Mending Trust, Breaking Trust
Haru slept fitfully that night, her mind plagued by nightmares about Susana, her waking moments plagued by the events of the trial. As much as she tried to push the worries away and distract herself, it always came back with a vengeance.
When her mother called for breakfast the next morning, she practically had to drag herself out of bed. Toshi beating her to the table was a small relief, but a relief nonetheless. She counted her blessings that Lecha okayed him to come home just after nightfall.
Breakfast was a quiet ordeal, full of stilted bits of conversation about her evolution, about the food, about things that had happened while she was gone. Small talk. But no one wanted to address the donphan in the room. Her kidnapping. Toshi's injuries. Vale's accusations. The looming threat posed by Susana.
All the while, Haru poked at her breakfast: bread with oil and a leafy salad with razz berry vinaigrette. Her mom usually didn't bring out the dressing except on special occasions, given that they had to order some of the ingredients from traveling merchants.
"What's on the work agenda for today?" Haru finally asked after poking at her meal for the umpteenth time.
"Well…" Chip began, looking away.
"I'm sure you're eager to get back to work, but you two should take the day off," Saku finished for him. "You're still recovering, after all. And besides that… After what happened yesterday, we're not sure what kind of work there will be today."
"Oh, okay," Haru answered, trying to appear nonchalant by taking a bite of her food. But on the inside, dismay festered in her belly. Work would have been a welcome distraction.
Beside her, Toshi twisted to nibble at and adjust his bandages. "It'll be fine, Haru. Come on, if nothing else, there's bound to be someone who needs help in town."
He had a point. Probably.
Pushing herself away from the table, she forced the rest of her meal down her gullet with a couple of quick gulps. Normally, she would savor the flavors. But with her mind addled as it was, everything tasted like ash.
Then she returned to her room, remembering with dismay that her best bags had been swept away by the river, along with a notable portion of her money. Sighing, she reached for her older bags, realized the belly strap holding them together was too small for her now, and let them hang around her neck instead with a frustrated huff. Maybe she would get it adjusted while they were at the square.
Toshi was waiting for her in the main room. Together, they left, making the short trek to town in silence.
The village square was uncannily empty, especially for the time of day. Anu dipped his head to them as he passed, hurrying towards the tavern. A few moments later, the flaaffy guard exited, yawning. He ignored them as he headed towards his residence on the outskirts of town.
Other than him, the only pokemon they spotted were Whisper, Phoel, and Numi, the pidove who acted as a messenger when Phoel had incoming messages. Whisper leaned over the courier stand, watching as the meowstic closed her eyes and focused, her ears flipping up as she channeled psychic energy. Numi dozed quietly on a perch overhead, occasionally starting awake only to drift off again.
Haru turned her attention away. "Doesn't seem like there's anyone out here. Where is everybody?"
"I don't know," Toshi said. "I thought people might be shaken up by yesterday, but I figured that would make them more active, not less." He tapped his foot, his gaze sweeping across the square. "What should we do? Maybe we could go and check on Shimmer and Muse?"
"Would we be allowed to?" Haru countered. But she understood her brother's worries. She hardly considered herself close to Shimmer, annoyed by her at the best of times. But confining her to the Villa almost felt unfair. Whether or not Vale was lying, there was no way Shimmer was involved. The girl couldn't keep a secret to save her life. And Muse… No. There was no way she was involved.
…Right?
Speaking of Vale… "Do you… think Vale was telling the truth? About Jhorlo?" She couldn't help but remember a conversation she'd had with Nip. It wasn't that long in the grand scheme of things, but it felt like cycles ago, after everything that had happened.
Do you really think searching for unfortunates and letting your carnivore friends eat what amounts to carrion is healthy? He'd said. Do you really believe that it actually works that way? You can't really believe that's sustainable, do you?
Toshi hunched his shoulders, staring at the cobblestones beneath him. "I… I don't know. It just seems so… outlandish after everything Jhorlo has said and done to keep things running smoothly. But… Did Vale really have an incentive to lie? I'm not so sure…"
Maybe he had a point. But Haru didn't want to believe it. She couldn't believe it. Because if that was true…
She opened her mouth to say something more, but movement out of the corner of her eye interrupted her thoughts.
