Chapter 11: The Hunters
A few days later, Eli got to work in his journal, drawing a few more pictures. Youpi happened to pass by, so he happily showed him his progress. Youpi wore his unnaturally wide grin when he saw his picture. Eli was used to it now. He had gained so much trust with the Chimera Ants, that he actually got a couple to pose for a drawing. He spent the rest of the day drawing volunteers. The day was going to end rather well for Eli, though it seemed fate had something different planned. He was in the throne room. He was writing down some ideas on abilities. Cheetu and a few others had gone out to investigate a disturbance, so Eli was using this as a way to pass the time. Now that he knew his type, a specialist, he knew what he would be capable of once he was free from Shroud's shackles. The woman, Komugi, and the King were still playing their game. Eli wasn't paying much attention to their game, but he would occasionally pick up on a conversation they were having. He mostly only heard key words.
He heard the woman mention something about offering her life if she lost. Eli assumed that she was oblivious to everything that was happening. He doubted that the woman even realized that her opponent wasn't human. Still though, Eli went back to his planning, jotting down sketches of what his ability would look like and a quick summary of what it would do. Eli then heard the King mention something about being foolish. He ignored him at first, and it wasn't until he heard a horrific ripping noise that he looked over to the King. The King, in an act of pride, tore off his own arm. "Sire!" Pouf shouted in horror. "What the hell did you do!?" Eli shouted.
"I will retrieve Pitou at once. We must heal your arm!" Pouf shouted. "No, the game will continue." The King argued. "W-what's going on?" Komugi asked. Some of the blood had spattered on her face. "You are bleeding out man! Put your pride aside!" Eli shouted. "The game will continue." The King said. "Sir, if I may. We will have Pitou heal you while you continue your game. If that offer does not suffice, then you may take my head." Pouf said. "Very well. Come here so I may take it." "You can't be serious!" Eli said. "No! I won't play until you have your arm looked at!" Komugi objected. "What?" The King asked. "I won't play until you fix your arm!" She got a stubborn expression on her face, refusing to budge until she got her way. She cared a great deal about the King. "Very well. Summon Pitou." The King said. Eli breathed a sigh of relief.
Pitou came the moment they heard about what happened. They came to the King's side and began the healing process immediately. Pouf and Eli both grouped with Pitou to assess the damage. "You won't be able to use your en?" Pouf asked Pitou. "No. Dr. Blythe uses all of my energy. You'll have to take my place." Pitou said. "It takes a lot of power to heal people, huh?" Eli asked. "It does. I'm totally defenseless while Dr. Blythe is active." "Then I'll stay here and defend while Pouf goes out and looks for intruders." Eli said, acting like a proud knight. From behind him, he heard Pouf snicker. "What?" Eli asked. "You? Defend us from attackers?" Pouf asked. He still looked down on Eli, and humans in general. "Hey! I can… I can be tough." Eli complained. "I doubt that." Pouf said.
Eli still stayed in the room, though he felt a little useless. He went back to writing down his ideas for an ability. Occasionally, he'd look over to Pitou and the King. He'd look at Pitou, and sometimes they would catch Eli and they'd exchange smiles. About an hour had passed, and Pitou was finishing up with the healing. Eli decided it was time to go to bed, as it was already the middle of the night. He started walking down the stairs, letting out a yawn and saying, "What was he thinking? That was incredibly stupid. Does he really have that much pride?" What Eli wasn't aware of was that someone was at the side of the stairs, hiding. It was a human that had snuck into the palace while Pitou's en was deactivated. Eli got to the bottom of the stairs, then the human struck. He grabbed Eli from behind and pulled him into the shadows, covering his mouth so he couldn't call for help. This man was planning on killing Eli, but paused when he realized that Eli was human, and that he'd seen him before.
With the man's touch, Eli had another vision. Eli saw a circle on the ground, which suddenly opened up, and the man climbed through. Eli's perspective suddenly fell into the portal, revealing a pure white room. When Eli snapped out of it, he heard the man say, "I'm going to let you go, but you are to remain quiet. Do you understand?" Eli nodded in response. The man let go of Eli, who quickly turned and took a step back to see his attacker. He was a finely dressed man with neatly kept hair, black rimmed glasses, and a fine suit. Though, he was missing his shoes. "Who are you?" Eli asked. "My name is Knov. You're Eli, right? The boy that Killua met a while ago." He said. "Killua? That kid at the restaurant?" "That's right. What are you doing here? How have the chimera not killed you yet?" "Well, at first it was because we had a deal." "A deal?" "Yeah. You see this thing on my shoulder?" Eli asked.
