“Luccia…” Hearing her name spoken with such desperation and disappointment made Luccia want to cry out in agony. She couldn’t bear it. Her mind tried to stop them, but her eyes nevertheless moved to see Riddel standing at the door, the shock written all over her face.
It hadn’t been for her to see. She had wanted to prevent Riddel from seeing such things. But it was too late. Riddel now saw her for the person she really was. And it hurt Luccia more than she could have imagined.
She turned her eyes away in shame, she couldn’t stand looking into Riddel’s confused and helpless face. She feared this look would never leave her face again. She feared that Riddel would never smile, at her, again.
Memories of a time long ago flooded her mind. Memories of her first years at Viper’s mansion, memories of Riddel. Memories she never wanted to forget.
It had been a good time, back then. A good time, ten years ago…
“Who’re you?”, the girl asked. She panted and her cheeks were flushed, but she wore an eager smile on her lips, one that wasn’t yet corrupted by the dullness of age that had come unto herself all too soon.
It was a simple question, but one Luccia found hard to answer considering the circumstances.
“Luccia.”, came the answer, which would have sounded almost shy if it weren’t for the deep tone of her voice. The younger girl didn’t seem fazed.
She had just recently started working for Viper, and she didn’t regret it one bit. The people back on the Zenan Mainland hadn’t appreciated her, not after Lucca had died. She had said that she would follow in Lucca’s footsteps. She really wanted to, but she also knew that she wished to do it better. She wouldn’t rely on simple metal and construct machines, however useful they might be. She would create even more useful things, of living matter. The people on the Zenan Mainland had called her mad. They hadn’t wanted her there.
But her home was in El Nido now, under the care of Viper, who knew what she was capable of, and appreciated it. He was the only one who could see behind her glasses and thick accent, the only one who saw her for the genius she was. At least she liked to think that. They didn’t speak very often, Viper seemed to be a busy man and she was just content with spending her days in her laboratory, experimenting.
The equipment was grand, she had everything an aspiring scientist could ever ask for. Her resources were plenty, and above all, she had time. Viper didn’t push her, didn’t expect groundbreaking results from her in an impossible time frame, he just let her do as she pleased. He was very generous.
“That’s a nice name.”, the girl, who still stood in the doorway, said, favouring Luccia with a small smile.
“Vho are you, den?”, she asked the little girl. In her three weeks of working here, she hadn’t seen her even once, even though the girl seemed to be quite familiar with this place, considering she knew, and dared to go, all the way down to the basement and her lab. In a spotless white dress, Luccia noted, regarding the girl’s dress more closely. Even though it was dark and damp down here, this girl didn’t seem to be afraid of getting dirty.
“My name is Riddel. Pleased to meet you, Luccia.”, the girl replied and made a curtsey, only to giggle at herself afterward.
Riddel. Luccia knew that name. It was the name of Viper’s daughter, whom she had heard many things about. Good things, naturally.
In the short time since Luccia had started working here, she had barely finished sorting her equipment and starting some genuine experiments. Her lab was down in the basement and hardly anyone ever passed by, so Luccia was used to a silence that was merely destroyed due to her occasional shouts or laughs whenever she did something out of the ordinary. Which didn’t happen very often.
Used to this silence, Luccia had been all the more surprised and shocked when she heard her door swing open abruptly, revealing a young girl standing in the doorway. Riddel.
“Vot did you kom here for?”, Luccia asked the strange girl, her voice more unwelcoming than intended, which was nevertheless quite usual for her. However, instead of shirking back, the girl smiled knowingly.
“I heard a witch lived down here.” The answer was shockingly honest, and Luccia clenched her fists as she stared at Riddel, searching her eyes for hints of malicious intentions. She found none, however. “So I came to look. I’ve never seen one before and wanted to see if they’re really as scary as everyone says.”
“Dis is amusing. Did you find de witch, girl?”, Luccia asked darkly, slowly walking towards the girl. She was a good deal taller than Riddel, and her glasses reflected the light from the corridor eerily, the reflection hiding her eyes from Riddel’s view completely.
“No, just you. I guess daddy’s soldiers made the story up, after all.”, the girl said and shrugged, moving her head slightly to the side to get a view of Luccia’s eyes. “How old are you?”
“Tventy.”, Luccia answered and turned away from her. She preferred to give short answers, especially to people she didn’t know what to think of. And Riddel definitely was such a person. Luccia was aware that she was probably expected to be kind to the girl, but Riddel’s attitude was just too startling for her to indulge in this kind of sympathy.
“You look so much older than that.”, Riddel commented, and Luccia turned around angrily.
“Didn’t your fat’er teach you any manners?”, she asked, fuming. Only a mere minute had passed and she already had enough of her..
She was used to being alone, she was used to silence. And none of her experiments with all kinds of living beings had ever prepared her to deal with such an irritating child.
Even more to feed her anger, Riddel started giggling and Luccia dreaded the girl’s next words. To her surprise however, they came out very gentle and apologetic.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just, you look much more intelligent and knowing than any normal person of twenty years.”, Riddel explained, sighing as she saw the frown on Luccia’s face intensify.
“So vot you are saying is dat I am not normal?”, Luccia inquired, her voice calm, having lost the edge it had possessed only seconds before.
“No, no.”, Riddel said quickly, shaking her head to emphasize. “I…I don’t mean it in a negative way…” Her voice was low and hesitating, and Luccia could tell that she was getting frustrated. It made Luccia’s lips curl up in a smile. She was glad to finally have the upper hand in this extraordinary conversation.
“I understand.”, she finally said to relieve the other girl of her stuttering and fumbling. “Now please go, I have vork to attend to.”
At this, Riddel looked up and her eyes widened. “Work? This late? The sun’s almost going down!”, she scolded, a scandalized look on her face.
“I do not vork according to de sunlight. Artificial light has de same effects for my photosynt’esis experiments.” Her answer was simple and logical, but unlike her expectations, it didn’t possess the necessary effect to end the debate.
“But it doesn’t have the same effect for you. Look, you’re so pale, even more than I am! Let’s go outside, now!”, Riddel said and reached for Luccia’s arm.
Luccia frowned at the tone of the younger girl, she spoke as if she was used to get what she wanted. And seeing how she herself was close to giving up, that wasn’t so hard to imagine.
The tugging at her arm continued for a few moments until Luccia yanked her arm away. “I really don’t have de time for dis. Please leave.”
