Fowlhunter [GL]

The couple were smiling when they saw Ennanis and Jemi on the couch. Immediately Jemi sprang up. Ennanis pouted after her.

“-Let’s go help them now,” Jemi coughed. “You can’t mess up setting the table, can you?”

“Hey, I’m the Golden Rose. I can’t say silverware is my specialty,” Ennanis joked, but she snapped her fingers. The big heavy pot of soup floated out of Mr Tionn’s hands, as well as the other dishes on the kitchen counter, suspended by golden threads of light.

Just then, Josie came out of the one of the bedrooms, along with another girl who must’ve been his younger sister, Mina. Wonderment filled their eyes as they watched the plates, bowls and chopsticks twirling about in the air.

“Make them go in a circle!” Mina yelled.

Ennanis made them go in a circle.

“Mina, greet the jiejie.”

“Make them whoosh around my head. Oh, oh! Make them spell out my name.”

Ennanis did as directed.

“Spell out Josie! Now spell out DOUG IS STINKY!”

“Don’t talk about your little brother like that, Mina…”

“That sure is a whole new way of playing with your food,” Mr Tionn observed as he seated Doug in the baby chair. “Isn’t anyone hungry? We’ve got return-pot pork today.” Instantly, the kids were running over to their chairs. “Did you two wash your hands?” sent them running away again. Mr Tionn snapped tongs at Ennanis. “Can you handle spice, angel?”

“I was born for the heat,” Ennanis returned.

“I’m glad,” Mr Tionn said, brandishing the plate of seared pork belly, glistening in red sauce. “And you, Jemi? I remember when you were younger, you didn’t eat spice-”

Jemi, who had been looking uncertainly at the crimson-drowned food, twitched when Ennanis spoke. Scoffing, Jemi said, “Of course it’s fine. Have you got chilli padi? I fear it’s not spicy enough.”

“You’ve got chilli padi?” Ennanis perked up. “Can I have some too, please?”

Jemi scowled visibly. Mr and Mrs Tionn looked at each other. Mrs Tionn shrugged, and returned with two little dishes.

Jemi clasped her hands together and bowed. “Thank you for the food.” Mina and Josie came back from the bathroom, sliding into their seats. Mrs Tionn squeezed two extra chairs into the table for both newcomers.

“Let’s eat!” Everyone picked up their chopsticks.

Ennanis deftly filled her ricebowl with chillies. Jemi, surreptitiously watching her from the side, filled her own with even more. Blissfully unaware, Ennanis took a bite of her food. Her gold eyes lit up.

“This is delicious,” the angel said on swallowing.

“Isn’t it?” Mrs Tionn delighted. “I’m always saying, he could open a restaurant.” She looked to Jemi. “How about you, dear, do you like the food?”

Jemi had been curiously silent since taking her first mouthful. Her lips were pressed together in a thin line. Her chopsticks clacked.

“...It’s,” Jemi pushed out. “...Good.” She transferred more rolls of meat into her bowl and shovelled them into her mouth, as if to prove the point. Only, her face was growing redder and redder with every chew.

“Are you okay?” Ennanis asked. The angel had heaped her own bowl with food, and was already down with half the dish of chilli. She hadn’t batted an eye.

“I… should be asking… you that...” Jemi hissed under her breath.

“Do you need water?”

“No,” Jemi stubbornly filled her mouth with rice. “I chust lurve spishy schtuff.”

“Well, I need water. It’s a little salty,” Ennanis said gallantly, and got up to pour everyone glasses of water.

“Yeah, it’s just salty,” Jemi said, and reached for the water when no one was paying attention. Notably, the woman didn’t touch her chilli padi dish again.

“So, where have you been all these years?” Mr Tionn asked. “How old are you even, now? Twenty?”

“Twenty-eight,” Jemi said, setting down her water glass.

“Medusa. I really am getting old,” Mr Tionn scratched his head. “A lot of things must have happened in that time.” Mina had stood up to start smacking Doug, who wailed. “Stop hitting him, Mina.” Sulking, the daughter slunk back down and stuffed fried longbeans in her mouth.

