*****
Tati looked around the garden, seeking out anyone who might be hiding among the foliage. When he was satisfied no else was around except the three men themselves, he sighed in relief. Noticing the odd look on Van and Allen's faces, he smiled understandingly. "I know I must seem a little paranoid, but if the information I'm about to give you leaked out into the open, hundreds of innocent lives could held at stake."
Tati then paused, thinking carefully about his words before continuing to speak. "Joshu and I come from Kaneh, an ancient city located in the Mystic Valley."
Van and Allen opened their mouths in shock, speechless by Tati's words.
"The Mystic Valley?!" Allen finally sputtered. "That's impossible! We saw the Mystic Valley ourselves a few years ago, and it was nothing but high mountains and large fields!"
Tati nodded his head, with a satisfied smirk covering his face. "That's the whole point; Kaneh wasn't meant to be found. Kaneh is an underground city, constructed by the mole people centuries ago. It's like another world, beautiful and serene. The crater's of long dead volcanoes' let enough natural sunlight to grow our own produce, which is fertilized by the ash of past eruptions. Many people cultivate the land; even the most dignified draconians often tend to a small flower or two."
"Wait a minute.." interrupted Van. "...there's draconians living down there?"
"Yes, there are many races living peacefully in Kaneh; draconians, humans, wolf men, mole men, and numerous others. There's only one citizen who's a cat though, and that's Joshu."
"You said that everyone lives peacefully together, but if that case, why are you and Joshu trained in fighting so well?" asked Allen, curious about Tati and where he came from.
Tati leaned against his sword, the blade buckling slightly under his weight. "It's simple really. Though we grow and harvest our food, there is certain things we just can't produce and in turn we cannot live without. For us to acquire these necessities, a selected few must go to the outside world. Most outsiders we meet are helpful or indifferent, but some are aggressive and attack us for reasons unknown to us."
Allen's face turned pink with embarrassment as he loudly cleared his throat. "Harumph! Yes, about this morning, I wish to apologize once again for my and my crew's actions. We were too rash in judging you two as enemies. By the way, Gol has woken up from that concussion you gave him, and has said you and Joshu can keep his swords; he was planning to make new ones anyway."
Tati grinned as he twirled the aforementioned sword in his hand. "Please thank him for me, and tell him I ask for his forgiveness for hitting him so hard; I didn't know if I could knock him out or not."
Tati looked up at the gleaming sword, admiring it's beauty in the late morning sun. "It's been a long time since I've handled a sword like this; we mostly carry wooden staffs to protect ourselves. Whatever weapon we use, we have sworn not to attack to kill, for that is against our peaceful code of honor. Regretfully, we sometimes have to use our arts to control our own, especially of the late."
Van straightened up, alarmed by what Tati was saying. "What do you mean you sometimes you have to use your arts to control your own lately?! What happened?!"
Tati sighed and wiped his eyes of moisture threatening to spill over. "It happened a little over two moons ago. The first victim was a small draconian girl that was just one year old. She turned gravely ill, and was deeply troubled by her nightmares. One morning, the nurse went in to check on her, and the bed was empty. Ever since then, female descendants of Alantis have been unwell and then disappearing into thin air, with no clue of where they have gone. Finally, the Queen Karie of all Kaneh was scheduled to talk with the remaining people, but she never showed up; she had vanished like the rest. Mothers and daughters, wives and friends, all departed to who knows where, leaving misery and chaos behind. Children are going hungry and usually sane people are going mad. It's terrible."
"I'm sorry for what happened, and we'll do anything to help you and your people, but tell me, why did you need to talk to Van's mother, Varie?" questioned Allen.
Tati's teary eyes looked at Van's astonished face, and whispered, "Because his mother was Queen Karie's twin sister."
*****
Merle showed her newfound friend all around the palace, chattering and giggling about whatever popped into her mind. She made Joshu loosen up from the shy and serious cat he had been earlier to extremely fun and mischievous feline that Merle had learn to love in the past half hour. After the tour of the Fanelian castle, Merle showed Joshu the room where he and Tati would be staying.
As Joshu carried in his and Tati's small napsacks, Merle gazed at him out of the corner of her blue eyes. He's so cute! thought Merle A little on the serious side, but still cute!
Joshu finshed unpacking, sighing a little at the lack of posessions he carried. "That's just the way the traveler's life is..." he muttered under his breath, but then brightened and turned to Merle. "Hey, Merle! Ya wanna go to meet up with the others, or go do something else?"
Merle hopped off the table she was sitting on, and walked over to the bed where Tati's bag was sitting. "Sure, but before we go, let's unpack Tati's bag for him. I'm sure he won't mind. Hey, what's this?"
Joshu turned to find that Merle had dumped Tati's bag on top of the mattress, and was holding a small object she had found. Joshu grimaced when he clearly saw what it was, but then quickly shook his head, saying, "Oh, that? It's nothing really. Merle, I don't think Tati would really like us being in his stuff..."
But it was too late, for Merle was already out the door.
*****
"Lord Van! Lord Van! Look what I found!" shouted Merle as she came skipping out to the gardens.
Van sighed as he broke off his conversation with Tati. "Merle, you'll have to show me later. Right now I'm still talking-"
"Merle! Wait!"
Joshu ran over to where she was, breathing heavily. "Merle, you have to put that back in Tati's bag!"
Tati looked alarmed at Merle. "What? What did you take from my bag?"
Van frowned at Merle, his arms around his chest in a foreboding manner. "Merle, you need to return whatever you took back to Tati this very moment!"
Merle became exasperated and held the object in question up so everyone could see it. "But Lord Van, look!"
Everyone stared at the emerald colored pendant twirling in her hand, the sun reflecting off it's spinning mass. Van took his own pendant to compare the two, and was astonished to find they were similar.
Joshu looked to Tati apologetically, but Tati was looking at the spinning pendants. "I received mine from a draconian woman just before she disappeared, as a sign of our friendship together. Did you get yours from your mother?"
Van shook his head as handed back Tati's pendant. "No, I was given this by my love on the Mystic Moon. I wish we could see her..."
Both pendants grew red as the swung around. A blue light covered them all, lifting them off the ground. Allen and Merle were a little frightened, but Van saw that the light didn't bother Tati and Joshu. They act like they've done this before...
