(Whoot another chappy! This one wont have much action sorry, I'm going to try to work on character development between my new char and Ken.)
Disclaimer: I do not own Legend of Dragoon, I only own Ken, Melandy, and the plotline I am using.
Chapter 4 : The City of Flowers
The daylight flooded into the inn room as Ken stirred from his sleep turning to the right of his bed facing opposite of the wall. About 10 feet away sat another small bed, which lay empty as Ken sat up quickly reaching for his sword ready to –
"I'm right here. I like to wake up early to watch the sun." A softer voice reached him as he turned to the small window where his female companion was sitting on a chair looking out the window.
"I just figured something might have happened. I mean I'm pretty sure someone had recognized you."
With a sigh Melandy turned away from the window towards Ken. "Most people know that my father had a daughter, but never saw me. I'm sure word will be sent here soon about my disappearance, as well as missing posters so we should leave fast. I still have a good deal of gold left so we should be able to buy tickets on a ferry that will take us to Mille Sesau."
"Lucky I met up with a princess. I dropped most of my money back home, but even all of it would only be about a tenth of what you have."
"Yea yea, I'm right your poor I get it. Put those on when I'm done." Melandy said waving him off pointing to a set of clothes to his right. "Your last set is pretty torn up, and the fabric is different from what's human made, I brought myself some clothes top to blend in a little easier, you out! Ladies first to change!" She said shoving Ken out with his clothes in hand as he sleepily looked at the door that was just closed in his face.
"…Huh?"
-5 minutes later-----------------
"All done! Come on in now!" Ken sighed as Melandy's voice rang out clearly through the door as he stepped in. On Melandy's bed he could see the dress she was wearing when he met her and looking towards her he took in her new look.
Melandy was now wearing a white button up blouse with short sleeves which was engraved with yellow on the edges of the sleeves, she was also wearing a light blue skirt, reaching up to her knees that had white linen on it. Her bow was next to the dress, with a quiver of arrows, completely filled up. Her hair was now tied back in a ponytail, a golden bangle keeping it in place, and before she reached for her bow and quiver she put on two brown gloves.
"Wow you look … just wow.." Ken said while Melandy turned a little red at the compliment before Ken finished. "…But can you actually fight? I mean are you sure your not just makin - Never mind your good I'm sorry." He changed mid-sentence as Melandy had picked up her bow and launched two arrows, one hitting next to his head sticking into the door and another sailing right next to his leg.
"Jerk. Get changed." She shot a glare at him before walking out the room to let him change again.
Ken sighed and rolled his eyes. Was everyone in the human world so damned moody?
5 minutes later -----------------------
Melandy sighed as she sat on one of the stools in the lower level of the Inn having just finished her meal, a small platter of food resting across from her, the steam slowly drifting away as it waited for her companion to descend the stairs.
'Really needs to learn some manners…' She thought as the creaking of stairs brought her out of her trance to look at her companion in his new attire. Ken was now wearing a blue pair of jeans and brown leather shoes. His upper attire consisted of a white t-shirt and a blue jean jacket. His hilt had been replaced by a brown leather hilt and he even had a glove that matched Melandy's however it had yellow lining along the outer edge. He walked over to Melandy quickly spotting her and sat across from her eyeing the meal on the plate.
"So…"
"I brought It for you, so just eat."
"You know what you really are the best." Ken said gratefully as he started to eat the food while glancing at Melandy, who unrolled a map, making a circle on the Country titled Tiberoa.
"This is where we are. I managed to buy ferry tickets while you were getting changed. It's an express so we'll be heading straight to Mille Sesau, we'll head to the port city of Denin, it was recently constructed, so there shouldn't be too many people there, and it has a straight path through the forest, to the capital where we can pretty much avoid anyone due to the large crowds." While speaking she made an X at the two destinations, and a line drawing their planned path.
"The ferry leaves in 30 minutes, so we have time to stock up on some items and such. I'm really tired of doing the shopping for both of us so here." She said pulling out a much smaller sack compared to hers, which jingled as Ken picked it up. "You should be able to buy what you need I'll meet you at the ferry." Almost as soon as she finished did her eyes widen and she turned around yelling at an older man who ran out of the Inn.
"Pervert! He just grabbed my ass!"
"…Where do you keep your gold again?"
"It's tied to the back of my skir.….Crap! It's gone do you think he?!"
"Nah I prefer the he felt you up. Of course he stole it!" Ken sat up knocking the chair over and grabbed the other bag before running towards the door the thief fled through Melandy following close behind as the older men in the Inn looked at each other confused.
Melandy pushed through the door into one of the flower filled streets of Donau, the sun having already risen and a small number of people walking back and forth through the colorful block, vendors already setting up. Looking left and right she could see nothing of the thief that took her gold.
'Damnit! That leaves us with only a small amount of gold left, I doubt we'll be able to last off of such a small amount…' Her train of thought was disturbed as Ken lightly smacked her on the back.
