Aleisha Kirby Normal Aleisha Kirby 5 56 2005-10-03T22:01:00Z 2005-12-02T04:12:00Z 1 7397 42166 personal 351 98 49465 10.2625 BestFit Clean Clean MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 A
mano stopped the SUV and pulled over to the side of the unpaved dirt path that was all Gaea had for "roads" at this point in history. Urhg... swampland."Shit!" Amano swore. "What the hell was that?"
I looked over at him; um, hello… he was there the last time I got kidnapped by that damned beam of light!
"I don't know what it's called," I said. "But have you ever seen those science fiction shows where people get moved around by lasers and stuff? It works something like that."
Yeah, this beam of light just goes around randomly kidnapping my ass every so often... me and my whole family. I had to make a joke out of it, because if I didn't laugh I was going to cry. There was some tiny chibified version of me in the back of my mind kicking and screaming 'I don't wanna be in a war!'
"That's really..." Yukari trailed off. "Ummmm guys...?"
"What babe?" Amano asked, tossing the now-useless map of the place we were going over his shoulder. I'll bet he was wondering what the hell he was supposed to do now. What was it with men and maps? Personally I was praying that I wouldn't get bowled over by some freaky-ass vision... I hate those things and they always seem to get stronger and freakier here on Gaea.
"Don't look now, but..."
You know when they say 'don't look now' and it means that you should always do the opposite? I looked.
"Oh bugger," I muttered.
I had spent some time on Gaea, more than anyone else I knew of had, and in that time I'd seen a lot of things that were very, very weird; this thing topped them all. I wasn't even certain where to begin describing it. In the dim light that managed to filter through the dense forestry and dank, humid air of the swamp it glistened black, furthermore it was shiny as though it was wet somehow. The thing had no discernable gender or even a real shape as it rose from the water with a wet, sucking 'shlep' sound and towered before us in a hulk of mud and swamp weeds.
That's odd, I thought as my second Sight kicked in of its own accord (it did that more often than I was really comfortable with). The thing didn't have even the faintest of auras like any living being exuded, the entirety of its body glowed a malevolent red. It was alive somehow, but this creature was not a normal living being. At least that was what my intuition told me, and I had the sinking feeling in my gut that I was going to know more about it than I wanted to in the fullness of time.
"Now might be a good time to use those powers of yours to figure a way out of this," Yukari said urgently.
"Relax babe," Amano said, slamming the joy-stick out of neutral and pressing petal to metal. "Swamp-thing over there can possibly keep up with this baby on full burn. Hitomi, you just provide us with directions."
I closed my eyes and centered my vision on the pendant in my mind. It bonged softly to the left.
"Turn left now!" I called.
"But there's no-"
"Now!" I insisted. There was a road there, I could see it. Amano obeyed, letting out a whoop as his baby hit the mud and stagnant water with a brown splash that went up all around us. A t least one of us was having fun; as for me I had that fear-for-my-life thing going on.
"Alright!" he cried. "This is more like it!"
He switched out the CD in his player and then started turning some three-sixties, doughnuts and fishtales as the mud gave way before us. Yukari was laughing wildly as we were nearly tossed out of our seats by the bumps and holes he took going well over the speed limit in any land except the autobahn; and they were just having a grand old time.
What the hell? We're being chased by a nine-hundred pound swamp-beast like out of some sixties B-movie and he's playing "Cotton Eyed Joe" on his stereo and acting like were out to go muddin'.
Well... it was pretty fun. I searched around with my senses and couldn't feel the thing anywhere. It must have left to find slower, easier prey. I breathed a sigh of relief and joined in on the good times my friends were having. We were bound to get somewhere eventually...
I will not worry, I will not worry, I will not worry, I chanted mantra-like, under my breath. Bad things happened when I worried so the key was to just take it slow, just relax and concentrate on the little things. Mudding was lots of fun; laugh, be crazy, enjoy myself. Don't think about how I've been kidnapped from my happy safe little life by powers beyond my control that likely wanted me for a purpose I probably wasn't going to like at all. Don't think, just be.
Amano was going ninety through the mud when we found the road I'd foreseen. Suddenly I got another flash of vision, we were going to come across someone soon... someone I knew in fact. How convenient.
And so, it begins, I thought dourly.
"Hey!" I called. "Slow down Amano, there's someone up there!"
"I don't see any-" he turned around the bend in the road and abruptly hit the breaks.
"Told you," I said.
Swampy had apparently accumulated more friends from somewhere for there was an entire hunting party slogging around in the swamps looking for it. It popped up in front of us, lucky, lucky us. Someone armed with a spear shouted
"There sir! There it is!" Amano swerved out of the way of a pack of charging humans, armed with spears and nets and swords. I didn't know how I knew, but I could just tell that somehow, those weren't going to help.
"Be careful Allen!" a voice cried from somewhere out among the trees. Its worried, yet cultured tones sounded unmistakably like Millerna. It figured that if there was trouble to be had in the swamps, that Allen was somewhere nearby, and where Allen went, so too went Millerna.
"Princess Millerna! I thought I told you to stay back at the fort!" Allen called back over his shoulder while he went charging in there.
Oh yeah right, like that's going to stop her! I thought wryly.
