"Obsession"
by Blackjack Gabbiani
Chapter SixteenI was dreaming...
Only bits and pieces do I remember, but what remains could have just as easily been lost had I not heard Asaph's voice cutting through the veil. I started, jolted awake with a gasp, but he steadied me.
He was sitting next to me, pulled up entirely onto the bed, and he put his hand to my chest. "Jiri, it's time to wake up. Kuri's nearly finished with lunch, and she hates to be kept waiting."
I sighed, trying in vain to recover the memories. But what remained was enough. "I dreamt that mama brought me here."
"Oh?" He laid down facing me, head on the pillow, as though we were school chums at a slumber party. "She wanted you to be a Collector?"
"Yes...yes, I think she did."
He smiled. "I'm glad. Your father doesn't understand such things, but I like to think differently of your mother."
"As do I..." I trailed off, thoughts of her still in my mind.
"Are you feeling better?"
"A little," I confessed, then asked without thinking "What were your parents like?"
He blinked, and I hoped he wasn't insulted. But then he laughed, a hearty sound. "My parents? Well, they were quite wealthy, as you know. They were both Collectors themselves; well, they were by the time I was born." He patted my hand, which lay limply next to my head. "They were very upright people, but very...understanding." And he trailed off, looking pensive.
I decided against pressing further, and closed my hand over his.
"Tell me about your mother, Jiri," he whispered, moving a few inches closer. "She must have been wonderful."
Tell him about mama? My mind raced, trying to think of where to begin. "She was...yes, she was wonderful," I echoed, mad at myself for my unoriginality. "She was tall, taller than pa--my father, with long hair, and she carried herself like a woman of the world."
"Like a society woman?"
I shook my head. "Like someone who knew the secrets of creation. She always smiled as though she knew something the rest of us didn't." As I spoke, my memories of her came to life in my mind and I could see her clearly, more so than I could since she'd been gone, and I could feel tears sliding down my face.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to distress you. I was merely curious, that's all." He gave my hand a gentle squeeze. "How are your studies?"
I had been taking remote lessons a few days a week. The work was simple and I always finished it quickly. "Boring," I sniffed, wiping at my eyes.
"Anything you're taking an interest in? It's always good to have a hobby, you know."
Working up a smile, I shifted to face him, my hand still in his. "I like learning about science. How things work and all." People were confusing, even frightening. Hard facts were where I found my comfort. They didn't change, and they couldn't turn against you. But for the time, I could put my faith in Asaph.
He returned the smile as he sat up and released my hand. "A worthwhile endeavor. Always good to appreciate the concrete things in life as well as the artistic. Which reminds me, you're here to see my acquisition, aren't you?"
Of course, I had nearly forgotten, and I rose with him. "Yes I am," I said, swinging my legs over the edge of the bed to stand up. The nightshirt I wore must have come to his feet on him, because it fell to the floor plus several more inches on me. I had to pull it up, bunching the fabric in both hands, and he laughed.
"I suppose I should have given you something shorter. Well, I'll go see if she's ready with your clothes." He withdrew from the room, and I sat on the bed, having to pull myself back onto it.
I was getting taller, and indeed, everyone at the factory had said that they could see a difference in me just since I had arrived last spring, but I still felt so small when surrounded by Asaph's opulence. If I was indeed to be a Collector, I would have to familiarize myself with things of elegance. And my clothing would have to be one of the first things to change. What I called my finery was nothing compared even to what Asaph wore to bed. This garment I found myself in, although simple cotton, was softer than anything I owned.
Lost for a moment, I was interrupted by Asaph returning to the room. "We're in luck, she was just headed down the hallway with them!" He patted the stack of neatly folded clothes. "Fresh from the dryer," he said, handing them to me. "I'll be in the hallway. Do hurry, I can't wait to show you my acquisition."
I dressed quickly and headed out of the room, eager to see whatever it was he had to show me. What could it be?
He led me to the back of the house, where a servant opened the door to the backyard. There was a newly-laid water structure there in a clearing. It wasn't very big, but it was large enough to hold an enormous snakelike sea creature. As Asaph drew closer, he raised an arm, and the pokémon lowered its head to him. "Jiri," he said, gently scratching the beast under the chin, "meet Milotic."
I had seen Milotics in books and on television before and was never that impressed, but seeing one in person was breathtaking. It was much more graceful than I had thought, and the pink of its fins seemed to glow in the shaded light. The blue scales on its tail shared that quality, and the creature seemed to be singing softly as Asaph turned his attention back to me.
"What do you think?" he asked me, smiling proudly. "It cost me quite a pretty penny, but I think it was worth it."
"It's lovely," I said, taking a step closer. Milotic reared up and spread the fins on its tail, its song changing note to a harsher key.
He raised his hand and struck the creature, not very hard, but enough to cause a resounding noise. "You don't act like that," he snapped. "Be nice." It slunk back, turning again towards him with its head down. "That's better."
Tentatively, I held my hand up to Milotic's neck. It didn't move, so I patted it quickly and withdrew. It was scaly but smooth, and although my hand hadn't lingered, I got a fair feeling of the beast. "It's nice," I said, words failing me. "But are you sure it's all right to hit it like that?"
He laughed. "Jiri, pokémon are meant to take hits. A little slap from time to time keeps them in line."
I furrowed my brow in thought. "But papa always says to treat pokémon with kindness."
Asaph rested a hand on my shoulder and knelt down to my level. His hand was slick from touching the Milotic. "Jiri, is this the same father who said such unkind things about your mother just this very morning?"
A lump stuck in my throat and I swallowed it down as best I could. "Y...yes, true. But I've heard the same from others...I read an article about the regional champion, and he said--"
He cut me off with a raised hand. "Jiri, Jiri, that's for trainers, and we're not trainers. There's a world of difference between people like that and people like us. Pokémon aren't used for brute force in the world we build, they're like works of art to admire."
This confused me. "So, we keep them and do nothing with them? That doesn't seem fair."
He patted my shoulder again. "Jiri my boy, trainers keep them in stasis until they call them out for a beating. Here, we can give them the proper respect, as one would a great masterpiece." He returned to near Milotic and rubbed under one of the fins. "This beast would go to waste as a battler. It would only result in broken scales and the lack of any market value. One doesn't battle with a work of art; that's just silly."
I thought about that for a few moments. It made sense the way Asaph explained it, but why was such a view unpopular? I asked him.
"Well, people are taken in by the popular culture. They hear about strong battlers and want to emulate them with little regard for common sense." Milotic slowly drew away as he spoke, and he let it go with no acknowledgment. "If more people were like us..." He trailed off, sighing slightly. "But then, I'd hate for our profession to be filled with rank amateurs. Sully our reputation and all that."
That made sense too. I looked back up at Milotic, examining it. Every scale was in place, every fin set finely and gleaming. But as it splashed around in the pond, it met my gaze. Something in its eyes shone darkly, and I stepped back from it. There was in those eyes a glimpse of something wrong, something hideous. Malice? No, something else, something I couldn't discern.
"At any rate," Asaph interjected, disrupting my thoughts, "Kuri's bound to be waiting for us, and we can't keep her." He guided me inside before I could had time to reflect on what I'd seen.