The Distraction - Part 5

As the door to the apothecary shut, Sylvia looked all around the room at the various potions and concoctions that were on display. Octavia, however, continued to stare at the shopkeeper who had since left the counter and started walking towards them.

"Welcome. Is there something specific you are looking for?"

"…"

"…Ah, yes. We are looking for a way to capture what the eyes behold."

Sylvia had quickly taken over the conversation once she had turned to look at Octavia and saw her just staring at the woman. At first, she was a little annoyed that this older woman had somehow caught Octavia's eye, but after a while, she realised that it was something else that had caught her attention rather than something like her looks.

"Capture what the eyes behold. If I didn't know any better that sounds like some sort of magic device. Why would you come here to find such an item?"

"Well, truth be told, we have visited several other shops in this village, but none even knew what it was. This apothecary was the last place we had to visit. We hoped someone may know where to find…it."

She had to say 'it', as neither of them truly knew what they were looking for.

"Huh, well…let me think for a moment. I recall I heard something about this a while ago."

The woman slowly headed back over to her counter, where she then rested her elbow against it as she looked up in thought.

Silence then filled the room as they waited for the woman to come up with something about this 'device'. But it was soon broken as Octavia couldn't help the unease she was feeling about this woman.

"Have we met before?"

Her question perked the woman up from her thinking pose, a small amount of shock on her face showed as she heard Octavia speak.

"Met before. I don't believe so. I'm pretty sure I would remember meeting someone like you before."

Sylvia just agreed, as if it was obvious that no one would have forgotten about meeting the half snake half human that was her. Yet something still felt off. There was a feeling deep in her bones that told her she knew this person.

And as she continued to try and make sense of it, something else came to mind.

'She had no reaction from seeing me.'

So far, everywhere they went she had received some sort of reaction from someone. Each of the shopkeepers in the villages had been the same, be it either shock, fear, caution or surprise. No matter what, there had been some sort of reaction.

It had been so common that she had just started to tune it out and dismiss the first few minutes of every conversation with a new person. But this, with the odd feeling, she paid attention and she noticed that the woman had no reaction to her.

"I'm pretty sure we have met before. Otherwise, you would have said something when you saw what I looked like."

The woman looked back over at Octavia and started to scrutinise her. She said nothing for a few seconds, where after that she just deflated and let out a sigh.

"Really, again. I used to be better than this. How do you keep figuring it out? You should have no recollection of me, yet here you are, questioning whether we met before."

The woman just put her head on the table as if she had failed a test or something.

The girls had started to edge towards the door, not really sure what was going on here. Sylvia was completely out of the loop, and while Octavia knew she had met this person, nothing else was coming to her mind yet.

As they neared it, Octavia reached out and pulled on the door knob…

*Rattle*

…but the door didn't budge.

"You don't have to run or anything. We've had had this conversation before. You know what, that might make things easier."

With a quick wave of her hand, Octavia and Sylvia flung their heads back and then forward as they felt like they had been assaulted by a migraine. They held their heads in agony as memories flashed before them.

As soon as it started, it was over, and the migraine started to dissipate slowly.

"Wha-what was that?" Octavia struggled to say as she tried to recover from it.

"That is what it feels like to have your memories brought back. I probably should have warned you that how it feels. Oh well."

Once they were able to pick themselves up and felt better, the memories that she spoke of made them realised that they had indeed spoken to this woman before.

That she was the apothecary in Caldaria.

"How…how are you here?" Sylvia asked.

"Huh. Oh you mean because my shop was in Caldaria. Well, that's just one of the perks I get for being me."

The confusion on both their faces was evident, but the woman said nothing more on the subject.

"Why are you here then?" Octavia asked next, hoping they would actually get some useful information.

"Like I said before. I'm an observer. I can't really observe you if I'm nowhere near you."

"Your-your observing…us?"

"Well, you specifically Octavia. I mean you are the last Lamia in the world. Well, that's not been proven yet but its looking like that. Why wouldn't I be observing you. Watching you on your adventure has been a lot of fun. I'm truly glad that Prisma told me about you."

That definitely caught Octavia's attention.

"Prisma?"

"Damn, I really don't know when to shut up. I've really got to work on that. But yes. I'm a good friend of Prisma. She asked me to keep an eye on you, let her know what you've been up to."

