Night had fallen over Rune-Midgard, bathing the landscape in a quiet blanket of darkness. Stars dotting the sky and the quarter moon gave the only light in the complete darkness of the wilderness.
Chisato and Cornflakes decided to camp out tonight. They had wandered a bit too far from the city, and by the time they called it a night they were too tired to walk back. Chisato never really minded sleeping outdoors, growing accustomed to it. With the limited funds she had, Inn stays were a luxury.
Cornflakes, on the other hand, didn't like it as much, which Chisato thought was odd. But she figured, despite he was a monster and should feel in his element, he grew up domesticated.
The duo gathered up a few trunks to light a fire as the darkness made the landscape a whole lot cooler. After they dropped a sufficient amount into a pile, Chisato pulled out one of the fire arrows from her quiver and struck the pile, which quickly ignited it. Both then relaxed next to the welcome warmth of the budding fire.
Chisato sat with her knees to her chest and her arms wrapped around her legs, resting her head on them and gazing into the flames of the fire. Cornflakes snuggled close to her to keep warm and closed his eyes. It was during nights like this that she wished her choice in clothing was better.
Chisato hadn't realized what time it was before she had fallen asleep. She found her mind wandering most of the night.
Thoughts of her life, what would become of her, what direction exactly was she headed in swirled in her head. Also, she realized she had never thought to ask Aaogan what exactly they were going to Geffen Tower for. She laughed at herself, because for all she knew the task at hand could be a suicide mission, something out of her league. But he had seemed so nice, and obviously thought she could handle it without even asking her how experienced she was.
Confidence and trust in a stranger was something rare you don't see very often these days. She just hoped that he knew what he was doing, and that whoever his friend was knew too. She also hoped she wouldn't end up embarrassing herself in front of a Knight.
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"Chisato! Hey Chisato!! Wake up!" Cornflakes' screeching voice shattered Chisato's slumber. She had started to wake up, the sun shining brightly in her sleep filled eyes, making it hard for her to open them. "Chisato! Come on, it's getting late! Don't we have somewhere to be today?"
Cornflakes was now bouncing on top of her. She finally sat up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, "What time is it?" she asked groggily.
"It's getting close to noon!" Cornflakes sounded concerned.
Apparently Chisato's late night brain racking kept her up longer then she thought. As her fuzzy thoughts finally came into focus, she realized it was almost half an hour till noon, and they were nowhere near Geffen.
"Oh my God!" she screamed as she jumped up with a start, hurriedly and clumsily gathering up her belongings and making a mad dash in the direction of Prontera. Cornflakes bounced behind her, struggling to keep up. As she ran she knew there was no way she was going to make it to Geffen in time by walking, there was only one other choice.
As she approached the city, she realized she had little time. She had to find a Priest or Acolyte as quickly as possible. Though she hated it, and dreaded it, she was going to have to pay for a warp to get there. She never really enjoyed asking for help, it was a last resort. And the price that they asked for casting the warp was outrageous in her opinion.
She stopped at the gates of Prontera to catch her breath, giving poor little Cornflakes time to finally catch up with his master. But she couldn't stop for very long, because now she only had 20 minutes left to find a warp to the city of Geffen, get her items from Kafra Corp., and then meet up with Aaogan at the Tower.
As she moved through the crowded city post haste, almost knocking into other people and getting some nasty comments and stares on her way, she checked to see how much zenny she had left. Her heart sank when she realized there wasn't much. Only four hundred left, and the asking price for warps was one thousand. She swore under her breath, praying that one would give her a break on the price.
To her horror, all shunned her. "How can a Hunter not have the 1,000z to pay for a warp?" was the basic response she got from them all.
"Servants of God my ass!" she said disgusted at them, then started to panic as she sat down on a bench trying to figure out just how she was going to make it in time now. She put her hands over her face on the verge of tears.
'Way to go Chisato. Something actually good finally comes your way and you screw it up by oversleeping,' came a nagging little voice from her head.