“No way!”, Riddel answered immediately, and as Luccia turned to look at her again, she half expected her to stomp her foot in frustration, which was quite far from the truth. In fact, the young girl was laughing at her refusal, and got hold of the arm again.
“Now don’t struggle so much. Just come out with me and watch the sunset, it’s more fun than working down here. You can do that once it’s dark. You’re even worse than Glenn and Dario, they’re always talking about training. Really, what’s so bad about taking a break now and then?”, she asked and Luccia found that she couldn’t find a suitable answer. It was true that going outside may be completely unnecessary, but it might clear her head a little. She wondered why she needed someone younger than herself to realize that.
Finally, she gave in to the tugging and followed Riddel towards the door. “After de sunset, I vill ask you to leave me alone wit’ my vork.”
Riddel just nodded eagerly, and Luccia doubted that she had really acknowledged it, but it was too late now, for they were already heading upstairs.
So this was Riddel. Luccia knew that she was barely sixteen, and was said to be the purest soul anyone could ever meet. She was supposedly gentle, honest, and owned an innocence that was unsurpassed by any other living being. Which had made Riddel the epitome of a rich daughter in Luccia’s thoughts, and she had thought that she would be put off by the girl’s overly nice manners and childishly innocent antics. Luccia hadn’t trusted her even before they first met, and had already prepared herself to hear of the dark core beneath Riddel’s nice exterior sooner or later. It didn’t happen until now, and now that her image of the younger girl had more than a few cracks, she doubted it could get much worse.
“Now come on, don’t walk so slowly!”, Riddel chided as she dragged her along the corridors, passing by surprised soldiers. Luccia tried not to look at them, for she knew that they disliked her and obviously made up ridiculous stories, but as she turned to shoot them an angry glare, she saw that they looked almost frightened, staring at her, but most of all at Riddel.
“L-lady Riddel! Where are you going?”, one of them gathered the nerve to ask, but Luccia knew that he had actually wanted to ask: “Where are you going with someone like her?”
“I’m just going outside with my new friend, so don’t worry.”, Riddel answered without looking at them, seemingly completely unaware of the actual worry of the soldiers. It was this irony that made Luccia chuckle, which immediately drew the looks onto her. Luccia hated herself for having done it the moment she noticed the stares. She had always thought that her laugh sounded dark and almost malicious, unfitting for a twenty-year old, really.
“You should laugh more often.”, Riddel said to her surprise. The younger girl had the habit of surprising her with almost everything she said, even though Luccia had always liked to think of herself as someone who could calculate others pretty well. “It makes you seem nicer and not as gloomy as you pretend to be. Right guys?”, Riddel asked and beamed at the soldiers who gulped and merely nodded quickly. Their utter obedience to this girl made Luccia almost chuckle anew, even though she felt a pang of envy along with it. Surely this girl had not earned her respect through something she did, but rather through the money and prowess her father possessed. She had always found such things disgusting, but she knew that she just wished that she had been treated the same way when she had been younger. It was just utter envy.
Before Luccia could drown in her depressing thoughts, fierce rays of sunlight intruded her unaccustomed eyes, and she shut them tightly, just slowly opening them again a few seconds later. That was why she hated sunlight and cherished the dimness of her laboratory. Sunlight was plain aggressive to her eyes, while artificial light was much more bearable.
But eventually, after she succeeded to get accustomed to the relatively weak light, as Riddel considered it, she took a deep breath as she laid her eyes upon the scenery in front of her. It was quite appealing, even to her, at times morbid, sense of beauty. The fresh air, which she hadn’t breathed for three weeks, smelled unusually nice, and for the first time in a long while, Luccia wondered about the things she was missing while experimenting. Surely they couldn’t be that grand, not compared to the grandness that would be her success in bioengineering. But she had to admit, that outside of her laboratory, there just might be some moderately enjoyable things, one of which she was participating in right now.
“Isn’t it beautiful?”, Riddel asked and pointed to the horizon, which was tinged in all kinds of hues of red and orange. “You can’t say that artificial light is better than that.” Riddel had a superior smile on her lips as she said this, but Luccia wasn’t annoyed by it anymore.
“I don’t choose de preferred form of light according to its subjective beauty.”, she answered, but as she saw Riddel’s smile fall, she added: “It still is a vonderful sight.”
“I knew you would like it.”, Riddel said and beamed, twirling around in the grass near the cliff, which lead all the way down to the ocean. At first she had been uneasy about playing so near the cliff, but the sight was just too pretty to keep her away for long. After a while of dancing around she sat down in the grass and patted the spot next to her to have Luccia sit down as well, which she did after some hesitation.
“You know…”, Riddel started after a few moments, her voice soft and without the slightest hint of anything other than utter innocence, “sometimes, when I sit here and look at the sunset above the ocean, and then look at the manor, with its roof golden from the light, I feel like a real princess. The manor is the castle and Dario and Glenn would be my knights. They would always spend time with me, always have their eyes on me, to make sure I was safe. Sometimes I wish it was true. Do you think it’s odd, thinking about such things? You must think I behave like an eight-year old.” She chuckled at the last remark, but Luccia also sensed a hint of sadness.
“You already are a princess, vot more do you vant?”, Luccia replied. “You are rich, you have noble friends and a gentle fat’er. Dere is not’ing you must do. Is dere any more you wish for?” Luccia tried to sound as gentle as possible, but actually she was a little angered. The girl beside her had everything she wanted without ever having done something to gain it. She couldn’t possible ask for more.
“You’re right, I shouldn’t complain. I have so much other people don’t have, and yet I’m asking for more. You must think I’m a terrible person.” To Luccia’s surprise, Riddel’s voice sounded sad and heavy as she said this, so unlike the childish and playful voice she had heard earlier. For the first time that day, she sounded older than she was, and Luccia found that she was almost disappointed to hear the cheery girl like that. If Luccia had known that Riddel would become even sadder in the years that were to follow, Luccia would have chosen to say something different.
But then, at that moment, Luccia simply marvelled at how the younger girl had succeeded in dragging her out of her laboratory and into the sunlight. They were only four years apart, but Luccia felt that they were so completely different from each other that it might as well have been a hundred years instead. But even so, there was something about this strange girl beside her, she just didn’t know what it was.
