Stepping into the restaurant was like stepping into a brand new world. In all of my life I’d never once seen any place like it.

The tall backed booths marked with etchings of feline figures that are a far cry from anything found in Celestia line walls of the building. Painted murals of desert scenes cover the walls. Strange, spiny cacti stand tall in the sands and people with cat ears upon their heads dance together.

Adding further to the foreign ambiance are the many designs of painted skulls set about. Even in one of the murals is the white, bony remnants of an odd horned creature.

“Welcome to The Oasis. Would this be a dine in for two?” The attentive host greets us shortly after we enter.

“Actually, we’ve come in to meet with a friend of ours. He should be seated by the window. Light blue hair, has a white jacket resting on the back of his chair.”

“Oh yes, he’d come in not all that long ago. I’ll take you to him.”

During the short walk, Justice’s attention flits about the restaurant, deeply interested. We find our company seated at a simple booth. Out of his uniform, he wears a most simple dress shirt with its sleeves rolled up his forearms. The black undershirt goes the distance to his wrists and up his neck as he would regularly garb himself while in uniform.

His intent focus on the book in his hands keeps him from taking notice of the two of us for a few passing seconds. But as we come close, he picks up and realizes who we are.

“Hello again, you two. Fancy meeting you here.” He offers us a smile as he bookmarks his tome and sets it down on the table. Its cover is markedly plain with only the appearing image of a tower standing beneath its title, “Sanctuary”.

“It’s good to see you again, Thirteen. Would you mind a bit of company?”

“Not at all. Please, be my guest.”

Our host places two more sets of silverware on the table and to both Justice and I, a menu each. Before taking their leave, they inform us that our waiter would be with us shortly. Faced with our company, his warm smile starts off our time together comfortably.

“Ever visited this restaurant before?”

“This would be my first time. We’d had the idea to stop by since it’s about that hour when food begins sounding good.”

“I hear you loud and clear on that. As you’ve likely already picked up on, this restaurant is based on Feline culture. Their place of origins is based in the deserts of Ekureta, so I think you’ll find their palates quite interesting.”

“What would you personally recommend?” Asks Justice, fully curious of not only the food, but of Thirteen himself.

“Well, if you’d like a bit of advice about the menu, I’d say an easy thing to start off with would be the Thistle and Gristle, as they like to call it. It’s a very common food for the Feline. A bit of meat with some cactus on the side. Often times they enjoy to make sausages mixed with cactus. It’s similar to that.”

“You mean to tell me that Felines eat those things?”

“It’s considered an important part of their meals. They seem particularly fond of them.” He explains. “By the look of things, you’re going to be able to ask the opinion of a Feline herself.”

The gentle clicking of heels grabs my attention and I peer over to see a woman with cat-like ears obvious even beneath their fitted beanie cap. Her gray hair is tied into two easygoing tails and the look she wears is cheery and energetic.

“U-Ulrique?!” Justice yelps. “Ulrique, you’re here?”

“That’s Ulrique?”

“Hello! Looks like we have some more new faces eating with us today! But you seen to have heard of me somewhere before.” Her cat-like grin widens. “Or perhaps you’re looking to fish for a little something extra with your meal.”

“I suppose we haven’t met formally, but…” Justice’s confidence comes undone as she soon realizes that she’s painted herself into a corner.

“She’d heard good things about Feline cuisine and your name happened to have dropped in the conversation.” I concoct a feeble excuse to bail her out. “They’d told her that if there’s one who knows how to make a good dish, it’s you.”

“Oh, stop it! You know how to flatter a cat, don’t you?” She takes the bait with a full beam. “If you’re going to be so sweet, maybe I should include a little something sweet with your order. But before any of that, I think we’d best start off with what you’re going to be sipping on this summer day.”

The two of us quickly decide our drinks and get the matter of our food settled while we’re at it. Justice had gone for what she’d been recommended. A beverage called Cactus Water. When Ulrique goes on her way, I silently exchange glances with Justice. The depression she’d had earlier has melted away. A glimmering of joy in meeting her old friend who’d never once met her before.

The three of us chat together all until our food is out. Justice takes it gleefully, more joyful for our waitress than the dish she’s been served. As an added special, Ulrique includes a plate of odd ice cream on the side of her meal.

With the flow of conversation, I finally find an opening to ask Thirteen a more driven question.

“So what was life like in Equo? It’s such a small town that I haven’t the first idea about it.”

“It was home. A lot of good memories there.” He opens up, more than happy to speak. “The most obvious piece to get out of the way is that it really is a small and quaint place. Even during a celebration times the streets are empty. You can walk any street and find yourself completely alone. Nobody is worried about trespassers or trouble since everybody is like a family.”

“That sounds ideal. I’d only really ever known the city life. It makes me curious what it would be like to have a life like that.”

“Even Rabbit Field has more activity than Equo. When you’re in the boonies so close to the mountains, you get to enjoy plenty of natural beauty. It’d be wonderful it there was a day you’d be able to see it for yourself.”

“You’d said that the entire town is like a family, but what about your actual family?” Justice takes a turn to ask him another question.

“Perhaps it’d a bit sour a topic for such a nice meeting, but if you’d like to hear about, I’ll tell you.” There’s a touch of blue on him as he makes his statement.

“You don’t need to worry about bringing down the mood. It’s just nice to talk.” I lead forward, preparing to listen well.

“My parents lives were claimed in a calamity. After that I’d lived with close family friends. They’d raised me from that day onward until I’d become a full fledged knight.”

“My condolences. I… can sympathize a bit in my own way.”

