Author's Note: Random-ish story on how the Chasers (excluding Dio) view Sieghart. The opinions basically go with Tales of Change, though I may be a bit inconsistent. And if you can't recognize who's the narrator, that's fine, I made sure to keep that very obscure. Enjoy.
"Sieghart? My father?" She looked at me warily as she spoke.
"Yes, your father. What do you think of him?" I asked. "And be honest, or I will tell him you lied about him."
Elesis sighed. "Fine, fine. I love him very much; he's why I joined Grand Chase in the first place. But. . . he's just a bit too protective at times. I suppose it's because he doesn't want to lose his children." Then she asked, "Why do you want to know?"
"I was just curious," I simply answered. "Is that all?"
"Well. . ." She hesitated before answering. "I wish he was a bit more kinder to my friends. I mean, really! Last week, he almost killed Ronan for no reason! Well, maybe for no reason, but still!"
"What reason?" I asked, curious.
I was then looking down the blade of a sword, and I backed up slightly.
"Will this take long? Knight Master requested I do a mission today," Elesis told me.
"Just tell me the reason and I'll leave you alone," I told her, shoving the sword away from my face.
"I figured you would know, but then again. . ." Elesis paused. "My father almost killed Ronan because of our engagement. You'd know this but. . ."
"I get it. I'll leave you now then." I immediately went to look for Lire as Elesis called out to me, "Why are you still here anyway?"
"Mission," was all I said before I was out of earshot and was soon out of Kanavan's castle and in the garden.
Immediately I was hit with an overwhelming smell of flowers, nearly knocking me out. I let out a cough and fanned the air in front of me, trying to get some non-scented air before plugging my nose. Every time, I kept forgetting about this overflowing garden. . .
In front of me, I heard a low, growling laugh, so I decided to throw a rock in the direction.
There was a dull thump and a loud yelp. "Ow!" Then there was a soft hissing sound, like water turning to steam, and an orange-haired elven boy crawled out of the bushes, rubbing his head. I forgot his name, Rain?
"What are you doing here?" he asked, a little annoyed.
"I wanted to ask you what you thought of Sieghart, Rain," I answered.
"I'm Ryan, not Rain! I remember yours at lea-"
"Yes yes, just tell me what you think of Sieghart," I interrupted, already getting impatient.
"Hmph. Why should I?"
"I'll turn your garden in a forest fire."
"Do that and I-"
We were interrupted by a rustle in the bushes. Ryan and I looked in the direction of the sound and out came a blonde-haired elven female, and she was holding some strong-smelling flowers, causing me to nearly gag.
"May I ask why those smell so strong?" I asked, coughing a bit as I spoke.
Ryan looked pleased about my suffering while the female answered me. "Well, these flowers are a pretty rare breed of flowers found only in the Marsh of Oblivion, and Ryan and I decided we would try to grow more of them! Then we would replant some in the Marsh and see if they would grow again
"The monsters in the Marsh had killed almost all of them until the Grand Chase came and lowered the population of the monsters," the female continued. "With the lowered population, we think the flowers have a chance of growing again and make the Marsh beautiful!"
"We saw pictures of how the Marsh of Oblivion had looked before the monsters had overtaken the swamp, and it was such a beautiful place!" Ryan added, seemingly a tad smug. "Maybe one day, Lire and I could get married there some day." Oh, so her name's Lire.
"And you think a Marsh is a good idea to get married in?" I asked.
Lire frowned. "Ryan, it could take a long time to do this! And didn't we plan to get married in the Elven Forest?"
Ryan looked a bit sad. "Oh, yeah, I forgot, sorry."
"Don't worry Ryan, it'll be a beautiful wedding!" Lire jumped over to Ryan, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him.
"I know it'll be," Ryan said, and kissed her back.
I faked a cough to get their attention, then started coughing for real as the flowers' scent invaded my senses.
Immediately, Lire was next to me, offering a cup of water. Luckily, she didn't keep the flowers with her, though I wondered why she had a cup of water with her.
"I'm sorry, I forgot you were here," she said.
"'s okay," I told her as I drank the water, then gave her back the glass. "Thanks."
"So, why are you here?" Lire asked.
