Chapter 2: Of Boyfriends, Companions, and Parties

"Hmm, seems my old man isn't home," Precis muttered after peering into a large, cluttered building, and then into the house itself. "Come on in!" She bounced into the living room of the small but rather kept place. "Oh! I seem to have forgotten your name..."

"Ashton," he said, "and this here is Gyoro." He patted the red dragon on his right. "And over here is Urunrun." He scratched under Urunrun's chin.

"Ah, would you like something to drink? Perhaps some berry juice? I made it myself."

"Ok, sure." He sat down at the table, looking around. It seemed like a nice place, and her company wasn't bad, but he felt a bit odd. Maybe it was just because he wasn't with the others and didn't want to be left. She was rather cute though.

"Here you go!" She set a glass down before him and sat in a chair. "So, what brings you to Linga?"

"Well, as I said, my friends found something in Cross Cave, and they wanted it deciphered. So we came here to find someone to do it since the king of Lacour was out. Claude didn't win the Tournament, but he came pretty close. That Dias Flac was really something else. So, because of that, we had to wait to see the king, and there was some emergency... now we're here."

"I see," Precis said, sipping some juice. "Would you mind if I ran upstairs a moment to get something?"

"Sure, it's no problem."

She ran inside a small room and a door suddenly closed in front of it. Ashton was left alone then, and he decided to take a drink of juice to quench his rising thirst. The juice was well made, for a teenager, although Ashton was sure he'd had better from Cross. Nonetheless, it was still quite refreshing. He leaned back slightly, thinking, when he heard a noise. He looked suddenly to see an older man standing in a doorway looking at him peculiarly.

"..."

"..." Ashton swallowed.

"PRECIS!!!!!!"

~*~

"Has anyone seen Ashton anywhere?" Rena asked, standing near the gate. The only other person missing was Bowman, and he had run back to his shop to grab some herbs before they left for Rena to practice compounding with.

Celine nodded. "Yeah, that orange-haired girl we saw yesterday was dragging him behind her down towards the area of the other pharmacy," she said.

Claude nodded. "Yeah, I was in the skill guild and saw the same thing. Maybe someone should go look for him?"

"I'll go, then," Rena said, walking off. Claude and Celine exchanged glances a moment before sighing and waiting for Bowman and the other two to return.

Rena had gotten no further than just around the corner when she heard someone shouting. She quickly picked up the pace, closing in on the building where the shouting was happening.

"Precis, if you're going to bring a guy home, keep him outta my sight!"

"Oh, geez, dad, what's the big deal?!"

"You could have some decency!"

"You're being a jerk in front of my friend!"

Rena shook her head and decided to peek into the house, around the curtain. Sure enough, Ashton was sitting there, looking distraught as the orange- haired girl and what appeared to be her father exchanged words.

"Ummm.... excuse me." Rena said, slipping in more.

Precis looked a bit shocked and turned from her father and looked at Rena. The old man did likewise. Ashton breathed a sigh of relief.

"Rena, thank god you've come..."

~*~

"So, then you're traveling with her, then?" Graft, Precis' father asked Ashton as the four sat at the cozy table.

"Yes, we were heading through, and about to head for Mars." Ashton sipped more of the juice.

Precis squirmed a bit, and then looked at Rena and Ashton. "Well..."

"Well, then, we really ought to be going," Rena said, rising. "Your hospitality is great, but we should be heading out so we can reach Hilton before the sun sets."

"Okay then, it was nice talking with you two. I'm sorry for the misunderstanding." Graft rose, as well as Precis.

Ashton stood. "Its all right, really. It happens." He glanced at Precis and then to Rena. "Well, then... thank you." The two headed out in silence. They were halfway to the gate where Claude, Bowman, and Celine were waiting when they heard someone shouting.

"Hey, wait!" Precis ran after the two, stopping once in front of them. "Ummm, you wouldn't mind if I went with you, would you?" She had on a backpack that had a mallet and contraption rigged to it, and Bobot bounced behind her.

"Er, what about your dad?" Rena asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Awww, he's okay with it. He wanted me to go, to see what was to there and learn stuff."

Ashton shifted uneasily. "But we're investigating the Sorcery Globe, and it'll be dangerous," he protested, not wanting to see a nice girl like her get hurt.

Precis' eyes widened. "REALLY?! The Sorcery Globe? Then you've GOTTA take me! My dad made something cool out of something that fell form the sky. A piece of THAT would be GREAT to bring back - we could make something really useful then! And besides, I can't just go back without proving I can do things. Please?!"

Ashton looked into her green eyes, and then looked at Rena, who shrugged. Ashton looked back at her. "Alright, but you'll have to be careful. I don't want to make your dad angry if something were to happen to you."

Rena looked at Ashton, trusting the swordsman to have made the right decision. He knew her a bit more than she did.

"YIPPIE!" Precis squealed, jumping up and throwing her arms around Ashton's neck, nearly causing Ashton to fall forward. He caught her and balanced himself with the help of the dragons rearing back. "Thanks!" She dropped down and grabbed Bobot and bounced around a bit more.

After Precis calmed down, the three headed over to the others. Claude's eyebrows arched up, Celine looks quizzical, and Bowman sighed. After some introductions they headed out, going northward towards the port town of Hilton.