TW: SWEARING, MENTIONS OF WAR AND HATRED
A short chapter, but a very necessary one >:)
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I was fast to learn that I was wrong about the springs in the Capital being the only hot springs in the country. There were several natural hot springs littered in hidden places in Alifero's cliffs and mountains. The springs I have been going to all my life were the only ones to have been built upon. They are also the largest and most well-known which explains why I've never heard of any others.
My finger traces all the locations I had marked on a map I stole from Phil's office. I don't remember the last time I skipped training to study, but I had too many questions to put them off. As soon as I returned yesterday, I blurted out everything to Sneeg whilst he sat on my shoulder half-listening to me. He said it was weird but brushed it off and left to polish up some new jewels in the dollhouse. Wilbur had breakfast with me on the floor of my room since Phil and Amélie had left early again. He set his jaw and said it was curious but that he wouldn't know how to help me except for getting me a map. The rest is history.
With a red-inked quill, I plotted dots on the map where the springs were. It took a lot of staring and a niggling feeling in my brain to realise that most of the springs weren't far from ancient reservoirs. I thought back to how my Grandmother had written in her journal about how they needed to build those reservoirs to supply water in the war.
Back then I wondered if the reservoirs had something to do with the water we were missing. I dismissed it because reservoirs are built to collect water, not drain it. That's why the reservoirs were constructed in the mountains in the first place. It rains more up there, so the reservoirs collected mountain runoff as well as just rain.
One thing still evaded me; If the remote hot springs are nestled into the bases of cliffs and inside caves, in areas where they are highly shaded and at low altitudes, what is keeping them warm?
I jolt as Wilbur slaps a pile of newspapers onto the desk next to me.
"As you requested," he says completely missing the glare I shoot at him. With a sigh, I readjust myself and jot down a couple more things on my notepad for investigation before turning to today's papers.
"Thanks," I grumble and start flicking through the first one on the stack. A paper that targeted estate-owning and wealthy elytrians as their readers. Specifically, those who are interested in politics. My father reads it often. Personally, I don't think there's a paper more boring.
"Why do you give a shit about these, Star? You hated these until a few weeks ago," Wilbur drags his thumb up the side of the stack making the papers thud on the desk.
"The council announces stuff to the public through the papers, Wil," I say distractedly as I skim through each page for topics of interest. "If they're lying to the public about something, we'll know immediately."
"Because you're always digging through Phil's shit?"
"Exactly."
Wilbur shrugs nonchalantly and puts on his classic frown, but I know he thinks my technique is clever. With his prickly personality, he'd never let it show.
Whilst Father's papers are almost always useless, they do tell us what the council is deciding and planning. No government is transparent with its people. But nobody lies unless they have something to hide.
After some more grumbling and snooping around my desk, Wilbur leaves me in my fog of thoughts. I toss the newspaper into the bin under my desk when I find nothing useful in it. Moving on the next I go straight to the political section and start skimming.
I run a hand through my incredibly messy hair which I had tried to pull back into a bun. The clothes I bought with Tommy were even more comfortable than I thought. I pulled on a white tee shirt, something I had never actually owned before, and a pair of pants that Tommy insisted on calling "stoner pants". The joke didn't land but the way Tommy had said it, pulling a face with wide dopey eyes and a gaping mouth, made me laugh so hard my stomach started hurting. They were just incredibly patterned loose pants that were a kaleidoscope of reds, oranges, greens and yellows.
My eyes pause when they land on a letter from Typhon. The foul memory of the grey-winged elytrian resurfaces. I clench my jaw as I remember his rudeness to me and how he reeked of expensive cologne. From what I caught of his and Phil's conversation, the council were wrong about the missing water being lost in the mountains. The more I thought about it, the less it made sense. The mountains were the perfect place for water to go missing, the runoff could be disappearing in any number of places. It would take years to scour the whole place until they found where it was going.
I stop skimming and take the time to read Typhon's letter to the public. He didn't say anything of actual value apart from a more severe change in water restrictions and how increases in population density around the Anahita will become the new norm for all races. I roll my eyes knowing that there would be no solutions coming from the council any time soon. I can't imagine the merlings like him declaring that they must share their precious water any more than I do.
