Dreams of the Tempest

[Nayt]

Etsu quietly listened to Urikuse as he spoke and made no attempt to interrupt him. If she was going to be rude to him, she was going to be rude to him once she'd heard his reasons. Of course, that didn't mean she was going to be rude with him, or even that she wanted to.

It was just highly likely, especially considering one simple issue:

". . . if you had issue to begin with," Etsu began under her breath.

She paused, though. At first she had the gumption to say it, but as she began to speak, she started to lose the will to. Why? Was it because she respected her uncle? Probably. But he'd done her a huge disservice. He built up her hopes, raised her dreams from the earth, let all that collapse, and put her in a horribly embarrassing situation for years. All in the name of what, liberalism? That's sort of what it sounded like. Liberals were not well liked where she came from. Etsu wasn't personally fond of them, either.

"Then why involve me?" Etsu blurted out, now entirely ditching Common and speaking in her native tongue. With each passing word, she sounded angrier and angrier. If Urikuse had ever doubted that Etsu could be as wrathful and abrasive as she'd been reported, his doubts would likely come undone within the next few moments. "I wanted to be married. I still want to be married. I want to be the wife of a good man. When I was told I was meeting Tsukimono-kun because a marriage was to be arranged between us, I was happy. He was, and he still is, very kind and responsible. I made plans, I told my friends, I got my hopes up and I dreamed about it all the time. And every year I heard nothing, my hopes were dashed more and more. And then my mother tells me do not worry about it anymore. I had to deal with . . . with so much shame. There were people that expected a marriage to come. There were people that counted on it. My friends were excited and happy for me. I had to endure that shame all year! It . . . it is cruel. You made me into a fool!"

By the end of all that, Etsu was absolutely fuming.

"You-- you-- you stupid, stupid liberal!"

She was so mad, in fact, that she was spouting off inane politically incorrect things that she'd learned at the academy, a concept she really had no true grasp on . . . but hey, that was a pretty heavy insult where she came from.

[Zach Kaiser]

For his part, Eld had a little trouble following Etsu's sudden rant; he spoke Cizokian decently, but didn't use it enough to be able to follow perfectly if someone spoke fast. But he did get the gist of it. His hand found hers and clasped it lightly, both in a show of support and in an attempt to calm her down. He said nothing, however; as much he might have agreed with her, that didn't mean he liked her yelling at his father.

But Urikuse was much calmer than most; the corner of his lip twitched as he fought a wry smile. It was a little amusing that Etsu called him a liberal, as while he might have been from her point of view, compared to Hillcrest as a whole he was rather conservative.

It wasn't that he didn't feel bad for hurting her feelings, as he did very much. It was just that as a much older person, he had a bit more perspective on things than either of the children sitting across from him did. "Etsu-chan...I'm very sorry for any grief I've caused you. However, when you have children of your own someday, you'll understand the decision we made, I think. You'll want what's best for your child...even if that's not necessarily what's best for other children. It's selfish, to be sure, but love usually is."

"However, you're only fourteen-"

"Wait, fourteen?" Eld interjected suddenly, surprised. (His father spoke slow enough that he had no trouble understanding him.) "I thought she was my age."

Which caused his father to raise an eyebrow. "Did you now." He considered that he might need to have a very different talk with Eld in the near future, but that was something he'd have to think about later. "In any case, Etsu-chan, I don't think your friends, and anyone else you told, will think as badly of you as you fear. Arranged marriages do not always work out, and it is rarely the fault of either half of the couple. That is the risk of putting such things in others hands." It wasn't a judgmental comment; he had nothing against arranged marriages himself, when done for the right reasons. It was simply an observation.

[Nayt]

Eld certainly helped in calming Etsu down. By squeezing her hand, he managed to get her to fume a little less vocally, at least. Maybe it was a bit wrong for her to snap at her uncle like that, especially since he'd taken her in and all--but she was fairly upset with him . . .

Ultimately, though, she did little more than sigh. What Urikuse had to say wasn't likely to really kick in for a decade or so, not 'til she had children of her own to worry about. Though, that first required her to be married, and Urikuse had already-- ugh, the mere thought of that retort made Etsu want to gag.

Etsu had nothing more to say for now. Instead of speaking, she squeezed Eld's hand tightly once, let go, and averted her eyes from both he and Urikuse. She might not have been looking, though, but she was certainly still listening, in case anyone had anything further to say.

This was about the most one could ask from Etsu when she was in the midst of fuming.

[Zach Kaiser]

While Etsu seemed to calm down a little, Urikuse could tell she was still upset. Seeing as she was upset largely at him at the moment, he figured it was time go. He'd said his piece, in any case, and though it had looked for a bit like Eld had something to say or ask, he was now keeping quiet.