She turned in the direction of the clinic, surprised to see Nip emerging. Lecha followed behind him, lingering near the entrance. The sneasel squinted in the morning light, noticed Haru and Toshi, and trotted over. He hesitated when he got close, ear and feather folding back as he crouched submissively.
"Haru, Toshi," he said in that now-familiar accented tone. "May I… join you for a few moments? I needed some fresh air."
Before Haru could say anything one way or the other, or even make up her mind, Toshi answered. "Sure. Why not?" He cast a glance at Haru, who relented with a dip of her head.
The trio fell into an awkward silence. Toshi started to say something, only for the words to die in his throat.
"So," Haru finally said. "It sounded last night like you'll probably be leaving soon."
Nip looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "Yeah. Probably. Lecha doesn't want me to leave until my arm heals enough. Said she was going to talk to Whisper about it. I'll probably be here another half-moon if she has her way. Tempest will probably be able to travel in three or four days though."
Haru felt like she should be relieved. A part of her was. Nip would be gone. Umbra would be taken away by the Enforcers. The village would go back to normal.
But if Susana was to be believed, that wasn't really true, was it?
Even through the relief, another part of Haru ached at the thought of him leaving. It made her uneasy. She figured it was because of the adversity they'd gone through together. He'd saved Toshi, once. Then he saved her when Topaz nearly caught her. But the thought that she would feel that way at all, after everything he'd done, also unnerved her.
"What about you?" he asked. "What do you plan to do?"
"Celebrate my evolution," she answered. "Try to go back to normal. But I'm not sure how normal it'll be, with all these changes."
"I don't know about you, Sis," Toshi said, sitting down, "But I don't think I can go back to normal. Maybe it's time to… leave." His final word came out barely more than a whisper, sending a shiver down Haru's spine.
Nip opened his mouth to reply, but a loud smack sounded behind him and drew his attention. The trio turned to look in the direction of the courier's stand. Phoel had slammed a paw on her counter, eyes open and glowing with psychic energy. Whisper had sprung back, her feathers puffed up. Numi was nowhere to be seen.
"What do you mean you can't send anyone?" Phoel hissed. A scraping noise followed as her claws dug into the wood.
Haru and Toshi exchanged a glance before making their way over, Nip lingering behind them.
They reached the stand just as the meowstic shut off her psychic connection, pulling her ears in tight, lip curled back in a snarl.
'What's going on?" Whisper demanded, leaning across the counter.
"It took me forever to establish a connection with the enforcer representative," Phoel growled, her lip curled back. "When he finally accepts my signal and I explain that we need someone to pick up some criminals, he says it'll have to wait. He wouldn't even let me explain the severity of the situation. Apparently, they've declared some sort of emergency and have all hands on deck. They're not sending any assistance to unincorporated villages." She let out a long breath before looking Whisper in the eye. "We're on our own."
Frustration churned in Haru's belly. They wouldn't even listen? Then what good were they? She clenched and unclenched her forepaws, looking to Whisper for guidance. The hawlucha had closed her eyes, standing stiff for a moment. "We don't have the resources to send them. We'll have to keep them for a while longer, at least until we decide what to do. I don't want to make any changes until we deal with the situation with Jhorlo. Phoel, I want you to continue to pester them daily until I say otherwise, okay?"
Phoel sighed, resting her cheek against the countertop. "Yeah. That's fine. Don't be surprised if I come complaining to you about the headaches, though."
"I'm always willing to listen, Phoel. Now, if you'll excuse me, I better go make the rounds alerting the guards." She dipped her head to Haru and Toshi, then hurried away.
"Is this normal?" Nip asked, addressing Haru.
"What, the Enforcer thing? A little, I guess." Haru sat down to scratch at her belly. "Because we're not incorporated, we're not really prioritized. But I can't remember a time that they ignored us outright. From what I understood, the Enforcers were founded on the idea of helping any pokemon that asks for it. Same for the Rescuers and the Expedition Society."
