The house Barago found for us to rent is out in the countryside. It's small, but the place is perfect for staying hidden in a quiet place. We've given Noriko the bedroom and the bed so she can be comfortable since she has to stay in it most of the time, particularly early in her healing.
When she learned it was the only real bed in the house, she insisted that Gaya stay in the bed with her at night, and Geena has been enjoying staying with them in the "girl's room". Even when injured Noriko is kind and cheerful.
Sometimes we men will hear them talking with her late enough in the night I go in and scold her. She laughs at me. Gaya squirms as if she's the little girl getting the scolding and then I wonder if it's Gaya that loves having another girl around to talk to. That makes me smile, but they still need to let Noriko have her proper rest.
We men are crammed in around every edge and I've taken to wandering outside at night during my awake times and sleeping in the barn. The straw is softer than the floor. So is the dirt sometimes. Straight hard boards covered only with the travel bed night after night make me sometimes wish for that.
The others will leave soon, though. Noriko's healing well and Gaya's been teaching Geena how to do what she can, and there's me for the rest. Agol and Barago will stay with us here. I can't shake off Barago who's decided to become my bodyguard, or something, and Agol acts like Noriko's.
Sometimes I complain at them they make me feel like Noriko and I are the lord and lady of the manor home. Agol just smiles and Barago teases me that of course we are, then barks his laugh at me when I can only be embarrassed. He loves to tease me. I sometimes catch Noriko giving him glares for it, but I think she doesn't know how to get him to stop any more than I do.
Nights are also the time I'm practicing so the others don't see. I've finally learned how to tease apart the different energies. They have different flavors is the best way to put it. Earth energy is heavy, not unexpectedly. Earthy. I think that's why I don't use it well. I think I may have exacerbated my problems the time I went through the most recent change by drawing on it. I don't usually but I was so angry.
I am the Sky Demon after all. Sky is light, like the air, and like fire. Fire dances with air and is tangy. It's almost as rich as earth, though. I think that's why blacksmithing works so well - fire and earth move together well in the furnaces. Air is spicy. It's odd to think so, but one of the early days I was wandering and caught a scent on the wind I hadn't smelled in a very long time.
I came over a knoll and stared in amazement. It was a field of mixed flowers and herbs that spread for a long ways, even over the next knoll. The mixed smells there were so strong that I had to make the wind dance so I could breathe.
The numbers of butterflies and other little birds that love to sip at nectar that arrived within only a short time to settle on the field made it look like a flower field from the sky came down to kiss the flower field of the earth. That showed me very well just why air is spicy. It carries all of the scents of the earth upon it so that the creatures know where the best food is.
I wish I could show that meeting of sky and flower to Noriko, but I may have to settle for just bringing her to the field itself. It's beautiful enough. ...I'm thinking she's not likely to want to come alone with me.
That's been a little difficult, because it makes Barago's teasing all the more embarrassing. Noriko is still maintaining her distance and hasn't told me if she heard me confess I love her. (I know she did the later time I tested it but that didn't get much reaction out of the ordinary.) Her eyes follow me, though, so I think she did. It hurts just a little that her eyes go sad when she looks away.
Sometimes I wonder if she's worried she'll be sent home randomly, she was so randomly brought here. I'm trying to not think of that. It won't happen until after we figure out what the prophecy really means, and that holds enough unknowns for me at the moment.
I'm sorry if I've put her into a position of feeling uncomfortable if she isn't sure how to respond. What we have is enough, really...except I do miss having the little opportunities to touch since she's not afraid here. I'm relieved she can have the opportunity to relax. Even I breathe a little easier here.
Finding the field was an excellent excuse to be close to Noriko for at least a part of the days I'm missing her too much and need her peace. Because she told us she might become a doctor, I can have the excuse of teaching her about the herbs of this world and how we use them. She's a very industrious student and enjoys practicing using the herbs.
She found an odd delight in learning how to use the mortar and pestle. I asked Agol to pick one up on one of his trips into the city to shop for things we needed. I'll carry those in my bag. They're quite heavy, even the small medicinal ones he purchased. (I got to touch her for that lesson and enjoy more than one tease that day. Barago laughed and Agol smiled, enjoying the teasing with me. She finally scolded us all for it, but I could only smile.)
Agol's a reasonable cook, having had to learn after his wife died. He's been helping me keep the mind and hands of the Teacher busy by teaching Noriko to cook. She admitted she'd only had the very basic lessons on her world, but she's worked hard on learning what he can teach her. Those lessons frustrate her a little more since we have to eat the failures, too. She finds that both embarrassing and stressful.
