Lua looked over the paper she held, then her eyes flicked to Zaren. "You know, where I come from, we don't have to sign papers to date." She lifted a brow, clearly wanting an explanation. Zaren sighed, not exactly sure what was going on either; as far as he knew, nothing like this was...normal. "What exactly are we supposed to do Romeo?" Zaren asked the brown haired, green eyed man before them who was standing beside Juliet. "Why good sir, its a way to make sure that you and your Princess will always be together." Romeo said and Zaren flushed a little.
"You are her Guardian Knight," Juliet began with a small smile, short orange hair bouncing as she rocked on her heels a little. "the papers just finalize that pact between a Guardian Knight and their Princess!" Juliet said and Zaren smacked his forehead, always the dramatic one. "So it's to assure others that we are together pretty much?" Zaren asked and the two nodded. "Why didn't you just say that?!" Zaren exclaimed, annoyed. He never did like the overly-lovey-dovey couple; they annoyed him too much.
"...It's not like we're getting married, this piece of paper seems a bit over the top." Lua couldn't help but think the same of this couple, she was glad she was never like that. Bleh. Zaren agreed, yet they insisted and Zaren growled, glaring at them. "We're not married...yet…" He mumbled the last bit quietly to where Romeo and Juliet didn't hear, he wasn't sure if Lua heard or not. "Still, it lets us know how many Guardian Knight's are out there so we can help try and keep track of them." Juliet commented as she crossed her arms, pouting a little bit...and it was rather adorable though it had little to no effect on Zaren, who simply gave her a flat expression. "Still, over the top Juliet." He commented, yet signed it anyways; if it was for just keeping track of how many Guardian Knights there where, then he understood...yet he didn't like it.
Lua shrugged. "Well dearie, are we signing it?" She asked Zaren, an amused glint in her eyes having caught what he mumbled. Talk like that would have her mom hounding him. Zaren flushed a little, yet nodded anyways as he handed the paper to Lua. "I guess, it's just to track of how many of us there are." Zaren commented, scratching the back of his head, even as Juliet clapped her hands happily and Romeo grabbed an item from the chest behind him. Lua signed the paper and handed it to Juliet, who turned around to place it in a box with a bunch of other papers, even as Romeo handed a small pulsing red gem that gave off a warm, soothing touch. "Uh...what is-?" Zaren cringed as a heart appeared and pulsed in the center. What the hell?!
"It's a Guardian Knight crystal!" Romeo exclaimed happily and Zaren simply stared at Romeo like he was an idiot. "A what?" He asked as he cringed again as the heart pulsed and gave off a pink glow...of all colors, why PINK?! "A Guardian Knight crystal." Juliet repeated as she came back to them. Still confused, Zaren kind of stared at them before sighing. "Care to elaborate as to what it does?" He asked, trying to stay calm and composed; he didn't need to go blowing his top at people because they didn't know how to explain. It had to be pink...Lua made a face as she looked at the thing. "Don't know about you," She whispered to Zaren. "But this isn't proving to be my idea of romantic, we did talk before coming over here dearie. You owe me a date." She honestly wanted away from this over the top couple but she wasn't going to spite on how things were done here, that would be rude. Zaren nodded, agreeing with her about getting away...and this wasn't romantic either in his mind, it needed to be something...away from them.
Zaren pretty much tuned out what Romeo and Juliet said, before he noticed they stopped talking as the two looked at one another and Zaren quickly steered Lua away from them. They had to get away from the crazy in love couple before even HE lost his mind. Once they were away, Zaren sighed in relief, before the gem glowed red and he flinched, was something wrong? Suddenly several icons popped up on the gem and he rose a brow...what in the name of Gaia was going on? "What the hell?" He questioned as he poked the crystal, touching an icon and it enlarged. "Gyah!" He nearly dropped the crystal, not having expected that reaction.
"Whoa chill!" Lua patted him gently. "I sincerely doubt that thing is going to do something bad, so relax." Perhaps they should have figured out what this thing was for. Zaren nodded before starring at the crystal and looking at the enlarged icon, before he rose a brow...was that...a fish? "A fish?" He asked him as he pressed on the icon again and noticed there was a few words underneath the fish and he read them out loud. "Mysterious Fish date?" He commented with a brow, stopping himself before he looked at Lua. "Is fishing even romantic?" He asked her, not exactly sure what was going on. 'What the hell kind of crystal is this?!' He wondered, he thought they would chose dates, not have the crystal give out suggestions?!
