A/N: Palmacosta! YAY!
Disclaimer: I do not own ToS. Stop making me repeat it, it makes me sad to remember.
As they sat on the boat for the next few hours, the others eventually found themselves getting bored. Raine spent most of her time in the cabin, trying to ignore the fact she was in a boat on the water, though it was failing miserably. Sheena mainly stayed with Max, gazing out over the water, while Genis sat staring at the water and dipping the ball on his kendama into it.
Kratos spent his time standing with his arms folded and staring straight ahead, prepared for any danger, while Anna hugged him from behind. As usual, he ignored the light pink on his cheeks.
Colette had found it easy enough to have a conversation with Lloyd to begin with, but yes/no questions quickly got boring and she had never been very good at miming. Eventually Lloyd came up with another idea; drawing the symbols for the words on her palm to get across what he was saying. Colette had great fun with this game, trying to guess what he was writing before he finished it.
Eventually though, they reached Palmacosta. Max pulled into the port and the group got off the ship, Raine racing straight for land.
"Thank you for taking us to Palmacosta!" Colette said happily.
"It was no problem. I'm just glad we didn't meet any monsters on our way," Max replied with a shudder. They waved to him before heading off.
"Why do you think there is a sudden increase in monsters around this area?" wondered Anna.
"It's probably because of the Desians," Genis said darkly.
"Don't go jumping to conclusions, Genis...though it is quite likely," agreed Raine, rejoining them.
"Where should we go now?" asked Anna, looking around.
"Oooh, the Church would probably be a good start! Pastor Marche might know about the location of the Water Seal!" Colette said with a giggle.
"Lloyd, do you know where the Church is?" asked Kratos. He nodded, and Kratos motioned for him to take the lead.
As they walked down the street, they vaguely overheard conversations of a General-Governor Dorr and Neil.
"Who do you think these guys are?" wondered Genis.
"It sounds like they're the city's leaders," Raine replied.
"I wonder if we can meet them!" Colette wondered, skipping forward before bumping into someone.
The two girls fell back, but Colette quickly got back up while the other girl sat there, nursing her bruised backside.
"Hey! Watch where you're going!" snapped the other girl.
"I'm so sorry..." Colette murmured, reaching down to help her up. The girl grunted, standing up without help and brushing herself down before blinking.
"Oh no.." she murmured.
A boy behind her suddenly stepped forward, looking angry. "Oi! You just broke our bottle of Palma Potion! They're pretty expensive, y'know!" he shouted at Colette.
The blonde drew back a little, eyes on the floor. "I-I'm sorry..." she murmured.
"Well, sorry's not going to get our potion back! So, what're ya-"
The boy suddenly went quiet, stiffening at the blade against his neck. Colette looked at Lloyd in surprise, seeing the anger glowing in his wine-red eyes.
The boy swallowed, taking a step back, and Lloyd lowered his sword. He didn't sheath it, however, reminding the boy to stay back.
"It's okay Lloyd," Colette murmured, and he looked at her hesitantly before sheathing his sword. Colette turned to them, bowing. "I'm sorry for breaking your potion. I'll go buy a new one immediately," she said.
"Y-Yeah..go do that. We'll wait here, so hurry up," muttered the boy.
The group started off, Genis fuming slightly. "Those guys were so rude! Jeez, don't they realise you're the Chosen?!" he snapped.
"It's okay, Genis. I did break their potion, so I should pay for it," Colette replied with a smile.
"But those guys were all up in your face! I'm glad you stepped in when you did, Lloyd, or I might have Fireball'd them."
Lloyd shrugged, and Colette smiled at him. "Yes, thank you Lloyd," she said happily, and he smiled back, blushing slightly.
The group looked around for a shop selling Palma Potion for a few minutes, before finally they found one. They entered then paused, watching in surprise as the girl behind the counter argued with a couple of Desians.
"No one would sell those at such a low price!" she snapped angrily.
"You're lucky we want to buy from a filthy shop like this!" the Desian growled back at her.
"Ha, as if! The only reason you decided to come here is because everywhere is sold out. Anyway, I'm not going to sell anything to you horrible Desians."
The Desian at the front gave an angry scowl. "Why you little.." he snarled, reaching for his sword.
"Wait! If we kill her, we'll exceed this years death limit. Let's just go back to the Ranch and inform Lord Magnius," the second stopped him, grabbing his shoulder. He turned to the girl, also scowling. "You better watch out, girl. Lord Magnius will have your head for this impertinence."
"General-Governor Dorr won't allow you to do anything," the girl replied with a humph.
The Desians growled at her then turned to stride from the shop, noticing the group as they did. Most of them looked away, a little worried that they would be attacked, but Lloyd and Kratos met their glares levelly, watching them walk out of the shop.
"I'm sorry about that," the girl behind the counter apologised to them.
"Oh, it's alright! You must be very brave to stand up against the Desians," Colette said, tilting her head.
The girl shrugged. "As long as General-Governor Dorr is here, we have nothing to be afraid of. Anyway, I've got to go to my job now, Mum. I'll see you in a bit," she replied, before hurrying out of the shop.
An older woman behind a different counter sighed. "She's so willful...just like her grandmother..." she murmured, before shaking her head and turning to the group. "Welcome to Marble's. I'm Cacao. Is there anything I can help you with?"
"We were wondering if we could buy a bottle of Palma Potion?" Raine asked, stepping forward.
"Of course. That will be 1000G, please," Cacao said.
"Wow...it really is expensive..." muttered Anna.
"Do we have enough, Sis?" asked Genis.
Raine quickly counted through their savings, then nodded. "Yes. We have plenty. Here you go," she said, handing over the money.
Cacao smiled and went to a shelf, reaching up and grabbing a bottle. she passed it to Raine, who carefully stored it into her bag.
"Thank you for coming. Please come again soon," Cacao said with a bow as they walked out of the shop.
Colette took the Palma Potion from Raine as they approached the group, and went over to them, holding it out. Lloyd stood just behind her, a hand on his sword as a warning that he wouldn't stand for any funny business.
"Here you go. I'm sorry we broke your first bottle," Colette said, passing it over.
The girl nodded, storing it into her bag. "Right. Come on, let's get going."
"But, y'know, what are we supposed to do with this book? I mean, the old geezer handed it over way too easily for a family treasure," muttered one of the other boys.
"Well, it's not like we have a use for it. Let's just go sell it at Hakonesia Peak," decided another girl as they walked off.
Lloyd glanced at Kratos, the two having easily overheard the conversation. The mercenary nodded, then turned to the group again.
"Alright, we should head to meet this General-Governor Dorr and see if he can help us," he decided.
A/N: Ain't Colette/Lloyd so cute? And yes, I'm making it that he came up with the idea first.
And look at Anna, just snuggling Kratos while he's trying to look cool. Honestly. :3
(Okay, super super late upload. This will be the last chappy for a while. I actually dread working with this fic at the moment, so I can't bring myself to message the guys helping out or write anything, which is why this upload is so late. I'm really sorry, but I will get back to it eventually :) Thanks for your patience)
Review?