xingzh

Three blind mus♪ Running to and fro♪

One fell in a ditch♪ One cracked his head♪

And one went hey♪ Dickery-dock, what's more to be said♪

I'll make sure to remember it. Victorian nursery rhymes are rather interesting. When you were young, did your... our mother really sing such violent songs to put you to sleep?

Well, I just haven't gotten to the more fun ones yet. Besides, this one's rather fitting. Do you know what those three blind musbeasts were looking for while they were running around?

Hmm... I see. They were also looking for their mother.

<p=1>Victoria, Town of Daywell</><p=2>March 22nd, 1103, 6:00 P.M., clear</>

Your blister doing okay?

Yes, I just haven't had to walk this much before. It'll be fine once it becomes a callus.

This trip really has me feeling like a blind musbeast, stumbling about in a panic.

Your first time leaving Yan and you've already crossed half of Terra. I'd say you're doing great. You'll get used to it once you've got more visits under your belt.

You're right...

So, why the frown?

I'm not frowning. It's just... the last few days seem so distant now. I can barely believe that I'm about to meet Mother tomorrow.

Hmm...

Oh, you like street snacks, right? I'll bring you somewhere I loved when I was a kid.

Haha, see? The moment I mentioned food, that frown turned upside-down, you glutton!

I'm simply ready to accompany you through thick and thin. After so many years away, the only thing you remember is where the good food is. Who is the glutton here?

Well of course I don't remember much else, we moved away when I was seven or eight. We moved a lot, but I still remember all the best places to get food in every town, haha! I'll bring you to them all eventually.

...Now that I've had to move house myself, I know how difficult it must have been for you all.

Hey, hey, your frown's coming back. C'mon, there's cream fruit cake up ahead.

I'd walk by every day after school. It's tasty stuff, but portions aren't exactly big. I'd save up a penny a day and have enough for one piece after two months, but one bite and poof, it's gone.

Well, no need to worry about that today. Eat as much as you'd like, my treat.

Hmm?

What is it? Can't find your purse? Or is the lovely Lady Ning suddenly feeling stingy~

(Searches all over in a panic)

Alright, let's calm down first. Checked all your pockets? What's that round thing in there?

That's my handkerchief...

Think back carefully. Where'd you put it after buying our tickets?

In my pocket? No... I couldn't have left it on the ticket counter, could I? I... I can't remember at all.

It's not here, and I've checked everywhere we just went! I really did lose my purse!

It's fine, it's fine. Once we get home, I'll write a letter to the station. If you did leave it on the counter, we can pick it up on the way back.

It's not fine! Our tickets for tomorrow's journey were in there too. Without those tickets, how are we supposed to get to your home?

Well no use losing your cool right now, we can't exactly trek all day and all night back to the first station to look for it. Relax, don't lose your head over it.

You... What are you trying to say?

Heheh, nothing in particular. It's just that a certain someone's been spacing out a lot lately, doing things like using my shampoo as toothpaste or holding a fork upside-down at lunchtime...

Hey, hey, hey, why're you covering my mouth, I still got like ten more examples!

It isn't the time for jokes right now! ...I told you I shouldn't be the one keeping <i>all</i> the money.

You're usually a lot more careful than me.

Look, seriously, no need to worry so much. It's no big deal if you lost your purse. It's only a few hours from my place if we catch a ride, so we can just walk back.

Walk? That won't end well...

(Sudden realization)

I'm not! I'm just worried...

Feeling peckish all of a sudden. As they say, an empty sack cannot stand upright. Let's get something to eat first. We can fix any problem with full bellies.

And how exactly are we supposed to do that without my purse...?

Not like everyone in Victoria has money. You don't see them starving, though, do you?

What's the time... Good, there should still be something right about now. Let's go, or there won't be anything left.

Go? Go where?

Somewhere where I can magic up a feast for you—

Wait, slow down!

Bailey's is still open, we made it!

You start queueing up first, I'll go see if there's enough left to make it to our turn.

(Quietly) A restaurant? Blaze... How are we going to pay for this?

That's a secret for now. You'll see once you're at the front.

Xingzhu anxiously follows the queue. It is only when she smells a foul stench that she notices the gentleman in front of her is an elderly scrapsifter. Looking further ahead, it seems everyone in the queue is down on hard times.

