A large ticking clock situated itself in the corner of Fishy's meeting hall. The recent repairs had finished as quickly as the damage happened, and many new pieces of furniture were added. And one such item, as requested by Fishy, was a large bronze grandfather clock.
It quietly ticked away in the silence of the meeting hall, and during one evening, with the sun setting through the glass windows behind him, Fishy listened to it to keep him sane. He sat at the edge of the large wooden table, fiddling around with a single gold coin in his, weaving and trickling down the sides of his fingers.
A tiny little sigh escaped his mouth as he gazed to the double doors at the other end, slightly off to the side as he felt a little presence quietly approach.
And then, two little knocks.
Knock, knock.
Swiftly followed by the slow opening of the door.
Her pink hair was first seen by Fishy who stayed relaxed in his chair. Once he saw it was Clara, he had no reason to try and make himself presentable or leader-like.
"Um… Fishy…" Clara said, quiet as a mouse as she stepped into the hall. Had there been an ounce of noise in the room, she would have been unheard.
"What's up?" Fishy replied as he continued to play with the coin.
He looked at the girl dressed in her usual shirt and trouser combo. Her hair was washed and kept straight by her shoulders, but her hands were kept together, almost fidgeting as she didn't know how to get the words out.
"I wanted to speak about my grandad… I wanted to know if you'd heard from Beauty about the arrangements."
"Can't say I have at the moment… I'll let you know when I have."
"Ok… Sorry for disturbing you."
As her hand was placed against the silver door handle, and Clara was about to leave as if she never was ever there, Fishy called out…
"Clara, can I ask you for some advice?"
"It feels a bit weird that you are asking me for advice." Clara lightly laughed as she moved away from the door, slowly moving down to the end of the table where she stood. "What about?"
"What do you think we should do next?"
"What do you mean?"
"I don't want to get anyone else involved," Fishy said as he raised from his chair, moving over to the large windows that looked over the town. "I'm thinking of stepping down."
"What?" Clara's eyes opened wide as only one word could come out of her mouth.
"NO!" She screamed, to Fishy's surprise, "I mean… I don't think it can be anyone other than you. My Grandad asked you to do it, but I know it's selfish to ask you to carry on… but I think the reason he chose you was because it had to be you. He knew you were different and that you would make a great leader. And I think that even now he is gone, he doesn't want you to fall on your back."
"I guess that does sound like him…" said Fishy, smiling out the window towards the city. "It's hard being a leader."
"We never really knew what it was like, there were so few of us back then, that we never needed a leader. We just thought of surviving."
"Surviving, huh?" Fishy sat in thought atop his desk, kicking his feet like a child as his blank face looked towards nothing.
But as he mindlessly moved his feet, he suddenly stopped. He turned his head over slightly to Clara as if he was about to say something. It was a reassuring glance that almost brought a glimmer of hope to Clara's eyes, but then Fishy said…
"I'll call for you later… I need to do something."
"Alright," Clara said as she picked up her own feet, comfortable in the spot she stood. "I'll be off then."
She quickly left, without a proper goodbye. She had no reason to question Fishy's words, and hurried off without worry.
But once Fishy had returned to being alone, it was only a few minutes before he was greeted by his next guest.
And this time, it was someone he was expecting.
"Of all the people who would call me, I didn't think it'd be you." The short yellow hooded bee celestial, Buzz, levitated before Fishy, her thin insect-like wings flapping her above the ground as she flew through the open door.
"Did you see Clara?" Fishy asked.
"I avoided her as you asked. No one knows I'm here."
"Good, take a seat…"
"I'll stand," Buzz said despite slightly floating off the floor. "What have you called me here for?"
"Beauty never gave me a straight answer, I thought you would answer my questions."
"How mistaken you are," Buzz said, "I have no reason to tell you anything, but, more importantly, I don't know the answers to your questions."
"What do you mean?" asked Fishy.
"I don't know what Beauty thinks. I don't know the full story. Why don't you try asking someone like Leo?"
