The Bully and the Burnt Tail

They emerged from the shack, and found many other people chatting on the grass. Many of them sat in small circles of three to five people, each of them bearing cups in hand. As Elias walked past one of these groups on his way to the keg, he saw that they drank the pink and blue tea that Kuchisake and Bill had given him.

Everyone else drank, so Elias saw no reason not to as well. He walked up to Bill, who handed him a cup with a smile. It soothed his nerves as it had the previous times he’d drank it. His memories again grew hazy and indistinct. The fog lingered in his mind.

“You getting along well with people, Elias?” said Bill. He did not drink from the keg, but instead took a swig from his waterskin.

He nodded.

“Serena is…interesting.” Elias couldn’t go into much more detail than that before the woman herself walked up to Bill as well. As she accepted a tea-filled cup from him, she offered the man a smile.

“Good afternoon Bill.”

“How’re you doing, little lady?” Bill returned the smile. “Still having that nightmare?”

Serena shook her head and took a long draught from the cup.

“Thanks to this, not really.”

“Glad to hear.” He tipped the brim of his hat toward Elias. “And how’re you getting along with your new roommate?”

That could’ve been directed to either of them, but Elias strode forward.

“She’s fine,” he said. He offered a smile, hoping to show Bill that the man could trust him.

“He’s fine.” Serena’s voice, meanwhile, carried a defensive steel to it that made Elias’ eyebrow twitch.

Bill’s gaze juggled between them for a moment.

“Took me and Kuchisake a little while too.”

Elias frowned, as did Serena.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” they said in unison. Then they looked at each other. “What do you mean by that? Huh? What do you mean ‘what do you mean by that’?” After nonstop unison, Elias’ jaw clenched. He refused to keep letting her copy him. She must’ve had the same idea, as she squinted at him without another word.

“Remember what Merloine said, Elias,” Bill said.

“I know,” Elias said.

Serena pouted.

“I don’t need father’s help making friends.”

“Sure.” A dry sarcasm permeated Bill’s voice. “And with that, I’ll leave you be then. You know how to contact me or Kuchisake if you need anything.” He waved farewell, picked up the keg, and walked in the direction of the shoreline and rowboat.

“Thank you for bringing me here, Bill,” Elias called after him.

Bill froze for a moment. He was quiet for a moment, long enough for Elias to tilt his head.

“Don’t mention it,” said Bill, before continuing on his way.

Elias stared after Bill for a moment, only for an interruption to call out to him from the side.

“Hey, new guy!” The curly haired, dark-skinned Marcel waved Elias over. “You can come sit with us if you want.” Whereas most of the other groups had four or five people, Marcel only had Lin for company. Elias’ eyes softened, and he made his way over.

As Elias strode past other groups, he saw that many of them had slight differences to their faces. Some had more chiseled jawlines, others slanted or narrowed eyes, and others had visibly different complexions to their skin. The differences were such that it made Elias wonder if they’d really all hailed from the same world as Merloine. But they all seemed to talk as though they’d known each other for ages, so he pushed this doubt out of mind.

Marcel smiled as Elias approached, but this smile soon turned to a complicated pursing of lips. Elias followed Marcel’s gaze and looked over his shoulder. Serena followed him, her gaze fixated on the grass and red flowers beneath their feet.

Elias saw the other groups make way for Serena as she walked as though she was some sort of goddess. Even Lin stared at Serena as the redhaired woman approached, but her eyes shone with wonder–like a treasure hunter that had just caught sight of a diamond.

Elias sat across from Marcel, and Serena across from Lin. Nobody said anything for a few moments. Eventually Lin’s gaze juggled between Serena and Elias. She leaned toward the pair.

“I have to…” Lin’s gaze fell to the jars of paint that Bill had given her and she leaned away. Her back straightened. She would’ve looked like the picture of formality if her hair was combed and her eyes not dark from sleeplessness. “Ahem. I would ask that you let me put your essences to the page.”

“Why not Marcel’s?” said Elias.

“Because I’ve already captured it.” Lin’s gaze again latched onto Elias’ ears and tail. “You’re new, you’re fresh, you’re…” She didn’t continue, but licked her lips. Then her gaze drifted to Serena. “And I have an opportunity to catch you in my grasp now that you’re oh so close.” She giggled. “If you would allow me such a luxury.”

“She just wants to paint you in a few poses,” Marcel explained. He rolled his eyes at Lin. “You really need to work on how you try to pitch that, Lin.”

“So if I’m new and fresh,” said Elias to Marcel, spotting an opportunity to shift the conversation elsewhere. “How long have you been here?”

Marcel tilted his head. His eyes closed for a long while.

“We came from the same world as Merloine,” he eventually said. “I don’t really remember it well, but he said that his magic saved us from the destruction of our world. And we ended up on these islands. Bill and Kuchisake said that we showed up here, and they helped Merloine settle us on this island.”