"I need to return to the clinic, but if either of you want to talk some more, even if it's just to vent, feel free to come find me. And...try not to be too hard on Rebbecca. She has her reasons for what she thinks." With that, he rose, bowed one more time, and promptly left.

Eld continued to stare at his lap for a few moments, lost in thought, before turning back to Etsu again. "How are you doing?" he asked softly; while he may have been rather down, Etsu seemed to be having an equally bad day.

[Nayt]

Urikuse soon left, leaving Eld and Etsu alone again. Etsu figured it was her fault that he left, which really didn't make her feel any better right now.

"I am . . ." she began to say to Eld, only to trail off an think about it.

Not really okay. Not really okay at all. She wished she was okay, but she was feeling pretty down in the dumps right now. Last night, she'd written down a lot of her feelings, and going back over them in the morning, acknowledging the truth and silliness of them all, put her in a sour mood from the get-go. Whoever said writing one's feelings out was clearly full of crap, because that just served to upset her even more. Then she came here, and probably screwed up her relationship with her uncle.

". . . fine," she sighed.

It was an obvious lie. Now that they were sitting down and not devoting their attention to any one thing in particular, Eld would be able to see in Etsu's face just how little sleep she'd gotten last night.

[Zach Kaiser]

Etsu did not look fine. She looked tired and more than a little distraught. While Eld was offended by his parents actions mostly in principle, Etsu had felt the full impact of their decision. Marriage seemed to be one of her biggest hopes; it wasn't as though it'd never happen now, but having her dream snatched away like that had to feel pretty awful.

He wasn't entirely sure how he felt about the explanation himself yet. With everything that had happened today, he just felt too emotionally drained to process any of it yet.

He smiled weakly in spite of himself. "No you're not. But...I guess I wouldn't expect you to be." She had every right to be upset, after all.

[Nayt]

Etsu hung her head and shoulders. "I--"

She was that translucent, huh? Disappointed in herself, she looked up to Eld with a frown. It couldn't be helped, though, because he was right. She had a lot to deal with, this whole thing with her hopes and dreams being dashed, and her being made into a complete fool for several years. It was horrible. Etsu looked away from Eld again and forcibly restrained herself from dropping her forehead upon the table.

"Nhh . . . gomen," she said meekly, "I shour-rd . . . I shour-rd per-haps re-turn to Vaerbond-san . . ."

Right now that seemed like the best possible option. Or maybe she could go pay Maya a visit and try to get to know her a little better. Honestly, being somewhere other than the Tsukimono residence was probably a good idea. At least for another night or two . . .

[Zach Kaiser]

Eld nodded. Ordinarily he would have tried something to cheer her up, but when he wasn't feeling at all cheery himself it was impossible. Besides, right now he'd probably just remind her of the whole mess, and she could really stand to take her mind off of it. He could only hope Sarah would think of something.

"I know it sounds impossible, but...try to take your mind off it for a bit if you can." That was about all the advice he could offer; when he was upset, especially if there wasn't anything he could really do about what was bothering him, he found dwelling on it only made things worse.

"Tell Sarah hi for me," he said as he got up out of his chair and headed for his room.

He spent the rest of the day sleeping, and most of the next studying in an attempt to keep his mind off of things. By the next he had managed to pull mostly out of his melancholy, but he still tried to keep himself busy. Mostly, this consisted of cleaning, something he hadn't done in awhile due to everything going on.

[Nayt]

It was nice to know someone cared, though. Etsu half-smiled at Eld. She'd have wholly smiled if she weren't so down in the dumps right now.

"I wir-rr try," Etsu said with a nod.

That was about the most she could promise. Fortunately, over the span of a couple of days, she actually made good on her promise. She did so by finding work. There was always work to be done at the Vaerbond ranch, and Sarah was more than willing to give out work to those that were willing-- and Etsu had nothing but time on her hands. She also didn't mind working that much, either. Etsu wasn't quite as strong as Sarah and couldn't do nearly the same amount of hard labor as she, but she was more than able when it came to feeding animals, dealing with smaller animals, and helping the family get ready for the autumn harvest.

Etsu's couple of days quickly became very productive . . . and also kind of awkward at one point, but that was a story for another day.

At Eld's house, it was mid-day by the time there arrived a knock upon the door. It was light and weak, obviously incurred by someone particularly frail. But by the time Eld, or anyone else for that matter, could answer the door, there wouldn't be even the slightest hint of a single person's existence. Not even footprints.

All that was at the door, or the doorstep rather, was a folded up note.

