[The Norkari Mtns.] Chalet du Sommet Minuit

“Chalet du Sommet Minuit,” Naoki finishes.

“That’s Gauldish for ‘cottage of the midnight mountaintop.’ Also known as ‘The Chalet,' or ‘Auntie Naoki’s House,' if you’d prefer.”

As it emerges from the purple door, the group finds itself in a room of middling size, seemingly far more mundane than the last. The muffled sound of winds rushing and a crackling fireplace fills the silence. In fact, windows line the opposite wall, offering an immediate mountain vista. Off to the left, one end of the lake is visible through flurries of snow, frozen. The room is evidently on the second story or higher, as the tops of pine trees are just outside. The mountain and the forest slope abruptly down toward a lower valley, while the shapes of other mountains fade in and out of view in the background.

Contrasting beautifully is the room in which they stand. Lit by soft candlelight and a wide fireplace, the unfinished wood walls, an assortment of rugs, and assorted armchairs lend well to a ‘warm cabin’ theme, which is present throughout the majority of The Chalet.

Big Naoki moves over toward the windows and kneels, providing her passenger an excellent vantage from which to look outside as well as the opportunity to disembark, should she choose to do so. She remains quiet for the moment, smiling slightly as she watches the children in anticipation of the next round of questions.

One other door leads out of the room, away from the windows, but it’s shut. Aside from the fireplace, chairs, and a small bookshelf, there isn’t much to be found here; it’s a combination entryway and sitting room.

“Yes, yes- after you’re clean, yes after you’re clean,” Naoki answers each question in order, pointing to each questioner in turn.

“The first thing we’re doing is baths,” she declares. “This way.”

The door out of the room opens at Naoki’s touch, leading into yet another hallway. Here, there are paintings on the wall, sconces on both sides, and definite, visible ends to the hall, in the form of turns at either end. Other, similar doors are present up and down, bearing small plaques with words or symbols on them. Symbols such as stairs, a book, fire, a bed marked #5, and their destination: a bathtub.

Ushering the children in, they would find the bathing room to be perhaps a more extensive affair than they’re used to- no one needs a place this large for just bathing. Immediately after entering they’re faced by a wall that goes up to about Naoki’s chin. They would be able to pass on either side into one of two mirrored sections, another chin-high wall separating them. This is one of the Chalet’s few rooms partitioned for gender.

The room’s surfaces are covered with smooth, grayish tiles, a bit like small stone bricks. Recessed into the floor on both sides there are three circular basins, one large and two small. Notably, they are shallow, no deeper than two feet in the center of the large ones. Soap, towels, and other bathing essentials are available on shelves and hooks which Naoki thinks ought to be accessible by the children with some tip-toes.

After the children are in, Naoki pauses just inside the door, unsure of the bathing practices customary for the children. Holding her hands behind her back, she defers to Ms. Higgs, prepared to take part or stand by as appropriate. The staff member she sent to fetch the children’s clothes ought to arrive soon.

Naoki finds little trouble taking a secondary role in the bathing procedures. She handles the dirty clothes, receives the fresh ones, and sets out six little outfits to be put on. She then assists with the drying of the children, the hair especially. Knowing firsthand the difficulties introduced with soft kitty ears and how best to circumvent them, Naoki diligently ensures the appropriate levels of dryness. That's what she tells herself she's doing, at least. A glorified excuse to give ear scratches is what it is. The selected outfits all feature pants, in preparation for putting on coats later.

Once everyone is suited up, Naoki ushers them down the hall and around the corner to a set of significant-looking but unlabeled double doors. “This,” she says, “Is where we’ll be staying.”

As Naoki pushes the doors open, a small bell rings somewhere inside. She stands back to hold the door.

Here within The Chalet, Naoki has prepared something similar to a small house. ('Small,' being a relative term.) These double doors are skin to front doors, and the only ones leading in. Immediately through them, there is the sitting room, featuring a fireplace in one corner, an assortment of large chairs, a few bookcases, six little desks, and other typical furniture. It serves as the connecting room to three others, one on each face. To the left is the dining room, with appropriately sized tables and chairs, bunches upon bunches of snacks, and not a single knife.

