Welcome to Gaia! ::

Amon blinked when he stepped out of the used bookstore, temporarily blinded, and almost immediately fishing for the pair of sunglasses he’d hooked into the collar of his shirt upon entering the shop. He had only one eye left anyway, and he saw no real reason to needlessly endanger its health – especially as he already was slightly nearsighted anyway, much to his chagrin.

Nephrite huddled in his shadow, the heavy tome she hugged to her chest keeping her from merging with its darkness completely. She had to retain a somewhat physical form to be able to hold onto the book. It was a rather heavy looking tome, hardcover and cloth bound, with the stale scent of dust and age. An encyclopedia on herbs and their uses, covering pretty much anything one ever would want to know – from where to gather them at which time of the year to how to grow them yourself under which conditions – accompanied by a great many of beautifully illustrated plates, depicting the plant in question in its various stages, from seed to seedling, to fully grown and in full bloom.

Opposed to how it usually went, there’d been no quarrel nor arguing whatsoever about the purchase this time around. Amon had simply thumbed through the pages some, once Nephrite had shoved the book into his face all excited-like, noting the beauty of the illustrations and the quality of the paper and the stitched binding, and then had paid up without much of a fuss. There were worlds of difference between this book and what he’d gotten for the young fiend in online stores. He wasn’t into books much, but even he was able to appreciate excellent craftsmanship when he saw it. It was a real shame they didn’t make books like this anymore, nowadays. And then there were the numerous handwritten notes which accompanied the text (this was a used bookstore, after all), which – he supposed – would prove to be useful for Nephrite.

“Should I take it for you?” he offered, turning to Nephrite. It was almost noon, which meant there were barely any shadows about for her to hide in, and he could feel her unease at this.

But the fiend stubbornly shook her head, clutching the precious book even tighter to her chest. ‘No,’ she said. ‘It’s mine.’

“Sure thing.” Amon nodded, before adding – not without sarcasm: “Just remember who paid for it, mh?” He ruffled her hair – just because he knew how very much she hated him messing it up – and then turned. It was unusually hot already for this time of the year, and humid too, spelling a thunderstorm for later on. Heat and bright sunlight Amon had got no problem dealing with, but he intensely hated on the humidity. Linen slacks and an embroidered muga silk shirt he’d purchased on the Grand Bazaar some time ago were thusly his choice of dress today. An unusual pick for him, aimed at mostly being comfortable in the humidity, yet he still looked every inch a beau.

Nephrite – hating on the humid weather just as much as her guardian did – had naturally gone for the lightest silks available in her extensive wardrobe, making her look even more of an ethereal being than she usually was. ‘Can we go home now?’ she inquired, hopeful and slightly drowsily despite her excitement about the book. This wasn’t her time of the day, really. Usually, this time of the day, she’d be asleep.

Amon ran his fingers through his hair, gathered in a ponytail at the nape of his neck with a sterling and onyx barrette. He’d gone extra lengths to straighten the strands out this morning, and thusly was much annoyed to find the humid air caused his natural curls to spring up again. He hated on these with a passion, really. “I was thinking of getting a coffee first,” he admitted. The coffee shops were close by, after all, and it would be a shame to miss out when he was here anyway. “Yusuf’s, maybe? You could have one of their blooming teas,” he suggested, in an attempt to appease his fiend.

Nephrite shifted uneasily, having a hard time, apparently, to make up her mind. Despite her excitement about the book, she was getting into a whiny mood with how sleepy she felt now. But … she really liked those blooming teas. Not that she could drink them, but, she enjoyed their scent and – much more so – the way they looked. So Pretty. One of these days, she’d decided, she’d figure out how these were made. ‘Yusuf’s is okay,’ she decided, remembering how comfortably dim the interior was. And comfortable cushions all over the place. Maybe she could have a nap there. ‘But, only one cup? I want to go hooooome …’

There was no AC running within Yusuf’s, but the ceiling fans were busily turning, their gentle breeze offering some relief. Which was, in fact, just the way Amon preferred it. If there was anything he hated, it was to enter a building and suddenly find himself freezing – it definitely gave him a good idea as to why Rukurai kept frying poor Jasamine’s ice makers. He very much wished he could do just the same to an AC system here and there occasionally.

The interior was dominated by dark woods, but otherwise sporting an odd jumble of design elements from the Far and Middle East as if trying to appease to all the cultures that had settled within the bazaar – which struck pretty close to home, actually. As Yusuf had explained to him at one time, his intention had been to offer a familiar sight to all his guests, something to make them feel at home. There were wall hangings with Chinese as well as Arabic calligraphy, colorful lanterns from Morocco, Berber rugs on the floor, cushions made from finely woven Indian silks …and a small reproduction of one of the Easter Island’s Moai, for serious?! That certainly was a new addition. Amazingly enough, the different styles didn’t clash – not too badly, at least – but rather gave of the air that the proprietor might have traveled Far and Wide before deciding to settle down, and then simply had stuffed all his souvenirs into the café he’d opened.

