Chapter N.XII

Delia went to ajussi Japh's cabinet, in which there was the aroma of some unfamiliar to her essential oils. For a while she stood on the threshold, looking around the comfortably furnished room, the walls of which were covered with wallpaper of a pleasant aquamarine hue, and there was a Iranian carpet on the floor. At the other end of the cabinet, right by the window, was a large desk, where Delia realized Japhet worked.

In addition, baby girl caught the eye of a large mahogany wardrobe, whose shelves were filled with various magazines and folders. Next to him, against the wall, was a cozy leather sofa, on which ajussi Jo was already sitting, cross-legged and throwing his hands behind his head. Seeing his young friend, he smiled at her and pointed to a chair that stood against the opposite wall.

- Settle in, Delia! - he said optimistically. - Now we'll listen to Japh read aloud to us!

- Huzzah! - enthusiastically responded Delia, plopping down in a chair upholstered in yellow chenille and immediately putting his hands on the armrests.

Ajussi Japh entered the cabinet. Looking around the crowd, he jokingly shook his finger at Jordan and, nodding to Delia, sat down in a green-chintz chair in front of the desk. Crossing his legs, he cleared his throat and opened the book already known to all three on the very last page - as the girl understood, he wanted to check the content.

- So, how to entertain our young lady... - looking intently at the book, muttered Japh.

- Something so interesting, and better with morals! - loud and clearly Delia spoke.

- Well, good fairy tales without morals does not exist, - as if by the way, noticed apartment's owner as he adjusted his glasses.

- Depends how you look at it... - Jordan threw somewhere to the side, but, meeting the girl's gaze, he immediately fell silent.

- O! I found what we need! - exclaimed ajussi Japh and began to turn over the pages. - Here is a interesting story, written by Leonard Austener.

- Wait, - Delia raised her hand, - the author of the book is a certain Edward Coleman?

- You do not understand, - Japhet slightly scolded her, - he just compiled this compilation, and the creators of fairy tales are all different!

- Well, I guess you know best, - the girl trusted the authority of an adult.

- So, "Zelandyne in Seventhaven", - solemnly proclaimed ajussi Japh.

Crossing his legs, he clicked his tongue and began to read.

- "Seventhaven is a magical town that was located on a celestial island hidden from mortal's eyes. It was possible to get there only by climbing the crystalline staircase, which appeared only in the deep night and only in one place - in one area at High Road".

Last words Japhet were pronounced with emphatic importance, which involuntarily made the girl laugh.

- Yes, of course, - she said, - what else can a town in skies be called, if not seventh heaven.

- There may be a play on words here, - ajussi Jo pointed out good-naturedly.

- "Only six inhabitants lived in this magical town", - continued Japhet. - "It was Mason, who built houses, Metalsmith, who forged all sorts of useful things, Miner mined gems and gold, Montero hunted and fed everyone else, Medic help them with their health and only one twiddler Minstrel did nothing but useless versifying. And, of course, the town was ruled by a severe Mayor".

- Hold on, - said Delia when ajussi Japh caught his breath. - You said there were six, and the mayor is not considered a inhabitant?

- Huh, six inhabitants in a town, to say nothing of the mayor, - snapping his fingers, Jordan joked.

- Well, like Jerome, - apartment's owner agreed with him and continued. - "All Seventhaven's inhabitants have one thing in common - each of them was over two thousand years old, and they never appeared in front of people. But this does not mean that seventhavenians did not know about the existence of mortals - on the contrary, those gems mined by Miner, they were going to give it to people, but with one condition - when people stop making the warfares and killing their own kind".

- They'll do it when the pigs fly, - ajussi Jo commented on the actions of the fabulous inhabitants.

- "For real this whole story began in Ducal Chateau", - continued ajussi Japh. - "It was inhabited by a young marchioness Zelandyne, which was called so because it is just a very beautiful name".

- I do not agree with it! - Delia responded.

- What are you talking about? - Japhet looked at her in surprise from under his glasses.

- Every name must have a meaning! - continued the girl. - For instance, my mother called me a Greek word, which means "always visible"!

- Hm'mm, It was very curious to hear... - ajussi Jo shook his head.

- Delia, - said apartment's owner after a pause, - you really must excuse me, but I think, that thy mother swindled thee.

The girl's eyes were bugging out, she didn't even know how to respond to this. Seeing her reaction, ajussi Japh hastened to explain oneself.

- I just know a thing or two about Hellen culture, - he began, - and I know that the name "Delia" means only "born on the island of Delos".

This explanation surprised baby girl, and she looked down at her shoes.

- Incidentally, - said Japhet, - to one Greek goddess, specifically Artemis, your name was used just as an epithet.

- Solidly, isn't it? - echoed him ajussi Jo, looking at the embarrassed Delia.

- I sense... How a wave of truth extinguished the fire of falsehood, - without understanding why, Delia said softly

- You have a rich vocabulary! - exclaimed Jordan, raising his finger to the ceiling.

Apartment's owner didn't say anything, but the girl saw his eyes flash behind his glasses. She smiled involuntarily - she really liked the praise of her abilities, but after a moment her face again acquired a serious expression.