Cloudbusting, 2/6
PART TWO: I WANT ADVENTURE IN THE GREAT WIDE SOMEWHERE
They didn't argue about the Western Wood over the next several days. Maurice was thrilled to have an assistant, seeing as how neither the dogs nor Becky's pet turtle, Wobble, were ever any help to him. They scoured the woods to the south during the day, and she listened with great interest as her father pointed out the numerous shrubs and wild, flowering plants. When she was younger, she'd been able to identify nearly all of them. Her mind had muddled over time, replacing plant lore with dials and sprockets.
When their baskets were full and their shoes thoroughly caked in dirt, they returned home to have supper and prepare medicines. It did very little to help her with the adventures of Oliver Nesbitt, but it was a rather refreshing break. Getting dirt under her fingernails, frying up all sorts of non-poisonous mushrooms for dinner, drinking fresh apple cider with her father - it made her long for home more permanently. Not necessarily for Sora, but for her rainbow house and her pets and especially her father's stories of the gods.
When she woke the following morning, having passed one full week in Sora, her father was already out in the garden pulling weeds. The sun had barely risen, but he was already bent down over the soil, Trouble and Sunshine standing guard. "Morning, daddy. Have you eaten breakfast?"
"You know what I've had such a taste for?" he asked her, leaning back to mop some sweat from his brow. "The biscuits that Mrs. Haverford makes, you remember her shop in town?"
She nodded. It was a good hour's walk from their house. "The biscuits wouldn't be so warm by the time I got back."
He shrugged his shoulders. "Warm or no, they're the best around. Do you mind going?"
She'd gotten so used to the simpler life here that venturing into town sounded like the worst possible idea. But her father was looking at her so earnestly that she couldn't bear to say no. Instead Becky smiled. "I'll have to change into something more presentable," she said, gesturing down at the man's breeches she'd been wearing on and off the past few days. They made traipsing through the forest a lot easier.
"You're the prettiest girl I've ever seen, but I guess not everyone's as smart as me," he joked, and Becky headed into the house. She scrubbed herself clean, brushing her hair back into a simple knot. It was far too hot for the corset, but she went with a plain lavender gown and a cropped jacket, pulling on a sun hat. She broke off one of the lilacs from her vase and set it through the ribbon of the hat. There. She could bring a little bit of the rainbow house with her.
Her father was waiting at the bottom of the stairs with a basket and some coins. "And while you're going, I just remembered. Need at least two dozen vials. I've got a few orders due."
She crinkled her nose. "Errands, huh? Not just biscuits."
He blushed, handing her the basket. "Your mother told me I should have made lists instead of taking notes in my head all the time."
She kissed him goodbye and headed down the road into town. The dogs followed her halfway before turning back and heading for the fresher air and open fields. She made for quite the sight once she arrived in town, even in the west end. The ladies there were dolled up, not a hair out of place or any hint of sunshine in their faces. Their hands were gloved and their lips and cheeks kissed with rouge.
Her father was friends with one of the glassblowers in town, and the man was less concerned about her appearance as she entered his shop to make her purchases. The basket jingled as she headed for Mrs. Haverford's, having just enough money left to buy half a dozen biscuits fresh out of the oven. They smelled divine, better than any dinners Becky had tried to cook all week.
She waited until she was on on the way back before indulging in a biscuit. Heaven forbid someone in town see a lady enjoying a treat in public. It melted like butter on her tongue, and if she wasn't careful, all six would be gone from her basket before she got any back to her father. Her shoes crunched on the gravel, and she hummed, ready to start another day hunting for elusive harrow roots. She'd already lost two hours going to town and back, so she had to make it up.
The dogs were sitting in the garden looking lonely when she returned, not even following her as she went up the steps and into the house. "Biscuits are here! There's still three left!" she announced, leaving the door open behind her. "I'll put the vials on your workbench. And yes, I'll close the door so Trouble doesn't knock them all over!"
Becky set the basket down in the workshop, closing the door and heading back for the kitchen. Where had her father gone? He wasn't in the garden, but a few of his gathering baskets were gone. Why had he headed off for the woods without her, especially without having his fill of the biscuits? She was just grabbing a basket of her own when she saw the note on the table in her father's terrible handwriting.
Rebecca, I'm so sorry. I don't wish to upset you, but I've gone into the Western Wood. The harrow roots there are hardier than any we'll find to the south. Please forgive an old man his passions. I'll return at sunset, please don't put yourself at risk by coming after me.
She crumpled the note in her hand, letting the basket thump to the floor. "Oh daddy, how could you?" She looked out the kitchen glass, seeing the gravel road disappear among the first empty tree trunks. She didn't know how to navigate her way after him, much less know which way he'd traveled. She'd just end up lost if she went after him, and that would only cause more trouble.
She sat down in a huff at the kitchen table, wishing he wouldn't put himself at such risk for a few roots. But worrying wouldn't get her anywhere. Instead she took her sketchpad and the two remaining biscuits and headed for the flower fields. Focusing on her artwork for a few hours would be a good enough distraction from her father's mischief. She walked deliberately away from the Western Wood, focusing instead on the smokestacks in town. She doodled pictures, imagining them as Oliver Nesbitt's hometown. She added a few airship blobs to the sky.
The long summer day passed slowly, and she finally turned back as the sun began to set. She'd probably be a little sunburned, nothing her father's salves couldn't lessen. She prepared some food for the dogs and sat at the kitchen table to wait, watching the sky turn from orange to dark blue to pitch black, and panic started to bubble in her stomach. Sunset had come and gone, and her father wasn't home.
She waited and waited, and it was only when she felt the dogs nudging her legs that she realized she'd fallen asleep at the table. She dragged herself to bed, trying not to imagine the worst.
--
Morning came once more, and the dogs were quieter than usual, most likely because they sensed something was amiss with Maurice still being gone. She dressed quickly and headed out the door and to the west. Morning dew still tickled the grass as she walked down the gravel road toward the Western Wood.
Becky paused at the edge of the trees. What was she doing? What would happen if she got lost or hurt? What if her father came looking for her and got lost himself? She stood, staring ahead into the empty, tangled mess of branches that went on as far as she could see. There was no way she could go into town, try and organize a search party. He'd be arrested as soon as they found him. All of this for some roots!
She sat down on an old stump, counting the rings in her frustration. Maybe he'd just gotten turned around, made camp for the night. She remembered that had happened often when she was a child, recalling her mother's frustration as he turned up a day late with no apology and a basket full of berries. But that was different. That was a different kind of forest. Who knew what kind of dangerous beasts roamed deeper in the Western Wood? In town, parents liked to tell children about monsters who would snatch up disobeying youngsters and eat them.
But Becky heard nothing from where she was sitting. The Western Wood was vast. And the silence was almost more terrifying than the thought of creatures lurking within.
She got up, heading back to the house. If only Sunshine and Trouble had been born as bloodhounds. She was startled at the sight of the Gaston family carriage that was just pulling up in front of her house. Luckily the occupant hadn't emerged, and she was able to sneak around the back, hopefully not giving the impression that she'd come from the forbidden forest. There was little time to make herself presentable, and quite frankly, the less presentable she looked in front of Alaric Gaston, the better.
He knocked hard on the door, and she pulled it open after his second round of knocking. "Alaric."
He had clearly expected her father to answer. He was dressed in his best clothes, and she didn't even know they made linen suits for men his size. "Oh, Rebecca. Good morning to you. Is your father at home?"
But what business did Alaric Gaston have with her father anyhow? She tried to get her panic to subside, trying her best to think quickly. She closed the door behind her, ushering him off the porch and down the steps. "He's in the south woods, looking for harrow roots."
"And when will he return?"
They made their way past the old well behind the house. "Well, when he gets it in his mind to dig around in the dirt, he could be gone all day. Last night, it was well after dark when he returned, and this morning he left without even pausing for breakfast."
"Hmm, well..."
They left the house and the carriage behind, heading across the gravel into the wildflower fields, descending further and further down into the valley. She wasn't sure how long she planned to lead Alaric around, but the last place she wanted him was inside her home or near the Western Wood. "Is there something you need to say to my father that you can't say to me?"
"It's so rare that I get to have a glimpse of you, Rebecca. You stay longer and longer in the capital, away from Sora." He wrapped his arm around her shoulder, all too possessively. Oh no, she thought. She knew exactly what he meant to ask her father. "I thought that now that I had an opportunity and you were around, I had to take advantage of it. In case it's my last chance."
She shook her way out of his embrace, walking with more purpose. "Whatever you've got in mind, I'll be leaving for the capital again soon. I won't be staying in Sora."
"Not even if you were my wife?" She stopped, not daring to turn around. Of all the days for her father to run off into a place he'd get arrested for being in! "Just think of it, my darling. Me, one day the mayor of Sora. You, the wife of a leader, raising healthy, beautiful children and serving as a cheerful hostess."
She wanted none of those things. Well, she wouldn't mind children, so long as they weren't Alaric's. "I'm afraid you've made a poor choice in me, Alaric. I'm flattered, truly, that you think so highly of me." She wrung her hands, wanting to race back to the house and bolt the door. "But my life is in the capital now, with my writing. I could never give all of that up, everything I've worked for."
