Eris came to visit her several times after that. Sometimes carting work in the shape of messy pages and spilling notes. Others just by herself as she left those worries to take in a breath of relaxation and ease, letting the taxation of a constant creative flow heal and refilling her heart on the simple treat of existing in what brought her pleasure. Apparently, Aisling was part of those delights because each visit brought the maid a new selection commission and the two a chance to play at master and servant.
"Lady Eris?" Aisling called her name, the letters running smooth across her tongue and her throat losing its apprehension in stringing the syllables together in her address.
"Yes, Chili?" Eris said, lips just as adjusted as she sipped at her beverage of choice: a peach honey tea, recommended by her maid, as always.
"I appreciate your visits and the fact that you select me every time, but isn't this getting a bit pricey?"
"What do you mean?"
"The selection fee alone is ten coin. Plus the drinks and desserts, not counting refills and seconds, it all comes out to a pretty piece. I'm worried you're indulging me more than your purse can allow."
"Funny, I never thought I'd hear an idol fan say that to me," Eris said, completely unfazed by the math.
"I'm actually being serious, you know," Aisling said, speaking a little softer to not break the illusion for the Oasis's other patrons.
"Relax, I'm fine. I have enough saved in the bank and a part-time gig that keeps it from going empty. It's not often I like to make these lavish expenditures, so let me spoil myself, okay? The day pokémon stop treating themselves with their hard-earned coin will be the dullest day in history," she said, her long sip snuffing out any desire to pursue the topic any further.
Aisling could only suppose that everyone had their own indulgences getting them through the grind and Eris was no exception. "I see. Very well then. If you're content with it, then I'm in no place to judge what you do with your spending money," she said, just as guilty of this offense as she worked hard for the sake of her own hobbies and wants.
Although, the cycle of service and return was almost ridiculous at this point. Didn't she know all these coins were going right back into loving and supporting Coco? It was all coming back to her, anyway.
"Now then, onto more captivating matters, I've been unbearably curious about something since the first time I saw you."
Aisling already had a strong feeling of what it was just by that prelude.
"Of course, you're more than welcome to ignore the question if it's too invasive or uncomfortable. I'm sure you already get it plenty," she said quickly, careful not to intrude past their unspoken line.
"It's fine. I don't really mind so you can go ahead and ask."
"Then, how tall are you? I mean, I think you're lovely in all your assets, but I've never seen a cinderace with so much reach."
"I would imagine so since I'm a bit of an oddity," she said with a short, patient chortle, "Got fifteen little brothers and sisters and not one of them are as big as me."
Eris choked on her drink, "Fi-Fifteen?"
Yeah, her parents' love and idea of a full house was abundant to say the least but the reactions never got old. "Yep," Aisling paraded her affirmation, "Youngest is three so Mum and Dad are still going strong. But anyway, about your initial question, I'm five-ten last time I checked," she said, thinking back on the physical she had to take for tryouts.
"Oh wow!" she concealed her excess excitement behind a hand, "That's honestly a bit impressive. How did you—I mean, not that you can choose how tall you end up being but you said you're the only one to reach such a height out of so many siblings. If it ran in your family, then surely you wouldn't be the only one of sixteen," she said, her bafflement running like overflow.
"Thing is, it doesn't," Aisling said matter-of-factly.
"Then, how…"
"Well, you know those dormant dynamax dens in Galar Park?" she asked, a budding fascination forming in her eyes as she laid the seedlings of intrigue.
"Those wonders from the old world?"
Aisling nodded, "Yeah. So when I was an egg, my parents decided to go visit them. My mum's from Rosania so Dad wanted to show her the sights in Almorus. So, they took my egg to Galar Park thinking they were harmless. Turns out, that wasn't the case.
"Researchers think it has something to do with the lingering energies radiating off of them. They're not strong enough to effect a pokémon's body but it's just enough to introduce mutations into developing eggs. It's happened to several other pokémon besides me before the research was done so now you're not allowed to take your eggs into the park anymore."
Eris gasped, "Oh no! I didn't know those dens were causing gigantism in eggs. It must've been terrifying to learn something like that as a parent," she said, her heart sympathizing deeper than Aisling expected she would. Perhaps closer to empathetic in the way her voice cracked under the implications.
She waved off the concern, a nervous chuckle trying to calm the air. "Eh, Mum was a bit shaken up when the news broke out but I grew up happy and healthy aside from a couple extra inches."
