Chapter 114 - 115. The Dinner
I chose to ignore him when Vio began to explain that collectors were creatures that didn't actually have a fixed form or it was just a collection of energy. Some of them wanted to mingle and lived together with humans so he created a body for them. But since it was the collectors' true body, that body would be broken after a while. That was why they needed a new body before the time was up, the container had to be replaced.
"I've never heard a collector commits murder, then take only one part of the body only from the victim," said Vio. "Tha, I'll give the simplest example. You need clothes to wear, so of course, you will buy a T-shirt and pants, right? Is it possible you choose to buy a piece of the left sleeve from brand A and the right sleeve from brand B, rather than a ready-made shirt?"
He said it right. If that creature wanted a body, it shouldn't have to do that. 'Then, what is he looking for by stealing every part of that organ?' I got more confused.
"Aras really hates that creature." This part was almost forgotten in my mind. "That night I saw Aras fighting with that creature. If humans did come that night, the fight might be out of control." I told him.
"Tha, Shadhavar is the guardian of the wizarding world," Then he looked so thoughtful. "If Aras becomes hostile toward it, surely the collectors have created a problem. Azalea may not know yet what kind of problems the collectors made, but Aras is able to see the future even if for the shortest span of time." He seemed very confident in what he said. "Tell me what that creature looks like!" His gaze turned to be demanding and intimidating.
"He is taking all the organs he stole in his body and it seems that those organs are getting rotten," said Mickey quickly. "A child without any power can smell it even from far distant," He added, then that tubby paused, thinking about something.
Several seconds passed, that cat continued, "Doesn't Mirai have no ability like you, and why can't Winnter smell that odour?" Mickey asked me.
When Mickey asked that, I just realized it. the teenager kept complaining that the creature smelled awful. I smelled the same, something dead was inside that creature. But Winnter never smelled anything and she always looked normal and undisturbed with that smell.
"What does he collect all those things for?" Vio mumbled. Apparently, he who had so often made the containers for the collectors looked confused. "I'm sorry but I have never known such a collector. Can you give me some time?" he made a request to us.
"I will ask my friends or other collectors about this. They may know something." Vio asked us to come back two days after today. He needed to know the creature I asked him about.
…
An incoming call interrupted us while we were on the way home. I just checked the name displayed on the screen but didn't intend to pick it up.
"Why don't you pick it up?" Zie was suspicious to see me just look at the screen and put it again in my bag.
"My mother," I replied in short, then looking at the pair of sapphires that were looking back at me. "Brother Zie?"I wanted to tell him a lot, not only about the duty I got from Azalea, but also I wanted to tell him other things. But those words were just stuck in my throat.
"What is it, Tha? Tell me." His cold fingers poked my cheek. Despite the cold, the warmth filled up my heart.
"My father will get married again." I didn't know what expression I should have shown him when saying this. I just smiled. I was not sure what kind of smile was caught by Zie. He was silent. He might not know what to say to please me. "How is mother feeling?" I couldn't imagine how to be in my mother's position, looking at that man remarry and hurt her again.
"Tha, cheer up, please!" It was just words gone with the wind. I had kept this problem for a long time, buried by other new problems. I didn't try to solve it, but I wanted to run away as far as I could, instead.
If I could describe the relationship between my father and my mother, I would say that they were like the sea and the coral. My father was in the sea. The waves came and went simultaneously, up and down, kept changing like night and day, kept striking the coral or sometimes it swept away softly.
Meanwhile, my mother was the coral, strong and tough all the time. She would stand tall in her place, no matter how hard the waves hit her. Mother would be firmly in her position as her determination, nights, days, high tides and low tides.
I just didn't really understand their relationship. So long as their marriage ran like this until my brother and I came into their lives, I felt they had no connection similar to other married couples in general. My father kept changing partners and my mother was too focused on her work.
I could not remember how many times had my father precisely changed partners, despite his marriage with my mother. I just hoped that this time he would be really serious. No matter how much I hated him, he was still my father. There were similar parts in us and I could not deny it.
Without cutting his relationship with my mother nor asking her permission, or at least to tell her about his plan, father married again. I just could not imagine how my mother's feeling knowing all this. Could she accept all this? Or, gave him her blessings to them? Would she be able to congratulate them? I really wanted to know, but at the same time, I was so reluctant to ask her all of that. Our relationship didn't work well, and for me, we were simply strangers who were tied with the blood--her blood-- flowing in my body as her daughter.
"Why didn't you pick up my call?" My mother asked me from the other end. It was raising issues about the calls I didn't receive.
"I was still on the way," I replied shortly.
"Don't you have to work at this time? Did you skip it today?" I smiled when I heard those statements were spoken by her. She still cared for me, somehow.
"I went home earlier today because the brother of the school principal passed away today." Did she know that I was happy with her little meaningless attention?
There was a long pause there, she might be busy with her work or she was on the street right now too. Meanwhile, Zie, who was by my side, asked if she was okay and I nodded in response. He also asked me not to mention my father, and I knew about that too.
"Mom?" We were like two persons who were just exiled after being hurt too many times by the persons who we hoped would change their attitude for us.
"Oh, okay. I'll check it out later." Mom seemed to be talking with someone else, I could hear a noise from the other end, too.
"Can you spare your time tonight? I want us to have dinner together in a restaurant near the theatre." Before I could say yes or no, I heard someone call my mom's name. "I'm sorry Tha, I'll call you again later. I am busy now." Then she hung up. It seemed she was very busy.
I sat, sighed, and stared at my coffee that was still steaming. I wanted to live like a cup of coffee without sugar. It was bitter but it was addictive, kept you awake, not a painful bitterness.
"How's your mom doing?" Zie, who was sitting in front of me, was ruffling Mickey's fur. Mickey sat lazily on his lap.
I took a deep breath, hiding my tears by turning in another direction. "Busy, as always," I replied shortly. Then I sipped my coffee. "She asked me to meet her tonight."
"Go and meet her," Zie said. "You need to support your mom, Tha. You both have to be there for her." He was right. I nodded to agree.
"I am meeting her tonight."
…
I never asked anyone why that river was named River Mother. If I would name it River Crescent Moon, it was because its shape was like a crescent, but people rather called it River Mother.
Its surface, which was usually so calm, was rippling due to the drizzling rain. As the rainwater fell down, the particles of ice fell down too. This caused the temperature to drop to a lower point.. The season would switch, the red leaves fallen on the ground would soon be buried by the white of the snow.