XX

The morning breeze was fresh and warm. It danced through the blanket that Kimi had wrapped around himself. He looked at nothing, thought about nothing and let his mind be a blank entity. The sound of the crew members moving about played in the background as he just stood quietly against the railing, his lips pursed into a thin line.

Dae-yang walked onto the deck, stretching her arms over her head, her hair a mess. “Good morning,” she greeted everyone as she looked around, searching for Kimi. When she spotted him, she smiled and she rushed to his side. “Kimi? Good morning.”

Kimi gave her an empty sideglance, before returning his gaze to the horizon. Dae-yang awkwardly cleared her throat and held onto the railing. She stretched against it, groaning as her joints popped lightly. She stood straight again with a sigh and squinted eyes.

“Beautiful day huh?” She rested her elbows on it and looked sideways at Kimi. “Feeling okay? Everything alri—”

Kimi turned and walked away without a second glance. On his way down the steps, he accidentally bumped into a yawning Duan. Even the strength to yell at him had been drained by the extremely eventful night.

“Ow...” Duan blinked and looked down at Kimi. “Oh, Kim good morning. Did you sleep well?” He ruffled his hair. “Clearly I didn’t because my head hurts like as if it was weighing a brick wall as I slept.” He clicked his tongue. “I don’t even think I have parace—”

“I didn’t,” Kimi whispered. He pulled the blanket closer to himself and looked up. Duan gave him an alarmed look and started rambling. He studied his facial expression with pursed lips. ‘He’s not one of them.’ He bit the inside of his cheek. ‘Duan’s not one of them.’

“...why are you still awake? Go to bed. Sleep till... I don’t know... whenever you like. You know...” He scratched his head and looked away awkwardly.

Kimi heaved a sigh. “Duan—”

“Yes?” He gave him a wide-eyed stare. “What... What is it?” As Kimi blankly stared up at him, he cleared his throat and said, “sorry. I should’ve waited for you to finish talking, but I...” He cleared his throat. “I’ll stop—”

“Duan do you know anything about ca—”

“Hey,” Dae-yang drawled as she approached them, her hands on her waist. She looked at Duan and snapped her fingers at him. “Duan Jaeger is it?”

“Um...” He pointed at her with an awkward smile. “Dae-yang Mikaelmas is it?”

“Yeah,” she dragged out. She playfully punched his shoulder. But she looked to the sky the instant Kimi coldly flared at her. “Nice morning isn’t it?” She looked at Duan’s open-mouthed expression. “Isn’t it?”

“Huh...? Oh yeah... Um...” He scratched his head and squinted at the pale blue sky. “It looks bearable. Almost blue, clearly orange, warm. The scenery is okay, fine...” He cleared his throat. “...beautiful.”

Dae-yang agreed with a nod. “I kind of like—”

“Dae-yang?” Kimi gave her a hard stare.

“What?” She looked at him like she didn’t realize that he was standing there. “What—”

“Why are you trying to shut me up?” He moved closer to her. “Are you trying to stop me from getting my ans—”

“Oh look, Co-captain Raaspard and Coach Tobe,” she rushed out and pointed at the two as they approached them.

Kimi stiffened and bowed his head, silently clicking his tongue. He tugged the blanket closer to himself when the two of them walked past them. When they were on the deck, Kimi frowned and rushed down the stairs, Dae-yang and Duan worriedly watching him leave.

Duan sighed and stretched his arms above his head, the edge of his top riding up his torso. “Clearly this is going to be a good day.”

“Yeah,” she replied in a small voice. She turned around and walked back to the railings.

Left alone and confused, Duan scratched his head with a raised brow. “Am I that annoying?” He slowly blew out a breath and walked back to his room. On his way to the room, his stomach rumbled loudly and he took a sharp turn, groaning in pain as he rushed to the floor’s bathroom.

