The chronicles of Ether Drive 4

CHAPTER 4: The Plush Twin

Anemo left the Littlepace shopping centre almost at a run. Outside, the sky was the color of lead, and a fine, cold rain had begun to fall, stinging his cheeks. The walk home, usually a ten-minute stroll, now felt like a survival marathon. He glanced nervously left and right; he wasn't afraid of the few passersby, but of a possible encounter with Aura, his mother, who the pharmacist had mentioned was "in the area."

The main problem was at his feet. On one, he wore a white sneaker, and on the other... the plush dog slipper, brown, soaked, with a pink tongue hanging out insolently. Anemo walked with an exaggerated stride along the edge of the pavement, trying to mask the "beast" among the yellow tulips and daffodils lining the road. With every step, the water-logged plush made a sickening sound: "Squelch!"

Suddenly, out of nowhere, SHE appeared. Daisy Queen. Plump, elegant, and under a giant umbrella, Daisy blocked the pavement. In one hand, she held a single yellow glove, which she gestured with chaotically, and in the other, pressed carefully to her chest, she carried Lady Bell. Little Lady Bell, a flawless chestnut Cavapoo with silky curls that made her look like a teddy bear fresh out of its box, froze in her mistress's arms. She studied her rag "twin" on Anemo’s foot, which sat there shamelessly with its tongue out in the mud.

“Mr. Gale! I would have expected your professional rigor to lead you to notice this sacrilege!” Daisy cried, waving the yellow glove. “I am the victim of a systematic misappropriation! I have but one glove left of an entire set, can you imagine? And as if that weren't enough, my monogrammed button—a gift from poor Mr. Queen—has vanished! Tonight is the book club; we are discussing the latest appearance of Remi Storm... how am I to appear like this? Incomplete!”

Lady Bell let out a short, crystalline bark in the direction of Anemo’s foot.
“Anemo, dear... what is that, what do you have on your foot?” Daisy asked, lowering her umbrella dangerously low.
Anemo broke into an instant sweat.
“It’s... it’s a literary experiment, distinguished Mrs. Queen! I’m writing about how a character would escape a ferocious dog through a marsh. I’m testing the weight of fear! And, speaking of your elegance... Mistral, my aristocratic cat, might have already found the button in the grass. I shall put your name in the book as a muse!”
Daisy, flattered by the idea of becoming a character, let him go, adjusting Lady Bell’s position in her arms.

Anemo dashed toward home, leaving behind a rhythmic sound: "Squelch! Squelch!" Once inside, he slammed the door and breathed a sigh of relief in the darkened hallway of Ether Drive. But the peace did not last.
Knock-knock! Someone was tapping discreetly but firmly. It was Daisy, who had run out of patience, now holding Lady Bell on a leash.
“I’m coming in, Mr. Anemo!” Daisy called out, bursting into the hall. “What a bizarre sound your clock is making! It’s as if it has swallowed the silverware!”

She stopped in front of the pendulum clock. In the "belly of time," the D.Q. button gleamed, jamming the mechanism. The pendulum made a grinding noise: Grind-clunk... grind-clunk. Anemo pulled at the small door, and the clock spat the button onto the parquet floor. Daisy reached down happily, but at that moment, a purple envelope slipped from her pocket. Sirocco snatched it instantly, but Mistral leapt from the cabinet, caught the envelope mid-air, and deposited it elegantly at the lady's feet. Lady Bell, seeing the cats, began wagging her tail so hard her whole curly body vibrated, barking happily in greeting to her new furry friends.

“You are geniuses!” Daisy exclaimed, exiting victoriously with the button and the envelope in hand.

Anemo collapsed onto the floor, his dog-slipper soaking wet. But less than ten seconds later... Knock-knock-knock!

“Anemo! Open up! The envelope! I’ve lost it again on the steps!”

On the other side of the door, Anemo had already managed to see the contents of the envelope, whose seal had been definitively compromised by some anonymous claws. The envelope and the letter were one and the same—an elegant 19th-century-style retro fold:

“Dear Remi Storm, it gives us great pleasure to invite you to join our book club meeting...”

“Incredible, this woman!” Anemo muttered, ignoring the insistent knocking. “So that’s it... this author who is so popular lately, invited by them! But what about me? Am I not a respectable author as well?”

Hearing the distinguished lady's desperation coupled with Lady Bell’s impatient barking, Anemo Gale opened the door and, with a short, robotic gesture, handed over the crumpled letter, slamming the door shut immediately. He and the pets had barely resumed their routine when more insistent knocking was heard. Aura Gale’s voice rang out again:

“Anemo! I know you’re home! Don’t keep your mother at the door in this horrible weather!”

Madam Aura burst into the house, scanning everything at once like a female version of Argus.

“What on earth are you wearing on your feet, my dear? I see I must send an entire team to organize this chaos! Have you heard about Miss Remi Storm? We are inviting her to our club...”

“Mother, please, I have a terrible headache!”

The furry inhabitants of the House of Winds looked like abandoned plush toys; deep down in their little hearts, they too felt that this day was just too much for Anemo.