She was pretty easy to find, sleeping right in the open! Didn't she know better than to do such a thing, exposing herself to all the potential threats? Then again, destroying the tree must've taken a lot out of her. He swung himself onto a tree some metres away from her. She looked pretty, with the flower petals about her…the pink flowers…sleepy…
Lass suddenly jolted back to his senses. Didn't flowers and petals usually fly with the wind instead of twirling in eccentric circles? And they also didn't come together into clusters or glow a strange pinkish light or…never mind. Whatever it was, it probably wasn't good. And it was nearing the elf. Thinking quickly, the thief carefully aimed two of his own kunai (non-special ones) at the mass of blossoms.
As the projectiles tore through the air, Lire's ears twitched, and her eyes snapped open a second later. Seeing the two kunai, she instinctively threw herself to the right, rolling away from the tree, although they were not aimed for her. Wide awake, she grabbed her bow and looked about. A bunch of cherry blossom petals were swirling about beside the spot she had been a moment ago. It was shining and…changing; solidifying. Wonder replacing confusion, she stepped towards it.
Lass jumped down from the tree, daggers at the ready. "It could be dangerous." Evidently, the kunai had no effect on the shining ball of petals.
"No…look." Whatever it was, Lire sensed that whatever it was, it had no malevolent presence. It was slowly taking on a humanoid form amid the mass of flowers, materializing into what looked like a little girl.
The blinding light faded, revealing just that: a small girl-like creature, slightly over a foot tall, floating in the air amidst pink Sakura petals. She was dressed in an elegant Asian-themed dress with very long sleeves. Her hair was pink, though the colour wasn't as vibrant as Amy's, and her eyes were a soft red. She'd have looked even prettier if she (or it) wasn't glaring daggers at Lass, who scowled back suspiciously.
"The spirit of the tree." Lire's eyes lit up; she loved anything related to spirits and fairies. "Hello." She said, cautiously stepping closer.
It tilted her head towards Lire, confused. Evidently it did not speak English.
"It can talk?" Lass asked, slightly intrigued. The spirit snapped back towards Lass, glowering at him.
"Not in the way of humans, I think. The more older and powerful ones could." She turned back to it and spoke, "Ietrand ië sathe forthinya reio? Yithil Lire ego." (You are the fairy spirit of this tree, yes? I am Lire.)
The tree-spirit turned, crimson eyes meeting green, and then bowed. "Geureh. Æ ego perya rauko esth hindedan ië no?" (Indeed. And I assume that idiot boy who tried to kill me is also with you?)
Finding that she was able to communicate with her with Elven language, she continued. "Haha, Terevamida afi…" (Haha, about that…)
Realizing that there was no danger, Lass sheathed his weapons and stepped back. To him, their conversation was nothing more than "sdfkghj", so he propped himself against a tree and waited. And waited. They weren't going to finish anytime soon, he thought. So he was surprised when Lire beckoned him to come after a few minutes, with the spirit eyeing him grudgingly but making no move to dissent. He came, wondering what this was all about.
"This is Saku, the fairy of this cherry tree. Say hello."
"It has a name?"
"Yes, she has a name. She says it's what the humans of this country named her flowers a long time ago. They called it Sakura, I think."
"Ah. Uh...hi." To Lire, "It doesn't like me."
She suppressed a smile. "I suppose anyone would if you tried to stab them."
"Er…"
"I told her that you didn't mean to harm her. Thanks for watching out for me, though."
"Right." He suddenly felt an interest to study the ground, feeling a bit embarrassed. Then he remembered, "Ah, Lire, I found this…" He reached into his pocket and took out the last Aithrelia. "Here…" He awkwardly held it out.
Her green eyes widened in shocked delight as she looked at the slightly rumpled flower as if it were a priceless treasure. "The Aithrelia…I thought they were all burned…how did you find it?"
"I just did."
"Of course." That was starting to become his catchphrase. Her hand reached out for it hesitantly at first, but then steadily closed over Lass's. "Thank you." She smiled, but it was a smile of genuine happiness. Lass nodded and simply looked at his hand, which Lire still held, feeling strange yet pleased. Realizing that she was holding his hand for almost too long, Lire quickly retracted her hand. "Thank you." She repeated, still beaming.
Whap!
Naturally, Saku didn't appreciate being ignored and having to watch this scene unfold before her eyes. Irritated, she had smacked the elf with her sleeve, demanding her attention. Lire complied and turned back to her. Again they talked for a while, and this time the thing was pointing at the flower, which looked somewhat droopy now, and Lire was nodding back, looking a bit morose. Lass frowned a bit; what were they talking about?
Apparently they had drawn to a conclusion, as the thing (Yes, Lass decided to call it the thing) gave an exasperated huff, and took the withered blossom into her hands– er, sleeves– and breathed onto it. Fwah…With a puff, five Sakura petals began to swirl around it, glowing a soft pink light, renewing the plant. It spun, twirled…and the flower was fixed, shimmering with life and health. But it wasn't an Aithrelia anymore; fused with the petals from Saku's tree, it was now a five-petal flower that had the pearly white colour of an Aithrelia tinged pink at the edges, and the shape was like a Sakura blossom, except that it was slightly pointed out at the edge of the petals. Even the thief had to admit it was pretty.
