I awoke to find that the setting sun was casting a radiant orange glow on the wall across from the bed. It must have been nearly five in the evening, and my pokétch confirmed this- the time was 5:13 PM. I looked around and stretched, refreshed from my rest. The room was just the way I left it when I fell asleep, as extravagant as ever, and Mayumi was still dreaming contentedly on the far side of the bed. I got up from the four-poster carefully, so as not to disturb my sleeping pokémon, and then began to make ready for meeting our host for dinner on the second floor. I went into the bathroom again and looked myself in the mirror; I certainly needed a shave, and since I wasn't exactly doing anything at the moment, I went ahead and cleaned myself up.

After I was done, I walked back out into the room to find that Mayumi had woken up now, and was just yawning away the last of her sleep. <Well hello there, Mayumi.> I called to her as I got my shoes on. <It looks like we both had a good cleaning and a nice long nap, hmm?>

We both smiled as she stood up and began to stretch. Once she was done, she replied. <Yes, it was very nice, wasn't it?> She looked me up and down, seeing the outfit I had changed into, then grinned as she asked <Are you trying to give Mr. Charteaux even more reason to tease us about being "together?"> It was true, my shirt (as I intended) matched the dress that Mayumi had chosen to wear, and she was right: it would probably mean a few more good-natured jokes at our expense, but I didn't particularly care and I could tell that she didn't mind either.

Now that we were both dressed and rested, we moved out onto the terrace and sat in the cool fresh breeze for a minute and I allowed myself to wonder about what had brought us here to begin with- that girl. I had forgotten about her in all of the activity while we were being shown around, but now that I remembered I simply couldn't get my mind off the subject. Who was she? What had she been doing? Why had she run from us? I hoped that someone here might have answers, but I wasn't too hopeful- I didn't exactly get a great detailed view, so my description would be inadequate to really ask any specific questions about her... I chatted with Mayumi about it for a minute or two, and we reached the conclusion that we would ask our host about this when we got the chance, but not to press the matter (seeing how we had so little to go on). Having decided on what to do, we both got back up and headed to the door to find out about dinner.

Almost as if on cue, someone came knocking, knocking on our chamber door. Only this and nothing more? I jest- it was merely the same young woman who had given us the tour earlier- Jessica was her name, and she had apparently come to tell us that dinner was about to be served in the main dining room. She told us that our host Simon would love if we would join him, and so we allowed Jessica to lead us down the stairs and into the middle dining hall of the second floor, where a surprisingly small and modest (for this house) dining area had been set up in a moderately sized dining room. Once we had been guided into the room, Jessica bowed and disappeared into a hallway, leaving us in the dining room.

The mahogany table was long enough and wide enough that five or six people might sit on either side with room for one person at either end. Our host was already seated in his place at the head of the table, and there were three other places set- two to his right, and one to his left. I figured that since two of them must be for Mayumi and I, that the third must be for Mrs. Charteaux, whom we had yet to meet. So it surprised me when he motioned that Mayumi should take the seat to his left, and I take the one to his right. I wasn't quite sure how things like this worked, but I was pretty certain that the Mrs would usually sit next to her husband, and yet here Charteaux was telling us to take either seat adjacent to him, leaving me sitting with an empty place setting to my right.

I tried to not let my surprise come through as I greeted him. "Good evening, Mr Charteaux." I smiled as Mayumi and I took our seats where he indicated.

He replied in his characteristic cheerful, almost bouncy voice. "Oh, don't be so formal! Call me Simon!" He then looked to either side at where the two of us were now seated across from each other. He noticed that Mayumi was wearing real clothing, and looked as though he were going to comment but then he looked to me, saw my matching shirt, and gave what he must have thought was a knowing grin, and then began asking us how our day had been so far. "I trust you were treated well, and that your room was to your liking?"

Seeing as we were apparently still waiting on one more person to join us, I decided to go along with the small-talk. "Yes, thanks. This place is amazing, and the room is wonderful." I didn't mention that it was rather thoughtful to give us a room equipped with separate bathing facilities, but was also grateful for that. Continuing where I stopped, I remarked, "And I must say, this is quite a palace you have here. How did you manage to afford it- if you don't mind my asking..?" It had been lingering in the back of my mind ever since we first saw the lavish house and the exorbitantly large plot of land around it.

"Oh, not at all! Not at all!," Simon said, simply waving his hand dismissively. "I inherited a small fortune from a few relatives, and simply knew how to invest it right without making too big a splash." He wagged his finger almost mischievously as he went on, "I didn't want to really make too much in one place, because I could never stand to be in the spotlight." He leaned back and sighed contently as he spread his arms wide, gesturing to the house around us. "I simply wanted a place like this to give shelter to wandering trainers, but to stay out of the public eye." It was a little odd perhaps, but he certainly seemed to have achieved his dream.

<That is admirable> said Mayumi, <for you to want to play host to travelers such as us, and to not want any recognition for it.> Simon looked at her and smiled even more.

"Yes, I suppose it is, but I do enjoy some amount of recognition." I began to worry about what he meant, but he continued and put my mind at ease. "The trainers and their pokémon that have come through here all carry fond memories of this place away with them, and they return from time to time, to stop and say hello again. I love the feeling of liveliness that they bring back after returning..." He trailed off, apparently lost in reverie about the good times he had lived out in this house, and his eyes glassed over with a kindhearted twinkle.

I was beginning to feel a bit restless about not asking what was on my mind, so I took the momentary lull in the conversation to voice the questions that had been on my mind all evening. "Erm, Simon?"

It took him a second to pull himself out of his memories and realize that I was addressing him. "Hmm? Oh, yes. I'm sorry, what was it you wanted William?"

I was left slightly off-guard by how easily he had recalled my name, but after missing a beat, I went on. "Well you see, I-" I stammered, unsure how exactly to word such an odd question. "Umm, when we were..."

"Yes?" Simon tented his fingers and gazed into my eyes, now giving me his full attention. As if I wasn't nervous enough asking the question casually...

"Well on our way here this morning, Mayumi and I met someone..." At last I was getting to the point!

"Oh really?" Mr. Charteaux looked curous now, and beckoned for me to continue.

"Yes, and well... I don't know why, but she seemed to run away as soon as she noticed us." I sighed, this was certainly not as detailed as I was hoping...

"Hmm. That's rather odd, isn't it?" He didn't look all that surprised- in fact, he was actually smiling. I began to wonder if I really sounded that ridiculous with where I was going with this, but kept on anyways.

"That's what we thought too," I nodded. "So we tried following where she ran off to, and that actually how we ended up coming across your place here to begin with."

Before Simon could reply, I heard the door behind me unlatch and glide open. Simon looked to whoever had come in. He gave an almost mischevious smile and then replied, more to them than to me, "Well that is a rather interesting coincidence, don't you think so, Cassandra?"