Chapter Six: The Smurfs Who Knew Too Much
Wild's birthday was celebrated as planned the next day. That night, Brainy wrote up a little note that he then tucked into his drawer, detailing the fact that he and Vanity would be going to meet Roesia and the nearby location she wished to bring them to. He wasn't too overly worried… but he found it worthwhile to at least leave some kind of information that the smurfs would be able to find, just in case something went wrong. Over the years, both Brainy himself and his fellow smurfs had been captured many times by all kinds of humans or magic folk such as imps. In the past, Brainy would have been (and was) a lot more carefree, but he'd finally reached a point where he'd learned to be a little bit more wary after so many unsmurfy incidents.
When morning came, he ran into Clumsy on his way to meet Vanity. He felt guilty that Clumsy wasn't coming too… Brainy realised that he wished he was. But that hadn't been part of the agreement.
"Gee Brainy, ya seem t' be headed somewhere! Where're ya goin'?"
"Ah – you'll find out about it Clumsy, don't worry. I promise." I'll tell you all about it as soon as I can. According to Roesia you should know soon enough anyway… it's just that Vanity and I are getting an exclusive peek.
He left Clumsy there, puzzling over his cryptic reply, and hurried off to Vanity.
"Should've known you wouldn't be on time," Vanity sniffed.
"Oh, come now, I'm pretty sure you were just early."
The two smurfs made their way off into the forest, into the trees, away from Smurf Village. Vanity had made the trip out to see Roesia so many times before, but this felt decidedly different. And it was, of course. What did Roesia have to share with them, to show them? What kind of information would be waiting for them?
Vanity had to increase his pace to keep up with Brainy. Brainy went to go even faster, but Vanity pulled him back with a tug. "Show some restraint," he admonished. But they'd had so much time to think over Roesia's words over the past day and a half, and now that they were actually on the way there, Vanity had to admit that he was a little excited. But they couldn't be so obvious. And if Brainy really had been so keen, maybe he should have actually met me a little sooner!
They arrived at the clearing, and Roesia was waiting for them.
Vanity wanted to tell Brainy to let him do the talking, but he doubted that the motormouth smurf would ever agree to such a thing.
Roesia spoke first, in a pleasant tone. "I'm glad you made it, are you ready?"
Yes, Brainy almost said right then and there, catching himself just in time.
"Ready? You haven't even given us any information. I believe that was what we agreed on," Vanity spoke up.
Brainy crossed his arms, trying to mimic how detached Vanity looked.
Roesia laughed softly. "I know. I hope I can put your worries to rest. I just wanted to share with you some insight… show you, let you see a little of what I can see."
Vanity looked at her. "What you… can see?" After a few moments, his eyes narrowed. "What do you mean."
"What I mean is… when I look at someone, I can see everything about them. Their very being."
"Uhh…"
"Their very… being….?" Brainy shrank away somewhat.
Her voice was soft and sweet. "Wouldn't you like to see?"
"You're… You're no ordinary human at all," said Brainy accusingly.
"Did I ever claim to be?" Roesia asked innocently.
Vanity's turn now. "You've never once mentioned any of this!"
Roesia nodded. "I'm sorry. But it's not something I would go around telling everyone about. But I'd like to think it's about time it should be brought up. And I never did lie to any of you – I really do attend funerals for a living! This is just… Another part of me."
Brainy's mouth was dry. "How," he said. He swallowed down some nervousness and pressed on. "How does it – how would it work."
No, he shouldn't be asking, should he? He shouldn't be here. He should probably get back to the village, back to tell Papa Smurf. He doesn't move.
"It's simple, really. I have my materials hidden not far from here. Just five minutes is all it would take to walk there, and for me to reroute a little of my magic, allowing you both the gift of insight."
"But why," Vanity insisted.
Roesia sighed. "It's your choice. No reason for me to force you."
"It could be a trap," Vanity said, both to Brainy and himself. "It's probably a trap."
"But I'm telling you the truth." Roesia looked at Brainy. After what she'd just revealed, he didn't like that. He didn't like it one bit. "How am I to prove it? I see so much, and I see neither of you would want me to be open about your personal information."
"As if I have anything to hide," Vanity challenged.
Roesia looked directly at the flower-hatted smurf. "Don't be so sure."
She returned her gaze to Brainy when Vanity fell silent. "You feel threatened by Dabbler Smurf, don't you? You're the one who's supposed to be Papa Smurf's assistant, who helps with his potions. But now Dabbler can do magic too, so where does that leave you? You're glad he just sticks to healing magic for the most part, because the rest, well, that should be your domain…"
Brainy shifted uncomfortably.
Oh, she could have deduced that on her own, Vanity tried to tell himself. But as far as he could recall… Dabbler didn't care for Roesia and never tended to visit her. Brainy had only met her for the first time the day before yesterday, and clearly he'd said nothing of the matter.
And… No one was supposed to mention anything about magic to Roesia.
He'd personally never really given Dabbler's new magic skills a whole lot of thought, so it hadn't occurred to him how Brainy might feel about them.
"It's up to you. If you want to go now, you can go. To be completely honest, it makes no difference to me. I just thought I would offer you two this chance."
Brainy very much didn't like the demonstration that someone else had advantages that he did not, could wield tools regarding his very self. Abilities that he could…
"We should leave…" Vanity urged Brainy.
