X
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Meadowhill
Terra
XX
The walk was silent.
Leanna glanced at the Courier for what felt like the tenth time. They had been walking for about two hours, and she had not heard a single word in that time.
In fact, she couldn't even hear his footsteps, she could clearly see his feet making contact with the ground every step he took, but it simply made no sound, as if he wasn't there at all. She wanted to say something, to ask him more questions about both himself and where he came from, but she simply didn't know how begin the conversation.
The Courier noticed Leanna's strange behavior, and glanced at her. She looked conflicted, as if she wanted to do something, but couldn't figure out how to do so. The Courier turned back towards the road ahead, and thought about everything that had happened in the past 3 hours. He still felt a little doubtful about Leanna's claims of magic, but he couldn't deny the evidence all around him. The strange lands, Leanna's gauntlet, which he still needed to ask her about, and the curious, blue creature he had encountered in Meadowhill.
The brains would have a field day once he told them of this place.
Speaking of the brains, the Courier thought about whether or not to return to the Big Empty any time soon. He still wanted to explore this land, if only to learn how to best exploit it for the people of New Vegas. He decided to put those thoughts on hold, he still had only gotten to explore a small portion of the land, and he would like to see everything it had to offer.
The soft plopping sound coming from behind him reminded him of his other traveling companion. The pango, for some reason, decided to come along on their trip to the nearest village. Now that Six thought about it, he didn't actually know why the pango cared about them at all.
He decided to ask Leanna, "Leanna."
The sound of his voice broke Leanna from her thoughts. "Hm? Oh, what is it?" she questioned.
Six glanced back at the pango, still hopping along after them. "Why is he following us?" he asked.
Leanna smiled. He really was clueless wasn't he? But that was easily forgivable, seeing as he wasn't even from one of the kingdoms. "pangos are attracted to magical energy," she stated, "Here, watch."
Leanna stopped and held out her manipulator for the pango, but he simply hopped past her and stopped on top of the Courier's boot. The Courier looked down at the creature nuzzling into his leg.
"Poi Poi! Poi…" the pango said as he looked up at the Courier, grinning widely.
The Courier looked from the pango resting on his boot, to Leanna's manipulator, then to Leanna herself, raising an eyebrow in question.
Leanna's cheeks reddened in embarrassment. She could practically feel the raised eyebrow from behind Six's lenses.
"I-I don't understand." she stammered, "pango are attracted to magical energy, he should've hopped right into my hand." Leanna brought her hand to her chin, "Unless…" Leanna went silent, deeply thinking.
The Courier simply stood there, staring intently at her. He obviously didn't have the same knowledge when it came to "magic" and "magical creatures", so he just waited for her to come to whatever conclusion she would, and stood in silence.
Without warning, Leanna suddenly looked up with a grin and walked closer to Six, "He wasn't following us!" she stated, smile growing, "He's following you!"
The Courier continued to stare, waiting for an explanation.
Leanna finally realized their close proximity, blushed, and took a step back. "My readings showed me that you're full of magical energy. As far as the pango is concerned, you're a buffet."
The Courier nodded in understanding. He looked down at the pango on his boot, who's face crinkled into a smile.
"Poi poi!" exclaimed the pango, who then leapt into the air, reaching Six's upper thigh. The Courier raised a brow in curiosity at the creature.
"Poi!" stated the pango, and leapt high again.
Leanna giggled, "I think he's tired of hopping."
The Courier nodded. It made sense that the small creature would tire so quickly when attempting to keep pace with them. The Courier reached down and gently grasped the pango, who he then placed on his left pauldron.
Leanna giggled at the sight, before reaching out with a finger and stroking the pango, who chirrups contentedly. Leanna's smile broadened, before clearing her throat and attempting to put on a more serious expression when she noticed Six's stare.
Six thought this was as good a time as any to ask about her combat capabilities, especially her unknown ranged attack.
"Leanna." Six addressed Leanna.
Leanna glanced at Six. "Yes?" she asked.
The Courier looked over at her, while still continuing down the road in pace with her. "In Meadowhill, you managed to attack me even though you were out of melee range. How?"
A sheepish grin made its way onto her face as she rubbed her forearm in slight embarrassment. She remembered sending a powerful gust of wind at Six when she saw him aiming his "gun" at the pango. "Oh, that? I used this." she raised her manipulator, "This is a magic manipulator, or more accurately," she aimed the manipulator's palm upwards, and a rotating ball of wind appeared in her palm. "a wind magic manipulator."
Six's mind was static.
He just watched a woman control wind with her hands.
Now, admittedly, that wasn't nearly as strange as some of the other things he had experienced in the Mojave, but it was still shocking to discover that magic was actually a thing.
