Fish Soup

Knock, knock, knock.

The sound from outside drew Alicia's attention. With a chime, the four-colored dial on the doorframe turned yellow.

That was the door to the Imperial Capital, Alicia thought.

Cassifa did not call out, but she had probably already guessed who had returned.

The front door slowly opened. Sure enough, Shaya stood behind it. He walked up the steps at an unhurried pace and looked around.

Compared to when he had left that morning, the place had completely changed. Every corner had been scrubbed spotless, the ceiling was free of cobwebs, and the magic books that had been scattered about were now neatly stacked on the workbench.

With so much junk cleared away, the entire space had become much roomier.

"Much easier on the eyes," Shaya said.

"Is that all? Just 'easier on the eyes'?" Cassifa said weakly from the hearth.

He pointed at the wall behind him. "Look at this. She even scrubbed all the soot off the walls and put on a fresh coat of white paint."

Shaya seemed about to say something, but then he caught a faint fragrance.

"Smells great. Did you make something?" he asked.

Alicia raised her hand and lifted the lid from the iron pot on the table. A rich aroma spread through the room along with the steam.

"Mrs. Foster from next to Eagle's Horn Town gave me two sea fish. Her husband caught them today," Alicia said.

After a pause, she added, "She was a good person."

Shaya moved closer to the iron pot. It was filled to the brim with fish soup, thick and milky white. Just from the aroma entering his nose, he could tell it would be incredibly delicious.

"You can cook?" Shaya asked in surprise.

"She forced me to do it," Cassifa complained from the side. "This woman is far too rough, Shaya."

"My mother taught me," Alicia said, completely ignoring Cassifa as she changed the subject. "She was from the East and an excellent cook."

As she spoke, she noticed a strange child coming up from where Shaya had entered. His medium-length orange-red hair glowed faintly in the firelight cast by Cassifa nearby.

He was staring fixedly at Cassifa, clearly shocked by the sight of a talking flame.

For some reason, Alicia felt there was something familiar about the child. It seemed she had seen him somewhere before.

"This child is Arthur. Just now, he became an orphan," Shaya said. "He may be staying here for a while."

"I still haven't agreed to that name," Arthur muttered under his breath.

"Oh, what a poor child," Alicia said sympathetically. She had lost family too, so she understood that feeling completely.

But then she looked at Shaya suspiciously. "Still, are you really that kindhearted?"

Shaya smiled. "When did I ever give you the impression that I wasn't?"

He teased, "If I weren't kindhearted, I would've thrown you out when you showed up uninvited last night."

Alicia gave a couple of humphs but said nothing. She could not deny that.

The girls whose hearts he had eaten could not exactly come forward to testify.

But then she heard Shaya say matter-of-factly, "Though his relatives did give me a rather large peninsula as payment."

Seeing Alicia's expression that said I knew it, he chuckled.

"Let's eat first."

He sat down in a chair beside the dining table and gestured for Arthur to sit as well. Looking at the fish soup before him, he said, "Is this all there is? Just fish soup?"

"I didn't know whether you'd be back tonight," Alicia said. "And can you expect a ninety-year-old woman who spent all day cleaning and is aching from head to toe to make an entire table full of dishes?"

"Fair enough," Shaya said.

"You shouldn't eat too much at night anyway. It's bad for your stomach."

Alicia picked up a ladle from the side and served Shaya, Arthur, and herself each a bowl of soup with some fish meat in it.

The place where Shaya had lived before was far from the sea, so he mostly ate freshwater fish. This was his first time eating sea fish.

Compared to freshwater fish, sea fish had no tiny bones, so it was easier to eat. Its flesh was also springier and more tender, though the difference was not all that great.

Still, the lack of fish bones alone made Shaya like it immensely.

The fish soup, the true highlight, needed no further praise. The fish had gone from hook to pot in only a few hours, making it exceptionally fresh. It had also been simmered for a long time until it turned a rich milky white, and its flavor was incomparably delicious.

While Shaya savored it carefully, Arthur, sitting across from him, had already gulped down every last drop of his fish soup.

He drank so quickly that he forced out some air, ending with a "Hah."

