November Bells

Suzu: Soon the bells will be ringing, Innocia.

Innocia: Christmas is still a month and twenty-five, Suz.

Suzu: Yes, little Christmas girl. But the Church rings them twelve a year, and tomorrow the eleventh.

Innocia: I don't think that many people go around marking the occasion if it's so often each year, you know. Is it that important?

Suzu: What makes you think it's important? It is merely a mark of the beginning again, isn't it? To one such as you. Something so trivial that people regard it as a mere amusement every first.

Innocia: A mere thought indeed. But I suppose the renewal of months is at least of certain significance.

Suzu: Why a bell, Innocia? Have you ever wondered?

Innocia: ...not really. Is it not its clarity and loudness that rings like the cawing birds? Why the question?

Suzu: Because you don't really think about it. Listen carefully to what the bells sound like. A cry of loneliness from high above, unable to ever be alongside people. A wish for those so far below to ascend from the depths they have sunken to. A mourning for the world which has been abandoned by mankind. Listen to it, Innocia, and reflect. Its call is crisp but sad, and strong but frail. Each cry is a tick closer to the end, and each chime is a mourning for them all.

Innocia: Why do you take such a negative view, Suzu? Can't you see it the other way round?

Suzu: I'm afraid I'm not sure what you mean.

Innocia: It is because it is a new month, Suzu. A chance to renew oneself; a time to start again; a way to make up for the mistakes of the past. For this chance nothing rings louder than the bells of the church, hanging high atop, their resonating chimes a relief and a call for one to firm up. And moreso, a call for worshippers to enter and give praise for this chance to redeem themselves, to worship. Each call is beautiful yet firm, joyful yet stern, and soft yet powerful. Give thanks, Suzu, for you can still hear the bells for time to come. There are those who are deaf to its ringing, and there are those for whom the bell no longer chimes for. Each sound is a month for you to relish, and each day of its silence is one you should never take for granted.

Suzu: ...I suppose it is like you to see things that way.

Innocia: What do you think it feels like to stare down at everyone the way they do? It isn't always a sad feeling, y'know. I'm sure they chime for hope and not for mourning. How about this? I'll treat you to a drink tomorrow, a toast to November. Albert'll pay. And we'll walk around, and then you can see it. I'm sure.

Suzu: See what?

Innocia: That whoever it is, whenever it is, and wherever it is, the bells will not bring a message of sadness to them. Promise?

Suzu: I guess I have to.