(Author's Note - Zelda's Point Of View)
Munin hung his head low after Elisa left, "They will never forgive me, right?" he wailed as he chirped hopelessly.
"Well…" I breathed, "For your son, I don't know. But for Elisa, no" I told him, "She already forgave you", he remained silent, "I know her well, she doesn't hate you."
He nodded with a doleful smile as his father placed a hand on his shoulder, and I placed mine on his dark webbed hand. I turned to Giles and nodded, signalled him to go check on Elisa.
"You're a good woman" Abberton praised and then looked at Dimitri, "You're lucky, she's your mate".
"Oh! no no no!" I replied immediately, "We're friend"
(Author's Note - Giles's Point Of View.)
I followed the path to the door that led to the air bubble balcony, where they sat at the bench, staring out at the crowd village. I tapped twice on the door, making them turned around.
"Are you both alright?" I asked, and Elisa nodded.
"Sorry for keep you waiting" she signed.
"Nah! It's okay" I brushed it off and joined them at the bench, "I am here."
She nodded and laid her head on my shoulder as the fishboy still holding one of her hand in his. There were few things I have to say, and I know she wouldn't want to talk about this but let's not pretend we don't know what am I about to say.
"By now you may no longer feel anything, and I know you'd rather pretend it never happened, and...it's easy to just be someone new...to let your past died along with your oldself even it's never easy to start anew, but...denying who you are is no different from fooling yourself"
She finally faced me after I finished that sentence. I refused to say 'were', because there is no old Elisa or new Elisa...only the woman who sat in front of me.
"Sound Cliche, isn't it?" I asked, and she shrugged her shoulders, "Then just hear me out, okay?" she remained silent, "You've found your man. You deserve to be happy...and so is he" I added and pointed at the fishboy.
I looked down my feet and think about my past, the darkest time in my life, the very moment I have no one except her.
(Author's Note - Elisa's Point Of View)
"All my life I wish for love, tied with a ribbon... Just to realized that I've been fooling myself... It took me awhile to learns how to stop, and end the complicatedness between me and Bernie…" He paused to breathe, "So the thing is, it's never too late to free yourself." He finally said it with a confident smile, "And of course, it won't be immediately", he chuckled, "And honestly I am responsible for what that monster did to you, because I didn't take care of you as much I should have, but-"
I quickly grab his hand and shook my head. It's not his fault, it's never his fault. Everything that happened is what I got from my decision, not him, not anyone else, no matter how bitch that monster was.
"I know you feel that way, child" he said gently as if hearing my thought, "We might not speak much about this, but I hope you know you can always talk to me...even I've never thanked you, for this extraordinary life." he chuckled.
Elisa pulled her hand out from ours to signed 'We won't make it here...without you' to Giles / She tapped his shoulders with a smile before she stood up and got back inside the cave / Giles remained silent until he was sure that she can't hear him saying "I'm so damn lucky, you are my child" /
"And she is lucky, you are her father" we signed, "I wish I have a family like that..."
"Well, you're my son too you know?" he chuckled and patted my head, "I know it's hard growing up in a broken family, and those people who think they understand you, they'd say it's between your parent, just accept it, and from looking at you, I'm sure you've earned your strength from it along with emptiness in your heart, but let's take it from this divorced kid, okay?" he asked as he pointed at himself.
We nodded quickly / I wish he knows how long I've been wishing for a dad talk! / Maybe's it's not a dad talk but at least we finally get to talk with someone who've been through the same thing as I did! /
"It's OK to Feel This Way" he said firmly, "You're not alone in this... This world still has people who love you, always. They might hurt you, and not understanding what you are feeling, but they can still offer you compassion." he paused to check our reaction, "and then one day, when all of this no longer bothering you, just...remember, there's a person who will always be there for you." he finished with a smiled.
We pointed at him and tilted our head / He will be our father?
"Nope, not me" he answered and shook his head "Elisa"
Yes! How could we forgot her? He's not talking about finding new father! He's talking about the person who will always be there for me! And that person is obviously Elisa!
"She had always been there for you. So be there for her...okay?" he said seriously, and we nodded quickly / We will always be there /
"That's ma boy" He smiled, and tapped our shoulder before he walked back inside the house /
(Author's Note - Munin 's Point Of View)
"I will talk with Cedrica", Elisa signed, "You can come visit us once or maybe twice a week, but if she not allows, I'll come here... Once a week"
"That's a good idea" dad replied excitedly as he stood up, and walked to the drawer. He later returned with a white beaded bracelet, and asked for her hand.
