How Worlds Have Changed

“Your friend had left these letters with me. She’d asked that I’d give them to you after she’d departed.”

Shortly after I separate from Neptanie, Jupa approaches me in the hall with a set of envelopes in her hands. Taking them, I check them over front and back to get an eyeful of the dignified seal stamped on them.

“Aren’t these a sight for sore eyes.” When I glance back up to Jupa, her curious gaze finds its place. “These are either notices of approval or rejection for the security detail for the Lovely Memorial Carnival. I’ve been looking forward to receiving these for a while now.”

“Let’s hope that they both bear good news.” She speaks to me her sweet support as she daintily curtsies.

Having settled the task Vestil had given her, she takes her leave. When she passes from view, I let my dimmer emotions slip onto my face.

“Even if she’s been accepted, what is Juna going to do with this news?”

“I don’t want to be a knight anymore.” A remnant echo of her sullen words replays for me as I peer back down to the two envelopes.

✩ ✩ ✩

I happen to find the exact woman I’d been looking for as I’d risen up the manor’s stairs. Standing in the sun room at the end of a hallway, peering out to the green outdoors is Justice. Even from thin view of her profile I’m afforded, I can see the a seed of sorrow in her contemplation.

That sad look in her eyes brings me to wonder if it’d be best to leave her to her thoughts. Yet I push past that as there’s plenty to be done today. I call out to her, hoping to help her play away that sullen moment.

“There you are. Glad I’ve finally found you.”

Roused to awareness, she straightens up in the blink of an eye. Raising up to her feet, she strides to meet me.

“I’d never be far off. I can’t properly defend you if I’m off somewhere else.” She responds to me dryly but with every good intention. “I’ll always be nearby.”

“It’s a burden to bear but I suppose it’s finally fallen on someone.” I jest.

“If I had to guess, you’re getting ready to leave the manor behind, aren’t you?”

“I have a some business to tend to in the city and I could use company.” I brandish the letter that had been addressed to me.

“The time has come, has it?”

“I’d expected that you’d know just what this means.”

“You’ve been accepted.” She speaks matter of factly. “But you’d also taken a look at Lady Juna’s, hadn’t you?”

Though it would be natural to be stunned when caught red handed, I find myself only in dull surprise at her correct assumption.

“I had. It may be explicitly illegal to check mail that isn’t addressed to you, but we’re both close enough that we’ve done it plenty of times before. I’d tried to resist it, but I just couldn’t hold myself back in the end.”

We descend the stairs together, shoulder to shoulder, in step.

“You’re right that she was accepted, but that much is a given. There’s no way they could turn her down with her record. But…” I don’t even bother repressing my languished sigh while I take in the feelings scraping across my chest. “if I sit around doing nothing then there’s no doubt she’ll let the opportunity go to waste. And the clock is ticking. If she’s going to take part then she’ll need to meet the deadline 2 days prior.”

“I’m sure she’ll come around. We’ll do what we can to make it happen.”

Having met the manor’s entryway, I twist on heel and place myself between Justice and the front door.

“Well, it may not be directly connected to Juna, but there is one thing that I was hoping you’d lend me a hand with today.”

“Whatever I can do to help, I’ll give it my best.”

✩ ✩ ✩

“When you’d said that I’d be of help, I hadn’t expected this would be what you’d had in mind.”

Returning my confirmation of the notice was a quick and simple matter. Hanging off from it, a whole day was still up in the air. Thus I’d began to execute my plans. A soft serve ice cream for each of us, we walk through Empyrea’s streets.

“I was thinking it would have involved something with investigations or more urgent matters at the very least.”

Justice had been rightly confused when I’d told her that the assistance I was seeking from her was nothing less than her company. Hardly what would be expected to be asked of someone claiming the weight of the world as theirs not even a day prior.

“But it is an important matter even if it’s not what you’d call urgent. If we’re going to be working together, it’s best that we’d learn more about each other. You may have known another me, but you still have yet to really know me as I am here.”

“Well, I can’t say you’re wrong.” She speaks and then gives her vanilla cone a quick lapping.

“We can switch off asking questions if you’d like. Go ahead, ask away. Anything that you’re curious about.”

“Well…” she gives it a quick thought, “why ice cream of all things?”

“It’s a bit warm today so it’s nice to have something to cool off. But I take it that you’re looking for an answer a bit more substantial than that.”

I take up a bit of the melt into my mouth. Its cold, sweet taste is just right.

“It’s nostalgic for me. Juna and I used to get ice cream often enough during summertime shifts. I suppose there’s just something about walking with you that feels nostalgic as well so it felt natural.”

“That’s why? That… does make me feel a bit flattered.”

“Then it’s my turn. When did we first meet in your world?”

“June the 16th of 2030.” She answers me coolly while taking interest in her surroundings. Though she does take a coy peek towards me all the while.

“That would have been exactly 2 weeks ago. It seems like our worlds are extremely different after all. I’m honestly surprised you’ve been taking it all as well as you have. I think it would be hard for me to cope with that.”

