~*~Chapter Four: New Discoveries~*~
Cecil, seated at the large desk in his and Rosa's chambers, sighed deeply. Three weeks had passed since they had started looking for Kain, with not a clue in their favor. It seemed pretty much useless; the Dragon Knight had vanished without a trace. The paladin tried futilely to think of somewhere they hadn't looked. All the cities had been checked, as well as the Mist Cave, what remained of the Tower of Babel, and Mt. Ordeals. (Edge had found signs of an old camp at Mt. Ordeals, but no further clues. Even if it had been Kain, he'd somehow vanished again.) There seemed to be nothing to do but wait.
The monster attack of the previous month remained a mystery, as well. The monsters near Baron remained at their normal levels, and not a word of trouble had reached his ears. That was disturbing; monsters did not appear out of nowhere. Cecil tried to relax, in vain.
Rosa suddenly approached Cecil from behind and hugged him, startling him. Since he had become King (because of the fact that King Odin had named his foster-son heir) he had changed slightly. Rosa had found that as King, Cecil became almost constantly worried about the state of the kingdom, not to mention that his fear (fueled partially by Edward's joking comments on his habits) of inadvertently committing an international faux pas that would launch Baron into another war sometimes seemd to overwhelm him. He had, simply stated, been raised to be a fighter and not a King, and was half-terrified at the prospect of doing something wrong and bringing the entire kingdom down because of it. (Rosa had pointed out that, despite all of Zemus' (quite literal) manipulation, Baron was still doing well, and nothing Cecil did was likely to ruin it, not to mention that the other nations were so grateful for Cecil having saved the world that they would forgive almost anything he might reasonably do. Cecil hadn't seen her point.)
Cecil turned to look at his wife. "Oh," he said, "it's you."
"Who else?"
"...I don't know. You just surprised me."
"Thinking again?"
Cecil was silent.
"Kain?"
"How did you know?"
"We've done all we can. Wherever he went, he doesn't want us to find him. And after what happened, it may be better to wait until he shows himself." Rosa gently pulled Cecil to his feet. "And besides, if he's the one and he reacts like Edge did, then we'll definitely notice." She sat on the bed
"But neither you nor Rydia have shown any sign that those spheres did anything," Cecil replied. "Edge seems back to normal now, too. All we're going off of is a Fire spell gone out of control and a few strange lights. We could be chasing a phantom here!"
"Cecil, could you please bring that pitcher of water over here?" Rosa asked. Cecil, puzzled, did so. Rosa motioned for him to sit beside her on the bed, which he did. "Watch," Rosa instructed. She closed her eyes and focused.
Cecil watched her, slightly confused. What is she doing? he wondered. Abruptly, he saw the water in the pitcher move. He hadn't touched the pitcher.
"What the..."
A small tendril of pure water slowly rose out of the water. Cecil looked up at Rosa, whose eyes were still closed in concentration. Are you the one who is doing this?
He cautiously touched the tendril, expecting his hand to go through. Cecil found with some shock that the surface was smooth and gave only a little, and that his finger was still dry.
"Rosa... are you doing that?"
"...Yes...." She sounded very distant. "I can... feel...."
"Feel what?"
"...Everyone."
"What do you mean by that?"
Rosa blinked, and the water tendril changed back into ordinary water, falling into the pitcher with a soft splish. "That didn't happen before," she commented.
"What are you talking about? It's obviously not the water!" Cecil was beginning to panic somewhat. This is very, very weird.
"While I was... moving the water, I could sense people in the castle. It was dim, but I could," she paused, searching for the right word, "almost see what they were feeling at the time. You especially... wonder, curiosity, fear..."
"Can you now?" Cecil asked.
"No. That didn't happen when I tried it before." Rosa looked down at her hands. "I'm almost frightened to try it again."
"Then don't." Cecil gently pulled her closer to him. "You don't have to do anything...."
"All right." Rosa snuggled against her husband, glad to have him there. "Well... at least we know those balls we've been obsessed with actually did something...."
"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Cecil asked.
"I don't know."
The two were quiet for a while, simply enjoying each others' presence. Then Rosa turned to look at Cecil. "You know," she said, "I almost forgot that the Spring Day's Festival starts tomorrow."
"The Spring Festival already?" Cecil asked, surprised. "It doesn't seem like it should be so soon."
"Well, we have been busy. But you should make an appearance. The people have been worried since the monster attack last month, and you've not been around much. You need some relaxation."
"I know. So... we go out tomorrow?"
"Yep."
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The potion bottle hit the wall and shattered, splashing Edge with the healing liquid. Fortunately (for him,) the bottle had missed his head.
Unfortunately (for Rydia,) that failed to discourage him. "Come on!" he exclaimed. "It's not like you have anything better to do."
"For the last time, ninja boy, I am not going anywhere with you! Not to a concert, not to a show, and definitely not to a bar! I'm not even old enough to drink, since I was born seven years ago!"
"You're seven?"
"No, I'm twenty. But I was born seven years ago, which makes me too young to drink!"
Edge blinked at her. "But if the drinking age in Baron is sixteen..."
"All right. See you in nine years then."
"...and if you're twenty... "
"Seven!"
"...then what's the problem?"
"Forget it. Why don't you go do something useful? Look for Kain or something."
" That traitorous bastard?"
"That's the guy."
Edge turned to face the wall. "Sometimes, I don't know how I manage to put up with you."
"You put up with me?" Rydia said skeptically. "Who's trying to get you out of their room?"
