A Concept of Apathy

Chapter 3

“Fools, I win!”
-The First Concept of Death, shortly before being defeated

I rubbed my face, still sitting in my bed as Madam Lie drew a bath for me. It was still night, but concepts did not sleep. My father and mother came in and checked on me, and went to bed after determining I was alright. The world spun around me as I looked at the concepts everywhere, connecting everything. I should have asked if every mage saw this, or if it was unique. Madam Lie eventually knocked, and I rose rubbing my eyes. I felt very mentally rested despite my body feeling very tired, and I quietly walked over to slip out of my room to take a bath.
“Don’t worry about being quiet, Young Master, I will take care of the noise.” Madam Lie told me with a smile. When I tried my other sight on her, I had to flinch back with how hard it was to look at her.
We went down the stairs and I took my bath. It made me feel much better afterwards. I toweled off and got dressed. I said a silent thank you to Madam Lie who was not in the room for moving my knife, needle, and spear down for me to grab. I grabbed my cloak, and put it on while walking to the door.
It was still very early, and I was rather hungry. I considered not eating, it felt like there was little point, but I had opened the door that led into the kitchen by this point and found Madam Lie had already made breakfast. What looked like pork, some bread, and cheese was put on a plate for me and I sat down to eat.
“Madam Lie?” I said around mothfulls of food.
“Yes Young Master?” She said, washing dishes.
“What is the story of the man with too much rope?”
“It is an old story, Young Master.” She sighed, before reciting it to me.
“That is rather morbid.”
“The world is not always kind, Young Master, so why should our stories be any different?” She had joined me, sitting to my right as I continued to eat. From what I understood, concepts did not need to sleep, eat, or really do anything that humans had to do. The only thing they really needed to do was continue to follow their nature. I was told if you doused a concept of fire in water they would likely be hurt, if not outright die.
“How long have you been bound to my father?” I said, finishing off my food. I drank deeply from my cup as Madam Lie answered, and saw her take my plate and fork.
“This will be my eleventh year in his service, Young Master.” She waited by me, and after I finished drinking grabbed my cup as well and turned to do those dishes as well.
“Thank you Madam Lie.”
“For what Young Master?”
I paused thinking. I was going to say for the food, but… “Madam Lie, you have taught me so much, and taken good care of me. You have been there my entire life and I could not think of one without you being a presence I could call on. Thank you, for every little thing I have not noticed or forgotten to thank you for.”
I got no answer in response, and could not see her face. Not that it would matter if I could, I figured. She was the concept of lies, and if my sight did not fail me from the little sight I did grab she might be pure lies, not mixed with any impurities in the concept.
“You are welcome, Young Master. I have been done well by your family, and I will serve you all until you have no use for me.”
“I doubt that will ever happen.”
“The awakening was rough on you, wasn’t it?”
It was my turn not to answer. I had learned you could not lie to her. Well, you could but she could tell you were lying. As far as I could tell she would not know the truth, but she would know to the extent you were lying. Sometimes, the best answer to something like that was to be silent. And yet… that felt disingenuous here.

