The Katapies Experiment; Part 16

Avia 

    “I’m done, Celadon.” I could hear my voice cracking and splintering as I clutched my pillow, tears streaming down my face. “I don’t want to be here anymore. I don’t want to hear everyone doing nothing about my mom and Soriie. I want to leave.” 

    Celadon sat in silence, gazing at the floor before finally sighing and looking up at me. “It’s going to be okay, Avia.” 

    My face flared red and I immediately broke out into a fit. “It’s going to be okay? It’s going to be okay? Celadon, Nephele is literally almost burnt to the ground. Both our mothers and my cousin could be dead right now, and you’re saying it’ll all be okay?” 

    I buried my head in my pillow and hiccupped. “You’re delusional, Celadon.” 

     Celadon ran a hand through his hair and leaned against the stone wall behind him. “Avia, I’m not good with words. Everyone knows I’m kind of dumb. I just- I don’t know what to say about these kinds of things. I’m sorry.” 

    I groaned and sank back down on my bed. “I mean it when I say I want to leave. I want to go out there and get Soriie back. And my mom. And literally everyone else who was captured. I want to go back to Disarus.” 

    “And do what? Get killed? Isabelline and her little army won’t hesitate to murder you. They can fly faster than you can, that’s for sure.” 

    “Well, that’s the problem. I need to learn how to fight. Like, with a sword or something. Maybe a bow and arrow, or a spear, or a dagger... I don’t know. The point is, I need to know how to hurt people. Messengers are fundamentally useless, you know.” 

    “Well, I heard that Novis’s mom was a blacksmith. Why don’t we ask him? He might know something about weapons.” 

    “Alright. Let’s go.” I stood up and started to walk towards the door when Celadon grabbed my shoulder and turned me around. 

    “Avia, are you going out wearing that?” I stared down at my nightgown, which I hadn’t changed out of since I’d moved to the castle.  

    “Who cares? It’s not like anyone’s wearing anything better than this.” 

    “Avia, at least change into something decent. These drawers are filled with clothes, and you haven’t touched them!” Celadon grinned and slid out a couple of shelves. “I think that the servants here customized the clothes in the drawers.” He pulled out a stack of clothes that had wing holes sewn (or rather cut out) of them. 

    “Here, check out all this. Ooh, there’s more, too!" Celadon reached for more clothes and set them all out on my bed. “Look here for something that you like, and I’ll wait outside.” 

    I flipped through the clothes as Celadon shut the door. He had picked out fancy clothes, with ruffles and silk, so I threw the clothes back in their drawers and looked for something simpler. Eventually I settled on a comfortable tunic-looking thing with a belt and opened the door, where Celadon was waiting. 

    “That took shorter than I thought it would. Nice outfit! Come on, let’s go. I think Novis’s room is somewhere on the lower floors...” Celadon walked up to one of the guards, asking for directions, then came back beaming. 

    “Avia! Novis’s room is actually two doors down from mine! Thank the skies we don’t have to walk too far. Come on!” Celadon bounced down the hallway as I wondered if he had forgotten all about his captured mother. 

     He knocked on the door as I fidgeted with one of the tunic’s sleeves. After a few muffled conversations from inside the room, Novis opened the door with a sigh. “I’m bus- Avia? Celadon?” His eyes brightened as he opened the door wider to let us in. 

     Novis sat down on a couch next to a white-haired boy who looked about his age (how had I not noticed him before?) and gestured for us to sit down on cushioned armchairs. There was a small table with tea, and Celadon helped himself to a cup immediately. 

    “So... how’s it been? Haven’t seen you in a while, Avia.” 

    “It’s been fine. Who’s the kid next to you?” The white-haired kid looked down at his shoes nervously while Novis smiled anxiously and sat up a little straighter. 

    “He’s Lychnus. Kind of shy, doesn’t talk much, you know. He was, uh, also part of the Katapies Experiment... maybe you didn’t ever meet him?” 

     I could feel my face tinge red with embarrassment, and the room was quiet for a couple of long awkward moments. Eventually Novis cleared his throat and asked what we were there for. 

    “Oh, Avia wanted to learn how to fight. We heard that your family were blacksmiths and made weapons and stuff.” 

    “Oh, weapons! Well, I did help a lot with blacksmithing and we made weapons and things, but I don’t really know where we can get weapons here. There has to be a shop somewhere here that sells them. Do you want to go look?” 

    “Sure.” I stood up and opened the room’s door, and waited for everyone to file out while I trailed behind. Novis started lighting the torches that lined the corridor, as it was starting to get dark outside. We combed the streets of Necron for any sign of an armory and finally came across a cozy building that had a tattered sign on the front. 

    “Well, I guess we’re here!” Celadon laughed as I opened the door to a tiny shop with the sharp noises of metalworking in the background. A brown-haired girl dressed in a gray uniform smiled and welcomed us. 

    “Hello! Welcome to the Galena Armory, where all your combat dreams come true! Feel free to browse and ask me any questions!” 

    My eyes scanned the shelves and rows of weapons ranging from arrows and bows to expensive, ornate swords. A table with daggers laid out on a tablecloth caught my eye, and I picked up one with a beautiful handle engraved with birds. The blade was sharp and had two edges, and was light enough to carry easily with one hand. 

    Novis walked over to me and scanned the daggers, finally nodding at the one I was holding. “Nice choice. Looks easy to hide, should be relatively simple to use, pretty-looking handle. Do you have money to buy it?” 

     I dug around in the pockets of my tunic and pulled out a small purse of Messenger money that I had smuggled in my beige uniform for the Experiment; small copper coins inscribed with pictures, growing more ornate as they grew in value. I dumped out the contents – ten aureole, six ciel, and two monter. In other words, a lot more than I thought. 

    “Is there a money exchanging store somewhere near here? I don’t have Summoner money, but I have Messenger money... or do you take Messenger money?” I shifted from foot to foot as the lady at the counter slipped into a door leading to where the metal banging was coming from, probably to go check. 

    After a couple moments, she returned, leading another woman with a long braid by the hand. They exchanged a few hurried whispers before the woman with the braid turned and smiled at me. 

    “Hi! I researched in Nephele a couple years ago, so I kind of know how the currency works. Do you mind if I see the money you have? I could even buy some off your hands as collectibles! I know Nephele is kind of burnt down at this point, but I remember loving the designs on the coins. I even implemented some of them on weapons here! Messengers are just so... exotic! Unusual!” 

   I felt tears welling up in my eyes as the hand holding out the coins began to shake. I sharply pulled my hand back in and ran out of the shop, still clutching the gorgeous dagger. 

   Exotic? Unusual? Is that what people think of me? Do they only see the wings on my back when they look at me? Am I like a phoenix or a dragon, a creature that people captured just for their good looks? Are my coins just collectibles now? Souvenirs? 

   I sat curled up in a ball in some obscure alleyway as tears poured down my cheeks. The dagger was sheathed, and I noticed more designs that almost perfectly replicated the coins in my other hand.  

   I heard rapid footsteps coming from outside the alley, and glanced up to see Celadon, Novis, and Lychnus running toward me. They explained that Lychnus paid for the dagger, as he was the only one who had Summoner money, and the lady with the braid just went back to metalworking.  

   “Avia, I’m really sorry. I know you don’t like it when I say these kinds of things, but just know that it’s going to be okay. Alright?”  

   I broke down more after Celadon spoke and dissolved into tears as he put his arm around me. Surprisingly, him saying it was going to be okay didn’t bother me like it did before. Still not sure why.