Next chapter is on the 4th of October.
He frowns, face delicate.
"Would you like some water?" The doctor asks, "maybe you should sit down?"
I shake my head, clenching my teeth against the panicked need to have something to do to fill my hands and mind.
"It's fine." I manage to get out, words rushed and hard to unroll from my throat where they stick for a moment, pulled in by a breath.
I don't look at the man's face. I know that he's not convinced.
In my hand the heavy kettle shakes. I let out a breath and put it down for a moment.
"Just give me a second." I tell him, squeezing my eyes shut and closing my hands, one gloved still, around the countertop.
The thoughts are hot in my head, indiscernible from one another. I clench my hands tighter, forcing them to still and then to tremble again from exertion, nails aching as they try to make their way into unyielding stone and through toughened fabric.
I grit my teeth against the discomfort, adding to the noise of my thoughts that I should let go.
"Here." Kyle says.
There's a clink against the counter and then a pause.
"Can I take your hands for a moment?" He asks.
I nod sharply once.
Fingers worm their way under my gloved hand and I loosen it rather than hurt him. He takes the glove off and puts my hands back down, flat on the counter.
"You don't have to open your eyes right now." He says. Opening the other hand and bringing it to a resting position.
"The water will still be there when you do. Take your time."
He continues pouring tea into the pot. I hear the steady noise of it.
There's a relief that comes when he stops touching me and a slight itch as if he'd touched something bad and it'd brushed off on me.
After a second I release my grip a little, enough to clench my fists again, and breathe out. He says nothing and I'm thankful for him not mentioning the shaking in my arms or telling me that I'm tense.
"You should drink." He says, behind me now.
I open my eyes and there's a rough cup in front of me, water half-way in it.
I pick it up and take a sip.
It goes quickly.
I look up again.
Kyle is organising some bowls and the tea set onto a dolly to move them quicker.
He smiles as if I'm not trembling still, sympathy in his eyes.
"It's hard to hear about, right?" He asks.
I swallow and nod. He hums slightly, a grave tone to it.
"Are you used to loss and grief, Elizabeth-san?" The doctor says, voice soft.
The words seem tangled in my head as I try to pull meaning from them. I think of the child we had seen yesterday and another, around the same age. Eventually I focus again on the words, on the meaning.
"No- not close." I tell him, throat wanting to close around the words as I say them.
Again, the man hums, speculative this time.
"It may just be a shock then- it's very normal to feel this way when something like this happens close to you, whether or not you really knew the people. It's a very frightening time to be here." His voice is soft, somewhat soothing.
Briefly I manage eye contact and nod to break it.
"Thank you." I push the words out.
"It's my job." He replies instantly and then asks again, gently, "Would you like to sit down before seeing people again? I'm sure it will pass quickly."
His hands hover underneath my arm and I let him take it.
"Okay." I agree.
He seats me in the corner, far away enough from the oven that I couldn't accidentally burn myself but close enough that the heat is a comfort. His hands rest on his knees as he bends down a little to my head height. It's a bit too close for comfort but I stay still, watching him.
"I'm going to take the tea and porridge to everyone and tell them that you looked a little ill but it's nothing to worry about. Would that be okay with you?" Kyle asks, smile kind and warm.
I nod again.
"Good." He says and I manage some kind of smile. He chuckles a little, "I'll be back as quickly as I can be."
I hear the wheels of the tray and his feet.
The door closes and I'm left to the crackling coming from the stove and the sound of wind outside.
The small window shows darkness.
The doctor returns and talks to me gently for a while. The words don't process but I'm thankful, I think, for the company.
I go to breakfast in the main room and sit at the table beside the man.
Eating and drinking is unappetising and everyone is quiet, questions sealed behind their lips.
I eat because food is there and eventually the unspoken questions rest.
The townsfolk come to the door and question Kyle. He assures them that we were inside last night and returns, sighing. Sakura's back is straight the entire time as she tries to keep her eyes away from the door and the people there.
Kyle sits again and goes back to his food.
The silence is maintained for a few more moments before the doctor frowns, looking over as the princess who is staring at her food.
"Are you okay, Sakura-san?" He asks, concern furrowing his brows again. The man looks to me for a moment and then back at the girl.
