Song of Light
Chapter 2
Syaoran's white chou actually served to be more than an amplification of his powers. They served a rather practical purpose of slowing his flight, since when he used them he did not need to transform into his elemental form as the chou did the flying for him. Sakura was a bit awed by the image, since using the chou took a lot of moving and swirling the cloth around, and since the result was the image of Syaoran dancing on air it was more beautiful than anything else.
They arrived in Korea rather quickly. By the time they arrived it was afternoon. Eriol was already there, dressed in his sorcerer robes.
" Where are we?" Sakura asked as she landed, for around them there were many people, many of whom were not elementals, let alone waterspeakers. She had assumed they would arrive at Syaoran's home first, but Syaoran had landed in the middle of what appeared to be a town square, with many tall buildings. Many people, dressed in robes, hurried back and forth, while others greeted each other warmly, with affectionate embraces. Sakura felt almost out of place in the midst of so many formally dressed people, though she took comfort in the fact that Syaoran, despite his white chou, was in a t-shirt and jeans.
" You came in a knick of time," Syaoran told everyone happily, " Right now it's the beginning of the Council Gathering, or as I like to call it, the Magic Festival…although I probably shouldn't call it that anymore, considering." He paused. " You know, I never thought it sounded so corny before, but it does." He shrugged. " Anyway, it's sort of Harry Potter-ish, you have this separate town square where all magical beings gather and we hold diplomatic meetings that are really boring. But you can meet my friends! They come from all over the world and I go to school with some of them."
Syaoran's enthusiasm was contagious, and Sakura brightened at the prospect of meeting other magical people of her own age group. The youngsters Syaoran spoke of were easy to spot. For one thing they were all wearing t-shirts, tank tops, sweatpants, jeans, all casual and simple clothing. They gathered in a group to the far side of the courtyard where there were many willows and maples growing. Sakura had never seen so many different people in one place. There were short ones, ones that looked dwarfish, and tall ones like basketball players, pale ones, dark ones, so dark that they looked almost black, white ones that were as pale as snow, little ones, big ones, and all of them talked and laughed together like they were a big family. Japan was by no means ignorant of the different races out there, but few people were exposed in such a manner, and that did not count the magical beings that also collected in the square.
The African boy, tall with dark tight curls for hair and skin so dark his teeth and eyes looked like they were glowing in contrast, was the first one to greet Syaoran. He spoke in English, though with a thick accent, and slapped Syaoran on the arm.
" That your girlfriend?" He asked in Spanish, turning his friendly brown eyes to Sakura, who merely gaped at his dark form.
Syaoran grinned and said something in Cantonese, before switching abruptly to English. Eriol cocked an eyebrow.
" What are they saying?" Sakura asked.
" He's saying you're his girlfriend."
Sakura brightened. They had not actually made it official yet. For some reason, over the past few years it had always felt somewhat awkward to make it official, despite the fact that both knew the other loved them. Was Syaoran staying in Tomoeda now? But it can't be…he's still living with Chul, isn't he?
" Well, this is Antonio." Syaoran introduced. " He comes from Angola. He's a beastspeaker, more specifically, a land beastspeaker, so if you get any pets for some reason in the future and they happen to have four legs, he can talk to them for you."
" Haha," Sakura laughed, but she was wondering how on earth she was supposed to be able to communicate with this one.
" He can understand us too, since he's a land beastspeaker, although there are enchantments that I'm going to link you to later that allows you to understand everyone. Hey Antonio, you know where Marcus is?"
Antonio replied in a rather flat tone, and a tight smile. Syaoran groaned.
" You have drinks around here?" Eriol asked unexpectedly.
" Authentic champagne, from France. Giselle brought a whole bunch like she does every year and Marcus loves to take advantage of that."
Antonio said something, and Syaoran swiftly translated, " She's rich."
" Good lord." Eriol remarked. " How much champagne did this guy drink?"
" He can swallow the Nile. Don't ask." Syaoran winked at Sakura, something that made Sakura blush a deep red. " Ah well. All kinds of people here, as you know already."
