Chapter N.XII

Vitaly Ivolginsky

Always Visible (Another Prayer for the Dying Horror Genre)

Zero Act — Que Difícil é Ser Escravo de Deus!

Chapter N.XII

Delia went to ajussi Japh’s cabinet, in which there was the aroma of some unfamiliar to her essential oils. For a while she stood on the threshold, looking around the comfortably furnished room, the walls of which were covered with wallpaper of a pleasant aquamarine hue, and there was a Iranian carpet on the floor. At the other end of the cabinet, right by the window, was a large desk, where Delia realized Japhet worked.

In addition, baby girl caught the eye of a large mahogany wardrobe, whose shelves were filled with various magazines and folders. Next to him, against the wall, was a cozy leather sofa, on which ajussi Jo was already sitting, cross-legged and throwing his hands behind his head. Seeing his young friend, he smiled at her and pointed to a chair that stood against the opposite wall.

“Settle in, Delia!”, he said optimistically. “Now we’ll listen to Japh read aloud to us!”

“Huzzah!” enthusiastically responded Delia, plopping down in a chair upholstered in yellow chenille and immediately putting his hands on the armrests.

Ajussi Japh entered the cabinet. Looking around the crowd, he jokingly shook his finger at Jordan and, nodding to Delia, sat down in a green-chintz chair in front of the desk. Crossing his legs, he cleared his throat and opened the book already known to all three on the very last page – as the girl understood, he wanted to check the content.

“So, how to entertain our young lady…”, looking intently at the book, muttered Japh.

“Something so interesting, and better with morals!”, loud and clearly Delia spoke.

“Well, good fairy tales without morals does not exist”, as if by the way, noticed apartment’s owner as he adjusted his glasses.

“Depends how you look at it…”, Jordan threw somewhere to the side, but, meeting the girl’s gaze, he immediately fell silent.

“O! I found what we need!”, exclaimed ajussi Japh and began to turn over the pages. “Here is a interesting story, written by Leonard Austener”.

“Wait”, Delia raised her hand, “the author of the book is a certain Edward Coleman?”

“You do not understand”, Japhet slightly scolded her, “he just compiled this compilation, and the creators of fairy tales are all different!”

“Well, I guess you know best”, the girl trusted the authority of an adult.

“So, “Zelandyne in Seventhaven”, solemnly proclaimed ajussi Japh.

Crossing his legs, he clicked his tongue and began to read.

“Seventhaven is a magical town that was located on a celestial island hidden from mortal’s eyes. It was possible to get there only by climbing the crystalline staircase, which appeared only in the deep night and only in one place – in one area at High Road”.

Last words Japhet were pronounced with emphatic importance, which involuntarily made the girl laugh.

“Yes, of course”, she said, “what else can a town in skies be called, if not seventh heaven”.

“There may be a play on words here”, ajussi Jo pointed out good-naturedly.

“Only six inhabitants lived in this magical town”, continued Japhet. “It was Mason, who built houses, Metalsmith, who forged all sorts of useful things, Miner mined gems and gold, Montero hunted and fed everyone else, Medic help them with their health and only one twiddler Minstrel did nothing but useless versifying. And, of course, the town was ruled by a severe Mayor”.

“Hold on”, said Delia when ajussi Japh caught his breath. “You said there were six, and the mayor is not considered a inhabitant?”

“Huh, six inhabitants in a town, to say nothing of the mayor”, snapping his fingers, Jordan joked.

“Well, like Jerome”, apartment’s owner agreed with him and continued. “All Seventhaven’s inhabitants have one thing in common – each of them was over two thousand years old, and they never appeared in front of people. But this does not mean that seventhavenians did not know about the existence of mortals – on the contrary, those gems mined by Miner, they were going to give it to people, but with one condition – when people stop making the warfares and killing their own kind”.

“They’ll do it when the pigs fly”, ajussi Jo commented on the actions of the fabulous inhabitants.

“For real this whole story began in Ducal Chateau”, continued ajussi Japh. “It was inhabited by a young marchioness Zelandyne, which was called so because it is just a very beautiful name”.

“I do not agree with it!”, Delia responded.

“What are you talking about?”, Japhet looked at her in surprise from under his glasses.

“Every name must have a meaning!”, continued the girl. “For instance, my mother called me a Greek word, which means “always visible”!”

“Hm’mm, It was very curious to hear…”, ajussi Jo shook his head.

“Delia”, said apartment’s owner after a pause, “you really must excuse me, but I think, that thy mother swindled thee”.

The girl’s eyes were bugging out, she didn’t even know how to respond to this. Seeing her reaction, ajussi Japh hastened to explain oneself.

“I just know a thing or two about Hellen culture”, he began, “and I know that the name “Delia” means only “born on the island of Delos”.

This explanation surprised baby girl, and she looked down at her shoes.

“Incidentally”, said Japhet, “to one Greek goddess, specifically Artemis, your name was used just as an epithet”.

“Solidly, isn’t it?”, echoed him ajussi Jo, looking at the embarrassed Delia.

“I sense… How a wave of truth extinguished the fire of falsehood”, without understanding why, Delia said softly

“You have a rich vocabulary!”, exclaimed Jordan, raising his finger to the ceiling.

