Tybalt walked past us into the lighthouse while the three of us waited outside, hoping that once he left, we would be able to go back up.
Ava and I both decided to sit down on the grass, looking out over the town while Cattleya was busy behind us, pacing back and forth frantically. Going by the expression I had just seen on her face when I answered Tybalt’s question, I had expected her to imdiately bombard with questions like before, but evidently, that wasn’t what was happening.
…
‘Morning Kierra,’ Ovia’s voice suddenly erged inside my head, sounding just a little bit more exhausted than usual.
‘Good morning,’ I replied as I lay back on the grass and looked towards the sky.
‘Sorry I wasn’t around earlier… A small group of common dream spirits have been acting a little strange… they’re normally very quiet, so I had to check on them.’
As I registered her words in my mind, I was gradually hit with a pang of guilt sowhere deep in my stomach.
Is that… my fault?
My dream…
Was it because of the mory I saw? Was it a bad thing that I rembered?
…
I eventually gave in to my curiosity and asked, ‘… What happened?’
‘They wouldn’t tell … I just watched and waited for them to calm down… But Rya is now in charge of them instead.’
…
I couldn’t tell if the spirit’s silence was better or worse. If it was my fault… and now the spirits weren’t saying anything about it… not even to their Goddess…
…
…
As I lay there and thought about it a bit more, another question ca to mind.
Is it even my fault?
rembering such a short mory might not have been what caused it. The last ti I had a dream in that place, nothing bad happened; it was just a nightmare. So it might have been the sa this ti, nothing more than a strange dream. This all might have just been a coincidence… but at the sa ti… it also might not have been.
…
I kept quiet for a bit, not sure of what exactly to say or do. With everything that had already happened earlier that day, there wasn’t enough room for to also think about this, and for so reason, I just didn’t even really feel like thinking about it. That feeling that ca over in the morning when I just wanted to go and do sothing still hadn’t gone away.
…
“What did you do?!” Cattleya suddenly shouted from behind, abruptly tearing away from my thoughts, “I have thought about it, but I cannot figure it out.”
As I sat up and looked over my shoulder she looked like she was about to lunge at , but thankfully, she just knelt down on the grass next to the two of us instead.
“There must be an explanation, a missing piece to the puzzle,” She said as she reached for my hand, “You said that you were seeing sothing I could not, but that very assumption might be wrong!”
I quickly moved my hand into my lap on reflex, and fortunately, Cattleya didn’t try to reach out again and just left her hand on the grass where it fell.
“Maybe I am the one seeing sothing that you cannot! That would also make sense… But I do not know why that would be the case…”
“And you think we would?” Ava asked, “How do you even know this ans anything? She might have just had a hard ti seeing what was happening. It was a long way down to the water. Anyone could make a mistake from that distance.”
“No, this has to be sothing else. I know it,” Cattleya didn’t waste a mont before her retort, “I have watched many of these ships co into the docks, yet I have never seen anything remotely like she described.”
“Like I said-”
“It has to be because of your magic!” She interrupted Ava, focusing instead on again, “My initial thought was that it might have sothing to do with you being a kitsune, but if that were the case, then Elenia would have also seen the sa thing! But she did not! It has to be sothing you are doing!”
…
“I…” As the first word left my lips, Cattleya’s eyes imdiately lit up, “… don’t know…”
Maybe Ava is right… Maybe my eyes were playing tricks on …
I might have imagined it.
…
But if I didn’t… What would that even an?
“How can you not know?!” She shouted in response.
However, before I was even able to think about replying to her, the door to the lighthouse swung open, and Tybalt ca out.
He looked over at us but just did a slight bow before saying, “I’ll be on my way now. Please have a pleasant rest of the day.” And with that short remark, he began on his trek down the hill and back into town.
…
Ava was the first to stand up, stretching her arms before reaching down to help to my feet. Cattleya followed close behind.
“Alright, now, let’s go and see if we can get back up the lighthouse,” Ava said, “With that whole surprise back there, you didn’t even get to pull your sketchbook out, y’know? But now-”
As if on cue, there was a light rumbling off in the distance, accompanied by a blanket of dark grey clouds coming in over the horizon.
“…” Ava didn’t say anything for a mont, just staring off at the clouds as they inched closer and closer, “I just… Why? It was a perfect day only a few minutes ago.”
