Wear - Chapter 18

The next day arose. Tuesday morning of October 1st, 2019. When The Rejects gathered in the classroom before class began, the rest of the group noticed Emily was acting unusually happy. She seemed excited and contempt with life. “What’s up with you today?” Aeris asks Emily. “Did crying on Emma’s shoulders help you out THAT much?”.

“My parents are back in town!” Emily cheers. “They came back last night! They said they’re gonna be in town for a little while!”.

“That must be nice” Jackson says, then yawns. “It’s still too early for me to be awake, so you might have to celebrate this one alone”.

“That’s great!” Emma says, “did you get to talk to them about that yet?”.

“Ah… uh- no…” Emily says. “I was too focused on getting to see them, that I forgot about needing to talk to them”.

“Well, it’s fine to take your time” Wyatt says. “Worry less, be more in the moment, y’know?”.

“Yeah…” Emily says. Suddenly, Emily jerks her head up. “Oh yeah!” She says as something suddenly comes to mind, “I’ve been meaning to ask you guys this morning!”.

Emily turns to look at Aeris and Jackson. “Us?” Jackson asks. “Didn’t I already tell you I’m not exactly awake right now?”.

“It’s kinda burning in my mind though” Emily says. “You see- my mom and dad came back with all different kinds of books about laibah, and I was wondering-“.

“Good morning!” Refus says as he enters the classroom.

“… Guess it’ll have to wait then” Emily says, sitting down in disappointment.

“Saved by the bell…” Jackson says with a sigh of relief.

The morning classes pass by, as Emily was eager to ask about laibah. Eventually, lunch period began. Refus showed up at the Principal’s office to speak with Ryan. “Principal Schafold” Refus says, “you wanted to see me?”.

“Yes” Ryan says, “I thought this would be a good opportunity. You see, Emily’s parents are back in town for a little while, and I thought you’d like to meet them. That is, since you’ve been helping in this situation so well, I figured it’d help you with helping her”.

“Her parents?” Refus asks, “why’d they come back? I-I mean, not that it’s a bad thing! I just mean- isn’t that kind of sudden?”.

“They’re scholars now” Ryan says. “Have been for some time, or as they’ve said. They wanted to learn about the world, so they travel around a lot to gather research material. They came here to learn more about Terrio’s history involving the laibah”.

“Are they coming up to the school?” Refus asks. “How should I meet them?”.

“You may be able to arrange something through Emily” Ryan says. “Getting in contact with them isn’t exactly a convenient process. I’d say your best bet is asking Emily to arrange a way of meeting for you. Which brings me to another subject. You mentioned a female laibah, a first year, who never appeared to this school with her parents, yes?”.

“Y-Yeah, Emma Frey” Refus says.

“I’m sorry” Ryan says, “I’m not very good at recalling names. I know you reported to me that she mentioned that she doesn’t need living assistance, but since you’re helping with this, I’d like to help you with that student as well. I’ll help keep an eye out for her around the school whenever I can. If she needs help with anything, in or outside of the school, let me know”.

“Really?” Refus asks, “I mean- I’m not sure if that’s even necessary!”.

“Well, she may have troubles over the course of her attendance at Harrison” Ryan says, “and it is also my job to look after the students, so it’s not really a problem for me. Besides, I’m just trying to… make up… for things that had passed. Which girl is it? Can you describe the student?”.

“Well, uniform aside” Refus says, “she has white hair, she’s one of the shortest girls in her class, she’s got purple eyes-“.

“What?” Ryan asks.

“D-did I say something wrong?” Refus asks.

“Purple eyes you say?” Ryan says as he brings his right hand under his chin and thinks.

“What’s wrong?” Refus asks.

“I thought they were extinct…” Ryan says quietly to himself. “Glad to hear that’s not the case”. Ryan then looks up at Refus and says “It’s probably better if you ask the Bernnigan’s about this matter. Emily’s parents… they should know more about this than I do. Then again, I’m surprised that even laibah these days aren’t familiar with the old tale”.

“… What old tale?” Refus asks.

“I don’t know the full story” Ryan says. “That’s why it’s better if you ask the Bernnigan’s about this matter. That should be all for now, Refus”.

“O-oh… Alright” Refus says as he begins to leave the office.

“Purple eyes…” Ryan says to himself. “This could potentially be worse than I had thought. If I remember correctly, they have the hardest time maintaining their human form… at least, that’s what Remi told me. This Emma Frey girl just might be in trouble if we can’t find a way to change the student’s outlook on laibah soon”.