"Really?"
"I had over a dozen little brothers and sisters to help keep track of. My height was the least of my worries growing up."
"I suppose it would, wouldn't it…" Eris's voice trailed off in thought, "Fifteen… I can't even imagine it," she muttered into the cup, eyes tracing the ripples as if their count could bring her closer to picturing the inconceivable.
"Yeah, it's a bit of a hard number to wrap your head around."
Eris chuckled, "I guess that's why you're such a natural in the service business."
She smiled in turn, though the gesture was laced in failings contrary to the compliment. "I wouldn't call myself a natural," she said. After all, there was nothing natural about adapting her heart to Eris's regular visits.
But her lady hadn't noticed the humbling response, thoughts seeping deeper than the tea leaves flavoring the cup. Memories, surely. Reminiscing days so far out of her reach that they might as well be a dream. They whispered the phantom of a smile to her lips, murmurings dusting their surface along with steam and a lingering sweetness.
"Taking care of someone not because you want to, but because something in your heart says you have too. Cherishing. Loving. Needing and being needed. It's natural… when someone depends on you…"
Her eyes grew sad and haunted, lost as dreams turned to heartache and the warmth turned cold. Tragedies innumerable but the flicker in her eyes counted them one by one regardless of infinity's reach.
Aisling wanted to ask, kindness slipping and forgetting itself, "Did you have—"
But it wasn't her place to ask. What they were didn't allow the space to pry into something so obviously personal. Even if the taboo didn't exist, to ask when it hadn't been offered crossed a hard line in this agreement between the stage and the stands. She hid the blunder behind her hands, swallowing it in a gasp, but Eris hadn't heard the mistake, her gaze waking up to reality like a groggy dawn and her ears turning back to the present.
"Did you say something?" she asked, her voice lethargic.
Aisling thanked her lucky stars she missed her lapse in their social contract. "Nope! I didn't say anything. Nothing important, anyway," she said with thorny petals lashing across her tongue.
Eris stared at her for a moment, finding her delight in the now and fully stepping back into the pleasures of today.
"So, Rosania, huh? Is that where your accent is from?" she asked, pointing to the crimson blossoms blooming across Aisling's face.
Despite the fluster coming over her insides, Aisling's heart still had room to breathe a sigh of relief, the heat her giggles illicit from her chest feeling much better than the unease paired in her silence.
"Guilty," she chuckled through the heartbeat dancing at the back of her throat. "My mum can't speak the language here too well so I grew up speaking Rosanese along with the common tongue. But sometimes the two like to mingle, so…"
Eris giggled, kissing its mirth to her finger. "Yes, I suppose it really is like that, isn't it? But I wouldn't fret over the rendezvous. Your accent is much more legible than mine was."
"Yours?"
Her snickers laid across a smirk, an easy breath relaxing her shoulders and sliding her chest further across the table's edge. Her eyes leaned into the clouds of her wrist, floating on dollops of heavenly sweets. As free as her next exhale, her voice fluttered across those curls, light and breezy as a tiny bird across a clear spring, her tongue as refined as high silk and her air as luxurious as rich velvet. Her phrasing was quick, swift fluctuations leaving their seductions tingling along Aisling's ears and dripping a sensual allure into her brain, its meaning unknown but the words engraving themselves all the same.
Just when she believed she couldn't love Eris's voice anymore, the universe found a way to shatter the threshold and extend its possibilities further than her heart could ever comprehend. Boundless and repeating, falling for her spells again and again. This breathless stupor in her chest, this stupefied stillness in her head, both maddening and clarifying as if she knew its name but to speak it was a violation against its existence. It could reach beyond the stars and the infinity between them and still it couldn't begin to measure the sensations filling her body from just a few foreign words strutting across her lips.
There was a true danger in knowing those words, in understanding the incantation fluttering through her breath. Fortunately for her, she hadn't and couldn't piece together their secret, limiting the devastation of her insides to a less than fatal degree.
Eris giggled in her enraptured gaze, her delight tickling Aisling's stomach and stirring the mush back into sentience.
"Surprised?" she asked, coaxing Aisling's thoughts to follow her giddy sway, "I was born in Plumellia so the common tongue isn't my first language. That makes us bilingual sisters."