“You are not any more terrible dan any ot’er living being. Everyone longs for de t’ings he doesn’t have, vhet’er dey are many or few.” Luccia knew best how true this was. Her whole life was ruled by wishes and desires, but ultimately she had to recognize that she only had the time and energy to work towards one goal, and consequently had to give up on the others. This was the tragedy of life, but Luccia had long given up on mourning it. She was glad to be able to devote her life to science, to ultimately be able to accomplish something that might have an effect on all humanity. No one would look at her strangely, then. Nobody would whisper behind her back. But this goal was still so far away, and Luccia had merely begun. It would be a long road, with countless obstacles. But now that Lucca was dead, she knew one thing for sure. She had time.
“I guess you’re right. We should all be happy with the things we have.”, Riddel said, but the sad undertone hadn’t completely vanished. She watched the last rays of the sun vanish behind the horizon, hoping to see it rise again soon. She hated the night, with its darkness and silence. She always felt so alone then, lying alone in her bed, unable to sleep. She hated the night, and longed for the day.
“You should come play with Dario, Glenn and me tomorrow.”, Riddel said, diverting her thoughts. “It’s going to be fun.” Luccia turned her eyes from the horizon to meet Riddel’s, and was strangely alarmed to see the hopefulness within them.
“I have…vork to do.”, she answered hesitantly, her voice wavering as she saw the glimmer in the other girl’s eyes disappear. “Your fat’er vill be angry if I don’t bring him results.” It was a lie, but Riddel didn’t seem to notice.
“But tomorrow’s Sunday! Why do you have to work on a day like this?”, Riddel asked, and Luccia was surprised to see her quite angry. “It’s not fair, nobody but the chef has to work on Sundays.” Riddel was at a loss. Sunday was the only day of the week Riddel knew for sure that Glenn and Dario were free, they tended to be awfully busy during the week. So why did Luccia have to work? She wasn’t dumb, she knew that everyone had some kind of work to do, it seemed to be normal. She could understand that, though why everyone seemed to be so eager to do it was beyond her.
She had never worked, only watched people work occasionally, and it had been nothing short of terribly boring. Of course she wasn’t as ignorant as to not understand why work was important for people. ‘Without people working you would have nothing on your table for breakfast and no dresses to wear’, her father used to say. She understood this, everyone was fulfilling a task and expected others to do it as well. ‘But don’t concern yourself with this, you don’t need to work. You will be a lady.’, was the sentence that usually followed the first one, one Riddel didn’t particularly like to hear, but also never found a way to counter.
“I vant to vork, it is of great importance to me.”, Luccia said and shook Riddel out of her reverie.
“Why is that? Is it fun?”, Riddel asked, suddenly interested in her new friend’s profession.
Luccia looked at Riddel, amused at her absolute naiveté, but also slightly worried. Despite being sixteen, her knowledge seemed to lack important economical facts, but somehow, she found that she wasn’t surprised at all. Viper seemed like the kind of man who would spoil his daughter and keep her from the harsh reality out of concern, without ever noticing the consequences.
“It is…aggravating. It never goes de way I vant it to, and I often have to start over again. It’s not a very pleasant vork.”, Luccia explained, and Riddel looked at her curiously.
“Why are you doing it if it’s so terrible? I bet there are many other things you can do well.”, Riddel said as if giving advice despite knowing that she was the one who knew nothing.
“Dere are.”, Luccia answered, with a distant look at the rapidly darkening horizon. “Vhen I vas younger, I vanted to…become a writer.” She added the last part in a hushed whisper, almost as if afraid of being laughed at. But instead, Riddel just nodded and looked at her expectantly. “Why didn’t you become one, then? I would’ve liked to read your books.” The question was innocent and should have been easy enough to answer, but to her, being asked why she had become a scientist was like asking why she still lived. It wasn’t something that could be answered easily. Not without remembering just how she had become a scientist, when as a child, she had wanted nothing more than to write.
It was because of her, that woman by the name of Lucca. They had been the worst of rivals, and the best of friends. Luccia knew that she would have never become a scientist if it hadn’t been for Lucca to introduce her to this captivating art.
“I had a friend once, she vas a scientist just like myself. She vas a genius and invented many vonderful t’ings. She did it wit’ such ease dat I was envious and became a scientist as well.”, Luccia explained thoughtfully. She wasn’t sure why she was telling something like this to someone she barely knew, but it felt strangely pleasant to have the other girl know.
“So you became a scientist just to surpass her?”, Riddel asked and frowned.
“Yes, I suppose you could say dat. I alvays vanted to surpass her, even t’ough she was like a mentor to me, and knew so many t’ings I did not. If it had not been for her early death, I would have never been able to do it, but now dat she is, I t’ink I vill.”
“I see…”, Riddel said, feeling sorry for having brought about such a depressing topic. But as she started to speak to change the conversation’s direction, Luccia continued and answered Riddel’s unasked question.
“It is de least I can do for her, to try to become a great scientist just like her. I owe her dis much.”, Luccia explained, as if to remind herself of what she had to do.
“I guess this is really important for you, then?”, Riddel asked quietly, having given up on persuading her to play.
“Yes. I vill do everyt’ing it takes to achieve dis goal.”, Luccia answered determinedly. With this said, she suddenly felt bare and vulnerable, as if having exposed all her vulnerabilities and weaknesses to an enemy. She looked over to Riddel who sat silently beside her, unaware of Luccia’s feelings. Luccia noticed her arms, which were draped around her small body. “It is getting cold, ve should go inside.”, she said, shaking off the uncomfortable feeling.
Riddel nodded and took Luccia’s helping hand as she stood up. They made their way to the entrance of the mansion side by side, neither of them speaking. Luccia glanced to her side several times, hoping to catch a glimpse of Riddel’s features, but her eyes were directed at the ground and her lilac hair covered them. Luccia couldn’t tell if Riddel was sad or angry, but she hoped it was none of either.
They passed the entrance and shortly afterward Luccia came to a halt at the junction of corridors. “I vill have to go dis way.”, she said almost indifferently as she pointed her hand meekly in the direction she was about to take. She knew that Riddel would probably continue on ahead, where Luccia assumed her rooms to be.
“Goodnight, Luccia. Thanks for viewing the sunset with me.”, Riddel answered as she turned around, favouring Luccia with a gentle smile. However, before Luccia had the chance to respond, Riddel had turned her back to her and was heading for the stairs which lead upward.