As the queue moves forward, she sees several mealboxes piled up on a table. Those who receive a box leave silently, without paying.

(Victorian) Two, please. Cheers, you have a nice day now!

(So it was meals for the needy. She is rather familiar with them...)

Told you there'd be food. I'm no liar.

I'm not too sure about other places, but since I've lived in Daywell before, I know plenty of ways to deal with not having any cash. No need to worry, seriously.

(Soft sigh)

Let's see what we got... Fowlbeast fillet, rye bread... and some cheese. Still the same three things in the all-a-waste meal.

Go ahead, try it. See if you like the same bits I like.

Upon seeing Blaze dig in with great relish, nostalgically enjoying her meal, Xingzhu begins to feel curious about how it tastes, lowering her head to take a bite out of each of the three pieces of food.

How is it? Which d'you like best?

They're... They're good.

I know, right! Especially the fillet, the aspic on it melts as soon as it gets in your mouth, real tasty.

(These fillets must have been roasted over a low fire, which lets the juices and gelatin flow out to form a stock. The unsold ones got cold, so the stock coagulated into aspic...)

There is a specialty of Kou-wu called crystal meat. If you're fond of aspic, I can show you a good spot the next time you're in Yan.

(Chews a big mouthful while shaking her head)

(Muffled) 'S not the same... Got to be lucky to get aspic with this fillet. Call it a nice surprise.

You can only eat it if you're lucky? Then that means there are also times you're disappointed...

Nah, won't happen. I learned when all the restaurants hand out food by heart back then.

But this store was real far from our house. I'd wait for Mum and Dad to be done with overtime, and we'd take the long way to go there, since all the other restaurants would've run out of handouts at that point.

It's not enough for more than a few mouthfuls, and by the time you walk back home, you're hungry again. That's why Dad called it the all-a-waste meal. It was like you never even ate it, haha!

So Father loved making jokes like that...

The bread is so hard her teeth barely make a dent in it, while the cheese is so dry it crumbles at a touch. They have clearly been on display for several days, and the portions are measly.

Though she has looked into her parents' experiences in great depth, it is only once this food entered her mouth that the scenes in her imagination become crystal-clear.

Xingzhu gives the food she is holding a guilt-ridden stare, before taking a big bite out of it. Soon, the mealbox has been picked clean.

She follows the road her parents once walked, her eyes opened wide. She wishes she could see through time, and see how vibrant it would have looked during their time.

Man, this sure is nostalgic. I used to follow this road to go home. Up ahead is the first primary school I went to. Deepest memory I have of the place was my classmate's mum's fig roll stall she parked outside the school gates.

I'd run there every day to chat with him, and take a real big sniff of that figgy biscuit smell while I was there.

Pfft...

At the time, Mum still worked at the cloth-dying factory, and she'd stink of chemicals whenever she got home. That's why I suggested she sell fig rolls too.

I'm sure she saw right through your scheme.

Haha, well, she's not like other parents who just ignore what their kids say. The next day, she brought me along to chat with my classmate's mum, asked her how many biscuits she sold a week.

When we got back home, we crunched the numbers, and that's when I learned a factory worker made a steady five pounds more a week than a biscuit seller. Let me tell you, that's a lot of biscuits.

Mum's amazing. Whenever she persuades someone, she doesn't have to give long speeches like Dad. But on my birthday that year, I got a big bag of fig rolls.

As Xingzhu imagines that capable, gentle mother standing in front of the biscuit stall, she cannot help but let out a smile. She is pulled in by her fantasies, walking further and further into them.

Xingzhu... How about we take a break? If we keep walking, I think our dinner really is going to go to waste.

I think... I'll keep walking, and looking around.

Just wait until we get home, there'll be time to catch a ride here to sightsee later. It's just the next town over, after all.

No. I think right now... I need to see a few more things, understand things a little more. Otherwise, when I meet Mother tomorrow... what am I supposed to talk about with her?

Whatever you feel like. You're her birth daughter, you two will hit it off naturally. No need to take an exam for it.

You grew up by her side, it's not the same...

It's not the same, because you three have gone through so much together...

Xingzhu stops talking, staring blankly at an old bookstore across the road. Something comes over her, and she begins walking towards it.

Hey, where're you going? Slow down! Watch the road!

Old Friends... Bookstore?

(Slowly walking around the bookshelves)