Trails of Intertwined Stars: Chapter 74 {Part 1}

~Chapter 69: London~

Jiu did not like London. He decided that the moment he took one foot off the train to the grand city, that was said to be the best place in all of England. He did not like it, whatsoever. Pollution was perhaps the best way to summarise the insufferable plains of London. As soon as he stepped out of the train, he was met by an ungodly choking sensation of smog; that made him heave slightly. He couldn't remember the last time he'd inhaled such horrible air. Perhaps it had been back on the battlefield? The mere catch of it in his throat made him stagger back, yet he was immediately pushed and knocked about forward by the large surge of passengers in the station. He tried to walk briskly, and steadily, glancing at the swarm of people hurrying about the train station. It was a hazard, in all honesty. He eventually found his way out of the station and was met with an equally disappointing view of London. It was not a beautiful, royal place. That was a sham and a lie. The streets were loud, and littered in horrible things, and it stunk, and hurt, and all of the above. Jiu made a quick effort to push past the average civilians and find a cab that Edward had told him about. Not too far off from the station, he found one; paid it a hefty sum, and got in swiftly, handing the driver the address.

As Jiu watched the city roll by, he couldn't help but hope that it would improve in sight; after all, everyone said London was so great, perhaps he'd just seen the bad-side. He was heavily disappointed to see it did not improve, in fact, it arguably worsened the deeper in the carriage travelled. Jiu tried to make out where Whitechapel could be, but was unsuccessful in spotting the street. He wondered how Leora was doing in that moment of time. Had she gotten better? Worse? Would she have liked to come to London? No...now he thought about it, she most likely would have hated it. Jiu sighed, fiddling with a bit of dead skin on his lip as the carriage made its way to a much tamer, and more pristine side of the city. There, he saw the Thames beside them. He wanted to be impressed, but it was a rather dull creation, and quite grey in colour. He wondered how many unfound bodies would be in there; after all, wasn't the Thames known for being the perfect site to dispose a body? After a moment, the cab halted to a stop. Jiu thanked the driver and got out onto the street, hoping that the air would be fresher in that location. It was not. He stood in front of a house; it wasn't massive, perhaps three to four floors tall. And compared to Mohan manor, Jiu found it hard to imagine Henry living in something so...so...dinky and quaint. The cab travelled off, and Jiu let out a groan, realising he was now, in fact, stranded there.

The general pushed past the creaky gate, shutting it behind him, and going up to the door. He knocked twice, fiddling with a thread that had come loose on his clothes, as he waited for someone to answer the door. It opened, revealing a plain maid, with a plain face, and plain clothes, and plain everything.
"I'm here to see Lord Henry," Jiu murmured, politely," I'm a friend of his sister, Leora. Edward sent me to come."
The maid looked quite confused by all of those names, aside from her Master's, and scowled," 'fraid that's not enough, sir. Your name?"
"Jiu," Jiu stated.
The maid shut the door, locking it. After a moment, she reopened it, and gestured for Jiu to enter. He did so, sliding off his shoes neatly, and giving his coat to the maid when she insisted. He truly couldn't imagine Henry living in such a cluttered little place. The maid led Jiu to a little parlour room, where Henry was lounging on a recliner, sipping his tea, reading the latest paper. He immediately jumped up with a smile as he saw Jiu.
"It's been a while, Jiu," Henry chuckled, as charming as ever," So glad you could come all this way. Do sit, I'm sure it was quite a journey."
Jiu gave a weak, forced smile and obliged; sitting on the armchair opposite Henry, his gaze wandering around the living room.

"Where's Lady Mohan?" Jiu murmured, it felt weird on his tongue to call Lady Brandon, Lady Mohan.
"Norway," Henry looked pleased by this, probably appreciating the quiet," Her father took her as a present. I was invited, but I was afraid I couldn't attend. I'm very busy, you see. Do you know of my business, Jiu? It's a rather weird one, but I must say it's quite profitable."
Jiu shook his head.
"I dabble in surgery now and then, so I opened a business to help prostitutes," Henry sipped his tea, staring intently at Jiu as he said this," Quite charitable, aren't I?"
"Yes, quite..." Jiu muttered.
He glanced around the room, the silence was heavy.
"How has Leora been?" Henry yawned, bored.
"She caught a cold last night," Jiu frowned.
"High fever?"
"Yes."
"I thought as much. I found it weird you came to London just to see me. Seems once again, I'm being charitable to all the women of the world. Perhaps I'll be a saint when I die?"
He smiled; yet something about his smile made Jiu uncomfortable, and shift slightly in his chair.
Henry sighed, glancing at his tea," I suppose leaving my darling, baby sister so quickly has stressed her. She always had a weak heart."
Jiu had never heard Henry speak of Leora fondly before, it was slightly disturbing to hear it now.

Jiu's gaze travelled down to the newspaper on Henry's lap, catching the heading of the recent murder.
"Have you seen it too?" Jiu pointed at the newspaper.
Henry glanced down, raising an eyebrow, with a sigh," It's hard to miss, nowadays. Such a grizzly murder, mind you, I'm not in the least surprised it was in Whitechapel. You get all sorts of...characters there."
Jiu raised an eyebrow at his comment, but chose not to press on Henry's dismissive comment.
"Does it worry you?" Jiu tilted his head," I assume most of your patients must be from Whitechapel?"
"Yes," Henry sipped his tea once more, furrowing his brows," Though, I myself don't usually carry out the practices. Don't think me incompetent, I know how to do surgery, but I prefer being the business side of it. So, I rarely go to those parts."
Jiu knew exactly what that meant. He wanted to profit out of no work.
Henry set his tea cup down," But, anyway, it's beside the point. What were we speaking of before? Ah, yes. Leora. I assume you want me to go to that drug store to fetch her medicine?"
"If it's not too much trouble," Jiu frowned.
"Not at all, in fact, I've been meaning to stretch my legs," Henry groaned as he stretched, standing up," I'll be going to fetch it then. You stay here; Rosie, the maid who greeted you, will get you some tea. Feel free to read any books that catch your fancy. If you need anything, just ask her. I'll be back soon."