Elias looked around again at the sheer number of people. If so many people were able to survive their world’s destruction, then surely Tibby, his mum, or someone else from his world had to be around too, right? And they would appear here as well eventually. He just had to be patient.

Lin nodded. “Merloine gives me paints so I can keep painting. Like what I used to do when I was…home.” Her smile twisted at the edges. A wistfulness weighed that final word down.

She’d been so offputting at first, but that longing for home squeezed Elias’ heart.

“I miss home too,” he murmured.

“If you want, I could capture the essence of your home?” offered Lin. “With you in it?”

“Paint a picture of it, you mean?” said Elias, and Lin nodded. He smiled. “That’s very kind of you. Thank you Lin.”

“If only you could act like this,” Marcel remarked. “You always creep people out, Lin.”

“I’m just passionate about my art.” Lin stuck her tongue out at Marcel. “It’s not my fault other people can’t handle it.”

“So Lin likes painting. What do you like to do, Marcel?” Elias said, turning the conversation toward the boy.

Marcel pointed toward a distant part of the meadow that Elias couldn’t see due to a few rolling hills.

“I’ve got a violin in my room,” Marcel said. “Playing it reminds me of home.” He looked toward Lin. “Making a racket is also a useful tool when it comes to negotiating with artists that try to undress me and paint me nude.”

“Huh?” Elias stared at Lin.

Lin folded her arms over her chest.

“It’s been three months,” she said. “You still aren’t over it by now? Besides, your decency was an honorable sacrifice for my craft.” She gave Marcel’s trousers a pointed look. “It’s not like there was anything worth appreciating anyway.”

Elias’ gaze juggled between Marcel and Lin as he struggled to make sense of what he was hearing. He understood the words, but the fact they could speak so nonchalantly about something like that boggled his mind. Marcel didn’t sound hurt or even furious over having his privacy violated, just a bit irked.

Serena cleared her throat. Lin and Marcel immediately stopped their bickering and turned toward her, as though she was a queen about to relay a command. The suddenness made Elias’ attention shift to the redhaired woman as well.

She shifted beneath their gaze. Her eyes fell to her lap.

“I like to grow flowers in patterns,” she said. “Seeing my effort into something beautiful makes me feel like everything was worth it in the end.” Her eyebrows knitted together in thought as her gaze drifted west, in the direction of Merloine’s tower. “I guess you could say I have a green thumb, but it feels right somehow.”

“Very good,” said Lin.

“Yes, that’s good, Serena,” added Marcel.

The two of them offered smiles, but they looked strained. As if they were wary of something. Elias’ eyes softened. Merloine had saved them all from the destruction of their world, and could use magic. He couldn’t blame them for treating his beloved daughter so delicately, or else risking the old man’s wrath.

That didn’t make Serena’s pinched lips and stilted nod, as though she was resigned to receiving that distant treatment, any less hard to watch. Elias’ lungs filled with air as he took a resolved breath.

“Have you been working on a new pattern recently?” he said. “I’d love to see it sometime.”

Serena stared at him for a moment, before shaking her head.

“No, but I’m open to suggestions.” Her gaze drifted up to his feline ears. “Maybe a cat.” She leaned toward him. “What about you, Elias? What do you like to do?”

He hummed in thought at that. His tail flicked behind him. A fog settled over his mind, and he breathed in as he attempted to peer through it. He could hold his own in a fight, even if he’d never beaten Tibby in a proper fencing duel before. But that wasn’t really a hobby of his. Napping wasn’t really a hobby either, as much as he liked it.

“I guess I like writing stories,” Elias said. “Not my own but…adventures other people have gone on. It’s nice to put them on the page so they’re not forgotten about, you know?” His eyes misted over as he remembered Tiberion. Her body was a little fuzzy in his mind’s eye. Hopefully she showed up soon. “I wanted to do that with my sister’s life, but then I ended up here.”

“Your sister?” said Serena. She leaned toward him, and the sudden interest made Elias’ eyebrows leap toward his bangs. That lean in from her also gave him a look at her ample cleavage, and he averted his gaze. He looked at Lin and Marcel. The former’s flat chest made her much less distracting to look at, at least.

“Yeah,” he said. “Do you have any siblings, Serena?”

Serena blinked. Then she leaned away.

“No, I don’t.” A note of uncertainty hung in her voice. “Was just curious about yours, that’s all.”

Elias shrugged.

“When she shows up here, I’ll introduce you,” he said. Yes. When she showed up. Because if anyone would have survived the death…the alleged death of their world, it would be Tibby. Hopefully everyone else had too, but at least Tibby. “But she’s the strongest person I know. The most ambitious and dedicated, for sure.”

Marcel turned toward Elias. “Anyway, back to what you were talking about before, Elias. So you’d transcribe other people’s stories?” Elias nodded, and Marcel looked in the direction of the shoreline, where Bill had gone off to. “I heard that Bill and Kuchisake went on adventures.”

