[Bishop-chan's notes - I am not unforgiving nor vengeful... I just dispense proper discipline as I see fit, especially against fools...]
Akhmet's Investigations - Part 2
by Blinded
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Ehsam sighed as he continued his walk toward the Bat-Bee Inn. For all its beauty and charm Arrun, the Capital of Faeries was not a place built for those who couldn't fly. True, other than its walls and outer fortifications there was no place one couldn't go on foot, but where a Faery could avoid all the stairs and narrow passageways that led to all sorts of odd places, a Human, or an Elf, had to do things the hard way... and it was really hard. But the young Elf could not deny that navigating the streets at a leisurely pace also allowed him to observe the city even better, and the city never failed at being an enigma.
It was an odd place, and it was not just the alien mentality behind its design, or seemingly odd style of the city either. It looked old, ancient even and more than once he'd seen buildings that showed obvious signs of aging but at the same time it felt... strange... new even. He'd talked about it with Master Akhmet and his cousin but they paid him no mind, one dismissed it as a "lingering effect of magic of Transition" and the other just laughed, called him silly and went to test another new Faery snack.
He didn't bring it up again, deeming remaining out of Master Akhmet and Cousin Verda's constant clash of wills a wise man's course of action, but didn't leave the subject alone either. Fortunately the incident with Library-Spirit, whatever it was, which he tried NOT to think too hardly on it thank you very much, and side effect of Verda's overpowered calming charm had left Master Akhmet incapacitated for two whole days, and with Verda herself was too busy doing... things, had given him a chance to do some actual investigations on the matter.
The results were strange but not exactly surprising. Almost all the signs of age and usage were strictly superficial. It seemed as if the Faeries had built the City fairly recently and then fabricated very realistic signs of passage of time into surface of their structures. Following one of Verda's less strange information gathering advises he'd brought up the subject to some of the Faeries over a drink at the Inn... and they had confirmed his suspicions, calling this strange practice "giving them character and depth" before asking if he was a Civil Engineer in Iar'el or just a curious O-take-O?
Honestly, he could understand covering the signs of age with illusions and trying to repair them, but to actually make them look old on purpose and not as part of an elaborate conning attempt... what kind of person would do such a thing? Shaking his head in wonderment, Ehsam pushed the old-new door of Bat-Bee Inn open and walked in.
"Ehsam-kun! Back already to take Verda-chan from us?" Suzumebachi, Suzume for short, the Sylph owner of Bat-Bee Inn declared loudly almost as soon as Ehsam walked into the Inn. She was an odd one, that Faery, with her fair skin, blonde hair and dark green eyes she look like an Elven maiden about his own age, and if Verda wasn't pulling his leg, already married for sixty years, and to a giant purple-haired warrior of Imps no less.
"I'm afraid I am, Miss Suzume. We'll have to return to Sylvein soon so I came to give her a heads up." Ehsam's sigh was not entirely an act. He loved his cousin very much but between her infamous rebellious spirit and the perils of being between hammer of Verda and the anvil that was Master Akhmet's equally massive stubbornness, he didn't particularly look forward to their reunion.
It was also a fact that for all their wanderings, all they gained was a very vague, not-exactly-confirmation of presence of something that could be a powerful Spirit that protected ALfheim as whole, but even then, the past three weeks of wandering around Tristain and visiting and conversing with various Spirits and occasional fighting for his life against monstrous creatures of ALfheim, the so called Mobs, with a much less grumpy and nagging than normal Akhmet, was the most enjoyable part of their journey to Halkegenia. And every time he sat in blessed silence next to their fire and watched as Master Akhmet furiously added notes to his journal and grumbled to himself, he couldn't help congratulating himself for his sound decision to not expose Verda's deception.
Despite what she liked to believe, Verda was not exactly very good at lying. In fact one just needed to look for signs of a grin in her face to tell. She was positively beaming when she revealed her findings about the Unforgiving and Vengeful Library Spirit and how it punished those foolish enough to dare and defile its domain.
Either due to wounded pride or because of side effects of Verda's spell, most likely both, Master Akhmet had believed her right away. Needless to say Ehsam didn't, but knowing his cousin for as long as he did, and after seeing the dangerous gleam in her eyes as she explained how she, as the only Elf who had not offended the Spirit, had made arrangements to stay in the city and try and commune with it, opted to keep his observation to himself.
As he learned from rumors while investigating the Old Buildings of Arrun, there WAS a Spirit of sorts in Arrun Central Library that punished the offenders regardless of race or gender. But unlike Verda's tale the first-time offenders were not flied alive and made sacrifices to the World Tree by a priesthood of Librarians should they ever enter the Library again. In fact beside that... thing that happened to him, the worst that could happen was ice-cold glare of the Librarians thereafter and a Ban for Life on third offense.
