Apart

The bird saw everything. The bird knew everything. The bird realized what was going on, and it closed its eyes to weep along with the separated familial friends. Its tears began to reach the ears of Ficus. Resonating with the sorrows of the incident the bird had recently viewed, Ficus felt pangs in her heart.

It was at the shadow’s half stretch when Ficus noticed the discomfort emanating from the city. She was in the middle of chatting with her friend, Ira, the Witch of the Little River, who lived in a cabin in the woods located by the outskirts of the city. However, she paid no heed to the apprehension and continued to spend the time with her friend, relaxing by the river while catching up on the latest news they had in their lives. A nice day with someone she hadn’t seen in a long time shouldn’t be spoiled by some bad atmosphere from someplace else.

The water streaming in front of her was bright and clear. Songbirds could be heard communicating with each other in the forest. There was no cloud in the sky. Ficus enjoyed the gentle breeze course through her hair as it brought her a woodland fragrance to her and Ira sitting by her side.

There was small talk between them, with subjects like the new bread that the bakery near Ficus’s shop brought out for the season or the family of deer that settled into Ira’s backyard, but most of the time, they laid down and savored the moment in each other’s company.

Ficus and Ira were in the middle of drifting off to sleep while they listened to the river bubbling past their feet when the pale blue bird at Albert’s finally arrived. It burst in with a flurry of flaps and high pitched trills. Its entrance snapped the pair back to reality.

“What’s going on?” groaned Ira as she rose to a sitting position. “Is that bird yours, Ficus? Can you tell it to calm down?”

Ficus opened her eyes slowly, blinking a few times in the process. The day was still bright, but the sun was no longer above them and instead had lowered itself about an hour shorter. She raised her hand for the bird to rest on as well as a means to cast a shadow over her eyes, but it missed and flew right in her face to display a sense of urgency. Ficus had to quickly get up to hold the bird.

“What is it?” she asked the bird.

It chirped and trilled a few times, adding a warble at the end. Ficus and Ira leaned towards it in order to listen closely.

“What?” Ira was out of the loop about Camie and the others. “A man had a falling out with a girl and in their dispute the girl took the child? Since when were you interested in gossip, Ficus?”

“It’s not gossip,” Ficus stood up and dusted the dirt off her tunic. “I have business with that group. Sorry to cut our time short, but I have to go now.”

Ficus threw her pitch shawl over her shoulders and hurriedly made her way towards the city, leaving Ira in a state of confusion at why Ficus was involved in another’s affair.

Rushing and weaving through the streets, Ficus, closely followed by her bird, strongly held back her tears in the midst of the crowds. Although she could foresee the events unraveling in such a manner as she kept tabs on Camie, she had refused to interfere with her precious doll child’s new life in optimistic hopes that everything would turn out well. Her rapid knocks on the door resounded through the house and managed to alarm Albert from the residence of his room.

Albert assumed that those knocks were from Leo, for that soldier was the only person he could think of who would disturb him at such an untimely hour. As the knocks persisted on, it was joined by a pale blue bird’s furious pecks at the window. The combined knocks and rapping were enough to drag Albert out of his confines and act to the disturbances.

He decided to open the window and drive the bird away. It deftly avoided his hand, revealing that it was not intimidated by the larger man. To add to its gall, it had the audacity to fly around him and enter the house.

Its flight navigated downstairs, around the kitchen, as if it was sniffing a trail, and ended at the door, where the excessive knocking took place. Albert didn’t want to hear it. He slumped down by the stairs, covering his ears. Whoever it was, he didn’t want to answer. Any more talking and he would break down from guilt. His lungs began to have difficulty inhaling and exhaling.

Albert stayed in that position for a while. The knocking began to cease, leaving his hyperventilations to fill in the gap.

“Mr. Albert!” It seemed that Ficus, absorbed in her emotions, had forgotten to speak before she knocked. “It’s Ficus. We need to talk.”

He still wasn’t feeling it. Albert kept his body still and continued his heavy breathing. Suddenly, he heard the flap of wings and the next thing he felt were the bird’s feet, perching onto his head. Slowly, his feelings of anxiety and guilt began to wash away, and Albert started to come to terms with his actions. His breathing steadied.

Feeling better, he slowly stood up. The bird stayed, balancing on his head. Albert meekly walked towards the door to let in Ficus, dragging his feet as he went.

“Yes?” He greeted Ficus as he opened the door. “What do you want?”

Ficus’s brows furrowed when she saw Albert. “May I come in?”

“... sure.” It took Albert a while to answer. His mind was a mess, and he could barely nod in response. It was like rejecting her would take too much energy, and the only choice he could make was accepting quietly.

Ficus brushed past Albert as she slipped into the empty tavern. Albert caught a full whiff of her scent as she crossed his path. There was a dominant fragrance of earthy aromas from her hair. He stood there, trying to grasp the situation, as Ficus headed for the nearest table.

“So… Are you mad?” asked Albert from the door.