An unconscious sigh escaped Luccia’s lips as she turned to make her way back to her supposedly safe haven, her laboratory. She frowned at the corridors that greeted her after she had descended the stairs. After having been out in the light of day, they seemed so much darker than before, so much more unwelcoming. Luccia wondered why she hadn’t noticed it before. For some reason, she could suddenly understand why many people considered this part of the mansion eerie. No wonder the soldiers made up stories of her being a witch. She wondered what they would come up next. Not that she cared.
However, the dimness of the corridors brought back her memories of a forgotten experiment she had once been working on, a research concerning the breeding of light-emanating domesticated animals. She hadn’t been very successful back then, but she might pick it up again and drop her photosynthesis experiments instead, which were positively boring and altogether fruitless so far. The idea sounded good enough to her and she nodded to herself as she opened the door to her lab.
The laboratory was still dark, nothing had changed since she left. She doubted anything in this lab would miss her, or even acknowledge the lack of her being around. The thought of it was more depressing than she expected it to be.
She walked over to one of her many cupboards, rummaging in the back of it for her old research papers, which she knew had to be somewhere in this lab. She never threw anything away, it was one of the first things Lucca had taught her. “You never know when you’ll need some of the old stuff.”, was what she had used to say.
Now that Luccia thought about it, she remembered that she had worked on light-emanating animals even when Lucca had still been alive. As always, Lucca had disapproved of the idea, saying that it was too impractical. Lucca was never truly fond of animals, she had always preferred machines. Machines were neutral and did everything one told them to do. They were reliable.
As long as they ‘functioned’, which had always been Luccia’s strongest argument against machines. Animals where more reliable when it came to life-spans. They lived as long as the environmental requirements were met, unlike Lucca’s ‘creation’, which always broke sooner or later due to some unforeseeable miscalculations.
Though this wasn’t to say that Luccia hated machines, she had always been impressed by her inventions, especially when Lucca had come up with a device for artificial light, which had proven to be quite powerful. It had been much brighter than the common torches and candles, but also way too hard to operate for any normal being without the unattainable intellect of Lucca’s.
Finally having found the papers she had been looking for, Luccia retreated from her cupboard and spread the papers on her table, taking a look at her former results as a whole. She still knew that she had made it quite far with this research and experimentation, especially after Lucca had completed her invention quite rapidly, which had just fuelled Luccia’s envy. Envy was the feeling that had driven her onwards ever since she had met Lucca, though she still refused to think of envy as a despicable feeling, for it had unleashed her imagination more often than not in the past. Back then, she wouldn’t have thought that she would ever come to miss this feeling of competition.
She sifted through her papers aimlessly, trying to remember her old results and the problems that had occurred, which had ultimately driven her to give up on this project. She found and old and worn-out sheet which listed a few animals. There were quick annotations beside every one of them, but they were hardly readable anymore. She recalled this sheet to be the list of animals which had proved themselves usable for the experiments. Which meant those animals which she possessed records of ever having at least glowed. She had had actually succeeded in causing a few of them to glow for several minutes, so the light in itself hadn’t been the problem. The problem had been the impracticalness of most of them due to their size or obstacles concerning their mobility or intellect. Most of them had been just too immobile, too large to have around casually or their intellect was too low for them to actually be domesticated. She had wanted animals like Alphabats or some other useful animals to glow, but somehow it hadn’t worked. Luccia now remembered that ever since she had gotten the idea of using Alphabats, she had been possessed by the thought of having to use a flying animal, one that might even hang down from the ceiling, which would provide the best source of light.
Luccia paced across the room, aggravated. She remembered why she had dropped this experiment, she remembered the dead-end she had reached with it. But this time, she would do it, somehow. Luccia heard faint noises from the corridor and for a moment, she thought that Riddel might have come to see her, but she quickly banished this ridiculous thought. It was late at night, there was no way Riddel would be anywhere else than in her comfortable bed. A huge one, most likely. She had no idea, really, for she had never seen Riddel’s room, and she doubted that she ever would. A faint thought about going to sleep as well crossed her mind, but was effectively suppressed in the same manner as the one before. She had no time for sleeping, and she wouldn’t allow herself to until she had found at least a possible way to solve the problem in front of her. It couldn’t be impossible. Lucca had always found a way, even though she had relied on different means. It had to be possible.
“It vorked wit’ a Bubba Dingo and a Bulb…why not wit’ an Alphabat?”, Luccia mumbled as she scribbled aimlessly onto the sheet in front of her. Maybe the cell structure of Alphabats had some major difference compared to the others. It didn’t really matter what the cause was, the fact remained that with the methods she used, she couldn’t bring Alphabats to glow. Which offered her the choice of two alternatives: She could try to develop a better and more refined technique on the Alphabats, or try to alter the other animals until they met her expectations. Which would include the raising of the intellectual level to a minimum to be domesticated, and an improvement of the mobility, mainly. In short: They needed to be smart…and they needed wings.
Luccia was familiar enough with the theoretical concept of wings, but to artificially create them, without the aid of metal or the like, it seemed…crazy. Not too crazy for her though, and within minutes Luccia had collected everything she needed and put it onto her table. The only thing she lacked were actual animals, but she would deal with that later. She never liked to have too many of those around, they were distracting. She had to clear the theoretical obstacles first anyway.
With this newfound enthusiasm, Luccia continued to work hour after hour, not once remembering the sleepiness she had felt before. It was already dawn when she heard the soldiers arrive for their shift out in the corridor, that she realized she was still awake and had not slept the entire night. She glanced at the table in front of her, surprised to see a rather high stack of sheets there, every one of them with countless formulas and sketches on them. She had achieved quite a bit, at least on a theoretical basis. If the assumptions she had based her formulas on were correct, she might just be able to do it. But it would still be a long way to go.
With a sigh she stood up and walked across the room slowly. After sitting on her rather uncomfortable wooden chair through the whole night, she was glad for the change, and took a few papers from the stack to read them once more. It was no use to start the actual experiments if her formulas were incorrect or even contained minor errors, it would just result in a waste of materials, which she tried to avoid, considering even Viper must have a limit to his generousness. She didn’t want to find out, for if she did, the probability was high that Viper would just send her away, given the fact that she had yet to accomplish something of any use for him, which was the reason why she was here in the first place. If he were to send her away, she would have to go back to Zenan. She hated the thought.
