Confrontation

~*~

It had been about ten minutes since Gadriel and Jessabiel had set off for Fjore. Meanwhile, as he was walking behind her, the young boy couldn’t help but find the atmosphere between them somewhat suffocating. Indeed, since their departure from his home, Jessabiel hadn’t uttered a single word. She hadn’t even glanced in his direction and was just walking towards their destination. Seeing how far they still had to go, Gadriel thought it would be best to break the mood and find the Jessabiel he knew. Luckily for him, they were just passing the park where they had observed the great transfer conjunction.

“Jessabiel.”

“Yes. What’s up?”

“Thank you very much, Jessabiel.”

The girl finally turned back to Gadriel and asked why he was suddenly thanking her, also adding that she hadn’t done anything in particular.

“I wanted to thank you for yesterday, for attending the conjunction with me. You know, with Mother away, I wasn’t really in the mood to do that, but you were there. You were there for me and I was able to observe their appearance,” he replied, looking up at the gigantic rings of Geoshia displayed in the sky.

“I’ve already told you that you don’t have to thank me. That’s what friends are for.”

“I know, but I wanted to do it anyway. You’re my best friend, Jessabiel, and I wanted you to know that.”

At the same time, the young boy couldn’t help but think he wanted their relationship to become more than just friendship.

“That’s very kind of you to say, Gadriel. In fact, now that I think about it, when I was at your place, I couldn’t help but notice the pictures on the wall. You and your mother don’t really look alike.”

“That’s perfectly normal. Mother didn’t give birth to me, but rather found me on one of her expeditions when I was just a baby. She took me in and raised me as if I were her own son.”

“And you’ve never been curious about who your real parents are. Or at least to know what they look like.”

“I’d be lying if I told you I’d never thought about it. Knowing who my real parents are, knowing why they abandoned me and if they did it because they had no choice, knowing if they still love me, all these questions have already gone through my head. But in the end, I told myself it was for the best. I don’t need to know who my real parents are, because I already know. Mother and Eve are my only family, and that’s all that matters to me.”

Faced with such words, Jessabiel couldn’t help but smile slightly, which made Gadriel think she’d been touched by what he’d just said.

“Gadriel, let’s go force these officers to do their job properly.”

The young boy gladly accepted Jessabiel’s invitation and the two of them set off again for Fjore and its Missing Persons Department.

*

Gadriel and Jessabiel had just arrived in the city of Fjore. And as on the previous occasion, the young boy loathed the feeling he got when stepping out of the transporter. He hated feeling completely soaked, which didn’t seem to be the case with his friend.

“Honestly, I don’t know how you ignore that feeling, Jessabiel.”

“You get used to it over time.”

“Speak for yourself. I don’t think I’d ever get used to it.”

“If you say so. Which one of these buildings should we head to?

“This one.”

Gadriel pointed to one of the city’s tallest buildings, and the two set off in its direction. On the way, the boy couldn’t help but admire the grandeur of the buildings, always looking upwards, which prompted Jessabiel to ask him what he was doing.

“I’m admiring the buildings. They’re so big compared to the ones back home,” he replied.

“Did anyone ever tell you that you were wei…a special person? But you’re right, they’re really big. However, they all pale in comparison to the Tower of Jtaoch.”

“The Tower of Jtaoch? What’s that?” Gadriel questioned, very curious.

Jessabiel took a few seconds before answering and telling him that it was a building she had seen on the planet Jtaoch, a huge tower that stretched high into the sky until it was above the clouds.

“Is it really that big?”

“Yes, it is. And inside are a hundred floors of stories and information on practically everything.”

Gadriel, who was already impressed by the grandeur of Fjore’s buildings, had a hard time imagining that a building could be even bigger, so big that it towered above the clouds. Now, he wanted to see it with his own eyes, but above all, he wanted to know what kind of stories it contained.

“Maybe the people who are working there have the whole story of the Dragon Emperor,” he thought at the time. “Next time I go to the temple, I’ll ask Kyon about this tower. He’s bound to have heard of it.”