His hand found her shoulder. "You've seen enough of the world, haven't you? Writing stories is all well and good, but isn't it time you faced reality? You're twenty-seven years old, the same as me, and your prospects grow duller with each passing year..."
She scowled at the insinuation, wanting to break his fingers as they sunk in to grasp hold of her all the tighter. "Please let me go."
He turned her around, grasping hold of her chin roughly. "He's not in the south woods, is he? Are you protecting him? You think I'm a fool?"
"Alaric, let go of me."
He crushed her against him, and she could only smell the stench of Sora and his horrible cologne. "You'll marry me, Rebecca Vaughn. Or I will cut down every tree in that Wood until we find your father, and he'll defy me and my father no more. Is that what you want? To see your father pilloried in the town square? To see all his potions and silly trinkets burned?"
Blackmail then. He would blackmail her into marriage. But what was to guarantee her father's safety even if she agreed to surrender herself to him? She knew Alaric Gaston was a fool, but a fool with power was truly dangerous. She struggled in his arms, unable to stomp down on his foot the way she wished. She'd probably just hurt herself more in the process. "Release me. Please!"
He attempted to kiss her, and she turned her face away, feeling his open mouth leaving a wet trail across her cheek. She squeezed her eyes shut, worrying that he would dare to lay them down in the grass and claim her right there in the midst of the wildflowers, right under the noses of his servants. He grabbed hold of her hair, loosening the knot she'd tied it in, pulling her so they were eye to eye. "I'll give you one week for an answer."
And then he was walking away, leaving her in the field as he stomped off to his carriage. She heard the horses start to trot off as the carriage kicked up gravel along the road. He was gone once more. She wiped her cheek furiously, her entire body overwhelmed with her rage and terror as she hurried back to the house. The dogs seemed confused as she ran up the steps, opening and slamming the door behind her.
She made it all the way to her room before she cried. Angry tears for her father's casual flaunting of the law, terrified tears for the thought of marrying Alaric Gaston. She could leave her father a note and take the first locomotive back to the capital, but it would be nothing but cowardice. If she left him now, who knew what Alaric would do to him? Life had been simpler when she'd simply been trying to work on Oliver Nesbitt's world.
She cleaned herself up, changing into a simple red blouse and gray breeches to match her darkening mood and letting her hair down and wild. She was just swapping for a pair of boots to wear, heart set on the Western Wood and a desperate search for Maurice Vaughn when she heard the humming from overhead. The dogs started to bark and howl. Had Alaric returned? What would he do now?
Boots laced, she hurried down the steps and opened the front door. For once, Trouble and Sunshine didn't bolt after her, instead cowering in a corner of the kitchen. What she saw once she got outside was shocking indeed, and she nearly tripped down the back stairs. Before her, landing just across the gravel road in the wildflower field was a dirigible with a shimmering silver balloon and small black gondola. Unlike the airship that had taken her from the capital, this one was far smaller. The balloon was no larger than the roof of the rainbow house behind her, and the gondola only looked large enough for the pilot and maybe a few passengers. It was probably a personal, family craft. Those were indeed luxuries.
It was mooring itself in the field rather than at the air station. She hurried forward, wondering if the pilot or passengers were in trouble or if the dirigible itself was malfunctioning. Becky didn't know how to fix one of course, since she hadn't become an engineer, but she had a house full of medicine if it was a problem with the passengers. As she got closer, she tried looking through the glass windows. Nobody had come out. She was only a few yards away when the door to the gondola slid open with a whoosh, revealing the pilot.
Becky nearly fell back. It wasn't human. The gondola dipped under the weight of heavy metal legs, and one gleaming foot sank down into the grass. This wasn't real. Maybe she'd fallen asleep. Perhaps she was still in the house, and all the business with Alaric had sent her into a crazy dream. Because the...thing standing before her was not a person. It was shaped like one or built to resemble one but...
"I don't suppose you've seen an automaton before. Of course you wouldn't," the thing said, making Becky's eyes widen. It was taller than Becky with thin limbs, but the face was fairly blank. Only dark slits where eyes, a nose, and a mouth would be. Where had its voice come from? It had been a male voice, higher in pitch than her father or Alaric and with a detectable attitude.
Since this was obviously a crazy dream, Becky decided to play along. "I've never seen anything like you. What was your name again?"
The metallic creature leaned back against the gondola wall, almost as casually as a human would save for the squeaking thump of metal against metal. "I'm an automaton. A self-operating machine."
"You're a machine. Shaped like a man."
It nodded. "Well, this isn't really me." It thumped itself in the head slightly. "I mean, I'm in here, but this isn't my body."
"Right." She was talking to a machine. A walking, talking machine with a human voice.
He set one foot back onto the gondola. "Well, since I haven't sent you off screaming, you mind getting on board already? Your presence is requested."
She crossed her arms. And the machine was ordering her around? What on earth did this dream mean? "My presence is requested? By whom? I'm not getting inside that ship with you."
"Very well. Your father said it was foolish to try and persuade you, but what can I say, we're a persistent bunch..."
She gasped, mood changing in an instant. "My father? Where is my father?" This was no dream, it couldn't be. Not now. The dirigible had seemed to come flying over the Western Wood, hadn't it? What on earth had happened? She marched right up to him, looking right into the automaton's blank face. "Have you kidnapped him?"
"That's three questions," the automaton said with a very noticeable sigh. "The first, if you are the Rebecca who lives in that colorful house back there, then yes, your father. Where is he? He's at Matsumoto Castle. And have we kidnapped him? Yes."
Rather straightforward for a walking, talking contraption. She stepped right onto the gondola, spying a metal bench bolted to the floor right behind the operating console. The automaton watched her, cocking its head in seeming amusement. "Yes, I'm Rebecca. And my father has me worried sick." What had her father gotten mixed up in? He'd gone into the forest for plants and gotten himself kidnapped by automatons with airships? Were there more like this pilot here? And a castle? "Take me to him. Now."
"That was easier than Sho thought it would be," it remarked, sliding the door closed. Sho? Who was Sho? Did these creatures have names? Who was controlling them? She'd never seen anything like it before.
"Tell me what you've done with my father."
"But we've only just met. I don't want to spoil all my secrets..."
She stomped on the gondola's metal floor. "You bucket of bolts, what are you doing to my father? People from Sora can't go into the Western Wood and if anyone finds out he has..."
The automaton actually laughed, eerier still since its face remained as blank and impassive as it would forever. It headed for the control panel. "Rebecca, I think I like you already. Ah, and if you could kindly prepare for liftoff, I'm not the best pilot."
She clung to the iron rail running along the side of the gondola, nearly lurching off the bench as the automaton turned several cranks and sent the dirigible straight up into the sky. Everything had happened so quickly that reality came flooding back. Her rainbow house and the dogs within, growing smaller and smaller beneath her. The road heading back east toward the spires and smokestacks of Sora and the mansion where Alaric's carriage would be returning to soon. And now, beneath them as the dirigible glided forward, the dead trees of the Western Wood.
The automaton seemed to notice her sudden silence. He continued to adjust various knobs and levers as they flew. It was a shakier ride, but she wasn't sure if it was due to an automaton pilot or the smaller size of the vessel. He spoke to her far more gently. His voice seemed to echo from within the metallic body, almost like a knight in a suit of armor.
"If you'd like to put a name with a face, I can't much help you. You'll find that we all have the same attractive face. But if you remember my voice, I'm Nino. My real name's a lot longer, but I don't suppose that matters to you."
Nino. An automaton named Nino. And there was a Sho, too. There were at least two odd beings stomping around the Western Wood with metal bodies and blank faces. "I assure you, if my father has trespassed on your...land, he didn't do so intentionally. He's a healer and was looking for plants to use in his medicines."
"I know."
"So what is the problem? Why are you holding him? You'll find that we're not a wealthy family, and if it's a ransom you wish from us or any sort of monetary..."
"Can you just...be quiet, please?" Nino asked, exasperated. "I'm trying to fly here."
"Will you at least tell me..."
He turned to look back at her. "No. Look, we haven't hurt him, and we have no plans to do so, alright? Now shut your mouth, Breeches."
"Breeches?"
He turned back to the console. If he had a man's face, he'd be smirking. She could detect it in his tone. "You dress like a man, Breeches. It suits you."
Nino said nothing else for the duration of the flight.
--
The dirigible was not as speedy as the ones that traveled long distances, but finally a white stone castle with red spires appeared along the horizon. The trees of the Western Wood were not all dead, just as her father had told her. At some point, life had seemingly returned, and the forest they glided over was full of lush, ancient pines soaring into the skies. The castle, Matsumoto Castle the automaton had noted upon their meeting, was large with several towers. It was surrounded by a moat and lay just beyond the vast Western Wood.
It seemed as though the road from Sora went straight through the forest and had at one point ended up here, at the winding road to the drawbridge of Matsumoto Castle. Nino said nothing, focusing on the console as the dirigible descended. Once they'd moved lower, within the castle's outer walls, Becky could see lifeless gardens and wilted trees. They landed right inside the central courtyard, which seemed to be the mooring point for the dirigible. Despite his claims about poor piloting skills, Nino landed the vessel with surprising gentleness.