Fortunately for everyone, in his haste to leave the city and converse with local spirits, Akhmet didn't ask any questions and the Cousins didn't say anything...As it was the only reason everything worked out fine was probably because the old Elf was too self-absorbed at the time to asked what were Verda's arrangements. Spirits knew even Ehsam was shocked when he learned she was planning on becoming a waitress at Bat-Bee's.
"Where is she anyway?" Looking around at the mostly empty Inn, Ehsam asked.
"I'll tell you only if you promise not to act like a grumpy older brother." Ehsam raised an eyebrow.
"Firstly, whatever my cousin had told you SHE is the older one, and secondly the grumpy one is Uncle Akhmet." He said good-naturedly "and besides, what did that tomboy do? Tried to climb the World Tree?" that was actually the very first thing she said when they walked into Arrun, much to his amusement, Master Akhmet's displeasure and their human hirelings' undisguised horror.
"Is that a promise, Ehsam-kun?"
Ehsam rolled his eyes "Fine... as her younger cousin, I promise to not act like a, quoting, grumpy older brother... now what kind of trouble is she in?"
"The best kind," the Elf-like Fae said with a grin as she leaned on the bar"She's on a date with one of my husband's lads. Don't you worry though, Masamune-kun is a good boy."
"A date? Poor, unfortunate sap." He chuckled. Whoever this Masamune fellow was, he was probably going to be traumatized like the four other fools who had made the same mistake before him. He just hoped for the poor Fae's sake that the Faeries had greater tolerance for weirdness and odd ideas. He chuckled as he tried to imaginesome Faery in place of his cousin's last date back at home... Wait a minute. There was something definitely wrong with this picture... and for once it was not his cousin, his atypical Elven Maiden of a cousi-
Suddenly freezing in place, Ehsam looked at Suzume and blinked, and blinked again as his brain finally managed to process full implications and possible outcomes of his cousin's latest adventures. And he fainted.
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"Did you use one of your special calming charms on me?" Ehsam not-exactly-whimpered as he nursed his aching head "I feel like a horse kicked me in the head..."
"Since you are not going through the hangover of lifetime you already know the answer." Verda answered without looking up or stopping her search through what looked like pile of... things, "And the headache would be because you hit a table after fainting."
Oh, that... fainting. In his defense fainting on spot was probably the only thing that saved him from having a panic attack, followed by a heart attack and a premature death as result of Faeries and/or his own failing body. Even now, safely within their room in Bat-Bee Inn and with no sign that his worries were realized, the number of ways this could go horribly wrong was enough to cover him in cold sweat.
"Honestly, Ehsam-kun, if you had such a huge crush on me you should have told me" She continued matter of factly "and I would have reminded you that I'm like your older sister, inbreeding is bad for future generations and besides while I like you, it's not like tha-"
"Ehsam-kun?" Ehsam cut in "S... since when have you started talking like a faerie?" Suddenly on his feet, the younger Elf pointed an accusing finger at his cousin. Verda had a tendency to pick strange figures of speech, endearments and insults to enrich her vocabulary, but considering the existence of disguise-magics and the Faeries' strange and possibly entirely different style of magic, the possibility of the Faerie term "-kun" being a slip on the part of a Faerie disguised as his all-too-careless cousin was not entirely impossible.
Looking up from her junk pile, Verda gave him a deadpan look, "Really? Of all the things I just said you had to pick me calling you Ehsam-kun?"
Fighting back the rush of blood to his cheeks, Ehsam didn't budge "I... it doesn't matter! Explain yourself!"
"Sheesh… that old coot must have corrupted you or something." Verda muttered under her breath as she raised her hands in the universal gesture of surrender "Okeeey, O wise Elf of Sahara, you caught me. I'm in fact Lady Morgiana of the Spriggans who's disguised myself as your cute cousin to seduce you into my personal harem… now come my beloved new consort! Let us fu-"
"E-ENOUGH! Cut it out!" Ehsam flailed his hand, stammering. That was definitely his weird and vulgar cousin, because he really doubted Faeries, any of them, let alone someone like the very famous Lady of Spriggans, would act like that. "It is you…" he said as slumped on his chair.
"… you are disappointingly easy, you know that?"
"So you've told me…" Ehsam sighed. Maybe he'd hit his head harder than he'd first thought … after all if Verda was indeed a fake he would have woken up in a Faerie prison… or this was all a clever plo-… "Ouch… what was that for?"
