Chapter 25: Chapter 25: Of Stories

The door of the shed creaked slightly when Gabrielle pushed it, letting out some of the morning fresh air into the dark, damp room. Baraqiel was still sleeping, curled into a little ball right under a window, probably to feel the warmth of the Sun as its rays went right through. Gabi couldn’t help but smile, nodding in approval as she walked through slowly, carefully, carrying a small pot full of some of the leftovers she could steal from the pigs.

 

They are all big and dumb, they don’t need THAT much food! she thought to herself, carefully sitting down and banging the pot with a wooden spoon. 

 

“Time to wake up, Bari! Up up now, up up!”

 

Baraqiel stirred a bit in their sleep, still used to keep an ear out for the smallest motion. It would be a long while before they could truly sleep deep and heavy, even when this had to be the first time they actually rested in so long. But it wasn’t the motion that bothered them, or even the voice of Gabrielle… no, it was that strange name.

 

“Hmmm, are you talking to me?” Said Bari, who was fully aware this was meant for them and yet tried their best to deflect it.

 

“Of course, I don’t talk to myself out loud! That’s dangerous.” Gabrielle restated, walking to set the pot down in front of the waking kid, and then sitting herself on the other side. “Now wake up, it’s time for breakfast!”

 

Baraqiel moved carefully to not upset their already sensitive muscles, sitting back up and then feeling the smell of salty, tasty soup hit their nose. Their body returned to life after months of torpor, a hungry stomach roaring in triumphant delight and demanding immediate attention, while their dry mouth had started salivating almost immediately at the idea of eating anything that wasn’t gruel. Gabrielle armed them with a wooden spoon, and they simply waited as her guest debated on what to do.

 

“I – You! Don’t just decide on new names for me, that’s just not– Ugh, my stomach…!” There was no use fighting it, Bari’s body practically shook in hunger and pain as their stomach demanded attention, tugging every single nerve to remind Baraqiel who was really in charge. “T-That name will not stick!!”

 

But it already had stuck. And while Bari started taking the first sips of lukewarm soup and soggy croutons, Gabrielle experienced her second taste of true empathy: She could see, right in Baraqiel’s eyes, that same glimmer she had when enjoying a hearty and delicious meal.

 

For Baraqiel, the meal wasn’t really extraordinary. It felt like a blessing from heaven, of course! But that didn’t take away the fact that the croutons were soggy, the soup was cold, and the taste was a little bland. Still, beggars couldn’t be choosers, and even if they couldn’t appreciate the taste, they surely appreciated the nourishment. Sweet nutrients! Energy! Fuel for the soul’s pyre!

 

I should take my time with this… my body is not used to eating so much!! Thought Bari, trying their best to remain civilized while already having their head inside of the pot, slurping it all down and ignoring the protest of their poor, unprepared throat. This will come to bite them in the future, for sure! But right now, they were as happy as they could be.

 

Gabrielle pouted slightly, maybe because they held the deep and naive hope that the kid wouldn’t be able to drink all of the leftovers, and some would inevitably come to her. Alas! No such luck! She would have to wait for dinner to have her next taste of delicious soup.

 

“Gods above that was good!!” Baraqiel exclaimed, maybe a bit higher than they meant to, laying back down and rubbing their full belly. It practically bulged on their rags. “Gabrielle, I think you were an angel after all… Where did you even get all that good stuff!?”

 

The girl felt her heart do a flip in her chest: she had done well again! Ohh, the ecstasy of doing a good deed, of being recognized for it too! Gabi could get used to this high for sure.

 

“It’s leftovers. Sister Corintia does not know how to cook, and made too much.” She nodded sagely. “She then tried to get rid of the excess before Father could notice she wasted food. This is what I saved from the pigs.”

 

“You have pigs!?”

 

“Well. Two pigs now. They are big and fat, annoying animals, and all that’s left from the old barn before it was destroyed. Well, that and the chickens, but the chickens were never meant to live on the farm.” Gabi paused for a moment, tapping her chin. “The rest of the animals either escaped or were sold because we don’t have space for them, and Father says we will eat the piggies next Winter, but I think they are too ugly and thin for that. Pigs are supposed to be chubby and perky, right?”

 

Baraqiel blinked slowly. What had been all that word storm pouring on them just now? Had Gabrielle always talked this much!?

 

Whatever it was, they really wanted to see more of it. More words, please!

 

“W-Well, I do not know much about pigs.” Bari could see a light of disappointment in Gabrielle’s eyes, so they quickly corrected. “But you seem to know a lot about pigs! Do you work with them a lot?”

 

Prompted and enabled to actually go deeper into the topic, now Gabrielle was a bit shaken. This was usually the point where people told her to shut it.

 

“I took care of some piggies back in the day, and in town sometimes we help the Farmer.” She started slow, careful and a bit self-conscious. Was she talking too much? Had she talked too much already?? “It’s easy when you get to it.”

