Kitsune in the Shadows

Chapter 92 – I Need To Know

Tybalt walked past us into the lighthouse while the three of us waited outside, hoping that once he left, we would be able to go back up.

Ava and I both decided to sit down on the grass, looking out over the town while Cattleya was busy behind us, pacing back and forth frantically. Going by the expression I had just seen on her face when I answered Tybalt’s question, I had expected her to immediately bombard me with questions like before, but evidently, that wasn’t what was happening.

…

‘Morning Kierra,’ Ovia’s voice suddenly emerged inside my head, sounding just a little bit more exhausted than usual.

‘Good morning,’ I replied as I lay back on the grass and looked towards the sky.

‘Sorry I wasn’t around earlier… A small group of common dream spirits have been acting a little strange… they’re normally very quiet, so I had to check on them.’

As I registered her words in my mind, I was gradually hit with a pang of guilt somewhere deep in my stomach.

Is that… my fault?

My dream…

Was it because of the memory I saw? Was it a bad thing that I remembered?

…

I eventually gave in to my curiosity and asked, ‘… What happened?’

‘They wouldn’t tell me… I just watched and waited for them to calm down… But Rya is now in charge of them instead.’

…

I couldn’t tell if the spirit’s silence was better or worse. If it was my fault… and now the spirits weren’t saying anything about it… not even to their Goddess…

…

…

As I lay there and thought about it a bit more, another question came to mind.

Is it even my fault?

Me remembering such a short memory might not have been what caused it. The last time I had a dream in that place, nothing bad happened; it was just a nightmare. So it might have been the same this time, nothing more than a strange dream. This all might have just been a coincidence… but at the same time… it also might not have been.

…

I kept quiet for a bit, not sure of what exactly to say or do. With everything that had already happened earlier that day, there wasn’t enough room for me to also think about this, and for some reason, I just didn’t even really feel like thinking about it. That feeling that came over me in the morning when I just wanted to go and do something still hadn’t gone away.

…

“What did you do?!” Cattleya suddenly shouted from behind, abruptly tearing me away from my thoughts, “I have thought about it, but I cannot figure it out.”

As I sat up and looked over my shoulder she looked like she was about to lunge at me, but thankfully, she just knelt down on the grass next to the two of us instead.

“There must be an explanation, a missing piece to the puzzle,” She said as she reached for my hand, “You said that you were seeing something I could not, but that very assumption might be wrong!”

I quickly moved my hand into my lap on reflex, and fortunately, Cattleya didn’t try to reach out again and just left her hand on the grass where it fell.

“Maybe I am the one seeing something that you cannot! That would also make sense… But I do not know why that would be the case…”

“And you think we would?” Ava asked, “How do you even know this means anything? She might have just had a hard time seeing what was happening. It was a long way down to the water. Anyone could make a mistake from that distance.”

“No, this has to be something else. I know it,” Cattleya didn’t waste a moment before her retort, “I have watched many of these ships come into the docks, yet I have never seen anything remotely like she described.”

“Like I said-”

“It has to be because of your magic!” She interrupted Ava, focusing instead on me again, “My initial thought was that it might have something to do with you being a kitsune, but if that were the case, then Elenia would have also seen the same thing! But she did not! It has to be something you are doing!”

…

“I…” As the first word left my lips, Cattleya’s eyes immediately lit up, “… don’t know…”

Maybe Ava is right…  Maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me…

I might have imagined it.

…

But if I didn’t… What would that even mean?

“How can you not know?!” She shouted in response.

However, before I was even able to think about replying to her, the door to the lighthouse swung open, and Tybalt came out.

He looked over at us but just did a slight bow before saying, “I’ll be on my way now. Please have a pleasant rest of the day.” And with that short remark, he began on his trek down the hill and back into town.

…

Ava was the first to stand up, stretching her arms before reaching down to help me to my feet. Cattleya followed close behind.

“Alright, now, let’s go and see if we can get back up the lighthouse,” Ava said, “With that whole surprise back there, you didn’t even get to pull your sketchbook out, y’know? But now-”

As if on cue, there was a light rumbling off in the distance, accompanied by a blanket of dark grey clouds coming in over the horizon.