Still, it makes her work harder the next time. I'm not sure she'll do much baking ever after this place, but it's a good start to cooking over a fire. Those lessons can come later when we're on the road again. There are times I wish to be on the road alone with her again, but it's a hard life to live, and for us it would mean we were on the run in hiding again.
-o-o-o-
Noriko's strong enough to be up most of the day now and a change of view would be good for her. I hitch the horse up. It's also getting flabby and lazy not being properly worked. I may have to run with it to get it back into shape. When the horse and wagon are ready, I collect Noriko. Barago invites everyone along and Noriko asks me very politely if they can come. Since I expected her to, I tell her it's fine. I'd rather she was comfortable enough to enjoy herself.
The trip to the field of flowers is faster by wagon than me walking to it, of course. This time Noriko is sitting next to me on the seat of the wagon and I look to see her expression as we come over the fist knoll. Her eyes go very wide and the delight on her face fills me.
"Oh, Izark!" she breathes, her hands coming up to clasp together in front of her chest. "It's beautiful! We don't have these colors, most of them. And translucent flowers, almost like colored glass instead of petals! It's amazing." I am satisfied.
Her eyes continue to scan the field as I stop the wagon under one of the trees that are scattered about the area and help her out. I support her to walk her into the field where she can be surrounded, a rare flower among flowers. She touches them and names the ones I've already brought to teach her.
"Even I can see all the pretty colors, Papa!" Geena says, her head turning to look, a smile on her face as well. She skips off to begin feeling each flower and petal, her father walking behind her slowly with a smile on his face.
"Be careful, Geena," I warn gently. "Some of them are prickly. They won't hurt much if you're gentle with them, so you can feel them all, if you want. Some are very short, too, but smell very nice."
I'm remembering a singular day in my past, only a few hours, and having Noriko in the field turns my feet as well. "I'll be nearby," I say to Noriko. She gives me a nod, too delighted to worry. Barago also wanders off into the field to enjoy the rare view.
There was a flower field similar to this near my childhood home. I would run to that quiet beautiful place when my life became too dark to stay in any longer. It was a place I could breathe and rest. One of the days I went there, thinking I was alone, when the wind brought me the scent of another person I didn't recognize. I was frightened of her at first, but she only sat in the grass and talked with me gently. Her hair was long and black like mine is now and she called herself a 'fallen star'.
As I remember that day, feeling Noriko sitting in this flower field like I felt Miss Lettie then, I pick the same sort of bouquet Miss Lettie had requested of me - one of every flower in the field. I also remember fondly each one and what they're used for. I'll use this bouquet to teach everything to Noriko that Miss Lettie taught me that day once I'd returned to her. She was so patient and kind to me that day.
As I return over the second knoll to Noriko who's seated still in the flowers, surrounded loosely by the other three from our group, it's hard to not remember the ending of that visit. I'd asked if I might see Miss Lettie again. She only promised she would continue to watch over me in the field as a star if she couldn't.
I'd demanded she let me know her name, and she hadn't wanted to give it to me. When she did, I understood why. She knew I'd be sad. Even I'd heard the story that she was a "demon" and had been sentenced to death for the murders of multiple people.
I couldn't believe it of her, not after her kindness to me. I'd run after her and held her, as if my small arms could hold her there, prevent her death. She'd turned to me, still so kind, and told me that neither she nor I were demons. Demons were creatures who fed on emotions. We were humans who were special. She's the one who encouraged me to learn to properly use my air and fire skills, so that I wouldn't harm with them accidentally.
I missed her terribly even after the singular visit. I went back regularly to practice in the field where there had been a day of peace and comradeship for both of us. I would look up at the sky and wonder if she did watch down on me kindly. Sometimes I believed she did.
As I walk towards Noriko, I think, Miss Nettie, if you're still watching down on me, particularly in a field of flowers like this, do you see her? The one who you told me would come into my life one day? I've protected my heart and she is opening it. I hope she'll continue to be worthy of it, but I believe she is. It's terribly ironic that she's also the Awakening, a creature this world also doesn't understand save through what little lore exists. As I set the bouquet in Noriko's lap I silently add, Please, continue to smile and watch over us. I hope you're still happy where you are now.
"Here are more herbs we can dry and use later," I say out loud, knowing that Noriko doesn't want to have my feelings pressed on her, and that excuse is sufficient because I know she'll enjoy learning about them.
