Chapter 12:

The Town of Flowers (2)

“Lay her here.” Said Miss Ale, the young Fourre helping her remove various instruments from a wooden table. Taccilas didn’t quite understand what the instruments were, they had glasses and a multitude of lenses intricately arranged in spire, but they didn’t seem to aid in any sort of vision.

Brown wooden boards bent where they stepped. She had taken them to a room on the second floor, its walls made out of polished gray stone, not unlike the same color Mitali’s own hull was.

Taccilas stood at one end of the table and gently let Mitali fall. Blood immediately spilling onto the brown table.

Perhaps a little too much blood. It quickly started dripping down the sides of the table and making a mess out of the room, as if Mitali herself was the goddess of water and rain-

-But the rain was red.

“‘Tis foolish, this ordeal.”

Mitali, despite her appearance- one that made onlookers wonder if she fell down a hole full of cacti, seemed nothing more than bored.

Simply bored.

As if her friends weren’t outside to play-

-Or maybe as if her parents had kept her inside all day.

“W-What happened to her?!” Alerezzin asked.

“We got in a battle, you should’ve seen how she took care of those pirates!” Replied Taccilas, his chest puffed out in pride, though most of the present in the room couldn’t quite agree with his feelings.

“A battle? What sort of battle? Wait, who even takes a girl like her into a fight?!” The black-haired woman sorted through bottles and boxes in a shelf on the wall, all of them with various labels and colors as diverse as the rainbow itself.

The more Taccilas spoke, the more her tone grew wearier and concerned.

“A ship battle!”

“He means a naval battle.” Interjected Izuchi.

“I know what he- Y-You took her to-... Let’s just- Hold on- You- Ok, just give me one moment. Here, here it is.” Alerezzin then produced a jar with a red liquid, not unlike blood itself, from the shelf, as well as a bag with sand.“Help me take off her bandages.” She continued.

And as requested, Taccilas lifted Mitali’s left arm and unwrapped the bandage he had once used to cover her, Alerezzin doing the same on her right.

They had become so filthy, that they were indistinguishable from a dead girl’s clothes. Dark red blood and dust and dirt had engrained themselves in the bandages. They had become blackened and muddied, to the the degree that one had to wonder whether the bandages were doing her more harm than good.

Once the bandages were removed, her arms were displayed again. A number of new cuts had appeared, none much more grave than those she had first acquired, but they added to the horrible painting her arms had become. One drawn with crimson red and fair white.

Alerezzin observed the painting displayed before her.

“Would you mind telling me your ages? All three of you.” Asked the hostess.

“I’m 15.” Izuchi, who had remained quiet and observant, was the first one to reply.

“14.” She was followed by Taccilas.

“I am not quite sure how to reply to that question.” Said Mitali.

“Huh? I’m asking how old you are, how many years have you been alive?”

“I see, I see… ‘Tis difficult, but I suppose I would be 6 years old.”

“Come again…?”

“Excuse me?!”

“Huh?!”

“Oh, and she’s still taller than me.”

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The replies came like bullet rain, cramped together and full of surprises. “Is that strange, I wonder?” Questioned Mitali, blood dripping from her temple.

From the way she spoke, Alerezzin could tell that the stranger wasn’t lying.

“More than strange, young lady, you look like a teen…” The black haired lady opened the jar as she spoke. “...Regardless, let’s get you patched up for now.”

The lady produced a red liquid from the jar, it was far more viscous than blood, but colored all the same. She applied it with two fingers on the cuts Mitali bore on her arms, covering them all up one by one. Each time she covered one, she would gently spray it with sand and move onto the next.

“Your legs look just as bad… We’ll have to take a look at your torso and your back too, not to mention that knock in your head…” Miss Ale continued to apply the mixture as she spoke. “Young man, what’s your name?”

“Taccilas, at your service.” He said as he straightened his posture.

“Gotcha, Taccilas, you were telling me about how this girl was involved in a naval battle, right?”

“Yes, ma’am, her name is Mitali.”

She shook her head. “So if Mitali took part in warfare, may you explain to me why all her injuries seem to be cuts or caused by blunt force? It looks more like you guys got a little bit too into your wargames.”

“I’m telling the truth!”

“That he is.” Interjected Mitali.

“You’re in no shape to talk, young lady. If you get bullied, you need to fight back or ask for help!”

“I am a warship.”

“Y-Yo- What d-... They’re no longer games if you get hurt this bad!”

At the same time as Alerezzin spoke, Izuchi’s purple eyes widened.

For you see, she hadn’t been given enough time to let the reality of her situation set in.

She placed her hands at her hips and silently thought, reviewing the events of the last day. She had been too busy being upset about her crew remaining behind and leaving her as the sole survivor, but there were a number of interrogatives that arose the moment she stopped and simply let her thoughts flow.

Why was she so adamant about not needing help?

How was the ship able to operate if there were only two people aboard her?

How was this girl able to take so much physical punishment without even grimacing?

And she remembered the stories, the ones her uncle had told her after his time at sea.

Those about ghosts and whispers aboard the ships at night-

Those about women, not unlike angels, living outside the shine of light-

Stories of mysterious girls that lived and breathed the ship where they resided-

-And of spirits that gave sailors a reason to call their homes haunted.

She had always believed them to be silly, unreasonable fairy tales, but what if they were not?

“What I say is the truth.”

Thus, Izuchi decided to believe the words that left Mitali’s mouth.

“She’s not lying.”

“You three, I’m serious, the game has gone too far. Mitali here is badly injured and you all have to seriously consider what you have done!”

And so the one aiding Mitali pushed Izuchi and Taccilas and they quickly found themselves out of the room.

And then they were out of the white building- and the door slammed behind their back.

The morning sun yet shied away from the lingering cold the night had left.

“Why doesn’t she believe us?” Asked Taccilas, hiding behind his scarf.

“Why should she believe us? A bunch of kids just showed up on her doorstep, one of them was near dead and said she was a ship, and the other two played along with her.” Izuchi’s fire-colored hair danced and flew around with the winds.

“But we were telling the truth…” Taccilas said as he dejectedly closed his eyes.

“...You’re missing the point. Seriously, try thinking before you speak.”

“I guess we’ll just have to show her the Mitali later!”

“That’s… Probably fine. But… Is she really the ship?”

“She is! When she moves her fingers, the cannons move! When she tells the ship to go fast, it goes fast!”

“It feels so… Weird.” Izuchi said as she scratched her head, her other hand on her waist.

“It does, doesn’t it? But I really like it!”

At that moment, Taccilas smile seemed to steal away the cold morning air.

“How long have you been with her?”

“Uhm… Let’s see… For about 2 days.” Taccilas once again closed his eyes as he counted.

“...I figured you had been with her for longer.”

“Nope, we just met.”

“I wonder why she has decided to put up with you.”

“If she didn’t, we wouldn’t have helped you.”

“Hmph, maybe I didn’t need any helping.” Fire seemed to emanate from more than just her hair as Izuchi crossed her arms.

Taccilas sighed. “...For now, have you got coin?”

“...How rude.”

“You’ve got some money then, being a princess and all.”

“And why exactly would I give you my money?”

“Well, we need food and water.”

Taccilas looked at Izuchi.

She looked back.

Both of them questioned the reality of their situation-

-In utter silence.

The cold morning breeze rang the wind chimes that hung from the buildings.

“...”

“...”

“...I don’t have any coin on me.”

“I guess we have to get some, then.”

“And how exactly are we going to do that?”

The boy drew close to Izuchi, too close perhaps, to the point the princess’ head recoiled. His eyes gleamed with deviousness as he whispered his plan.

“Well, stealing it of course!”