“It’s been a long journey and even if it’s one of the most bizarre worlds I’ve seen, it still isn’t nearly as shocking as the very first I’d visited.”

Her face begins to flush and she makes a conscious effort to keep her eyes away from mine.

“That must have been some world. Mind if I hear about it?”

“You’re asking out of turn, so no.” Her bluntness only makes it all the more humorous to me.

“Seems you’ve found your way out of it this time. But I’ll be hoping to hear what kinds of adventures we’d had in that world sometime.”

“Maybe, but no guarantees.”

She sighs and indulges in a little more of her treat. But whatever question she’d had primed in the chamber is withheld in reserve as she spots a building lining the business district.

“This isn’t Ulrique and Xun’s Emporium?”

I take a gander at what has gained her interest and see a familiar store.

“I’ve never heard of a store by that name.”

“You’ve never met those two?” Try as she might to be tough, there’s no hiding her disappointment at my admission. “This store was owned by them. By this time it’d still been recent since they’d received the kingdom’s approval to sell goods for knights. You would visit them more often than any other dealers.”

“This store also has a license to sell equipment to knights. Though its owner is a bit… strange.”

I wave her to follow close behind. We walk the storefront’s glass and peer through it. We watch a woman with cat-like ears atop her head making herself busy with cataloging her wares. In a few seconds she roughs up her hair and nearly screams.

“Mia owns this store?”

“She’s a Feline so she’s a rare sight, I know.”

“Well, Ulrique and Xun were both Feline as well. They’d had this store passed down to them by Mia. She was a rare sight given that she’d retired out of the shop keeping business.”

“Understandable given how it seems like she’s always one gentle push the wrong way away from either an aneurysm or a major incident.”

“Then I guess I won’t be able to see those two until I return home.” Her sigh is burdened, a bit sad.

“They must have meant something special to you.”

“I used to visit them when I was still in training. They were always kind and welcoming to me. There were plenty of times their products helped me with my own assignments as well.”

It takes a small mustering for her to breathe out the depression but she rights herself quickly enough. We reconvene our stroll.

✩ ✩ ✩

“I have one last question I’d like to ask. It’s been on my mind for a while now.” The turn order of our game returns to me while we travel past a section of the city where diners and restaurants are the norm. “I’ve been curious to ask about your family, Justice. You’re in this world so it must have taken plenty of courage to leave them behind to come here.”

“I had to. I had no other choice. Some had tried to stop me, but… It just had to be done.”

“So then, what kind of people were they… are they? I suppose it would be present tense given that they’re alive, just not here.”

There’s a reluctance in her eyes as she wagers whether or not she should even speak and just how much she should say. But as a character loyal to her word, she acknowledges my turn.

“I came from a large family and I was the first of all my parents’ children. I’d been told from a young age that I was meant for battle and that my life would be in service to the Celestial Knight.”

“It seems that you’ve always taken the weight of the world onto your shoulders. It makes it a bit more clear why you would have the tenacity to have made it this far.”

“I’ve always been a bit of a perfectionist. Plenty of people say that I get that from my parents.”

“You’d said your family is large; about how large would large be?”

“I have over 10 siblings.”

“T-Ten?!” I sputter out in surprise.

“Yes. I have many brothers and sisters. All of us are together in our service towards the Celestial Knight and the kingdom. We were all from special blood, a special pact that is sworn to duty.”

“I’d think you’ve more than proven your sense of duty now given that we’ve met. And on a second thought, maybe those numbers are a bit more common than I’d thought. I’d recently heard that Mercy has 12 mothers, apparently.”

“She does. All of her siblings are far beyond what you’d expect they would be. She was always the odd one out from her household.”

“So that’s a fact even where you’re from? But I must ask again how is your family back home?”

“They’re well. My mother had become sick shortly before I’d left and my siblings and all of my extended family are doing their best to care for her. A part of the reason I’d come to protect you has to do with what had befallen her.”

“That’s a shame to hear. I hope she’ll get back on her feet. But what kind of sickness did she contract?”

“I think you’ve come up on your quota of questions for now. And it’s best that some things be left as they are until this mission is finished. When you’ve succeeded your work as the Celestial Knight, then I’ll be able to answer those sorts of questions.”

“That’s going to be quite some time. Patience has always been a virtue.”

“And you’ve always been a patient man.”

“There we are.” I stop in my stride and Justice quickly pauses hers as well.

“Why the sudden stop?”

“I’d brought you along to be my company today for a good reason. There had actually been another objective in my mind I’d kept quiet about just in case it fell through, but…”

While Justice and I had been on our walk together, I’d kept ever vigilant. As I find the man I’d been searching after, I point him out to Justice.

“…there he is.”

When she sees the man in question, she recoils in surprise.

“Thirteen?”

“You’d told me yesterday that he was the one man you’d never met before so I’d reasoned that that’s another investigation on our hands. Why don’t we pay him a friendly visit?”

“I-I suppose we can… I’ll try my best.”

We move through the marching crowds to cross the street. All the way to the strange restaurant he rests in with a cup of tea held refined above its saucer.

Off to meet the man who is nothing but a mystery to the two of us.