Eternal Elysium

"How is the boy doing?"

"He is fine… well, except for the fact he has trouble sleeping."

William said, answering Baker's questions.

Then turned to look at me.

I stared at him in confusion as he walked closer. His hand reached for the papers in my hand, staring at them with a contemplative look on his face.

Then his lips curled up into a warm smile.

"Ah, well done, Asher! You got all the answers correctly!"

Grandpa Will suddenly started to rub my head, his smile only going wider.

"See, Baker, how intelligent my grandson is!"

He turned to look at Mr. Baker sitting beside the wooden table, showing him the paper with words scribbled over it.

Mr. Baker squinted his eyes to look at the words. I looked at him curiously as he suddenly scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"Yes, whatever you say."

"Tch."

William clicked his tongue seeing Baker's laid-back response. Without thinking much, he sat on the chair beside me and grinned.

"Did I get the answers correctly?" I asked, not understanding their reactions.

Mr. Baker looked dissatisfied, which made me rethink the answers. But no matter what I thought, the answers resulted in the same. After all, it was simple math; Grandpa has been teaching me for a while now. Getting them incorrect didn't make sense; I had memorized the patterns, as they were repetitive.

"Yes, you did. That guy over there is grumpy. Don't mind him."

"Hey! Who are you calling grumpy?"

Mr. Baker reacted instantly, his face almost going red.

"See. Grumpy, like I said." Grandpa chuckled, happiness evident on his face.

I nodded.

"...Okay."

I was unsure if it was true or not, but a part of me agreed.

Mr. Baker was a serious person. However, he was still liked by everyone in the village; that was undeniable.

"Don't teach the kid weird things." Mr. Baker grumbled and leaned back on his chair.

"Why will I teach my grandson weird things? Surely you jest." Grandpa said, passing me a bowl of fruit and taking a handful of them for himself. "Well, did you come to check on Asher today? How nice of you, Baker."

"No, I actually—" Mr. Baker paused and gave me a quick glance before retracting his gaze. He huffed, a small sigh escaping afterwards.

"Yes. That was one of the reasons… The second was to give an order."

"Order? Oh, yes, it's that time of the year, isn't it? I had almost forgotten."

William nodded, remembering something.

"What… order?" I questioned.

"Oh, a festival is about to happen. Isn't it nice, Asher?" William said, standing up from his seat, and started to walk toward the drawer in the kitchen.

"Well, good for you kids. But I will need some help from you and the others."

I nodded.

"What should I do?"

William smiled softly and gave Baker a gaze that seemed to be saying, 'See. See. That's my grandkid!'

"Here, go and get these. Ask Meli and Kit to help as well."

He said, handing me a list of things. I stared at the page for a moment and nodded.

"Got it."

I stood up from the stairs I had been sitting on and gave Mr. Baker and Grandpa Will a last look before walking out.

Outside, the evening light greeted me. I turned my gaze to the left and saw Mr. Neil reached for his house; he stopped just outside the door and turned his gaze at me.

He gave me a cheerful smile, waving his hand at me.

I tried to copy him, my smile being a little stiff as if my body was not meant for such things. Mr. Neil's smile widened as he saw me awkwardly follow his actions, and he laughed.

"Haha… See you later, Asher."

"Ah, yes."

He waved his hand and entered his house, leaving me behind.

I didn't wait and started to walk toward the market's direction.

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I was aware of the festival's importance, albeit only a little. I had been in this village for more than five months now, and from what I have found, it was like a harvest festival. In which villagers contribute in different ways and forms. Also, that they pray to nature as their guardian along with the goddess.

'How peculiar.'

That was my only thought, as I wanted to know the reason for the people's joys as well. But according to Grandpa Will, that's not something people can learn.

"I need to experience it... but how?"

This was a jarring question that has been troubling me for weeks now.

And no answers were given.

The market was already buzzing with people, their laughter and chatter filling the air as I made my way through the crowded street. Stalls of various sizes lined up, displaying an array of fruits, vegetables, and handcrafted goods. The smell of fresh bread wafted from a nearby bakery, making my stomach grumble. I tucked the list in my pocket and scanned the area for Meli and Kit.

Thuck!

I stumbled forward, my eyes going wide in surprise as my back was struck by someone. I stopped, my foot anchoring me from moving forward. I turned my head back to look at who had hit me, only to see a boy my age standing there. His hair was black and messy like the last time I had seen him.

"Kit...?" I whispered, confusion evident in my voice.

"Yo, Asher, where are you going?"

I blinked a couple of times, still confused.

"Market... to buy things for the festival. But why did you hit me?"

"I was greeting you. Oh, sorry, did I hit too hard?" Kit said in a panicked voice and stepped forward, staring at me with a worried look.

"No, no. It's fine." I said, rubbing my back.

"People greet that way?"

My question made Kit chuckle, the tension in the air dissipating.

"I guess not everyone does, but I got too excited." He said with a shrug.

"I see. I will remember that." I paused and looked at him before adding softly.

"Grandpa has asked you and Meli to help him as well."

"Oh, we were coming for that anyway… Meli must already be on her way."

"Then, let's just buy the things first."

