The Village of Daylight

Before arriving at their new home, Jenn and her parents spend the night in Clarus.

Chapter 2

The Village of Daylight

 

            Either side of the road was lined with sugar maple trees, their leaves exhausted by the relentless winds. The fields underneath the spring trees were covered in only a thin layer of snow, a reminder that winter was now behind them.

            For a long time Jenn’s gaze was fixed on a home which had belonged to one of her friends. She recalled the many times she had knocked on the door anticipating her friend’s cheerful greeting. But as they entered into a heavy patch of trees, Anithia was put out of view. That was it. Anithia was gone. Jenn wanted to cry but she held her tears back only because she didn’t want her parents to see her.

            “Papa,” she said, only after she was sure that her eyes were free of tears. “What does it look like there?” She spoke unusually soft, trying to conceal her broken up voice. But because of her softness, her father didn’t hear. She decided she wasn’t in the mood to ask again and turned back to face the road.

            The temperature had dropped even more and the cold easily cut through her permeable blanket, but Jenn, already being bombarded by so many other worries, was hardly concerned about her warmth; she found that her greatest concern was whether or not her father would be able to find work. No matter how much effort her parents had made to hide their apprehensions, she knew that her father’s historically long unemployment had been eating away at him; it had been secretly eating away at her as well.

            Irol turned to Yulk, “Do you think Jenn will be okay there? Denethgilne isn’t a small city like Anithia. She won’t be used to so many people.”

            “Bunny?” Yulk said. “Course’ she will. I’m more worried about you and me!” He chuckled and pushed his glasses back up his nose. “I’m not worried at all about her at all--she'll end up making friends with everyone in the city again.”

            Irol nodded.

            Darkness gradually filled the sky as the sun began its descent into the horizon, but it hadn’t been long before the sky lit up once more. The sudden brightness was caused by a yellow aura further along the path, and as they approached the impressive glow, the aura grew more intense. Jenn soon realized that the light was being emitted by a distant village.   

            “Is that Denethgilne?” Jenn said with her neck extended out like an alert fox.

            “No no, bun. This is where Elad lives, we’ll stay here for the night. But we should be in Gilne by sunset tomorrow.

            Irol turned to her, “It’s too cold to sleep in the wagon, even for only a night.”

            Jenn didn’t intend to complain; this had been a rather pleasant surprise.

            The village was snuggly tucked into a pocket of surrounding mountains, and if it hadn’t been emitting such a hailstorm of light, Jenn figured that one could easily pass by it unknowingly. After crossing into the village Yulk steered the wagon towards a cottage that appeared to be at least double the size as the rest. It must’ve been near midnight so Jenn couldn’t help but wonder why everyone still had their lights on.

            “What is this place?” Jenn said.

            “This is Clarus,” Yulk said. “ Trust me, this ain’t nothin’ compared to Denethgilne. It’s like comparing wheat to sourdough"know what I mean?”

            Jenn found it quite amusing whenever her father commented on Denethgilne because he never been there before. Instead, and much like her, he had entirely imagined what the city looked like based on what so many others had told him. But with expectations so high, even from her mother, anything but a castle afloat in the sky would now meet disappointment.

            Before Yulk had a chance to bring the wagon to a full stop Jenn leapt out of the wagon. As her light feet smacked the dirt surface of the road, her mother turned to see what caused the noise.

            “Jenn,” she said. “You wait until your papa stops the wagon next time. Do you understand?”

            “Sorry, mama…”

            As soon as her mother turned back around Jenn sprinted towards the large cottage, and when she was close enough to touch the door, the wooden doorknob began to rotate. The door crept open, no longer concealing its light, fragrances and warmth. A powerful, yet wonderful flowery fragrance filled Jenn’s nearly frozen nose. She couldn’t be sure if the smell was coming from the cottage or from the hunched man who stood only as a shadow in the doorway.

            After being temporarily blinded by a bright lantern in his hand, Jenn could see a few thin strands of silvery hair left on his nearly bald head. And amongst all the cavernous trenches on his dried out face, she could tell that the ones beneath his eyes were the deepest and most permanent.

            With a lantern in one hand and a tissue in the other the old man wiped his nose, picked a few pebbles off the ground, and mumbled indistinctively to himself. Now nervous, Jenn waited to greet the old man who instead continued straight past her without a word or glance. Meanwhile Yulk had pulled the wagon into a small lot in front of the man’s cottage.

            “Any later and I would have had to turn in for the night,” the old man said, hardly changing the angle of his paper thin mouth. Jenn couldn’t tell if he was being serious or humorous.

            Yulk hopped out of the wagon. “Evening there, Elad. Sure glad we made it when we did then.” He chuckled but the old man’s expression didn’t change. “Thanks a bunch for letting us stay here the night. The girls probably woulda been fine for a night but I don’t think I coulda lasted in the cold.” He grabbed a slab of his gut, “Even with all this extra padding.”

