An Ordinary Afternoon
They had been through this four or five times already. Elliot swallowed a sigh and looked out the window.
“You don’t happen to have the power to make it rain, do you?”
Anna narrowed her eyes at the window reflected in the mirror, plainly dissatisfied. For better or worse, the day beyond the glass was dazzlingly clear. There was not the slightest sign of rain.
When he had told her to cover her face as much as she could, she had come out exactly as she had the day before, the blanket pulled up over her head. It had startled him, but that, at least, had been easy to talk her out of. A blanket was not clothing. If a blanket would not do because it was not clothing, then surely a raincoat was all right — that had been her reasoning. He explained more than once that a raincoat was something one wore only when it rained. She would not hear it. In the end he had no choice but to rummage through the wardrobe himself.
“Trust me. This is the most ordinary way to dress.”
Elliot patted her shoulder, as if to reassure her. Dressed so prettily, she seemed to find her own reflection thoroughly strange. She could not take her eyes off the mirror.
“What am I supposed to say to someone I’m meeting for the first time?”
“You greet them.”
Anna caught her skirt in both hands and dipped her head, demonstrating.
“May the sun’s radiance be with you. I am Annamaria, daughter of the Western Shield.”
“Like this?”
Elliot fought to keep his face under control. As a war hero he had been invited to countless parties and had met every manner of distinguished person, but he had never in his life heard a greeting like that.
“Who taught you to greet people that way?”
“My grandfather.”
To be fair, aside from the times she did exactly as she pleased, her manners were impeccable.
“For now, from this moment on, your name is Anna Mulligan.”
Anna nodded.
“And there’s no need to be so formal. The sun’s radiance, daughter of some shield —”
“Daughter of the Western Shield.”
“What is that even supposed to be?”
“The sun’s radiance is the symbol of the royal house, and the Western Shield is the symbol of our family. You don’t even know that?”
“I’d be perfectly happy never knowing.”
He turned and checked the clock. The hour he had promised Thomas was already upon them.
“We should go. Any longer and we’ll be late.”
He had started out of the room at a stride when a thought rose up and he looked back at her.
“But when you and I first met, why didn’t you greet me like that?”
Anna swept past him as if she had not heard. Let it go. He glared after that maddening back, and sighed.
For no clear reason, a tension hung over the idle afternoon street.
Merchants who had been nodding off among the goods spread on their stalls, children who had been tearing about the mouths of the alleys — all of them had gone still, watching a single place. More precisely, the strangers standing side by side in front of the butcher’s shop.
“What did I tell you to call me?”
“Brother.”
“And you?”
“The daughter of the son of the cousin of Elliot’s maternal grandfather.”
“In short?”
“A relative.”
Elliot faced her and nodded.
“In front of other people I’ll treat you warmly. That’s what one usually does with a younger relative, when there’s a difference in age.”
“All right.”
“Last thing. You remember what I warned you about?”
Anna only blinked, docile. When no answer came, Elliot kept flicking his eyes toward the flowerpot at their feet. She looked down, regarded the pot for a brief moment, and looked back at him.
“You want me to move it?”
“I want you not to move it! I told you. Other people must never find out!”
“Oh. Right.”
She answered with perfect calm. Feeling as though something in him might burst, Elliot pinched the bridge of his nose.
“No matter what happens, you must not use that ability. Not under any circumstances.”
“Yes.”
“Remember that.”
She had been answering well enough. Then, suddenly, she was staring straight at him.
“If I do well today, will you bring me out again?”
For a moment he had no words. All the way to the butcher’s she had been distracted by other people’s mailboxes and by the stalls along the street. It occurred to him that this might be her first outing in the world.
“……Yes.”
At that, Anna turned and looked at the door of the shop. The mask hid her expression, but her eyes alone were anything but ordinary.
“Let’s go in. I’m ready.”
She said it with a resolve that was almost impressive. Elliot climbed the steps and pushed the door open. A bell chimed, and someone who had been slumped over the counter shot upright.
“Captain! You’re finally here!”
Elliot, on the point of stepping inside, stopped. A slender silhouette edged in backlight, a voice bouncing bright as a chick’s. It was certainly not Thomas.
“You were so late I thought you weren’t coming. Please, come in!”
The one who came hurrying over was a boy whose hair looked like a thatch of dry straw set on his head. Elliot narrowed his eyes at the freckled face and murmured.
“……The post office?”
“Oh — yes! You came in to mail a letter before, didn’t you? I asked the postman to take good care of it, so you don’t have to worry.”
“Ah, look at me!” The boy thrust out his hand. “My name’s Luke. I never got to introduce myself properly last time, and it’s been bothering me ever since.”
“Ah…… Yes.”
Elliot took the hand in a daze. Luke was shaking it with a broad, sunny grin when he caught sight of Anna coming out at Elliot’s side, and his face went stiff.
