"Lorry, I know who owns the bird puppet you met!"
I didn't expect Lynton to welcome me when I stepped into the house, but his welcome this time shocked me so much that I almost fell if my hands hadn't been swift enough to hold the door. The man stood towering against my path, looking at me with a serious look.
"Wait, where did you know? Did you eavesdrop on my conversation with the person who drove me home just now?"
Lynton just shrugged his shoulders. Suddenly, I realised something new about him. I walked a step closer to him while squinting.
"Since when did you wear—" My hand stopped in mid-air as I pointed at something plugged into Lynton's earlobe. Its sheen green colour was similar to the pendulum of the necklace I was now wearing .... "Goodness, Lynton! No wonder you gave this necklace to me!"
"Hey, calm down!" Lynton exclaimed frantically, unprepared to take my punch. "At least from eavesdropping on you all day, I know who the owner of the bird puppet is."
Hearing that, I softened, and Lynton immediately restrained and moved my hands away from his body. He led me down to the dining table where there was a plate of cold bread and some apples.
"Just get to the point, Lynt. I have plenty of time to hear the details later," I said before he spoke. Lynton seemed to swallow his saliva, then nodded.
"You remember Onyx?" I shook my head, which was returned with a nod by him. "It's not strange. That boy almost never talks to anyone other than those who share his attachments. I don't even know if it's his real name or not. He is our junior in the academy. He loves to experiment with puppets.I met him last month. He asked me if I was part of the research team or not. After I said no, I never saw him again until now."
"But how do you know if that bird belongs to Onyx?"
"He just wanted to make his puppet out of a bird."
"Why?"
"Because birds can fly, he said," Lynton shrugged his shoulders. "Oh, and one more. He hates it when his whereabouts are known. That's why your threat got him."
If it is true that the person behind the bird I was with was Onyx, the question is what is he looking for from me? Why did he send his bird to me? Is it true that Randolf said that the bird wanted to get something valuable from me? But what? My work files? Then, does Onyx have anything to do with the incident this morning in the department about the fund embezzlement?
"What does this Onyx look like, Lynt?" I asked after a long thought. "Is he likely to become a criminal?"
"I did know him as a strange kid, but I can't say whether he is a bad person or not." I nodded. Our parents taught us that one. "But I agree with the man named Randolf. It's better to be on guard than nothing."
It seems that our serious talks have had enough up to here. For the rest, Lynton had to give as detailed an explanation as possible for his deliberate eavesdropping on me during this day. It's nonsense that he worries about me to the point of giving me a necklace that he even considers his own child. He knew I could defend myself from any danger. He knew how strong I am even when I only putting out half of my strength. And he also knew who would win between me and five burly market thugs with tattoos all over his body.
"Oh, come on! I'm just eavesdropping, not peeping at you. I can't even guess what Archéster's expression will look like when he thinks that you don't like him. Ah, I'm pitying him. If only his fate wasn't this bad."
I folded my arms in front of my chest, looking at him expressionlessly. "Lynton."
"But seriously, Lorry, not all men are that bad until you have to make him that hurt. I mean, Skaebn is not something you can choose as you want. So, he's not wrong to be fated with you. Do a little good to him."
"I don't hate him though."
"You can say so, but you act as if you want to avoid him. There is no man who does not get hurt if someone avoids him, let alone if you are his partner."
Why can I be his destined one? Doesn't he mind me? He looks like a nice man, even in our three meetings. Do I deserve a man as good as him?
"Hey, never mind, don't petrify like this. You should take a bath or eat, it's up to you to do which one first. I've heated up the soup, so you can eat it right away," Lynton said as he stood up and patted me on the back. "
°°°
This day's events made it difficult for me to sleep. My brain couldn't stop thinking about the possibilities that might happen or things that I might have missed. The first thing is that there is a case of fund embezzlement in the finance department. Who is involved?
I tried to check the copy of my work recap to see if there really was anything strange and forgotten by me. Starting from the latest records to the past few months. But nothing. Even if I was not careful and there were mistakes in my previous work, I should be able to meet those mistakes now, if that was indeed the case. However, there is absolutely nothing unusual. Not a single count is wrong, lacking, or excessive. Everything fits.
Then how can this happen? How did it escape my observation who worked every day to oversee the flow of finances in and out that supported this city? And strangely, why did this news also seem to vanish even though it was within the audit division itself? Why is it so quiet?
My focus on my work was suddenly distracted when my ears heard the sound of a wooden ladder scrunching like someone was stepping on its surface. At that very moment, I stared at the closed door of my room, wondering if Lynton had secretly sneaked into the kitchen to eat something.
Because I was curious, I left my room and was forced to abandon my search temporarily. From the front of my room, I noticed the door to Lynton's room was tightly closed, dark, and quiet. Then I tried to gawk down to see if anyone was on the stairs. None. Just a step away when I decided to go downstairs, I saw Lynton peeking at something outside the house. He hid in the shadows and kept staring outside as if what he was looking at was something he was not to miss.
"Lynt!" I whispered to Lynton when I reached the bottom step.
Lynton seemed aghast at my call, but he immediately rushed to peek outside again as if he were afraid that something he saw would disappear as soon as he looked away. I went up to him and hid in the shadows too while looking for something Lynton was paying attention to.
"Huh? Isn't that ..?"
Without turning his gaze to the moving object flying randomly in the dark night, Lynton nodded and whispered back, responding to my murmur, "The same bird you met in your workplace."
I don't know what to say. I could only witness the phenomenon when some birds, as dark as the night, flew in an uncertain direction until finally moving away to the west. Not long after its departure, a group of people was seen coming in staggering from the east. At first, I thought they were as suspicious as the birds just now. But when they approached closer, it was clear from their uniforms that they were security guards. It seems that they are chasing the birds and are confused about which way they should go, to the west or south.
"Don't," Lynton blocked my hand when he saw me holding the doorknob. "Even though we saw it, we don't know for sure what exactly is going on."
"But Lynt, he's the—"
"Lorein, I've heard that sometimes there are things we shouldn't know," he said, staring at a group of security guards who eventually split in two and moved to the west and south. "Even if you see Archéster among them, it is because this is indeed his duty. Let him do it. There is no need to us to interfere if we are not asked. I don't want us to be in abstract danger."
I can only shut up. I know what Lynton meant by not wanting to make the two of us look like fools who volunteered to go into a tiger's den willingly. However, somehow I still felt like doing something, no matter how small it was, with what I had just witnessed. My hands clenched into fists while thinking about what I should and could do with all of this.
Realising my confusion, Lynton muttered again, "What would happen if I managed to meet Onyx and interrogate him about his puppets popping up around us?"
"Can you look for him?" I asked, with no intention of joking or condescending to him. "Beyond the fact that he hates having his whereabouts known?"
Hearing my question, he just grinned. "A puppet for a puppeter is like a double-edged knife, Lorry, especially for a fellow puppeter. His whereabouts is not a complicated matter. What's more, after seeing all the energy and hard work he did just now, it will definitely leave a useful trace to track him down."
As if enlightened, Lynton immediately climbed back to his room. But before completely disappearing, he poked his head down and exclaimed, "I'll probably be gone for the next two or three days. Just in case, never go out without my necklace, Lorry! For our own sake!"