"Come on babe this way!" He called out, already a fair distance, weaving through a number of people as he ran towards the docks.
"Babe!? I'm gonna kick your ass AND his ass!" A woman to her right glared at her and let out a mutter about young girls having no decency as Melandy pursued the half wingly moving slightly slower so her skirt didn't fly up. Only two blocks later, near a stone archway leading to the docks she found him leaning against a wall that was next to a dimly lit alleyway. Before she opened her mouth he was already speaking.
"I figured it would help you move faster. Which it did. I saw the guy run in here." He quickly pulled his sword out while she stared at him. "What?"
"Your not actually thinking about…. Killing them are you..?"
"If they don't give our stuff back, we're going to have to fight them. It's just something we need to get used to…" However, even he looked a little unsure about this the grip on his sword loosening as he led the way into the alleyway, Melandy following closely behind.
'Am I traveling with a killer?! He's prepared to kill another human! But why? No one deserves to die…' As she walked along pondering these thoughts she walked right into Ken who suddenly stopped holding spot.
"What the hell is your problem?" She was shushed by his hand clamping down on her mouth as he made a motion for her to listen.
"Hey ! Jim check this out! Got a nice little sack of gold off this rich girl back in the Inn."
"Nice catch here Bill." A gruff voice replied while a large door slammed from nearby and curses and a woman's screaming was added to the environment, edging closer, the Two could see a bald man standing on a crate who was wearing a bronze armor and had a claw on one hand. This was the man with the gruff voice, Jim. Standing across from them in a brown trench coat was their thief, Bill.
"Jackson hold the woman down damn it!" A short man with a red bandana and bronze armor called to a pudgy man who was holding a young girl who had bruises along her face, her clothing torn. Jackson spoke up in a squeaky voice.
"Sorry Pete. She's a tough one. We'll set her straight wont we?" At this Jim let out a chuckle while the others eyed their catch.
"Melandy, I cant get to that guy without him having time to use the girl as a hostage…you need to hit him." Ken whispered sharply to the girl behind him
'Wh-…what?! But I cant…I cant kill somebody…'
"Look I know you might want to neither do I. But I had to kill one of these bandit's when I first left my home. They attacked me and it was the only thing I can do to defend myself. Now you need to fight these guys and save that girl! It's the only way!" Ken realized at the end of his sentence his words had some effect as he heard the string of the bow move and an arrow appeared in the eye of Jackson as he dropped backwards the girl being released who now ran off a different alleyway.
"What the fuck?"
"Shit! I'll get her!" Pete called out running towards the alleyway, before feeling weightless and then nothing at all.
Jim and Bill stared at the boy who had just dashed out an alleyway, cutting off Pete's right foot before thrusting a blade through his head and had now turned to them. As Bill started to speak he realized he had a sudden sharp pain in his chest. Looking down he could see an arrow sticking out and he fell backwards with a look of surprise etched permanently upon his face.
"So … who are you kids?" Jim grunted out, not at all phased by the deaths of his companion, and crushing an arrow Melandy had sent towards his head with the claw as she stepped out of the Shadows. "Some brats playing hero..? You messed with the wrong people." Jim stepped back his muscular form taking up a large portion of the circular center they were in as he raised the claw up ready to fight.
Ken raised his blade in reply and stepped forward quickly swinging his sword in a downward stroke which Jim expertly blocked with the claw and slugged Ken across the face sending him into the alley wall as he kneed him in the stomach. When he went to slam him on the back of the head three arrows soared towards him, his claw moving up to block all three, a fatal mistake it seemed.
Ken ran his sword into the shoulder of the man, before stepping off on him and back flipping to a safer distance pulling his sword out. Looking back the bigger man only let out a grunt before resuming battle position while Ken spit out some blood to the side of the alley.
"Pretty quick moves… JUST DIE!!" Jim roared out as he charged Melandy firing off another arrow. "Same trick wont work twi-" His charge ended as the arrow pierced him. One in the forehead, the other in the throat.
"How...." He gurgled out as blood spilled, seeing the last moment flash before his eyes. The arrow sailed through the air and Ken dashed in front of it, cutting it in half, both halves completely missing his claw as they pierced him. He cracked a smile as he fell to the floor.
'Genius..' And with that he was dead, his blood and his companions making a pool around their corpses.
Melandy stared at the bodies of the dead thieves as she strapped the bow onto her back. "Is it okay to have killed them..?"
"We had to… they took our stuff and you saw what they were about to do." Ken replied cleaning off the blood from his blade using the clothes of the dead.
"We couldn't have just knocked them out or something..?" Melandy stood pressed against one of the alley walls looking at Ken as he pulled the bag full of their money, and took the gold from the other pockets.
"I'm not a killer… I didn't want to kill these guys either but it's either kill or be killed… I've only killed once before, but I know that if we would have let them live they would've continued. It was our only choice. You need to be prepared to kill…the outside world isn't as friendly as I, no We thought it was.." Finished with his task Ken returned the sack of gold to Melandy's open hand keeping the extra gold he found on the thieves.
