Here comes the second part…
Victory
~~~~~~
Katt wandered downstairs and right into a madhouse. Jean and Nina were dashing around the kitchen throwing what appeared to be random ingredients into a bowl.
"What's going on?" she asked tentatively.
Jean skidded to a halt and dipped a bow, "Ah, Madame Katt! Take a seat!"
She looked to the chair he was motioning toward and plopped down. The frog dashed off, apparently not interested in giving her an answer.
"What's going on?" Katt reiterated, a little annoyed at being ignored.
This time Nina came to a stop next to her, and after giving her friend a hug said, "We're making breakfast. You're actually the first person up besides us."
"Oh, well can I just get something to drink? I'm really thirsty."
Nina shook her head, "Just wait a little longer. We'll be eating as soon as the others get down here."
"You want me to get 'em don't you?"
"What a fine suggestion!"
Katt let out a little sigh before heading back upstairs. She headed into Bow's room first. He was completely sprawled across the bed snoring loudly, leaving her barely able to contain her laughter as he rolled around on the bed. If she hadn't been thirsty it she would've entertained the notion of watching him roll out of the bed, which he was perilously close to doing several times. Instead she settled for pushing him out.
"Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!"
He started thrashing, nearly ripping the bed sheets before becoming aware of the surroundings.
"Huh? Katt? What is it?"
"Breakfast!"
He gave her a horrified expression, "You made breakfast?"
"No, Nina did."
"Thank god!"
The woren grabbed the front of his tunic and growled, "What's that supposed to mean, huh!?"
"Nothing! Look I'm up, I'm up!"
Shooting another glare at him, she walked out of the room and headed down toward Sten's. Luckily he was a light sleeper, so she just had to call that breakfast was ready. Her routine went on, waking up all her friends, until she finally got to Ryu's room. A sly smile spread across her lips as she got an idea.
"And we have a winner!" The judge called down from his podium.
The crowd went wild as Ryu walked up the middle of the chairs, waving to the masses.
"This one's for you Township!" He bellowed, hefting the 20lb bass into the air.
Again the people went wild with enthusiasm, particularly the section that had come all the way from Township to see him compete. The judge handed him the trophy and, after offering his congratulations to the tournament's first champion, motioned that the competition was complete. As the man started to walk away, he immediately doubled back and kicked Ryu in the gut…
The dragon clansmen gave a little grunt as he put a protective hand over his stomach. Now that he was conscious of his surroundings, he realized his bed was moving up and down.
"What the hell's going on!?" He yelled angrily.
He looked up into Katt's grinning face.
"Gooooooood morning, sunshine!" she laughed, jumping around on the mattress.
"Oh, har har." he replied, although he couldn't keep from smiling himself.
He timed her jumping, and as the Woren was landing, he hooked one of her feet. She let out a startled yelp and fell right on top of him, accidentally planting her knee in his groin area. As he started gasping for breath she gave him a little punch in the ribs.
"Guess that serves you right!"
"I'll… never understand… your… logic…"
Leaping out of bed she started out the room, "Breakfast is ready! Hurry down!"
He quickly shouted, "Did you make it?" with a little nervousness in his voice.
"NO! I didn't! Why does everyone keep asking me that!?"
That's a relief… He chuckled before yelling, "No reason!"
As he finally made his way into the dining room, Ryu was greeted to a hectic sight. The table was nearly buried in pancakes, bacon, sausage, eggs, and numerous other types of food. While most of his friends were moving chairs to the table, Jean and Nina were pouring out coffee. Katt was swiping little pieces of meat from the plates whenever she thought no one was looking and Sten was trying vainly to stop Bow from doing the same.
"Um… morning everyone."
Apparently they didn't hear him, although Sten did notice. The highlander left his hopeless job of keeping back Bow to greet him.
"What a spread, eh?"
Ryu nodded, "Yeah, it certainly is."
As he looked up, Katt was choking on a piece of sausage while simultaneously trying to hide the fact from everyone else. It would've been funny to him if her face hadn't been turning blue. He quickly made his way over to her.
"Are you all right?"
She wheezed in response, so he did the only thing he could think of. He socked her in the gut. The little piece of sausage was dislodged and she thanked him faintly before spitting it out the window. Of course the very next thing he knew, she was sneaking several more pieces of bacon from the plates. Eventually, just as things always did, the places were set and everyone had a chair. They all started to take their seats; Katt darted into one near the meats, so Ryu followed.
"Oh, Ryu! You'll be sitting at the head of the table." Nina said, putting him just to the left of Katt.
He shot the Woren a smile, "Remember to chew before swallowing this time!"
