Seeds Of Doubt

—❆-❆-❆—

Though she wasn’t injured physically, Stella still had Yui visit the infirmary to make sure she hadn’t hurt herself during the mission and failed to notice due to the adrenaline rush.

She was as healthy as can be expected, a light bruise from an object thrown by a villager being the only thing to worry about. Yui rubbed the spot on her forehead, remembering their hasty departure.

Her talk with Stella after the checkup was brief, perhaps even curt on Yui’s end, but she couldn’t help it. How could she even begin to admit to her best friend that she was harboring doubts about whether her dream could work out?

No, just considering it made Yui sick with guilt. After all, Stella had been there for her at some of her lowest points.

“Even so…”

Despite her stoic exterior, Yui felt the cold stares as word began to spread. It was due in large part to the destruction the Aria had caused in the settlements outside of Stardust as of late, and the Safety Division’s perceived priorities during those disasters.

However, it wasn’t just organic outrage they had to contend with. Rumors were swirling of a man with a mask stoking the people into a rage, and painting Sakai Industries as the enabler of their destruction. At first it was a small group of protesters, not even enough to bother with.

In time, though, the number of disgruntled demonstrators grew steadily as the power situation worsened. The overlap was clear. Those who still believed the Aria should be exterminated reasoned that by not doing so, they were willingly robbing themselves of the energy source they had started growing used to. Others joined just to have a forum to voice their grievances, and it snowballed from there.

Stella refused to make them disperse at first, even when a few started banging on the gates, threatening to storm Sakai Industries and drag her out. Peacekeepers from the Dust Temple came in to clear them out, ultimately, but they would gather just the same when they’d hauled off the most rowdy of the bunch. Although…

“I’ll be seeing you again, Yui Dendrite.”

“That man I saw…” Yui muttered to herself, walking solemnly through the outskirts of the city. “How did he know me?”

The woodcutter’s axe bothered her most, and not just because she was wary of how he might try to use it.

Something about it tugged at a memory she couldn’t quite place. She hadn’t seen him since the Aria attack on Sweetwater Village. His intentions, however, were becoming clearer: turn the people of Stardust City against the Coexistence Initiative by any means necessary.

Yui’s first reaction was to brainstorm how she could change the minds of those who’d grown disillusioned with the cause while working on a stopgap solution for the rolling outages. However…

How do I sound convincing enough when I'm not even sure myself?

Yui was at a loss in that regard. She kicked a can aside, having found herself in a part of town she didn’t usually visit. The Resplendent Tenements were as colorful as they were dangerous. Houses stacked upon one another in tiers that stretched several levels.

There was irony in the name, for sure—an inside joke amongst locals. There was nothing bright about them, not with the power outages plaguing their neighborhoods on top of everything. They were amongst the most vocal proponents of the anti-coexistence movement. And yet, Yui took a peek around the place.

Call it reconnaissance, or morbid curiosity. Rather than sit at headquarters all day twiddling her thumbs, she thought it best to observe their plight directly. Lest she grow ignorant and prove the opposition correct.

Resonance conduits that once made the neighborhood desirable now flickered uselessly, power lines jury-rigged vertically between structures. From crumbling roofs, the people gazed upon the glowing skyline with quiet envy.

Under the same skeleton of the celestial dragon, they wondered how the lots had been cast so disproportionately. Why had they been denied access to power while the commercial and governmental centers of the city thrived?

Sure, they had walls and the perimeter barrier around Stardust City, whereas the outer settlements were at the mercy of monsters and the harsh elements. However, a hungry person is still hungry whether or not there’s someone hungrier.

“Look, it’s the Director of the Safety Division.”

The remark was sarcastic, and Yui’s curious glance was interpreted as a hostile act as the man who uttered it slinked away; she hadn’t meant it that way. She caught another old woman glaring at her from the porch of her house, but Yui decided to reach out.

“Hey, ma’am?” Yui said. “I’d like to know what things are actually like down here. You live here, and I don’t. You mind telling me?”

The old woman scoffed.

“When have people like you ever cared what happened to us?” She rasped. “No, you sit up there in your fancy towers looking down on us common folk. You want my opinion? Get out of town before things turn ugly.”

“What do you mean?”

“…”

Yui was met with stubborn silence from the old woman, but she still wasn’t satisfied with leaving things on that note.

“How’s this?” Yui began. “In exchange for information, I'll help with anything you’ve got for me. You other folks eavesdropping from the shadows too, I don’t care what it is. Or I’ll elevate it to the people who can help. You’ve got my word on that.”

A handful of people stepped out of the alleyways, surprised Yui had been aware of their presence. Wary of whether she was offering them false promises, they hesitantly began to speak up with their demands. The first was some sort of clinician, as evidenced by their white—albeit blood-stained—coat.

“Since the power went out, we haven’t been able to keep a large stock of necessary medicines due to fears of it going bad,” the doctor said, “The refrigerators don’t work, and regular ice would melt too quickly on its own.”

