Chapter 5

Hayden had less than an hour to pack away his whole life.

What were you supposed to bring when a Great Family forced you to leave against your will?

At least he had Evelynn beside him, suggesting things and rejecting others. Little clothing made it—but aside from another outfit to change into, his sister suggested his version of the family's matching oversized tee-shirts. 

He cried as he held it up, looking at each eevee stitched into it in turn. It had everyone represented, though Liz was an eevee instead of what was really underneath. "You'll be glad you have it," Evelynn said, lowering it gently into the duffel. The bag wasn't his—Hayden didn't even know where it had come from. His family never had any reason to travel.

"If there's anything you forget, I'll make sure we send it," Evelynn reassured him, as she finally zipped it closed. "Families with a legendary are supposed to be taken care of by the family who adopts you, so… that should solve all our problems soon. If anyone else gets sick, you won't have to steal their medication."

Hayden forced a smile. He didn't feel like smiling, but his eyes didn't have any tears left. "I'll… make sure they do," he said. "They'll have to listen to us, we're mew."

"Last I checked Holland was still assigned to the Shaymin's personal battalion. I hope you see him before our letters get to him…" Evelynn laughed, and there was nothing forced about it. "I wonder if they'd be more likely to keep him around Shaymin land to protect you if they knew he was family, or—if they'd prefer to keep him away, so he can stay focused?"

Mom appeared in the doorway. "Is he ready? We're running out of time." She gestured vaguely in Hayden's direction with her free hand, holding up a brown paper sack. "Open that bag. I've packed a lunch for you, kit. Next time you're hungry, you can think of us." 

He nodded, clutching Liz tight in both arms. As tightly as he could hold her, without hurting the mew by mistake.

Hayden passed Ellie's bedroom on the way up. But the door was shut now, and Liz saw through it to the girl still sleeping peacefully. It might be months before I see her again, or even years.

How was any of this fair? He found his daemon, she was something incredible—and now he had to leave.

He followed Mom upstairs. The whole family was waiting there in the store, gathered in solemn silence. He half-expected them to be wearing black in mourning for his loss.

"You're going to do amazing things," Hudson said, patting him on the back as he passed. "We'll hold down the place for you while you're gone—but get back here soon. I expect letters."

"Yeah," he agreed. "I'll write as often as they let me."

Hunter stopped him for an uncharacteristic hug. When he let go, he thrust a little stack of paper into Hayden's hands. His eyes were bloodshot, and his voice disoriented. "Stayed up gathering all the research I could. Everything I could find about Mew, Shaymin, and your house. I hope some of it is helpful to you."

Hayden tucked it away into his jacket, nodding gratefully. "Thanks, Hunter. Means a lot."

Evelynn stopped him next, before he reached the waiting policemen. At least the mayor wasn't here anymore—he'd already moved on to more important things.

"Kit." She ran nervous fingers through his hair, straightening the curls. Then she spoke a different way, into his mind. He almost jumped at the strangeness of it—but it wasn’t that strange from a psychic-type. 

"Not everything is what it seems, Hayden. The Great Families say one thing, then do another. Everyone in this house loves you, and we always will. Ignore what the Great Ones tell you, and trust your own instincts." She wrapped both arms around him, squeezing him tight. "We can't protect you anymore. You'll have to look out for yourself from now on."

He nodded nervously. Just when he thought his eyes were dry and there was nothing left for him to cry. Somehow, he knew how to answer her. Liz took care of all the details, the same as she knew how to fly. "I'm not strong enough, Evelynn. I don't know what to do."

"Together, you are," she answered, out loud. "When Ellie wakes up, I'll help her write to you. Maybe her letter will beat you to Shaymin House."

Then she let go. Hayden's parents waited at the door for him, together. His father dropped to eye level in front of him, took his hand, then rested his other on Hayden's shoulder. "Son. You made us all proud, yesterday. Whatever happens when you walk out those doors, don't forget you'll always have a home here. We'll keep your place at the table waiting for you."

He let go, stood up. Mom hugged him next—she didn't say anything at all, just cried. Maybe Liz could've helped him make sense of what she tried to say, if Hayden's own emotions weren't an even worse mess.

"We have to go," said the nearest policeman. "Can't miss his train. I'm sorry."

They took him outside. A small crowd gathered around the house, and all of them were staring. He saw Lin and many of the other townie kids near the front, watching his march to the train station. With police to either side, no one dared do more than wave weakly at him.

Hayden waved back, silent. If he said anything his friends would see him crying again—that wasn't what he wanted for his last day in Sunyshore. Let them remember him the day before, victorious over Corrin and his cronies. Maybe that would inspire them to victories of their own. Preferably victories that didn't have them settle as mythical pokémon, to get dragged away from their families forever.

The train was already waiting for them on the tracks. Whether that meant it had been held-up on his behalf, or just lined up perfectly with the schedule the policeman kept, Hayden didn't know. He just kept his eyes down, at the center of an escort of three men. They walked around the ticket counter, past other passengers coming and going from other cars.

Many of those took one look at Hayden and turned the other way. Those who didn't all bowed. A few tried to approach him, with questions or gifts—but the police gently pushed them away.

Finally they reached the door to a single car, right behind the engine. The walls were intricate wood panels, instead of the same flat metal as all the other cars. 

"Your Eminence—a guard will be stationed outside this car, to prevent anyone from coming or going. Please don't try to leave, for your own safety."

Eminence? Hayden didn't even know what that word meant. He recognized the policeman by sight, the same as he knew most people in Sunyshore. But he was the last person Hayden wanted to run into. 

"Do I need to be worried?" he asked, baffled. "When I woke up yesterday, I was nobody. The only people who know my name are here in Sunyshore."

