~Eastern Sun In The Western Sky~
Track 2: Jay Of The Orients
~Like the weather, one's fortune may change by the evening~
-Luu Mengzheng-
"What is your real name, if I may ask? Jay, after all, is a nickname is it not?" Elijah handed Jay a glass of water, taking a sip from his own glass of whiskey.
"My real name?" Jay repeated, not feeling very inclined to say it. "It's really long and embarrassing…I prefer it if people just called me Jay." She never told anyone she met here her real name. She felt awfully embarrassed with it, even when she was in her own country. Her parents had picked a name that most people never came across before.
Elijah sensed her reluctance to reveal her real name to him so he just gave her a wry smile and decided to not persist. He placed his whiskey down onto the table before walking over to one of the many shelves of the room they are in.
It was a library of sorts, with tall shelves lining against the walls. Books of all shapes and colors filled these shelves, and Jay wondered if they had all the books of the world in here. Tattered pieces of what appeared to be old maps were framed neatly and hung on the walls, and a fairly large globe was placed on the center table. There was a fireplace in the room, though it remained unlit.
Jay walked over to the fireplace and looked at it curiously. This is the first time she saw one. Nobody had fireplaces in her country since it was scorching hot the whole year. She wanted to light it, just to try it out but resisted asking Elijah if she can, feeling slightly childish.
"So is it just you and your brother Kol who lives here?" Jay asked, wanting to break the silence a little and distract herself from the fireplace that constantly called to her inner child to light it. She peered at the books and framed pieces of antiques lined along the wall, refraining from putting her curious fingers on anything lest they were very important.
"Well, no," Elijah answered, still flipping through books, in search of something. "I have two other brothers who live here as well as a younger sister. And my mother too, of course."
"A large family." Jay commented, comparing to her simple family of four, including her. She did not miss the fact that Elijah did not mention a father, though she was smart enough to not ask.
Elijah finally looked up at her and motioned the girl over, a book of sorts in his hand.
Following his previous action of placing his drink down on the table, Jay walked over to the taller man. She estimated that he was probably about a 180cm, give or take, a staggering 20cm taller than her short figure. She had to crane her neck up just to look at him when they spoke.
"I picked this up during one of my travels from a merchant of sorts." He decided to leave out the part where the merchant was actually a shaman hailing from Mongolia several hundred years back.
Jay looked over the loosely bounded book, flipping through the pages and gazed curiously at the pictures and diagrams on each page. It was more of a collection of parchments that were fastened together by weathered strings.
There were many things she did not understand in the pages, though she recognized a few written traditional Chinese characters as well as the drawings of certain Chinese gods. Most of the writings in there were written in traditional Chinese, which Jay could not comprehend too well. She could hardly read simplified Chinese as it is, much less traditional. But she knew that the writings in the parchments were old, and valuable.
"Oh, wow…where did you get this?" Jay asked. "My father would die to get a glimpse of this." Jay heard from her parents before that her ancestors were from China though over the centuries with war and sickness plaguing different lands, they had moved about to different areas, mixing with many others from different parts of Asia. As far as she knew, she probably had some Japanese or Mongolian blood within her. Her grandparents were born in what is now Singapore, whilst her parents and her were born and raised in now what is known as Malaysia, a quirky country located beside the bustling Singapore, resulting in her having more Southeast Asian features than her ancestors did. A distant cousin of hers was even half Thai, so she had darker skin than Jay's peachy skin.
Elijah smiled wryly, choosing to deflect her further questioning of the source of the book by asking her about the various Chinese gods that were depicted in the book. He asked about whether they still worshiped these gods, such as the Kitchen God or the famed God of War Guan-Yu. Jay, to be honest, was having a slightly hard time answering his questions. She knew about their traditions and beliefs but she wasn't exactly a follower unlike her father who is Taoist while her mother is a Buddhist.
Whenever they went to temples to pray, she just did whatever she was asked to, but she never had faith, not knowing who she is praying to. It was done out of tradition rather than faith, for her at least.
As she racked her brain for any info she might have on Elijah's question pertaining to the core differences between Taoist worship and Buddhist worship, Jay was relieved when Elijah suddenly changed the topic, as they turned to a page that depicted a woman in ancient Chinese clothing, holding something that looks like a lute.
