The Elemental Page 6

  “Wait.” Argon crossed his arms. “You’re making an awful lot of assumptions here. How can you possibly know, or even presume, what this woman’s motives are?” he challenged.

  Elara stared back at him, swallowing hard.

  “Her mother…” she paused, locking eyes with Argon. “I’m her mother,” she asserted, holding her head high, daring Argon to say otherwise. Elara felt unusually calm as she uttered those words. She felt her heart slow, and she realized it was the first time she outwardly referred to herself as Helia’s mother.

  It felt strange.

  Argon’s eyebrows shot up again in surprise. He had known Elara for a long time, despite their torrid relationship as children. It was certainly news to him that she had a child. “What? How—”

  “I couldn’t believe it myself at first,” said Elara, shaking her head. “When she first saw me, she called me Mama. I thought she was mistaken. It had to be a mistake. But we had her blood tested against the blood we found from her clothes, and tested it against my own blood as well. It was a match.”

  Argon rubbed his head, trying to grasp the information. His mind was reeling. He looked up at her, still gripping at his head, his fingers raking messily through his hair. “So… Five years from now, you’re dying, and you send your kid back here?” he summed up, his voice faltering as his eyes darted between the child and Elara.

  “Yes.” Elara pursed her lips.

  “You all think that this kid was sent back here to save your life?” asked Argon.

  “No, not just my life. Everyone’s,” she replied indignantly.

  “And your life, as well,” pressed Argon.

  “Everyone’s,” Elara repeated, slamming the newspaper clipping onto the table. “Didn’t you read this? It’s not just a random, one-off attack. ‘An end to this unending war.’ It’s not just an attack. It’s a war. We think this is what we’re meant to change.” She pushed the newspaper clipping towards him, her eyes burning.

  Argon felt sick. “And you think I know something about this? Do you think I’m a part of this attack? A part of this… militarized force?”

  “Yes,” Miela answered, her arms calmly folded across her chest.

  Argon angrily opened his mouth to protest. How dare she accuse him of those atrocities? He was a loyal Guardian of Polaris. He dedicated his life to the kingdom. How dare she?

  “But not attacking Polaris,” Miela continued. “We think you were protecting Polaris.”

  “Of course I’d be protecting Polaris,” roared Argon, insulted that anything otherwise could be suggested. “Why else would I be a Guardian?”

  “Being a Guardian doesn’t necessarily mean that someone would remain noble and true. Mutiny and coups happens all the time,” Miela pointed out, her eyes narrowed. “And whoever these people were, it sounds like they had the resources and power to overcome Polaris. Anyone could be a suspect.”

  “Then what makes you think that I’m not part of the enemy?”

  Miela gestured to Helia, who was now staring at the adults in confusion and fear. Why were they all yelling? Her eyes nervously darted between Elara and Argon, and she fidgeted uncomfortably in her seat.

  “She mentioned me?” Argon asked, eyeing the toddler skeptically.

  “Sort of,” said Elara. “See, well…” she looked anxiously at Miela, unable to bring herself to say the words.

  “What?” Argon demanded. “Spit it out.”

  “We believe you’re her father,” Miela finished, her face remaining stoic. Noiro looked down.

  Argon’s mouth dropped open, his eyes locked on Miela as his blood began to boil. Did she truly not hear how ridiculous her words were?

  Miela maintained her eye contact with Argon. “You heard me.”

  “And you believe I’m her father?” He gestured wildly at the toddler, who stared back at him, her heart sinking at his harsh voice. Helia blinked back tears; he sounded so angry. “Based on what grounds?” Argon’s nostrils flared.

  “In the elevator,” Noiro answered. “When she saw you. Do you remember what she called you?”

  “Okay, this is enough,” Argon said, roughly pushing his chair back. “You’re all insane. I’ve never seen this kid before in my life! You’re all crazy!” he shouted, jumping to his feet, his eyes wild and frenzied. “You’re dragging me into this insane story you pulled out of your asses just because this twerp called me Dad? You all—”

  “Lieutenant Argon, sit back down,” Miela ordered, her voice rising as she rose to her feet as well.