He wore it around her wrists, and placed his bracelet hand next to hers. A water symbol appeared on one of her beads before it turned blue as his slowly turned red with a symbol of an egg. Elisa pulled her hand back to look at her bracelet just as Charlie returned.
"Feel free to call us anytime" the old man offered with a smile.
(Author's Note - Giles's Point Of View.)
They made us lunch, and we offered everyone a hug before we left as my eyes caught Munin staring at his son pleadingly.
"It's never easy for me, you know?" I turned around at the sound behind me, it's Abberton, "They aren't my children by blood, but... I love them...I should have raised them better..."
I guess he's talking about his children. I don't know how he raised them, but I'm not surprised why he felt guilty of how their lives goes.
"Colwyn's death is not your fault" I reminded him.
"But, no parent should have to bury their child." he said, and he finally looked at me, "I rather see them disappear in the stars than watching him got buried with his wife."
I don't know what "disappear in the stars" mean, but I'm sure he meant well to his son. And since I saw no shadows of his wife, I guessed he's a single dad. It's pretty hard to believe that the youthful face of his is a face of a man who is both father and grandfather. But looking at the way he looked at his son, I can tell he got a lot on his shoulders. So the only thing I could say was.
"That's just the parent things, my friend. You worry about them. I worried about her." I said, and I look at Elisa, "It's totally normal.", I reassured him.
And he nodded with a smile, "Thanks for understand me."
"You're welcome" I replied and tapped his shoulder.
We left the Ocedor, and swum up to the surface. The street was crowded, full of the stall display, and creatures shopping.
(Author's Note - Elisa's Point Of View.)
"Is this the market?" Zelda asked, and Charlie nodded.
"Night market, herbs, foods, decorations, and shelter stuffs", he signed.
"Do we wanna go look?" Dimitri asked, "At least for the clothes.", he added, and gestured his long white pajama.
"But how do we pay them? Do they use dollar here?" Giles asked.
Charlie shook his head, "Can't go back late...mother…", and then he signed something so desperately to the point where even an ASL user like me don't even understand.
So I just nodded, and signed, "We'll go home".
Charlie led us back to the Village, and then to his house. We opened the door, and found Cedrica wait in the living room with new clothes. Zelda rushed to pickup the yellow dress, and squeal in joy.
"No more second-hand clothes!" she screamed, and held the dress tight, "Thank you." she added, and bowed her head at Cedrica.
"Where did you get them?" Dimitri asked and pickup the terracotta shirt.
"I work as a healer", Cedrica replied, "I healed them, they reward me.".
"So people here pay for things with clothes?" I asked.
"No, we call it trade", she replied, "It can be done with, foods, clothes, and shelter stuffs as long as it's usable".
I nodded, and I picked up the pastel blue dress that was about my knee long.
"Can't wait to show them these!" Zelda screamed as she spun around with her dress.
"Who?" Dimitri asked.
"His family, of course!", she replied as she pointed at Charlie, "I don't need them to see me in see through pajama next time they visit us!"
And that...was when the tense begun.
"What do you mean?", Cedrica asked, suddenly serious.
"We plan to let Munin, and his family visit us weekly" I told her.
"How come I don't know this?" she scolded at Charlie
"She pregnant, mom", his replied echoes along with his hands.
"And what does it got to do with Munin?"
"We're getting marry mom, we need him to-"
"You two barely know each other!" Cedrica protested, "I'm sorry", she added, and look at me, "I can't let you guys do this.", and then took Charlie's hand, "Come with me."
"Can we talk first?" I asked as Charlie struggled to get off his mother's fist.
I always knew that wife vs mother-in-law is a common thing in films, and it's understandable that she won't trust me to marry her son yet since I just met her yesterday, but I really need to speak for myself.
"No" she replied coldly, "Come with me!.", She scolded my lover one last time before she dragged him out of the room.
Charlie is a strong amphibian man and can obviously get off his mother's grip, but sometimes you just can't fight or argue with your mother...because that's what happen with my man XD
I know you guys might think Zelda's reaction to the dress was over dramatic, but imagine being the youngest daughter of the four, a runaway, married an unemployed man, and work as a janitor, she would rare get a chance to wear a good clothes. And who wouldn't scream if they get a Chanel dress for free?
PS. The bracelet that Charlie's grandfather gave to Elisa is a Marble-gram, based on the Prism-gram from Adventure Time series, but I changed it from shooting the laser wave into the owner's forehead when it receives a message to projecting the hologram message instead for the safety sake XD.
I'm so sorry for the very very late updating :( Thanks for reading ^3^ I love you all!