Rian

Part 45

After Will left, Drakon took Satomi to Agens' house. When the trolley dropped her off, Drakon leaned his head out the window before Satomi made it to the kitchen. "Someone will be by to stay with you!" Drakon yelled as the trolley operator revved his beast of a machine. With slight annoyance, Drakon glared towards the driver.

"Will you be joining us tomorrow?" Satomi smiled at the question. There was no assumption on Drakon's part; he was asking. "Yes!" Drakon nodded and waving a hand to the driver, he took off in a hurry.

"Hmm, what's this?" Satomi asked herself. While she stood at the edge of the road, she could make out a light in Agnes' kitchen, as if someone was home.

"Well, if they are a friend of Agnes, then they are a friend of mine." Descending the root steps, Satomi caught herself in the glow of warm light radiating from the many vines hanging from the ceiling. The small flowers, no bigger than a coin, illuminated the kitchen, the fountains, even the fish swam beneath light, almost bathed entirely in it. The sight was wonder and comfort all in one, making Satomi unafraid of anything, the future, or even Will's journey. Satomi located some tea quickly enough, but at the stove she faltered. Satomi guessed the well in the table with a charred, metal lattice partially covering the opening was the stove. Lifting the lattice revealed no wood or even remains. "Ouch." Satomi took back her hand at the touch of fire.

Curious and mostly unharmed, Satomi raised her hand over the pit only to feel a growing warmth pushing from it. Perplexed, Satomi quickly located a hanging teapot and filling it with water from the well pump, she placed the pot on the lattice. Within moments the teapot howled its finished boil and seemingly quicker than that the heat was gone and the pit, once again, was cold. "How?" But then again, if Agnes could enter B. musculus without the use of a door than maybe it was possible for Satomi to cook without making a fire.

"Satomi?" A rough voice trying to be soft as possible called to the young woman. It was Daisy. Satomi smiled and lifted the finished cup of tea for Daisy to take.

"Hmm, cloverming. Perfect choice." Daisy commented.

"Cloverming?"

"Yeah, the tea. It's harvested in spring and only enjoyed ten years later when the seedlings are at their peak extract." Daisy inhaled the steam, dreaming of better days when she and her friends would drink this outside of Agnes' house, perhaps during the summer next to Lake Blackbird. "Drakon told me what happened. I'm sorry about Will and even sorrier he's separated from you now. Coming from Earth, I know what it's like to be surrounded by so many people and still feel out of place."Satomi nodded, but she had more questions than sorrow.

"Will isn't from Earth, is he?" Peeking over the cup, Satomi watched Daisy closely. The woman hesitated."Will, he'll tell me when the time is right, but please...the knowledge he has of himself, it is something he can understand or will it consume him?"

"It's not easy knowledge, that's for sure." Daisy had seen far less information reach ears made for darkest secrets and even then it was enough to overpower them.

"Is there anything I can do?" Satomi asked.

"Keep being you. It seems you're the only one Will trusts." The woman went quiet, Daisy listening to the calling night cranes and Satomi considering what it might mean to speak openly of what she might not be ready to hear.

"Agnes had a hand in Kalon's destruction?"

"She did," Daisy confirmed, her voice cold.

"And you're tired of admitting that to people?" Satomi caught the pain and near hatred, beginning to boil in Daisy. The woman hated to speak of so much lost life as much as she hated to speak of Agnes' place in the decision.

"It's not easy to watch the world turn crazy and consume itself." Daisy didn't want to say more, but Satomi held her eyes wide open, not out of curiosity, but a longing to understand. "It's not easy loving someone who defies you at every turn." Daisy mumbled, but she wasn't speaking of Agnes.

"What do you mean?" A sigh broke from Daisy and she pushed a purple strand of hair behind her ear. "Julius, the one who brought me to Rian...he was the loudest voice against Agnes, against her decision to not help Kalon."

"Agnes' decision not to intervene had something to do with Julius then?"

"I'd say so. Those two were always so tumultuous, but whatever their past meant to them, they were willing to sacrifice it all over Kalon, I guess."

"What do you mean, their past?"

"They were in love for the longest time. Julius and Agnes knew each other from birth, they were at each other's side for years, but after university...I don't know. Things just changed. I wasn't there for it, but I've heard the stories. Always at each other's throat."

"What do you think caused it?"Daisy tilted her cup back and swallowed the rest of her tea. "I think it might have had something to do with The Book, with the prophecies in it."Satomi cocked her head and at the gesture, Daisy smiled a bit, allowing some mischief to push away the cold. "You wanna break the law?"