She stuck out her tongue at him in response, before spearing a mass of the meat with her fork. The platter was quickly moved down the table before Katt could snag anymore, so she just settled for some coffee on the side. Picking up the coffee, she put it to her mouth.
"You don't seem to be feeling any effects from last night."
Katt raised an eyebrow before finishing her coffee, "What effects should I be feeling?"
"Headache, maybe nausea."
He was sprayed with coffee when she started to laugh, "You aren't that bad of a kisser!"
Bow elbowed him in the ribs, "Way to go, buddy!"
Ryu felt his face go red, "I meant from the beer!"
"Oh, that?" she waved her hand, "It was nothing. I just had an antidote when I woke up."
Bow looked at her intently, "Those work?"
Katt nodded.
"How'd you ever come up with an idea like that?"
She gave a shrug, "Well, it feels like a weak poison doesn't it?"
"I wouldn't put it quite that way…" The grassrunner grumbled back.
"I would."
"So what are we doing now?" Ryu asked his friends.
As they all gave their responses, Ryu's heart sank a little bit. Apparently Bleu was leaving that afternoon to head back to Wisdon. Spar would be returning to Gandaroof's tutelage. Rand, although he wasn't quite up to returning to his mother's farm, declared that the seeds had to be planted then or never. Probably the biggest surprise of all was that Nina was already headed back to Windia. The blue haired warrior had always assumed she would be one of the last people to leave township.
Of course the news from the others wasn't much better. Despite his previous hesitation to do so, Sten was set on returning to Highland and facing the memories that plagued him there. Bow would soon be leaving for Hometown, which really surprised no one, aside from just how quickly he had made his plans to leave. Katt just shrugged her shoulders when they asked her what she was going to do.
"What about you, Jean?"
The frog snapped awake, "What?"
"What are you going to do now?"
"Ah, the sweet song of love calls me back to my beloved's side…"
"Forget I asked…"
Sten started snickering while Rand just rolled his eyes.
As always, most of the guys had skipped out on the cleanup, leaving Jean and Spar to it while they went about there own morning routines. Somehow Katt had managed to sneak away, too. It was actually an impressive achievement considering Nina had been watching her like a hawk to make sure she didn't steal all the bacon. Apparently she had become too intent on the food and lost track of the culprit. Besides, from Katt's point of view it was too nice a day to be cleaning up dirty dishes. The sun was shining, the air had a crisp bite to it that she always enjoyed, and more importantly than everything else, it was almost time for her daily match against Ryu. Not that it was much of a fight; he still hadn't managed to win.
"Um… Ms. Chuan?" A timid little voice inquired.
"Huh? Yes?" she said, snapping out of her reverie.
It was just a kid, who happened to be holding her staff.
"You left this on our roof…" the little guy said, throwing it to her.
"Thanks! I almost forgot about it."
She wasn't really sure how thankful she was about it, though. It had been her intention to never have to use it again. As she thanked the child again, he welcomed her and wandered off again.
I guess I'd better meet Ryu now.
She looked up at the sky and realized just how late it was. Chances were good that he was already there warming up.
"Damn!" Katt muttered, sprinting off into the woods.
Within minutes, the site came into view. Apparently when township crashed on top of Gate it didn't do this area any favors. Trees were tipping and where a little stream used to bubble was a depression in the ground, barely filled with any water at all. Parts of the ground weren't even anymore as little rises and drops broke the smoothness. It would greatly affect the fight.
"Finally made it? Are you ready?" Ryu called from the shade of a tipping oak.
"Gimme some time to stretch first."
He nodded, so she quickly blazed through her warm up routine. Warmed up by the exercise she turned back to him.
"Alright, I'm ready to kick your ass now."
"So cocky!" he laughed, picking up his practice sword, "It's about time you were brought down a notch!"
Katt couldn't resist grinning when he gave his normal reply. He had already promised to take her down at least 100 times already. Of course, he seemed a little more focused today for some reason but it wasn't really important. She didn't intend on being his first win.
They both dropped into their stances, more than ready to get the fight underway. Ryu was the first to attack, lunging straight forward with his wooden sword. It was quick, but expected, which allowed Katt to escape easily. He followed up with a standard cross-body slash that was easily blocked with her staff. The routine started to slow down, as the repertoire of basic opening moves was exhausted. Instead of pulling back, the dragon leaped up to higher ground.
"Hey! You cheat!" the woren growled, jumping up beside him.
As she landed the jump, he took a swing, which she blocked before coming forward with a kick. It grazed him as he spun to the side.