"Sure," Lua nodded. "If people have the same hobbies they do it together. I don't mind fishing, it's not a bad pass time." She said, before she noticed another icon that looked like a pickaxe. "Archaeology? You have that here?" She was a little surprised to see that word. "Of course, all places have archaeologists right?" Zaren questioned; Lua shuffled and looked away from him. "Uh...no?" Her home sure didn't. Zaren seemed surprised, before he smiled at her. "Well, wanna do some archaeology then? It one of my favorite things to do." Zaren asked, gently holding her hand; feeling her hand in his was something he liked. "Oh yes!" Something he liked too? Perfect! "You'll show me what to do? I can honestly say the few places I have been that have it I never learned much about it." She laughed a little rubbing the back of her head. Lua was smart but she wasn't a heavy researcher.
Zaren nodded, smiling brightly. "You got it, first let's get to Ventos Prairie; it looks like some archaeology is there." Zaren said as they headed to the Warp Crystal in Aura Kingdom. As they headed to the destination, Zaren looked around, smiling as he saw where they were. "Perfect, looks like the archaeologist is still here." Zaren said, looking at the crystal map he had, it always changed with real life time, so he didn't worry to much about missing anything. "Alright, I think Maria gave me...yes she did." Zaren said as he held up a yellow crystal, smiling a little. "Alright, let's bring this fellow out since Gazer is with my brother." Zaren said as he used his Gaian energy to activate the power within the crystal.
What sounded like a fox howling came from the crystal as it turned silver and began to grow cold and Zaren's eyes widened as it floated from his hand and began spinning. Eventually a large, nine-tailed silver and black fox appeared, as it seemed to jump in midair before landing on the ground gracefully. Where it stood the ground frosted over a little and it seemed like frost came from its tails and a cold mist surrounded the air around its tails. It looked at them with beautiful red eyes and howled once more, walking over to them and first, nuzzled Zaren, making him chuckle, before it nuzzled Lua; it was rather affectionate despite its large size. "I can't believe it! Maria gave us the Arctic Fox! The Nine Tailed Arctic Fox!" He said with a laugh. "There's less than one hundred of these majestic beauties left! I guess the conservation method is working!" He said, rubbing the foxes neck, making it stretch its body out a little as it enjoyed the affection.
Zaren jolted in shock hearing Lua make a soft squeaking noise, she gently started petting the large fox, cooing to it with a huge smile. "Hello winter foxy~" She rubbed its cheeks while it leaned into her touch, pleased with the attention. Zaren remembered when she was sick, the plushie her mother left her and chuckled, remembering how Lua loved foxes. He'd probably have Arctic for awhile since Gazer needed to be trained combat for some time, he also remembered hearing from his brother how he needed a mount. Granted Zaren didn't want to let Gazer go, but Gazer was never really his to begin with, he was actually his brother's and sister's mount/pet that they bought.
"Looks like Arctic is taking a shine to you." Zaren commented, even as the silver fox yipped its response, almost as if it understood them and Zaren chuckled; these nine-tailed canines were smarter than most people gave them credit for. It's probably why Diao-Chan and Shirayuki were consider fox-like; Diao-Chan was a kitsune and Shirayuki had a winter-fox spirit with her at all times, they were also some of the smartest Eidolon's he knew. "So soft…" Lua cooed, cuddling the fox's head. Several types of foxes lived in her home, she always loved them since her mom made that plushie for her. Zaren chuckled before he patted Lua's shoulder, giving a small smile. "I know you like him Lua but he might not like the smothering attention you're giving him." Zaren commented, seeing how the foxes ears slightly pinned back and it gave a small whine, pulling back as it shook its body. "I think that, while he enjoyed the attention, you were smothering him." Zaren explained, seeing how the fox was slightly anxious now.