Further into the paragraph, he mentions how the council will be continuing the search for more water towards the west. A quick glance at my map tells me that the area they're searching is the foothills that mark the border between Alifero and Cornucopia. On the other side of those hills and valleys is the slimecian region of Cornucopia. The only place in the country where there's enough water to keep the species alive. A disgusting swamp polluted with junk from the rest of the country, but it is all they have. My frown deepens as I remember how Charlie told me that he was sharing his house with several other slimecians because their homes became too dry.
They'll find nothing there. The council are wasting their time by not searching the mountains. Even a village idiot could tell you that rain is more frequent at high altitudes. Why not try and utilise the ancient reservoirs? They worked once to save the country from drought years ago, why wouldn't they work again now?
Father's reports flash through my mind as I try to think of all the reasons why nobody was looking in the mountains. But there was never enough in the reports about searching the mountains, and nothing on reservoirs.
Once again, my train of thought is interrupted, this time by a much smaller intruder. Sneeg kicks my door open with his obscure strength causing it to bang against the wall. I jump in my chair and turn to scowl at him for scaring me.
"Ready to go when you are!" he beams and starts to chuckle when he sees my foul expression. I rub my hand over my face.
"Sneeg, it's too early to go to the Pube," I say tiredly. With a soft tap, Sneeg lands on my desktop and sits on my neglected stack of textbooks.
"You need to look outside your window," he says. I pull a confused face and turn to my open window.
"Oh..." is all I can say when I see that the sun was nearly finished setting. The world outside had changed from lush green, to warm yellow to dark blue and I hadn't noticed a thing. As I come back to the world from the realm I had created, I feel my stomach start to grumble.
"Get up!" Sneeg urges and hops onto my shoulder.
I raise my hands in surrender. "Alright, alright," I say and head to my closet. Sneeg ducks into the dollhouse to give me privacy as I pull out clothes.
A small wistful smile graces my face as I start going through the new clothes I bought. I choose an outfit unable to stop thinking about how much fun I had with Tommy whilst we were in the market. As I pull my new jacket over my shoulders, I notice how it looks so similar to Tommy's bomber in the mirror. It was fur-lined, like his, and made of some kind of leather; perfect for the cool environment around the Pube. Only, my jacket wasn't half as old and the sleeves weren't covered in fabric patches.
My mind thinks back to how I had promised him to wear warm clothes at the Pube rather than freezing. Tommy's sleeping face from the other morning pops into my mind instantly making the tips of my ears red.
I shake myself mentally and stride out of the closet. Phil and Amélie would be home, but Phil would be working in the office and Amélie would be in her room. Neither of them would see or hear me leave. As I pick up my shoes I feel Sneeg hop back onto my shoulder.
"So what did you find out today?" he asks settling into the crook of my neck. It was the same question he always asked me after I'd been working all day.
I smirk knowing that today was actually useful. "A lot."
"Wow, impressive," Sneeg mockingly applauds me and I chuckle at his sarcasm. "Anything specific."
I shrug. "Just tying up loose ends. But I know exactly where I'll go looking next."
・꧁꧂・
Tommy, Tubbo and Ranboo stare at the napkin I had scribbled all over as I explained my hunch. We sat at our usual spot in the Pube, the table littered with empty glasses and the potato chips that I had eaten as my dinner and lunch.
Ranboo's usually slick hair was messy and his deep gold and violet jacket was discarded on the back of his chair, leaving him in just his white shirt. Tubbo wore his usual brown and yellow sweater but had muddy denim overalls over the top suggesting he had been working on his bee farm before he arrived. Tommy was his usual scruffy self, a jacket thrown over his chair and the red sleeves of his shirt pushed up to his elbows. His wings were ruffled like he hadn't preened them in a while.
"I thought we could get some tools and go through the cave systems. Maybe the water is getting lost there," I suggest. I knew we had to investigate the caves where the hot springs were, I just didn't know where the water would be going.
"Ok, but how are we not going to get lost?" Tubbo says, his antenna flicking nervously.
"It's easy enough to travel over the cliffs, as long as we don't go through them," I say. Tubbo had a point, the cliffs are a labyrinth since they're not just straight cliffs. They're collections of tall slices of rock that weave through one another to create the universe's most complex natural structure.
