NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter 3: Pity
As the Altaria guided her through the forest, Aria couldn’t help but keep replaying what she’d seen in Anne’s memories to herself. So much of it didn’t make a lick of sense, answering almost nothing beyond the girl having ran away from something. Despite her confusion, she still felt protective of the human girl out of reflex, more so than she probably should’ve been. Guess a child was a child in the end, and wanting to protect those who couldn’t protect themselves was her innermost nature.
Even if that child also happened to be human.
Don’t worry, Anne, we’ll get you back home safely.
“^Lucere?^”
The Gardevoir’s call had the Dragon-type dive to fly beside her, easily matching her pace. “Everything alrighty, Aria?”
“^Yes, yes, just… goodness is this entire topic a mess.^”
“Yep yep. Just awful, I hope the healers hurry up!”
“^They’re already doing what they can, I’m sure of it.^”
“Hope to bits that’s true! We need to get rid of the human before they wake!”
“^It would be the best for our security, yes.^”
“And more~! Nobody wanna deal with an awake human!”
The forcefulness of Lucere’s words made Aria raise an eyebrow as she ran through the nondescript woods. She wasn’t aware of the Altaria having had any particular experiences with humanity in the past, but it was always a possibility. “^Why so?^”
“Oh, you know! They’re awful and think of us as dirt! They hate us; why wouldn’t we do the same?”
It certainly was an interesting conjecture, based almost entirely on concentrated ‘trust me’. A part of Aria doubted that she’d get anything out of this discussion at all, but figured she could at least push it a bit further and see what reasoning the Altaria had for her claim. “^And why would that be, you think?^”
“Oh, Aria, we and humans are different! Everyone hates difference when it’s this big!”
Now that was a much more concrete, and yet much broader reason. It also made Aria immediately call nonsense, but the last thing she wanted to do right now was engage in an argument with her coworker.
Especially since they were finally coming up on where Lumi had been waiting for them.
The Gardevoir gradually undid her Agility as she slowed down, trying her hardest to keep her breathing quiet. She then put up a small Safeguard for them all, making Lumi step down from the small hill overlooking the bespoke human path and bring the other two up to speed. “Two humans with a leashed Growlithe. They’re following the trail that the crashed human left behind themselves,” Lumi said matter-of-factly, keeping his snark down for the time being.
“^Any chance they’re just using the same path and not following her?^”
“Very doubtful. It seems they’re having the Growlithe track the human’s scent. Came close to picking mine up a couple times earlier.”
That settled it, leaving Aria no other choice than to get in there herself while hopefully remaining undetected. As she prepared herself for it, though, Lumi followed up, “They’re walking very slowly, for some reason.” He was no less confused than Aria at hearing that, the bewilderment in his voice unlike him.
“Can confirm!”
Lucere’s chirped confirmation had the psychic reconsider her plan for a moment. She soon realized that it didn’t matter for much, though—sprinting or crawling; their purpose here was clear enough.
As was her need to stop them.
“^Alright. I’ll try to follow them, and see if I can put any of this together. Lucere, scout along the path towards their town to see whether any reinforcements are on the way. Lumi, be on your guard in case I’ll need backup.^”
“Okie-dokie!” / “Aye aye.”
Once the Altaria flew off, Aria got to work. With a deep breath, she extended her mental reach; sensing and effortlessly breaching into the three minds on the other side of the hill. Once that was done, she approached them, keeping a close eye on their appearance as she scanned their surface thoughts.
Their outfits were very bulky, making them look much larger than they would have otherwise. Almost all their clothes were an almost black shade of blue—thick jackets, leg coverings, large belts with a multitude of pouches. The only exception was a sleeveless garment on their upper half, colored a very… unusual kind of yellow. On it were a couple of stripes and an unknown human symbol, possibly writing, made of a reflective silver material.
As many layers as they wore, though, noticing how cold they felt wasn’t exactly a feat. Aria was eternally grateful at how much more effective the thin Safeguard sheen surrounding her body was at keeping her warm compared to human clothing, even if the result was still only just bearable. The bulk of the Gardevoir’s attention, however, was placed on someone else.
