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Zelkov’s greatest fear had caught up to him: he was bored.
Princess Ivy had given him a day off and she assured him that Kagetsu would be her aide for the day. Zelkov descended to his secret room, his sanctum if you will. The problem was that none of his pursuits were giving him enjoyment. There were no candles to be made nor alpaca-wool sweaters to be knitted. No letters from Brodian children addressed to Father Winter, no medicines to be pounded. No assignments to cook at the café or anything of that sort since it was the Solmese’ turn this week to handle domestic duties at the Somniel. There was nothing for Zelkov to do except to walk aimlessly about the Somniel.
He happened to walk by his statue of the Divine One first, followed by the wyvern stables where Rosado and Hortensia were. (The thought crossed his mind about trying to find Ivy but she seemed to be serious about not wanting him to work today.) Most of the others seemed to be hanging out with friends: at the cafe, at the pool, in the orchard. Zelkov was practically the only one who was alone. Until Yunaka noticed him at the shops, that is.
“Hiya papaya, Zelkov!”
“What are you doing out here alone?”
“Oh, nothing much. Just…” Yunaka nervously giggled. “Waiting to see what the best outfits from the Boutique are!”
Zelkov furrowed his eyebrows. “It seems to me that you are bored right now.”
“You got me,” Yunaka said.
“I have a problem of my own,” Zelkov continued. “I’ve ran out of things to kill time with.”
Yunaka let out an exaggerated gasp. “You’ve ran out of things to kill time with? What a travesty!”
“I have been walking around the Somniel all day in search of a new pursuit.”
“Why don’t we sit down like a normal person? Y’know, to relax and things like that?”
Zelkov sighed and reluctantly followed Yunaka to a table. He was so bored that when Yunaka returned with a coffee for each of them, he was starting to bite his fingernails. Thankfully for the health of his fingertips, he stopped when Yunaka mentioned that she liked coffee. (Solm’ national drink proved to be quite divisive on the Somniel.) Zelkov revealed that he had tried brewing coffee before but his had been too bitter; the coffee brewed by Bunet today, meanwhile, had just the right balance of flavors. Then after they had finished their drinks, Yunaka had a suggestion.
“Have you ever heard of the knife game?”
“What is this game that you speak of?”
“Gimme one of your knives and I’ll show you!”
Zelkov pulled a knife out of his sleeve, a smaller one, and gave it to Yunaka. She spread out her fingers and showed Zelkov how to play the game, slowly stabbing the knife in between each finger and then increasing the speed.
“Now you try!”
Unsurprisingly, Zelkov proved to be very skilled as he was able to play the game much faster than Yunaka could. By the time he started playing with different patterns, a crowd gathered around him to watch. He finished after completing a new “backwards pattern” to the cheers of those watching.
“Yunaka, I must thank you for giving me a new hobby to pass the time,” Zelkov said as he handed the knife to her. “It will prove to be very useful to explore new techniques with this game.”
The knife game proved to be a fad that took over the Somniel for the next few days. It was a miracle that nobody was injured since most people were not former assassins who were skilled with knives. Things died down after Zelkov had done a trick which even Yunaka could not do, that being doing the knife game on someone else who happened to wear an outfit with a giant spike on the back of her glove. But even if Zelkov proved to have the upper hand, he and Yunaka still occasionally met to, among other things, compete at the knife game.