It was the continent that had no options in store for her, no future. The only thing that rested there was her past, and though she didn’t like to think of going back, she knew that she had to visit her grave sooner or later. Her grave, which didn’t have a tombstone adorning it, no inscription with gentle and soothing words of comfort for those who came by and happened to stop at this grave. No memorial at all. It was a grave unseen by the eyes of those who hadn’t known her. Even the ashes that had been all that had remained of her were now long blown away by the wind, which had probably taken them to the ocean below. She wondered if Lucca would have liked the thought of resting in the ocean. They had never talked about such things, even though, considering the letter Lucca had given her to keep, she must have thought about the possibility of dying early quite often.
Of course, the content of the letter was unknown to her and she could only guess that it must be some sort of last words to a girl she had cared for. She had no idea where this girl was right now, she could be dead for all Luccia knew. But she knew, that if she would ever see this unique girl again, she would definitely know it was her, and give her the letter. She secretly wished that this would happen soon, she couldn’t bear carrying the letter around with her. It seemed like a heavy burden, tugging at her heart with every thought of it. Why was that? Was she envious of the girl who would eventually receive the letter, wishing that she had gotten a letter for herself? No, that wasn’t it. But still, Luccia hadn’t forgiven her for not saying anything when Lucca seemed to know quite clearly that she would die at one point or the other, way ahead of her time.
Luccia sighed, rubbing her temples. Her usually steel-like concentration was shattered beyond repair, and Luccia felt that the only way to mend it gradually would be fresh air…or even better, sleep. She didn’t like sleeping, it always seemed like a terrible waste of time to her. A waste of precious time which she could put to a much better use.
She decided upon fresh air then, which was fairly uncommon for her. Usually, once she needed a break, she would sit down on her chair and do nothing for a few minutes, but her legs were still stiff and strangely ached to be moved. And also, the air outside had smelled nice the day before, she would allow herself to enjoy the pleasant scent once more.
However, just as she wanted to open her door that lead to the corridor, she heard voices not too far away, and stopped in her tracks. She had never fancied herself as an especially curious person, but just this once, curiosity got the better of her and she decided that she could as well listen for a while.
“Lady Riddel! What are you doing down here, again?” It was the voice of a guard, deep but still gentle-sounding, if quite alarmed for some reason.
“Isn’t it obvious? I’m going to see Luccia.”, the other voice, unmistakably belonging to Riddel, answered plainly.
“You…you really shouldn’t go to her, everyone says she’s mad.”, the soldier said, his voice a little lower as if he was cautious of being overheard. “You are better off playing with the others.” Luccia could hear the strain in the man’s voice, indicating that he was trying hard to convince Riddel with gentle words rather than more gruesome tales about her. It was amusing.
“No way, just let me through…please.” Riddel added the last words audibly reluctantly. “You don’t understand.”
The soldier didn’t say any more then, and Luccia heard Riddel’s footsteps coming closer to her door. Luccia quickly retreated from the door and sat down at the table, trying to look busy. The mere thought of doing it made Luccia want to kick herself, but she didn’t have much time to contemplate and had just reached the table when Riddel opened the door. Luccia had half expected her to open it as roughly as she had done the first time, but aside from a low creak it made no noise as the other girl opened it.
“Good morning, Luccia.”, Riddel greeted her as she stepped into the room. “I had a feeling someone like you would be up already, and it seems like I was right.” Riddel smiled warmly at the other woman who had just turned to look at her, and walked closer to her.
Riddel’s hands were behind her back and she leaned slightly over the table to catch a glance at the sheets of paper lying there in complete disorder. Luccia looked up at her, an unconscious smile tugging at her lips as she saw the curiosity in the younger girl’s eyes.
“It seems unlikely for someone like you, t’ough. Standing up so early.”, Luccia finally said, forgoing any greeting that wasn’t really necessary anyway.
“I know.”, Riddel said and giggled. “But Sunday is the best day of the week, I can’t just waste my time sleeping, can I?” Luccia’s eyebrows perked up as she heard this and her smile widened slightly.
“Dat vould be de best t’ing to do.”, she answered, but her smile faded shortly afterward. “Still, why are you here den, and not playing wit’ Glenn and Dario? You were looking forvard to spend your time wit’ dem, were you not?”
“Oh, them.”, Riddel chuckled and shrugged. “I guess they can do without me for a day.” Luccia eyed the other girl strangely, surprised at what she had said. Still, she didn’t fail to notice the faint blush on Riddel’s cheeks at the mention of Dario.
“So that’s why…”, Riddel started, looking at Luccia mysteriously. “I decided to spend the day with you.” She revealed what she had been holding behind her back. It was a silver plate with two rolls on it, and judging from the faint steam around them, they were still quite warm. “And we’ll start off with breakfast, because honestly, you don’t look like you’d eat very much and the cook told me as much when I asked him. Though he did look quite shocked when he saw me making breakfast for you.”, she explained and finished with a soft giggle.
“D…danke…”, Luccia stuttered, unable to think clearly. She took the plate from Riddel and put it onto the table beside her. She stared at the rolls in fascination, unable to tear her eyes from them. Never before had someone made her breakfast, except for her mother, who only did it until Luccia had turned six. It wasn’t much, just two rolls on a plate that was normally used by Riddel and Viper only, but it meant surprisingly much to Luccia. She wondered what the cook must have thought, seeing the lady of the mansion rummaging around in his kitchen, making breakfast for someone who merely worked here. It would start weird rumours, most probably. Luccia could already hear the soldiers talking, saying how she put a spell onto Riddel to make her her servant. Luccia knew she would never hear the end of those ridiculous rumours, but somehow she even enjoyed them. It had certain advantages to be feared, after all.
“You shouldn’t have-“, Luccia began but was immediately silenced as Riddel put her index finger onto her lips.
“I know what you’re about to say.”, Riddel said and smiled triumphantly. “You were going to say that I shouldn’t have done this, and that you have terribly much work to do today and can’t spend any time with me.” Luccia stared at her and simply managed to nod before she looked down. It wasn’t a lie, but still, it sounded like a terrible excuse even to herself. She did want to spend time with Riddel, but at the same time, she was afraid. Afraid of what the others might say when they see her, afraid that they would drag Riddel into their scheme of hatred for her, afraid that she was just unable to be around people naturally. She had always been a person who was better off alone, who didn’t need anyone and thought that nobody needed her either. Ever since Lucca, she hadn’t spoken more than a few sentences to anyone, and she thought of herself as a terribly boring and strange person to be around. Especially if it was with Riddel, who was so pure and innocent that Luccia felt as if she was contaminating her by just being in the same room with her, speaking to her.