Let's see if he remembers this…
Katt grabbed the end of her staff, faking a high swing before delivering a sweep kick. Instead of attempting to duck the first attack, Ryu prepared a parry with his sword. Since he remained on balance it was easy to dodge the true attack.
"You actually did remember! I'm shocked!" she chided.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah."
As he fell back into his stance again, a new idea came to her. A thrust from her staff forced a parry, and with the sword out she quickly jumped from off one of his knees to his shoulders. Up on the new perch, she pushed off knocking him into the ground. He spat out dirt while she giggled. Rather than respond, he took off again, leaping to another jutting chunk of earth. As soon as she got her chuckling under control, she leaped after him. To her surprise, the dirt gave way, burying her up to the chest.
Ryu shot her a smile, "Looks like you fell into my trap!"
"That's cheating!"
She struggled to move, but the dirt was packed too tightly. Instead of wasting time, he started to swing downward chops, each one being deflected by the staff work of his opponent. Finally, he managed to catch the weapon and spin it out of her hands. It clattered to the ground just out of reach. As the little woren sat there, simmering in anger he just let out a laugh.
"Guess I won this time!"
Katt was too busy trying to extract herself from the dirt. It was a little difficult to breathe, much less move underneath all of it.
"Can you just get me out of here?"
He laid down on the ground, looking directly in her face instead, "But you look so cute!"
She tried to grab his head, but he moved it out of the way, "Let me out of here!"
Instead, he pressed his lips against hers. After a short while, he pulled back.
"Why'd you stop?"
He gave a look of mock surprise, "I thought you wanted to get out?"
"That can wait a little while…"
"Very well." he grinned, leaning back in.
It was a little past noon when Katt finally was dug out of the ground. The work was much harder than either one of them had suspected, especially considering the fact that Ryu had managed to set it up in ten minutes to begin with. She was a bit frustrated when she realized her entire lower torso was caked in dirt, especially since she realized she'd have to take a swim to get rid of it.
"I hate water…"
Ryu looked up, "Huh?"
"Nothing."
As luck would have it Ryu was headed back to Township to take care of some personal matters, which gave her plenty of time to take her little bath. The nearby pond that the group normally used had managed to survive the fall, so she took off her clothing and hopped on in. After a short dip, and a long time sun bathing on the rocks, she dressed herself again and headed back into town. Now that the town seemed to be fully awake, it was only a matter of time before she found her way into one of the stores. The storeowner looked up as she entered.
"Hi, Baretta!" the woren called, waving to the woman.
"Hi, Katt! Hey, check out what I just got in!" she laughed, pulling a tear shaped diamond out from behind the counter.
Her eyes widened at the wonderous thing, "What… is that?"
Baretta laughed again, "It's a carved dragon's tear!"
Looks like the thing Ryu has…
"Where'd you get it?"
"Some crystal maker over in Highland actually made it. I didn't know that Highlanders had much talent for jewel work."
She reached out a hand to touch it. The likeness was incredible! She wasn't sure how this man had managed to make it so alike, but now it interested her a lot.
"How much are you selling it for?"
The woman shrugged, "This is a good quality piece… how about 2000?"
Katt counted out the money, just barely able to afford it. She dropped the money into the merchant's hand before heading back out into the street, staring down at the purchase. Ryu would definitely be interested in seeing it too. As she made her way up toward the house she shared with her friends, Nina was just making her way out with her bags in hand. Her heart sank when she remembered her friends set time of departure.
"Nina! You weren't going to leave without telling me, where you?"
The windian woman looked up, "Katt! I've been looking all over for you!"
They gave each other a hug, although Katt's was more of a crushing hold, before exchanging promises to keep in touch, and then Nina was gone from her life. She already missed her as the great bird Mina disappeared from sight, especially when she considered the fact that she may never see her again. After her last trip to Windia, Katt had promised never to return. Snooty nobles and most of the townsfolk had turned their noses up at the sight of a 'heartless animal'. Maybe Nina would come back to… Township?
No! I'm not staying here!
Entering the now quiet building, Katt walked right into Rand. The shell clansman gave her a smile, and she knew that he was on his way out, too. He had always been like a big brother to her through the whole journey, and now he too was going to be gone. It felt like she was losing her family all over again.
"Rand…"
He shook his head, "Don't feel sad, Katt. We all knew it would come to this at some time. I'm just happy to know that I got to meet all of you before settling down."
"You're sounding like an old man."
He laughed, "I feel like one! This whole quest has worn me out! I'm more than happy to return to a normal life."
He wrapped her in a hug before he took his leave. The short woren stood alone in the hallway watching him go. As she made her way upstairs toward Ryu's room, she ran into Bow.
