Bonds

This fic idea was born both out of my desire to write some stuff for DQIX (seriously fantastic game) and the knowledge that I'll never have the time to write a novelisation or long story or whatevers. University has just started and I'm already drowning in work.

So this compromise – short snippets of the experiences of the Hero and his party as they travel through the world of DQIX, largely separate but forming part of a larger whole. I figure I might as well give this a shot.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, I considered naming this fic 'Nakama', but then I decided that the world in general (and the fanfiction community in particular) has more than enough gratuitous Japanese already.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Bored. Bored. Bored.

Lyra folded her hands behind her hand, leaning back in the creaky chair and staring up at the ceiling of the room she'd sequestered herself in in the Quester's Rest. She'd been here for damn near a month and no one had so much as glanced her way when looking for new hires. Surely a mage couldn't be in such low demand?

Of course, half of the problem was that for all of the Quester's Rest's reputation as the premier inn of Stornway, there simply weren't that many people passing through the place. If people didn't come to stay, they certainly weren't going to be hiring. She'd heard talk that one of the higher-ups had departed on a trip recently in order to find some new blood to revitalize the place, but it sure as heck wasn't helping her right now.

Not exactly what I had in mind when I told my folks that I wanted to go see the world. Blast it all, I'd go off by myself if it weren't for all the tough monsters out there. That and her painful lack of liquid funds, of course. Brushing a strand of her pink hair from her eyes, she swung her legs forward and pulled herself to her feet. I'd head off someplace else – Alltrades, maybe, or even Bloomingdale, but I just don't have the money. What to do, what to do…

"Hey there, Lyra," at the sound of the voice, Lyra turned to regard Patty. The woman had a good head on her shoulders for organization, she knew that much, and she made it a point to know every one of the travelling adventures that visited her inn by name.

Not that that had been a particularly difficult enterprise of late.

"Didn't you leave to go find someone to help with the inn?"

"Well I'm back now, aren't I?" Patty cocked her head to one side, a familiar smirk on her face. "I've got what I was looking for, and maybe I've found what you've been looking for, too."

Interest lighted up Lyra's face. "Someone wants to hire me?"

"Someone wants to meet you," Patty corrected, the smirk having morphed into a warm smile. "The hiring part depends on what he thinks of you, of course."

As she followed Patty down the hallway, Lyra swallowed hard and tried to still the heart pounding her throat. Don't mess this up, don't mess this up, don't mess this up, don't-

"Geo, this is Lyra. She's a mage, she knows her way around the land – at least as far north as Zere, anyway," Patty was talking to a young male who looked about her age at the counter, dressed in some design Lyra had never seen before. "She's been cooling her heels here for a good while already, so I thought she'd jump at the opportunity to help you out."

The boy turned to her, with a somewhat nervous expression on her face. Of course Lyra was probably mirroring that expression right then, so she wasn't really one to talk. Hastily, she bowed slightly in greeting.

"Hello, I'm Lyra. It's nice to meet you, sir."

"S – sir?" the boy's voice was startled. "Er, it's just Geo. Please."

"Oh… r – right. Anyway, I'm a mage that studied under the Zodiac school of magic, I've mastery of a variety of spells including Frizz, Acceleratle and Crack, and, uh… I'm willing to adapt?"

"Oh, uh, ahem." Her prospective employer coughed slightly. "I'm Geo. I'm, uh, a minstrel. I think. I've studied Celes – I mean, I've studied a rather unorthodox style of swordplay and, uh, I know how to heal-" he was interrupted by a peal of laughter from Patty.

"Oh, Geo, you're a riot," she said as she wiped the tears from her eyes. "You are hiring her. She's the one who's supposed to be telling you what she can contribute, not the other way around."

"Oh, er… right," Geo grinned sheepishly. "Well, um, you're hired."

Lyra blinked and tried to keep the delighted grin from her face. "Really?"

"Really," his grin changed into an encouraging smile. "I'm not too familiar with how things work around here, so… is this a bit too forward?"

"No! No, not at all! Truth be told, I was getting sick of waiting here with nothing to do."

"Well then, I guess that's that," Geo hesitated for a moment and then held out his hand to her. "It's nice to meet you, Lyra."

She smiled as she shook his hand. He seems nice. A little spacey, but nice. "It's nice to meet you too… Geo."

Thanks for reading!