Fowlhunter [GL]

The train ride itself was uneventful. That was to say, in a way that none of the Beasts were used to. Instead of shrinking themselves into an obscure corner, taking turns keeping watch for inspectors, they sat in a row of seats. Out in the open.

It wasn’t long before Asha went cartwheeling off to Medusa-knew-where, enjoying her new freedom. Ying and Lochlan too busied themselves exploring the train cars.

As for Jemi… she could do nothing but stay seated. She had to keep watching over Ennanis, and the angel didn’t seem the slightest bit interested in moving. Chin cupped in her palm, Ennanis leaned on the window ledge as she stared out at the countryside whizzing past them, rivers and trees and small townships.

Restless, Jemi fidgeted in her seat. “Don’t you want to have a walk around?”

Ennanis barely spared her a glance. “Why would I?”

“Seems like a waste of time to sit here all day,” she said. “We could be finding out information.” Her stomach growled. She could’ve also been finding the dining cart.

“You can learn a lot from staying in one place, I think,” said the angel. Sunlight played across her brown skin. “You know, if you want to look around, you can. You don’t have to cling to my side all the time.”

So she had noticed. Well, Jemi hadn’t exactly been subtle. So she leaned into it—leaned into Ennanis, nudging their shoulders together.

“Maybe I just like you that much,” she thinned her eyes with a smile, tilting her head in a practised way. “Won’t you come with me?” She heard the hitch in Ennanis’ breath, and Jemi’s smile widened.

Just as she was starting to climb into her lap, though, Ennanis lifted her hand and pushed Jemi off of her. She fell back, smacking her ass on the hardseat.

“Owww…” she groaned. “What’d you do that for? Huh?”

Unfazed, Ennanis stated, “You don’t trust me to be on my own, do you.”

…For an angel so horrible at talking to people, she certainly was good at seeing through them. Jemi crossed her arms, kicking her feet up. “You’re the only one holding our tickets. What if you run off and leave us all stranded?”

Ennanis looked at her. Then, she drew her fingers into her breastpocket and took out four tickets, offering them to her. Jemi stared at them, bewildered.

“Take them. If you’re so worried about that,” Ennanis said pointedly.

“.......” Jemi was at a loss for words. Her mind spun. “Aren’t you scared of us running off? We’re your only leads.”

“I told you before. I’m choosing to trust you,” she said. Saying that, she took Jemi’s hand and pushed the tickets into her palm.

“But why?”

“Because you wouldn’t have approached me without good reason.”

Was that really why? Jemi closed her fingers around the tickets. Laced within the words was the implication: I trust you, even if you don’t trust me. She tightened her fist. Ennanis only trusted her because she didn’t know who Jemi really was. If she knew… she would trust her exactly as much as Jemi trusted the Graveyard Commander.

“...I don’t get you,” she uttered finally. “You were just saying that you would never be on the Beasts’ side. And yet you claim to trust us. Which is it, Commander?”

“Those are two different things, Jemi,” Ennanis said. The use of her name made her shiver, coming from the angel who had only ever called her by her alter ego, once upon a time. “I saw you pocket the wristwatch of the gentleman opposite from us while we were walking in.”

She shrugged, smiling. “Well, when I asked him for directions, he said he didn’t have the time.”

“Do you think what you’re doing is right?”

“I don’t think about that.” Jemi bounced her leg, feeling the weight of the wristwatch concealed within the folds of her cloak. “Only what’s necessary.”

“Is it really, though? Necessary?”

Jemi rolled her eyes. “Unless you’re going contribute some funds, Miss Three-Pennies, we’re going to need money from somewhere.”

“I don’t like this,” Ennanis muttered. “Taking advantage of human civilians. Maybe we should get jobs.”

“While on the run? What kind of job can we keep?” Jemi laughed. “You’re too idealistic, angel.”

Ennanis waved her hand. “Your friend, Ying—she said that the Beasts’ business is with Mount Casca, not human civilians. And yet the Beasts take advantage of human civilians wherever they go.”

“Well, just think about it,” Jemi scoffed. “The Beasts are an army. They need food, weapons and money, and magic isn’t capable of providing such things. Until then, those things have to come from somewhere. You really think they’re just sowing chaos for the sake of it?”

Ennanis didn’t look convinced. “The angels are also an army, but we don’t pillage humans for our resources.”

