A Not So Little Fish
Chapter Four
The Clock Shop
Alphonse couldn't shake the fact that he had come face to face with a merperson. It had stricken fear into him beyond compare and he didn't know what to do about it. His father always feared him going towards the ocean because of this, because of what happened to his brother. Now Alphonse knew why. Those creatures were horrifyingly beautiful. Strong enough to take down a shark, with severed screeching cries, but a tail as shiny as blood rubies and golden eyes that shined through the deep. He knew those eyes. He knew them as well as he could just looking in a mirror. They were exactly like his.
He had spent the remainder of that day locked in his room trying to process his terrifying experience. He didn't know where this merman came from or why but he probably saved his life. Now Alphonse paced the corridor outside of his chambers and ran his hands through his short golden locks. The more he thought about it the more curious he got about merpeople. They seemed vicious but after what happened they surely couldn't be as bad as the stories say. Killing them even if it was for his brother, he didn't know how to accept that anymore or even if he should. Were they ever really beasts to begin with?
Alphonse glanced up to the large intricate portrait on the wall. They had pieces of artwork nearly everywhere they could fit in the castle to make it feel less cold in the stone fort and more homey. Some of them were painted by master artists, some of them were family portraits, and some of them were even made by him as he took to painting on his free time. This one in particular was a family portrait painted back when he was just a baby, when his mother and brother were still alive and with them. It was the only real portrait they had of everyone together. Apparently it was finished a few days after Edward left for Xing by the pure memory of the artist, Alex Louis the detail was the color of their skin to the glint in their eyes, it almost felt like the portrait was alive. It was one of the only things that helped Alphonse imagine what his brother would have been like. He was too young to remember him or even his mother for that matter. The Queen had died only a few weeks after the Prince by an unknown illness. She was weakened after his birth and fell ill after that. The portrait even showed the Queen's face a bit paler than the rest, and a bit crest fallen.
Alphonse glanced over the painting, taking in all of the detail. He couldn't ever grasp the concept of how much this single portrait told about their family. Yet as he observed the entire thing, his eyes hung over a single detail that was placed on the large canvas, the golden eyes of his brother. They shined with determination just above his quirky grin. There was a fire that didn't seem it could be dosed just like in his own, but just like somewhere else he had seen. The longer Alphonse looked at it he more he wanted to know.
Alphonse made up his mind to visit the book store in the town. It has been a while since he had actually spent time in the city rather than the castle and he knew he was long overdue for a trip. The palace had its own library, stocked with many books from around the world with many more topics than one could ever choose from but Alphonse actually rarely used it. His tutors all stalked the library shelves looking for lessons to teach him and if he went in there he would be sure to have a class with all of them. He always tried to avoid it the best he could and because of this he made trips to the store instead and made his own little library in his room from the books he had bought over the years. Now, with the topic he was looking for, he wouldn't dare step foot into the library, he needed to go to the store.
Dodging the castle guards so he wouldn't have to be escorted, Alphonse snuck through the castle gates and raced towards town where he knew that the bookstore was waiting for him right on the corner. It was a shabby little place but it was stacked high with so many books that the shelves couldn't even hold them all. It was the perfect place to get lost in for a while. He opened the door and a little bell rung signalling his entrance. He looked around but the shop seemed to be empty, the keeper being somewhere unbeknownst to him. Alphonse quickly scanned the shelves determined to find what he was looking for. It was difficult to find anything as there wasn't a particular order to any of them. He felt almost overwhelmed by them all.
"Sheska!" Alphonse called out knowing that the girl worked there nearly everyday of the week and nearly every hour at that. He didn't think that she slept at all let alone eat, she was so obsessed over reading the books they had for sale. When he didn't hear a reply, Alphonse searched for another location of the store and then called out again.
"Sheska! I need your help!" He said and suddenly got a muffled reply. It was a bit strange that the cooky girl didn't come to meet him. Even though it was difficult for her to put down any book, she would throw down the encyclopedia when royalty walked in. She was so nervous around him that she had fainted the first time he walked in. Over the years Alphonse had to try and tell her to try and relax. He even tried to go into the store in his more casual clothes, that he was wearing now for that purpose, which seemed to help a bit but she was still on edge most of the time he was there. But no matter the class difference and her anxiety around them, Alphonse became gradual friends with the storekeeper the more books he got.
