Chapter 140: I Belong

Note: A nice chapter to round out the weekend. And huge thank you to everyone who showed up to support our Amazon launch. We're climbing the rankings really fast but we're not out of the woods just yet. Every bit helps!

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Arthur suddenly found himself in charge of an event that was only possible because he opened his big mouth and sprouted ramblings about Earth customs. That meant planning. And conversations. And meetings.

Food, at least, was easy. The town had multiple cooks, and Ella’s presence united them entirely under one mother-bird banner. They were all willing to give their help for free, thrilled even. Apparently, big-event cooking under a superior chef was enough of an experience buff that Arthur didn’t even have to go find all the cooks. As soon as word got out that the opportunity was there, they found him.

The rest of it was harder.

“Where, Lily, am I going to get flowers?” Arthur asked.

“The woods?” Lily said. “Are the wild flowers not good enough?”

“No. They are not.” Arthur was sitting with his heads in his hands. “I could find enough for one bouquet, sure. But for decorations? No. The whole town is coming. The flower girl alone would need… I don’t know, a dozen flowers. Maybe more. And the centerpieces, Lily. The centerpieces will need…”

“What in the name of the gods even is a centerpiece?” Lily asked.

“It’s… like, a vase. Or something. That goes into the center of the table. Makes it pretty.” Arthur slapped his forehead. “Oh, gods, the tables. We don’t have nearly enough.”

“Arthur. Oh no, the whole event is going up in flames, it’s horrible.” Lily kicked her feet as she sat on the wall of a higher tier of Arthur’s tea farm and watched as Arthur descended into old patterns of worrying about everything. “I’m kidding. You know Milo and Rhodia won’t care if it’s a mess, right? Part of why they want this is because it’s your funny Earth version of things. It would almost be better if it went wrong.”

“I know. It’s just… Milo is my best friend. My first real friend from when I came here,” Arthur said. “And he’s been great the entire time. He gave me anything I needed. No questions asked. Literally no questions at all. He’s the reason I had a home. And now there’s something I can give him back.”

“You give him stuff back all the time, Arthur.” Lily jumped off the wall, walked over to Arthur, and stopped him from obsessive picking the tea plants by gripping his hands. “You say stuff like that a lot. That this person or that person has helped you more than you’ve helped them. And it’s dumb, Arthur. Who has helped more people than you? I want an actual answer here.”

“She’s right, you know.” Itela walked up the path to Arthur’s garden, shaking her head. “Looks like my house-call instincts are still on point. I saw you walking earlier and could see that you were stressing yourself out about something. Lily, do you think he really doesn’t get it or does he play dumb?”

“He really doesn’t get it,” Lily said. “It’s like he’s blind, but just to that.”

“Hm. Arthur, I’m going to do some tough love stuff.” Itela sighed. “You aren’t going to like any of it.”

Arthur grimaced.

“Now, now. It’s medicine. Medicine doesn’t always taste good.” Itela grabbed Arthur and maneuvered him to a seat on his own garden wall. It was surprisingly easy for her, showing just how many levels and points invested into strength she had on him. “Let’s start easy. List everything you’ve done for Lily.”

“She’s done much more for me than I’ve done for…”

Itela grabbed Arthur by the chin and turned his head until he was looking directly in her suddenly serious eyes. “Arthur. Arthur Teamaster, of Earth. Do you want to get cursed?”

“You said your class doesn’t do that,” Arthur said.

“I don’t need a class to make you feel cursed,” Itela laughed. “Lily has done a lot for you. That’s true but that’s not what I asked. What have you done for Lily?”

“I gave her a job.” Arthur went back to the beginning. “And I guess got her a place to stay with Ella. But she…”

“No ‘buts’ Arthur. Lily, care to fill in the gaps?” Itela asked.

“He gave me a real job, paid me fairly, found me when I was sick, gave me all his friends, took me everywhere he went, brought me here…”

“And so on.” Itela waved her hand to cut Lily off. “For me, you took care of my many patients in a way I could not do, saved not one but two of my city’s children when they were sick, and although I can’t prove this, you influenced our city such that this new generation is stronger and more resilient than ever before.”

Arthur tried to think of a way he could defend his position, but Itela was already moving to another angle of attack.

