Certain Demolitions
Chapter 35: The Right to an Eclipse
When Klavier finished speaking, Ema just sat there, shocked. Then she rallied, and said, "How could he just send you away like that?"
"Ach, Ema, your premise is a mistake. You think he actually cares about me or my opinion." Klavier said bitterly. "Or that I should have any say about what happens in my life."
"Were…were you really going to be sent to war?"
"That is what Kristoph told me. But as I said, I never saw the papers. He may have been lying."
Ema glanced at the German. "Do you think he was lying?"
Klavier did not meet her glance. "No. I think he was telling the truth."
The whole story was a lot to absorb. "Was your family really nobility?"
"Right up until the Weimar Republic. I don't think Kristoph liked living in a republic. He enjoyed being a nobleman."
"And you didn't?"
"I have no reference for being nobility, Ema, other than the stories that Kristoph tells me. I can't miss something I don't remember." Klavier said.
Ema got to her feet and looked down at Klavier. "Do you mind if we walk around a little? I'm cold."
"Of course." Klavier said, standing up.
They drifted across the road, where there was a tiny park with a gazebo. In the summer, families will come here with their kids to have a picnic or play before a movie. But now, at night in winter, the park is cold and deserted.
They wander it in silence until they come to the gazebo. "What were you studying to be, in college?" Ema asked.
"An attorney." Klavier replied. "You never mentioned what you were studying for, either."
Klavier has told her one of his secrets. Ema decides to share one of hers. "I'm studying to go into police work. I want to be a detective!"
"Really?" Klavier asked.
"Yes! Do you know how many women are victims of homicide in this country?! But women still can't really do anything on the police force or investigate any crimes. I'm more qualified to be a victim of homicide then I am to help solve one. But I want to change that. I want to become a detective and help use science to solve crimes!"
Klavier stood there for a moment. Then he smiled.
"Don't you dare laugh at me." Ema warned him.
"Ema, I wasn't going to laugh. You are very passionate about your dream. And it shows." Klavier told her.
Ema looked embarrassed, and looked down at the ground. "I want to help solve crimes. I like helping Gumshoe when he's out investigating. I always know when he's doing it, too. He always has his portfolio that has his notebook in it out." She looked away.
"You shouldn't be embarrassed, Ema. You would be good at being a Detective."
"Thank you." Ema said.
They were silent for a few minutes, the Klavier spoke again. "I thought I saw water while I was on Oak Road today. I didn't know this town was near the ocean."
"We're about a mile and a half from it, but no one really goes there because the trees grow up right up until you hit sand." Ema told him. "Lana told me once that back in the 1800s, fishing was a big industry here, but then a storm came through and destroyed the docks and that was the end of it. When the industry was rebuilt it went further up the coast, because fishing was better up there or something. Some of the area by the water considered a town park, though."
There's more light, suddenly, and the pair looked up to see that across the road the door to the theater had opened and people were starting to trickle out. It was then that Ema realized how close she's standing to Klavier. "We should probably go," She said.
"Yes. It seems that the movie is over." Klavier agreed.
They walked back across the road, and found Apollo and Trucy waiting by the front door. "I was starting to wonder where the two of you were," Apollo said, but that was all he said, and the four of them turned and started for home.
"What did you think of the movie?" Trucy asked as they walked back to Ema's house.
"It wasn't bad." Ema said.
"My eyes are killing me." Apollo admitted as he started to rub them.
Trucy turned to Klavier. "Is "What watch" really how you ask what time it is in German?"
Klavier made a face. "'Wie viel Uhr' is 'What's the time' in German."
"So why were they saying 'What watch' in the movie?" Trucy asked.
"They can't speak it well, perhaps?" He shrugged. "I don't know."
"Maybe they didn't get as much practice in English as you did." Apollo said. "Though I notice you still end up using a lot of German in your sentences."
"Believe me, Kristoph would have had a fit if I went around asking 'What watch' when I meant 'What time is it.'" Klavier told him.
The group arrived back at Ema's house just then. Edgeworth's car was parked out front. "Looks like Lana's back home. She glanced at the other three. "I'll see you later."
"Bye Ema!" Trucy called cheerfully.
The trio walked home in silence after that.
Phoenix was sitting in the living, writing out some legal papers when they came in. "Was the movie any good?" He asked them.
"It was great!" Trucy told him.
"My eyes still hurt." Apollo complained. Klavier said nothing.
It isn't until later that night, when both of them are in bed, that Apollo finally gets a chance to talk to Klavier. "I take it you didn't like the movie?"
"It…wasn't one I think I would watch again." Klavier admitted. Then he turned the question back on Apollo. "How's your head?"
"A good night's sleep will fix my aching eyes." Apollo confessed.
Klavier chuckled. "Gute Nacht, Herr Forehead."
"Good Night, Klavier."
(-)
The call of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps has proved too much for Miles Edgeworth's secretary and she had left in December to join them. So, after the New Year, Edgeworth had had to replace her.
His choice for replacement had been Klavier, much to the chagrin of the town, which after two years had come to tolerate Klavier, even though it wouldn't claim to like him or do much beyond tolerate him. But Edgeworth is very respected, so while no one in the town may like what he's done, no one will say anything against him, either.
No one whose name isn't Phoenix Wright or Franziska von Karma tangles with Miles Edgeworth more than once.
The morning after they see Casablanca, Klavier has to go the post office to mail out some letters that Edgeworth had not completed until after the mail had already been picked up by one of the delivery men. So Klavier puts on his trench coat, scarf, sunglasses, and takes a walk up the post office.
