Memoirs 503 - Sentimental gifts (Patreon)

Scarlett looked out the window as their carriage came to a stop in front of the mansion. A coachman in bronze-black uniform opened the cabin door and bowed slightly as they waited for her to exit.

“Fynn,” Scarlett said. “The mirror.”

Opposite her, Fynn grabbed the [Wayfarer’s Challenge] leaning against the seat beside him, and they both stepped out. The coachman wished them farewell before climbing back onto the front of the carriage and taking up the reins as it started rolling away.

Scarlett’s own carriage had been used to ferry Lady Withersworth back earlier, so to make things easier, she had been allowed to borrow one from the palace.

That was probably an honour reserved for a relatively small number of people.

With Fynn carrying the mirror behind her, Scarlett crossed the short front garden of her Elystead estate and entered the mansion. A servant sitting near the entrance immediately rose and curtsied in greeting, and not long after, Whiteley happened to come down the stairs from the second floor and stopped to offer a flawless bow of his own.

“My lady, welcome back. I hope your attendance at the palace went without issue.”

“It did. Where are the others at the moment?”

“I believe Miss Astrey and Mister Thornton are out on an errand in the city. Lady Evelyne is in the dining chamber, while Lady Withersworth is resting in her quarters. Young Slate should be in her quarters as well, and from what I have heard, it appears Miss Hale is in the garden.”

“I see. Very well.” Scarlett looked back. “Fynn, come with me.”

She walked past Whiteley and first made her way towards her quarters to leave Eidolon’s Book there, then continued towards the garden at the centre of the estate.

“Is Slate in the mansion?” she asked after a while.

“She is,” Fynn replied.

“Good.”

Then Hilde had indeed returned the homunculus after their little excursion.

Scarlett glanced back at Fynn.

The young man had told her what he and the trio had got up to while Scarlett was gone, and it had been a lot tamer than she’d feared. Honestly, Scarlett had half expected the three of them to accidentally cause some sort of trouble, if only to teach her a lesson about how much freedom she allowed them, but apparently nothing of the sort had happened.

Scarlett didn’t really see herself as a parent. She was barely a guardian. But it was nice to see that some of her trust hadn’t been misplaced.

Or at least it hadn’t been yet.

It would probably be best to sit down with Slate later and make things a little clearer about what she should and shouldn’t do on her own, though. Just in case. With role models like Rosa around, there was no telling what sort of habits the girl might pick up despite Scarlett’s previous warnings.

Soon, they reached the garden surrounded on all four sides by the mansion walls.

The first thing that greeted them as they approached was the sound of Rosa’s klert drifting through the halls. When Scarlett stepped into the garden proper, a sweet and slightly earthy fragrance joined it, thick in the air a bit like roses in bloom.

Her attention moved towards the centre.

Rosa sat on the bench there, hazel-brown curls falling over one shoulder as she played amid a spread of newly blossomed flowers.

A cat may look at a queen~But the queen should mind what the cat has seen~

Her voice carried easily, accompanied by the rich melody spilling from the instrument in her lap.

Beside her lay the phantom dragon, eyes closed in perfectly still slumber. Zipping back and forth around both of them was the sprite’s tiny, translucent figure, leaving trails of blue-white light as it seemed to dance through the air in time with the song.

For cats hear things behind the screen~And they remember every scene~

The melody abruptly stopped.

Rosa kept one hand on the crank at the bottom of her klert while her forehead furrowed.

“Scene? No, no. I need something better. What else rhymes with screen? Preen? Keen?” She looked towards the sprite. “What do you think, Blue?”

The sprite stopped in front of her and bobbed up and down, waving its tiny hands before doing a loop through the air and zipping off again.

“Mm, you’re right. Then let’s say…”

Rosa turned the crank, and the melody picked up once more.

For cats hear things behind the screen~And they know more than queens may glean~

The sprite apparently approved of that version. It swooped down and made several quick laps around the neck of Rosa’s klert as the bard laughed.

“You ever think about taking up a life on the road, little one? Because I could do with a partner like you on the tavern floor.”

Scarlett had paused near the edge of the garden, watching her.

The laugh sounded very genuine.

Maybe her recent conversation with Pellin, where she had ended up telling Rosa’s story, was still getting to her, but Scarlett found herself surprisingly grateful to see the woman in a simpler moment like this. Simply enjoying her music and being herself.

