Chapter 31 - Solana

Holly never would have imagined she’d ever return to a Maestro Affairs Office after they soundly rejected her the first time she went to one.

Yet here she was, not only entering one but right behind a Maestro.

“Wait a minute, where the hell are we going?” hissed the plant, realizing they completely bypassed the front door.

“Back door. They’d start complaining if they spotted me bringing a stray through the front. This is easier,” Solana replied with a smile.

Holly instantly recognized something was very wrong with this Solana character. She was not above lying, nor breaking the rules apparently.

Was following her really a good idea? The zalavan reached into her jacket and palmed a single apple seed, just in case.

Solana led the way through the back rooms of the MA Office, clearly meant for employees, until they left through another door. They found themselves in a well-lit hallway with numerous doors on either side. This was one of the hallways she had seen on her first visit back in Pietri, but never got a chance to explore it due to being turned away immediately.

“Here we are dear,” Solana pulled Holly from her thoughts.

The Maestro waved her hand near the door causing it to beep and click. With that arcane ritual out of the way, Solana pulled the door open with ease.

“After you,” the chef said with a smile.

Holly remained wary for a moment, rolling the apple seed she held with her thumb. She decided to just go with it. After all, she had ultimate magic at her disposal, what did she have to be afraid of?

A fire element rushed up from deeper in the room to greet her Maestro. “Lana! You’re ba- who are you?”

“Some cop was harassing her, so I decided to bring her back for a meal,” Solana said, closing the door behind them.

“Ah,” the fire element cat(?) sized up the smaller Resonator. “A kid?” she asked.
“I’m eighteen,” Holly replied bluntly.
“Ah, you’re small,” the fire element helpfully observed.
“And you’re a-” Before Holly could say “cat”, she found her mouth covered.

She turned back with alarm but was quickly released. “Linsang dear, Vivi is a linsang,” Solana corrected before Holly could drop the faux pas.

Seeing how she was only muffled for a second, Holly let it pass. She appraised this “Vivi” person. Red and orange, with long hair just like her Maestro, though she allowed her hair to run mostly free, only partially contained by a black ribbon braided just at the end of her hair.

Her tail pattern was different from other cats she had seen; the long appendage was red with yellow stripes, almost like bands. The shape of her ears, while similar to a cat’s, was ever so slightly different. In the sea of fire that made up Vivi, there were two jewels of blue – her eyes – that stood out in the flames of her color palette. Holly thought they popped nicely against the rest of her visage.

“Where’s Lee?” asked Solana as she stepped into the kitchen.
“He’s out shopping,” Vivi replied, throwing herself back on the couch.
“Oh darn, I was hoping he’d be able to look at her cheek, the cop hit her pretty hard,” Solana hummed in disappointment.

Everything happened so fast that Holly completely forgot she had even been struck. Either way, she didn’t need to be fawned over. “I can take care of myself,” she spoke up. She thrust her hand into her bag and tapped on the vial of healing seeds contained within.

“La Bella Vita, Allegro,” she decided. Healing magic coursed through her as the residual pain faded from her face.

“There, hope it looks good,” Holly said, glancing around for a mirror. What she found instead was Solana and Vivi staring at her like she was a Scherzando. “What?” she asked.

“You cast a spell by yourself?” Vivi asked. Her eyes snapped to the bag at Holly’s side. “You burned a crystal on just that?” she wondered.

“Oh no, dear, you didn’t have to do that. Lee has healing magic too,” Solana fretted.

It took a moment for it to click. “Oh, you don’t know what a zalavan is,” Holly realized.

“A what?” Vivi asked, confirming Holly’s suspicion.
“Oh, one of the mirage species. I’m sorry dear, I just sensed you were a Resonator, I didn’t realize what you were,” Solana chuckled.

That… put Holly at ease. This chef brought her in not knowing how extraordinarily rare she was.

