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Interesting books
“You have many books here, Shulk,” Melia says as she walks along the large bookshelf that takes up nearly and entire wall of the lab, running a finger along the spines as the reads the titles.
The girl and her Bunnit
Experimenting with Ether – a Beginner’s Guide
Mumuni the Littlepon
Mobile Artillery – an Overlook into the Technological Advancements
Fifteen and one Nights – Love under the Stars
There are many books, a seemingly completely random collection of fact, fiction, history, children’s stories, and more adult books, the last ones thankfully only found on the uppermost shelves, well out of reach for anyone too young to read them.
“Hm?” Shulk makes a questioning sound as he pops his head from whatever box he’s investigating.
“Oh, right,” he says when he sees what she’s looking at. “Most of them are Dickson’s, but feel free to look at whatever you find interesting.”
“Thank you,” she says, picking out one of the children’s storybooks titled The Armu Who Loved. “I haven’t had the pleasure of reading Homs stories for many years.” Not since her mother had died.
“If you want to read more story books, I think Fiora has quite a few. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind loaning you some of them,” Shulk’s voice echoes from the large box he’s once again stuck his head into in search of machine parts.
“I will ask Fiora, when she has the time,” Melia says, flipping through the book in her hands. It’s a short book, adorably illustrated.
Their whole group of seven people have made a small trip to Colony 9. Partially because they felt it would be best they inform people about the Machina being on their side, so no-one would mistake them for Mechon and try to attack them. Partially to let the people meet Fiora and see she’s alive and well.
And, Melia suspects, partially because Shulk, Reyn, Fiora, and Dunban have all been just a little homesick and wanted to see their home Colony one more time before they go off to what might be their final battle against Egil, to stop him before he has a chance to destroy the Bionis.
Upon arriving in Colony 9, they had all been warmly and enthusiastically welcomed. Melia had been almost a bit overwhelmed. She’d never seen so many Homs in her life! She’s pretty sure she had stared at them almost as much as they had stared at her. Then, Shulk had started explaining everything, with Reyn and Dunban chiming in from time to time.
The people in the Colony had been surprisingly accepting of everything they’d been told. About the Faced Mechon being piloted by Homs with their memories erased, that the High Entia are not a myth and actually exist (here people were openly staring at Melia again), about there being machine-people living on Mechonis who are not the same as Mechon and actually very kind people, about Fiora being alive (to the sound of many cheers), and about how they now have to go put a stop to Egil’s plans before he destroys the Bionis and everything that lives on it.
The Homs had seemed terrified at the idea of the Bionis being destroyed, and rightfully so, but also seem to have a great deal of fate in their little group being able to stop it.
After talking to the people, their group had split up a bit, as everyone had something they wanted or needed to do. Reyn had grabbed Riki and dragged him off to try what he’d claimed to be “the best curry in the world.” Sharla had gone to see if there were any sick or injured people she could help, as well as replenish their supplies. Dunban and Fiora had stayed to talk with people, most of whom seemed to want to hog all of her attention for themselves. Shulk had decided to go to the lab and Melia, who was getting a bit tired of people gawking at her, opted to go along with him.
Now she’s standing in the lab, looking through books, while Shulk is busy digging through boxes of scrap, weapons, chemicals, and who knows what else, in an attempt to figure out of any of it might be useful going forward.
Melia puts the book back on the shelf and keeps looking. A book titled High Entia – Myth or Reality? Catches her eye and she carefully takes it down, opening it on a random page. It’s an old, much-used book. The margins are filled with scribbles and several words or even whole sentences are crossed out in the text.
There are some pictures of what she thinks are supposed to be High Entia, as depicted from the imagination of someone given only a crude description. Their wings have been drawn on their backs, most are depicted with long golden hair, and some even have four arms. These have also all been crossed out.
Next to one of the pictures, the words the wings are on their heads, not their backs are scribbled in messy handwriting.