The Growlithe pup was likely only a couple of years old at most. They constantly kept trying to outrun the reach of their leash, the jolts of pain every time they tried to do what they were supposed to—follow the scent—clear to sense.
In any other circumstances, Aria would have seriously considered teaching the humans a lesson, or at least giving the lil’ Fire-type some much-needed reprieve. Unfortunately, she couldn’t do that this time.
Not with so much at stake.
To her dismay, the group remained silent for a while. Aria cursed herself for ending up just late enough for them to have wrapped up their previous conversation topic.
Right as she was preparing to dive deeper into their thoughts the hard way, though, the Growlithe perked up in her direction. Fortunately, their human handlers didn’t immediately get the significance of that—
“~What is it now?~” the human voice snarled, their voice gravely and unamused as they glanced over their shoulder. All they could see were snow and trees, making them grumble at the puppy.
Even if their handlers’ senses were too limited to spot her, the Growlithe’s most definitely weren’t. The little one tried to bolt towards her, only to find themselves thrashing against the limits of their leash.
“~Get back here, you dumb fucking dog,~” the second human muttered in exasperation, hangover tainting their words and actions alike. They yanked at the Fire-type’s leash out of spite to get back at them as Aria ensured the puppy couldn’t smell her anymore.
“~Even it’s going nuts at this pointless shit.~”
The second human chuckled at the remark, breaking into a harsh cough before shaking it off with a low groan.
“~It’s just a straight path, isn’t it?~” the first human asked.
“~It is!~”
“~So why the fuck do we have to track that kid all the way over to Lillywood!?~”
“~Fuck if I know!~”
“~Of course that bitch is in Lillywood, where fucking else. C’mon, let’s get back, write it in and be done with it.~”
As unenthused as the second human was at them being here to begin with, such a blatant disregard for procedure made them pause and second guess themselves. They looked over at the unending path ahead and back at the other human, Growlithe yanking at the leash in their hands all the while. “~You sure?~”
“~Course I am! Where else could she be?~”
“~I don’t know, Lillywood guys apparently couldn’t find her.~”
“~Didn’t look hard enough is what it is, not our fucking problem.~”
The second human was quite unnerved by that. They were torn between being eager to turn tail and get back to warmth, and genuinely concerned about the remote possibility that some dumb kid got themselves hurt on a straight stretch of path.
“~Besides—the fuck is her bum mother gonna do, throw a bottle at us?~” the first voice chuckled under their breath.
“~What about Tom?~”
“~What about him!?~”
The non-answer left the second human speechless for a moment, before they finally relented with a quiet ‘yeah’. The two humans turned around, leaving the Fire-type beside them thrashing against their leash before one stronger yank finally made them obey with a painful whine.
As stunned as Aria was at that entire sequence of events, this one she wouldn’t let slide. Suddenly, the human holding the leash lost their footing, falling face first onto the snow-covered dirt. The first human offered only snark, “~Speaking of bottles, you’d do well to skip on one or two.~”
“~Shut the fuck up, ugh—no idea how I even slipped there.~”
As the second human picked themselves back up, Aria backed off towards Lumi. Her expression was as flat as it ever got as the Luxray spoke with appreciation, “Nice work. As far as I’m concerned, that asshole deserved worse, but I’ll take what I can get.”
“^I didn’t do anything.^”
Aria’s quiet admission caught Lumi off guard, leaving him unsure how to interpret that. “What do you mean?”
“^They backed off on their own. All I did was trip one of them over.^”
“They did? Why—were they not looking for the girl after all?”
“^They were, it’s... I-I don’t know. They were searching for Anne, but then at some point, they just... didn’t want to bother anymore. Decided to go back and lie that she had made it to the town on the other end of the path.^”
“That’s...” Lumi mumbled, speechless. Sure, his expectations for humanity were already nonexistent, but this was somehow even more loathsome than anything he could’ve imagined. Despicable as it was, though, it still left questions.
“Are they just not gonna search for her anymore?”
“^It would seem so. They mentioned something about her mother maybe doing that, but weren’t taking that idea seriously either.^”
“Humans just keep finding ways to sink even lower, eh?”