Despite being a tamed mount, he was still considered a wild animal and like all animals, if they had too much energy around them from people, they tend to get restless and anxious. "Not to mention I think he's ready for a run." Zaren said, smirking at her. He knew she liked foxes, teasing her about this beautiful, majestic beast was going to be adorable...if he ever found a right time. Lua coughed a few times. "Right, sorry." She waved her hands at the large fox in apology. "Erm...how does one go about riding a fox?" She asked Zaren, not sure what to do. Foxes after all didn't get this big in other places. "It's like a horse in a way, seeing the large saddle on its back?" He said, pointing to the foxes back. On the foxes back was a finely crafted saddle, with red cushioning and blue drapes around the sides and sapphire gems adorned the saddle as well. The saddle looked to be attached to some armor that covered the foxes shoulder and hips, even the chest where a large sapphire rested in the center of the chest.
"Here, let me show you." Zaren said as he walked to the side and the fox laid down, allowing them an easier time to get on. After Zaren allowed Lua on, he got on himself and rested himself behind Lua before leaning forward and she noticed the front of the saddle they were on was raised slightly with what looked like handles to hold onto. "Nine-tailed fox mounts, like Arctic here can read their riders mind, having a general idea of where their rider wants to go." Zaren said and this was proven correct when the sapphires glowed and the foxes eyes glowed red and it howled before taking off, a trail of cold mist left in their departure. Despite how the fox seemed to jump more while running, the ride was actually very smooth as the fox seemed to take his time running through the fields toward a large water filled area.
As he entered the water, the water around his feet froze slightly and he slowly trudged through the water, this time actually walking as he went slow. The gems no longer glowed and the glowing around his eyes ceased as well. "Alright, I think this is…" Zaren stopped speaking as he noticed certain places the ground glowed. "Yep, there's relics here to find." He commented with a smile. Every so often, a few places on the ground were glowing golden parks would float upward, that meant something was here? Alright then. "Erm...Zaren I don't have any tools for this kind of thing." She told him quickly before he got carried away as they both dismounted the fox. "That's alright," He said as he looked around, trying to find someone. "there should be an archaeologist around." He finished before he smiled as he saw the male archaeologist not too far away.
"There he is." He said before he held the stone out and the fox smiled, before closing his eyes and he disappeared into the stone. It glowed faintly once, before the glow ceased and Zaren put the stone back in the small pack he always had with him, then he reached toward Lua, gently holding her hand in his. "He should be able to give you what you need." Zaren explained before the two made their way toward the archaeologist, who looked up as they got closer. "Ah, hello you two." The old man said with a kind, wise smile, even as Zaren smiled in return. "Been awhile." Zaren said with a chuckle, he knew this man? "Yes it has, how are your siblings?" The older man returned in question, fishing around in his large bag, knowing why they were there. "Ah, their good. My brother's as reckless as ever and my sister finally has the estate for herself." He explained and the old man's eyes widened in surprise.
"Really?" He questioned as he stopped rummaging in his bag. "I believed your father to never give it up." He responded and Zaren paled, making Lua chuckle. "It was uh...special circumstances…" Zaren trailed off, scratching his cheek and while the old man tilted his head, he didn't press. "Ah, well let's not speak of details. I suppose you're here for archaeology supplies?" He asked and Zaren nodded. "Yep, a pickaxe and explorer's kit if possible." He said and the man nodded. "Of course, I know just the items." He said with a chuckle, before looking at Zaren. "I suppose it's not for you?" He said, looking at Lua and giving a kind smile and Zaren nodded. "Yep." He said, giving Lua a smile as well. "This stuff is easy to use right?" Lua asked as she gazed at said items, not taking them yet. "Never messed with this kind of thing before." She explained and the old man nodded. "Yes, quite easy, I'm sure Zaren can explain." He said with a chuckle and Zaren nodded. "Leave it to me, sir." He stated and the old man nodded.
"Here, for free as a gift." He said as he hand what looked to be a simple pickaxe and a small portable kit to Lua, before he looked at Zaren. "Does your kit need replacing?" He asked Zaren who hummed and brought his own kit out to look at it. "Nah, still looks good. None of the items have broken yet." He said, before hoisting the pack back into his larger pack. "Thanks Marcus." He said and the old man simply dismissed them. "Think nothin' of it my boy." He said and the two bid their farewell to the man before heading off. "...Give me a basic rundown of this please?" Lua said as she poked Zaren's arm. "I know some of these are brushes and other cleaning tools and...erm, books, but I need a bit more." Hopefully he would start...uh looking for something and show how each tool worked. She learned by watching. "Sure, first let's get to one of the glowing area's." He said, before they headed over to an area and stopped by the glowing golden specks coming from the ground.
