Here we go. Only… what, five days late :P ? At least this three day weekend gives me the time to unscrew up my schedule, and get everything updated that needs to be updated. I have no real excuse for the delays; if my general chapter length is between 5,000 and 6,000 words (which I would say it is), and I can write 1,000 words in a half-hour (this is true, I timed it), I should be able to write most of these in three hours, and since I (figuratively) have about three days between every posting, with one hour a day (and an extra hour the last day for editing), I should be able to get each of these done on time. We'll see how that works out. I'll stop boring people with math.
I like this chapter; a bit more lighthearted than that more recent ones, which is nice. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 9: City of Marvels, Pt 1
"What about this one?" Himi asked, holding up yet another dress. Karis's eyes shifted from the blue bracelet clamped around her wrist to the oriental garment dangling for Himi's hands. It was certainly very pretty – a dazzling wave of purples dark and light, some slashing in contrast, some fading into the other shades – and Karis immediately felt a longing toward it. She imagined it would fit her quite well, and –
It's ridiculously expensive, Karis thought as her eyes finally landed on the price-tag. "Oh… it's really cute," Karis said, trying to sound indifferent but unable to keep the interest completely out of her voice.
Himi bit her lip, staring over the dress herself. She had really thought that, at least this time, Karis would like it. "I'm sorry if I'm not the best to shop with… I'm just picking out what I think you'd like," The Venus Adept replied softly, placing the dress back on the rack she had picked it from.
"No! It's not that! Just…" Karis really didn't want to say that it was too pricey out loud, as it would no doubt make Himi self-conscious. It wasn't that Karis wasn't well off; she and her father got along very well. It's just that they weren't loaded, as Himi seemed to be. Being a princess had its perks, after all.
"You don't have to lie Karis," Himi said with a shrug, beginning to look through some more dresses. "I probably have odd taste in clothing since most of the clothes I've owned or have seen have been from Yamata, and nowhere else."
"I actually love the dress…" Karis whispered, trying to move in closer so that neither of the clerks could hear her. "It's just, you know, expensive." She tried to smile reassuringly, but her statement seemed to throw Himi slightly off.
"Ah…" The younger girl replied with a cough. "How foolish of me." Karis was already prepared to state that it was no big deal and that maybe they should try a different store when Himi continued in a firm voice, saying, "I forgot to mention that I shall be purchasing everything we decide to buy. So, you would like the dress, then?"
"Oh. Yes." Karis replied shortly, her eyes wide. "Thanks, Himi… that's very generous of you… I wonder when I'll get a chance to wear it." Normally Karis would have been quite unwilling to let someone buy something so costly for her, but Himi's tone had made it clear that the dress was getting bought whether Karis liked it or not. Truth be told, she liked it… far be it for her to stop others from buying her nice things. In moderation, of course.
"…The bracelet as well?" Himi asked, and Karis smiled.
"Oh… no, I was thinking about getting it for you, actually," She said, removing it from her own wrist and handing it to Himi. "It's a nice sky-blue; you remind me of the sky."
Himi received the bracelet with a smile, but then teased, "You know, some Venus Adepts may take it as an offense to be compared to the sky. We're very grounded people, you know."
"Oh, please," Karis replied with a mock eye roll. "I guess that makes me the wind and sky, and volatile, then?"
"Oh, yes; you Jupiter Adepts are crazy. Completely nuts. Can't even decide whether or not you like a dress or not," Himi responded with a giggle, and Karis lightly punched her in the shoulder.
Wearing an amused grin, the older girl replied, "Hey! I said I liked it, I was just trying to be conscientious about our money…"
"You know at this very moment that Tyrell is purchasing enough food to feed a horse for a month and will probably eat most of it himself in two weeks, right?" The younger girl said, shaking her head at the thought of such rampant gluttony. "And I'd be willing to bet that, despite already having a king's ransom (and I wouldn't bet against some of his store actually being thieved from royalty) Eoleo is buying copious amounts of… liquor," Himi retorted, her face scrunching at the mention of alcohol.
Karis giggled, and said, "Not a fan of the devil's potion?" as they walked over to the clerk and Himi began to search her pockets for her handmade purse.
