Chapter 12: Wind Legato II
Skinned and now roasting over an open fire, the two sat just as they had the previous week. This time, Sin was showing more patience instead of grabbing a half-cooked meal and devouring it, bones and all. Still, there was a longing look in his eye, and his fingers curled as though he was holding himself back. Their eyes would meet for a fraction of a second before quickly turning back to the dim flames. They say in silence and watched as one of them rotated the stick that skewered the crows.
"So you…" Seth had things in mind but calculated just how to ask them. Perhaps it'd be best to lean into it after a bit more of a friendly chat.
Sin looked up at him, waiting for him to finish. "Yes?" he said plainly.
"....."
"Speak."
"Sorry, erh~ It's just...what you did earlier…" He pointed with his eyes at the crows and then to the sky, referring to the trick he had done with the wind, and then looked to the river, remembering how moments ago the water had been suspended in midair.
"What about it?"
"Well um, you said earlier that humans can be dangerous to you, but you just controlled half a flock of crows and drowned them. And last time you devoured a whole karp, scales and all like it was as soft as bread. A normal human can't bite into one unless they desire to lose all their teeth at once."
"That is natural for someone like me. Humans are not made with the primal instinct and biology for hunting like grims."
"I suppose that's true, but yet you're sitting here, cooking with me. What exactly stopped you from doing this yourself until now? Surely you'd know how to make a fire on your own, do you?"
Sin didn't answer and instead stared at the flames, hypnotized. The wood crackled and tiny flares of thin bark and ash lifted on the smoke, wafting in his direction. He blinked and for a single moment, the look in his eye changed. Usually lifeless and distant now was alert and surprised. He leaned back as his hand immediately reflexed to swat it away.
All at once, Seth thought he understood. Was Sin afraid of fire?
When the grim recollected his composure he went on speaking as though Seth had never asked his last question. "Different beings have different skills and instincts. You see, our music controls and bends nature, depending on what instrument is played. We use them accordingly to suit our daily needs but no lifeform is truly perfect. We all lack at least one thing that another has."
Seth nodded. "I guess that makes sense, but why can't you fend off humans, then? Couldn't you use music the same way? Hypnotize them and drown them? Or at the very least, fend them off, physically. You clearly have the claws and fangs for it."
Sin shook his head. "I cannot. Only sirens are capable of hypnotizing humans. Fossegrimen are different. We can control nature, but humans...they are different from birds or fish. They don't flow like the water or blow wherever the winds take them like a cloud. They do not follow the laws of nature. They have a greater free will; the ability to reason and defy logic and control their instinctive impulses. That's why they typically cannot hear our music at all."
Seth remained silent for a moment, rotating the birds once again. "I see. Guess that makes me kind of…hey, wait a second!" He looked up, meeting Sin's eyes. "What exactly does that make me, then? How come I can hear you?"
Sin didn't answer right away. He shifted his gaze as if to choose his answer carefully. In the moment of silence, Seth had already expected him to ignore such a question as he had before. When the other started speaking it felt as though he was imagining it. "There are many theories we have. You are not the first human to see and hear a grim, but it is a rare occurrence; about once a century." His voice was so deep, yet smooth. Every word floated off his lips a bit louder than a whisper and his tongue gave off a crisp way of articulation that even the simplest of statements sounded as though they were being cited by a scholar meant to serve under the king of Scaleshire.
"Some theories would say that there is something within you that sets you apart from an ordinary human. There's a special connection you have with the natural world that enables you to see and hear me when I play, yet you remain unaffected by it all the same. If that were the case, surely my music would have hypnotic effects on you…if I wished. How curious…."
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