It had been almost 3 weeks since Melanie's soul had been snatched from her body on Earth and arrived in the body of her alter ego, M'leineya Leoh. As unreal as it seemed Melanie was finally accepting that this wasn't some kind of dream. She had long dreams before but never anything that lasted days and was as linear as this, and it felt too real to be a dream. Either this was something so real and completely out of the ordinary or this was a version of the afterlife. She hadn't completely ruled out the latter as a possibility as if this was some kind of test before she could properly move on. Either way, she was very far from home and it didn't look like she was going to return back any time soon.
Despite having met new friends and going on adventures she never imagined herself ever doing when she was back on Earth, she still felt a longing for home and wondering what had become of her husband Tony. She couldn't help but worry about what he must be thinking and feeling. She could only imagine that her body was in some kind of coma like the Scions at Revenant's Toll. They may not have communicated much the past couple of years but Tony must be worried sick and wondering what had befallen on his wife to have put her in a coma.
She started to feel sorry for having wasted the past few years away not giving her husband any proper attention nor doing her part of the chores around the house. If only she could see him now she would run into his arms and beg his forgiveness and seek help to become a better wife. She would get help with her weight issues, spend less time indoors hiding away in her little room and actually go on proper adventures with Tony - not just wandering around a local park or doing their weekend shopping at the local shops, but really travelling beyond her comfort zone into countries she'd only seen pictures of and discovering what else was out there she'd never seen and for once really live.
Melanie rolled onto her stomach on her bed and began to cry into a pillow. "I want to go home, I want to go home!" she wailed and sobbed. After a few moments had passed she slowly lifted her head from the pillow. To her dismay nothing had changed, she was still at the inn in Gridania. She sniffled and sat up on her bed, pushing away the tear soaked pillow and wiping her face dry with the back of her sleeves. Someone must've heard her sobbing as there was a gentle knock on the door followed by a familiar man's voice. "Brovola, are you ok in there?"
Melanie took in a few deep breathes to compose herself and walked over to the door. Reubemont was waiting anxiously with a worried look on his face as she slowly opened the door to her room. "Is everything ok?" he asked, then he saw her tear-stained face. "You've been crying!" he gasped pushing the door slightly.
"No, it's ok, it was just a bad dream" Melanie stumbled, grasping the door tightly to stop him from pushing it open further.
"Are you sure? Do you want to talk about it?" he asked in a reassuring voice.
"I, uh..." Melanie stammered, feeling tears starting to well up in her eyes again. Quickly she wiped them away with the back of her hand and took in another slow and deep breath.
Reubemont reached in through the gap in the door to her hand and gently smiled at her. "Come on, let's get you out of this room and have a cup of sweet tea at the canopy. I heard they've imported a fresh batch of leaves in this morning" he said. Before she knew it Reubemont was leading her away from her room and over to the main part of the canopy which was oddly quiet for this time of day. Melanie also noticed none of the other team mates were around either.
"Where are the others?" she asked a little confused as she glanced around the room.
"They all left earlier this morning. They all had plans to do whilst in Gridania so we agreed to meet up later" Reubemont replied as he helped her to sit down at a small unoccupied table.
"Oh, wait what??? What time is it?" Melanie gasped suddenly realising why it was now so quiet in the canopy.
"Nearly an hour to lunch" Reubemont said cheerily leaning against a counter. "One pot of afternoon tea for two please" he said turning his head around to the inkeeper who was awaiting his order from behind the counter. Within a few moments Reubemont was handed over a tray with a pot of steaming hot tea and a light refreshment of cookies, muffins, and a couple of small individual cakes.
Melanie barely noticed the feast as her mind was still elsewhere wondering how she managed to miss the entire morning. "How come nobody tried to wake me?" she asked.
"We figured you maybe were too tired after yesterday's sparring practices so we thought we'd let you sleep it over" he replied, laying the tray down gently onto the table and started to pour out the tea into 2 individual cuips. He handed one over to Melanie who gently took a sip and then stared at the cup startled at the taste.
"Eh, what tea is this?" she asked staring at the yellowish liquid.
"Oh, that's chamomile" Reubemont replied. "Don't you like it?"
"Mmm, it's not quite to my liking, but I'll manage" she said placing the cup back down onto a small saucer.
Reubemont handed over a small brown bowl to her. "Here, try some of this maple sugar, it'll help sweeten the taste." Melanie took the bowl and dropped a teaspoon of the sugar into her cup and gave it a stir, then took another sip. It still wasn't quite to her liking but it was now a bit more palatable. She placed the cup back down again and stared at it.