Knov adjusted his glasses and said, "I have to use gyo to see it, but I do see it." "Well, the King and the three elites have agreed to help me get rid of it. Of course, I put down some conditions." "Conditions?" Knov asked. "Yeah. They agreed that until they freed me and my people of these parasites, that they wouldn't harm a human in an unprovoked attack, or eat human flesh. I think the latter might last a while afterwards." "What makes you say that?" "Because I fed them food so good, they'll never think about human flesh again!" Eli said proudly. "I doubt that… how did you get them to agree to those terms?" Knov asked. "The King wanted Shroud, the parasite on my shoulder. He seemed to want him even more when he sliced off Pouf's arm." Eli said, much to Knov's surprise. "What!?" "Oh, yeah. Pouf tried to kill me when I first came here, and Shroud protected me."
Knov couldn't believe the power behind that creature. "That creature crippled one of the elites!?" Knov asked. "Oh, yeah, and he wasn't happy about it either… I'm still trying to get through to him." "Get through to him?" "Yeah, I'm trying to change the hearts and minds of the elites and the other Chimera Ants." Knov let out a slight snicker. "Hey! I've made progress!" Eli said. "I doubt that." "Let me explain. You see, Nef and Youpi—" Eli was cut off by Pitou's en suddenly surging through the entire palace once more.
It wasn't as intense as the first time Eli came and met the Chimera Ants, but it was still quite heavy, and not something the faint of heart could walk through. Eli looked up the stairs and said, "Oh, Nef's done. Her en can be pretty intense sometimes." He looked back over to Knov, only to see that he had vanished into thin air. "Huh… must be his ability." Eli said. Pitou started walking down the steps then. "Eli? What are you doing over there?" They asked. "Huh? Oh, I just thought I saw something." Eli said. He was protecting Knov because he needed more time.
He still needed to break through to Pouf, and if they knew there was an intruder, a full-on conflict would spark, and Eli would never get the chance to get through to him. "You should go to bed. Shroud's exhausted you and it's late as it is. You were probably just tired." Pitou said, showing actual worry and concern for Eli. "Yeah, you're probably right." Eli said with a yawn. "I'll see you tomorrow." Pitou said. "Yeah, see you tomorrow. Goodnight Nef." Eli said. "Goodnight, Eli." Pitou said as Eli wandered off toward his room.
Eli didn't wake up as soon as the sun had risen this time, and it wasn't just because he was more tired than usual. Eli was lying down, facing the horizon, but the light was interrupted this morning by Pitou. They had stood up on the stone railing on the balcony, casting a long shadow that shielded Eli from the sunlight. Pitou felt that Eli could have used an extra hour of rest after the exhausting day that came prior. After an hour had passed, Pitou stepped aside and allowed the sunlight to stir Eli awake. He sat up in bed and stretched with a yawn.
He walked out to the balcony to see Pitou. "Hey Nef, how's it going?" He asked. Pitou winced at that nickname. "Please, could you stop calling me Nef?" They asked. "Well… I guess since you asked so nicely, I'll stop." Eli said with a smile. "Thank you." "So, how's your morning?" Eli asked. "Quiet, which is boring, but it means none of us are in danger." "I suppose that's fair. Any plans for today?" "Same as always. I'm just going to be standing watch here. Do you have any plans today?" "Me and Cheetu are going hunting. I wanted to cook something nice since you've started being nice to me." "Are you trying to flatter me?" Pitou asked with a smile. "Maybe…" Eli said with a smile of his own.
Eli then looked at Pitou, inspecting them, trying to figure out something. "Something on your mind?" Pitou asked when they noticed Eli's stares. "Oh, uh… you see… I have an embarrassing question." Eli said, trying not to look Pitou directly in the eye. "Should I be worried?" Pitou asked with a raised brow. "Well, you see… I'm confused about something." Eli said. He was trying to avoid the question. "And that would be?" Pitou said, trying to get the question out of him. "You see… what are you?" Eli asked. "Oh, well… I'm part Chimera Ant, part human, part cat, and I think I might have a little bit of dog mixed in somewhere—" "N-no, that's not… that's not what I meant." Eli said, stopping Pitou from going into a long explanation.
