A Truce of Trust

Leanne’s eyes eventually opened and she looked around. She didn’t recall where she was for a moment before it hit her. She was in the cave where Luseli and Sunivel lived and he’d entrusted her to handle the precious documents from ancient Oblivia. They were thousands of years old, but they felt like they’d been written yesterday. The climate control of the document room definitely went far with that. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. There was no window for the sun to shine through… Sun was definitely detrimental to documents and staying preserved, so it only made sense they wouldn’t allow sunlight in here, but even so… It was beyond strange to not have sunlight dappling through the leaves of the tree outside of her room. Even in Lucas’ home, she slept in a room that had a tree outside of it. It was a comfort for her. But now… There was no sunlight. She couldn’t be sure what time it was. How the pair of legendaries kept up with time here was beyond her. She slipped out of bed then pulled her clothes on from the previous day, going to the door of the room and looking around. She was in a long hallway with lots of different rooms. Apparently, they planned for guests a lot due to the sheer length of the hallway and how many doors she saw. But with as many different legendaries as there were, it only made sense, she supposed. Oblivia had so many different legendaries. Veshana and Rafesan stayed in Almia now, but even so… Most of the legendaries had returned to Oblivia once Pereli had told them it was habitable again. Thankfully, it didn’t take too long for Sunivel to approach, the sound of his cane tapping against the stone flooring echoing off the walls. “Well good morning, Leanne.” He smiled at her and she returned the gesture a bit shyly. “Get some good sleep?” She nodded. “Yeah. The bed was quite comfortable.” She paused. “How oldisit? Same with the clothes you let me borrow.” “Old” was the only answer he gave. “Now come on; let’s get you some breakfast. Follow me.” She nodded and started doing just that. “What time is it?” “Around eleven.” “Eleven?!” She never slept inthat late! She couldn’t believe herself! Then again… She had no idea what time she’d gone to bed. Her phone didn’t receive any signal out here in Oblivia, let alone deep in a cave system that was cut off from the outside world through hundreds of feet of stone. “How do you guys even keep track of time in here?” “We have magic timepieces that let us do that. We needed a way to keep track of time in here for important meetings and such. Luseli needed to know when to set up the next Rainbow Trials for the day and so on. So we figured out how to make magical timepieces. Look.” He stopped at what appeared to be a sundial and it had the hour at least on it. “We tied it to the actual sun. And since Oblivia is so tropical, we don’t have to worry too much about longer and shorter seasons. For the most part, Oblivian days and nights are equal year ‘round.” “Fascinating.” She wished she knew more about Oblivian magic… Kira had learned magic, but because energy flowed in different ways around the globe, she had never tapped into it into Fiore. She probably could’ve figured it out, but she just opted never to do that. She probably saw no point in it when she would never be able to use it in public. People already thought Kira a freak. Why give them more reason to point and mock her? It was so sad… The woman was obviously pained by the general isolation caused by the language barrier… The fact Leanne, Cynthia, and Wendy spoke Oblivian to her obviously brought her a lot of comfort and solace. “I wish I knew more about Oblivian magic.” “Well, nobody’s known it for thousands of years at this point and I don’t expect to teach it to anybody else. The world is peaceful. It doesn’t need a force like magic that might cause strife.” Sunivel shook his head. Leanne nodded a bit. She could definitely understand that particular line of thinking… Legendaries were enough of a struggle for people to deal with. A lot of people wanted to capture Pokémon just to capture then show them off. It was one reason that Oblivia was so off limits. If people learned there were around a dozen legendaries there, then Trainers from all over the world might very well descend up on the region and attempt to capture them… She had a couple Pokémon herself, but they were for archeology and companionship. Nothing more and nothing less. “Do you think you could at least let me study manuals?” she asked. “Hm. I’m a little tentative to do that. Manuals written for magic users with different spells in them teach you how to harness the energy of the planet and how to manipulate it. You could easily figure out how to use the magic if I let you read any of