Author's Note: Guess what?! I'm back! Yes folks, I'm back form the dead with another update. Sorry about the long time between updates, but I have been insanely busy this last, what has it been, almost 2 weeks? Oh God! Yeah, I've been really busy. Solo and Ensemble's tomorrow, so I've been practicing like crazy for the last 3 weeks on my clarinet and vocal solos. And the musical's the end of this month, so we've all been working like crazy to get that up to scratch. So, by the time April comes around, I should be having updates more often. Besides, I've written another chapter to my Gundam Wing fic, and I was kinda stuck on how to get the whole first part worked out, but it's all good now. Ok, I'd better stop babbling to you folks and get this chapter rolling, or you'll all get mad at me.
Whoo, no questions! Less for me to babble on about . . .
Oh, but one thing . . . regrem, as much as I would luv to answer your question . . . I can't. cuz that would be telling what happens, and I can't do that . . .
Sil-alia: *stares at Sonari* Him . . . ?
Sonari: *stares at Sil-alia* A Wingly . . . ?
Both: *glare evilly at regrem* How dare you insinuate . . .
DAY: *laughs nervously* Sorry guys, you can't kill him. He's one of my reviewers. I have precious few at the moment, and intent to keep every single bloody one!
Both: *shrink away from angry author*
Okay, now that that's over, we can get on to the story. This is just kind of a filler chapter, to say what goes on and stuff. Some more tense moments in the next chapter, and guess what? You get to see the really angsty side of Sonari again! Next chapter, that is.
Well, here we go, without further adieu . . .
The Main AttractionThe world swam as Sil-alia opened her eyes. She was laying on her back on . . . the street? How had she gotten there? Then it started to come back to her. The two Men fighting. Her own fight with one of the Men. Her loss, and the Man's impossible secret. Someone was helping her up. Her vision was still fuzzy, but the person's shoulder length black hair gave away who it was.
"Rigana, what just happened?"
Rigana helped Sil-alia to her feet. The younger Wingly leaned drunkenly against her arm. "Come over here." She led the defeated warrior to a bench and sat her down, then looked at the crowd of Winglies as if she had only just noticed they were there. "What are you looking at? There's nothing to see here. Don't bother those guys and get ready for the Festival. It starts in . . . oh Gods, it starts in 45 minutes!" The crowd dispersed, and Rigana went over to where Sil-alia's Shurikama was still lying in the middle of the street. She bent down to pick it up, and saw something else. It was a red stone, and it looked fairly familiar. She couldn't place where she would have seen such a large or perfect stone before. She reached over and picked it up with the thought of asking Sil-alia. She walked back over to the bench where Sil-alia was still trying to shake herself out of the daze. Rigana handed her the Shurikama, then fingered the stone absently.
"What's that?"
"This? I don't really know. I mean, it looks familiar and all, but I can't place where I've seen it."
"Can I take a look at it?"
"Yeah, sure." Rigana handed the stone to Sil-alia. Where was that stone from? It was something so obvious that she knew the answer was staring her in the face. She was just trying too hard to find the answer. Whenever the answer presented itself, she was going to slap herself on the forehead with an immature, 'Duh!'
"This is a really beautiful stone, you know?" Sil-alia seemed back to normal when she remarked absently to Rigana. "I wonder where it came from."
Rigana looked down at Sil-alia. Her gaze passed over Sil-alia's face, then down to where she was holding the stone in her hands. She automatically took in the black fabric choker that Sil-alia always wore. It was the last reminder of her mother that she had. Rigana did a double take. Fixed on the black fabric of the choker was her answer. It was exactly the same as the red stone, only it was a milky white stone, resembling a moonstone as the red one did a ruby.
"Hey Si! Your choker! Your mother's stone! It's almost exactly the same!"
Sil-alia undid her choker and held the stones next to one another. "By the Gods, you're right!" Her voice was quiet with awe. "What could it mean?"
Before she could ponder over the matter farther, Rigana checked her watch. "Soa's grace! We got less than 40 minutes before the Festival starts! That's just enough time to get you made up and dressed and ready to go. You can ponder about this later. For right now, we have other things to worry about."
Sil-alia let herself be led away, still trying to piece together what a Man would be doing with a stone exactly like her mother's precious gem, except red.
/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/
Half an hour later, Yani drained his tankard of ale, set it on the table, and stood up. "Coming?"
"Coming where?" Sonari responded. He saw no reason for leaving.
"To the Festival, of course." Sonari raised his eyebrows. "C'mon, this is a big thing for this town. It's supposed to be really good this year." Sonari still didn't seem convinced. "Fine, fine. Whatever. If you don't want to come, fine, but I wouldn't want to be left alone with a bunch of people who just saw you beat the crap out of their beloved Sil-alia. Who knows what they might do?" Sonari grumbled, but tipped his head back and drank the last of his ale and followed Sonari out of the door.
They walked through the town to the square, where a huge tent had been set up in the middle of it. They walked in and found seats about 3 rows back from the front, on the stage left side of the rough stage that had been set up.
Not more than 10 minutes after Sonari and Yani made their arrival, the Festival began.
/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/
The lights dimmed, and the band of Wingly musicians began to play. Rigana, dressed in a long evening dress of lavender velvet, walked onstage to her appointed spot and sat on a stool in the downstage left corner of the stage. As she sat down, and a spotlight settled on her, the band started playing more mysterious music.
"The story that we will relate to you tonight, most of you know already. But there are some among our number that do not. We come together to tell you the story of our people, how they rose to power, and how they fell. Of their involvement in the 2nd Dragon Campaign, when the Dragoons came again to rescue Endiness from sure destruction, and of heroic tales of our Tahoan since. Ladies and gentlemen, we present to you the story that is the race of the Winglies."