Intrigued, Melia flips through the pages of the book. Each of them seems to be filled with scribbles and corrections to the original text. Some of the things written in the book are silly, some downright ridiculous, and nearly all completely wrong. Clearly, whoever wrote it has never actually met, or even seen, a High Entia.
“Oh, you found that one,” Shulk’s sudden comment startles Melia slightly, and she almost drops the book. When she looks back at Shulk, he’s straightening up from the nearest box, holding a metal contraption of some sort.
“It’s one of Dickson’s old books,” he says, gesturing to the book she’s holding.
“Is he the one who made all these notes?” Melia asks. She doesn’t know the man well, or at all really, but she also doubts there’s anyone else who could have done it.
“Yeah,” Shulk nods. “What do you think?”
“I think,” Melia says slowly, “that he seems to know quite a bit more about the High Entia than whoever actually wrote it.”
“It’s accurate, then?” Shulk asks, putting down the thing he’s holding on a table as he pulls a new box close to himself. “He sometimes says he should write his own book on the subject, but with “proper information instead of that heap of absolute nonsense” as he put it,” Shulk says. “He never actually got around to it, though. He’d just find a new project to work on and completely forget about it.”
“It is mostly accurate,” Melia admits, flipping through the pages again. She hadn’t really expected a Homs to know so much about High Entia. “But some of the information is a bit out of date.” She points at a note in the margin that says Flowers called Mystic Dahlia commonly used for tea and other drinks. “For example, these flowers have not been used commonly by High Entia for nearly fifty years.”
“Huh,” Shulk says, then shrugs as he dives into the new box. “Guess he can’t be right about everything.”
“Evidently not,” Melia agrees, but doesn’t try to further the conversation, as Shulk’s attention is now completely focused on the contents of this new box. Judging by the sound of it, the thing is filled with glass.
Melia turns back to the book. Underneath the scribbles and corrections, she manages to make out some of the original text. She almost laughs out loud at some of the strange and outrageous claims, such as ones that say High Entia live in houses of living tree, decorated with precious gems and jewels, the ones that say there are rivers of gold flowing where they live, or the ones that believe High Entia can turn invisible and use this to fly all around the Bionis to spy on unsuspecting Homs.
“Hey, Melia?” Shulk asks for her attention. Melia closes the book and places it back in the shelf.
“Yes?” she asks, turning to look at Shulk. He’s holding an Ether Crystal in his hand, a small smooth one that glimmers in a deep, emerald green colour.
“Do you think Fiora might like this?” he asks, holding the crystal between his fingers and looks at it as it gleams in the light. “I could maybe make it into a necklace or something,” he continues in a thoughtful voice as he turns it from side to side.
“Yes,” Melia says, looking at the crystal. “I believe she would like it.” She looks at Shulk, who’s eyes seem to be sparkling with excitement. “It would go very nicely with her eyes,” Melia adds after thinking about it for a moment. The emerald crystal would do a lovely job at bringing out Fiora’s green eyes.
“Oh, also,” Shulk says, picking up something else from the box. “I thought maybe you would like this other one?” He holds out another Ether Crystal, this one a deep ocean blue. “I thought it would suit you,” he adds after a moment.
“Thank you,” Melia says as she accepts the crystal. The surface is smooth and cool, and she can feel the tiny amount of ether inside it. Not enough to really be useful for anything, but still there, nonetheless.
“Are you sure?” she asks, just to be certain, though she doesn’t really think Shulk is anything but exactly that.
“Of course,” he says with a smile. “They’ve been sitting in that box for nearly ten years now. I think it’s better if they go to someone who can appreciate them.”
“I will take good care of it,” Melia promises, holding the crystal with both hands, as though afraid to lose it. “And I’m sure Fiora will appreciate hers too,” she adds.
“Yeah,” Shulk says, closing his hand around the green crystal.
“Hey Melia, do you want to help me with this last box?” He suddenly asks, gesturing to the box in question. “We can go find the others after, and maybe get something to eat.”
“Very well,” she agrees, tucking the crystal in her pocket, before they both get to work.