Nino shut everything down, and Becky listened to the hiss of steam as the combustion engine whirred to a halt. He turned and moved to the door. "Are you taking me to my father?" she asked.
"He's with Jun. Negotiating still, I imagine."
"Negotiating what?" she asked him as he slid open the door and stepped down onto the hard gray stone of the courtyard. Jun...a third automaton? Nino held out a metal hand for her, but she ignored him and stepped down without his assistance. He'd still kidnapped her father.
There was a noisy clamor, and Nino sighed. "Ah, that would be Sho."
Another automaton, this one with a slightly more polished exterior and wearing a red tweed jacket over its metallic body, came hurrying over. Nino had been right - the faces wore the same blank expressions, but at least she could tell Sho and Nino apart. Nino was the naked automaton.
"You got her to come!" the Sho automaton cried. His voice was deeper than Nino's, a bit more posh in tone. Almost like one of the professors she'd had in university. "I can't believe you got her to come with you!"
Nino set to work tethering the balloon to several ballasts that had been set around the courtyard. "My powers of persuasion have always been better than yours."
She stood nervously as the jacketed automaton looked her up and down. "You'll forgive me, but it's been ages since we've had any visitors around here..."
"...that doesn't mean you can look at her like a piece of meat, you know!" Nino called from one of the ballasts on the far side of the courtyard.
"Ah, please forgive me," Sho apologized, inclining his head with a metallic squeak. "My name is Sho Sakurai. I am...I guess I am what you see before you."
"I'd like to see my father."
He extended his arm with another squeak. "If you'd be so kind as to follow me, Miss Vaughn, we'll get this whole situation settled."
She turned back to look at Nino, tying as best he could with his clumsy metal fingers. He nodded for her to go on ahead. Sho led the way out of the courtyard and through large wooden double doors. It was mid-afternoon and warm, and the castle within was cool. The floors were tiled in a black and white checkerboard pattern with dingy red rugs that muffled Sho's footsteps slightly as he clomped along. He was a taller automaton model than Nino, and if Becky wasn't so worried for her father she would have asked him why he wore a jacket.
"We found your father last night," Sho explained. "We know he's been wandering into the forest for several months now, but he'd come so far this time that we thought it was worth asking him to come inside. Of course, it's difficult for us to approach anyone so he was scared. I do apologize for frightening him, Miss Vaughn." He led her past several closed and shuttered rooms to a grand staircase in the main hall. Matsumoto Castle had once been rather opulent, but what had happened here?
They took the stairs to the second floor where Sho stopped them in front of another set of double doors at the top of the landing. "This castle is the home of Count Jun Matsumoto. You'll see that he is like me and like Nino. He can sometimes have a frightful temper, but don't be afraid. He's really more bark than bite, he just...Miss Vaughn, the arrival of your father is something we thought would never happen. It's like a miracle, so I want you to know we haven't mistreated him."
She was still so confused. What did automatons need her father for? Had they given him a stroke? What was the purpose of all this? Why were there walking, talking machines in a castle that had clearly seen better days? But she nodded anyhow. Her father was behind these doors.
Sho knocked twice and opened the door. Becky pushed past him to find her father sitting in a plush upholstered chair beside a seated automaton in a violet coat. It seemed that clothing for the automatons was more standard than she'd expected - maybe Nino was the strange one in their little group. Her father nearly dropped the teacup in his hand, hurriedly setting it on a saucer before launching himself from the chair and rushing to her.
She could feel tears in her eyes as they embraced, and she felt her father's strong arms around her. "Oh Becky, sweetheart, I'm so sorry for having worried you!"
She squeezed him as tightly as she dared, finally feeling something solid and safe again. She'd been forced into Alaric's arms earlier that day and then whisked away in a dirigible piloted by something that couldn't possibly exist. "Why did you go into the Western Wood? How could you do such a dangerous thing?"
He cupped her face in his hands, looking embarrassed. "My sweet girl. Oh, my sweet girl." He backed away from her. "Why did you come? You should have stayed home! Oh, what have you done?"
"What? What do you mean why did I come? I was worried about you! I wanted to know you were safe!" He was looking so frightened, so unlike himself. She turned to stare at the automaton still sitting in the other chair, observing their reunion. Count Matsumoto? How had a mere machine risen to such a title? "You! You there, what have you done to him?"
She heard Sho close the door, making two automatons and two humans in the room. Count Matsumoto stood, and if Becky had to say, the machine had a remarkable air to him, as though there truly was an aristocrat stashed inside the metal. "Your father has agreed to assist a friend of ours."
Becky put her hands on her hips, looking from the purple-jacketed blank face to the red-jacketed blank face. Her father had nearly collapsed back into the chair. "You have friends?" she asked in disbelief. "You've spoken to my father. You know he makes curative potions and aids for humans, don't you? If you need some extra oil or need a screw tightened, I'm afraid your best bet is one of the tinkerers in town!"
"I never said our friend was mechanical," Matsumoto countered, gripping the back of his chair. "Our friend has been cursed with a most unfortunate malady, and since your father appears to be so skilled with medicine, we've recruited his services in order to cure him."
Sho interrupted. "It's all very difficult to explain, Miss Vaughn. Our friend is...well, he..."
"You don't have to tell her anything," Matsumoto snapped. "Our business is with this man right here." He looked over at her father. "He has agreed to make a special potion for our friend."
"As I've told you before, Count Matsumoto," her father finally spoke, sounding defeated, "that particular potion requires fermented adaliaga extract. That portion alone will take several months to brew..."
Count Matsumoto knocked the chair back angrily, his strength inhuman. It made Becky jump away in fright, longing for the far more jovial behavior of the automaton who'd piloted the dirigible. "So you say. So you've been telling us all day! And how are we to know that's not a lie?"
Maurice met the automaton's slitted eyes. "I do not lie when it comes to the work the Goddess has entrusted to me."
Sakurai looked to Matsumoto. "Jun..."
"No," Matsumoto said. "His word is not enough. We have waited too long, Sho, you know that. This is the best chance we've had in a century."
"A century?" Becky murmured, seeing her father grow more and more forlorn.
"I don't care if this is your castle or not, but I won't hold a girl against her will," Sho protested.
"It is the only bargaining chip there is! The girl stays!" Matsumoto insisted.
"Couldn't we just send Satoshi to stay with him? Wouldn't that be enough?"
Matsumoto shook his head. "We can't go beyond the forest for that long! You know what will happen!"
"But what are we going to do with her? Where is she going to stay?" Sho asked.
"Just because I'm stuck in this stupid metal contraption doesn't mean I've forgotten the basic rules of hospitality!"
"Stop speaking about me as if I'm not here!" she demanded angrily. Her father and the two machines looked at her. "Is that the deal? He makes your potion, I stay here in exchange? To ensure that he honors his agreement?"
Maurice shook his head. "Rebecca, I shouldn't have even mentioned you, I'm so sorry!" He got onto his hands and knees. "I swear to the Goddess that I will make the potion as you've asked, please! My faith is of utmost importance to me, so I don't swear lightly. Don't drag my daughter into this arrangement. I will work harder than I ever have to cure your friend. Grant me access to the Western Wood, and I'll search day and night for the ingredients..."
Seeing her father grovel before these abominations was almost too much to take. She imagined him entering the forbidden woods day after day, risking arrest. "If your friend needs this cure so badly, then where is he? Why is he not here asking my father to risk his life and wellbeing?"
Sho sounded apologetic. "He's very ill..."
"Do you agree?" Matsumoto asked, walking over to her. He was the tallest of the automatons, and the top of her head barely reached his chin. He stared down at her, face empty of emotion that his voice obviously had to make up for. It seemed as though it was taking him every bit of effort to speak to her with a civil tone. "Will you stay here as my guest while your father works to complete his promise?"
Her father spoke again. "My daughter will not be your hostage!"
"She came here of her own free will because she loves you," Sho pointed out.
But Becky could only look up into the nothingness of the machine's face. Jun's voice grew softer. "I promise that no harm will come to you here. We only wish for Aiba to be cured. You are free to roam anywhere within the castle walls. You will be fed and housed comfortably. Your father told me you are a writer. My castle has several rooms that will be cleaned for your use, I have a wooden writing desk that was my father's..."
"Rebecca!" her father pleaded. "There is no point in you staying here!" He crawled on his hands and knees to tug on Sakurai's red jacket. "Can't I work on the potion here? I will not run away, just please leave my daughter be!"
Becky thought of Alaric's promise earlier that day - that if her father didn't turn up that he would tear down every last tree to find him. If her father was in the rainbow house, brewing potions, Alaric couldn't legally touch him. This was the only way she could keep him safe. "I went back to the capital," she blurted out.
"I'm sorry?" Jun asked.
"No," her father said. "Don't do this, please..."
She nodded her head slowly. "Whoever asks, you tell them I've gone back to the capital to work on my books." She looked from Sho to Jun. "If my father makes the potion your friend requires, then I will stay here for however long it takes."
All the tension seemed to go out of both automatons, and they visibly relaxed as much as two walking machines could. "Oh, you don't know what this means," Sho said gratefully.
