Chapter 1- Qu's Marsh
"Wind is in the cane. Come along.
Cane leaves swaying, rusty with talk.
Scratching choruses above the guinea's squawk.
Wind is in the cane. Come along." –Jean Toomer
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The Intruder from Another World was tired. Since the encounter on the Outer Continent, he had flown nearly nonstop for two days to reach the Mist Continent. He wasn't a very fast flyer, but his oversized wings allowed him to fly great distances while conserving energy.
Unfortunately, he was unprepared for sea travel... Fighting land and sea breezes mixed with salt rising from the waves brought much difficulty.
Now he padded along, his shoulders aching, his wings flopping uselessly with each jerky step. In the bright sun that wasn't obscured by Mist, he could be seen clearly by any interested passerby. But it was a hot day, and only a few farm workers in Dali were about in this region.
He looked like a large black leopard, with a svelte feline build but unusually large paws. His tail was thicker than any normal leopard's and it was shaped like a scimitar: tapering to a thick point near the end, then at the end suddenly dropping down to a fine tip. His eyes changed color with mood, and now they were gray-yellow, the color of fatigue. His wings were indigo, but the feathers reflected the light back in shades of green and aqua, like a crow's wing.
Now those wings dropper, those paws hit steadily on the ground, and little pools of water were developing with each step.
"I'm reaching my first destination." He said to himself. "I wish the Second of the Winged messengers were here... she's better with foreign species." He wrinkled his nose is amusement.
The tall reeds and few swamp trees stood plainly ahead, the ground was becoming even more distasteful with each step. The Intruder wanted to fly, but his wings were much too tired for that...
He trudged doggedly on.
----
Further into the swamp, a Qu was having considerable difficulty catching frogs. It used to do it all the time, but ever since it mastered the game it simply sent aides out to do the job for it. Now it was a great chef, now that it had come back from its journeys across Gaia!
Now, when the aides were busy off doing some other job, it had to catch the frogs itself. Pah. It used to love doing this. Now it felt like experimenting with its new recipes and idea...
There! It caught one. That wasn't so hard... One down, only eleven more to go.
Quina Quen sat down and put the frog in a box it had brought along for this trip. Maybe it could wait until the aides got back... then it could start on this new one. Why not take a day off? Or it could just try a different pond... maybe it should try something other than frogs. Make no mistake, the Qu loved frogs, but he also longed for variety... he was sure that if he had more his recipes would be more varied, more delicious. He'd be a master!
In exasperation, it fell back and stared at the sky.
In a few moments, a black feline face suddenly appeared in the Qu's field of vision. It blinked curious lavender eyes once before Quina rolled upright (literally...) and stared at the creature.
A monster? Monsters weren't supposed to be here anymore. But this one-instead of attacking in mindless rage or bloodlust-simply stared intelligently back, awaiting the Qu's move. The frog croaked in its box, and the creature looked to it, eyes whirling with a spectrum of light-purplish colors. Finally, Quina spoke to itself.
"I wonder... is monster good to eat?"
The creature looked up. Quina was mildly surprised it responded to voices, but what the creature did next nearly knocked it for a loop. "No, I'm not here to be eaten, Qu."
Monsters aren't supposed to exist anymore, and they sure as heck aren't supposed to alk! At first Quina thought it was losing it's mind. "What!? Monsters no talk!"
"I'm not a monster. This may sound odd, but I wish to speak with your superior. The master of this swamp."
Even though Quina was a great chef, he wasn't yet master of the swamp. He blinked a few times and leaned forward to better study the talking monster.
"What you want with Master of Swamp?"
The creature's eyes took on a slightly orangish hue: annoyance. "It's really no business of yours. Well, I think it isn't... Aw, durnit, I've gone and confused myself!" he paused. "I'm staring to sound like Yuka..."
This steady stream of nonsense only added to Quina's curiosity. "What a Yuka?"
"Yuka's a friend of mine. He's a shapeshifter with the IQ of a small rodent. But lovable. (I got a picture of Yuka if you wanna see ~.^)Anyway," he padded towards the Qu. "I would greatly appreciate it if you would take me through this swamp."
Quina decided that if the creature's intentions were violent, it would probably have attacked by now. So he saw no harm in taking it to his master. Besides, he could fight it if needed. "Come with me. I take you to master of Swamp."
The Intruder from Another Land smiled gratefully and followed the Qu through the swamp.
Immediately his eyes took back to the lavender color of curiosity. The swamp was myriad of fascinating smells, sighs, sounds, feels... his whiskers were picking up signals on every frequency, his nose was twitching much like a rabbit's, his ears were swiveling to and fro, funneling all kinda of sounds.