[Zach Kaiser]

The knocking at the door had been light enough that Eld wasn't actually sure that he hadn't imagined it, but he figured it was better to check than to potentially leave someone waiting. So he set his broom aside for the time being and went to the door.

No one was there. Odd; perhaps his mind really had been playing tricks on him. He took a step outside to look around, just in case, which was when he heard the rustling of paper. He looked down.

He'd kicked a note, folded up on the doorstep. So the person who knocked left this? he wondered as he picked it up. If so, it didn't seem to be a very reliable way; had he not heard the door, the note could have sat out there for hours, and would probably have blown away or something.

Wondering what a person would want to tell him (or his parents, or even Etsu since it was fairly common knowledge she was staying here now) that they couldn't wait for a few minutes to answer the door to say to him in person, he opened the note.

[Nayt]

The note was short and sweet, though the handwriting was kind of sloppy and the writer of the note very blatantly did not use ink very well; there were splotches all over the place. Just looking at it, it was easy to tell that it was not written by an adult. Reading it, though . . .

Eldridge,

Please meet me on that Big Hill when the suns going down. I really really really need to talk to you. Its super important. Please be there.

- A

. . . it would be almost impossible for Eld to not realize who left him this note.

[Zach Kaiser]

It was probably a sign of Eld's general emotional imbalance as of late that even reading the note caused his heart to catch in his throat. She wants to see me? It almost didn't matter what she had to talk to him about; that she wanted to see him suddenly gave him hope again.

For the rest of the day he continued to do chores, though his mind was no longer really on them. Once the sun started setting he got ready, putting on a black sweater and violet scarf before going out--he'd taken a bath earlier too.

Admittedly, he knew it was probably stupid. It wasn't as though he was going on a date, really. Given her chosen location, it probably had something to do with what happened a couple days ago. But even knowing that he should probably be ready in case she freaked out again, he couldn't help but be anxious.

So he hurried to the big hill by Old Hillcrest, arriving there just as the last bit of the sun was disappearing on the horizon...

[Nayt]

Akizetsumei stood atop the hill, but her eyes were not shut and her face was not to the heavens. Instead, she looked down at Old Hillcrest. She looked down at it and frowned. It must have been a difficult climb for her, though; her hands were scraped up a bit, but she'd already been wincing and whimpering about that for the last hour. The pain was gone and she was done with that.

She wore something familiar to her in every way: a red Cizokian dress. It wrapped about her figure in a clinging sort of way, the way an adult's dress might cling to a woman's waist and hips to give her a look of smooth sensuality. For Akizetsumei, however, it merely made her look years older. She could have looked Eld's age in this dress, maybe even older. The red of it really contrasted with her platinum blond hair and pale skin, too, effectively making all of her features appear absolutely striking in contrast.

The girl would not notice Eld even if he began to climb the hill. Looking down upon Old Hillcrest, Akizetsumei of Terra was lost in a haze of memories.

[Zach Kaiser]

Eld's breath caught when he reached the hill; Akizetsumei was already atop it. With the way the dress hid her young age, and the way it and her hair fluttered gently in the breeze...enchanting was the only way he could describe it.

He was tempted to call out to her, but something prevented him from doing it. An irrational fear that if he did, she would somehow disappear before he reached her, and after how she'd kept her distance last time he desperately wanted to see her up close.

So he began to climb; fortunately, climbing was something he was fairly good at, being one of the activities Sarah had insisted on challenging him often as children. Even without a natural talent for it, practice ensured he got good at it eventually. Even so, he was a bit out of breath by the time he reached the top.

Finally he allowed himself to speak. "Akizetsumei..." And that was all he could say, at least until she turned to face him.

[Nayt]

Akizetsumei was lost in this haze until she heard a voice. A particular voice. A boy's voice that could draw her out of the fog and back to the orange glow of the sunset. She almost gasped at it, in fact. Being drawn away from those thoughts and memories was like a flash, like waking up in the midst of REM sleep.

Except she still felt like she was sleeping . . .

"E--" she tried to sound out his name.

She may have been brought out of a mental fog, but she was still left stranded in an emotional haze. When she half turned her head to look at Eldridge behind her, it would be clear enough by the look on her face-- how lost and alone she looked right now --to convey her emotional state to Eld.

"Eldridge," she whispered, "You-- you actually came?"

It was a question, as she herself was personally unsure. It wouldn't have been the first time she dreamed him up. Lying in bed one night, eyes shut and heart pounding too hard to let her sleep, she dreamed up that he was there, awkwardly talking with her, telling her that she could "sleep here," because she had no place else to go. It felt so real, she actually called out to him, only to find that he was not there. This could have been just like it. Eldridge Tsukimono could still be part of the dream.