Chapter Text
"it's been a long time since I've had guests over to my room, I'm quite excited to show you around." Simeon's gentle voice echoed through the brick hallway, his claws tapping on the pavement. Trailing behind him was Elias, towering over him.
"It's a little dark, though, are you sure you're okay with that?" He turned to the tall figure behind him, his round glasses subtly reflecting light.
"It's quite alright," Elias assured him. "This is my first visit to a 'friend's' residence, I'm somewhat excited." He added. Was that a hint of embarrassement?
"It is?"
"Yes, unfortunately I don't really know what I'm supposed to do while visiting. When I visit someone else's house, they're usually a client and I'm there to do business. However, there is no business to be made this time so.."
"Ah don't worry about that, I have board games, card games, and maybe a few books you might be interested in." He said eagerly
"What kind of books?" Elias asked curiously, he's learned many new things since he's entered the college, there's a chance he'd learn something new from the books here aswell.
"Mmm, mostly novels, romance and fantasy, sci-fi,"
"That sounds interesting, I'd like to try, should you permit me."
"Of course! I have a few recommendations, oh, I also have a plant encyclopedia that I don't use anymore, and ah, hmmm, a book on astronomy."
"Astronomy? That sounds very familiar, what is the subject of its inquiry?" He hummed thoughtfully
"It's the study of everything beyond Earth's atmosphere, like planets, stars, hmmm, solar systems.. I don't know much about it since it's not my expertise, it's just a hand-me-down from someone I knew." Simeon explained
"Stars.." He echoed
They were now exiting the shadowy tunnel and entering the administration hall, the moonlight shone from the glass ceiling decorated with intricate designs and through the large tree, making it dapple onto the pavement, giving it an otherworldly feel. Small lights dotted the sky and glittered confidently.
Elias paused in the middle of the large column and stared up at the sky projection, "Elias?" glanced back to see why his friend had suddenly stopped
"Might I request that borrowing that book?" Elias he queried, still gazing up at the glass ceiling.
It had been a few days since he and Lindel left his master's house out in the foggy sea, they were now in a place called "Lapland", where snow blanketed and concealed everything, leaving only mounds or tall white tree obelisks that reflected enough light to blind you. Sitting beside a warm campfire with a boiling pot of soup above it, he noticed it was twilight now and he could see the small faint pinpricks of light starting to show up in the mauve sky streaked with purple clouds.
"Lindel, the stars are starting to appear." Declared Elias, pointing his snout to the sky like a strange overgrown meerkat.
Sitting Infront of him was Lindel, absently peeling potatoes, the campfire's orange light illuminating his pale face and making his knife gleam. "They sure are," he replied, a strip of potato skin landing on his feet. "you're quite fond of them aren't you?" he mused, slicing the vegetable into chunks and placing them in the bubbling broth. "They're very important since I use them for guidance on dark nights." He added.
"..I'm not sure." Elias paused, before asking "Will they always be there?" Finally tearing his gaze from the sky to place some driftwood into the campfire.
"What do you mean? If you're asking if they'll vanish, the answer is no, probably not. They've been there for as long as I can remember." said Lindel, while kneeling down to stir the steamy broth of carrots and potatoes.
"I see, what about tomorrow then? And the day after?"
"Hm? Yes, they'll still be there, unless it's cloudy."
"And the moon?"
"Yes, that too. It won't be very visible after winter though."
"Why?
"Hmmm, I don't know, I guess because it's too bright?"
"What about the stars? Why can you see them more clearly than the moon?"
"I dunno, I've never really thought about it."
"Why?"
"Because no one taught me." Taking a bowl with a small wooden spoon, he used a large wooden soup spoon to pour some of the broth in a bowl.
"Why is that?"
"I don't know, because no one really knows I guess. Though, there are many different beliefs about the stars and sky. It depends on who you're asking"
He finally looked up and extended his hand to the curious creature before it could utter another question, it had it's head cocked to the side questioningly, the orange light seemed dim compared to the glowing red dots of it's eye sockets. "Here, I know it's a little early for dinner but there are wolves about and I'd like to keep watch on a full stomach."