Ema is working behind the desk when he gets there. "Guten Morgen, Fraulein Ema. I need to mail these." Klavier handed her the letters. He has some of the petty cash from the office to pay for the postage.
Ema has the transaction handled in no time. "Listen, I'm glad you came in this morning." Ema said as she handed him his change. "There's something I want to tell you about what you said last night."
Klavier peered over the rim of his sunglasses. "What is it?"
"You said last night that I shouldn't start from the premise that Kristoph cared about you, but I think you're wrong. I think he does care about you, even if he did send you away against your will. He cared enough to try and get you somewhere where you would be safe."
Klavier gave a noncommittal shrug. "Yes, he told me he was going to send me somewhere safe, but he didn't give me a chance to try and change anything. It was about what he thought was best for me."
The bell over the door jingles. Ema pushes the receipt for the stamps across the counter. "Come back at lunch time. I'm not done with what I want to say yet."
"Whatever you wish, Ema. When do you go to lunch?" Klavier asked, tucking the receipt and change into his coat pocket.
"12:30. Meet me at the Sunshine Café, alright?"
Klavier nodded. "I'll be there." Then he turned and headed past the other customer, out the door.
(-)
At 12:32, Ema is sitting in the dining room of the café, her chin on her hands, staring at the silk flower in the rippled vase on the table and wondering if Klavier would show up and if she was making a mistake in what she was doing.
Of course, being the only newcomer in town these last few years, he was also the only one who didn't know what had happened with her and her sister.
I wish I could have kept it that way, too, she thought, but she didn't very far in that line of thinking before Klavier came through the doorway and approached the table.
"I hope I didn't keep you waiting, Ema." He said as he took the other seat at the table.
Suddenly she's nervous. How had Klavier managed to stay sane while telling her that rotten story the other night? "Let's order first, and then we can talk."
"Good idea. We both have to be back to work in an hour." Klavier agreed. He slipped out of his coat and started looking at the menu.
Once they've both given their orders, though, Ema fidgets with the silk flower again before she starts.
"Listen, I wanted to tell you that just because your older sibling is cold, doesn't mean that they don't still care. A few years ago, I was at the courthouse, and someone was murdered there. I was…at the scene of the crime when it happened, and my sister helped to cover up the crime, but I didn't know it at the time. She was getting blackmailed by someone else at the courthouse.
"After the murder, I felt really bad, because Lana had changed so much. I thought she blamed me for what happened. But years later, I learned that she had gotten so cold because she was trying to protect me. Someone had threatened to frame me for the murder if Lana didn't help him cover up what had actually happened. But Mr. Wright helped us clear things up, and then Lana and I were able to act like real sisters again. So…just because it seems like your brother doesn't care because he treated really coldly, he still might. He might just be trying to protect you."
"Ema…" Klavier said. He gave her a gentle smile. "Thank you."
The waitress returned at that moment with their orders, and the conversation turned to safer subjects.
Klavier thought about what Ema said as he walked back to work.
He understands why she told him what she did. It doesn't make him feel a great deal better; at this point the only thing that will make him feel better is a letter from Kristoph. But he understands what she was trying to do.
And he appreciates it a great deal.
(-)
When Ema comes home from the post office the day after that, there's a package with her name on it sitting on the porch. There's nothing on it to indicate the sender.
Ema takes it inside with her and lays it on the kitchen table while she stats dinner. Lana had told her to expect her to be late.
When she has the food started, she takes the package up to her room and closes the door. Then she unties the string around it and takes the brown paper off.
Inside, she finds a notebook. It's like the one Detective Gumshoe uses, but nicer. Instead of being brown cloth, it's made of fine black leather. Gumshoe's ties together, but this one has tab closure on it. The edge of the tab is lined with silver tone metal, making it stand out, and centered near the bottom is a silver-tone square with her initials – ES - on it in swirling script.
Ema slides the tab out and opens the notebook. It's refillable, like Gumshoe's is, and there's a blank book in it already. There's a loop for a pen, too. There are two pockets on the inside of the journal cover, and in one of them there's a folded sheet of paper. She slides it out, unfolds it, and read the message.
Ema,
Ich denke, du wirst ein großer Detektiv sein.
I think you will make a great detective.
Klavier G.
The G on the note is stylized, like the G on the necklace he wears. Then it all starts to blur. Ema blinked to clear her eyes, tucked the note back into the pocket she'd taken it out of, and then, overcome with emotion, holds the book to her chest for a long time.
[A/N:] The title for this chapter comes from the following Les Miserables quote:
Peoples, like planets, possess the right to an eclipse. And all is well, provided that the light returns and that the eclipse does not degenerate into night. Dawn and resurrection are synonymous.
In the game, I know Ema's thing was that she wanted to go into forensics, but I haven't found a great deal of information that would cause me to think that forensic science would have been a thing in this time period. There was some forensics, but not forensics as the field we think of today, so I made her want to be a detective instead. While there were some female detectives, if my understanding is correct, this would have been a job that Ema would have been highly discouraged to take up. While some women did work with police at this time, it was not widespread and acceptance of women in the role of detectives and officers was not widespread.
The "What Watch" scene info comes fromTV Tropes. While the conversation that's translated in Casablanca is correct in German (and I've been studying German since I started this story, so I don't doubt that for a moment) it really doesn't make much sense in English.
I don't have too much else to say about this chapter. I wasn't planning another update so soon, but I surprised myself by getting another chapter done last night, so have an update!
Happy 2018! Please review!