“^I don’t know if I can even argue with that, I...^” Aria grasped for words, unable to find any.
“Take your time, Aria. At least this threat is averted. I’ll spread the news so we’re all on the same page.”
“^Good call, thanks Lumi. And,^” she followed up, the words catching the Luxray right as he was about to storm out. Light blue arcs of electricity jumped around his fur as he looked over his shoulder, ready to take off. “^Let’s meet again at the healers’ tent, tomorrow morning.^”
“Gonna dig through more memories after all?”
“^Not sure if there’s a way to avoid that anymore, I’m afraid.^”
“Hah. Sure thing—take it easy today.”
Much as Aria didn’t want Lumi to end up being right in the end, she didn’t see any other way out of this mess. She was left alone with her thoughts as she watched him head out, the winter cold stinging harder than ever. The sheer attitude with which these people had treated not just a missing one of theirs, but a missing child, was harrowing.
Was that just how humans were deep down?
She sure hadn’t felt anything near this despicable from her previous interactions with them, their minds not too different from her own. But these two… Aria had no idea whether they were uniquely horrible, or if that was humanity’s true nature. Her soul kept trying to convince her it was the former, but her mind couldn’t shake all the doubt off.
Who knows—maybe the potential for that kind of indifferent cruelty lied in her, too. She couldn’t imagine herself ever acting like that, the mere idea so against everything that made her a Gardevoir, against everything that made her… her, that it made her feel ill.
That didn’t mean it was impossible, of course.
What Aria knew for sure, though, was that after several hours of thoughts running in circles around that topic and ultimately getting nowhere, the only thing she wanted to do was to go home and fill her soul with something warmer.
If there was one part of winter that Aria liked, it was the much shorter scouting shifts.
Nothing stopped humans from sneaking over in the dark, of course, but very few were foolish enough to attempt that even in the summer. Sprout could count all the instances where she had to actually give some potential intruders a scare on her talons over her many years of scouting. After what she’d witnessed earlier today, Aria doubted any humans would come looking for Anne overnight.
Or ever again, for that matter.
Thankfully, she wouldn’t have to think about that unpleasant subject for much longer. A smile crept to her face as she beelined for the entrance to the large burrow, under a larger hill, under an even larger oak that crowned its peak.
Her home.
As puny, downright miserly, as the wooden door at its front was, the light flowing out of the gaps between it and its frame gave its homeliness away. Aria closed her eyes and undid her Safeguard as she stepped in and made her way down these familiar, worn steps, the warmth and pleasant smells making her shudder.
“Good evening, honey,” her husband spoke, his voice harsh, bestial, angry even—to an untrained ear, at least. Aria knew, however, that this was his happy voice. His species left him with an unfortunately limited vocal range, and what he had of it came off as intimidating for many. His face suffered from the same issue, the always-visible fangs especially unnerving in a vacuum.
“Hey, sweetie.”
Regardless of how he sounded to strangers, Aria knew the person underneath the demonic Grimmsnarl facade well enough to be as comfortable around him as she got. She walked over with a dreamy expression and let him pull her into a gentle, warm embrace as he worked on the dinner. “Long day?”
“Very.”
The squirmy sensation of his individual hairs moving around was equal parts ticklish and comforting. Aria let herself get moved and held even closer, nuzzling into her husband’s shoulder.
A part of Garret wanted to ask about the murmurs about a human in their village he’d heard earlier, but there was no need to rush. His head leaned on hers as they basked in the hearth’s warmth, the Gardevoir’s lithe body getting warmed up fast.
“Smells delicious.”
“Thank you~. Holly’s advice never fails, hah.”
“Indeed, it does not. She recommended some new ingredients?”
“Spices! A bit less pepper, a bit more salt, and to try out a bay leaf or two. Aroma wise I have no complaints so far, and I doubt the flavor is gonna disappoint us either.”
“Nothing you ever make is~.”