"I guess Yellow doesn't care about that. Or isn't keeping her mons in check," Toshi mumbled.
"What do you mean?" Nip asked.
Toshi turned to him. Normally, Haru knew he'd be excited to talk about one of the three governing branches of the unified towns. But his eyes were troubled. "I mean this isn't normal. Yellow supposedly has a strong sense of justice. If their group is acting out like this…" He shook out his fur. "It's probably nothing to worry about. We're not incorporated, so we get the short end of the stick there. But it comes with its benefits."
"Like?" Nip prompted.
"For one thing, we have control over what we do with anyone that breaks the law here," Haru said. "I'm not going to lie to you, Nip. If you had pulled your stunt in an incorporated village, you'd be dead by now. Food for some other village."
Nip crinkled his nose. "You're not okay with hunting but you're okay with that?"
"I never said I was okay with it," Haru countered. "Our village would never. Like I said. We're not incorporated. So we don't have to follow their rules."
Nip looked like he wanted to say something more but seemed to think better of it.
"If we're going to get your bags adjusted and see if we can see Shimmer, we should probably get going," Toshi said. "You want to come with, Nip?"
Haru wasn't so sure about having him accompany them for that long.
Fortunately, she didn't have to think of an excuse, as Nip looked back towards the clinic. "I should probably go back. I'm not supposed to drift far from the medic's hut."
Toshi tilted his head. "So soon? Ah well. See you later then."
Nip dipped his head first to Toshi, then to Haru. Then he turned and walked away.
"Well," Toshi said after Nip disappeared behind the curtain at the entrance, "we still have time to kill. Are we going or not?"
"We might as well," Haru mumbled after thinking about it for a moment. "I don't know if we'll be able to actually see them, but… it wouldn't hurt to check."
The manor on the hill stood tall against the clear blue sky. Normally, it felt welcoming — or welcoming enough, at least. But today, with all the curtains pulled closed and the doors tightly shut, Haru felt uneasy as they approached.
To her surprise, a pokemon sat just outside the door, soaking in the rays of the sun: the diggersby that handled all the local construction. Grombert.
He peeked one eye open as they approached, then yawned and stood up, waving an ear. "Haru? Toshi? What are you two doing here?"
"What are you doing here?" Haru countered.
He used one ear to scratch at his side. "Well, Whisper thought it'd be a good idea to have someone keep watch here, so she asked me to do that. Figured it'd be best to save the battle-ready mon for the more dangerous pokemon."
"I guess that makes sense," Toshi murmured. More loudly, he added, "We were just stopping by to check on Shimmer and Muse."
Grombert closed his eyes, waving his paws in front of him. "Sorry, Toshi, no can do. Whisper was clear: no one leaves, no visitors. Official business only."
Toshi shrank back, but Haru refused to be easily deterred. "But Shimmer had nothing to do with this mess, right? Surely, she could take a visitor?"
"Sorry, Haru. An order's an order. If you want in, you need to talk to Whisper."
As much as she wanted to argue further, Haru didn't see a point. She sighed, taking a step back. "It's no good. Come on, Toshi, we might as well head back. See you later, Grom'." She turned and started back up the trail, letting her tail drag along the ground to make a point of how disappointed she was.
"Darnit," Toshi mumbled, stumbling as he caught up. "I hope they're okay. There's got to be some way we can check on them at least."
Haru paused and tilted her head up so that she could get a clearer look at the two-floor building. "Maybe… Do you know which window is Shimmer's room? Or Muse's?"
Toshi followed her gaze. "I think… Shimmer's room is that one?" He pointed his paw to a window near the corner. "Muse's room would be on the back side, but I'm not sure which one."
"Okay, let me try something." Haru cast a look at Grombert, who had closed his eyes again, before stepping off the path and pushing through the surrounding underbrush. Once she was comfortably out of sight, she took a deep breath, focusing. This was new — she'd only drawn on her water affinity once, and that had been on external water. This was different. This was pulling from somewhere inside her and from the moisture in the air. And yet, it felt like the most natural thing in the world when she shot a brief, concentrated stream of water at the window. There was a quiet splat as it struck and splattered across the glass. She held her breath, but no sound came from Grombert's direction.