  “You’re crazy if you think that I had a kid with that woman. I barely know her. I barely know any of you. How can you even think that I’d—”

  “I assure you, you’re no prize,” Elara shot back, also rising to her feet.

  “As much as we’d all like to believe it isn’t true, I think it is,” said Noiro, his voice still calm amidst all the yelling. He could see Helia sitting quietly in her chair, her eyes quickly darting between Elara, Argon, and Miela, looking terrified. In her eyes, her Mama and Dad were towering over her, spewing hatefully at each other. The confused child looked at the adults in the room helplessly as they continued to yell at each other.

  “Prove it,” Argon spat. “Prove that she’s my kid.”

  “We will,” said Noiro, still keeping his voice calm. “We’re not just going to take Helia’s word on it. We’re taking the claim seriously. We’ll need to have a sample from you as well to test, and we’ll—”

  “Does this mean anything to you? Do you recognize it?” Elara asked suddenly, pulling out a ring from her satchel. Argon stared at the ring for a moment, and then looked back at the woman holding it in her palm.

  “Where did you get that?” he glowered, his voice lowered as he gaped at the ring.

  “So, you do recognize it?” Elara repeated tentatively, holding her voice steady as she watched the man in front of her wrestle with himself to answer. He didn’t want to respond, but he couldn’t help himself and burst out, “Yes, I do. It’s mine. How did you get it?”

  “It’s not yours. It’s mine,” Elara replied firmly, closing her hand around the ring.

  “Like hell,” Argon roared. “That’s mine. It was my grandmother’s wedding ring. It’s been passed down my family for generations. I don’t know how you got your grubby little hands on it, but—”

  “So, you were planning on giving this ring to your wife one day, right?” Noiro finished, folding his arms. Elara clenched her teeth together, struggling to keep her cool.

  Argon nodded angrily. “Yes, that’s the plan.”

  “That ring belongs to Elara. Helia had it in her mother’s bag, which she brought with her from the future. It even has some of Elara’s blood on it, still,” explained Noiro.

  “Which means that the ring you own is still wherever your family keeps it,” finished Elara, sitting back down next to Helia. She felt a small pair of hands wrap around her arm, and she looked down at the child.

  “Mama, you angry? Dad is angry?” Helia whispered anxiously. Elara realized how scared the toddler must be. From her point of view, all of the adults were angry, yelling and arguing with each other. She remembered that just a few seconds ago she was yelling, too. Her gut wrenched painfully inside her.

  “Enough,” she said, looking at everyone in the room. “We’re all scaring Helia.”

  Argon began, “I don’t—”

  “Argon,” Elara pleaded, softening her voice. “Just look at her. Look at the ring. Just… look.”

  Argon angrily glared at the toddler, who seemed to shrink further away.

  Elara sighed, shaking her head. They were getting nowhere.

  “Let’s do the blood test,” insisted Noiro. “It’ll take a few minutes.”

  Argon sighed, defeated. “Fine.”

  “We can do the test in your laboratory,” said Miela. “We need to keep everything as confidential as possible. That means no external parties.”

  Noiro nodded. “In the meantime, let’s
answer a few questions.” He kneeled down to Helia. “Helia, is that okay with you?” he asked kindly.

  Helia looked at Elara, who smiled back reassuringly, and then nodded at Noiro.

  “Okay, Helia. Can you tell me who your Mama is?”

  Helia nodded hesitantly, and turned to point at Elara. “Mama!”

  “Good! And what’s Mama’s name?”

  “Mama,” Helia said confidently.

  Argon rolled his eyes; Noiro glared at him. He continued, “Good, Helia. You call her Mama. But do you know what other people call her? Like what does your Dad call her?”

  Helia paused for a moment, thinking. “El.”

  Elara smiled at Helia, and turned her head to catch Miela and Noiro’s glance. It was more information that they were able to get out of her from the day before. But then again, the child was distraught, terrified, and covered in her mother’s blood at the time.

  “What about me, Helia? What’s my name?” asked Miela.

  “Auntie Miela,” said Helia, beaming.

  “Good job, Helia!” cheered Miela. “Do you know another name people, other grownups, call me?”