Arm still stretched in throwing pose, Verda rolled her eyes "preempting strike against your next stupidity induced outburst. And please, don't do that again because I really hate throwing any other of my plushies at you."
Ehsam looked down at the improvised projectile that had fallen into his lap. It was a stuffed likeness of a Faerie in strange red armor, and considering its coloring, it was supposed to be a Salamander "A stuffed toy?"
"A Plushy!" Verda huffed "The correct term is plushy, and while I just bought the Red Samurai to complete the set, I refuse to call it a toy!"
Right… "I'm not going to ask how you get these things, but to- plushies? Really? Weren't you supposed to commune with the Library Spirit? What would Master Akhmet say?"
"Oh, that's right. Where is the old coot?"
"The old co- Master Akhmet," Ehsam stopped himself from scolding the eccentric elven Maiden, having given up on her as a lost cause long ago, "has decided to not enter the City because he believes that after his mighty showdown with the Library Spirit, it might not look favorably on his presence nearby." Ehsam resisted the urge to roll his eyes like Verda did. No sense in encouraging her, even if Master Akhmet's reasoning was filled with glaring holes. "But that's beside the point. Explain. Everything."
"Sigh… where should I start?"
"Stuffed t- plushies." Yes, the toys were probably the safest place to start. Then the rest of the unidentified junk, then the Spirit and finally the Date… or maybe the Spirit should remain the last one. Damn his throat felt dry as a desert rock. "But first… any drinks you'd recommend?"
Some way or the other a small review while gathering their belongings and additional junk took three days. The first one was rather tame considering with who Ehsam spent it with. Just drinking the many blends of Faeries' delicious teas while trying not to choke on them or spray mouthfuls as Verda shared her adventures.
As it turned out buying three whole sets of plushy toys had a reasonable explanation behind it. Apparently Faeries made stuffed toys of their Leaders, the so-called Fae Court, some of the important and remarkable Fae individuals, and just about anyone who bothered to order one and wait for two days. The plushies were well-made and rather accurate, as far as a "super-chibi mini-me", the Faerie term for them, could go, which while not a security risk for the Fae themselves or their immediate enemies, the plushies being modeled after already the already well-known individuals, could serve as a valuable source of information for the Elves.
The one Verda had thrown at him was The Red Samurai from the Dunkirk set. The other sets were the Heroes of Aincrad, and of course the Fae Lords… and apparently the makers, Maki & Yolko's Soft Cuddle-Toys were looking for permission to make a Royal set for the human monarchy of Tristain and the disgraced Albanian royals too… as if someone would bother with almost certainly ugly demon-spawns when beauties like the Black Magic Mistress were around. A pity the Black Swordsman and White Flash Princess he'd heard so much about were not in any of the sets….
The conversation stretched longer than Ehsam had expected. The thing that made him stay until the next day was his own foolishness and walking right into the trap set for him by Verda and Innkeeper Suzumebachi… it ended with a massive hangover that was for once the result of Alcohol, and a recording of him, singing some Faerie drinking song out loud, on a Faerie crystal.
On the upside, it gave him a chance to meet that Masamune-Jr, or Masamune-kun fellow. According to the Innkeeper he was roped into dating his cousin because her husband, Tensa, who was also the younger Faerie's comrade thought Masamune and Verda would make a cute couple…. They would have made a horrible, scandalous, and unforgiveable couple… too many similarities and possibly not enough care if the other one was not from the same species. Fortunately despite, or maybe because of that, they decided to be good friends instead.
And more fortunate was the fact that no beans were spilled during their date. Unfortunately he learned these facts during a friendly tour of the city that somehow turned into a date for him which ended with the not-so-regrettable loss of his first kiss to a cat-girl co-worker of Masamune and another day of not being on the road to home.
By all rights he should have at least checked on the Old Elf by then, but the fact that Akhmet had not even bothered to contact him after he missed the first night somewhat hardened him to the notion, and even if he felt any guilt over leaving the old mage by himself outside of the city's gates, when he woke up the next day and prepared for the last portion of their task in Arrun, he was entirely too nervous to care.
"… Did the old coot infect you with cowardice or something?" Verda rolled her eyes as she dragged him toward Arrun Central Library.
'Easy for you to say.' Ehsam thought, not trusting his voice enough to speak out loud. True, he knew that the wild stories Verda had told him almost a month ago were just that, wild stories, and not only that but she had even admitted as much after his … date. But still… knowing something on an intellectual level and knowing something with your own soul were not exactly the same thing. How could he forget tha… that aaaaagh! He couldn't even bring himself to remember IT!
