“____” speaking

‘____’ thoughts

*____* telepathy

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Vio was an interesting spirit. Tanzi and myself both thought that Ormonde’s spirit was going to be some all powerful being that had pass over ten loops of the trials. Oh how wrong we were. During our first confrontation with Vio after Ormonde’s disappearance, I thought that she was going to act roughly around the age she had given us. Her image of herself was that of a child and I didn’t put much stock into that since most spirits have such varying forms.

Then we found out that Vio had fought and won against a corrupted spirit and that she had to fix Ormonde’s soul, I still don’t believe it. Her reactions during my questioning were not what someone her age should have; they were more childlike. Arguing about how many questions I could still ask her and looking victorious about it was another step in changing how I thought about her. I tried using the same logic that would work with a child, but to no success until I offered a reward in return.

Asking for a promise to make sure she got the information she wanted was almost juvenile and Tanzi and myself decided to play along with her. The lack of trust could be damning later, but I’m confident that I can work something out before that comes to pass.

The fact that she did Seele Ehe with Ormonde was fairly substantial proof that her thought process is still that of a child’s. Creating a support link would have been much safe and I doubt that she realized all the implications of Seele Ehe. I mean, it’s basically a marriage between spirits that can never be broken. Creating a marital link pales in comparison to the intimacy of a Seele Ehe link. Trading a piece of your souls and trusting someone else with it? That's further than Tanzi and I have gone and we’ve been together for almost a century.

Then we were told that she combined Ormonde’s soul with a spirits, even I don’t know what that’ll do in the future. Fortunately, in the four years since then nothing out of the ordinary has happened. I think the thing that surprised me the most was that she said she didn’t want Ormonde to die. Although I’ve yet to figure out if it’s just how Vio is or whether the Seele Ehe link or soul bond has influenced her in some way.

After that discussion she slept for four years. Four! And she acted like a different person afterwards too. Tanzi doesn’t think that she’s really acting different it’s just that she’s put up a front to hide herself and we saw her with it down. I’m inclined to agree with him since it was easy enough to trick her into helping me with breakfast. All I had to do was offer something as a reward, just like when I dealt with kids in the past.

It was actually adorable that she didn’t know what to do with the vegetables or even what they were. The way she called the carrots, potatoes, and beets ‘these vegetables’ made me want to hug her till she popped. I also had a hard time not laughing at her expression or utmost concentration when she was chopping them and was so glad she didn’t pick up on it. Vio said she hadn’t spent much time around humans and her lack of material Arcane usage made this very clear. I’ve yet to figure out how she interacted with everything since material Arcane is really hard to get a grasp on since it goes against the nature of what spirits are.

I was curious as to what other food she needed aside from raw Arcane, but she didn’t seem to want to tell me and I wasn’t going to press for it. Telling her to do something with giving her a choice also seemed to work very well; I’m not sure if she was being cautious or there was another factor in play.

When telling her about the trials, her reaction to Edin was, in my opinion, over the top. In my experiences the only spirits that react similar to how she did have usually been severely hurt or forcefully manipulated by either Edin or an Eldritch. Taking permanent physical or mental damage early in life is the only explanation I can think of; it makes me want to ask if she needs to talk about it.

I really don’t understand her reasons for wanting to remain hidden from Ormonde and his parents. Even if she has a vendetta against humans, I find it hard to believe that she can’t see that she’s taking the image of individuals and applying it to the whole of humanity. Tanzi said that it’s perfectly in line with how she’s acted before and if I’m not sure why she’s doing something to view it from a child’s perspective.

Once she was back from checking the trail out, Vio’s behavior was much more mellow. I don’t know why and neither does Tanzi but I’m determined to find out. My strategy of asking without an ultimatum worked again and I got help making breakfast for the second time. I wonder if she knows she hums while working?

Asking about her revenge startled her and I would have found it odd but Tanzi was right. From a child’s perspective it was said in passing and shouldn’t have been remembered or thought of as important. She told me the cult was gone when she got there but I’m not so sure that’s the full story. If I remember correctly, Cecil got ask to go look at an area up north that was abnormal about a year ago, it might have been where Vio went.

Then Ormonde got out of the fence. He had been acting strange for about a week and a half; like there was somewhere he wanted to go. Assuming I could find him I doubted I could do anything to bring him back since he would just leave again to go to whatever was attracting him. The best course of action that I could think of was to ask Vio to find him and follow her. Recently she's been doing some strange practice that leaves her naked somethings; I've walked in on her a few times so I'd know. When I entered the room she was in this time she was still fully clothed thankfully.

“Hey Vio?”

“Hmm?”

“Ormonde’s gone missing. He managed to get out of the fence and is in the local forest somewhere. Can you help us look for him?”

Vio groaned after hearing my request.

“Fine, but if anyone but you or Tanzi sees me you’re the one who’s explaining everything. Got it?”

Explaining Vio was the least of my worries at the moment and I was glad she had accepted. I was one step in the right direction since she could have refused and if I’m right she had something to do with this anyway.

“How’d he get out anyways?”

“He dug a hole under the fence and crawled out underneath it.”

“You’re looking at me like this is my fault.”

“I don’t know what it is, but I can’t help but feel you have something to do with it.”

Vio rolled her eyes at my comment. She looked like she wanted to retort but didn’t.

“Where do you want me to start looking?”

“Just head straight from where the hole was dug. Tanzi and I are going to handle the other directions.”

I left the room and used light Arcane to turn myself invisible and waited for Vio to leave so I could follow her. Vio left and started to look in the area I had asked her to, it was very apparent that she wasn’t using her link to find Ormonde. She looked for about ten minutes before stopping and thinking about something.