Apartment’s owner didn’t say anything, but the girl saw his eyes flash behind his glasses. She smiled involuntarily – she really liked the praise of her abilities, but after a moment her face again acquired a serious expression.

“Okay, everything is clear with me”, she said, leaning back in her chair, “but after whom was the marchioness from the fairy tale named then?”

“Do you mean Zelandyne?”, asked ajussi Japh. “Well, I don’t even know…”

“There is a herb with a very similar name, that still weed”, Jordan spoke thoughtfully.

“No-no, wait, I think I remembered something”, Japhet called for attention. “If I’m not mistaken, celandine itself was so named because it bloomed when the swallows returned, and withered after they flew away”.

“I never looked before at that point in detail”, said ajussi Jo. “Now adapt this into a fairy tale for a our young lady”.

“Good”, apartment’s owner agreed with him. “Assume that marchioness was named Zelandyne, because her mother watched the swallows that flew near the walls of the their chateau”.

“That’s quite another matter!” happily exclaimed Delia. “It already makes sense!”

“You are intelligent girl”, ajussi Japh praised her and continued to read. “The young marchioness lived in luxury and abundance, and in everyday life she was surrounded by theurgical creatures. For example, in the morning Zelandyne woke up that Sunny Bunny, who descended from the window with the first rays of sunshine, rang his bell over her pillow”.

Delia couldn’t help but laugh when she pictured this picture. Ajussi Jo laughed along with her, and only apartment’s owner continued to sit silently in his chair, waiting for the listeners to calm down. When the fun calmed down, he again directed his eyes on the book.

“But not only the young marchioness had her theurgical pet. The Duchess, her mother, had with her Potted Fairy – a tiny woman with wings who lived in a small pot and did not need food or drink, but could work miracles. However, The Duchess could easily do without her charms, for she herself was a sorceress, but this did not prevent her from tormenting little beauty with the same question every day – “How long will I to sit on the throne?”

“Hmm, why did she ask her such a query?”, Delia asked.

“I think this should be understood as an allegory for the fact that Zelandyne’s mother was afraid of approaching old age”, suggested ajussi Japh.

“But what about the obvious authority in the country?”, Jordan interrupted the conversation.

“Don’t you understand what governance is, Jo?”, Japhet started arguing. “The Duchess is not a The Queen, but rather, the owner of several plots of land, on which she can dispose, but no more”.

“Wait, so you mean to tell me that…”, ajussi Jo was about to say, but the young listener interrupted him.

“All right, stop it!”, Delia exclaimed. “I did not come to visit ajussi Japh in order to listen to such controversies!”

“Well, from the mouths of Delia shall come the truth”, Japhet agreed with her. “So, Potted Fairy always answered her mistress the same – that The Duchess will reign happily ever after. Such an answer delighted the narcissistic woman. But she resorted not only to magic – almost all related to power were in charge by Chief Executor of Royal Wishes”.

“Who was that?”, surprised Delia. “Never heard of post like this”.

“Well, it’s not hard to guess that this man fulfilled any desires of the insidious duchess”, Jordan noticed.

“But why is he exactly “Executor”?”, baby girl did not let up.

“This is just a play on words again”, continued ajussi Jo. “He simultaneously executes both pleasant and violent requests”.

“All right”, Delia agreed with his words.

Meanwhile Japhet smiled and went back to reading the story.

“Job title Chief Executor of Royal Wishes at the court of The Duchess was established a long time ago – the person that will be discussed was a descendant in the third tribe. On his own, he was a great implementer – it was not difficult for him to sneak anywhere and quietly eavesdrop on the conspiracies of any interesting personalities who inspired fear in his proprietress. On that day, he ran into the throne room and reported that the army of the neighboring country was defeated, and their leader was captured. This good news pleased The Duchess so much that they immediately awarded him a medal “For The Pleasant News”. And her daughter, marchioness Zelandyne, at that time communicated with two unusual inhabitants of Ducal Chateau”.

After reading this, ajussi Japh suddenly looked up from his book and looked at Delia. The girl noticed how on his face flashed an expression of slight mockery, which quickly disappeared, replaced by sheer seriousness.

“I want you to guess for yourself who the marchioness was talking to”, Japhet said with a touch of irony.

Noticing how the girl’s face turned bright red, he smiled and winked at her reassuringly.

“I’ll give you a hint, their names started with the letter C”, as if doing a favour, he continued. “C&C”, – he immediately joked.

Delia began to go over in her mind all the palace titles she knew in the hope that at least one of them will be suitable. It was not very easy, because since childhood she did not like all this monarchist nonsense, and only cliches from pretentious films and boring soap operas on historical topics came to mind. After a minute, she was able to find the right words and, sighing, looked up at apartment’s owner.

“Chancellor & Councillor”, she blurted out with some relief.

“It was a good try”, ajussi Japh said with a grin, “but not, Zelandyne was not talking to people”.

This revelation took the girl by surprise – it seemed as if she had completely forgotten that they were reading a fairy tale to her, and not documentary chronicles from the life of some political person.

“With whom, maybe animals?”, she asked, wrinkling her brow.

“No”, cryptically said Japhet, “with vegetables”.