Ficus crossed her legs in a dominating manner. “Tell me,” she countered with another question. “What makes you think that I’m mad?”

“Ummm… T- the… ” stammered Alberted. “You way you knocked and entered?”

Ficus’s face was looking fiercer by the second. “Good observation. Next question, do you know any reasons why I should be mad?”

Albert started to grasp the situation with Ficus better. He also didn’t like where the direction that the topic was potentially going towards and didn’t want to move forward with the conversation.

“Go on,” urged Ficus. “Spit it out. I know you know the answer.”

“It’s because…” Albert struggled to produce his answer. It was lodged in his throat. He started coughing.

Ficus didn’t seem to care. “Proceed,” she ordered as she waved her hand in dismissal. “Your answer.”

“B- because,” Albert continued to stammer. “Because of Camie.” He finally let out.

“And?” Ficus wanted more.

“Because I decided on my own that Camie would be better with someone else?”

“What a way to phrase it.” Ficus’s anger started to seep through into her words. “You’re making it seem like you're not the one responsible. Like it’s up to fate.” Her words rubbed salt into Albert’s wounds. He knew it was his fault, but admitting it to Ficus was too much for him. “Let me reword it for you,” Ficus continued. “Because you decided to shove Camie as well as your friend away."

That hit the nail on the head for Albert. But why was Ficus the one saying it to him? “So what?” protested Albert in return. “Why do you have a say in this? This is not your life we’re talking about here. It’s mine.”

“Your life along with your friend’s and Camie’s,” snapped Ficus. “And I have a say in this because I care about Camie and anyone she deems as her family.”

It was futile for Albert to continue the argument. He already knew that he was in the wrong for locking out Lucy and Camie from his life for a selfish and petty reason.

“So?” Ficus seemed to be waiting for something from Albert. “Anything you have to say?”

“S- sorry.”

“To who? I appreciate it, but that’s not where it should be directed at.” Ficus seemed to look far off into the distance. Her face softened as if she saw a better future. “However,” she continued. “I will accept your apology in exchange for a favor.”

“Wh- What favor?” Albert’s eyes darted back in forth, wondering what type of scheme was formed in Ficus’s mind.

“Next week is the Shy Moon Festival,” Ficus stated. “You’re going with me.”

“Huh?”

“Is that a no?”

“I- I’ll accept.” Normally, Albert would be happy to have someone like Ficus ask him to go to a festival with them, that is, if he wasn’t forced to do so.

Ficus stood up from her chair. “You have a week to cool off your emotions and sort your thoughts. See you until then.” With that, she left the room, followed closely by the pale blue bird.

Albert was left in a mix of confusion.

Ficus’s arrival and departure missed Lucy and Camie’s path. Not wanting to let her parents see her in a depressed mess again, Lucy decided to head towards one of the lesser visited garden parks located at the roof of the city hall. She knew Mr. Percy well enough to knock on his office door unannounced.

“Mr. Percy?”

“Is that Lucy? Come on in.” Percy was overjoyed to have Lucy’s surprise visit.

She entered the office to see Mr. Percy diligently working on a stack of documents. “What brings you here? Coming all of a sudden.” He paused his work to talk to Lucy.

“I just wanted to know if I can see the rooftop garden,” replied Lucy.

Percy smiled. “Of course! It’s always open for you.”

“Thank you.” Lucy’s voice was quiet. She tilted her head in a bow and turned around to leave.

“Oh, Lucy.” Percy called after her before she reached the door.

“Yes?” she tilted her head towards the old man.

“If you need to talk about anything, I’m always open to it.” It seemed that he had picked up a bit of sadness coming from Lucy.

Lucy smiled feebly. “Thank you, Mr. Percy, I’ll keep that in mind.” Then, she continued on her way out to the roof.

The garden on the roof was nothing extravagant. After all, it wasn’t built for the public to visit, only for the views from below on the ground. Small shrubbery lined the edges as creeping ivies spread here and there on and around the building. Barrel planters mixed with rectangular planters, all of different sizes and filled with different native plants, to recreate a natural terraced landscape around the area.

Lucy walked along the path that snaked around the flora until she reached a wooden bench fit for two or three people. She placed Camie down on the bench before sitting down herself. There was nothing else to do, so the two sat in silence for a while.

Curiosity clawed at Camie for a while. Questions about Albert’s behavior swirled around her mind. “Lucy.” Camie finally spoke up. “Why was Albert like that?”

“I don’t really know either,” replied Lucy. “But I think he was still mad at me. I’m sorry Camie. It’s probably my fault that he didn’t want to see us for the time being.”

“It’s okay, Lucy,” Camie assured her. “I know that Lucy is nice, so it wasn’t on purpose.”

“Thanks Camie.” sniffed Lucy. She started to fear that Albert might hold a grudge against her until they stopped being friends.

Camie crawled onto Lucy’s lap, and the two stayed together, admiring the view of the garden as the usual city clamor down on the ground created a calming ambience. They continued to sit there until Lucy finally calmed down.