"If it was needed… I suppose I could live with it a little better.." She muttered still looking shaken as she walked through the same alleyway they came from. Exiting the alleyway the two turned towards one of the many shops and mutually decided to enter.
Inside the shop was a large number of items. Browsing through them Ken could tell what most of them did. "Alright let's get a couple of these potions, angel prayers, and antidotes." He pulled out several of each item before discarding them on the counter, giving the gold to a smiling clerk as he separated them equally between the two. Walking out of the shop Melandy turned towards him.
"So how did you know which of those items were which without asking? All I saw were different colored liquids."
The two walked through the archway leading into docks, navigating through the larger crowds as the day had progressed. Passing by vendors Ken responded.
"Back home we had a pretty large item shop. I used to spend a lot of time there examining the items that other's had gotten whenever they went outside. I remembered the potions were the blue liquid, Angel's Prayers were silver and sparkled, and Antidotes were a more greenish liquid. There were a couple of others but non I recognized in the shop." Reaching the end of the street, the two descended a large flight of stairs as the smell of the ocean reached their nostrils.
"I've never actually seen the ocean before." The two said at the same time before simultaneously bursting out laughing as they looked at eachother.
"My city is in the center of the desert." Ken said still smiling while Melandy replied.
"Mine is right next to the Barrens." She stepped forward first and they looked at the numerous ships in front of them before seeing the majestic view of the sea. It was glistening in the sunlight, and there were a couple of ships moving back and forth to and from Donau.
"So that's the sea…"
"That's our ship over there!" Melandy said pointing to a ship called the S.S Likka. It was a medium sized vessel, cargo containers on the back of the white ship. Towards the head of the ship was a large door which most likely led below into the ship and towards the quarters. There were many crew members dressed in similar white clothing with blue lining running back and forth securing packages onto the vessel. There were also a small number of passengers getting onto the ship and disappearing behind the door.
"It leaves in about 10 minutes right?" Ken asked going towards the sides where there was a small park in a circular formation stood some benches and there were flowers of different colors around. "Let's just rest for a second." Melandy nodded sitting on a bench opposite of Ken who also took a seat as he leaned back.
"So…tell me about yourself?"
"What's there to tell?"
"Loads of things. Come on you had a life, I want to know who I'm walking around with."
Melandy nodded before speaking up. "Well… You already know, I'm the princess of this country, Tiberoa. I was born in Fletz and raised there. When I was younger I remember going to Serdio, It's another Country south of here." She clarified seeing Ken's confused face. "There I went to the city of Bale, it really is majestic, and are royal families are really close, at one point they were even related."
"I thought your father didn't let you out..?"
"This was before my mother died. One day her heart just gave up on her about three years ago. Some people believed it was foul play, my mother was the kindest lady so I don't know why anyone would want to kill her. A lot of people think it was some type of illness."
"Which do you think it was?"
"I … don't know…" Melandy said looking down. "Well after she died dad wanted to make sure nothing happened to me. He always had six guards watching me at a time. I managed to escape when they were switching shifts, I slipped right out one of the side entrances and ended up in the barrens. I've never even been to Donau and it's always been right next to my city sad isn't it?" She looked around her eyes shining as she looked at the amazing view.
"Yea… It really is nice to see different places."
"What about you? What's your story?"
"Well… I was raised mainly in my second home, the wingly city of Ulara."
"I've heard about it! The dragoons in the second dragon campaign visited there, but its location was never revealed. Wait, second home? What happened to your first?" Melandy was pretty excited until she got a more confused look.
"It's a good thing Ulara's location was never revealed. My first home was the forest of winglies which was burned down when I was six. I don't know who my father is, I don't remember him ever being around, but my mom was killed in the destruction of the forest. She's the person I got the wingly blood from. I only lived because I was outside of the forest when it was burned. A search party from Ulara rescued me and a couple of others. I was raised in Ulara since then, but there was a lot of fear, and the younger winglies were forbidden outside access. One night, the exit was left unguarded and I snuck out, managed to find my ways to the barrens and well, you know the rest."
"You don't have a family? Who took care of you?"
"The leader of the winglies in Ulara, Charlie, she made sure there was a home for ourselves, but we basically took care of ourselves. It wasn't that bad, we learned how to fight and use even a bit of magic. I'm guessing your mom taught you how to fight?"
"No, one thing im grateful to my father for was archery lessons." The shrill wound of the whistle on the boat blowing cut off their conversation signaling it would be departing in just a moment. The two teens snapped to attention and started walking towards the ferry.
"Next stop Denin right?"
"And from there we can just enjoy life. Sounds too good to be true huh?" Melandy responded as the two started walking up the ramp to the deck of the ship looking off into the endless ocean, that lead to lands they had only dreamt about.