The Courier lightly shook his head, and decided not to think too hard about it. While what Leanna had just done was definitely strange, it explained how she had attacked him earlier. It was likely that she simply sent a strong gust of wind towards him when she noticed him threatening the pango. It also explained why she had her manipulator extended towards him when she had attacked him.
"All mages have manipulators," she continued. "It's how we use energy to interact with the elements around us."
The Courier nodded, that meant that there were more people with magical abilities, and if his experience told him anything, it was that not all of them were as pure or as friendly as Leanna.
He continued to think about what had happened in Meadowhill, and realized he had no idea why Leanna was even out there in the first place.
He decided to ask. "Why were you out there?"
Leanna blinked in confusion. "Out where?" she asked.
"In Meadowhill." Six replied.
Leanna's eyes lit up, "Oh! There have been rumors of high energy readings around Meadowhill so I was sent to investigate," she explained, "I had already checked out the surrounding area and there'd been no clear source of for all that excess energy… until today."
Six pondered on her explanation. Could that be why the Transportalponder Mk II malfunctioned? He wasn't sure, he would ask Dr. 8 if he knew anything about it when he returned to the Think Tank.
The Courier realized that the "until today" part of her explanation was directed towards him.
"But I had only been in the field for a couple of minutes before you found me." he said.
Leanna seemed to think for a second, before replying, "Hmm, you might be a byproduct of whatever created the energy spike in the first place." she replied, " I'm not sure what could've created it though. I haven't seen readings of that level before." she stated, "The Mage Academy should be able to help explain."
There it was again. The Mage Academy. Now, Six was pretty sure he knew what a mage was, from what Leanna had explained to him, it sounded like a mage was a user of magic, utilizing a magic manipulator to bend the elements to their will. From that explanation, he could assume that the Mage Academy taught people how to use their manipulators, their magic, magical history, etc. That was the rational explanation, at least. Although, since he was dealing with magic, all rationality was instantly thrown into a blender, so he wasn't so sure.
The conversation lulled to a close.
Six listened to the sounds of nature, enjoying the peaceful atmosphere and admiring his surroundings. So much vegetation in one place anywhere near the Mojave was unheard of, so seeing it here, in all it's natural beauty, was definitely an experience that the Courier would not be forgetting any time soon.
After a few more peaceful minutes, Leanna cleared her throat. "So, where exactly are you from?" she asked.
The Courier thought about what he could tell her, but saw no harm in telling her where he was from. As long as he left how he got here a mystery, then he was sure it was fine.
"A place called the Mojave." replied the Courier.
"Where is that?" she asked.
"Western North America." Six replied.
Leanna frowned and scratched her neck. "I'm a little ashamed to say I've never heard of that place… Where is it?"
The Courier blinked in confusion. She had never heard of North America? Had her people simply forgotten about the other continents? The Courier looked at her attire. Considering that they used swords and magic, it wasn't very surprising that that might be the case.
"Earth." the Courier replied flatly.
Leanna's frown deepened, "'Earth'?" she asked.
What.
The Courier furrowed his brow and stared at her. How could she not know the name of her own planet? Unless…
"Where are we?" Six asked.
Leanna looked at him in confusion, "In Meadowhill?"
"Where is that?" Six asked.
"In the kingdom of Havengarde, of course." she replied, raising a brow.
"And where is Havengarde?" he asked.
Leanna crossed her arms under her bosom. "In the land of Esaria." she replied.
"And what is Esaria a part of?" he asked.
"Terra, of course." she replied.
Six frowned.
It was as he thought. He wasn't in some untouched haven on a dead world, he was on a different planet entirely. That explained a lot of the things he had experienced here. The abundance of vegetation, the strange blue creature resting on his pauldron, the technological level of the inhabitants, the magic. But, with those answers, came a great many questions. How did a malfunction in the Transportalponder MK II bring him here? Why Meadowhill specifically? Leanna had mentioned that there were strange magical energy influxes in the area, did that have something to do with his appearance? He wasn't sure, and had no way to immediately answer those questions. The Mage Academy was his best shot at getting answers.
Six looked over at Leanna's confused expression. "I am not of Terra, I am of Earth." he replied.
Leanna paused as his words sunk in. Then she gasped.
"Do you mean that you're not from Terra?" she asked.
"From what I've experienced so far, I don't think so." Six replied.
Leanna's expression became concerned. "How did you get here?" she asked.
The Courier knew he couldn't tell her about the Think Tank, or anything having to do with The Big Empty. So he settled on feigned ignorance.
Six shrugged. "That's what I'm hoping the Mage Academy can tell me." he replied.
Leanna frowned, "Right, but I mean, how did you come to Meadowhill specifically? Do you remember anything before you were in the field?" she questioned.
