Treasure Hunting

Chapter 3

A/N: This story is unraveling so well! And to think it started with a silly Creative Writing assignment! Oh, and I graduated high school guys! Yay! More time for fan fiction writing! Anyways, on with the show.

"Once upon a time..."

"No, that won't work."

"A long time ago, there was..."

"No, that doesn't sound right either."

"There once was a girl from the Esper realm..."

"Ah! That doesn't go well either! Why is this so difficult?" Terra set her pencil down and leaned back in her chair. Her favorite scented candles were not doing their job that night; she was not relaxed at all! She sighed. Letting her head lull back over the wooden chair, and closed her eyes. The heady aroma of apple blossoms had filled the room, and mixed with the vanilla smoke from her candles she bought in town. So far, nothing was working to help her start the Returner's storybook. Terra wanted it to sound like a fairy tale, with magic, monsters, Espers, and the bad guys getting in the way and making life miserable.

But the mage realized that would be quite challenging if she did not even know where to begin. She thought perhaps to start with her awakening in Arvis's home in Narshe, and go from there with remembering things, but that could get confusing. She thought to start with Emperor Gestahl pilfering her away from her home, and using her as a weapon, but there would still be a lot to explain all at once.

"Do all writers have these problems?" She asked herself, voice muted, seeming to intermingle with the light smokey haze. She at least had a title down.

"Treasure Hunting."

Terra thought that title would look splendid printed on the cover of a book, but she had not thought of a reason why she fancied it other than that.

She stood up, pushed her chair back into place, and roamed over to the open window. Kohlingen was a very beautiful town at nighttime because of all the large oak, maple, and dogwood trees towering above. They seemed to create tunnels of leaves and branches over the roads and abodes. At night, the stars twinkled brilliantly between the branches, looking like little jewels or droplets of water.

A loud crash came from the pub, disturbing the tranquil air, followed by a well-known yelp. Locke bounded out of the building, shouting obscenities with Edgar trailing behind with a water-bucket.

"Hold still! Hold still!" The king exclaimed, and tossed the water onto the thief. Now drenched, Locke started laughing like mad, but grasped his lap.

Odd.

Terra, slightly put off by this exhibit, waved a hand to Edgar, hoping to get a response.

"Edgar? Come here please," She said raising her voice so they could hear. The monarch saw her after a moment, and staggered over to the lady as if she were some high priestess. His eyes had a certain glint to them, and his mouth was turned up in a grin.

"Yesss, m'lady?" He purred, trying to get his voice to drip seductively; a technique he tries with beautiful ladies. Terra had not heard him speak to her like that in ages, mostly because of her disinterest.

"What in the heavens just happened? Why did you throw water on Locke like that?" She asked, trying to disregard his sappy looking eyebrow movements.

The king grinned broader, and responded, "He spilled some of his hot cider on his lap, knocked over a pedestrian and a bar stool, then ran outside. I, thankfully, threw water on him to cool the burn so to speak."

"Oh, I see. What sort of cider are they selling tonight, Edgar?" Terra raised her nose, trying to sniff out a specific scent on the king's breath.

"The loveliest kind my dear! It makes you perk right up!" And with that, he bowed, barely missing the window-ledge with his forehead, and quote "Skedaddled" back to the pub, dragging Locke behind him.

"Oh those two!" The mint-haired lady huffed, crossing her arms.

"I thought they were supposed to be out looking for that silly Shiva's Plume." Another sigh left her pink lips, her face felt a little warm after Edgar speaking to her like that. He always did have a tone that made her blush, that bedroom tone as Setzer called it. The small mage ruffled her hair in dismay, before blowing out her candles and flopping on to her bed with a "Wumph!" of the feather blankets. She curled up, making a cocoon of comforters and sheets before burrowing her face into the chocobo feather pillows and falling into a dreamless sleep.

The rest of the night was quiet, except for laughter from the pub, and Terra did not even wake up when Relm stomped in after having an encounter with the honey-dripping king. The little artist kicked off her slippers and made her own nest of blankets, with grumbling curses thrown in.

The next morning at breakfast, Edgar and Locke came in and requested several glasses of water for their headaches before sitting down in the red cushioned booth where Terra and Relm were seated. The waitress that morning was a girl of about fifteen, and eyed Terra oddly when she brought the men's water pitcher and two glasses on a tray. The mage had learned to ignore people's stares, and continued to nibble her toast with strawberry jam without noticing a thing.

The thief poured himself a glass and drank greedily while clutching his pounding temples.

"Ya know, they have special herbs for hangovers," Relm smiling into a big buttered roll, "Setzer kept a whole cabinet full of them on the Blackjack."

"Well young lady, I find that a few good glasses of water clears up my vexations. I've tried those herbs before and they never worked for me," Edgar replied eloquently.

"Just sayin'," Relm munched, scattering a few bread crumbs on the table.

"So Terra, what'd you do last night while we were gone?" Locke asked between gulps.

The mage glanced up from her hands, which were busy smearing jam onto another slice of toast.

"Oh, um," She sat down the knife carefully, "I was thinking about working on a book. A storybook about the Returners. I tried writing last night, but I didn't know where to start."

"That's a wonderful idea Terra!" Relm chirped. Edgar smiled at the mage from behind his water glass.

"I have an notion where you could start Terra," The king said, catching her gaze softly.

"Where?"

"I think we all need to take a trip to South Figaro. There are some old friends who could help add to the story."

"You mean Arcell, Henley, and Sasha right?" Locke asked with an elbow on the table.

"Yes my friends! I think it will be a good opportunity to catch up, and maybe listening to their stories will help Terra with her writing."

"Good idea man! Let's get Setzer to come by and pick us up."

"Nah, I wanna travel the plains and go through Figaro. That airship is so stuffy," Relm interrupted, still chewing on her breakfast roll.

"I agree with Relm actually, it's been awhile since we've journeyed on foot. I used to love wandering the tall grasses with you guys," Terra said, smiling at the memories of whispering to the plants.

"Yeah! I never even really got to travel like that because of that silly airship. Wandering by myself after the cataclysm doesn't count though," Relm smiled up at Terra as she was speaking.

Locke clapped his hands together, emitting dust from his old gloves, "Alright it's settled! We're going to South Figaro!"

Several hours later, Terra was packing a chocobo with their bags in front of the Inn while Edgar and Relm were buying provisions. Locke went to his old house, dragging a large trunk behind him so he could drop it off and travel lighter. It seemed that he had forgotten all about his Shiva Plume in all the excitement.

After the mage fastened the last buckle to secure Relm's art hoard, the thief ran up with a single leather travel bag with keys jingling off his shoulders.

"Hey Terra! So you said the title was "Treasure Hunting" right? Well I thought of the neatest reason why! It's because we're going to collect the Returner's stories, searching for the histories right? Then that means that the stories are treasures!"

A smile spread across Terra's face. Locke was right, they were going treasure hunting for some of the most precious tales, which were more valuable than any gem.