“Let me see what I can do.”

Yui filled an ice chest full of magic-infused ice cubes in the clinician’s shed, ones that wouldn’t melt for some time. It was first on a long list of requests she got from people who saw her perform her magic. Impressed, they turned up in greater numbers.

Few requests had any correlation to her abilities, or the problems at large, but Yui entertained them all the same.

“My radio is busted!”

“I can’t get up my stairs anymore. Carry me, will ya?”

“The rats have been eating our surplus!”

She solved problems, played with the poor children in the back alleys, and spent a majority of the afternoon, but by the time she was finished, the mood had changed. The open hostility died down somewhat. Some had asked when the power would come back on.

“I wish I could tell you,” was all Yui said, wearing a conflicted expression. “Sakai Industries is developing new energy solutions. We hope to roll them out soon.”

That was her practiced response, but even she didn’t know when that could happen. The question of whether Sakai Industries was starting to prioritize Aria over people’s lives wasn’t asked, and Yui was glad for that.

She doubted she could have produced a clean answer, given all that had happened. Though her mind immediately flashed to Protector. If only the people could all see him specifically in action, and grasp his vision for peace with the Aria—not unlike Stella’s.

“You.” The old woman softened her glare. “You have the look of someone who came from humble beginnings. Not like that snobby heiress you work for, Stella Sakai. Her whole ‘coexistence whatchamacallit’ has made things worse than they ever were.”

Upon hearing her badmouth Stella, Yui’s first reaction was to get angry on her behalf, but a deep breath was all it took to redirect that frustration.

“You’re entitled to your feelings about Stella… and about what she’s trying to do,” Yui said. “I didn’t always live comfortably, but I won’t pretend that I haven’t benefited from my position, or my connections either. It isn’t just Stella who’s had tunnel vision. I think I understand that much now.”

“Oh yeah? If she gave two hoots about us, enough to come down here as you have, she’d see things for how they are.” The old woman frowned. “But… since you’re not so bad yourself, I could be bothered to share a word of warning.”

Yui, surprised by the woman’s sudden cooperation, leaned in. The woman cupped her mouth with her hand and whispered.

“The woodcutter is planning something big,” she said, “He’s been recruiting the youth lately, and they’re starting to listen to what he’s been promising them.”

That man again…

“What is he promising?”

“He’s going to bring Elysium back down to the ground.” The old woman’s tone was grave. “Don’t ask me what it means, ‘cause I don’t have a clue. In fact, I’ve said too much already. Go tell your friend to stop by for a change.”

Yui had the woman’s cryptic warning to grapple with, but even so, she nodded in thanks and agreement.

“I’ll bring Stella next time so you all can talk to her.” Yui smiled. “She wants to help you all, believe that.”

“I’ll believe it when I see it.” The old woman smiled, almost too quick to miss. “Now scram. I’ve already missed my afternoon nap.”

As Yui left the Resplendent Tenements, her sour mood from before had dissipated into a sense of calm. When she thought about it deeply, the words of Protector immediately came to mind as proof of what she’d seen.

“I believe that only actions and truth can change hearts and minds.”

It wouldn’t be easy, certainly, but…

We’ve got to give it a try, at least.

Yui continued to step lighter until she ran smack dab into somebody around two-thirds of her height. The impact didn’t have as much effect on Yui herself as on the young woman who had absorbed the brunt of her thin-but-solid frame.

“Hey, sorry about that, are you—“

Wait a minute…

“Miss Yui!”

Her white lab coat covered with the drink she’d just spilled, Doctor Price greeted Yui with a smile, still sitting on her backside.

“Oh, geez. My bad, Doctor Price.” Yui quickly helped the researcher to her feet, her eyes on the stain. “Let me get that dry-cleaned for you. That’s gotta be an expensive coat.”

She hadn’t seen any of the other researchers wearing anything quite so nice, now that she was thinking about it. Doctor Price had some custom embroidery on the shoulders, butterfly wings, and other light detailing.

“Oh, think nothing of it; this is my natural state of being. I do all the stitching myself, so it doesn’t cost me more than a few drops of blood, and the occasional curse…” Doctor Price laughed nervously after being helped to her feet. “But I can tell that answer won’t satisfy your guilt… will it?”

“I mean, I could still buy you another coffee if you’d—”

“—Do you eat?!”

“Do I…?”

Yui tilted her head at the woman’s vacant gaze. Doctor Price’s face reddened as she stroked her braided brown hair.

“Would you LIKE to go eat somewhere… with me?” She clarified, finding the right words. Her eyes flickered under her thick glasses. “Most of the researchers I work with are men, and I don’t often get the chance to—well, socialize. Especially with other women close to my age, and…”

The woman got lost in her explanation as Yui simply nodded along, during which she wondered what people walking by might be thinking about the scene.

“Ah…” Doctor Price finally short-circuited. “There’s a cafe near the eastern research center…?”

Yui stifled a chuckle.

“Sure, let’s go.”