“So, what is it?” Jackson asks, as The Rejects sit on the rooftop again, sounding a little irritated by Emily’s desire to ask about laibah.

“So, I’ve been wondering…” Emily says. “How’d laibah get the name laibah? I mean- humans became known as humans because of the Latin word Gnomon, meaning indicator, and one who discerns. They named themselves this, as a sort of medal for being the first race to name themselves. The word later became humanus, and then evolved from there, but where did the word laibah come from?”.

“I’m pretty sure you’re not entirely accurate there” Wyatt says, “but that’s at least… kind of true. There were a lot of terms the word human come from, and went through a lot of linguistic evolution. I’m not sure on the whole history of the word, but I’m sure you’re missing a lot of the parts there”.

“Regardless” Emily says, “I wanna know where laibah came from!”.

“Well, that’s an old story” Jackson says, “so I don’t really know most of it. The way I was taught, there was a nomad. A laibah nomad who apparently was the first creature to travel around the entire world, more than two thousand years ago. When he came back, he started teaching about the different kinds of human languages. Back then, laibah typically stole their speech from the local humans, and learned their language instead. Eventually, the laibah began to travel all around the world. This was all way before The Great War, of course. After that, the laibah began to converse and live near humans in every country. When the laibah realized they didn’t have a word to call themselves, this nomad suggested the name Laibah. It was a name from a different country, on the eastern side of the globe. The name now is a girl’s name that means ‘the prettiest woman in all the heavens’ or something like that. It used to mean a woman with the most divine facial features, such as the eyes”.

“Why’d they choose a name for an entire race, if it were meant for a girl?” Emily asks.

“Because the nomad was in love” Jackson says. “He fell in love with a woman from the dominant tribe of laibah. This tribe was called The Amethyst tribe… not sure why, that’s just how the story goes. The woman he fell in love with was the heir to their chief, although he knew he would never gain the blessings of their chief”.

“But what about like… the facial features and eyes or whatever?” Emily asks, seeming very interested.

Jackson sighs and says “I dunno. From what I’ve heard, that tribe was easily discerned from specific facial features. Like, they were said to have strange looking eyes and extra shape shifting abilities. They had the most power in terms of their ability, or something like that”.

“Is that it?” Emily asks.

“That’s about all I know” Jackson says. After a short silence, and seeing as how Emily seemed disappointed by such a short end to the story, Jackson says “Look… that story is ancient. It’s been changed over the course of the ages. We don’t even know if it’s true, to be honest. That’s just… all I know”.

After thinking for a moment, Emily says “What about their shapeshift ability?”.

“What?” Jackson asks.

“You said they have a better ability, didn’t you?” Emily asks.

“Well, as the story goes…” Jackson says.

“Does that also have something to do with the name laibah?” Emily asks.

“How would I know?” Jackson asks. “Leave me alone already, would ya?”. Aeris squints at Jackson, then Jackson says “What? That’s supposed to be a laibah story! Does she even really need to know?”.

“Her parents are laibah, you jerk!” Aeris says as she begins to take out her notebook.

Jackson sighs and says “Fair enough…”.

After school, Refus found Emily outside of the school’s front door and asks “Hey Emily! I know your parents are back in town for now, but I was wondering if I may be able to meet them briefly?”.

“Oh, uh…” Emily says as she thinks, “I guess they wouldn’t really mind meeting one of my teachers, especially if it’s you. I’m sure they’re home right now, if you wanted to speak with them”.

“N-now?” Refus asks. Refus then thinks to himself, and about how he wanted to ask Emily’s parents about what he and Ryan discussed. “S-sure”.

Emily took Refus to Matilda’s house, where they were all staying for now. Only Emily, Refus and Emily’s parents were present. Matilda usually lives alone, and she wasn’t there because she was at work. Refus ended up spending a lot of time at Matilda’s house, asking Emily’s parents about laibah history. Emily walked around the house, letting them talk, and minding her own business. What they were talking about was basically the same thing she had heard earlier from Jackson. Suddenly, Emily’s interest was caught. Her parents, Lyra and Jay, began talking about The Amethyst tribe and their shifting abilities.

“You see” Lyra says, “they had a superior shifting ability that was useful for surviving in the wild. They were able to have more than three forms. They had their human form, fox form, half form, but they could also use forms between those three. They called this quarter shifting”.

“Quarter shifting?” Emily asks as she enters the kitchen, where they were talking.