"What do you mean then?" Pitou asked. "Well… are you a man or a woman?" Eli asked. "Oh, I see. I heard that you've been calling me a woman. You've probably heard the others refer to me as 'lord,' right?" "Y-yeah…" Eli said shyly. "Well…" Pitou brought their finger up to their chin and pondered for a moment. "I guess… I'm both." They said. "Both?" Eli asked. "Yes, both." "What does that mean?" "I'll let you figure that out." Pitou said with a fiendish smile. Eli's face started turning red. "Well, I… I should get going. The dish I have planned takes time to cook, so I need to get to hunting while the day is young." Eli said, trying to get out of this awkward interaction. "Alright. Be careful out there, okay?" Pitou asked with genuine worry. "Don't worry. We'll be fine." Eli said. He grabbed his machete and left the room.
He met up with Cheetu and they headed toward the forest. Along the way, they started up a conversation. "So you know a few languages?" Cheetu asked. "I do. I had a lot of time on my hands back home, so I decided to learn a few." Eli said. "How many do you know?" Cheetu asked. "Well, there's my native language, English, Japanese, French, which is one of my favorites, and a few others that I've only dabbled with." Eli explained. "How did a forgotten island even get books on that many things?" "I don't know, but the books are really old... I think some of them may be out of date." "Hm... the palace has a library, maybe you could check those books?" "I will, but for now, let's focus on hunting." Eli said as he rose his machete. "You're hunting with a machete? Nothing else?" Cheetu asked. "It worked out last time." Eli said. "I guess that's true. What are we after?" "Another boar. I want to make a pot roast." "Okay. I'll have it before you know it!" Cheetu went to run off, but Eli stopped him. "Hold it. We're doing this my way." "What!? Why!?" Cheetu complained. "Because if you take off running, every animal within a kilometer of this place will hide away where we can't find them." "Alright, I guess that's true." They came to where Eli went fishing not long ago. "Animals should come here to get a drink. We'll wait here until we can find something." Eli said. "Okay." Cheetu said.
Cheetu was eerily quiet while they were waiting, and it was completely unlike him. It made Eli worried. "Cheetu… you're unusually quiet. Is something wrong?" Eli asked. Cheetu let out a sigh and asked, "You know how we were out fighting last night?" "Yes. What happened?" "I got beaten badly, and now I can't use my ability." "Why not?" "This smoke user I got in a fight with, I used my ability on him. I tag my target, and then we're teleported to an enclosed area. My target has to tag me within a certain amount of time, otherwise they disappear forever. I made a rule that if I was ever tagged, I could never use my ability again." "Why would you do that?" "You can set rules for your ability to make it stronger." "Oh, I see…" Eli still saw a forlorn look on Cheetu's face. "What else is the matter?" Eli asked. "Leol is dead, and Flutters is missing, and I can't contact him using my telepathy, so he's probably dead too." Cheetu said. "Telepathy?" "The lower ranked Chimera Ants can communicate using telepathy. The elites don't have it though." "I see…" Eli didn't know Leol and Flutters that well. He tended to keep his distance because they were hostile towards him.
The sun was beating down on the two. It was a particularly hot day. "Damn… it's hot." Eli complained, partly because he wanted to change the subject. "Then take off that hat of yours." Cheetu said. "No, I only take this off to sleep and eat." Cheetu had never seen Eli without that wool hat of his. It would almost seem foreign or alien to see him without it. "I've been meaning to ask you about that. Why are you always wearing that hat?" Cheetu asked. "It was made by my grandmother, then it was passed down to my father, and now it's mine. It was made from the wool of my grandmother's first kill; a titan goat. My dad added the hair of his first kill, a goliath bear, and it also has my first kill's hair on it." Eli said. He took off his hat and pointed out the stitching. "What was your first kill?" Cheetu asked. "A brush crawler. They're like wolves, but venomous." "Good to know…" Eli put his hat back on and watched the stable pond in front of him.
Cheetu looked at this boy, and thought about what he was trying to do, how he was trying to change everything. "Look…" Cheetu said. Eli looked over to him, sensing he was conflicted. "What is it?" Eli asked. "I know what you're trying to do. You want humans and Chimera Ants to get along. You want us to live together in harmony, or whatever. Do you honestly think it'll end up like that?" "I can certainly try." Eli said, not faltering in the slightest. "You can't be serious!? Look at me! I'm a freak, a monster! I sliced off the fingers of a bunch of police officers and swallowed them in front of them. Do you honestly think I can be a good guy? Do you honestly think I could be a part of a human society?" Cheetu asked. "Why don't you try?" Eli asked.