Noriko picks up the bouquet in both arms and smells the flowers appreciatively. "Thank you, Izark. They're beautiful."
"Izark, it's called a bouquet, not a 'bunch of herbs'," Barago says, letting his presence be known. Noriko's look should have warned him, but he continues, trying to get my attention, which hadn't really been on anyone else in the area, since I'd been thinking about my past. "But then, you seem to be off today, anyway. You've missed my beauty." He strikes a pose, and I look at him confused until Barago points to the flower crown on his head. "Doesn't it make me more beautiful?"
I'm stunned rather speechless. The rugged Barago knows how to weave flower crowns? Or did Geena do it? "No...?"
Barago pulls it off his head. "Then I won't wear it. Izark is the one I have chosen to follow - especially since he's the one who made it so I don't have anywhere else to go."
I'm a bit stricken. I hadn't realized he felt that way about being used to help us get out of Nada's castle. "Ah, I really am sorry, Barago."
Barago stands there solemnly for a bit then chuckles. "Don't let it bother you, Izark. I'll stick around for a bit because I think it would help. You don't need to be stressed out about it." I glare at him a bit. He's teased me again, and again I fell for it.
He drops the flower crown on top of Geena's head and it slowly slips down to be a necklace. "Here, these are meant to make girls prettier, so you can have them. Izark's already given flowers to Noriko, like he should."
My hackles raise a little. I know most everyone in our group understands that Noriko and I have a unique relationship, but why Barago has to keep assuming it's a romantic one annoys me. I turn to Noriko so I can hold my tongue. "It's time to get you back to rest." I need Noriko a little closer after having thought of my past, so I choose to pick her up and carry her.
She hold the flowers and looks back at the field one last time. "Thank you again, Izark. It's a very beautiful place." I blush a little, but I'm pleased she enjoyed it as much as I do.
As I set Noriko on the wagon, Barago comments, "Did you want to -"
"Barago," Noriko interrupts firmly. "Shut up." She doesn't even look at him as she settles in the wagon.
There is shocked silence, then Barago quietly asks me as I pass him, "Have you ever heard her do that before?"
I climb into the driver's seat of the wagon, letting Barago stew a bit, then look at him, keeping completely neutral since he's brought it on himself not paying proper attention. "Yes. Once." She was angry then, too.
-o-o-o-
Noriko is ready for travel and I keep feeling like we've been in one place too long already. The longer she and I stay in any one place the longer the news has to reach ears we don't want to have pointed our way. Honestly, as I was meditating a couple of nights ago, it occurred to me that this feeling is almost like the same sort of feeling I had when the demon of the White Mist Forest was watching us and waiting to strike. I can't tell what the source of the feeling is, really, so I'm not sure. Either way, it's time to move on.
I take Barago with me to check on the wagon. It will need to be able to make the long trek and the wagon wheel we found that led us to the clothing merchant is before my eyes since the feeling came on. I don't want to have Noriko be the one taking the role of the merchant should we loose a wheel, not when she's finally recovered this much.
Agol has taken Geena into town so he can show her around it before we leave. He's also picking up the final supplies we'll need and letting the landlady know we're leaving so she can rent the house to someone else.
Noriko comes out of the front door and comes out far enough to say, "Izark, dinner's in. I'm going to go for a walk. I'll be back soon."
I look up from the wagon wheel I'm inspecting. "Okay. Let me know if you need me."
She looks at me for a moment, then as she turns away, she says, "Always."
I'm stunned by the one word and the way her body moved as she said it. I've never had her flirt with me and it did something to my body I didn't expect. I want to see more of it, suddenly.
Barago 'kindly' brings me back to my senses by laughing at me. I turn and rise to grab his shirt in my hand and pull him up close to me. "Barago! Just stop!"
He's pulled to his knees because his size is irrelevant to my strength. His surprise at being reminded of it is quickly erased, though. He knows me too well now. He grins at me. "What's up with you? You're her big protector, right? Isn't she supposed to call on you whenever she needs you?"
Well, he has a point. I slump. "Please. Just stop." It nearly comes out as a whine.
He barks his laugh at me. "You're not supposed to threaten someone when you're trying to win their favor, you know."
I let him loose. I wish I had a way to explain it so he would let up on the teasing. Neither of us like it. "She's still trying to understand the place she's gotten into. It's not so easy -"
I break off. Something isn't right. "Noriko!" I turn the direction she's in, and then I'm running.