The tale began to unfold, Rigana telling of the creator, Soa, who sewed the seed of the Divine Tree, then of the other species that hatched from the fruit of the Tree.
"But we Winglies hatched from the 107th fruit. We were the last born, and thus the most powerful and graceful species of them all."
/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/
Backstage, Sil-alia jumped; that had been her cue. Her thoughts had wandered off onto other matters . . . more specifically Sonari. Like how he was able to block her magical attack. And what exactly he was doing with that stone . . . But now it was her time to be onstage. Once she entered, she'd have to put on her performing mask and concentrate for the rest of the night. She had the main part, after all . . .
/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/
Rigana almost panicked when Sil-alia didn't come onstage at her cue, but waited for a second, and was intensely relieved when the young warrior sidled onstage. She was dressed in a flowing aqua costume, the top half tight against her upper body and upper arms, the lower part made of loose flowing strips of rustling aqua material to form loose sleeves and a rough sort of skirt that went to just below her knees. Her hair was loose and flowed around her like a wave of sunshine. She looked undeniably beautiful.
The music changed to a graceful waltz like feel. Sil-alia started dancing, first with slow graceful movements to match the music, then faster and faster, as the music sped up. She made full use of her young lithe body, twisting and bending to the pace of the music. Her skirt flew up to show the majority of her thighs with some of the sharper turns. This dance was to show the grace and power of the Winglies, and both of those attributes were choreographed into the dance. And she held more than one person in the audience spellbound . . .
When the dance came to a close, Sil-alia threw her arms up triumphantly with the last loud note. She looked out to the crowd to try and see Grandpa, she knew he would be there, he always was. But when she scanned the crowd, her eyes focused on one face only. And not a very welcome face at that.
Oh Gods, what is he doing here?
/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/
As the lights dimmed, Sonari slouched in his seat. He was bound and determined not to enjoy himself. Yani was sitting beside him with an eager looking face. He seemed to be able to enjoy himself anytime, anywhere. It didn't matter that they were in some back hole Wingly town. He was probably thinking about that Wingly lady. Sonari almost did a double take as the Wingly lady in question stepped onto the stage, stunning in evening dress. Well, at least Yani knows how to pick them.
Sonari sighed and sat back again as Rigana started her introduction to the evening, which Yani had heard was to be a night of singing and dancing in tribute to the Winglies' heritage. Yada, yada. Yes, I know Winglies were the last-born species. Is that all you brought us here to . . . Sonari's train of thought stopped abruptly when he saw a Wingly with a face that was all too familiar sidle onstage. She looked so different than before, when they were fighting. Sil-alia, Yani had said her name was. A beautiful name to match a beautiful girl. But he didn't realize just how beautiful she was until she came onstage. He was enthralled from the moment she started dancing.
Yani sat back in his chair, watching Sil-alia dance and listening to Rigana's narration. If the rest of the show was as good as this beginning was, it would be as good as he heard that it would. He turned to ask Sonari if he was glad he came, then swallowed a chuckle as he saw his friend. If anyone had told Yani that Sonari would end up gaping open mouthed at a Wingly warrior that he had bested in combat, he would have laughed in their face. It was all he could do to keep from laughing now. He leaned over and nudged Sonari in the ribs.
"My friend, I don't think you realize, but your mouth is open." Sonari snapped his slack jaw shut and glared at Yani. Yani averted his eyes. He couldn't take it when Sonari stared at him like that. What sane person would be able to? He looked like death incarnate like that. Especially when he had his Shotel. Yani shuddered involuntarily and turned back to watch the show.
The music swelled to a crescendo, and ended abruptly, Sil-alia with her arm thrown triumphantly into the air. Sonari saw her face scan the audience, looking for someone obviously. But then her eyes, greener than any emeralds, caught his and didn't look away. Somehow, her gaze seemed to pierce through him, right through flesh and bone. He felt as if she could see his innermost thoughts and feelings. And he didn't like it. He jerked his eyes away from hers and suddenly became very interested in the hat the woman in front of him was wearing.
/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/
Sil-alia wanted to look away from that rude, uncaring, heartless Human . . . but she couldn't. She was grateful when he pulled his eyes away. She crossed the stage and knelt, waiting for her next cue. But now she had seen him, and there was something about that Sonari that made her inexplicably nervous. It was like he was watching her every second, she could almost feel his eyes on her. Well, that's what it seemed like to her. She kept glancing towards the seats where she knew Yani and Sonari were sitting; it was kind of hard to miss Yani's orange-red hair and Sonari's height. But every time here eyes strayed, Sonari looked away. Sil-alia didn't know whether to count herself lucky or not. Either way, she was on autopilot for the rest of the evening.
Author's Note: Okie, guess what? By popular demand of, um . . . aerena, it's Q and A time again! Some of the questions will be the same, others different . . . but here we go!
1) Who's your fav char and why?
2) What's your fav weapon? (oh yeah, I don't think I've really said yet, but Yani uses a long sword and throwing knives, and Rigana uses long knives, Legolas style!)
3) Who gets what Dragoon Spirit? (I think I've given explicit hints for all but one)
4) (all your guys' fav question) Who are Yani and Sonari?
5) Whose personality is the most complex?
6) What's your fav single line/scene so far? (if you can't remember, just give me the gist of it, and it'll be all good)
7) The plot hasn't really started at all yet, so what do you think the whole plot's going to be about? (I already have this story played out in my mind to completion, so nothing you say can change it. Mwahahahaha!)
8) Oh, and one more for Aer . . . Who's Lana? (ties in with # 4)
I can't think of any more good questions, and some of those aren't so good either . . . Newayz, have a nice day. Oh, and don't forget to review and answer questions!