She walked over to her father, helping him to his feet. He kissed her forehead, entire body seeming to shake. "You don't have to do this, Rebecca. Won't you reconsider?"
She couldn't. Not as long as Alaric Gaston and his family ruled Sora. She shook her head. "They won't hurt me," she said. "You could just as easily poison their friend if they touch a single hair on my head." The automatons shuffled uncomfortably, and she turned back to her father. "Promise me one thing, daddy?"
"Anything," he said, tears streaming down his face. "Oh sweetheart, anything you ask..."
She squeezed his hands. "When you make this potion, you must promise me that you won't go into the Western Wood for ingredients."
He looked even more distressed. "You can't ask me to..."
"Promise me. I don't care if you have to fly to the capital for this herb or that, but you will stay on the right side of the law. I can't watch you from here," she said quietly.
He finally nodded. "Yes. I promise. I swear to the Goddess that I will not enter the Western Wood."
They were quiet for a moment, and eventually Sho broke the silence.
"Well, it's settled. And if it's true that the town has made it a crime for you to enter the Western Wood, then it would be foolish to keep you here longer, Mr. Vaughn. I can have Nino ready the dirigible..."
And just like that, Matsumoto and Sakurai took her father away from her, opening the double doors to see the Nino automaton leaning against the bannister. She followed with heavy footsteps as they escorted her father back to the courtyard. A fourth automaton, closer to Nino in size, appeared and didn't speak, helping Nino quietly get the airship back in order. He was wearing a simple, blue cotton shirt over his armor. Nino really was the strange one in their group.
It would be this quick - her decision to stay in a place she didn't know with people (sort of) that she didn't know.
She embraced her father, amazed by all the simply unbelievable things that had happened in one day. Nino turned one of the cranks. "Mr. Vaughn, if you would?" he asked.
Her father stepped away, bowing his head as he entered the dark gondola in defeat. Becky stood there in the courtyard as the dirigible ascended, Sho, Jun, and the blue-shirted automaton standing behind her quietly. As soon as the balloon had vanished over the castle walls to head back east to the rainbow house, she turned around, looking from machine to machine.
"Well, are you satisfied? You've trapped me here very successfully." They stared at her, and as the sun began to set, her panic truly crept in. She'd agreed to the arrangement only to save her father from Alaric's clutches, but now she had to face reality. She'd be living in this horrible old castle with machines. Not a living soul, aside from their terribly ill friend. Speaking of that friend, she had yet to make his acquaintance.
Jun turned around. "Satoshi, with me. We need to make Miss Vaughn's rooms spotless for her stay. Sho, I trust you'll be able to find something to feed her."
"Me?" Sho squeaked.
But Jun had no time for Sho's protesting, already heading inside with the blue-shirted automaton at his heels. Satoshi. They all had names then. Becky looked at Sho, eyebrows raised.
"So you don't eat? You haven't eaten? In a century?"
He moved his hand to his head, as though he'd be scratching his scalp if he had one. "I'm not a good cook. A disaster, really. You see I was..." Sho quieted, as though he'd almost said something he wasn't supposed to. "Let's get you inside, Miss Vaughn. I don't want you catching cold."
She shook her head, marveling at the strange personalities these machines had. "It's midsummer. It's quite lovely out."
He extended his arm, encouraging her to enter the castle. "Well, it's been a while since I've experienced midsummer, so forgive me. If you would please?"
The pots and pans in the kitchen had a fine layer of dust on them, but it seemed as though the ovens had been in use. Satoshi, who seemed to be the servant, chef, and baker all in one, had made a fresh loaf earlier that morning to ensure that Becky's father had something to eat. Remarkably, the castle's stores had not gone bad in all these years, and with the four machine residents requiring no food, it had lasted a long time. Anything else they required was easily harvested from the forest around the castle, Sho explained.
Sakurai opened a bottle of wine, sending the cork flying in an instant with his long metal finger. It clanged against the pots suspended from the rack attached to the ceiling, rebounding back and smashing a mason jar. "Oh, I don't belong in a kitchen."
She laughed, and it was really the first silly thing she'd experienced the entire day. It was a little unsettling to see Sakurai's blank metal face staring back. Was this to be her life for the next several months? Days and weeks without a smile or even a frown to greet her? Sho found her a clean wine goblet and poured for her. The wine was very good, and the bread even better.
"Satoshi's thrilled for a reason to cook for someone new. Masaki doesn't eat much so..."
She set her glass down. "Masaki?" She hadn't heard that name yet.
Sho turned away. "That's our friend. Masaki Aiba. The one your father will hopefully be able to cure."
"What sort of disease does he have? How long has he been here?"
Sho shook his head. "That's not important..."
Becky pushed the plate away from her. "Why won't you tell me anything? Is it such a terrible thing to ask you? It's because of this Masaki Aiba friend of yours that I'm here in the first place! It's because of your friend that my father's going to help! Can't I ever meet him?"
"He doesn't wish to see any visitors."
"But I'm his prisoner, aren't I?" she protested. "Whether it's my father or me, we're his captives. If he's as ill as you claim he is, why haven't you summoned for a doctor? Unless he's ridiculously contagious, I think it's rude to not even be allowed to greet him. This may be Count Matsumoto's castle, but I am here at your friend Aiba's request, am I not?"
He cleared her plate. "He's not much for talking, I'm afraid, but since you've been so agreeable, Miss Vaughn, I will ask if he would like to say hello."
"Is that an empty promise?" she asked, getting down from the kitchen stool.
He didn't answer her, instead leading the way out of the kitchen and back to the second story. Count Matsumoto himself was waiting outside one of the rooms, his purple jacket standing out against the simple stone walls.
"I trust Sho hasn't poisoned you with his cooking?" Jun asked, and the Sakurai automaton made a grumbling noise deep within his metal self.
"I was well looked after," she said quietly, mind as far from the bread in the kitchen as it could be. Four metal men wandering around, flying dirigibles, making food, and yet their master or their friend or whoever Masaki Aiba was didn't dare to show his face. Well, Jun had told her earlier that she could roam the castle grounds freely - maybe she'd uncover the secret of this Masaki Aiba. If she was to be trapped in this place for months, she had to meet the man eventually.
Matsumoto opened the bedroom door, and Satoshi was just putting the finishing touches on the bed, fluffing a pillow a bit roughly in his heavy hands. It was a beautiful room, though, maybe four or five times the size of her own bedroom in the rainbow house. A four-poster bed rested at the center with light pink gauzy drapery - more aesthetic than encouraging of privacy. There was a fireplace of dark marble opposite the bed and a few dressers and an armoire of cherry wood with a glossy finish. Though Becky figured the room hadn't seen a visitor in some time, Jun and Satoshi had worked hastily to make it comfortable and spotless.
Jun surveyed the room himself, nodding in approval with a squeak of his joints. "If you find anything wrong with the room, anything at all, don't hesitate to say so. We can move you elsewhere or..."
She interrupted him. "This will be fine," she said, moving over to the bed and slipping out of her shoes. The mattress was the most luxurious she'd ever rested on, and she had to contain a squeal of delight at the feeling of it. However, she realized that purple, red, and blue-clad machines were watching closely, and she cleared her throat, sitting up once more. "Yes, this is a lovely room, thank you."
Sho stood in the entryway. "Nino should return some point before midnight with your trunk from home. I'm afraid we don't have any spare clothing for ladies lying around here."
"Count Matsumoto, you're unmarried?" Becky asked, grinning. "No sister machines coming to visit the castle?"
"Of course I'm unmarried," Jun grumbled, thumping his chest. "And with the company I have to keep around here, all the better. I wouldn't dare force a woman to put up with these idiots all day."
"As you can see," Sho continued, "Matsumoto Castle has been a bit of a boys' club for years. But of course, Miss Vaughn, we want to ensure your comfort, so if there's anything you require, anything at all..."
She got off the bed, opening the doors to the armoire, a little excited to try and fill the space with her own clothes. It would be like being a princess, even if it was just until her father completed his task. "As I inquired earlier, I would like to meet my jailer. Your friend Aiba."
"Jun, I said I would speak with Masaki," Sho said quietly, though the effect was rather lost with the echoing ability of his metal body.
"I wouldn't get your hopes up," Jun said. "But we'll leave you to get settled. Again, we're really grateful for what your father is doing. And of course, for your own sacrifices. Good night, Miss Vaughn."
"Good night, Miss Vaughn," Sho said as well, and they headed from the room.
Satoshi, quiet and unassuming in comparison, merely inclined his head before closing the door after him. And thus she was alone. She listened to their noisy metal feet guiding them away - at the very least, it would be very difficult for them to surprise her since she could hear them coming from a long ways away.
She thought of her father, alone once more with only the dogs and Wobble for company. How long would it take him to brew the potion? Would he keep his promise and stay out of trouble? There was so little she could do to influence him, only hoping that her place in the castle would serve as a constant reminder to stay out of the Western Wood.
If Nino wouldn't be returning for a while yet, there was little point in waiting for her pajamas. She slipped out of the breeches, settling them beside the bed before climbing in and blowing out the candle Satoshi had lit on the bedside table. The curtains were drawn already, and the room plunged into complete darkness. All Becky had left were a million thoughts and worries, but the already overwhelming day caught up with her quickly, and she soon fell into a deep sleep.