Lire held her hands out for the flower, but the fairy let it drift to the archer's head, where it fastened itself onto the side of her hair, where it fluttered in the breeze , yet stayed in place.
Finished with the job, Saku looked up, evidently pleased with her success.
"Thank you, too." Lire smiled again. Her hand reached up to her head and touched the flower.
"Anda a dereu timeh siltha, Lire Eryuell." (We will meet again, Lire Eryuell.) The female humanoid smiled, glared at Lass once more, and withdrew into her tree, leaving a lingering scent of Sakura blossoms in the air. Lire sighed happily.
"It still doesn't like me, huh."
"Hm. It's because she…spirits are like that. Don't let it get to you." She chuckled lightly, sitting back down by the cherry tree. "Do you want to sit?"
This time, Lass did.
"I'm sorry about your garden."
"Don't be, it can always be made again. The important thing is, did you understand?"
"I– yeah, I think– yeah."
She turned to face him and looked him in the eye. "Next time you feel you are at fault, remember that condemning yourself is just as senseless as me destroying the tree. It was never your fault."
Hours ago, Lass had absolutely loathed that last phrase, believing that it was a phrase used by the ignorant. Now he was starting to believe it. Just a tiny little bit.
"Right."
Lire nodded and turned back, her head leaning against the trunk. "The Aithrelia," she continued. "is called the 'immortal flower' because it can grow through the toughest of conditions and can bloom for a long, long time. But it's very rare to see it first-hand, much less find one." She paused for a while. "It sounds similar to Ethreya, which means 'hope' in the Elven language. I don't know if that's a coincidence or not." She laughed.
Lass turned to her curiously. "What do you mean?"
She sighed, looking wistful. "Hope is there when nothing else remains. It's something that every creature has, something that keeps them moving, giving them the power to keep going. If one doesn't have hope, they have nothing." She studied her bow. "With hope, we believe and fight. Through misery and darkness, hope springs eternal. But that genuine hope is rare as it is invaluable…" she trailed off.
He kept silent, not knowing what to say. With Kaze'Aze, all he had felt was rage, misery, and horror. Actually, he had preferred not to feel anything at all, because it hurt less. This 'hope', was that what he had felt when he was with the Grand Chase? With her?
Hope. What an interesting word.
"Sorry, got lost in thought." She grinned sheepishly as she got up. "We should go now, or Knight Master's going to be upset again." She started to walk, when she turned. "Don't forget these." She lightly tossed a couple of lightweight objects which the thief caught with ease; it was the two kunai that he threw towards the thing.
"Lire! Where have you been?" Amy asked.
"Many places." She replied, eyes twinkling, her lips forming easily forming a smile. "I see you have had a wonderful time with Jin?"
The gang was in the Duelling Arena, a large outdoor field where the KM had told them to meet for Lass's Second Test. They still had a couple of minutes, but the KM was adamant when it came to time and punctuality, a fact most had learned the hard way/
"Ahaha~" she blushed. "Well, a better time than them." She nodded her head towards Arme, who had a huge bump on her head as she kept a wide distance from Elesis, who looked like the Tasmanian Devil as Ronan restrained her with words as he kept a hand on her shoulder.
"What happened with them?"
"No idea, something about a proposal…" she clamped her mouth, but Elesis heard, giving the Dancer the Death Glare. Everyone except Ronan was tactfully keeping their distance, as they had more than enough experience of the Red Knight's rages, which would be comical if it weren't so scary.
"I'll see to it later." Lire then turned to Ryan, who was dozing off. "Ryan!"
"Huh? What?" Ryan wakened with a yawn.
"There's something I have to talk about…" she said nervously.
"Oh? What's this?" Amy butted in, suspicious.
Lire shushed Amy, then turned to Ryan with a serious look. "Maybe later."
"Huh. OK."
"Well, you are quite punctual this time, Lass." The Knight Master entered the field, on time as always.
"Er…yes."
Everyone was now standing in the battlefield, waiting, anticipating. It didn't escape Lass that everyone had their weapons out.
"You passed the First Test without any difficulty, which has been duly noted. The Second Test is to measure your fighting ability in a more complex scale, since brainless monsters aren't the only threat you'll have to face." She looked around, looking for any objections, and found none.
Lass automatically stiffened; she didn't mean…
"So now, you will fight three of the current Chasers here." She waved a hand towards the group. "You need to defeat at least two of them to pass. Understood?"
He understood. But what if he injured them…killed them…?
"Both you and the opponent will wear these." She took out several black sets of leather armour that had wide but thin coloured jewel-like stones embedded on the head, the chest, the underarms, the stomach, the groin; symbols representing the vital areas. [Just picture the Saint Black Uniform minus the cape please. And the left arm spiky thing.] She held one out to Lass, which he accepted. It had light blue stone-things on it.
"The stones represent the vital points. If you break three of them on your opponent, you win. Get three of yours broken, and you lose."
Lass nodded, that was much better.
The armour was not uncomfortable as Lass thought it would be. Sure the stones were slightly unnerving and it covered his entire body, but they didn't hinder his movement, and he could whip out his daggers and kunai with ease. With luck, he'd pass this test, too.
He stepped onto the combat zone.
"All right." The Knight Master said. "Who wants to go first?"
Well, now you know why Lire has that flower in her hair (Arch Ranger Picture) :D
Someone please help me...I don't know who Lass should battle ;_;