She nods, seeming even more fragile with the movement.
"It's just," she starts after a moment, "last night I saw her- the golden haired princess." The princess says slowly, as if afraid of his reaction.
"You saw her?" He asks her, more surprise than anything.
Sakura nods.
"I'm sorry- if I had went outside maybe I could have-" She begins. Kyle stops her, leaning over his bowl.
"No- don't worry! You must have thought it was a dream! No one would see her walking through the snow and think they were awake." He comforts the princess.
Fai hums.
"The townspeople might." The mage says, frowning just a little.
The doctor sighs again, hand going to his forehead.
"Yes- the legend of the golden haired princess is history to the people who live here." He says.
The mere mention of history is enough that Syaoran almost stands in his seat.
"History?" He asks. Sakura follows his interest, perking up a little and I can't help the way the corners of my lips lift just a little.
"Jade has some very good written records. There was a princess called Emeraud who lived in the old ruins near here three hundred years ago and her parents did die suddenly. The children started disappearing, one by one, not long after." He states it so easily that it feels more like a learned sentence than natural remembering.
Syaoran nods eagerly yet solemnly.
"Is there any information of what happened after or where the children went?" The boy asks.
Kyle thinks for a moment, sipping at his cup of tea.
"It's been a while since I read it but I think it said 'No parents were ever able to hold their children in their laps again.'" The doctor tells him, pausing in places as he tries to remember.
"Meaning none of them came back, right?" Kurogane asks, mumbling around the spoon in his mouth.
Kyle doesn't seem to hear.
He looks out of the window and back down at his food in front of him, still steaming lightly.
"The castle is in ruins now but the situation is so similar that I can't blame the townspeople for thinking that the legend is happening again." The doctor tells us.
"Has anyone else seen the princess?" Syaoran asks.
"No." The doctor shakes his head and then looks at Sakura, "You said that you saw him, Sakura-san?" He asks.
The girl nods.
"Then you're the first." Kyle says and then frowns, "I'm sure that Grosum-san will have something to say about that." The comment is light but it feels like a warning.
It seems to go unnoticed by Syaoran, who sits back in his chair, and Sakura, who frowns and goes back to eating her food.
"Can I read the history of Jade?" The boy asks.
Kyle smiles, setting down his spoon momentarily.
"Of course. You'll have to go to the Mayor's house though. I doubt Grosum-san would lend you his copy." The doctor tells us.
"This is a long way to go to read a history book." Fai comments idly as we follow the route which the doctor suggested to us, "You must really want to read it."
The boy nods, looking back at the directions he'd written on a piece of paper and then back at the house in front of us.
"I do." Syaoran says, "But there's also something I want to check out."
The building is one of the larger ones here, two stories tall and almost as light as the snow where it has been painted. Thick beams split the building into its floors and thinner, carved pieces frame the windows and create geometric patterns in dark tones. Against the white of the paint they seem black. There are steps up to the double set of front doors and a porch over it capped with snow. The roof overhangs the building by a fair amount, keeping the snow back from the walls and made of that same ebony wood. The snow makes trenches around the building.
We walk up the stairs and stand in front of the doors. Fai pulls sharply on a thick rope, a large weight hanging from the end of it. A bell clangs inside the house. On the other side of the door there are voices and then there's a slight crack as the door opens, a maid peering around the corner.
"Ah- hello." She stutters, looking panicked at our appearance.
"Good morning!" Fai chirps, "Forgive our intrusion but would this happen to be the mayor's house?" He asks, pulling the doors open wider and walking in as the maid watches helplessly.
"Um." She begins, staring at the blonde in fright.
Fortunately the mayor takes that moment to emerge from a doorway to the right, bent forwards with age and wrapped up in his coat even in the relative warmth of his house. His thinning hair is tied back neatly in a plait, coming free in wisps where it is too short to stay put. He looks at us confusedly for a second but then steps forwards.
"You're those travelers staying with the doctor, aren't you?" He asks.
Fai grins, offering his hand to shake.
"Yes, we are. Good morning." He says proudly.
The mayor takes his hand and shakes it briefly and then pulls him closer by it slightly, letting it go as he gestures to all of us.