“Zalavan can cast magic through seeds.” Holly plucked the healing vial from her bag. “Strawberry seeds give healing magic,” she informed them.

“Ah… that’s quite handy,” was all Solana had to say on the matter before returning to whatever she was doing in the kitchen. Likewise, Vivi grumbled something unintelligible, before turning her attention back to the television.

Holly remained awkwardly near the door for a moment, before Solana realized the stray girl was just standing there.

“You can have a seat anywhere dear,” Solana motioned for the plant to explore.

And explore she did. First off was the kitchen – it was small but functional. Just enough counter space for Solana to work, but nobody else. All the appliances of the modern Riterran kitchen were there – a range for heating, a sink, a hanging microwave, a dishwashing machine, and a refrigerator. Upon closer inspection, there were even cabinets full of dishes. MA Offices just stocked this stuff for Maestros?

Moving on, she found Vivi on the couch, feet kicked up on a big square footrest. Peering into the rest of the room, two large beds were flanking the opposite wall. A dresser was affixed to the center of the back wall, with a large flat television on top (currently turned towards Vivi).

Wandering to where a separate room appeared to be, she found a little washroom, and then the bathroom proper. Everything in here was so nice. Holly didn’t have the nicest home back in Inverna; it was functional, but she knew she and her mom were part of the lower crust of their society. The hotel she had stayed at in Ralevi was nowhere near as nice as this room. Maestros truly were spoiled.

“Whatever,” grunted Holly under her breath. She took a seat at the desk, the television blaring behind her. It was the white noise she had desperately wanted so long ago. Finally, in a little better of a headspace, she set her seed bag down and took inventory.

She used up all the dandelion seeds, so wind magic was gone from her repertoire until she got more. Watermelon seeds were nice, but in the small vials, they took up too much space. She wanted to fill this with rice seeds – much smaller, and very easy to use with this system.

Her new mind magic seeds were tobacco seeds, smaller than the coca seeds she had before. That was good, she had a lot of that available.

Even with her usage of ice magic before, she still had a ton of mint available. Nearly all of the vials outside the wind one had been filled to the brim.

He must have re-stocked the day before, just for her.

“…you okay?” Holly looked up, tears streaming uninhibited. Vivi stood by her side, brows raised with concern.

“No, I’m not okay,” snipped the grieving nature element, sniffling as she wiped the tears from her face. “My best friend died to a big Scherzando and-”

Holly stopped as she watched a look of horror form on Vivi’s face for a split second only to vanish just as quickly in favor of a neutral expression.

Before Holly could question what the deal was, Solana interrupted. “You must be hungry dear. It’s not much but I hope you enjoy it.” Everything was moving so fast, the zalavan felt the whiplash as it was no sooner than her bowl had been set down, that Solana rushed back into the kitchen. “I think dessert would be good too – what do you say, Vivi?”

“Sounds good to me,” the linsang shrugged and made her way back to the couch, plopping down as if the previous conversation hadn’t happened.

Holly furrowed her brows, her attention turning to her bowl of food. It was some kind of soup. She grabbed the spoon the chef had stealthily left on the desk and took an inventory of the ingredients. Squash, corn, potatoes, and some sort of meat, all in a brownish-red broth of some sort and topped with chives. Sipping the broth, there was a familiar kick – capsaicin, there was some kind of hot sauce in the broth.

It was delicious, everything was cooked so well, and from what Holly had seen, Solana just whipped this up.

“What is this?” she questioned to no one in particular.

“Lojro, it’s a local specialty,” Solana called from the kitchen. “I just learned it a couple of weeks ago.” The chef stepped out of the kitchen, drying her hands with a towel. “Do you like it?”

Holly nodded. “It’s great, thank you!”
Solana giggled and smiled, stepping back into the kitchen.

Vivi remained on the couch, just listlessly watching the television. Their reactions were strange… Holly couldn’t quite place what was wrong, but at least there was food.

For now, she’d let that mystery simmer and focused on polishing off her soup.