            Jenn giggled.

            “Where’s the lady?” Elad said, unhumored.

            Just as the last word crawled out of the man’s mouth, Irol made herself known from the passenger side of the wagon. “Good evening, Elad.” The politeness and softness of her tone was nothing less than what Jenn had expected"despite her being overwhelmingly tired and irritable. “The lady is right here.”

            Elad’s thin mouth curled upwards on one side but it didn’t last as he broke out into a coughing fit.

            “You been sick?” Yulk said.

            Again, Elad wiped his nose with the tissue. “Can’t remember the last time I’ve been healthy. I tell you, the only reason I’m still alive is thanks to my tea.”

            Jenn, not sure if she had already done something to offend the old man, still waited by the door with her hands tucked deeply inside her coat pockets. She hoped they would enter the house soon not only to escape the cold, but because she wanted to find what had been producing such a pleasant odor.

            “So you already have work lined up over there?” Elad said.

            “Sorta,” Yulk said as he collected the sacks from the wagon. “But I know there ain’t nothing left for us back in Anithia. Soon as the war ended there wasn’t much interest in maintaining any ships"really not much one could do about it.”

            “What about your baking? Last I heard from you, your business was quite booming.”

            “Yeah, it was doin’ real good. But nearly half the city’s done the same as us"packed their things up and moved away. Got the war to blame for that, too.”

            Elad’s lips squeezed together as he shook his head, “Shame. I really enjoyed the teacakes you would send me.”

            “It’s not a big deal,” Yulk said as she tried to adjust his glasses without the use of his hands. “I’m sure I’ll get it back up and runnin’ in no time soon as we get to Gilne. Then I’ll start sending you them by the tons.”

            “I’d appreciate that. I still haven’t found any quite as good as yours.”

            “That’s because I ain’t stingy with my herbs. It might cost a bit more but it makes a world’s difference.”

            Elad nodded and lowered his lantern to remove the intense glow from their faces, “Where do you plan to stay? I hear the inns are packed with soldiers these days.”

            “Charles offered us his place ‘til we can get on our feet.”

            “Mr. Gailhart?”  

            “Yessir. You talked to him in awhile?”

            “Brilliant man,” Elad said. “Is he still working as an educator for those wealthy folks?”

            “Last I heard he was, though I gotta say I can’t imagine how he puts up with them. They’d drive me crazy"don’t think I’d last a day. But you know Charles has that divine patience just like Irol over here.”

            “And he’s sure you can find work?”

            “Well he said they’ve been building a lot of ships for trade down there. Says it shouldn’t be any trouble finding work with my background.”

            The only detail Jenn knew about Charles was that he used to be her parents’ neighbor, but moved shortly after she was born. According to her parents she met Charles once, but she couldn’t remember.

            As her parents and Elad made their way to the door, Jenn waited again to greet the old man. But again, she found herself disappointed when he passed by her.

            “Papa,” Jenn said. “Do you want me to help you carry one of those?”
            Yulk turned to her, “That’s real kind of you, bunny, but I’m perfectly…” Before he could finish his thick legs began to tremble like Jenn had never seen. His face turned serious and red. But just when she was about to rush over to him and help keep him upright she realized he had been pretending. Only after allowing her laughter to expire did she followed them into the home.

            When she entered her nose was held captive by a cleansing minty aroma that smelled even more pleasant than her favorite flora boutique back home. But before she could entirely admire the scented and visual treasury before her, she found both Elad and her parents staring directly at her.

            “I said close the door,” Elad said.

            “Oh, I’m sorry.” Jenn hurried and closed door, which had been far more heavy than she anticipated.

            However now with the freedom to survey the home, Jenn learned that the simple appearance of the cottage’s exterior had been deceptive. In the middle of the room lied a large and stout tree that protruded through the floorbloards; its branches stretched to all ends of the room. The walls were dyed a mossy green while the floorboards appeared to be covered in real moss. In the far corners of the room were plants that extended all the way to the ceiling, and as her eyes followed the tall plants up, she found more potted plants dangling from the ceiling. It was almost like the old man had brought a forest into his home"a uniquely bright forest.

            It was clear that this seemingly austere and traditional codger had been anything but; and up until now, Jenn couldn’t understand how her parents could be friends with such an unlikable person. But now even Jenn had acquired a new liking of the old man.

            “Amazing…” Jenn said with her jaw partly detached from her mouth. “Your home is very beautiful, Mr. Elad.”

            “Mr. Lemmik is preferred,” Elad said. “But thank you.” He tossed the pebbles he had collected into the dirt at the base of the grand tree. “You all must be famished. Come, I’ll fix you something to eat.”

