Here it is, the moment you've all been waiting for! Of course, Vika won by an overwhelming margin. I'm not very familiar with Vika so if she's a little OOC please let me know lol. Thanks to everyone who voted! :D
Chapter 7 -- Raven Girls, In Which Reyson Reluctantly Spills the Beans
Leanne was excited. Today she was going to find out just what kind of woman her older brother would fall for. She had already planned out her questions in advance; now she just needed to find him alone and drill every single secret out of him.
"Reyson!" she called. "Reyson, I have question."
Reyson perked up and looked behind his sister. No Naesala. This was indeed unusual... "Yes, Leanne?"
She smiled sweetly. He had no idea what was coming next. "Reyson, you think I happy?"
"What do you mean?" Reyson frowned. "You look happy. How would you not know if you're happy?"
"See, I look happy. I am happy. You know why I happy?"
"I don't know, Leanne. But you have me completely confused," he replied.
"I happy because I love Naesala. I in love!" She twirled around to show just how happy she was. "See? Love make me happy."
"That's nice, Leanne," Reyson muttered. The topic of Naesala did not make him very thrilled to continue the conversation.
"Don't you want be happy?" she asked. "Don't you want love someone?"
Reyson sighed. "Naesala set you up, didn't he? When is he going to pop out and say something ridiculous like, 'I found the perfect woman for you, Reyson'?''
"Naesala not set me up!" she instantly replied. "I want you be happy! You always in bad mood. I think it because you not in love."
"I don't need to be in love to be happy, Leanne."
"What you want you wife to be like?" She smiled and blocked the doorway so he couldn't try to leave. "After all, Father say he want you to get married."
"Why do you care, Leanne?" He stood up and tried to push past her, but she spread her arms across the doorway and made a pouty face.
"You so mean, Reyson! You not tell me. I only want help!" she exclaimed. "Don't you want be happy like me?"
"Ugh... Naesala's been a bad influence on you... Fine. Sit down. I'll tell you." He walked over to his bed and plopped down in defeat. "But you can't tell Naesala!"
Leanne grinned. "I not tell!" Then she sat down next to him and looked at him expectantly.
Meanwhile, Nealuchi and Naesala were flying toward the mainland in their raven forms, scouting for potential merchant ships to raid. The wind was particularly rough today, but they were experienced enough to be able to maintain balance in the air. Suddenly, something caught Naesala's eye down below. Another crow was flying just over the forests near Begnion's shore, and it looked too big to be a real crow.
"Hey, look there," he whispered to the old crow.
"A laguz? How interesting," Nealuchi remarked. "I didn't think anyone else was scouting this area..."
"No one else was supposed to be here," Naesala replied. "I wonder if a solider is having an affair on the mainland... Let's follow it and find out!"
"Nestling! We have business to do!"
"The wind's too rough today for sailing. I doubt we'll find any ships." Naesala grinned. "I'm curious, anyway."
They followed the crow from a distance and watched it land in the forest. Naesala landed in a tree and looked into the clearing to see a young beorc boy and a tiger laguz looking at the raven. The bird transformed into a graceful laguz girl and began chattering with the other two.
"My goodness!" Nealuchi whispered. "That's Vika!"
"Vika?" Naesala thought back. The name certainly sounded familiar...
"She disappeared several years ago. Remember?" The old crow sighed. "She hasn't changed much. Her eyes are still as sharp as always."
"Her eyes..." Naesala watched the raven girl for a moment and realized that her eyes were indeed quite attractive. Reyson likes eyes. She's a laguz. Bingo. Then he looked at her companions and recognized them as Tormod and Muarim, who both fought with Ike in the battle against Daein.
"Didn't the beorc and the tiger fight with us in Crimea?" Nealuchi asked.
"Yes, I just realized that," Naesala replied. "So I'm sure they won't mind if we take little Vika with us to meet the eligible bachelor Reyson."
Nealuchi gasped and turned to him. "Nestling! You can't just take her back to Kilvas! She's friends with these two. She probably wants to keep traveling with them."
"Yes, but Reyson needs to get hitched really badly. Those two don't look tough. We'll just take her back now!"
"You're going to kidnap her?!" Nealuchi's eyes widened in fright.
"It's not kidnapping if she's going back to her home," Naesala answered calmly. "Besides, she'll be meeting the man of her dreams."
"How do you know if she'll like Prince Reyson ba--"
"Shh, Nealuchi! We have to take her now, before they realize that we're here!" Naesala grinned and launched himself from his perch.
"Oh, this is very, very bad..." the old crow mumbled as he followed after him.
"Hey, do you hear something?" Tormod asked his friends, but he was interrupted by two large raven laguz swooping in toward Vika. Naesala grabbed Vika's arms and pulled her up off the ground while Nealuchi created a distraction.
"Hey! Let go of me!" Vika shouted. "I'm a raven, too!"
"We know," Naesala replied casually. "So you're coming with us."