“Yeah, obviously because they don’t have to. Humans adore angels.” Jemi arched a brow. “But the world doesn’t just hand us all free tickets, Miss Commander. If you weren’t here, the others would be counting on me to keep them fed and safe. We can’t afford to take care of everyone, so we have to choose who to save. Surely you can understand that, being commander of the Graveyard Division.”

At this, Ennanis paused, as if reflecting. “I suppose you have a point.” But then she chose to pick out: “They’re counting on you? A human?”

“…‘Course. No one’s better at exploiting a human than another human,” Jemi answered. “There’s no need to feel bad for that guy. He’s probably done the same to tons of other civilians, too. Humans and Beasts and angels, too—we all take advantage of each other. It’s the law of nature.”

“Hm,” Ennanis said. “I wonder if the Cockatrice thinks the same way.”

“How would I know?” Jemi said airily.

Ennanis glanced at her.

“What? She didn’t tell me everything,” Jemi stared back evenly, giving her no reaction. She’d been doing this secret identity-thing for a long time, now; she wasn’t going to be seen through so easily. Still, the sun-gold glare of the other’s eyes remained unsettling, prickling Jemi’s skin. She coughed, breaking the protracted silence. “The Cockatrice wasn't a human anyway. She was a Beast.”

“She was a human, too, once,” the angel said. “Did you know that?”

“Really? She told you?” Jemi acted surprised. “Were you and the Cockatrice good friends, also?” she drawled too, as a joke.

“I’d like to hope we were something more.”

What was that supposed to mean? “Like, enemies?”

“Probably worse,” Ennanis said. Whatever that meant. Then, “Did she tell you about me?”

This was starting to get ridiculous. Jemi couldn’t help but feel like she was being left out on some inside joke between the Graveyard Commander and the Cockatrice. Herself. She bit the inside of her lip. “No, she didn’t.”

“How long had it been since you last saw her?”

“Very long. Before your battle,” Jemi said. “And now, I’ll never see her again.”

“You must miss her terribly, then.”

Oh, every day. She missed the Cockatrice, for Jemi hated being this powerless. She yearned for the pour of silver magic in her veins, like the entire ocean within her body. Without it, she was a shrivelled, flimsy version of herself.

“Yes,” she admitted.

“Yeah,” Ennanis replied. “I thought so.” And then she looked out the window, her gaze disappearing into the wind again.

What a strange angel. Jemi looked down at the four tickets in her hands, then slipped them into her cloakpockets.

It was just then that a cloud of some wonderful scent wafted into her nostrils. Immediately, Jemi straightened. There was no mistaking it: it was her favourite smell in the whole wide undercloud.

The dining cart had rolled into their car. Ennanis’ tickets hadn’t just been the standard economy-class tickets; the ticketer had given her tickets to the premium cars. The quality and quantity of the food clearly matched this standard: herbed rice and grilled meats, and spicy fried noodles streaked with carrot and cabbage. And there were pratas too, freshly kneaded and grilled—if Ying were here she’d jump for joy.

But Jemi was mostly focusing on the bottles. Tucked beside the coffee- and teapots, the liquor bottles—a row of glistening, glass-clad beauties, clattered on the bottom shelf of the trolley. Jemi’s heart sang at the sight.

The train staff was pouring out a glass of cider for the commuter a few seats down from them, the source of the intoxicating fragrance. Tall, sparkling, gorgeous amber. Jemi could already feel saliva pooling in her mouth.

She lurched to her feet, looking back at Ennanis. “Hey, let’s go get something.”

“No need to be so impatient,” Ennanis said, glancing to their left. Another trolley full of similar food and drink was rolling from the other end. With a nod to the serving staff, she plucked a can of nectar coffee from its shelves.

“I can’t believe you’d get canned nectar on a train like this,” Jemi said incredulously. She turned to the staff with a brilliant smile, almost singing: “The apple cider, please!~ Thank you!~”

“Apple cider isn’t exactly highbrow, either,” Ennanis stated shrewdly as she popped open the tab of what was essentially the energy drink of angels. Jemi huffed as she plopped back down on her seat with a glassful of bubbling cider in hand.

“At least mine is an actual drink. Yours is a heinous mix of flower nectar, carbonation and caffeine.”

