It was our turn to go out. Alain, Duke, and the girls already took theirs. It was gonna be interesting. I didn't spend much time with Phoenix when we lived in the palace.
Eventually we wandered into this square with lots of shops. It reminded me of the cores back home but smaller.
Ring-ring!
A little girl came out of a shop with her parents. Her eyes were big and shined like the ama.
I couldn't see what was in that shop, but I wanted some.
Marsh took my hand. "Let's see what the shine is. And a couple answers if we're lucky."
"Uh..." Phoenix put his hands in his pockets. "Do you have any money?"
Marsh smiled. "Don't worry. Noelle made me take some before we left."
We then went into the little shop. There was a cooler, some tables, and a counter. The tables were empty when we came in.
"You want some?"
Phoenix shook his head.
Marsh and I ordered rocky road and vanilla and sat down with Phoenix so we could eat.
The whole time we ate Phoenix bounced between staring at us and the counter with the ice cream freezer.
Marsh gave him a nudge. "Go on. You know you want to."
Phoenix's cheeks were red. "I'm fine."
I didn't believe him. Marsh probably didn't either. That was what the warm and cold told me anyway.
"I can't read the ice creams."
The lady at the counter was old enough to be my grandma. She had grey hair and wrinkles. She was wearing purple. "Come here, sweetie."
Phoenix did as the lady asked.
She handed him a little, pink spoon. It had chocolate ice cream on it, I thought.
Phoenix's eyes lit up. "I want this."
The lady handed him a cup and Phoenix sat down.
Marsh tried to give the lady money, but she pushed it away.
The lady motioned me and Marsh over. "On the house. A welcoming gift from Grandma Juniper. Send Sarah and her boy my regards."
Sarah? Who was Sarah?
"We will." Marsh smiled.
It looked like the ama jumped into Phoenix's eyes. "I remember this! I remember this! Ellie brought us some once! It was so good! It was so good!"
Phoenix was talking so fast I could hardly understand him.
"Well, this was worth it then," was all Marsh could say.
We wandered around little bit more before going home after that.
***
Once we got home, we went into this room with Alain and Tiana. We sat on couch and they took the other.
"Did something happen?" Tiana asked.
Marsh scratched his neck. "I took them to buy ice cream. Before I forget, I think Grandma Juniper told us to tell you and your mom she said hi."
Alain got so red when he heard that.
"That sounds nice," Tiana said.'
"But it's not what you wanted to talk to us about," Alain said.
Marsh nodded. "This might be none of my business, but does your brother need glasses?"
Alain and Tiana looked at each other and sighed.
Tiana rubbed her arms. "We've wondered that. Leon checked that not long after we got out. We checked it again a couple weeks before we left. His eyes are completely fine."
"He just can't read." Alain was looking at something else. "There are letters we could never teach him to differentiate between. Whenever he'd try, he'd wind up drained and with a nasty headache. At this point, we doubt it's a battle worth fighting."
"Why?" Marsh asked.
Tiana looked at the ring on her finger. "He loves stories. I don't want to take that away from him. The frustration could do that if it went on long enough."
Wow. I couldn't imagine not being able to read. It helped whenever Marsh and I could find a map. A map was a helpful thing for travelers.
***
I wandered into the garden later. I wanted to look at the pretty fountain and statues.
That was when a red and brown bird flew and landed on my arm. 'Hi, Lie.'
'Hi, Elenita. Your feathers are extra pretty today.'
If she wasn't a bird, Elenita probably would've been blushing. 'You're such a sweetheart, darling.'
Phoenix came over and sat on the bench with me. He smiled. "Who's that?"
"Her name's Elenita."
"Do you name her?"
I shook my head. "The neighbors named her that. They speak something else. It's called... Spanish... I think."
"Do they speak the thing Ain does?"
"No... Elenita knows a few of their words. It doesn't sound like Japanese at all."
Phoenix looked at the ama. "I wonder what Spanish sounds like..."
'It's pretty.'
"Elenita told me it's pretty."
"It is? Wonder how different it sounds than Ain's words. Ain's words are really different from ours."
They were. I had to agree with that. It sounded like they blended their sounds more than we did in English.
"How do you talk to Elenita?" Phoenix looked at her. "Sounds like it'd be fun to talk to birds."
I could never remember what it was called!
"I have—I have... telephone..."
Phoenix put his hand over his mouth. "You mean telepathy?"
"Yeah! Yeah! I have that!"
I'd actually known that for a couple years, but I never told anyone. It happened once with Alain when we were on the mountain, but it never happened again 'til I met Elenita, so I forgot about it.
"Wow... I haven't met too many people with telepathy."
'See ya later, Lie.' Elenita flew away.
I hadn't either. Actually, I didn't know if I met anyone who could do that. As far as I could tell, no one else felt the hot and cold like I could.
Why did I feel the hot and cold if nobody else could? Alain had his powers cuz they went with his key. Noelle had mentioned that once or twice. Noelle had powers cuz she needed them to do her job. Why did Tiana and Phoenix have powers? What did they need them for?
***
Aw! Weren't Lie and Eni cute? Thoughts on the character interactions? Theories? Predictions?
~Shino out!