***

My mother woke up first, and after making sure I had eaten fixed herself a meal. She waved off Madam Lie’s attempt to make it for her. From what I understood, those two were friends which was rare. Most concepts were treated like little more than servants, and quite often worse as they weren’t even human.
I was reading in the living room, a book on history. I was never a big fan of history, but this stuff was at least more interesting. Magic did tend to have that effect. I heard my mother come into the room, and I figured Madam Lie was doing dishes as I heard water and scrubbing coming from the kitchen. Quietly, my mother sat down next to me and squeezed my shoulder. 
“How did it go?”
I looked up at her, and I had no clue why I felt like crying. “It… do we all go through that?”
“You met him?” She gently asked, pulling me close.
“Yes.” I whispered.
“He… I think he would rather everyone forget him.”
“Who is he?”
“Not a concept.” She paused for a long time after this. “We believe him to be a god.”
“You say that like there are others.” I quietly said. She chuckled to herself.
“There are.”
“Why is this the first I am hearing of it?”
“We are… your father and I don’t believe in any of the gods.”
“Why? You met him, did you not?”
“I did. I did my little one.” She sighed. “In theory, someone else could do that, bind themselves to that many concepts.”
“Why only in theory?”
“Don’t worry about that right now. Are you okay?”
I took a deep breath in and then sighed. “I don’t want to think about it.”
“Okay. If you ever need to talk, I’m here.” She combed my hair, then pushed me away a bit to look at me. She smiled, and looked so proud. “You’ll make a great mage, whatever discipline you choose.”
She rose, and I sighed. I closed my eyes for what felt like an eternity but was likely not more than ten minutes. I opened them, and jumped. My father was sitting next to me slowly eating his way through an apple and reading something of his own.
“When did…” I started as he looked up at me. He chuckled, putting a bookmark in his book and closing it.
“Oh, perhaps five minutes. I didn’t want to bother you, so wove a bit of silence.” He stretched, a lazy smile on his face.
“So, how did it go?”
“It… How can you, or mother, smile?” I said, perhaps pleading was closer to the truth. Slowly, my fathers face turned into that clay mask as he considered my question.
“Sometimes, that is the only thing you can do. Sometimes, when the world seems to have no point, the only thing you can do to prove it wrong is smile. Even if you don’t feel like you should be, sometimes a smile helps.”
“So it’s a lie?”
“If you tell yourself the same lie for long enough, it becomes true.” I watched his face, and what I found there made me shiver.
“So we can start my lessons?”
“We will on the marrow. Today, it seems like you have a birthday to celebrate. You should get going here in a bit, if you want to make it on time.”
I nodded, and went up stairs to collect my gift. With that, I set off with Madam Lie into the still dark day. At least sunrise was around the corner.