There was the sound of men screaming a charge to battle somewhere in the woods nearby followed by an inhuman roaring, baying sound; like a cross between a cat-scream and the sound of wolves calling over the mountains. The swamp creature was shlep-shlepping through the swamps, right toward our vehicle with us inside of it. The men who were likely being led by Allen in a hunt to bring it down were being carried on its enormous back and shoulders like so much insignificant baggage. They were giving their all, stabbing at it with knives, swords and spears from all sides but it ignored them, apparently unfazed by the attacks.
"We can't even slow it down boss!" I heard Gaddes yell from somewhere up ahead. He was obviously talking to Allen.
"Amano," I said. "I'm getting out, stay here until I get back."
"But you can't-" he started. I had already opened the door. Bracing myself to ruin my new travel-flip-flops by immersing them in the muck I could only hope that there were no poisonous snakes or something else nasty and dangerous in the water. I jumped in and ran out towards the sound of the rampaging swamp monster.
And why am I running into danger? I wondered at myself. Given my distaste for having to risk life and limb I should be running the other way. But as ever, if I did other people would be hurt and my first instinct was to answer the higher calling. Maybe I should stop listening to that particular instinct, it always seemed to land me in trouble.
The swamp-beastie was huge, bigger than when I had seen it from a distance; easily three or four times the height of a man and several times that in bulk it was shaped like a big black blob of stagnant water hulking about on two tree-trunk-like legs. In the center of what I might have called its forehead if it had anything resembling a real head and not just a lump in the center of two weedy upper appendages there was a strange highly concentrated red light. It swatted at the men attacking it like I might swat away a fly or at least a very large flying pony. All around it brave warriors were taking short flights through the air to land in the stinking water of the swamp.
It looked straight at me, glowing a strange red in my Sight. I didn't know what it was or where it had come from but my instincts were telling me that I was here to do something about it. The only problem was... I didn't know what.
What is that thing? I wondered. Where did it come from?
I don't know how I knew, but I was utterly certain that this creature was not natural in this strange world. Was it some kind of construct like I had read in my fantasy novels, some kind of creature created to do the bidding of an evil mage? (Did Gaea even have magic or mages?) If so, what was it's purpose?
Speculate later Hitomi, I ordered myself. I wasn't certain why it had been so desperate to pursue me Amano and Yukari so suddenly; but I had a feeling that it had somehow been drawn to us. I didn't know why, but there was something I needed to test.
"Hey!" I cried over at it. "Hey! Hey hey!" I waved my arms above my head, trying to distract it. It perked and twisted its weedy bulk to peer over at me. I wasn't even sure it had eyes, but it seemed to be looking at me. I ran off to the side and it swatted the rest of the men away, ignored the SUV with Yukari and Amano in it, and started pursuing me.
Just as I suspected, I thought. It's me that it wants. But why?
If it ate humans there were plenty of hunters nearby for it to consume. Why was it interested in me in particular? i hoped I hadn't been brought back to Gaea on the wish of some swamp-monster to become its next meal.
There was a particular spot in my Sight, a place where the red glow concentrated. I kept running but slogging through knee-deep muck was slowing me down and that creature was in its own element as it pursued me. I was a fast runner but swamp-thing was gaining on me quickly.
In a panic, because i didn't know what else to do when I saw it move under my feet and rear up directly in front of me, I froze solid where I stood, threw my hands up and screamed. Something inside of me, something I hadn't even known was there until that moment, welled up from inside my chest. There was a strange feeling all around me, like the hot air was crackling with static and tense with building pressure like just before a storm. Without knowing how I did it, I pushed it at the swamp-creature. The thing let out a low bass howl of anger and perhaps pain that thrummed through my chest and seemed to make the water around me shiver.
Then all was still. The swamp thing sank back into the water without even a ripple, like it had suddenly become one with the water, and the swamp was returned to silence. I looked around me in bewilderment.
Did that just happen? I wondered. I looked down at myself; I was still in one piece. I could hear, distantly, the groans and moans of pain of the hunting party. I slogged back toward the sound of people, perhaps we could get direction to the nearest town from Allen. I climbed back into the safety of the SUV with Yukari and Amano and told them to go forward slowly, we'd be encountering the rest of the group on the road ahead.
Sure enough after not too many moments we came upon the straggling remains of the hunting party, plus a few extra's.
At the side of the road was a small caravan consisting of a rat man, a tall guy wearing a robe and sunglasses with a pony-tail, a pretty blonde wearing pink frills, another pretty blonde with short pale hair and a dazed look about her wearing more pink frills, and yet another tall blonde (but this one was a man) wearing poofy sleeves and a long great-coat. They were all staring at the vehicle with various expressions on their faces; Allen looked wary, Millerna looked amazed and intrigued and Dryden looked... avaricious and intrigued. Well, I couldn't blame them, they were all being pulled along by horse drawn carriages still. Hey, wait a minute... shouldn't they be riding in one of Drydens massive floating barges or at the very least the Crusade that belonged to Allen?
Uhg! Man this swamp reeked! I had swamp-juice all over me. I was smelly now and sticky from the humid, damp, fetid air that seemed to close around me like a hot sweaty glove. Well, you know what they say; it's not the heat, it's the humidity. I felt like I'd just walked into a turkish sauna.
