Last Destiny Volume 2 Chapter 9

Charlotte's company drops off Will and his family, who turn out to be nobles. They receive precious metals as a reward. They encounter a carnival, where Helen convinces Charlotte to stop. Lydia asks Whelan to take her to the carnival. Inside, they see a grotesque display of Iowian individuals. They meet Whelan and Lydia again. Lydia is fixated on Coffee. Helen introduces Coffee as their friend. Charlotte and Whelan talk about their pasts. Helen explains that Coffee was made by a scientist named Jim Potts. Charlotte and Whelan discuss their professions and destination. They all decide to travel together until Gale. They board the ship and settle in for the night. Chapter 9, Charlotte and Whelan. Across the sea in mids, Charlotte's company drops off Will, Peter, and the Julia, where they locate Will's family. Luckily, the other two families were with his. Even further, Will comes from a family of nobles. They reward Charlotte's company with precious metals for bringing Will home. The company departs, but the Julia makes them promise when she's an adult they return for her to join them. A little ways from where they drop off Will and company, Helen sees a carnival in mids. She talks Charlotte into stopping there so they can allow coffee to experience it. Charlotte retorts, we all know this is really for you. Not long after, on their way to Gale, Whelan and Lydia walk near the carnival. The lights attract Lydia, and she says, Whelan, please, since you're getting rid of me anyways, can you take me there first? She looks up to him, pulling his cape with adorable eyes. Not paying her eyes any attention, Whelan says, yes. His voice is just as sharp as always. Lydia charges into him, embracing him. He continues to walk. Inside, Charlotte and Helen take coffee to a grotesque figure display of actual individuals. All five of the individuals are Iowian. Coffee is frozen up on seeing them. Helen is startled, but Charlotte isn't impressed. Helen says, but that's their actual faces. How can you be so, you know, used? Charlotte shakes her head and says, they shouldn't be on display like caught monsters is all I knows. Helen already knew that is what she was going to say, just looks plain face. Charlotte walks off from the booth hastily, but it isn't long before she is stopped in her tracks when she sees Whelan and Lydia. She stops and stares at them. Helen and coffee, who are trying to catch up with her, walk up to her. Helen says, Char, what is it? Charlotte says, it's him from before. Helen looks over and sees Whelan. Helen says, oh, the dark one whom I grabbed, but. Okay, I didn't realize you liked him. Charlotte looks toward her with an innocent expression. Helen says, Jim, I'm sorry to say it, this fool's metal now, so let's go meet him. Wait, who is that little girl? His daughter? No, sister? They walk over to Whelan and Lydia. For a moment, they all stare at another. Lydia is fixated on coffee. He is fixated on her because they are the same height. Charlotte, anxious, says, yeah, you don't remember us? Looking Whelan directly in the eye. Whelan looks toward her and Helen says, why, I do, from the bar. You two are dangerous. No. Charlotte and Helen look shocked. Lydia, though, thinks, did he just tell a joke? After the pause, Whelan says, I'm Whelan and this is Lydia and you all? Charlotte and Helen introduce themselves in coffee. Helen thinks his voice is a sword, no different from Charles. Charlotte says, why don't we all get better acquainted with another? The children can keep another company and you and I can go along separately. Helen says, but what does that leave me? Charlotte says, with the children, but of course. Helen looks at her, unimpressed, and thinks, the nerve of her. I mean, really? Helen bends toward Lydia and says, okay, we all are going to have a good time and you can be coffee's first friend. Coffee says, for friends? Lydia, who was about to make a comment about Whelan, is startled by Helen's statement. She stares into coffee's eyes and realizes he is in any life form she has ever seen. She steps back. Helen says, it's okay, he just needs friends. Lydia looks toward her and believes her words then smiles. She then shakes coffee's hand. He pauses at first and shakes back. Charlotte and Whelan walk off as Helen stares toward them and smiles. Charlotte asks, where are you from? Whelan says, Suzie. Charlotte says, war-torn, Suzie? I'm sorry for you and her. Charlotte looks down as she says it. Whelan says, it is all right. You appear to be well-versed of the world about you. Charlotte says, it's understandable why you would desire to be away from a place so, so far away. I read so much, Helen tends to think I should have been a scholar instead of a pirate. Whelan looks toward her eyes and says, why did you choose such a dangerous path? Charlotte says, when we was youths, Helen and I, her old man used to hurt her and her mom's. No one would do nothing. She was always the greatest thing to me, but my family wouldn't help her neither. When her mother died, no one batted an eye. I couldn't take no more. I knew her too well. Her eyes brace up. I knew, as she continues, she'd be next. I stole a rowboat, wrote a letter to my family, and we left for the high seas. Her old man killed himself not long after. Charlotte looks away. Whelan says, what made you tell me all of that? Charlotte says, I really don't know. Something about you's, I just knew I could. That all right? He nods his head, yes. Helen takes Lydia and Coffee to a closed area where skeletons pop out and screams can be heard. Both Lydian and Helen are frightened enough to jump. Coffee just looks back at them. Lydia says, I'm a brownie, as you know. And you, a Iowan. But what is our friend, Coffee, here? And she points directly at him. Helen wide-eyes says, kitties. Well, you see, he is what is called a coffee pot. Lydia says, his name? Helen continues, yes, he's the first to go from his maker. Jim Potts, what they call a scientist, was I and Char's best friend as children. He made him from parts of himself. He asked us to raise him, and so here we are now. Helen says all of this as she holds both of them while she bends down. Lydia smiles at Coffee and says, and I'm his first friend? I feel honored now. At a booth where an elf escapes from having his hands tied and chained, Charlotte and Whelan continue. Charlotte says, what do you's do for a living? Whelan says, I'm a traveler. Charlotte says, you don't lie, do you's. You have the look of a killer. She says this in a matter-of-fact tone. Whelan says, I have to protect the child and myself. Charlotte says, you seem as one trained for it, though. Whelan says, even so. Charlotte's eyes widen. Charlotte thinks there is so much more to him, but there's a darkness, a void, as if it consumes and consumes. Mayhap there's nothing he can do about it. She then asks, where are you's two going after now? Whelan says, Gale. Charlotte looks toward him and says, oh that isn't so far from here. But it is. You's all ship docked out by ours? Whelan says, we travel by foot. Charlotte says, best we can do is let you's off while we is off on our ways. She looks toward him and smiles. He gives her a curious expression. Soon they all meet back up. Charlotte tells them Whelan and Lydia are coming along as well, but only until they reach Gale. Helen is stunned. She thought Whelan might be a deaf mutant in disguise. Lydia is happy she will get to stay around coffee a little longer. They plan to set sail at daybreak. Helen, whom has been teaching coffee to sail, will allow him to on his own then, but only for a short time. They board the ship once they leave the carnival. Whelan and Lydia are given a room below deck. Whelan, though, sleeps up top, positioned as though he is sitting.