His eyes gleamed as he held out his bowl to Alicia.

"I want another bowl."

"Of course, of course." Alicia seemed delighted that someone appreciated her cooking. She took the ladle and filled Arthur's bowl again.

Arthur took it and immediately began devouring it with his spoon. Alicia patted his head.

"Eat slowly. Eating too fast is bad for your stomach. Did you often go hungry where you used to live?"

"It's not as good as what you make," Arthur said.

Alicia smiled. For some reason, she always felt an inexplicable sense of closeness with this child.

"Then eat as much as you like. I made plenty."

Arthur fell silent. He stopped drinking the fish soup and raised his head to look at Alicia.

She was smiling at him, her eyes narrowed into crescents. The wrinkles left by time stood out more clearly on her face, making her look very kind.

Arthur froze for a moment. When he came back to himself, his nose twitched, and he quickly turned away to continue eating the fish.

Alicia had cleaned the table thoroughly and spread a white tablecloth over it.

Alicia, who had been watching Arthur all along, noticed two small wet spots on the tablecloth even though he was not drinking soup.

She examined his face carefully in the lamplight and found that his eye sockets were slightly red, with faint tear tracks on his cheeks.

Without saying a word, he quietly ate the fish.

"Why are you crying?" Alicia asked with concern. "Do you feel unwell somewhere?"

"Obviously, it's so delicious he cried," Cassifa grinned from the side.

"I'm fine."

Arthur raised his hand to wipe the tears from the corners of his eyes, but a sheet of paper was held out to him.

He looked up at Shaya, who had handed it to him. He silently accepted it, wiping his tears as he said through a choked throat, "Thank you."

"Suppressing your tears is painful," Shaya said as he watched him quietly. "It's not something someone your age should have to learn."

"I'm not like everyone else!"

Arthur looked up at Shaya. Sparks seemed to burst from his reddened eyes, his face flushed, his lower lip trembling slightly like a stray cat with its fur bristling.

"I'm never weak."

Shaya did not seem to mind. He smiled and asked, "Do you think crying means weakness?"

"Doesn't it?" Arthur retorted.

Shaya shook his head. "Everyone has cried before. Whether they are heroes who fearlessly face death on the battlefield or emperors seated high above all others, they all cry.

"It is only that they have learned to hide it and let their tears fall at the right time.

"It may not represent strength, but neither does it represent weakness.

"Everyone has the right to express sorrow. If you never cry, that does not mean you are strong. It only means you have gone numb.

"True strength is being brave even after crying, continuing onward even with tears in your eyes."

Seeing Arthur fall silent, Shaya continued with a smile.

"Weakness does not lie in your tears. It lies in your heart.

"Only by facing weakness can you overcome it, and crying is part of that process.

"If you refuse to cry, it only means you fear weakness."

Arthur did not respond. He merely lowered his head without a word. More and more wet spots appeared on the table, some even dripping into the fish soup.

His thin body trembled slightly, but even so, he made no sound.

Alicia gently rubbed his back, soothing him as she murmured softly, "It must have been hard before, wasn't it?"

Alicia's gentle words became the last straw that broke the camel's back.

Arthur lifted his head and burst into tears, crying loudly as tears soaked his clothes. Alicia sat beside him, continuously using paper to wipe away his tears.

After an unknown amount of time, perhaps because he had finally vented his emotions, Arthur gradually calmed down.

After wiping away his tears with a sheet of paper, he slowly spoke.

"You look a lot like someone I knew."

Alicia raised her brows in surprise.

"The old lady who ran the orphanage where I lived," Arthur murmured. "But she died last year. She was the only person in this world who was kind to me."

Alicia quietly watched Arthur's profile as he lowered his head. Then, suddenly, she smiled.

"Now there's a second person in this world who's kind to you."

Arthur's eyes widened slightly. He turned to look at Alicia. She smiled gently at him. Her teeth were sparse, and her face was covered in wrinkles. She could not be called beautiful.

Yet Arthur felt a warm current flowing through his heart.

His nose twitched once more. He turned away, gave a quiet response, wiped his tears with his sleeve, and continued eating the fish soup into which so many tears had fallen.