Truth was, Yusuf had been born in the bazaar quarters, pretty much never left even Dürem in his whole life, and had purchased most of the items right here, or ordered them online.

The reason Amon was so fond of this coffee shop, however, was that they actually offered decent coffee – quite a few specialties, and all of them good. Oh, and tea too – not that he cared.

They had barely entered, a young saree-clad lady whose tan was even darker than Amon’s already making her way to them to show them to a table, when Hela’s excited outcry caught their attention. Really, that level of volume, it was hard to miss. Amon turned and quirked a brow, slightly irritated as he put his shades away.

The waitress (one of Yusuf’s many daughters, actually) offered him an apologetic smile – she was very much used to this. The bazaar’s products really were quite a difference to those artificial, mass-produced items sold in the stores elsewhere.

Nephrite, however, perked up, taking note of the familiar name. ‘Algie!’ she exclaimed happily, the moment the man stepped through the open door. ‘And Bloo~!’ She added, catching sight of the tiny wisp. They were so damn hard to spot. She would have tried to capture him, but she was still clutching her newest treasure, which was too heavy to hold with just one arm even. Speaking of … ‘Loooooook at what I got!’ she said cheerily, holding the heavy old tome out for the wizard to see.

Amon rose his other brow as well, quietly evaluating the middle-aged man who’d just entered. Fancy that, running into yet another guardian and his fiend. Well, it wasn’t as if Dürem was that big, actually. So this was this ‘Algie’ person both Nephrite and Jasamine had spoken of so appreciatively. He did remember seeing him in front of the store one of those days Nephrite had put yet another dent into the roof of his car with her carelessness. He’d been rather stressed out at the time, he recalled, and not been in the best moods.

“Make that a table for four,” he quietly murmured to the waitress. He didn’t quite count in Bloo, as he was just barely able to spot the little wisp (and would have missed him entirely if Nephrite hadn’t directed his attention towards him) – but he’d taken note there’d someone else been accompanying the man, and she might wish to join them later on.

“Hey,” he said, offering his hand to Algernon in a greeting.

The mirth Nephrite radiated easily gave the impression that she was laughing happily – she quite obviously enjoyed little Bloo’s attention.

“It is dreadful,” Amon agreed wholeheartedly. His handshake was brief, but firm, and he offered a polite smile. “Pleased to meet you.” And doubly pleased he didn’t have to explain anything about the fiends or where they came from this time around.

“Forecast said there ought to be a thunderstorm later on,” he remarked in a conversational tone, taking note that Algernon apparently hadn’t paid attention to the forecast at all. Well, that had happened to him as well on occasion. “That should bring some relief. Though I hope it hits after we’re back home, I don’t drive too well in that kind of weather.”

‘That is because you don’t drive well at all,’ Nephrite quipped, a little disgruntled that Algie hadn’t looked at her magnificent book at all. Heavy as it was though, she was grateful to be able put down the tome on the table they’d been shown to, almost immediately starting to leaf through the yellowed pages. She seemed to have pretty much forgotten about the blooming tea she’d wanted, Amon noted with a bit of an amused smirk.

“A pleasure to meet you as well,” Amon added, addressing the little wisp. He had long since stopped thinking it silly to speak to a floating little piece of rock. Though, was it just him or did the little one seem a bit hostile? It certainly felt like it – he, Amon corrected himself – was glaring at him or something. “Have I done something to anger him?” He asked, a little surprised. But that seemed to have been only the initial reaction. Perhaps it was because he was male, he mused.

“At least it’ll bring relief from the humidity.” Amon shrugged. “Really, I can’t stand this kind of weather.” He tugged at a strand of his hair, trying to straighten out the curls it was beginning to form at the end, but it refused. Another reason why he wasn’t too intend of getting caught in a downpour, albeit a pretty minor one. Mostly, he just wasn’t very fond of getting soaked. He never quite understood Neph’s preference for those extended bubble baths of hers.

“The young lady,” he said, “will she join us later on?” Given his profession, he did do infinitely better with females than he did with males. Given, his first impression of Hella had not necessarily the best (filing her away as ’obnoxious, and LOUD’), but he was more than willing to possibly correct that to ‘easily excited TEEN’. A category, he feared, Nephrite would join all too soon.