Perhaps they should leave. In that moment, poised, if Vanity had grabbed his hand and run, Brainy supposed he would follow. But he didn't. Vanity remained where he was, and so did he.
"But… the possibilities," Brainy whispered. The… potential. If Roesia was being honest, if what she was saying was true…
"There's no need to be so apprehensive, Vanity, after all the conversations we've had," Roesia chimed in.
"It's not far from here…" she added, began to take a few steps. Brainy gave a last look at Vanity, and followed.
"Brainy…" Vanity sighed. It was no use. If anything goes wrong… it's all your fault. He wasn't willing to leave Brainy to follow her on his own, so he trailed after them.
After walking a little, Roesia sat down in the grass. She reached into the neckline of her dress and withdrew a necklace. "This is what I channel my magic through," she said. "It helps to fully draw out and allow me to use my abilities. So all we'd need to do is..." she reached down and plucked Vanity's mirror from his hands.
"Hey!" he cried.
"I'll give it right back," Roesia promised, "I just need to use an object to quickly reroute some of the magic through. Then you'll be able to see as I do."
"…If that's what you want," Roesia added, and waited.
"Is it… permanent?"
"Not if you don't want it to be."
"Then… Yeah. I guess I'm doing this now," he said with an air of resignation. Roesia was his friend, wasn't she? Now that Vanity was actually here, he was calm. It didn't seem like a trap. Would she not have sprung it by now? His curiosity and excitement was returning somewhat.
Vanity and Brainy gazed in wonder as Vanity's mirror began to glow. She was infusing it with magic.
It was over, just like that, then she held out the mirror for Vanity to take. He reached for it, grasped the familiar handle in his palm. It felt the same as always. Was that it? Had all that been for nothing? Then he looked into the mirror.
…Oh. Oh.
"My smurfness… It's incredible, it's amazing, it's… Me!" Vanity exclaimed. He sat there, somehow even more engrossed in his own reflection than normal.
Brainy stood off to the side, fidgeting nervously. "…Vanity? Vanity!"
"She wasn't lying, Brainy," Vanity murmured, not looking up.
"Are you ready?" Roesia asked, her attention now turned to the other smurf. "Like with Vanity, I'll need an object I can use for the magic…"
Brainy didn't have any mirror on him like Vanity did, but Roesia seemed to think that wouldn't be a problem. Then a kind of realisation dawned on him. "My… My glasses? Oh, but I need those…"
"It's okay, Brainy," Roesia reassured him, "I'll be careful with them. Now they'll help you to see even better – in more ways than one."
Slowly, Brainy removed his glasses, squinting at the blurs that then overwhelmed his vision. He held out the spectacles, blindly, felt Roesia remove them from his hand.
Before he had too much time to dwell on how vulnerable he now was, his glasses were promptly returned to him, and he slipped them on. Roesia came into view. Nothing… No difference.
"It didn't work," he said flatly, disappointed.
Roesia hid her smile. "It's not going to work on me. It's my magic you're using, after all."
That was annoying. So she got to see all about him, but he couldn't see anything about her? So much for a level playing field.
Then he looked at Vanity.
"Oh…" he was taken completely off-guard. "I can see. I can see…" He could see not only the smurf that Vanity was, but the smurf that he could be. He could learn all there was to learn, just by looking. What wasn't there? The vision didn't operate through memories – he couldn't see those. But he didn't really need to. He could see who Vanity was, his character, his potential, all outlined in front of him. He could see how Vanity felt about other smurfs. But… he squinted, searched, found something important missing.
He could see Vanity's character. So could Vanity, seeing and learning things about himself that perhaps even he hadn't known before. So wouldn't it stand to reason…?
Driven by a sudden desperate curiosity, Brainy tugged at Vanity's mirror, but the other smurf had a very firm hold on it. Exerting more strength, he yanked it out of his grasp.
"Hey! Brainy, what are you-"
Brainy managed to keep him at arm's length for a few moments before Vanity snatched it back. Enough to get a good look at himself. He turned back to Roesia, at a complete loss.
"I can see into everything, except…" he faltered. "…Myself."
He could find no indication that Vanity even knew who he was. He was just as closed off to that area of Vanity's mind as he otherwise would be, without the assistance of Roesia's magic.
"Ah… I don't think you're ready for that," Roesia told him.
Not ready?! How convenient… And how off-putting that he likely didn't need to say a word. Roesia would probably already know his sentiments towards her answer.
He looked over to Vanity hopefully. "Vanity, you can see… You can see me… If you'd just look…" but he wasn't. Brainy grabbed him, gave him a small shake. "Look at me… Please."
Vanity gave him a withering stare. "Will you stop that."
"What do you see?" Brainy asked eagerly. "Vanity, what do you see?"
Vanity's eyes had already returned to his mirror. Brainy shook him slowly.
"Mmm… Mmmm?" the self-obsessed smurf would only make noncommittal sounds. It wasn't any use. It was like Vanity could hardly hear him, as focused as he was.
Roesia shook her head, "perhaps I will show you sometime, Brainy, so you can see it all for yourself… But for now, I think you'd want to be getting back to your village. Congratulations, you're both Readers now. Readers of others."
"Come on, Vanity," Brainy said, started to walk off. Came back, pulled Vanity along after him. He seemed determined not to look up from his mirror, not even for a moment.