“I’ve just been travelling around,” Jemi said. It wasn’t a lie. “I’ve been a runaway since I was a child. I was always more of a wanderer. Seeing the sights, you know…”

“Meeting new people?” Mrs Tionn gestured cheekily at the angel sitting next to her. “How did you meet her?”

“......” Jemi looked at Ennanis.

“......” Ennanis looked at Jemi.

“...It’s a long story,” Jemi settled on.

“We’ve got time.”

“No, it’s a really. Long. Story,” Jemi insisted.

“Okay, then,” Mrs Tionn shrugged in concession. “Tell us more about your adventures around the undercloud. What have you been up to?”

They began to exchange stories. Jemi talked about gorgeous rivers and mountain hikes, tastefully avoiding mentioning anything to do with the Beasts or being the Cockatrice. Ennanis also had a few stories to share in the undercloud, like about the best dessert shops and street markets, also tastefully avoiding mentioning anything about being the Graveyard Commander or an exiled angel. In return, Mr and Mrs Tionn talked about their everyday life, about travels, about their kids, about work—Mr Tionn was a teacher while Mrs Tionn helped at a market stall.

It was such a helplessly ordinary conversation, Ennanis felt almost weirded out. As the meal progressed, Ennanis snuck a peek over at Jemi. She had relaxed so much from before, she almost looked like a completely different person. When she smiled and laughed, gone was the snark and simper… Ennanis might not have been good at how to act around people, but she knew how to read them. And those smiles were softer, more genuine than anything Ennanis had ever seen from her. Like it was what Jemi might’ve been like, if she had been the normal child that the Tionns had made her feel like—if she’d led a peaceful life as just Jemi, instead of being the Beast Princess.

In that world, she would never have met Ennanis.

“......” Something twinged in Ennanis’ chest.

Eventually, her mind returned to the conversation.

“-Oh yeah, speaking of Kanch,” Mr Tionn was saying, “did you read the news recently? About the volcano.”

At the words, Jemi’s clatter of utensils paused, her earlier smile frozen in place. With difficulty, she swallowed her food, then said slowly, “No, what of it?”

Oblivious to her reaction, Mr Tionn went on. “Amethyst Mountain blew up. Apparently it was a volcano all along.”

“Amethyst Mountain?” echoed Mrs Tionn. “Isn’t that where the huge mine in Kanch operates? The one under the Vesuvio clan?”

“Yeah, it’s been a huge fuss,” Mr Tionn said. “It came to light that Ahi Vesuvio was using child labour to mine amethyne—that’s the special, volcanic-quality amethyst. He hid the fact that it was a volcano in order to make people think the miners were just doing regular mining, at least. It’s terrible. Some of their families had no idea what they were sending their children into.”

“Well, with how big the operation was, I’m sure some of them knew,” Mrs Tionn said, with a disgusted shake of her head. “Personally, I can’t imagine it! I know some of them have no coin, no choice, but still. No matter how dire finances get, I could never send my own children into that kind of infernal pit to risk their lives.” She sighed. “What a huge scandal for the Vesuvio clan. The Vesuvio mines is one of the biggest mines in Kanch, too. Didn’t any angels find out about it?”

“They declined to comment. They say Ahi Vesuvio will be ‘dealt with’, but the details on that are unclear. Really, ever since that Epimetheus angel came into power, a lot of investigations have gone unsolved,” Mr Tionn said. “Oh, but never mind that. Did you hear about how the volcanic eruption was stopped?”

“You can stop a volcanic eruption?!?”

“What happened? What happened?” Mina was jumping in her seat. Doug babbled excitedly. Jemi and Ennanis were both very quiet, suddenly absorbed in their respective meals.

Mr Tionn laid down his cutlery. He began, “The volcano erupted. It was one of the largest-scale eruptions ever recorded by Kanch, nay, in the undercloud. They say, unimpeded, it could have easily wiped out the town of Amethyst, and impacted the surrounding towns as well. But before that, something incredible happened. It was like… a massive golden lotus, folding over the mountain. People say that it was Soleki, so there must have been a platoon of angels behind it… but no one knows who or where they were. When the Parliament of Kanch wanted to present them a prize for their efforts, the angels asked were clueless.”