"Do you remember yesterday?" Himi asked rhetorically, squinting her eyes as the vague memories of her drunken excursion filled her head. "My father always used to drink right before he read me bedtime stories, too. I dealt with it for five years until I grew the nerve to mention that I detested the smell of liquor on his breath."
"Ah, so he stopped?" Karis asked as Himi put forth the payment in coins before slipping her red purse back into her robes' folds.
"No," Lamented Himi, placing the bracelet around her wrist and handing the dress to Karis. "He got my mother to do it instead for three years. Then he had an unfortunate incident where he, in a drunken state, managed to climb to the top of Mt. Mikage… and proceeded to fall all the way down."
Karis winced; while Ivan himself had never climbed Gaia Rock, she had heard enough stories from Jenna about the four elemental rocks to imagine that it was quite a fall. "He broke his arm, his leg, and was bed-ridden for a few weeks… at which point my mother made him give up alcohol, and he began to read to me again!" Himi smiled and shrugged. "I like to think that's a happy ending, anyway."
Karis was about to laugh when, out of the corner of her eye, she saw movement coming from behind them. Suddenly, a man quickly dashed in between them, leaving Himi dazed and Karis slightly off-kilter as well. Her eyes lit up when she noticed a red object in the man's hands; Karis had spent enough time in the streets of Kalay to know how a pick-pocketer performed their business.
"Oh no you don't!" She cried out, taking an inhumanly quick step toward the scoundrel and then throwing her arm out, catching his ponytail in her hand, and pulling him straight to the ground. The man let out a sound of pain comparable to a walrus dying as his hair was tugged, and simply laid on the floor after his head and upper body collided with it.
"Oh my!" Himi exclaimed as Karis non-chalanty held the young girl's purse out to her. Himi took it after a moment, quickly looking through it before putting it back into her pocket.
"Scum," Karis growled, giving the man's body a quick kick for good measure.
"That was spectacular, miss!" The male clerk at the counter said, awestruck. "I will go fetch some of our public officials to arrest him!" The man quickly ran off, and the female clerk smiled at them fondly.
"Oh, don't feel obligated to stay; I don't think he looks like he's getting up anytime soon," She said with a slight bow, and Karis shrugged. "O-Oh my! He had even taken off with some of our finest jewelry!" The clerk said a moment later, and Karis glanced down to see, sure enough, glittering gems leaking out of the robber's pockets. "…That's a small fortune. If you hadn't been here… this was your payment for the dress and bracelet, yes?"
She pointed to the coins that lied on the counter; the other clerk had not had time to put them away before the near-robbery had occurred. Himi and Karis both nodded, and the clerk smiled. "Here; take it back, you saved us much more than that with these gems."
"Oh, no, I couldn't…" Himi began, but sighed as the clerk insistently grabbed and held the coins out in front of her. "…Thank you for your generosity. I'm glad we – er, Karis – could help."
As they left the shop, Karis giggled. Himi raised an eyebrow, and the Jupiter Adept, smiling widely, teased, "You're much too modest; if you hadn't been so robbable, I never could have caught him!"
"Hey!" Himi shouted in mock protest, and they both shared a warm laugh. "Well, where shall we be off to next?"
"I was thinking we should go outside the city for a bit, you know?" Karis supplied, and Himi shrugged. The Jupiter Adept had spent much too long on that cramped ship, and was anxious to stretch her legs for the first time in weeks. "Come on – let's run!" Himi didn't even get a chance to respond before Karis's hand grasped her own, and she suddenly found herself being pulled through the city streets, nearly crashing into numerous passerby. After bumping into a bird cage, knocking over a man carrying a large amount of fruit, and nearly running into one of the waterways, Himi had dealt with enough.
"Karis! I can't move this fast! Could we slow down?" Himi shouted so the speeding bullet of Jupiter in front of her would hear.
"Oh, sorry! Yeah, hop on!" Karis shouted back, and Himi wrinkled her nose for a brief moment, wondering what on earth her crush was talking about before she found herself decidedly off the earth and on Karis's back. "Hold on tight!" Karis said happily, clearly enjoying the high speed rush. Himi was more than happy to oblige, gripping her arms around Karis's chest tightly in absolute fear of what would happen if she fell off.
It took a few minutes of calming down and several winks from Karis before she realized exactly where her arms and hands were, and with a blush she moved them farther down. By that time they were well outside the city, in one of Sana's grassy plains, the only vegetation for a square mile being small outcroppings of bamboo.
