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Laventon’s first instinct, bizarrely enough, was to wonder how in the world was the girl not cold.
He would chide himself, later, for having such a bland, mundane reaction to an extraordinary event, but he had no way of knowing the child might be a foreigner, upon first glance. What he saw was simply this – a little girl alone on the beach, wading through water up to her ankles, rifting through the damp sand with clumsy hands and wearing flimsy, light clothing that left her legs and arms almost entirely bare. It shouldn’t have been surprising that he might worry about her catching a chill, all in all; the coast on that side of Hisui might not have been as freezing as some areas in the hinterland, but the weather was still a bit nippy all the same, and the stranger wasn’t even remotely dressed for it.
Laventon’s second instinct, however, once his brain had finally kicked into gear, was to try and coax her away from the shore, because while maritime science wasn’t part of his field of study, he was pretty sure a child so young could drown in only a few inches of water, and he wasn’t sure he’d be able to mount a valiant rescue in that instance, besides.
“Hello there,” he called out, not unkindly, but still, apparently, in a sudden enough manner to startle up in surprise. “Are you lost, my dear? Where are your parents?”
The girl stared at him with big, dark eyes, her hands coated in grime and saltwater and her mouth resolutely shut. She couldn’t be any older than three, four at the very most, which was at once both frightening and relieving; no child so small should have been able to stray very far from their guardians, meaning that their search ought to have been an easy task, but she was out there on her own, with no adult to be seen in the vicinity. One had to wonder how long she must have been there- why, one had to wonder how long she might have remained there, if Laventon hadn’t had to rush out to herd his Pokémon back to Jubilife Village when he did.
Said Pokémon were now peaceably gathered around him, the little rascals, looking at the newcomer with curiosity writ all over their snouts. She returned their gaze easily enough, watching the four of them in open wonder, but she didn’t seem very inclined to answer Laventon’s query, so he made another attempt, leaning down and offering a tentative smile. “Did you come down from the village, perhaps? I can walk you back there, if you don’t know the way.”
The silent treatment persisted – if it was indeed a conscious choice, that was. If anything, the girl appeared more confused with every word she heard, her eyes widening and her lower lip jutting out into a pout, and there was still no one around those parts calling for her, but...she couldn’t have come all the way out there on her lonesome, could she? Someone would have stopped her. They had guards at the gates for this very reason.
There was no other explanation, though. Where else could she have walked out of, if not Jubilife Village?
Unless...
“Never mind that, then,” the professor declared out loud, shaking himself out of a perilous train of thought, and reached out carefully, extending a hand towards the girl. “What do you say we go look for your folks, mh? They must be quite worried, if they don’t know where you went.”
She stared at the proffered hand as though it were a strange beast, no sound coming out of her lips, but after a moment she seemed to make up her mind and took it in her own, albeit a bit gingerly; her skin was sticky and clammy to the touch, not to mention dreadfully cold, and yet it comforted Laventon somewhat, to know that she wouldn’t be able to dash out into the waves on a whim anymore. At the same time, a movement in the corner of his eye made him turn around in a surge of panic, thinking the Pokémon might have ran off again, but he shouldn’t have feared – they crowded around their strange new friend almost eagerly, instead, Cyndaquil at the front and Rowlet on the side, Oshawott reaching up with a fin to tug at her free hand, which startled a shrill, excited giggle out of her.
Well. That was a most interesting show of companionship if he’d ever seen one – he ought to dwell on their behavior a little further, once he’d returned the child to her actual caretakers.
Now, however, he was on a mission, and he wouldn’t be swayed from his purpose so easily, no siree. “Righto! Off we go, then! Don’t let go of my hand, if you please- you probably run a lot faster than me, dear girl, and I’d never be able to catch up.”
He only hoped he wouldn’t need to run away from the village, either, once Captain Cyllene had caught wind of him bringing an unknown person inside their well-guarded domains without asking for permission first.
“And you say you found her on Prelude Beach?”
Laventon nodded energetically, though there was also a touch of sheepishness in his expression, like a child caught with his hand in a jar of Combee honey. “I did. But I thought it would be too risky to leave her there alone- I haven’t seen many wild Pokémon resurface this close to the village yet, but even a single one could be dangerous to someone so defenseless.”