"Izark! Help. Strangers who know my name!" I put on a burst of speed. The wind tells me that there are at least five other people with Noriko. That's not good at all.
I round the corner of a stand of trees and reach down to the ground to pick up dirt in my hand. My fingers and fire form the dirt into three different fired stones. As I prepare to throw the first one, Noriko dives forward and somersaults in sync with my throw so that she's out of the way of the man behind her.
The stone hits the man who was far too close to her for my heart in the leg and he's on the ground, holding the leg and screaming in pain. Noriko's already back up on her feet and running towards me again.
I grab Noriko in my arms, both of us still running, and pull her around to be behind me, so I can protect her. She grabs on to the back of my jacket so I know where she is, but I can have my hands free. This was part of our practice with the knife training.
I throw another stone at the next man coming for Noriko and he's down, holding his leg and writhing in pain. I don't have to have my sword to defend her, but in that moment I swear to never be without my blade ever again, even in peaceful areas. I've become too complacent here.
"Ho, a knight in shining armor, eh?" It's an alto female voice, and it's neither pretty, nor nice. "I think the rest of you had better let me handle this one. He's not something the rest of you can handle. You get the girl while I take care of him."
She's wearing a robe with loose sleeves and a large medallion rests on her chest. There are still four other men with her. I'll assume she has special powers. That makes me even more unhappy I'm without my sword.
"Izark!" It's Barago. "I've brought your sword. I'll protect Noriko while you take care of that one." Barago hands me my sword.
Noriko lets go of me and stands behind Barago instead. As she starts instructing him in how to fight in the way we practiced, I move against the woman who challenged me. I want these people gone and out of here as fast as possible. I try to stay wary, though. Until I know what she can do, I shouldn't rush into the fight. "Why do you want Noriko?!"
"Because Lord Silent Mask wants her. I'll tell you more if you can defeat me." She raises her elbows in a funny way, then snaps her arms out and long lengths of cloth come out from inside both sleeves.
They come at me quickly, spiraling. I watch them closely and notice the tips of them stiffen. I might be bound by the flexible parts, but I don't want those tips striking me. I dodge and use the energy of wind only to slice into the hardened tips, slicing them off the rest of the length of the fabric.
My eyes are on the rest of that, wanting to know if they'll bind me. I dodge out of the way, and they follow me as if alive. I swing at the two lengths of fabric and they curl away from the swing. This is going to be a very strange fight. Swirling her arms, the woman I'm facing gloats. "I can control this cloth as if it were my body. I can make it do whatever I want."
I head for her. I can dodge the cloth well enough and she has no defenses other than that. She disagrees, apparently. "Ha ha ha! You can't defeat me! You can't even get close to me."
The cloths swirls around me to make an enclosure. I leap out of the trap, headed for the woman. My jumps can take me far higher than any normal man, and she's only seeing a wandering warrior, not expecting an opponent who also has special skills. When I'm not trapped, she looks around in surprise, and barely jumps backwards in time to escape my attack.
Before she lands she's already controlling her fabric to come at me again. The fabric wraps quickly around my sword arm, and binds my arms together. I'm surprised when it continues to bind around my whole body. It not only starts to squeeze me tightly, but it's sticky somehow, sticking to my clothing and making the binding even worse, not to mention generally gross.
The cloth has me bound so I can't free my hands easily and the tip of my sword is controlled by her end of one of the cloths. As I pull back on my sword anyway to see if I can get the blade to cut the fabric that binds it, she exults, "It's impossible to cut this cloth. I can change the material any way I wish. I can make it hard or sticky. This is the power Lord Silent Mask gave me!"
It isn't impossible to cut, I already proved that. Obviously it's sticky. I wish it wasn't. It's making my skin crawl it's so creepy. That last thing makes my worry peak. I try to practice not letting the adrenaline win. That's going to take a lot of practice, but I try anyway since I have the opportunity to. Men with special powers can't give them to other people. That is a rumored skill of evil men with spirits who work for them, or of demons.
Is it possible that the sense I've been having is from another demon that's close by? Might it have somehow recognized my presence? Not likely, as even the first demon didn't know I was anything other than a man until I let it out.
These people wanted Noriko specifically. Has she increased in strength enough they can sense her? I'll have to see if I can sense her in that way, but another time. The final boast of my death has been given and a hardened tip is headed my way again, and I look defenseless.
I call upon the first change's level of strength and just enough fire energy to flash-bake the fabric and burst out of the bindings around me. My sword slices through the hardened fabric with air energy again and I'm after the woman. "You said you'd answer my question if I defeated you, right?" She can't believe I escaped and is standing frozen. "I want those answers now."