"What do you know about songsters?" He asked, dark eyes gazing at her for a moment before turning to the shelves.
"Songsters?" She can't say she knew anything about them. "Aren't they wandering musicians?"
"Yes, they are…," Elijah replied slowly, attention in the tome he was holding in his arms. "They first appeared during the 19th century in the southern United States, but what people did not know is that they were around long before that."
Jay could not help a quiet snort. "And how did you know then?"
Elijah looked up at her, eyes hard but a mysterious smile lined his lips. "I have my sources."
Jay stared at Elijah, a sense of mystery wrapping itself Elijah and the calm look in his eyes that spoke years and years of experience and confidence.
Elijah closed the tome in his hands, before picking up his glass of whiskey and taking a small sip. "They were not known as songsters back then, just mere musicians. Similar to the ones in the 19th century, many accompanied pharmacists, aiding in the selling of salves and elixirs to the common people through the telling of wonders of their elixirs through their music."
Jay tilted her head in curiosity and confusion. She wasn't too familiar with any of the things he is speaking of at the moment. As far as she knew about songsters, they were wandering musicians who had influenced much of blues music, and the songstress dressphere from Final Fantasy X-2. A sense of nostalgia lingered on her lips as she recalled the hours spent on that game years ago.
"They were also known as another form of shamans, able to summon spirits and placing curses on people with their chants."
"Well, I heard of that being done before in ceremonies and rituals but not really through songsters…" Jay added, watching the melting of the ice cubes in her glass. She didn't believe in such things though. "It was mostly done by priests."
"It's a mostly ignored tale of history; being shadowed by other more popular and known figures like shamans and witches." Elijah said with a dry smile.
Twisting his glass of whiskey in his hands, Elijah peered at her. "Are you a believer, Jay?" He asked and Jay looked up with a blank face.
"No…not really." She wasn't even sure what Elijah meant when he said believer. Believer of what? Of magic and the supernatural? Of whether there is a God and Heaven?
"Are you?" She asked back, just for the heck of it.
With an enigmatic smile, Elijah gave her his answer. "I believe in that it is alright to not believe, but never doubt."
Cryptic words, Jay thought to herself, but oddly, made sense.
She was about to ask him to elaborate on his words when they were interrupted by a voice from the door.
"Elijah, mother is asking for you." A woman with blonde hair spoke, hands placed against her hips.
"Ah, Rebekah. Jay, this is my younger sister Rebekah." Elijah introduced the two of them out of politeness. "Rebekah, this is Jay. She goes to Whitmore College."
"Hi, nice to meet you." Jay smiled, happy to meet another female though her happiness was cut short when Rebekah rolled her eyes in disinterest at her.
"Whatever." She said before giving Elijah one last look . "Mother's upstairs in her study." And with that she walked off.
Jay was left slightly speechless at the way Rebekah quickly brushed her off. It kinda hurt, even though she didn't know the woman. She was a bit on the sensitive side, taking minor things to heart.
A laugh brought her attention back to the door. This time, it was Kol who stood there.
"I see you met our charming sister." He said with a smirk, leaning against the door frame.
Elijah sighed, resisting the urge to rub his temples. "Forgive my sister's manners."
"Or lack of~" Kol piped in, earning himself a reprimanding glance from Elijah.
"I'm afraid I have to leave you now Jay." Elijah turned to the girl who was smiling in slight amusement at the siblings and their antics. She kinda wished she had brothers like them. Hers was…let's just say their relationship isn't that great.
"My apologies for having to cut our discussion short like this." He said apologetically.
Jay shook her head. "No, it's quite alright. I should meet up with my friend and start our drive back to Whitmore soon anyways."
Elijah smiled earnestly at her, once again extending his arm out towards the door, politely waiting for her to walk first.
"Kol, if you don't mind, can you show our guest to the door?" Elijah asked of his brother, eyes narrowing in slight warning without the notice of their guest. He was telling his brother to not do anything reckless and idiotic.
Kol shrugged with a grin. "I don't see why not~ don't worry brother dear, I'll be careful with her." He winked at Jay who felt her ears turn warm. She had never been winked at before.
Elijah pointedly ignored the antics of his brother, extending his hand to Jay instead. "Thank you for coming here today Jay. It has been enlightening speaking with you."
