Disarm Evil

Chapter 2: The Exalted

The heat of eternity grows ever near.

Will the heat stop while the temperature is fair?

Or will it grow to burn, filling the heart with despair?

We have no time to live for pleasure.

With so many still lost we feel the pressure

To guide all that we can before Ritu's measure.

~~

My parent Nizevigu is at work, leaving me and my other parent Numo to eat dinner alone.

Joho quickly and wordlessly darts in and out of the dining room, providing us with proper cutlery and our various courses of food.

The dining room, like most other rooms in our home, is well lit with natural light pouring in through large windows, and the mostly white and gold interior decorations serve to bounce light into every crevice.

The walls are laden with massive enchanted canvases. At the base of the frames for each canvas is a slot into which you can slide a small painting, the canvas will then change color to replicate the image of the smaller painting but at a much larger scale.

Numo is technically sitting close to me, just across the pristine table, but the length I would need to walk around the obstacle between us just to touch ver makes Numo feel distant. Numo wears a pristine white suit with purple peeking out through slotted seams, and it looks impossibly wrinkle-free, making me feel like a commoner in my simple white dress.

"Vedi," I start, "May I ask you a question?"

Numo gives me a curious gaze. "Certainly darling."

"Why can officers charge people who are found to be in possession of firewood without a note of purchase?"

Numo's gaze immediately turns slightly dark as it locks onto Joho who seems to freeze in fear.

I must have asked something I shouldn't have, "Uh, I wanted to buy Joho and ver family some firewood just as a thank you for ver help. Joho hadn't asked for it or said anything. It was just something nice I wanted to do."

Numo's gaze loses its darkness but lingers on Joho as ve asks, "And what did Joho say in response to this?"

"Ve..." I am realizing that I have to choose my words very carefully. This simple question may have landed Joho in some hot water. "I expressed my intentions to the store clerk and ve informed me about how officers would charge. I didn't believe ver and bought the firewood anyway. Gele tried to inform me but I wasn't willing to listen until Joho turned down the gift. Then Gele confirmed that the clerk was telling the truth. However, no one would tell me why this weird thing about firewood even exists."

Numo squints at Joho as if trying to read ver mind for a moment before ve finally frees Joho from attention to look back at me with a sigh. Joho seems to hide ver relief as ve continues on with ver duties. Hopefully I didn't just put Gele in the hot seat, though ve did try to warn me while we were in the store. So ve was ready to face whatever consequences I just pushed ver way, and besides, ve is likely to be treated with far more grace than Joho would be. I think I handled this as well as I could have short of not bringing it up at all.

Numo's expression appears increasingly annoyed as ve looks at me, trying to work out how to respond, "I don't think you are old enough to understand just yet."

My displeasure at ver response seeps into my face, but I manage to keep my voice neutral as I say, "That's what Gele said too."

"Good." Numo says as ve goes on eating, likely intent on pretending the matter was never brought up, and I know better than to try bringing it up again.