Late in the evening, and two mornings since Amez’s big brother Rum had disappeared, Amez heard the door open, and then the door shut again. He sat up from his drawing table: it was Rum, wearing a morning robe, and smiling like the happiest creature on the planet. Amez didn’t smile in return, although Rum’s infectious expression did make his lip muscles twitch a little.

“I’ve returned!” Rum exclaimed.

Amez’ customer of the day, a grey-caped female mecha-gnome with a bandana around her short-cut hair, and leaning in a corner behind Amez on her trident, looked over at the newcomer with both surprise and something resembling of a warrior’s suspicion. “Who’s this?” she hurriedly queried Amez.

“My stupid brother who forgot his friend yesterday – or two nights ago, I really don’t know” Amez muttered. When Rum replied with a question-mark on his smiling face, Amez pointed over at a chair in a corner, within which sat White Rose, now observing Rum with masked intensity. Amez imagined the skeleton to be excited at seeing Rum, if only because Rum was zes closest connection and Amez was largely a stranger, but more evidently because of a rapid excitement-resembling up and down head-movement with which the skeleton tried to take in Rum’s new look.

“Oh White Rose!” Rum stepped quickly over to the skeleton, and the masked creature looked up into his eyes as he laid his hands on zes shoulders. “I’m quite sorry I disappeared so suddenly – I should probably have arranged something for you before I went away. But now I’m back!” This moment it was Rum’s time to check out the skeleton; seeing if ze was all there in one piece and all. “You seem to be alright. Amez took good care of you?”

“Ze almost started a street fight” Amez responded with a hint of annoyance.

“A street fight?” Rum raised a skeptical eye at Amez.

“Yeah” Amez responded, his annoyed expression meeting Rum’s face, “ze doesn’t know how to behave in public – yet went outside. Got stuck in the middle of the street and blocked it. People there started flocking over and it looked like it could’ve escalated into a fight before I got there. Ze is strong too Rum, I saw ze lift a grown man like nothing by one arm!”

Rum put on an expression of appropriate worry, and looked to be thinking for a second, hmm-ing loudly to the room in general. “Ze was probably looking for me then, and you hadn’t arrived at the shop yet I suppose.” Rum patted caringly White Rose’s cheekbone over the veil. “I’m sorry White Rose. Next time I should probably bring you with me, it must’ve been lonely being inside that room for so many hours.”

In another corner a mecha-gnome sat almost totally confused, understanding little about who and what kind of people these two were. A skinny, concealed mute, locked inside the building for many hours? Or was it days? And being referred to as ze, as if special in some way. And then this bald bearded man walking around in a morning robe, like the world was his castle? What was their relationship? What were they? The gnome didn’t quite know what words to say, all she could do was watch and listen to Amez’s brother, that seemed to have nothing of Amez’s professional folksy coolness, and everything of... weirdness – some kind of weirdness difficult to even describe.

“Why don’t you get White Rose something to do?” Amez suggested. “I’m not sure taking ze outside is very wise at this point, unless you guide ze very carefully and let’s be honest: you’re too easily distracted to do that.”

Rum hmm-ed again, putting his right hand on his beard while half-folding his arms and thinking loudly. “I’m not sure what ze may want to do though. Ze mostly just likes to point at things, have them explained, and ze likes to watch things. Ze’d probably need to stay with me to do that.”

“Can’t you find a new hobby for ze then?” Amez pressed.

Hmm-ing even louder now, Rum put on a constipated look, then turning to gaze deeply into White Rose’s concealed eye sockets. “What do you want to do? Eh?” Not unsurprisingly White Rose didn’t respond. The concept of choice was still all foreign to ze, and language was in a process of development. “I think the problem we have here Amez, is that White Rose has nothing – perhaps besides me – that ze’s life is about. Ze has no aboutness to zeself. How do you find an activity for someone who has no aboutness? No story within which to ground their desire, their drive, their passions?”

“Well... how does one acquire this aboutness?” Amez questioned hesitantly, not quite following Rum’s thinking.