I prepare an energy blow and send it after her with a swing of my sword. It cuts the fabric just before the cuffs of her sleeves and sends her flying back. I'll be able to reach her now, I hope. Surely it can't be infinitely long cloth. Her face full of fear, she turns to run.
"What do you want with Noriko!? Who is Lord Silent Mask?" I demand of her as I chase her. I prepare another energy attack.
She reaches to her chest and grabs the medallion she wears. "Lord Silent Mask, help me!" She blinks out of my vision. I can feel that she's completely gone.
"What!" Barago yells behind me. I turn. The four men that he'd been protecting Noriko from are also gone, as are the two men I'd left on the ground.
The scene becomes silent where once was great noise. It's almost eerie. What kind of creature can give special powers to others and then transport them away so suddenly? I shiver and my back crawls. I clench my hand on the hilt of my sword to get it to stop and focus on Noriko, that she's still safe and we weren't taken.
It's very hard to fight my internal practice of fear, but I already have the practice of a strong will so I force it to come. By then I've already wrapped Noriko in my arms to hold her protectively, sorry I wasn't there with her when they appeared, sorry I wasn't carrying my sword to begin with, and most sorry that they escaped having seen us and me knowing almost nothing about them even still.
We head back to the house, watching carefully for more attackers, but nothing happens. Just as we reach the door, Agol comes galloping up, fear and worry on his face too. "Is every thing here okay?" he asks while still on horseback. Geena has her face buried in his jacket and is trembling.
Noriko puts her hand on Geena's knee, concerned for her. Agol continues, "When we talked to the landlady she said some people had come looking for us and she told them how to find us. When Geena used her sight to see who it was, she suddenly became very afraid and said she saw monsters. We've come right back."
"Geena, come here," Noriko says gently. "We're okay. Izark chased off the strong one and Barago and I kept the others at bay long enough for us to stay safe." Geena slips off the horse into Noriko's arms and buries her head in Noriko's shoulder. "I'm sorry you had to see something so scary. Don't look again, okay?" Geena nods.
"Was it really monsters?" Agol asks in surprise.
Barago and I deny it. "It was men, six of them, but Izark took out two early, and a woman with really strange powers."
I frown. "She said that a 'Lord Silent Mask' had sent them to take Noriko, but that's all we know."
We pack everything that evening, even going so far as to load it in the wagon. After dinner, we look at each other, uncomfortable. While we would stay for the sake of Noriko and Geena, I'm not the only one who feels we should be on the move sooner than later. They know where we are and night raids are common. All they have to do is bring more men than we can handle and overwhelm us - or have me give us away entirely trying to keep Noriko safe.
Noriko takes Geena's hand. "We would also be more comfortable sleeping outside somewhere not here. Even if they were to not come, none of us would get a good night's sleep, I think, if we stay. Let's go as far as we can on our way."
Geena nods. "I think so too. We've been sleeping outside a lot. It's easier to do that than be afraid." We leave the house clean, with a thank you note and a bouquet of flowers.
I put my bed close to Noriko this night, still concerned about the trouble we've suddenly had, and we men set night watches. I can feel the same sort of feeling I felt before when Irktule had damaged the demon of the White Mist Forest and it was waiting to attack. I do believe that this is another one, perhaps even a stronger one, and it wants Noriko and is unhappy I prevented a simple solution to that desire.
I walk a safe distance from the camp while Agol takes the first watch and try to relax enough to sense what that demon might be sensing to even know about Noriko. I fall immediately into the warmth that is her in that place in my heart where I'm connected to her.
I realize that it's not just that I stand with her. I'm already connected to her. Unless that demon can tell that she is warm and good, the antithesis of what demons eat, then I can't know what it senses no matter what I try.
I suppose the destruction of something that's a strong force for good in this world could give a demon strength, but keeping Noriko alive to have even one moment of talking to it would make it dissolve into nothingness. She would logically convince it that it was pointless to live, and then she would wash it away with her tears. I sigh to myself and return to the camp to sit by her side on my bed.
I try to distract myself by learning the energy of water. It's smooth and inexorable. It's also like earth, but it's like air. Mist rises up gently, rains fall gently, and clouds form in the air. Playing with water energy is nicely calming, but tiring. It's heavy like earth but not quite so much. I'll probably stick to clouds in the main. The wind likes to tease them, after all, herding them along through the sky.