 

Baraqiel put the pot and spoon away, once more getting comfortable on the floor to listen intently.

 

“Do you like animals?”

 

There was a spark in Gabrielle’s eyes, and Baraqiel grinned to themselves. Bullseye.

 

“Animals are very nice, they are often just scared or hungry, or just want to be left alone.” Gabi nodded a few times. “Pigs like some attention but, when they notice you are meddling too much with them, they immediately get all pouty and snort a lot to spook you. Chickens are dumb, too dumb to be friendly with people! Always nervous and pecking around for food, the ones we have at the Chapel are even worse though, they are always hungry and ready to bite you! Not like the ones in town, those are dumb but at least they let you hold them… Uhm…”

 

Baraqiel gently tilted their head to the side, as Gabrielle’s doubts started creeping into her mind once again. She stopped talking for a good moment, rubbing the back of her neck and looking around before facing the kid once again.

 

“I am sorry, am I speaking too much? I feel like one of the girls at the Chapel, always talk, talk, talk.”

 

“You are fine,” Bari reassured her with a smile. “I like listening! I don’t know much about animals… Do you know more things?”

 

Gabrielle gasped, she indeed knew more things! But no one had ever asked many things before, was this really okay? To just, go crazy with this permission and talk until her throat hurt? Why did she even want to talk this much! Gabi was surprised at herself, for she had always considered the others so annoying for never shutting up!

 

They just say silly things, but you’re saying important things! This is about animals!! A voice in Gabrielle’s voice yelled, and the rest of the voices seemed to resonate with that idea. Yes, indeed, this was about animals! And animals were quite more important than the fisher boy in Gwynedd!

 

Yes! It’s important for Bari to know the animals in here, what if they find a Bear and try to pet it, huh?? What then!?

 

“... Alright, yes. I know some things that you have to know too, Bari.” Gabrielle felt suddenly determined to teach this child. 

 

“Why Bari though!?” The kid simply couldn’t contain their embarrassment. “Don’t you have other names for me or something!?”

 

“I thought of calling you Bara but, for some reason, that name just feels wrong to say out loud. So, no. Bari it is.”

 

Bari sighed in defeat. Yes, Bara sounded odd to call others, so they were simply condemned to a name that sounded so… infantilizing. Alas, poor Bari.

 

“Fine, then. Tell me what you wanted to say.”

 

“Thank you.” Gabrielle took a very, very deep breath. This would take a while. “First things first: Never pet a bear…”

 

—

Following Gabrielle turned out to be the right move. Alejandra really wanted to go and say hi instead, but she was really new to this “spy” business so she preferred to abide by Arianna’s choices: And there they were, hiding in some bushes and staring wide-eyed as the little girl carried a big pot into an old, broken down shed… and now they could hear mumblings not only from her, but from another different, raspier voice.

 

Both nuns looked at each other for a moment, before getting right up from the bushes and walking a few steps away from the abandoned mine. Alejandra could feel a knot in her heart already, the facts were way too obvious here: Gabi had, somehow, managed to steal and hide the so-called “Angel” right under their noses.

 

“It’s such an obvious spot, why here? Did she really think no one would think of looking in the one interesting spot in the woods?” The bigger nun sighed, rubbing her face as she tried to understand the girl’s thought process. To no avail, it simply made no sense. “She’s way too naive, oh poor Gabi…”

 

Alejandra turned to look at Arianna, only to see her smiling even wider than before. It was a smile full of spite though, no wholesome thoughts would be found in those eyes.

 

“This is perfect, Ale, it’s perfect! Two birds in one stone…!” Arianna was jumping a bit in place, rubbing her hands together while Alejandra seriously wondered if her dear friend had gone insane. “We just have to play our cards correctly!”

 

“Comrade, I’ll need you to go a bit slower if you please? Right now you are rambling.”

 

“Don’t you see, Ale? Gabrielle will cooperate with us so easily it’s ridiculous! She surely hates Enrico as much as we do, so convincing her will be quick!”

 

“But how can we convince her to give herself to the Father then, if she hates him? She also seems rather fond of that Angel!”

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“No no no, silly. We are not telling her to give up, and we are not going to tell Father a thing about this! That’s the beauty!” Ari smirked, giggling to herself. “We came here to the old mine and found nothing. That’s all. Then, we will go right back here, and tell Gabi to work with us and hide! Always one step ahead!”

 

Alejandra then remembered, right! They were not working for that man at all! In fact, if you objectively saw things, they were definitively playing against the Father in a huge game of Regicide.

“I see, I see! So we will keep them safe until your friends come here and take Enrico away, yes?” Alejandra started smiling as well, ruffling Arianna’s hair. “You’re so smart Ari! Then we can let them take care of Gabi and Baraqiel too, right?”

 

Arianna could feel her brain suddenly stopping, her heart doing another flip and her blood freezing right in her neck. Oh. Oh no. All celebrations stopped as the realization came to her: Gabi had been in contact with this kid, so she was most certainly infected already with Magic. The moment the Genesis learned this, they would definitely take her away for questioning and, once she proves useless as an informant, she would be erased to prevent an outbreak.

