The Tragedy of Renya

4.2 Wanting to Remember

???, Renya

What had happened at the meeting? Alice couldn’t get that thought out of her head as she walked through the Pentel family’s mansion holding the bed sheets. She kept trying to remember the exact details. She knew her employer had given his reasons, she also knew that the reasons sounded sensible at the time, but she couldn’t remember the reasons. At the same time, she knew that her brother would not return until he could be sure of leaving the city; he’d need to make money after all. And that was something he would not be able to do inside of Renya. No, she still hoped for her employer to allow people to leave the city again, although odds of that happening anytime soon were small. There was something about him that had changed lately, she thought. Ever since that woman had entered the city; maybe before that even. Alice realised she’d have to interrogate Ms. Lea. She’d know the answer. There wasn’t a single thing that Ms. Lea didn’t seem to know, Alice smiled.

With a movement of her elbow she opened the master bedroom. There was nobody inside; the large bed was standing in the middle of the room with the sheets in a tangle, and there were some dark wooden chairs next to the window. A large door hid the room next to it, which was a large walk-in closet. Figures of the founding of the city were engraved on these doors, and there were paintings with the same subject hanging on the walls. She’d heard that these paintings and doors were the reason Lord Hendri Pentel had chosen this room, and that this room used to be a guest room during the time of his parents and before, but she had never been around to see if those rumours were true. Leaning over the bed, she started to take the sheets off.

Alice turned around as she heard a movement behind her. She saw that Ms. Lea had entered the room, wearing a cut-sleeve dress that appeared to be made out of many layers of purple gauze. Some of the purple layers were the same colour as Ms. Lea’s eyes, although some layers were darker, some were lighter. Alice realised that she’d never seen someone with purple eyes before, and wondered if Ms. Lea was actually a woman Lord Hendri had met in a western country. She strongly doubted it; Ms. Lea’s way of speaking appeared too fluent and easy for someone from a foreign country.

“You were there at the meeting, right?” Ms. Lea suddenly spoke, and her eyes narrowed. She leaned against the doorpost, and although Alice doubted it was meant that way, Ms. Lea blocked the only way out of the room.
“I was,” Alice answered, as she started to take the pillows out of the covers, and desperately tried to look as if she didn’t care much about the interrogation. Her hands were shaking, and she hoped that if she kept working Ms. Lea wouldn’t notice.
“What did he say?”

Alice looked up at Ms. Lea, confusedly. Was Ms. Lea asking about why he’d asked her there? She felt her face getting red. Did Ms. Lea suspect she was having an affair with Lord Hendri? He wasn’t her type! But how would she explain that without making it seem more suspect?

“I mean,” Ms. Lea pushed a strand of hair out of her face, “at the meeting? About this city? About the future?”
“I… don’t really remember,” Alice stammered, “I didn’t really pay attention…”
“I know what happened,” Ms. Lea said. Alice stopped in her tracks and looked up at her.
“What… happened?”
“If you want to stop it, head to the basement,” Ms. Lea smiled, “he doesn’t want anyone to see what’s in there. I can’t go there. You can. You can see what is happening to Renya, and you can stop it. I’m sure you can.”

Before Alice could ask what Ms. Lea was talking about, she had already disappeared into the hallway. For a second Alice considered running after her, but for some reason she didn’t.

Go to the basement?

Hendri looked up from his book when he thought he heard something. After a few moments of complete silence he shrugged and looked back. Had anyone come in to ask him what he was reading about though, he would not be able to answer. He had more important things to think about than whatever the book was about.

He suspected his wife knew more than she was letting on. She kept talking about a tragedy regarding this city. He was trying to avoid this disaster. But more than that, he knew what would happen if he let things go out of hand. He’d lose his city, his reputation, his wife. He’d lose everything.

Would he have stopped all this had he known that this would be the result of his efforts? He smiled to himself; there was no way he would have done anything else.

Hendri looked at the books on the shelves. There was one thing that was bothering him though. He sometimes felt as if he was being watched. Constantly. Everywhere. Even if there was nobody around. And he couldn’t shake the feeling that whatever was watching him came from inside him.

“Probably my conscience,” he murmured and then chuckled at his own joke.