"He wanted to know what I thought of Sieghart," Ryan interrupted. I glared at the elf, and he glared back.
Oblivious to the glaring, Lire asked, "Why?"
"Curious," I answered. "Can I ask the same of you, Lire?"
"Of course! Sieghart is. . ." Lire stopped and thought for a second. "Um, well, he's. . . caring of his family, at least. Rude though, and grumpy at times. Sometimes he's. . . scary."
"Definitely scary," Ryan added. "He's like a monster! With big, scary teeth and demonic eyes, and he even has a demonic aura about him! In fact, Sieghart is a demon!" Ryan seemed a bit frightened; he was even shaking a bit. Interesting. . .
"Is that all?" Lire asked. I nodded.
"Can we go and check on the other plants, Lire?" Ryan asked, giving me yet another glare.
"Of course, Ryan! I was going to give some of these flowers to the Queen of Kanavan first, though; she was curious about them." Lire went over to where the flowers were on the ground and picked them up, keeping a good distance away from me, thankfully.
"I'll come with," Ryan offered, and the two elves left together into the castle.
As I turned to head to the training grounds, I heard Ryan ask, "Say Lire, why'd you give him that water? Didn't it hold some sort of plant grower in it?"
"Uh. . . Oops. Well, he's not a plant so he won't grow or anything, though he might get a little sick. . ." Lire answered.
Great, I drank plant grower.
I pushed that thought out of my mind as I saw some training dummies' upper halves fall over. A white-haired male landed in a circle of felled dummies.
"Hey miss!" I called out jokingly. Immediately a blade was pressed against my neck.
"You called?" a voice hissed in my ear.
Not answering, I shoved my elbow into the male's stomach. He let out a small grunt and cursed slightly as he stepped back slightly, enough for me to slip away from his blade. Turning to face him, I held my hand out, blue-white energy flowing out.
The male sheathed his blade in its sheath and bent down a bit, hand hovered over the blade's hilt, glaring at me.
"Deep Impact!" a voice rang out.
Upon hearing the words, I dropped my hand and the male stood up straight and the two of us ran for cover.
Only a second later, large, red meteors crashed into the training area, annihilating the training dummies and scorching the grass and nearby trees. In the middle of the burnt flora was a purple-haired mage. I believe her name was Arme. Who would name a child with a name that rhymed with "arm". . .?
"Knock it off you two, unless you want an Air Blast to the face?" Arme growled.
"Sorry," I said, not really meaning it.
"S-Sorry, Arme!" said the one I was about to attack.
Arme came up to us and asked, "What are you two doing?"
"I w-" I began before I was interrupted.
"I was about to get some training in with this idiot here." Lassy motioned over to me.
"If I'm an idiot, why did you fall off the castle roof last night?" I asked.
"Wh-How'd you know about that?" Lass cried out.
"Because, Lass, we could all hear you screaming," Arme answered in my stead. "You were louder than Samsara when we freed him from Thanatos's spell!"
"Was not!" Lass objected. "Samsara's way louder than I was!" I had doubts about that.
Turning to me, Arme muttered, "Yeah, well, what d'you want?"
"I want to know your opinion of Sieghart," I said, repeating my request once again.
"Rude, lazy, ungrateful bastard that deserves to burn in the depths of Hell with Gardosen poking at his innards twenty-four seven," Arme immediately answered. Who knew the midget despised him so much?
"Scary," was all Lass said. "Can we talk about something else now?" He seemed a bit nervous on the subject of Sieghart.
"Why did you want to know?" Arme asked me, suspicion in her eyes.
"Survey," I answered, meeting her gaze calmly.
Arme said nothing as she turned around, grabbing Lass in the process.
"W-Where are we going?" Lass cried.
"Let's train somewhere, say, the lake," Arme answered. "I heard Mari dumped something in there, at my request."
"And t-that is?"
"Oh, you'll see." There was a light, taunting tone in the midget's voice. The Lassy let out a small cry and looked at me pleadingly. I simply went back to the castle to find the others, ignoring the look in the doomed gal's eyes.
Now, how many was that? There was the red-head, the blondie, the nature-lover, the midget, and the lassy that I've talked to. That was five, so that meant four left.