Scarlett didn’t often admit it, but she felt a genuine pride in having played a part in making sure this version of Rosa got to exist.

Beside the bard, the phantom dragon suddenly shifted. One of its eyes slowly opened and fixed directly on Scarlett and Fynn. Almost at the same time, Scarlett felt the fledgling spirit of the Loci within the mansion stir and focus on them. That, in turn, seemed to alert the sprite. Its tiny head spun around, and a second later it shot off towards them.

Rosa paused her playing again and looked over, a smile forming across her face.

“Well, if it isn’t the Red-tressed Baroness and her trusty white fang. Welcome back.”

The sprite reached Scarlett and Fynn as they started moving again. It excitedly circled Scarlett several times before noticing the mirror in Fynn’s arms. Immediately distracted, it flew over and kept pace beside him, fluttering in front of the blue-tinted glass as it curiously inspected its own reflection.

“Do you have a list of nicknames for me written down somewhere, Rosa?” Scarlett asked as they neared.

“I don’t, actually. Maybe I should. Feels like I might be missing out.” Rosa’s smile widened into a light grin. “Anyhows, how did things go during your fancy imperial visit this time? Did you have to fight tooth and claw through another world-shattering event?”

“Things went well. There was no shattering of any kind.”

“That’s good. Great, even. I know how you hate it when someone throws your plans out of joint.” Rosa pointed towards the mirror in Fynn’s arms. “By the by, what’s up with that? I’m assuming he didn’t take up woodworking while he was gone?”

“Not as far as I am aware—”

“I actually did,” Fynn said.

Scarlett paused and turned towards him. “You did?”

He nodded. “With the princess and the others. They were talking about those fancy music boxes. I was curious how hard they were to make, so I tried carving a wolf from a stick.”

Scarlett eyed him for a few seconds.

“Huh.” Rosa leaned slightly to one side as she looked at him. “Did it turn out any good?”

“No. It looked more like a fox.”

“That’s a shame. Don’t give up, though. I wouldn’t mind having a fellow artist in our group. Then there’ll finally be someone who can appreciate the blood and sweat that go into all my toiling.”

“I don’t think woodcarving involves much blood.”

“Only if you’re good at it.”

Fynn frowned. “I’m not good at it.”

Rosa shrugged. “Your distinctly non-blood-covered hands seem to agree.”

“I don’t think it works like that.”

“Are you a master woodsmith?”

“No.”

“Then maybe reserve your judgement until you are, is all I’m saying.”

“But—”

“I don’t make the rules.”

Fynn fell silent.

Rosa managed to keep a straight face for all of two more seconds before another smile cracked through and she burst out laughing, leaning back with both hands braced against the bench while the klert balanced precariously across her lap.

“No, but seriously, it’s good to have a hobby or two,” she said, giving him a thumbs-up. “You should keep at it. You’ve got my support.”

“I’ll…think about it,” Fynn replied.

“That’s great.” Rosa turned back to Scarlett, her smile easing into something softer as she looked her over. “Did I mention that you look great?”

“Is that supposed to be flattery?”

“Nope. Just little ol’ me being a little honest. You look in better shape than when you left. I’m glad to see it.”

Scarlett was quiet for a moment, not quite having expected Rosa to be that direct for once. Eventually, she dipped her head in a small nod.

“Thank you. I encountered an opportunity while I was gone. I have not only recovered fully, but I am in significantly better condition than I was before.”

“I can see that. You’re practically glowing.” Rosa pointed towards the sprite, which was still inspecting its reflection in the mirror Fynn was carrying. “Almost as translucent and bright as Blue over there now.”

The bard winked at Scarlett.

“Now that was supposed to be flattery.”

Scarlett nearly rolled her eyes. “Putting my current condition aside, what have you been doing while we were gone?”

“Oh, you know. Nothing special.” Rosa patted her instrument. “Just putting the ol’ noggin to work on a few new masterpieces.”

“Was what we heard when we arrived one of those masterpieces?”

“It was a work in progress.”

“I could tell.”

“Hey, that’s not nice.”

“It was not intended to be.”

Scarlett could think of a few different things the ‘cat’ and ‘queen’ in that song might have referred to, and she wasn’t particularly fond of any of them.

“Fynn,” she said. “Place the mirror here. Then you may leave if you wish. I presume you are hungry.”