Then Haru waited, watching the window. She was about to try again when a hazy, green-and-white form appeared behind the glass. It was difficult to see her well from this far away, but she knew it had to be Shimmer. After a few seconds, the kirlia offered her a subdued wave, then disappeared again. Another blob, Muse, appeared shortly after, sitting to watch them for a moment before disappearing into the room. Neither reappeared after.
"Well…" Haru began hesitantly. "I think they're okay, at least. That's something to be thankful for."
"Yeah. Yeah, I guess so." Toshi looked at his feet. "…We should probably go. Hopefully, we can put all this behind us soon." He shook out his fur. "Shimmer might be overbearing and all, but I never wanted her to be… I don't want anything bad to happen to her, you know? Muse too. They're good mon."
Haru looked back to the window. As much as she agreed with Toshi, those words from Nip kept swirling in the back of her head. How much did the two of them really know? "Yeah… I hope you're right."
Shimmer watched as Muse sat in front of the window, staring out at Haru and Toshi. The absol's shoulders were hunched; Shimmer suspected she hadn't slept well the night before.
Not that she could blame her. This entire situation, being locked away at home, was hard enough for her. She could only imagine how Muse felt. The two of them had practically grown up together, what with her Dad taking Muse under his paw.
There had to be something she could do to help.
"Aw, come away from the window, Musey," Shimmer called, waving the absol over to settle down beside her. Muse hesitated before slinking across, her head low.
Shimmer had seen her worried before, but never like this.
Well, maybe once like this. She'd been very young, recently hatched, when the news of the failed expedition reached them. She couldn't remember much of it, but she remembered Muse being inconsolable. Rightfully so, given that she had just lost both her parents, but Shimmer had been too young to understand that at the time. She'd been too young to understand the loss of her own mother, even!
She pushed the negative thoughts out of her mind as Muse settled down beside her, head on her forepaws. Shimmer reached over to run her fingers through the thick fur on the absol's neck, worrying at a tangle here and there. "Aw, Musey, did you groom this morning? You look like a mess."
It took the absol a moment to respond. "Oh… No, I… I didn't feel up to it this morning."
Shimmer frowned, letting silence hang over the room for a moment. She wasn't used to words being this hard to get out. "Are you still worried about last night?" she finally said. "Don't worry about it, okay? It's going to be fine. Once it becomes clear that this is a big, silly mistake." She wished she couldn't hear the doubt in her tone.
More silence. Muse lifted her head to stare at her claws. "What if it's not, though?" she asked. "What if it's not fine? What if Vale was telling the truth? What would you do, then?"
Shimmer's fingers caught on another tangle. She stopped and pulled her hand away. Muse turned to look at her, an expression on her face that Shimmer couldn't quite discern. Then she averted her gaze. "I just… I don't want you to be hurt w… if it turns out to be true."
It was a minor slip-up, but with the way Muse struggled to look her in the eye, Shimmer couldn't help but be suspicious. She had to press, silently begging Muse to laugh it off. "You… were about to say when, weren't you? Muse… do you know something? Are you hiding something from me?"
Muse flinched and looked away. "Please, Shimmer, it was a slip of the tongue. It's not my place to speak on your father's matters."
That was practically a confession. "Muse, tell me the truth. Was Vale being honest? Do you hunt?"
Muse widened her eyes, tensing, muscles coiled and ready to flee. "No. Never! I've never hunted. I don't…" She stared at Shimmer with a stricken expression, her claws digging into the wooden flooring. "I don't know if he was lying! I…"
"Musey…" Shimmer started, feeling tears pricking at the corner of her eyes. "Just tell me the truth, please."
Muse stared at her for a moment longer, voiceless, before she finally dropped her gaze. "I… don't have the full picture. But I know there was some truth to it. I know Vale, Jaques, and Lotte went out hunting to feed the village. I know Jhorlo knew about it, but I don't know if it was forced or all of their own volition. I know he never wanted you to find out."