A moment later Vio was headed off deeper into the forest as if she had had an epiphany. I followed a good distance behind her because even though I couldn’t be seen I could still be heard and there where dried leaves everywhere. After five minutes Vio hide herself behind a tree and stared into a clearing that hadn’t been there last month. This was definitely her doing.

Ormonde was in the clearing and, from what I could see, was looking at a small pond. Vio looked like a tiny piece of her died when she saw Ormonde was at the pond and continued to stand there watching. Everything was going to work out fine as far as I was concerned and I turned to leave.

“What do you think you’re doing!?”

For some reason Vio had snapped and I moved myself close to see what was going to happen. I was fairly certain Vio wouldn’t attack Ormonde but I had to be sure just in case. I was unable to make out their verbal exchange and had to move even closer. Ormonde gesturing towards the flowers on the pond stopped Vio in her tracks and caused her to tilt her head in confusion.

“Really?”

Vio got closer to Ormonde and was looking at the flowers as well. What was so fascinating about the flowers?

“Yeah. Look this ones still normal.”

Ormonde pointed to a flower and Vio knelt next to him to look at it.

“Huh. I didn’t make them to do that. I wonder what did.”

That explained her reactions thus far. If Vio had made this place and the flowers she must have put a considerable amount of time and effort into it. I stopped listening and watched, Ormonde had gotten almost nose to nose with Vio and her face was turning slightly red. If it didn’t reveal the fact that I followed her I would tease her to no end about it.

Vio backed away from Ormonde to give herself space. It was a pretty cute interaction and I was definitely going to have to tell Tanzi about it. Ormonde shouted something, most likely he wanted to see her make one of the flowers, but Vio shot him down and even resisted his puppy dog eyes.

“Besides, this is my pond anyway so you shouldn’t be here. You should go home.”

There it was, proof that the pond was her doing. It was a good attempt to send Ormonde back home but it wouldn’t work; he was stupidly stubborn when he wanted something. Another shout from Ormonde and Vio physically recoiling in shock almost blew my cover. It was so hard not to laugh at their exchange. Tanzi was right; I would never be able to view Vio as anything but a child from now on.

“Will you play with me? You said to find someone to play with. Why not you?”

“I-I can’t leave the pond so there’s no way I could do that.”

I scoffed out loud and quickly covered my mouth; fortunately neither of them had heard me.

“That’s fine I’ll come here.”

Vio looked absolutely crushed. There was no way out and she knew it; I wish I had something to capture the look on her face forever. She finally relented and it seemed like everything had worked out fine when Ormonde suddenly braced himself.

“Promise.”

“Promise what?”

“That if I come here you’ll play with me.”

“No.”

“Then I’m not leaving.”

Ormonde walked over to a tree that was dangerously close to mine and sat down against it. Vio buried her face in her hand and let out a sigh I could here from where I was.

“Ugh. Alright I promise.”

“That’s not enough.”

“What?”

“You have to promise to play with me if I come here.”

If Vio had looked crushed before, she looked absolutely destroyed now.

“I promise that if you come here I’ll play with you.”

Vio laid down next to the pond and stuck her hands in it. She seemed to relax a little when doing so. It would be nice to know why, but I would have to ask in order to find out. Ormonde stood up and walked right by me before he turned to look at the pond again.

“I’m gonna go. I’ll be back though and you better keep your promise.”

“I will.”

The grumpy reply said it all; Vio had lost and was not happy about it. Ormonde continued past me and I started to follow him back. I wasn’t worried about Vio.

“And when you do come back don’t destroy the lilies!”

I was shocked that Vio was willing to agree so readily, it must be Seele Ehe starting to take effect. Ormonde giggled happily and started to run back to the house. Neither of them realized that the more time they spent together the stronger the attraction from Seele Ehe would be. They may be inseparable due to their souls being shared, but given a few years and that inseparableness would spread into other levels of life as well.

Oronde made it back to the house and was scolded by his parents for leaving the safety of the fence. There was really nothing out there that could hurt him because the city was so close, but it didn’t hurt to be cautious. I returned to the kitchen and started on the next meal that needed to be prepared. I chuckled to myself when I though about the conversation I’d just listened to; two children arguing really.

“Hey Maka?”

I turned and saw Ormonde standing in the doorway.

“What is it honey?”

“Can I tell you a secret?”

He looked like he didn’t want anyone else to hear him and came closer, motioning for me to bend down so he could whisper in my ear.

“I don’t know? Can you?”

“Yes.” Ormonde’s nose flared as he nodded in affirmation.

“Alright then. What is it.”

“I went to a pond today.”

“Is that all?”

I knew it wasn’t but I wanted to push his buttons.

“I also found someone to play with.”

Ormonde had an infectious smile on his face; I had never seen him so happy before.

“What are they like?”

“I don’t know.” His face became downcast.

“Do you know their name?”

“No. But she promised to be there if I went.“

He really hadn’t thought that far ahead, but he is only five so I can’t blame him.

“Well next time you go make sure to ask alright? You need to be polite, especially towards women.”

“O~K!”

Ormonde perked up and started to leave the kitchen.

“Ormonde.”

“Yes?”

“Next time you want to go let me know alright. I’ll make sure you don’t get in trouble with your parents.”

“Ok, but don’t tell them where I’m going ok?”

“Alright I won’t tell.”

“Thanks Maka!”

He smiled again before running out of the room. Things were going to get very hectic around here in the future.

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AN: Hello readers! A much shorter chapter for you and so soon after the last one too. Hopefully this gives you a better idea about how others perceive Vio. Adieu until next time.

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