The morning light streamed through the curtains in neat bars and landed on the furniture, the bed and on the face of Adori. She groaned and turned, her hand shielding her face from the onslaught of the rays of the morning light.
Beside her was Emis, who was already up and about. He was licking his black fur clean. From time to time, he glanced at the sleeping Adori to see if she was waking up anytime soon.
Yesterday had been rough on Adori, he believed. His Veyrathi had ploped down on the bed the moment she entered their home. She had been sleeping since not accounting for the small time where she got up to make them dinner.
Emis had wanted to ask what happened. Of course, this was because he was worried about Adori, not just because he was curious as heck.
His curiosity had not been quenced enough to his liking. When he asked her during dinner of what went down at the station, her only answer had been 'Its a shitshow' and nothing else.
That only made Emis want to know more about the situation.
For the second time, Adori groaned again. This time though, it looked like she was finally waking up as she sat on her bed and yawned.
"What time is it?" She asked Emis while she stretched her limbs.
"Around eight," Emis answered.
That took Adori by surprise as she shot out of the bed at once.
"Shit! I have to do some grocery shopping and ask them what they know of the kids!"
Adori flailed around in their room. Her clothes were strewn around and her shoes were all over the place. When she finally readied herself, their room looked more like a garbage pile than a homely residence.
Emis sighed at the mess she made in her wake. She suddenly turned toward Emis when she was about to exit through the door.
"Oh! I almost forgot. Emis, come with me."
Emis was startled at her words. "What do you mean?"
"Come with me," Adori repeated.
Emis was still looking at her in confusion; making no movement. Emis always believed he knew Adori. And the Adori he knew had never once tried to be seen in public with her Yvelin. This, Emis had gotten used to. Of course, as the price of being a Veyrathi was quite steep in this world.
"Come on, Emis. I want to arrive there while most of them are still shopping." Adori was shifting on her legs, a clear indication that she really was in a hurry now.
"I got it!" Emis shouted at her.
He sprinted toward her and settled on her right shoulder. With Emis in tow, Adori locked their home and walked on their pathway.
Adori occasionally took deep breaths as she walked. "What a fine weather," she murmured.
Emis glanced toward her—deep in thought and licking his paw. His face was that of someone who was contemplating whether he should say out loud what he was thinking or not.
"You're acting weird," he finally said.
His words made Adori slow down her gait a bit. "Hmm? what are you talking about?"
"You've never take me to one of your outings before." He looked at Adori accusingly.
"Yeah...but you're needed today."
"This is ridiculous. So you want to use Unity? Outside? Sometimes I just can't tell what goes on inside your head." Emis shook his head in disappointment.
"I'm not trying to do that, are you crazy?" Adori gawped at Emis as if he just spouted the most ridiculous words she had ever heard. "I just need more eyes by my side since I'm trying to investigate the disappearance and all."
Emis was still not sold by her reasoning. "You can do that too with Rebek."
His words made Adori quiet for a second. "You're right. But I feel like she's hiding too much from me."
Emis kept on staring Adori who had her head hung like a dejected child.
"What do you think she's hiding?"
"Something important. Ever since Cale disappeared, she's acting strange. Even if I made clear I wanted to help her, she still won't tell me anything."
"So nothing's changed then," Emis said with certainty in his voice. This made Adori looked at him confused.
"What are you trying to say?"
"I'm trying to say that nothing has changed for you. Didn't you start this whole thing because you wanted to know what reside inside the Whispering Forest?"
What Emis said had bewildered Adori. She almost forgot why she even entered the State of Unity that night. It had been because she wanted to know what was inside the forest. Emis was right.
However, that was before she knew of the kidnapping. She hadn't taken the situation too seriously back then, she would admit. She simply thought of it as kids wanting to get rebellious and defying their parents.
A bit like me...
She immediately shoved that thought in the back of her head. Fact of the matter was that now she's aware of how serious the whole situation really was.
"And I also find it strange how you're so invested in this case," Emis continued beside her. "I'm perfectly aware of your friendship with Rebek but you...you of all people devoting your time and energy in this whole thing... You baffle me."