Elias took the bowl and hummed thoughtfully, taking a spoonful of the steamy broth and gulping it down. "What"s your belief?" he asked, looking at the figure hunched over Infront of him
"Hm? Well, I don't remember anymore where I heard this from since it'd been so long now, but, do you see that bright star? The brightest one." He said, pointing behind Elias
Turning his head to the sky with now with dark blue hues, he could see the stars more clearly now. Looking around, he saw it. Among all the small tiny polka dots was a slightly bigger and brighter one. "Yes, what about it?" He nodded, glancing back to Lindel, but keeping his head pointed at the sky.
"That star is called Boahjenaste, the sky-dome rotates around it, causing the stars to move." Lindel explained, brow furrowing trying to recall. He had a bowl now aswell and was sipping some broth from a wooden spoon.
"..rotates.. around it?" Echoed Elias, puzzled. "I can't quite picture it."
Lindel hummed and his eyes darted to another set of a bowl and spoon and a flat pebble. He placed down his broth and took the 3 items and placed the flat pebble in the middle.
"Imagine this bowl is the sky, this is what the sky is shaped like and this pebble is Boahjenaste," he grabbed the spoon and placed the handle vertically on top of the flat pebble.
"Because the sky-dome rotates around Boahjenaste, a sort of errr.... Vortex, or column formed at davvinás, that column is where the souls of the dead exit to Jábmiidaibmu where they receive new bodies and live here again." He demonstrated by spinning the spoon above the flat pebble. "Imagine this bowl upside down since the sky is above us."
"Ahh, I see!" Remarked Elias, fascinated. He was listening intently, the red dots in the dark pits of his skull boring into Lindel. "What about "'davvinás'? What is that?"
"It's the place directly below Boahjenaste, and where the column is formed." He placed down his props beside him and began sipping at his soup once more.
"I see" Elias was absorbing everything he was saying, word for word, staring up at the glittering dome above them infatuated.
"And you see that black streak in the sky?" He gestured to the glittering river of black in the sky, a white haze bordering it from the surrounding sky. The blonde man was grinning, amused to see his companion so intrigued.
Elias' head snapped to look Lindel, staring at his spoon pointing above them, then back up at the sky, to where his spoon was gesturing "that?"
"Mhm, that's Loddin-selgg, it's the path of birds. The birds use it as a path to go to a warm place during winter and back." Lindel explained, popping a chunk of carrots and potatoes in his mouth.
"Winter?" Elias turned to cock his head at Lindel curiously
"Oh right, you manifested during early winter, so you haven't experienced spring yet. It's when all the snow melts away and the plants thrive once more." He explained
"I see. Like the day and night." Elias hummed.
"I guesh sho, yuh" nodded Lindel, chewing on the soft potato chunks. "By the way, your soup is gonna get cold." He added, swallowing
"Ah, right."
Elias was about to scoop some of the broth into his maw when suddenly green ray of light shone on his dark skin, he looked up from his bowl, the snowy landscape once pitch black now had a green tinge, and so did the sky. He turned his head to the sky and promptly dropped his bowl, mouth agape.
"Ah! Elias your food!"
Above them was a bright blue-green stream of light snaking the sky, it slithered and coiled beneath the stars, it's belly a light blue hue and it's light dissipating into the sky above. It illuminated the entire night sky that was once pitch black, now a deep dark blue with green hues. The stars above it twinkled and seemed to welcome it's arrival.
"Lindel, what.. is that?" Elias asked, jaw unhinged, completely starstruck. He was about to point a claw into the sky when Lindel urged him not to
"Ah! You mustn't point at it Elias, it's rude!" He pressed, waving a hand at him. "That's Guovssahasat, the are the spirits of our ancestors dancing in the sky. If you point at them, they'll whisk you away or hurt you."
"Oh, forgive me.." Elias replied uneasy, but still staring.
Lindel sighed, setting down his bowl and walking over to the meerkat to clean up the mess. "You mustn't waste food Elias, especially these vegetables, finding food during winter is quite difficult you know. Especially vegetables, they're quite difficult to aquire if you don't find a village, food is most scarce during winter— Hey, are you listening?"