"Here's good, huh?" Karis said, slowly descending in speed until she came to a complete halt. Himi hopped off her back and breathed deeply for a few moments before glaring the Jupiter Adept down, who grinned wildly in turn. "What? It was fun!"
Himi simply shook her head and plopped down on the grass while Karis laughed. The Venus Adept checked to make sure nothing had fallen out of her pack, especially the dress and bracelet, before sighing contently. Her heart-rate gradually slowed as she laid her head back into the gentle pillow of grass. A thud beside her made it clear that Karis had joined her… and was sitting very close. She could feel the other girl's clothing scraping against her.
"I'd say we're getting to know each other well, wouldn't you?" Karis whispered, slowly crawling up Himi's side until her head rested on the Venus Adept's shoulder. Himi took her time answering, finding herself slightly drowsy from the day's events and quite willing to lie in the field for the rest of it.
"Yes, I would say that. Odd, since it's only been two days… but, I suppose a lot of things connect us as well," Himi said, a tiny yawn punctuating her sentence.
"So, you've noticed it too?" Karis asked, snuggling in even closer. "How Adepts seem to bond so quickly and well with other Adepts? My father has a few theories on it; I simply think that since we understand the elements well, we have a greater overall sense of… things around us, especially other Adepts. Does that make sense?"
"I think so," Himi said with a nod. "So you think we're able to understand each other and bond quicker because we're both Adepts?"
"Yes," Karis replied, yawning as well. "I mean, I've known Tyrell and Matthew so long, they might as well be my brothers. But, Rief, Amiti, Sveta (she hesitated for a slight moment after saying the beastgirl's name), and Eoleo… I've grown to know them so well in such a short time. Perhaps, though, it's just fate."
"Fate?" Himi questioned, and Karis nodded.
"That's what the Third Eye is about, right? Prophecy… the future? Don't you think that we all fated to meet?" Karis stated.
Himi considered this, and then shrugged. "I do not put much weight in fate. What comes may come. I will try to enjoy my life and live it well."
"That's a very good way to think about it, Himi," Karis replied, and then coughed. "So… you do think we've gotten to know each other well?"
"Yes; I certainly feel comfortable around you," Himi said in reply, and then smiled. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" She didn't need to look to know that Karis was blushing.
"…Well, we DID say that we would wait a little while before we did anything romantic, at least until we got to know each other better…" Karis said, a hint of seduction in her voice. "And if we now know each othe—" Himi's lips silenced her effortlessly. They kissed slowly, brushing their lips across each other's before gently ebbing into each other's mouths ever so slightly.
After a minute, Karis parted the kiss and rolled on top of Himi. "I like being on top," She whispered bluntly, her legs grappling Himi's together, and her arms caressing the young Miko's head. "How do you feel about kissing?"
"I-I'm not the best at it," Himi sputtered, her face growing red. Karis smiled, and shifted some of Himi's stray hairs off her face.
"Oh, please; I don't believe that for a second," The Jupiter Adept whispered, her light breath drifting just inches below and tickling Himi's nose. "But even so, I'm a very good kisser, so I can show you the ropes…" So THIS is what it feels like to be teased, Himi thought to herself. In but a minute, Karis had sent her heart-rate skyrocketing, and that seemed to only be the prelude… "Tell me if you want me to stop," Karis purred, gently closing the distance and lightly pecking at Himi's neck.
"I won't," Himi replied, her eyes closing as the heavenly feeling of velvet coating her neck drew her in. Karis had to stifle a giggle, but stifle it she did, continuing to plant her kisses softly. Her hands gently pooled through Himi's jet black hair as her kisses rose higher and higher, like the wind pushing a leaf into the sky.
Finally she found Himi's lips, and neither girl held anything back. Karis poured herself into the younger girl, any thought of restraint crumbling as her lips hungrily gnawed at Himi's. Not as is the Venus Adept minded; she had never felt any sensation like this in her entire life, and was more than willing to let Karis continue onward. The Jupiter Adept surely seemed to know what she was doing.
It took Karis a short time to add tongue into the equation, at first guiding the darting muscle along Himi's lips before thrusting it in suddenly. It, once again, took Himi a few moments to adjust, but soon Karis found the younger girl getting the gist of it. A quick learner, that one. It wasn't much of a tongue or war, as Karis's twisted and squeezed Himi's into submission.