“But I’ve come up with an idea.”, Riddel said and grinned at her friend who was still staring at her. “What about I help you with your work, and this afternoon we’ll go to Termina together? I heard there’s a concert there today. And what do you know, of course Dario and Glenn didn’t want to go.”
Luccia felt an unexpected pang of disappointment as she heard the last few words and for a moment, felt like a poor replacement for the knights in training. However, the warm laugh that accompanied Riddel’s words and the sheer hopefulness in her eyes made Luccia’s lips move on their own accord.
“I t’ink dat’s acceptable.” A silly grin spread on Luccia’s face and she quickly fought it off with a mask of indifference. She didn’t know why she had agreed with Riddel’s ideas, it was almost impossible for Riddel to help her with her formulas and experiments. But she wouldn’t be able to see the disappointment in Riddel’s eyes if she said no. This girl had the very qualities that Luccia had used to hate. Every wish or idea she uttered was like an order, because it was impossible to deny her any of them. Everything she wanted would be hers, without ever doing anything to gain it. However, now that Luccia was under this girl’s spell, she was unable to think of such things, her only goal was to give her what she wanted, and gain her smiles in return.
“So, where to start, then? I bet it’s complicated, but you could explain to me what you’re working on at the moment. And if I don’t understand it, you could always give me tasks such as getting a cup of tea for you or something like that.”, Riddel joked, scratching her head.
It was to become quite different however. Even though Luccia had disliked the thought at first, she had told Riddel of her current research, and to her surprise, Riddel seemed to catch on pretty quickly. She listened intently to Luccia’s words, and while she could only do so much as frown and the lengthy formulas, she was a lot smarter than Luccia had anticipated. She had countless ideas on what to improve, and which ideas to give up altogether. For example, Riddel cautioned her to use narcotics when it finally came to make the animals glow, to diminish the pain for the animal, even though Luccia was certain that this would have an effect on the experiment, positive or negative.
In detail, this effect of glowing was brought about by a certain fluid, which was, with the aid of a needle or syringe, injected into the cells of the second or third skin layer, much like a tattoo. The fluid was dark and almost syrupy, and during the process of its production, it had been profoundly exposed to artificial light and warmth. The difference of this fluid from ordinary ink used for tattoos was the reaction of the skin to this fluid. Tattoos were treated by the body as a mere wound, whereas the body reacted with a heavy defence mechanism to this fluid, trying to destroy it or get it out of the system. The substances the body sent to the places of the injection slowly dissolved the fluid under the release of energy, which expressed itself through light. Basically, it was an exothermal reaction with light instead of warmth.
Now, if the fluid was to be injected into several places of the body, it would create the illusion that the subject glowed. However, this method was a double edged sword. The bodily substances which dissolved the fluid too quickly were the first obstacle. Luccia couldn’t possibly inject as much of the fluid as to make the subject glow for hours, it would cause more pain to the subject or be lethal even. Also, the use of narcotics, which Riddel insisted on being used, while applying the fluid could either hasten or retard this process, Luccia had yet to try it. So, in using more of the fluid, she would also have to use a larger dose of narcotics, which would also cause the subject to be asleep the whole time the glowing lasted, which was not the result she wished for. Of course, she had already thought about retarding the bodily functions to cause the glowing to last longer due to less resistance, but this would have an equally bad effect on the subject’s condition.
“It seems quite hopeless.”, Luccia sighed and sat down on her chair wearily, while Riddel still scribbled down onto the sheet before her.
“Either that or we’re just too stupid for this.” Luccia frowned at this comment, but her features quickly relaxed as she heard the other girl laugh warmly.
“But to be honest, I’m sorry that I wasn’t any help to you. I really tried my best.”, Riddel apologized.
“Quite de contrary.”, Luccia contradicted with a smile. “Wit’out you, it would have taken me a veek to realize dat dis experiment is not wort’ pursuing.”
“You’ll start something else, then? After so much work?”, Riddel asked, surprised that Luccia was willing to give up on this so easily.
“I do not t’ink glowing animals are wort’ my time anymore. I vill find somet’ing else to vork on. Somet’ing more useful.” Luccia sighed. Maybe it was better this way. She had only started working at it again because of her memories of Luccia, but in reality, these experiments were useless. Ridiculous even, though Luccia wondered why she hadn’t noticed this earlier. Maybe it needed a clear mind like Riddel’s to see the obvious. She would concentrate on something different from now on again, and she already had something in mind. As for the artificial light project, she would just have to admit that Lucca had clearly won in that field.
“But promise me not to hurt any animals, I would feel so sorry for them. I bet there are experiments that can be done without causing animals to suffer.”, Riddel pleaded and Luccia felt herself pale.
If Riddel only knew, she would not be here anymore. If she knew how many animals had already died at her hands, she would run away from her, hate her. But Luccia pressed her lips together and nodded. “I vill take good care of dem.” She lied, for Riddel’s sake. And her own.
“I know you will.”, Riddel said and chuckled. “Now, shall we go to Termina? It’s already afternoon, come on!”, she exclaimed and danced through the room towards Luccia, taking both of her hands into hers. “Believe me, the concert will be great, but we’ll have a lot of time before it starts, so we can go shopping as well.”
Luccia merely nodded, not sure what to think of this prospect of the day. Both of them headed towards the door and had just passed it when Riddel stopped abruptly. “Do you really want to go to Termina in your lab coat?”, she asked and caused Luccia to blush slightly. She hardly ever took her white lab coat off, it was like a second skin to her. She felt safe wearing it. It made her feel like she had a purpose. But now, that she took it off, she felt vulnerable and naked. She still wore dark cotton pants and a deep violet pullover, but she wasn’t herself without the coat. But she wasn’t herself around Riddel anyway, so it mattered little at the moment and she followed the other girl outside and along the corridor. As always, she received open stares of the soldiers standing watch near the stairs. They whispered to each other, probably speculating about what happened to her lab coat. Such simpletons.
“You don’t think she’ll actually go out into the daylight?”, one whispered.
“Won’t she crumble to dust?”, asked the other, causing them both to chuckle.
