Chapter 1 Encounter

First RO fic. Characters belong to me. The jobs, town and monster references belong to Ragnarok Online. Have fun! Oh, and I changed the structure of several jobs to make it more believable, so don't sue me for not following the game perfectly.

It was sunny, far too sunny for a day in autumn. Golden-red leaves floated gently to earth, slowly melting away until only an elegant bare skeleton of a tree remained. It was bright enough to see as far as Prontera, which was very unusual.

"Do you think it will rain?"

Mekira looked in astonishment at her partner, a burly knight with sun-bleached blonde hair. He was looking up at the sky as if he really expected it to rain. "I don't see a single cloud in sight, Arun. What makes you think it will rain?" She kept her voice light, knowing that sometimes Arun spoke out of intuition. But this was too far-fetched.

"No, I'm sure it will rain..." Arun's face hardened as he readied his spear. Mekira instinctively clutched her Bible closer to her. What did he mean it will rain...?

The answer came a few seconds later. There was a series of whistling and twangs and Mekira instantly knew. Arrow Shower! "I invoke the spirit of St. Ellison, in the name of God, protect thy Children! Kyrie Ellison!" She prayed and felt a shining glow encompass them. And not a moment too soon. The arrows bounced off them and she hurriedly kept behind Arun. "Next time say arrows!"

"How am I supposed to know what kind of rain?" He muttered and furtively scanned the countryside. Even though the trees and bushes did not provide much cover for an ambush, but an attack from a solitary hunter could be possible. 'Can you see him, Mekira?"

"Impossible... I think he's cloaking. Well we'll see about that!" She made a series of gestures with her free hand. "Free the eye from blindness! Ruwach!"

A number of blue light spheres erupted around her and in that second, Arun saw him. "Gotcha!" he threw his spear to the hidden assailant and it hit a tree right above his head, quivering slightly.

"Good Gods Arun, are you trying to kill me or something?!" The hunter cried out in shock, his arbalest still loaded. "These are just sleep arrows, so quit being serious man!" He showed the arrows to Mekira, who then erupted into laughter. "Either way, we beat you today, Kaworu."

"So how did I do, S'kai?" Arun grinned up at a figure sitting on a naked tree. He was easily spotted, being garbed in a dusty purplish-black ninja suit. His dark hair partially covered his face, but even if it wasn't, his expression was still unreadable.

"...good." He said shortly and Mekira giggled. "That's the first word you've spoken today, S'kai. Care to add more?"

Kaworu rubbed his head, still eyeing the spear. "Alright, S'kai has given his verdict. So you ready for the Tournament?"

"I'm gonna win that one million zeny if it's the last thing I do," Arun vowed laughingly. "Seriously, I think I have a good chance at winning, guys."

"Win what?"

Mekira quickly brightened. "Angelou!"

A tall, pleasant-faced priest with a mop of white hair tied back in a ponytail smiled as he walked towards them. "Were you practicing? Did I miss anything?"

"You missed S'kai saying his first word of the day," Mekira quipped, making the man scowl. Angelou smiled merrily at S'kai. "Really? What was it?"

S'kai disgustedly got to his feet and vanished before anyone could say a word.

"Touchy," Mekira remarked as she dusted off a few leaves that had settled on her. "Why are assassins so creepy? He freaks me out."

"Shh, don't speak so freely," Angelou cautioned. "He might still be here."

"No, Shinnobi says he left," Kaworu looked up at his falcon sitting on a higher branch. "You're right, Mekira. That guy gives me the willies."

"Willies or not, he's still one of the best assassins around," Arun muttered. "The goddamn sin can walk through locked doors, I swear!"

"Enough talk about the goddamn sin!" A new, sharper voice joined the conversation and instantly everyone cowered in fright. A stately priestess in maroon robes advanced on them and everyone had the urge to run. "Mother Marguerite." Mekira said meekly and received a sharp glare in return. "Arun, why are you still dawdling here? The young swordsmen are waiting for you in the courtyard! And Kaworu, you are on watch duty this afternoon, Master Falconer Jobson has requested you report to his office at midday." The two said men meekly hung their heads. Mekira squeezed her eyes shut, knowing the next one would be hers.

"Angelou, Mekira. The High Priest from Geffen Church has come to visit us. Behave!" With that she turned heel and marched away, leaving four very shaken individuals behind her.

"She's even scarier than S'kai." Mekira murmured.

In the spring when wild beats and birds are abound, the streets of Prontera was filled with merchants. In the summer when wild game was plentiful, the streets of Prontera were still littered with carts. In the autumn they kept to the sidewalks, but that hardly solved the congestion problem. In winter, only the Main Street was clogged with the hardiest of merchants. Then again, nobody went out much during winter.

And at this time, during the Grand Joust Festival, there was simply no room to walk.

Those were the thought flitting through S'kai Bennedict's head. For though he was a man of few words, he thought about a lot of things. Like how small the large city seems when packed with humanity of all shapes and sizes. Like how annoying the yells of merchants and people calling out to each other were. Like how strange was the hair of the girl walking in front of him. It was a weird shade of green... like shimmering grass. He briefly wondered if she had it dyed, like Priestess Freena. The good woman's hair was now a shocking pink, much to the chagrin of her fellow priests.

Deep in thought, he did not realize he was walking too close to a cart (BIG MISER'S BONNIE BONNETS) and tripped over an axle, sending several hats to the ground. "Oy!" yelled the angry merchant. "Watch where you're going! That's a genuine PhD hat you stepped on there!"

Feeling utterly irritated, S'kai bent down and retrieved the unfortunate hat. The merchant glared furiously at him before snatching the hat away. "Hey," he suddenly looked sly. "You've torn the tassel off! You stupid Sin! You ruined my hat! You'd better pay for it!" he shouted loud enough to draw a commotion. Now S'kai was sure he was thoroughly incensed. "I Did Not."

"This crook's tryin' to cheat me out of my money!" The merchant was screaming now. "You'd better pay up! This hat is worth two hundred thousand zeny!"

A loud murmur rose form the crowd. A PhD hat is a valuable thing to damage. But everyone felt the price was too high.

S'kai's fingers itched to separate the merchant's neck from his body. The dirty merchant had the nerve to accuse him of doing something he did not! Making up his mind, he reached for his dagger.

"Don't yell anymore, you're making a fool of yourself." A cold voice came from the crowd. They fell into an unnatural hush as a woman came forward. No, S'kai figured by her looks, she could be no older than twenty. But those icy-gray eyes were much, much older. But it wasn't the eyes that he was drawn to; rather, it was the green mane falling past her shoulders.

The girl he saw earlier, he thought.

"That hat doesn't come with a tassel," She said quietly. "If you still insist that this man damaged your wares, then I invite everyone to look around their feet for a fallen tassel." She looked over her shoulder and some of the people began shuffling their feet. The merchant's face was red now, whether from anger or from embarrassment nobody could tell. "Ah, you assassins are all crooks," he spat. "Don't think you can scam me again, sucker!"

S'kai gave a distasteful glance at his cart before overturning it with a kick. The girl said nothing but turned to walk away.

"Wait."

She halted as the crowd dispersed around her. S'kai raked his mind for something to say that won't sound like he was humbling himself.

"I understand what's in your mind." She said suddenly. "Next time we meet I might not be so courteous." With that she melted among the throng of people.

A/N: How'd it go? Big smiles everybody! Merry (belated) Chirstmas!