Chapter Five: A Peaceful Interlude

Radiata, Radiata City, September 20th, 1391 a.c.

There was no kitchen in the Swords and Silver Coins inn, so Quel had to settle for eating at a local restaurant in the city for his breakfast. Ham, or its equivalent, and eggs broke his fast admirably. Saida had left him a note on his door telling him she was out training with Achilles "in extreme conditions" and that if he needed her to come looking in the Cuatour region where she and Achilles would be training.

After eating his breakfast Quel took a meandering route towards the city's northern gate, the Faucon Gate, which led to the Cuatour region. On his way there he saw the girl who had brushed past him at the confessional the day before. She saw him at the same moment and a small grin briefly appeared on her features.

"Still praying for your sins?" she asked sarcastically.

"Any sins I've committed I bear on my own," Quel replied, a mirthless smile appearing on his face. "Still being rude to random strangers?" he asked sarcastically.

She didn't respond, so he continued on his way. "Be good to others girly!" he said over his shoulder, waving.

Leaving the city behind he found himself surrounded by a peaceful breeze and a glorious day. The weather was enchanting in the Cuatour region and Quel basked in it as he walked along the dirt road looking for Saida and Achilles. Everything was flat, with wide open spaces all about him. He found them at the base of a giant old tree on the tallest hilltop in the area.

They were wailing away at each other with their fists and feet, blows connecting with loud slamming sounds. They'd have many bruises in the morning from such a frenzied sparring match. Each warrior acquitted themselves admirably, their prowess and abilities evenly matched with one another. It was with quite a shock that he noticed they had weights strapped to their arms, legs and torsos.

They noticed Quel as he got close and halted their match, the small cloud of dust billowing around them was carried away on the breeze.

"Hi Quel!" Saida called happily. "Achilles here is showing me some new defense forms I hadn't heard of!"

"That's good news!" Quel called back, now approaching within normal speaking distance. "How are you two doing?"

"Fine," Saida said, glowing.

"She is quite the fierce opponent," Achilles said in his deep voice. He was the strongest of the warrior monks the Olacion Order had to boast about, not that they boasted. He is a monkmaster, head priest of the Olacion Order and Kain, the High Priest of the Order's personal bodyguard. Achilles looks mean spirited and scary but he is in fact quite kind hearted and gentle. He has skin that looks light purple, no hair to speak of aside from his huge blonde eyebrows and blonde muttonchop sideburns. Achilles was training Saida in all that he knew, hopefully increasing her monk abilities in healing, combat and chi techniques.

"Well I just came to check on you two," Quel said, turning to go walk back to the city.

"Wait a minute," Saida said, making Quel turn to look at her. "Do you want to spar with us?"

"That is a wonderful idea," Achilles said.

"I don't have the energy to spar with you both at the moment. Can we think of something else?"

Achilles and Saida gave each other a look. "I suppose you could sit and watch us." Achilles said slowly.

"Yeah, I don't mind." Saida said.

So Quel sat there and watched as they pummeled each other. Saida and Achilles did acrobatic flourishes with some of their moves, but for the most part they simply whaled on one another. When not fighting they alternated by doing different types of strengthening exercises. Achilles tried to increase her jumping ability, only to discover she already could jump three times as high as he could. Then he tried to increase her kicking and punching strength, only to discover she was much stronger than he was. Scratching his head and unsure of how to help her, his previous training with her only involving forms and techniques, Achilles took a break from training her to ponder his next course of action. Finally Achilles began asking her how many types of chi offensive and defensive techniques she knew. By this time Quel had begun to drift off to sleep. Sensing it was time to go he stood up and stretched, waving to Saida and Achilles. They were so focused on their training that they barely acknowledged his farewell with one of their own.

Quel left them behind on that hilltop and walked back to the city. He didn't have anything to do, so he chose to wander around and have a look at the city. Radiata City was one of the only places he truly loved to be and he rarely got to visit it. He spent his time taking in the sights, sounds and smells of the city, wandering around with no purpose in mind.

Quel was snoozing in front of the fountain in Vancoor Square in the Yellow Town of Sun and Glory. He had come here only to sit and relax, but had fallen asleep from his mini ordeal the night before. Afternoon sunlight suffused his body with a comforting warmth. He awoke with a start to realize someone was sitting next to him. He was further startled to realize it was the same young girl who had been rude to him twice, first at the confessional then in town earlier today. She was looking at him intently, some emotion in her eyes.

"Hey, I heard about you from Orotoroz," she said.

"You know Ortoroz?" Must be a Void member.

"Yeah, he's my boss," the girl stated.

"Ok, what do you want?" Quel asked her.

"I want to know more about you," she said. "Do you really have your own ship?"

"Yes I do," Quel said.

"Have you really traveled around the entire Circle?"

"Most of it anyway," he replied yawning.

"Are you always this honest?" she asked suspicious of him.

"Only when I'm talking to attractive women," Quel replied with another bleary eyed yawn. "Are you always this arrogant?"

"Only when I'm around irritating outlanders," she countered.

"I'm not a newcomer to Radiata."

"Well you're all the same, coming here and messing things up before you move on," she seemed inordinately peeved.

"You have any more questions you want to ask me?" he asked in exasperation.

"Yes," she said pensively. "When are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow or the day after maybe, why?"

The girl didn't reply and she furrowed her brow at him before walking away without saying another word.

"You're welcome kid!" he yelled after her retreating figure.

Quel watched her go then stretched and walked back to his inn. He found Saida resting in her room snoozing and left her there undisturbed. So much training had taken a toll on her body, even if she was an almighty Ctarl Ctarl. He went and took another small nap in his room. Later on after he had eaten dinner he found Saida sitting out in the street looking up at the castle. The sun had long since set and a chill was growing in the night air.

"It's a beautiful piece of architecture isn't it?" he remarked as he sat next to her.

"Yeah…" she said dreamily. "The Ctarl Ctarl's would make something ten times as big and give it a goddy façade."

Quel didn't know how to respond to that, so he changed the subject after a few seconds worth of silence passed.

"How is your training going?" he asked.

"It's over," she said offhandedly. "Achilles taught me all he could."

"Ah, that's too bad."

Saida turned and smiled at him. "Thanks for introducing me to Achilles."

Quel gave her a smile of his own. We smile a lot at each other, don't we? "Not a problem Saida, I was happy to introduce you to each other."

"It definitely paid off," she remarked flexing her left fist. "I have some ideas for a new technique that I'll need to hammer out."

"Cool," Quel said letting the conversation drift off into silence as they both gazed at the stars.

"Do you want to come with me tomorrow to pray at the shrine?" he asked.

"Sure," Saida replied. "A monk has to remain centered and prayer does center oneself."

"I see, well it will be good to have you along."

Saida blinked in surprise at this. "Why will it be good to have me along?" she asked coyly.

"Uh, because I like spending time with you?" Quel replied slowly.

"Oh," Saida said.

"Is that a bad thing?" Quel asked in surprise.

"Not at all," Saida said softly.

Quel looked over to notice she was smiling to herself. This time the smile was different from all of the others. He chose to remain quiet and sit with her in the cool night air gazing at the heavens. The moment was too delicate to break, under the pearly light of the waning moon and the thousand glittering of the uncountable stars. The sounds of the city echoed around them, faintly all about. Not long after that they both went to bed, bidding each other a good night and retreating into the solidarity of their sleeping minds.