***

This would be my first time seeing Kaeo’s home, so I was somewhat curious. It was on the other side of town, so I got set on a horse by Madam Lie and after she got on it we set off. I breathed in the cold crisp air, and enjoyed the sensation of wind flowing through my hair. The horse went no faster than a walk, but that was really all that was needed. I held onto the gift, as all I could picture was accidentally dropping it and it being ruined.
The clomp of hooves on cobblestone soon just became background noise as I looked at the small town. Almost no one was up yet, and those who were Madam Lie cheerfully waved at. It felt so quiet, like I should not even be breathing as it sounded too loud.
We rode by the town center, which I always liked due to the fountain in the center of it. It made me think of a waterfall, with the way the water was guided in a spiral down the fountain with many drops. Sadly, I could not stay and watch it today.
The sun was peaking over the horizon by the time we reached the other side of town, and birds were starting to talk. We rode the horse over to a nearby stable and began the walk. I followed Madam Lie, and I watched the sun rise. It was beautiful, especially as it rose over the forest. The sun rose slightly north of west here, and with the fall colors of the trees it looked closer to a painting than reality.
I was going to continue walking, but Madam Lie who fell behind me put a hand on my shoulder. I paused, and she pointed to one of the houses. It was a small dark wooden house, with lighter grey stones as a foundation. The door looked solid as we walked up, and I hesitated. I hoped I was not waking anyone up, although Kaeo did say this would be fine.
Well, not just her. Our parents had talked evidently, and it sounded like I would be spending the night here. Someone would come to pick me up in the morning, but I had brought a change of clothes, some more stuff for hygiene, and my gift.
Madam Lie knocked before I could muster up enough nerve, and I heard Kaeo get told to let us in. I heard the deadbolt shift, and Kaeo smiled at me. I gave a soft smile back as she waved for us to enter. I saw shoes by the door, and how Kaeo was not wearing any so made to take mine off.
Madam Lie ruffled Kaeo’s hair who looked somewhat annoyed and tried smoothing it back out. Madam Lie did not bother to take her shoes off, but I was unsure if the “clothes” she wore were even real so that tracked as far as I was concerned.
“You came!” Kaeo said, sounding somewhat surprised, or maybe sad? That didn’t make sense. She was dressed in a different dress, one with long sleeves and a blue and white flower pattern running around it. I presumed the long sleeves were in deference to the chilling weather, although now that I thought about it I was unsure I had seen her wear anything but long sleeves.
“I wouldn’t have missed it.” I replied, giving my head a slight dip. She looked rather pleased by this, and as this happened I saw who must be her mother walking up behind her, and gave a small wave. She smiled and waved back before turning a more careful look at Madam Lie.
“You must be Sylin, we have heard so much about you!” It looked like she was ignoring Madam Lie now.
“Mom…” Kaeo half whined. Her mother seemed more amused by it than anything.
“Why don’t you go show him around?” Her mother told her, and I knew a rhetorical question when I heard one. It also seemed I was being moved away from Madam Lie, but that was likely fine.
“Yes ma’am.” Kaeo said with a slight humph.
I was enthusiastically shown the living room which was next to the kitchen, and the kitchen had a bathroom, a storage room, and two bedrooms running off of it. In the kitchen who I presumed to be her father gave me a nod before going back to chopping something with excellent dexterity.
It was simple, in a way that felt thought out. I rather liked it, although Kaeo seemed somewhat embarrassed. After showing me the house, she took me to the back yard where there were several small gardens, and she directed my attention to the one closest to the back of the house.
“That one is mine!” I took a closer look, walking over. It had several small purple flowers, some sort of shrubbish green plant, and some mushrooms off to the side.
“Are the mushrooms supposed to be there?” I asked, crouched over to get more eye level with the plants.
“Yep!” She looked rather proud.
“I do rather like the flowers, they are quite striking.”
“I just think they are pretty.” She smiled nevertheless. I was shown a few of the other gardens, but was eventually called in with her and served breakfast. I told both her parents that I already had breakfast, but they would not hear a word of it and served me regardless.
“This is rather good, thank you.” I told her father who smiled back at me. He was sitting to my right and buttering a piece of bread.
“Thank you. I don’t think we have been properly introduced.” He stuck out his hand and I took it. You didn’t shake hands here, you just simply took the hand for a second and squeezed. “You can call me Mister Green.”
“Nice to meet you, I’m Sylin.” I gave a slight smile, and saw Kaeo to my left looking slightly embarrassed. I thought it was due to her last name as she had resisted telling me it, and I could see why. I turned to look at her mother, “I’d greet you as well, but my arms are not long enough to reach across the table.”
She waved me off, looking amused. “Don’t even worry about it.”
We finished up eating and Kaeo dragged me back outside to finish looking at the garden that she seemed to love. It felt less rushed this time without the looming threat of being taken inside to eat so I was more attentive. There was a crossing of wooden beams above the garden which had to be about the same size as the house. It let a lot of the sun in, with lazy shadows making the entire place feel cozy. There seemed to be a lot of tables with pots with plants in them surrounded by yet more plants around the tables.
It felt rather nice, and it looked like there were several shelves lined to make a wall against the wind which made it feel like the best of being inside while being outside. Kaeo seemed to have an encyclopedic knowledge of all the plants, and seemed to like talking about them so I asked questions about some of them. I reached out to touch one of the flowers, a red one that had leaves turning purple away from the center of the flower, but in a flash Kaeo had grabbed my wrist right before I could touch it.
“Don’t touch that one.” She seriously told me, all levity left her face.
“Why not?”
“It will make you very sick, you don’t touch it unless you have gloves.”
“Huh. Why do you have it?”
She gave me a shrug, and was back to smiling. We wandered through the garden, and when it was nearing noon and we were reaching the end of the garden Kaeo looked excited. She dragged me back to the house, and we went to the storage room.
It was dark, as it had no windows and although there were candles lining the room she lit none of them. Instead she went to the bottom of one of the shelves and rummaged around for a bit before pulling out two watering cans.
“You rather seem to like gardening.” I said, taking one of the watering cans. We would have to go into town to the well to fill it up, and it seemed with the amount of plants this might take a few hours.
“I do! Plants are rather… I don’t know how to put it into words, but I like them!”
“I’m glad. It is a rather beautiful garden.”
“Thank you! My parents take really good care of it, and they teach me as well.”
“What do you parents do?” I asked, as she started to skip with the empty watering can flailing around. I was glad it was in the hand opposite to me so I would not have to dodge it.
“They garden, and sell the plants. They do a lot of exotic stuff, or at least that is what they say they get most of their revenue from.”
“Huh, that’s neat. Like that one flower you told me not to touch?”
“Yep!”
I asked her more stuff as we went towards the town well, although I felt like there was something she was hiding. It was like all these answers were too polished, like they were practiced in advance. I doubted she would have used the word revenue from knowing her, but I shrugged it off. Some people liked privacy after all.
We got to the well and filled up the watering cans and started the walk back. It was not a very long walk, perhaps a little under ten minutes, but I imagined this might get a bit tedious. Not that I was going to say anything, it was Kaeo’s birthday and it seemed to make her happy. On the plus side, it was not very windy today, which helped the walk be pleasant with the sun.
We took a break in the middle of watering the plants to eat lunch, in which her parents made us go wash the dirt and mud from ourselves. It was more on Kaeo than me, so she was told to go change her dress. She emerged in a plain yellow dress with a lot of layers, and we sat down to eat. 
“Thank you all once again.” I said, when I was maybe halfway done with my plate. I was waved off once again.
“After this, let’s give you your presents, okay?” Missus Green said, and Kaeo chirruped her agreement.
We finished, and I went to grab my present. It was in Kaeo’s room, which had been cut in half by hanging blankets. When I came back to the living room, Kaeo had been sat down and her father was carrying three different parcels for her.
“Why don’t you go first, Sylin?” He told me, and I shrugged in confirmation.
“Here you go, I hope you like it.” I said, handing her mine. It was wrapped in some linen, which she undid to find a small box.
“You got a box!” Her mom said, with a half amused look. Kaeo rolled her eyes which got a chuckle out of her father.
She grabbed the box, and gently shook it next to her ear. It rattled, and her eyes narrowed. She eventually opened it, and her eyes looked deeply amused. From it, she pulled a ring.
It looked silvery, with small white crystals in it polished down till the entire thing was smooth. A simple band, unlike my own, made into a snake. She held it into the light and looked carefully at it. Eventually, after some test was passed by her looking at it, she put the ring on.
“Thank you!” She said with an infectious smile.
She was handed one gift at a time, and looked pleased by all of them. There was a new dress, which was done in a light beige, a thick book about plants, and a knife. She drew the knife and looked it over with a critical eye. It was a long slender blade, which came into a wicked point. It also looked expertly polished, the metal coming to a silver glean.
Once she was done, she sheathed the knife, carefully folded up her new dress, and stood up holding her gifts. She put the dress on the chair she was sitting on and the book on top of that. She walked towards me, and I was trying to figure out why when I got surprised by a hug from her. I awkwardly hugged her back, not ready for this display of affection.
“Thank you.” She said, and left to hug her parents, saying similar things. They all looked happy, and I was rather glad she was happy.
Kaeo went to put her stuff away in her room, which did not take long at all. After that was done we went back to watering the plants, which Kaeo did with more bounce in her step. I noticed she kept rubbing her thumb against her index finger where the ring was, which brought a smile to my face.
“What are you smiling about?” She said, skipping with the watering can being swung around.
“Oh, nothing.” I said, and saw her look at me.
“Yeah right, you barely smile, so it has to be something.”
“I was being amused at you messing with your ring.”
“I love it!” She stretched out her arm and splayed her fingers to look at it.
“I’m glad.”
“I see you’re still wearing yours.”
“I rather like mine as well.”
“I’m glad.” She replied, looking far too pleased with herself, but the expression quickly left her face to one of… I wasn’t really sure. It passed quickly enough however, and we went back to watering all the plants.