"Hitomi?" Millerna spoke first, breaking the shocked silence.
"In the flesh, unfortunately," I grumbled. Stupid pillar! If I ever found the jack-ass responsible for the invention of the damned thing I was going to rip him a new one! I plucked a little at my halter-top, if the heat could get any worse I didn't want to know.
Think about small things. Worry about the larger problems when you actually have something to worry about, I counseled myself.
"How did you...?" Allen started. "And where did it...?"
"I'm not sure myself," I replied to both of his questions. "I take it that you and your soldiers were out here hunting that thing?"
"Yes," Allen said. "We've been trying to find it for days. This is our fifth skirmish with that thing and we haven't come anywhere close to beating it. What did you do to it?"
"I don't know," I said. "What was that thing?"
"We don't know," Allen said. "We've gotten reports from outlying villages, isolated cot-holds and farms all across Asturia of strange monsters for the past few months or so. This one attacked Castello Fortress a month ago. No-one knows anything about them except that they aren't natural beasts of the wild."
"Great, just great," I muttered. It looked like I had arrived just in time for yet another fun traipse across the map. I felt like cursing and kicking at things, instead I sighed heavily. I looked over at Dryden.
"And what are you doing here?" I asked him. "I thought you were going to become a merchant."
"I heard the rumors about the strange creatures that no-one else could explain so naturally I came to verify it for myself and observe them for study."
"You know for a smart guy, that's not very bright," Allen said to him. Dryden shrugged.
"Hey, when it's in the pursuit of new knowledge I can be as tenacious as the next idiot," here he looked pointedly at Allen. "At least I didn't have the brilliant idea about attacking it."
"Would you prefer that I left it loose to terrorize Asturian citizens?" Allen gritted in reply.
"No, but I would have advised against charging in there without studying it first," Dryden riposted. I exchanged a speaking glance with Millerna, we'd better bust this up before they started to fight. I think Dryden just got a kick out of pushing all of Allen's buttons. Of course... Allen did kinda have a lot of buttons, and not just on his coat.
"Gentlemen," Millerna said, using her best princess-diplomat voice. "I'm sure you both make very valid arguments, but they are both, for the moment, moot ones. That swamp creature won't be seen by any of us for the rest of the day. We should each be getting back to our tasks."
"My apologies princess," Allen said stiffly, bowing to her.
"You guys need a ride?" I asked. "We can squeeze you in there, this thing's official capacity is seven and there's only three of us now."
"What are you-" Allen started, then he shook his head. "Never mind. Yes, your assistance is appreciated."
"Just let me pop up the seat... actually we have the back packed up now that I think about it, just a minute."
I popped back inside to talk with my friends about rearranging some things for company. They were naturally curious about what had happened and who my new friends were.
"Hitomi? What was all of that?" Yukari asked. "Do you know these people? And what was with that B-movie swamp thing?"
"I'm not sure about that thing, but these guys here are my friends from before. Would you mind if we gave them a lift?"
"Sure okay," Amano said. "But the blonde guy stays."
"Allen?" I said in confusion. "Why does everyone always pick on him?"
"He looks like he likes to stay at the YMCA if you know what I mean," Amano said. "And what's with that hair?"
"Amano, I hate to be the one to point this out to you," I said dryly. "But he looks exactly like you."
"No way babe," he said, running a finger though his darker locks. "I'm way better looking. Mister poofy-sleeves over there looks like the fifth village person."
"You guys be nice!" I exclaimed. "These are my friends."
"Okay, okay," Amano relented. "The babe-alicious blonde girl and the pale girl can stay." Yukari promptly leaned over and bit his ear.
"Ow!" Amano yelped, rubbing his injured lobe. "Babe!"
"That's right, I'm your only babe and don't you forget it!" Yukari said fiercely. I left them to their make-out fight and started arranging things for extra passengers.
Amano got out with me followed by Yukari and we popped the back open to remove the bags, hauled up the back-most seat, repacked the bags in the depression that had been occupied by the seat (and just about anywhere else we could fit stuff). Man this air smelled rank! And it was soo incredibly hot! I couldn't wait to get back into the air-conditioning!
Okay," I said after about ten minutes of rearranging in which we argued about the placement of necessities like the cooler of drinks and the box of munchies.
"Pile in gang, dibs on the window!" Amano climbed back up in the drivers seat, Yukari in the shotgun beside him, I grabbed the spot second row closest to the window, Millerna pulled in beside me the other girl (I didn't know her name yet) in beside her. Dryden and Allen got the back row squeezed next to where we'd stuffed the sleeping bags. I sighed in relief as the air conditioning slowly started to kick in and the air freshener clipped to it slowly got rid of that swamp-reek. Ah! Much better!
It had better not have been one of them that had wished me here just to give them a ride back to town... hey, where the hell was town anyway?
"So where are we going?" I asked as Amano started the engine up. Millerna winced at the music and covered her ears.
"Oh, sorry," I said. "Hey Yukari, change the CD!" My friend promptly popped out the muddin' track and popped in some vocal by Ayumi Hamasaki. By the look on Millerna's face it wasn't vast improvement.