“Oh, did we pique your interest, sweetie?” Lyra asks.

“Do you like history?” Jay asks. “Do you want to become scholars like us? Or maybe even an archeologist? O-or maybe a famous historian!”.

“I-I don’t know” Emily says. “I’m not sure what I want to do yet”.

“Well, it’s fine, honey” Lyra says. “Take your time, and don’t rush things”.

“Do you want to sit and hear the rest of the story too?” Jay asks.

“Can I!?” Emily says as she nearly jumps.

“Sure you can!” Jay says. “Now where were we?”.

“Quarter shifting” Refus says. “I want to know more about this”.

“Right, well” Jay says, “as you know, there are three forms that each laibah can use, human form, fox form, and half form. Well, to explain this, I’m going to use a half form as the basis to paint a picture in your mind. You see, in a half form, we have a human body but with our tail and ears. Well, there are two quarter forms”.

“Then why did they call it a quarter form, if it adds up to five total forms?” Refus asks.

“It’s half of a half form” Jay says. “To put it simply, the name quarter fox form refers to the quarter form that has the least amount of fox-like appearance. It’s a human body, without the tail or ears, but certain features will be discernible upon closer inspection. They’re small differences between this form and the human form. The difference is things like, slit-like pupils and sharp teeth. Then the quarter human form, which is mostly like a fox. They appear like a bipedal fox, full body fur, snout, paws, ears, tail, everything, except their bone structure allows them to walk and move like a human”.

“Whoa…” Emily says.

“That’s not all” Lyra says, “there’s a trade off for having those forms”.

“A tradeoff?” Refus asks. “Like what?”.

“Well, like every laibah, The Amethyst tribe can’t choose the appearance of their other forms. The appearance of our forms are chosen at birth” Lyra says. “They can’t manipulate the color of their fur, the eye color or anything like that. However, that’s completely normal for every laibah. The tradeoff is, while they have more forms to choose from, they have a harder time maintaining their human like forms. This includes the human form and quarter fox form. Their ears and tail are… persistent, in a manner of speaking. Occasionally, they will lose control over their shapeshift during sudden burst of strong emotions, such as fear, happiness, excitement, and et cetera”.

“Do any of you two have that ability?” Refus asks.

“No no” Jay says, “that bloodline of laibah are believed to be extinct. The old dominant tribe hasn’t been active for over a millennia”.

“Well, how do you ever know if you’ve met one?” Emily asks.

“Well, like the origin of the title ‘laibah’ suggests” Lyra says, “they have discernible features. Most of these features slowly began to fade as time passed and the bloodline married more and more outside of their tribe, but they do have one dominant trait that persists in their bloodline. Purple eyes”.

“Purple… eyes?” Emily asks as her eyes slowly widen.

“Oh no” Refus says as he suddenly comes to a conclusion, “She might be in trouble after all!”.

“What’s the matter?” Lyra asks.

“Mom… dad?” Emily says softly, “I think I know someone in my class who’s a descendant of The Amethyst tribe…”.

“You what!?” Jay shouts.

“Is that bad?” Emily asks.

“No!” Lyra says in excitement, “that’s amazing! I didn’t think any of them would be around! I want to meet them before we leave Terrio again. Do you think you can arrange that?”.

“Yeah, uh…” Emily says, “what’s going-“.

“I’m sorry” Refus says as he hastily gets ready to leave, “but I’ve got to go. I’ve got to talk to our principal about something early in the morning before classes start”.

“Alright” Jay says as he stands up and shakes Refus’s hand, “it was a pleasure meeting you. Take care of yourself!”.

“Thanks for having me” Refus says.

Meanwhile, Wyatt and Emma were getting ready to go to sleep for classes the next day. As the two lay awake in bed, Emma thinks to herself.

“Can’t sleep?” Wyatt asks.

“Yeah” Emma says, “it’s just… I never knew about any of those stories about laibah before. I’m just kind of… thinking it over is all”.

“Yeah, it was interesting” Wyatt says, “yet a lot to take in. I didn’t know that’s where the name came from”.

“Me either, to be honest” Emma says. Emma pauses for a while and then says “The Amethyst tribe…”.

“What?” Wyatt asks.

“Do you think something like The Amethyst tribe really existed?” Emma asks.

“I don’t know for sure” Wyatt says. “The story could’ve been changed so many times, that eventually they had to come up with a new reason behind the name laibah”.

“I guess that’s true…” Emma says. “If they did exist, I wonder if any of them are even still alive…”.