"Sounds like a plan," Tommy stretches back in his chair and Ranboo nods in agreement with him.
"Before we dive into the caves," I say which makes Tommy groan boredly. I roll my eyes, he really could be a child sometimes. "We need gear that will get us in and out. Ropes, lights that don't rely on flame, goggles in case we need to swim..."
"Jack has a blacksmith shop in the Nether," I turn to Ranboo. His eyes were set with grit and determination. "We can get everything we need there."
"That's perfect-"
"Except for one thing," Tommy cuts me off leaning back into the table. "You can't leave Alifero for long periods of time."
I bite my lip in consideration, my eyes locked with Tommy's. He had been on everybody's nerves all night, toeing the line of assholery and idiocy. I had wondered where his sudden outburst had come from, remembering that Beau complained about them and how they always happened when Tommy was doing something weird. My memories flick to the two of us, it felt like the time I spent at Tommy's house was longer ago than just two days.
Was he thinking about that too? Is this how he masks his feelings? The longer I looked at Tommy, the more he squirmed under my gaze. He knew I was picking him apart. What had felt like minutes of trying to decode him was likely nothing more than a few seconds of hesitation.
My idea blurts from my mouth before I can stop it. "Can I stay at your place?"
Tommy was more than taken aback by my request. I see him cast a quick glance at Tubbo and Ranboo who hadn't picked up on the esoteric tension between us. "S-sure."
I smile a little knowing that my question had knocked him back into his body.
"Before I forget," I come back to the conversation, no doubt leaving plenty of questions unanswered in Tommy's mind. "We need to act fast. The Aliferian council is so useless, they're looking in the wrong direction."
"My parents have been talking about threats from Querencia," Ranboo says. I frown knowing that no talk of threats has come through on Father's reports. It must be a discussion matter only. It's easy to steal documents, but not words out of someone's mouth.
"I heard that too, but about Aranea," Tubbo adds.
My wings tense as the cogs in my brain whirl. If what the boys say is accurate, then we have less time than what I thought. So far the island has been tolerant of the drought, the unspoken rigidity between different races was mercy. When all the water runs dry, and people outside of Aranea start to die in large clusters, the hatred that has brewed for so long will destroy us. We'll be too busy fighting one another for scraps instead of finding a solution for everybody.
We cannot let that happen.
"Then we have no time," I say. In the corner of my eye, I see Tommy focus his attention on me, his expression softer than it has been and more worrisome. Though my heart ached for me to do otherwise, I ignored him.
"I'll go home and get some things we'll need and travel to Querencia tonight. Whilst we get things from the Nether, I can stay with Tommy. Phil's been a nightmare recently, but he's also busy. I doubt he'll notice or care that I'm gone."
I didn't like openly saying those words, but they were the truth and the guys needed reassurance that I could help them. Through unspoken words, I have become the ringleader of our motley crew, and I'm not about to let them down.
Ranboo takes out his golden pocket watch and frowns. "You better get moving, Aster. It's late now and if you don't hurry you'll get to Tommy's by sunrise instead of in the night."
"I'll see you all soon," I say trying to smile for them. We stand from our seats and reenter the rowdy atmosphere at the Pube. I had grown so used to the place that I hardly even register the volume anymore.
Tubbo and Ranboo wave to me before heading to the bar to enjoy the rest of their night. I chuckle a little when I see James' tabby tail flick when he sees them and calls them over. Scott's nighttime glitter shimmers brighter when he sees them too, no doubt relieved to have someone other than James as company. We love the guy, but he's a little nutty when he's drunk.
I make for the door, waving to Niki who was talking to Wilbur through the glass of the merling tank. She waves back with a smile and I make a mental note to hang out with her once this disaster is all over.
I'm about to open the door of the Pube, but someone grabs my arm. I feel the familiar surge of electricity and know who it is before I see them. Tommy looks down at me, eyes swimming with something I can't name.
"I... Be safe," he says awkwardly. He lets go of my arm and I feel myself go cold. Whatever Tommy was looking at me with, it made my heart beat wildly against my ribs. I smile for him, but it doesn't feel reassuring. I just wish he would hug me instead of grabbing my arm. But that wouldn't make sense, would it?
I pull myself back together. "I'll see you at home."