Behind every exquisite thing that existed, there was something tragic
-Oscar Wilde, 'The Picture of Dorian Gray'.
The Great Council Headquarters, Ardeneon.
June 5
"Hello" Nokoa Asterin walks into Suzumi's solitary room closing the door behind him.
"I thought I'm not allowed visitors?" Suzumi asks him and laughs lowly.
"You're not." He confirms "But I needed to talk to you" Suzumi could feel the guilt fresh coming from him. She doesn't answer him, instead she waits to hear what he has to say.
"Where is your brother?" He asks and she looks at the ground. "I don't want to detain him"
"I don't know where he is, so you can stop asking" Suzumi answers firmly.
"You and I both know that's not true" he says sitting down on the floor in front of her.
"Suzumi Mako" He calls her name "Your stepfather is Ganato Mako, the man who killed your mother Neriah Catori"
That definitely caught her attention. She looks up at him.
"If you knew that, why am I locked up for murder?" she asks
"The council believes you killed your sister" He tells her "Haru Mako"
"You don't believe I did?" She asks him and he shakes his head.
"I buried Haru, I questioned Ganato, I was in charge of the entire investigation. It wasn't you" he looks down and the guilt radiating off of him begins to intensify so much that it hurt Suzumi.
"What did you do to her?" She thinks of touching him to find out, but she refrains thinking that might earn her more days.
"The night Haru died, I was at your mother's doorstep. I heard screaming and then it stopped, walking in no one was home. Just Haru's lifeless body on the floor. Pulse gone, she was dead. I ordered a house search, we found you and your brother, your hands were filled with blood. Takashi was clean, both of you asleep." He narrates.
"I didn't do it" she tells him.
"I left and sent my top agents to inspect the scene" Suzumi looks away from him a stray tear slipping out.
"What happened, I'll take your word." For some reason she believed him.
"Takashi is innocent" She tells him firstly "Haru and my stepdad always fought. Takashi and I weren't always around...our mom would take us to earth often because it was easier for us to get food there...being broke and all. That night we had just gotten back from earth. Mom took the food to store in the basement. Haru and Ganato were fighting again. I interfered; I told him to leave her alone. He told me it was all going to be my fault and then locked Takashi and I in the closet, her screams were muffled we tried opening the door it was no use he kept telling me it was my fault, occasionally opening the door to hit me, I fought back, that's why I had blood stains. I don't think mom was around by this time after stocking up she would go for a walk because it stressed her out. I heard one more scream and then it was pitch silent, after that we waited and waited in tears till we fell asleep. If only I had my skills back then." She looks down in self-blame "He used Haru's death to marry my mom, she loved Haru, and he took advantage of that." Suzumi finishes managing to keep her tears in.
"I'm sorry" he whispers out "You will be released tomorrow by noon, where will you go?"
"To Takashi" she tells him "Minerva I guess"
"Takashi has been banned from Minerva. You didn't know?" He asks and Suzumi's eyes widen.
"What? why?!" she exclaims "You did this didn't you? We're just younglins" she frowns.
"No no" he stops her "It was purely Minervan government, he was reported to have stolen a tailers heart?" He says, confusedly. "You kids really need to stay out of trouble you know" he sighs.
"May I know where he is now?" Suzumi asks.
"Nowhere and everywhere. He has been moving from place to place since." Nokoa informs her...she then realized why she couldn't get a hold of him.
"There's something I need to tell you" He says seriously.
"What?"
"You might need to get in my head for this one" he lets out a shaky breath. Suzumi looks at him confused.
He hands her his handkerchief, and she reluctantly does as she was told.
Getting into his perspective, she sees herself looking at the ground. She's (Nokoa's perspective) looking at herself with fear, guilt, love and care. Guilt overpowering them all.
"I'm here" she lets her presence be known.
"I'll find your brother and you two can come live with me in Nieves, far away from that bad man"
"Why would I do that?" she asks him confused.
"For being the daughter of the most intelligent sprite in Ardeneon you catch on quite slowly. Suzumi gasps breaking out of his perspective.
"No" she stands to her feet stumbling back and a sad smile plays on his lips.
"No" she shakes my head in denial.
"You-you can't be" she denies the room beginning to spin, the lines disappearing. Suzumi never knew her real father, her mother never talked about him so she just naturally grew to hate him...whoever he might have been.
"What? The smartest sprite in Ardeneon?" He asks cheekily.
"No, the other thing" she responds blinking nonstop.
"I'll give you time to process that" he stands up "I will be back before your release."
She falls to the ground trying to understand what had just happened.
......
"Hello again" Nokoa walks in.
"Not done processing" she tells him
"Your brother is looking for you" he tells her and that piques her interest.
"Is he here?" She asks and he shakes his head. He tells her, "He's in my home in Nieves."
"He agreed to that?" Suzumi asks.
"I told him I'd bring you to him" he corrects.