It was hard to spot a blush on the fiercely green skin of his cheeks, making knowing how to do so feel extra special to Aria. Her tired smile grew wider as she allowed herself to close her eyes and focus on all the other, more pleasant stimuli. Though, as she focused more on her psychic senses, something unusual became apparent. “Where’s everyone?”
As much as she appreciated some peace and quiet after a long day, Aria wasn’t used to seeing her dwelling be so calm after dark. She sensed a couple of minds playing in an adjacent room, and had a very good idea of who they were, but that still left a few heads absent.
“I know Cadence and mom went out to grab something, haven’t seen Marco all day, Bell and Elric—”
Before he could finish, the door to the kids’ room flung open, a pink blur scrambling out of it right away. His every motion filled the burrow with rattling noises as he was being persistently, yet futilely, chased by a teeny Ralts. The lil’ psychic’s best efforts only earned him laughter from the Gligar as the bat kept shaking the rattle in his tail’s grasp, making the Ralts try even harder. The Ralts’ glow surrounded the toy before it was inevitably yanked out of his mental grip again and again, pushing him to frustration. “Give it back!”
As amused as the bat was at the situation, his smile washed from his face the moment he saw the tyke’s mom having made her way back. Her unamused expression told it all, distracting the Gligar for long enough for the Ralts to finally yank the rattle out of his tail’s grip.
“Elriiiic...”
“I’m sorry Mrs. Aria, I-I just got carried away with it—” the Gligar tried to explain himself, pincers clicking in anxiety.
“I know, I know, you’re not in trouble, sweetie. I just want you to be careful and know when to stop so that it’s fun for you both,” Aria explained with a tired smile. She couldn’t even pretend to be upset at any of this, especially now that Bell had gone from frustrated to happy at reclaiming his toy. He excitedly waved it around as he ran around the room—before finally spotting his mom having made it back home.
“Mommy!”
“Hey Bell~.”
The tyke giggled in glee as his mom psychic’d him into her arms and held him close. Aria’s tired expression softened as she looked back at the Gligar. The last thing she wanted was to make the boy think he was in trouble, moving her little one off to one arm and outstretching the other one for a hug.
Elric accepted the invitation right away, flying over and clinging onto Garret’s arm as he let the Gardevoir provide some well-needed affection. “Sorry...”
“It’s okay Elric, it’s okay. Bell really likes you—right, Bell?”
“Yeah!” the Ralts squeaked out, filling everyone else with warmth, and especially his bat friend.
“I-I’m glad.”
“I just don’t want that to change because you went too far by accident.”
“H-he’s not angry at me, right?”
“Oh no, not at all. Just something to keep in mind for the future,” Aria smiled, stroking the back of Elric’s head as the last of his worries left him. “You’ve already grown up a lot this winter, you know? Your dad is gonna be really proud of you once he wakes back up.”
The comment did wonders at lifting the bat’s spirits back up as he held onto his temporary guardians. He knew it’d be at least a month more before his dad would snap out of his hibernation, but that didn’t stop him from checking on him every morning, just in case.
“Y-you think?”
“Absolutely, Elric! I remember how scared you were the last winter, and look at you now, you’re taking it like a champ!” Garret said, fueling the Gligar’s fluster as he settled into the affection, the dinner getting wrapped up in the meantime.
“Thank you, Mr. Garret...”
Comfy as the scene was, Aria realized it’d get even comfier soon. She let go of her husband and carefully lowered both kids down on the floor before instructing them, “Everyone’s on their way, let’s lay things out for dinner~.”
“Yes, ma’am!” Elric chirped before swooping to grab a handful of wooden bowls while Aria pulled the short table from the corner to the center of the chamber. She then whisked a few pillows from her bedroom and laid them around; some of the Whimsicott fluff leaking out of the slowly tattering fabric.
Bell helped by clapping and squeaking at the sight of so much motion happening around him.
They got done with the preparations just in time, the front door opening right as Elric set down the final spoon. Before the gust of icy wind could chill the atmosphere in the burrow, Cadence reignited it by excitedly running down the stairs and shouting, “Mom mom mom is it true with the human!?”
“Cadence sweetie, one thing at a time,” the Indeedee behind her chided.