The Courier nodded.
Leanna looked thoughtful, "Hm, well, at least we aren't dealing with a case of amnesia." she said.
Six almost snorted in amusement at how ironic that was.
The conversation lapses back into a peaceful silence, Leanna looking thoughtful.
"Poi!"
The pango slips off of Six's pauldron and he carefully catches him, before placing him back on.
Leanna looked over and grinned. "You were trying to get a good look at our friend here, weren't you?" she asked the pango.
The pango nodded.
Leanna clasped her hands behind her back. "Looks like someone got a little too adventurous and lost his footing!"
"...poi"
A small, amused smile plays at Six's neutral expression as Leanna giggles. Once Six made sure the pango was secure on his pauldron, they continued walking.
XXX
The slowly setting sun bathed the surrounding trees in a soft glow.
The village's gates were in sight.
The Courier was slightly surprised at the village's size. He had figured it would only be a couple of small shops and maybe a market, not a bustling town.
Leanna grinned as they entered the village, "Here we are! Meadowhill Village." she said.
Six nodded, and observed the village. There were a large assortment of shops lining the main street, with a crowd of people heading in either direction.
Leanna began walking forward. "Let's continue. We can rest at the inn tonight."
They both begin walking up the street, towards what Six assumed was the inn. He subtly looked around at the people crowding the streets, going about their own business. They barely spared Leanna a glance, but stopped what they were doing entirely and openly stared at him. He glanced at Leanna, and noticed how uncomfortable she looked.
Leanna looked over at him. "Hey, Six? Do you want to want to run by one of the stores and buy a new outfit? I don't think we want to draw any attention to ourselves." she asked.
The Courier shook his head. Not only was he unwilling to change out of his Elite Riot Gear, but he also didn't have any of the local currency. And if he wanted to get anything done in this world, he would need money.
And he knew exactly how to attain some.
Leanna frowned at Six's reponse, but decided it wasn't worth the hassle to attempt to convince him to change. They were leaving town tomorrow anyways.
They finally approached a large building with "Meadowhill Inn" in big letters across the front.
Just as Leanna is about to enter, the Courier cleared his throat. "Leanna." he said.
Leanna stopped and turned to face him. "Yeah?" she asked.
"Do you know where the bank is?" Six asked, observing some of the passer-bys.
Leanna's expression changed to one of confusion, before her eyes widened in shock. "Six! You're not planning on robbing the bank are you!?" she loudly exclaimed. She then realized how loudly she had spoken, and blushed brightly. Luckily, it seemed no one had heard her outburst.
The Courier stared at her. "No, I was looking to exchange some goods for local currency." he calmly stated.
The blush on Leanna's face faded, before she nodded in understanding, before she pointed down further down the street. "The bank should be down the street and to the left at the first turn. You can't miss it." she said.
The Courier looked to the pango still resting on his pauldron. He gently lifted him off and handed him to Leanna, who's smile grew as she stroked the pango in her arms.
The Courier nodded, before turning. "I'll be back." he said, then he began walking towards where Leanna had instructed him.
Following Leanna's instructions, Six ended up in front of a large building with tall, ornate pearl pillars at the front. As he entered, he noticed several armed guards around each entry and exit.
The Courier observed the guards. They were all wearing the same set of bulky, metallic armor with a silver and black shortsword in their scabbards.
If worst came to worst, he could easily take them all out.
He was confident that his masterful barter skills wouldn't fail him, but it always helped to have a backup plan.
The bank teller at the window was slouching on the counter behind the glass, reading a book. He didn't seem to notice the Couriers approach, nor did he seem to notice Six staring at him.
Six cleared his throat.
The teller lazily looked up at him, not at all intimidated by the Couriers visage.
"Hello, welcome to Meadowhill Bank, how may I help you?" the bank teller dully asked, as if reading from a script.
Now that he had the teller's attention, Six spoke, "I would like to make an exchange."
The teller sighed and rolled his eyes, as if he had been through this a thousand times before. "If you wish to exchange goods for gold coins, then plea-" the teller was interrupted by two loud impacts on the counter in front of him, and his jaw dropped.
Before him sat two large, shiny gold bars. The bank teller was speechless. He was practically salivating at the sight of the priceless metal, before he regained his bearings.
He looked around suspiciously to check for onlookers, but nobody seemingly noticed the loud noise.
The teller looked back at the Courier, a serious look on his face. "How much do you want for them?" he asked.
Six allowed a small smirk to grow on his expression. "How much do you have?" he asked neutrally.
The teller looked around once more, before quickly getting up and rushing to a door to his left.
The Courier patiently waited for the teller to return. Now, most would think shadily trading solid bars of gold in the open would be questionable at best, but Six was not most people. He was sure that the teller would come back with a very hefty amount of gold coins.