PART THREE
They didn't argue about the Western Wood over the next several days. Maurice was thrilled to have an assistant, seeing as how neither the dogs nor Becky's pet turtle, Wobble, were ever any help to him. They scoured the woods to the south during the day, and she listened with great interest as her father pointed out the numerous shrubs and wild, flowering plants. When she was younger, she'd been able to identify nearly all of them. Her mind had muddled over time, replacing plant lore with dials and sprockets.
When their baskets were full and their shoes thoroughly caked in dirt, they returned home to have supper and prepare medicines. It did very little to help her with the adventures of Oliver Nesbitt, but it was a rather refreshing break. Getting dirt under her fingernails, frying up all sorts of non-poisonous mushrooms for dinner, drinking fresh apple cider with her father - it made her long for home more permanently. Not necessarily for Sora, but for her rainbow house and her pets and especially her father's stories of the gods.
When she woke the following morning, having passed one full week in Sora, her father was already out in the garden pulling weeds. The sun had barely risen, but he was already bent down over the soil, Trouble and Sunshine standing guard. "Morning, daddy. Have you eaten breakfast?"
"You know what I've had such a taste for?" he asked her, leaning back to mop some sweat from his brow. "The biscuits that Mrs. Haverford makes, you remember her shop in town?"
She nodded. It was a good hour's walk from their house. "The biscuits wouldn't be so warm by the time I got back."
He shrugged his shoulders. "Warm or no, they're the best around. Do you mind going?"
She'd gotten so used to the simpler life here that venturing into town sounded like the worst possible idea. But her father was looking at her so earnestly that she couldn't bear to say no. Instead Becky smiled. "I'll have to change into something more presentable," she said, gesturing down at the man's breeches she'd been wearing on and off the past few days. They made traipsing through the forest a lot easier.
"You're the prettiest girl I've ever seen, but I guess not everyone's as smart as me," he joked, and Becky headed into the house. She scrubbed herself clean, brushing her hair back into a simple knot. It was far too hot for the corset, but she went with a plain lavender gown and a cropped jacket, pulling on a sun hat. She broke off one of the lilacs from her vase and set it through the ribbon of the hat. There. She could bring a little bit of the rainbow house with her.
Her father was waiting at the bottom of the stairs with a basket and some coins. "And while you're going, I just remembered. Need at least two dozen vials. I've got a few orders due."
She crinkled her nose. "Errands, huh? Not just biscuits."
He blushed, handing her the basket. "Your mother told me I should have made lists instead of taking notes in my head all the time."
She kissed him goodbye and headed down the road into town. The dogs followed her halfway before turning back and heading for the fresher air and open fields. She made for quite the sight once she arrived in town, even in the west end. The ladies there were dolled up, not a hair out of place or any hint of sunshine in their faces. Their hands were gloved and their lips and cheeks kissed with rouge.
Her father was friends with one of the glassblowers in town, and the man was less concerned about her appearance as she entered his shop to make her purchases. The basket jingled as she headed for Mrs. Haverford's, having just enough money left to buy half a dozen biscuits fresh out of the oven. They smelled divine, better than any dinners Becky had tried to cook all week.
She waited until she was on on the way back before indulging in a biscuit. Heaven forbid someone in town see a lady enjoying a treat in public. It melted like butter on her tongue, and if she wasn't careful, all six would be gone from her basket before she got any back to her father. Her shoes crunched on the gravel, and she hummed, ready to start another day hunting for elusive harrow roots. She'd already lost two hours going to town and back, so she had to make it up.
The dogs were sitting in the garden looking lonely when she returned, not even following her as she went up the steps and into the house. "Biscuits are here! There's still three left!" she announced, leaving the door open behind her. "I'll put the vials on your workbench. And yes, I'll close the door so Trouble doesn't knock them all over!"
Becky set the basket down in the workshop, closing the door and heading back for the kitchen. Where had her father gone? He wasn't in the garden, but a few of his gathering baskets were gone. Why had he headed off for the woods without her, especially without having his fill of the biscuits? She was just grabbing a basket of her own when she saw the note on the table in her father's terrible handwriting.
Rebecca, I'm so sorry. I don't wish to upset you, but I've gone into the Western Wood. The harrow roots there are hardier than any we'll find to the south. Please forgive an old man his passions. I'll return at sunset, please don't put yourself at risk by coming after me.
She crumpled the note in her hand, letting the basket thump to the floor. "Oh daddy, how could you?" She looked out the kitchen glass, seeing the gravel road disappear among the first empty tree trunks. She didn't know how to navigate her way after him, much less know which way he'd traveled. She'd just end up lost if she went after him, and that would only cause more trouble.
She sat down in a huff at the kitchen table, wishing he wouldn't put himself at such risk for a few roots. But worrying wouldn't get her anywhere. Instead she took her sketchpad and the two remaining biscuits and headed for the flower fields. Focusing on her artwork for a few hours would be a good enough distraction from her father's mischief. She walked deliberately away from the Western Wood, focusing instead on the smokestacks in town. She doodled pictures, imagining them as Oliver Nesbitt's hometown. She added a few airship blobs to the sky.
The long summer day passed slowly, and she finally turned back as the sun began to set. She'd probably be a little sunburned, nothing her father's salves couldn't lessen. She prepared some food for the dogs and sat at the kitchen table to wait, watching the sky turn from orange to dark blue to pitch black, and panic started to bubble in her stomach. Sunset had come and gone, and her father wasn't home.
She waited and waited, and it was only when she felt the dogs nudging her legs that she realized she'd fallen asleep at the table. She dragged herself to bed, trying not to imagine the worst.
--
Morning came once more, and the dogs were quieter than usual, most likely because they sensed something was amiss with Maurice still being gone. She dressed quickly and headed out the door and to the west. Morning dew still tickled the grass as she walked down the gravel road toward the Western Wood.
Becky paused at the edge of the trees. What was she doing? What would happen if she got lost or hurt? What if her father came looking for her and got lost himself? She stood, staring ahead into the empty, tangled mess of branches that went on as far as she could see. There was no way she could go into town, try and organize a search party. He'd be arrested as soon as they found him. All of this for some roots!
She sat down on an old stump, counting the rings in her frustration. Maybe he'd just gotten turned around, made camp for the night. She remembered that had happened often when she was a child, recalling her mother's frustration as he turned up a day late with no apology and a basket full of berries. But that was different. That was a different kind of forest. Who knew what kind of dangerous beasts roamed deeper in the Western Wood? In town, parents liked to tell children about monsters who would snatch up disobeying youngsters and eat them.
But Becky heard nothing from where she was sitting. The Western Wood was vast. And the silence was almost more terrifying than the thought of creatures lurking within.
She got up, heading back to the house. If only Sunshine and Trouble had been born as bloodhounds. She was startled at the sight of the Gaston family carriage that was just pulling up in front of her house. Luckily the occupant hadn't emerged, and she was able to sneak around the back, hopefully not giving the impression that she'd come from the forbidden forest. There was little time to make herself presentable, and quite frankly, the less presentable she looked in front of Alaric Gaston, the better.
He knocked hard on the door, and she pulled it open after his second round of knocking. "Alaric."
He had clearly expected her father to answer. He was dressed in his best clothes, and she didn't even know they made linen suits for men his size. "Oh, Rebecca. Good morning to you. Is your father at home?"
But what business did Alaric Gaston have with her father anyhow? She tried to get her panic to subside, trying her best to think quickly. She closed the door behind her, ushering him off the porch and down the steps. "He's in the south woods, looking for harrow roots."
"And when will he return?"
They made their way past the old well behind the house. "Well, when he gets it in his mind to dig around in the dirt, he could be gone all day. Last night, it was well after dark when he returned, and this morning he left without even pausing for breakfast."
"Hmm, well..."
They left the house and the carriage behind, heading across the gravel into the wildflower fields, descending further and further down into the valley. She wasn't sure how long she planned to lead Alaric around, but the last place she wanted him was inside her home or near the Western Wood. "Is there something you need to say to my father that you can't say to me?"
"It's so rare that I get to have a glimpse of you, Rebecca. You stay longer and longer in the capital, away from Sora." He wrapped his arm around her shoulder, all too possessively. Oh no, she thought. She knew exactly what he meant to ask her father. "I thought that now that I had an opportunity and you were around, I had to take advantage of it. In case it's my last chance."
She shook her way out of his embrace, walking with more purpose. "Whatever you've got in mind, I'll be leaving for the capital again soon. I won't be staying in Sora."
"Not even if you were my wife?" She stopped, not daring to turn around. Of all the days for her father to run off into a place he'd get arrested for being in! "Just think of it, my darling. Me, one day the mayor of Sora. You, the wife of a leader, raising healthy, beautiful children and serving as a cheerful hostess."
She wanted none of those things. Well, she wouldn't mind children, so long as they weren't Alaric's. "I'm afraid you've made a poor choice in me, Alaric. I'm flattered, truly, that you think so highly of me." She wrung her hands, wanting to race back to the house and bolt the door. "But my life is in the capital now, with my writing. I could never give all of that up, everything I've worked for."