Luccia was still a few metres away from them, but she could hear every single word, which was probably intended by the soldiers. Normally, she would pass them without so much another glance at them, but now, with Riddel just a few steps behind her, she wouldn’t have it, anymore.
“Just vot is it you vant to tell me!”, she shouted as she approached them, but was surprised that they didn’t shirk back like the other soldiers. Instead, they grinned right into her face.
“Vot is it…vell…could it be dat you can’t talk properly?”, one of them imitated Luccia and she heard the other’s ringing laughter.
“Stop that right now you jerks!”, Luccia heard someone shout, but had to turn around to actually realize that it had been Riddel’s voice.
“Who’s that kid?”, the soldier who had imitated Luccia asked but immediately received a firm shove from the other and was silenced.
“One more word to Luccia and you’ll find yourself on the streets.”, Riddel threatened, her voice deep and angry, completely unlike the gentle voice Luccia had all too quickly grown used to. She was just sixteen, and she had almost the same height as the soldiers, but stood before them as if she was five inches taller.
“Y..yes, lady Riddel!”, the more sensible of the soldiers stuttered and bowed, shortly after tugging at the other’s arm to have him bow as well. It seemed like they hadn’t seen Riddel coming, which had been a fatal mistake in this case. The other one uttered no words of apology, but gasped at the mention of Riddel’s name.
Luccia simply stood and stared at Riddel, not sure what she should think about the whole situation. However, before she had the chance to ponder too deeply on it, Riddel continued up the stairs and Luccia followed her silently.
As they reached the top of the stairs, Riddel exhaled deeply and unclenched her fists. “Do they…say those things often?”, she asked in a low voice.
“Dey always do, but it matters little to me.”, Luccia answered calmly, trying to sound unaffected.
“But that’s horrible! How dare they make fun of someone so much more intelligent, so much nicer than themselves? Why do they do…such things?” Riddel’s voice wavered between angry and sad.
“Humans need ot’ers to define demselves. De worse dey can make de ot’ers out to be, de better dey can t’ink of demselves.”, Luccia explained. People were like that. It was the concept of jealousy and envy that dwelt within each and every human. It would never be extinct.
“That’s…terrible.”, Riddel whispered, and just now did Luccia realize how little the other girl knew about the nature of humans. How little she knew about humanity’s worst traits. But then, Luccia knew so few about their good sides, she had never indulged in many social activities and her social skills were less than admirable. Which made them quite complementary.
“Do not worry about it.”, Luccia said to calm Riddel, who still looked quite shocked. Luccia took the lead and walked towards the entrance door, quickly followed by Riddel. The soldiers at the gate merely looked at them, knowing them too well to say something, so they simply opened the gate and let them pass.
The way to Termina wasn’t exactly a short one, but Riddel didn’t seem to mind as she talked on and on about the city and all the nice people there, and how she only rarely had the chance to go there, for her father forbade her to go by herself. Luccia was more comfortable keeping silent all this time, only occasionally mumbling an approval or nodding to let Riddel now she was still listening.
Because she really was listening. She enjoyed hearing Riddel’s voice when it was calm and gentle, telling her everything she thought, about the city, her friends, her life, as if they had known each other for years. As if it was the most ordinary thing in the world to tell someone about your whole life after just two days of knowing her. Maybe it was, Luccia wouldn’t now.
“We’re almost there.”, Riddel said and smiled, pointing on what seemed to be the harbour of Termina. Luccia nodded in affirmation, walking a bit faster than before. She hadn’t been to Termina often, had never felt the necessity to go there except of the rare occasions on which she needed special items, though she usually ordered everything she needed, and had it delivered to the manor. There was no use wasting all that time to go to Termina herself when there were easier, more efficient ways. At least that was what she had used to think, but now her growing anticipation proved her otherwise. Maybe, sometimes, she should consider going there herself, especially if she had someone to go with.
But no, she didn’t think she could ever ask Riddel to go with her to Termina, or anywhere. It was one thing being asked by someone who did those things naturally, but a whole other one when it was herself. Luccia didn’t think she’d have the nerve.
Luccia sighed inwardly, pushing the unwelcome thought as far back in her mind as possible, trying to concentrate on what lay before her. It would be a nice time in Termina, surely.
And yet, she had come wholly unprepared for the depths and horrors that were shopping. She had come relaxed, thinking about simply choosing new trousers or a new pullover, like usual. She had never really put much thought into clothes, always choosing something that fit and had a remotely acceptable colour. Nothing more.
“No! Definitely not that one.”, Riddel said firmly, but burst into laughter despite her efforts. She sat on a chair across the changing room Luccia had just come out of.
“Vhy not? It is a nice fabric.”, Luccia asked and rubbed her sleeve for emphasis, blushing at Riddel’s remark.
“Sorry. Let’s just say that green and orange…aren’t really your colours.”, Riddel answered and chuckled at the image of Luccia actually wearing this horrible pullover in her lab. Though she should rather weep, if it weren’t for the colours being too horrible to take seriously. She couldn’t imagine anyone wearing this, and she definitely wouldn’t have Luccia do it if she could help it.
“De ot’er one den…”, Luccia mumbled, turning around to go into the changing room to try on her next favourite, although she was almost sure that this too was one Riddel wouldn’t approve of. And her approval meant strangely much to her, even concerning such mundane, and to her, unimportant, things as clothes.
Riddel leaned back in her chair, giggling to herself. She hadn’t expected shopping with Luccia would turn out to be so much fun. It was strange for her to suddenly be the one who knew everything, to be someone who could even teach someone as smart as Luccia something new. It made her feel important for a change. At least important person-wise. She knew that she had some level of importance at the manor, the soldiers and servants did what she wanted because she was Viper’s daughter. She was important, regardless of what she did or did not. But now, seeing how clumsily Luccia chose her clothes and how important Riddel’s opinion seemed to be to her, it made her feel special.
Of course, having a good sense for clothes wasn’t anything special, much less a really useful skill in itself, but after all, something like this was only valuable to those who couldn’t do the same. Which obviously included Luccia, who stepped out of her changing room wearing a grey-striped pullover.
“You must be kidding, Luccia.”, Riddel said with a mock frown, but the corners of her mouth twitched mercilessly and she didn’t know just how much longer she could keep herself from laughing out loud. Luccia’s helpless and lost look didn’t help, either.
