Merchant Of Cats

Chapter Fifteen: Memories of Mother

Chapter Fifteen: Memories of Mother

Elsa awakened slowly, as she did every morning. Her eyes blinking and focusing, yawning she grabbed for her robe only to connect with a lamp. Nearly knocking it over, Elsa caught it in time and gently placed it back in its place and then realized she had no recollection of there being such a lamp in her room. Frantically looking around, she realized it wasn’t her room, but the rather the lounge she’d been talking to the Queen in. Beside her lay Avinel, his pale face glowing in the soft morning light. Strands of his almost white blonde hair lay fanned around him, and Elsa held back the urge to laugh.

And then she blushed. She was immensely horrified and embarrassed to have fallen asleep whilst talking to Avi. She’d never done so before, she always knew when she was going to fall asleep. She wondered if it was because of how frayed her nerves were, or maybe it was because she was so tired after walking for half the morning, either way, she’d done something she’d never done before. She was almost in tears when Avi stirred, his eyes blinking as he focused on her.

“Elsa? What are you doing in my room?” he questioned tiredly.                                

Elsa blushed even deeper. “We’re not in your room.” She answered in a meek voice. “We’re still in the lounge.”

It was Avinel’s turn to blush as he muttered something that sounded like “brother is going to kill me”,  jumping up, he got at least three feet away from her and bowed while profusely apologizing.  Elsa tilted her head and watched as his hair settled into a mess of blonde.

“Why are you apologizing?” she asked, her voice wavering a little. She didn’t think he’d done anything to warrant an apology.

“I should have shown you to your suite, my brother will be angry with me.” Avi let out a worried sigh “The couch must have been uncomfortable.” He added.

Elsa shook her head and smiled. “Not really, no worse than my bed back home.” She thought for a moment. “Anyways, you made a very nice pillow.”

It was Avi’s turn to blush. He looked to her out of the corner of his eye and bowed again.  “Thank you, Elsa. I very much appreciate you telling me so, but don’t let that beast hear you. Who knows how he’ll use it to taunt me.” Elsa laughed and felt genuinely sorry for Avinel. He’d known the Merchant much longer than her and had obviously lived many years under his torments. She was about to tell him so when he suddenly pulled her close to him and slipped into a dark corner.

                Two familiar voices filled her ears, one was the Merchant and the other was Kavenan. There was a third person, and from the shadow it seemed to be Nial. Elsa began to shiver, not being used to such close proximity with a  man and unsure why Avi had pulled her away when it was only his brother and the Merchant.

That was until they started speaking.

“I assumed since they weren’t in their rooms that they’d be here.” Kaven said, somewhat confused. “I know Avi’s fallen asleep in here more times than I can count, but what about Elsa?” The sound of someone scratching their head drifted over to them.

The Merchant sighed, his voice sounding as if he was either too bored or too tired to be there. “I really don’t care; she’s probably gallivanting around with that boy or sniveling in a corner.”

Kavenan let out a hearty laugh. “He always liked to get into trouble with the younger ones.  Mother was always chasing after him, her skirts in her hands and that determined look on her face.”

A soft gurgling sound reminiscent of what laughter would sound like filled the room. Elsa was sure it was Nial, for she’d heard him do the same the day before.  

“You remember too?” asked Kavenan with a peculiar mix of sadness and  joyful reminiscence. “You always used to carry them around, especially Avi and El. You were such a good brother, Nial. Mother always trusted you to watch them.”

Elsa felt Avi clench his hand as it held her arm. She held back a gasp of pain. His fingers felt like claws boring into her skin. Looking up, his face was contorted with a look so dark that he seemed to have changed into an entirely different person. She’d seen it once before on Maeva.

It was a hurt so deep and powerful that she was sure it would never go away.

The thought of such darkness made Elsa begin to cry. She didn’t want to be reminded of the pain she’d endured before she’d arrived in Orlion. She didn’t want to think about the bottomless pit that had formed inside her when her sister had died. Most of all, Elsa didn’t want to see such a radiant creature as Avinel look so twisted, so much like her father.

Slowly, as the Merchant and the other men left, Avi returned to his brighter self, his blues beginning to uncloud as he suddenly focused on Elsa. He jumped backwards and with eyes widened looked at her with uncertainty.

“I’m s-sorry, I d-didn’t mean to hurt you. Are you o-okay.” He stuttered out. “I just didn’t want Him to see that I didn’t take you back to your rooms. I’m sorry.” He waved his hands in front of him frantically. “Why are you crying, don’t cry. Please…”

Elsa wiped away her tears and looked at the highly concerned Avinel. “ For a moment I got scared. You reminded me of something I hadn’t wished to remember. For a moment…You looked like my sister, as if you were hurting so bad that the only thing that would help would be to destroy everything.”

Avi reddened and turned. “I’m sorry…Its just,” he ruffled his hair desperately. “when I think of my mother I get so upset. When I think of my little sister I become furious, furious that my family fell apart and I lost both my parents.”

She looked at him for a moment, seeing a brief flash of sadness come back. “I’m sorry. If I may ask, when did you lose them? If it makes you feel any better I never had a mother, so I may know how you feel.”

Avi closed his eyes and seemed to be counting. “My father when I was but three years old and my mother when I was ten. I don’t remember him much, nor my little sister that he supposedly took with him, but I did know my mother. I loved her more than anything and one day she was just gone. Like my father she’d just disappeared. From then on Kaven and Savi raised us that were still young enough to need parents.”

The sound of pain in his voice was so apparent that Elsa instantly reached out and hugged him, something she wouldn’t normally have done.

“I’m sorry. “ she whispered.

Avi did nothing as he spoke, his voice raw and tired. “I fought against the pain with all I had until I realized I had lost all I ever wanted to keep. It doesn’t bother me as much anymore.”