"Do you honestly not hear the words coming out of your mouth?" Cheetu asked. "Cheetu, your past doesn't matter." "I already told you, I attacked humans, they'll never—" "I'm not talking about the past of your current body." Eli said. Cheetu was suddenly taken back. "What?" He asked. "I can see it in your eyes. You remember your previous life, the life you had as a human." "I… how do you…?" Cheetu couldn't get the words out, but Eli knew what he was asking. "I can always tell what people are thinking when I look them in the eye. I… learned how to do it. I got sick of people pretending to be nice to me. I wanted to know if people were really being nice to me or not, so I learned how to tell the difference. A person's eyes never lie." Eli said. Cheetu went silent for a long moment.
After he absorbed Eli's story, he said, "Look, before I was… this, I was—" "I already told you, that doesn't matter anymore." Eli said. "What?" "The point is… you died, but someone saw it fit that you got a second chance." Eli said as he stood up. He walked over to Cheetu and said, "What matters now is what you decide to do with your newfound life." Eli patted Cheetu with his fist. "You've got a point, but… I don't think anyone wants to give a home to an ex-maneater." Cheetu said. "Well… you could always come to my village, Eilsar." "You think they'll have me?" "Of course. Sure, you're a cocky idiot, but as long as you provide for the village, the village will provide for you." "Well… I'll think about it." "That's all I ask. Now, go out and look for tracks. We're wasting daylight." "On it." Cheetu said as he disappeared into the forest.
Eli went to the water and brought out his machete. He started sharpening it, making sure it could kill quickly. Eli was at peace, honing the blade to its finest edge, but that peace became disturbed. A large circle that appeared to lead into a black void suddenly opened up underneath him. Eli fell in, and he suddenly appeared inside a massive white room. There were no features in this room. It was a perfect, white cube. Eli took a look around, and found several people standing across from him. It was the group from that restaurant.
Knov walked forward and said, "Hello Eli." "You? You're interrupting my hunt." Eli said. "I do apologize, but I felt it necessary that you meet my associates." Knov turned to the group. "The big one with the sunglasses is Morel." Knov said as he pointed to a large man that towered above all of the others. "These two are Knuckle and Shoot." He pointed to a large man with a pompadour haircut and all white clothes. The other wore a long coat, and he seemed rather submissive, almost hiding behind the first. "You've met Killua. The other is—" "Hi there! I'm Gon!" Said the boy in the green jacket, interrupting Knov. Gon had a cheerful attitude, at least it seemed. Eli could see through it though. That boy, he wanted something dead, and badly.
"Why have you brought me here?" Eli asked. "We want information on the Chimera Ants. You have survived among their ranks for some time, and it seems you'll survive for much longer, or at least as long as that creature is on your shoulder." Knov said. "What exactly are you asking me here?" Eli asked, getting a little angry. "We need your help if we want to take down the elites and the King." Killua said. "You mean you want to kill them, right?" Eli asked. They could tell that Eli was angry.
"You don't actually care about these creatures, do you?" Knov asked. "Oh, no. I've only been cooking for them, helping them through their emotions, befriending them, and convincing them to be peaceful because I want them to die!" Eli shouted. "Now, hold on, how could you honestly care about them? They have killed and eaten countless people!" Killua argued. "That's not their fault." Eli said. "What the hell are you talking about!?" Killua shouted. "They've just been brought into this world. Yes, many of them have their old memories, but they didn't surface immediately. From the moment they were born they were told to seek out and devour humans or bring them to the queen. By the point that they started realizing it might be wrong, they were already addicted. They pushed away their morals, they were taken by their beasts. It wasn't their fault. They were told that it was normal, so they believed it." Eli said.
"Easy for you to say. You didn't have anyone get taken by those monsters." Killua said. "Don't act like it wasn't the same for you." Eli said to Killua, silencing him. Eli stepped up to Killua and looked him dead in the eyes. "I see it in your eyes. You're what? Fourteen? Fifteen years old? You're so young, and yet you've killed more people than you can even remember." Eli looked deep into Killua's eyes, pulling away all of his secrets. "Why? Why do you kill so freely? Because you were told it was normal." Eli said. Killua was dead quiet. He wanted to speak up and argue with Eli… hell, he wanted to kill Eli, but he didn't. He couldn't.