Suddenly Akhmet's ridiculous excuse-making was a lot less ridiculous... to walk into the city was one thing but to actually go to the... go there? "wE coUl-" Ehsam coughed to cover the squeakiness in his voice. Damn it! Why was his heart pounding so hard?! "We could just relay on your reports and the books you copied you know…."
His cousin didn't pay him any mind, not once letting go of his hand or loosening her grip. 'think fast Ehsam... think fast!' Physically breaking free from her grip was out of question... she was not only a head and shoulder taller than him, but also physically stronger... and besides, as with using magic, punching a woman in the face and making a run for it attracted all sorts of attention... from flying Faeries...
"I thinK.. ahem... I think I can talk Uncle Akhmet into letting you stay behind?" Not likely, but it sounded good and it was probably... no, definitely, the reason why Verda had tried so hard to make him mingle with the Faeries. All he had to do was to distract his cousin and make a run for it to the Inn... or the gate. "You can do a more thorough job of studying until the next investigator team comes?"
Suddenly stopping in her tracks, Verda turned and looked at him with her eyes narrowed to slits, "You can't actually do that, can you?"
YES! The fact that she didn't simply dismiss his claims was enough to encourage him to press on. "Of course!" 'not so agreeable!' his mind screamed at him, 'or she might get suspicious... and don't hesitate or appear too unsure either and never let your eyes wander too far away from her face. And don't forget to Blink!' "Uncle Akhmet even suggested something like that himself," not exactly a lie, but the old mage was being sarcastic at the time, "I... didn't exactly agree with him but after you showed Arrun to me I think you can definitely make it on your own just fine!"
"It is a good offer" Verda scratched her nose as she always did when she was trying to look thoughtful. Ehsam had to exert some effort to not sag in relief, His cousin was probably just waiting for something like that and was just acting coy... He just couldn't wait for them to return to their room where he would knock her out with her own favorite spell and by the time she woke up, they would be two days away from that Library... "But..."
'Please no! Please don't make her feel dutiful and attached to the family all of the sudden!' Ehsam steadied his breathing as he reined in his panicked thoughts, "But?"
"… I'm sorry Ehsam-kun, But I've made a one-time arrangement with Dojo-san and Bishop-san for this and I can't simply take back my word." Ehsam raised an eyebrow... he didn't know any Bishop or Dojo back at home and besides... what did two faraway and strangely named Elves, possible Rub al Khali traders, have to do with anything? He didn't have the chance to ask though, because the moment he opened his mouth again, Verda's strong hands grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him...
... into the terribly familiar threshold of Arrun Central Library.
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Thin, rectangular, and not even as large as his palm, the Spirit Artifact that was Arrun Central Library's card looked deceptively unremarkable. It had a cool, smooth surface that reminded him of polished stone, which was odd considering its weight and texture... if it wasn't such a rare and valuable piece of evidence, Akhmet would have loved nothing more than to tear it open to see what kind of strange material was used to make it. He would have done so anyway, had the upstart owner of the card been less of a child about it.
"Here," the elder Elf handed the Spirit Artifact back to its owner, "your card."
"You could have had one yourself, you know," the boy said with a sigh, "the Faerie Librarians weren't all that bad."
Akhmet couldn't help but scoff at the naïveté and ignorance this statement showed. It wasn't Ehsam's fault that he didn't possess the wisdom of an Elite and Venerable mage such as Akhmet himself, who had spent years accumulating knowledge. "Tell me Ehsam, how did you offend the Spirit?"
"What does that ha-"
The old mage silenced his younger follower with a sharp but indulgent glare. The impudence of youth was understandable, after all, and spending three whole days with that damnable mean-spirited vile she-monster the boy called cousin had not improved his manners at all.
"I... I mean, as I told you many times already, after casting a spell to hide my presence from the Library's Pixies and Librarians, I picked up a book and put it in my bag and... tha-... that's about it."
"Precisely!" Akhmet declared triumphantly. "Unlike you, who merely intruded on the Spirit's domain, I not only fought the Spirit but also severely injured it. And let me impart this piece of wisdom upon you, Spirits have long memories and rarely forget those who bested them. If I were to return to the Spirit's domain, it would not welcome me as it did you."
And it was true!
When the boy had failed to return with his cousin on the day they returned to Arrun, Akhmet was all but convinced that the Spirit had slain him. He had sensibly decided to retreat from the Capital of Faeries, but apparently the Spirit was far more merciful than he had guessed. Five days later, while he was on his way to the Country's borders, an annoyed Ehsam had caught up to him and promptly greeted his Elder with a punch to the face then accused him of running away!