The policeman rapped his knuckles on the door. A few seconds later, and a butler in uniform flung the door open. He bowed low before Hayden, then retreated out of the way.

"You would think so," the policeman said. "But I'm afraid you would be mistaken. All here in Sunyshore wish for your success. You bring honor to us all."

Hayden ascended the steps, into the finest room he had ever seen. Bright curtains in vibrant green shades hung on the walls, while the room was filled with many pieces of fine wood furniture. There was a bar packed with colored bottles, a few low tables, and lamps that flickered with oil instead of electricity.

He took his bag to the corner, then sat quietly. Liz flicked up from his shoulder, finally brave enough to fly on her own again. The pain of leaving home had kept her from enjoying the morning.

"Don't look much like the trains we've seen before," she said, circling the low chair around him. "Where are the rows of uncomfortable seats? The bad smells?"

"Guess myths don't have to worry about that." He removed his jacket, then pulled his legs up to his chest, staring out the window. He could just make out the roof of his family's store if he squinted past the crowds. Was that Evelynn fighting for a place near the front of the fence? Hayden wasn't sure, but he waved back anyway, his spirits lifting at the sight of a familiar face. 

It was the last one he saw as the train began to move.

It wasn't an uncomfortable journey, really. Were it not for everything he was leaving behind, Hayden might have enjoyed the trip. Watching Sunyshore retreat into the background, as their train took him out along a seaside bridge. 

He ate some, dozed some, and generally kept to himself for most of the trip. When he asked for paper and pen from the servant, he scribbled the start of a letter on it—but ultimately just tucked it away with his other things. He'd just left, what was he supposed to tell them?

One thing he wouldn't write. Hayden was not sorry for what he'd done. If this was the price he had to pay to save Ellie, then he would pay it.

Now he just had to live with the consequences.

The train took him further than he'd ever been from home, then much further. Sinnoh was a huge place, a land of diverse ecosystems he'd never thought to see. Vacations were something that rich people took, not a humble tailor in a modest little seaside town. 

He wasn't in the right mood to enjoy most of it, though. When lunch came, he ignored the servant's protests, and instead removed the sack that his mom had packed for him. He ate everything inside, even the mixed nuts he usually hated. It was the last little bag of nuts he would ever eat.

They rode further, stopping at several cities along the way. His own car never opened, and no one new entered. It was only him and the single servant, with everyone else through a layer of mirrored glass.

"People who sit in here really think they're better than everyone else," Liz said. She floated near the top of the window, peering out at the thick crowds at Veilstone station. No one even looked in their direction. "Are the other cars not good enough for them?"

"Guess not," he muttered. "I don't actually… remember much about Shaymin House. Do you?"

She landed beside the window, then touched her head up against his hand. He relaxed at the familiar contact. She'd been all kinds of kittens before, over the years. Being an espurr didn't seem that bad. Except for the pressure to settle as another eevee, of course. 

"Nothing much. Just that there's one kind of flower they really like. It's the only one in here, that red thing? Smells kinda nice I guess, but I don't see what the big deal is."

He looked up. Hayden hadn't noticed the pots all around the car. But now that his daemon pointed them out, he couldn't miss them. Dozens of flowers grew, producing that subtly calming, floral aroma.

"Do you feel it?" Liz prompted him.

He took her, returning silently to his seat. "You mean that… trapped feeling? I thought it would go away after we settled."

She shook her head, defiant. "I'm glad we saved Ellie. I'll figure out how to change us again, just give me a little time. Or find another mew we can learn from. Moves are always easier when we can copy."

Another mew. The idea would've been absurd to him the day before. Now when she said it, she was only reciting facts. Hayden's world would have other legendary pokémon in it, going forward. What would another mew be like?

He didn't see another mew that day—but he did meet his first legendary.

She was at the last stop—after an entire night of sleeping in the car, a morning wash, and several more hours of travel. Suddenly there were only a few cars attached to his train, and they traveled straight into the wilderness of Sinnoh's chilly north. There was no snow outside, but the glass felt cold to the touch, and the sound of constant wind joined the mechanical hum of the engine.

Finally they came to a stop, at a station that looked more like a temple than a practical building. There was no railyard here, just a single transfer and a lonely coal bunker, then they were inside. The building had a transparent canopy overhead, netting that would probably block the rain, but let an indirect sunlight shine through it. Flowers grew everywhere—thousands of them, in every planter box and patch of open ground they could find. 

Every single one was the red variety from the train, so many their smell went from pleasant to overwhelming. Liz sneezed, then tucked herself into Hayden's pocket as they stepped out of the train.

There ahead of him was a noble retinue of a dozen people. There were servants to hold umbrellas, servants with a tray of refreshments, and more whose purpose that he couldn't even guess at. Despite a wide variety of daemons, many did have something in common—the presence of slightly unusual features.

That prinplup maidservant had short, bright blue hair, while the soldier standing at attention by the wall seemed to have an actual steel spike running through his chest.

"What are they?" Hayden whispered. 

No one answered. At the front of the retinue, a strange woman emerged from a lacy green canopy. 

She was not much taller than Hayden's own mother, making her shorter than most people in Sinnoh. That was the only thing she had in common. Her hair cascaded down her back in leafy green curls, extending all the way to the floor. It wasn't just the color either—those were actual leaves, with a bright red flower growing from just above her ears.

Her eyes were the same shade of unnatural green, piercing right through Hayden and settling on his front pocket without any prompting of where Liz was hiding.

In her arms she held a small pokémon, resting him delicately across her deeply tanned skin. Yet when she spoke, it was with confidence unlike anything he had ever heard. It was a voice of command much more powerful than the mayor. She spoke and knew she would be obeyed. "Come forward into the light, miracle child. Bergenia and I would like to get a look at you."