Errr…. Hiya. Been a while, eh? Sorry about that, but… eh… y'know… yeah. Ok… umm… yeah. Right. Okeydokey? …nevermind.

________________________________________________________________________

"You don't understand!"

"I understand fine! Get this foolishness out of your mind, boy! You have traditions to uphold!"

"No! I won't stand this any longer! I'm leaving this place, and I'll never return!"

"Don't take another step, or else!"

"One day, you'll regret this! You'll be sorry!"

"Jetrin!"

"Jetrin!"

"Jetrin!"

Jetrin came slowly awake to the sound of a now familiar voice. Opening one eye carefully, he peeked outwards to see her face.

"Argh…" he mumbled. "Go away. It's too early."

With those words, he closed his eye and hovered on the edge of sleep.

"Wake up Jetrin! There are a lot off things to do! We're still going on our way to Illian!" The voice just wouldn't let Jetrin be. He was starting to really wake up, and he really didn't want that to happen.

"It'll still be there no matter how long we take. Let me sleep." He replied in a sleepy tone. Jetrin had nearly been asleep again before she started talking.

Light! This girl is more trouble than I bargained for! Just can't let a man sleep, can she?

Jetrin started fading out again. Ever since he'd been traveling with Meria, he hadn't had a decent night's sleep. A decent night meaning over ten hours of sleep… past midnight. So, if you count those ten hours and the hours from before midnight, he sleep about… eleven to twelve hours daily.

It's not like I'm bloody lazy or anything. I just think a man should be allowed to sleep for as long as he feels he needs! I don't need some girl screaming every day in my ear to wake me up… actually, the yelling isn't that bad… there's something worse… but what was it?

Meria's voice came back again, this time sounding dangerously heated.

"If you don't wake up soon…" Jetrin got the feeling she was probably doing some hand motion to demonstrate what would happen, but he was finally almost asleep again, so he kept his eyes closed.

What was it… Ah well, it can't be that bad, can it? Or else I would probably remember…of course, it's not like anything that happened because of this girl's been pleasant… except the gold, must remember the gold… GAH!!!

The gold was getting harder to think about, because of the reason for the gah! The reason being that Jetrin just had a whole lot of water dumped on his face. He sat up and began to cough and splutter. Luckily his eyes had been closed, or else he would have gotten water in them.

Oh, right. That was it. This was how I started out every bloody day since leading that Light forsaken, flea-ridden, Dark One praising excuse of a village! It's enough to make a man go mad!

Between coughs, he managed to gurgle out a few words.

"Why…do you….have to do that…every time!?!"

Meria was sitting on the ground next to him with a big grin. Jetrin wondered how, even though she'd done this five times already, she still found it amusing.

Simple minds are amused by simple things… bleh. I got water up my nose.

Of course, that fact was one he wouldn't share with Meria.

"Well," she said brightly, "If you'd just wake up earlier, you wouldn't have to have that happen everyday. It's your own fault."

Jetrin failed to see the logic in this statement. After getting his coughing under control, he ground out a few words. Of course, not the words he wanted to say, but even if he did say those words, they are unsuitable for print.

"How is it my fault?" he growled out with a sharp glare. "Did I, while asleep dump water on my head?!? NO, I DID NOT! Therefore, not my fault. All yours."

Jetrin was never a morning person.

Meria looked back at him still with her cheery expression.

I just want to… no, musn't do that. That'd neutralize the agreement with what's his name… Kevan. But still… he wouldn't know…right?

Shaking his head free of these thoughts, he turned and reached for his pack, which he had used as a pillow. Opening it, he pulled out an old shirt to dry himself off with.

"By the way," Meria said, "this gun of yours, how does it work?"

Oh… she wouldn't! She cannot be handling my gun!

Jetrin stopped in mid-dry, and moved his shirt out of his eyes so he could see her. And there, in her hands was his gun.

Argh! Just… Light! No respect for other people's property!

Leaning forward, he made a grab for his gun, but Meria made a swift movement backwards, just out of his reach.

"So," Meria began again, "how does it work?"

Drying off quickly, Jetrin replied tersely, "It doesn't."

Meria looked puzzled by this. "What are you talking about? I saw it do… something… twice! So of course it works!"

Carefully cooting forward, so Meria wouldn't notice, he replied, "When I fell right outside your village, I fell on my pack. My gun was in my pack, and the barrel bent out of shape. It doesn't work anymore."

Meria looked as if she understood, but a sudden realization hit her and she exclaimed angrily, "But it worked in the village! Where you did that thing to Cenn!"

Just keep talking. I'm almost close enough to grab my gun.

"That was just light, sound, and heat, no projectile," Jetrin answered distractedly. He concentrated completely on getting close enough to get the gun without Meria noticing. He continued by saying, "If I loaded the gun with a bullet too, instead of just powder, like it's supposed to be, the bullet would get stuck in the misshaped barrel and probably make a hole in it. Or explode it if I'm unlucky. Either result is bad. With powder, it was able to escape since it's a fluid substance, able to conform with it's container. That allowed it to flow around the misshaped path and escape."

