Lucian took the whole scene In like it was a play. A girl wearing a dress made of shimmering water standing there, translucent hands offering him a water bucket. For the first time since he arrived at Atraeum, Lucian felt normal.
Lucy didn't want to scare or kill him. She didn't even expect him to answer. She lowered the bucket and placed it in front of her. "Oh, right. I'm still a stranger. Smart!" Her silhouette gleamed under lamplight.
I've only ever felt this way in the preparation room. His heart sank as he recalled feeling confident in the presence of the dead. "I wish I could feel like that again," Lucian said aloud. Lucy tilted her head like a curious cat. "Feel like what?"
"Like I'm good at my job. It's…I want to help, but I don't know how. And I got kicked out when I offered to let her rest."
"Mm," Lucy said. "Helping people's hard, whether they're alive or not. Did she ask for it?"
Lucian blinked. "I was told to observe and listen. Seems a bit silly to do that without helping them."
"That's not what I asked," Lucy replied.
"…no. She wanted to serve me tea. And when I asked for water, she didn't give me any."
The girl smiled and pointed to the water bucket between them. "Water nourishes people. Bloats the undead. She probably didn't realize you were still alive."
Lucian frowned. "I've been hearing that a lot lately. Why don't they see me?"
The girl made of water reached out and playfully poked his nose.
"Because you work with dead bodies, mister mortician. Your bones are steeped in formaldehyde and clove oil. Your skin's still plump, but corpses can't tell the difference." She giggled and the dry grass around them grew damp.
"And they can't see your soul. It shines really brightly, mortician. And that's why I'm here now." Her smile looked like moonlight through a silk curtain.
+
The Grimoire in his coat pocket felt warm. When he opened it, the page was slightly curled, and the ink within the entry shimmered like her water.
[UPDATE - DEATHBOUND GRIMOIRE]
Name: Lucy "Lucielle" of Sweetwater
Classification: Water Guardian
Level: 90+
Visibility: Rare. Not seen in 300+ years.
Function: Physical restoration.
Living beings who consume her water are healed of most injuries.
There are no records of emotional wounds being healed.
"Emotional wounds…" Lucian said as he pocketed his Grimoire. He looked at Lucy and asked, "Lira didn't want me coming here. She didn't want me to find you?"
Lucy glanced toward the house. "Maybe? Lira's silence is woven thick in her bones. You tried to solve her like a problem. But she isn't a problem."
Lucian frowned. "Then what is she?"
The water guardian dipped her fingers in the bucket and fished out a spiral seashell made of glass, on a thin chain. It was filled with water, and in the spiral's center was a tiny gold sea star.
"Someone who needs you to listen."
She held it out to him.
"This will keep your mind quiet. Less full of you. You say you want to help, but you keep forgetting to listen."
Lucian wasn't quite convinced. "What's in it? Your water?"
"Yes. If you want to heal your heart, drink it. As long as your soul is clear as dew, it won't run out."
He took it and put it on, a little puzzled. The pendant pulsed once, then stilled.
"And this," she said, reaching beneath the surface of the well, "was hers once." From the water she withdrew a small gold coin. There were faint scratch marks on the edges. Lucian turned it over in his palm and saw a lily engraved on the back.
"First coin she ever made," Lucy said. "Her family was starving, and they sold her to the family living in Sweetwater. They paid her to keep the house clean." She spoke as if reliving the memory in real time.
"She didn't use it for food or a carriage. She offered it to me. I was barely a ripple then. Dropped it into the well and said 'Please…help keep this place clean. Even if we leave. I'll come back.'"
Lucian's fingers curled protectively around the coin.
"She never did," Lucy added softly. "The family left one night, before the War. She stayed…and that's worse."
He glanced at the little coin and then touched the pendant around his neck. A knot loosened in his chest. True to her word, Lucian's thoughts were a little more muted. "I thought…being a mortician meant I needed to fix things."
It's what I know. Restoring bodies, setting their features, and…making them comfortable. Lucian looked at Lucy, realization in his eyes. "Before you can fix them," Lucy said, "you need to understand them."
Lucian hesitated. "What if she won't listen?"
Lucy gave him a knowing smile. "Give her the coin. You know a little more about her now. And please let her know, three hundred years is a long time to wait."
She flicked a finger against the well's surface and vanished, like a breath lost to the wind.
+
At first light, Lucian stood once more on Sweetwater Estate's porch, the coin tucked into his pocket and the pendant cool against his chest. He raised a hand to knock and felt anxious. Is she going to slam the door in my face? Would she answer—
A whisper colder than winter cut through the trees.
Not Lira.
He turned and looked at the pine trees, tall and intimidatingly close together.
Lucian saw a blurry shadow move.
The Grimoire flickered into view.
[OBSERVATION ALERT - ENTITY DETECTED]
Proximity: Low
Emotional Signature: Amused/Curious
Note: Low cause for concern. Water Guardian tasked to protect the farm.
"Well, safe for now. That's…reassuring." Lucian took a breath and knocked. As he waited, he wished Lira would answer the door already. The mortician felt goosebumps on his skin as the entity crept closer.
It was older than Lira, and quieter than Lucy. A soft breeze stirred and it carried the smell of sulfur, but no shadow wrapped around Lucian. There was no fear in his heart, not this time.
So that thing can't touch the farm…well, Lira did say to keep the place clean. That's good.
For the second time, Lucian knocked. "Lira?"
The door opened with a soft click, and this time, Lira wasn't holding a tea tray. She stood in the hallway in a green dress and her hair down, like she had just woken up. The corpse wasn't wearing an apron, and she didn't have her glasses on.
It was just her.
"Yes?" She asked, curt but polite. "I'm still getting ready."
Lucian said softly, "I know. I'm sorry. But you dropped this, a long time ago."
And he held out the coin.