkh? Right. In his haste, he left the man behind. Chres slowed to a walk. The giant was right. All he was doing right now was drawing attention to them.
Chres nodded to the giant and climbed the man’s mount. While getting on the horse, the creature whined as if displeased by the extra weight. Chres couldn’t help but feel sorry for the animal. With his size, armor and accessories, Týfurkh must have weighed quite a bit.
There wasn’t much room atop the horse, but Chres made the best of it that he could.
”The Dockside View.” Chres said. ”The inn we stayed at which the cult burnt to the ground. It is the only other place we’ve been to that we haven’t checked.”
Týfurkh felt more sorry for Chres as he felt for the horse. The latter had been the giant’s companion for quite a while by now and thus was used to carrying an extreme burden, but he wasn’t so sure about the former feeling comfortable given what little space was left on the saddle.
Still it was safe to say that the additional weight didn’t make them any faster, but only the contrary. However it was still faster than going by foot and saved precious stamina just in case things would become ugly. Týfurkh struggled a bit to remember where the Dockside View was, but ultimately he turned to the right and made the mount going.
”If Sil likes water then the Dockside View sounds like a logical place to go. Do you have any idea what might have caused your familiar to disappear in the first place ? Any ongoing dispute or so perhaps ?”
Týfurkh hoped that the cult wouldn’t be present at the docks. A place where ships could make port and bring in supplies and relief forces sounded like an attractive place to take a hold of though… at least if he would have been to lead them.
”I suggest we go in from the smallest alley we can find. I don’t trust the overall calmness here…”
Chres nodded. ”I… I don’t know why she left. She said she has to know, but she never said what she had to know.”
He shook his head. ”I keep wondering if it is because of me.” He said. ”Maybe if I tried to understand her better… to actually know her... ”
Chres sighed. ”I never asked for a familiar.” He said. ”Perhaps she’s just picked up on that… She was something just given to me… A gift… from my wife... ”
Chres looked down at his ring. He had taken to playing with the accessory again. Twisting it around his finger.
”Do you have any family?” He found himself asking. ”Anybody waiting for you back at home?”
”Technically yes, I do have family. A rather extensive one actually, even though I only really know those relatives closest to me. However…” A rather odd pause ensued. ”We aren’t exactly on good terms. Not anymore with my father at least. He never truly accepted that I decided to join the Order Of Canor instead of doing all the sowing and ploughing for the rest of my life and he’s still somewhat angry at me for that. I hope that they’re alright though, haven’t seen them in quite a while.”
Týfurkh had reached the end of his speech, taking a few moments to look at the road ahead and to continue navigating them through the maze of streets and sideways. Since Chres was sitting behind him he couldn’t see what he was doing, only hear what he was saying.
”In case you’re wondering, the Order Of Canor is the entity I’m working for and which has taught me those magic tricks. And you? How did you get here?”
”The Order of Candor.” Chres repeated. ”Never heard of them. You say they taught you how to wield your magical abilities?”
Chres thought of that for a moment, before shaking his head. ”I… I sort of wandered here.” Chres said slowly. ”I came here looking for a means to… rest.”
It wasn’t a lie, though it was a misdirection. Chres had come here hope to find a suitable means for him to die.
”Yes, they did so. It actually was one of their members who helped me out in a bit of a helpless moment using his abilities when I had first contact with them. He said I’d have talent, so I considered it and ultimately joined them. Guess I was lucky…”
Aside from that, Týfurkh felt rather inconclusive about what to make out of Chres’ response. It sounded quite a bit like one of those answers when there was more behind it, but Týfurkh felt that it might not be the best moment to start digging while they were searching for the familiar Chres had lost.
The location they were heading for came closer no moment too soon as it seemed that the horse was about to give out beneath the two men’s combined weight. When Týfurkh dismounted, the sheer relief was almost palpable. ”So I guess there’s more than enough of a burned down mess here to keep us busy for a while. Shall we just walk along and see what we can find ?”
Chres nodded silently. The place was what one would expect of a building put to the flame. There wasn’t much left of the place sadly. A few walls survived here and there. Broken glass where the windows had been. Plates of metal that had survived the flames...
”Sil?” Chres called out hesitantly. He took care of where he stepped. Testing his footing in surviving floorboards that looked dubious at best.
Chres placed his hand against the remains of a doorway. ”Sil, you there?”
As if in response, the building creaked audibly. Chres jumped back as a pile of rubble tore a hole through the flooring on which he last stood.
Sucking in a breath, Chres stared at the gap in the floor that could have been him.
”That could have been bad...” He said, waving away the debris that clouded up around him. ”Perhaps coming here wasn’t such a good-”
Chres words trailed off. As the debris began to clear, He could make out a faint green light coming from the remains of the basement below.
”Sil!” He shouted. He reacted without thinking, summoning his stored body heat and Weaving it into a slide that dropped into the pit below. Without a thought for his own safety, he slid down the heat construct and into the ruins below.