After another minute, Karis began to grind into her as well, erasing any distances between their two bodies. It felt right, their chests colliding in motion with their lips, their breathing and heart rates coming to a fever pitch. One of Karis's hands snaked away from Himi's hair and grasped her side with intensity, pulling the Venus Adept's body even closer.
Finally, after a suffocating five minutes, Karis reared back her head, and made her way to the rest of Himi's face, kissing her cheeks and taking her time kissing her nose. It was very pointy, and quite adorable; she enjoyed the feeling of it, and began squeezing it gently between her teeth.
"Do not bite by nose," Came Himi's muffled voice from below, and this time Karis couldn't help but giggle. But she listened, bringing her teeth to Himi's ears instead. "…Fine," Himi sighed, pleasure laced in her voice.
"Just relax and enjoy it; this is halftime," Karis whispered as she plucked at Himi's lobes. Half-time didn't last long, however; whereas Karis was wind in one moment, gentle and smooth, she flashed lightning in the next. Slow was not her prerogative today.
"MMMPH!" Himi grunted as Karis slammed her lips into the younger girl's own once more. For Himi, this was amazing; all these feelings, the warmth, the beating of her heart that drowned out every other sound. She didn't need to have been with another girl (or boy) to know that Karis was exceptional at squeezing pleasure out of a human body. She was very delighted by that fact, even if the only indication she could give to show as such was the rare moan that escaped her lips whenever Karis drew back for a split-second breath.
For Karis, it was more therapeutic than anything else; the pleasure was wonderful, but she needed to let her emotions out. Anytime an image of Sveta or Matthew, or (worse) them together flashed through her mind, she would kiss harder, and rub her body against Himi's sensually. Now and again, she would wonder if this was too passionate for their first kissing session.
But she couldn't deny how right it felt. Karis had at first been unsure as to whether or not she would be able to find an attraction toward the Venus Adept, but she couldn't help but appreciate how cute she was. Innocent, soft-spoken, needing to be willed out of her cage, and so sweet on the inside… just like Matthew.
She threw both hands onto Himi's head and kissed her as hard as she could, willing the image and comparison away from her mind. It lingered, but slowly began to fade as Himi started to kiss back more urgently; at first, the younger girl had simply been overwhelmed, but now she began to pour more intensity into each moment of their embrace.
Karis let that feeling wash over her; for a moment, it reminded her of Sveta, the only person she had been this intimate with who had ever truly kissed her back. That thought drifted away like the fall leaves into the sky as Himi flipped her onto her back, and found her ears. Karis smiled as she felt the Venus Adept's teeth nibble of her ear-lobe; a quick learner, indeed.
They continued on in the field for another good ten minutes, until Himi grew sleepy and lied her head down on Karis's chest. Karis smiled, petting the young girl's head gently before drifting off into a light nap herself.
"Well, I think that's about enough!" Tyrell said cheerfully, barely visible behind the three bulbous bags that he held in his arms.
"…Maybe a bit much?" Amiti suggested, causing Tyrell to laugh heartily, so heartily that he leaned over slightly and nearly fell into a waterway.
"That was too close," Amiti sighed as he grabbed one of the bags, steadying the Mars Adept.
"Yeah, let's get this stuff to the ship before I get it soaked," Tyrell suggested, beginning to stumble forward.
"And you're sure you don't want help lifting?" Amiti asked, concerned that hurrying would only increase the chance that all the food they had bought would soon find its way into the water on their right.
"I'm good," Tyrell replied, and Amiti shrugged. Once you got an idea into Tyrell's head, it was hard to get it out. The journey back to the ship, as such, was quite a dangerous affair; Tyrell pushed three different people into the water accidentally, leaving a very flustered Amiti to pull them out and do the best he could to dry them off.
Finally, thankfully, they made it to the ship without any more incidents, and began to climb the gangplank. "See?" Tyrell commented as he neared the ship's deck. "This was a piece of cake—" Suddenly, Tyrell placed his foot on a small puddle, and went flying backwards – sending the bags of food and drink into the air.