Kimi walked into the room and shut the door with a soft thud. He avoided everyone’s gaze as he moved to his bed and climbed up to it. Silver looked at him wearily. Of course he knew all that had transpired the previous night, and he felt remorse for Kimi. Being dumped with the shock of his life in one night was totally unbearable. He could relate with him.

Andrew groaned loudly and held his head, a towel wrapped around his neck. “Why does my head hurt? Ow!” He winced and squinted. “I don’t think this headache is normal.”

Raja scoffed and looked over his bed. “Just sleep more, or just take some paracetamol. It should subside.”

Andrew nodded in understanding. He sighed softly, tapping his hands against his cheeks. “I’m gonna go take a shower.”

“And you’re telling us because?” Raja drawled with an eye roll. He sighed tiredly as he laid back on his bed.

Andrew walked to the door and pulled it open. He came face to face with a blank-faced Tobe. “C-Coach Tobe good morning.” He looked back. “Uh... Is there a problem?”

Tobe raised a brow. “No.” He looked into the room. “I just want to inform you all that Captain Raaspard said that we may approach Ashville before dusk, depending on the weather. So it will be wise to pack your bags and wait.” He walked away.

“Well that was quick,” Raja said.

Kimi just frowned because of the information. Am I ready to meet him again? He laid on the bed. After all these years?

Andrew walked out after him, lightly shutting the door behind him. Rin stared at the door for a while before he tugged his bag from under the bed and started putting a few of his clothes into it.

Raja groaned and sat up, his phone in his hands. “You know I just realized something.”

“What?” Rin droned.

He waved his phone, a small frown on his face. “I just saw an old post—my fucking bad—that states that Qulture had a meet and greet last night with fans in Ashville, against their midnight show tomorrow.” He huffed. “Neither do I have tickets or the strength.” He threw his head back and moaned in annoyance.

Kimi bristled at that. No, he wasn’t ready to come face to face with Aurum Caedis. He wasn’t ready to face that one person who not only helped him through bad times, but also served as a way for him to cope with his fear, his problems. But now? Now that he knew what he wanted to call the ‘truth’, he wasn’t sure who he’s supposed to trust and not trust.

*

Luckily for everyone, the weather was calmer than normal, and this made them reach Ashville during the hours before dusk.

“Woooop!” Dae-yang yelled, pulling her beach hat closer to her face, the sun causing her deeply tanned skin to glow. “What a rush!” She ran down the wooden mini-bridge, her slippers thunking loudly against the wood.

Tobe pinched the bridge of his nose with a sigh. The moment he spotted Lydia, his eyebrows twitched in irritation.

“Welcome,” greeted Lydia, her voice getting carried by the wind, her hands on her cocked hips. “You’re late.”

Students slammed into each other as they stopped and stared at Lydia, their faces holding discomfort. Kimi rolled his eyes at their behaviour, thankful that he was at the very back of the group.

Raja sighed. “Why is she here? I believe my life was better without all the ‘thunder and lightning’.”

Rin shook his head. “If she hears you you’re finished.”

“Like. I. Fucking. Care,”he grumbled.

Lydia strutted closer to them, her mini, pleated skirt dancing in the wind. “Aardvack,” she greeted the principal. “Tobe.”

Principal Aardvack just replied with a stiff nod, and Tobe replied with a slow blink.

Jiaozi moved forward, her hands gripping the strap of her bag tightly. “Um... Lydia what about—”

“The tour guides?” She held up her wrist, peered at her watch and said, “on their way.”

“Oh, okay. It’s just that Principal Aardvark isn’t feeling too well. So...”

Lydia raised a perfectly arched eyebrow and looked towards Principal Aardvack. Noticing the pale and sweaty look of the principal, she puckered her lips and folded her arms over her chest.

She looks worse since the last time I saw her, Lydia thought, shifting her gaze to Jiaozi. She hasn’t fed her since then.