The voice was coming from the back storage room and Alphonse curiously opened the door to see a large mess of books on the floor where they were being kept until there was more room in the actual store front to put them. As Alphonse walked in he heard the muffled sound get louder and he walked around trying to find where she was.
"Sheska, where are you?" He called out finally when he found that there appeared to be no one in the room.
"Here!" A sudden exclamation came to him and Alphonse looked down at the giant cascaded pile of books to realise that the noise was coming from within. In a leap of fright, Alphonse started to shovel through the books trying to get to his friend who was buried alive beneath them. The woman burst out of the heap as soon as she could gasping for air. She looked distressed as if she was just held at gunpoint.
"My Prince!" She yelped as she caught sight of Alphonse. She grabbed his arm and hugged it, thanking him repetitively for saving her with much formalities. Alphonse struggled to shove her off of him as they tumbled around in the pile of books.
"Sheska I need your help-"
"Anything Sir!" She exclaimed. Alphonse helped her up and out of the cascade of books. They stumbled out of the room and quickly closed the door behind them as if scared of more books falling on their heads. Alphonse allowed the woman to get her breath and organise herself before he continued. The fact that she was as organised as the store they were standing in with her frizzy hair and offset glasses meant that it didn't take that long.
"Sheska I can't seem to find the book I want in this mess."
"Not again sir! I am sorry that it isn't very organised I will try my best to clean it up for the next time you visit-"
"You said that the last time-"
"I-I just get distracted with all of the books!" She admitted nervously, her face very red in embarrassment. "I try but… they overwhelm me, sir."
"Please don't call me sir anymore," Alphonse told her. He said this probably three times every visit to the bookstore but it was the one thing she couldn't do. She was honestly trying. He saw her struggle a few times to leave it off but her attempts never succeeded. Sheska furiously nodded her head, unable to say anything in fear of calling him sir once more. Alphonse took a deep breath and looked at her very seriously.
"Sheska I need to ask you if you have any books on merpeople."
"Merpeople? Why would you want to have something on that?" She asked him curiously pushing up her glasses as she scurried through the shelves of books. She only glanced at the different stacks of books before diligently pulling out a series from various places in the store. She knew where everything was even though it had no actual form of organisation to it. Alphonse had trouble keeping up with her.
"I just… want to know more about them," he answered plainly as he didn't want to talk to her about what happened the other day. Alphonse actually was afraid to tell anyone. His father would surely reprimand him if he found out and only push for stricter laws around the waters.
"Well we got only a few books here about them but they don't really say much separately, however if you were to get all of them they would have decent material in them," she told him. "One of them details how merpeople actually breathe the air in the water while another explains how merpeople can't are very scientific overviews of the subject but still hold and explain merpeople's magical properties just how I would expect you to like-"
"Wait...Sheska, what did you just say?" Alphonse asked her, cutting her off from her rant about the books. The woman looked a little taken back as she put the pile of books down on the front counter and pushed up her glasses back up on her nose.
"Well, sir, f-from all of the books you got from here before, I noticed that you like science a bit more so I thought-"
"No before that. Merpeople can't reproduce?" He asked curiously and she just nodded her head.
"Y-yes sir. This one scientist named Tucker wrote several excerpts on the anatomy and function of merpeople. They can't reproduce amongst other things-"
"But.. how are there so many of them?" Alphonse asked her.
"I.. i never really thought about it. There are just so many books... I kind of get distracted-"
"Could I have the book with the excerpts in it?"
"W-well, sir, they are scattered throughout this entire series. You are going to have to get all of these books just for a few pages-"
"Isn't there a way I could just get the pages on merpeople and not all of the other stuff?" He begged her. Though he appreciated the books he got from the store he didn't need to haul several thick volumes back to the castle. Sheska scratched her chin for a little bit and then let out a huff as if she was debating something she didn't want to do.