Off to the right of the entrance is the playroom, which contains an awful lot of books for something called a ‘playroom,’ as well a questionably excessive number of “common” children’s toys. Common in that they are mundane such as rocking horses, blocks, plush animals, and so on, but far from common in quality; Naoki sprang for the good stuff. Commissioned a master toymaker, in fact. Many of the toys are signed. A few easels sit in one corner.

Finally, directly across from the entrance is the bedroom, a carefully planned affair. Upon entering, one would see three little beds lined up on both the left and right sides. Each one has with it a small dresser, an empty box, a bedside table, a stool, and a short wall to separate it from its neighbor. Down at the far end of the room, the two chests the children packed are sitting on the floor, open, amidst larger dressers. Two doors at the end are labeled “Naoki,” and “Ms. Higgs,” and these lead off to regular sized and fully featured bedrooms.

Save for those bedrooms; each room is connected by doorways filled with hanging strings of wooden beads. Though unconventional and perhaps a bit out of place, these beads serve a vital purpose - they’re noisy. Every time anyone passes through a doorway, the beads are set in motion, clacking against each other to announce movement. Naoki hopes that the noise won’t become too grating as the days wear on.

Once everyone is in, the doors ^click shut behind them, locking. Naoki, eager to see first impressions, follows the children in.

Another day at the Chalet du Sommet Minuit, Skarlet is lounging on a couch in some silky, burgundy-coloured pyjamas. When she sees her foster parent, Empress Naoki , she greets her with enthusiasm. "Good morning Mother!"

She'd come over to give her a hug first before beginning to speak again,

"What are your thoughts on ghosts?" Skarlet opened up a new conversation with Naoki. She wanted to talk a little about one of her experiences while she's been away. She always liked speaking with Naoki when she needed to hear from a mortal's perspective on a topic. If anyone else was around too, she'd welcome them sharing what they thought too. "I met Céline while I was in Rondon."

Skarlet finds Naoki shuffling through The Chalet in a robe, nursing a mug of something dark and cinnamon-smelling. She greets Skarlet with a smile and a one-armed hug, holding her drink off to one side.

“Ghosts…?” Naoki repeats thoughtfully, wholly unprepared for the question.

“I can’t say I’ve met any ghosts, funnily enough -- so I don’t have any foundation upon which to base an opinion of any real strength. Though I suppose if one’s essence doesn’t have anything better to do…” She shrugs.

“It’s not one of the afterlife options I’m considering, at least. … What was it like, meeting her?”

“Mmmmh.” Naoki nods and sips her drink. Keeping spirits appeased is often a better idea than not.

“I can only imagine how that must have been.” Ruminating on her trips through Skarlet’s dreams and to the Zeidler home, she does precisely that, leaving a comfortable silence for a few moments. Must be pretty strange to be the ghost of Céline Zeidler. Naoki wouldn’t have suspected the existence of such a spirit. It comes along with the implicit idea that Skarlet is very much her own individual, separated by such a clear delineation.

“It’s good that the…” Naoki hesitates on the word choice. “The two of you are on good terms, as it were. Avoids any potential trouble were you not.”

Listening, Naoki’s expression turns to one of careful consideration. It’s a bit early in her day for existential questions, she thinks, but after a few moments of thought, she gives it her best shot.

“One of the most interesting things, I think is how magic chooses to apply in any given situation. Apply, or alternatively manifest, in situations where multiple sorts of magic could, potentially. An easy example is the afterlife. What happens when you die? One of the big questions. It depends. One option is the Demonic Realm with whose lords I’ve socialized with -- The Hellscape. I imagine I will probably end up there, in the very end, but not everyone will. Some people simply die, leaving behind absolutely nothing but a corpse. Some return as ghosts or specters -- sometimes of their own volition, sometimes not.”

Naoki shrugs with one arm as she takes a sip of her drink.

“There’s also those whose souls are captured and put in jars before they have a chance to go anywhere else. Some souls are eaten. Some people don’t even have a soul in the same sense as some others, and something entirely different happens when they die. Some of us...”