“Vot is wrong vit’ dis one?”, Luccia said, slightly annoyed. It seemed as if nothing she chose could please Riddel’s eye. Maybe she should just give it up, she didn’t honestly believe that she would look any better or worse in different clothes. Fancy clothes were something for beautiful ladies like Riddel to wear.
“It’s…grey. You should wear happier colours. And besides, look outside, it’s too hot to wear a thick pullover like that.”, Riddel lectured. Luccia hung her head in defeat. Now she even came up with temperatures. Her lab had a fairly constant temperature that was a few degrees below the temperature outside, so she really didn’t worry about feeling uncomfortable in a thick pullover.
“You said colours don’t suit me.”, Luccia retorted. She felt childish for discussing her clothes with someone younger than her, though she had to admit that it was a unique change of her usually well-planned time.
“I just said green and orange don’t suit you.”, Riddel said and went up to Luccia, turning her around so they both faced the mirror. Luccia frowned, she still didn’t see what use this whole dressing-up game had.
“Well, let’s make a compromise.”, Riddel said softly as she laid her chin onto Luccia’s shoulder, smiling at her in the mirror. Luccia shivered at the sudden contact and her blush intensified. She wasn’t used to being touched, but she tried to remain calm.
“A compromise?”, she asked, thankful that at least she wasn’t stuttering.
Riddel simply smiled wider and turned away from Luccia, searching the shop for clothes to her liking. Luccia watched silently, trying to understand the other girl’s criteria for choosing clothes. It wasn’t easy though, because Riddel simply looked at them and put them away without having felt the fabric, looked at the price, or even tried it on. It was…weird.
Weird because Luccia couldn’t believe that the colour could actually be the most important thing. It seemed terribly superficial to her.
“I think I’ve found just the right thing for you!”, Riddel exclaimed and beamed at Luccia, holding up a black and white jacket with a fitting skirt that Luccia guessed would reach down to her ankles. “So? What do you think?”
“It looks nice.”, Luccia answered, if only not to shatter the other girl’s smile. She couldn’t say if she liked it or not unless she tried it on, and Riddel promptly made this decision for her.
“Then try it on, I bet you’ll look great wearing this.” She gave the clothes to Luccia and watched her disappear in the changing room once again, smiling.
In the changing room, Luccia took the grey pullover off and folded it into the shape it had before, then took the black and white jacket. As she ran her fingers along the sleeves, she noticed how sleek the fabric was, yet how soft. It was a little tight around the waist, unlike the clothes she used to wear, but she guessed that it had to be this way. The skirt was comfortable enough however, and as she glanced at the mirror, she had to admit that these clothes weren’t all that bad. She could bear wearing it, if it made Riddel happy.
With a last tug at her jacket which she found to be rather short, she exited the changing room, only to come face to face with a mirror image of herself. Almost.
It was Riddel, standing before her in the same clothes she wore, only that the colours were reversed. Where Luccia’s jacked had black sleeves and a mostly black back, Riddel’s jacket was of white fabric in those areas, but black where Luccia’s was white. It suited her, much more than the darker version Luccia wore would.
“You look…beautiful.”, Luccia whispered, still regarding the other girl’s dress. It was a ridiculous statement, for Riddel would look beautiful in anything, or so Luccia thought, but somehow, this dress was truly fitting. Most of its parts were white, matching Riddel’s endless innocence, with just a few black areas to underline this.
“So do you.”, Riddel answered and smiled saucily as if knowing she was just reminding the other woman of wearing the same clothes.
“Ah…dat’s not true, is it?”, Luccia responded and smiled sheepishly to mask the frown that was threatening to cross her face. She turned to the mirror and looked at herself intently, her arms hanging limply to the sides. “Votever I vear…I look de same.”
“Which just means that you’re always beautiful, no matter the clothes.” Riddel pointed out and giggled to see Luccia blush slightly.
Usually, Luccia would grimace or frown at such remark, or get angry even. But spoken by Riddel, with this voice full of honesty, Luccia wanted to believe it, even though she knew better.
“Shall we take them? I think they suit us perfectly, they’ll be fitting for the concert later too.”, Riddel said, not really waiting for a response for she already turned around to go and pay for their new clothes. Luccia wanted to argue, but by the time she did, Riddel had already paid for both their clothes.
“I made you leave your work to go shopping with me, so that’s the least I can do for you in return.”, she said, leaving Luccia no points for further argumentation, other than a murmur of thanks.
Both of them left their new clothes on to go to the concert, Riddel felt they were more fitting than their old ones.
The way to the harbour wasn’t long, but at the time they reached it, the place was already littered with people, rendering it impossible to get close to the large wooden ship that lay at anchor before them. On this ship there was a large stage, and they could already see some people walking about, probably making some final adjustments.
“It seems we’re too late for the front rows.”, Riddel stated the obvious, frowning at the masses of people.
Luccia nodded gravely, looking around in search of a good spot to watch the concert from. Her eyes fell upon the harbour wall, which was fairly far away from the stage but should provide a good view nonetheless due to its height being on par with the stage’s.
“Let us go up dere.”, Luccia spoke and pointed to the wall for Riddel to see what she meant. Riddel nodded eagerly in response, the frown from before completely replaced by a smile.
They reached the top of wall just in time to watch the concert begin. With a smile, Luccia took note on how fidgety Riddel was. This concert had to be really important to her.
The evening was warm, and Riddel dangled her feet in contentment as she listened to the songs, occasionally humming along with the parts she knew the lyrics of.
Luccia couldn’t say that she liked the music, but she hadn’t expected that to happen, so she still considered it to be remotely enjoyable. She rarely listened to music, and she didn’t know nor had heard of the man with the guitar who was standing on stage, but judging from the applause of the people around her he had to be well-known, and well-liked as well, but for his looks or his music, Luccia couldn’t say.
The concert dragged on quite extensively and Luccia caught herself yawning every so often, unbeknownst to Riddel, whose eyes were all but glued onto the stage, careful not to miss a single second. But even despite the other girl’s eager expression, she could see that she was tired as well. It had been a long day, and Luccia started to think that maybe, Riddel wasn’t used to standing up this early after all. The thought made her smirk.
“The concert is fantastic, isn’t it?”, Riddel asked dreamily, laying her head onto Luccia’s shoulder. Luccia gasped soundlessly at the sudden contact, looking at Riddel wide-eyed. However, the other girl didn’t seem to