Cyllene resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of her nose and sigh, feeling the beginning of a headache prickling at the back of her skull. “I see. Has no one stepped forward to claim her, then?”
“Not a soul. Though- ah, forgive me, I know I’m the last person who should say this, but I don’t remember ever seeing her among any of the Galaxy Team families, before today.”
The problem was, Cyllene didn’t, either. She often prided herself of being able to keep track of all the comings and goings of Jubilife Village, even better than Commander Kamado, who tended to be too busy to entertain himself with the smaller details, but the girl’s face was utterly foreign to her, not awakening even the slightest flicker of recognition. This wasn’t one of their own children, that much was abundantly clear.
That, however, begged the question of who she might actually be. Only two native clans resided in Hisui, that the captain knew of, and while the Pearl Clan’s settlement was situated far off into the mountainside, the Diamond Clan was close enough for, say, a family of traders to pass by and get separated from their youngest member; except that the child’s clothing was a startling sight, too, with nothing in common to either clan’s traditional garb, so that ruled both options out for the time being. Not even the Gingko Guild merchants in situ had recognized her, and some of them did have families somewhere, not to mention the multiple places they’d visited in their travels.
No, there wasn’t any straightforward answer to this riddle. Not that Cyllene would stop looking for one, but- she’d have liked for her job to be made easier by the world around her, every now and then.
For her part, the stranger appeared to be quite clueless of the ruckus she had caused. She’d been ushered to the med bay as soon as Laventon had brought her in, delivered straight into Pesselle’s expert hands, but there didn’t seem to be anything strictly wrong with her – the head of the Medical Corps had summarily cleaned up her arms and legs and wrapped her in one of the spare blankets, but had found no injury or trace of neglect, and all of her gentle questions had been met with a child’s puzzled, vacant gaze. In a similar fashion, the girl had had no reaction to being offered food or drink, though when Pesselle had handed her a cup of water she had gulped it down greedily and raised it towards the woman once more, mumbling something unintelligible and yet all too clearly asking for more.
Honestly, Cyllene was starting to wonder whether this girl might be speaking a foreign language. It would have made sense, seeing that she gave no sign of understanding what she was told, and it was getting increasingly hard to decipher the things she said, but where on earth could a small child that didn’t speak the common tongue have sprouted from – bypassing the Galaxy Team’s settlement entirely and with zero parental guidance, no less?
“Professor?” Pesselle’s voice broke her out of her pondering unexpectedly – the younger woman had drawn close enough to be heard despite lowering her voice, though she kept sneaking glances back to her newest patient. “Do you think you could call back your Pokémon now? They’re not being a nuisance yet, but if they disrupt the nurses’ work...”
She trailed off, but Cyllene followed her gaze all the same, as did Laventon himself. Ah, yes. That, too, was a peculiar addition to the whole news: far from being intimidated by the professor’s strange creatures, the girl looked pretty delighted by their presence, and they seemed to be reciprocating her enthusiasm, curling around her as she dispensed clumsy pats and scratches over their down heads. She was playing with the Rowlet perched on her lap at that very moment, actually, giggling extatically every time it reacted to her prodding with a soft, warm coo – most children in the village would have been instinctively wary of an unfamiliar beast straying so close, never mind toying with it so freely while being somewhat skittish towards other human beings. It was unnerving to say the least, and a troubling addition to the mystery of her presence, most of all.
Would Kamado react well to this sudden, inexplicable visitor? Cyllene doubted he would be particularly callous towards a parentless child barely past the toddling stage, but she knew how risky it was to stretch resources past their breaking point, as well. Perhaps if one of the migrating families were to take charge of her- some of the first settlers, maybe, who already fit into the hardworking machinery of the village-
“Of course, Miss Pesselle,” Laventon replied, politely. “I’ll see if I can get them to return to my office, but, er...Do you truly think that would be wise? It looks like they’re doing wonders in keeping her calm. Maybe one of them could stay with her, at least until we can locate her parents.”
Pesselle pursed her lips, clearly unconvinced, but after what appeared to be a long inner debate she sighed, defeated. “Alright. I suppose...Rowlet, is it? Could stick with her, since they’ve already warmed up to each other. But whatever it does, it’ll be your responsibility, Professor. I need to think of my patients’ well-being, first.”