"Freid," Millerna said in answer to my previous question. "Prince Chid is having a birthday celebration so I'm going to represent Asturia on my sister's request. Allen here agreed to accompany me and my Lady-in-Waiting Celena on the part of our journey that led through the dangerous swamps."
"Hey uh, I don't mean to be rude here," said Amano. "But could one of you just gimme directions so I can get going?"
"Oh, right," I said sheepishly. I closed my eyes and the pendant bonged straight ahead.
"Just keep going this way," I said. We all reached for something to hold onto as Amano took off. Celena stated out the window in rapt facination and remarked that this thing went fast. I was beginning to wonder if maybe the girl wasn't rowing with both oars in the water, still out of politeness I didn't say anything. Allen was the sensitive type.
"So you were traveling to Freid," I said. "And then what?"
"And then our party got attacked by that swamp monster. Then you showed up," Millerna said.
"What about you Dryden?" I asked. "How'd you wind up as part of our merry band of adventurers?"
"I was on my way back to Asturia from my recent travels in Egzardia with a few presents for Millerna... I don't have them now unfortunately for I'd love to be able to shower you with gifts, pearl of my heart."
This he said to Millerna of course. Her expression was priceless; torn between dismay and amusement.
"Nice," said Yukari. She nudged Amano; "How come you don't call me that?" I guffawed, I couldn't help it. Amano, calling Yukari by annoying long-winded nicknames was just too funny. He was more of a "babe" kind of guy. He was also quick-witted and swift to cover however.
"because if I had a pearl for every time my heart thought of you, thier value on the world market would be drastically under cut," he said. "A gem is most valuable in its scarcity."
"Economically speaking he's quite right," Dryden agreed. "But I have it on good authority that, in the principles of supply and demand, a lady's demand for compliments will always outweigh the readiness of the supply. Thus it is not scarcity that is a factor but the quality of the product and the readiness of delivery."
"Very sage," Amano called back. "But my daddy always told me that where there is a surplus of goods, demand for that good is less; therefore taking that principle into consideration, if an overstock of compliments is delivered then their value decreases."
"Oh good," Millerna muttered. "He's found a soulmate."
"Yukari and I had just finished hitting this out of the way Chinatown," I said. And then I was distracted by the femal need to share in our exploits about our favorite past-time.
"Ooh! We found some of the absolute cutest clothes, let me tell you girl. I found this china dress in my size in the most gorgeous pattern, and then I just had to get the purse to match it-"
"Well naturally," Yukari chimed in. "That dress was cute on you, but I like the red one with the gold lions on it."
"Not with my complexion honey, it looks way better on you," I said.
"You're right," Millerna added in. "You do look better in cooler colors... and... did you lighten your hair?"
"Oh yeah! It's my summer dye-job, you like it? Yukari and I went and got our highlights done at the salon earlier this week." I preened a little.
"Well anyway back to the shopping. So then there was this other stall that was selling these dresses and skirts from singapore for like, dirt cheap, I found some damned good bargains! There was this one dress there full length skirt and everything, tres fashinable, for only a thousand yen! If you went to the mall to buy that same dress, and I saw it on display like two months ago, it cost you four times that. And they had this one jewelry stall there... here, look at this adorable bracelet I found... five hundred yen! Can you believe it? I talked him down from eight hundred..."
"Hey... Amano was it?" Allen asked.
"Yeah?" Amano called back from up front.
"Do they put these straps back here as a courtesy for the purpose of a man being able to strangle himself with dignity when faced with just this situation?" Allen inquired.
The guys all laughed but I didn't see what was so funny. I mean, you'd think they'd be interested... guys liked hunting. There was no more challenging form of hunting than hunting for a good bargain.
Freid was hot and humid but thankfully it wasn't as bad as the swamp... at least it didn't smell. The rice paddies were a comfortingly familiar sight. As Amano pulled into the gates of Godashim, their capitol, I noted that it looked like they had repaired most of the damage from the war. The city was really beautiful now that I looked at it; very ancient looking. I wondered idly exactly how old Freid was and realized that for all the time I'd spent on Gaea I didn't actually know a whole lot about it.
Well, I consoled myself, there had been a war going on after all. I'd had other things to worry about. I got a small shiver running down my spine at the vague reminder of the visions I had suffered here in this country. For some reason I had gotten my worst of all visions here in Freid. There had been one in which I had divined the truth of a doppleganger (a shapeshifter that could steal another person's form) and then foresaw his horrible death. I had entered his mind (I fully blame the weird hypnotic incense he used on me) and was inside of it when I saw how he would die. I can only surmise that the shock and trauma of being with him as his life was squeezed from him somehow stopped my heart. I was pretty wigged out for days after that, it felt like no-one understood me. And as if that weren't bad enough a few days later when the real attacks began I got another vision. This one didn't kill me but it was pretty bad all the same. I saw the current Duke of Freid die; it was awful! I mean, it was raining blood! Blood! I shuddered again.
"Something wrong Hitomi?" Allen asked concernedly. It looked like he'd seen me shiver.
"Just some bad memories," I replied. "I think the surroundings just reminded me of the last time I was here."
"You haven't... you know, had any visions have you?" Allen sounded a little nervous. I couldn't blame him, I was nervous too. I seemed to get the strongest of my visions here in Freid for some reason and I wasn't sure why.