Greed was a very powerful motivator, after all.
Soon, the teller burst through the door, dragging two very large sacks with him. The jingle of the coins inside was music to Six's ears.
The teller glanced around nervously, then fixed the Courier with a very serious look. "Tell no one." he firmly stated.
The Courier nodded, and pushed the gold bars across the counter. Only when the bars were safely within the teller's grasp, did he shove the two bags to Six. The Courier easily picked the two sacks up and weighed them. He nodded once again when he was sure it was enough, and dematerialized them.
When the teller saw the two sacks of gold coins vanish, his eyes slightly widened, before attributing the feat to magical bullshit. He quickly shoved the two bars into a sack by his feet, and returned to acting bored.
The teller looked back at Six, who was sorting through his Pip-Boy. "Thank you for your business. Have a nice day." he said in the same bored tone as before.
The Courier looked to him and nodded, before making his way out of the bank.
He was now 100,000 gold coins richer.
When the Courier exited the bank, he noticed that the sun had completely set. He made his way back to the inn. When he entered, he saw Leanna sitting at one of the crude tables, with the pango sat on the table, eating a bowl of some kind of stew.
There were a multitude of other patrons, mostly men who sat alone, nursing a tankard of what the Courier assumed was ale.
The Courier approached Leanna, and sat across from her.
As soon as he entered her line of sight, she jumped from her seat. "Six! You're back!" She said with a bright smile.
The pango began to jump excitedly. "Poi! Poi!"
Six was a little taken aback at how excited they were to see him. He nodded his head at them in acknowledgement.
"I said I would return." Six replied.
Leanna sat back down, and resumed eating with a smile upon her face. "What took you so long?" she asked after taking a bite of her stew.
The Courier glanced around the inn, keeping an eye out for any suspicious characters. "I was negotiating." he said in his usual neutral tone.
Leanna looked at him, waiting for an explanation. When all she received was a blank stare, she decided to speak. "Well, how much did you get?" she asked.
In response, the Courier materialized a large sack, which jingled as it hit the bench next to Six.
Leanna's eyes widened in shock, both at the fact that Six had just pulled a sack of money out of thin air, but also that he had managed to get so much money.
Six noticed some of the other patrons staring. He reached into the sack and took a hand full of gold coins, then placed them in his duster. He dematerialized the sack and looked back at Leanna, who appeared to be even more shocked over the bag vanishing.
Leanna looked at the Courier in astonishment. "What kind of magic was that?" she asked.
Six shook his head. "It wasn't magic." he gestured to his Pip-Boy, "it's technology."
Leanna looked at the wrist-mounted device in wonder. If such a small thing could do that, then what else could the things in the Mojave do?
She simply shook her head to clear her thoughts, causing her blonde hair to sway in the process, drawing the attention of some of the men in the inn. Leanna's expression brightened before she reached into her pouch and pulled out a key. "Here's the key to your room, it's right next to mine." she said as she held the key out to him.
The Courier stared at her for a moment. "How much?" he asked her.
Leanna frowned, "How much what?" she asked.
Six reached into his jacket to retrieve the gold coins he had just stored there. "How much did the rooms cost?" he questioned.
Leanna looked confused. "The rooms were 20 gold coins per night each. Why?"
The Courier pulled out a hand full of gold coins and set them in front of Leanna, 40 gold coins exactly.
Leanna looked confused for a moment, before realization dawned on her. "You don't have to pay me back." she said, "It's no big deal."
The Courier shook his head. "No, you've done much more to help me than that. Paying for both of our rooms is the least I can do to repay you." He stated, staring directly at her.
Leanna looked at Six for a moment, as her cheeks turned a light pink. A small, happy smile broke out on her face. "Thank you, Six." she said as she brushed a lock of hair behind her ear.
The Courier nodded, and stood from his seat. "I'm turning in for the night." he said as he began to turn, "Goodnight."
The pango hopped after him. "Poi Poi!"
The Courier turned to the pango, and reached out to place him on his pauldron.
Leanna watched as Six ascended the stairs to the second floor, pango resting on his left pauldron. Her smile grew slightly as they disappeared from sight.
She didn't know how or why he had ended up in Meadowhill, but she was glad he did.
Six opened the door to his room.
He looked around, noting the lack of decoration. It was no Lucky 38, but he was fine with it.
The pango hopped off his shoulder and began hopping around the room, before landing at the foot of the bed and snuggling into the sheets.
The Courier considered changing into something more comfortable, but decided comfort wasn't worth the vulnerability that would bring.
Still clad in his Elite Riot Gear, Six lay down on the bed, and fell into a light slumber.
XXX