-Saira-
Chapter 8: On Market Day
Saira was getting annoyed. Though she was the one that had suggested that Mikkoku join them, she was quickly tiring of her.
She had thought to gain an ally against Myike. To have someone with a sense of direction in their group. To have someone to strike up a conversation with besides the ever-present pervert.
She had thought wrong.
Mikkoku seemed to have latched onto Myike. Saira had barely spoken to her twice.
What could a princess and a farm-boy have in common you ask? They seemed to have attached themselves to the most immediate topic at hand.
Her.
"Well she does seem to be a bit ill-tempered." The delicate Mikkoku stated thoughtfully. Myike and Mikkoku were deep in discussion again. They didn't have the bag to carry.
Saira stiffened.
"…And one time she got so mad that she blew up one of the neighbor's cows! You should of seen the blo-"
Saira stopped walking ahead of the couple, her eyes shadowed by her now silver hair. She caught Myike by his rat tail. And yanked. Hard.
"Ow!"
"Injured or not, if you don't stop telling stories about me you're dead." She stated flatly.
"Yeesh. Fine." Mumbling. "You'd think she'd be grateful I didn't tell about the time she 'accidentally'-"
Myike was interrupted abruptly as his head connected with the ground. Saira dusted off her hands and continued on her merry way.
"Oh dear. Are you all right Myike-sama?" Mikkoku asked, helping the poor boy to his feet.
He groaned in response. "I don't think my legs will hold me, Mikkoku-hime. Is it possible you could aid me?"
"Of course." The Lady replied graciously as she allowed him to use her to support his weight.
Saira snickered from the front. Here it comes.
But it didn't. Myike was well behaved the whole rest of the way to the village.
--
They reached it just before sunset. It was a pretty little town that the forest at its' borders threatened to swallow up with darkness in the young twilight.
They immediately went to the village shrine. Myike needed treatment for his wounds and new concussion. He looked almost ready to collapse.
The trek right after the battle must have taken a lot of his energy.
He looks like crap, Saira observed as she called on the healers in the building.
They seemed a little frightened of Saira, with her strange eyes and silver hair. However when they saw that she had brought them a wounded man and that she was dressed in the garb of a miko, they let them inside with little hesitation.
Myike, for his part, perked right up when he saw the pretty young healer in charge of him and leapt into a sick pallet, grinning.
Saira set her pack against the wall and stood with Mikkoku until an older miko beckoned Saira forward.
"Were you not injured as well, child? Allow one of us to tend to your wounds."
It was Saira's turn to be nervous. She didn't like others touching her. Especially people she didn't know. She could deal with her own injuries. Her ribs didn't really pain her that much…
Myike looked up at Saira to see her internal struggle in her eyes. "Oi, Saira. Let them heal you. You can't do it by yourself and I saw you get hurt."
Well, who asked him!
She thought about refusing just because she could, but relented when the throbbing pain hit her. She wouldn't be able to travel well with broken ribs.
"Fine," Saira agreed finally, as though she was doing them a favor, and dropped onto another mat.
--
The next morning was the weekly market day for the prosperous village. How lucky for our travelers, who were sorely in need of more food and other supplies.
"I need a sword." Saira said simply.
She had left Myike in the care of the priestesses, and Mikkoku to her own devices. Saira had her own business to attend to and she was starting to find the princess extremely annoying.
She was just way too perfect. She always spoke sweetly to everyone, never swore, or showed anger. It was getting on Saira's nerves.
Myike seems to be trying to impress her too! What a stupid moron! She was as good as betrothed anyway. Why would he bother? He was just so- Argh!
Whatever. He could do what he liked. Saira really didn't care. Really.
She just needed someone to work out all this frustration on. "Listen buddy! I need a sword now! I can't wait and I'm on an extremely tight schedule."
The beefy man didn't seem intimidated by the silver-haired priestess in the least. "…And I'm tellin' ya it be takin' at the least of three days to forge. And it'll cost to rush it at that."
Shit. The teen cursed inaudibly. She didn't have the cash for a sword. She barely had enough for more food. They couldn't travel on empty stomachs. Or at least that weakling Myike couldn't.
Suddenly there was a loud knock at the Smithy's back entrance. He went to answer the call with a grunt in her direction, which she took to mean 'I'll be back'.
Perfect.
Saira seized her convenient opportunity and hopped over to the already-finished custom jobs.
There must've been a lot of warriors in this vicinity to have gotten so many orders.
She hustled to testing out a few of the blades weights and picked out a fairly simple katana that was similar to her old one.