"Need a warp to Geffen, correct?" came a soft, eerie voice from beside her. Chisato shot her head up to see a Priestess sitting beside her on the bench who seemed to appear out of nowhere. Or maybe she just hadn't noticed her sitting there when she sat down, she thought. The air around the cleric seemed to give off an ominous feeling as the Huntress gazed upon her. She wore the typical habit of a Priestess, but that was where the similarities ended. She sat with her legs crossed and her arms to her side, with her deep, intense brown eyes locked straight into Chisato's crystal blues that seemed as through she were peering straight into her soul. Chisato quickly broke the uneasy eye contact with her by blinking a few times and then looking up, noticing the Demon Wings she wore in her short, dark brown hair. "Well?" the Priestess prompted her.
"Y-yes, I do," Chisato stammered, feeling like she was coming out of a trance.
The Priestess grinned eerily. "Having a little trouble are you?" she said, almost like she was mocking her.
"Yes," Chisato sighed, speaking softly, "they don't seem to realize that not everyone in my position is made of money."
"Tsk tsk," responded the cleric as she shook her head and waved a finger. "I see," she said, then stood up.
Chisato stood up suddenly and grabbed her arm, thinking she was about to leave her now that she had let on she didn't have much zenny.
"Wait, please," she said pleadingly. "Could you warp me there? I really have to get there as soon as possible and I don't have enough zenny to pay the standard price for a warp, but I'll give you what I have." Chisato hated to beg, but she was desperate. She'd probably hear it later from Cornflakes; he wouldn't pass up the opportunity to make fun of her for it.
"That was my intention from the beginning, my dear Huntress," said the Priestess, speaking and looking at her like it should have been obvious. Chisato felt her face go pink and let go of her arm. As she went to pull out the zenny she had, the Priestess took her hand and shook her head. "Don't worry about that."
Chisato looked at her, feeling her face burn even more, "No, I insist you take it. It's not right for me not to pay for it at all." It was bad enough already that she felt she almost had to beg for it, but it would be even worse to get it for free entirely, bringing up the fact that she was too stubborn to ever accept charity.
The Priestess let her hand go. "Fine, if you insist," she said musingly. Chisato handed her what was left of her funds but kept just enough to pay for the Kafra Corp. storage fees.
The Priestess put the Zenny into a small bag that lay on her side, then pulled out a small, blue gem stone. "Thank you Ms...," Chisato began to say in such a way as in asking for her to give her name.
"Kali Jadyn," said the Priestess.
"...Ms. Jadyn," finished Chisato with very grateful smile.
Kali whispered a few words and the stone began to glow. "You're welcome, Ms. Arkain," she said as she threw the stone to Chisato's feet, breaking it open and releasing a blinding blue glow that surrounded her.
"Huh?" was all she had gotten out before she then felt a sudden gust of wind that seemed to whoosh around her entire body.
The gust let up just as quickly as it had picked up, and Chisato now found herself standing in Geffen. She gave a sigh of relief that she had gotten here, and still had a little bit of time to make it over to Kafra and then the Tower before she was labeled as late. But something odd struck her. How did Kali know her name? She couldn't recall saying it.
"Hey, how'd we get here already?" asked Cornflakes, looking dumbstruck.
"What do you mean," Chisato blinked, peering down at the Poring, "you say that like we've never taken a warp before."
"We did?" he said confused.
"Erm, yeah," she said, looking at him like he just lost is marbles.
"But I thought none of the clerics would take your offer?" he squeaked.
Chisato bent down and picked him up by his backpack, held him in her arms, then felt his forehead. "Hmm, you don't feel warm, or maybe you just hit your head on the way out of the warp," she said, analyzing him like he was sick or had gone crazy. "Cornflakes what the hell is wrong with you? Don't you remember Kali finally gave us a warp?"
"Huh? Who's Kali?" he said, sounding even more confused.
Chisato felt her face go white, and she dropped Cornflakes to the ground. "Ok, now I'm freaked," she said, realizing Cornflakes probably wasn't joking.
A distant clock rang out as it struck noon. Standing there trying to figure out just what had happened, she lost track of the time. Chisato scooped up Cornflakes and together they made a beeline toward the Kafra to retrieve her items before they headed for the Tower in the distance. She just hoped Aaogan would forgive her for showing up a few minutes late.