"No," I said. "No visions, thank heavens. Please, don't jinx it."
He smiled a little at this and left me to my thoughts. I stared out the window at the people staring back at us, or more accurately at the "horseless carriage" we rode in. There were monks everywhere in this place! Monks and guards. It seemed like Freid specialized in two things, the preisthood and the military. Suddenly I froze and that hot-cold-prickly feeling swamped over me. Dammit! Not another one!
I saw again that weird green sickly-glowing light exploding into the sky and spreading out everywhere like a creeping miasma. The Zone of Absolute Fortune. Then I saw the world with glowing pink ribbons of light like veins interlacing all over its surface suddenly twist, then turn green, then finally fade into this strange green fog. Then another vision flashed directly after the first one; it was an antique mirror. Its solid gold frame was encrusted with jewels and it shone in a beam of pure white light from overhead, engraved on the back of it was a strange symbol kinda like a bendy-looking Y over a circle. Suddenly my vision zoomed outwards and I saw a cave with water on the floor. Then my Vision zoomed outward again, looking like I was being dragged backwards at an incredible speed. My vision went down under the water and backwards out into the open sky where it paused just long enough for me to see a coastline with a clifface carved into the shape of a winged being. Then my vision zoomed backwards once more, moving at such speed that the landscape was nothing more than a flickering blur of sea, then river, then forest, then canyon and I found my sight locked on the city I had just entered.
At last my freaky powers turned off again and I was brought back to myself. I hated it when those Visions just seized me like that; I always felt tired and lightheaded afterwards!
I eyed Allen with disfavor and said
"You jinxed it."
"What did you see?" he asked me. "No fire or attacks this time, right?"
"None, thankfully," I answered, feeling rather cheerful once the dizziness passed.
"All I saw was something about the Zone of Absolute Fortune and a cave with a mirror in it."
"A mirror?" Allen said, suddenly looking interested. I rolled my eyes inwardly, was this guy a total vanity king or what? There was no way I was going all the way to the back of beyond to fetch this guy a new mirror, he could buy his own.
"Yeah," I answered. "A mirror."
"What did it look like?" he asked.
"About yea-big," I approximated with my hands. "Jewel encrusted gold with a funny mark on the back of it."
"What did the mark on the back look like?" Allen asked interestedly.
I took out the note pad from the seat pocket in front of me and a pencil I'd stowed in the side-compartment and drew my best approximation of the symbol for him.
Allen frowned at it, took my pencil (after first trying to figure out the little lead thing and having me demonstrate how the eraser worked and remarking on the ingeniousness of it) and made a few changes.
"Is that it?" he asked. I looked at it; he'd gotten it down perfectly!
"Yep, that's exactly what it looks like. Why the interest?"
"Freid is the nation that guards the power spot here on Gaea, the place with the closest connection to the well-spring of power that pervades Gaea and makes it thrive. The religion of Freid is Draconian worship and the symbol on its flag is very similar to the one you've shown me."
I made a gesture that said louder than words "and the point of all of this is...?"
"Well I can't be sure but I think you may have stumbled across a real find here."
"Huh?" I asked, suddenly interested.
"My father as you know was a very avid archeologist and in his search for the location of Atlantis he came across many tomes of research; histories, scholarly papers, and tomes about long lost artifacts and legendary objects lost to time. I was going through the library on my estate and it's crammed with the historical remnants of his obsession. Celena and I flipped through one on one evening not too long ago; a book about long lost artifacts here in Freid and it mentioned a mirror."
"It did?" I said, intrigued in spite of myself. Spending all of my time grubbing around in the dirt excavating long lost junk didn't normally sound like my cup of tea but this was staring to sound interesting to me.
"Ah yes!" Dryden said enthusiastically, glasses on and cheerful look on his face. He'd apparently been listening in on our conversation and decided to lend his expertise.
"The legendary Mirror of Truth!" he continued. He was certainly very enthused. His whole character was animated; of course for a scholar of history like I knew Dryden to be, something like this would be all over his alley.
"What's the Mirror of Truth?" I asked, knowing very well that he wanted me to ask.
"As Allen said, the Freidians worship the Draconians," Dryden said. "And have for as long as the country has been around. The Mirror of Truth is said to have been a gift from the Black Dragon Clan, a group of powerful and mysterious Draconians who created the world of Gaea and then disappeared from history, to the very first Duke of Freid. It is said that no-one can lie within the presence of the mirror, and that anyone looking into the mirror is shown the Self and soul within. There's another version that says that anyone looking in the mirror is shown what they will one day become. The story has it that one of the long ago Dukes was so shaken by what he saw in the mirror when he looked in it that he ordered the mirror locked away and buried for all time."
"Oh," I said. Privately I kinda couldn't blame him; lord knew that I spent a lot of my time wishing that I didn't know the things about other people and myself that my powers told me. Trust me on this one people; sometimes, ignorance really is bliss!
By this point Millerna was leaning over listening into the conversation as well. The girl loved adventures, and the farther it took her away from her princess duties in Asturia the happier she was about it. The fact she got to hang around with Allen was usually a bonus; but this time around she didn't seem as enthused about it as she had last I traveled with her. I kinda wondered if they were fighting. I didn't want to butt in this time, lord knew I had made enough of a mess of it last time but when I looked at that spread I'd done for her back-when it kinda did show that Allen wasn't right for her. Well, actually it had shown that she needed to be happy with herself before she could love someone else, but the cards had also hinted that Allen might not be the one to set her cap for if she wanted to achieve this.