Eli stepped away and looked at the whole group. "You are all here to kill the Chimera Ants. I know that they've made mistakes, and I'm not as naïve as to say that every last Chimera Ant will just magically have their hearts and minds turn to good, but I know that a few of them have. I've made progress. I've done more good than your self-righteous crusade could ever hope to accomplish. For the few weeks that I've been here, I've stopped the Chimera Ants' killings. I did that! I did that by simply being there and talking! I did that by befriending them! You!? You've done nothing! You aren't some kind of war heroes! You're all a bunch of bastards. Hell, I don't even know why you brought him along with you!" Eli said as he pointed to Gon. "He can handle himself." Killua said. "That's not what I meant. I can see the look in his eyes." Eli looked straight to Gon.
"Oh, you are just aching to kill someone, aren't you? Tell me, who is it? I'm guessing it's one of the elites, right? Is it Pouf? Youpi? Pitou?" Eli saw a twitch when he said Pitou. "Ah, so it is her." Eli said. "Her? What are you talking about? Pitou's not a woman." Killua said. "Pitou is both. Of course, you wouldn't know that. You guys don't even want to attempt to see the more complex details. You would all make terrible art critics. Where others would see a beautiful mural, or a colorful, vibrant painting… you narrow minded bastards would just see a blank, white canvas." Eli said. All of them were silent, not saying a word. Eli turned his back to them and took a look around the room. "Let me out." He demanded. A door was opened at the end of the room, allowing Eli to leave.
He was back in the forest, right where he was taken. Right as he got settled and calmed down a bit from that interaction, Cheetu came out of the forest holding a freshly killed boar. "Hey! I've been calling your name." Cheetu said. "Sorry. I must have spaced out for a second. I see you caught a boar." Eli said, trying to shift the subject. "Oh, yeah. I was able to sneak up on him well enough." "Good. Let's head back. It'll take a while to cook the roast." "How long is a while?" "It won't be ready until later this evening." "What!? Why so long!?" "The greatest things in life take time, Cheetu." "Alright…" "Don't worry, I'll let you get the first pickings since you helped me." "Thanks. I do actually like your cooking." "Thanks." Eli said.
"You ever thought about opening up a business like a restaurant or a diner?" Cheetu asked. "I don't even know how currency works." "I guess that's a fair point." "Well… I might need to figure it out though." Eli said. "Why?" "I like the rest of the world. I want to be a part of it." "You do?" "Yeah. It all seems so interesting. I want to see it." "Well… I think a certain cat would help you out with all of that." "Really, I'd love that more than anything but… Nef would never abandon the King." "I see… how does that make you feel?" Cheetu asked. "Well… I don't know… I don't really know anything anymore to be honest with you." "Well… let me ask you this: how do you feel about Pitou?" Cheetu asked. "What?" Eli asked, getting sheepish. "Don't play dumb. I've seen the way you look and act around them. That body language is easy to understand." "Then why'd you ask?" Eli asked. "Because I wanted to hear it from you." Cheetu laughed.
They made their way to the palace. Cheetu left Eli to prepare the food. Before long, Pitou came walking in. "Hey, Eli. Were you and Cheetu successful?" They asked. "Oh, yeah. I'm preparing the meat now." Eli said. "How much are you making?" "I'm just going to make some pot roast and a few vegetables." "Only a few are going to be here at the palace…" Pitou said with a forlorn look. "What's wrong?" Eli asked, noticing their dread. "I… didn't want to tell you because I didn't want you worrying, but we found the blood of one of the Chimera Ants guarding the palace last night, and he's nowhere to be found."
In that instant, Eli knew exactly what happened. Knov had killed that Chimera Ant when he invaded the palace last night. "Ne… Pitou, I mean. There's something I have to tell you." Eli said. "What is it?" Pitou asked. "When I was hunting today, I was taken by a group of humans." "What!? Are you okay?" Pitou was genuinely worried about Eli, and that made him happy, but he had something more serious to focus on. "I'm fine. One of them had this ability to make portals that led to some kind of empty room." "What did they want from you? You're not one of our soldiers." "They wanted me to betray all of you. They wanted me to act as a spy and reveal any of your weaknesses to them." "What did you say?" "Do you even have to ask that? I told them all to go to hell!" Eli shouted proudly.
