Arcane: Painted Tapestries

[The Redhouse]

Callian opened his eyes, coming to stare at the wooden ceiling of the gazebo thoughtfully, faintly aware of how much time had passed since his arrival in the gardens.

His mind was still elsewhere however.

Shala… The woman had continued to remain a mystery to him, even well after her death.

The only thing he had gleaned from his somewhat unenthusiastic questioning was that Silco had believed she was a spy planted by one of the rival Chembarons. 

There was no evidence to support this theory however, which had resulted in Singed being quite unhappy with his partner's decision to be rid of her.

In the end, the Doctor didn't resist the order, resulting in her 'removal' from his workforce.

Callian stood up, sighing quietly.

An icy mist bloomed around exhaled breath, quickly dissipating into the cold air.

There was no point in dwelling on the past. She was likely already dead, as that entire mission had been a hoax to get her killed anyway.

The chemical was of no true importance to Singed in the first place, at least not when it came to furthering the development of shimmer.

It had felt unnecessarily cruel to him at the time.

Callian strode out of the gazebo, his pace quickening into a run as he raced across frost-covered grass.

The man was beginning to get bored of Mudtown, as none of the pastimes offered by the Redhouse interested him at all. The quiet of the gardens was the only thing here that appealed to him.

"Four more hours." He muttered, jumping the garden's iron fencing and ascending onto the nearest rooftop.

Callian's return to The Pink Lotus was swift and uneventful, having memorised his way back to the establishment.

His now-sensitive nose twitched as he inhaled the overwhelming aroma of freshly burnt incense.

He pushed the door open and stepped inside, once again greeted by the familiar sight of the large waiting room.

Callian was mildly surprised to see Zeri sitting quietly on one of the many chairs lining the sides of the room; already waiting for his arrival.

Her heartbeat was slow and even - likely asleep then.

The foreign smell of ash seemed to be emanating entirely from her person, with only a hint of the bitter scent curling from behind the closed doors behind the receptionist.

The man had to admit it was a rather clever solution to a very niche problem; concealing the smell of sex with a potent incense. It was something he was very thankful for, as the stench of this district was starting to get to him.

Callian supposed it did make sense though, as most, if not all of the staff he had seen inside this place, were all Beastmen. Their noses would probably be even more sensitive than his.

"Zeri." He called over, unsurprised when he didn't get a reply from the sleeping girl.

Callian glanced at the receptionist briefly before slamming the teen with an adequate amount of his salgi.

He heard the receptionist's breath hitch slightly, ignoring it in favour of focusing on Zeri's reaction.

Her eyelids shot open, darting across the room wildly before zooming in on his stationary figure.

She relaxed immediately, though looking a bit put out by his bedside manner.

"Was that really necessary? You could've just shaken me awake." The girl mumbled grumpily, stretching a little before jumping to her feet.

"Tired, are you?" The man replied, listening amusedly as the teen's heartbeat spiked at his pointed jibe. "Let's take our leave, we still have four hours left before the ship departs."

Zeri nodded mutely, following the man out of The Pink Lotus and onto the bustling street beyond.

—

[An hour later]

"I still don't get how you managed to do that card thing so flawlessly in front of four other people." Said Zeri, who was taking her first bite of a freshly cooked meat skewer. "Ah, it's hot."

"That card thing.' That the teen was referring to, was Callian's uncanny knack for card counting; a technique that apparently didn't exist yet - or at least, wasn't well known.

Even if it was, the stringent Redhouse dealers hadn't called him out on it, so it mustn't have been against the rules.

"Practice makes perfect." The man replied, stepping onto the wooden pier ahead of them.

"Seems a bit wasteful though," His apprentice commented. "Why learn to win when you can just steal everything you need from the winner?"

Callian just smirked in reply. He had only learnt card counting to help irritate a certain someone.

Sevika had never won a game against them again, much to her annoyance.

The masked pair reached the gangway, and Callian was just about to give Zeri a reply before he spotted a fully recovered Arthur standing on the deck in front of them.

The boy flinched upon seeing the approaching man, stumbling backwards and running away into the ship's hold.

Callian sighed. He expected as much.

He glanced at Zeri, giving a curt nod in response to her searching expression.

Having received her mentor's approval, the masked teen blitzed forward; following in the traumatised boy's footsteps and descending into the ship's hold.

The man pondered this latest exchange, darting forward and ascending the central mast until he reached the underside of the crow's nest.

Callian jumped through the already broken railing, his metal boots clinking softly onto the wooden flooring of the nest.

He moved forward, crouching down on one knee as his armoured fingers began tracing the wooden planks underfoot.

Good - the rune was still active after all this time, which meant it was unlikely to fade in the future then.

The masked man mulled over his earlier decision quietly. It still wasn't too late to scratch it out, and the boy had been through enough on his account.

Callian's eyes narrowed subtly.

On the other hand, it was better to be safe than sorry.

—

[Entresol]

"So? Is it working?"

Blue stared down at the crude metallic arm that was strapped to the stump where her left arm had once been.

The woman sucked in a deep breath before attempting to flex her new hand.

Her jagged metal fingers creaked as they moved, slightly lagging behind when she had initially willed. But it had worked - her makeshift fist was now tightly clenched before her.

The dark-skinned boy sitting beside her pumped the air enthusiastically. "Yesss."

"It works." Muttered Blue; who was relieved, but not yet satisfied. "Thank Janna."

The woman tried numerous different combinations of finger raises, noting that quite a few of them did not seem to respond to being moved as a singular entity.

Okay… The fingers needed some work. Other than that? Not bad, especially considering what they had to work with.

"How come you're so good at tinkering?" Asked Ekko, glancing up at the woman with what looked like a grudging respect. "That was practically all you. I'm starting to think you didn't need my help at all. You're better than me at it."

"Experience." She replied, placing her non-prosthetic hand on top of the boy's head; tousling his white hair affectionately. "And no, I couldn't have done this without you."

Ekko's heart skipped a beat.

The younger boy was taken aback by the raw emotion contained behind that thin smile of hers.

Even more so that it seemed to be solely directed at him and nothing else.

"Right…" He replied awkwardly, flopping backwards onto the mess of junk, scrap metal, and tools surrounding them.

The boy stared up at the green canopy overhead; at the miraculous tree that was hidden deep within the Entresol level.

He remembered having been left in awe after discovering it for the first time, unbelieving that something so large could be growing so deep underground.

He had expected the same of Blue too, but the boy was sadly disappointed when the woman had given no outward reaction to seeing it. Well, now that he thought about it, that wasn't strictly true.

Her expression had been odd - oddly… Nostalgic?

Ekko frowned, that couldn't be it, he had to be misinterpreting it somehow.

"What're you thinking about, Spaceboy?"

The dark-skinned boy froze, his ever-active mind blanking.

Impossible.

He raised himself back up to a sitting position; wide brown eyes staring across at his older companion.

Blue looked on at his slack-jawed expression, her own morphing into one of steadily growing bewilderment.

"Ekko? What's the matter?" She called over, leaning forward and placing a hand on his trembling shoulder.

The boy didn't respond, watching as a much younger face briefly flickered over Blue's own mature one.

"Powder?" He croaked, staring across at the cyan-haired woman; his expression equal parts confused, mistrusting, and regretful. "Is that you?"

—

(Total word count: 1480)

—

A short chapter I know, but I felt you readers deserve something after waiting so long. Hopefully, it hasn't disappointed you.