those old manuals. Even one person knowing how to use Oblivian magic outside of us legendaries and Pokémon would potentially cause trouble.” She sighed but nodded. “I mean Kira knows magic…” “But she’s notinOblivia. Kira though… That one young woman who met another young person from the future and wanted to go because of how she heard how good the future was? The one that met the Ranger?” “Her family name was Ligeda.” Kira didn’t talk about the past much. She focused on her present and future in Fiore above all else. She really didn’t want to talk too much about Fiore, but she did occasionally let things slip. She had told them that her family name had been Ligeda. Ligeda Kira, though now she was Kira Franks after having married Lucas. Taking his name helped her blend in a lot more to Ranger society which was what she wanted… “Ah, yes, the young woman I’m thinking of then… Hard to believe she did find her way to the future and escaped the Alluvion.” Sunivel shook his head. “She was of the Thunder Captain’s family.” “I…didn’t know that,” she said. That was definitely more than a bit shocking. The Thunder Captain’s family? But again… It came down to Kira never really mentioning much to do with ancient Oblivia outside of teaching them the language. It obviously pained her to be away from Oblivia, but at the same time… She probably would’ve been too radical for the heavily isolationist kingdom. There was really no winning for poor Kira. None at all. She may very well could’ve ended up exiled which was a fate worse than death as far as ancient Oblivia had been concerned… Lucas learned a lot through sifting through the old manuscripts and what inscriptions he could find from the ravaged Temples. The legendaries occasionally mentioned a man named Amun but they refused to elaborate on who he had been. It was frustrating that a former scholar of ancient Oblivia wasn’t allowed to be examined or referenced. “That poor woman had no real choice. She wanted to see the outside world, but if you’re at all familiar with how the culture worked in her time…” “Plenty. Professor Franks has made a lot of breakthroughs despite being laughed out of academic circles. And, well, coming here just proves everything he says is true.” If she managed to become a professor of Oblivian studies like Lucas was, well, she would have to be more careful than him. He spoke the absolute truth of the matters, no question about it, but the idea of magic got him laughed out of the circles he had worked so hard to enter. She felt terrible for him and knew people wouldn’t look kindly on her from associating with him, but she really did love ancient Oblivia. It was just things that didn’t adhere to the normal understanding of the culture got people laughed out and away from academic circles… She would have to be more careful on what she said to get the academics on her side. She felt bad she’d have to denounce most of Lucas’ breakthroughs but… She had seen what happened to him. “But with how academics work in the world… He gets laughed at a lot.” “I can only imagine. It’s not everyday that you get someone talkin’ ‘bout magic and stuff. I’m sure legendary worship is accepted, yeah?” Leanne nodded. “But the magic stuff prolly gets him laughed at.” She nodded again. “Only makes sense. People don’t like things that go outside of their standard understanding of how the world works. Pokémon inherently have magic, but trying to convince someone of that wouldn’t be easy considering Pokémon don’tusetheir magic. They only use their attacks.” He stopped in front of a stone door and opened it. It opened into a jolly little kitchen with a stone hearth, a table, and shelves. Luseli stood in front of the hearth, cooking. “Oh, good morning, Leanne.” The woman offered a small, sad smile. Gosh… The poor woman was so traumatised from what had happened. “Good morning, Luseli.” She paused. “Should I use any of your titles with you? Or are your names just fine?” She hadn’t thought to ask that until just now. She sat at the table in one of the wooden chairs. It was obviously well worn and well loved by this point. It was almost soft despite being wood… There wasn’t even a cushion on it. The kitchen was definitely a decent size with a bunch of chairs stacked up in the corner. No doubt for the other legendaries if they visited or the occasional guest or party if they had them… The chairs were well constructed and sturdy. Not the most comfortable things but they were fine. Luseli shook her head as did Sunivel. “It’s fine. You don’t have to call me Baseka or anything like that… You’re not Oblivian. Those days are long past.” She sighed and put a loaf of bread on the table. “Just give me a bit to cook the next part. Enjoy the bread while you can.” Leanne nodded and tapped