"Into the distance, a river of black. Stretched to the point of no turning back. A flight of fancy on a windswept field, standing alone...my senses reeled. A fatal attraction that's holding me fast, how do I escape its irresistible grasp?" Pink Floyd
Chapter five
With a yawn, Subaru sat up and stretched languidly before rising unsteadily to her feet and stepping out from under the tree. The rain had come to a full stop, though she was greeted by a few drops plopping onto her head from the leaves above as she slipped away. She ran her fingers through her somewhat matted hair and looked around thoughtfully, wondering when she should wake up the others. She was reluctant to do so just yet, but they had to get up -some- time, it was already dawn.
There was no great hurry to wake them up just yet, however, Subaru had always found the quiet time before anyone else woke up to be her version of heaven. It was this way whether she was on the farm with her family or traveling with a group of people that were supposedly her destiny. She had never before believed in destiny, thought it too foolish to follow a path that you thought was 'supposed' to take as opposed to one of your creation, but she could hardly deny that the facts that had presented themselves thus far pointed that maybe everyone did have a set job they were meant to accomplish in life. They didn't -have- to complete them, of course, she knew of many people that wandered aimlessly through life, but those were people who were either too lazy to do what they were born to do or too stupid to realize it.
Subaru crossed the fields toward the place where they had tied up their horses, a gentle morning breeze meeting her and rippling through her hair. She shrugged her shoulder so the back she was carrying slid down her arm and to the ground. Bending down, she rummaged through the bag and produced a carrot, which she offered to the white nosed horse she had ridden.
"Sorry we had to leave you out here, boy..." she murmured as she watched the horse lazily grind the carrot between his teeth "But I don't think there was enough room in there...and I doubt the other's are used to that kind of 'horsy' smell."
The horse fixed one brown eye on her as he lowered his head to pull up a mouthful of grass. Subaru smiled gently and pet the horse's soft nose, if her calves weren't starting to cramp up from the crouching position she had adopted; she might have stayed there forever.
Birds were stirring and singing sweet serenades to one another, flitting through the trees and nipping up droplets of water that had collected from the night's rain. Subaru heard someone waking, and so she slowly got to her feet with a groan, her thighs and back sore from the awkward position she had to sleep in last night. She couldn't easily dispel the unsettling dreams she had had last night. It was as if someone had been whispering images and desires and thoughts into her ear as she slept, but for the life of her she couldn't figure out who it was. Then she heard someone, Toroki most likely, grumbling about someone roaming around in the middle of the night, and the voices disappeared. It wasn't as though she had never had a nightmare before, and she quickly discarded it as a trick her mind played on her because of the change of scenery.
Well, the others have slept enough, she decided as she started back toward the cluster of trees. As she walked, however, a tiny voice was still echoing through her mind, worming its way deep into her subconscious, subtly taking control of her every mannerism, her every movement.
"Oooo...look guys! A town, we -have- to stop. We don't know when we might come across another one!"
Suzuno wondered, with a smile, whether Toroki had ever tried out for a traveling actors group, he definitely had a thespian spirit. Even if she had embarrassed herself by kissing Toroki, she couldn't resent his presence when he managed to lift everyone's spirits. As Subaru had guessed, neither Tatara nor Toroki said anything about the kissing incident, so it was easier for her to pretend it never happened. "Why not Tatara, it'll give us a chance to stock up, and then we won't have to make trips into every town from here to the palace."
Whether or not Tatara thought it a good idea, he couldn't refuse the smile on Suzuno's face and nodded. "Hai...all right, we can stop."
"WAIIIII!!!" With a quick snap of the reins, Toroki took off toward the town, eager to see why all the citizens seemed to be clustered together.
Suzuno slid off her horse and brushed her hands off on her skirt, beaming to herself over her independence. It was a small victory, but it meant a lot to someone who had never been given a chance to do anything for herself before. As they walked into town, she immediately spotted what looked like some sort of daytime carnival or festival, the shops were strung with a number of streamers and a colorful array of decorations made from some of the largest flowers Suzuno had ever seen, they looked as if they had been imported straight from the tropics. She wanted to go see what it was about, but she didn't want to be selfish, the longer they waited the more likely it would be that something would happen to Ai-Leng.