" Ah." Eriol grinned. " I miss these kinds of gatherings. At length they became less enjoyable and more of a frustrating affair, but I remember the days when they were still exciting."
Syaoran laughed, and Sakura had a feeling she had a lot to get used to.
" Come, I still have to introduce you to the others. Guys, this is Kinomoto Sakura, she is the Card Mistress from Tomoeda, Japan. This is Hiirigizawa Eriol, Clow Reed, this is Yue—"
" Yue?" The children gasped collectively and stared in open awe. Syaoran was not joking when he implied Yue's reputation when he was taking Yue's pictures. To his credit, the guardian took the stares rather generously, though without comment. The children murmured to the effect that Syaoran was not lying when he said he knew Yue.
" Why do I get the feeling that Yue is more amazing to you guys than Clow Reed or Sakura?" Syaoran noted.
Whatever one of the girls said had Eriol grinning a little devilishly and Syaoran blushing beet red.
" Well that's your excuse." Syaoran protested rather adamantly, " What about you?" He turned to the guys.
The guys laughed and one remarked something that sounded suspiciously similar to what the girl said. Eriol's grin widened and Syaoran's color deepened.
" You people are hopeless."
" Great minds think alike," Eriol laughed, earning him the approval of many of the teenagers.
" I sense that the comments are made at my expense." Yue muttered.
" I think so too." Sakura agreed.
Syaoran went on with the introductions. " This is Kerberus, the Sun guardian," He was treated with less awe but more interest, since he was in his false form, " Ruby Moon, Spinel Sun, Daidouji Tomoyo, who by the way I have to thank in advance because she's going to have to make a lot of robes for me." At this both Sakura and Tomoyo looked curiously at him. " This is Yamazaki Takashi, a good friend of mine. And oh, the last two can't cast spells and if I catch you pulling any pranks they can't fend off," A bright spark shot up from Syaoran's index finger in warning.
The children did not seem that threatened, partly, perhaps, because they were all generally very amiable. The group ranged from about eight years old to twenty, with the little ones more interested in Kero and the older ones more interested in Yue. Syaoran then named his friends. It was actually a lot to take in.
" Lolz," Said one of them in English, a metalspeaker named Dmitry whose flaw could easily be recognized, " You'll be okay. Syaoran here has a lot of friends." At Sakura's expression once she understood him, he once again exclaimed, " Rofl."
Eriol stared at him, barely managing to contain his mirth. " How often do you instant message?" He asked.
" Not often. But I play online rpg's. You play Wow?"
Eriol's mirth escaped him. " No."
Elementals apparently had a lot of queer folk, including one that Syaoran had named Gregor and warned to be a pervert and apparently being a windspeaker made it a bit worse. There was another one, Adiba, a Pakistani earthspeaker whose accent when she spoke was so thick that even with the spell Syaoran had a hard time understanding her. According to Eriol she was speaking English, like most others, since apparently she needed to practice. There was also a firespeaker, a Filipino girl others called Bulanadi who liked to smoke anything that was flammable. If Syaoran was at all disturbed by the fact that she was a firespeaker, he did not show it.
" Smoking is bad for you." He told Sakura gravely. " Unless you're made of fire to begin with. In which case smoking is really good for you, even if it's bad for others. You can see why we have a hard time discouraging her from this habit. It just does not seem logical to try in her case, and the nice thing is there's no second hand smoking since she's pretty greedy in that regard and just absorbs anything crusty in the air."
Besides her habit, Bulanadi also seemed chronically depressed, a subject Syaoran touched slightly upon but did not elaborate on. Sakura figured she could ask later.
After these hurried introductions, Syaoran led Sakura and the rest of his Japanese friends to the tall collections of buildings built specifically for those attending the festival to stay for the duration of the months. The festival was notably a rather huge affair, and is often someplace else, normally Europe and America and China, since such places had more variety of groups. This was the first year in how many centuries that the festival was taking place in Korea.