“Good luck with that.”

“Why good luck?”

“For nothing. Let’s go, our destination’s not far off,” she replied, setting off again.

The young boy found Jessabiel’s behavior somewhat strange, sometimes giving the impression that she was a different person. However, he told himself that her current attitude must be the consequence of something Reigns had done. Only he could have put her in such a state.

“You’re coming or not?! Jessabiel exclaimed, noticing that Gadriel hadn’t moved an inch.

“Yes, I’m coming!” he shouted, running towards her.

*

Shortly afterwards, Gadriel and Jessabiel found themselves on the 56th floor of the building, where the department whose role was to find all those who had been missing was located. As on the previous day, the young boy made his way to the reception desk where the Loxian and the Rumirunas were both seated.

“Good day to you. I suppose you’ve come back to speak to yesterday’s officer? The stone woman retorted when Gadriel was close enough.

“Good morning. That’s right. I’d like to speak to him again,” he replied.

“Please, wait a moment.”

The Rumirunas rose from her seat – putting her imposing stature on full display – and moved with heavy steps towards the office which Gadriel had been led to the previous day. Meanwhile, Jessabiel, who had noticed that this stone woman could have accomplished this simple task from her office, talked to Gadriel, telling him that he was rather famous around here.

“This woman immediately guessed why we were here,” she continued.

“I’ve been coming here for several days now. It’s not really surprising.”

“I guess you’re right.”

Shortly after the Rumirunas had left, the officer Gadriel had been talking to the day before finally showed up. The latter now wore an expression of exasperation on his face, which showed how tired he was of this young boy who kept turning up in his department.

“Gadriel, how many times have I told you to stay away from this department? We’re doing the best we can to find your mother, and you’re not going to make any headway by coming here every day,” he retorted when he reached both Gadriel and Jessabiel.

“If you did your job properly, he wouldn’t have to come here every day.”

“I see you’ve brought someone else with you this time. What’s your name, kid?”

“Jessabiel. And I’m not a kid,” she replies, offended.

“Listen, kid…”

“I’ve already told you I’m not a kid,” Jessabiel retorted furiously, interrupting her interlocutor. “Your job, all of you, is to find people who have gone missing. However, my friend has been here many times and you’ve all been unable to give him any useful information on the progress of the search. What have you all been doing all this time?”

Because she had suddenly raised her voice, the eyes of everyone present were now turned towards her. All the officers and other employees passing by were now angry at these two kids who dared to discredit their work and all their efforts.

“Jessabiel,” Gadriel retorted, seeing the glares being thrown their way.

The boy was right to be worried. Indeed, some of the officers watching them wanted to teach them a lesson by locking them up in a cell, while others wanted them out of the department. And one of the people who felt the same way was none other than the one Jessabiel was talking to.

“Look, KID, I don’t care what Gadriel told you. It’s not going to change what we’re doing here. However, I will not tolerate a bunch of kids showing up here and suddenly starting to denigrate the hard work my colleagues and I do every day in this department.”

“If you did your jobs better, this wouldn’t happen.”

“Kid, you’d better…”

“This is the third time I’ve told you I’m not a kid. Are you also deaf as well as being incompetent?” Jessabiel said at the same time.

“You really are a kid, a kid who has no idea how the world works! You barge in here with him and start disparaging everyone, thinking that’s going to advance research, that’s definitely the behavior of an immature child who has no idea what she’s doing!…”

Seeing that he’d got a little too carried away with children who clearly knew nothing about how his department worked, the officer took a deep breath before apologizing for his abrupt reaction. Meanwhile, Jessabiel was finding it increasingly difficult to hide her frustration at this man who continued to call her a child. As a result, the color of her eyes shifted slightly between emerald green and blood red. For his part, Gadriel was so preoccupied with everyone’s stares and the agent’s reaction that he failed to notice this slight change in his friend.

“Anyway, if you don’t have anything important to tell me or report, please leave our department. We have better things to do than waste our time on you.”

