Chronicles of Aumar: 54

Day-off in the Big City

A small café with beige walls and a red roof stood snugly between a book store and a tobacco shop in a large open-air marketplace that was shutting down for the day as people passed by the patio where Atticus, wearing a light button-up shirt and some slacks, was sitting with Sarah, dressed in a skirt and blouse. The light of the moon was overpowered by the numerous lamps that gave a short hum at first but soon were warmed up and glowing silently.

“This is a nice place, don’t you think?” Atticus asked Sarah. “It kinda reminds me of our first date.”

“Yeah, but these people don’t have the Radical Dreamer.”

“Once the war is over, we should go back to get one.”

“Yeah…” Sarah replied as she wondered off in thought.

Atticus fidgeted and looked around. He didn’t really know what to say. Luckily, a waiter arrived to give them their drinks. Sarah was handed a cup of peppermint tea while Atticus was some coffee with cream. While Sarah delicately sipped on her tea, Atticus decided to just spurt out what he was mulling over.

“I’m sorry!” he said quickly.

“What?” Sarah replied with some confusion.

“I… I didn’t mean to be like that. I know you don’t have many people you care for in the world either, but I just didn’t think about it at the time. I was so focused on reading that book that we got, then hearing how a friend of mine could be in danger of dying made me want to read it more just to ignore the problem so being pressed on it made me lash out. I shouldn’t have taken it out on you like that.”

“I know you didn’t. You’re not a mean guy. You’re at least nicer than Red.”

“What do you mean?”

“He was making fun of our fight!”

“Really? Then why did he…?” Atticus was saying before stopping.

“Why did he what?” Sarah questioned in an investigative manner. Atticus looked nervous and shook his head.

“It’s nothing. Forget I said anything.”

“Well… alright then. Let’s enjoy ourselves. We’re in the largest Terran city in the world, right? We should take advantage of it!”

“Yeah,” Atticus responded with a sigh of relief.

Meanwhile, in a busy playground near the lower quarter of the city was Luca sitting on a park bench with Red sitting beside her. In front of them was Doug fixing a broken toy car as a group of young children ranging in ages as young as five to as old as twelve watching him intensely as he used his tools to fix their plaything. After playing with it for a moment, he handed it to a young boy with thick and fuzzy hair; the boy was ecstatic that his precious possession was as good as new and a barrage of children all thanked him and wanted him to fix other broken toys.

“You and Doug always astound me with how good you are with children,” Red told her. Luca turned to Red and saw a gentle look in his eyes and was taken aback.

“It’s not that difficult. People with kind hearts are able to interact well with children.”

“Heh… you say that like I have one,” Red replied.

“You might be gruff and sometimes difficult to be around but I don’t believe you’re a bad person.”

“That’s exactly the sort of thing I expect from either of you.”

A moment of awkward silence arose between the two. Red coughed as he looked up towards the blue sky while Luca fidgeted with her choker. To break the silence, Luca turned to Red and smiled.

“Look, I know we haven’t gotten along too well but I don’t think you’re a bad guy. You’re just very… different from most men I’ve met.”

“Oh?” Red replied in curiosity, “I didn’t know nuns could leave their abbey to meet men.”

“You know what I mean,” she replied with slight annoyance. “You presented yourself to be some self-made and capable sage type person and after spending time with you you’re nothing of the sort. You fabricated a first impression to make yourself seem like you were who you aren’t.”

“That is a first impression: you make people think highly of you to slowly disappoint their expectations and show you’re no smarter, wiser, dumber, or stupider than they are.”

“Atticus and Doug didn’t seem like that.”

“Atticus is naïve and Doug is young. This traveling we’re doing will solve those things.”

“…do you not think much of Atticus or Doug?”

Red sighed heavily when Luca asked him this question. After a moment to pick the right words, he responded methodically.

“I see much of my younger self in the both of them. Atticus sees the world as a place to be improved as he goes zipping about doing his best to help others. Doug’s views are that the world is a big playground worth exploring and having adventure. Both of them share the view as everything worth seeing with innate curiosity. If the world was in a state of peace, those would be noble things to do but the world is spiraling towards chaos. I don’t have the same optimism as they do.”

“But you’re not cynical either. I see it in your eyes. You’re hope in the world hasn’t been extinguished yet.”

Red smirked and shook his head.

“Do I still have hope? Maybe. However, my faith is gone. I can’t have blind confidence without any facts. I don’t know about the others, but despite the odds you still have yours. That in itself is worth being jealous about.”

“But what about Atticus’ ability to use fire magic or my ability to heal? Aren’t those enough to show that the Goddess is real?”

“You’ve seen yourself how there are people who never heard of Gaia or believe in other deities that can use those very powers as well. If not, I certainly have in my travels.”

“What if they’re using Gaia but call Her by different names?”

Red was quiet for a moment before responding.

“Suppose a Zi’dane healer came up to you and said that Gaia was actually a shapeless figure called Elder Mystery. Or suppose that a priest from Dyne stated that your power was by the divine gift of Aumar and it was nothing of Gaia’s doing. Or even suppose that a Vi’zari healing woman said that her power came from the ancient sea dragon Mokdoo who blessed an ancient priestess as she healed the great hero Heloderm to protect his people from an on-coming threat. And you told them no, it was a gift from Gaia to show who she deemed the most worthy to become members of her Church. It can be that you are right and they are wrong, one of them is right and the rest are wrong, or you’re all wrong because maybe it’s not a divine source but something that happens naturally.”

“Then how do I come to terms with that?” Luca asked. “I’ve been taught for as long as I can remember that Gaia is the creator of the world. How do I reject that on the possibility that it’s not true?”

“Who said you would?”

Douglas came walking up to the two with several kids in tow, a couple of them holding on to his pants with their tiny hands as he guided them over to Red and Luca. With a tired expression and the gaze of pleading eyes amusing Luca, she stood up and decided to play with the children. As Doug sat down, he looked gingerly at Red with a relieved smile.

“So what were ya chatting about?”

“Things you don’t need to worry about.”

“Aw, don’t be like that!” Doug despondently answered.

“If you ever have the same discussion with me, let’s just say it will be one-sided. It’s not worth listening to.”

“Oh, fine. Right now, I just wanna relax. We’re gonna be leaving Visara soon anyways, right? Say... have you ever been to Palmview?”

“I haven’t. They’re not very welcoming to Terrans of any nationality.”

“Then we’ll all be seeing something new!”

“Heh… I suppose that’s true,” Red replied with a pleasant tone.

He looked upwards to the blue sky and city skyline and, as the pleasant sunlight washed over him, he closed his eyes and smiled behind the cloth that hid his mouth. He thought about what he discussed with Luca and sighed. He then shook his head like he was getting rid of something annoying from his hair and sat on the bench. The clouds passed by slowly as the worries of the world were far from them all.