[TWWM] Those Connected by Fate

Viola's Café

The warm midday sun beamed down, warming the cool cobblestone pathway that lie beside the little coffee shop and stretched out into the unknown world beyond. The smell of coffee and fresh-baked pastries filled the air, and Viola hopped curiously around the garden. Her impatience started to get the better of her, and she wiggled eagerly at the edge of the shop.
"Oooooh i hope they get here soon!"
She felt a special connection with this little place, but the urge to explore the world and understand more of the world around her was strong. She leapt from one cobblestone to the next, humming a little tune, and wandering further and further from the shop's entrance. It wasn't that she felt fearful of going further alone, but she didn't want to be away when her friends returned.
"Little shop...*hop* little shop! *hop* hear the coffee ...drip drop! *hop hop*" She was all the way out in the street now, hopping in larger and larger circles. Suddenly the shop door swung open and a few people walked out, munching on muffins. Viola froze, but as they continued on their way, they glanced right over her.
"Wait...can humans not see me?" she wondered, a new curiosity growing. "Sauvi had said that we're spirits...perhaps they can't see me!"
Eager to test her findings, she zipped up to the large window at the front of the shop and peered in. There were several people inside, chatting and sipping their drinks. She hopped along the window sill, watching their expressions carefully. Even the ones who were looking out the window seemed to look straight through her, and no matter how high she bounced, they didn't even blink.
"Oh how fun! I don't have to hide from them after all!"
"Don't have to hide from who?" she heard a familiar voice chime in from behind her.
Startled, she scrambled wildly, sloshing coffee everywhere.
"OH! Sauvi! You startled me!" she squeaked, clutching her chest dramatically. Kaito chuckled quietly from beside Sauvi.
"Ah ha ha! I'm sorry! How was your...oh my!"
"Yes! What do you think?" Viola asked, twirling about with a flourish, gesturing at the elemental pooling at her feet.
"Its lovely! It smells so nice!"
Viola beamed, so happy that it seemed to bring as much joy to Sauvi as it did for her.
"Its quite nice, it seems natural for you to have coffee." Kaito said, nodding his head.
"Thank you!" Viola hopped eagerly, and peered questioningly at the pair of large esks.
"Where is Twyla today?"
"Oh!" Sauvi nodded, "She said that we should show you around town today, and then meet her at her little home under the Peony bush?"
"I get to visit her home?" Viola squeaked, bouncing even higher. "That sounds terrific! Yes please!"
"You have so much energy!" Sauvi laughed gently, "No wonder you took a fancy to coffee!"
Laughing, the trio set off through the town, chatting along the way and explaining different things to Viola as they passed them.

--

As they padded gently around town, Viola felt a strange tug.
"Why do I feel...like I want to go back to the Café?" she asked, tilting her head to the side.
"Oh, that's probably because the Café is your boundary." Sauvi explained, stopping and turning back towards where they came from.
"My boundary... you mentioned that yesterday didn't you?"
"Maybe, do you understand it?"
"Not really, but it feels like I belong there."
"Do you want to go back now?"
"Oh! No, I really want to explore. I want to go visit Twyla too! Its like...my head wants to go everywhere and see new things, but...my heart wants to go back there...kind of."
"Yes that makes sense. The place where you became an esk is where your spirit is tethered to the earth. That spot will be special to you. Do you...feel any different when you're away from it?"
Viola looked down at her small round feet, and then turned to examine the cup and its contents on her back.
"Hmm...not really? It feels a bit different somehow, but not much."
"That makes sense, because you're abnormal, it won't effect you as much. It might make more sense once you meet a common esk, when they leave their boundary it often makes them feel weaker. Oh, speaking of Twyla, look who it is!"
"A common esk?" Viola asked before turning to see her small friend fluttering excitedly towards them.
"Ah, yes I suppose I'd need to explain all that to you too." Sauvi chuckled. She hadn't realized how much information was involved in understanding esks."Hello Twyla! We were just explaining some esk information to poor Viola here."
"Oh I see! Yes it all confused me at first too, don't worry though you'll get it soon enough!"
"Yes," Kaito chimed in, "A common esk is an esk transformed from a human, or animal, just once. When they leave their home biome they even lose their plants and energy. Some become very weak and others refuse to even leave their homes."

It all seemed pretty confusing, but as they continued on through the town, the older two esks did their best to explain everything. Viola listened intently, absorbing all their words and observing the humans around her, while twyla clamored about in Kaito's branchlers.

Kaito eventually explained that while he and Sauvi both had been humans at one point, they were transformed twice, and that is how they became abnormals.

"You were...humans once?" Viola wondered what they had looked like then. Glancing around the town square, she thought the humans were fascinating.  

"Daddy! Can I please get that doll!" a little girl pointed eagerly at a shop window, bouncing like Viola.
"Not today dear, you must be patient and behave, your birthday is coming soon and perhaps that doll wants to be invited!" her Father said, scooping her up and tapping her nose with a finger.
"Invited?" she asked, trying not to be discouraged.
"Well of course! If you behave, then we can have a party and invite the doll, wouldn't that be fun?" he said, winking one eye.
The little girl giggled and nodded, and the pair walked on down the road talking.

