Chapter Five: Castitas - Luxuria
It was late and the tension was hanging in the air, as Clair and Kai made their way out of the mansion of Sasha and her family the same way they came. Their pace through the emergency exit tunnel was faster and more anxious even if they were moving away from the danger of being discovered instead of towards it. They emerged next to Gotz, who closed off the tunnel, leaving it as if the group of trespassers was never there. Then the three returned to Clair's mansion the same way they came, climbing over the fence with the hook rope and jumping into Clair's land on the other side.
Though the two portions of land bordered each other, there was so much empty land between the two mansions that they could hardly be called neighbors. Gotz Kai and Clair, returned to Clair's mansion where Gotz said his goodbyes for the night. "It was an interesting visit," his smile was not really perceptible behind his bushy brown beard, but his small beady eyes expressed it well enough. "I hope next time we meet under better circumstances," he glanced at the music box Clair still held as they stood at the entrance to her mansion. He was curious for sure, but decided he was already too involved as it was, "take care."
"Are you sure you don't wan to stay?" Clair asked as if she was seeing off a guest in the middle of the afternoon, courteously offering to have them over for dinner. Except it wasn't the afternoon and this was far from an ordinary visit.
"I've had enough adventure for one night, I'd best be off," he yawned loudly, producing a sound that one would expect to hear more so from a bear then from a man. "Good night," Gotz gave his final farewell then nodded at Kai, "nice meeting you, boy."
"Likewise," Kai spoke automatically, almost in disbelief about how casual the conversation was.
"Drive safely," with a final smile and a gentle wave of her unoccupied hand, Clair sent Gotz off.
It was then that Kai realized that Gotz was perfectly capable of letting himself out past the front gates of Clair's property and probably let himself in on his own when Clair called him over before. At least he was on Clair's side; hence giving him access to her home didn't seem so bad. Gotz didn't appear to be the kind of person to pry anyway, despite having opened the way for them to pry into someone else's home. Exhausted from the mental and physical strain of work and uncertainty, Kai followed Clair tiredly inside.
Clair made her way up one of the X shaped stair cases, past the painting of the farm, which she glanced at before continuing on. She returned to the room of wilted roses that no longer had any wilted flowers or dust. Kai had cleaned it all out, but without the dead flowers the room looked even sadder if that was possible. The gloomy atmosphere was replaced by emptiness. She took a seat just like before and set the music box on the coffee table, taking the envelope out of her pocket and setting it down on the table next to it.
Kai could almost hear his own hart pounding with anticipation as Clair opened the music box. The box was a light pink with white edges, the color fading perfectly. The material was hard to identify, but Kai could tell that the pink and white stones edged to the cover forming flowers were some kind of quartz. A soft melody played as the box was opened, one that sounded like a nostalgic yet unknown lullaby. Kai was transported to the past by the song.
He saw himself as a small child. The memory was blurry at best. There was a storm raging outside with loud wind and thunder. To top it all up he had a cold, his nose was stuffy and his forehead was warm, but the rest of his body felt freezing cold. A woman sat by the boy's bedside humming a gentle tune with words whispered so softly that the child could barely understand them. Kai tried to figure out the words to the song, but the memory, like all memories of his mother, was simply too distant.
"Kai?" Clair's voice brought him to his senses. "You look like you were having an out of body experience. The hardest part is over, at least for tonight. You can take a moment to breathe, don't have a nervous breakdown now."
Kai shook his head, "sorry, it's just that the song from the music box reminded me of my mother." He stared at the music box some more, he had seen another box much like it with the same melody and the same soft ivory interior with a mirror on the inside of the cover, just like that one. However, the outside was different, instead of pink fading to white; it was sky blue fading to white, with blue and white quartz on the cover. "My mother had the same box in blue and it played the same song."
"Really?" Clair raised an eyebrow in slight curiosity. "Ironically, Sasha always bragged about this song being hers alone. She paid an European composer to make her a unique lullaby for her newborn daughter. It's called Golden Dreams, quite fitting for Sasha whose fortune would be nothing by now if she had not married Jeff."
