The hospital administrative office has accepted my explanation that 307’s outburst was a ploy to regain my attention rather than a sincere attempt to harm any staff member. I have convinced the medical team not to administer sedatives and to discontinue physical restraints. This interview took place in my office. – Parce
Dreamer followed Caper out of Fleece City. Once they’d gotten a few hundred feet down the path, out of earshot of the guard dogs, he stopped and turned to her.
“How are your theology classes going?” he asked. “Your teachers speak very highly of you.”
“Um… they’re great. I’m learning a lot.”
The owl took a deep breath. “I have not been keeping as close an eye on your education as I should.”
“You’re busy, Professor. With the Church of Optera being shut down and everything, there’s a lot going on.” Dreamer’s cheeks turned red. “You don’t have to pay special attention to me just because of… what happened last year.”
“Yes, I do. It was my failure to listen to my students that caused the incident.” Caper started walking again. A cool wind rolled down from the mountains, ruffling his feathers and sending a ripple through the grass. “Thank you for joining me out here.”
Dreamer shivered. “What’s on your mind, Professor?”
“I wanted to know your thoughts on that.”
Dreamer looked out across the plains and what she saw disgusted her.
Over the past few months, a construction crew had been hard at work clearing out debris, laying sod, pouring concrete, and putting up a frame of steel and wood. Now, the new two-story building between Fleece City and the Quarry wall was almost completed. A crane was hanging an image of Charlie Chugg’s head, eight feet across and made of wood and paint, on the side of the building facing town.
“Why is Chugg doing this? After all this time, why would they tear down what was left of Healer’s house just to build… that? It was all he had left of his father.”
“You haven’t heard?” Caper laughed. “A new business venture is being launched. Whole Hogs. A wellness clinic whose owner claims he can give patients better and cheaper treatments than even the hospital.”
She gawked at him. “You’re kidding.”
“No. I’m not.”
Dreamer turned back to the building and shook her head. “He’s really doing it.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, on our first date, Healer joked about starting a clinic. But that was just… I can’t believe he’s going through with it.”
Caper cleared his throat. “I thought he might have spoken with you about this.”
“No, he was serious about keeping our distance from one another. I miss him, but he was right. I only hear about him from my dad. You know, they’ve been training together since Boxer…”
“Ah, yes. What does Shiver tell you about Healer?”
“That he’s a machine. He barely eats or sleeps. He and Swifter go out to the Quarry to train and they don’t talk to anyone about what else they’re up to. Speaking of which, I never see Swifter in class anymore. Is he involved in the clinic too?”
“Yes, they are starting this business together. Swifter has changed over to night classes.”
Dreamer watched the construction crew work for a few minutes. “Well, I’m glad for them. I think this is a good chance for Healer to use his power and still fit in. If that’s what this is.”
Caper smiled. “Now you know why I brought you out here. Tell me what you really think.”
“I don’t know what to think. It’s not like him to find a way to work within the system. That’s not the Healer I know. Either he’s given up, or he’s found an outlet the pigs can accept. Why? Has he said anything to you?”
“No. If he has an agenda, he has kept it quite secret.”
Dreamer scraped the dirt path with her hoof. “I hope not. I want him to be happy. But…”
“But what?”
“Well, if this is really his plan, to build a legitimate clinic and use his power to help everyone, I would hope that he’d eventually let me back in. But the fact that he still hasn’t spoken to me makes me worry. Either that or he doesn’t actually miss me all that much.”
“I can assure you that he does. He asks me about you every chance he gets.”
Dreamer frowned. “Then there’s only one explanation.”
Caper smiled at her. “As I said, he has not let me in on any hidden plans he may have. But my instinct tells me he has followed my example and feigned peaceful acceptance in order to gain wealth and influence. Like me, he is looking for some method to undermine the Megatropolis while ostensibly working for them.”
“I’m sort of hoping you’re wrong,” Dreamer said. “If he does manage to get a good thing going, it would be nice if he doesn’t jeopardize it.”
Caper’s face went dark. “The pigs hurt him. Deeply. And I can tell you from personal experience that no level of wealth or comfort will truly put that injustice to rest.”
Dreamer turned to him, hearing his spoken and unspoken thoughts. “You’ve given something away, Professor. The way you run University, working with Boxer and Tenber and the old ram, hiding Ponder and Mauler. The pigs hurt you too, didn’t they?”
He didn’t answer right away, and she blushed. “I’m sorry, Professor.”
Caper sighed. “I forget about your supernatural intuition at times. You have every right to be curious. You’ve seen and learned more about this world than most people will.”
“What happened, Professor? What did the pigs do to you?”
Caper looked away.
Dreamer thought for a minute. “If it’s too hard to say… I could just see for myself.”
Still keeping his gaze on the distant clinic, he nodded.
She stepped closer to him. “Close your eyes and focus on me.”
Dreamer was immersed in Caper’s memories for what felt like hours. But when she broke the connection, only a few seconds had passed in real time. She stared at him, just now noticing how old and careworn the professor looked.
It was a long time before she spoke. “Are you going to tell him?”