They split up; Subaru and Toroki were to go get food that would support them for the next few days, and Suzuno and Tatara were going to see if anyone knew how far it was to the Sairou palace. A dark shop, that looked no bigger than a closet in Suzuno's opinion, caught their eye. There was no sign hanging over the door, though a square of wood above it was a lighter shade than the rest, suggesting that there had once been a sign to pronounce the name of the store. Stained on the window, however, was scrawled the symbols for "Maps, books, and things" Tatara decided that that, if anywhere, would be a good starting place.
The air inside the small shop was stale, and the door was so low Tatara had to bend down to step inside without hitting his head. He did a brief scan of the room, it was lined wall to wall with faded books, and in the far right corner a small man was crouched behind a counter, his nose shoved in a book. When they entered, he didn't even look up, either oblivious or uncaring of their presence.
Tatara made his way over to the counter and tapped lightly on the wood to get the man's attention. When he looked up, Tatara asked "Excuse me...I don't mean to bother you but, do you know how far it is to the Sairou palace?"
As Tatara spoke with the shopkeeper, Suzuno broke away and began to wander around the store, pulling random books off the shelves to read odd titles like "The secrets of the mushroom; a staple of the elven diet." She smiled to herself as she moved from shelf to shelf, her eyes finally landing on "The mysterious play, the legends of the foreign priestess"
Tugging out the rather thick volume, a cloud of dust wafted to her nose. She sneezed and carefully opened the seemingly fragile book, turning to some random page and noting that the book was, oddly enough, written in Japanese.
"Once gathered, the seven seishi and the priestess must perform the summoning ceremony, it is against the law of the gods for her to purposefully delay the ceremony for any reasons. In the event that one of the Byakko no seishi is unable to make it to the ceremony, his or her respective celestial scroll may be burned in their place." Suzuno read quietly to herself until she felt a hand gently touch her shoulder.
"The Sairou palace isn't nearly as far as we first thought...we should get there within two days." Tatara informed her.
"Great!" Suzuno smiled brightly, looking over her shoulder to see that the storeowner had returned to his book, once again dead to the world. As Tatara started for the door, Suzuno tried to inconspicuously slip the book into her floored backpack, wincing when she made a bit of noise, and wondering what the punishment for shoplifting was in Sairou. But she hadn't any money to buy it, and the shopkeeper would never notice it missing anyhow, with so many books. Feeling better after she justified herself, she shouldered her bag and followed Tatara out. The owner didn't look up once.
Toroki snuck a look over in Subaru's direction as she filled the burlap bag with miscellaneous items from the grocer's, and then looked back toward the door. The festival was calling to him, beckoning him like the destructive song of the mermaid. He drifted toward the open door of the shop, it wouldn't hurt if he was just away for a moment, Subaru probably wouldn't even notice.
As soon as he was out of the shop he made a beeline for the crowd. The lower half of town was a maze of hastily set up booths, jewelry stands, candy tables...but what caught his eye and his interest was the little magic show that a few people had crowded around.
Everyone had their eyes focused on one man, and thus Toroki did too. The guy was only 5'7"...5'8" at the most, Toroki observed, with chin-length emerald hair and golden eyes that lit up when he spoke. He was a -lot- smaller than Tatara, but he looked as though he might be around the same age, if not a little younger. His slender body was almost buried in the crimson traditional Chinese robe he wore, but he managed not to drown in it, despite his less-than graceful actions.
He was explaining to the audience how he could show anyone, anyone at all, what it felt like to be a horseshoe by -becoming- a horseshoe. Of course this intrigued the audience, and there was a bit of chatter as to who was brave enough to try out, one man said that he thought -he- was brave enough...
But it was Toroki that volunteered.
-Now for some bad news- All right, as of June 16th and for the next two weeks I'm going on vacation...I -might- be able to work on this story but more than likely I won't have enough time...so, this story's progression is on hold...gomen nasai...ah, here's what they do in the commercials, a bit of previewing.
-WHO is this green haired man? and is he really who he seems?
-What's so important about that book Suzuno stole?
-What is Subaru buying that distracted her so much from Toroki's disappearing act, but most importantly...
-what DOES it feel like to be a horseshoe?