"Well, sir… I could… make copies for you of the pages you need. It will take nearly half a day but-"
"Please Sheska that would be wonderful!" Alphonse exclaimed as he grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her in gratitude. "How much would it be, I would give anything-"
"I-I don't know s-sir… they are only a fraction of the books that I take them from and… I am afraid that I won't be able to do it today. I need to run to Garfiel's for my grandmother. She needed to get one of her antiques repaired and she can't pick it up with her being bed ridden with her broken hip," she told him. "Thank you again by the way for buying all of those geography books and maps. It really helped get her a good doctor sir. It was more than enough to get her a good healer."
"I am gld to hear that she is at least doing okay though," Alphonse said back a little disappointed that he wouldn't be able to get any books on the subject at all. He was just so curious as to the merman who he saw the other day that he needed to figure out what they were. He didn't think he could sleep with this continuously on his mind. The shopkeeper seemed to notice his upset and she got very flabbergasted seeing that she upset a Prince, the next heir for that matter. He had helped her on many situations financially, mostly because he wanted to buy so many books and she just needed more customers to help her along. It was his consumption of books that got her grandmother to a proper doctor. Ever since then she felt like she owed him something when in all reality, Alphonse just wanted books. She started stuttering to try and find a situation that would make him less disappointed but she couldn't seem to come up with anything.
"Uh.. uh sir.. I mean I could work quick on it and get it to you by tomorrow morning but I really need to run my errands-"
"What if I were to run your errands. Would you be able to be done with them by my return?"
"B-but Sir!"
"Please Sheska, I need this. Would you be able to do that?" Alphonse begged. The woman frowned but then slowly nodded her head. She didn't like the idea of a Prince doing her any favors it seemed too strange for her, and Alphonse knew it, but it wasn't the first time he was willing to do something for a friend.
"I-I will start on it right away. Hold on let me just give you some money, Sir to cover the-"
"Bye Sheska! Start writing! I want those pages when I get back!" Alphonse said quickly jetting out of the store before Sheska could even grab her wallet. As he closed the door he hear the flabbergasted cries of his friend behind him. He chuckled slightly as he started to stroll down the street away from the shop. He didn't want Sheska to have to pay for it. It was ridiculous that she couldn't even let him pay for the costs, but he guessed that the woman was just worried for his wallet.
Alphonse knew where Garfiel's was. Though it was quite a long ways from the bookstore when you passed it it wasn't very hard to miss. The sign was huge with brightly colored roses on it even though it was far from a flowershop. It was a mechanics. Alphonse had only been there a couple times since most of the errands for the castle were run by the servants or the workers. They often went there to repair some of the clocks or suits of armors that lined the halls. The only time Alphonse went into Garfiel's was because he went to go repair his brother's pocket watch.
His father didn't want to keep many things that reminded him of Edward. All of Edward's things were piled into his room to collect dust over the years. The only thing left were really the paintings of his brother which were all cleared from the King's chambers and corridors. Though the kind boiled over Edward's death Alphonse was rather upset that he didn't choose to remember him. He didn't know much of his brother and one day when he was twelve, he wanted to find out more. Alphonse had snuck into his brother's old chamber and rooted through his things in an attempt to find something he could think about. It was dark and dusty in there but he had managed to find several notable objects like a long list of writings, personal painting that he must have done with his tutor (most were strangely dark and gaudy), and even his pocket watch. Alphonse found that it had stopped ticking and had taken it down to Garfiel's for repair without his father's knowledge. In the end, Alphonse just returned it back to the desk drawer that he found it in to continue collecting dust just with a bit livelier tick to it.
