Honest With Each Other

Belle's heart skipped a beat when she saw the change in Griseo's aura. She knew that look all too well.

Back when she and her brother Wise argued, the cold shoulder could last for days. Usually, Wise waited until they had both cooled off before finding a way to make up.

But after Griseo arrived, everything changed.

As Griseo put it, she didn't like that color.

So she made them argue it out face-to-face and make up on the spot. If they refused, Griseo had no qualms about using force to bring about a reconciliation.

Belle hurried forward and called out to the Belobog Heavy Industries crew, especially Ben and Anton, who had instinctively drawn their weapons.

"Koleda, Grace, don't fight! Talk it out!"

"And Anton, Ben, calm down! Griseo doesn't mean any harm! She's trying to settle your argument!"

"It's one of Griseo's special abilities. She sees the world in colors. Everyone's moods and feelings have different colors to her."

"And the color you make when you fight... she doesn't like it."

After Belle explained, Anton and Ben, who had only been watching, put their weapons away. Griseo stepped between Koleda and Grace and asked, "Koleda, Grace, you're family, aren't you?"

"You both care so much about each other. Why can't you be a little more honest?"

"Especially you, Koleda. Why did you lie and say you didn't like Uncle Hors?"

When Griseo finished, Belle quickly added, "Koleda, you can't fool Griseo by lying, either."

"Lying?" Grace froze. Then, as if something had clicked, she turned to Koleda.

"Koleda, what have you been hiding from us?"

Koleda went rigid at Grace's question. Her forceful demeanor crumbled.

"Hey, you've got to be kidding me. That ability's way too unfair!"

Koleda shot Griseo a look, then explained, "The night Dad disappeared, I saw him vanish into the dark with a huge sum of money."

"What?!"

Now even Anton and Ben stared at Koleda in disbelief.

"It's true."

Koleda looked at her companions.

"I was there that night. The money Dad took... was the money missing from the company."

For the first time, Koleda revealed the "truth" as she knew it.

Grace finally understood why Koleda, Hors's own daughter, had always recoiled at the mention of his name.

It wasn't that she didn't love her father. The weight of reality had forced her to bury her feelings.

If Koleda admitted what she had seen, Uncle Hors's guilt would be sealed.

So she had kept it hidden. She had been so young at the time, bearing a crushing sense of guilt all on her own...

Griseo's voice suddenly broke the silence. "But Koleda, do you really think Uncle Hors is a bad person?"

Koleda was quiet for a long time. Then she shook her head. "Of course not."

There was no point lying in front of Griseo, so Koleda opened her heart for the first time.

"In my eyes, Dad has always been a hero. But what I saw that day... made it impossible not to believe the Public Security Department's findings.

"I've spent all these years trying to find evidence that would overturn them. But every fact points to my father..."

The light in Koleda's eyes visibly dimmed.

"Koleda," Belle said suddenly, "people say seeing is believing, but that isn't always true. Everything you see and hear has to be understood in context. You have to look at the specifics.

"You saw your father run off with the money... but maybe things weren't what they seemed."

Belle wasn't saying this just to comfort Koleda. She was thinking of her own teacher.

New Eridu's official story had always been that her teacher was responsible for the fall of the Old Capital.

But Belle didn't believe it. She never had, and neither had Wise.

"Hey, hey, hey! Don't ignore me!"

As the mood grew heavier, Friday protested from inside the pit.

"My mentor said I must reach the place where Calamity was sealed as soon as possible!"

Friday's urgency only added to the Belobog Heavy Industries crew's confusion.

Their original job had been to retrieve three runaway machines. How had it come to involve their founding president and some unknown "Calamity"?

"Koleda, should we keep going? We might find clues about what happened to your father back then," Belle asked.

"No, Proxy. Whether it's the Calamity Friday mentioned or heading deeper into the Hollows... it's too dangerous."

Koleda rejected Belle's suggestion.

As the current president of Belobog Heavy Industries, she had to be responsible for everyone.

If she put Griseo, Ben, Anton, Grace, or anyone else in danger over a personal matter, she would regret it for the rest of her life.

But Belle wasn't going to let her off that easily.

"Griseo, can you manage it in your current condition?"

"No problem, Belle."

With Griseo's answer, Belle turned to the pile driver in the pit. "Hey, Friday, lead the way! We'll help you seal this so-called Calamity!"

"Oh? Have you decided to follow me into the Abyssal Shadow Realm?"

"Your Highness, bearer of royal blood and a noble soul, allow me to join you in loosing the sacred arrow of judgment!"

Friday leaped excitedly out of the earth. He bent his front legs slightly and bowed to Griseo like a knight.

"Hey, Proxy, what are you doing? I never said we were going!"

Koleda finally snapped out of it. She had clearly said they should stop!

"Why shouldn't we?"

Thinking of her own teacher, Belle was unusually determined. "Don't you want to find out the truth about your father?"

Koleda gritted her teeth. "It's too dangerous. What if we run into Ethereals?"

"We'll go around them. I'm Phaethon, the best Proxy in New Eridu."

"Still no! If we take too long, Ether Corruption could kill us!"

"That's all you're worried about? We've got Griseo!"

Belle swept Eous's little paw through the air with a flourish. "Griseo, show them!"

Griseo nodded and gave her paintbrush a gentle wave.

Four clusters of Ether Energy appeared around her, spinning and gathering before streaking toward Koleda, Grace, Anton, and Ben.

The light settled over them and became a faint, transparent film, as though they had put on invisible clothes.

Anton looked down at his arm and rubbed it. He couldn't feel anything under his fingers, but he could sense a faint layer covering his skin.

"What's this?"

"One of Griseo's abilities," Belle explained. "Think of it as a suit she painted for each of you that blocks Ether Corruption. It won't last forever, but it'll last long enough."

Ben raised a heavy paw. As a foreman who spent much of his time in the Hollows, he knew Ether Corruption all too well. But now the surrounding Ether Energy seemed to bounce away from him.

"...Amazing."

Grace had already checked the readings on her tablet. "Ether Corruption rate is nearly zero... How is that possible? Wait, the Ether Energy concentration in this 'suit' is this high?!"

That was exactly how the protection worked: the flow of Ether Particles followed the second law of thermodynamics.

Griseo had used highly concentrated Ether Energy to paint the "suits." Once the others put them on, the direction of Ether Particle flow changed.

The Belobog Heavy Industries crew had become high-concentration Ether sources themselves. Once the Ether Particles reached a certain level, the protective effect would disappear.

Of course, that assumed you could create a cluster of highly concentrated Ether Energy and keep it harmless.

With the greatest danger dealt with, Koleda stopped arguing. She hoisted her hammer onto her shoulder again and said solemnly,

"Proxy, here's my new commission. As a friend, help me find out what the hell my lousy dad was up to."

"Got it!"

I really want to complain about this damn weather. First it rained for a month, then it turned muggy. One careless moment and I caught a cold.

The sun finally came out these past couple of days, and I thought it had cleared up. Then it started raining again.

Damn it. Damn it. Damn it.