"Well, it was kinda buried," I said. "It could be that Mirror of Truth, or maybe just a clever knock off. Who's to say?" I dug into the snack bag and grabbed a bag of chips.
"Hey, anyone want a snack?" I offered. "We have all different flavors."
Allen and Dryden both kinda stared at me like I'd grown a second head. I looked down at my tummy to see if maybe they were thinking I was a little too much on the hefty side to be snacking on greasy potato chips but decided that they were wrong; I was an active girl with a high metabolism I could eat this bag without any problems. There were advantages to being in track after all. I popped a crisp salty morsel in my mouth and crunched down hard on my guilt. Ah! Youth!
"We're talking about the possible recovery of an ancient artifact that has been lost for hundreds of years," Dryden said. "And all you want to know about is if anyone want some of your strange packaged trail rations?"
"What's this possible recovery?" I asked, munching on a few more chips and debating on whether I wanted to pop in a DVD into the portable DVD player. Distractions were good, denial was better. This was not happening to me, this was not happening to me, this was not happening to me… again.
"Well you said you saw it," Allen pointed out.
"Yeah so?" I asked.
"So don't you want to go and look for it?" Dryden pursued.
Somebody wanted to go and look for it, but it wasn't me!
"Not really, " I said disinterestedly. "I'm on vacation. Last time I was here all I ever seemed to do was get scary visions of fire and death, run screaming for my life, and get my ass hauled all over the damn place all the time. All I'm thinking of is finding a great spot to pop up camp and enjoy a nice leisurely vacation on the beach. I intend to spend my days tanning in the sun or playing in the water and my nights drinking and partying! Sorry guys, adventure or not, grubbing about in the dirt in the middle of no-where is not my idea of a pleasant vacation."
That was my story and I was sticking to it. No I did not want to be the savior of Gaea, no I did not want to have any more adventures, I just wanted to be normal (or at least as close to normal as I was ever likely to see). So I was not going to worry, I was not going to stress; I was going to kick back, chill out, and resume my vacation.
Dryden seemed to pause and think that one over, his fingers were tapping against each other in what I was probably later going to realize as his "plotting mannerism" and the look on his face was definitely calculating. He flashed me a billion watt "insurance salesperson smile" and said
"Adventuring doesn't have to be a chore. It looks like you and your friends are already well prepared for a nice camping trip with all of the amenities. With me and my new fleet at your disposal we could turn this little outing of yours into a really fun time. Just think of it... all of the amenities of civilization on board the Sea Rose at your disposal, waiters, a cook, servants to set up and tear down for you; you'll barely have to lift a finger just enjoy your vacation and lead us to the spot in the process."
Hmm, put that way...
"Hey guys, you hear all that?" I called up front to my two comrades.
"Yeah, he's pretty good," Amano called back. They were both looking for a space to park. I was beginning to wonder what we were going to do when this thing ran out of gas; I mean, it wasn't exactly like on earth where there was a gas-station everywhere. "Sounds like fun to me, I could go for an adventure or two."
Please be careful what you ask for, I thought, wincing inwardly. If there was one thing this world was good at, it was supplying adventures. In fact it was rather too good at supplying adventures; I'd had my fill and then some the last time I was here.
The fact that I was probably here for a reason was something I was assiduously going to ignore for as long as I could. Of course, this quest for the Mirror in my Vision and the fact that all of the right players had been oh-so-conveniently gathered in just the right place at just the right time was one more neon-bright indication that whatever purpose I had been dragged here to accomplish was probably already being set in motion. I was going to ignore that too.
I will not worry, I will not stress; I will just relax... Relax, because that was all I could really do now. Trying to fight the universe when it has a particular notion in mind for you was a lot like trying to argue with a rainstorm; you could scream at it until you were purple but you were still going to get wet. So just relax, all things in the fullness of time. I was not going to pull any bad futures into place; I wasn't even going to think about the future. Just breathe and concentrate on the now.
"How about you, Yukari?" I asked. "You up for it?"
"Hell yes!" she said. "Adventure, exploring a strange new world for ancient lost treasures... and I get my very own butler! What could be cooler than this?"
Where would I be without my cheerful, outgoing other half? Count on Yukari to find the bright side.
"Yeah," I said, finally starting to like the idea a little. "We'll be like those idle rich nobles in the eighteenth century who put up expeditions into egypt to discover the treasures of lost kings. Sip sherry while the hired men dig around in the dirt and more power to 'em!"
"That's the spirit!" said Dryden.
"Hey Millerna," I said, turning to her. "Are you coming?"
I could see her battle with temptation written plainly on her face. Whehter she'd admit it or not, Millerna loved adventure. She had a real adventurers spirit and she thrived on challenges; but she was also a princess and her sister Eries was always on her to act a little more ladylike.
"I really shouldn't..." she said with cautious reluctance.