“Thank you, my dear. It’s much appreciated.”
The obvious, dreadful follow-up question lingered in the air between them for a while, though no one dared speak it aloud. It was such a blatant issue to be almost ridiculous, but neither Pesselle, nor the professor, nor Cyllene, ashamed as she would have been to admit it, wanted to be the person to wonder what if we can’t find her parents within earshot of the child, even if she didn’t seem to be capable of understanding their words.
Mercifully, a distraction stumbled in before they were forced to do so – a distraction in the shape of Rei, as it turned out to be. The boy stood awkwardly in the entrance for a moment, somewhat self-conscious under the three adult’s stares fixed on him, but then he appeared to steel himself and stepped forward with a determined stance, clutching a small bundle to his chest.
“Yes, Rei?” Cyllene asked, more brusquely than she’d meant to. “Anything to report?”
Rei straightened up at that, instinctively standing to attention. “Sorry, Captain, I know I was supposed to stick around, but- well, Professor Laventon mentioned that the kid wasn’t eating, and I didn’t have any orders, so...”
He moved to untie the bundle in his hands, gently pulling the flaps open before raising it triumphantly for all to see.
“I was wondering- maybe she’ll change her mind for Beni’s potato mochi?”
The girl did, in fact, like Beni’s potato mochi.
She also seemed to like Rei a lot more than everyone else she’d met thus far, as well, likely because he didn’t look nearly as old or as intimidating as the rest. His pride would have taken a blow from that idea in any other occasion, but it was hard to be upset at a tiny little thing that grinned a gap-toothed grin at you and repeatedly tried to grasp at your scarf and hat with clumsy fingers, to be quite honest. He could endure being considered akin to a fellow child for a few minutes, so long as it kept her quiet and she didn’t smear his uniform with crumbs.
At least he’d made a better first impression than Commander Kamado, though. They should have expected, perhaps, that a big, imposing man might frighten a tiny thing like that, all tangled hair and scrawny limbs, and of course they couldn’t be entirely sure of what she was thinking, but- it had still been unnerving to watch her face crumple in dismay at the sight, all but gaping at the newcomer in the med bay. Her nonsensical, high-pitched mumbling had petered down within seconds, and she’d burrowed herself as deeply as possible among Rowlet’s downy feathers right afterwards, the bird Pokémon being then huddled against her chest.
Even more unsettling had been the commander’s own reaction, after a fashion. It was hard to get his stern facade to crack on any given day, as Rei was well aware of, and they ought to regard it as a miracle that he hadn’t challenged the girl to hand-to-hand combat yet, but there had been something odd about the look in his steely eyes, a clouded, guarded expression that was all but impossible to decipher. It had sent a subtle shiver down the boy’s spine, for all that he kept privately chiding himself for acting so stupid.
Nevertheless, Commander Kamado had entrusted Captain Cyllene to handle the situation accordingly, only ordering her to inform the clan leaders of their predicament before leaving the room – the man had been receptive of her doubts, but he’d also insisted that they prove with the utmost certainty that the girl didn’t belong to either clan before making any rash decision. Soon after, Pesselle had started chiming in with pointed, not-so-subtle comments about how much rest the people in her care might, and Professor Laventon had herded Rei out with some haste, the captain assuring them that she would do the same once she’d made certain of a few things.
The girl had seemed distressed to see them go, though most of it had to be the chaos of her situation increasing at every turn, and she’d calmed down some once the professor had clumsily showed her that Rowlet would remain by her side even with night fast approaching; and still, Rei was starting to feel a bit sorry for her. He couldn’t imagine how terrifying it had to be, alone in a hall full of a strangers, where the most comforting creature was a wild, fluffy animal – he’d given her a hearty wave on his way out, because that had to be part of some sort of universal language, and had paired it with a reassuring grin, but it hadn’t been genuine, not in full.
Hopefully Lord Adaman or Lady Irida would recognize her, and then she would get to go home. It would be a relief to find out how she’d wandered off so far, no doubt, and with some luck the matter would solve itself and they would return to their already challenging daily routine, maybe with a funny story to tell in the coming months: but Rei feared he was going to be a bit sad to see her go, despite his valiant efforts.
After all, he thought, he was starting to like that little stranger, headache to puzzle out that she was for now.