  “Cap’n,” replied Helia, pretending to salute.

  Miela smiled, proud.

  “Great job, Helia,” Noiro praised. Helia beamed, getting the hang of the line of questioning.

  Elara moved closer to her. “Helia, can you tell me about your Dad? Who is your Dad?”

  Helia pointed at Argon. “That’s Dad,” she said, turning to face Argon.

  Elara nodded, keeping her eyes trained on Helia. She could feel Argon’s eyes boring into her. “And do you know what other people call him? What does Mama call Dad?”

  “Argon,” she replied.

  “And do you know what other grownups call him?”

  Helia looked up thoughtfully. “Uncle Noiro calls him a word I’m not allowed to use.”

  Miela stifled a giggle; Noiro cleared his throat uncomfortably.

  “Er—good, Helia,” praised Elara, fighting back a grin. “Anyone else?”

  “Auntie Aurora calls him Aero,” she offered.

  “Aurora? I don’t know an Aurora,” Elara hummed, thinking. “Noiro, do you—”

  “How do you know Aurora?” Argon said suddenly, his unexpected participation startling the room.

  Norio looked excited at Argon’s response, eager on finding out more information. “Does that name mean anything to you?” he asked Argon.

  Argon’s gaze didn’t waver from the toddler as he snapped at his childhood nemesis, “Shut up, Noiro. How do you know Aurora?”

  “She’s my Auntie,” Helia said, as if stating an obvious fact. She was beginning to grow confused with this game they were playing. She wanted to go home and play. Perhaps get a snack.

  “She’s my sister,” Argon explained to Miela, massaging the side of his head with one hand.

  “Your sister?” asked Noiro, looking surprised. “I didn’t know you had a sister.”

  “We don’t get along,” Argon snapped. “I haven’t seen her in years.”

  “Mama. Are we finished?” Helia piped up hopefully with a pout adorning her face. “I wanna go home.”

  “We’ll be home soon,” Elara promised.

  “With Dad?” she asked, her face lighting up at the very thought.

  “Er—no,” Elara replied uncomfortably. “Not with Dad.”

  Helia’s face fell, her hopes dashed. She turned to Argon pleadingly. “Please. Please, Dad. Let’s go home together. I’ll be good, I promise,” she beseeched.

  Argon was silent, uncertain how to respond to the child. His discomfort grew when he watched the toddler’s eyes fill with tears as she touched his arm. She couldn’t understand why her father was so upset with her. He looked away, swallowing hard. It was difficult not to look at the toddler who was trying so desperately to connect with him.

  Elara placed a comforting hand on Helia’s shoulder. “Some other time, Helia.” She sighed. “I think we’ve had enough for one day.” She looked at Miela, who nodded in agreement.

  “Thank you, Argon, for cooperating.”

  Elara scoffed at Miela’s words. She wouldn’t call Argon’s behavior cooperation. It was far from it.

  “You can leave for the day, if you want,” Miela continued. She knew it was a lot of information to take in at once, and it was obviously hard on Helia as she adjusted to unfamiliar versions of people she once knew. “I’ll show you out.”

  Elara watched as Miela and Argon walked out of the room, and locked her worried gaze with Noiro.

  “We’ll figure everything out,” Noiro said reassuringly, although he looked like he needed some reassurance himself.

  Outside of the room, Argon and Miela stood silently in front of one another, unsure of how to continue in light of the information they learned that day.

  “It’s a lot,” Argon said suddenly, breaking the silence.

  “I know. We’re barely wrapping our heads around this ourselves. And imagine how difficult it must be for the kid. She’s just a baby, you know,” she said solemnly. “She can’t be more than three.”

  Argon remained silent. He knew he acted cruelly towards the toddler in the room. A part of him knew he acted the way he did because he was scared and confused. But his being scared and confused certainly didn’t excuse his nasty behavior. A small, gnawing feeling of guilt began to creep up his belly.

  “It’s gonna be tough,” continued Miela, “but I’m still expecting you to bring your best to the table while helping us pursue this case.”

  Argon nodded silently, albeit reluctantly.