the top of the bread, trying to cool it off since it’d just been in the oven. Leanne blinked. “Wait, do you guys still eat Water types from the ocean? I’ve never eaten Pokémon meat before…” She knew ancient Oblivian has relied on the ocean for a good chunk of their food since it wasn’t like they had a ton of arable land. They had to get food where they could. The ocean had abundant amounts of food in it as far as the ancient people were concerned. She wasn’t sure if Luseli and Sunivel fished or anything like that now… “I go out every morning and fish from the lake,” Luseli said. “I’m cooking that now. But if you don’t want it…” “I’m used to meat substitutes. We have the technology to make stuff that’s basically meat and has all the same nutrition but isn’tactuallymade from Pokémon… A good chunk of today’s population is what’s called vegetarian or vegan—only dairy products, or no Pokemon products at all. I eat eggs, milk, and honey, but no meat.” She felt bad but it just feltwrongto eat Pokémon to her. Ancient people may not have felt the same way, but for a lot of modern-day people… Yeah. It wasn’t something they could do in good conscience… “Well, my meals are hearty even without meat, so it’s not a huge deal. I keep rice, fruits, berries, lentils, and plenty of other things that can be eaten. You can just skip on the meat part.” “Thank you for being understanding. I just feel bad I’m wasting food if you were already making a portion for me.” Luseli shrugged. “I didn’t think about it, so I did make a portion for you, but we can just eat it later. We have climate-controlled rooms so keeping food cool for long periods has never been a big deal for us. I believe the word is ‘leftovers’ for you?” Leanne nodded. “Yeah. We eat leftovers a lot through refrigeration. Funny to think you guys invented refrigeration and climate-controlled roomswellbefore the current era.” She chuckled. She didn’t think they werestupidby any means. No, she would never do that; she was just a little bit surprised was all. She had thought of these sorts of things as modern amenities, not something that had existed for thousands of years. But considering the legendaries were thousands of years old, it did make some level of sense. They would have innovative minds that could see things from different angles and such… But it seemed like Luseli really didn’t integrate with the modern world at all… She knew the loss of Oblivia had to be incredibly traumatic for the legendaries, but therehadto besomethingthey could all do… Luseli shook her head. “I mean it wasn’t commonplace ineveryObrevi home before the Alluvion. It was really only in the castle and seen as important for documents so that way the history of our region could be preserved. Pereli watches over Obrevia, Almia, and Fiore and she said that, in much more ancient times, Calusans hired some Obrevi exiles to make similar climate-controlled areas for their records.” “Calusans?” Leanne tilted her head. She had never heard that name before. Who or what were the Calusans? No region existed with a name similar to that… Then again, it wasn’t all that long ago that Sinno had been called Hisui. Maybe a region had changed its name? It had something to do with Fiore but…what? Luseli nodded. “The Calusans were the Fiorans before Fiore.” “Oh the Ancestrals.” Lucas had spent much of his earlier career digging up stuff in Fiore on the Ancestrals. “Wait, there wererecordsfrom that time? That would be agold mineworth of information! Is there any way to access it?!” These legendaries were a wealth of knowledge. “Er, sorry.” She was treating them simply as a way to get information now. That wasn’t how she wanted to treat them. They had never allowed Lucas to see the documents or come to the Rainbow Temple to her knowledge. The fact that they had allowed her to come hereat allwas humbling. And she’d only just met them as well. “It’s just…not a lot is known about them, so having access to records would rewrite history.” Luseli shook her head. “Nayry, Leamra, and Ilallel willneverallow anybody to access those records. I admittedly don’t know much about what happened as, at that time, Obrevia and Calus weren’t really in much contact or trade. The triangle trade agreement hadn’t been founded yet. But, to my understanding from Pereli, the Calusans were destroyed by the ancestors of the modern-day Fiorans and the three beasts there aren’t happy with that even to this day.” “That was thousands of years ago.” Luseli shrugged. “Keep in mind we can be traumatised just like you can be. Just because we were worshiped as gods at one time doesn’t mean we’re immune to trauma.” “I wonder if I could convince them.” “You’d have to speak to Pereli about that to see if they’d listen or not.” Luseli pulled the food off