Iea

VII : Conflict

"Don't tell me to shut up..." Ain retorted with a bit of a whine.

"I can if I want." Frowning, Nia began wringing out her clothes.

"No you can't, that's mean."

"I can't, huh? Just listen: Shut up."

"Stop it!" Ain managed to get himself upright, and was facing his sister, "Why are you yelling at me?"

"Because YOU don't tell me what to do!" Standing up, Nia glared a hole through her brother's head, "I'm the older sibling!"

"Older doesn't mean better!"

"Yes it does!" Nia became really close to Ain, shouting.

"No it doesn't!"

"Yes it does!"

A dull 'clink' suddenly sounded, as the two kids were in the middle of a headlock. Facing her brother, Nia had her horn locked against his- this little 'battle' was never truly uncommon among the two, and hardly did anybody ever get hurt in it. Both, however, stood their ground and tried their hardest to push the other from their stance.

For a few, tense, silent minutes, both of the kids pushed against the other, neither of them accomplishing much of anything. Straining and leaning her weight, Nia did manage to move her brother back by a few inches- finally, she merely turned away, saying nothing.

Ain himself then turned around, walking forward a few steps, then he sat with a distinct pout. Only the sound of occasional birds could be heard against the rushing water for a long time...

"You know," Nia broke the silence, with a bit of a devious smirk, "I could just leave you here. This room is like a box."

It was quite a lie, since several openings to the next building were seen on the wall. Continuing, and knowing it would drive her brother insane, she said: "Plus there's nothing BUT walls and this hole."

"You wouldn't dare!"

Taking her pan, Nia suddenly slapped the surface of the water then imitated the sound of someone swimming. Slowly growing silent, she pulled the pan out and rose.

For a few minutes, Ain didn't do anything. "You're still here, I know you are."

Getting no response, he finally stood up. "Sis?"

She silently moved out of the way as he began walking, Ain blindly feeling about the air ahead of him. He came close to the edge, but turned around when hearing the water- walking back, he began to let out whimpers.

"Sis, w...where are you?"

A silent web of guilt was spun in Nia's heart- lacking courage, she said nothing.

"Sis..." The helpless pleas grew into sobs, "Come back..."

Biting her lip, the girl just stared.

"Big sis!"

"Oh, I didn't leave!" Nia rolled her eyes, walking to him. "Why are you so upset?"

Walking to him, she placed her hand on his shoulder. She let out a faint gasp when gazing upon his covered face, for a wet spot had appeared where his right eye was.

"Don't do that..." Immediately taking her into a hug, Ain buried his face against her shoulder, trying his hardest to keep his head still and to not scratch her with the end of his horn. "You scared me!"

"I'm... sorry..." Taking him into a hug, she sighed, "I got too upset."

"I'll forgive you- just don't do it again!"

"Okay." Nia crossed her fingers. Then she grinned, "What would you say about having lunch?"

"Lunch?"

"Yeah, I did manage to sneak along SOME food."

"Lunch!!" A huge smile spread across the boy's face.

"I'll take it as a yes. Hold on."

After exploring the makeshift courtyard, Nia managed to find a rather old crate. The wood was thin and brittle, which broke as soon as she hit it with her frying pan. After bringing her brother over from the other bank, she put together a makeshift fire, and began digging in her pockets.

"What'd you bring?"

"Some dried vegetables... uhm, I think I have a bottle of cooking oil..." Nia continued digging around in her canvas skirt's pockets, whereupon a small white bird landed beside her. Despite the fact that she hated hurting things, she suddenly smashed it with the frying pan, "And a bird."

"Bird...? Y...You...?"

Slowly lifting up the pan, she found the bird to be very much dead, "I know it's terrible, but we've got to eat something."

As she prepared their makeshift meal, the smoke drifted up and out of the castle, being only a small, barely noticeable thing. However, on the shore, a certain young woman saw it; she had traveled night and day, and was none other than Sephiel, the kind woman from the village.

She was really only thirteen, but that was old enough, as far as the village was concerned, for her to be an adult. She had come for two reasons: One, she was full of insatiable curiousity, and two, she knew that SOMEONE would have to rescue those two.