From her perch on Sauvi's head, Viola's mind was turning.
"Did you have...family? Like that little girl and that man?"
Sauvi and Kaito paused a moment, and looked at each other before looking at Twyla. Nodding, they told Viola about their past. Twyla sat quietly, uncommonly still for herself, as she was intent on learning more about their past as well. She felt inexorably at fault for most of what had transpired, and their history hung heavy on her mind. Sauvi explained first, and then asked Viola if that made sense.
"You lived here in France, and had me as a teacup, and Twyla as a...mask? and your Father was sick?"
"Yes" Sauvi nodded. "Twyla became an esk without me knowing, and then while I was in India, my father died, and I was so sad. That's when Twyla found me and accidentally transformed me into an esk."
"Ohh...I see." Viola pushed on her snout with her paws as she thought. "Did you have a father too Kaito?" she asked, looking up at him with her tiny brown eyes.
"Oh. Yes I do!" he said, his own eyes squinting upwards into a squinting smile. Twyla's eyes widened, she had not heard this part of their tale yet.
"Did he die too and you were sad?"
"No," Kaito chuckled, "that would have been some kind of crazy coincidence wouldn't it!"
"What happened to him then?"

By this point, they had wandered away from the town square, and found themselves in a quiet little alley. Kaito turned, and sat down. His water elemental poured gently from the basin on his back, flowing down through the mosses and against the tree trunk, trickling all the way to the ground where it pooled gently. The sound of it was very calming, as was the magical glow that emanated from the fountain itself.
Kaito looked at Sauvi, and nodded quietly.

---

"For many months, Sauvi and I traveled across the oceans. We departed from India with the intention of coming here, to France, to find Twyla once again" he said, nodding gently, causing Twyla to bobble on his branches. "We did not dictate our path however, and we let the waves and the human's boats carry us wherever they went.

On our journey, fate decided to lead us to my own homeland, and I decided I must find my father and see what had become of him. I knew that my disappearance must of shook the whole family, and my mother had already been ill."

His words painted a picture for Viola, and her mind was overtaken with beautiful imagery of Japan.

Lush bushes and trees, gardens with fountains and sand art, rolling hills crisscrossed with careful paths and bridges. Kaito and Sauvi had trekked across the country, through towns both known and unknown to Kaito, until finally they had made it back to his family's estate. It was just as beautiful as Kaito had remembered it. Apprehension filled his heart, but as the moon rose gently through the sky, he set his heart, and entered through the arched gate. Through the gardens and pathways, up towards the main house. Every step felt like passing through history, the memories he'd made in these gardens, all the hours spent pouring over books in those buildings. The weight of it all felt like it might crush him. Had his mother succumbed to her illness? Had his father died of grief after his disappearance? What if this estate wasn't even his family's any longer? The doubt and worry threatened to break his mind, when suddenly a sound echoed through the doorway before him.

Laughter.

A child's laugh, and the soft pattering of footsteps across the smooth floor.
"Look father! I made this one for you!" a voice called. Hope welled up within Kaito, flooding over every other fear and emotion that had been battling within him. Poking his head through the paper walls, he peered in on the scene.
Not only was his father there, but his mother too! Sitting at a table, smiling and eating a meal together. A young boy sat across from them, excitedly waving a paper in his hands. Love filled the room, it was a calm enduring love that instantly washed away all the doubt. The boy didn't look to be many years old... Kaito realized that shortly after his disappearance, his mother must have overcome her illness at long last, and not only that, but... he had a brother!
Pride and love was etched across his father's face, along with a hint of weary sadness. Kaito felt a heavy guilt blanket him, what pain he must have put them through.
"I'm sorry Father. I wish I could tell you that...its all okay. I'm alright."
He felt Sauvi put a paw on his shoulder outside the wall.
"Everything is alright it seems."
Tears welled up in his eyes, as he pulled his head free of the paper wall, as if he'd never even been there.
"Everything...is perfect."

//

Viola's eyes were wide with wonder as she stared at him, hanging on to every word of his story. Twyla had absentmindedly swung beneath a branch and was hanging on with three of her six legs, staring just as intently as Viola.
"So, your mother was okay? Your father too?" Twyla chirped, pressing her tiny paws against her cheeks.
"Yes, and with my little brother to brighten their lives, I have no doubt they will all live wonderful fulfilling lives without me. I plan to visit often and check up on them now and again too."
"Thats so nice" Viola said, hopping up and down on Sauvi's snout.
"Oh...OH that is SO KIND OF YOU." Twyla sobbed, losing her grip on the branch and tumbling down Kaito's neck. She landed in the soft moss on his back and rubbed her face with her arms. "That's so sweet!" she wailed, overcome with emotion. "I thought maybe...maybe..." she muttered between sobs. "That maybe I'd destroyed your family... by...by..." the words caught in her heart, and tears rolled down her tiny cheeks.
"Shhhh, hush its alright." Kaito said, turning to peer at the tiny esk on his back. "Please don't trouble your heart Twyla. I wouldn't change a thing."
As the tears dwindled, Twyla peeked from between her paws at the trio of friends she found herself surrounded by. Emotion threatened to overtake her again, and so darting to her feet, she decided to try to distract herself. Sniffing, she put on a brave face. "Okay then! Well? I think we were going to go to my home now?"
Sauvi laughed softly. "Oh Twyla, you precious little baby. Yes, we'd love to see your home."
"Yes me too!" Viola cheered, excited to help cheer Twyla up again.
Kaito leaned close, nuzzling the tiny esk with his soft nose. "Yes Twyla, I'd love to see your home beneath the Peony bush. I've been waiting all day for it!"
Twyla giggled, brushing away the last straggling tear. "Alright then! This way!"

Through the town they followed her, as the birds sang overhead, and the sun warmed their hearts.