I groaned slightly at the thought of having to look for the rest, but I set out to look. Maybe the castle again. . . They usually were doing various tasks.
Then I found the blue-haired knight in a tree near the castle's entrance, seemingly hiding from something. Or someone.
"Hey you!" I called to him.
I apparently caught him by surprise as the knight fell out of tree, spooked.
"P-Please don't do that!" he said nervously as he stood up.
I only shrugged before I requested, "Will you tell me your opinion of Sieghart?"
The alarm in his face was evident. "S-Sieghart? Why?"
"Curious."
"O-Okay, um. . ." He seemed to choose his words carefully. "He's. . . quite protective of. . . the people he loves, which is pretty much two people at the most. . . He's strong. And scary. And. . . Um. . . Yeahgottago!" Before I could even begin to wonder, I heard someone behind me.
"So I heard you've been asking people about me?"
Sieghart.
When I turned to face him, I saw that he seemed curious, most likely wanting to know what the others have said about him.
"Why are you asking them anyway?" he asked me.
"Curious," I answered him, then ran into the castle.
"Hey!" Sieghart cried out. "C'mere and tell me what you've heard!" I was not going to waste time giving him two different reports, if I ever decided to tell him.
To lose him, I decided to run up a couple flights of stairs before running into a nearby room.
"Um, what are you doing?"
I had ran into the fighter's room. I think he was Jin.
"Hiding from Sieghart," I told him. Jin just looked down at the floor before back at me.
"What did you do to make him mad?" he asked.
"I wouldn't tell him anything, and I don't plan to yet." If ever. "But while we're on the topic of Sieghart, mind telling me what you think about him?"
Jin went silent at Sieghart's name. He didn't say anything for so long, I thought about leaving before he answered, "Don't piss him off and he's bearable." I wonder what Sieghart did to this guy. . .
"Found you!" Turning around, I saw the black-haired fellow behind me.
Without even thinking, I ran to the open window in Jin's room, said a quick "Thank you" and then leaped out.
Then I remembered I was on the third floor of the castle, and castles were pretty large.
Taking a quick look up, I saw that Sieghart had actually jumped out after me. Was he crazy? Then again, I had just jumped out myself. . .
Looking down, I saw that I was about to hit the ground, so I tried to shoot a bit of magic out to slow my fall but was a bit late.
I hit the ground slower than I was falling, but with enough force to make me cry out slightly in pain. Never again would I jump out a third-story window of a castle.
"Move it, kid!" I heard above me, so I immediately crawled out of the way, stood up and ran, feeling a sharp pain in my wrist.
"Hey! Dammit, get back here!" Sieghart cried out behind me. Uh, how 'bout no?
I tried my best to ignore the pain in my wrist as I ran. Most likely I broke my wrist while trying to break my fall.
Who knows how long I was running, but when I started to look around, trying to ignore the pain, I realized I was in a small town that resided near Kanavan's castle.
The town bustled with activity; many people were out and about, going about their daily lives. Stalls lined the cobblestone streets, with vendors haggling with customers. There were some younger kids running around, playing some sort of game, their parents nowhere in sight. Maybe I could lose Sieghart here.
Taking a look at some signs at corners of the streets, I went in the direction that I hoped would lead me deeper into town, where market activity was more robust.
There were many more market stalls in the center of the town; most likely this served primarily as the marketplace. I decided to chance a quick rest and sat down on one of the wooden benches and sighed heavily.
Now that I was rested, I decided to check out the damage done to my body.
First was my wrist; I attempted to move it around a bit and was met with sharp pain. Though, it may have just been sprained; I felt nothing actually broken but I wasn't that sure.
A quick but thorough and discreet check showed only a few minor scrapes and bruises but otherwise nothing else was as bad as my wrist or worse.
As I contemplated on what to do next, I heard a somewhat shrill voice behind me. "Hey! You!" It was female so I wasn't too worried, though I think that was the fourteen-year-old dancer.
Behind me was the dancer, her natural-pink hair still bothering me.
"Yes, what is it?" I asked.
"Aren't you that mage who's been hanging around Kanavan?" she asked.
"I am," I answered. "Why?"
"Oh, nothing, but I've heard you've been asking about Sieghart?" She looked at me curiously.