Guovssahasat was shifting, waves forming in it's stream of light, the green and blue hues stretching far over the horizon and beyond. Meanwhile, the moon was hovering to the side, as if watching the spectacle.
"So, you're interested in astronomy?" Simeon asked curiously, the two of them were in his dorm now and he sat on the floor beside the couch loafing like a cat, paws tucked under his belly and his reptilian tail curled around him. Infront of the couch were several novels stacked on the living room table, and a few snacks on plates.
Sitting on the couch flipping through a particularly old yellowed book was Elias. "Yes, I think so."
"Was 'Lindel' your master?"
"Something like that, I was also his traveling companion. He was the one who probably sparked my interest in this subject."
Simeon hummed munching on a biscuit, happy to learn something new about his interesting friend. His friend always seemed a little.. unapproachable, or intimidating. Learning about him made him seem less so.
"Here," Elias showed Simeon a page, and was pointing at constellations, "Lindel told me about this star, this is Boahjenaste, the sky rotates around it"
"Rotates around? What do you mean?" Simeon asked bemused.
Elias went on to explain the sky column and how the dead used it to exit into the afterlife and how the sky rotated around the north star.
"Oh, I see, that's interesting" He nodded thoughtfully, since Elias was quite old his beliefs were different from his, he'd never thought of that before
"You think it is?" Elias asked eagerly
"Very much!" smiled Simeon, a bit surprised and pleased to see his usually reserved friend so excited
"Well then, this one," he pointed at a set of stars that curved to the left "this is Fávdnadávgi, it's the bow Fávdná uses to hunt Sarvvis." He used his finger to trace a four-legged figure "This one is Sarvvis, the giant reindeer" then he pointed at a lone star "This one is Fávdná," then at two stars "this is Čuoigit, the skiers chasing Sarvvis,"
He went on for a few minutes explaining each constellation in detail, Simeon listening carefully.
"So, it's like a hunt?" The muryan wondered
"Yes, Lindel also often used these constellations to travel when we were together."
Elias was kicking his legs slightly while reading, it made him look particularly young. Simeon couldn't help but giggle to himself a little.
Elias flipped through the old yellow pages, he stopped at a peculiar black and white illustration. It was a swirling cloud with stars in the background. The text beneath it said:
LARGE SPIRAL GALAXY appears like this to an observer approaching from intergalactic space. In this imaginary view, based on photographs of the Galaxy M51, we are a few hundred thousand light years distant. Two small irregular galaxies appear near the top of the picture.
The wall of text next to it talked about this spiral Galaxy about 100,000 light years wide, It's inner regions rotating faster than it's outer regions, which was how it was able to retain it's spiral shape, the things it contained, and how it was part of a group of about twenty nearby galaxies.
Flipping through more pages he stumbled across another page,
PLANETS OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM are the other world's which orbit the sun in company with our Earth. Shown here are Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.
there was an illustration of four round objects in a black background, all four divided into squares. He'd never seen these before, are these what lies above them? In the sky? He's seen these names before, they were names of Roman and Greek gods, so were these "planets" named after the gods of were the gods named after these "planets"?
The other pages talked about the constellation's motions and seasonal changes, the celestial sphere, coordinates, precession, star atlases, classification of nebulae and galaxies, and so much more.
"Fascinating.." he breathed.
"I'm glad you like it!" Simeon smiled, he enjoyed seeing him so intrigued by something he'd thought he wouldn't care about.
Startled out of his thoughts, he realized he'd been so immersed in the book he wasn't sure how much time had passed and he originally came here to spend time with his friend.
"Ah, yes, I do like it very much. Shall we try those board games you proposed?" He suggested, closing the book and setting aside.
"I'd love to! By the way, you can keep that if you'd like, you seem to really like it." Simeon suggested, rising from his position "I'll go get the board games, you can choose any that you find interesting." He padded away humming eagerly through the door and shut it with a click
Elias was alone in the room now, he took a biscuit and munched on it. Simeon had kindly allowed him to keep this book, his hands itched to open it, he wasn't even halfway done reading, what else could it possibly contain? The curiosity nagged at him, it was as if the book was begging him to be opened, the old yellow brittle pages peeked at him through the old leather cover as if to say 'we're right here! Don't forget about us!' could there be some sort of book fae? Other than Chise, nothing has ever had him this infatuated before. He was about to reach and open the book again when Simeon returned with a few wooden cases and small boxes which he assumed were card sets.