"So he's okay with it?" Suzumi asks confused.
"He's upset" he tells her "And full of questions, come on I signed your bail" He motions to the door.
"I'm free?" Suzumi asks and he nods
"3 days and 12 hours" he walks her out the door taking the handcuffs off of her wrists.
...
"First time in Nieves?" he asks her noticing the way her eyes follow the huge bears in the distance, she doesn't respond to him.
They walk and walk, all the walking made her wonder if he's actually a member of the great council because she was sure they usually have flying devices and vehicles.
"Are you tired?" he asks her. At that point she knew he was just trying to get something out of her.
"Don't you have a flying cubby, or dome, or hoverboard?" she asks
"They're all in different locations" he shrugs and Suzumi turns to look at the 3 guards behind them. "I'm an air sprite, why would I rely on those devices? And yes the guards are necessary"
"Does that mean I can fly?" she asks him.
"We should hope you can" Nokoa tells her.
"Camouflage" he yells at them, noticing her obvious discomfort. One goes invisible, and the other two fly up in the sky.
"Better?" he asks, and she looks at him warily.
"Nothing is 'better' right now" she tells him "You imprison me, then tell me you're my biological father, then you ask me and my brother to move in with you? Do you know how absurd that is?"
"I know it's hard to take in, but I truly am sorry for leaving you, I was scared and blinded by material things and status. Your mother was a wonderful person, I was self-centered and only thinking about myself" he apologizes.
"You're about 10 years late on that apology." she scoffs.
"Trust me I know" he sighs picking her up in a swift motion and jumping into the air flying faster than she thought was possible.
"We're here" he places a hand on her shoulder as she almost fell. The lines in her sight were gone.
"One sec" she tells him trying to regain her vision. She feels her glasses on her face but that didn't help much.
"Shall we?" he asks, and she nods despite not still being able to see.
"Zumi!" She hears Takashi's voice and feels his arms around her.
"Kashi!" She smiles melting into his embrace "I'm sorry"
"It's fine, we need to get away from dad anyways" Takashi shrugs, ruffling his sister's hair and she smiles.
"You can't see me" he says, and she feels herself being pulled and forced to sit down.
"It'll come back" She assures him "Where are we gonna go?" she asks him with a frown closing her eyes.
"I don't know yet" he sighs. "Are you okay staying here for a bit till I figure it out?, might as well take advantage of him after the years of abandonment"
"Take advantage of me for as long as you'd like" Nokoa encourages them.
"So what? You aren't ashamed of us anymore?" Takashi asks and Suzumi opens her eyes, her sight restored.
She looks around. Taking in the modern looking futuristic vibe of the place, although she couldn't see it properly, she could tell.
"I realize my wrongs" he sits on the other side of the curvy L shaped couch.
"Too late" Takashi scoffs.
"There's a saying that goes 'better late than never', have you little sprites heard of that?" Nokoa asks and they both roll their eyes.
"Be so for real" Suzumi shakes her head.
"Give me a chance, I've been wanting to reunite with you two for a long time now, especially since what happened to your mom. I'd give the world for you" he says genuinely, Takashi looks at his sister clearly wanting to know how she was feeling. And she nods.
"You're boring me, where do we sleep?" Suzumi asks him.
"up the stairs, pick any room of your choice. The third floor is my space" he informs them crossing his leg and picking up a magazine.
'No way he reads magazines' Suzumi thinks.
"I like to stay caught up" he answers the question she didn't even ask...She just knew the arrangement was going to take a lot of getting used to.
A scroll touch beeps and Takashi fishes his scroll touch out. "Aren't your friends caring" he says monotonously. Flipping the screen to her.
Request from: River Ladiston
Request from: Elijah Starling
Request from: Dexter Bardo
Request from: Emily Solaris
"They are all smarter than I figured" She fights off a smile.
"Where's your scroll touch?" he asks, and she shrugs.
"There are some in my study, feel free to take any" Nokoa enters the conversation briefly.
"Are you going to live here?" Suzumi asks him and he closes his magazine giving her his complete undivided attention for a moment "My own flesh and blood are here so why would I need to be somewhere else? Of course, I will be gone on business trips every now and then but when I'm not, I'm all yours" he returns to his magazine.
"Can I just use yours?" Suzumi asks Takashi and he nods handing it to her. As much as Suzumi and Takashi wanted to ask for DNA tests to prove their relation, it was quite obvious that he was their father because they all had a similar facial composition.
Suzumi accepts Dexter's first because it came the earliest '5 hours ago.'
She beeps him immediately and he answers fast.
"You're out!" he squeals. "You're such a baddie, imagine just going oh my friend was exiled but she got out because she's that bad" he rambles, and she giggles a bit.
"Are you smiling?" he asks.
"Shut up" she rolls her eyes.
"But seriously how are you?" He asks and she shrugs "I'm okay" she lies not feeling like telling him what just happened yet.