Back at her dormitory, Dreamer set her satchel on the desk and pulled out the fertilizer she’d bought at the store. On the windowsill, in a pot full of mulched tree bark, was the orchid she had gotten from her father. Gardening boxes on both sides held blooms of all types and colors, but that black and violet orchid was the centerpiece.
She stared at it for a long time. She was torn. In the aftermath of the truce we had struck with the Chugg Corporation, Dreamer had sworn she would never get involved in the business of the gods again. But the temptation had been growing for a long time, and what she had just learned from Caper didn’t help.
She glanced at the wall clock. Just after four. Her roommate would be in class for another hour and a half. Plenty of time. She leaned close to her flowers.
“H-hello? Are you there?”
Nothing. She felt silly. What had her father said she was supposed to do? She closed her eyes and thought back to Boxer’s funeral, when she had held the tiny plant in a gift box. She recalled Shiver’s voice.
“You should take the orchid and make it real dark in your room, almost pitch dark. Then, you can talk to the orchid and he’ll talk right back to you. Arghast the Father Orchid, god of the sheep. If you believe in him, he’ll tell you secrets of the universe.”
She reached over the flowers and pulled the curtain shut, darkening the room.
“Arghast.” As she whispered to the orchid, her eyes gave off a faint violet light. “Father Orchid. King of all gods. Can you spare a minute for me?”
The orchid moved. The center of the blossom glowed white as it turned on its stalk to face Dreamer. The leaves folded down and the air roots writhed like tentacles around the lip of the flowerpot.
“I always have time for you, my child. It is you who has not taken the time to speak with me.” The orchid had a soft voice, low and calm, the way she had wished her father would talk to her when she was young. “Your face is weary and your heart is heavy. So many concerns. I am here to ease your burdens, young Dreamer.”
She rubbed her eyes. “Is it really you?”
“Yes. Like Optera, I have watched you since the moment of your birth. You carry her power even though you would rather not. You are her living avatar on this world. I know everything about you, except for your innermost thoughts.”
Dreamer sighed, still not sure if she should be talking to a flower. “I’m thinking about a lot of things. I was doing OK, but the conversation I just had with Professor Caper was the last straw.”
“Tell me.”
She bit her lip and looked away. “It’s all things you probably already know about.”
“I want to hear it from you anyway.”
“Well, you know we made this deal for peace. Ponder and Mauler surrendered to the Chugg Corporation, and no one’s seen or heard from them since. Chugg was supposed to leave us all alone in return. They’ve already won, you know? Why do they need to keep hurting us? Anyway, they were supposed to stop and they didn’t. At least, it seems like they haven’t. Young sheep in the Quarry are still disappearing. There are flimsy excuses about ‘mining accidents’ but that’s not what’s going on. I try to just keep my mind on school and not let it bother me, but how can I do that?”
“What else? Tell me more.”
She wiped away a sudden tear. “I used to tell myself it was my own fault Scurvert attacked me. That I never should have drawn attention to myself. That it was a fluke, and things like that don’t normally happen. But that was wrong. Caper made me understand that today. It was never only me that was attacked. Everyone I know has been hurt by the pigs. Everyone has a reason to be angry. It’s going to get out of control someday. And now that I know Optera and Karkus are planning something, I think that day is going to come sooner rather than later. I don’t want that. I just want things to be peaceful.”
One of the twisting air roots reached up and stroked her face. “I cannot reveal all things to you, but I will ask you to place your trust in me. I see all that the Megatropolis does. The Chugg Corporation and the god behind it… they will all be handled in time. Do you understand, my Dreamer?”
She nodded.
“Good,” Arghast said. “You miss the Healer.”
Dreamer let out a little sob. “Yes. Very much. And I worry about him. What if Caper is right? What if this clinic is all some big front and he’s getting ready to do something stupid? If he got himself killed, and I never even said a word to him because I was staying away for my own sake, I’d never forgive myself.”
“The Healer loves you. He puts your welfare first in everything he does, and he would not want you to be burdened with concern for him.”
“I just… I hope it’s real. I hope Caper is wrong. I hope Healer finds some peace without needing to get revenge. I know that sounds ridiculous.”
“There’s nothing ridiculous about it, dear Dreamer. You’re in love. You wish for good things for him. It’s perfectly natural. Would you feel better if you knew he was well?”
“Yes. Much better. I’ll feel like the world isn’t about to end.”
“What would you do to put him at peace, to ease your own mind? Anything at all.”
Dreamer thought for a minute. “I can think of something, but it’s silly.”
“I said anything.”
She bit her lip again. “If Healer could have had one last chance to speak with his father, I think a lot of this trouble could have been avoided. If he had some reassurance, a way to make peace with his father’s death, I bet that would make Caper wrong.”
“A last word with the Old-Timer. You know, young Dreamer, that is well within the realm of possibilities. I can give him that. A gift from you, so he will know that you care.”
“You’d do that for me?”
“Dreamer, you are my special one. I would give you everything if you would only ask. And I will do this. When the time is right… when it is needed most… Healer will see the Trampler again.”