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“Mmm… you’re the one who went out of your way to ask every planet you’ve visited to publish a copy of ‘As I’ve Written.’ Am I right?” The Yuque seer inquired, amusement thick in her voice. Stelle raised an eyebrow, feeling rather suspicious and unsafe in front of the one who was used to foreseeing the future.
“I’ve been meaning to ask, since you’re the one experiencing the planet hands-on,” she let her voice die down by the end. For once, she saw her faltering on her own line of question. “First, I must ask, did he really live in Amphoreus?” Stelle, confused as she was, gave her a nod. “Second, was the journey you experienced really like what it’s written?” Again, she gave her a nod. Feeling satisfied with her answers, Yao Guang revealed her true questions.
“Then…” she began. “Did he really look like this?” She asked as her hand showed a page of the book showing the familiar Deliverer’s, Phainon, illustration. What was with this row of questions? Was she confirming her information with facts? Was he a wanted person? Was Amphoreus in great debt to the Alliance? There was no way, right? They were and still are a nonexistent planet, how could they do that? Then, was she trying to match what she remembered with current information? Was she insomniac–
Amnesiac…?
Anemic?
…Whatever.
Stelle scratched the back of her head, clearly lost in the direction of conversation the enigmatic seer started. “Uhh… yeah? Why?” She simply replied.
Then the seer Yao Guang also felt unsure how to put her feelings to words. A couple of times Stelle saw her opening her mouth only to close it again before letting out a sigh. “It’s nothing. It’s just…” this was the first of everything to Stelle; the encounter with Yao Guang, seeing the seer herself losing her confidence, seeing herself getting anxious over Yao Guang’s question. Everything was unlike everything. Was this because she was on the land blessed by Aha?
Yao Guang cleared her throat. “Try looking at him,” Stelle obliged. She looked at Phainon’s illustration attentively, trying to memorize every curve on his face. “Then look at me,” she commanded again, to which Stelle obliged. She pulled her gaze upwards, towards the Yuque seer’s face. She once more tried to memorize every sharp and smooth edge of her face. This time, she tried really hard because this was the first time she met her. “Then look at him again,” she commanded again which Stelle followed albeit now feeling very confused. What was the reason the seer forced her to look at Phainon and her back and forth?
“Now, Stelle… look at me,” she said, which made the Nameless peel her gaze off of Phainon’s illustration. “Tell me, honestly, do you see a resemblance? Any?” Her question made Stelle cocked her eyebrows. Her confusion just got multiplied tenfold by that simple question.
She blinked once, then twice, then thrice before an answer came to her mind. “Of course–!” But her answer died down as immediately as it came. Upon further inspection, they did look alike. Looking at Yao Guang’s face felt like looking at genderbent Phainon– minus the sky blue irises of course, but even then she did not lose the resemblance with her partner.
“...yeah…” Stelle mumbled. “Yeah… you do look alike, huh,” she added absent-mindedly, too awestruck with the uncanny resemblance between Phainon and the seer plus general of Yuque. She did not know what to do with this information. Should she joke about it? Should she ask if they were somehow relatives? Should she ask if Phainon bore the title of Deliverer too seriously? What should she do honestly?
“Uh… are you–” no, that was wrong. Joking about this situation felt wrong and out of place, she should not ask this. “Well, do you want me to ask him– let him know or?”
“It is all up to you. I just wanted to know whether he really looked like me– or the other way around, or was it just a mistake by the illustrator,” her confidence had now returned. “Then, see you next time,” she said before turning around, leaving the Nameless feeling confused but also struck with a new topic to talk to Phainon.
