Chapter 17 Piqued Curiosity

"When will she come out?"

Ludwig had been waiting for Aurelia all morning. She had spent the entire night with Aida after all, and he wanted to know more about the old lady. He had been pondering her situation all of last night, all while the rest of Rise of the Levithan played out. While normally had would be entranced by that movie's visuals, they took a back seat in his mind as the questions he had about Aida filled his head.

And…sure, it was possible that Aurelia didn't really have anything new to report. It was possible that she and Aida had just slept the night away, as well as most of the morning (it was ten o'clock after all). But still, Ludwig was determined to ask her.

So, he waited. He kept his eyes open for any sign of Aurelia coming into the dining room. He had even neglected to eat his breakfast because of this. Granted, he wasn't the biggest fan of oatmeal, especially when it had walnuts and raisins as two of its ingredients (seriously, barf). But still, he refused to eat as he watched Aurelia's bowl, waiting for her to enter the room so she could tell him about her night.

Logan noticed this. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," Ludwig said, his tone conveying impatience. "I just want to talk to Aurelia."

Logan sniffed. "You're still curious about Aida. Aren't you?"

"Yeah, I am."

Logan chuckled a little bit. "Well, let me ease you a little bit. A lot of us had spent a lot of nights with Aida over the past few years. And, unfortunately, we very rarely got more information on her aside from what was apparent and obvious."

Ludwig rolled his eyes. "Oh yeah, that definitely eases me; thanks Logan." He turned back to hi food bowl, trying not to cringe at the sight of his breakfast. "But still…I have this weird feeling about her. I can't quite put my finger on it, but something about her situation feels…wrong. Like there's something big that none of us know about."

Logan thought about this, biting his lip before he nodded. "Yes. I understand what you're saying. Believe me, a lot of us have wondered about Aida during our stay here. We don't really talk about it a whole lot though." Logan chuckled, the sound dripping with shame. "And, you can blame me for that. I mostly just pushed all questions under the rug."

"Lovely," Ludwig said with a sniff. "You know, it seems that you can take the blame for a lot of things in this house."

Logan's ears drooped. "Unfortunately, I can't deny that. No matter how much I want to."

Ludwig nodded. Bracing himself for a feeling of nausea, he bent over and took a bite of oatmeal; the disgusting, nasty oatmeal. Seriously, the times when they had this meal in the Castle always made him want to rush out of the room and vomit into the closest toilet, plant, or any other container that would make his throw up feel right at home. Thankfully, this time he didn't feel as nauseous as he used to (perhaps cats naturally had stronger stomachs), but still.

Also thankfully, Aurelia came into the room right at that moment. Grateful and happy for many reasons, he went up to the brown and white cat.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey."

"How are you?"

"Fine." Aurelia snickered. "What's with the sudden interest in me?" She giggled. "You trying to flirt with me or something, Ludwig?"

Ludwig seized up. "What? No! No, I'm not!"

"Eh," Aurelia said with a shrug. "I wouldn't blame you if you are; I do look very pretty as a koopa." Her face fell. "At least, last time I checked."

Ludwig felt a pang, thinking once again about all the things that Magnus had taken away from them. However, the sadness faded when he reminded himself about the reason why he was talking to Aurelia in the first place.

"No, I'm not flirting with you. I was wondering what your night with Aida was like."

"Oh." Aurelia thought about this before shrugging. "It was fine."

"Okay…." Ludwig leaned in closer. "Found out anything interesting?"

"No." After Aurelia shook her head, realization appeared on her face. "Well, okay, that isn't entirely true." She walked over to her food bowl. "There was something interesting that Aida mentioned when she was trying to get back to sleep."

Ludwig perked up. "What was it?" He leaned in abnormally close to Aurelia, a fact that he became aware of thanks to an uncomfortable look she sent his way. Once he apologized and backed up, Aurelia told him what that "something interesting" was.

"She mentioned that Aino sent her some letters, and that she needed to find them."

Ludwig waited. When Aurelia didn't elaborate, his spirits sank. "That's all?"

"Not entirely," said Logan. He made his way over to them. "This actually isn't the first time Aida talked about letters sent from her son to her. She mentions them sometimes when I went up to snuggle her. She even is able to quote some of the things mentioned in the letters word for word."

Ludwig blinked. "Despite her dementia?"

"Yeah," Logan said with a nod. "Even with her condition, her imagination is still as active as ever."

Ludwig raised an eyebrow. "You said 'imagination.' Not 'memory.'"

Logan nodded. "Well, there's a reason for that. Magnus never found the letters that Aida says her son wrote."

Ludwig did a double take. What? That was odd. You would think that, since Aida was so close to her son before he died, she would keep his letters in special places. You know, as a way to remember her son and honor his memory. But…really? Magnus never found them? Magnus never found the letters, and yet Aida could recite them word for word?

"Okay…" Ludwig tried to wrap his head around this, something that both Logan and Aurelia were able to pick up on rather easily.

"You think that the letters are stashed away somewhere secret, don't you?" asked Aurelia.

"Well, yeah!" Ludwig said. "I mean, what other explanation is there?"

Logan approached, his steps careful. "Ludwig, Aida never received any letters. I hate to say it, but those documents are something her mind made up in order to fill in the blanks as to why Aino never returned to her."

Ludwig didn't buy that at all. There was just something really fishy about this whole scenario. The letters couldn't be made up. If Aida could quote them word for word, that was proof that she didn't make them up. After all, someone with dementia had trouble recalling details and whatnot. Therefore, her being able to recall the letters was proof that there was more to this than meets the eye.

"No." He looked between Logan and Aurelia, his face serious. "There's more. There has to be more."

Logan sighed. "Even if that were true, there's no way we could confirm that."

"Sure there is!" Ludwig smiled. "Tell you what; I'm gonna spend some time with Aida tonight. I'm sure that there will be somethings she says that give us more information."

Logan still looked incredulous, which wasn't all that surprising. Eventually, however, he did relent with a sigh. "Alright. If you feel that is necessary, than by all means do it."

"I will," Ludwig said with a nod.

"Just be aware, Ludwig," Aurelia said with a furrowed brow. "You might not find the answers that you're looking for."

Ludwig's spirits sank a little bit. However, he didn't let them stay that way for long. He was going to find the answer to this. One way or another, he was going to get the answer to this question.