His hand found her shoulder. "You've seen enough of the world, haven't you? Writing stories is all well and good, but isn't it time you faced reality? You're twenty-seven years old, the same as me, and your prospects grow duller with each passing year..."
She scowled at the insinuation, wanting to break his fingers as they sunk in to grasp hold of her all the tighter. "Please let me go."
He turned her around, grasping hold of her chin roughly. "He's not in the south woods, is he? Are you protecting him? You think I'm a fool?"
"Alaric, let go of me."
He crushed her against him, and she could only smell the stench of Sora and his horrible cologne. "You'll marry me, Rebecca Vaughn. Or I will cut down every tree in that Wood until we find your father, and he'll defy me and my father no more. Is that what you want? To see your father pilloried in the town square? To see all his potions and silly trinkets burned?"
Blackmail then. He would blackmail her into marriage. But what was to guarantee her father's safety even if she agreed to surrender herself to him? She knew Alaric Gaston was a fool, but a fool with power was truly dangerous. She struggled in his arms, unable to stomp down on his foot the way she wished. She'd probably just hurt herself more in the process. "Release me. Please!"
He attempted to kiss her, and she turned her face away, feeling his open mouth leaving a wet trail across her cheek. She squeezed her eyes shut, worrying that he would dare to lay them down in the grass and claim her right there in the midst of the wildflowers, right under the noses of his servants. He grabbed hold of her hair, loosening the knot she'd tied it in, pulling her so they were eye to eye. "I'll give you one week for an answer."
And then he was walking away, leaving her in the field as he stomped off to his carriage. She heard the horses start to trot off as the carriage kicked up gravel along the road. He was gone once more. She wiped her cheek furiously, her entire body overwhelmed with her rage and terror as she hurried back to the house. The dogs seemed confused as she ran up the steps, opening and slamming the door behind her.
She made it all the way to her room before she cried. Angry tears for her father's casual flaunting of the law, terrified tears for the thought of marrying Alaric Gaston. She could leave her father a note and take the first locomotive back to the capital, but it would be nothing but cowardice. If she left him now, who knew what Alaric would do to him? Life had been simpler when she'd simply been trying to work on Oliver Nesbitt's world.
She cleaned herself up, changing into a simple red blouse and gray breeches to match her darkening mood and letting her hair down and wild. She was just swapping for a pair of boots to wear, heart set on the Western Wood and a desperate search for Maurice Vaughn when she heard the humming from overhead. The dogs started to bark and howl. Had Alaric returned? What would he do now?
Boots laced, she hurried down the steps and opened the front door. For once, Trouble and Sunshine didn't bolt after her, instead cowering in a corner of the kitchen. What she saw once she got outside was shocking indeed, and she nearly tripped down the back stairs. Before her, landing just across the gravel road in the wildflower field was a dirigible with a shimmering silver balloon and small black gondola. Unlike the airship that had taken her from the capital, this one was far smaller. The balloon was no larger than the roof of the rainbow house behind her, and the gondola only looked large enough for the pilot and maybe a few passengers. It was probably a personal, family craft. Those were indeed luxuries.
It was mooring itself in the field rather than at the air station. She hurried forward, wondering if the pilot or passengers were in trouble or if the dirigible itself was malfunctioning. Becky didn't know how to fix one of course, since she hadn't become an engineer, but she had a house full of medicine if it was a problem with the passengers. As she got closer, she tried looking through the glass windows. Nobody had come out. She was only a few yards away when the door to the gondola slid open with a whoosh, revealing the pilot.
Becky nearly fell back. It wasn't human. The gondola dipped under the weight of heavy metal legs, and one gleaming foot sank down into the grass. This wasn't real. Maybe she'd fallen asleep. Perhaps she was still in the house, and all the business with Alaric had sent her into a crazy dream. Because the...thing standing before her was not a person. It was shaped like one or built to resemble one but...
"I don't suppose you've seen an automaton before. Of course you wouldn't," the thing said, making Becky's eyes widen. It was taller than Becky with thin limbs, but the face was fairly blank. Only dark slits where eyes, a nose, and a mouth would be. Where had its voice come from? It had been a male voice, higher in pitch than her father or Alaric and with a detectable attitude.
Since this was obviously a crazy dream, Becky decided to play along. "I've never seen anything like you. What was your name again?"
The metallic creature leaned back against the gondola wall, almost as casually as a human would save for the squeaking thump of metal against metal. "I'm an automaton. A self-operating machine."
"You're a machine. Shaped like a man."
It nodded. "Well, this isn't really me." It thumped itself in the head slightly. "I mean, I'm in here, but this isn't my body."
"Right." She was talking to a machine. A walking, talking machine with a human voice.
He set one foot back onto the gondola. "Well, since I haven't sent you off screaming, you mind getting on board already? Your presence is requested."
She crossed her arms. And the machine was ordering her around? What on earth did this dream mean? "My presence is requested? By whom? I'm not getting inside that ship with you."
"Very well. Your father said it was foolish to try and persuade you, but what can I say, we're a persistent bunch..."
She gasped, mood changing in an instant. "My father? Where is my father?" This was no dream, it couldn't be. Not now. The dirigible had seemed to come flying over the Western Wood, hadn't it? What on earth had happened? She marched right up to him, looking right into the automaton's blank face. "Have you kidnapped him?"
"That's three questions," the automaton said with a very noticeable sigh. "The first, if you are the Rebecca who lives in that colorful house back there, then yes, your father. Where is he? He's at Matsumoto Castle. And have we kidnapped him? Yes."
Rather straightforward for a walking, talking contraption. She stepped right onto the gondola, spying a metal bench bolted to the floor right behind the operating console. The automaton watched her, cocking its head in seeming amusement. "Yes, I'm Rebecca. And my father has me worried sick." What had her father gotten mixed up in? He'd gone into the forest for plants and gotten himself kidnapped by automatons with airships? Were there more like this pilot here? And a castle? "Take me to him. Now."
"That was easier than Sho thought it would be," it remarked, sliding the door closed. Sho? Who was Sho? Did these creatures have names? Who was controlling them? She'd never seen anything like it before.
"Tell me what you've done with my father."
"But we've only just met. I don't want to spoil all my secrets..."
She stomped on the gondola's metal floor. "You bucket of bolts, what are you doing to my father? People from Sora can't go into the Western Wood and if anyone finds out he has..."
The automaton actually laughed, eerier still since its face remained as blank and impassive as it would forever. It headed for the control panel. "Rebecca, I think I like you already. Ah, and if you could kindly prepare for liftoff, I'm not the best pilot."
She clung to the iron rail running along the side of the gondola, nearly lurching off the bench as the automaton turned several cranks and sent the dirigible straight up into the sky. Everything had happened so quickly that reality came flooding back. Her rainbow house and the dogs within, growing smaller and smaller beneath her. The road heading back east toward the spires and smokestacks of Sora and the mansion where Alaric's carriage would be returning to soon. And now, beneath them as the dirigible glided forward, the dead trees of the Western Wood.
The automaton seemed to notice her sudden silence. He continued to adjust various knobs and levers as they flew. It was a shakier ride, but she wasn't sure if it was due to an automaton pilot or the smaller size of the vessel. He spoke to her far more gently. His voice seemed to echo from within the metallic body, almost like a knight in a suit of armor.
"If you'd like to put a name with a face, I can't much help you. You'll find that we all have the same attractive face. But if you remember my voice, I'm Nino. My real name's a lot longer, but I don't suppose that matters to you."
Nino. An automaton named Nino. And there was a Sho, too. There were at least two odd beings stomping around the Western Wood with metal bodies and blank faces. "I assure you, if my father has trespassed on your...land, he didn't do so intentionally. He's a healer and was looking for plants to use in his medicines."
"I know."
"So what is the problem? Why are you holding him? You'll find that we're not a wealthy family, and if it's a ransom you wish from us or any sort of monetary..."
"Can you just...be quiet, please?" Nino asked, exasperated. "I'm trying to fly here."
"Will you at least tell me..."
He turned to look back at her. "No. Look, we haven't hurt him, and we have no plans to do so, alright? Now shut your mouth, Breeches."
"Breeches?"
He turned back to the console. If he had a man's face, he'd be smirking. She could detect it in his tone. "You dress like a man, Breeches. It suits you."
Nino said nothing else for the duration of the flight.
--
The dirigible was not as speedy as the ones that traveled long distances, but finally a white stone castle with red spires appeared along the horizon. The trees of the Western Wood were not all dead, just as her father had told her. At some point, life had seemingly returned, and the forest they glided over was full of lush, ancient pines soaring into the skies. The castle, Matsumoto Castle the automaton had noted upon their meeting, was large with several towers. It was surrounded by a moat and lay just beyond the vast Western Wood.
It seemed as though the road from Sora went straight through the forest and had at one point ended up here, at the winding road to the drawbridge of Matsumoto Castle. Nino said nothing, focusing on the console as the dirigible descended. Once they'd moved lower, within the castle's outer walls, Becky could see lifeless gardens and wilted trees. They landed right inside the central courtyard, which seemed to be the mooring point for the dirigible. Despite his claims about poor piloting skills, Nino landed the vessel with surprising gentleness.