“…” Ava didn’t say anything for a moment, just staring off at the clouds as they inched closer and closer, “I just… Why? It was a perfect day only a few minutes ago.”

“That is just how it works here,” Cattleya explained, “The weather changes at the drop of a coin. But now-”

“Just be quiet for a moment,” Ava interrupted before turning to me, “I… don’t think you’re going to be able to sketch from up there today, at least if those clouds turn out as bad as they look to be from here… I know you wanted to come out here and do this, but is there something else you want to do? Preferably inside?”

“I…” I wanted to respond immediately but wasn’t able to come up with anything. Even my wanting to sketch wasn’t really something I explicitly wanted to do; I just felt like going outside and doing something.

“Then how about we go back to the inn for now?” She suggested, “You can try to come up with something on our way there, and even if you can’t, at least we’ll be dry.”

“Alright.”

Both Ava and I waved back to the lighthouse keeper before starting on our way back into town… all with Cattleya still in tow.

“I need to know what happened up there,” She matched my pace exactly, “If you do not know, then maybe you could answer some simple questions instead?”

“I-”

“Are you wearing something that might affect what you see?” She didn’t even wait to hear my answer before asking her questions, “Did your parents have any unique abilities? What kinds of magic can you use? Where is all the mana that approaches you going? Have you ever seen anything strange like that before? If so, when and where?”

The questions just kept on coming, not leaving me any room to answer.

“Look, she doesn’t know,” Ava skilfully swapped places with me so that she was now between the two of us, “It doesn’t matter how many questions you ask, you aren’t going to get any of the answers you want.”

“I do not need the answer itself. I need information. I will figure it out myself… At least tell me what magic you can use.”

“Cattleya-”

“I don’t know,” I answered, cutting Ava off.

“You… don’t know?” Cattleya tilted her head slightly as if she was struggling to understand what I was saying, “How can you not know? All the mana around you just disappears. You have to be using it for something.”

I don’t know what you’re talking about.

‘Ovia?’ I asked out of habit.

‘Ah… um… I don’t know how to explain,’ She responded almost immediately, ‘Ellaria is better at this than me; maybe I can ask her for you.’

“Hmm?” Cattleya tried to slow down in order to slip behind Ava, but Ava immediately noticed and matched her pace, “Do you really know nothing? I thought that was just an excuse.”

“I…” Ava simply stared at her as she struggled to find her words, “I don’t know what to do with you…”

“I don’t know what to do about this either,” Cattleya said, more than likely having misheard Ava… or maybe after having chosen to mishear her, “But I still need to know the answer… It is very important…”

I… don’t know what to do.

…

The rest of the walk was done in silence, aside from Ava asking me a few minor questions as she noticed the buildings and stores around us, things like if I was interested in what they were selling or if I wanted to go visit the place when the weather cleared up.

Once we were finally in front of the inn, Ava opened the door and stepped forward with me. However, this time, Cattleya didn’t follow, instead just standing out on the street.

“Are you just going to stand out there until you get wet?” Ava asked.

“Hmm? Oh, I was just thinking about how to solve this problem…” Cattleya responded, “But what if I don’t have to?! Even if I do not know why you can see something different, it does not matter! I just need you to watch the ships for me!”

“I thought we already-” Ava tried to speak up.

“Wait,” She interrupted, “I know you will not accept money, but I have a different offer. You do not know about magic, but I do know about magic, and I know that you will be more than capable of using it, so what if… I will teach you what I know, and in exchange, you can just watch the ships with me. That is all. No money involved.”

“Look-”

“Okay,” I spoke up over Ava.

Cattleya’s face once again lit up, “Then we start tomorrow! I will be waiting for you out here.”

Ava looked back at me in shock, but it only lasted a moment before her expression softened again, “Alright… If that’s what you want to do… I… can’t really stop you… But I’m definitely coming along then to make sure that nothing happens.”

“Yes!” Cattleya shouted, “That is more than fine!”

“Now, are you going to come in? It’s about time for lunch, after all.”

“No. I… I have other things to do!” Cattleya awkwardly turned around, “Just don’t forget about tomorrow!”

With those last few words, Cattleya ran off into the distance just as the rain started to come down.

“She ran off with the cloak I gave her…” Ava muttered under her breath as the two of us made our way over to one of the tables in preparation for lunch.