“What are you going to do? You’re going to sit behind your desk and pretend to work.”

“Kid, you’d better be careful how you address people. You might regret it bitterly.”

“You’ll be the one who’ll be bitterly sorry if you call me kid one more time.”

“Jessabiel, we’re not here to fight.”

“Shut up, Gadriel. This is between him and me.”

At that moment, Gadriel was very frightened of Jessabiel and once again had the impression that his sweet friend had just been replaced by someone else, by someone very aggressive. What was more, he couldn’t understand why she was so fixated on this man calling her a kid. Last time he checked, she and he were both kids, especially compared to this officer and all the other people who were working in this department.

“This one’s getting on my nerves. Miss [unintelligible words], can you lead them to the exit?”

“Where are you going?! I’m not done with you yet!”

The officer ignored Jessabiel’s words and returned to his office. Meanwhile, the Rumirunas who had spoken to Gadriel as soon as he arrived in the department appeared before them and kindly asked them to leave. Obviously, the girl didn’t feel like it – she hadn’t yet finished settling her differences with this man who had dared to call her a kid.

“Jessabiel, please stop,” Gadriel retorted, trying to calm his friend down. “I’m really sorry, Miss [unintelligible words], she doesn’t usually act like this.”

Astonished by what she had just heard, the stone woman asked Gadriel if he spoke Rumis.

“No. What is it?” he replied.

She explained that it was the language of her home planet and that her name could only be pronounced by those who could speak it perfectly. That was why she’d asked him.

“But I digress. You both need to go home and let us do our job.”

“Your job! Your job! How many times have you all told him that? But you still can’t find his mother.”

“That’s enough. Leave right now.”

“Jessabiel, let’s go. We’ll be back tomorrow.”

Seeing that they were no longer welcome, Gadriel and Jessabiel had no choice but to leave. However, before leaving, the young girl openly declared that this man who had dared to disrespect her was not going to get off so easily.

*

Now outside the building, Jessabiel couldn’t help but express her frustration and anger at what had just happened, and hurled insults at the Celestial who had dared to call her a kid. Her behavior was so erratic that she attracted the attention of everyone in the vicinity. For his part, Gadriel was watching her, wondering why she was so fixated on that, but he was mostly intimidated to see her display such behavior. It was so completely the opposite of her usual attitude that he finally asked her to calm down.

“Calm down?! You want me to calm down after what he dared to do?! No, Gadriel. It’s out of the question. That man and all his colleagues pay nothing to wait.”

“Don’t say that, Jessabiel. They’re doing their best to find Mother.”

“Because you believe in their word! Those idiots will never find her. They don’t have the means.”

Jessabiel didn’t realize it at the time, but the sentence she’d just uttered offended Gadriel enormously and, for a moment, he could hardly believe she’d said something like that. Yet, she knew it was something very close to his heart.

“I still have hope. I know Mother is out there somewhere, and I also know they’ll find her in the end.”

At that moment, the young girl received a message on her bracelet, a message that caused her to put on a worried expression.

“What do you mean, they’ve all disappeared? It wasn’t supposed to be this way. What happened? It was a very simple operation. An external element must have intervened, that’s the only explanation. It also means that the mission is very likely to be compromised…,” she thought.

“Is everything all right, Jessabiel?” Gadriel asked, interrupting his friend’s reflection.

“Yes, everything’s fine. It’s just Reigns messing around. You know what he’s like sometimes.”

“No, I don’t. And I really don’t want to know.”

Jessabiel sketched a slight smile before tapping something on her screen bracelet. She then turned back to the young boy and asked him to follow her.

“Where are we going?”

“Entertain us. I’ve been a bit too emotional today. I need to take my mind off things.”

It was true that she had behaved very strangely during the day, sometimes giving Gadriel the impression that he was with a totally different person. So, he was glad to see again the Jessabiel he knew and felt for. The boy finally agreed to follow her and the two set off for a place that only Jessabiel knew about.

To be continued!!!