Back to Lon

Back to Lon

In the end, the bundle of clothes in Rain's arms was the deciding factor. No point ruining them just to toy with him. Even if it would be fun.

She would have to ditch him before entering her library. If he saw her entering the library and waited long enough to see her leave, it might give away a significant weakness of her skill.

Turning a corner down an empty side street, Rain dropped a coin in a pile of ash. She kept walking for another fifteen minutes. Once sure they were far from where she dropped her coin, she ducked out of sight and warped to it. The coin spasmed out of existence as Rain backtracked to another deserted alley, then used a door to go home.

Heading to her room, she sat on her bed and held up her new green dress. She wanted to put it on but realized it probably wouldn’t be a good choice if she hoped to play with Lon later. She put it down with regret; before she could, a strand of thread shot out of her cloak and attached to the dress. The dress disintegrated, starting at the point that the thread touched. It was gone before Rain could even try to save it.

Rain turned betrayed eyes on her cloak. “Why would you do that.”

She was fighting back tears at this point. Sure, It was stupid, but she had been really looking forward to wearing something colorful.

Before the situation could escalate, the cloak rippled and shifted. In a matter of seconds, it was a perfect replica of the dress it had just eaten.

Face immediately clearing up, Rain stood up and twirled around, enjoying the feel of the dress. The green really was a pretty color amidst the stark tones of the library.

“Mr. Cloak, can you change back?”

The cloak shifted back to normal.

Delighted, Rain began feeding her cloak all the clothes she just bought. It ate everything except the goggles. Rain guessed it could only eat cloth things. Deciding to test this, Rain went to her hoard and picked out a necklace; her cloak wasn't even slightly interested. It did, however, eat a roll of scarlet silk.

When Rain tried to turn her cloak into the roll of silk, it shifted material from the black cloth to elegant silk, otherwise retaining its shape. Excited, Rain experimented with the cloak and found it could take the form of any clothes it ate and change to be made of any fabric it ate.

“Oh, hay. I thought something happened to you.” Lon said in a strained voice as he struggled with his water. “I would love some help, but I don’t think there's a good way to carry a bucket of water together.”

Realizing that he was probably right, Rain stayed a little ahead of him so she could open whatever door he needed to take his water through.

A handful of grunts from Lon later, they were in the bakery kitchen where Lon could set his bucket down.

“Thanks for getting the door for me. That bucket is heavy.”

“Of course. Do you want to play today?”

After being unable to ask the last time she talked with Lon, Rain decided to waste no time asking the important questions.

“Sorry, Pa needs me to help around the bakery.”

The immediate rejection hit her right in the gut. The crushing blow almost made her give up. Then she thought about what he had actually said. He’d said he needed to help around the bakery, not that he couldn’t play when he was done.

Rain decided to try one more time.

“Can we play when you finish? I'll help you with your work until then.” She thought she did a good job keeping the worry out of her voice.

Lon was about to say something but hesitated when he noticed her unconsciously clutching her shirt.

“All right.”