I said moving forward. Kit didn't say anything and followed behind, his gaze wandering through the stalls one by one. In a few hours we were finally done and started heading back home.

Not much was needed, as Grandpa only needed to start preparations for the festive food. The real event still will take some days to come.Walking back, nothing happened as our hands were busy carrying the bags in hand.

But we were not alone as well; behind us Mr. Frank walked closely, on his back was a pouch, covering half his size and containing potatoes.

As we reached outside of Grandpa's house. He placed the large pouch down and took a deep breath.

His shoulders slouched down as he wiped the sweat that had formed over his forehead.

"Thank you for your help, Mr. Frank." I said politely and even felt a little sorry for making him do this.

Frank stretched his back, groaning softly, before turning his head to look down at me.

He was taller and had broad shoulders. His hair was a little long but short enough not to reach below his neck.Hearing my words, he chuckled softly and shook his head. "It's not a problem, kids. I was going around this way for some work anyway."

Kit nudged me by his elbow, signaling me to hurry.

"Thank you." I nodded, repeating my words of gratitude before going inside.

The ingredients were left on the table as we waited for Grandpa to come. And not long after, he appeared, bringing a variety of tools in his hand.

Grandpa grinned, making Kit step back. For some reason he always looks afraid of him. Meli, seeing this, chuckled and gave a sheepish smile toward Kit.

"Alright, enough chit-chat, kids. Help me now, will you?"

Grandpa chuckled and said before placing peelers in mine and Kit's hands. Meli at the same time moved to help Grandpa at the table, mixing spices and some other ingredients. In between work, laughter would echo in the room, but the work would remain steady and slow. We continued to peel potatoes, but in between will be given other work, making the task at hand never-ending.

"Alright, let's stop for today." Grandpa said as the sun went down and stars appeared in the night sky. The moon remained afar, its brightness appearing not as lustrous as usual.

Kit and Meli went home after having dinner with us; their parents were surely worried, but knowing they were with Grandpa Will and helping him, it should be alright according to them.

I went to my room, lying on the bed as hours passed, but sleep was something that never came. To me this was natural, but to others weird. It wasn't that I could never sleep, but rather it happened at random; sometimes I could sleep, sometimes I couldn't, but Grandpa said my condition was improving as time passed, and I agreed.

However, today was such a night in which sleep will come late.

I stood up from the bed and left my room, walking toward the porch with slow steps.

The container holding the potato was filled with a pitiful number.

I sat on the stool and started to peel them one by one.

The dirt collecting on them was not hard to let go, as with a little rub it quickly washed away. My hand moved at a good pace, but not long after my shoulders started to hurt from crouching down. I thought for a while and didn't mind at first, as it was not enough to pose a problem.

I worked fast, now that the troublesome sounds didn't cause disturbance anymore.

But somehow the silence around me felt disheartening.

"Asher…?" A voice called out; from the corner of my vision, I saw Grandpa looking at me with a confused look on his face.

"Yes," I answered.

He squinted his eyes in the dark and stepped forward, and then turned his gaze at the peeler in my hand, at the piles of potato skin around me, and finally at the bucket holding the peeled potatoes, almost full.

"What are you doing at this hour?"

He asked, but I saw something stir in his gaze, as if saddened by something.

I quickly answered.

"I couldn't sleep. So I had decided to complete the work, Grandpa." I said, placing the peeler away.

But instead of being happy, he frowned.

"Did I make you… angry?" I asked cautiously, my voice shaking unknowingly, and quickly added. "Um, don't worry, I will clean this place. I was planning to, really."

Grandpa sighed and looked at my shoulder a little down from then.

"Why were you doing this? You could have simply taken a walk outside if you can't sleep like I taught you to."

"Well, while working we couldn't complete the work due to the chatter, so I thought now would be a good time to do it. Since no one is here…"

His face frowned even more as he heard me speak.

I stopped.

"Did I do something wrong?" I asked, looking down; something in my chest tightened, but I couldn't understand why.

"Yes. You did something wrong." Grandpa said, sitting down on the stairs. "Of course you helped me, Asher. I am grateful for that. But I am more worried now. Even if it took time because we chatted, it didn't mean we should just hurry things. Did you not enjoy the time we spent working together?"

His voice was calm, not angry.

This made me shudder as I shook my head.

"I did enjoy it… but it was slow... So I—" I couldn't finish the sentence, as Grandpa suddenly started to laugh.

"Hahaha… So what?"

"Huh?"

"So what if it was slow? If we enjoyed it, wasn't there a good enough reason to let it be slow? Asher, don't rush." He patted my shoulder and gave me a warm smile.

"We have all the time in the world. Live and be happy… Rushing just hurts people. We should always—"

Grandpa's words couldn't be finished as my mind started to stretch back, a small headache as I opened my eyes to look outside the window from my bed.

'Still grey as always.'

I stared at the sky absentmindedly as the memory faded away. I had forgotten many things, but some things remained intact till now. At that time I didn't understand his words, but now I do—just a little.

I have slept for too long. I smiled thinking as such and pulled myself out of the bed.

"Does the canteen have food left?" I muttered, feeling my stomach grumble with hunger.