Whetstone Testing

"**Whetstone**" is the twelfth episode of Season One of *The Demon's Light*.

## Narrative

### Part One

"Hello," Fontaine's voice boomed on the other side of the line, although he spoke calmly. "I'm still gathering information that we can use against Alchemilia, but I need a few of you to check someone out. Based on what I know about him, I believe he might be sympathetic to our cause.

"His name is Wen Li, he used to be an executive at Alchemilia, but left for undisclosed reasons. He runs a store in District One named Plant Empire, alongside his wife. Go there, check him out, see what he thinks, but don't be blunt about it until you're sure he's on our side."

It had been a week since the group met John Fontaine outside of the Maninder Cognitive Science Center, and everyone had remained busy.

Melissa Devlin had made several trips to the Silivian Masquerade Hospital in an attempt to locate Savannah Whitesmith's body, and all had resulted in failure.

After two days of discussion, Marshall Rooke had successfully led everyone to agree to Fontaine's plan and they decided to follow his lead and meet him at the homeless shelter. Fontaine readily accepted their assistance and provided Marshall with a burner phone, noting that he would contact them with further information as time went on.

Blossom pulled to a stop and pointed across the street. "That's Plant Empire over there, next to the chess shop. If you want, I can come inside with you guys and introduce you to Wen."

Just before the group had left the Maninder Cognitive Science Center, Blossom had provided Atticus with her phone number and suggested calling her if he ever needed someone to talk to. He had avoided doing so until today, asking if she could provide him and Marshall a ride to Plant Empire — although he had left out their reasoning.

"No, you don't have to do that. We're good from here, thanks for the ride," Atticus mumbled, removing his seat belt.

Marshall first hurried out of the car and jogged to the other side of the road. Atticus sat for a moment, staring at the building they were about to enter, before following after the other boy. It was an uncharacteristically cold morning, and both of them had worn jackets.

{{{description of the shop and boulevard}}}

The two walked into the shop, with Marshall in front. The lighting was a bit dimmer than they would have liked, but they could see just fine, though the cold outside continued into the store. Both elected to keep their jackets on.

"Rustic," Marshall muttered.

The interior of the store was no different than the outside in terms of design. Aisles of shelves were on either side of them, which displayed beautiful floral arrangements, succulents, ferns — every plant imaginable. Near the back was a checkout counter, and behind that was a backroom where one could assume the products were prepared.

A voice in the back bellowed. "Cold morning."

"Hello?" Atticus answered, a bit wary. He beckoned Marshall as he stepped towards the checkout counter, seeing a young man, with dark hair and a small face, standing behind it.

"Wen, it's good to meet you. I'm just going to get to the point. John Fontaine sent us to talk to you about something very important."

"I, uh..." The young man narrowed his eyes, tapping a finger on the counter nervously. "I don't think I know what you're talking about, sirs. I have no idea who Josh Fountain is, or whoever it was that you mentioned." He tried to slide his hand towards the phone subtly, asking, "What important business do you have with Mister Li regarding the Fountain guy?"

"Oh, you know," Marshall said as he gave Atticus a knowing side-eye. "Our friend, Josh, wants to get flowers for his new girlfriend, Blossom. This Blossom is a family friend of the Lis and so we're here to order the flowers, but we gotta make sure Blossom doesn't know about it."

"Uh-huh," the man said. "…and what is it you're getting?"

"Uh, we'd like a few basil plants," Atticus stammered.

"I thought her favorite flowers were orchids," Marshall growled at Atticus.

"You just made that up on the spot," Atticus answered, before glancing at the plants next to Marshall. "Oh my god, there are orchids next to you! Couldn't you have tried a little bit harder?"

"Hey, settle down, guys," the young man told them. "Look, I don't really get paid enough to handle silly arguments over plants." He hoped they would do something stupid so he could just kick them out and be done with it, as long as he wouldn't have to clean anything up. Or they could just behave, get their plants, and go. "I can get you basil, I can get you orchids, I can get you whatever. It's not a big deal. Maybe take a look around before you decide what to get her."

The young man found himself interrupted by a voice in the back of the shop and the sound of a door closing.

"Yu! I'm home!" it sang.

The two boys looked at each other.

"Uh, me?" Marshall said.

"Yu!" it repeated.

Marshall looked at Atticus this time.

"*Me?*" Atticus gulped.

A symphony of humming and scatting could be heard from the back room. Neither the boys nor even the employee had any idea what was going on, and all three were too frightened to find out. Since the man in front of them wasn't Wen Li, maybe this was, they thought. For a moment, they were engrossed with the noise. There was some rustling about in the back, and eventually, it ended.

An elderly man adorned in fishing attire emerged. He was a little shorter and thinner than one would expect, as if age was getting at him. Nevertheless, he looked healthy — he looked active. He had a gleeful countenance and he held a lunchbox in his hand.

The man at the counter passed the older man as he went into the back. Oddly enough, however, the older man paid no attention to the employee or the two "customers" and began his way up a nearby staircase.

"Uh… excuse me?" Marshall said.

The old man ignored them still. It was a wonder how this man had any friends.

"…Mister Li? Uh, Wen…?" Marshall pushed further.

"Oh!" Li shouted, surprised. He finally noticed Marshall. "Welcome, welcome to Plant Empire, welcome. Are you here for the 'early bird special'?"

"Well, not quite," Marshall said.

"We actually wanted to talk to you, Mister Li," Atticus began, glancing at Marshall before continuing. "A man named John Fontaine sent us to talk to you, due to your past affilation with Alchemilia Corporation."

