"Lune..." Cecily smiled back at me with a bitter grin, "If I don't make it, take Cene... And tell Nelly I loved her."
"Cecily..." I sighed as she hurled all of this morning's packed breakfast off the side of the ship, "Please don't over exaggerate, you'll be fine."
"Ugh, easy for you to say." She took some water out of our luggage to hopefully wash away the ugly taste in her mouth, "You're only bad with long wagon rides, I have to deal with this whenever we go anywhere outside the continent."
Isn't it way more often to travel by wagon than by ship? Well, I'll refrain from asking her any obvious questions when she's in this state. A proper husband wouldn't just stand there idly and see his poor wife continue to suffer - I have to do something! But what? I mean, I'd hug her, but I think that'd only serve the purpose of getting both of us covered in vomit. On the other hand, giving her anything other than water is only gonna make her more nauseous, so I really don't know what to do in these situations. Maybe standing back and giving her some space is the best option available after all?
"Hey, how's Cene faring?" She turned back to check on him.
"He's fine." I hoisted my boy up, "Right, son?"
"Mhm, all good." He nodded, "Daddy, why is mommy sick?"
"Oh, she's just bad with ship rides. She'll be fine the moment we touch land again." I replied, "But more importantly, what do you mean by daddy?"
"Oh, wight!" He smiled a wide grin before regaling me with a rather sorrowful tale, "All the othew kids said calling you papa is "weiwd" and "childish", so I'm gonna call you daddy fwom now on, okay? Huh, daddy?"
"On second thought, maybe I am feeling a bit sick as well..." I held my mouth closed as I put Cene back down and ran next to Cecily, "Scoot over, dammit!"
"H-Hey! Don't-! Urgh..." She seemed to not appreciate the slight jumpscare I gave her, leading to her throwing up right next to me.
It was in that moment that I had realized we were sort of drawing a worried crowd around us. Once I tried reconstructing how this whole scenario looked from an outsider's perspective, I obviously laughed, but I could also see how we might be bothering people with our loud and frankly disgusting skit.
"Sorry everyone, phew!" I took Cecily's water bottle from her as I took a swig of it myself, "Damn, these waves really something, aren't they?"
"Are you guys gonna be alright?" A worried older lady asked.
"Hm? Oh, yeah, totally~!" I brushed her off, "My wife gets seasick easily, and I guess it got to me as well."
"Screw you." Cecily hissed back, "Don't pin all the blame on me."
"Hey now, no one's to blame." I gently slapped her butt without thinking, as she was positioned in a way that was practically making it impossible for me not to, "Seasickness isn't anybody's fault. Sigh, though I do wish we still had that alcohol remedy with us..."
"Uhm..." The older lady anxiously raised a hand before rummaging through her purse, "You can have some of mine if you want. I have extra."
"Huh!?" We both opened our Eyes wide at her, "You have seasickness alcohol!?"
"Ah, yeah. My family business actually cultivates it, haha..." She chuckled, "We're situated in New Bilgam."
New Bilgam... In other words, the territory where the previous Bilgam existed, only bigger after the war ended. I recall Cecily telling me something about it after I revived, but apparently most of the major cities in Great Hiana have been renamed to "New + Name of the city" to commemorate the heroes of the war effort. Obviously, the Generals of ARA weren't the only factions in the allied forces fighting against the Kingdom of Carmen, but they wanted to flaunt their victory a bit nonetheless. Heh, just like them to do something as annoying as this... I can almost guarantee it was Aaron's idea, the idiot...
"Here, don't be shy." The nice lady handed us the alcohol, "I sadly don't have a handkerchief on me though."
"No, our shirts will do in a pinch." I replied as I took some of the alcohol and applied it to the bottom of my shirt before putting it up to my nose and snorting, "Ack! Brrr! Eugh, nos-ugh, nostalgic..."
"Stop stalling and give it here!" Cecily snatched the small bottle of alcohol from me as she lifted her shirt up to follow my example, showing me a bit of her tummy in the process, "Argh, sniff, bad! Bad, bad, horrible!"
"Oho, young lady." The older lady guffawed, "They do say all medicine tastes bitter, after all! But so long as it works, you have nothing to be afraid of."
"Is mommy cuwed now?" Cene looked up to ask the lady towering over him.
"Hoho, but of course!" She nodded, her double chin peeking out as she tilted her head forward and back.
"Hooway!" Cene jumped for joy before running to hug his mother, "Mommy's alwight! Yay!"
"Agh, C-Cene..." She weakly smiled back, "M-Mommy's still not feeling the effects of the remedy fully, so could you please not jump at me like that?"
"But..." Cene looked a tad sad that his mother was unavailable for huggies, so he resolved to find an adequate alternative, "Then, can I hold youw hand?"
"Hm? Sure." Cecily put her hand out, "Why this all of a sudden?"
"You always hold my hand when I'm not feeling good..." He bashfully revealed.
"Ohoho! What a kind boy you've raised!" The lady couldn't help but crack up, "Ah, a family's ties truly are unbreakable, aren't they?"
Hmph, what a coincidence for her to pull that proverb out. Obviously, she doesn't know we're going to visit my parents, and her Iro is Blue, so she can't Analyze my mind to find out either. I think, in a way, this is just the world telling me I made the right choice in going on this trip.
