Matteo’s birthday was mostly split between family in the morning—Adelinde, Rene, and Mark—and friends in the afternoon and evening. He both did and did not feel eighteen; on one hand, he finished all of his schoolwork at the end of last year, but on the other he didn’t actually consider himself quite…mature. Mark reasoned that as long as he had a good understanding of the world—which he liked to say he did—then he would be all set to take his place.
Only a few days after his birthday, preparations for their trip began. It kept him busy, if nothing else, trying to decide what he’ll do while they’re there. The train itself had a few different stops; they usually got off at the last one, but Matteo asked if they could go to a different one instead. He was curious about that legend information he found.
They had gone to the town itself before, so that at least wasn’t an issue. The train ride there was a bit shorter than usual due to the earlier stop, but the view in the town was worth it. They arrived on the evening of the twenty-ninth, the rest of which was mostly spent eating and getting a few rooms to stay in; they spent the thirtieth together, then on the morning of the thirty-first had the obligatory “either stay in one place or walk around together” warning.
Matteo promised, Adelinde gave a basic outline of where they’ll be if him or Tara needed them for anything, then left with Rene. He glanced over at Tara, who held her drawing stuff like her life depended on it. He couldn’t tell if she still had a kind of separation anxiety, or if she just didn’t want to be with him that much—honestly, it could be both.
“I was thinking of walking around?” Matteo said a bit awkwardly.
“Okay.”
He knew that’d be the only answer he would get out of her, so he went on his way.
Matteo wandered around the town as best as he could without actually asking for directions, somewhat because not knowing where he was going was a part of the fun. The place wasn’t incredibly big, anyway—or at least, it wasn’t a maze like San Asari—and there were enough signs to get back to the inn if they did get lost. Tara didn’t look amused nor particularly interested in anything but keeping about ten steps behind him, but that could be said for a lot of situations.
Tara shrunk a bit whenever they walked past someone, even if they were all friendly. He had a hard time figuring out why she seemed so…scared of people sometimes. She’s hid behind Rene for as long as he could remember, even before they fully explained why she was adopted (like Matteo and Aurik, Tara was always told she was adopted but didn’t learn the circumstances behind said adoption—that Adelinde and Rene found her without a family, and if she had one they hadn’t been taking good care of her—until she was eight or nine). He almost wanted to say that their parents’ gentleness with her—Adelinde’s understanding of Tara’s fears, and the fact that Tara chose to attach herself to Rene—were at least a part of it.
About ten minutes of half-directed walking brought Matteo and Tara to a little library-slash-historical-museum type place that he found interesting. Tara followed him in without any complaint, and as he wandered further she just took a spot near the entrance to draw.
The first room was just souvenirs and such, local trinkets that were in large enough supply to be sold, likely with the sole intention of appealing to whoever the scenic train bought. A few of them looked like things Aurik would’ve had in the Qrian house—small paintings in the first island’s typical style or pressed flower arrangements.
With that connection, Matteo chose to move on to a different room. He went in one door to the left labeled ‘Library,’ figuring it would have more of the things he wanted to see.
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He quickly walked down each bookshelf—there weren’t a lot, just a few on the walls and one or two in the middle of the room, the rest of the area taken up by little seating areas—just to see what kind of books there were. Suffice to say, these looked like things that Aurik would’ve had in the Qrian house too.
Still curious despite finding it slightly off-putting—whenever he thought of Aurik, he remembered his intentions, and to say that bothered him was an understatement—Matteo took a more detailed look on each shelf. He pulled out a few different books—historical notes and stuff, one dusty score book he found in the corner for fun—and brought them over to one of the seating areas. After a few minutes, Tara came in and sat down as well, albeit in a place away from him where she could still see if he left.
Matteo tried to get out any books that’d help with a question—or would it be better to call it a hobby?—of his. Folktales and legends fascinated him to an extent, because Dakari’s most well-known ones all seemed to come from other nations. He also liked to see how much was grounded in fact—like the stories about the first island, with the popular ones being the silver nation’s first queen and the island’s final war—or which ones were purely fabrications made to encourage kids to work better.
He knew that, to some extent, it was just his way of still trying to figure out Aurik’s motivations—if there was enough ‘fact’ in whatever he wanted to do that made anything he did worthwhile, and to some extent see if Adelinde and Rene were justified in avoiding certain stories. There were some things Aurik believed in that didn’t even seem to be common knowledge—things that Matteo only knew from the books he left behind, rather than a random conversation with a friend.
The first book he opened actually had the exact kind of information that he wanted, going over the legend that was supposedly popularized in this town. He looked up at Tara to attempt some conversation.
“This is kind of interesting, if you want me to read it?” Matteo said, trying to be friendly.
Tara, as per usual, did not look up from her drawing. “You can read if you want. You’ve done it before on accident.”
He managed a kind of sheepish look, but nonetheless read it out for her.
-.-
A lot of people knew the story; the book claimed that this town was where it really grabbed people’s attention. That being said, a majority of those who heard it assumed it was Dakari’s equivalent of a creation story; the main difference between that and the first island—and, to an extent, Sólstaður’s—was that the founding god’s origins were never specified.
Essentially, there was a girl caught in a storm at sea. She spoke with Dakari’s founding god and he saved her; supposedly she went on to become the first queen of Dakari. The founding god promised she would rule a nation, and in return for her obedience or kindness or whatever depending on the storyteller, she gets it.
The book he found expanded on that. That said the girl was from the first island, one of the last to flee from either kingdom after the final war. The founding god didn’t save her, though, just spoke to her in her final moments. He asked her if she would want to lead a nation—being young, she said she would agree to anything if it meant she would live.
The founding god granted her wish, but the girl still died. The god trapped her spirit in a shrine, so she could one day awaken to lead the nation as promised.
-.-
“I just find it fascinating,” Matteo mused, partially looking around to see if he could use to take notes with. “You can tell it came from the first island because nothing Dakari’s native people come up with has that kind of fantasy element, if that makes sense? Most of it’s the origins of a certain piece of music or art—history lessons but with a ‘no one died, the protagonists always win’ angle.”
“I have a feeling you’ll get in trouble for this one day,” Tara noted quietly.
“I’m just reading them,” Matteo said in his defense, his joy slightly dulled for a second. “I have an appreciation for stories, not a devotion. I know the distinction and I know at which point Mom and Rene might question me for it.”
Tara just shrugged a bit, continuing on with her drawing. Matteo took that as his sign that the conversation, however brief, had ended—he went on to take a few notes, still curious. He wondered if there was something in the Qrian house that might answer his follow up questions; mainly, if it was coincidental or not if it sounded similar to what Aurik had died for.