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The Swordsman and the Summoner

Chapter 7: The goose down accord

Sheena awoke on soft sheets and a down pillow. This bed was the most comfortable she'd slept in since she stayed at the Altamira Hotel. She was getting way too used to soft mattresses. The bedding in Mizuho, by contrast, was firm, comfortable after a fashion, and better for your back, but not nearly as luxurious. There was something about sinking into bed and feeling like you're floating on a cloud.

She turned over, staring into the eyes of her bedmate. Last night's events left her confused. What should she say? How could she make it all better? She wanted to help the girl, but she couldn't sacrifice her own happiness. That thought, though, smote her conscience. Colette had been willing to sacrifice her own happiness for world regener­ation. Still, Sheena assured herself, even if she wanted to, she couldn't command Lloyd to love Colette. If he felt for Sheena what she felt for him, it wouldn't be fair to deny him her love either. And Sheena was beginning to think perhaps he did feel the same. Before they had been interrupted last night, he had nearly kissed her.

There had been a lot of tension as she slipped into bed with Colette. Part of her wanted to throttle the girl, the other part to hold her as she cried herself to sleep. She settled on, "G'night, Colette. Sweet dreams," and was greeted with a stiff "Night," in return. Whenever they had shared a room before, Colette always gave the full "Good night. Sweet dreams," and she usually spoke first, leaving Sheena to reply. Thus, it had been in sadness that she had drifted off to sleep, certain that her dreams would be plagued with visions of Mithos, or perhaps Volt. She sometimes had that dream too. It seemed that Mithos chose to leave her to her present torment. This morning she couldn't remember what she had dreamt.

She hoped Lloyd wouldn't leave for Altamira right away. She wanted to see him off. She perked up her ears, straining to hear anything in the next room. Lloyd wasn't in there, or he was still asleep. After last night's incident, the group had quickly gone off to bed. As Iselia had no inn to speak of, only a few citizens who occasionally took in boarders for pocket money, the group had split in two. Genis and Zelos went to Genis's old home, which had been rebuilt by the villagers as thanks after the world regeneration journey. Zelos had been thrilled at the prospect of sleeping in Raine's bed. Even when it was pointed out that the bed was new, and Raine had yet to use it, Zelos didn't mind. "I'm sleeping in her bed in spirit!" he proudly declared. It had already been settled that Lloyd and Sheena would stay with the Brunels during their one week vacation—Sheena in Colette's room and Lloyd in the guest room—and there was no reason to change those plans. Dirk had intended to be far from Iselia by nightfall, but being caught up in the Council, he'd stayed with Lloyd in the guest room.

Sheena at last spoke, asking Colette, "So, when do your expect your father home?"

"In just a few days. He's had this trip planned for months." Colette smiled. "When he heard you and Lloyd were coming, he almost rescheduled. He thought you might need to be healed. But Grandmother insisted he go."

"He's a good man, your father."

"Uh-huh."

"And your grandmother is at the Martel Temple, right?"

"Yes. She's overseeing the renovation. They'll be honoring Verius there, as well, you know."

"Really? That's wonderful! I'd love to see it!"

"You should. It'll be finished in a month."

Sheena hesitated for a moment. "Are you all right?" she asked.

"Wh-why wouldn't I be?"

"If you don't want to talk about it, that's okay, but I wanted to give you the chance." At an impulse, she took the girl's hand. "You're my friend. I care a lot about you. And I feel really awful about hurting you."

"I know," Colette said. "And you're my friend. This is about Lloyd, isn't it?"

Sheena nodded, "Yes."

"You care about him."

"I love him."

"So do I."

"I know that," Sheena said. "When I tried to assassinate you, it was because I believed only one of our worlds could be saved. You proved me wrong. Together, we found a way for everyone to be happy, for both of us to be happy. Not this time. One of us will be heartbroken. We can't both have him.

Colette became very quiet. "I'm not just going to give him to you."

"I wouldn't expect you to. But I'm not giving him up either," Sheena said.

"So what are we saying? May the best woman win?"

"It's clichéd, but, yes."

"So friends no matter what?"

Sheena's smile faded. "I hope so."

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Lloyd awoke before dawn, a feat most unusual for the young man whose fits of brooding often kept him up until first light weighing the progress of his quest or wondering if he were doing enough to honor those who died because of him. He had slept well last night, considering the impending doom of his home village, feelings for Sheena that needed sorting out, and concern for Colette's fainting spell. He hoped it wasn't a relapse of AT. He didn't have time to gather the ingredients for another cure. He could always gather them later, after Iselia had been saved and assuming they both lived through it.

"Sheena," he whispered her name and cursed his own. Why did he have to ruin their friendship by nearly kissing her? The thought of her suffering because of him had been unbearable, and every fiber of his being cried out to comfort her. The moment had over­whelmed his good sense. Good sense. What a joke! She must be furious. He wouldn't be surprised if she never wanted to see him again. She'd stay through the present conflict. She wasn't one to abandon her friends. But afterwards, she'd probably retreat back to Mizuho and never talk to him again. It felt like he'd just been punched. He wanted to cry and throw up at he same time.

He thought back to their last visit to Mizuho. With a wave and a smile, Sheena had disappeared into Chief Igaguri's house, leaving Lloyd to amuse himself for what he knew would be several hours. That was okay. He knew the village well enough to be comfortable and decided to find Vice-chief Tiga and Orochi. The two men had helped immensely on the world regeneration journey, and he was in the early stages of developing a friendship with them both. (Friendships, like everything else here, took a long time to develop.) He saw them in the southwestern corner of the village, examining the crops. There hadn't been much rain the past year, and he knew they were concerned. Before he could reach them, however, he ran into Hikari. He knew the six-year-old from previous visits as a ball of energy who was well on her way to becoming official keeper of Mizuho's Secret Book of gossip.