"Alrighty, this looks like a good spot." He said, before putting the archaeology pack on the ground and grabbed his pickaxe, showing it to her. "See how on the other side of the picking part is a shovel-like spade?" He questioned as he turned it to the other side. As asked, there was a fan-out of the steel, making it look very much like a small shovel attached to the pickaxe, thus she nodded. "Alright. We use the pick-part of the pickaxe to break into the ground, make the soil lose to shovel it out to uncover the relics." He said and stepped forward a little, turning so he wouldn't hit her. "Let me demonstrate." He said and rose the pickaxe above his head and brought it down hard onto the soil, cracking into the ground and he repeated the action a few times, eventually able to get deeper into the soil and he turned the pickaxe to use the spade-like end to shovel the soil away. As he did, she noticed something was showing itself. "Zaren." She said and he nodded, stopping and kneeling down.
He looked closer as the item and smiled, grabbing the toolkit to grab the larger brush that had a wooden handle and he uncovered it a bit more. He frowned a little, narrowing his eyes before he noticed the yellow glow around the items and he smiled as he saw the glow. "See how the item has a yellow glow around it?" He questioned and she nodded, kneeling down as well. "It needs to be analyzed, thus…" He reached toward his toolkit and grabbed a yellow covered book, as well as what seemed to be magnifying glass and a small book that held notes. "We grab the book, see if we can see if it matches anything within." He said as he grabbed the chunk of...whatever relic this was and began to check his book. Sometimes he dusted it off and used a small hammer and spike to break off some of the clinging dirt and rock on the relic. Once he had it completely cleaned, he noticed the faint leaf design within the relic, as well as the black lines that ran through the golden relic.
He flipped some of the pages in the book and looked over the written notes he made himself. As he went back and forth, even used the magnifying glass he had when he noticed something odd, he smiled and went near the middle of the book. "See the lines running through this item and the faint leaf design?" He asked her and she nodded. "It's a prehistoric amber, you can tell by the faint leaf design but what really sets it apart is the lines running through the amber. Only those found in the prehistoric era have this kind of design with the lines added in." He said, before he put the book, magnifying glass and notes away. "Most don't carry notes with them as the book has it all but I like to write down what I've discovered, where I've discovered it and write down any features that might be different that what I've uncovered." He said, before putting the amber in a small pouch strapped to his toolkit. "It's pretty easy to learn. Though I will say, there are three different colored glows around the relics, only us Envoy's can see the glow." He said, before bringing the toolkit into his lap.
He pulled out a small hammer, a syringe that was tapped to a potion, putting them down before him. "This helps us repair a relic if it's broken. The potion helps keep the pieces together while the hammer helps break anything off that shouldn't be attached or fix something. Like if a metal is bent on a relic, this hammer can help flatten the metal out to be put back together again." He explained, before he grabbed a red handled brush and red dustpan. "If a relic glows red, that means it need to be clean from what the archaeologist said. It just needs a light dusting on the items and broken pieces to be set aside. Simple with the red, though those are few and far between, pretty rare." He said, before putting the items back in. "As I said, the yellow glow means to analyze the item, trying to see if it matches what's within the book. If it matches nothing, we bring it to the archaeologist and he takes it back to the Archaeology Leader in Navea." He explained, before he stretched.
"...Sorry if I rushed or was too detailed. Did I make it understandable?" He asked her, shrugging his shoulders. "It was fine." She replied tapping her finger on her own tools. "You'll show me how to clean things correctly too right? I don't want to break anything." She asked and Zaren nodded. "You betcha." He said, before making sure everything was in his bag and held his pickaxe up. "So, ready to get digging?" He asked with a grin. "Sure." Lua only had to take a few steps away from Zaren to dig up something, the item she pulled up had a blue glow. "Wow...right as I ask how it works too, assist deary?" She questioned him and he chuckled, walking toward her. "Inside your pack should be a small hammer with a blue handle, a potion with a syringe attached." He said and she pulled out the needed items. "Alright, see how there is dirt clinging to the item?" He said and she nodded. "You take the hammer and gently tap at the pieces of dirt. That should help remove it enough for you to fill the syringe with some of the potion." He said and she did as told.