“And it’s delicious,” Ennanis said with a straight face, then took a hearty swig. She was definitely a nectar junkie. Jemi drained her own glass, swishing the remainder about. Alcohol had little effect on her Beastly constitution; Jemi had drunk from the moon, for Prometheus’ sake, alcohol wasn’t going to kill her. But it still had some effect. She stood up to ask for another glass—

And then stumbled. Not because of the alcohol, but because the entire car had jolted. Water slashed the windows; at last, it had begun to rain. Outside the windows, it fell dark, as though night, as the train rolled under a blanket of enormous black clouds. Cold wind whistled down the length of the train.

With a shiver, Jemi steadied herself against a pole and tugged her scarf around her face. The rails screeched and groaned under the wheels of the speeding train, shrill and foreboding. And she felt, rather than saw, the inky black dot flipping in the geode within her pocket.

Then—CRASH!

The unsteady rattling of the train had caused an unlucky service staff to lose his footing. In the process, a tray went tumbling across the floor, spilling a plateful of noodles. The service staff’s face blanched as he crawled to his knees, scrambling to gather up most of the noodles and dump them into the trash bag on the side of his trolley. It was a rather pathetic sight, but most commuters averted their eyes and pretended not to notice, just to spare him the embarrassment.

Most, apparently, except for the girl sitting in the seat in front of him.

“What do you think you’re doing?” her voice was sharp.

Still on his knees, the service staff looked up at her. Jemi and Ennanis glanced over as well. The girl was in what looked to be a school uniform, prim blouse-and-tie style, matched by the similarly-aged boys and girls sitting next to her. This girl’s particular uniform was supplemented by a fashionable sweatervest and woollen leg-warmers.

She swept her peachy-red hair over her shoulder and glared down at him. “You got noodle sauce on my skirt.” In saying that, she presented the hem of her schoolskirt with a flourish. The material was black, so it was hard to see, but there was… well… what could’ve been a spot of brown.

“I am sorry, miss,” the service staff apologised. He offered the girl a wet towel from the back of the trolley. “Here, please use this to clean it up.”

The girl looked disgusted. “You just used those hands to pick up the noodles. You would dare offer me that towel?”

“I’m sorry,” he said again profusely, wiping his hands clean with the towel before handing her a new towel. “Please use this instead.”

Slowly, the girl took the towel.

Then—THWACK!—she slapped him across the face with it.

“Do you honestly think a towel is going to fix this?” she admonished, pinching the end of the towel with her fingertips, as if it pained her to even hold on to it. “My skirt isn’t made of some cheap cotton. It’s going to be impossible to wipe this off or wash it off in any way.”

The service staff’s face was getting greyer with every passing second. “I will discuss this with my manager.” He began to move away, but then he flinched as the towel hit him in the back of the head with improbable force. He fell forward to the floor.

Behind him, the girl was on her feet. Her hand, the one that had thrown the towel, glowed with Soleki. Her emerald eyes flashed. Her schoolmates watched her, some enraptured, some looking away awkwardly, but none of them intervened.

“Do you know who I am?” the girl caroled. “I’m Pelia Vesuvio! My father owns the train you work on. He owns all the tracks all these trains run on. And you,” she jabbed her finger at his figure cowering in the corner of the car, “have just caused me unimaginable embarrassment. This is my first time returning to my hometown in months, and you’ll have me turning up in a soiled uniform?”

The service staff looked like he was considering jumping off the moving train. “We can… offer you a change of clothes?” he offered tentatively.

“Anything you could offer would be an even greater embarrassment,” the girl turned her nose up. “Goodness, this train company is really falling apart. What’s your name? Colton?” she glanced at the nametag on his chest. “I should tell my father to prune the worker base. Keep things in shape.”

Colton’s pupils shrank. “Please don’t-”

It seemed that Ennanis had finally had enough. Jemi saw the angel tense, her mouth open to say something—so she clamped a hand over the angel’s mouth.

“Do not get involved,” Jemi hissed.

Ennanis narrowed her eyes. “But she-”

“She’s causing a ruckus for attention,” Jemi said. “It’ll blow over soon.” She hardened her gaze. “We’re trying to stay low-profile, and attracting the ire of Pelia Vesuvio while in Kanch is the furthest you can get from that. If you intervene, I promise, your only lead to the Kraken or the Cockatrice will walk right off this train at the next stop.”

Ennanis stared back at her, challenging. But she eventually relented, leaning back reluctantly into her seat. Jemi removed her hand, shaking her head to herself as Pelia Vesuvio continued to harass the service staff, until management came around and dispelled the situation by offering her full reimbursement, and sacking Colton.

Jemi sighed, staring out the windows at the dark sky.