"Why not?" Dryden questioned immediately. He saw the longing on her face too; and I'd bet a fair sum that said he'd do just about anything to keep her from being unhappy. Plus there was the added benefit that, since this was his venture, if he could find a way for Millerna to come along chances were that he'd also get to spend some time with her. Away from Allen.
"Well I'm only here as a diplomatic envoy; it wouldn't be doing my princessly duty if I suddenly blew that off to go artifact hunting," she said a little dejectedly.
"Oh you won't be blowing anything off," Dryden assured her. "Expeditions like this take a little time to plan anyway if your ships aren't fully stocked for a journey already. Mine just got back from one, so the convoy will need a little time to resupply here in Freid. You can meet up with your convoy, do your princessly duty by attending Chid's birthday gala, and then take a little time off for a side-trip with us. Bringing back a long-lost artifact to Freid will probably be seen as a sign of good luck or something and it could help you cement good relations here."
Millerna wavered visibly.
"I'm not so certain that it's a good idea for Princess Millerna to be exposed to possible danger," Allen spoke up. I was about to join Yukari in jeering at him but unfortunately I was born with the annoying ability to see both sides of an argument. Allen had the responsibility of the safety of his Princess in mind; it was his sworn duty to protect her (whether or not she might actually need it or not). Letting her go haring off to the back of beyond on some mad quest didn't sound condusive to that particular mission.
"She won't be in danger," Dryden argued.
"We don't know what's out there," Allen argued back.
"Boys!" I cut in. "She's a big girl. That means she gets to make up her own mind."
Dryden immediately backed off; probably because he already knew which way she was going to swing. Millerna might be big on her princess duty but at the same time I could almost feel her chafing at all of the restrictions and when push came to shove she was very very stubborn. Allens objection had probably cemented her desire to go haring off. I could almost see it on her face.
"As long as Dryden's right and it won't interfere with my princessly duty," she said. "I don't see anything wrong with shaving off a few days from my trip. I could depart a little early and then after we find the artifact I'll tell Eries that we have to stay a few days late to celebrate the mysterious recovery of a long lost treasure."
Dryden didn't bother to hide his smugness, and Allen scowled at him for it.
"I hope you know what you're doing," Allen muttered. Spoil sport.
"Oh relax," I said pushing on his shoulder a little. "Look, if it makes you feel better, we'll all let you go charging in there first. You can secure the area to make sure it's safe and then the rest of us will follow you."
Allen looked a little mollified by this. Not much mind you, but a little.
"Brother..." Celena said hesitantly, speaking for the first time since we'd started this merry little road trip. "I want to go too."
"No Celena," he said gently. "As much as I hate to deny you anything, it's too dangerous. You'll be safer here in Freid or back in Asturia."
The poor thing looked so crestfallen I decided to help the poor girl out.
"What's wrong with Celena that she can't come along?" I demanded. Attack first and keep the man off guard, that was the way to manipulating Allen Shezar.
"There's nothing wrong with her," Allen snapped. "I just don't want her coming along on a quest that could put her into danger."
"Well what if she stayed on board the ship?" I pursued, trying to buy some time so I could work on him. "She wouldn't be in danger then."
"She's not going!" Allen said stubbornly, with finality in his voice.
Oh but the poor man had reckoned without Millerna Sara Aston, Princess of Asturia.
"What do you mean she's not going?" Millerna demanded. "Of course she's going, I simply cannot do without my Lady in Waiting."
A bold-faced lie of course, Millerna did just fine for herself but it was Gang Up On Allen Day here in Freid so we women folks all sort of had it in for him. Yukari and I objected to the whole "women are delicate and need to be protected" chivalry thing he had going on; and Millerna probably did too even if she didn't realize it yet. Dryden... well there could be one or two reasons for him; he might be jealous, but I was just betting that he was the kind of guy who'd push at somebody just to see how far he could go with it.
"She's my sister!" Allen all but yelped. Poor guy, everyone was picking on him today.
"She's still my attendant Lady," Millerna said implacably. "She swore oaths to me for her duties just as you did yours."
Allen had this look on his face that just said "Et Tu Brute!" Poor man.
"I won't have her subjected to that kind of-"
"Your opinion, Allen, is not required."
Millerna cut him off. I stood in awe! Last time I was here Millerna would have agreed with Allen if he'd told her that the Mystic Moon was made of blue cheese.
"Celena is coming with me. I realize that my duty to her as her Princess is to keep her safe too and I assure you I take it seriously. I'll make sure she doesn't fall into danger."
He shut up. His mouth was hanging open in shock. Millerna was going to have to smooth things over with him later somehow or he was going to spend the entire trip sulking; he'd probably call it brooding, but we women all knew what it was.
"Besides," Millerna continued. "I don't see the harm in letting the girl have an outing with the rest of us."
An outing? An outing was a shopping trip to the bazaar, not an expedition into the wilds to retrieve an artifact from a cave that, if this was to be anything like Indiana Jones, was probably booby trapped.
"Hey!" Millerna said abruptly. "There's my caravan! Or at least the one that was sent ahead a week ago with gifts and neccesities."
The vehicle suddenly pulled into a little cul de sac alongside a whole string of wagons and carriages with that sea dragon and sword symbol on it.
"Good," said Amano. "I'm definately ready to stretch my legs."
"Me too," Yukari seconded.