After a few minutes of making sure all the dirt was off, she noticed the items she held was somewhat circular and dull in color. "Alright, I fill the syringe...then what?" She asked as she filled the syringe with the blue liquid from the potion. "Okay, there should be a soft spot for you to inject the potion into the relic. There's an odd magic with the potion and the relics that allow that liquid to clear them up and make them look brand new." He said and as she pushed and prodded the item, she felt a soft spot and injected the blue liquid into the item. Once it was all in, the relic glowed and seemed to transform and she noticed a few pieces in the ground that came to the relic in her hands, almost as if the item was putting itself back together. Next thing Lua knew, what looked like a beautiful pot was within her hands, looking brand new and as if it was never broken.
"And that's how repairing a relic works." He said as he stood. "Yellow is analyze, blue is repair and red is clean." He said simply, smiling as he noticed the happiness in Lua's eyes. "Interesting...too bad I'm not a big academic sort, else I'd be all over this. I'll have to tell my sister, maybe she'd like this…" Lua muttered but continue to find more spots to dig up alongside Zaren. Zaren smiled, before he tapped Lua's shoulder, grabbing her attention. "Don't forget, we're here to find the Lover's Pearl, an item that's stated to help two people feel closer." He said and she nodded, before the two continued to dig up relics around the area. Zaren helped her every now and then, before Lua uncovered something that was pink and blue in color. She looked over, noticing Zaren wasn't too far away, so she uncovered the item; seeing the yellow glow, she grabbed the book. As she read through the pages, getting rid of more dirt to completely uncover the item she noticed the blue hearts across the pink shell.
She cringed at the pink color, yet looked at the book and flipped through more pages, coming across a item that looked exactly like the one before her. She opened the shell, realizing it was an oyster of some-type and when she opened it, she noticed a heart-shaped pearl lay inside and her eyes widened. She looked back at the book, seeing 'Lovers Pearl' written at the top and she smiled. "Deary!" She called out. "I think I've got one!" Lua held it up so he could see. Zaren looked over and smiled, eyes wide in awe. "Yep, that's the Lover's Pearl." He said as he struck the ground one last time with his pickaxe and he noticed a red glow. Looking down, he knelt and uncovered the item, cleaned it off as required and smiled; holding up an exact copy of what she had. "Looks like I found one as well." He said as he stood up and walked toward her, both holding the pearls. "Um…" He frowned, not sure what to do. "I have no idea-GYAH!" Zaren jumped as it glowed white with Lua's own and the two items floated before them, before the pearls disappeared and blue and pink sparkles swirled around them, before sinking within them and they felt something within them strengthen and tighten, yet not painfully.
"What...just...happened?" Zaren commented, before Muse and Lenous both appeared, knowing they had to explain. "That was the Guardian Knight bond getting stronger." Muse said happily, a smile on her face before Lenous spoke. "It simply means you two got stronger, you two will understand each other better now and you'll be able to sense where the other is now." Lenous said, flying toward Lua and laying on her shoulder. "So, the gem tells us how to get closer, gives suggestions for places to go and stuff to do as well as keeps up connected and make us stronger?" Zaren asked Muse, who nodded happily. "Correct!" She said and Zaren gave a sigh. "Okay...well, what else do you wanna do?" He asked, grabbing the gem just in case she wanted to try another suggestion. "Or…" He trailed off and smirked at her, one brow raised. "We do an actual date where I take you out to eat and we roam around one of the beautiful waterfalls at night within Aura Kingdom?" He suggested instead, an actual date.
"I vote for date, at waterfalls." Lua beamed at him, water was one of her favorite things. She would never pass up being around water. This world was already lovely, it made sense the waters were as well. "Alright, there's a good place in Aura Kingdom that has good food with a balcony and its next to the waterfall. After eating, we can roam around the waterfall and watch as the stars and moon reflect off the water. It's getting close to sunset after all." He said, looking toward the slowly darkening sky, seeing the orange, purple, blue and pink mix in, before looking at Lua and holding a hand out. "Ready?" He asked her, smile still in place, glad they could finally be together, that both of them could finally find happiness.
Alright, so have a request of you all. What do you think the next story should be? Of course it will be sometime until Zaren and Lua truly get together and get married, yet we have hit a writer's block for the next story. What do you all think should be the next story? Like to know your thoughts and see what you all think. Let me know, I'll share it with my co-writer and we'll get things worked out.
Until next time folks! ^^ Enjoy!