Thinking quickly, Amiti raised his hand and shouted, "Cold Snap!" freezing all of the water within a ten foot radius of the gangplank. With large thumps, the three bags landed on the ice. Most of the glass containers would likely be shattered, Amiti figured, but a good deal of the food was probably still alright, if a little bruised.
He sent a tired glance at Tyrell, who quickly leapt to his feet, and shrugged with an amused grin. "Whoopsie. Don't worry, I'll go get it!" The Mars Adept eagerly leapt down onto the ice, a large cracking sound following his decent. "…It's alright, it's still together!" He shouted, and Amiti sighed once more.
"Tyrell… how do you plan to even get the bags back up—"
"INCOMING!" Tyrell's voice boomed, and Amiti briefly saw his life flash before his eyes, the immediate threat being the large sack of food speeding toward him at an unavoidable velocity. He only had time for a quick mental prayer before it was in front of him; to be fair, he did try to catch it, and actually did get his arms around it. It's just that it also knocked him clear off the gangplank.
"Oof!" He exclaimed weakly as he slammed into the ice and the air left his lungs.
"…Did you catch it?" Came Tyrell's voice, before the Mars Adept noticed Amiti on the ice in front of him. "Oh. This is not my day." Amiti simply groaned, pushing the sack off of himself and gasping for breath.
With much aid from the dockworkers of Tonfon (whom Amiti thanked profusely), they managed to get off of the quickly-melting ice along with the sacks of food, and carefully carried them onto the ship. As they put them away, Amiti ran through his plan once more in his mind; if anything, the past hour had made him MORE hesitant to do it, but he knew it had to be done.
"Tyrell… I wanted to talk to you about something," The prince began, turning to the Mars Adept… who was busy eating the food he was supposed to be putting away.
"Mmmmfff… yeah, Amiti?" He replied after gulping down a piece of bread he had been chewing. Amiti did his best not to seem dismayed.
"You have been considering men as romantic interests, correct?" Amiti said serenely, knowing that he needed to be picture-perfect for Tyrell to actually agree to his proposal.
"Yeah, I have, but no one on this ship seems interested," Tyrell replied plainly, eyeing the rest of the bread he had been consuming. "I just figured if Karis thought dating someone of your sex was so great, I might as well try it out; she always seems to be ahead of everyone else."
"Ah," Amiti replied, nodding. His comment about Karis was certainly accurate, if possibly untrue in this specific case.
"So, you have a crush on her too?" Tyrell asked bluntly, causing Amiti to immediately lose his cool demeanor.
"O-On Karis?" He stuttered slightly, drawing a laugh from Tyrell.
"Well, everyone else on the ship does, so I figured. Something about the way you look at her," Tyrell replied with a shrug. "I can't blame you; if we didn't argue so damn much, I would definitely be going for her. Just something about her, you know?"
"I-It's not everyone on the ship," Amiti retorted, and Tyrell laughed.
"Oh, PLEASE, the only person who hasn't made eyes at her on this ship is Kraden… thank goodness. I've caught Rief, you, Eoleo… Matthew does it like it's his freaking day-job. Then obviously Sveta and Himi," Tyrell replied adamantly.
Amiti's face was one of pure shock, and Tyrell laughed as he glanced at it. "Hehe, thought I was unobservant and never noticed this stuff, eh? Nah; there's a method to my madness. Anyway, sorry you lost out of the Karis sweepstakes. There were just too many damn bidders."
"…I actually wanted to talk about something else," Amiti replied, trying to get the conversation back on track, as interesting as its derailing had been. "I was wondering if you would have any interest in a relationship with me."
Tyrell blinked in confusion for a few moments before saying, "Are you serious? I thought you hated me."
"Hated you?" Amiti asked blankly. Sure, he and Tyrell weren't the two closest members of the group, but he really didn't hold any negative feelings toward him.
"Yeah; you're just the type to," Tyrell replied with another shrug. "I'm an oaf, and it throws people off. No one ever appreciates the comic relief, they just laugh at it. Or they don't and get mad at you. I've stopped letting anything like that bother me; apparently my dad used to have real issues with people thinking he was slow and whatnot. I just don't care. If you like me, cool. If not, whatever."