            “You don’t needa worry about us,” Yulk said. He searched through one of the sacks, pulled out a long loaf of bread and knocked on it with his beefy knuckles; the hollow loaf echoed, almost like an empty glass jar. “Things almost frozen solid.” Elad’s expression had not changed. “You think we could just use your oven?”

            Elad nodded, reacquired his lantern, and began shuffling towards the doorway at the far end of the room. They all followed, but when they passed the tree, Jenn stopped to brush the trunk of the tree.

            “It’s pretty neat, isn’t it?” her mother said.

            “It is,” Jenn said. “It feels like leather. Why does Mr. Lemmik have so many plants?”

            “I’m not entirely sure. Why don’t you ask him?”

            Jenn smiled and nodded, but secretly didn’t intend to ask Elad any such question. He had barely acknowledged her thus far, and even if she did ask, she was almost certain that she’d either receive no answer or a concise, stern one"neither was desirable.

            Before following her mother into the room she looked up to observe the branches that sprouted from the tree. Hanging from one of the thinner limbs was a cocoon that could have easily been mistaken for a lima bean. With care, she brushed the cocoon’s outer coating which, to her alarm, was warm and sticky. She instinctively ripped her finger from the cocoon causing it to plummet to the wooden floor. It was still in one piece so Jenn, in desperation, picked up the cocoon and reattached it to the branch. She hoped that she hadn’t harmed it and hoped even more that Elad hadn’t been caring for it as a pet. But there was nothing more she could do so she hurried to catch up with her parents.

            She found that the room Elad had been leading them to was a kitchen. More potted plants sat on a window sill and a branch shaped like an arm and hand leaked through the window. At this point, Jenn half expected a flock of doves to dive in through the window.

            “There’s plenty of food here so don’t be too prideful,” Elad said as made his way over to a high cupboard. 

            “We’ll be okay,” Yulk said. “Sure do appreciate it though.”

            Elad began searching through the cupboard, “What about for the young lady?”

            “Did you want something, bun?”

            The nearly shatterable loaf of bread in Yulk’s hand brought a smile to Jenn’s face. “No thank you, Mr. Lemmik.” Despite her hunger, Jenn would have felt guilty enjoying the spoils of Elad’s food cupboard while leaving her parents to share the ice glazed bread.

            While the bread was warming Elad made his way to another of his cupboards and pulled out a twisted bottle full of a dark purple liquid. Then he shuffled over to another cupboard where he pulled out four transparent glasses.

            “Here we are,” he said as he placed the cups onto the table.

            “Is this wine?” Irol said.

            Elad pinched the cork of the bottle and pulled it out, “It’s my very own wine. Made it entirely myself"even raised the grapes.” He poured the liquid in one of the cups, filling it about a quarter ways. “I call it Blue Panther.” As he poured Jenn saw that his face was even more aged than she had thought. There was a round indentation in his right cheek, about the size of an olive, while the rest of his aged face was covered in dark blotches and bags of skin.

            “Blue Panther, huh?” Yulk said as he dipped his nose into the cup and sniffed it.

            Elad nodded and continued to fill the remaining glasses; his hand trembled as he poured.

            “Sure you’re not going color blind there, old friend?” Yulk said. “Looks a bit purple to me.”

            Elad paused and looked at Yulk, “Has a law been passed which restricts me from giving my wine a name inconsistent with its coloration?”

            Yulk chuckled, “I suppose not yet.”

            “Ha,” Elad said.

            As he finished pouring the wine Jenn noticed that he had filled four glasses. She looked over her at mother who seemed to have noticed the same thing.

            “Go ahead,” Irol said, clearly humored by her daughter’s uncertainty. “Just a little is okay.”

            Jenn lifted the glass of homemade wine up to her nose which immediately warned her of its bitterness. As soon as she took a sip her lips puckered and the muscles in her face tightened. Although she had tasted wine before this one had a vinegary flavor that made her want to spit it out. She looked over to her mother to see if she had the same reaction. But Irol drank it easily which Jenn figured she would have done whether or not she liked it. She really didn’t want to leave the rest of the wine sitting in the glass, but it had just been too awful to finish.

            Elad watched them as they drank, “Good, isn’t it?”

            “It has a very natural taste,” Irol said. “It’s very delicious, Elad.”

            Yulk, who had yet to try the noxious liquor, brought the now golden-crusted bread to the table. With his dirty hands he pulled the fluffy substance apart and issued a generous piece to Jenn, then Irol. Then he sat down and consumed both the bread and the acidic liquid without trouble.

            Jenn licked her lips, “Thank you, papa. I was starving.”

            Elad slammed the empty jar of wine onto the table, “The children who are forced to live in the Outskirts are starving, the ones who have no choice but to dig for scraps of food each day. You might be hungry, young girl, but I assure you that you are not starving. It would be wise to learn the difference.”

