Mooncakes

When we left the stairs that lead downstairs to Doctor's domain, the brightness of the rising day caught us by surprise. I hadn't realized how bright Shamballa really was, even as a slight dull engulfed that beautiful town. Indeed, I hadn't felt that way earlier but now as we reappeared from beyond the dark basement, I found the place just a little ashen. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, perhaps it wasn't Shamballa that seemed dull. It was something that stood there to greet us.

The villagers that escorted us there were all gone. I assumed Doctor had a way of communicating with them from her bunker. Mills sat on the side of the vacant stone road, while Neil kicked around a pebble, his hands stuffed in his pockets. Mills looked weary, but Neil still had his spirit about him when he saw us.

"They're back!", he let the entire town know.

"Quiet down!", Mills rose from his place upon seeing us and rushed to meet us.

"Are you guys alright? Was it...okay?"

Somehow the villagers had gotten the idea that Doctor was some sort of evil witch hiding away in her lonely abode, only visited by her poor clumsy daughter and unknowing souls that got themselves devoured.

I nodded to assure him and patted his shoulder.

"Ah, this lady...", Mills pointed to a side, "She was waiting for you. She said she's a friend."

I followed his gaze to find Miss Traveler standing against a wall, her hands folded. She seemed indifferent to seeing us alive and well. There was that aloofness about her again. The one I'd thought I'd left behind.

"Aha, Miss Traveler!", instead of us, Serena's shrill voice greeted her, "You're here too!"

I doubt Serena ever cleaned up the mess she made in Doctor's room but here she was.

"Isn't that great?! I can show you around here, and you can stay with me while you're here!", she seemed ecstatic to have company.

"Ah, thank you but you don't have to go through the trouble, Serena."

Serena didn't seem bummed by that in the slightest. Instead, she jumped around in excitement, seeing that she had so many friends over. Mills and Neil seemed to know her. I later found out that not one soul in Shamballa did not know her. That was understandable, considering how small Shamballa was. Serena seemed to be on good terms with everyone.

She walked us around town all day, taking us to all sorts of odd places. I began to wonder if she wasn't just keeping watch over us.

"He passed away in battle", was the answer she gave to one of my inquiries regarding her father. I felt bad having been insensitive enough to ask her out of the blue when she was having so much fun. But she didn't seem to mind. Apparently, she had never met him.

Still, I wondered what she meant by battle. It didn't seem like there'd been any battles in Shamballa, ever.

That question was soon answered.

"Mooncakes!", she yelled, upon noticing the single stall in the market that had some customers.

"Mooncakes?", Lubbock asked.

"Yes, mooncakes! Let's get them!"

As it appeared, mooncakes were the only source of enjoyment for the people of Shamballa. They held mooncake eating tournaments to decide the most important things. There was some sort of sacred story attached to mooncakes as well, just like every other thing in Shamballa. Serena told these stories rather enthusiastically about some goddess of Immortality or something. By then, we'd heard so much legends, that we couldn't tell one from the other. The thing about these stories was that they all had terrible plot holes that no one thought of explaining. Unless you were a romantic, chances were, you'd haze through those stories just like we did.

Apparently, it was at one of these tournaments that her father had stuffed himself to death. So, that was a lie. But I couldn't be the one to burst her bubble. Doctor must have been filling her head with fairy tales all her life. Serena seemed to have no doubt about this story though. She said he was the only casualty ever, that occurred during the mooncake tournament. But at least he had managed to win. I had to hold Lubbock back but none of us refuted or questioned her further.

"It looks like some sort of a competition, Serena", Miss Traveler spoke, "Maybe we shouldn't go there."

"No way! You have to try them!", and so Serena entered Lubbock and I into the competition.

I was rather hungry so I didn't mind, though Miss Traveler protested that it was a waste of time. Soon, we were each sitting with a stack of mooncakes in front of us. The others stood back with the audience and Serena's cheers outdid all the rest. The competition began and I was flattened almost immediately. I had never tasted anything as sweet as those mooncakes. You couldn't taste anything beyond the sugary content and I knew if I took more than a bite, my heart would retire. All of sudden, Serena's father dying in a tournament didn't seem like a terrible lie anymore.

How so many people lashed onto their platters and admired the great taste of those mooncakes was simply beyond me. I felt like hurling just by looking at them. Lubbock was a different story. He was downing those mooncakes just as good as anyone else. Actually even better. I noticed he wasn't chewing them, he just slid them down his throat. I found that to be the only possible way to eat those mooncakes, given you could perform such a feat.

The contest ended with Lubbock winning. I knew I was in for quite a lot of belittling, seeing that I had put up no competition. I didn't even regret it. Lubbock was celebrating and the crowd cheered for him. It was like he'd just taken down the enemy general. I suppose Shamballa took its mooncakes more seriously than anything else.

"Aren't you going to try it?", I offered Miss Traveler who had been silently watching, with a certain degree of disinterest.

"Maybe", she answered without a thought.

"How did you get here?", I asked finally.

"Like everyone else."

"Do you know the way out?"

She remained silent.

"Why do you wanna leave?", Lubbock slapped me on the back of the head, having received enough praises, "You've been going on about it for so long, you loser! Isn't this such a nice town? Let's stay a while!"

I frowned at him and looked back at her, standing beside me without a reaction to Lubbock. It dawned on me then, I didn't register as one to her anymore. Something had changed. Something only she knew.