"…That's actually very intelligent Tyrell," Amiti replied quietly. He had been intending to date Tyrell in order to show the Mars Adept that he was indeed heterosexual, but that had all been under the basis that Tyrell was… well, stupid, and just goofing around. What if Tyrell actually WAS trying to be start a homosexual relationship, and it was he who was in the wrong?
"Wow, you look really guilty; what's up?" Tyrell asked, shaking Amiti from his thoughts once again.
"…To be completely honest, I wanted to date you to convince you that you had no interest in men," Amiti replied slowly, not believing this conversation was taking place. "But, I feel rather bad about that, because—"
"Oh, I was kind of goofing around about the whole thing; I doubt I'm gay, but I figured I'd try it out, as it's not like I have any girls to work with on this ship," Tyrell interrupted, finally losing his patience and ripping off another chunk of bread. "But if you're still up for it, I wouldn't mind dating you. Warning: I'm a really, really bad kisser."
Amiti couldn't help it; he burst out laughing. "Well, I guess it couldn't hurt… at the least, we'd get to know each other better," Amiti said after his laughter faded.
"Yeah, makes sense," Tyrell replied, swallowing. "Wait, so do you like both? Like, is this your first time with a guy?"
"Oh, I guess so…" Amiti replied with a nod. "To be honest, I've never really been in a relationship with anyone."
"Oh, it's complete hell; you'll want to break up with me in at least a week," Tyrell said flatly as he scarfed down yet another piece of bread. Amiti chuckled once more, picturing the relationship in his mind.
"Are they really that much of a hassle?" The Ayuthayan questioned, and Tyrell nodded.
"At least it was with Karis; we were only twelve, but I swear we just walked around in public shouting at each other. It was hilarious but terrible," Tyrell said, and Amiti smiled once more. The image of a young Tyrell and Karis bickering was endearing to say the least. "So… try it out?" Tyrell stepped forward, and Amiti nodded, holding out his hand in order to shake on the agreement.
Tyrell shook his head in disbelief, and before the Mercury Adept could even respond, pulled him in for a kiss, at which point two thoughts crossed Amiti's mind; that Tyrell was indeed a bad kisser, and that he may have no idea what he just agreed to.
"…Something to eat, maybe?" Matthew asked hesitantly as Sveta continued to walk towards the ship. He had spent the last fifteen minutes trying to convince her that there had to be something for them to do and enjoy in the city, but she seemed to be having none of it.
"I'd rather go back to the ship," Sveta said quietly, not turning to face him as she spoke. Matthew frowned, and sighed. This was his fault… he should have understood how hard this day would be for her. "That's not it, Matthew," She replied flatly, and it dawned on him that she had read his heart. "It's not you, it's me. Like you said, I need to get over my feelings for Sana… it's just hard."
She stopped walking, and her head fell. "Hey…" Matthew jogged up to her and wrapped his arms around her body. "Don't worry about it… nothing bad has happened yet, right?" Matthew said, squeezing her tightly. "I know it's hard, and we can go back if you want to, but you don't need to feel threatened. You know I'd never let anything happen to you here, or anywhere else."
"You don't see the looks they give me, Matthew," She whispered under her breath, turning her eyes to his. Her green orbs, always so dazzling, seemed fractured as she spoke. "It is not that these people are the same as those who murdered my parents and enslaved my people; but for every person that cares not for what I am, there is one that does. And no matter how slight, those feelings wanes on me. I despise being viewed as… animal."
"You're still worried about what's going to happen to Morgal, aren't you?" He asked, and she refused to meet his gaze. "That entire conversation with Unan… through most of it, you were just trying to threaten him, and protect your home, weren't you? Because that wasn't you Sveta; it was forced, like a performance," Matthew said, and she trembled and sighed.
"I had to know if I could trust him, and no matter what I had to know that Sana would never invade or hurt Morgal ever again… I'm sorry I risked our quest in the process," She replied, and he rubbed her belly gently.
"Don't worry about that," He replied. "I understand; we all do. Now, let's go back to the ship and—"
"AH! They're letting them in the city, now?" Came a raucous voice from behind them. Both of the Adepts turned quickly to see a one armed man looking at them with a disgusted look pouring from his face. "First we let these half-breeds free to terrorize the continent, and now we actually let them INTO Tonfon? What is the world coming to?"
