Feathers of Love

Chapitre Fourteen: The Traveler


She wiped her brow with her hands and continued her way. Since she had sneaked out the palace, she had walked the whole way, towards where she believed was the place where Yubaba lived. Unfortunately, she did not have a horse with her, or she would have traveled faster, but under the circumstances, she did not do that, since she was afraid that the clopping of a horse would attract the attention of the soldiers. Also, she did not want to use magic in case she attracted the attention of her mother, the queen, and if she were to locate her, Nova would be brought back and then reprimanded by her mother, severely. That would be the end of all her freedom, she assumed.

With a sigh, Nova continued her monotonous plodding before her rest at noon. There was nothing much to see: green trees that had started appearing before her eyes gave her no interest, though they were the only things that were to be seen after traveling a great distance. Nova took out her map and chanced a look, to see if she was at the correct route or not. Then, she found out that she was talking the long way, not the shorter way, which meant that she would have to walk round the whole country before she was at the entrance.

She continued her journey without making any changes to it, for she was afraid that she would be lost if she did so. Instead of resting and eating her lunch under a tree's shade, she took out her food and ate it as she walked, only pausing to fill up her water bottle from a stream that was nearby. She continued her way until the sky became dark, and it was time to make camp.

It was monotonous: waking up, walking, eating, drinking, and making camp, sleep. There was no change to her way of traveling too. However, at the sixth day, she reached another forest, but this one was smaller and she could sense magical auras emitting from it. It was so strong that she could sense it even if she was a very long way off, where the forest was just a tiny speck in the distance. She was lucky, for if she had not reached the forest by the end of that day, she would have nothing to eat, and would have to live on without food until she reached the place.

Nova knew how to enter the country, and she looked at the sky: it was afternoon but she would have to hurry, if not, night would fall. She walked quickly into the forest, and towards the place where the aura was the strongest, and there she was, the entrance to the country where she was supposed to steal the harp and find the white dragon named Haku. She would also have to find the girl Sakura, but that was a different matter, for she would locate her when she found the dragon and the harp. She entered the country, and out towards the great stones that showed where the river was. She climbed her way towards the other end, where she could see some buildings that were very different from the décor of her country. However, she must not slow down, for night was going to fall soon.

However, before she could reach the town, she ran into someone. That someone commanded, "This is not the place for you to loiter around. Please go back the way you came, night is falling and it is not safe."

Nova looked up in surprise. It was Haku. He was wearing something different from what her had worn, or was it the same? Nova wondered. But, she noticed that Haku was still as handsome as she had thought. She was a bit worried though, for Haku was frowning slightly, while his left hand was curled up into a ball.

"I guess that you have forgotten about me after all, Mister Haku. In case you have forgotten, my name is Nova. Any recollections?"

"Please go back. We do not have time, and if Yubaba comes back, you will be sought after. Unless you want to be turned into a pig and then killed for food for the visiting Gods." Haku added.

Upon hearing this, Nova shuddered, but she squared her shoulders and said, "I insist that you take me to Yubaba right this minute, Mister Haku. I have something of importance to discuss with her."

"I'm sorry, but Yubaba is not in today. Would you like me to give her a message? If so, please tell me or write it down. After which, can you please leave? This country is not safe when you are here during nighttime, even though most of the people working here are safer, but to people who do not have a job, I suggest you leave this place right after you give your message to me." Haku answered.

"However, you are wrong, for I really have matters of importance to speak to her and not to anyone else. Now, if you please."

"I'm really sorry, but you leave me to no choice, so I guess I will just have to do it the hard way."

"What? Force me out of this country? No way! I will NOT do as you say!" Nova looked at Haku sternly as she walked past him and towards the town. Before she could go a few steps, Haku muttered a spell. Nova, who anticipated it, countered it with another one. This went on for some time until the sound of someone running towards the two of them was heard.

"Stop what the two of you are doing right this moment!" Sen yelled at the top of her voice. She was ignored by Haku and Nova, both of whom intent on fighting their battle. With no choice, Sen reached deep from her source of magic and then muttered a spell, stopping the two people in front of her from fighting. Taking a deep breath, Sen continued, "Master Haku, Yubaba is looking for you to do something for her. As for you, Your Highness, please do leave this place now. The river is filling up and if you do not leave now, you will not be able to do so until the next day. And by then, you would have disappeared from the surface of the earth forever. Unless, like me, you want a job too. But I doubt Yubaba would want to hire you, after what had happened when she hired me."

The two people looked at Sen dumbly while the first load of guests started entering the country, hoping to enjoy themselves for the night...


I am so sorry that I have not updated for such a long time! I did not know how to continue, for I was in a dilemma on choosing whether to continue Sakura's part of the story or Nova's and Yelen's part. Forgive me! Now that I know, please continue to enjoy this fanfiction and also remember to review! I will try to update as soon as possible, since holidays has started already.