"Yes, good morning I suppose. You had best come in." He says, "Put some tea on, would you Beatrix." This is directed to a maid, shorter than the last though dressed identically, who has followed him from the room on the right. She nods stoically and walks down the hall.
"Now. What is this about?" The mayor asks, leading us into a different room on the left.
The room is even warmer than the hallway, a log fire blazing at the back of it. On either side of the heavy stone fireplace there are bookshelves crammed with books, mostly bound with leather and embossed with intricate designs. There is a large window on the left wall but the shutters are closed, just peeking through the thick velvet curtains over them.
The man rubs his hands and sits in an armchair, patched on the arms. There's a small table between that chair and the sofa on the other side, similarly patched.
"We wanted to know more about what happened here three-hundred years ago. We thought you might be a good person to come to." Fai tells him, sitting down himself and ushering Sakura down with him. I stand near the door and Syaoran and Kurogane hover behind the furniture. The maid who had stayed in the hallway rushes to stand behind the man, watching all of us anxiously.
The mayor frowns.
"There's a history book that might be of some interest to you. It tells the story of what happened here then better than I ever could. I've read it several times but I can't find anything that could help us now. The situation is very similar though- maybe you'll be able to see something that I can't." He says.
"We would really like that." Fai says, "Could you tell us what is happening here and how it started?" He asks, voice gentle as he leans towards the other man.
He puts his head in his hands and begins to speak.
"The harvest has been bad for the last few years. The climate has been unpredictable so it's been hard for everyone to know what to plant. Everybody was already upset but then, about two months ago, children started disappearing. The first was Jacob. He went out to pick some berries early in the morning and never came back. We're a small community but nobody had seen him after he left and we couldn't find him. After he disappeared occasionally one would disappear at a time and then three at once, all the Higham's kids. All of us tried to warn the children that they should never go out at night or walk without an adult or with people they don't know and they really seemed to listen! Still. They've been vanishing with no sign or clue. It's only been children too." The mayor tells us.
Fai frowns as Beatrix comes through with a silver tray of cups and a teapot. It steams as she sets it down on the coffee table and retreats back past me with a nod to the mayor.
"Would you pour?" He asks his maid who nods, unfolding her hands from behind her back and setting to work. She seems more settled now, by the talking and the distraction of her job.
"I don't know if you've heard but another child went missing this morning." Fai says gravely.
The woman pouring the tea knocks a cup slightly and the mayor slumps back completely.
"This is the twenty-first." He says with a heavy sigh, "I don't suppose there have been any clues this time."
Fai shakes his head sadly, "Not that we heard of." He tells the mayor.
"There never are." The man mumbles despondently as he takes the cup and saucer offered by his maid.
She comes around to the rest of us, saying nothing but looking ever paler than she had when we opened the door.
There is quiet for a moment as we all take a first sip of tea.
"Are there records of the people who have went missing?" Syaoran asks.
"Of course!" The mayor says, "I've been keeping them since the first child went missing- you can see them if it will help you find the children!"
"Can we copy them?" The boy asks, leaning towards the man determinedly.
"Of course! Anything to help the children!" The mayor says.
After the teapot is finished the elderly man pulls a thick tome, spine embossed with scrolling pattern of hearts and curls. The front shows a single pattern, pushing towards the edges and unmistakable as the pattern on Sakura's feathers.
Syaoran takes it carefully with a thin black folder.
"Please give that back to me soon- I can't lose them." The mayor says as he passes the smaller file over.
The boy nods solemnly.
"I'll take care of it as best as I can." He promises.
As soon as we leave the house Syaoran's face disappears into the thick book the mayor had given him, the folder tucked against the back securely.
Fai chuckles and Kurogane begins to struggle over Mokona's giggling.
"Stop wriggling around inside my clothes!" The warrior hisses, trying to push the small creature out.
"But Kuro-pu looks so bored!" The mokona chirps, rubbing their tiny paws against the back of his neck before they are grabbed out of the man's hood.
"I'm not bored!" Kurogane complains, tossing Mokona down the road, much to their glee.
Sakura watches the arc they make with mild concern, frowning as she looks at the man who is still seething from the mokona's squirming.