He scented with his nose and whiskers the sharp, pungent odor of magic. The fragrance of things cooking, water, stone, but most of all: mud. Ancient mud, wet mud, new mud, dry mud. He saw the swamp in ruddy shades and in sharp textures. He saw the bright blue of the sky sharply contrasting with the dull green of the reeds, and he saw the all-prevailing brown of mud all over the ground. Things were smooth, things were sharp, things were wet, and few were dry.
He heard the sounds of unidentified birds squawking and trilling, warbling and fluting. He heard the yowls of small swamp mammals, purrs, barks, whines, and other noises he couldn't categorize. He hear frogs croaking in different tones and pitches, he heard the steady drip of water, somewhere. Wind charged through the dry grasses, making them speak in hushed whispers to each other.
And the wind followed, and so the grass spoke.
He leaned slightly forward and gave the Qu a sniff from a distance. It smelled of mud, like most things here, but also of water and silver. He smelled of spices and vegetables. Underneath he scented the emptiness of a constant appetite, and a sort of strong blue. Magic? He couldn't tell.
The Intruder grinned. He smelled like a kitchen!
Finally they came upon an odd hut. The Qu stepped inside for a moment and the Intruder waited, tail flicking occasionally. After a few minutes the Qu emerged, and nodded for him to go in.
Sitting before him was an enormous Qu, but all Qus were, weren't they? This one was a little rounder than the one he had met earlier.
"I told you come here to speak to me. Speak."
The Intruder gave an elaborate bow, stretching his aching wings in twin arcs to either side of him, lowering his head in a submissive gesture.
"Sir, I come to you in dire need. My world is a far away one, and I have traveled many miles to reach this region. My mission is simply too complicated at this moment to wholly explain, for even I do not understand it at this point in time. But I humbly request you assistance, for I must carry out what orders I have been given so that the pieces of the puzzle will come together.
I seek the assistance of one of your tribe, a Qu called Quina Quen. It is my mission to reunite a select group of warriors. When that is complete, sir, I will report back to you with the details of my mission. But I am asking you for your cooperation,"
He looked up, eyes an amber brown with urgency. "For I am in its dire need."
The speech evidently worked, for the Qu leaned back and considered. "Quina waits for you outside. He catch frogs when you find him"
The Intruder blinked in surprise and his eyes whirled almost completely white. "The one who escorted me?"
"Yes. I ask him if he want go."
The Intruder turned and padded to the door. Quina was staring at something moving underneath the mud. "Um, excuse me, you master wants to see you." He said.
Quina turned and plodded in wordlessly. The Intruder followed.
"Quina," the Master of the Swamp began, "this monster here asks you come with him. Once you already go, get many new foods. You want go again?"
Quina blinked for a moment, digesting the information that he was suddenly hit with. It looked to the Intruder from Another World. "Why you want Quina?"
"I cannot say."
It cocked its head to one side. "Where you go next?"
"Lindblum."
"If you hurt me, I fight you. Maybe eat you."
The Intruder sat and dipped his head. "I assure you, my intentions are nonviolent. My world is in peril, that's all I know."
Quina thought some more. Lindblum was a nice varied city the last time he visited... it could get the spice and bang he needed for its recipes! And the creature certainly would like the favor... maybe it'd be rewarded.
"Ok. I go now."
The intruder grinned. "I am indebted to you. Many Urrdu be to you and you master." He performed the elaborate bow. "If it is okay with you, I would like to continue along until we reach Lindblum, then we can rest."
"That O.K."
As Quina went off to gather its things for travel, The Intruder walked down the stairs and looked up. "Beast of Jhating Yatil, be with me. This is going to be a long trip." He walked to the edge of the swamp.
----
They were an odd sight, an ambling Qu and a monster with a low head and drooping wings. Lindblum was looming in the distance now, and as they approached, snatches of conversation floated back and forth.
"Why we go to Lindblum?"
"Well," he flicked his ears. Darkness was approaching, and his yellow-gray eyes were glowing slightly. "I'm going to pick up the next member of the Team. You are a member, did you know that?"
"Not really."
"Heh. Her name's Eiko carol. She's a strong little summoner. I heard from a very reliable source: 'the kid's got spunk, watch yourself!'."
"Eiko very spunky. Who reliable source?"
"Rokon."
"Who Rokon?"
"A friend of mine. She's a FireFox with a temper to match... recently she's become one of the Jhating Yatil's beast's Winged messengers."
A silence followed.
The Intruder grinned. "I'm sorry if I don't seem amiable, I'm very tired."
"It okay. What your name, anyway?"
"Oh, sorry about that. My name is Talsolia, which means 'River of Black' in my language. You may call me what you wish."
"I call you Black."
"Okay." Black looked ahead. "We'll be reaching Lindblum soon."
Overhead, Gaia's moons were coming out into the darkening sky. Stars pricked the velvety expanse, making the vault glitter and glow. Two figures stole towards Lindblum as the sun went down.
The adventure began.