“By species-essence. Human nature. That which made us. Remember this word I introduced to you before: evolution? In order for us to survive and multiply, the forces of nature has given us sticky needs, the kind of needs that we can’t easily get rid of; permanent and personality-shaping needs. We eat, we sleep, we seek companionship, to communicate, to touch each other, and to have sex. We need a sense of comfort and safety too. These things drive, make us, and ultimately define us. There is no human without human needs. There is no creature of nature, without that creature’s needs of nature. But White Rose? Ze is not of nature. Ze has no evolution for which to thank for zes drives. Though I formed ze with the spirit of love and curiosity, ze has no aboutness, no foundation within which ze can ground that more general spirit. What does a–” Rum stopped himself just as he remembered they weren’t alone in the room. He’d been about to reveal White Rose’s taboo background to a stranger mecha-gnome, but instead stopped briefly, altering in his head what he was about to say, before continuing: “–a foreigner to this, do? The ultimate nobody within itself? The shell of a soul – but with no content? Ze requires content, a species-essence of zes own.”

“I’m not sure what you tried to just tell me” Amez began, “but I feel like you didn’t answer me question: how does ze acquire this? Apparently it seems important”

“Without it I’m the only thing ze can do things with, so yes” Rum retorted.

“Yeah, but how does ze get it?” Amez insisted.

Rum stroked his beard some more. “Experience, I think. Ze has a little aboutness, and I’m that aboutness. It’s because I was there when ze awoke, and I’ve been there since. In some sense, I am zes world, or at least the center of attraction to which zes world is pulled. If ze could experience something else than me, we could spread that attraction around, give ze a multifaceted life.”

“Was that an answer?” Amez queried, suspicious that Rum was still on an academic cloud, yet to return to the ground.

“It was the beginning of one. The rest is, well, I’m unsure. We can give ze experiences, that’s my first answer. But how to give ze something to care about?” Rum stroked his beard again.

Then suddenly, out from the other corner across the room, where sat the little mecha-gnome, a half-forgotten female voice spoke up: “What about an actual story? Like a book?” The mecha-gnome looked upon Amez and Rum with a now invested interest, apparently trying to be helpful, even as an outsider.

“A book?” Rum said, before beginning to stroke his beard vigorously while his brain went into overdrive. “Book, book, book. Story.” Rum put his finger to his forehead and mumbled “Clear Mind”, sending a bolt of magical mind-boost into his thinking apparatus.

“A mage” the mecha-gnome observed as Rum began thinking loudly again.

“Hmm... HMM... HMMMMMMMMMM...” Rum paused for a moment, then started talking: “Yeah a book could work. But then I’ll have to do it, and do it now. I’ll have to give ze schooling. Teach ze the alphabet, how to read – maybe how to write? Could that maybe work? Would ze learn to communicate if I could teach ze how to write?”

“That person is mute AND illiterate? I’m sorry to both of you for being curious” the mecha-gnome began, “but may I ask what’s the thing with you two?” she gestured at Rum and White Rose with her trident.

“The thing?” Rum responded, eyebrow raised like a question.

“Yeah.” the mecha-gnome continued, ”What are you, really? The way you talk about that person it’s almost like ze – as you say it – is not even human, and it almost sounds like ze is not even any of the ordinary races. Mute, hands and face covered up. Again I’m sorry for being interested, it all just appears so... strange.”

“There’s nothing to it” Amez cut in before Rum could answer. “Just an unfortunate disease really, a secret family matter. You understand I’m sure, that we prefer a bit of privacy about the matter” And with that the mecha-gnome went quiet.

Rum took the hint from Amez and did not add anything to that conversation. “Books, reading, the alphabet” he mumbled, and instead went over to White Rose and took zes hand, pulling ze up from zes seat. Eagerly, or at least that’s what Amez imagined from the skeleton’s mental life; ze followed Rum up to the bedroom of the shop, where they went inside and closed the door behind them, but only after Rum mumbled something about “How do I show you the alphabet?”.

As the door went shut, Amez took this as a sign to sit back down and continue his work on the sketch again. “I’m sorry about that” he absentmindedly and half-heartedly told his customer, “I’ll continue finishing up your stuff right away!”