"Maybe they're still alive then..." In a breathless whisper, she spoke to herself. Slowly turning around, she thought it was time to, perhaps, ask for some help. "I'll get you two out, I promise!"

Taking off in a run, she thought of nothing but asking the town priest for help.

"He'll know what to do..."

"You think... everyone is happy now that we're gone, Sis?" Ain was eating his dinner, admitting that he didn't much care for bird when it was stir-fried. "I mean, they were cheering when we left..."

"Oh, they can go sit on some pins."

"Was Sephiel there? Was she cheering?"

"Hm?" Nia paused in the middle of a bite. Slowly reaching the sides of her memory, she suddenly pinpointed that face in the crowd. "No. She was crying, and waving at us."

"Oh..."

"Why?" Nia smirked.

"N...No reason."

"Well, this little adventure has been kind've interesting, huh? I thought we'd be a lot worse off. Some so-called 'deathtrap'."

"What about that lady?" Ain had finished off his dinner, and was wiping his face off with the throw-over cloth resting atop his shirt, "In the hall?"

"...Eh, don't worry about her. She seems to talk big, but she really hasn't done anything." Nia looked away, trying to shield the fact it was a lie, "She's just trying to freak us out."

"If you say so..."

"That I do. Now..." Taking the pan, Nia walked to the water and quickly scrubbed it clean with her own ceremonial throw-over, bringing a panful of cold water back. Tossing it on the fire, the smoke hissed angrily in a big puff. "Let's figure out what's around here."

"Okay..."

Helping Ain up, Nia quickly washed his face off (to his great annoyance) with her throw-over, then dragged him through a door. They were in a huge tower, where the center focus was a man-made waterfall. It pounded against the reservoir below, the rumbling felt in all of the platforms.

"Woah... Is that a waterfall?" Ain enjoyed it greatly- he could actually HEAR it. "What does it look like?"

"Like water falling, you goof." She gave him a playful push against the head, "What did you expect it to look like?"

"Hey..."

"I'm just kidding you." Nia began scouring the wooden platform, looking down every-so often at the lower levels. Reaching the far edge, she was called to attention by a shriek- looking back at Ain, she suddenly took up her pan as several shadows landed.

"Leave him alone!" Trying to run to him, she was stopped in her tracks as several shadows landed down around her. One grabbed her by her horn, and another suddenly hit her arm hard enough to send the pan flying. "Let me go!"

It hit the wall, then landed in the water below, sinking to the bottom. Meanwhile, Ain was suddenly snatched up and thrown over a shoulder, as his captor spread out it's wings.

Struggling to get to her brother, Nia was suddenly hit hard across the bare side of her head. Hitting the floor, she remained still, the shadows hobbling off in the direction of the flying one. Nia's figure slowly melted into a thick pool of black, followed by the appearance of a head.

Rising out of the pool, Ecoule shook off its wings, then suddenly spotted the boy being pulled down a hole. He was kicking and fighting to get free, but seemed unable to save himself. With a bit of annoyed sigh, Ecoule suddenly dropped off the bridge, letting out a flap. Swooping down to the pool, she wrapped a claw around his arm and began pulling back.

The other shadows, which hadn't left yet, came running. Ecoule managed to pull back as soon as they were to gang up on the two; hovering in the air, Ecoule quickly debated the best way to escape.

Right as the other flying shadow came at them, Ecoule took off in a nosedive directly for the waterfall. Shooting through the thundering water, the two figures were pushed down several feet. The shadows all came to a halt, staring down off the bridges at the water, waiting for the two to appear in the depths.

However, Ecoule managed to dive through the channel where the excess water flowed. Reaching open air, she rearranged Ain in her feet, then began flying up a stone path. They were outside, on the very edge of the island itself, able to see the sea angrily crash below.

"A...Are we outside? Can you... fly to the shore?"

Ecoule continued to stare seaward for a moment. Bound to the castle through her death, the shadow knew it could not leave; coming across a stone bench, the shadow slowly rested the boy on it, then limply fell from the air. Hitting the ground with a splash, the darkness reformed into Nia.

"I'm never going to get used to that..."