Adaman had brought Mai with him, on his trip to answer Commander Kamado’s summon.
In his defense, nowhere in the message had that captain lady specified that the leaders ought to come alone, and Mai was still his protector in many ways and his right hand woman in most others, though he now surpassed her in both height and strength. He trusted her to aid him in identifying this mysterious kid if possible, and she had years of experience in wrangling rambunctious children at her back, as she liked to remind Adaman far more often than needed – she was the right person for the job, in his humble opinion.
Irida, it turned out, had followed the same line of thought; except her own weighing of options must have taken a completely different direction, for when she finally appeared, it was with Warden Ingo shadowing her step, like a glowering Staraptor of pray.
True to his time-saving nature, Adaman had gotten there first – he hadn’t been able to recognize the girl, to his dismay, and neither had Mai, but he still hoped they might both be of assistance in tracking down her family, despite the laughable amount of information they had. The kid had been mesmerized by his colorful hair and patterned coat, too, and he’d indulged this fascination with a chuckle, which was why Irida’s arrival found him dawdling the little foreigner on his knee, amusing himself with her fumbling attempts at grasping his Leader finery.
“Took you long enough,” he greeted his Pearl Clan counterpart, regaling her with an impish grin. “I was starting to think the commander’s little guest would be a woman grown by the time you came in.”
Irida rolled her eyes, but she didn’t deign him with a response, instead turning to the side to address Captain Cyllene, who’d been watching the newcomers with a stern gaze. “Thank you for summoning us, Captain. I hope we can provide some aid in this matter.”
The older woman nodded rigidly in acknowledgement. The Pokémon professor and a dark-haired boy in Survey corps garb were flanking her on both sides, looking somewhat lost, but she was as curt and professional as ever, if not more. “Thank you for agreeing to come, Lady Irida. And you as well, Warden.”
“Ma’am.” The man inclined his head slightly, touching the brim of his hat. “Lord Adaman.”
“Your message said that the child wasn’t speaking any language you knew,” Irida continued, clasping her hands before herself. “I thought that perhaps Warden Ingo might lend us a hand- his mother tongue was quite different from our own, when he reached our land. Maybe he’ll understand what she’s saying, even if we can’t. No child of our clan has been reported missing thus far, anyway, so it’d make sense for her to be an outsider.”
“I see. You’re right, it was a wise choice on your part.”
Adaman glanced down at the slight weight still resting on his knee, his brow furrowing in puzzlement. He hadn’t entertained the notion that the girl might have come from that far, yet – although plausible, it didn’t really seem likely, not with those stubby little legs of hers. And Warden Ingo was a strange fellow, besides, who remembered little of his past and talked about it even less; if he had anything in common with the child, surely she would show at least a hint of the same oddities, wouldn’t she?
Perhaps feeling his eyes on her, the girl looked up, meeting his gaze. She studied him gravely for a moment, then scrunched up her nose and stuck her tongue out at Adaman, which startled a laugh out of him – nope, this was an utterly normal kid, foreigner or not. He would have gotten the same reaction from any young members of his clan, without a shadow of doubt.
“Lord Adaman, if I may?”
Warden Ingo was deceptively quiet – he’d drawn closer without Adaman even noticing, soft-soled like a Glameow. The younger man blinked at him, a bit stunned, then nodded, adjusting his position so the girl on his lap could face the rest of the room. “Of course. Be my guest.”
The kid peeked owlishly at the warden as he crouched down in front of her, not breaking eye contact. “Hello, miss,” he greeted her, polite but steady. “How are you?”
There was no response, so the man spoke again in a string of words that only sounded vaguely familiar to Adaman, his voice raising upwards at the end as if with another question; and that, it turned out, was enough to break the dam. The girl perked up near instantly, leaning forward with such verve that Adaman feared she would topple over, and a stream of unintelligible chatter poured out of her mouth, catching the warden by surprise and making him rear back instinctively. Nevertheless, he appeared to recover remarkably quickly, and started nodding along to whatever she was saying, only interjecting briefly every now and then.
Irida looked positively flabbergasted at the turn of events, as did everyone else in the hall; Adaman would have poked fun at her for it, had he not been feeling just about the same. When the girl raised her hands expectantly, pushing Ingo to lift her in his arms, it felt almost natural, a logical consequence to the chaos of the last few minutes.