            Jenn’s heart sank for the second time that evening, and despite her efforts to be a perfect guest, she had somehow already insulted Elad twice. Her appetite disappeared entirely.

            “I don’t think she meant it like that,” Irol said.

            “I really don’t care how she meant it,” Elad said, his face now deep red. “Children need to gain some perspective and learn that the world doesn’t only run through their eyes.”

            An unbearable silence suffocated the kitchen, that is, until a familiar but surprising sound came from where Yulk was sitting. In disbelief, Jenn looked over at her father who wore a shameless smile.

            “Pardon me,” he said.

            Jenn couldn’t be certain whether he had done it intentionally, but she was nonetheless appreciative of her father’s disgusting gesture. She could tell that her mother, although usually disapproving, was also grateful.

            Elad sighed, “Please do that outside next time, Yulk.” Now calmed, he removed the bottle from the table and stored it back into the cupboard.

            “I apologize for that,” Yulk said. “I think I’ve been holding that one in all day.” He broke off a piece of his bread and raised it, “There’s plenty here for you, Elad.”

            Elad shook his head.

            “How has Friedderick been doing?” Irol said.

            “He’s well,” Elad said. “I just sent him off to trade with the natives in the south"nobody raises coffee beans as strong as they do.” Elad joined them at the table. “I would roast some for you now but I don’t have a single bean left"exactly why I sent Friedderick off.”

            “That boy finally stop growing?” Yulk said as he scarfed down bread and wine. “Last I remember, he was already as tall as me.”

            “I’m afraid he’s taller than you now, Yulk.”

            Yulk shook his head, “That boy should join the Imperial Mass. Could you imagine the look in a soldier’s eye if they found themselves going up against him? Ha!”

            “Yulk, please.” Irol said. “You’re spitting bread out.”

            “Sorry.”

             Jenn giggled.

            “Imperial Mass might not be so lucky to have him,” Elad said. “A sweet boy, but not much of a deep thinker. You give him an order and that’s all he can think about until it’s done. Sometimes I wonder if the boy has ever once thought something for himself.” Elad shook his head. “Then again, maybe the Imperial Mass would be lucky to have him.”

            Yulk nodded.

            “I’m glad he’s doing well,” Irol said. “I hope we’ll get to see him soon.”

            Elad sat watching them eat with his arms on the chair, barely moving. It made Jenn uncomfortable.

            “Irol,” he finally said. “Have I yet told you about my blue tomatoes?”

            For most of the meal, Elad boasted about his blue tomatoes, his record breaking durian fruit, and how he had gone about to make his Blue Panther"unfortunately, a quite complex and lengthy process. Jenn noticed that her parents were eating as rapidly as she was. She was unsure if it was because they were hungry, or if it was because they wanted to escape Elad’s detailed narration on how he had used horses’ feet to smash his grapes.

            Her mother remained polite and attentive while Yulk seemed to be more focused on foraging for crumbs that had fallen from his already finished meal.

            When they finished Elad guided them back into the entryroom. He pointed his boney finger towards a room at the far left corner near the entrance. “That’ll be your room for the night, Yulk.”

            He pointed his finger towards the door at the back right, near one of the potted plants that extended to the ceiling. “You’ll sleep there, young girl.”

            “Thank you, Mr. Lemmik.” Jenn said, only half expecting a response.

            “I put some extra blankets in your rooms, in case you get too cold. Do let me know if you need anything else.”

            “Thank you so much, Elad.” Irol said.

            “Yeah, ” Yulk said. “I can’t tell you how much we appreciate this.”

            Elad nodded, and after another sequence of hoarse coughs, returned to the kitchen.

            Yulk kissed his daughter on her forehead, “Sleep well, bunny. Tomorrow’s gonna be a real special day.”

            After almost running his head into one of the large branches, Yulk marched off to his designated bedroom.

            “Can I sleep with you and papa tonight?” Jenn said.

            “I don’t think Elad would appreciate that,” Irol said. “He made the room up just for you.”

            Jenn nodded.

            “You’ll be all right, dear. There isn’t a village safer than Clarus, and in Clarus, there isn’t anywhere safer than this house. So consider yourself to be in the safest place you could be in the safest village in the world.”

            Jenn smiled and nodded again, this time more reassured.

            “Goodnight, mama.”

            Jenn proceeded to her room and found it just as brilliantly lit as the rest of the home. Near the door she found a lantern which had been responsible for the brightness. She walked towards it, opened its small metal door, and blew it out. The room, now only receiving light through the cracks of the door, fell into complete darkness. She carefully crept to her bed and climbed into it. The cold air still smelled of freshly baked bread which comforted her, and soon enough, her excitement wore off and she faded into much needed sleep.