"I'm sure it's just a coincidence," even so, Kai could almost remember the phrase of 'golden dreams' being spoken in the lullaby his mother used to sing. After she passed away it was sad for him to think of her so he tried not to. Later he realized the details about her were fading away and he tried desperately to hold on to what little he could still recall.
Upon thinking of his mother, something else surfaced on Kai's memories. It was not related to the lullaby; it was something she told him long ago, 'if you see someone in need of help, life has granted you the opportunity to be their angel, don't waste it. You never know when offering your friendship may go as far as saving a life.' Kai had thought about it as motherly advice and nothing more, yet there seemed to be so much more to her words that he didn't know.
Kai looked at Clair as she dug through the many envelopes contained in the music box. Some were visibly much newer than the others. The most recent ones were from Dr. Trent and the oldest were mostly from Jeff, probably cheesy love letters from their youth. He looked at Clair's focused blue eyes as she searched through the mail, ordering the envelopes by dates judging by the cancellation of the stamps, as they seemed to be stored in a random order. He suddenly felt more determined then ever to offer her his friendship.
Clair organized the envelopes into three piles, one pile for letters from Dr. Trent, their main source of potentially useful information, another pile for Jeff's old letters, which were too old to be related to the case in any way, and a third pile of letters from a Seara Summer. "I've organized them by date, lets see if we find something." Clair paused noticing that Kai had paled and his eyes were glued to the third pile of letters, which were clearly old, with the envelopes somewhat yellowed by time. "Summer," Clair spoke the surname aloud, it was the same as Kai's, "do you know her?"
"Seara Summer was my mother," Kai revealed and hesitantly reached for the letters. His thoughts were focused on the past rather than the pressing issue of proving his innocence. Kai felt wrong for prying, but if he could regain a few traces of his memories about his mother, then he felt he could somehow allow himself this. He could take the letters he and Clair had stolen from Sasha and find out just how did she know his mother.
Seeing Kai's hand hovering above the pile of letters from Seara, Clair pushed the pile towards him, perceiving his need to see their contents in his eyes. "Take them with you. I can take care of reading the doctor's letters by myself; I'll let you know if I find something. Don't forget to return those letters to the box and don't switch the envelopes' contents around."
After another second's hesitation, Kai took the letters, realizing that Clair was offering him the chance to read them privately. "I'll be careful with them," with that said, Kai took the letters and went to the room were he was staying.
Clair was meanwhile left to examine the letters that were more recently exchanged by Sasha and Dr. Trent. She picked up the most recent one and silently read it.
'Esteemed Lady Sasha,
What has happened with Karen has been most regrettable indeed. However, I fear that we have found out the truth too late, for she is marrying another as I write these lines. You see, I have spoken with Elli and she has given me a most dreadful confession. The child that Karen claimed to have expected from Jack, that child with which she pushed him into marriage, was not real. Elli has done a terrible thing falsifying the medical results. I will take care of reprimanding her myself, though I cannot understand her motivations, and she is not in the disposition to explain herself, despite claiming to be willing to take any punishment.
Dear lady, I implore you, do not try to disrupt their marriage. I have purposely given you this letter now, after the wedding, instead of telling you when I first learned of this, during the wedding. It matters not to me by what methods Karen has attracted Jack, albeit the thought of her secret relationship with him does anger me, my point is, he is the one she wants, that much is clear. I am deeply hurt as you must understand and will of course no longer pursue your daughter. Despite it all I hope you may still think of me as your confidant, for I still do hold a great appreciation for you, madam Sasha.
Should you need a shoulder to lead on in this time of stress, I beg you to come to me and not act rashly in ways you might regret. Dear lady, I had hoped that things were different, that I may one day be called your son, but it was not meant to be. I bid Karen a silent farewell, never again shall I think of her, but I will always think of you as one of my closest friends.