Shimmer wanted to snap at Muse. Accuse her of lying. She wanted Muse to say she was just joking. But she knew Muse wouldn't lie to her when asked like this. The thought that she'd been hiding it this long hurt. But what hurt more was knowing that her father genuinely was in on it.
She pushed herself to her feet, sniffling. Muse looked up, startled. "Shimmer, where are you going?"
"To talk to my father."
There was a dangerous lightness to her voice. Muse scrambled to her feet, trying to block the way."
"Please don't do this to yourself, Shimmer," Muse said, her eyes pleading. "I don't want you to get hurt."
Shimmer just teleported to the other side of her. "It's a bit late for that, don't you think?"
Muse flinched, and for a second, Shimmer felt guilty. She was sure Muse hadn't meant to hurt her by hiding things. If anything, she'd been trying to protect her. But right now, she didn't need protecting. She needed answers.
She left the room, marching down the hall. She could hear the skitter of Muse's paws following behind her, but the absol hung back.
When she reached her father's room, she didn't bother to knock, flinging the door open. Her father was alone, lying in front of the window with his head on his paws. He flicked his ear when she entered, but didn't get up. Jaques and Lotte were nowhere to be seen. Frankly, she didn't care where they were.
"Father."
No movement.
"Is it true?"
His ear twisted back to listen, but otherwise, nothing.
Shimmer failed to hold back a sob. "Everything Vale said. All of it."
The purugly shifted. "Do you think I would lie to you all this time, my dear daughter?"
"I don't know anymore," Shimmer said, clenching her fists. "If Muse was willing to lie to me all this time, then can I trust you?"
Jhorlo let out a loud sigh. Silence passed for a moment before he lifted his head. He still didn't turn around to face her. "I take it she said something to you, then? I've already gotten an earful from Jaques and Lotte. I'd hoped you'd never have to get involved in my affairs, Shimmer. Not until it was time for you to take your place as leader, at the least."
Why wouldn't he turn around? "Look at me, Dad."
The purugly finally climbed to his feet, turned, and sat back down. His eyes betrayed a lack of sleep.
"Why?" she choked out.
"You'll have to be more specific, I'm afraid," Jhorlo said, blinking.
"Why did you do it? And why did you hide everything from me?"
"I didn't want you involved, like I said," he replied, answering the second question first. "I could say a lot of things about why I did. I can't answer all of them. But… First and foremost, I wanted to keep this village free. I didn't want it to be incorporated, just like your mother did. But there were too many mouths to feed and not enough meat to go around. I came up with the best solution I could, you must understand."
"Was blackmailing Vale a part of that?"
He let out a long sigh. "It was… an opportunity that I took advantage of. Someone had to do the dirty work, you know. I just channeled Vale's destructive energy into something useful for the village."
Shimmer clenched her fists at her sides, gritting her teeth. She could feel her father's residual anxiety and exhaustion, and it took all of her self-control not to try ripping into his mind to see if he was being honest. It wouldn't be hard, though there was no guarantee he wouldn't shut her out or hurt her to get her out of his head. It wasn't worth the risk.
She'd seen enough anyway.
Turning on one foot, she stalked out of the room, pausing at the doorway when Jhorlo called her name.
"Shimmer?"
"Make it quick."
"I… Everything I've done, I did for this village. I did for you."
Those few words were all it took to break her heart. With a sniffle, she said, "Forgive me if I find that hard to believe."
And then she raced back to her room, shoving past Muse and slamming the door behind her before the absol could follow her inside. She sank to the floor just inside, back against the door, and sobbed for a while, struggling to form a coherent thought. Eventually, she managed to drag herself back into her nest. A while after that, Muse pushed her way inside, dragging a jug of water with her teeth. She curled up around Shimmer silently.
A part of Shimmer wanted to yell at her and chase her out. Muse had lied to her too, after all, even if the deception didn't run as deep. But she also didn't want to be alone. Not right now. As she drifted off into an uneasy nap, she struggled to make sense of everything.
Why was everything falling apart?
