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Returning to New Babbage

I have come from one strange set of circumstances to another. Why, oh why, did I believe that things in New Babbage would be somewhat normal? That is to say, as close to normal as a town of scientific intrigue and slight bouts of mysticism as a town can be.

However, even as the great majority of citizens grow restless (which I still believe is from a lack of building caused by summer fevers), I am beginning to grow slowly more complacent. This strange state of normalcy is one I haven’t experienced in over a year. Father and I finally received some sort of closure after the majority of the members of our Scientific Academy were taken away and the case of who poisoned my mother was finally solved.

My apprehension that I usually felt because of my father’s scientific excursions were also gone. He had agreed to stay in Aranka and help rebuild the Scientific Academy into the respectable institution it once was, one which my father helped build. My sister, Olivia, agreed to keep an eye on him, as reluctant as she was.

With the mysteries surrounding my family finally put to rest, and the threat to me dissipated, there was nothing more to worry incessantly over. Finally, finally, I could focus my attention to my art and clocks. A peaceful life of creation, and I was about to find if it was at all possible in New Babbage.

There was only one thing that bothered me now, and that was the guilt I continually felt about my past aggressions towards my mother. All of my life, her reasons for keeping me away from anything involved in my father’s research was because she wished to protect me and keep whatever was locked away in my mind from coming to the surface. She was my protector, and she gave her life to keep our family safe. I would never get over the fact that I was wrong.

The current state of New Babbage, however, baffled me.

I had never met any members of the Church of the Builder, and never set foot in the building, and yet I was told not to trust them. It seemed as though the majority of aggravations were being taken out on the church itself instead of holding the individuals responsible. Does every town need a scapegoat?

It was as I was pondering this while walking out the backdoor of my shop in Clockhaven that I saw the back of a familiar figure walking down the street, a blonde woman. I had been told a few days earlier that Autumn was back in town. While this would have been startling normally, as I still remembered her pounding my head into a brick wall, I had been told that she had no recollection of any event prior to and including the time she spent in New Babbage looking for me.

Was I still supposed to view her as a threat? Was I supposed to consider someone who had no memory of incidents, who might as well be a different person, as the same, all because I needed vengeance? Maybe not, however I would be certain to keep an eye on her. There was no telling if she was lying. However, I was simply not as restless as the rest of the city to accuse anyone of anything I’d later regret.

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