"What? Now I can't even help a friend because I'm me?" She asked incredulously.
"No. I'm saying you aren't invested in this case just because of Rebek or the Whispering Forest. Deep down, I think you know it too."
This kept Adori silent for most of their walk. Since their house was isolated from the other houses, she often had to walk a bit before she reached the main road.
Back when they just arrived on Ime Island, Adori had thought their house was perfect for them since they wouldn't have to worry about nosy neighbours. Not to mention the cheap price.
Now, though, as Emis kept on babbling beside her, she thought maybe buying an apartment on one of the residential block would have been so much better.
Because then she wouldn't have to hear what Emis had said to her—a reminder of her past, of what she left behind.
She secretly let out a sigh of relief when they arrived at the main road. As people started to appear in their view, the Yvelin beside her had gone completely silent. His whole mannerisms had changed to that of a normal cat.
The sight had always perplexed Adori. It was like watching a fruit suddenly turn into a vegetable in the blink of an eye.
A rattling sound made Adori turn to her left. It was a small carriage on its way to the market. Adori wasted no time waving at the carriage.
She rarely used this form of transportation in her daily life. But at the moment as she was in a hurry to reach the marketplace, she quickly entered the carriage the moment it stopped besides her.
A car would have been so much faster.
Adori knew how impossible her thought was, as Ime was still behind in development compared to Verdant, where she was originally from.
Despite her reserved opinion, they reached the market quicker than she had thought. Adori paid the carriage driver her fare, then she immediately went towards the food stands where she thought information was ripe.
The first one she approached was that of a middle-aged woman who often sell fruits that came from Dalerin—the mainland of Ime Island.
As she skimmed through the woman's fruits, Adori made small talks with the woman in the hope that she would be able to squeeze in some inquiries.
"These look so much better than the last time I came here," Adori said in a sing-song voice.
"Then you should definitely buy some. These are fresh from this morning." The woman smiled at Adori as she advertised her fruits.
"Fresh you say?" Adori acted surprised. "Then let me see those at the back."
The woman promptly gave Adori what she pointed with her fingers. As she checked the fruit as one would toward a jewellery, Adori gazed the woman in expectance.
"This one looks really tasty! Too bad, I should have brought one before."
"Why didn't you?" The woman asked in a joking manner.
Adori fought back a smirk that threatened to appear on her face. The woman had taken the bait.
"It was because of Cale." Adori whispered to the woman.
As soon as the latter heard the name, she suddenly looked around in fervor. When she was sure no one was nearby, she also whispered to Adori.
"It's crazy how fast word spread around here. It's better to keep information about that topic to yourself, I'll tell you... It's a sensitive one."
The woman immediately acted as if she hadn't even talked to Adori after she said those words, and it shocked Adori.
Feeling awkward, Adori quickly walked away from the stand and tried her luck again on the other stands a bit far from the previous one. Again to her surprise, no one knew nothing.
Though Adori was sure they definitely knew of something but were keeping them safely tucked inside their mouths.
What is going on? This was supposed to be easy...
She went around the market asking random people of what they saw and heard about the disappearance. And everytime she asked someone about it, they either suddenly had other things to do or they knew nothing of the case.
Adori was getting tired. Her stomach was rumbling loudly when she sat on one of the benches present at the periphery of the market. It suddenly reminded her that she had not eaten breakfast yet and how hungry she had been.
She peeked toward Emis who quietly sat beside her. "Are you hungry too?"
The Yvelin glared at her question.
"Oops! Of course, you are." Adori sweetly smile toward Emis in the hope that it would calm him down.
She quickly looked around the area scanning for some restaurants or any kind of food they could eat immediately. As they were at the periphery of the market, however, it seemed the thing she was looking for was a bit scarce in their location.
"Maybe if we go to the port, there might be some—"
Adori stopped speaking as something Rebek had said suddenly entered her mind. It was on the night of the disappearance, when Rebek came to her house to ask about Cale.
Adori now remembered what she said about Cale and his friends.
They always meet up at the port, weren't they?