Nino shut everything down, and Becky listened to the hiss of steam as the combustion engine whirred to a halt. He turned and moved to the door. "Are you taking me to my father?" she asked.
"He's with Jun. Negotiating still, I imagine."
"Negotiating what?" she asked him as he slid open the door and stepped down onto the hard gray stone of the courtyard. Jun...a third automaton? Nino held out a metal hand for her, but she ignored him and stepped down without his assistance. He'd still kidnapped her father.
There was a noisy clamor, and Nino sighed. "Ah, that would be Sho."
Another automaton, this one with a slightly more polished exterior and wearing a red tweed jacket over its metallic body, came hurrying over. Nino had been right - the faces wore the same blank expressions, but at least she could tell Sho and Nino apart. Nino was the naked automaton.
"You got her to come!" the Sho automaton cried. His voice was deeper than Nino's, a bit more posh in tone. Almost like one of the professors she'd had in university. "I can't believe you got her to come with you!"
Nino set to work tethering the balloon to several ballasts that had been set around the courtyard. "My powers of persuasion have always been better than yours."
She stood nervously as the jacketed automaton looked her up and down. "You'll forgive me, but it's been ages since we've had any visitors around here..."
"...that doesn't mean you can look at her like a piece of meat, you know!" Nino called from one of the ballasts on the far side of the courtyard.
"Ah, please forgive me," Sho apologized, inclining his head with a metallic squeak. "My name is Sho Sakurai. I am...I guess I am what you see before you."
"I'd like to see my father."
He extended his arm with another squeak. "If you'd be so kind as to follow me, Miss Vaughn, we'll get this whole situation settled."
She turned back to look at Nino, tying as best he could with his clumsy metal fingers. He nodded for her to go on ahead. Sho led the way out of the courtyard and through large wooden double doors. It was mid-afternoon and warm, and the castle within was cool. The floors were tiled in a black and white checkerboard pattern with dingy red rugs that muffled Sho's footsteps slightly as he clomped along. He was a taller automaton model than Nino, and if Becky wasn't so worried for her father she would have asked him why he wore a jacket.
"We found your father last night," Sho explained. "We know he's been wandering into the forest for several months now, but he'd come so far this time that we thought it was worth asking him to come inside. Of course, it's difficult for us to approach anyone so he was scared. I do apologize for frightening him, Miss Vaughn." He led her past several closed and shuttered rooms to a grand staircase in the main hall. Matsumoto Castle had once been rather opulent, but what had happened here?
They took the stairs to the second floor where Sho stopped them in front of another set of double doors at the top of the landing. "This castle is the home of Count Jun Matsumoto. You'll see that he is like me and like Nino. He can sometimes have a frightful temper, but don't be afraid. He's really more bark than bite, he just...Miss Vaughn, the arrival of your father is something we thought would never happen. It's like a miracle, so I want you to know we haven't mistreated him."
She was still so confused. What did automatons need her father for? Had they given him a stroke? What was the purpose of all this? Why were there walking, talking machines in a castle that had clearly seen better days? But she nodded anyhow. Her father was behind these doors.
Sho knocked twice and opened the door. Becky pushed past him to find her father sitting in a plush upholstered chair beside a seated automaton in a violet coat. It seemed that clothing for the automatons was more standard than she'd expected - maybe Nino was the strange one in their little group. Her father nearly dropped the teacup in his hand, hurriedly setting it on a saucer before launching himself from the chair and rushing to her.
She could feel tears in her eyes as they embraced, and she felt her father's strong arms around her. "Oh Becky, sweetheart, I'm so sorry for having worried you!"
She squeezed him as tightly as she dared, finally feeling something solid and safe again. She'd been forced into Alaric's arms earlier that day and then whisked away in a dirigible piloted by something that couldn't possibly exist. "Why did you go into the Western Wood? How could you do such a dangerous thing?"
He cupped her face in his hands, looking embarrassed. "My sweet girl. Oh, my sweet girl." He backed away from her. "Why did you come? You should have stayed home! Oh, what have you done?"
"What? What do you mean why did I come? I was worried about you! I wanted to know you were safe!" He was looking so frightened, so unlike himself. She turned to stare at the automaton still sitting in the other chair, observing their reunion. Count Matsumoto? How had a mere machine risen to such a title? "You! You there, what have you done to him?"
She heard Sho close the door, making two automatons and two humans in the room. Count Matsumoto stood, and if Becky had to say, the machine had a remarkable air to him, as though there truly was an aristocrat stashed inside the metal. "Your father has agreed to assist a friend of ours."
Becky put her hands on her hips, looking from the purple-jacketed blank face to the red-jacketed blank face. Her father had nearly collapsed back into the chair. "You have friends?" she asked in disbelief. "You've spoken to my father. You know he makes curative potions and aids for humans, don't you? If you need some extra oil or need a screw tightened, I'm afraid your best bet is one of the tinkerers in town!"
"I never said our friend was mechanical," Matsumoto countered, gripping the back of his chair. "Our friend has been cursed with a most unfortunate malady, and since your father appears to be so skilled with medicine, we've recruited his services in order to cure him."
Sho interrupted. "It's all very difficult to explain, Miss Vaughn. Our friend is...well, he..."
"You don't have to tell her anything," Matsumoto snapped. "Our business is with this man right here." He looked over at her father. "He has agreed to make a special potion for our friend."
"As I've told you before, Count Matsumoto," her father finally spoke, sounding defeated, "that particular potion requires fermented adaliaga extract. That portion alone will take several months to brew..."
Count Matsumoto knocked the chair back angrily, his strength inhuman. It made Becky jump away in fright, longing for the far more jovial behavior of the automaton who'd piloted the dirigible. "So you say. So you've been telling us all day! And how are we to know that's not a lie?"
Maurice met the automaton's slitted eyes. "I do not lie when it comes to the work the Goddess has entrusted to me."
Sakurai looked to Matsumoto. "Jun..."
"No," Matsumoto said. "His word is not enough. We have waited too long, Sho, you know that. This is the best chance we've had in a century."
"A century?" Becky murmured, seeing her father grow more and more forlorn.
"I don't care if this is your castle or not, but I won't hold a girl against her will," Sho protested.
"It is the only bargaining chip there is! The girl stays!" Matsumoto insisted.
"Couldn't we just send Satoshi to stay with him? Wouldn't that be enough?"
Matsumoto shook his head. "We can't go beyond the forest for that long! You know what will happen!"
"But what are we going to do with her? Where is she going to stay?" Sho asked.
"Just because I'm stuck in this stupid metal contraption doesn't mean I've forgotten the basic rules of hospitality!"
"Stop speaking about me as if I'm not here!" she demanded angrily. Her father and the two machines looked at her. "Is that the deal? He makes your potion, I stay here in exchange? To ensure that he honors his agreement?"
Maurice shook his head. "Rebecca, I shouldn't have even mentioned you, I'm so sorry!" He got onto his hands and knees. "I swear to the Goddess that I will make the potion as you've asked, please! My faith is of utmost importance to me, so I don't swear lightly. Don't drag my daughter into this arrangement. I will work harder than I ever have to cure your friend. Grant me access to the Western Wood, and I'll search day and night for the ingredients..."
Seeing her father grovel before these abominations was almost too much to take. She imagined him entering the forbidden woods day after day, risking arrest. "If your friend needs this cure so badly, then where is he? Why is he not here asking my father to risk his life and wellbeing?"
Sho sounded apologetic. "He's very ill..."
"Do you agree?" Matsumoto asked, walking over to her. He was the tallest of the automatons, and the top of her head barely reached his chin. He stared down at her, face empty of emotion that his voice obviously had to make up for. It seemed as though it was taking him every bit of effort to speak to her with a civil tone. "Will you stay here as my guest while your father works to complete his promise?"
Her father spoke again. "My daughter will not be your hostage!"
"She came here of her own free will because she loves you," Sho pointed out.
But Becky could only look up into the nothingness of the machine's face. Jun's voice grew softer. "I promise that no harm will come to you here. We only wish for Aiba to be cured. You are free to roam anywhere within the castle walls. You will be fed and housed comfortably. Your father told me you are a writer. My castle has several rooms that will be cleaned for your use, I have a wooden writing desk that was my father's..."
"Rebecca!" her father pleaded. "There is no point in you staying here!" He crawled on his hands and knees to tug on Sakurai's red jacket. "Can't I work on the potion here? I will not run away, just please leave my daughter be!"
Becky thought of Alaric's promise earlier that day - that if her father didn't turn up that he would tear down every last tree to find him. If her father was in the rainbow house, brewing potions, Alaric couldn't legally touch him. This was the only way she could keep him safe. "I went back to the capital," she blurted out.
"I'm sorry?" Jun asked.
"No," her father said. "Don't do this, please..."
She nodded her head slowly. "Whoever asks, you tell them I've gone back to the capital to work on my books." She looked from Sho to Jun. "If my father makes the potion your friend requires, then I will stay here for however long it takes."
All the tension seemed to go out of both automatons, and they visibly relaxed as much as two walking machines could. "Oh, you don't know what this means," Sho said gratefully.
She walked over to her father, helping him to his feet. He kissed her forehead, entire body seeming to shake. "You don't have to do this, Rebecca. Won't you reconsider?"