"Are you back in the south?" He asks and she shakes her head.
"Long story" she sighs.
"I've got time" he smiles back. "I think" he looks behind his scroll touch.
"Well to cut it short Queen Lucelia found out about the tailer thing, and we got banned." She tells him.
Dexter curses under his breath before apologizing "I'm so sorry, this is all my fault"
"I did it by my will, it's whatever"
"Do you have a place to stay? Where are you?" He asks.
"We're at a place in Nieves" she tells him "Takashi's over here" She turns the camera to him, and he waves.
"Can I come over?" he asks, "I'm bored and no one else is responding to their beeps."
"Where's Tahl?" she asks him not sure if he could come over especially not when she hadn't told him about being Nokoa Asterin's daughter.
"Mom took him to the market, Dad's out for a swim, I didn't want to go with either" he shrugs. "So?"
"Ask your parents for permission, stop dillydallying around Ardeneon." Nokoa yells into their conversation.
Suzumi glares at him "I wasn't asking for your permission."
"Who's that?" Dexter asks.
"Someone who isn't so important" Suzumi assures him and Nokoa scoffs mumbling to himself.
"Keep your location on, I'm gonna ask Dharti to take me." He tells her ending the call.
About 45 minutes later, the doorbell goes through the house and Suzumi walks downstairs from her room to open the door, but Nokoa beat her to it. How the man went from being ashamed of them to being open about them she didn't understand.
She runs to the door hoping he didn't scare Dexter away. She walks around Nokoa and is faced with a startled Dexter.
"Ignore him" she walks outside to join Dexter not sure if it was alright to bring him in.
"It's cold outside both of you come in" Nokoa points inside intentionally, knowing she was being careful. "Make sure you leave your room door open" he tells her as she pulls Dexter inside, she narrows her eyes at him. "I'll think about it" She calls out before mumbling "Wisest sprite in Ardeneon but he can't seem to take a hint."
"That story must be so damn long" Dexter mutters as she pulls him up the stairs.
....
"So Nokoa Asterin is your father?" Dexter asks after Suzumi finished explaining what happened "And you don't like this?"
"Not really, he wasn't there" She picks at her fingers.
"I think you should give him a chance" Dexter advices "People change, people grow...or in this case sprites."
"It's not that easy" she tells him.
"I wouldn't understand" he says "but I would hate to live in resentment for years, you're only hurting yourself...you keep doing that"
"Suzumi" A voice interrupts their conversation at the door, they both turn to see Nokoa. "May I come in?" he asks, and she nods hesitantly. "Here" he hands her a white scroll touch. "I had a feeling you wouldn't get one yourself, I'll be leaving to the council now, there's a hearing scheduled for this evening, your brother is sleeping so tell him to write a list of what he eats and doesn't eat, you do that too, a cook will arrive shortly and prepare dinner for you two" he informs her before turning around and leaving her room his big gray cloak sweeping the floor.
"See?" Dexter points out as she is looking at the latest edition scroll touch in her hand.
"Funny how you said that to me 3 years ago" she laughs lowly but her laugh quickly fades after realizing what she said.
"3 years ago?" he asks with a small laugh his voice laced with confusion.
"Do you want a snack?" She asks him "I'm sure Nokoa has something in the fridge"
"That wasn't a mistake, when did we meet three years ago?" he asks.
Suzumi sighs realizing it was time for her to come clean.
"I'm Maliyah" she breathes out.
"What are you saying Suzumi? How do you know Maliyah?" he asks, and she clears her throat.
"Hey kids!" She exclaims enthusiastically bored, like Maliyah would have.
"Are you mad?" she asks after moments of silence.
"Why did you lie?" he asks
"Messed up past, didn't think I'd hang around long, once you start to lie it's hard to come out of it" she answers truthfully.
"Okay" he answers slowly, not sure how to process it himself "You should tell the others, they may not be as understanding"
"Elijah knows" She tells him "I probably won't go to scire here, so I don't think it's necessary"
"You're gonna run away from your problems?" He asks and his scroll touch beeps.
"It's Skai, one second" he says answering it.
"Hey there beautiful" he smirks.
"I'm coming overrr" Skai sings "have you heard from Suzumi? River and I tried reaching out to her"
"Don't worry, I'm on my way over right now" he smiles at her ending the call and standing up from Suzumi's bed.
"You don't like lies and abandonment, do you think other people like it?" he asks. "Talk later Su" he walks out of her room leaving her to reflect.
For a month what Dexter had said to Suzumi couldn't leave her brain, it was practically etched in. After staying with Nokoa Asterin for quite a while, he decided that Suzumi and Takashi would need to attend scire as long as they would be with him, and so she didn't have much of a choice since she and her brother hadn't decided on their living conditions yet. She is going to be attending Lucrari North...with them. She knew she had to come clean.