“I tried to ask Bill about them, but he didn’t say much.” His gaze drifted to the other people in the circle, from one to the next. “Did either of them tell you anything about it?”

Lin shook her head.

Marcel shrugged. “Nothing specific.”

Serena’s fingers fiddled in her lap. Elias looked at her, but she revealed nothing. Before Elias could think of a way to probe for more tidbits, he caught the sound of approaching footsteps. His ears flicked in their direction first, and he turned his head.

A burly man, five centimeters taller than Elias, sauntered up to their small circle of people. Another man flanked either side of him, one thin on the left and the other heavyset on the right.

“I see the princess is sitting with the commoners,” he said. “Wouldn’t you rather sit with someone you actually care about.” He smiled at Serena. Whereas Elias’ hair was the color of gold, the muscular man’s hair was sandy. His hair also came down to cover his eyes, but he walked without tripping over his own feet.

“I’m fine Leon, thank you.” Serena sidled closer to Elias. Her shoulder brushed his own.

“You should reconsider, Serena,” said the thinner boy on the burly man’s left. His voice was high-pitched and reedy. “He took notice of you and invited you personally. Again.” His front teeth were longer than the rest.

Lin looked down at her lap, as if to avoid meeting anyone else’s eyes. Her hands tightened around the jars of paint that Bill had given her.

“Boss, she turned you down!” cried the rounder boy. “What’re you going to do?” While he was no older than Elias, some of his hair had fallen out such that his scalp could be seen through the wisps of hair that remained.

The burly man, Leon, looked at Serena’s shoulder touching Elias. His gaze drifted to Elias’ face, and then cat ears and tail.

Elias winced, steeling himself for the brunt of this man’s trouble.

“Haven’t seen you around before, friend.” He grinned down at Elias. “What’s your name?”

“Elias Jund.”

“Well Elias,” said Leon. “Seems like you’ve gotten pretty chummy with Serena.”

“We’re really…” Elias’ lips pressed together when he remembered what Merloine asked of him. Leon was antagonizing Serena, and he couldn’t let that stand. “We’re friends, and friends sit together and talk about things. Glad you noticed.”

Leon scowled, but this soon turned into a smirk. “Looks like the kitty has some claws.”

“Was that all you wanted, Leon?” chimed in Serena.

“Not quite.” Leon’s hand moved with a flourish. “I’ve decided to graciously offer you the chance to grace you with my company again. I still don’t know what happened, but I’ve forgiven you for your reaction. And your refusal to wear that necklace I made for you. Why, I’d even be willing to try teaching you magic again. Seeing as you looked at me as though I’d gone completely insane last we met, I think I’m being beyond generous.”

Serena sighed. She reached an arm around Elias’ shoulder and brought him close.

“Please don’t bring me into this,” begged Elias.

“Bill found me a new roommate, as you can see,” said Serena.

Leon’s mouth hung open. A low growl emerged from deep within his chest.

“You thieving cat!” Leon snarled. He moved to stomp on Elias. Elias dove out of the way, but the man’s foot landed on his tail. He felt a blistering heat on his tail, as though it’d been pressed to a hot stove. Then came the pressure of Leon’s foot, and something in his tail broke. Elias cried out. The sound of pain drew many stares, and Leon froze.

The thin and heavy boys each grabbed one of Leon’s arms.

“Come on boss, he’s not worth it,” the heavy boy urged.

“You don’t want to get in trouble with Kuchisake again, right?” the thin boy said. “You know how scary she can get. She might not let you off easy this time.”

Between their urging and the weight of surrounding people’s gazes, Leon backed away. He spat on the ground in front of Elias.

“I take back what I said,” he said, his voice still dark. “A harmless little kitty like you couldn’t possibly take Serena away from me.” He turned on his heel and stormed off. Elias’ eyes, narrowed from the pain coursing through his tail, watched as he and his sycophants left.

Marcel moved over to Elias’ other side. “Are you okay?”

“My tail hurts,” Elias grunted. Every flick sent another ripple of pain through it. He sucked in a breath through his teeth, and his eyes squeezed shut.

Lin peeked at Elias’ tail.

“It looks pretty bad,” she remarked. “There’s a redness near the end. Blistering. I don’t think it’s supposed to bend that way either.”

“Let’s get him to the infirmary,” Marcel said.

“I can walk,” Elias said, and stood up. The wind brushed his tail and he grimaced.

“Sorry about Leon,” said Serena, standing up as well. “I don’t know what came over him.”

“We’ll talk later,” Elias said. “Just tell me where the infirmary is, please.”

“We’ll walk you there,” Marcel insisted, and the group of four left the field of red flowers.

“Thanks,” said Elias. He smiled at Marcel. They walked past the blue flowers, and approached the building that lay on the field of yellow flowers.