and started plating it. It was all in several large dishes. Oh right… Ancient Oblivians ate with their hands and shared everything from large dishes. There were cultures around the world that did but she had never encountered one personally before. “Well, feel free to eat up.” “Er… Do you guys wash your hands or anything before?” “Oh, that’s right; you modern-day people are so finicky about washing of hands. Come on, then.” Luseli stood up and led her and Sunivel to a small spring not that far away that had two pools. She motioned to the smaller one. “That’s where we wash the dishes, but it cleans itself. You can wash your hands there.” Leanned nodded and did what she could without soap. “If you want to drink some, here.” Luseli handed her a clay cup and Leanne filled it with water. It was the clearest, purest, cold water she had ever had. “Wow, that’s tasty.” “Let’s hurry before the food gets cold.” Leanne nodded and filled the cup again, then hurried back to the table. She sat down and filled her plate with all the non-meat dishes which would be more than enough to make her full. It did feel weird to use her hands to eat, but she didn’t want to be an ungracious guest. Allowing anybody into the Rainbow Temple to come behind the scenes and not just go through the Rainbow Trials was monumentous for Oblivian history… They hadn’t even allowed Lucas into the Rainbow Temple despite him spending averylong time in the region and studying it. She couldn’t believe they had just allowed her in after meeting her the first time. She bit into a bit of the fruit salsa and smiled. “This is really good.” She smiled at Luseli. “Thank you.” Luseli gave a sad smile. “Is there anything you’d like to know?” “I’m afraid I’d upset you by asking anything,” she confessed. She really didn’t want to trigger the legendaries. Luseli moved like she bore the weight of the world on her shoulders and Sunivel had legitimately been triggered when she’d talked to him earlier. “I don’t want to trigger you and your trauma. You’re very,verygracious to allow me back here. Professor Franks said you’d barred him from a lot of different sites.” Sunivel sighed. “He’s your mentor, right?” Leanne nodded. “He treats us a lot like we’re just subjects. There’s not a lot of empathy there from him. He just wants history and facts and that’s it. Nothing more. Why should we allow someone that just sees us as subjects into our sacred site, pilfer information from us,andthen present it to the rest of the world to potentially allow people to come here to look at us like we’re some foreign entity?” Leanne frowned. “I’m so sorry.” Lucas could definitely be bumbling, but she hadn’t expected him to be so callous toward the legendaries. They were still people. They had lived through pretty much all of Oblivian history, sure, but there was no reason to treat them like they were just lab Rattata. They were still living, breathing beings that lived and had lives. Those lives didn’t seem fulfilling in her mind, but maybe they were to the legendaries… She didn’t want to treat them like they were just fonts of information; they had feelings and thoughts too, thoughts that should be treated with care, respect, and dignity. She hoped she would never treat them like Lucas apparently had… Sunivel shrugged. “It is what it is. Amun at least didn’t treat us like Franks does.” Leanne blinked. “Amun?” “A member of the old Blackwell line that came and lived here about a century ago. He was averystrange one. I believe Franks got information from his mansion and that was how he got a lot of his base information.” Leanne frowned. “The Blackwell line… As in the one from Sinnoh? It’s one of theoldestlines in the world. It’s been in Sinnoh’s history for over a millennium.” She hadn’t met anybody from the Blackwell line as they werefartoo upper class for some lowly peasant like her. It was like the Ambrose line. Ambrose wasn’t as prestigious as the Blackwells, but they were still well to do and would refuse to meet with anybody below them…or at least those theydeemedas below them. It was the same for the Blackwells. They were Sinnoh’smostprestigious line as their records went back over a millennium. It was crazy to think that some lines werethat old. “Honestly, we believe the Blackwell line might be connected to the Obrevi royal line which goes back much,muchfurther,” he said. “Despite the dilution of blood over the millennium, he lookedstrikinglylike the royal line. Laranashi, our last queen, bore a close resemblance to him.” Leanne continued to frown. “That’s…incredible if it’s true. You said Professor Franks used documents from his mansion?” He nodded. “His mansion has been abandoned and reclaimed by nature to some degree, but we actually did do some work on making climate-controlled