She gestures at Skarlet with her mug.

“...Are effectively immortal. Does the concept of afterlife still apply, and if so, does it apply in the same way to you as it might to me? … Hard to say. Impossible, even, until the moment it happens, I feel. It ^presumably depends on your actions and the choices you make in life, but the entire field of study on this topic is essentially banging its head against the wall, and has been for a while.”

“As I've read, observations and arduous testing confirm some things, such as that often, in the context of the afterlife, what one thinks will happen, happens. Remote tribes that don’t speak Common have never heard of the Hellscape, and as a result, few of them will end up there. They seem to go to the 'promised land' of their religion. seemingly because that's where they think they'll go.”

All warmed up, Naoki pauses to take another sip of her drink.

“Another experiment aims to conclusively claim that their magic, with their totem poles and their soothsayers, is just as valid as any other, and functions just as well. In one study, someone like that -- a remote-tribal sort, a powerful magical one, was brought to what passed for civilization at the time, learned the language (a dialect of elvish), and attempted to learn their magics.”

“He couldn’t. And they tried all manner of things in due course of experimentation, but to the end, despite all efforts, he never could do elven magics. If you start thinking that things like beliefs and heritage playing into things, the topic gets very complicated and nigh-unsolvable very quickly.”

“So,” Naoki says, reeling it back in, “I feel I can’t give you a good answer to that question, and I don’t think anyone can provide a definitive answer.”

“But. Considering, I think it likely that Céline believed in ghosts. They’re so ingrained in general understandings and notable literature that I think it entirely plausible that ^anyone could believe that ghosts exist, even those in realms where they don’t. So, perhaps, since you think you will, in the very end, end up with more ghosts than just Céline .”

“But it’s hard to say. ... A tangentially related, equally nuanced, and just as relevant of a topic is that of identity. What we are, _really, what a 'soul' is, what it means to be conscious, the nature of consciousness, and so on.” Naoki waves one hand dismissively, writing the whole thing off as something she isn’t going to start monologuing about right now.

As she’s listening, Naoki finishes her drink and sets it aside. She nods soberly.

“That’s morality for you. In your context, the wills of omniscient entities may come into play, and they may base their decisions based on the intentions of any given individual. At that point, who can say?”

“Things will go well for you, though; I’ve power enough to ensure that. Grandma, The Black Tower… They and others deal in great, cosmic powers that are beyond my understanding — but they’re loyal to me. I am confident that whatever happens, you will be taken care of.” Naoki adds emphasis by leaning over to touch the end of her tail to the top of Skarlet’s head.

“I don’t think you need to worry about such things,” she continues, “Not yet. There’s time to consider those kinds of matters, for you especially — lots of time.”

“In my case — I should tell you; I wouldn’t be going to join the innumerable morass of souls being tortured in the Hellscape. Nonono. I would be going to — and I realize how this sounds said aloud, become a demon.”

“A high-end demon, of the Lust Circle,” she adds. “As I have met the current Demonlady of Lust. I summoned her here, to The Chalet, and we spoke. We spoke, forged a contract, and I got to know her very well.” Naoki skips right over that part.

“One of the terms in our contract — essentially the only significant term, is such that, once I am finished with life and whatever else my soul might like to do afterward — to be a ghost, to reincarnate, or whatever else, I — my soul, will join her in the Lust Circle, to be, and I quote, her ‘partner.’”

After a few moments she continues, quick to elaborate, “It was an excellent deal. I remain quite satisfied with it, and while I’m not necessarily looking forward to that eventuality, I’m comfortable in knowing that there will be that, as opposed any unknown.” She gestures, referring to what they were talking about a short while ago.

“Everyone needs a hobby.” Naoki grins, finding it amusing to dismiss the topic in such a way.

There’s a pause before she answers, “Alright.” She has no issue with this.

“I’ll be in the city tonight, but I won’t be doing anything of great import — nothing I can’t walk away from. Remember that Juns need to be fed regularly, and I’ll tell you: they don’t handle alcohol well. I wouldn’t offer it.”