Meria was even more confused by this than ever. While she tried to work out Jetrin's explanation, he leaned forward, and lightning quick, grabbed his gun and wrested it from her grip.

Good thing I don't keep this loaded. Even if it's only with gunpowder, a misfire then would've caused me some harm.

Meria didn't seem to notice that the gun had been removed from her possession, since she was still attempting to wrap her mind around Jetrin's explanation. Of course, it was futile, but she still tried.

Jetrin watched her struggle with his explanation for a little while longer. He knew that, unless a person had some background with the workings of fireworks, or were at least incredibly intelligent, they would have no chance of understanding his explanation. But, it was still fun to see her try.

Well, this'll get her off my back for a while, unless she gives up… but she probably won't.

And she didn't. She sat there trying to figure it out for about ten minutes before Jetrin, getting bored, asked her a question.

"Well, how about we go to an inn today? We've been sleeping in the woods so for, so let's try an inn out."

This question broke off Meria's concentration, and left her dazed and confused for a while. A second later, she asked, "An inn?"

"Yes, an inn. I feel like staying in an inn for a while. The clouds look kind of heavy right now, and I, for one, don't want to sleep in the rain. How about it?"

Grasping the situation at hand, Meria responded positively.

"Yes, ok. I want to make good use of the money my father gave you after all."

Uh… WHAT!!! How does she know about the deal I made with her father! What in the Light is going on here.

Seeing the alarmed look on his face, Meria answered his unspoken question.

 "Yes, my father told me all about the deal you two made. He didn't want me to tell you that I knew…"

Jetrin floundered at this answer. All he could say was, "But, he said it's a secret, and I said yes, and what's going on !?!"

Meria airily responded, "Yes, he told me all about how, when he told you about how he wanted me to learn about the world, you offered your services on the spot. My father also told me how you requested some money so that you could guide me through the land safely." She gave him a slightly angry glare. "Of course, my father went beyond the needed sum to help me out even more. But, I haven't seen any of it so far."

"Not, of course," she added, "that I mind that much."

Jetrin was speechless. Completely and utterly devoid of speech. Kevan had explained the situation to his daughter… but in a rather crooked manner.

That… merchant… He has got to be the embodiment of all that is evil in the world. Forget the Dark One, I've seen the evilest, most crooked, tricky being in existence, and his name is Kevan.

Jetrin glanced at Meria. He thought about the situation with her so far. The real trouble, with the water in the face every morning had really only begun after, well, the first night. She probably didn't really mind sleeping outside, it was probably that she expected to sleep in inns more often.

Eh, I do have the money. Why not live it up a little? Maybe I'll go to inns more often as long as the money lasts.

"Well," he said slowly, "let's look for an inn. From what I remember of this area, there should be one just a few miles in the direction we've been traveling so far."

Meria brightened up at these words, and quickly she began saddling up the horses.

"Well, let's get moving then! I want some comfort in this trip!" she called out to him.

Shaking his head, he stood up, shouldered his pack, and saddled his horse.

Light… mornings are way too busy. Maybe tomorrow'll be better.

________________________________________________________________________

That place

J: Yo, TI. What's up? Why'd this update take so long?

TI: *plays solitaire*

J: Hello? TI? Twilight? HEY!

TI: Gah! What the!?! Holy… oh. It's just you.

J: Just me? Just me? I'm the star of your story! How is it just me?!?

TI: Eh… *plays solitaire*

J: You never answered my question.

TI: Quiet, I'm trying to beat solitaire. *tries to beat solitaire but fails utterly. Tries again*

J: Ummm… that's not solitaire.

TI: Oh yeah? Than what, Mr. Smarty Pants, is it?

J: …that's a ketchup packet… a used ketchup packet.

TI: Oh, so it is. *plays ketchup packet*

J: …that makes no sense at all y'know. And, you still haven't answered my question.

TI: And what question was that? *still playing ketchup packet*

J: Why this update took so long. And, shouldn't it be used ketchup packet, not ketchup packet?

TI: Fine. *continues playing used ketchup packet*

J: …And the answer to my question?

TI: What question? *makes a new world record for playing used ketchup packet*

J: …

TI: … *attempts to beat old used ketchup packet playing record*

J: …

TI: … *fails to beat record but continues to play used ketchup packet*

J: Alright, that's it! Give me that! *attempts to take used ketchup packet*

(Brief struggle ensues)

TI: …

J: …

TI: *starts playing used ketchup packet again*

J: …I give up.

The Moral of this story is: Do not ever, I repeat ever, feed a lemur… oh, wait, that's not the moral. The real moral is…*plays used ketchup packet some more* (J: ARGHHH!!!!)

Reviews:

… actually, I'm really scared to open my e-mails, just in case of flames, so, next chapter will have responses!

A final thought:

Has anyone guessed where I'm headed with the story yet? No? Good. I want it to be a surprise. If you have, go ahead and put your theories up in you're review. I'll tell you how close you are. Most likely everybody's really off. As a hint, I'm building just about everything off of a single, small one paragraph long section about Illuminators in the books. Which book and what section? Now that's just making it easier for you. Figure it out!