“Thank you. The good in all of it was that I’d had my younger sister through it all. If it wasn’t for her company, I’d might have been an entirely different person by this point.”

He takes a sip from his cup of tea and gives himself a moment before pressing on.

“I used to look up to this knight. Since I was a kid. He was one of the few knights Equo had. The kindest man you could know. So well dressed, sharp and committed to his knighthood. He truly was the perfect image of what I knight should be. I’d always followed behind in his honor, modeling myself after him.

“How I wear my jacket on my shoulders; it was something I’d picked up from him. It’s my greatest hope that I’ve followed in his steps well and that he’d be proud to call me his protege.”

“Did something happen to him as well? You’re talking as if he’s not with us anymore.”

“He’s passed on as well. Along with my parents. When that trouble came to our little town, he’d fought for everyone until the very end. His death changed me. The loss of both him and my parents. Like I’d said; if it wasn’t for my sister I wouldn’t have been who I am today.”

“All of this… sounds…” I think aloud but take pause as I begin to reflect on my own experiences.

“You know, I have a reason why I like to come to this restaurant. Besides the good food.”

The smile comes back to his face, so warm and giving. He chuckles to himself as if finding his own thoughts humorous. But he shares them no matter.

“Have you noticed the particular look of this place?”

“Do you mean the deserts and the cats?” Justice cutely gives her own impressions.

“That is a part of it. But the appearance of death here could easily be considered a bit morbid by Celestian standards. There’s a reason why there are skulls placed about this restaurant.

“In the Feline culture death is often times celebrated.”

“They celebrate death?”

“I know, I know; it sounds macabre, but it’s not like you’d might be thinking. They see death as a change, an honored moment where one moves on from this world and enters into the next. They take great pride in remembering those they’d held dear, those in their family lines who’d left this world behind.”

He places his teacup back on its saucer and breathes an almost relieved sigh.

“After all I’d faced, I’d come to understand that sometimes death should be celebrated and welcomed. When we change, you could say that we die. Our old selves pass on to bring in another possibility. If we didn’t let go of what was then we couldn’t have what could be.

“When my parents and that knight I’d followed behind had left me, it was my sister that had helped me to begin seeing this truth. Even now she continues to have the most interesting way of looking at the world. The thought that I’d be able to meet them all again someday has always been comforting. Wherever they are, I know they’re in a better place than this world, that’s for sure… Than this world…”

In the pause for reminiscence, the moment taken to recall those that he loved, he looks me in the eye and speaks his wisdom from his life story.

“Life is far too short to get caught up with fear. It’s too splendid to be wasted looking at the pain and the misery. Someday it’ll all be gone and we’ll wonder why we’d wasted our time with such needless worries. And we’ll laugh.

“There’s no time to waste. We should all make the best choices that we can while we still have the chance and make our lives truly ours until the end. To work towards a peaceful parting with joy in our hearts rather than we’d lay on our death bed full of regrets.”

The way he speaks, how the truth of his words are proven with the kindness in his eyes, it feels unfathomable. Yet in all of his speech, I take notice that he’s speaking to me. Never once diverting his eyes to look towards Justice, he holds his gaze in my own eyes, digging deep into my heart to write his message there.

It all makes me wonder.

 

✩ ✩ ✩

 

Before the three of us had parted ways, Xun herself had come out, bringing Justice even more joy. Shaggy, shorter hair than her companion – her sister, as Justice had informed me – revealed her cat ears openly unlike Ulrique’s own covered ones. She was more docile and soft spoken, adding even more serenity to her already comforting presence.

Yet when it comes to paying our share, Thirteen has one more surprise up his sleeve.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s all on me. I was happy to have the company and it was my own treat to sit and have another chance to speak with the Celestial Knight and his partner.”

I could try to argue, but I feel that it would be needless and even rude to push back such generosity. So I accept his offer. Watching him go on his way, I turn to Justice and ask her the most important question.

“Now that you’ve had more time with him, what do you think? How do you feel about him?”

“Honestly…” she stares towards him unabashed, so very thoughtful, “he feels familiar somehow. It’s… It’s as if I should know him but I don’t know why. It’s strange.”

She then turns her eyes towards me and tells me her heartfelt opinion.

“I think he’s a good person. Everything from the way he’d talked to how he’d carried himself, I can’t pick up any traces of an ulterior motive or some sort of animosity. Maybe he is just just a warm and kind person after all.”

“I’d expected that’d be your answer. I feel the same. Yet…” I think to speak my deeper thoughts to Justice but withhold at the last moment. “Yet everything he’d said about his life feels eerily similar. It’s strange how much we seem to have in common.”

I watch him as he fades away into the busy streets of Empyrea and wonder to myself when our next chance encounter would come.

† † †

Yo, yo. Thanks for your read as ever. 

The story is picking up and getting to what I've been looking forward to writing for so long. But, I've recently taken to redoing the outlines and progress to improve upon the direction of the story and make it even more towards the general feeling of what I'd imagined. From here, plenty is going to go down. 

However, I've been dealing with some physiological issues and sickness so it's been a bit of a task to jump to this story alongside the other projects that I have. With the revisions, I'll need a bit more time. 

After next week's upload, I'll be going on a brief hiatus and the story will reconvene after. I'll be aiming for around April 5th, 2024 as the continuation of the story. That should hopefully give me enough time to sort out my body and write the next parts to this story. During this time, I hope to continue the upkeep of the story and hopefully finalize more of its new improvements on this site and other sites like it. 

Until next time! Take care, keep following your dreams and living them alive.