(my guess is it doesn't feel like much of anything.)
Well, I'm going down to florida ::puts on a pair of shades:: Jaa!
Chapter five
With a yawn, Subaru sat up and stretched languidly before rising unsteadily to her feet and stepping out from under the tree. The rain had come to a full stop, though she was greeted by a few drops plopping onto her head from the leaves above as she slipped away. She ran her fingers through her somewhat matted hair and looked around thoughtfully, wondering when she should wake up the others. She was reluctant to do so just yet, but they had to get up -some- time, it was already dawn.
There was no great hurry to wake them up just yet, however, Subaru had always found the quiet time before anyone else woke up to be her version of heaven. It was this way whether she was on the farm with her family or traveling with a group of people that were supposedly her destiny. She had never before believed in destiny, thought it too foolish to follow a path that you thought was 'supposed' to take as opposed to one of your creation, but she could hardly deny that the facts that had presented themselves thus far pointed that maybe everyone did have a set job they were meant to accomplish in life. They didn't -have- to complete them, of course, she knew of many people that wandered aimlessly through life, but those were people who were either too lazy to do what they were born to do or too stupid to realize it.
Subaru crossed the fields toward the place where they had tied up their horses, a gentle morning breeze meeting her and rippling through her hair. She shrugged her shoulder so the back she was carrying slid down her arm and to the ground. Bending down, she rummaged through the bag and produced a carrot, which she offered to the white nosed horse she had ridden.
"Sorry we had to leave you out here, boy..." she murmured as she watched the horse lazily grind the carrot between his teeth "But I don't think there was enough room in there...and I doubt the other's are used to that kind of 'horsy' smell."
The horse fixed one brown eye on her as he lowered his head to pull up a mouthful of grass. Subaru smiled gently and pet the horse's soft nose, if her calves weren't starting to cramp up from the crouching position she had adopted; she might have stayed there forever.
Birds were stirring and singing sweet serenades to one another, flitting through the trees and nipping up droplets of water that had collected from the night's rain. Subaru heard someone waking, and so she slowly got to her feet with a groan, her thighs and back sore from the awkward position she had to sleep in last night. She couldn't easily dispel the unsettling dreams she had had last night. It was as if someone had been whispering images and desires and thoughts into her ear as she slept, but for the life of her she couldn't figure out who it was. Then she heard someone, Toroki most likely, grumbling about someone roaming around in the middle of the night, and the voices disappeared. It wasn't as though she had never had a nightmare before, and she quickly discarded it as a trick her mind played on her because of the change of scenery.
Well, the others have slept enough, she decided as she started back toward the cluster of trees. As she walked, however, a tiny voice was still echoing through her mind, worming its way deep into her subconscious, subtly taking control of her every mannerism, her every movement.
"Oooo...look guys! A town, we -have- to stop. We don't know when we might come across another one!"
Suzuno wondered, with a smile, whether Toroki had ever tried out for a traveling actors group, he definitely had a thespian spirit. Even if she had embarrassed herself by kissing Toroki, she couldn't resent his presence when he managed to lift everyone's spirits. As Subaru had guessed, neither Tatara nor Toroki said anything about the kissing incident, so it was easier for her to pretend it never happened. "Why not Tatara, it'll give us a chance to stock up, and then we won't have to make trips into every town from here to the palace."
Whether or not Tatara thought it a good idea, he couldn't refuse the smile on Suzuno's face and nodded. "Hai...all right, we can stop."
"WAIIIII!!!" With a quick snap of the reins, Toroki took off toward the town, eager to see why all the citizens seemed to be clustered together.
Suzuno slid off her horse and brushed her hands off on her skirt, beaming to herself over her independence. It was a small victory, but it meant a lot to someone who had never been given a chance to do anything for herself before. As they walked into town, she immediately spotted what looked like some sort of daytime carnival or festival, the shops were strung with a number of streamers and a colorful array of decorations made from some of the largest flowers Suzuno had ever seen, they looked as if they had been imported straight from the tropics. She wanted to go see what it was about, but she didn't want to be selfish, the longer they waited the more likely it would be that something would happen to Ai-Leng.