Pitou couldn't honestly believe it. Pitou had always known humans to look out for themselves. The only human that's helped the Chimera Ants was the senator, and that was simply because he feared the King, but Eli was different. He was helping the Chimera Ants simply because he cared about them. "Eli… you betrayed your own kind? For us?" Pitou asked in a dumbfounded state. "I didn't betray anyone. I'm just trying to keep as many people alive as I can. You guys, well… you guys are new to the world and I don't want to see this end with blood shed." Pitou gave him a warm smile before stepping closer. "You're too kind for your own good." "I suppose I am." Eli said with a smile. "Say, Eli?" "Yeah?" "Has your nen ever manifested in some way? Somehow escaped Shroud?" "Well… I did notice something weird when I touched nen users." "What?" Pitou asked. "When I touch them, I get a vision of their ability." "Really? So, when you hugged me, you saw my ability?" Pitou asked. "No, it didn't work that time, but I think that was because I already knew what your ability was." Eli theorized. "I see…"
Pitou looked over to the boar and all of the ingredients. "Is there anything I could help with?" Pitou asked. "Oh, don't worry. I've got it covered, but it's nice of you to ask." Eli said. "Well, I'll be up on your tower if you need me." "Alright. I'll come and get you when it's ready… or if I feel like you're getting lonely." As they walked away, Eli thought he saw a faint blush on Pitou's face. Eli finished getting everything ready then set the meat to slowly cook over the rest of the day.
He sat in the kitchen and waited. Of course, it would take several hours for the meal to cook, and it would seem even longer if Eli simply sat there and watched. Eli decided to bring out his journal. He got to thinking about the humans that were trying so desperately to end the lives of his friends. "They must have something planned… there must be someone in their group as strong as the King, otherwise they wouldn't try an assault like this." Eli thought to himself. He began thinking about the worst-case scenario… where everyone died. Not only the Chimera Ants would die that day, but he and that woman, Komugi, would also be caught in the crossfire. He thought about ways out, ways to prevent the worst-case scenario. That's when it came to him. He opened up his journal to the pages where he was crafting his idea for an ability then added to it. He added a new power, a brief description, and a note.
Right when he was finishing up with his idea, he began to hear something. It was music, a familiar kind. It was Pouf's violin that he was hearing. Although, the notes that came out were broken, and nowhere near correct. Eli followed the horrific screeching notes. Soon, angered grunts of frustration began to accompany the violin. Eli came to the dining hall, and standing at the center of the room, playing the violin, was Pouf.
He was taking a break, and Eli could easily tell that he was angry. The fact that he was holding a broken violin bow in his hand proved that he was. He hadn't even noticed that Eli had walked in yet. Eli stepped closer and found that there were sheets lied out on one of the tables. He picked it up and found that it was sheet music. The song that Pouf was attempting to play was one titled, "The Beauty of Life." It was a song that appeared to be written by an optimist for optimists. "Why is he trying to play a song like this?" Eli thought.
"The Beauty of Life." Eli read aloud so Pouf would know he was there. Pouf quickly turned around with a look of shock. He couldn't believe he allowed Eli to sneak up on him. "How long have you been there?" Pouf asked, demanded really. "Not long. I heard your music from the kitchen and decided to see what was going on." "My practice does not concern you." "I think it does when you're having trouble." "I am not having trouble!" "Are you sure? I heard those broken notes earlier." Eli said. "Get out!" "Alright! You don't have to be a jerk about it, you know." Eli said as he stepped away.
Eli walked through the palace and got to thinking. He knew that he needed to lighten Pouf's heart, but how would he do that? He thought about how Pouf had broken his violin bow. He wondered if he had broken any others. He knew someone that would know. He went back to his tower and found Pitou. "Hey, Pitou." He said. They hopped down next to Eli and said, "Hello Eli. What do you need?" "Have you noticed that Pouf's been trying out a new song?" "Yes, I've noticed. He wants to perform it for the King, but he hasn't even been able to get through the first part so far." "He had broken his violin bow when I found him practicing earlier." "So, he's broken another one then…" "He's broken more?" "Many." "Okay… say, I have an idea, but I'll need your help." Eli said. Pitou raised a brow as they listened to Eli's plan with intrigue.