”Sil!” Chres called out again as his feet landed on the ground below. Immediately he took off. ”What’s wrong? Why did you come all the way-”
Chres’s pace slowed. The glow he had seen… It hadn’t been her. Chres knelt to the ground and pulled out a crystal jade candle sticking out from the rubble. He stared as the candle glowed dimly in the shade the basement provided.
Týfurkh heard something coming down and turned his head to that direction, only to see a gaping hole in the floor without knowing what had caused it. Chres was still standing there, looking a little bit shocked. The next moment however, after Týfurkh had turned away only to be attracted again by another suspicious sound, the man was gone.
A voice was heard, somewhat muffled by what was left of the floor beneath his feet. It was Chres calling out for Sil, enthusiastically at first but not so much soon later. ”Did you find her ?” Týfurkh asked through the hole below, unable to clearly identify the object that was emitting that dim light through all the dust.
”Shall I come down ?”
”No...” Chres said. ”Just a crystal jade candle.”
He pocketed the candle and looked up to the giant man. ”I don’t think she’s here.” He said. ”Just another false lead.”
It took some time to get out of the ruined building’s lower floor. Mostly because Chres decided it would be wise to exit with more care than when he entered. Once below the opening from where he had slid down, Chres raised his foot as if stepping onto higher ground. As his foot lowered, he quickly Weaved a small foothold to rest his foot on. Then, pushing off the foothold, he repeated the process with his other foot. The effect made it appear as if Chres was climbing an invisible staircase, when in actuality, he was just making small heat constructs to act as platforms off the ground.
”We spent enough time chasing the wind…” Chres said grimly, after climbing out of the hole. ”Let’s head back.”
Their route home led them east, along Shimmer Lake’s bank. They decided to not risk cutting straight through the city, closer to territory patrolled by the cult. Týfurkh had taken to riding his horse back, while Chres had preferred sticking to his own two feet. He kept up with the horse’s slow trot, his hand absently petting the horse’s side. His mind, however, dallied.
Chres stared northward, rather than straight ahead. His eyes taking in the beauty that was Shimmer Lake. The docks and boats may have burned away, but the lake remained as pristine as ever. Its surface reflected the distorted green sun’s light in such a way that would bring a painter to tears.
It felt strange to not hear Sil’s excitement at seeing a ‘puddle’ so massive. His year of companionship with her had affected him far more than he knew. If only-
”Don’t you see?! It all makes sense now! The puddles are all connected!”
Chres’ head perked up. Was that Sil’s voice?
”Sky puddles, ground puddles, the yellow puddles you humans make- They’re all one! All puddles are connected! EVERYTHING is a puddle!”
Yes… yes that definitely was Sil! Chres looked ahead to where a bemused crowd had gathered around the tiny familiar.
”It’s her...” Chres heard himself say. Strange how every other time that thought had led him to rush into action. This time, however, he found himself standing there from shock and surprise.
”You know… at some point you need to explain to me why Sil is all about ‘puddles’...”
Chres simply shook his head. ”In all honesty, I don’t even know.” He sighed.
Týfurkh felt happy for Chres to have found his familiar again, but he also knew that this feeling might only be a fraction of what his companion was experiencing right now. He himself had never had a familiar, even though he had played with the thought a bit in the past. He also had never been able to figure out what kind of familiar would be best for both of them.
Carefully, Týfurkh approached the crowd. He did want the crowd to dissipate, but he didn’t want to trigger that so fast that Sil would be in any danger of getting trampled. Slowly he rode closer and then continued on fool. He didn’t know how Sil would react to him, so he directed his steps more towards the people in order to… start nudging them. Gently.
”I followed them as they fell from the sky, you see? They eat each other, just like sky puffs. Little by little they get bigger until they become giant ground puddles like this one here!”
Chres shook his head and followed the giant’s lead. The people he nudged aside gave him an annoyed look.
”We are all the same you see?” Sil continued. ”Humans eat puddles too! Why? Because they are puddles! It’s why humans leak puddles, bleed puddles, spit puddles- You’re all just living puddle-skins, eating skinless puddles so that you can become bigger puddles.” She emphasized her point by patting the stomach of one of the larger bystanders.
By this point Chres had made it to the edge of the crowd. ”Sil!” He hissed.
”Animals, you ask? Yes they are puddles too! Fish? Puddles. Plants? Puddles! Octavapoo? Yes, he’s definitely a puddle.”
”Sil!” Chres said more urgently.
”But what about me? What kind of puddle am I? Well you see-”
”Sil!” This time Chres said his name loud enough for everyone to hear.
Sil’s head jerked up in hesitation. Slowly, she looked to Chres.
”Chres?” She said.
”Sil… what are you doing here?”
”I-” She started, but she cut off the rest of her sentence. Her eyes widening almost as if in fear.
”N-no… I can’t…” There was a tremble in her words. Was that actual fear in her voice?
A spike of concern rose in Chres’ chest. He carefully took a step forward. ”Sil, it’s okay.” He said soothingly. ”Talk to me, Sil.”
”I can’t…” She whispered. Her form hovering away from Chres’ advances.
”Help me understand what’s wrong.”