With sincere regret,
Tim Trent'
Clair's breathing became labored as she read over the letter several times. Her eyes were wide and her teeth clenched. Her breaths turned into gasps for air, as if she was choking on oxygen. Then she let out a terrible ear splitting wail that echoed through the mansion. Her screams continued, her throat burning with the intensity. For Karen to have faked a pregnancy, something must have obviously happened between her and Jack before her lie, to make it believable. He was with her; he was with her all along.
"Clair!" Kai returned to the sitting room where Clair had been left to study the letter. She took the papers ripping them apart into tiny pieces. "No!" That was their possible proof, the first and maybe most vital fruit of their investigation and she was destroying it. "Stop!"
Clair screamed loudly, her voice breaking in her agonizing cries. Abundant tears ran down her face blurring her vision and she once again wielded her silver gun. Her once melodious voice was strained and raspy from screaming in agony as she pointed the weapon at Kai. "There are few good men in the world and they are reserved for the most evil women." She shot, the bullet barely missing Kai and drilling a hole through the wall behind him.
Kai froze for a second, his arms instinctively raised, his open palms facing Clair in front of him. She must have seen something in those letters that deeply disturbed her. She was having an episode like what happened in that room, the room that belonged to her previous butler, the unknown man that wore the same size clothing as Kai. "Clair, calm down!" It was hard to keep someone else calm when Kai himself was anything but, yet it was impossible for him to stand firm and speak evenly with a seemingly insane, violent woman pointing a gun at him and clearly willing to shoot.
"I'll kill you!" Clair growled through clenched teeth and that was Kai's cue to run for dear life. Yet there was something peculiar about the way Clair spoke those words. She wasn't voicing a threat, it was a warning. It was as if she was holding back her inner turmoil as hard as she could to give Kai time to get away.
For the next few hours there was the sound of gunshots and when the bullets ran out there was insistent clicking, as Clair pulled the trigger over and over even if the gun was empty. Then there was more screaming, though much less in volume since her voice was all but completely gone. Furniture was thrown over and items were smashed, the room that had once held wilted roses and later held an unbearable emptiness, soon became a war zone of destruction. Finally, there was an absolute deadly silence and in the middle of the disarray, there lay Clair, on the floor, unconscious.
xoxox xox xoxox
By the time Clair opened her eyes, it was already mid day. She was on her bed, still wearing the same black outfit from the night before. This was her room; she recognized the shades of deep crimson accentuated with sky blue details that stood out. She rolled over on the large bed to face her side and saw Kai on a chair. She crawled to the edge of the bed and stood shakily, leaning over the sleeping man. Her hands gently cupped his face as she leaned closer. "Jack..." she whispered before joining her lips with his.
Kai was jolted awake immediately. His brown eyes shot open and his arms reached for the body now practically on top of his. He took Clair's arms and tried to get them loose from his neck. She pushed herself against him and the chair fell backward. At the sudden pain of his head impacting the floor, Kai instinctively bit down, drawing blood from Clair's lower lip.
Clair pulled away, pushing herself up with her left hand on his chest, her right hand reaching for her face. She traced her index finger on her bottom lip and frowned with disapproval. "Jack would not do this," she scolded as if he had disappointed her.
"I'm not Jack," Kai breathe, his heart pounding for various reasons.
Clair leaned back down on Kai, her face again inches from his. "Try to be," she insisted with a seductive warm breath that tickled his face and almost made him give in.
"I... I'm Kai, not Jack... I'm Kai and we shouldn't do this." Popuri, he had to remember Popuri. He had been chasing after her with her brother hindering his every step. After their father left, Rick took care of his sister and mother, thus Popuri felt grateful to him. She hated fighting with Rick, but she was clearly attracted to Kai, and besides, Rick would disapprove of any man Popuri liked, fearing that his sister would be abandoned like their mother, Lillia. Kai didn't want to justify Rick's disapproval when it finally seemed that he was making progress with Popuri, the woman who believe in him against all odds. "Don't do this, please stop," he could only ask, because he didn't think he had the will to fight.
