"Grandma" hadn't been fibbing about taking up the role of a tour guide, and as Phobius walked alongside the aged woman, letting her lead a little since she knew where she was going, his mind began to wander and conjure up seemingly endless possibilities. What kinds of places would she take him to see? It was a huge mansion, so there were bound to be hundreds of different rooms, with even smaller rooms within those rooms, and rooms within the rooms' rooms and...
"Have you ever done this before, Grandma?"
"Done what, dearie?"
"Taken someone around the house," the boy replied, turning his head to look at her. She looked back at him and seemed to genuinely mull over his question for a moment, her lips puckering a bit as she went digging into her memories to pull out something relevant. "...once, I think," the old woman finally replied, nodding a little to herself. "Yes...I think it was once, a very, very long time ago...someone as curious as you had come wandering in through the front door, and I offered to show him around."
"Really?"
"Mm-hmm. I don't remember much else about it, but I seem to recall him staying for a few days. He was a traveling...merchant? Archer? Something or other. He was quite comfortable here."
That was all that was said on the matter, and Phobius, feeling pretty satisfied with the answer, didn't ask the woman about it anymore. The next few chimes between the two were filled with silence, though more pensive than awkward as the boy's eyes roamed the walls, floors, and ceiling. The "tour" began on the second floor.
In all honesty, Phobius was surprised that he couldn't seem to spot things while they were moving around. Kuvarakh had said that the mansion was alive, in a way, and that it'd try and trick him if it felt up to it; to the boy, "trick" translated to chairs and tables moving on their own, doors opening and closing without being touched, hallways inexplicably disappearing...depending on how creative Aceren got, there really was no limit to the possibilities. As far as the boy could tell, however, there was nothing unusual about the house.
Except for its size.
Anyone with eyes could tell that the mansion was a massive structure, and that it was bound to be as large on the inside as it looked on the outside. Phobius had figured this even before he'd been so graciously encouraged to go in, and the foyer and dining room had been a good testament to the building's overall size. And yet there were times when he'd feel as though it was a lot bigger than it seemed. One of the hallways that Grandma led him down, for example, felt like it was...longer than the others. While it'd normally take them a couple of chimes to get from one end of a hall to another, Phobius was certain that they'd taken three times as long for this particular one. Wanting to confirm his suspicions, he'd turned his head and asked his "tour guide" about it, but the aged woman hadn't noticed anything.
It wasn't just limited to halls, either. The occasional room they came across would either be startlingly humongous or incredibly tiny. Sometimes they'd even rearrange themselves, like the many shops and houses that lined Alvadas' streets.
Was Aceren trying to confuse him? Could Grandma really not see the changes, or was she just pretending not to? The questions and ones similar to them quickly filled Phobius' brain as he walked, making it a bit harder to focus.
On a whole, however, Phobius enjoyed himself. The mansion held a lot more rooms than he could have imagined, and each one seemed to have its own special purpose. There were sitting rooms and dinettes, filled to the brim with all sorts of comfy-looking couches and fancy little tables. There were bedrooms of all sizes and shapes, ranging from ones meant for children to much more elaborate, luxurious ones that the boy assumed were for the owners of the house, themselves. The "Masters," as Grandma called them.
And then there'd been the music room. The boy was quick to decide that it would be his favorite room of the house; it was about half the size of the dining hall, with lamps, carpets, and chairs placed neatly about. Large curtains were drawn over the tall, just-as-large windows, which made the room a bit dim, and off in the furthest corner sat something unfamiliar and beautiful.
"A piano?" Phobius had echoed when the woman had told him, stressing the word as if he was testing its sound on his tongue.
"That's right. I'm surprised you've never heard of them, before. They're fantastic instruments, and can make the most wondrous of sounds when you play songs on them."
There'd been a short pause after those words. The boy had gone to inspect the instrument, looking at it from as many different angles as he could. Then, hesitantly, he'd reached out and poked at one of the keys with a finger, jumping at the sound it made. Fascinated, Phobius had then turned to look at the woman with an eagerness that lit up his entire face. She'd nodded at him, giving him permission to do as he pleased, then watched and smiled as he sat himself down and began to toy with it.
Phobius was in no way a musician, but neither of them were expecting anything good out of all the key-smashing. In the end, the old woman had had a few laughs, and the Inartan boy had learned a couple of things about pianos and how loud they were.
"So, what do you think so far?" The woman asked him as they made their way out of the room, her arms casually folded against her chest.
"What do I think...? I think it's great!" Phobius replied, sounding amazed. Then he took a few, jogging steps ahead of her and suddenly, albeit clumsily, spun around on his toes. "There's so much...so much stuff, here! I didn't think a house could have so many rooms..."
"It is pretty incredible, isn't it? Though I suppose the wonder has worn off, for me; I've been here long enough."
As if the words had triggered something in his head, the boy slowed his spinning to a halt. Looking over at her, the glee having ebbed a little from his face, he was quiet for a moment before he asked "Do you ever get lonely?"
"Hmm?"
"Lonely. I mean...you've got this big old house full of rooms, but...no one ever comes around to visit. Don't you get lonely, sometimes?"
The aged woman blinked at him, caught off-guard by his question. And for a moment, she didn't seem to know how to answer, her expression blank as she mulled it over.
When at last she'd gotten a hold of something, a distant sound interrupted her, bringing both her's and Phobius' attention to the far end of the hall. It was too faint to properly make out, but as the boy strained his ears to listen, he realized that it sounded kind of like...
...footsteps.
Footsteps meant feet. Feet meant another person was nearby. For no particular reason, Phobius looked down at his own booted feet, affirming the fact that he couldn't be making the noise. Nor could the woman, who'd gone still behind him.
Which left only one.
"Kuvarakh!" Phobius shouted, starting to dart down the hall before the aged woman could stop him. "Kuvarakh, is that you?! Kuuuuuu-va-raaakh!!"
"Common" | "Nari" | Thoughts
