Tales of the Pearly City (Pearly Tales Vol.1) [Completed]

74. Elder Brother and the smell of Victa Berries

Clera's motherly elegance was unmatched as she stepped off the bed and pulled Sinder into her chest while she cried.

Sinder stopped crying quickly and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, I've cried enough." She took a couple swallows of Flamel's flask. The burn was too much for her to handle. "Gah! Flamel, how do you drink this stuff?"

"Like this." Flamel swiped the flask and took a refreshing swig. "Ah! -huh?"

"Let me try that." Fauna snagged it for sip. "Ah! It burns." Fauna coughed.

Fina took a turn after she nabbed it for a sip. "Ick too sweet."

"Bunch of pussies," Gisela stole it and downed the whole thing.

"Gisel, that was my other good stuff." Flamel wept.

"And I said no more drinking! *hic*" Her face was flush again, then she held up the curved metal containers up over her breasts like she was discovering something important. "I knew you weren't THAT much bigger than me!"

"So you finally noticed after last night did you?" Flamel leaned forward while pulling down the front of her shirt.

"Stop teasing me!" Gisela threw one of the flasks and nailed Flamel in the head knocking her off the bed.

"You guys a such dorks," Sinder snickered. "Okay I think I'm ready. Clera can you help me up, I'm so tired."

"Certainly, Dear." Clera helped Sinder to the bed.

Once Sinder sat back on the bed, Clera wiped away the tears with her hankerchief.

"Thanks Clera, I think I'm ready. I'm sorry but Cal gave me about as much information as Gisela, only he did it across the board with every branch. It's so classified that unless the princess says a specific phrase we can't tell her half of what we're working on."

"Are you kidding? Calloway's keeping secrets, that bastard!" Gisela shouted. It appeared that this time the alcohol was getting to her.

"It's that bad and worse. Everything is so fragmented it's hard to put the puzzle together. That's if it's only one puzzle. And you all know how good I am at puzzles." Sinder sighed. "I don't know how he orchestrated it but I'm guessing his telepathy with the Elementals helped. He knows how nosy I am after all. Gathering the pieces, on top of my own responsibilities, has been a nightmare. But if each one of us was assigned a different task: Earth, the warships. Water, the Ley lines. Air, the Half-breeds. Shadow, Information. Clera hasn't spilled yet. But if it's the fire clan, we are the contingency plan."

"What exactly do you mean?" Fina asked.

"I think he's researching fast replacements for the Crystal shrine, big and small, even taboos. There has even been a lot of interest in some artifacts called the seeds of the world tree. Curses are another topic that comes up a lot. He's having me and a bunch of others doing research on magic and magic systems. Then Silvia is hiding something big, the only thing I could piece together was a plan that involves all of the elementals. And a large summoning circle ritual the likes of which I've never heard of in a space big enough for a thousand. If I had to guess, they are contingency plans for the worst case scenario."

Sinder hugged her arm. "What to do if Cal dies in the war. That's why I think he's hiding it. We all think Calloway's some kind of unstoppable force, an immortal storm of reckless genius sweeping through our humble timeless city. But even if Cal can technically live forever like us, he's more aware of his own mortality than any of us would like to admit. Time won't kill us, but war will just as easily as any other race."

"It makes since, it would drop morale if all his elementals knew he was planning for his death." Clera observed.

"Just think about it, we finally got him back after hundreds of years and he may only be here for two months, it's a rip off and you know it." Sinder picked up another chocolate and examined it.