Memories of Eld- Part 2-1
Date Posted: June 6, 2020
~Present Day~
This chapter was written in collaboration with Scylla.
Amon mused over Scylla’s story, the hum of the machine droning somewhere in the background. He took a long sip of his tea and leaned back casually in his chair with an unreadable expression on his face.
Had he really terrorized her that much in the first days of his arrival?
“I remember it quite differently, my dear,” the Allagan told her truthfully. “I always sensed that you’d gone back and ratted on me to your parents, and ‘twas why I was called to your father’s lab the first time.”
“Ratted?” Scylla nearly crumbled her cookie between her fingers, before waving it in his face. “Ratted what?”
“He completely forgot about any type of tattling or sulking I could do after that week.” She took a bite of the cookie with a slight huff. “All he did for the next two cycles was gloat about how fortunate he was to get his new project, and how jealous the other technologists were.”
Scylla took a sip of tea, clearing her throat as her eyes shifted to his choker.
“I didn’t put all the pieces together of how you fit into that project.” The mage sighed. “I should have known something was up when all he could do at dinner was interrogate me about your aetheric pranks in class.”
“Well… ‘twasn’t how it felt at first. All I knew was I’d been directed to come to your father’s lab,” Amon shrugged. “What was I supposed to surmise from that?”
~The Past~
Amon had been quiet today. It was rather unusual, as they were walking home together amongst the wooded path, and there would be no instructor to stop the two of them from engaging in a serious aetheric skirmish.
Scylla pulled the strap on her knapsack with a scowl, before shooing the Elezen boy away. Despite his rather quiet demeanor, she couldn’t stop from herself from getting a jab in.
“Stop following me, Amon! The hound-friendly trail is over there in the woods!” Scylla motioned towards the dark forested area with a smirk.
“I would if I could, trust me.” Amon let a disdainful rush of air escape through his nose in response.
The boy wasn’t in the mood for the usual bickering that had become the foundation of his interactions with Scylla. He was being summoned to speak with her father, after all, and that could not mean anything good.
Teachers were one thing. They were all a bunch of wind and pomp. There wasn’t much they could do to him, even if he did get caught in the midst of one of his grand schemes against Scylla.
Parents were a whole different story. Where he came from, when a parent got involved, it was usually resolved in a session of switching and then a punishment draped on the top of that. So many times had Amon been sentenced to dishes duty, or worse, mucking duty.
But here, he didn’t know exactly what was coming. Everything was so different in the city of the Tower.
Even the kids were different.
Take Scylla, for example. She’d hated him the moment she laid eyes on him, and he didn’t know why. His first experience moving into this brand new world was marred by her jeering about the size of his ears and encouraging all of her friends to join in.
At first, Amon was just dumbfounded. Especially since the girl didn’t stop.
Back in his hometown, if kids had disagreements, it was handled the proper way. Whenever he and Tad butted heads, they’d go out back and scrap it out. The loser was the loser and the winner was the winner. Then a few hours later, all was forgiven and forgotten.
Not so here. Every time Scylla looked at him, it was with an up-nose distaste. Only later had he learned that her red eyes were a sign of Allagan nobility.
Well, he had special eyes, too. And he was determined not to let this girl get the better of him.
“Your father wants to talk to me.” He let a slight sneer creep into his voice. “’Tis funny you haven’t heard… you should know all about why.”
Scylla rolled her eyes. Of course, she knew why her father wanted to talk to Amon. Her father had not been able to contain his excitement all week.
But it would seem that Amon didn’t know.
She gave a sly look as she opened the aether-fence to the courtyard.
“Oh yes, of course.”
“Those robes you stained last week.” Scylla gave a faked sigh, shaking her head. “Well, those weren’t ordinary robes.”
She turned on him, pointing her finger straight at his nose.
“You’ve done irreparable damage to the royal robes of Azys, a timeless artifact, and assaulted one of noble blood.” Scylla shrugged carelessly. “Normally, that means being fed to the hounds, and your family being imprisoned but I don’t know if they would eat one of their own.”
The hounds had taken notice of the pair and looked at them with red, predatory eyes.
“Or maybe they would.” Scylla waved her hand around. “But… perhaps I can ask for mercy… He is my father.”
Her smile was as wicked as the hounds behind her. “But there are a few conditions… attached.”
Amon knew drama and fibbery when he heard it. And Scylla was not the best at either. There was an element of truth to it somewhere, though.
“Oh, those ugly robes? I should be praised for improving upon them. ‘Tisn’t like they could get much worse, to be honest.” The boy retorted, folding his hands behind his head as if there wasn’t a worry in the world. “Figures your kind would fancy ugly clothes. They compliment your face.”
Of course, running off at the mouth was just his way of covering up his growing apprehension. At least he had a better idea as to what he was going to be called out on. Maybe, if given enough time, he could spin some yarn and get off the hook.
It just depended. The boy had never met her father before, so he didn’t yet know how clever a grown-up he was.
“You can take your conditions and serve them to your hounds,” Amon told her with a smirk. “Forestfolk don’t bow down to no snotty city nobles.”
“Okaaaay…” Scylla gave a long pause and shrugged. “I’ll make sure to tell my father that your feelings about his kind.”
“For once I was actually trying to be nice to you…” Scylla gave him a sigh. “Figures you only just give me insults.”
“Sure. Nice. If threats are nice to you, I’d hate to see what mean is.” Amon just shrugged at that.
He fell silent as they walked further into the compound. It certainly was an impressive, very LARGE and well-kept homestead. Why did any one family need all of this space? Why weren’t there more trees?
Gardens were pleasant, but they were hardly wild forest land. So much was missing in the city.
The boy fell quiet as he began to try to formulate an act to get him out of the situation he’d made for himself. If the grown-up was too smart, maybe he could turn on the tears and feign ignorance. That worked often enough with these soft city people.
Crying in front of Scylla was not his first choice, but if it got him off the hook, he would live with it. And if she said anything about it to anyone else, he had ways to get her back.