"Name yourself!" she demanded, assuming a fighting stance and drawing twin wooden sai.

"Tell me your name," Lloyd answered, "and I'll tell you mine." He also assumed a fighting stance, but did not touch his swords.

She dropped her stance, laughing. "Hiya, Lloydie."

"Hey, Kari. What's new?" He mentally kicked himself. If you gave this girl too much of an opening, she could regale you with all the embarrassing gossip from Hima to Asgard. He quickly added, "How's your training?"

Ignoring his question, she said, "I got a secret. Wanna hear it? Huh? Do ya?"

Lloyd played along. "I dunno. Is it about someone else? It's not very nice to talk behind people's backs."

She shook her head. "No, no, no. It's about you."

"About me?"

"Uh-huh."

His curiosity was actually piqued. "Okay, sure."

"Umm, I dunno. Maybe I shouldn't."

"Come on, that's not fair. You have to tell me."

"No, not going to." She started to walk away, and then turned around, bursting into laughter. "You should have seen the look on your face."

"All right, Kari. You got me. Is there a secret or not?"

"Uh-huh. Come here. I'll whisper it to you."

Lloyd acquiesced.

She yelled into his ear, "Next Chief Sheena really wants to tell you her real name."

"Ow! Hey!" Hikari had pulled the same trick before, so he had prepared himself. Still, it kind of hurt. Then he realized what she had said. "Wait, Hikari, Sheena can't tell me that. She can only tell her husband."

"Uh-huh."

"Wait, are you saying..?"

She leaned forward again. "When Sheena tells you her name, you can't tell me, okay? It's not 'lowed."

He had barely begun to mull that over when Hikari ran off to play and the two men he had come this way to see noticed him sitting there rubbing his ear and came over. If they took notice of the girl's loud pronouncement they made no mention.

"Hello, Lloyd," Tiga said. Orochi merely nodded. Lloyd pushed himself to his feet, and returned their greetings.

"I hope the young lady did not cause any permanent damage," Tiga said.

"Huh? What?" Lloyd joked.

After they had exchanged pleasantries, filled one another in on all relevant news—mostly real news with the barest hint of gossip added for spice—and discussed the crops, Lloyd found Hikari's suggestion still niggling at the back of his mind. He broached the topic as subtly as he could.

"How," he asked, "would a Mizuhoan man tell a Mizuhoan woman he liked her?"

"Liked?" Orochi asked.

"Yeah, you know, that he was interested in her, ro-romantically?"

Orochi said nothing, but Tiga laughed with eyes sparkling. "Ah. Are we speaking of anyone in particular?"

"No. The situation is hippo..hypo..."

"Well, Lloyd," Tiga responded, "in our hypothetical situation, the man himself would do nothing."

That was confusing. "Then how would she know?"

"Patience, my young friend. I was just getting to that. He would send a represen­tative, called a daihyo, in his place. If the woman is interested, she will appoint her own daihyo to begin negotiations."

"Negotiations?"

"Yes. All communications must be conducted through the daihyo for one year."

"All communications? Can't we—I mean, the man and woman talk?"

Tiga nodded. "Certainly they can talk, but only in the presence of the daihyo."

"That sounds pretty inconvenient for the daihyo," Lloyd said.

"It is a high honor to be chosen as a daihyo. It implies a great level of trust and friendship."

"I guess so, but this all sounds pretty complicated."

Tiga nodded. "Matters of the heart are often complicated."

Orochi added sternly, "It is not a process to be entered into lightly. Therefore, it must be complicated."

"That's certainly different from what I've heard before," Lloyd said. "Zelos said I should—I mean, he, that is, the hyponautical guy, should just kiss her."

"No!" Orochi said, "No, he should not. It would be dishonoring to her family."

"What my exuberant friend means, Lloyd, is that in our culture matters of the heart are sacred. As sacred as martial arts. As sacred as life itself. They should not be entered into lightly, nor without a person's explicit consent."

"So kissing her would be an insult," Lloyd said.

In the present, Lloyd was finding it very difficult not to be sick. He thought the fresh air might settle his stomach, but the fear of losing Sheena couldn't be cured with fresh air. He disappeared around the back of Colette's house in search of a place he could vomit without attracting too much attention. He hopped the back fence and disappeared into the woods

Minutes later, he heard Sheena's voice at the fence. "Lloyd, are you all right? Are you sick?"

He couldn't answer over the retching.

Shena hopped the fence and took up a position a few feet behind him, helping him to his feet when he was finished.

She slipped his arm over her shoulder. "Hey, you feel better now?" When he nodded, she said, "Let's go get you some water."

"Sheena, wait. About last night."

"Yes?" she said. Yes! I thought it would take him a year to mention this. I just hope he washes his mouth before he tries to kiss me again.

"It was a mistake."

"Wh-What?"

"I promise, it'll never happen again."

He felt her stiffen noticeably. Oh, no. She's not going to forgive me. "I'm sorry, Sheena. I wish I could take it back. Could we maybe forget it ever happened?"

"Sure, Lloyd. Let's forget it."

"Thanks, Sheena," he said, relieved, "You're the best."

■□■□■

Last Modified: 06 October 2006