“That is just how it works here,” Cattleya explained, “The weather changes at the drop of a coin. But now-”
“Just be quiet for a mont,” Ava interrupted before turning to , “I… don’t think you’re going to be able to sketch from up there today, at least if those clouds turn out as bad as they look to be from here… I know you wanted to co out here and do this, but is there sothing else you want to do? Preferably inside?”
“I…” I wanted to respond imdiately but wasn’t able to co up with anything. Even my wanting to sketch wasn’t really sothing I explicitly wanted to do; I just felt like going outside and doing sothing.
“Then how about we go back to the inn for now?” She suggested, “You can try to co up with sothing on our way there, and even if you can’t, at least we’ll be dry.”
“Alright.”
Both Ava and I waved back to the lighthouse keeper before starting on our way back into town… all with Cattleya still in tow.
“I need to know what happened up there,” She matched my pace exactly, “If you do not know, then maybe you could answer so simple questions instead?”
“I-”
“Are you wearing sothing that might affect what you see?” She didn’t even wait to hear my answer before asking her questions, “Did your parents have any unique abilities? What kinds of magic can you use? Where is all the mana that approaches you going? Have you ever seen anything strange like that before? If so, when and where?”
The questions just kept on coming, not leaving any room to answer.
“Look, she doesn’t know,” Ava skilfully swapped places with so that she was now between the two of us, “It doesn’t matter how many questions you ask, you aren’t going to get any of the answers you want.”
“I do not need the answer itself. I need information. I will figure it out myself… At least tell what magic you can use.”
“Cattleya-”
“I don’t know,” I answered, cutting Ava off.
“You… don’t know?” Cattleya tilted her head slightly as if she was struggling to understand what I was saying, “How can you not know? All the mana around you just disappears. You have to be using it for sothing.”
I don’t know what you’re talking about.
‘Ovia?’ I asked out of habit.
‘Ah… um… I don’t know how to explain,’ She responded almost imdiately, ‘Ellaria is better at this than ; maybe I can ask her for you.’
“Hmm?” Cattleya tried to slow down in order to slip behind Ava, but Ava imdiately noticed and matched her pace, “Do you really know nothing? I thought that was just an excuse.”
“I…” Ava simply stared at her as she struggled to find her words, “I don’t know what to do with you…”
“I don’t know what to do about this either,” Cattleya said, more than likely having misheard Ava… or maybe after having chosen to mishear her, “But I still need to know the answer… It is very important…”
I… don’t know what to do.
…
The rest of the walk was done in silence, aside from Ava asking a few minor questions as she noticed the buildings and stores around us, things like if I was interested in what they were selling or if I wanted to go visit the place when the weather cleared up.
Once we were finally in front of the inn, Ava opened the door and stepped forward with . However, this ti, Cattleya didn’t follow, instead just standing out on the street.
“Are you just going to stand out there until you get wet?” Ava asked.
“Hmm? Oh, I was just thinking about how to solve this problem…” Cattleya responded, “But what if I don’t have to?! Even if I do not know why you can see sothing different, it does not matter! I just need you to watch the ships for !”
“I thought we already-” Ava tried to speak up.
“Wait,” She interrupted, “I know you will not accept money, but I have a different offer. You do not know about magic, but I do know about magic, and I know that you will be more than capable of using it, so what if… I will teach you what I know, and in exchange, you can just watch the ships with . That is all. No money involved.”
“Look-”
“Okay,” I spoke up over Ava.
Cattleya’s face once again lit up, “Then we start tomorrow! I will be waiting for you out here.”
Ava looked back at in shock, but it only lasted a mont before her expression softened again, “Alright… If that’s what you want to do… I… can’t really stop you… But I’m definitely coming along then to make sure that nothing happens.”
“Yes!” Cattleya shouted, “That is more than fine!”
“Now, are you going to co in? It’s about ti for lunch, after all.”
“No. I… I have other things to do!” Cattleya awkwardly turned around, “Just don’t forget about tomorrow!”
With those last few words, Cattleya ran off into the distance just as the rain started to co down.
“She ran off with the cloak I gave her…” Ava muttered under her breath as the two of us made our way over to one of the tables in preparation for lunch.
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