It's Monday! Today we have the calm before the storm as Ultear continues to play her sinister little games. Now that you know what to look for, her oh-so innocent comments in earlier chapters will start to take on a whole new meaning.
Guest: Yay, I managed to surprise you! :) When Ultear said that she had a bad experience with trains, she meant it. Thanks for reviewing!
- K. Chandler
"Good morning, all! Did you sleep well?"
"Good morning, Mirajane!" said Erza. "Everything was fine last night."
"I'm so glad to hear it," said Mirajane.
"Have you seen Ultear?" asked Jellal. Aside from Mirajane, there were only two others in the pub this morning. The man with mustache was still here and so was the one with the pipe. He would have thought it was too early for drinks, but apparently not. Maybe they had stayed the night too?
"Ultear? Is that the woman you were traveling with? She left a little bit ago, but she told me to tell you that she'd be back soon," said Mirajane.
"Once she's back, you'll introduce us to the Master, right?" asked Erza.
Mirajane looked away. "Actually, the Master isn't seeing anyone today," said Mirajane stiffly.
"Is that right?" asked Jellal. He could tell the insincerity in those words as soon as they had been spoken. He'd lied often enough for that.
Erza's face fell. "I suppose that can't be helped. Maybe another day?"
"I'm sorry, sweetie," said Mirajane. "Why don't I fix you some breakfast instead? I make the best flapjacks in town."
"Really?" asked Erza.
"No question," the man with the mustache said. "Mira's cooking can't be beat!"
"Oh, hush!" scolded Mirajane lightly before turning back to Erza. "What do you say? I have some butter and syrup you can pour over them. I think I have some preserves, too."
"What kind?"
"Hmm… Strawberry, I think."
Erza perked up at that, ushering Jellal to one of the tables. "Well, what are we waiting for?" she asked.
Mirajane had just brought out their food when Ultear strolled into the pub.
"Good morning! Shall I bring out another plate?" asked Mirajane.
Ultear waved her off, her excitement evident. "You'll never guess what I heard, Sieg!" declared Ultear.
The man with the pipe glanced over, watching them carefully.
"Aren't you looking chipper today?" said Jellal. "Mirajane says—"
"Wouldn't you rather hear what I have to say?" asked Ultear. "I have fantastic news."
"Fantastic?" echoed Jellal.
"Fantastic," repeated Ultear. "But not here, let's not interrupt everyone's breakfast. Erza, do you care if I borrow Sieg for a little bit?"
"Go ahead," said Erza.
"We'll be back soon," said Jellal before her followed Ultear out the back of the pub. "What's going on, Tear?" asked Jellal, his voice quiet, even though he didn't think anyone would be able to hear them.
"I poked around Magnolia this morning," said Ultear.
"A fine idea," said Jellal. "Discover anything noteworthy?"
"I was hoping to learn something about Eira's brothers. And I heard something interesting," said Ultear.
"Well, I hope your news is better than mine," said Jellal. "Mirajane said that Eira's brother is denying our request for audience. And after we've come all this way."
"Which one?" asked Ultear slyly.
"Which one, what?"
"Which brother?"
"Does it matter?" asked Jellal.
"It most certainly does!" said Ultear. "The Resistance's second-in-command, Gray, is the pragmatist. The word is that Gray has given up on the whole Eira rumor. Some say that he never really believed in it, in the first place."
"But he's the one you always talk about," said Jellal.
"He was supposed to be the reasonable one," said Ultear. "Plus, he's closer to Erza's age. I thought he'd be more sympathetic. But that doesn't seem likely, at this point. Our best bet is actually the older brother."
"And that would be whom, exactly?"
"The older brother, Lyon."
"Lyon?" repeated Jellal. Why was that name so familiar?
"Lyon is a bit of an idealist. A fanatic. He's not the most patient man, but if you can bend his ear, he should be agreeable to the idea of meeting with you."
"You mean 'us'?" asked Jellal.
"I mean 'you'. I did the legwork this morning. Now it's your turn to be useful, Sieg," said Ultear in a patronizing tone.
"Charming. Sometimes I wonder how you manage to hold elected office," muttered Jellal. "So, how exactly am I supposed to know which brother is which? I haven't met either of them."