"Just asking about what people think of him, 's all."
"Wanna know what I think?" Her soft pink eyes gazed pleadingly into mine.
"Yes," I said, not breaking the stare.
"Well." She held a finger up to her mouth, pretending to think hard. "He's a rude, obnoxious, self-absorbed old man who deserves a kick to between the legs! But, he is protective of those he cares about, and it's kinda cute! I just wish he cared about the rest of us too rather than just his daughter and seemingly nonexistent son. . ." She frowned sadly.
"I'm sure he does," I told her, not entirely sure. "I mean, Sieghart's probably never gonna get laid again and have more kids at his age, and his only family right now probably means a lot to him." I set a hand on the dancer's head reassuringly.
That seemed to cheer her up a bit as her face lit up and she smiled at me. "Yeah, you're right. I mean, blood is thicker than water, right?"
"Right. . ." I agreed. That made me think about my family, but I quickly shook the thought away.
"Saaaaay, what's wrong with your hand?" the dancer asked me.
"Huh?" I took a look at my hand and realized I was sort of holding it a bit protectively. "Oh, well, I kinda broke it falling out of a window. . ."
"Aw, did someone push you?" the dancer showed genuine concern.
"Um, it's more like. . ." I felt slightly embarrassed to admit it. "I jumped out myself."
"Y-You did?" she cried. "Why?"
"Sieghart," I said, wondering if she would know.
She did.
"Ooh, he was after you or something then?" she asked. I nodded.
"Yeah, he's soooooooo mean like that! But. . . Here, you should wrap your wrist up so it heals properly in case it's broken!" She spoke almost in song as she took out some gauze wrap. I never knew someone would want to carry that stuff around.
The dancer sat down next to me and pulled out my arm carefully, trying not to move my wrist too much. I held out my arm straight for her as she unrolled some gauze to wrap around my wrist. I tried not to make a sound as she carefully wrapped the gauze up tightly.
She was done only a few minutes later, indicating that she was with a cheerful, "Done!"
I took a look at her handiwork and realized she had put my wrist in a splint. Where she got the other materials to do so, I didn't know, but at least I wouldn't have to worry about hurting it too much. I hope.
"Thank you," I said, smiling at her.
"It's no problem! Sieghart shouldn't be so mean to us all!" The dancer made a small pout, her cheeks puffed out slightly. Then she made a more cheerful face as she said, "Well, I need to go, I wanna check up on my Jinny! Bye!"
With that, she took off towards the direction of the castle.
Jinny? Were they a couple or something?
I felt a small twinge in my chest as I thought about that, then shook my head.
One last person.
But I didn't want to head back to the castle at the moment, so I just browsed around, looking at various stalls. One of the stalls was selling small, hand-made dolls, each one beautifully done.
My eyes lingered upon a doll dressed in a decorative black dress, the hair made with straw so pale, it almost looked white. Then I turned away only to see a mop of cerulean hair. Last person.
She entered a shop as I made my way in her direction. It seemed she was looking for materials for a potion or something.
As soon as I was inside, I called out her name. "Mari?"
I was greeted with a "Yes?"
I was getting tired of this so I kept it short. "Thoughts. Sieghart." Sure, I might have sounded rude, but this girl didn't really care. She seemed. . . emotionless.
"Hm. Allow me a moment to think," Mari said, so I let her think.
Approximately two minutes later, she answered, "He is a bit rude and selfish. He is also self-centered when it comes to him and his daughter, though he does have a kind heart. He just needs to show that kindness to others. And he is also a tad slow and lacking in intelligence. Is that all?"
"Uh. Yes." This girl was. . . a tad odd. I wonder why she seemed so emotionless? She wasn't. . . an android, was she?
Why do people keep making androids? I would never know.
"Thanks for your time," I said before turning to exit the store.
"It is no problem."
As I exited the store, there was a low rumble, and soon I felt a drop of wetness hit my nose. Looking up, I saw that the sky had clouded over and it was now raining.
I sighed slightly, but made no complaint as I headed out of town, due south. Looks like I won't be telling Sieghart anything. He could look for me all he wanted, but maybe he'd realize that by then, I would be gone. Long gone.