It took Aisling another minute to feel herself back in her own head, to feel time marching through the seconds and understand its movement continued even as her mind lingered in the echoes of the past. Her voice stumbled, pushing past silence's grasp and remembering the taste of words in her mouth.
"I… I never would have guessed! You speak so fluently, I was sure you were a native-born speaker," she said, gripping through her fascination lest it swallow her whole once more.
"Thank you! I worked really hard to seem as such so I'm glad it's so convincing. Oh, but this is also supposed to be a secret so keep this one on the downlow as well," she said between sips.
And just like that, the excitement of discovery was tainted by dread, finding the foreboding price of its glamour. She watched her idly drinking from the porcelain cup, carefree despite the bind she placed on Aisling's conscience. It put a new skepticism on her narrowed brow, feeling the weight of her crest pinched between its furrow.
"Why do you keep telling me confidential information if it's going to get you in trouble?" she asked within the hints of a pout.
Eris peeked above the rim, "Didn't I already say that I wanted to get to know you? Can't really ask to get something without giving in return," she said, her logic sound but the edging smirk betrayed its genuine nature. "Plus, this makes you my accomplice. We'll be going down together, you and me, so I'll be looking forward to sharing a cell with you."
There was the catch.
"Unfortunately, I'm going to have to decline, Lady Eris," she said, returning to their performance and playing into her role. These cheeky sneak attacks against her heart, blatant assaults on her composure lain on fluttering lashes and flirtatious whispers, were merely part of their game, and Aisling played to win. "As tempting as it may be, I'm afraid there are other matters I must attend to before they lock me away."
"Aw, and here I was getting excited for our honeymoon getaway. Such a pity." She went for another taste of her tea, sipping carefully at its soothing warmth only to find her inhales hollow and empty. "Oh," she lowered the cup, looking into the thin remnants staining the bottom with their droplets.
Aisling peeked into its depletion, "Would you like me to get you a refill?"
Eris shook her head, "No, I should be going, anyway," she said, setting the cup down on the saucer with a gentle clang.
Aisling's heart turned in Eris's decision, an unease wringing from the twists in her chest and dripping its chill into her stomach. She usually stayed for longer, having a couple drinks and replenished glasses before deciding she had her fill. One cup of tea was awfully short, a mere fraction for one who proclaimed to enjoy the time she spent under her care.
Was she so disappointed that she turned away from her teases? Was she turned off by her choice of phrasing, neglected in their playful banner? Or maybe she didn't find the fulfillment she was seeking in today's conversation?
But she thought they were having fun. At least, Aisling was starting to have fun.
"Chili?" her stage name rang in her ear like a cold reminder, "Are you okay?"
Aisling breathed herself back into life, taking in deep gulps of air as she screwed her head back into place, "Yes. Yes, I'm just fine. I'll ring you up, just let me clear this for you."
She collected the dishes from her table, the brief visit leaving a minimal mess almost too trivial to bother balancing on the serving tray, but the glances in her work kept her eyes from confirming whatever expression Eris had in watching her retreat. Cold, warm, bored or content, whatever dotted her gaze, whatever hue shaded those vibrant blossoms, would just add more questions in her already overcrowded head. So, she left it alone, left the overthinking for a sleepless midnight and focused on seeing her mistress on her way.
"For the Oasis Healing Spring Reprieve Package, that'll be ten coin," Aisling met her by the register, ringing up the total just as Effie had shown her.
She flickered her gaze from the buttons, catching searching brows picking through a silver satin coin purse while fingers filtered through the change. They found the ten-coin piece, pulling it up and handing it over. The transaction would be complete as soon as she took the piece from her fingers, their visit done and their time complete.
Truly, her mistress had spoiled her, prolonging their meetings far beyond the seconds of a handshake and even further past the intimacy of photographs. It made Aisling aware of those seconds, minutes converging into hours, and realizing that time was not always dictated by stopwatches—that time could be as endless so long as they craved the company. Well, as long as Eris craved the company, leaving Aisling at the mercy of her whims.
"Thank you for—"
"So, I—"
They both spoke at the same time, stepping on each other's toes as they stumbled into a spontaneous dance. Aisling met her eyes, finding tinges of red bleeding from her cheeks up into the folded tips of her ears. Such a blossoming of crimson gnawed at her lips, bated breath held tightly to her chest with courtesy's etiquette waiting for invitation or continuation.
"S-Sorry, you were saying?" Aisling said.