Edge didn't take the hint. "What problem do you have with having a little fun?"
"What problem do you have with leaving me alone? Ay, tre aviinyo..."
"What was that?"
Rydia smiled. "Runic."
"Huh?"
"The elder language of the Phantom Beasts."
"...Oh. So, do you want to go or not?"
Rydia smiled. " Kest'au pau aurion te'levi, sel paui te'peria iiser onya ko. Astee?"
"Is that a yes?"
What Rydia had really said was: 'I would ask the water light, although the pouncing cat wouldn't like it. Understand?' But she replied: "As soon as you figure it out correctly, you'll know the answer. Okay?"
"Hina," the Ninja replied. Then he went to find a Runic-Kaipan dictionary.
If only one actually existed....
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In the library, Edge managed to find a book on languages that mentioned Runic. He started to read....
One of the things many people ask is how the entire world of Earth speaks a common language. The answer to this is fairly simple. You remember that in the year 1253 TL, the kingdom of Kaipo decided to go to war. As is widely known, they managed to conquer the entire continent of Cardia (except for Fabul and the Mist Village.) Because all official business within the Empire was, by law, done in Kaipan, the nations gradually adopted the language.
After the fall of the Empire, many of the nations kept Kaipan as their official language, and eventually it became the "common" language, spoken by people of almost any nation. It is still the official language of the nations of Damcyan (which Kaipo is now a part of) and Baron.
Most other nations have their own national language, but the Summoners of Mist, another territory of Damcyan, have their own language, Runic, which they claim comes directly from their Phantom Beasts. Most Mystians only speak a little Kaipan, preferring their own language....
Edge closed the book. Boring... he thought. And there doesn't seem to be a translation dictionary anywhere. Oh, well.
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The Spring Festival was Baron's largest holiday, although it had started long before Baron was founded. Many centuries ago, the Dragon Knights had rode powerful, intelligent dragons called Hiryuu in battle. The Spring Festival was a celebration of the Hiryuus' hatching season, when new dragons were born and new Dragon Knights were chosen as their partners. Unfortunately, the Hiryuu were genocided in a great invasion of the city of the Dragon Knights. The surviving Dragon Knights adapted a dragon mounting technique into their deadly aerial attack and, eventually, founded the kingdom of Baron.
In modern times, the Spring Festival was simply an excuse to celebrate. And celebrate the Baronians did, bringing color and life to the otherwise dull city. The streets were filled with performers, merchants' tents, foreign visitors, and the residents of Baron. It was generally a fun time. The Festival had been lackluster the previous year, but even the war and the recent liberation from Golbez's control hadn't been enough to completely dampen the festivities.
Cecil found that it was hard to get into the spirit of the Festival. The last time he had been to a Festival, he was a Dark Knight, content to follow the orders of his King. In only two years, his life and his world had changed so drastically that to say "it had been turned upside down" would be an understatement.
He had decided to go to the Festival in normal clothing, not wanting to draw attention to himself. Rosa had wanted to spend some time with her mother, so Cecil had decided to go alone for a while. Although he wore common clothing and carried no weapon, the King still attracted attention, even from those who did not know him by sight. He had a strange charisma about him that made people watch him and follow him devotedly, and not even he knew how he did it.
Lost in reminiscence, Cecil failed to notice that he was being followed. He wandered through the crowd, not paying much attention to what was happening around him.
A woman's scream followed by a loud thunk snapped him out of his reverie and he quickly spun, searching for what had caused her shriek. He suddenly noticed a knife sticking out of a wall just inches from his head.
That almost hit me! What's going on?!? Cecil thought, confused for only a few moments as his warriors' instincts kicked in. He grabbed the knife and fell into a defensive position, back to the wall. Now... who threw this?
Another knife sailed out of the crowd somewhere, hitting Cecil in the leg. He winced and hissed in pain, then began to cast a healing spell as he pulled the knife out of his leg. Abruptly, a sharp dizziness struck him, bringing him to his knees. The blade must have been poisoned... he thought, struggling to cast the healing spell. A shadowed figure came closer, and he caught sight of another blade out of the corner of his eye.
"Holy!" a hoarse voice shouted. A ball of white light flew at Cecil's assassin, and he fell to the ground. Cecil tried to finish the spell that would restore his strength, but found that his energy was waning. What poison was that?
"Here, your majesty. Take this." It was the same person who had cast the spell. His voice sounded as if he had been plagued with a sore throat for some time. Cecil tried to look at him and caught a glance at white robes, a long white rod, and long, greased down black hair. Cecil took the Antidote and drank it.
"Now..." Cecil's rescuer rasped, pointing at the assassin, "to finish you off... Aero Blast!" A visible distortion built in front of the robed man's hand, and he made a motion as if to poke it towards the assassin. It flew at him, a ball of wind so intense that it literally tore the man to pieces and deposited them in a bloody pile of gore.
What in the worlds was that?!? Cecil thought. He'd thought that the man was a White Wizard, but after that spell it seemed like he may have been wrong. Then he realized that the white-robed man looked just as shocked, if not more, as anyone else in the crowd that had gathered. The wizard's face paled, and suddenly he turned and ran.
"Somebody follow that guy!" a man shouted, and a majority of the crowd started an insane dash in the direction the mage had taken. Cecil pulled himself up with the assistance of a few people who had remained nearby. Who was he? I'm sure I've never seen him before, but he seemed so familiar...
And why would such a powerful White Wizard need to hand me an Antidote instead of casting the spell?