”I can’t!” She said more insistently.
”Why?” He asked, doing his best to keep the frustration out of his voice.
”Because I don’t know!” Sil shouted back. ”Because I never know! Because I never-”
Her words trailed off. She hung her had towards the ground. Hand raised between her chest. There was a troubled look on her face. A look so foriegn yet familiar. A look which roused the memories deep inside.
”Because…” She repeated. Her voice softer this time. ”Because I never seem to know...”
Then it clicked. She had finally come to realize the thing that made her different. The thing about her that others could tell instantly. It wasn’t that she didn’t know what was wrong. It was that she had come to realize that she didn’t understand the world like everyone else.
”Oh, Sil...” He said. His words were a mere whisper. He felt his heart go out to her. What must it feel like to suddenly realize that your mental capacity was not up to par with everyone else’s?
”Why?” She asked despondently. ”Why is it that I don’t know?”
”I-” Chres said hesitantly. ”I don’t think I have an answer for that.”
”But you always seem to know...” She replied.
”It may seem that way, but I think you’ll find that I know about as much as anybody else.”
”You mean anybody else, aside from me.”
Chres frowned at her words. ”What happened, Sil? What happened in the tower.”
”I- I don’t know. Everything was so bright and colorful. Then, suddenly, it was like my eyes opened. Noeyes wasn’t playing with Lynx... he was hurting him. And there I was just prancing along like… like...”
Sil furrowed her brow, as if trying to remember something. ”You see… this is what happens… I don’t even remember what we were talking about!”
”Sil-”
”I thought if I tried to focus… focus for once on actually knowing something, then it might make it better. So I followed the puddles. I tried to get to know the puddles… But in the end...”
Sil looked up to the onlooking crowd. They had taken to whispering and pointing at both Chres and Sil.
”Puddles, Chres… What nonsense was I even saying to these people?”
He looked from them to her. ”Come on, Sil.” Ches said in a comforting voice. ”Let’s go home.”
He lay a finger beneath her form. She looked to it with hesitation. Then with a despondent nod, she took a seat upon his finger.
”Show’s over, people.” He said to the gossiping crowd.
Most of the crowd dispersed, though not without some disappointed groans. A few people lingered, but they too left as they realized that Chres had no intention of staying.
With a nod to Týfurkh. They headed on their way back.
The first several minutes were done so in silence. Chres’ mind a whirlpool of questions and concerns. Sil’s perhaps the same. But as they made their way away from the lake, Chres opened his mouth to speak.
”You know,” Chres started. ”There are things you know which I wish I knew half as well as you did.”
Sil gave Chres a skeptical look. ”Yeah,” She said. ”Like what?”
”You know how to have fun.” Sil gave Chres a frown.
”I’m serious!” Chres said defensively. ”Without you around, I would sulk so much that the rest of the world would probably just lock me away so I wouldn’t go around dampening the atmosphere! You, Sil, know how to make every day interesting.”
”Is that… Is that a good thing?” She asked in an honest tone.
”For someone like me, yes.” He said with a nod.
”But there are so many other things I don’t understand.”
”And that is absolutely okay.”
”Why?”
”Because nobody is capable of understanding everything. Because some people are better at understanding certain things more than others. It's okay to not understand things, so long as your heart is in the right place and you keep that lovely smile of yours on that face.”
Sil smiled softly. Her eyes wandering over to Týfurkh’s horse. ”You know what?” She asked.
”What?” Chres replied.
”I think Metalman was big enough without the donkey.”
”That’s a horse, Sil.” Týfurkh replied while avoiding to sound like a teacher. He felt happy for Chris finally having found his familiar, even though he could not make much sense out of the latter’s strict preferences for… puddles. ”And that’s only armor. I’m not actually made out of metal. Luckily!” Him made out of metal… how much worse would everyday life be that way?
”Will you promise me not to run away that soon again? Finding you was quite a bit of an effort and a dangerous one as well.” he asked friendly, clearly hoping for only one kind of response.
”’Not Metalman’ asks Sil a question...” Sil said to herself while raising a finger to her lips. ”I proooomise…-” She paused mid-sentence. Tilting her head to the side, she looked as if she were deep in thought. ”-nothing.” She finished with a grin.
Giggling to herself, Sil fluttered over to the horse. ”Good donkey.” She said patting the horse on the head.
Chres looked to Týfurkh and shrugged. You couldn’t win every battle he supposed. With a soft smile he glanced back at Sil. She had perched herself atop the horse’s head and began humming happily to herself.
She seemed like her normal self… but what had that all been about? He had never seen Sil act so serious before. So… aware… except… except on the nights when the shadows seemed darkest. Those nights were he serious had considered finally taking out his cord of rope and wrapping it around his neck. The thought made him shiver.
Was Sil changing or had something triggered this behavior? Chres shook his head. What was the point? He no longer had the means to get the answers to these questions. Chres had seen to that himself.
A darkness hovered over Chres. A darkness he had hoped would lessen upon finding Sil.
Oh Chres... Chres thought to himself. Ever always the fool...