"Gray's hair looks like mine and—"
"And so does Erza's! Don't forget that I'm colorblind, Tear," said Jellal.
"Lyon's got hair like snow. It's not particularly common. Enough to work with?"
"That'll do," said Jellal. Colors tended to look muddy and similar, but dark and light shades tended to be distinct enough. "Where can I find this Lyon?"
Ultear preened, looking smug. "This took some real detective work. Lyon's a man of habit. He does the same things at the same times every week. Today's Wednesday. He'll be at the Wave Café at 11:30 for lunch. He never misses that appointment."
"Sounds like Erza and I should join him for lunch," said Jellal.
"My thoughts exactly," said Ultear.
"Well done, Tear. I'm impressed."
"I thought you'd say that," she said smugly. "Well, let's go and tell Erza the good news."
"I'll let you do that," said Ultear.
"Me? Why me?" asked Jellal.
"Because she trusts you. And you're sweet on her," said Ultear. "Ah! Don't deny it. I'm letting you be her hero."
"That's… surprisingly thoughtful of you," said Jellal. "You aren't usually so agreeable."
"I know how much you love to be loved," said Ultear wryly. "Don't try to deny that one either."
Jellal huffed a sigh, but he didn't argue. Erza would finally have a chance to meet with her brothers. That was all that really mattered.
He schooled his features as he and Ultear rejoined Erza in the dining area.
"Is everything all right?" asked Erza.
"Good news," said Jellal. "We'll still see your brother today."
"Really?" asked Erza. "But how? I thought Mirajane said—"
Jellal silenced her with a finger to his lips. "Ultear pulled some strings," whispered Jellal.
"Thank you…" breathed Erza. "You have no idea how much this means to me," she said, giving Ultear a soft smile.
Ultear shrugged. "I might as well put my connections to some use, right?"
"So, when do I get to see him?" asked Erza, pushing her still-full plate away.
"Finish your breakfast," said Jellal.
"I'm done," she said. "Let's go. Where are we going?"
"We're meeting him for lunch at the Wave Café," said Jellal, unable to help the twinge of guilt he felt. The lie slipped off his tongue more easily than it should have. "We still have a few hours."
Erza pouted. "That long?"
"Why don't we train out back until then? I'm sure he'll want to see how strong you've gotten since the last time you met," suggested Ultear.
"That's an excellent idea," said Jellal. "A demonstration of your… special skills wouldn't hurt. After you finish your breakfast," he added.
Erza pulled her plate back, slathering the remaining pancakes with strawberry preserves.
Poor Erza is so excited to meet her 'brother.'
And yes, Jellal is colorblind. When we hear the word colorblind, we normally think of when individuals can't tell red and green apart, but that's just one type. In Jellal's case, he has the sort of color vision deficiency where reds look like browns or blacks (protanopia). Sometimes severe head trauma (like the blow that Jellal got during the Purging) can cause issues with a person's vision; there have even been accounts where color vision is affected. Granted, I haven't found anything on getting protanopia through a head injury, but I'll assume it's possible.
It was really hard for me to avoid using colors as descriptions during Jellal's narration; I think I removed them all, but I may have missed a couple. One of the girls I went to school with had Color Vision Deficiency. (It's a misconception that colorblindness is limited to men, though it is far less common is females.) I asked her about it, and since I was genuinely curious, took out a large box of crayons and started pulling different ones at random and putting them in a pile. "These all look the same color to me," she said. What really threw me was when I saw that she had some orange crayons in her pile, so I picked up another orange one from the box (I think it was a lighter shade) and asked her if it was the same as the others. Apparently, it wasn't. The way she explained it to me, she knew that the sky was blue, but if you asked her to color a picture with a sky, she wouldn't be able to identify a blue crayon, even if she had another picture of a blue sky to reference. 'Blue' to her looked just like a different color, and the only way to tell them apart was to read the labels. She tended not to describe anything in colors since 'blue' didn't mean anything to her, so I figured that Jellal might be the same way.
Next time, in Journey to the Past: Jellal's gaze was gentle. "Why wouldn't I be? Erza, this is reason to rejoice. You're going to be reunited with your brothers. There's no need to be nervous."
Stop back next Monday for the next installment, or just follow me, Karine of R011ingThunder.