Atticus finished talking, but Li was not fully focused on his words. He was instead fixating something odd about Atticus. It was uncanny. He couldn't believe it. That he was back in his life. He didn't want to believe it. That part of him died long ago.

This was a trick. It had to be. It wasn't a coincidence that this young man was here, talking about Alchemilia. Li knew better. They had been sent to test him. This had to be a way of closing up loose ends. Li was being tricked into acting against Alchemilia to justify his death.

Li's hand inched close to a revolver stored underneath the counter.

The young man said more. It didn't matter, he wasn't listening. He didn't care. What he did care about was in front of him. He had to end it, here and now. He palmed the grip of the gun, and his finger neared the trigger.

He could justify it. They were in his store, trying to shake him up. He eyed their sides. No weapons. Still, the defense might work.

Li pulled the gun even closer and it was now at his side. Atticus had stopped talking. This was the moment.

Not a moment sooner, Li felt a hand on his shoulder. "Welcome home, Wen."

"Oh, hi, Yu," Li sighed.

He snapped back to reality and looked at Atticus and Marshall. They really were just some kids. Maybe he was going crazy, senile. There had to be a million in Silivia, two people were bound to look alike.

"You two have got yourselves a deal, twenty succulents. Meet me out back and we can discuss it further," he said. He shoved the gun back into the drawer and walked his wife up the stairs.

The boys quickly left the building and headed towards the back. "What's the plan? How much are we going to tell him?" Atticus asked, as they turned a corner.

"What do you mean 'how much?'"

Neither boy noticed Li had quietly opened the back door to the shop before they could discuss amongst themselves.

"If we're working together, we should all be working off the same information," the old man explained.

"Are we working together?" Marshall responded. "You just acknowledged you don't know our plan, we could be offering anything."

"You're offering the chance to stand up to Alchemilia Corporation, correct?” Li asked. "If that's the case, I've been avoiding the issue for too long. We better start working together."

The boys glanced at each other, clearly this guy was much smarter than either of them had assumed.

"Yes, that's correct. We're allied with John Fontaine, a high ranking operative who plans on taking the company down from the inside. He wanted us to see if you could aid us, considering your past with Alchemilia."

"My, ehhhh… past? I wouldn't say I had a past with them," Li said. He ceased walking towards them. "I was a cop once, but that was a long time ago. I was assigned to a few things here and there — security detail — with the corporation but I would hardly call that a 'past.'"

"Then what was it?" Marshall asked.

"Nothing," he emphasized. It was clear he felt strongly about the company and that he didn't want to explain further.

"Alright then…" Marshall cautioned. "What skills do you bring to the table?"

"I'm the greatest driver and automobile mechanic Silivia has seen in three hundred years. *That's* why I was a cop. I could race from here to the edge of Gladea in twenty minutes if you asked, river and all. I'm a good hand at poker and tennis, too, and I can play a mean harmonica. What about you?"

"Well," Atticus started, "I'll admit that I don't have a lot of experience or skills, but I feel very strongly about this plan and our need to execute it. Alchemilia killed one of our friends, we've encountered them doing some… inhuman things as part of some experiment, and they plan on supplying the angels with atomic weapons."

Li's face remained unchanged. He let out an indifferent reply. "Interesting."

Marshall was beginning to see that the man couldn't be convinced with the wrongdoings of the corporation. Maybe he already knew about or maybe he just didn't care. It was time for them to try something else.

"*I* am a skilled strategist and tactician with a specialty in stealth, and I know my way around a weapon. I have much experience in the field and recently Atticus and I broke into Alchemilia Gladea and stole a vehicle."

"Oh?" Li perked up. "I heard about that a few days ago on the news when I was fishing with my father, Shen, there. You were the kids that got run off of the road, correct?"

"Wait, your father? Isn't that the news guy? I think we saw him on TV with the governor and Gabriel Arsene a couple of days ago, after the angel attack," Atticus said.

"Yes," Li said. "And that is why we cannot involve him in our plans, if that's what you're asking. He has some sympathies that I don't share. If you're looking to sensationalize this charade in our favor, you're out of luck with him or the Port City Star. Speaking of which, you haven't yet told me what this charade is."

"The plan? We don't have one yet. We need to make sure you're in this first. If you and your driving expertise aren't in then we need to plan accordingly. We don't want this to go wrong, we only have a single chance at this," Marshall cautioned.

"Hm," Li thought for a moment. "Smart. I like it."

"I guess we were lucky," Atticus began, heading back towards the car. "He was pretty easy to convince, which was surprising. Fontaine should be pleased to hear the news."

"Yeah, but we gotta tell him about the plants he now has to pay for. They weren't even on the list of things we needed." Marshall reached for the list in his back-pocket, but grabbed nothing. "Huh? Where'd it go?"

"You dropped it when you got out of the car," Blossom answered from behind them. Walking beside them, she held her hand out and handed a piece of paper to Marshall. "So, you were able to convince Mister Li to join your plan? That's why you wanted to come here?"

"Well, thanks for spoiling the surprise, Blossom," Marshall groaned.
"What?" Blossom answered, confused. It clearly wasn't the response she was expecting.

"Your surprise birthday party! We were here to order some plants for it and now you've ruined the surprise," Marshall said.

"Oh, Marshall, cut it out. I saw you guys come out the store and head to the back, so I followed. I was about to ask what you were doing when I saw you talking with Mister Li, so I… stayed and listened to the entire thing. It also doesn't help that you dropped this list and left your bag in my car, which I, uh, went through."

"*What?* Why did you leave the bag in the car?" Atticus asked, stunned.