As Reubemont watched he sensed that she wasn't much in a talkative mood about what happened in her room earlier. "You don't have to talk about it" he said to her in a soft and quiet voice.
"Huh?" Melanie looked up a little confused.
"Your dream. You don't need to talk about it if you don't want to" he repeated. "After all it's just a dream, right?"
"Oh...yeah..." Melanie replied looking away.
Reubemont smiled and handed over a small plate with one of the cakes. Melanie glanced back up at the cake and then at Reubemont. Seeing him smile made her start to feel warm inside and she could feel her cheeks starting to burn and a slight flutter in her chest. "I wish Tony was more like this man, understanding and caring. Man, what was I thinking earlier, why would I want to go back home? Even if I did grovel before him and vowed to change Tony would never change himself. He'd still be the selfish and careless man he's always been, never giving any time to try to listen or even understand me or how I feel or making any kind of gestures to make me feel special. I'd be still just as depressed as ever and stuck in my own time loop of playing fantasy games just to pass time and feeling some sense of worth."
Melanie smiled back as she took the small plate from Reubemont and breathed in the cake's scent. It was sweet with a strong smell of glazed pineapple that made her mouth start to water and she couldn't wait to sink her teeth into it. She took a bite into the cake and closed her eyes, embracing the sweet and tangy dance that was taking place in her mouth. Already she had forgotten about why she was crying earlier and could only think about how sweet and moist the cake was in her mouth.
Reubemont could see that she was starting to look and feel better and could barely contain his own happiness. He picked up the other cake and took a bite into it and for a moment was dazzled by the taste. "Oh wow" he said with his mouth still full. "This is the best ponzecake ever!"
"Mmmm" Melanie moaned with her eyes still closed and her mouth full of cake. Even in her more youthful days when she made her first ever pineapple upside down cake in school it tasted nothing in comparison to this.
"Ooh, mind if I try some?" Holskwyb's voice towered above them. Melanie opened her eyes and handed her small plate over to her and Holskwyb took a small bite from the cake. "Oh wow you're right, this is good!" she said, raising her hand to her lips to stop the crumbs from falling out of her mouth.
"I thought you were tending to some local business?" Reubemont said as he swallowed down another piece of the cake.
"I did" Holskwyb replied taking a seat next to them. "I'd been asking around the locals to try to find out more about the Dark Jekyll."
"Did you find anything about him?" Melanie asked eagerly.
"Unfortunately no. There wasn't much to go by other than he was a dark figure who appeared late at night carrying the two bodies and he disappeared as quickly as he arrived without a trace. Some locals think he might be from an offshoot band of assassins from the northern reaches of La Noscea but there's nothing notable to say if he is, so at the moment it's all heresay. It's like he just appeared and then vanished without so much of a clue other than his calling card with his handle. I hoped I might get a glimpse of that note myself to see if there was any clues as to where it originated from but the authorities here are keeping it under lock and key and are refusing 'novice adventurers like us' from even taking a look at it."
"That's annoying" Reubemont said as he wiped away the last of the crumbs of the cake from the corners of his lips with a napkin.
"It would seem that the Elder Seedseer is making damned sure that we don't go prying into areas that she doesn't want us to'" Melanie said before taking a final bite into her cake.
"Yeah, it seems that way" Holskyb said with a frustrated sigh, folding her arms and kicking herself backwards on her seat.
"Maybe we should check in at Limsa Lominsa once everyone's done here. We could look up for any jobs on offer and maybe find some more intel over there about the Dark Jekyll since everyone seems so confident he's from around that region" Reubemont said, placing his napkin down onto the now empty plate.
"Yeah, what are the others up to?" Melanie asked curiously.
"Johnas went to meet up with his mentor for some further training, and as for Suyaya she went to check in on some family members" Reubemont replied.
"Oh" Melanie sat back. She looked over at her now cold tea and let out a dejected sigh.
"I guess you really didn't like the chamomile tea, huh?" Reubemont said seeing her looking unhappily at the teacup.
"It's just awful" Melanie chuckled lightly.
"Yeah yeah, I get it. Not everyone's into chamomile" he said with a slight grin. "At least the cake was good though?"
Melanie nodded and chuckled some more, leaving Reubemont feeling happy to see her smiliing and laughing again. "She really is pretty when she smiles" he thought to himself. "This is how I want to remember all of my friends - smiling and laughing. We man not always have reason to smile and laugh every day, but for now today is a day for smiling."
