Chapter 21: Another First Meeting

Chapter 21: Another First Meeting

As early as I am, the Cliffside Crows are still pretty active. I see the kids playing in the town center as usual, and just like before, Mari approaches me while I'm looking around the village, seeing as I didn't head directly towards Tarin's hut.

"You!" she says. It's just like the first time she greeted me. "Trialgoer?"

"I need to talk to you," I say. I know from experience her force of personality is overwhelming; if I just say yes, she's going to drag me to Tarin before I get the chance to explain, and that's just going to cause more problems than I want to deal with this loop. Part of it is that I'm still on edge Naru's not here, but he's close by, or he will be. If things proceed the same way, and they should...

The Integrators being external to the loop is a complicating factor. It means that at any time, they could send Naru or any one of the Hestian Trialgoers a message, and it might throw off my plans for a loop. It's not something I can anticipate or plan for.

Not yet.

Tarin was careful with how he phrased his words, and I'll have to be, too.N0v3lRealm was the platform where this chapter was initially revealed on N0v3l.B1n.

I realize after a moment that Mari's been staring at me, and I've been too busy ruminating about the Integrators and the Trialgoers to register her response. I give her a slightly embarrassed cough. "Sorry," I say. "I got distracted."

"You want meet husband?" she says. "He know Trial. He help!"

"He's..." In a coma. "Not who I need to talk to."

Mari stares at me for a moment. I see something flicker in her uncertainty, then concern, then a few other emotions that flash by too rapidly for me to catch; I feel her Firmament rising for just a split second before she quells it.

"You said you spent one hundred and twenty-six days on Tarin's courting rock," I tell her, in case it helps.

She stares at me for a moment more, and then bursts into cackling laughter.

"Tarin idiot," she says, with something like gleeful adoration in her eyes. "Courting rock just rock! I throw at him because he noisy. Then he come up to me, starry-eyed, and tell me he accept."

She shakes her head, smiling affectionately. "I accept too, of course. Tarin handsome. Smart, too, but stupid in heart. But I stupid in heart too. I tell you one-two-six? I play prank on you. But it tell me I can trust you."

...Well, now I feel kind of foolish. But Mari is smiling at me with a familiar sort of smile, and I can't bring myself to...

"But why you say I talk to you?" Mari continues, and she frowns a little. "We find Tarin. Good to talk with him! He help."

"We can't," I say softly.

Mari tilts her head at me, not understanding. "Why not!" she says. "He there! He in house. Sleeping. He always sleep for the whole day, silly husband..."

Despite himself, Ahkelios perks up. "Is it a good plant?"

I chuckle slightly. "You tell me. You're the plant expert."

I present to him the ripped-off bark with the little bit of moss on it, and he turns up his nose in a surprisingly human gesture. "You ripped it off! It isn't as valuable if you rip it off. I need to study how it's feeding on the tree. And it's just a piece of moss!"

"It's emanating Firmament," I say, trying to placate him. He's twitching, though, and barely restraining himself from giving it a once over. "And it smells like an Earth food."

"What? No it doesn't. It smells like... my favorite..."

Ahkelios trails off, then cautiously hops over to take the piece of bark into his hands but not before he points a finger at me, half-threateningly. "You are forgiven," he says dramatically. "For now."

"I know, I know," I say. I can't help but smile a little, despite his words; he's clearly just pouting, now, and he's climbing back up onto my shoulders without any hesitation or discomfort.

I should be a little more careful about what I say around him. I'm just still worried about how much the Interface has messed with his agency. He's compelled to be helpful, to some degree, and the way he phrased his words about getting an assistant suggests that mine isn't the only skill that can do something like this.

"I am sorry," I add, my voice just a bit softer, and Ahkelios pauses in his fiddling with the piece of bark on my shoulder.

"I know," he says. "I'm a little worried about it, too. But it's something I don't want to think about for now, until we find a solution, so let's just... not talk about it. Please?"

His voice is almost pleading. I acquiesce without a word, changing the topic with only a slight nod to acknowledge what he'd said.

"How about we go introduce you to some birds, then?" I say. It's about time I introduce him to Mari. I'd wanted to introduce him to Tarin, too, but... that can come later. After I save Tarin.

"Uh... birds?" Ahkelios suddenly looks awkward. He looks down at himself at the small size of his body, presumably, at least in this form and then at me. "They're not going to try to eat me, are they?"

"What?" I blink. "No."

Then I actually think about it. I had eaten a dish from them, and it had contained a number of insects. Ahkelios is giving me a skeptical look. "...Maybe?" I say, and he gives me a flat stare. "You're made of Firmament, they're not going to be able to eat you!"

"I don't want them to try," he complains.

"I'll make sure they don't," I promise, and he seems to relax a bit at that. He still gives me a glare, though, and he hugs the piece of tree-bark and the moss on it close to his chest.

I find myself suddenly wishing I could've introduced him to Tarin. I'm sure the old crow would have gotten a kick out of him.

Just another reason to save him.