Ennanis took a lengthy drink of water.

“Anyway, the lotus held the lava in place for a while… but later, it died out. The lava continued to soar down the hill. But then, another miracle happened. Lightning flashed and thunder cracked, and a mighty cloud of birds flocked from the eastern sky, bringing with them a storm. The storm started to put out the fire for a while. Soon, though, that started to fail, too…”

“Damn, putting out a volcano isn't easy.”

“So finally, the third miracle of that day happened. Just before the lava crashed further into the town of Amethyst, all the birds above suddenly turned to stone.”

“Whaaaat?”

“How?”

“Well, that's exactly what happened. The birds turned to stone and fell, burying the mouth of the volcano. At last, the eruption was halted.”

“That's like something straight out of a fairytale.”

“Were the birds magical or something?”

“Here's the thing,” Mr Tionn said. “There were some who were saying that, what happened, is in line with… Well, you see, there's only one person known to turn living things to stone. It's a Beast: the leader of the Beasts, in fact. The Cockatrice. They suspect she was the one who did it.”

Jemi picked at her food.

“The Cockatrice? Isn't she supposed to be, like… the big bad evil?”

“Who knows,” Mr Tionn said, “but no one else has a better explanation. Whatever the case, if it really was her… maybe she had a change of heart. And all of Kanch surely has her to thank for that.”

With that, they wrapped up the meal.

“Oh, it’s gotten so late,” Mrs Tionn said with a glance at the clock. “Do you have anywhere to stay for the night?”

Ennanis and Jemi exchanged a glance.

“There are a number of motels nearby, we could always find one,” Jemi began politely, as Ennanis said, “No.”

“Well then,” Mrs Tionn smiled, “You’re welcome to sleep here.” She turned to the kids. “Mina, can you share your room with Josie for tonight? We’ve got the spare mattress in the cupboard.”

“Whaaat? Mama, Doug’s cot is already in my room!” Mina stomped her foot.

“Sorry, it’s not a question,” Mrs Tionn said. “Our guests need somewhere to sleep, okay?”

“Pssst. Mina,” Josie whispered. “We can play video games under the blanket all night.”

Mina’s eyes lit up. Finally with one last mock ‘huff’, she settled down. Mr and Mrs Tionn rolled their eyes and pretended not to hear them… for now.

“Josie’s bed is pretty big. It should be able to fit two people,” Mrs Tionn said.

“Actually, we have another spare mattress in the ba…” Mr Tionn trailed off when he saw Mrs Tionn’s glare. “Uh, come to think of it, we gave that away to the aunties living downstairs. S-sorry.”

“That’s fine,” Ennanis said. “We’ll make do.”

“Are you even asking my opinion in this?” Jemi muttered.

“I’m an angel. I’m scared of the dark,” Ennanis mooned. “I need someone to sleep with me.”

Jemi gave her a dirty look, but finally sighed. She nodded at the Tionns. “It’s fine.”

Mrs Tionn beamed from ear-to-ear. Mina mumbled something about ‘stupid lovey-dovey shit’, shambling into her room with hands in her pockets. Fireball followed her, skipping and meowing. Josie made Ennanis show him more ‘magic tricks’ with Soleki—that got Mina’s attention, who quickly and unsubtly rushed back out. Mr Tionn cleaned up Doug’s mouth and helped him out of the high chair.

Meanwhile, Jemi approached Mrs Tionn alone.

“Could you help me with something?” she asked.

“Of course, dear, what is it?”

“I need to prepare for a date tomorrow,” Jemi said, “but I don’t have any clothes on me. If you don’t mind, could I borrow some of yours?”

Mrs Tionn gazed at her slowly. “A date, you say?...”

“I’m meeting a man at the Shifting Sands tomorrow,” the woman said.

“......” Mrs Tionn glanced at Ennanis, who was busy juggling chocolate balls for the children. They squealed and laughed as the sweets dropped into their mouths. Doug babbled from his baby chair; Mina feinted at giving him her sweet, then ate it in front of him with a raucous cackle.

Mrs Tionn glanced back at Jemi. “Follow me,” she said.

~