Scarlett had eaten some rations from her [Pouch of Holding] while she was in Pellin’s realm with Iyana, but Fynn probably hadn’t eaten since that morning before they left. It was very much like him not to complain about something like that, but Scarlett wasn’t an evil taskmaster. She did make an effort to remind the people around her to eat and rest when they forgot.

Just as they liked to keep doing to her.

Fynn leaned the mirror against the bench beside the phantom dragon before saying his goodbyes and leaving, with the sprite making a few laps and disappearing with him.

“So,” Rosa said once he was gone. “What is that mirror? You never answered me earlier.”

“It is a gateway into the Wandering Realm.”

Rosa looked from Scarlett to the mirror and then back again. “Seriously?”

“Yes.”

“Huh. You really weren’t exaggerating about finding an opportunity.”

“Is that really so surprising?”

“In the grand scheme of things?” Rosa touched a finger to her cheek, humming lightly. “No. But it’d been a few days since your last crazy thing, so I’d just started resetting to a more normal level of expectations. Still, a gateway to the Wandering Realm? That where you found your magical panacea?”

“It is, yes.”

“Neat.”

The bard placed her klert to the side, stood, and stepped closer to the mirror, leaning forward to examine it. Then she glanced back over her shoulder at Scarlett. “It’s safe to touch, right?”

“Did you not see Fynn carrying it here?”

“It’s the Wandering Realm we’re talking about. Maybe it’s a living mirror that just happens to like wolves a lot. How am I supposed to know?”

“It is safe to touch.”

“Neat.”

Rosa ran her fingers along the frame, humming another tune to herself.

Scarlett wasn’t planning on telling her that it actually would have been dangerous to touch before she’d used it. Rosa’s more perceptive moments were sometimes best left unencouraged.

The sprite soon returned from wherever it had followed Fynn and started looping around Rosa’s head as the woman observed her reflection in the mirror. Eventually, though, it grew bored and flew over to settle between the phantom dragon’s horns.

“There is something else I received there as well,” Scarlett said.

She reached for her [Pouch of Holding], placed it on the bench, and pulled out the [Crossroads Canticle].

Rosa turned from the mirror and went still as her gaze landed on the instrument in Scarlett’s hands.

“Is that…a klert?”

“It is.”

Rosa’s violet eyes rose to meet Scarlett’s. “What, for me?”

“I believe you are the only one here proficient with the instrument.”

The woman stayed quiet for a moment, then stepped forward and held out her hands. Scarlett placed the klert in them.

“It is known as the Crossroads Canticle,” she said. “Legendary, if you were curious. As far as I am aware, it is the most powerful instrument of its kind one can find. I trust that you will make good use of it.”

Even if it wasn’t Divine-tier, this was still an item you could keep using until the end of the game. Scarlett was genuinely happy that she had managed to get it already.

Rosa slowly turned the klert in her hands, inspecting the excellent craftsmanship and richly red-tinted wood. She lifted the intricate lid of black glass covering the keys and carefully tested a few of the translucent crystal pieces beneath it, watching the tiny lights stir inside them. Then she ran a finger along the impossibly thin strings stretching across the body of the instrument.

Finally, her hand settled on the crank at the bottom, but she didn’t turn it.

Her eyes returned to Scarlett.

“I’m right in assuming you’re actually giving this to me, yes? This isn’t some elaborate loan with a twelve-stage repayment plan that ends with me in indentured servitude for the next three decades?”

“No, it is not,” Scarlett said. “For your information, you already agreed to that when you signed the contract I gave you after first hiring you.”

Rosa looked back down at the klert. She kept turning the instrument in her hands, tracing the edges of the lid with her thumb and pressing one of the crystal keys softly enough that it showed only the faintest glint.

“It’s…” She paused, then gave a quiet laugh. “It’s amazing. Genuinely. I’ve never held anything like it before.”

Her fingers tightened slightly around the instrument.

“Thank you, Scarlett. Seriously.”

“You…are welcome.”

Scarlett wasn’t quite sure what to make of Rosa not even acknowledging her joke.

Had the instrument really caught her that off guard?

After a while, Rosa sat down on the bench again and rested the klert sideways across her lap, one hand settling on the crank at the bottom while the other hovered over the keybox.

“Guess I’ll give it a whirl.”

She turned the crank and pressed one of the keys.

