Which Way Up?: The Tale of Raura

When Raura went to sleep with her new book, she knew exactly where she was going. Of course, where she was going and where she ended up were often two very different things.

"Whoa, sorry! I thought you already read that one! Well, since you know the ending now, maybe you should just read the book backwards!!" He smiled and winked at her, and went off to flirt with the next poor girl that came by. Raura rolled her eyes, sighed, and decided to give Sheena's suggestion a try.

"Sheena!!! Don't spoil the story for me!!!" Sheena backed away with an apologetic look on his face.

"Hey, I read this book before!" he exclaimed. "Yeah! The hero dies at the ending."

"Some other time," she smiled, mimicking Jess' tone word for word. Sheena grumbled to himself, then suddenly pointed to the book.

"Oh, nothing," he replied. "You could go out on a date with me!"

"Why hello, Lord Sheena! What can I do for you?"

"Hey, Raura," said Sheena. Raura smiled at the young boy, and turned her head to greet him. She was also one of the few women that could endure the boy's mindless flirting.

Emilia helped her find a book she had wanted to read, and Raura took a peek in it when all of a sudden, a rude head poked over her shoulder.

After her hours were over, Raura left her business once again to have dinner, and then would spend the rest of the day doing whatever she felt like. She wanted to go to the library to find a new book to read, but instead she found herself on the stage. After getting directions from Annallee, Raura finally found the library just before it closed.

"Oh, well. At least he knows I'm interested."

"…Some other time," he murmured before leaving. Raura pouted playfully, and sighed as he left her shop.

"Would you like to go out on a date with me sometime?" she asked. A pause. Jess didn't want to hurt her feelings, so he let her down softly.

"Yes?"

"Oh." A slight tinge of disappointment was in Raura's voice. "I haven't seen him today, but I'll be on the lookout for you!" He smiled at her in thanks, and proceeded to leave her shop to continue his search elsewhere. Suddenly, Raura cried out, "Oh Lord Jess!"

"Uh, yes, actually," he said. "I was, uh, looking for Viktor."

"Looking for something?" she guessed. A pause.

"Oh, uh, nothing really," he said. Jess was looking around Raura's shop, as if he were interested in one of the little knickknacks she also sold, but it didn't seem like that after awhile.

"Why, Lord Jess!" she exclaimed. "I don't get a chance to see you in my shop very often! What can I do for you?"

Eventually, Raura's business for the day fell, and she resorted back to reading her book. A few customers interrupted her, but other than these few, the day was pretty uneventful. Suddenly, there came a visitor which Raura liked very much, and she smiled just a little wider as he came in the door.

Jeane was one of the few people who knew Raura's secret, and Raura knew Jeane's, so the two were actually quite close in such a populated and crazy castle. Jeane knew of Raura's secret crush, and Raura knew just how old--or young, in this case--Jeane really was, so the two saw eye-to-eye.

She eventually took some time off to chat with her friend Jeane, who always got more customers for "some" reason. Raura didn't really care either way: she liked Jeane a lot (and who didn't, though Raura's respect was aimed at something besides her outer looks), and would even listen as she pale Rune Mistress told of her exotic experiences. Both women were well-versed in the ways of erotic mercantile--they used their good looks to their advantage, and their mysterious ways drew in even more people.

Raura received a small crowd that day, and got all the way to chapter four by the time lunch rolled around. She boomeranged from Hai Yo's to her house (somehow), carrying a bag of goodies with her. A lot of people went shopping around lunch, so Raura had to stay on the clock even during her break.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I hope you find your criminal." Zamza sniffed, stuck his nose in the air a little, and wandered off to proclaim his greatness elsewhere. Sure, he was an annoyance, but there were worse people that lived in Stupid Castle. Zamza was the lesser of a few evils, and once one got past his narcissistic pride, he wasn't really that bad.

"Quite…" he muttered. Zamza then pretended to look through a bag of his, in an effort to sort out a powerful crystal, and came out with his hands empty. "My dear lady," he said, "it appears as if I will not be able to do business with you. I seem to have been thieved of my possessions." Knowing full well that Zamza never had anything worth stealing, Raura just smiled and shrugged.

"Well," she said as she shuffled through the messes, "if you bring me a True Rune, then I might be able to make something very spectacular. Of course, since there is no such thing as a True Rune crystal, I guess you're out of luck."

"Pardon me, my good lady," he addressed, "but I was wondering if you have anything here that a person with my skills will be able to use." With a smile, Raura decided to humor him and looked for her most powerful scrolls.

Poor Raura didn't get quite as many people in her shop as Tessei or Hans, so she always remembered to bring plenty of reading material with her. Her first book was an epic tale of magic and knights and heroes, and Raura was just through the first chapter when she received her first customer. It was Zamza, the conceited "wizard", and thankfully, Raura was one of the few people that could endure him.

"What the--?" Confused about the whole matter, poor Raura decided to simply shrug it all off and open shop. She uttered the magic spell that opened the door, and turned the sign from "Closed" to "Open", and strolled inside to wait for her first customer.

But when she found herself in the dojo, staring back at a few martial artists, she had to wonder what was going on. Mondo, who was there training Sasuke, told her that she had taken another wrong turn, and that she should probably head for the barracks next. Raura had no idea why he recommended going to the soldier's barracks, but when she did, she somehow found her way to her shop!

After eating breakfast, Raura decided that she should go and open up shop, even though it was so early that most of the residents of Stupid Castle were still asleep--and some would be sleeping long after she had her lunch. But with nothing else to do, she really had no other choice and thus, made her way to the Rune Scroll Shop.

"Oh." The three of them continued to eat in silence--if one could call Tai Ho's boasting silence. The man never really did stop talking about his victories on the lake, and though Yam Koo was technically a better fisher (and knew which stories of Tai's were true and which were false), he would listen anyway--though sometimes he would comment on which of the tales were the truest.

"Not really," she said. "I just thought I should get up early.

"We don't usually see you up this early," noted Yam Koo. "Is there something special going on?"

"Hey, pretty lady!" greeted Tai Ho in his usual fashion. Raura smiled and greeted him back.

So when Raura awoke, she first went to Hai Yo's kitchen for some breakfast, and found that since the hour was early, only a few select people were up and about. Tai Ho and Yam Koo were two of them, and since she didn't know how to cook, Raura just grabbed some fruit and sat down to talk to the fishermen.

Nobody knew where her bed was, or even if she had a bed to sleep in, or even if she slept at all. Raura was just one of those many people in Stupid Castle that seemed to have a lot of mystery surrounding them, but since she was such a nice, polite, and classy lady, nobody seemed to care if she slept or not.

Raura woke up very early that morning, since she anticipated that it was going to be a busy day.

End The

Closing comments: Don't understand the story? Well, just remember that Raura is a girl that had a very bad sense of direction.