Satisfied, she took out the old blade she had salvaged from her bottomless bag. She had 'masking taped' it back together. Saira replaced the new with the old on the high shelf that held the new swords.
It would buy her some time, but she figured he would notice sooner or later. Hopefully later when they were already gone from the village.
She headed for the outdoor market, reveling in the clear day without a shred of guilt. She swung the sword a bit. She was going to be saving a lot of innocent people with this weapon. She was a priestess after all.
She felt a tap on her shoulder and jumped a little before she saw who it was. Saira resisted the urge to smack Myike into the ground for that one. He already had bandages on his head. Maybe another punch in the stomach.
He raised his hands up in defense when he saw her appraising look. "Whoa, hey. I'm still an invalid. You wouldn't hit a helpless person, would you?" He added hopefully.
She growled at him but continued on her way. "Oh yeah, thanks for the opening Myike. How did you keep him busy?" Saira asked in passing.
The human boy smirked at her and replied cockily. "That was easy. I merely explained how I am a squire for a rich nobleman that had heard of the Smith's work and wanted his three-hundred guardsmen re-outfitted and armed with the richest metals he could use. The smith said he'd get started on them right away. Not the sharpest tool in the box, but what a hard worker."
"I appreciate the new sword, but shouldn't you still be resting? You did take a real beating yesterday." Saira was a little concerned for her friend although he was an annoying, conniving little jerk a lot of the time.
"Nah, it was getting stuffy in that shrine and the kind women gave me a tonic to help with the damage inside. I feel fine." He lied, keeping his face turned so that she wouldn't see the swollen red hand prints marring the other side of his face.
"Right," She said dismissively as they looked at the carts and crates set up as tables along the dirt streets.
After buying a large bag of rice and depositing it to Myike who was dubbed the grocery carrier for being in her presence, she caught a middle-aged man beckoning to them from across the way. She moved to his display after checking that he wasn't referring to anyone else.
"Yes?" She asked him politely. Myike was still struggling under the pile of goods he was forced to carry.
The man looked around forty and his windswept hair was brownish-red matted with gray. His eyes were a clear, bright blue. "I had something I thought you might be interested in, young Miko."
Saira's curiosity piqued and she came closer the grisly man. "And what would that be?" She asked, forgoing politeness.
"This." he replied, placing something into her hands and closing them around it. "I know you are on a dangerous quest. It could even destroy your spirit. This will bring you luck."
Saira opened her hands slowly and Myike leaned over his pile of supplies to get a better look.
Inside was a little glass mushroom. It was a beautiful piece of glasswork. There were no flaws in it.
"Wow. It's very nice, sir. But we don't have the extra money to be spending on something like this." Saira said after a moment.
Myike was still staring at the little mushroom, entranced. It was the same feeling he got from the well's clearing in Inuyasha's Forest and that old tree. Magic.
"No, Priestess. It is a gift. Should you ever need of help it is said that all you have to do is call upon it. The mushroom will bring it forth." The man smiled at the girl and added. "Good luck and safe journey."
"Ok, then. Have a nice day and thank you." Saira tugged Myike with her as she sped away from the strange merchant. "I think he was a little touched in the head. 'The mushroom will bring it forth'. That's ridiculous. I mean, magical mushrooms?" She snickered and went to throw it out when Myike surprised her.
"If you don't want it Saira, I'd like to hold onto it. It's kind of a strange trinket but I like it." He took it from her outstretched hand.
"Suit yourself. But you'll have to keep it. It'll get crushed in the bag."
Myike had felt tired after the morning shopping and went back to the shrine for some more rest before heading out on the morrow. The priestesses were kind enough to let them stay with them until they were ready to continue.
Saira was healing rapidly despite having quite a few damaged ribs. All her cuts and bruises were faded already as well. She heard the healers saying that her recovery was almost unnatural. It made her a little uncomfortable hanging around the shrine.
Myike, although having more wounds than he had come to the shrine for healing because of certain habits of his, was already feeling better and wanted to be on the road. Maybe their tonics and salves had been working, but Saira had a feeling it was more that he wanted to be away from all the beatings he was getting from angry women.
She wandered near the forest with a few more provisions. Her shopping was done for the day and the sun was slowly beginning to sink below the trees. A chill settled in the air that was unnatural for the summer and Saira shivered involuntarily.
That was when she caught a glance of the white and red through the trees and felt a trace of powerful magic in the air. The call of magic beckoned her and she dropped her bags to follow the ghostly, silent personage.