  “Take the day off and clear your head,” said Miela. “It’ll help.”

  “When are we meeting next?” asked Argon.

  “Actually, we’re planning on meeting tomorrow morning, at Noiro’s.”

  Argon raised an eyebrow curiously. “Why not here, at headquarters?” he asked.

  “Well, mainly we don’t want to draw any more attention to Helia than necessary,” she replied. “And we need to crack some codes. Noiro’s personal library will come in handy.”

  “Codes?”

  “Mm,” Miela confirmed. “Helia showed up with a few other items from the future. Clues, we think. They’ll be a little tricky to crack.”

  “Clues?” Argon echoed. “I don’t get it. If Elara went through all that trouble to send Helia back from her time, why wouldn’t she just clearly write down everything?”

  Miela shrugged. “I’m guessing it was coded in case they fell into the wrong hands. We don’t know exactly who we’re up against.”

  Argon nodded, frowning. This case was getting bigger and bigger the more he learned about it. He looked over his shoulder and back towards Miela’s office.

  “Argon?”

  “I’ll be there,” Argon said firmly, turning back to look at Miela.

  “Okay. I’ll write down the location—”

  “I know where Noiro lives,” Argon interrupted. “He and I, we go way back.”

  Miela nodded knowingly.

  Argon took his cue, saluted, and left.

  Miela sighed, turning back to enter her office where Elara and Noiro sat. Helia was leaning into Elara’s side, her eyes beginning to droop shut. She let out a small yawn.

  “That went well,” said Elara miserably, glancing up at Miela as she walked back in. Her throat felt scratchy from the shouting match. She couldn’t help but feel disappointed. Everyone had behaved so poorly. But try as she might, she couldn’t bring herself to blame anyone for their reactions. It was a lot to take in.

  “I think we need to take a break,” murmured Miela, repeating the advice she gave Argon moments ago. “Clear our heads. We’ll be no use to anyone if we continue the way we are and get wrapped up in our heads.”

  “You’re right,” Noiro agreed, rubbing the back of his neck.

  “Helia also looks like she’s had enough,” said Elara, wrapping her arm around the toddler who was now dozing off beside her. “
I’ll take her home so she can get some sleep. I think it might be around her naptime…” Elara trailed off, wondering how on earth could she serve as a responsible parent to a toddler who came into her life less than twenty-four hours ago.

  “All right, it’s settled,” said Miela. “Get some rest, all of you. We’ll meet tomorrow morning at Noiro’s.”

  TIME THEORY

  Elara tapped her foot anxiously as she prepared a set of vials in Noiro’s lab. She slept well the night before, albeit having woken up a few times; she was still getting used to having someone in bed with her. Helia kept snuggling up next to her beneath her covers, making her unbearably hot in the summer night.

  Nonetheless, she found that she enjoyed spending time with the toddler. Helia was an inquisitive child and took it upon herself to examine every nook and cranny of her house to find the best spot to play in. Elara also noticed that she had an affinity for drawing, and helped her set up a small corner with some of her old art supplies that she’d managed to scrounge up for the toddler to play with.

  Reminiscing on her day with Helia helped calm her down, and Elara slowed her tapping foot as she finished setting up the last of her vials. She could hear Noiro and Miela in the sitting room next door, casually chatting away. A calm breeze wafted through the cottage. The air was still cool in the early morning hours. She walked into the sitting room to join her friends as they waited for Argon to arrive.

  Just as she’d entered into the room, a sharp knock sounded against the front door.

  “Ah, that must be him,” said Noiro, getting up to his feet to answer the door.

  Argon stood rigidly at the doorway, glancing at Noiro uncomfortably as he waved him in. He walked into the sitting room, where Helia was splayed out on the floor with a handful of toys, lost in her make-believe world. To Argon’s surprise, Miela was kneeling down on the floor with her, speaking in a silly voice as she moved one of the dolls towards Helia’s toy. He felt the beginnings of a grin tugging at his lips; he was certainly not used to seeing this side of Captain Miela.

  “You can follow Elara to the laboratory, she’ll just do a quick blood test,” explained Noiro, gesturing towards the laboratory.