An almost ethereal note resonated through the garden, accompanied by faint shimmers of light that spread out around Rosa like tiny fireworks. There was something oddly soothing about the sound, clear and distant in a way that made Scarlett think of looking out across an open night sky.

The sprite resting between the dragon’s horns immediately perked up and flew off after the drifting lights, darting between them as they faded.

“Hear that?” Rosa asked, looking up at Scarlett.

“I do. It was a very pleasant sound.”

“Pleasant?” Rosa smiled faintly. “That’s not what I meant. But I’m glad you liked it.”

“Then what were you referring to?”

“It’s…hard to put into words.”

“Even for the supposed wordsmith?”

“Yes.” The bard chuckled. “I don’t know. Maybe I can make you feel it sometime. There’s just this…life to the thing. I can feel it in my hands. Like it’s got a story it’s been waiting to tell.”

“I see. I am afraid much of that is lost on me. The finer points of art have always eluded my understanding.”

“Nothing wrong with that. Just means there’s more colour left for the right pair of hands and a good set of pipes to introduce to your world.”

Scarlett couldn’t help letting out a chuckle of her own. “If you say so.”

Rosa kept smiling as she cradled the klert in her lap, but she didn’t play another note. After a while, she carefully set it aside and picked up her old klert instead, giving the instrument an affectionate pat along its side.

“That one’ll be real useful to have in a pinch, I’ll tell you that. But I think I’ll still use this girl for the day-to-day.”

[Melodyscript Klert (rare)]{Born from the hands of an expert artisan working with a seasoned enchanter and made from the rare Lyradra Wood, this instrument seems imbued with a sense of life and artistry, eagerly waiting to express its unique sound}

“Why is that?” Scarlett asked. “Is there an issue with it?”

“Not at all. But this klert right here…” Rosa ran a hand over the familiar wood. “You gave it to me, remember? It’d feel wrong to toss it aside for the shiny new one before it’s even had a chance to live out its life.”

“But I gave you the Crossroads Canticle as well.”

Rosa looked up at her, then shook her head with a weary sigh. “You simply don’t understand a maiden’s heart, do you?”

“You are hardly a maiden.”

“That’s exactly what someone who doesn’t understand these things would say.”

Scarlett suppressed a sigh of her own. “Yes, yes. I am sure that I am the problem here.”

What did it matter to her? As long as Rosa used the right klert when they actually needed it, she could do whatever she wanted with the rest.

Scarlett stepped closer to the mirror. “That matter aside, I believe you will be proud of me when you hear about this.”

“Yeah?” Rosa eyed her. “Why’s that?”

“Within the Wandering Realm, I challenged an Idol of stories to a storytelling duel, and I won.”

“Whoa. Really?”

“Yes. Really.”

“You’re right. I am proud. That’s actually quite something. I’m just disappointed I couldn’t be there to hear it myself.”

“While that may be unfortunate for you, there is no need to remain disappointed. That Idol has actually requested to meet you.”

“Huh?” Rosa blinked and pointed at herself. “Me?”

“Yes.”

“Wow. I’m flattered. Hadn’t realised I was the stuff of Wandering Realm lore.”

“You are not—”

Scarlett stopped herself, and a light frown formed on her brow.

Actually, Rosa might genuinely be that now. It wouldn’t surprise Scarlett if Pellin started spreading her story around.

Rosa’s smile slowly widened, as if she’d read the thought straight off Scarlett’s face. “I’m not what-now?”

Scarlett scowled at her, clicked her tongue, and turned away. “Never mind. Simply know that Pellin—the Idol—currently owes me the agreed forfeit. Before providing it, however, he insisted that he wished to meet you. He neglected to explain how I was supposed to re-establish contact with him, so I will leave that part to you.”

She started towards the mansion. The sprite followed, fluttering around her head while pulling strange faces.

“Wait, what?” Rosa called from behind her. “Hold on, what am I supposed to do with that?”

“I do not know,” Scarlett replied. “My suggestion would be to observe the mirror until something happens.”

“That’s hardly fair, is it? Oi! You can’t just drop a gift like that in my lap and then follow it up with a task I don’t even know how to do. Red! Don’t you turn your back on me!”

The sprite seemed almost to be laughing as Rosa continued calling after her, but Scarlett ignored both of them.

She would get back to all of that soon enough.