From the back of the shop, Thomas came rushing out.
“Elliot, that you? What took you so long? I thought something had happened. I was just about to send Luke —”
Thomas, wiping his hands on his apron as he came, saw Anna and froze like stone. The air had turned awkward all at once. Elliot, puzzled, studied their faces for a moment, then hesitantly made the introduction.
“This is the younger relative I said I’d bring. Anna, say hello.”
“Hello. I’m Anna.”
Just as he had taught her, she only bobbed her head. Thomas stared, lips parting without a sound, and pointed at her as if he could not quite believe what he was seeing. Then he whipped around on Elliot.
“She’s a girl?!”
“……Is there a problem?”
“You never said she was a girl!”
“I never said she was a boy, either.”
The flat reply left Thomas speechless. He pressed a hand to his forehead.
“Good grief.”
Meanwhile Luke had crept up to Anna, eyes alight with curiosity.
“Hi. You’re Mr. Olivier’s little sister?”
Anna rolled her eyes toward Elliot. When he signaled that it was all right, she nodded at Luke.
“Anna, right? Nice to meet you. I’m Luke. But why’re you wearing a mask? Isn’t it stuffy?”
Once again she stole a glance at Elliot. He hesitated, then gave a small nod. As if she had been waiting for nothing else, Anna pulled the mask away.
“Wow…… You’re really pretty.”
Luke had been staring at her bare face as if spellbound, and the words barely made it out of him. Anna tucked the mask into Elliot’s pocket and, primly, swept a fallen strand of hair back behind her ear.
“I know.”
“Uh…… But why are you talking so formally?”
“Why are you speaking to me so casually?”
Bewilderment spread over Luke’s face. Thomas, who had been blankly overhearing the children, went wide-eyed in the same instant. Elliot drew a quiet breath, took Anna by the shoulder, and led her into a corner.
“Anna. Are you upset?”
“No.”
“Then why were you like that with Luke?”
“Like what?”
“You snapped at him for speaking casually.”
“He spoke casually the moment he saw me. And I didn’t snap.”
He passed a hand over his face and tried to sort his thoughts. This was his own fault, for overestimating her social sense.
“Anna. People your own age sometimes speak casually even when they’ve only just met. It doesn’t mean he’s looking down on you.”
“Friends?”
“Yes. Friends. You do know what a friend is?”
Her brow crumpled all at once, as if to ask how he could imagine she would not.
“But he isn’t my friend.”
“Not yet. He could become one.”
“Why?”
“……Because you’re about the same age?”
The explanation did not seem to satisfy her in the least. She pressed her mouth shut and stared down at her feet, then lifted her head, just barely, and asked.
“Then are you and I friends?”
The question caught him off guard. He was silent for a moment.
“No.”
She had been looking up at him, steady and unblinking, and slowly thorns came into her eyes. She passed him coldly, went straight to Luke, and spoke without preamble.
“Starting today, you’re my friend.”
“Uh — uh?”
Luke fumbled, flustered, then hurriedly nodded. Anna turned, plainly so that Elliot would see, and glared at him in triumph. Where no one would notice, he swallowed a sigh.
Supper was a pleasure.
The steak with which Thomas showed off a skill he had not used in some time was a world apart from the food Elliot had learned by watching over an army cook’s shoulder. Anna’s eyes shone, and her fork never rested. She looked fastidious enough, and yet she ate whatever was set before her without complaint. Thomas, who had been thoroughly uncomfortable at the presence of a strange girl, found in the end that he could not help being fond of her.
“Good heavens. Where did a pretty little thing like this come from?”
Maggie, Thomas’s wife, had especially taken one look at Anna, tucked her close at her side, and would not let her go. Fortunately Anna did not seem to mind the attention.
Patting his full stomach, Thomas fumbled a cigarette loose and murmured.
“Amy got married last year and moved to Solimers. Show Maggie a girl that age and she thinks of Amy. She’s beside herself if she can’t press one more thing on her.”
“You were a year or two older than Amy, weren’t you.”
“I suppose so.”
“You rascal. You and Amy both, already grown like this.”
Thomas set the cigarette between his lips and rumpled Elliot’s hair without mercy. Elliot laughed and dodged the hand. Across the table, Maggie, who had been feeding Anna one thing after another, suddenly glared.
“Take that smoke outside.”
“I was just about to……”
Thomas mumbled and got up, slow about it. A tap on the shoulder told Elliot to come along, and he slipped out after him.
It was early evening, darkness settling by degrees. The two of them came out the back door, sat side by side on the steps, set a light to the ends of their cigarettes, and drew the smoke in deep.
“Who is she.”
Elliot, who had been staring blankly into the empty air, turned to look at him. Through the pale drift of cigarette smoke, Thomas’s bushy-bearded face blurred, and faded.