“Okay, grandma!”
The Kirlia-shaped bundle of energy bounced into the kids’ room to drop her scarf off before running back over to her mom. “Is it true, mom!?”
“What’s true?” Bell asked confusedly, looking up at his sister and her red cheeks.
Cadence groaned under her breath at him not following along and answered, “The human!”
“Human?”
“We can talk about it over dinner sweeties, now get yourself seated,” Aria instructed, catching the tykes’ attention.
“Okay, mommy!” / “Okay mom!” / “Okay ma’am!”
Aria chuckled at the three squeaky voices responding nearly simultaneously before they took their seats. The Gardevoir lowered herself onto the pillow next to Bell as her mother-in-law took a seat beside Cadence. Right as they did, the final missing member of the family made his way back home, the Gallade’s expression even more focused than usual.
“Evening Marco, something on your mind?” Aria asked, making her brother chuckle—the subject of his thoughts was obvious enough. He knew better than to rush that topic ahead of dinner, sitting down as Garret carried the entire pot of stew over to the table with one arm.
With the portions getting handed out, the wooden spoons got to work—Bell’s under his mom’s careful watch. As the rich flavor rejuvenated the family’s bodies, Autumn noted her son’s tweak in his recipe, “^Hmm. More salt this time?^”
As used as the Indeedee might have been to mentally communicating with her Dark-type son, she couldn’t deny that it grew more difficult as the years kept coming. No matter how hard Garret tried to lower his mental guard around his family—letting them link up to him in the first place—doing so remained incomparably harder than linking up with anyone else.
Thankfully, this was just a fallback—spoken language was more than sufficient most of the time. It didn’t stop Autumn from feeling down at the realization of just how much her abilities were slipping by the season, though.
“Mhm! Holly’s recommendation.”
For a few solid minutes, the only sounds filling the burrow were the scraping of wood on wood. Even Cadence waited until she was done through most of her portion before bringing the talk of the day back up, “^Is it true with the human, mom?^”
“^You’ll have to be more specific than that, sweetie.^”
“^Is there really a human in our village?^”
“^Yes, yes there is.^”
As obviously true as the news was to her, Aria saw her husband, her mother-in-law, and the boy her family watched over all pause at the revelation. Their eyes went wide at the incredulous rumor being confirmed; Cadence squeaked giddily,“^Eeeee—what’s their name? Are they scary? Can I meet—^”
“^Cadeeeence.^”
“^Sorry grandma.^”
“^Don’t be sorry sweetie, just take your time. Your mom isn’t running anywhere, and neither are we. Now—what was that with the human Aria?^”
The Gardevoir chuckled at the elderly Indeedee’s barely veiled enthusiasm, emptying her bowl as she continued, “^Her name is Anne. Sprout found her before dawn. She had gotten hurt near the human road to the east, and was in a very rough state.^”
“^Ooooh... was she mean to someone so they hurt her—^”
“^No sweetie, no, it was an accident.^”
“^How come she was there in the middle of the night in the first place?^”
“^That is a very good question, Autumn,^” Marco spoke with a knowing tone, catching his sister’s attention. The two locked eyes as the rest of the table ate on, switching to communicating directly without anyone else overhearing.
“^Do you know something more about it?^” Aria asked.
“^Followed the trail back to their town while you dealt with the group they sent. I think I even know which building it started from.^”
“^Any finds there?^”
“^Whole place reeked of spoiled wine and looked ransacked. It was just that single building, though.^”
Aria had no idea about just how significant that find was, but it didn’t sound pretty in the slightest. She nodded deeply before asking, “^Found anyone there?^”
“^Regrettably, no. The whole place had a miserable aura, and there was a lot of human attention around it, so I didn’t stay long.^”
“^Makes sense. Could her family be ostracized in their own town?^”
“^Not impossible, but... something tells me that’s not quite it.^”
The Gardevoir nodded as she continued with her meal; the mystery refusing being neatly answered—or even having any meaningful progress done with it. Seems she would have to have a sweep through Anne’s memories after all—
“^What are you two chatting abooooout~?^” Cadence chimed in, unable to resist at seeing her mom and uncle talking covertly for any longer.