Amano clicked the automatic lock button and pocketed his keys after we all clamored out of the vehicle. It did feel good to stretch out! Comfortable or not, there was only so much time a person could spend sitting in one position before no sitting position was comfortable anymore. People were staring at us, obviously wondering what kind of odd foreigners were traveling with their princess in a carriage that moved without horses. The chirp that the SUV gave when Amano pressed the lock button probably convinced at least some of them that it was alive somehow.
I suddenly felt very much like a curiosity or an exhibit at a zoo; people were staring at me! I hated being the center of attention especially the kind where I got those wide-eyed stares. I looked down at myself, I'd probably have an easier time of it if I didn't look so foreign. The loose cotton capris and tank top that I had worn to be comfortable during what was only supposed to be a road trip to the mountains looked ordinary enough from my perspective but I could tell by the sideways glances I was getting from passersby that they were not considered ordinary in Freid.
"Hey," Yukari said, looking over at me and touching my arm. She could always seem to sense when I was nervous.
"Hitomi don't be worried, we're not supposed to fit in. We're from another world entirely and the people gawking at us like a bunch of slack-jawed yokels..." It was clear from the way she had pitched her voice to carry that that last was for the curious onlookers. "...Are expecting to see something out of the ordinary. They'd be disappointed if they didn't."
"I feel like a monkey in a zoo," I said, trying to act nonchalant and failing utterly.
"If you can't stop them from staring then give them something to stare at," Yukari said, posing a little obviously. I couldn't help laughing at her for it. "Revel in your foreign-ness!"
Ah, cheerful, outgoing Yukari. Where would I be without her? She could take what was, for me, and unbearably discomforting situation and find the fun side about it.
"Doesn't this make you nervous at all?" I asked. "We're on another world entirely, far away from home and family. Doesn't that bother you?"
"Nope!" Yukari said cheerfully. "That just means I can get away with more stuff and my mom will never find out! Just imagine all the fun we can have, parties, bar-hopping..."
"We are above the legal drinking age here," I admitted a little reluctantly.
"No shit! Alright!" Amano cheered. Yukari, predictably joined in. I sighed a little inwardly. Those two got into enough of a "good time" while they were still below the age; It was going to be so much worse when they had all restrictions removed from them.
It's nice that they have something to look forward to, I told myself encouragingly. As for myself I was trying to ignore the nagging tightening sensation I had in my gut. The thought of being so far away from my home was a disturbing one for me. Despite the fact that I would be moving on to college soon and thus, out on my own, I had been counting on the fact that I would still be going home on vacations and taking frequently on the phone. Being so suddenly just cut off did not sit well with me.
Don't worry. Don't worry, don't worry, don't worry. Don't worry! I ordered myself, taking deep breaths to gain some calm. Thinking about how far away I was going to be was definitely out of the question; it made me nervous and when I got nervous on this world bad things happened.
Okay Hitomi, just go with the flow. Don't worry about anything. Be more like Yukari, find the bright side and concentrate on that.
I looked around us again. We'd apparently hit the trade center of the city because the streets were completely congested with loincloth-wrapped men hurrying this way and that, bearing goods or running unknown errands. It looked like the dock scene in the opening of Anna and the King. I stared hard for a moment at an actual rickshaw... complete with loincloth-wrapped man and a little monkey.
"Hey look Yukari!" I couldn't help pointing. "A rickshaw!" I reached into my purse and hauled out my digital camera for a picture.
"Oh! How quaint!" Yukari cried. "Hitomi get a picture of me in it!"
"Amano, get in beside her, I'll get you both," I said, holding up my camera. The two of them climbed in and I had to wait a few minutes in order to get a clear shot in all of the congestion. I managed two good ones. The man looked pretty puzzled when they climbed out and thanked him without wanting to go any where.
The Gaeans were naturally curious about my camera so I showed them how to zoom in and out and take pictures using the little screen and the button. I gathered everyone around for a quick picture to take home with me. I'd probably be taking a lot more of them in the course of events.
"Hitomi, are you coming with me?" Millerna asked, once the novelty of the camera wore off. "I know Chid would love to see you again."
"Sure," I said cheerfully. "As long as you've extended the invitation I'll take you up on it. I hadn't wanted to be rude by asking. I'd like to see Chid again too."
"I'll bet Chid isn't the one you're wishing to see," Allen said dryly with a significant look at me. He was talking about Van and we both knew it. Unfortunately, to my embarrasment, I completely blushed.
"Well..." I said shyly, rubbing the back of my neck.
I couldn't deny it; the thought of seeing my special someone had been hovering at the back of my mind with me studiously trying to ignore it. This world seemed to respond to my wishes and if it caught me at it I'd go up in that damned beam again. I was just going to concentrate all of my energies on enjoying myself and going with the flow; having as good a time as possible and seeing where it took me. And if it happened to take me to Fanelia, well...
I smiled to myself.
Thank-you everyone who has reviewed this story. F-zelda, Silver Blossom, Avelyn Lauren, and I want to give a big shout-out to Corran Nakatori (thanks for the tip about the rating) and Dying Plead (who has graciously offered to act as my beta). I hope you all enjoyed thischapter and know that there's going to be plenty more fun in the near future. As always, please read and review.
Nightheart.