“You saved Mizu’s life, and although you probably think she’s a literal gift from the gods, she thinks the same thing about you. It’s a wash.” Itela paused. “But then you also stepped in between her and her mother. I don’t know if I would agree with the methods in which you went about things, but you put her back on the fast track of accomplishing her water goals and even resolved their misunderstandings. Outside of Mizu, you gave Spiky a trip to the wilds, made sure he was part of the group…”

“Spiky was part of a group before I even got here,” Arthur protested.

“Only in a small way. You wouldn’t believe how many librarians become hermits, Arthur. It’s a known problem. And yet, here’s Spiky, firmly enmeshed in a social circle thanks to you. He doesn’t bring this up because it’s not polite. And on top of that, just by existing, you’ve given him the chance to document the early years of an offworlder’s progress in the Demon World. That alone is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

“Ooh, he’s reeling. Keep hitting him, Itela,” Lily encouraged from the side.

“Just one more thing.” Itela sat by Arthur. “And it’s a big one. Your life is unusual, Arthur. I’m guessing that you haven’t seen a lot of other people taming Pratas. Is it beginning to sink in?”

“I think so,” Arthur said.

“Then let me leave you with this. Every single person you’ve touched has been affected by you, as well as thousands and thousands you haven’t even met yet. This whole expansion is early, Arthur. And not just because of your little Earth invention. When you came to this world…” Itela hesitated. “I don’t know this for sure. But when you first came here, do you remember when I said that offworlders weren’t entirely unknown to us?”

“I do,” Arthur said.

“There have been a few offworlders in the past. The best known is The Bear, of course. But each that we’ve known of and documented came at a time of improvement for the world. Whether they clearly caused it or not.” Itela bent her head to the side, as if considering something while she spoke. “Of course, that doesn’t mean much for your individual relationships, except they’ve all been profoundly changed for the better. And that’s not just because you’re from another place. That’s just your innate nature.”

“Yeah. I guess,” Arthur said.

“Not good enough,” Lily yelled. “When he says it like that, he’ll forget all about it after a few days.”

“I don’t!” Arthur said. “I get it.”

“I’m sorry to say I’m siding with Lily on this one. I’m going to need to hear you say it yourself. What you’ve done for other people.” Itela put her arm around Arthur’s shoulders. “So go ahead. Do it.”

“I guess… I can see that I’ve done a lot for people,” Arthur said. “As much as they’ve done for me.”

“Close,” Itela said. “But I’m talking about something slightly different. Something related. I want to see if you can figure out yourself what it is. Think, child.”

Arthur thought. For a while, he couldn’t get it. But Itela had said this would be medicine, and that he wouldn’t like it. That gave him the clue he needed. What she wanted him to say was something that he had wrapped under layers of lock and key. Something that he was afraid to admit to himself. Eventually, he unwound all the barriers he had put in place.

“I belong. I fit.” Arthur’s face burned as he said it. “Is that it? I deserve the good things that have happened?”

“That you belong here, yes. And that you fit here, of course. I don’t know about deserving things.” Itela stood. “But that’s a technicality. When you start talking about deserving something good, you have to imagine someone who doesn’t. I’ve found those are dangerous grounds. Lily, can you take it from here?”

“Yup!” Lily said, looping Arthur’s tea bag off of him and putting it over her own tiny shoulders. “Thanks!”

—

After taking the picked tea inside and processing it, Lily led Arthur back towards the city. Arthur walked with her as she babbled on about possible wedding plans, still a little embarrassed that he took so much tending.

If he was watching his own life, he’d probably be getting a little sick of this pattern by now. It was like he’d take one step forward and then two steps back. He didn’t know why he slipped into the mode of feeling like he didn’t belong so often. He really didn’t. Academically, that probably wasn’t even a thing for the demons. But it was something he was clearly vulnerable to and something he needed to do his best to avoid in the future.

“So some of these problems, Arthur, are easy. And we are going to solve all the easy ones today,” Lily said. “That way you can focus on the big ones.”

“I like that plan. What’s first?” Arthur said. “I think we have a carpenter in the town now. We could talk to them about tables.”

“Nope. No vases, either.” Lily guided Arthur towards one of the town’s newer buildings, a long, straight hall with more windows than was typical and a growing, still unfinished, Slapstone courtyard. “It’s time to go to the library.”