Chapter 39: Finnie
Sweet heat.
Gentle light seeping through the windows, enveloping the room.
Relaxing and soothing.
Lying there, drowning in the weight of her body, crushed beneath the agony of a half-wilted life.
She stared silently outside, at the droves of families exploring the nearby park. At the picnic's set up for children whose birthday has arrived, and couples are still in the midst of their pink, honey-esque atmosphere.
Yet.
There she was.
Anchored upon freezing water, swaying along with the waves, roaming endlessly as she waited for the inevitable.
Creek-
Winds abruptly entered her room.
Thud!
The door slammed open and shut almost instantaneously as a set of steps came pattering into the room.
"Finnie! Finnie!" Holding a book half his size above his head, a boy with a head of brown hair pounced at her bedside.
"Read time! Read!"
His vocabulary was messy and lacked many crucial words, but the sight of his bright eyes brimming with enthusiasm and love washed away all the shortcomings of his failed education.
Planting the book by her bedside, he walked over to the stool, puffed his adorable cheeks, and pushed it mightily to the bed.
Wiping the sweat, he jumped onto the seat and smiled brightly at her:
"Read time!"
Hurriedly opening the book, he held it towards her and opened it; she couldn't hold it herself after all.
"...Okay, read time, Philip." Gently smiling past the darkness looming over her neck, Finnie began reading for him.
She would never reject him.
Not him, one of the only remaining lights in her grim life.
Because one of these reading days...
"Trent picked up the..."
...will be the last.
Finnie slowly enunciated each word as she conveyed the story. Philip pushed himself onto the bed and came by her side, leaning beside her instead of using the seat.
Like that, the siblings passed the time.
And, at some point:
Tweet!
Finnie heard a familiar noise.
Raising her lowered head, she momentarily glanced out the window at the source of the distant singing.
Listening for a couple of seconds...
"Ah..."
Finnie looked back down at Philip, at his wide eyes staring at her, all mesmerised and adorable.
"Do you know what sound that is, Philip...?"
Philip loudly responded:
"A canary!"
-----
"That's the sound of canaries, dear sister!" Esme twirled in her flowery, golden dress with her arms spread.
"Pretty." I commented.
"Right?!"
I'm talking about you.
Hilda chased after Esme as we strolled through the park. St. Neuvae's Clinic was an arm's length away from our location.
If we walked to the central pond, we'd be able to spot its clock tower from there.
There, I can find those with Flamm's. I can learn more about the disease and perhaps track down the thing they call the 'Canaries'.
"Come on, Alora! Let's go! The pond is so pretty here!"
"Yeah! Little dummy! Let's go!"
"...Miss Hilda, what did I just-?"
"I am a cabbage. I am a cabbage-"
...How peaceful.
Their smiles.
Their joy.
Their fun.
Now that I think about it...
When's the last time I had real fun?
Real joy?
My brain paused for a moment.
Huh.
Then, I cackled at a thought that entered my mind.
On Earth, canaries were used in coal mines to detect dangerous, toxic gases that would be lethal to humans. The canary would fall first, thus warning the humans that they had to escape before their turn came.
I'm somewhat of a canary myself, am I not?
I smiled emptily.
I like the sound of that.
Alora the Canary; The Ghost of The Palace.
"I'm coming."
Perhaps if I were to draw closer to the essence of a canary, I'd find that thing called the 'Canary' that the voices endlessly pester me with.
-----
"Lady Vanessa."
"Understood." Squeezing the box in her hands tightly, the colour in her fingertips drained away and was replaced by a layer of white.
Her bloodless hands cried out in pain, but the girl did not flinch.
"We don't have long, do we?"
The man sighed, "No, we do not."
"Understood."
Vanessa's eyes squinted with vicious determination; opening her squeezed hands, she lifted the box and passed it on to the man.
"Give it to him, I'll have another batch ready not long from now."
The man, painfully sighing, "...Yes, Lady Vanessa."
As he was about to leave with the box in hand, he turned back once more.
"But, Lady Vanessa-"
"Yeah, yeah... I know, go already."
Silent, he stared into the little girl's unflinching eyes; into those eyes determined to follow through till the end, no matter the cost.
"...Yes, Lady Vanessa."
He left.
The adult left the child to struggle all on its own.
'...How pathetic.'
That was all that remained in his withering mind, a self-deprecating statement from a man who understood his worthlessness.
Lingering in the shadows of her terrace, Vanessa leisurely stepped out and into the light. She walked over to the edge, leaned on the railing, and allowed her eyes to take in the pleasant scenery of their estate's garden.