 

“N…No…”

 

Before this, the girl could simply hide among the unsuspecting “victims” of the dastardly Demiurge, be relocated to a better place or hidden in the True Church, but now that she was a risk… Arianna let out a deep, shaky breath as the facts mounted on her shoulders.

 

Gabrielle had doomed herself.

 

Alejandra could just see how Arianna became more and more deflated with each second, what happened to all that energy? Frowning, she carefully picked up the girl by her shoulders and shook the concerns away a little bit, trying to get her sister to return to her senses.

 

“Oi, oi oi. This isn’t the time for a nap, Comrade!” Ale shook her own head a little bit. “What’s wrong! Tell me!”

 

“M…My coworkers…” Arianna refused to call those savages her friends. “They will hurt them both the moment they learn of their existence… we need to hide them too.”

 

“Oh, right. You said Baraqiel has to ‘disappear’ before they get here… I assume Gabrielle is in trouble too now, huh?”

 

“Y-Yeah… God, and here I thought things would be easier now.” Ari took a deep sigh, closing her eyes. “It never can be that easy, can it? Bloody blazes…”

 

Alejandra shook her friend a little harder there, her frown growing deeper. “No swearing, and no despairing now, Comrade. You said we are closer than ever to finishing this, right?”

 

“Yes…”

 

“And you said that you’ve been working a very long time on it, yes?”

 

“Years, Ale. Yes.”

 

“Well then, no point in feeling disheartened now then! Let’s focus all energy on how to fix this. After that, then we can feel bad about things!”

 

Arianna gave Alejandra a bit of a stinky look for a moment. Sure, it was easy to say things like that but, really, how to put them in practice? But she couldn’t really be mad with Ale, especially considering she was right. With a loud and defeated sigh, Ari forced herself to smile and agree.

 

“Alright then. Let’s go back to the church, tell Father that there’s nothing here, and send a message to the Chamber Priest before finally writing a letter to Genesis…”

 

“That’s the spirit! Let’s get moving, then!”

 

“You may put me down now, Sister.”

 

“I don’t feel like doing it though! You are as light as a chicken!”

 

“Put me down, saints damn it!”

 

—

The talk about Bears soon turned into a long banter about other animals in the forest: from Owls and Foxes to the occasional demi and a few hunters from Gwynedd. All and all, a very thorough guide to move through the forest without causing much ruckus… but it didn’t stop there either. They then talked about food, they talked about the town itself, they talked about life in the Chapel, and each and every Sister working there.

 

Soon enough, they were sharing little stories… and even Baraqiel dared to speak as well, sharing the little that they could remember.

 

“The Spire makes you forget many things when you use it. I don’t remember the face of my parents, or their names… but I remember the tales they told me. Tales of a Star in the sky that looks upon us, tales of those with magic in their veins, and tales of people with power in their hands.”

 

Gabrielle stared in awe, laying beside the talking child and taking in the stories of cold lands where it never rains, but always snows; places where there’s no water to be found, only infinite expanses of dusty red sand; places where there’s water all around, but not a single drop for people to drink.

 

She recognized some of these places from some of the Prologues… but it felt different at the same time. New, exciting, adventurous.

 

“I am not sure if it was my parents, or someone else completely, but people told me many tales of those lands.”

 

“Like the Prologues of the Saints??” Added Gabrielle with stars in her eyes.

 

“I will be honest Gabi, I never even heard of Saints and Angels before being here.” Bari apologized immediately, but Gabrielle seemed too shocked to be offended by the revelation. “I am sure that, in the places I tell you, they have never heard of those either.”

 

“Never heard of Saint Martha!?”

 

“Not once.”

 

“Or Saint Airiamis??”

 

“Never.”

 

“Or Saint Nicodemus?”

 

“I’ve heard of a man named Nikodemia but never a Saint like that.”

 

“Wow…”

 

There was a moment of silence, as Gabrielle simply stared up to the ceiling in utter confusion. But to Baraqiel, this just put in perspective how sheltered the girl was, or maybe even the whole place was like that. Maybe they had all bubbled themselves with their own little stories…

 

“...Tell me one of those tales.” Finally Gabi succumbed to her curiosity. “I wanna know. I wanna know it all!”

 

Baraqiel blinked a few times, looking at the girl and rubbing their chin for a bit, trying to think. Which tale to start with, there had to be something that could hook her imagination. There were so many…

 

“Alright, I think I have a good one.” Baraqiel finally decided to start with their favorite, turning a little bit so they could face Gabrielle before clearing their throat. “It’s a long one, do you think you have the time?”

 

“Yes.” Gabi nodded energetically, those eyes glowing with eagerness. 

 

“Alright then. Let me tell you something I am sure my mother told me once, long ago.”

 

“Let me tell you the tale of Mustafá, the Man of Stone.”

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