Clair's eyes turned blank and she repeated his words and added a few more, "don't do this, please stop... Don't hurt me... please don't hurt me anymore..." A few tears spilled out from her icy blue eyes before she snapped into reality and got up. Ignoring Kai completely, Clair strode to the bathroom to get ready for the day, as if the incident had never occurred. Letting out a breath, Kai got to his feet and shuffled out of the room.
xoxox xox xoxox
Kai didn't know what to think, he didn't know how to face Clair, but one thing was for sure, he couldn't stop thinking about her. The way she repeated his words as if they were her own, adding more to them... Who had hurt her? Who had made her as troubled as she was? He had hurried to his own assigned room, not knowing what else to do.
He was in one of the waiter uniforms and catching glimpse of his reflection in the large full length mirror in his room, he wondered if the man who had originally used that uniform was to blame for the state Clair was left in. Kai didn't know who that man could be, but he felt a strong loathing for whoever he was. It was something he couldn't explain.
Kai noticed the pile of letters he had begun to go through that night. He picked up the envelopes, sorting through them, they were quite thick. He opened one up and began to study its contents, fascinated by his discoveries. Several papers were folded together, he began to read them in the order in which they were.
'Dear Seara,
I wish to express to you my gratitude for your kind words in my time of need. Please accept the enclosed gift as a token of my appreciation.
Sasha Mineral'
That first letter was quite old, written before Sasha married Jeff if the use of her maiden name was any indication. The strange thing was that it was from Sasha to Seara, rather than the other way around. Kai set the paper aside and looked at the next letter, which was longer.
'To my friend Sasha,
Forgive my rudeness if I offend you by returning your letter and check. I do not wish for a monetary compensation, but for your friendship instead. Please write to me again with a real letter for me to keep.
I will not pretend to understand what was going through your mind when you tried to end your life, but I couldn't bear to see you jump to your doom in stormy seas. As I am I basically a stranger to you, I believe you would have trouble trusting my sincerity, so I will explain the reason for my insistence.
My beloved is a sea captain and on that stormy night at the beach I was waiting for him, fearing that he would not return. For my husband to be stolen from me after only a month of marriage felt too cruel. Yet I remembered what he told me about courage being a necessity if one was to tame the sea. I wanted to stay strong for him and I would not allow the sea to take anyone's life. Fortunately, my beloved has returned to me alive, a day late and with a wrecked ship, but alive with all his crew.
I am not clear in terms of the cause of your affliction, but from what I could understand, you are being made to marry a man you do not love. Please do not let yourself fall pray to pressure, follow your heart! I once again offer my friendship and support should you ever choose to accept it.
Sincerely,
Seara Summer'
Kai read the next letter in the group.
'To my only friend,
I regret to say I cannot follow your advice, for my heart only knows how to lead me to peril. The life I wish to live cannot be afforded by love alone. Please forgive me if this is an offence, but none the less, if you are my friend, please accept my invitation and bare witness to my marriage with Jeff. My parents and his insist that we will one day be grateful to them; I can only hope they are right. The enclosed tickets will take you to my city where there shall be someone awaiting your arrival if you decide to come.
Regretfully,
Sasha'
From what Kai could conclude, Sasha's opposition to her marriage with Jeff had driven her to the brink of suicide. It was a fate from which she was spared by Seara. Kai could almost picture it, a stormy night at the edge of the sea in the cliff he had seen in his childhood. His mother going out to wait looking into the horizon, searching for signs of an approaching vessel in the raging storm. Then she saw a woman close in age to herself. She ran to that woman realizing she meant to jump. She consoled her and tried to make her change her mind; she hugged her and didn't let her go, she saved her life.
A memory surfaced for Kai. He remembered his mother speaking about a friend she had in a distant city. They would exchange letters regularly, but Kai had never met the other woman. He had heard something about her having a daughter around his age, but he never met her either.