The man looked to be around in his late fourties; his face was still quite fair, and his brown hair was pulled into a greasy ponytail. His garb was common; by far his most striking feature was his missing arm. For some reason, although Matthew knew he hadn't, he felt like he had seen the man before.
At his racist words, many of the passerby coughed and looked away; a few sent dirty looks to the man or shouted him down, and even fewer cheered that hate-filled bile he spoke. Matthew frowned and narrowed his eyebrows as he felt Sveta lower her body and begin to hiss.
"We don't want any trouble… just be on your way," Matthew said calmly, his hand on his blade's handle.
"…If I was twenty years younger and had both my arms," The man grumbled, staring down Sveta with obvious hatred. "It was one of YOUR kind that did this to me, bitch." Matthew quickly grabbed Sveta, preventing her from pouncing on the man. He had half a mind to let her, at this point. "That stupid prince… bit my damn arm right off. But I got my revenge; wouldn't mind adding you to my tally, though."
Matthew felt his breathing stop as he realized what the man had just said; by the prince… by Volechek… suddenly, Sveta's words from earlier in the day rang in his ears: "If it weren't for my brother biting the bastard's arm off, he would have done much worse to her corpse." There was no way… it couldn't be…
Suddenly, Sveta whined from beside him, and he snapped his head to see her shrunken to the ground, her paws covering her face. It was. It was him. And she just couldn't take it, Matthew realized. He had been more correct than he had believed; this entire day she had been operating under constant and dire fear.
The very sight of a Sana soldier brought back the image of her dead mother without fail. It had led her to become so cold and angry… and now, faced with her mother's murder, sent such pain and fear coursing through her that she couldn't even stand. Suddenly, Matthew felt his insides grow cold, and his entire body began to shake.
"…No, it can't be!" The ex-soldier exclaimed with a hearty laugh. "But it is! The queen's little kitten; I remember you well. You would have been next if it hadn't been for your brother… but from what I've heard, he finally got what he deserved too, didn't he? Maybe today you should join hi—" SLAM!
Matthew was fairly sure that the punch he delivered to the man's face had, at the least, broken his jaw. The bastard lied motionless, partway through the fruit stand Matthew had sent him flying into. The Venus Adept breathed heavily as he stared at the man's body, his anger not fading in the slightest.
He strode forward and picked the soldier up by his shirt, then kicked him back into the middle of the street. He then walked forward, and, picking him up again, sent a Cure through the man's body, just enough to wake him up once more. Matthew felt waves of eyes upon him, but he cared not. He had promised Sveta that he would not let anyone hurt her, and he kept his promises.
"Listen to me," He spat as the man blinked into consciousness. "That girl, whose mother you murdered? She's ten times the person you will ever be, and a hundred times more brave. She came to this city, filled with those that took everything from her, and has the audacity to forgive this country for… for… the atrocities. So much pointless violence. I wouldn't do it, I wouldn't forgive rats like you; she's stronger than I am too."
"Haha, her, strong?" The soldier began, his voice garbled from his jaw, which was indeed broken. "She cowers before me, she—" The soldier froze, his eyes staring behind Matthew, who turned around to see Sveta staring down the man. Her gaze was of so many powerful emotions; he could feel them battling each other for dominance. She raised her hand after a few moments, and Matthew honestly thought she was about to slice the man's head clean off his body.
And then, all the emotion faded from her face, and it became hard as stone. Without a word, she turned, and walked away. As much respect as Matthew already had for Sveta, he felt it double at that moment. He knew he was not strong enough to do what she had just done.
He turned back to the man, whose face was mixed with relief and some vague sense of fear. "If I ever," Matthew began, leaning in close to the scum in front of him. "See or hear you do ANYTHING to the people of Morgal, I swear… I will make you live the rest of your pathetic life with no arms." Before the man could respond, Matthew lifted him and threw him clear into one of the waterways.
"H-He can't swim, he only has one arm!" Someone shouted after a moment, and sure enough a few men and women ran over to pull the retired solider out. Matthew frowned, but didn't move; part of him wished the bastard would drown, but he still could not condone murder, even in this case.
"Sveta?" He said, turning to see her pointing to what looked like two Sanan soldier racing towards them. Her face was motionless, and he gritted his teeth; getting into a fight with the Sanan Army was not something they could afford to let happen.