Not that it mattered. Apparently all those who attend the festival have an easy time of making it to the occasion. And wherever the festival took place, the natives and the guests had an easier time of creating buildings and halls to accommodate everyone.
" But you're going to have to share rooms. You okay with that?" Syaoran asked. " You and Tomoyo can share a room, unless you want to be with Yue?"
Blushing, Sakura muttered that she wanted to hang out with Tomoyo.
" Well," Syaoran turned to the others, " I take Takashi-san as my roommate, in case anyone gets any ideas on him. I need to go take care of some things though, so my room is right there and you go unpack."
So far the group had seen no sign of Chul, or Matt, though Ritsuko came shortly afterwards.
" Hi everyone!" She greeted brightly, and gave everyone a hug, including Kero. " Long time no see!"
" How are you?" Sakura asked.
" I'm doing well. This is the first time you attended the festival?"
" Hai." Sakura nodded.
" Un, we're going to have to hook you up with Marcus. Once he's sober." Ritsuko rolled her eyes. " Then you'd have no problem communicating with anyone here. It even lasts outside the festival so it's really worth the while. Where did Syaoran go?"
" Don't know." Yukito was adjusting his glasses, having transformed into his false form to save energy, " He said he had to take care of a few things."
" Oh that." Ritsuko's face fell, but brightened almost immediately afterwards, " Well, did he introduce you to everyone at least?"
Sakura gave her an expression of distress. " Hai."
Ritsuko laughed. " He's popular around here, but don't worry, he'll take care of you guys. Settle in and come down, food's almost ready."
" Food?!" Predictably, Kero was the first to perk up. Yukito was not far behind. " Food? Where's food?"
" It's not ready yet," Ritsuko laughed, " Just settle in and I'll call you when it's ready!"
Kero grinned like a fool while they unpacked.
" I wonder what Syaoran-san meant when he said I was supposed to make robes for him." Tomoyo looked at Sakura.
" You don't want to?" Kero asked.
" It's not that. It's just...he's never asked me for that kind of thing before. And where am I supposed to get the materials?"
" I'm assuming he'll provide you with those." Sakura told her.
" Hm." For some reason Tomoyo seemed less enthusiastic about this than she usually would.
In the other room Eriol looked at Nakuru and Yukito.
" Ritsuko already claimed me as her roommate." Nakuru looked at Yukito. " Is it just me or is this whole affair very strange."
" Why did Syaoran need a roommate?" Eriol asked Yukito. " It's one thing to say that perhaps he is reserving a space for our sake, but I get the feeling that somehow he should be rooming with Chul. Who by the way, we never saw on our way here."
" He is growing up." Nakuru shrugged carelessly. " Fourteen-year-old, turning fifteen in about a month. I imagine he would not be interested in relying so much on his father figure."
" That does not seem right though." Yukito mentioned, " He adores Chul, I doubt he would mind, not to mention the frequent phone calls he has been getting while in Tomoeda. It almost seemed like Chul is keeping a tighter leash on him this year."
" Chul has been calling him?" Eriol asked.
" Hai." Yukito nodded emphatically. " Every hour, unless it's past ten. But once, every hour, and Syaoran always picks up, in a hurry since, well, he never said any call could wait."
Eriol was skeptical. " Are you certain?" Somehow he doubted Chul would be so overprotective. Especially since Syaoran had gone on trips on his own before, visiting Eriol and Kaho in England and Ichiro in America.
" At first we did not notice." Yukito told him. " But after a while, it would ring during dinner, it would ring...anywhere. For a child whose parent is so clingy, Syaoran is putting up with that very well. Which makes the situation even more bizarre. Why would Chul be keeping such close tabs and then let Syaoran room with another?"
" It's Yamazaki-san." Eriol pointed out. " There is nothing he could do to Syaoran, not to mention we are all close friends. Perhaps here Chul finds it easier to let Syaoran loose a little?"
" Maybe." Even Nakuru was a little concerned now." We should ask him later."
" Un." Yukito agreed, and when Nakuru left they went back to unpacking.