Nephrite beamed, delighted at the attention she and her book were (finally!!) getting. ‘There are notes, see?’ she said, pointing at some pencil written annotations. ‘They are really hard to read, though …’ Her almond shaped eyes narrowed slightly as she squinted at the barely faded script. Printed text, she did well with by now, even though the book used a very old-fashioned type. But actual handwriting kept being exceptionally hard for her to decipher. Still, the idea that someone else had owned this book before, knowledgeable enough to add their own notes and observations to it, it was thrilling. She wished she’d be able to talk to that person … ‘How old is that book?’ she inquired.

“Pretty old, from the looks of it,” Amon remarked. Which, of course, wasn’t helpful at all. “First few pages,” he added, “there ought to be something about which edition it is, and which year it was printed.” He couldn’t pick up on Nephrite’s thoughts as easily as she did on his (in fact, he couldn’t do it at all, unless she happened to be ‘thinking aloud’), but, knowing her pretty well by now, he could make an educated guess at what she was getting at. “That’s also where info on the owner should be, an exlibris or something or other.”

Bloo’s behavior, actually, reminded him a LOT of Rutie’s, sans the hostility. He figured it simply was about him being the male guardian of a female fiend.

…

Come to think of, he actually had yet to meet a female shadow fiend other than Nephrite. So far, all the ones they’d encountered, had been boys. Odd, that.

He did take note of Bloodstone’s pause at his missing eye, mostly because he was much accustomed to the fact his eye patch inevitably drew attention, and made people curious. He reached out with his hand to lightly touch upon the little wisp. ’Nothing to be worried about,’ he directed his thoughts at him. ‘It happened a long time ago.’ He wasn’t sure if it got across at all, or if the wisp would actually understand – to his knowledge, shadow fiends in that age were very much like infants. Though … something about ‘Bloodstone’ seemed different.

“All of the boys seem to fancy her,” he replied to Algernon with a bit of a grin. “Though, so far, she’s the only female fiend I’ve encountered, so that may be the cause.” He shrugged. Well, it made sense in a way, given that – to his knowledge – Doran had mostly nixed his enemies before moving over to Just About Everyone.

Nephrite, for her part, was much amused by Bloo’s reaction, and she prodded him gently. ‘There’s nothing to be embarrassed about,’ her thoughts conveyed. ‘I like you too.’ Her eyes glinting with mischief, she captured the wisp like she had before, rubbing her thumb across the surface as if he was some kind of worry stone.

Now would you look at that. Amon grinned, pretty much from one ear to the other, before he was distracted by the waitress.

“Namaste,” she said, her hands pressed together in front of her chest, and offering a small bow as she introduced herself formally. “I’m Sumedha, and I’ll be taking care of your needs today. Do you wish for the menu, or do you already know what you’d like to order?” Yusuf’s had a lot of regulars, after all, and she did at least recognize Amon.

“Turkish coffee for me,” Amon promptly said. “Any of your blooming teas for her,” he added, thumbing at Nephrite. “She cannot consume it, given she obviously has no mouth, so please don’t be offended if she doesn’t drink it. But I do know she enjoys them aesthetically a great deal. Something with jasmine, perhaps?”

Sumedha nodded, directing her attention towards Algie. “And you …?” A Westerner, quite obviously, as opposed to Amon, who fit in nicely with his exceptionally dark tan. She couldn’t remember having seen that man around.

“Tea, or coffee, they’ve got pretty much everything,” Amon offered, in an attempt to be helpful. “And what they don’t have, they’ll just send out one of their brats to get from the nearby stores in no time whatsoever.”

“Oh, I so do know young ladies,” Amon remarked with a smirk. It was hilarious getting comments like that when people had no idea about his actual occupation.

Nephrite temporarily peeked up from her book, somewhat distracted by her guardian’s intense amusement – especially as, once again, she was completely unable to figure out just what it was he thought to be so funny … She frowned, and then turned her attention back to the book. It was adorable how little Bloo attempted to help her, and she made sure to convey to him just how pleased she was about it.

“Well, Neph’s a little like that,” Amon said, motioning at the young fiend. “Always trying to help, like, with the occasional nightmares I’ve got. Though she’s got a certain tendency to overdo things …”

Nephrite looked up again and quirked a brow, knowing fully well what occurrence it was Amon was referring to. Suddenly her expression seemed very innocent. Lucky for her, something else had caught Amon’s interest and she was left off the hook. Sort of.

“Wait,” Amon said. “So it is possible to undo the connection between fiend and guardian?” That was news to him. “I was told I’d be stuck with her,” he said, motioning at Nephrite, “no matter what.”

Nephrite’s movements as she leafed through the pages slowed down. What … where they talking about? What was Amon talking about? He didn’t want to be rid of her, did he?

The waitress quietly took note of Algie’s order, bowed, and stepped back, mindful enough to not interrupt the ongoing conversation.