areas for his personal documents. Even if we didn’t really participate in his studies, we didn’t want them to die to the ages.” “Where is this mansion?” “Bratibal—Mitonga.” “Do you think you could lead me there?” “I think you should spend some time among your people first. You don’t want to worry them by going missing.” Leanne sighed. “That is true…and I doubt this old radio can work in here.” She looked at the radio which she’d picked up before leaving. She did need to tell Professor Franks where she was going. Cynthia would probably want to accompany her too. Cynthia was young, but she was sharp for her age and enjoyed learning just as much as Leanne did. She would probablyloveto see these document repositories and learn from them. He nodded. “We generally don’t allow technologies to work in here…but being so deep in the cave prevents them from working as well. If you can stand it, there is a longer way out of the cave that’s a bit safer to traverse without having to rely on Beventi to get us behind the waterfall.” “I’m guessing the path is hidden with magic like the paths here?” “Got it in one.” By this time, they had about finished up and he stood, leaning on his cane. “Mind taking care of the dishes, love?” Luseli shook her head. “You can go with Leanne. I don’t really mind.” She started cleaning up the dishes and Sunivel started walking. “Come on, Leanne.” She nodded but felt bad for making him walk such a long distance. “Do you prefer to take Beventi?” He nodded. “Yes. It’s easier because I don’t have to walk as long.” She hesitated. She didn’t want to bring up his trauma, but she was familiar with the saying ‘take an arrow to the back.’ “Is there nothing anybody can do about pain relief for you?” Her voice was quiet, but she couldn’t help but worry… Modern medicine had painkillers, but pain like he was in would require something much stronger like opiates or opioids. And those could be habit forming. She wasn’t sure if poppies evengrewin Oblivia. He sighed. “I haven’t found anything that brings relief to this old pain. It’s been like this for thousands of years. Sucks, but I’m kinda used to it.” “What about asking Arceus?” “I don’t want to bother Filogi with something as silly as healing me. Hideron has tried all sorts of tinctures, balms, and salves, but nothing has helped.” “I’m so sorry.” She just… She wished she could help him. “Are you aware of poppy flowers?” “They grow in Almia, so yes, I’m familiar.” “They have naturally derived compounds that act as painkillers. Though, they can be habit forming…” “It’s probably best to not risk it. And, usually, you grow a tolerance to such things over time. I’d need something that can work long term since, well, I ain’t dying anytime soon. Been alive for thousands of years. I don’t plan on keeling over anytime soon. Though, in some regards, I wouldn’t mind it…” His tone softened and he closed his eyes for a moment. He stopped for a moment but continued again. Her heart dropped through her stomach. He had a good point…but she couldn’t blame him for not wanting to be alive any longer. He had no purpose anymore. None of the legendaries did. They had at one point, but just no longer… She wished she could do something for him. She stepped up beside him and rested a hand on his arm. “I wish I could help.” He sighed. “I’m used to it. But thank you.” He fell silent and led the way through the tunnel. They came to a wall a bit later and he put his hand on it, then it slid open. “We’re near the Water Temple so you’ll have a longer walk back. Oblivia is usually pretty safe, but still, be careful. Wild Pokémon can come and be nuisances without Rangers around. If you want or need anything, see if you can track Pereli down. She’ll be the easiest way to get a message to us quickly.” She nodded. “Okay. Thank you again for your kindness.” She hesitated. “Can I give you a hug?” He chuckled. “Sure; I don’t see why not.” He held his arm open and she gave him a hug. She didn’t squeeze too tightly, not wanting to cause him further pain, but she was beyond thankful for his and Luseli’s kindness. She hoped she could one day properly express her thanks to him for all of this. She would only be here for a summer, but his kindness would remain etched in her mind for the rest of her life. Despite everything these legendaries had been through, they retained their warmth and kindness through and through. Maybe, one day, she could come live here, though she knew there was almost no chance of it. She would have to coordinate with the Union and get permission which she really doubted she would get… She stepped back and waved to him. “I’ll see you some other time.” “See ya soon, kid.” He stepped back and the rock face went up. She looked at the radio. Well, time to head back...