She couldn't. Not as long as Alaric Gaston and his family ruled Sora. She shook her head. "They won't hurt me," she said. "You could just as easily poison their friend if they touch a single hair on my head." The automatons shuffled uncomfortably, and she turned back to her father. "Promise me one thing, daddy?"
"Anything," he said, tears streaming down his face. "Oh sweetheart, anything you ask..."
She squeezed his hands. "When you make this potion, you must promise me that you won't go into the Western Wood for ingredients."
He looked even more distressed. "You can't ask me to..."
"Promise me. I don't care if you have to fly to the capital for this herb or that, but you will stay on the right side of the law. I can't watch you from here," she said quietly.
He finally nodded. "Yes. I promise. I swear to the Goddess that I will not enter the Western Wood."
They were quiet for a moment, and eventually Sho broke the silence.
"Well, it's settled. And if it's true that the town has made it a crime for you to enter the Western Wood, then it would be foolish to keep you here longer, Mr. Vaughn. I can have Nino ready the dirigible..."
And just like that, Matsumoto and Sakurai took her father away from her, opening the double doors to see the Nino automaton leaning against the bannister. She followed with heavy footsteps as they escorted her father back to the courtyard. A fourth automaton, closer to Nino in size, appeared and didn't speak, helping Nino quietly get the airship back in order. He was wearing a simple, blue cotton shirt over his armor. Nino really was the strange one in their group.
It would be this quick - her decision to stay in a place she didn't know with people (sort of) that she didn't know.
She embraced her father, amazed by all the simply unbelievable things that had happened in one day. Nino turned one of the cranks. "Mr. Vaughn, if you would?" he asked.
Her father stepped away, bowing his head as he entered the dark gondola in defeat. Becky stood there in the courtyard as the dirigible ascended, Sho, Jun, and the blue-shirted automaton standing behind her quietly. As soon as the balloon had vanished over the castle walls to head back east to the rainbow house, she turned around, looking from machine to machine.
"Well, are you satisfied? You've trapped me here very successfully." They stared at her, and as the sun began to set, her panic truly crept in. She'd agreed to the arrangement only to save her father from Alaric's clutches, but now she had to face reality. She'd be living in this horrible old castle with machines. Not a living soul, aside from their terribly ill friend. Speaking of that friend, she had yet to make his acquaintance.
Jun turned around. "Satoshi, with me. We need to make Miss Vaughn's rooms spotless for her stay. Sho, I trust you'll be able to find something to feed her."
"Me?" Sho squeaked.
But Jun had no time for Sho's protesting, already heading inside with the blue-shirted automaton at his heels. Satoshi. They all had names then. Becky looked at Sho, eyebrows raised.
"So you don't eat? You haven't eaten? In a century?"
He moved his hand to his head, as though he'd be scratching his scalp if he had one. "I'm not a good cook. A disaster, really. You see I was..." Sho quieted, as though he'd almost said something he wasn't supposed to. "Let's get you inside, Miss Vaughn. I don't want you catching cold."
She shook her head, marveling at the strange personalities these machines had. "It's midsummer. It's quite lovely out."
He extended his arm, encouraging her to enter the castle. "Well, it's been a while since I've experienced midsummer, so forgive me. If you would please?"
The pots and pans in the kitchen had a fine layer of dust on them, but it seemed as though the ovens had been in use. Satoshi, who seemed to be the servant, chef, and baker all in one, had made a fresh loaf earlier that morning to ensure that Becky's father had something to eat. Remarkably, the castle's stores had not gone bad in all these years, and with the four machine residents requiring no food, it had lasted a long time. Anything else they required was easily harvested from the forest around the castle, Sho explained.
Sakurai opened a bottle of wine, sending the cork flying in an instant with his long metal finger. It clanged against the pots suspended from the rack attached to the ceiling, rebounding back and smashing a mason jar. "Oh, I don't belong in a kitchen."
She laughed, and it was really the first silly thing she'd experienced the entire day. It was a little unsettling to see Sakurai's blank metal face staring back. Was this to be her life for the next several months? Days and weeks without a smile or even a frown to greet her? Sho found her a clean wine goblet and poured for her. The wine was very good, and the bread even better.
"Satoshi's thrilled for a reason to cook for someone new. Masaki doesn't eat much so..."
She set her glass down. "Masaki?" She hadn't heard that name yet.
Sho turned away. "That's our friend. Masaki Aiba. The one your father will hopefully be able to cure."
"What sort of disease does he have? How long has he been here?"
Sho shook his head. "That's not important..."
Becky pushed the plate away from her. "Why won't you tell me anything? Is it such a terrible thing to ask you? It's because of this Masaki Aiba friend of yours that I'm here in the first place! It's because of your friend that my father's going to help! Can't I ever meet him?"
"He doesn't wish to see any visitors."
"But I'm his prisoner, aren't I?" she protested. "Whether it's my father or me, we're his captives. If he's as ill as you claim he is, why haven't you summoned for a doctor? Unless he's ridiculously contagious, I think it's rude to not even be allowed to greet him. This may be Count Matsumoto's castle, but I am here at your friend Aiba's request, am I not?"
He cleared her plate. "He's not much for talking, I'm afraid, but since you've been so agreeable, Miss Vaughn, I will ask if he would like to say hello."
"Is that an empty promise?" she asked, getting down from the kitchen stool.
He didn't answer her, instead leading the way out of the kitchen and back to the second story. Count Matsumoto himself was waiting outside one of the rooms, his purple jacket standing out against the simple stone walls.
"I trust Sho hasn't poisoned you with his cooking?" Jun asked, and the Sakurai automaton made a grumbling noise deep within his metal self.
"I was well looked after," she said quietly, mind as far from the bread in the kitchen as it could be. Four metal men wandering around, flying dirigibles, making food, and yet their master or their friend or whoever Masaki Aiba was didn't dare to show his face. Well, Jun had told her earlier that she could roam the castle grounds freely - maybe she'd uncover the secret of this Masaki Aiba. If she was to be trapped in this place for months, she had to meet the man eventually.
Matsumoto opened the bedroom door, and Satoshi was just putting the finishing touches on the bed, fluffing a pillow a bit roughly in his heavy hands. It was a beautiful room, though, maybe four or five times the size of her own bedroom in the rainbow house. A four-poster bed rested at the center with light pink gauzy drapery - more aesthetic than encouraging of privacy. There was a fireplace of dark marble opposite the bed and a few dressers and an armoire of cherry wood with a glossy finish. Though Becky figured the room hadn't seen a visitor in some time, Jun and Satoshi had worked hastily to make it comfortable and spotless.
Jun surveyed the room himself, nodding in approval with a squeak of his joints. "If you find anything wrong with the room, anything at all, don't hesitate to say so. We can move you elsewhere or..."
She interrupted him. "This will be fine," she said, moving over to the bed and slipping out of her shoes. The mattress was the most luxurious she'd ever rested on, and she had to contain a squeal of delight at the feeling of it. However, she realized that purple, red, and blue-clad machines were watching closely, and she cleared her throat, sitting up once more. "Yes, this is a lovely room, thank you."
Sho stood in the entryway. "Nino should return some point before midnight with your trunk from home. I'm afraid we don't have any spare clothing for ladies lying around here."
"Count Matsumoto, you're unmarried?" Becky asked, grinning. "No sister machines coming to visit the castle?"
"Of course I'm unmarried," Jun grumbled, thumping his chest. "And with the company I have to keep around here, all the better. I wouldn't dare force a woman to put up with these idiots all day."
"As you can see," Sho continued, "Matsumoto Castle has been a bit of a boys' club for years. But of course, Miss Vaughn, we want to ensure your comfort, so if there's anything you require, anything at all..."
She got off the bed, opening the doors to the armoire, a little excited to try and fill the space with her own clothes. It would be like being a princess, even if it was just until her father completed his task. "As I inquired earlier, I would like to meet my jailer. Your friend Aiba."
"Jun, I said I would speak with Masaki," Sho said quietly, though the effect was rather lost with the echoing ability of his metal body.
"I wouldn't get your hopes up," Jun said. "But we'll leave you to get settled. Again, we're really grateful for what your father is doing. And of course, for your own sacrifices. Good night, Miss Vaughn."
"Good night, Miss Vaughn," Sho said as well, and they headed from the room.
Satoshi, quiet and unassuming in comparison, merely inclined his head before closing the door after him. And thus she was alone. She listened to their noisy metal feet guiding them away - at the very least, it would be very difficult for them to surprise her since she could hear them coming from a long ways away.
She thought of her father, alone once more with only the dogs and Wobble for company. How long would it take him to brew the potion? Would he keep his promise and stay out of trouble? There was so little she could do to influence him, only hoping that her place in the castle would serve as a constant reminder to stay out of the Western Wood.
If Nino wouldn't be returning for a while yet, there was little point in waiting for her pajamas. She slipped out of the breeches, settling them beside the bed before climbing in and blowing out the candle Satoshi had lit on the bedside table. The curtains were drawn already, and the room plunged into complete darkness. All Becky had left were a million thoughts and worries, but the already overwhelming day caught up with her quickly, and she soon fell into a deep sleep.
PART THREE