Chapter 2: Visiting My Old Father
The new year flew by in the blink of an eye, and tomorrow February would begin.
My father's reactions remained slight today as well.
So her older sister wouldn't notice, the youngest daughter heaved a quiet sigh.
Her sister cheerfully told their bedridden father about everything from returning home yesterday to coming to his hospital room this morning.
The aged father stared silently out the window, saying nothing.
Was he looking at the scenery, or just facing that direction? His deeply wrinkled, sun-weathered face remained wooden as ever, unmoving.
Every day it was the same, but her sister never grew tired or discouraged, continuing to chat at their father.
Dementia. A common affliction of the elderly, though it could strike even working-age adults.
While more prevalent each year in the short-lived Tyoomyo people, it was a rare condition for the long-lived Chomei people who aged slowly after maturation.
"Lana, look, see, Father smiled!"
Her sister called the youngest daughter over excitedly.
Awellarna had been gazing out at the same window as their father. She got up from the round chair at his left and walked around to his right side. His expression didn't look any different to her. Without meeting her sister Ilex's eyes, she kept looking outside.
Through the hospital window you could see the streets of Zelno City.
The rebuilt city was still new, every home fresh. Even after thirty years, empty lots were commonplace, the population slow to recover.
Beyond the somewhat unfamiliar cityscape, Lake Lacus glittered.
The thin winter sunlight made the tranquil salt lake resemble a mirror.
"Sure is nice weather today, huh?"
Awellarna said to her thoroughly aged sister as she stood by the window. Though it was a six-person room, there were no other visitors.
Until being hospitalized half a year ago, her father had been fishing on Lake Lacus.
Over the past five years his dementia had worsened severely. Lost items multiplied, and anything that went missing was surely a thief's doing.
He'd always been the quiet type, hardly speaking unless necessary. Now his words grew even fewer.
The five of them - three relatives, her brother, and their father - took the one boat their family had left out onto the lake, catching seasonal fish together. All the clan surviving the civil war worked to support each other.
Now the boat was registered under her brother Abieus's name. The five of them - Abieus, her nephew, and the three relatives - went fishing.
In the year before being hospitalized, her formerly taciturn father had more and more days where he didn't speak at all. His once vibrant green hair had gone completely white.
...So this is what it's like to wither with age...
Awellarna pulled her eyes from her father and gazed at the sinking sun.
Her clan were the "people of the lake", a minority people dwelling solely along Lacus's shores.
Their vivid green hair resulted from their greater need for copper compared to the majority living on land. As they aged, copper absorption declined, bleaching their hair until it went white.
Her father's hair was now snowy as well. Being of the short-lived Tyoomyo people, reaching his mid eighties marked old age.
Her sister seven years older, her brother nine years above, their hair had also faded considerably, looking yellowish-green in sunlight.
Of their clan, Awellarna alone was long-lived Chomei. Just shy of sixty, she retained a youthful appearance akin to fifteen or sixteen.
Barring incident, roughly a third of the lake people were long-lived Chomei, potentially reaching a millennium.
Awellarna's family tree included a "great aunt" born seven generations back who had died in the civil war. Her own mother might have been long-lived Chomei, but passed when Awellarna was small, so it was uncertain.
Now their clan's only long-lived Chomei was Awellarna.
Her father's generation, survivors of the civil war, were old folks living on borrowed time.
Her siblings, cousins, even nephews and nieces born later... really, all were already older than Awellarna.
In less than a century, her father, aunts, uncles, siblings, cousins... all kin would die, even without incident.
Time alone would claim their lives.
Awellarna gazed up at the darkening sky.
...Looks like nice weather again tomorrow.
She recalled her father teaching her and her brother how to read the weather when they were young.
"Fighting the Aether forces from the continent and the kingdom armies on land, I got up to some rough stuff back then," relatives whispered after peace came, though her father never spoke of it himself. Back then still vigorous, he had piloted his own boat aiding the Nemolis Self-Defense Forces and volunteer navy on the lake waters.
On raid-free days, her father would speak at unusual length, teaching them many things to ensure they could survive alone if needed.
"If you want to live, watch the sky's face more than others' faces," he said, looking up as he taught them to read the weather.
Clouds transformed daily, no two skies the same hue. Guessing the coming weather from the ever-shifting skies and waves let them anticipate that day and the next.
With wind arts from the Flight of the Swallow School you could unfailingly predict the weather. Depending on the caster's magic, they could foresee even a month ahead, but her father read the skies based on fishing experience rather than magic.
"Daddy, that's amazing! Guessing right without magic!"
"Wow, Dad, you're incredible!"
Though he was off some days, her father's forecasts rivaled magic in accuracy.
Awellarna and her brother gazed up as directed, watching their father name the skies. Flushing as if embarrassed, he laughed bashfully.
"My predictions and Flight of the Swallow arts aren't omnipotent. If someone uses magic to mess with the weather, I'll be off."
"Messing with the weather? What's that mean, Daddy?" her brother asked anxiously.
His unease infected Awellarna, and she clutched at their father's coattails.
"There are spells to alter the weather. Make a rainy day sunny, brew up a storm on a clear day, things like that..."
"No way, storms..."
"The boats will sink..."
He bopped their worried heads and laughed.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMuUniXnszK
"What incredible magic you think it takes to change skies this huge? Don't fret about that nonsense."
"But still..."
"Far as I know, manipulating the weather, best anyone's done is make a small town's worth of light rain. Don't worry."95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjRfWtbPA58