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"And then, and then Peter, Peter he...!" Cene kept pestering, ahem, I meant regaling the poor older lady with stories about all his friends, "And it went BAM! Haha!"
"Bravo, what fun!" She simply nodded along, still carrying that lovely smile on her as if she had understood every single word from that story, "You have so many friends, Cene! I'm so happy for you!"
"Ah, but..." Cene looked sad all of a sudden, "Mommy and daddy said we'we going to meet my gwandpa and gwandma, so I can't play with my fwiends anymowe..."
"Well now, Cene." I reassured him with a light chuckle, "It should only take about a week, so hold on for just a bit, okay? Do you remember how many days are in a week?"
"Seven." He replied.
"Ohoho, what a smart little one!" She then praised us, his parents, for teaching him so much, "They say an old dog can't learn new tricks, so your best bet is to tutor puppies! Hoho!"
"Ma'am, you know so many idioms and proverbs..." Cecily smiled back at her, "It's very endearing."
"Hey now, flattery won't get you discounts! Well, not like I'm charging you anyways, oho!"
"Right, that still kind of feels wrong on our part though, so..." I went to pull out my wallet, but she insisted I put it back in my pocket.
"No, young man!" She advised, "Here's some advice from an older, more experienced lady. If the other person insists twice, no need to be nice! If you keep being persistent when I'm telling you it's really alright, then at that point you're actually being rude, you know!"
"A-Ah, in that case I'll stop." I put my wallet back, "Heh, I don't think I've actually heard of that proverb before, now that I think about it."
"Course you haven't." She crossed her arms proudly, "I just made it up."
"Mommy." Cene turned to his mother to ask, "What's a pwovewb?"
"A professional verb, my boy!" The lady interjected with her own take on the answer, "It's when a verb works hard and thinks it was made for more, so it goes all out and extends itself into a full sentence! Hoho!"
"Ohh..." Cene looked excited, "So all sentences awe pwovewbs?"
"No no, only the smart ones." She shook her head, "For as they say - Not everyone that works hard becomes successful, but everyone that's become successful has worked hard."
What the hell? This lady's a proverb goldmine. Her wisdom is on par with Meil's! No, wait. Wisdom and book smarts aren't the same, so while Meil still dominates in the intelligence factor, I think this lady's wisdom actually prevails in her own category. Well, I haven't seen Meil in a while, so maybe he's gotten wiser as well? I'll bet he's having the time of his life with Nelly. Yep, studying in the same University together, living under the same roof... Sleeping in the same bed...
"Gah!" I grabbed my head with both hands as I panicked, "Nelly better not try something, dammit!"
"Huh, where'd that come from?" Cecily tilted her head, "God, don't tell me you're actually doubting Meil as well now? Ugh, I already hated every second of Ed gritting his teeth at it..."
"And Nelly would be?" The older lady asked.
"My big sistew." Cene replied, "She's going to school with the love of hew life ow something."
"Cene! Who the hell framed the story like that!?" Both Cecily and I panicked, "Meil's just her caretaker!"
"Ah, I dunno." He shrugged innocently, "Nelly kept calling him that."
"How old is your daughter, if I may ask?" The lady turned to us.
"Oh, she's... fourteen, actually." Cecily sighed as she realized, "Dammit, she didn't even come visit us for her birthday... Some daughter she is."
"Now, now. Students have it rough, especially when they're international." The lady advised before smirking, "Besides, when a damsel finds a boy attractive, she might find herself writing home less! Hoho!"
"No, you don't understand..." I sighed, "Meil's a family friend studying in Simpleton. He's the same age as me."
"Oh." The lady paused for a sec, her face showing that she genuinely didn't expect that before she quickly composed herself, "Well, a girl's dream is to be a princess. And all the princes in the fairy tales seem to be double their age, am I right? Ohoho!"
"An interesting theory, but I think she was always into him." I let out a defeated chuckle, "From the moment she met him all those years ago, he was the only thing on her mind. Makes me feel like she kind of abandoned her parents in that regard..."
"Oh, pish!" The lady brushed off my worries, "A child will always remember who nurtured them, and young man, your daughter most definitely can't forget someone with such funny Eyes as you! Hoho!"
Ah, these are new actually. But well, she doesn't know that, and I'll bet she also doesn't know my daughter thinks I'm still dead, not to mention that Nelly's adopted. Now I'd reveal all this and more to her, seeing as she does genuinely seem like a kind natured lady that's just overall friendly, but a stranger is a stranger, and you shouldn't ever reveal to a stranger more than you need to. It's common sense. Oh, now that I think about it, I've never actually asked Cene this before, but...
"Hey Cene, what would you do if a stranger called out to you and told you he'd take you home?" I asked out of the Blue.
"I'd take his hand!" He smiled back.
"Huh? No, Cene, that's bad." Cecily looked kinda disappointed her little boy somehow didn't know that without it ever being told to him before.
"Why?" He tilted his head, "You guys would still be thwowing up if this stwangew lady didn't come save youw butts."
"Oh! Ohohohoho!" The lady burst out laughing, "He's got you there, he does! The kid's naive, but that brain of his is as witty as can be! Hohoho!"