An: Okay after having my brain nearly destroyed, with a gross lack of sleep, a ton of speeding walking, lifting buckets of fish, yes fish, at camp, (I was at a camp down at Sea World, in Texas and aside from all the above stuff it was a lot of fun.) and taking the past week to just relax it came to my attention, as I was re-reading some of the stuff I wrote for this fic that some of the things I have down wouldn't make a heck of a lot of sense.
Of course, to me its no big deal since I have the entire storyline, who the characters are, their stats, and their pasts all stuck in my head. Which brings to the point of this boring intro. I realize that I left a huge cliffhanger at the end of chapter 9, but unfortunately I need to put in this chapter in order for the next chapters (as well as the rest of the story) to make sense.
This chapter focuses on character development; specifically what caused the character to develop the personality she has now, and it does hinge on the plot somewhat, since on a last minute idea I decided to throw in yet another character into the fray, I'm sorry though it's not any of the FY characters its another of my originals.
Arigatou though for sticking with me this long a reading this thing. Hope you enjoy the chapter! ^_^
The camp that night was a silent one. So silent you would probably hear a pin drop, Kreesha thought to herself. The fire is the noisiest thing at the moment. The tiger glanced over at her charge. Garret was very somber, so somber that one would think he was a disciple of Nanduir, the god of meditation and philosophy. The only sign he was a bard was the arm guards as well as an assortment of small instruments either resting next to his packs or in his belt pouches or strapped to his back. Even then you might still mistake him for a disciple of Nanduir, since some of them are known to practice music meditation and many of them are quite skilled in a number of instruments. Kreesha thought.
Have you ever thought about that finding spell and using it on Miaka and the others? The tiger said to Garret. I did and they're perfectly safe. I'm just thinking about other things... he trailed off; his mental voice was tinged with the discoloration of remembered pain, emotional pain. Care to enlighten me? Kreesha asked. Only enough to tell that it involved Satura and it occurred three years ago. He replied. Ah, so you are not yet up to talking about it? The Guardian asked. I am, I'm just trying to think of a way to tell them. The bard said looking at the seishi.
"Garret? Are you all right? You seem unusually quiet tonight. You can't be worried about the others, you told us yourself that they were fine." Hotohori asked, his face slightly concerned. "He's right, normally you're cracking jokes or working on a song, but to night you're just quiet na no da." Chichiri added. Garret sighed again, and shook his head. "No, I'm not worried about the others. I was just thinking about something that happened three years ago, something that happened to Satura." "What happened to Satura?" the monk asked.
"What did Satura tell you about her childhood? About who trained her?" Garret asked Chichiri. "Almost nothing. She seemed very determined not to talk about that. As if she had some unpleasant memory she couldn't talk about it. Does this have anything to do with what you were thinking about?" "It has plenty to do with it." The bard said. "And its something I think you should know."
Garret took a deep breath and began his tale. "When Satura was six, she was identified as having strong magical abilities and through tests equally strong fighting abilities. So it was deemed that the best place for her was the Warrior-Mage's Citadel. She spent the next two years as a happy, though quite powerful, young apprentice. Now when the young apprentices reach the age of eight, they are tested, one by one, too see if they have powers or talents that would warrant them requiring the attention of a single master mage. Only the most skilled or talented are considered and of course Satura was one of those few."
"The master who chose and picked Satura was Olaki Tereven, who was at that time the most famous and powerful mage in Delika. He was the one who managed to spy out where a demon army was during the Wars of Darkness, and while I'd like to tell you about them they don't hold any pertinent information in regards to this story, so I'll continue. Olaki as it turned out was the only one willing to train Satura, because of her life magic. Training a life mage is always a risky endeavor, because if the student does something wrong, then the teacher runs the risk of getting his life ended prematurely."
"That wasn't the case with Olaki though, he taught Satura how to handle her life magic and never once showed any fear with her, and over time the two of them grew very close. Olaki came to regard her as a daughter and Satura came to regard him as another father. This continued on until Satura reached her eighteenth birthday, the age a warrior-mage advances to journeymen status. Satura and Olaki were heading for Ranaltha, a kingdom on the eastern border and the journey was going as planned until they were attacked by Elkanavian raiders. They never stood a chance."
"The raiders had several mages with them and they caught the two of them unawares. Olaki forbid Satura to fight, but Satura was determined to help. Several raiders had cornered Olaki next to a rock wall and just as Satura was about to let her spell loose, the raiders let several explosion spells loose on Olaki at the same time. He never stood a chance. They completely destroyed him. There was nothing left to bury, not even a scrap of cloth. The raiders then captured Satura and she spent the next three years in an Elkanavian prison camp, till she escaped." Garret had been staring at the fire the whole time he related his tale, but not he stared up at his two companions.
The two seishi had shocked and compassionate expressions on their faces. Chichiri shook his head. "I knew when I met her that Satura had some great sorrow, but I never expected it to be of this magnitude." he said softly. "She blames herself for Olaki's death." The bard said quietly. Both seishi looked at him sharply. "But, But how can she? It's obvious to see from the way you described it there was nothing she could do to prevent Olaki's death." Hotohori said. "I know but she still does, the impact of his death and her imprisonment never really gave her time to deal with it." Garret said.
He stood up and looked at them. "Well, as you can Satura survived and for the most part she is pretty much recovered from the Olaki's death." He gave them a small smile. "The guilt I'm afraid will take a while longer. Unfortunately, there is nothing any of us can about it at the moment so I suggest we turn in and get some sleep." His companions nodded. All three went over to their supplies, got their bedrolls and unrolled them near the fire. None of them went to sleep right away, each one lost in thoughts of the tale Garret had told. The bard stared at the stars. Tonight is Olaki's birthday. Satura, my heart, I hope you are well and happy this night... remember the good times you had with him, not the bad. Quiet dreams tonight my love....
*****
However, Garret's wishes were not to be. Satura stared at the vast expanse of sky, the stars twinkling diamonds against the velvety blue-black expanse. Silent tears washed down her face. Olaki... She thought. I hope wherever you are, you're happy... I'm sure he is. Sunfire came up beside her and mantled one vast wing over her. Satura rested her head on his shoulder and Sunfire laid his head on her's crooning comfortingly. Thank you, Sunfire. She thought at the griffin. That is what we Guardians are here for. Not to just protect you, but to be a friend and comforter when you need one. His mind voice took on a more soothing tone. You know that he is in your heart and he is in yours, it is often said that the ones we love that we lost look down on us and guide us. I'm sure Olaki is watching over you and guiding you. Satura rubbed her eyes and smiled. Your right, he probably is. Thank you. The two went back to star gazing in companionable silence, and eventually Satura fell asleep, curled against Sunfire's side, a small, but happy smile on her face.
An: Hey not bad for something that was typed off the top of my head, don't you think? Now as to whether I'm gonna type up the conclusion to that cliffhanger this week that remains to be seen. I'm going to be unavailable all next week, so it really depends on what type of mood I'm in this week in regards to typing up another chapter. So until the next chapter, Sayonara!