“Omah! Omah! Welcome!” chirped the tour guide as she approached them, a straw hat in her hands. “Welcome to Ashville. I am your guide, Neeva,” she said when she reached them, her voice accented with an even mixture of high and low intonations.

“Hello, nice to meet you,” Aardvack said and extended her hand for a shake. Neeva took it with a bright smile, a smile that she weakly returned.

Two men approached them, big, woven baskets in their hands.

“Ah, yes,” Neeva started as they stood beside her. “Thank you. Please distribute them.”

They nodded and moved around, giving out beaded necklaces and bangles, together with a map. The students gave the jewelleries infantine looks. The bangles were done in three steps, the beads they were made in big and ash in colour, gold, shimmery lines running round them. But Kimi looked at the beads with sad eyes.

Aurum had given me something like this when he had visited during my birthday, he thought, his throat squeezing up with the reality that would soon dawn on him. He raised his head, fiddling the bangles as he thought, I’m just mere steps away from you Aurum. Can you hear me?

“What are these?” Tobe asked, fingering the jewelleries.

“These are special beads called Totems,” Neeva said calmly. “We always give these to tourists and visitors when they visit for the first time.” She held up her wrists, each of them encircled by three of the bangles. “They are said to give protection and luck.”

Clover rolled her eyes. “Traditional rubbish,” she mumbled.

But the woman heard her and said, “our traditions make us who we are. It’s our way of life.” She turned around and gestured for them to follow her.

Neeva led the school out of the seaport and into the city.  Everyone basked in the bustling city and the sandy beauty of Ashville. They took pictures, laughed and watched the liveliness of the city. Some students ogled the bare-chested locals who walked past them, pushing wheelbarrows of goods under the hot sun.

“Ashville is known for its ash-coloured sand.” She gestured to the sand. “It’s this way because of the numerous volcanic eruptions that had always occurred in the past.”

“Do these eruptions still happen?” Dae-yang asked as she rushed to the front of the group, the straps of her bag in her hands.

Neeva shook her head. “No. We haven’t had one in the last six hundred years.”

She breathed in deeply and her nostrils got tingled by the sweet scent of the air. She moaned dreamily. “This place smells great! Makes me almost wanna chew it.”

Student rolled their eyes at her bright demeanour and Neeva chuckled.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” she chirped, her eyes on the various houses barricading the street.

She was awed by the way the houses were built identically—two-storey, ash-coloured, box-shaped with a flat roof, its walls filled with yellow paintings of animals and fruit. What that surprised her the most was the way the houses looked, like they were made from non-building materials.

“Why...” She looked at the guide. “Why do the houses look like they aren’t made from cement or bricks or wood?” She leaned down. “What is it?”

“They’re made from only clay,” Neeva replied with a smile.

Dae-yang’s eyes widened. “Only clay?! How... Why... Is it even possible to build a house with only clay?!”

Neeva nodded. “Yes it’s possible.”

“But why clay? Why not wood? Or cement? Or brick? Or some other thing?” She shrugged calmly.

“Clay helps with the severe hot weather of our city.” She waved at a someone faraway who had waved at her.

“Eh? Clay?! Really?!” She looked at the houses again. “Okay, why the symbols? The replicative designs? The evenly spaced everything? The—”

“Dae-yang’s at it again!” Raja yelled, his hands cupped around his mouth.

The students chuckled at his words and Dae-yang blushed lightly. Neeva smiled and placed a hand on her arm.

“Don’t worry. It’s good to ask questions.” She pointed at a house. “Look at that house. What do you see?”

Dae-yang blinked in confusion and turned her head to look at it. She cocked her head, her eyebrows knitting together, a confused frown appearing on her face. “I’m lost.”

“Look... carefully. Those marks, what do you see?”

“Animals? Fruits?” She shook her head and mumbled, “I don’t know.”

Neeva chuckled lightly. “But what do you see in those fruits and animals?”

Dae-yang shook her head again, chewing on her bottom lip.

“Nothing?”