***

Dinner was served, and once again I thanked them, and I once more got waved off. The garden had been watered, and it was nearing night. Kaeo and I were allowed outside to run around, which we did for some amount of time before being called in.
We were both told to clean up, change, and get to bed. Kaeo took the bathroom first to wash, and I would follow her afterwards. While that happened, I was called over by her father to the storage room to help pull out a bed into the space I was going to sleep in. It was fairly simple, as the bed was more clunky than heavy.
Once Kaeo finished, I took my backpack of stuff into the bathroom. I stripped down to take a bath fairly quickly. It felt slightly weird to take a bath here, but I pushed down my discomfort enough to get in and bathe quickly. I grabbed a nearby towel and dried off, put on my pajamas, although no one here called them that, and brushed my teeth. I slipped the golden needle into my collar out of habit, and stuck the rest of my stuff into my backpack. When I came into the room, one of the blankets was removed and I found Kaeo’s father in the room talking to her. It stopped when I came in as they both looked at me.
“Am I interrupting something? I can leave.” I offered, but her father shook his head.
“It was nothing of import.” He turned back to Kaeo, “Should I read to you?”
“Dad!” She hissed, which made him chuckle.
“Okay, okay.” He said, putting his hands into the air in appeasement. “Sleep well you two.”
“Night dad.” Kaeo sighed.
“You as well.” I said at roughly the same time.
The blanket was hung back up, and the candles blown out. The door closed, and a while after that Kaeo and I talked about nothing of real import. I don’t really remember falling asleep, but I do remember waking up. After all, I woke up due to a sledge hammer being slammed into one of my legs.

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