Alphonse walked into Garfiel's mechanics. The walls were covered in an arrangement of gears and bolts most of which Alphonse didn't know had any purpose to other than to be a wall decoration. Though the walls were filled he was upset to find the storefront empty though he heard the tinkering of the clocks in the back as the owner must have been working on something. Alphonse walked to the front desk and hit the little bell on the counter to await someone's company. The tinkering slowly stopped as they heard the soft ringing noise swirl through the air. A person emerged from the back workshop and to Alphonse's amazement it wasn't the owner at all. Instead of being the tall strapping and rather fashionable man named Garfiel what Alphonse came face to face with was a blond girl no older than he was. A welding mask was flipped up on the top of her head and she was covered in grime yet brilliant blue eyes poked out beneath it all in absolute curiousity. She didn't say a word as she walked over to the counter and waited for him to say what he needed.
"Oh… um… Do you know where Garfiel is? I… came to pick up an order," Alphonse told her nervously as it seemed her eyes were looking straight through him. The woman shook her head and took out a piece of parchment on the desk and a pen. Quickly and rather neatly, she wrote down a sentence and passed it to him.
He isn't here. What order do you need to pick up? Alphonse read it over and then looked at her curiously.
"Can… you not talk?" He asked innocently and the woman shook her head with a frown and just tapped the paper aggravated as she wanted her question answered. Alphonse stuttered as he tried to answer her. "Oh, um, I need to pick up an order for Sheska. It apparently was her grandmother's?" He asked. The girl nodded her head as if she remembered exactly which one it was without even looking. She motioned for him to wait there as she leapt off towards the back room where all of the gadgets were stored. Alphonse waited patiently and tapped his fingers on the counter to no apparent rhythm and looked around the room. He sighed as he looked down at the parchment that the mechanic was writing on and looked at the words she had written. They looked scraggly and what was rather funny to him was that it looked like she had just learned to write. The woman returned with a rather huge cuckoo clock and Alphonse felt his stomach drop. Was this really what Sheska needed to pick up? He could barely imagine her lifting it let alone carrying it across town. In fact, he could barely imagine lifting it himself even though the mechanic seemed to be doing just fine with it.
"Wow… that's… some clock," he muttered as he watched the woman set it down on the counter. The woman smirked silently at him knowing full well the pain he was going to be in. She reached for the tablet and Alphonse handed it to her. He watched her write with absolute curiousity and seeing that he was practically leaning over the parchment as she wrote the woman shoved him away to finish what she was going to say.
"You know… sign language might make it easier for you to talk… or morse code-" Alphonse said but the woman just stopped and looked at him like he had cacti sticking out of his ears. He subconsciously took a step away as the woman stared at him, getting very uncomfortable under the gaze of someone he just met when suddenly he heard a tapping on the counter.
You know morse code? She asked him as if it was a rare occasion to meet someone of the sort. Alphonse nodded his head and cleared his throat as if he wasn't just very intimidated by her.
"Y-yeah… I mean… this city is now nearly flooded with fishermen. They use it to talk over the ships to the shore. Why… why wouldn't I know it?" The woman suddenly blanked out and turned white as he finished. She tapped on the counter lightly as if she didn't have enough energy to tap just a bit harder.
Fishermen? She asked him. I nearly forgot…
"How… How could you really forget that?" Alphonse chuckled nervously. "The king has been driving us towards the sea for fifteen years-"
You aren't a fisherman are you? She asked him, her eyes holding a defensive look. She looked like she would have fought him if he said the wrong things. He didn't know where this suddenly came from.
"What? No. I-"
You look familiar. She stared at him hard and Alphonse took a few steps back just for her to round the corner of the counter to close the distance he had made. It was as if she was staring into his soul. His eyes caught hers and for a split second he felt an overwhelming burden on his chest as his golden eyes locked onto her blue ones. He didn't know where this feeling was coming from. It felt like everything was cold and suffocating. To put it plainly it felt just sad.
"I-I am the Prince-" he s-stuttered, only able to free his eyes from hers when she closed her eyes in seeming disappointment. She walked back to the counter and leaned on it, massaging her temple as if a sudden headache came over her. Alphonse inched closer unsure of her at all. "Did… Did I remind you of someone?" He asked her cautiously. She simply nodded her head but left it at that. "Do you mind if I ask who?" She looked up at him and contemplated whether telling him or not but in the end she had relented and tapped out only two words.
Your Brother.