The sun was slowly setting in an orange horizon, painting the place with a warm glow.

Dae-yang nodded. “Yeah. No—” She stopped and stared again. She observed the other buildings and found something similar. She looked at Neeva, and raised a brow. “All the markings are done in bright yellow with an exception of”—she pointed at a small bird which was done in shimmery silver—“this one. The sparrow.”

Neeva nodded. “Correct.” She looked at the houses. “All these drawings have an underlying meaning. Like the lion means kingship. The peacock pride. The fox shrewdness. You get the rest.”

By now, students and teachers alike were already listening in on their discussion.

Dae-yang looked back to the houses. “But why is that sparrow the only one that is done in silver?” She cocked her head. “And why is it the smallest of all the drawings?”

“Ever head of a Secret Bird?” Neeva asked, her brow raised.

Dae-yang shook her head.

“A Secret Bird was symbolized as a totem for secret and truth in some cultures. It was always mistakened for a sparrow, but its only difference was its natural grey colour, its tail stroked with silver, a longer beak and its whistling cries.”

“Huh,” Dae-yang said, her face bright in amusement. “But... you said ‘was’. Is it extinct?”

Neeva nodded. “They were poached in the past for their ‘fool’s gold’ legs. People were enamoured by their legs which looked like gold. And they were easily caught because of their stagnant, almost-immobile mode of habitation.” She shrugged and clasped her hands behind her back. “But you might have heard of them before. They’re also called Silverlains, Truth Avians, Aegis-Flocks, and Hunter Birds.” She suddenly stopped walking and held her chin, a confused frown on her face.

“What is it? What happened?” Dae-yang asked as she also stopped walking, the group behind them halting with a loud sigh.

Neeva exhaled through her nostrils and continued walking. “It’s just that... some years back a young man had visited this city.” She snorted lightheartedly. “Asked questions like you. And when he saw the drawings and I’d told him about the bird, he said that if he was the one who had named the bird, he would have called it a Kimi Bird, said it was the same as Secret Bird.”

Dae-yang’s eyes widened. “Seriously? Kimi Bird?” She scoffed in amusement. “I’d have told him, ‘no, thank you very much’, because the Kimi I know is”—she cleared her throat—“not so chirpy and silvery.”

Neeva raised her eyebrow in amusement. “Hah! Why do you say so? If he were to hear you he’ll—” She stopped and looked up at Dae-yang, a shocked look on her face. “You know someone called ‘Kimi’?”

“Yes.” When she noticed Neeva’s overly shocked look, she leaned closer and asked, “why did you ask? Is something the problem?”

“No. No. It’s just...” She looked up at the gigantic building up ahead, Villa drawn onto it with funny fonts. Her eyes twitched. “It’s just that the person who had said that he... he had said that he was inspired by the silver eyes of the boy whom beard the name.” She looked up at Dae-yang. “Is he here?”

“Yeah.” She looked back at the students and searched for Kimi’s hooded figure. “There he is,” she said and pointed to him. He was at the very back of the group, his pace slow.

Students turned to snare at him, and he looked up, his expression confused. Odd enough, some passersby spared him almost inconspicuous glances, like they too could hear Neeva’s voice over the sound of bellowing hawkers and loud, playing children.

Neeva hummed. “What a coincidence.” She brought up her hands and drew two connecting, invisible lines with her index fingers. “Like two threads, they meet again.”

“Eh?” Dae-yang asked in confusion.

“Oh nothing.” Neeva looked towards the seeing sun. Just that the twilight is exceptionally beautiful today, she thought, sighing lightly. She placed a hand on her silent chest and thought, like a forgotten promise suddenly remembered.

Author’s Note: how was this chapter? Find anything interesting? The culture in particular? Hmmmm? *wiggles my very bushy brows* Please vote, comment and share. See you next week. （・∀・）

P.S: “Omah” means “welcome” in Neeva’s dialect.