"Really. I get that me being here is her fault, but I wouldn't have thought that would matter so much that would want regular updates on me."

"Me neither. Well, saying that, she was keen at the start, but her interest has waned a little. She said something called an An-i-mae was keeping her busy. Not sure what that is but she hasn't been asking all the time now."

Octavia felt like shock should have been the appropriate response, but really, ambivalence and a shrug felt more appropriate given what she learnt from the one and only talk she had with the goddess.

"Whatever the case, it matters not, as watching you has been very entertaining. And so I would like to help ensure the rest of your journey remains as such."

The woman quickly stood up and headed towards the back of the shop. It was at this point that Octavia realised the layout was exactly the same as the one in Caldaria.

The woman headed towards the back door, and headed into the storage room.

Several minutes later, she came out with some sort of metal ring with a crystal inside.

"To that end, this devise should do what you want. It doesn't really have a name. The person who invented it said that it would allow one to relive the things their eyes have beheld. Shortly after he made it and several others to sell, he died when he tripped and fell off the balcony of his home. He hadn't even figured out what to call it. The devices he made were taken and sold by a thief and crossed many hands, one of which made its way to me."

Octavia and Sylvia had started to nod along to what she was saying, but once she got to the mans untimely death they stopped.

"I don't have much need for the device myself, and so I would like you to have it. I hope it helps with…whatever it is you are up to."

"We are trying to take down the people committing slavery in this village. With your abilities, you could help-" Sylvia brought up seeing it as a golden opportunity.

"I think I've helped you quite a lot already. Aside from getting you away from the people chasing after you, I've also given you the tool you've been looking for. If that's not help, then I don't know what is."

"But…the slavery."

It was clear Sylvia couldn't quite understand why this woman didn't seem to care much about the enslaving of others. Octavia too would have been saying something if Sylvia hadn't already, but she also had a feeling this woman was hardly concerned by what went on in the world.

"I understand why you feel that way, I do. I have seen many people affected by slavery and other crimes around the world. There just isn't an incentive for me to help. You take down one group of people enslaving others, then another two pop up. Same thing for crime."

The woman slowly stood up from the chair she had been sitting in, of which Octavia couldn't even recall her bringing it in.

"Were these chairs here from when we visited her in Caldaria. No…wait," Octavia wondered, her mind going into a spiral.

"And besides, what's the point of me helping you with everything. It won't be very entertaining if I do everything myself. Now, I think its about time you got back to whatever village you were in. Don't you have some…staking out to do."

"Huh, we're in the same village that you are?" Octavia couldn't help by bring up.

The woman just turned to her and shook her head.

"You still think I'm actually in the apothecary shop you entered don't you. Well, wont you be in for a treat when you return."

The woman quickly waved her hand and the two of them ended up being hurtled backwards towards the door they entered from. They tried to keep themselves from moving, but it was like a powerful gust had lifted them off their feet and was sending them flying.

In the span of a few seconds, they ended up hitting the door to the shop, which opened as they reached it. They then exited the shop and landed a few paces back from the doorway, which then slammed shut.

She had thought with all that movement, they would have ended up on the floor, but for some reason, they were on their feet, and Octavia her tail. It was almost as if the woman had done it that way so it wouldn't look so odd to the other villagers.

Even with the odd image of two people being flung out the shop, no one seemed to bat an eye.

Before they could do anything further, the door in front of them opened and a man walked out, practically bumping into them.

"Oh, excuse me." He quickly said before moving around the two idiots that were standing right in front of the apothecary doorway.

Before the door closed, Octavia reached over and pulled it open. What she saw was not the shop that she had just been in, but a very rustic looking shop which had only one wall filled with potions.

The shopkeeper was also a man, and it didn't have the same layout as the one they had just been.

It was all so strange. It was also more strange that they could remember their time in the shop. She checked with Sylvia, but she too could remember all of it and the time from before. It would seem that the woman had given up with removing their memories, especially since Octavia could always seem to recall it.

At the oddity and the annoyance of the meeting, the girls both turned around, and headed for the grocery store for a long night of staking the place out. Even though both of them really wanted to just lie down and get some rest after all that strangeness.