The brat was fortunate that his Elderly Superior was so pleased to see him that he decided to forgive Ehsam his impudence, and ignore his gall at being called so unjustlya coward! That, and the Spirit Artifact the brat had managed to obtain, which coincidentally had Ehsam's name written on it, had stayed his hand... there was a good chance that the artifact would lose its potency if its Owner died.
The fact that the Spirit had shown mercy was probably the result of the time Ehsam hadspent with him learning the proper ways to commune with the Spirits...
According to Ehsam's story, all the boy had gone through was a spell of silence that had prevented him from screaming like a witless idiot when that vile, thoughtless woman... no, not woman, girl! pushed him into the Library, followed by a cold reception from unimpressed Faerie Librarians and an even a colder one from the Chief Librarian. And surprisingly that was it!
Less than an hour and two signatures later, and Ehsam was granted conditional access to the Library. And what did he do with it? Grab three books from Library's Magical Lore section and leave the city as fast as possible?
No! Whatever had happened to the daring, adventurous spirit of the youth?! At worst the contract would have taken the lad's life for oathbreaking... did no one recall the value of self-sacrifice these days? Why in Akhmet's youth, he would have... moving on...
The only good thing about Ehsam's actions was his decision to leave the she-demon Verda (who Akhmet was quite sure had at least some human blood in her veins) behind. The slacker was probably too lazy to keep up with her younger cousin, and had been left behind... hopefully to be slain by one of those horrendous beasts that now occupied the forests of Tristain. He didn't care one way or another.
Well, it wasn't exactly that he didn't care... Her family were old and powerful, and for whatever incomprehensible reason actually cared for the Wild She-Beast. Perhaps it was part of the whole 'family thing'. But even he, an elderly gentleman who never allowed himself to be distracted by carnal instincts, could see that their bloodline would benefit from such a loss.
'But I have to tell them something' Akhmet mused as he looked at his sole companion from the corner of his eye, 'maybe I should ask Ehsam about fate of his unlamented kin the next time we stop...'
"Master Akhmet," Ehsam's voice broke the old Elf's train of thought, " Do you... do you remember what exactly happened before you were knocked unconscious?"
To call what happened to him being 'knocked unconscious' had a degree of impudence to it, but Akhmet decided to indulge the young upstart. "Is this about how I said I'd injured the Spirit?"
Now that he thought about it, he never actually explained why he refused to enter Arrun in any great detail. Of course, he didn't exactly need to explain or justify any of his actions, being an Elder and the Chief Investigator, but youths were foolish and could reach all sorts of bizarre conclusions if left on their own.
"Well... yes," Ehsam shifted uncomfortably on the saddle, "because I can't remember much of anything myself."
"To answer your question, no, I don't remember the exact circumstances either." Akhmet admitted freely. The last thing he remembered was sneaking past the commotion, and the next he was on a soft bed, having a spell-induced hangover and doing his best to not die of the horrible, monstrous noise that Verda had gleefully and shamelessly informed him was her gift to him.
"But-"
"Allow me to finish, my dear boy." Akhmet rolled his eyes, feeling entirely too pleased with himself for showing off his great wisdom and broadening horizons of a young and foolish Elf. "What I said was actually result of a very elementary deduction, my boy. As you are aware, I am a very powerful Mage, on the same level as the likes of Master Vitartial. Powerful enough, in fact, that I can and did indeed subdue even some Spirits who went out of their way to be harmful toward us. Do you really think one such as I would have gone down without a fight?"
Ignoring the irritating hesitation in Ehsam's nod, Akhmet continued. "In my experience the Spirits are not very forgiving toward those who mean them harm, or those they suppose mean them harm, as was my case. Had it had within its power the means to exact its revenge on me for using my magic against it, my Spirit Magic, an insult added to injury no doubt, don't you think it would have done more than just knock me unconscious, as you put it? True, I was left unconscious after our showdown," Akhmet admitted with a solemn nod, "but I expected no less after fighting off a Spirit in its own domain."
"...and I suppose that also explains why it didn't attack us before we left to contact the local Spirits?"
Akhmet nodded. He was not particularly apt in reading others, especially younger people's moods, but even he could detect the obvious hints of awe and admiration in Ehsam's tone.
"...It was severely injured... I suppose you could have replicated the feat had you entered Arrun again, Master, but it was just the inconvenience of blowing our cover that stayed your hand. Please forgive me for thinking of your act of thoughtfulness as an act of cowardice."
"You are forgiven, child." His mood improved a great deal, the old Elf grunted magnanimously.
And the long ride toward home continued.
Fin.