“She says her name is Akari,” the warden announced after a moment, once the kid’s frenzy had been quelled. “You were right, my lady- she did understand me, when I asked. She’s not really sure where she is or who we all are, but it seems we could have come from the same place, if we speak the same language.”
“That’s a relief,” Captain Cyllene commented, having seemingly sorted herself out much more swiftly than the rest of them. “Does she know where her family is?”
Warden Ingo shook his head. “I’m afraid not. She only remembers falling down from...somewhere, and then the Pokémon making noises around her. She hasn’t mentioned her parents, but I believe it must be troubling for her, to be so far from her home station. She says she’s only three.” He paused, his composed expression twitching ever so slightly. “My apologies. Three and a half. She was very particular about the half.”
“But that can’t be,” the professor cut in, stammering. “I found her on the seashore, and she’s not injured anywhere. Where could she have possibly fallen from?”
“That I cannot say, but I don’t believe she’s lying. Her memories could be spotty, like mine still are to this day- maybe with time they’ll return, and help us reunite her with her family.”
The girl – Akari, apparently – tugged at the lapel of his coat, babbling some more in his direction. The warden nodded gravely at her insistence, then returned his attention to the other adults, raising an eyebrow. “She’d also like to know where her friend is- a green and white friend, perhaps? She says they weren’t there when she got up, and no one’s telling her anything.”
“That’d be Rowlet, I think,” the Survey Corps boy chimed in, scoffing. “Miss Pesselle sent him back to the professor’s lab this morning. ’S a bit hard to explain, when she doesn’t understand what I’m saying in the first place.”
“We can worry about that later,” Adaman said, feeling himself grow too restless for his own liking. “What are we supposed to do with her, if not even she knows how she got here? It was your people who found her, Captain Cyllene- is she going to stay here with the Galaxy Team? Will your commander agree to that?”
The woman pressed her lips together, delaying her reply. That struck Adaman as odd – he’d always envisioned the Galaxy captain as someone with a prompt response constantly on the tip of her tongue, especially where her team’s order and functionality were involved. He’d have expected her to already have an emergency plan set aside to fix the issue, whatever the answers either clan leader would give her.
And still, she appeared hesitant. No, not hesitant; concerned, almost, the faintest shadow of doubt darkening her expression – it was gone near as soon as Adaman had noticed it, but it had been there, he was certain of it. If nothing else, it seemed that the mention of Commander Kamado had elicited that reaction out of here, which was...strange, to say the least. The way he’d seen it thus far, the two formed an unbreakable barrier, shielding their team from dangers through a wall of foreign customs.
Then she sighed minutely, her customary closed off look returning at last. “Straight to the point as usual, Lord Adaman. But you do not have to worry- I’m sure we will be able to find a satisfactory solution for everyone involved, this child most of all.”
That was hardly a clear-cut answer, and Captain Cyllene seemed to be aware of it herself. Looking around the room, no one looked particularly convinced by it – nor Irida, not Mai, not even the professor, who had to be aware of anything wrong within the inner circle of Galaxy Team. The only person blissfully unaware of everyone else’s discomfort was, ironically enough, little Akari herself, too busy trying to snatch Warden Ingo’s hat off his head to notice the adults’ distress, but that did not make it any less palpable to those who surrounded her.
Perhaps there was nothing to worry about, though. It was an uncommon spot to find themselves in, one that had caught them all off-guard; they would certainly make arrangements and settle down in a matter of days, and this little mite would be integrated among the other Galaxy Team kids seamlessly, no questions asked, and each one of them would return to their camps without a trouble in the world.
And still, Adaman thought, surprising himself, he was starting to feel that he should consider making Akari a ward of the Diamond Clan, just to pull her out of this stifling cloud of discomfort. He was finding it almost unbearable, and he was a man grown – it couldn’t possibly be any easier for a small girl who should have been still clinging to her mother’s legs, rather than to a Pearl Clan warden. She hadn’t even asked for her mother, instead looking for her Pokémon “friend”, out of everything at hand.
Nay, this would be a tough Magikarp to fry, he was just about certain of it. He just hoped none of them would fall in the pan with it, if push came to shove.