"No, not at all. The pleasure is mine, actually. I learnt a lot from you today." Jay shook his hand and Elijah smiled at the sincerity that shone in her eyes. "I'm sorry if I wasn't much help with your research." Jay scratched the back of her head, and shuffled her right foot around in embarrassment.
"Don't be. It has been very insightful speaking with you."
Saying their goodbyes, Elijah turned to head upstairs with long strides whilst Jay fidgeted under Kol's shameless staring.
"Well, shall we then?" He asked whimsically, head nodding towards the direction of the stairs that lead below and to the foyer.
"So what were you speaking with my brother about?" Kol asked the short girl beside him. He had to look down quite a bit, as he towered a good 25cm above her. He already knew what they spoke about; he had heard every word they said from the lounge below the room they were in. He just asked for the heck of it. And perhaps to try to get a bit more look into what sort of person she is, to have piqued enough interest in Elijah to invite her to their den of monsters.
"We just spoke about different traditions and beliefs, really. Your brother is very knowledgeable." She said to Kol with an honesty that shone in her dark brown eyes that bordered on black.
Kol smirked down at her. "He might be knowledgeable about such things, but I am sure I am more knowledgeable than him in other things. " He whispered the last part in her ears. Jay's heart leaped in her chest from the suddenness of his breath across her skin and she looked down and forward with determination, feeling her cheeks growing warm. She pointedly ignored anything her mind came up with as to what he meant by those words of his.
Reaching the front door, Jay was relieved as she quickly turned around to Kol and gave him a strained smile marked by nervousness. She wasn't very used to such open flirtations.
"Thank you for having me in your family's home, Kol. It is very lovely." She said honesty despite the slightly erratic beating of her heart which sounded loud and clear in Kol's ears.
"Don't mention it darling." He grinned, opening the door for her. His grin widened further when he heard her heartbeat increasing, and caught the slight twitch of her eyes as her cheeks glowed a darker red.
She quickly stepped out onto the porch, not because she disliked the company of Kol but because she was rather nervous with his forward personality. But that had more to do with her than him.
"Thank you again Kol." She said, turning around only to be surprised to find that a taxi was already there waiting for her.
"See you soon~!" Kol called out to her with a chuckle, watching as she quickly walked to the taxi.
"So what's up with this Miss Jay?" Kol threw himself onto the couch, lounging across it as he looked up at his brother Elijah who was reading a book in the armchair across from him.
"Nothing is up, Kol." Elijah murmured back, eyes flicking to look at his brother who is grinning mischievously before turning back to his book.
"Oh, don't play that game with me Elijah. I heard your conversations with her." Kol waved his brother off with a dismissive hand, a challenging smirk plastered on his face.
"Ever the eavesdropper." Elijah sighed, not really surprised.
"So what's this about songsters? I'm sure you didn't call her over here just to just simply chat." Kol folded his arms across his chest, settling his back into the couch. "Is she one?"
"As I said before Kol, it was nothing." Elijah continued reading his book, attempting to ignore his brother's persistent questions.
Kol hummed a tune that told Elijah he did not believe him.
"Whatever you say brother~" Kol sighed, feigning upset. Pushing himself off the couch, Kol proceeded to leave the room but not before turning around to grin at Elijah.
"Oh, and I applied to be a student at Whitmore College. I'm sure I will be receiving my acceptance letter soon~" He grinned to himself when he finally caught his brother's attention, and made a show of strutting out of the room.
Elijah sat unmoving for a moment, before finally closing his eyes and his book.
He wondered to whatever powers that existed up above why his brother must be one of those typical little brothers.
Reviews are always loved ^_^ It keeps me inspired, like watering a plant~!
I'm still figuring out how I want to write this story, whether I want to reveal a lot to the readers in a short amount of time so they can get a better understanding of each character's cryptic words and their motives, or reveal bit by bit as Jay's character grow in relation to interactions with others. Would like some opinions on this too, if possible :S
Greenlv- Thank you for your review! And Jay will most likely interact with other characters in the future. I'm still sorting out who should come in and what role they should play but they most likely will make an appearance as well :3 I did not have a particular season in mind for this story, though I would have to say it would be after Elijah undaggered all of them and Esther was awakened. I suppose the story starts around that time, but taking a different route from the original story line in the series as I hope to make use of all the Mikaelsons if I could ^_^