They split up; Subaru and Toroki were to go get food that would support them for the next few days, and Suzuno and Tatara were going to see if anyone knew how far it was to the Sairou palace. A dark shop, that looked no bigger than a closet in Suzuno's opinion, caught their eye. There was no sign hanging over the door, though a square of wood above it was a lighter shade than the rest, suggesting that there had once been a sign to pronounce the name of the store. Stained on the window, however, was scrawled the symbols for "Maps, books, and things" Tatara decided that that, if anywhere, would be a good starting place.
The air inside the small shop was stale, and the door was so low Tatara had to bend down to step inside without hitting his head. He did a brief scan of the room, it was lined wall to wall with faded books, and in the far right corner a small man was crouched behind a counter, his nose shoved in a book. When they entered, he didn't even look up, either oblivious or uncaring of their presence.
Tatara made his way over to the counter and tapped lightly on the wood to get the man's attention. When he looked up, Tatara asked "Excuse me...I don't mean to bother you but, do you know how far it is to the Sairou palace?"
As Tatara spoke with the shopkeeper, Suzuno broke away and began to wander around the store, pulling random books off the shelves to read odd titles like "The secrets of the mushroom; a staple of the elven diet." She smiled to herself as she moved from shelf to shelf, her eyes finally landing on "The mysterious play, the legends of the foreign priestess"
Tugging out the rather thick volume, a cloud of dust wafted to her nose. She sneezed and carefully opened the seemingly fragile book, turning to some random page and noting that the book was, oddly enough, written in Japanese.
"Once gathered, the seven seishi and the priestess must perform the summoning ceremony, it is against the law of the gods for her to purposefully delay the ceremony for any reasons. In the event that one of the Byakko no seishi is unable to make it to the ceremony, his or her respective celestial scroll may be burned in their place." Suzuno read quietly to herself until she felt a hand gently touch her shoulder.
"The Sairou palace isn't nearly as far as we first thought...we should get there within two days." Tatara informed her.
"Great!" Suzuno smiled brightly, looking over her shoulder to see that the storeowner had returned to his book, once again dead to the world. As Tatara started for the door, Suzuno tried to inconspicuously slip the book into her floored backpack, wincing when she made a bit of noise, and wondering what the punishment for shoplifting was in Sairou. But she hadn't any money to buy it, and the shopkeeper would never notice it missing anyhow, with so many books. Feeling better after she justified herself, she shouldered her bag and followed Tatara out. The owner didn't look up once.
Toroki snuck a look over in Subaru's direction as she filled the burlap bag with miscellaneous items from the grocer's, and then looked back toward the door. The festival was calling to him, beckoning him like the destructive song of the mermaid. He drifted toward the open door of the shop, it wouldn't hurt if he was just away for a moment, Subaru probably wouldn't even notice.
As soon as he was out of the shop he made a beeline for the crowd. The lower half of town was a maze of hastily set up booths, jewelry stands, candy tables...but what caught his eye and his interest was the little magic show that a few people had crowded around.
Everyone had their eyes focused on one man, and thus Toroki did too. The guy was only 5'7"...5'8" at the most, Toroki observed, with chin-length emerald hair and golden eyes that lit up when he spoke. He was a -lot- smaller than Tatara, but he looked as though he might be around the same age, if not a little younger. His slender body was almost buried in the crimson traditional Chinese robe he wore, but he managed not to drown in it, despite his less-than graceful actions.
He was explaining to the audience how he could show anyone, anyone at all, what it felt like to be a horseshoe by -becoming- a horseshoe. Of course this intrigued the audience, and there was a bit of chatter as to who was brave enough to try out, one man said that he thought -he- was brave enough...
But it was Toroki that volunteered.
-Now for some bad news- All right, as of June 16th and for the next two weeks I'm going on vacation...I -might- be able to work on this story but more than likely I won't have enough time...so, this story's progression is on hold...gomen nasai...ah, here's what they do in the commercials, a bit of previewing.
-WHO is this green haired man? and is he really who he seems?
-What's so important about that book Suzuno stole?
-What is Subaru buying that distracted her so much from Toroki's disappearing act, but most importantly...
-what DOES it feel like to be a horseshoe?
(my guess is it doesn't feel like much of anything.)
Well, I'm going down to florida ::puts on a pair of shades:: Jaa!