"Halt!" Came a voice to the right of them, and both turned to view the old-man they had met at the palace moving quickly in their direction. "These two are coming with me… I will deal with this, have no worry of it," He said quickly, speaking to the two soldiers, who eyed each other wearily as he spoke.
"…They attacked a citizen. A handicapped citizen, not to mention, Tano," The first solider said, and the other nodded.
"I watched the entire incident, and the man directly threatened them," The old-man, whose name was apparently Tano, replied calmly. "Besides, there is a very good reason as to why he lost his arm; murdering a mother in front of her children is cruelty of the highest degree. You will do as I say, lest you wish me to bring Lord Unan into this?"
At the mention of the emperor's name, both soldiers gulped and shared a look once more. "…That won't be necessary, if you believe they were in the right," The second soldier replied. "At the least, could you take them away from the area, so things can calm down?"
Tano nodded with a smile, and shifted his gaze towards Sveta and Matthew. "Would you mind coming with me? We can stop by my home for a little while until things out here settle." Matthew nodded in thanks, but Sveta remained silent. The Venus Adept glanced at her worriedly; indeed, she seemed even more distant than she had been earlier. The luck of finding her mother's killer, of all people…
"This way," Tano said, turning and beginning to walk off in the opposite direction from the growing crowd of people. Matthew, taking Sveta's hand and squeezing it tightly, began to follow. He felt his heart ache as she gave no sign of acknowledgement, but kept his mouth closed, and searched his mind for anything he could say or do to cheer her up. It only began to ache more as he drew a blank, and realized that perhaps there was nothing more he could do.
Well, this chapter certainly jumped around a bit, to say the least. It also went for a little bit longer than I wanted it to (about 7,000 words), but I'm alright with that; it went as long as it needed to.
You know a fic is starting to get too long when you have to go back and fact-check yourself. Damn. If anyone ever notices an inconsistency, let me know; I really try to keep them non-existent, because I despise them. But, with four multi-chaps, things get mixed up, and crap happens… so, yeah.
Glad to write some Himi and Karis action (literally!); they need character development, at least as a couple. They're interesting to write, and pretty adorable, in my opinion. Amiti and Tyrell were also very fun to write; I love fleshing out Tyrell rather than leaving him so dopey. Yeah, he acts stupid, but why can't it be intentional! And finally, Sveta and Matthew was, once again, a little sad :( . I promise she will get much happier next chapter, and that for the near future she will be much happier in general.
I have such a fanboy crush on Karis. It's terrible. I think you can go back and forth with how she'd act romantically with someone; as I've said before, even if she isn't Jenna's daughter (which she isn't in this fic, for obvious reasons), from a character design stance she definitely has some Jenna in her. But, also some Ivan.
I've written her in a varied amount of ways; in this fic, she is very hyper-aggressive from a romantic standpoint (which is how I prefer her, to be completely honest), which makes sense as she is a rather controlling person. In Shoreline and Let There Be Sparks, she had definite hints of that slight controlling nature, and in Karis-Claus and (the small sample size of it we've had) SWWF she was shown as much more timid.
As I said, I prefer the first, because that's part of her fundamental characterization; the idea of control. It's odd that I'm so attracted to it (and her), because I enjoy freedom and like to shake off control. I guess I've always been attracted to opposites, though, so this is no different. I love playing with her controlling nature, as it's both a strength and a flaw, which is why she's probably my favorite character to write. At some point I'm going to write (I've started it kind of) a multi-chap that really explores that element of her (I may have mentioned this somewhere else). Anywhoo.
I've been really unhappy with typos (and just bad sentence structure in general) lately, so I tried to kill them with fire in this chapter, but I'm still unsure if it still has a lot of them… a major issue with this is that I usually edit when I'm tired, because I end up finishing fics late most of the time. Anyway, hopefully this chapter is cleaner than the past few, I really did try to edit well.
I'm really happy; this chapter officially put this fic over 200 pages in MS Word for me. That just gave me tingles :D . Next chapter will be more Karis/Himi and Sveta/Matthew (can anyone say double date?), as well as Eoleo/Rief/Kraden (which is actually going to be really funny).
It might also get split, depending on how long it seems it will be. I'd say there's a 63% chance of that happening, so I wouldn't be surprised if it did. Well, next update next Sunday (with AGS tomorrow and LoV on this Sunday). Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!