"Here, I'm back" he announced, padding over to him.
They tried out all the games and read a sci-fi novel titled "Stranger from the void" it followed an alien crash landing into earth, and asking humans for help to get home, but ended up never being able to return home. It was a bittersweet ending. Elias seemed to really enjoy the novel, then it was Simeon's turn to talk about his interests in acoustics and sound magic. He spoke about accelerating growth by amplifying developmental frequencies, it could be possible in any living organism. By using a very specific sound frequency, it could accelerate the growth of say, cell division. Causing one to mature quicker or heal quicker depending on which cell and area is targeted. They talked for a few hours into the night, and finished some pizza he had ordered.
"I am grateful for your hospitality and for permitting my overnight stay." The mage yawned.
"No problem, I had so much fun! This is my first slumber party in a long time" he chuckled
"'slumber party'?"
"Ah, oh, it's when hmmm, friends sleep at each other's houses and have fun" Simeon tried explaining.
"Ah, I see. I had fun aswell thank you."
Simeon could notice the dots in what should be his eyes curve slightly, maybe that was his way of smiling?
It was a little late now when they had finally went to sleep, Simeon slept in his room and Elias on the couch with blankets and pillows provided by Simeon, and wore pajamas he had apparently brought with him. Where did he store those pajamas? Simeon had no clue, some kind of mage-thing perhaps.
Opening his eyes, it was pitch-black. He felt like a mummy awakening from within his tombstone, his mouth was as dry as parchment paper and his were eyes full of sand. Reaching out into the darkness he put his circular glasses on and turned on the phone next to his unfluffed pillow. It was 3:48 AM.
He opened his bedroom door and dim yellow light from the living room spilled into his chamber, the light was off when he went to sleep so perhaps Elias was awake aswell. Padding into the living room, he found the mage sitting in an Indian sit wrapped in his blanket reading under the warm lamp light.
"Elias?" he called rubbing his eyes
"Simeon? The hour is late; what keeps you from your rest?" Elias tilted his head up at the sleepy muryan, the twinkling red dots darting to him.
When he first met Elias, he couldn't deny he was a little intimidated by him and if he had been sitting in his living room like this when they first met this sight would probably have made him very nervous, but now that they had spent much time together he became less intimidated by his strange friend. Despite his eloquence and dignified demeanor, he seemed much younger than he initially thought.
"I could ask you the same thing." He yawned
"I'm sorry, did the light wake you?"
"No, I just need water." Simeon ambled sleepily to the kitchen, taking a glass from the cupboard and filling it with water under the faucet.
He noticed that the mage was reading the same book he had given him earlier that evening.
"You're reading that again?" He remarked with gentle curiosity
"..I find it most intriguing," Elias paused "I think."
"Do you now?" Simeon gulped down some cold water "..I think I know a few authors on astronomy or two, you'd probably like them."
"You do?"
Rays of warm morning light shone through the glass ceiling they had been just last night, Elias and Simeon were walking side by side towards the brick tunnel. Elias walked towards it a book in his right hand, while the muryan stayed behind sitting on his haunches.
"Goodbye, Elias! It was really fun having you over." Simeon waved, while adjusting his glasses.
Elias turned his head and nodded back "It was." he waved back, back still turned to him, his eyes curved slightly once more.
"You can come again anytime." The muryan smiled warmly
Gripping the book in his right hand, Elias turned and continued walking, he could feel warmth soaking his chest, a feeling he usually only felt with Chise. Friends aren't half bad.
It's a Sunday so I have some free time, perhaps I should check those authors that Simeon mentioned to me last night?
click this if u want to read the book Elias was reading
Hi, so here's the illustration I was talking about if anyone's wondering!! I don't know the artist right now so if I learn in the future in edit this fic to include the credits for them!!