Marco chuckled in response, while Aria answered vaguely enough to not be lying. “^Scouting stuff.^”
“Are other humans looking for her?” Elric asked, his words making both siblings glance at him and nod simultaneously.
Marco picked up the slack of explaining it this time, “^They sent a search party earlier today, but Aria diverted them.^”
“^Not even. It was...^”
By the time Aria realized she’d spilled more than she should have, the entire table’s attention was already on her—including Marco, apparently out of the loop about what had happened earlier that day. Ultimately, there was no real reason to keep secretive about all this beyond it just being… upsetting.
“^They just backed out on their own, didn’t want to bother. Treated the whole thing more like a nuisance rather than a search for a lost child.^”
“^A child!?^” Autumn shouted, taken aback in a mix of disbelief, worry, and outright disgust. Her thoughts and attention kept glancing over to her adoptive son, something deep inside her refusing to accept such a vile state of things.
“^Yes, she’s a child. Around Cadence’s age from what Esther told us.^”
“^To get treated like that by one’s own kin...^”
“^Can we visit her, mom?^” Cadence asked. Aria considered her request more than Blossom’s earlier in the day, but only just. As unnerving as Anne’s circumstances already were and kept growing, it wasn’t like they could just send visits to her freely.
Sooner or later, they’d figure out what had happened to her and get her home, safe and sound.
“^No sweetie, we don’t want her to know she’s here. Besides, she’s still comatose, so it’d be a very one-sided visit,^” Aria explained. Her response deflated all three kids, even if Bell didn’t quite grasp everything being discussed. He may not have understood the significance of the village’s unexpected guest, but was disappointed at not being able to visit a potential friend all the same.
“^But that’s just mean! She’s here on her own and hurt, she’ll be so scared when she wakes up!^” Cadence pleaded.
“^I—I know, sweetie. We’ll have to figure something out if that happens while she’s still here, but we’re not doing this to be mean, I promise. We just want to keep you all safe.^”
Aria might’ve spoken for the scouts as a whole, but she couldn’t deny that her daughter’s remark got to her in particular. Each new revelation made her increasingly doubtful of whether it would be possible for them to just return Anne back home peacefully. She didn’t have any ideas about what they could do instead if the push came to shove, either. It was probably for the best to leave that topic for now, and just hope that things would sort themselves out.
Fortunately, Cadence wasn’t privy to her mom’s doubts. The lil’ Kirlia sighed as she tried to accept the explanation at face value. She didn’t fully believe it, but knew she wasn’t gonna be getting anything different.
The rest of the family dinner passed on mostly silence, only occasionally interrupted by the more mundane, daily topics. Aria kept quiet throughout, her mind busy churning through all the uncomfortable facts on her own. She was the first to excuse herself back to her and Garret’s room once she’d wrapped her portion—she knew she’d need all the rest she could get her hands on before tomorrow’s meeting.
Sunroof closed, Will-o’-Wisps extinguished, door shut, Safeguard to muffle the commotion in the living room raised—
Dreams stubbornly not coming.
The harrowing possibility of Anne not having a place to return to swirled around in the Gardevoir’s head. It didn’t feel too likely—not yet at least—but couldn’t be eliminated entirely, especially with the apparently awful state of the building she ran away from. If that truly was the case, deciding her fate would most likely come down to the Elders.
Which didn’t exactly fill Aria with confidence.
They wouldn’t kill her, but they wouldn’t let her stay either, both possibilities equally impossible. Anne would have to be returned to humanity, but who was to say she’d be treated well in the town she came from? Or even in the town at the other end of the woods?
Was there anything they could do to guarantee her safety?
…
…
Aria laid still as she grappled with the question, answers refusing to show themselves. Her husband’s eventual arrival helped soothe the worst of her worries, replacing them with his most familiar, most welcome warmth. His soft snores provided a steady rhythm to mimic with her breathing, letting her slowly rein the emotional whirlpool in.
Things would turn out alright. She had nothing concrete to base that hope off, but… she felt it deep inside her all the same. Any details could be hashed out later—for now, she just had to breathe in, and out. And in, and out.