A while later, her head drooped into her arms, into her own embrace. Biting her lips, her body began shivering; quivering with-
Sorrow.
-----
I asked to visit a park with features that just so happened to align with this park: trails, activity centres, a pond with birds and playgrounds.
Essentially, a medium-sized family-centric park.
And, this park just happened to reside beside St. Neuvae's Clinic.
Chasing after the hyperactive Hilda, I stood one step behind Esme as we walked around the pond; ducks slithered across the surface of the appetising blue waters, and families could be seen feeding them.
Mainly, though, it was children doing the feeding.
The adults watched from the side.
I remember the days of throwing breadcrumbs...
...Ugh.
Didn't I get pecked on the ankle by one that one time?
Memories from Earth reared their fading heads up once more. These days, I only remember the core memories and habits I had.
I've long lost the days of-
...Of what was it again?
Shrugging the absent memories off, I sped up-
"Leon! Stop!"
-Thud!
A dash of brown hair slammed into my chest, almost tearing apart my mostly healed ribs. Staggering back, I quickly grabbed the kid and stabilised us before we went toppling over.
Lily's rushed hand came into view, but once noticing that I had fixed the predicament, she took a step back.
"Sorry, little ladies!" His mother rushed over with a baby in her embrace, apologising profusely as she did so.
"...No problem."
Pushing the little boy off my chest, his guilty little eyes carefully avoided my gaze.
Picking the boy by the scruff of his neck, "He's always been a bit disoriented~" Giving us a motherly smile, she nodded at us and prodded his back as they walked off again.
"...Sorry, Lady Alora. I did not notice." Lily apologised whilst glaring daggers at the awkwardly fidgeting Hilda, her eyes were screaming:
[You have a sword, you are her maid, yet you do not protect her?!]
I could sniff a disciplinary hand slamming down on her skull coming in from the distant horizon.
Hilda has it coming for her.
My walk staggered for a split second with that thought lingering in my mind, then, shaking off that odd feeling that had weirdly grasped my chest, I continued onwards.
To the pond.
Toward Esme's excited little face, overflowing with infectious love and joy.
I want to eat her-
Gently relaxing my face, I shut off all other thoughts for the moment and chased after her.
I did what I, for some unknown reason, should not be doing.
Why do I not devou-
...
"Oh, yeah."
Tightening the noose around my neck, I constrained it all and:
"Coming."
I resumed our pretty little outing.
-----
"Mistress."
Kneeling, prostrating, carving the gold-inlaid red carpet with her forehead; staring into the golden-leaf engravings with her dark eyes.
Drowning in awe, the Maiden dared to speak:
"This humble one has come to inform you that an unpleasant bird has been flapping its wings around the mansion."
Resting upon her throne, basking in the light of the disc above, the Mistress muttered with a low voice; her frigid blue eyes unflinching from the sight of the disc.
"And what colour does this bird conform to?"
Breathing deeply, huffing for air amid the presence of the higher lifeform, trembling and quivering from he weight of her words, Maiden forced out the words, "A pathetic brown colour, Mistress."
Silence came to envelope the hall.
...Then, hours passed.
The glaring aurora came to a rest beyond the horizon and the disc of light revealed itself in all its glory.
Staring at it.
Embracing its existence, the Mistress eventually parted her lips.
The Mistress relayed her thoughts, her judgment, and the execution.
"Leave the little birds alone, that child will need the six. One missing bird may topple the balance."
Yet, the Maiden, again, dared.
She dared speak up.
"This humble one may be committing a transgression, however, Mistress, is it truly worth allowing these pathetic little birds to take steps towards us?"
...In return, the Mistress cut her stare at the disc of light.
She moved her icy eyes downwards.
At the one who dared question her again.
"Do as I say, Maiden."
Her mighty words overlayed the air itself, rupturing the atmosphere in the hall with simple, quiet words.
...Yet.
This rupture in the atmosphere.
This judgement.
It had no receiver.
Only an indent in the carpet remained; the Maiden had long been thrown out of the hall.
Even so, the Mistress continued staring at that indent.
But her thoughts were no longer focused on the Maiden.
They had long shifted gears and begun looking far beyond the fair Maiden.
Instead, there, before her warm, loving blue eyes...
"My dear children..."
Raising her fingers, she plucked at the strings hovering before her eyes.
"...grow faster."
The Mistress sat there, staring, watching;
Observing the sisters.
Lovingly.