Chapter 289
Moonlake City (III)
Though the exterior reminded of a post-war building left alone to serve as a grim reminder of what had taken place there, the building's interior was... surprisingly pleasant. There was a rustic, almost artisan feel to it, as all furniture was covered with pink satin, with the walls themselves being ho to over a dozen paintings--so in watercolor, so in oil, and so with graphite.
Only Lao Shun and I entered while the kids stayed outside; there was a set of dividing walls both to our left and right, and from the space between them soon ca out a rather old woman, hunched and short, draped in a loose, white, cotton shirt and a long, dark skirt. She had a colorful bandana-like scarf wrapped around her head, though streaks of white and gray hair fell from the gaps.
She eyed both of us rather suspiciously for a mont before Lao Shun opened his mouth and spoke... a language I've never heard of before.
It was a bit of a whiplash, to be honest, despite the fact it shouldn't have been. I an, of course there are other languages besides the one I was speaking at the mont; it should be more of a shock that I hadn't encountered one before today.
It sounded, very broadly, like a mix of a random East Asian and sub-Saharan set of languages, though that's only loosely, at best.
The woman's expression seed to relax slightly as I glanced back and saw kids peeking in from the doorfra, their expressions coated with curiosity. I also heard Dai Xiu ask what language it was, and Wan Lan actually answer.
"It sounds like L'tish," she said. "Mada ntioned it once or twice when she was teaching history. Supposedly, most of the Ancient Clanfolk speak it, as it was once considered the common tongue."
"Ooh! Why isn't it anymore?" Dai Xiu pressed.
"I'm not sure," Wan Lan said, sighing. "Mada never said."
"For the sa reason most tongues fade," Long Tao comnted. "There was a war. And then another. And then a hundred more. And, before long, speaking L'tish was a symbol of oppression--only those from Noble Clans would use it, while the common folk used Anvali. And then, in due ti, the sa thing happened to Anvali."
As the kids ruminated on Long Tao's words, the old alchemist reached over and hugged the woman as she laughed, glancing over at and then toward the kids, waving her arm as though inviting us in.
"The Mada will take us in," Lao Shun said. "But..."
"... what?"
"I promised you'd bathe her late at night, under the full moon."
"Alright," knowing full well he was yanking , I agreed with a shrug. "Won't be the first ti I have to bathe an elderly woman to have a place to sleep."
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"... what?" His jaw turned agape, though mine did too, almost, as I didn't realize the kids had co in already and heard say those words. Comically, Wan Lan reached out and covered Light's ears while Xi Zhao covered Xing Feng's. And Dai Xiu... she covered her own.
And yet, they didn't look at with disgust--no. Before I could even begin to offer an explanation, pity swelled in the form of tears, and as they looked at with such sympathy, I felt my heart bleed.
"Master... has suffered... so much..." Dai Xiu said.
"And to think he is willing to suffer yet again, just so we have a place to sleep! No, Master! We are fine sleeping under the stars! Please don't sacrifice yourself any more!" Xi Zhao said.
"Master, Xing Feng will bathe the woman! I have bathed Grandpa before, so I can do it!"
... Long Tao was on the verge of laughing, and even Lao Shun went from slack-jawed to teary-eyed (though for a very different reason than the kids), and I? Well... I could only sigh, rub my temples, and ditate on the reality that I really cannot say anything remotely out of pocket, as it always cos back to bite in the ass.
As the old woman ushered us into our rooms--one for , one for Lao Shun, and one for all the kids—the old alchemist told that the al would be ready in about two hours and that he'd actually made the paynt already in the form of a pill. What pill? Just a pill, as he was quite elusive about specifications.
... not that I pressed particularly hard, as it had nothing to do with , ultimately. So long as we had secure lodging, I was a happy guy.
But the prospect of a al... it, it was calling out to . I an, I've had okay als before, but I've mostly been eating plain rice and whatever monstrosity Long Tao cooked up that day for months now, it feels like. Well, there was that brief period where we stayed in Silvercrest City, where I did eat a al or two that were fine, but aside from that...
And I've always been the proponent of 'You'll never eat a al as hearty as one made by a random grandma that you've never seen before or will ever see again in your life'.
I spent the two hours until the al unwinding, pretty much, and sort of mapping out what our lives for the next few weeks will be like. Truth be told, I'm not even quite sure exactly how we'll be treasure hunting. Do we just go to the ends of those piers and then jump off the ledge, dive down, and... I don't know, rummage?
That can't be it, right?
But I also can't figure out what else it would be.
Regardless, as it turns out, I didn't have all that much to map or plan out--not that it had ever done any good in this world, as plans have this redial tendency to fall apart around Long Tao and the assortnt of main characters that are accompanying .
I'm fairly certain it won't be much different here--at so point, sothing will stir a chaotic scenario, and the kids will sohow be at the epicenter of it.
It was about an hour and a half in that my nostrils began to itch, picking up on sothing. As I opened the doors of my very simple room--a singular bed lodged in the corner against a small window darkened by a curtain and an even smaller nightstand on the other side--the scent beca stronger.
The doors opposite of mine parted, and Dai Xiu peeked out, grinning when she saw .
"Master! You slled it too?"
"I did," I nodded.
"It slls so much better than when Senior Brother Tao cooks!" Oh, I can only imagine the twitching of those annoying eyebrows...
But... it did.
In fact, it was eerily nostalgic. Reminded of late shifts on Friday nights, when I'd co back ho beaten and bruised, with Yas having cooked a al for .
It was always sothing simple, as she wasn't exactly a good cook, but it was one of my favorite monts in life, walking through those doors and having a scent of homade food just blast like air from a furnace.
... I thought, back on Earth, that I'd likely never quite move on for the rest of my life, but here... I don't have a choice, do I?
Haah.
Immortality, even if false, warps the sense of everything. More than I could have ever imagined.
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