Then a sad memory came to Kai and he remembered the day when he was told the terrible news. He had been happy before he knew. His father was off at sea, which was not unusual. This time however, in honor of their anniversary, his mother was with him as well. Kai was staying with his best friend Gray, who was spending summer vacation at his grandfather's house. The two boys had become close friends over the past few summers.
It was on a clear afternoon following a harsh storm, when Gray and Kai were happily playing outside. With a stern face, Saibara approached his grandson and his friend in the small home's back yard. "Boys," his serious tone left no room for argument as the child approached him. There was also a police officer present.
Kai broke free from his memories and tried to focus on the present. Though his aunt and uncle raised him well, they never filled the void left by his parents. Even so Kai vowed not to fear the sea, he would go to the beach often to prove to himself he was brave, even if on the inside his memories were deeply buried as he ran away from the sadness. Maybe it was about time he faced the loss instead of pretending his parents were away at sea fated to return any day. "They're really gone..." He breathed.
He looked over the contents of the letters further. His mother was Sasha's confident, though their differing moral sometimes clashed. The last letter was from Sasha to Seara in a closed envelope that was never sent. Kai opened it and took out the paper that seemed newer than the others by several years.
'Dearest angel Seara,
Where ever you may be, I wish I had your guidance. I know I am mistaken, terribly mistaken. I know I should receive no forgiveness, yet I long for your kind understanding words. I must confess something terrible. I have fallen in love with another man not my husband, in terms of age he stands in the middle between my daughter and I. Our romance was brief, short lived and deliciously forbidden.
We came to our senses and broke things off, yet I want him near and he's not opposed to the idea of marrying Karen. However, I know that if he does, he will no longer spare me a glance. This is alright; I want him near none the less. This is my confession to you, Seara, my one true friend. I wish you were here to comfort me and to guide me, for it was the fear of disappointing you and losing your friendship that in the past kept me from making terrible mistakes. Now you are no more, what am I to do?
Missing you always,
Sasha'
Kai gasped in shock. Could the man mentioned in the letter be Dr. Trent? He fit the approximate age and the fact that Sasha was trying to arrange his marriage to Karen. That didn't work out, as Karen married Jack, then the story ended in tragedy. Speedy precise footsteps made Kai snap out of his daze as Clair stepped into the hallway and seconds later entered his room. Would it kill her to knock? Then again, this was her house and he was a fugitive, he was at her mercy. He cringed thinking of the consequences of refusing her earlier. What was he supposed to do? Cheat on Popuri? Hold on to the excuse that it was to avoid jail?
"We're going out to the church," Clair's voice pierced through the air scattering all of Kai's thoughts.
"The church?" Kai blinked dumbly, that was unexpected, it was miles away from the topic he thought she would discuss.
"Yes, the church, it's not far from here, let's go." Clair walked away, out of the room, with a stride that made Kai believe he better follow, thus he did. She had changed out of her ninja outfit and was wearing a cozy sky blue sweater and navy pants with sky blue boots, all perfect for the chilly weather. It was one of those cloudy days when the sun refused to be seen behind the thick curtain of gray clouds, rain threatened to fall at any moment and the chilling breeze made autumn feel like the middle of winter.
"Is it okay for me to go out in public?" Kai would guess not, he was feeling tenser by the second as he walked with Clair. Was this all just a lie to get him outside? Or was she taking him out to give one final prayer before she executed him? Should he run? Was his sanctuary over?
Kai was trapped in such thoughts when Clair stopped in one of the locked rooms that Kai was not allowed to enter before. She opened it with a golden key adorned with an emerald and walked inside. Picking up an Indiana Jones style black hat, she swiftly placed it on Kai's head, then handed him a black coat and a dark gray scarf. "Not much of a disguise, but there will be noone there to see you anyway."
Clair exited the room waiting for Kai to go out of it before she locked it again. Kai had very little time to take in the room's appearance, perceiving little beyond the polished wood and shades of brown. It was elegant, but simple, functional. Did it belong to Mr. Moon? Kai dared not ask, he only quietly followed Clair outside.
To be Continued
Disclaimer, I don't own Harvest Moon.