"Oh, well, I wanted to let you know that I won't be able to come as often as I had been. You know, our concert is just around the corner now, so we need to crack down on practice and finalizing all the details."
Her heart breathed a sigh of relief, cool and refreshing as it eased the nerves in her stomach and the tension in her chest. Maybe it was a little wrong to feel comforted in her explanation, probably even worse feeling gratified that she got an explanation, but the feeling was there regardless, beating away without refrain.
"Oh yeah! It is around that time, isn't it? Not that I forgot, it's on my calendar and I made sure to request the day off so I can see you live."
Eris laughed, the air turning breathable once more, "I was hoping you would. We'll be debuting a couple of new songs. I really want you to see the fruits of my hard work, so be sure to praise me afterwards, okay?"
Aisling basked in the light of her smile for a second longer before her own lips thought to respond. "Yes! Yes, of course. I'll be front and center, cheering you on all the way."
"Perfect! I'll be looking for you in the crowd. Until then," she turned with a hint of flourish on her toes, ears fluttering in the momentum like wings ready to find serenity in clouds.
She looked over her shoulder, peering through veils of fluffy delights and curling wonders. Through those dreamy airs, she spoke her goodbye on satin wings, her breath gliding across meadows and springs. Frolicking nymphs among the petals tempted Aisling's mortal heart to forget the dread of responsibility and domestic toil and find freedom's taste in her embrace, in her warmth and on her lips.
How seductions rang so sweet on a language she didn't understand but their echoes captivated her long after the door's bell stopped jingling.
"Why don't you go ahead and call it a day?" Effie said, walking into the hostess podium with a basket of fresh linens and polished silverware.
"Are you sure?" Aisling asked, those last lingering breaths clearing from her ears.
"Sure I'm sure. It's a bit of a slow one today so go ahead and take it easy. We've got plenty of hands to handle things here."
"Well, if you insist. But no take backs," Aisling said, handing over the podium to the machamp and sidestepping her girth to reach the changing room.
She held the illusion until the door closed behind her, the final click of the latch slipping into place beginning her transformation from the maid Chili and all her frills to the lax Aisling without a care for the extravagant. She undid the butterfly bowtie behind her back, releasing the apron's hold on her waist and tossing it with the others to be cleaned and pressed. The dress came next, a laboring disassembly with the layers and bulk keeping its silhouette along her shape. How Clarice felt as natural as in her own skin within such cumbersome attire she'd never know, no matter how many petticoats she endured. At least the ribbon in her hair was easy enough to remove, one simple tug and her ears fell loose and free to flap as they pleased.
The released pressure sent a chill down her spine, eliciting a shiver in her shoulders and a shake of her head that pushed her red tuft further over her eye. Aisling didn't bother to fix it, knowing that the pull of her hoodie would just mess it up even more. And of course it did, sprawling over her crest and splitting its obstructing crimson over both eyes. She blew at it, if nothing more than to get it off her lashes as she fiddled and fretted over laying it just right.
Just because she was a cinderace with a few extra dangly bits didn't mean she had to look disheveled about it. Her mother would never stand for such an excuse.
As she worked those last few stubborn strands into place, the device in her pocket came to life. She answered its buzzing cries, pressing the button just as she left the room.
"Hello?"
"Hi! This is Madeline's Fairytale Enchantment. I was just calling to let you know your commission is ready. You can come pick it up anytime. It came out quite lovely, I can't wait for you to see it."
In the breeze of the late afternoon sky, on the gales trickling through her ears and the furs carrying their whispers into her head, she heard Eris's voice like phantoms refusing to leave their hauntings. Their sweetness alluring as dewy clovers and lilac enticed their host to permit their stay, fingers stroking the memory of her request. Innocent as a child's validation yet an edge of maturity beckoned with intentions beyond a simple job well done. A reward she could truly flaunt; that was her request on the universe, and the universe answered in turn.
"Perfect," Aisling answered its whims, "I'll be over shortly to pick it up."
Author's Note: A bit of a shorter chapter here but I hope you liked the girls opening up a little about themselves. Next chapter will be the last of this part of Heart's Melody so allow me to extend my thanks and appreciation to those that found enjoyment in the story thus far with me. I can't say when part 3 will be ready for posting but I look forward to sharing more when the time comes.
Until then, stay happy and healthy out there, and a happy 2023 to you all!