"You're not leaving too, are you!?"
"Me? I'm not going anywhere right now."
"Has anybody else? It's awfully quiet around here."
"Actually, Bleu and Spar. They both had important matters to get back to."
So those two had left without even saying goodbye? The next time she saw them… Bow figured that it wouldn't be wise to stick around, especially when the feline gladiator looked ready to hurt someone. Dismissing himself, he flew down the stairs and out the door. Ignoring the fleeing grassrunner, Katt moved along to knock on Ryu's door.
The door swung open as he popped his head out, "Eh?"
She held up the dragon's tear, eager to see his response.
"How did you get that from me!?!" he choked, reaching to where he normally wore the tear. Another look of shock came over his face when he saw it was still there.
"Cool, huh?"
"But how? Where?" he stammered, "What's going on?"
"I bought it at Baretta's. Looks just like yours doesn't it?"
He took the crystal in his own hands and looked at it closely. Now that he held it close he could see that it really wasn't all that similar to his own. The tear had been smoothed very well, but unfortunately it was not smooth in key areas. It was also a lot bulkier than his.
"Weird, isn't it?" she laughed, "A highlander made it, Baretta said so."
"The crystal is flawed."
"What?"
He pointed to a tiny crack snaking its way along the whole thing, outlining it.
"You've got to be kidding me! I just bought this for 2000 gold!"
"Afraid so. I guess the Highlander could hide that from slower people, but…."
She shot him an icy glare and he carefully reworded his comment, "I mean, um, uh, well…"
"I'm waiting. What do you mean?"
"It would be passable to people without an eye for detail!"
Her hands tightened on her staff, "WHAT was that?"
He threw up his arms defensively, "It's not an insult!"
She growled, but relaxed her grip a little bit, "It sure sounds like one…"
Heaving a sigh of relief, the dragon lowered his arms, "I'm just saying that you really don't know all that much about jewel craft."
"And you do?"
"A little. That and I know exactly what the dragon's tear looks like."
"Oh yeah. Well what am I gonna do with this? It's busted up!" Katt complained as she threw the crystal onto his bureau.
"You can always resell it…" he trailed off when she shot him a flat look.
"After all the money I just spent on it, I'm definitely not going to be reselling it."
"I don't understand your logic."
She patted his cheek with a smile, "You don't have to."
"I'm surprised that highlander carved it. It's not exactly a contemporary piece, and I doubt anyone would really want to buy it…"
*WHACK!*
Ryu let out a yelp of pain as he fell to his knees.
"Just keep rubbing it in, smart guy." Katt replied with a threatening shake of the fist.
Despite the hit he was up quickly.
"I wasn't making fun of you!" he muttered.
She waved it off without a word. There were more important matters to attend to anyway. Wandering out of the room, she headed back out into the streets to do a little more thinking of her own.
Ryu picked the dragon's tear up again, looking at it very closely. He hadn't really wanted to tell Katt, but it really wasn't crystal either. It was just glass, some high quality glass, but nothing that was worth the 2000 price tag. He felt a little angry that Baretta had swindled Katt, but just let the whole thing drop from his mind. Baretta probably hadn't noticed herself, after all, she normally just sold weapons, not crystal. Something about the tear still struck him as odd, even without the small physical imperfections. Certainly the coloring the creator had thrown on were perfect, although the normally colorless center had been colored a light blue for some odd reason.
What is it that just keeps striking me as odd about this?
Turning it around again, he slid his fingernail into the crack. As he moved his nail along it there was a light click and the whole thing opened.
It's a container? Why would someone make a container like this?
He flipped the whole thing open and took out a fairly new piece of paper. It had been crumpled from being inside the tear for a while, but wasn't dried out yet. Carefully spreading it out along the table, he set to work reading the flowing writing therein.
To the Dragon,
Chances are that if you're reading this, you have bought my work and most importantly knew what was wrong with the tear. I regret to say that my letters to your town's innkeeper were not exactly true. I'm not from Highland and I'm not much of a crystal carver. I do, however, need your help. If this isn't the dragon, please give this to him for it is extremely important! I'm afraid I can't say anything else, lest this fall into the hands of someone else. I'll come to you in several days time, in case you didn't find this immediately. Just leave a second story window unlocked and I'll find it.
"What is this?" Ryu growled, quickly re-reading the message, "Several days from when?"
The one thing that had always bothered Ryu was being forced into doing something he didn't wish to. This was definitely one of those cases, and he let out a frustrated growl before destroying the writing.
"This had better be worth my time…"