If you see a large gap between the times between my updating of stories, then please excuse me for that. I've been extremely busy with college.

Honor of the Rising Sun

Chapter 10

Premonitions and Dedications

Five weeks has passed since Rain and Becile have been healed of their stigma. Ever since then, they both have dramatically improved in their health as well as their combat abilities. For Rain, it was an opportunity to improve in his combat abilities as well as his training to become an Ancient Templar. His training has been going well as he spoke with Nikolai to teach him a trick that he uses during combat, which is the art of the hidden Kunai. For Nikolai, he can throw 10 Kunai, five in each hand, without a problem. For Rain, he can only use a limit of three since he much would rather not take so many at once.

A couple weeks ago, they had a run in problem with the government as all of Clan Nutsy was sent to the prisons for their involvement with Marche and his actions to destroy the crystals to return home. It didn't surprise the clan when they received the service of Exodus when Marche defeated it with Babus on his back. Thankfully, Marche went into that battle prepared and won, but by just barely. Because of that and a few other incidents soon after the battle, Judgemaster Cid declared that the Judges and the Palace are now to be separate.

Today, Rain can only sit around as Marche and a few other members of the clan are out on an important mission that Rain couldn't be involved with on his personal request. Rain has his reasons as he kept looking around in his father's notes, trying to figure something out about a dream that he had last night.

"I don't understand. What was that dream trying to tell me?"

Rain heard the door to his quarters open up. He looked up from the journal to see Bernardo standing there. It wasn't too long ago that Bernardo was promoted to being a Fighter. Bernardo still struggled with the new outfit, but he has been managing overall.

"Bernardo, I know you're here for some other stupid reason than to chat," Rain said as he looked back down to continue with his research.

"Actually, I'm here on Becile's request."

Rain stopped reading the journal and sat there. For Becile to request for someone other than Nikolai or Marche to speak with him would probably mean that something is wrong.

"Is…there something that she wants?"

"From what she has told me, yes there is. You've always been at the clan's side during battles, but you wanting to back down from an important battle is a bit strange to everyone. Is there something that you want to tell us?"

Rain can only sit there for a few minutes, thinking about Bernardo's question. He closed the journal and spoke, "To tell you the truth, I was just thinking about speaking to an old friend, if you don't mind."

Rain quickly left with his Bangaa Spike at hand after telling Bernardo to relay a message to Marche that he may be gone when they return. Bernardo can only wonder what this means. However, he'd rather not get involved as this is something that he can't help with.

Nightfall came as Rain kept walking up the mountain that held the nameless fountain. He wanted to go to this fountain to see if he can find any answers to his dreams as well as other personal reasons. Rain entered the cave and gazed at the fountain for a few minutes as he laid his Bangaa Spike against the cave entrance wall.

"If you don't mind, I hope you don't mind me being here," Rain stated. "…It…it was an honor for you to help my sister and me. I really am in your debt. I wish that I could have had the time to know you more out of respect. But…I don't know if you're the right person to ask, but I just wish to speak out my mind about some problems that I'm having."

Rain began to take deep breaths, trying to relax. It's not that he's nervous about speaking to a person that probably doesn't exist, but he's nervous about hearing an answer from her if she really did exist. He began to speak again. "I…I've been having these strange dreams ever since you healed us from…I believe you called it Geostigma. I've been seeing a strange weapon of sorts. It's not like a weapon that I've seen or heard of, but what I felt in my dreams…it felt as if it was real. I could sense a deep, dark aura radiating from this weapon…and I have no idea of what it could mean. Not just that, but I've been seeing these people…people who, just like me, are different in many aspects to the people that exist in that world. I've been searching my father's journals and I came across something." Rain pulled out a journal from his cloak and opened it to the marked page. "This entry was dated about ten days before Clan Delta's deployment to combat and destroy the Dark Templar. It said, 'The sword of Despair. A sword of destructive power. I've been having strange dreams about this weapon as if it was a real entity. I took some research with some of the Scholars at the local Academy and discovered that this weapon has been in this world before, or at least a piece of it. Even a small fragment from that weapon was enough for it to cause great destruction and the extinction of the Torshana district. It was soon destroyed and purified from further use. The incident, named the Torshana Massacre, occurred over 80 years ago. I've been worried that this weapon could have resurfaced again anytime soon. If this weapon ever does return, then there will be no choice but to use all of our resources to stop this destructive power.' I…guess you can say that I've inherited my father's dreams."

Rain closed the journal and placed it back within his cloak. However, he also pulled out something else in its place. The first is a handful of red flowers that are an especially rare type that can only be found at one place, which is also a very dangerous place to go to for any normal person. The second is a plaque with inscriptions engraved in it.

"I took some thought for what you did and decided to dedicate this fountain here. The flowers here are a rarity as only one place grows these flowers. I figured that you might like to have these flowers here with this fountain and plaque that I made. I also took the liberty to speak to people around town and heard a great deal about you. It seems that you travel to many parts of Ivalice for flowers and sell them in various towns and then disappear the next day for the past five months. If you didn't mind, I decided to give you a reference as most people have no knowledge of your name. I hope this name that I gave you suits you well, Aerith Gainsborough."

Rain placed both the flowers and the wooden plaque against the base of the fountain. Despite that he couldn't speak to her directly, he felt that doing this would give him more of a connection to the young flower girl as well as some relief for honoring her actions. He turned around, took his Bangaa Spike, and left the fountain to return to his clan. As he left the cave, the last thing he heard from there is a drop of water that fell in the pool of water in the fountain as the vibrant sound gave Rain a strange, yet calming feel as if she's watching from the fountain. He looked back, reading the plaque one last time.

The Gainsborough Fountain
Dedicated to
The Maiden who Travels the Planet

Now, I believe I should clear this up first before I forget. "Maiden who Travels the Planet" is actually a novella. I don't quite know the details, but I just felt that title fits her well. So, yes, I do not own the novella title "Maiden who Travels the Planet" nor do I own the novella.