"Leo? Is that the big guy from before? If so, he scares me…"
"That's understandable." Buzz slowly gazed around the room she stood in. It was far fancier than any other building she had been in before. In fact, the entire town was far more advanced than anything she knew herself. After looking at the progress around her, she sighed, almost as if she had given up..
"Go on," She said, "What do you wish to know?"
"How did the Elder leave the Celestial system, I heard you need a replacement, who was his?"
"He was a special case. Beauty was kind enough to let him leave but took away his magic powers. He went from being the strongest to the weakest. Even the air would hurt him. He had already lived far too long for a normal human. When he was a Celestial, he was able to slow his ageing, but without magic, it quickly caught up to him."
"What do you mean?"
"He must have been around 30 when he left the Celestials. Do you know how old he was when he died?"
"I don't… I never asked."
"203."
"What? That's impossible? Clara is only 20."
"Of course, because he only left the Celestials around 40 years ago. He looked like a 30-year-old but really had lived for 100s of years. Without magic, his age caught up to him. He couldn't slow down his ageing anymore so it all hit him far too quickly.."
"I think I understand," Fishy replied, deep in thought. "So who replaced him? Is there an empty seat?"
"Sadly not. The snail was replaced by a loud obnoxious frog. He croaks and croaks all day and doesn't shut up. Whenever we have meetings, his face is always there, everywhere I look. He's always taunting me and messing with my bees. I promised him that I'd kill him the next time he touched them."
Fishy could see the frustration on her face. But it wasn't genuine rage, as he could feel through her voice that it was annoyance from someone she trusted. Almost as if she knew she was being teased with.
"But," Buzz spoke, "It's not like those rules matter. We are the 7 Celestials but there have always been 6 of us."
"Why's that?"
"I don't know. There's just always been an empty seat. You'd have to ask Beauty. She's the only one left from that generation. She doesn't speak of that time much."
"Why is that? I've tried all I can to get answers but she won't say."
"All I know is that she's full of regret. She was only a child when she joined the Celestials, and now she's the last of her time. Something happened to make her the way she is…"
Buzz hesitated as a memory appeared in her mind. One that filled her face with sadness as she spoke.
"But I will tell you this, she wanted to leave the Celestials sooner. She wished to have gotten out as quickly as possible. That's what Rose was for. A quick easy replacement. All she had to do was teach her magic and then Beauty could leave. But, after seeing how kind Rose was to her and the world, she couldn't bring herself to do it."
"I see… Well, thank you for answering..." Fishy said as he scratched the back of his head in confusion.
"If I can ask you something, where are you from?"
"A faraway place."
"I see. I suppose I wouldn't want to tell you where I'm from… But, if you wish to know more I'd suggest your next destination be the Ira Crysla. You'll find out why when you're there."
Fishy sighed as more and more questions entered his head and started weighing down his body. Too many mysteries at once were hurting his brain.
"Very well… Thanks again for stopping by."
"No problem. Your city does a lot of good for the bees. They are always talking about the fields around here, plus your city produces some of the best honey I've tasted."
"Ha," Fishy laughed, "You can take as much as you want if you'll do me something in return?"
"I object," Buzz said without hesitation, quickly shutting him down. "There is nothing that I want."
"Really? You see, Beauty owes me a favour for helping her clear something out of her forest. I'm more than happy to give that to you."
Buzz looked with intrigued eyes, and once again replied with a quick answer.
"Alright, deal. I can finally have more room for my bees in her forest."
"Really? That's all? I thought it'd be something more dangerous, like a fight or territory."
"Maybe the others would ask for something like that, but I can't say I hate her. I would hate to see Beauty take the coward's way out…"
"I guess your relationship with each other is far more complex than I thought."
"Of course," Buzz said, "We may all be from different races or species but we all have hearts…"
Buzz looked down to the table, and over to the ticking clock as she noticed the time.
"So," She said as she desired to leave, having more important matters to attend to. "What can I do for you?"