Mavin returned to the Ancestral House of the Tomas Family. There was only light in the kitchen. Entering through the front door. He saw Natalya sitting alone, burying herself in her plate of food and a bottle. The stench of the whiskey and the scent of her fried food polluted the room.
“I hope you don’t mind what I did to the kitchen. These iceboxes are great. I had wanted Mimi to come and get me some fried snacks, but she’s quite busy. What? Stop standing in the dark, and join me.”
Mavin stayed still. He smelled himself. “No, I think I might need a bath. You can eat alone.”
“Bah, do I look like I care about your stenc—” she stopped talking. Her expression changed to a blank one. She took a whiff at his direction and smelled something. “Ah, no wonder.”
Mavin stayed in the dark. She was in the light. Her demeanor was a complex of emotions that was changing. As if she didn’t know how to continue what she wanted to talk about.
“Must have been a bad day, or am I the only one to think that?”
“It’s a bad day.”
“You don’t look bothered to me. Hey, you must be hungry for it. I’m not. Then again, I hate smelling that stench on you,” she hovered the mouth of a whiskey bottle on her nose. “Whiskey smells good. Drowns your senses especially when you drink and smell it. I wasn’t fond of drinking two years ago, and being out of commission, the paperwork, and the propaganda made me love this.”
“And you’re telling me?”
“Because you look ashamed of something there. Come here already, don't drown in that place. Do you like the dark so much?”
He moved to the light where she sat.
“Goodness, you smell of three things that I hate.”
Natalya didn’t ask. She picked a snack from her plate and bit on it. She drank her whiskey and poured one for him. Mavin dragged a stool and sat with her.
“You smell of smoke, blood, and women. Must have been quite the day. Make that three women. There’s also the smell of salt and crude oil? You in a ship or something?”
His face froze, he gingerly picked up his glass and took a sip.
“You didn’t follow me, right?”
“Huh? Why would I? I have problems to worry about, and you're not the only one who's having a bad day. But seeing you now, I kinda found my situation a bit better now. Thanks for that.”
“Glad that you’re enjoying my misery for the day.”
“Sure am. Don’t worry, I’m being nice here already. Here, take some drink, and then drown whatever you have.”
“You should be sleeping.”
“You should be sleeping as well,” she reached her hand out and flicked his forehead. “Don’t lecture me when you’re awake five in the morning.”
“I won’t.”
“Where have you been?”
“Do you want me to ask the same question to you?” Natalya asked.
Mavin shook his head. His expression turned placid. He nodded his head. Natalya looked away, placing the rocks on her glass. She ate her fried food consisting of chicken wings and skin and sliced fried potatoes. She would take a sniff of the whiskey more than drink it.
“What? Not going to talk about yourself all day? If you want me to tell you a story, then forgive me, I have none to give you other than the company,” Natalya declared. The thin smile on her face was almost mocking. She bit on her thin-sliced deep-fried potato and chewed.
“Do I do that?”
“Talking someone’s ear off or always talking about yourself all the time?”
“...I do that?”
“Not sure. If I say anything bad today, then please kindly blame the alcohol for it.”
“You’re not convincing with that.”
“Don’t recall wanting to be convinced. Really, hmm, I remember that kind of smoke. That’s eastern tobacco, peddled from the far-east. Must have met with someone who loves smoking and is fond of rose perfume. Good thing that the smell of gunpowder and blood sticks on you.”
Mavin reached out for one of the fried snacks. Natalya turned to her with the dullest stare she had could muster for today. Following his hand as he placed the snack on his mouth. She snorted, went back to taking a whiff of the whiskey close to her. She took a sip of her whiskey, wiping her mouth.
“Whiskey stings sometimes. Makes me hate it. I hate putting it in my mouth. Especially when that spice gathers in my mouth, and I’m forced to vomit all the whiskey that I drank for the day. The taste of vomit that comes after whiskey is even worse than the spice of whiskey. But once you get used to it, no matter how awful the taste of alcohol and vomit, you’d come back to it because it clouds your head.”
“I don’t get it.”
“People are drunk on something that they can’t let go of.”
“Trying to make a thought?”
“Not really,” she shrugged under the light of a bulb. She wiped the wet circle that formed under her cold glass and moved the stainless steel bucket that was holding the bucket. She placed her cheek on the table and closed her eyes.
“The ghostly raven flies across a field, watching from above, gliding along with the smoky wind. Vultures and crows gathered around, and the raven still circled, watching with mirror-like eyes. And the four crows gathered, and the last one die, a raven flew into the sky~”
She sang and hummed at the same time. She almost made the song a happy one...
“What’s that?”
“It’s something I learned in Dinia. Mavin, I want to ask you something. I’ve been curious about it. It’s okay if you don’t answer.”
Mavin raised a brow. There was an air of curiosity on his face.
“Are you a crow or a raven?”
Mavin paused and looked away. His eyes staring a hundred yards away. He was looking at someone he couldn’t find. He squeezed his eyes and answered.
“I want to be a crow.”
“Hah, I guess we all wanted to be a crow more than a raven, eh?” She stood up, drank the bottle in one go, and placed the bottle of whiskey in front of Mavin. There was a coldness in her eyes that Mavin could remember in the ‘memories’ in his head. She had the look of the Imperator, and he barely stopped himself from drawing his pistol. His face, however, remained blank. She didn’t know what was happening inside his head and Mavin was glad she didn’t.
“If you continue like this, you’ll be forever the raven flying around, Mavin. Goodnight.”
She turned off the lights and left Mavin in the dark.
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