"Let her go, you perverts!" Tormod shouted. He launched a fireball at Nealuchi, but the old crow dodged it with ease. Then they flew up above the trees so that even Muarim in his tiger form could not attack them. The tiger growled in irritation.
"We're just borrowing her," Naesala called down to them. "Don't worry. We'll bring her back... maybe." Then he flew off while holding on to the squirming Vika.
"Seriously, what are you doing?" Vika asked frantically. "I was in the middle of a mission! Take me back, now!"
"I'm really sorry, Miss," Nealuchi told her from behind Naesala. "This is all Nestling's idea. We won't hurt you."
"I don't care! Let me go!"
Naesala laughed. "She just doesn't give in. She's really stubborn. She's perfect!" He grinned as he carried Vika, kicking and screaming, back to Kilvas.
Leanne smiled as she listened to Reyson describe his ideal wife.
"She would love music, and she would be elegant and graceful." Reyson blushed in embarrassment. "Honestly, Leanne, this is so stupid!"
"What tribe she from?" Leanne asked. "No heron girls left for you. Is she raven? hawk? cat? Maybe beorc?"
Reyson shuddered. "See, this is why I'm not thinking about marriage! Who could I possibly marry?"
"I like raven," she continued. "Raven so handsome and smart and strong... Raven girl be good for you."
"Leanne!" Reyson stood up and huffed. "Seriously, I don't want to marry a raven! Or a hawk, or a cat, or a beorc! I don't want to marry anyone right now!"
Leanne frowned. "You no fun... I want niece and nephew, you know. Naesala have no siblings."
Reyson started at that statement. "What? Are you saying that you want to marry Nae--"
"I find you good raven girl to marry!" Leanne exclaimed. "Lots of raven girls here who look pretty!"
"I don't want to marry a raven girl..."
"Why not?" Leanne asked him in astonishment. "What wrong with raven?"
Reyson sighed. "Ravens... where do I start? They're dishonest, thieving, greedy, selfish..."
"You like ravens." Leanne smiled. "Naesala you best friend. I think you secretly like ravens. Why else you come with me here?"
"Leanne, you know why I came with you. Naesala is so hard to trust when he's... well, in one of his moods..."
"Ravens very good-looking," Leanne continued. "Ravens have nice eyes. You like eyes, right?"
Reyson grimaced. "Naesala told you that, didn't he?"
"Of course not!" She giggled mischievously.
By the time Naesala and Nealuchi had returned to Kilvas, Vika had given up all hope of being returned to her friends. Instead of shouting she was sulking. However, once she recognized the coastline of Kilvas she gasped.
"You're taking me home?" she asked. "I thought you were up to no good or something..."
"Why would we do that?" Naesala laughed. "Don't you know who we are?"
"Not really. I haven't been home in a while, though you do look familiar..." She glanced back at the old crow. "Wait... Nealuchi? You're Nealuchi!"
"Yes, I am, Miss Vika!" Nealuchi smiled, however crows can smile. "I supposed I haven't changed much, have I?"
"Then that makes the extremely rude raven carrying me..." She gasped. "King?"
"Of course. Who else is this sexy?" They landed on the castle balcony, and Naesala let go of Vika so he could transform back. He ran a hand through his hair and grinned.
Vika smiled for a moment. Then it hit her. "You're up to no good. Why else would you have kidnapped me from my friends and taken me home?"
"It's not kidnapping, Vika. We just took you back home after you'd been gone for several years. Aren't you grateful at all?" Naesala made a face of mock dejection.
The raven girl sighed. "I guess I would be grateful if you hadn't rudely interrupted me... But then again, we're ravens. I should be used to it..."
"Well, this is part of a mission, you see. I have someone I would like you to meet." Naesala smirked and took her hand. "If you would follow me, please."
"Maybe some ravens are nice-looking," Reyson finally admitted with a blush. "But their personalities--"
"They so nice and clever!" Leanne smiled. "Don't you want clever wife? She be fun to talk with. I like talk with Naesala."
"That's because Naesala... well, never mind about him. I don't like how they talk. You can't trust them."
"Naesala rescue me," Leanne whispered. "Ravens able to protect you."
"Yes, but wouldn't it defeat the purpose if my wife is the one protecting me? Shouldn't it be the other way around?"
"Reyson, you can't fight. How you protect anyone?"
Reyson frowned. "Fine... so ravens are pretty and strong."
"Ravens very... passionate," Leanne remarked with a dreamy look in her eyes. "Romantic. Don't you like romantic?"
"Leanne, this is getting ridiculous." Reyson started walking toward the door.
"You not answer. You must like romantic!" she replied with a giggle. "See? Raven perfect for you!"
"Naesala, what have you done to my innocent little sister?" he muttered. He was about to leave when Naesala appeared at the door with Vika.
"Ah! I was hoping I'd find you here!" Naesala exclaimed. "Vika, this is Reyson. He's part of the heron tribe, as you can see, and he's my girlfriend's brother."
There was silence as Reyson's eyes fell into Vika's.
Naesala grinned. Look at his face! This is perfect!
Instant. Attraction.