And in, and...
As welcome as her rest was, it had to end eventually. Much earlier than she would’ve preferred, no less.
The bedroom was completely dark as Aria came to. The sunroof getting opened with her telekinetic reach didn’t help either—no sun or moon to be seen; whichever stray starlight there was couldn’t illuminate anything at all.
Guess duty called whether the sun was up or not.
The Gardevoir grunted at yesterday’s exertion as she slid out of her husband’s embrace, the contrast between his warmth and the surrounding chill making her shudder. She remembered to apply her Safeguard just moments before she opened the front door, drowsiness not doing her any favors.
Onward.
Even at night, their village was nowhere near lifeless. A bunch of Dark and Ghost-types were making their way around, greeting her as she passed by. She drew a couple of curious looks, but only by the arguable virtue of being up so ungodly early.
Far from the earliest one around, even for the village’s diurnal inhabitants.
“Aria darling, why in the blazes are you up so early!?” Holly’s shrill greeting snapped the Gardevoir out of her half-conscious stupor, prompting her to try shaking the remaining tiredness aside as she answered.
“^Scout meeting, we gotta discuss what to do with the human.^”
“Help her, that’s what! Speaking of, got around to fixing something for her—oughta get her right back on her legs once she comes to!” Holly said, accentuating her words by slamming the small bundle on the counter with much more force than needed.
A pair of very thick, very buttery pastries weren’t the healthiest choice—especially with how sugary they smelled and looked—but if anything would be effective at filling the little one with energy, it’d be that. She wasn’t sure what the wooden bottle beside them held—knowing the cook, though; it was her own special blend of sweetened berry juices.
“^Thanks, Holly.^”
“Anytime, darlin’! Same ol’ for you?”
“^Same old for me.^”
“Coooomin’ up!”
Alas, Aria couldn’t deny having a sweet tooth herself—much to her kids’ chagrin when she kept nudging them towards heartier meals than Holly’s sugary goodies, while herself being no better. Granted, her nutritional needs were much different than—
“Aria.”
The low hum accompanying the buzzed-out words clued the Gardevoir as to the speaker. She tried to shake what remained of her worries off before looking to her side, staring the weathered Vespiquen in the eye.
“^Good morning, Liz.^”
“I need the rundown of the human situation.”
Aria knew better than to sigh out loud at the understandable question—or to answer it straight. Messy as the situation was, most only cared about one specific angle of it, and the Vespiquen’s was very easy to guess from experience.
“^She’s approximately this tall, and in a coma. She had extensive damage over the left side of her body, needed a full limb cast. Build similar to mine, apparently similar to Cadence’s age mentally. Her items were moved to Mikiri’s burrow.^”
Liz stared at nothing as she reached a claw up to drag it along the front of her horns, using the tally marks carved into them for counting. New head to feed was unsurprising, even if everything else about them was unusual. Them being comparably large was a concern, as was their rough state—dressings and salves were a limited resource, after all.
The last remark made her stop dead in her tracks and refocus on Aria, the little she had of an expression growing concerned. “Why there?”
“^Couldn’t think of anywhere else with enough space.^”
Mikiri’s human know-how was also a contributing factor, but one that would make the Vespiquen quartermaster drop in despair if stated outright.
“Bad choice. Too late to change. Need to ask Lavender and Sol for more dressings.”
It’d be nice for the latter to do something productive as opposed to snooping and spreading rumors; Aria wasn’t about to disagree with that…
“When will the human be gone?”
The one question everyone was asking themselves, if each for very different reasons.
“^We don’t know, I’ll let you know once we do.^”
Liz was well aware she wouldn’t be getting any further revelations about the human case this early on. She accepted the response with a faint nod and headed off, leaving Aria to endure the rest of the wait until her meal was done.
As the Gardevoir waited, she looked up at the sky; the sight lifting her spirits. Eastern skies were shifting into lighter purples and darker reds by the moment, dimming out the surrounding stars. The sunrise brought with itself as much calm as it did uncertainty.
Before the unnerving topics of the day could worm further into her mind, the bubbly whistle snapped her out of her daze, to the sight of Holly waving her meal around. “There ya go. Pass on good wishes from me over to that kid once she comes to.”
“^No guarantee she will today, Holly.^”
“Then tomorrow, or wheneva’—I just want her to know she’s got someone in here cheering for her, is all.”
Aria forced out a weak smile, picking up both hers and Anne’s portions before responding. “^I will, thank you. We’ll make sure she’s alright.^”
“Oh, I know that, silly. Nursing them back to health ain’t the same as treating them friendly though, and that’s the thing I’m less certain on.”
“^I’ll... do what I can to make her feel welcome.^”
“That’s the spirit! Now off you go, you have this whole place to keep safe, don’t lemme keep ya waitin’!”
For once, Aria wasn’t the last one to show up at the healer tent.
The few minutes until Lumi showed up were spent in tense, if somewhat amusing, silence. Aria could feel Ori’s hungry attention at Anne’s meal, even if he didn’t let it get to his expression. Ruby’s shifty eyes, constantly trying to force themselves away from the levitating meal, betrayed her focus as well. Sprout looked about one lapse of judgment away from devouring it in an instant.
Once the Luxray had finally arrived, he didn’t remain inconspicuous, either. “Lemme guess, that one’s for the human?”
“^Indeed~.^”
“Let’s get this over with. That smell’s gonna drive me insane without anything in me,” Ruby grumbled.
“I concur,” Ori followed.
Aria rolled her eyes at her coworker’s reactions, levitating the bundle into the air before enveloping it in its own Safeguard bubble. The gesture might’ve dulled the meal’s scent, but the associated shimmer only drew more visual attention to a warm meal that others lacked.
“^Let’s get to it, then. Any overnight developments, Sprout?^”
“None. Ain’t seen any humans tonight, neither on the path nor anywhere else. Heard about what happened with the group they sent yesterday, bloody despicable.”
“No better words for it, are there?” Ruby concurred with a growl. She might not have thought of humans as all that different to them in the end, but goddamn if these two made that particularly difficult in the moment.
“^Marco had checked up on their town yesterday. The building the girl’s trail originated from looked and smelled absolutely run down.^”
The group grew quieter at that revelation. Their minds all ventured in a similar direction, and not one they were keen on delving deeper into—at least not yet.
“I don’t like the sound of that one bit.”
“^Me neither, Ruby. I really hope it won’t come down to that, but it might be a good idea to figure out what we’re gonna do if it turns out her home isn’t safe to come back to.^”
“Well, that sounds obvious enough to me! If she doesn’t have a safe home outside our village, we give her one here until she can go back to her kin,” Sprout said. The rest of the group stared incredulously at her, the idea equal parts obvious and unimaginable. A human in their shelter against humanity?
Was she out of her mind!?
“You can’t seriously suggest that, Sprout,” the Luxray pleaded, hoping his coworker had simply fired a woefully ill-timed joke.
“I can and I am. She’s a battered child, about as dangerous as a Metapod. Denying her safety because of her kin sounds like the kinda things humans do, and we are supposed to be better than them, aren’t we!?” the Decidueye raised her voice, leaving everyone in the room feeling uneasy. Most of the group was stuck in a bind between not necessarily disagreeing with what she was saying, but being instinctively opposed to what her words implied.
Eventually, Ori broke the tense silence. “Perhaps it is wise to change the subject for the time being. For all we know, we’re just entertaining a blatantly incorrect possibility.”
The group took a deeper breath each at that. They all agreed with the Scizor’s suggestion at a rational level, but their hearts lied in very different directions about what should happen to the human.
“Aria, you had mentioned investigating further into the human child’s memories. Do you still want to attempt that?”
“^Yes Ori, I... yes. It’s a good idea to get that done, just so we have a better idea of just what in the world is going on with—^”
AAAAaaa-AAA!
The shrill, hoarse scream coming from the human’s room made the entire group’s hearts skip a beat. In just a few seconds, it turned into whimpers of pain, accompanied by the sounds of scrambling healers.
“Too late.”
