Usual Disclaimers Apply.  Konami own Suikoden 2 and all it's respective characters, places and names.  But they are really nice people who wouldn't dream of doing anything to the poor helpless fan fiction writer who is doing this for fun, not profit. 

Other Disclaimers: Use of profanity.  Hey, what do you expect from a chapter with Chris in it?

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Chapter 54

Even The Simplest Plans Have Hiccups…

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"Somebody *please* remind me why I'm coming with you to see Lord Makai," Avara intoned, in his usual bored sounding voice, "This is boring, and you wouldn't like me when I'm bored."

It was a beautiful day, despite Avara's usual grumbling.  Not even that could put a damper on the spirits of Riou, Nanami and Chris, who were quite happily ignoring the uninterested magician.

"Avara," Chris said, his usual hint of cheekiness in his voice, "I don't like you anyway.  What could your boredom possibly do to increase my dislike for you?"

Avara glared at Chris, whose hand had quickly reached for his staff, before replying, "Since you asked…"

"Hey, now," Riou was quick to halt that little dispute before things started exploding all around them, "Remember we're all on the same side here?  Can't you two at least *try* to get along without causing a disaster?"

Avara, as per usual, chose not to respond.  Avara might be a little stuck-up, and a bit of an arrogant bastard, but he did at least respect the authority figure of the group.  Besides, there was little to gain by reducing Two River to rubble really...except personal enjoyment, that is.

Chris, as per usual, had lots to say on the matter, "Oh, okay.  But he is right about one thing, this is going to be absolutely *boring*!  If it wasn't for the fact I'd be getting my fee off that slimy bastard Fitcher for going with you, I'd be off doing things better suited for my time."

"Like that little airhead back at the inn?" Avara couldn't help it.  It didn't help his attitude much hearing that Chris had agreed with him, but to be so vulgar doing so…well, that was just too much.

"Why you little son of a..."

Chris' words halted as a blur passed by him, it stopped briefly at Riou before dashing off again.  Chris rubbed his eyes, not quite believing what he had seen. 

"I could've sworn I just saw a pair of wings behind Riou..."

"Hmph, I think the sun is affecting what was left of your common sense," Avara rolled his eyes, "Can we just get this over with already?  I'm quite sure we'll all be happier when we can get away from each other."

"You know..." Nanami looked thoughtful, "I thought the same thing.  About the wings, I mean.  Maybe the sunlight's playing tricks on us."

"Well, I didn't see any wings," Avara muttered, "And I'm quite sure Lord Riou didn't either."

Riou shrugged, "I can't exactly see things that are directly behind me, can I Avara?"

Chris laughed, "He's got you there!"

Avara didn't reply.  He did glower a bit though as he stormed off towards the Two River city hall.  Chris laughed some more as he followed, flanked by Riou and Nanami.  Riou had somehow managed to keep his face straight in neutrality, if anything else, but Nanami had happily joined in with Chris' laughter.

Wings? Avara thought to himself, mostly as a distraction from the imbecilic laughter coming from behind him, Could it have been...?

Avara was snapped from his thoughts when he looked up to see Two River's city hall looming above him.  It was a pretty impressive sight, even to someone like Avara and especially to someone like Nanami.  However there was the tiniest little problem when the group were confronted by the two guards standing outside of the city hall...

"Do you have permission to enter here?" The guard on the left asked in a rather authoritive tone, wondering why a group of kids would be wanting into city hall.  Most likely a prank, might as well just play along...

Riou reached into his pocket, "I've got this letter...er, hang on...I know it's here somewhere."

"Oh yeah?" The guard on the right asked, obviously not as jovial as his fellow guard, in fact he looked rather annoyed at having to deal with a group of kids like this, "Let's see it."

By this point Riou was looking rather flustered, much to the chagrin of his three companions, "It was right here...where could it have gone?  Hey!  All our money is gone too!"

"Heh heh.  Looks like you kids have had your pockets picked.  I swear, you tourists make such easy targets for those infernal wingers."

The guard on the right's tone suddenly turned more hostile at the mere mention of the wingers, all thoughts of being irritated at dealing with four kids were quickly replaced by his utter contempt for the wingers, "Yeah, things were so much better in Two River when it was just the humans and kobolds.  But since those winged freaks came down from the mountains...they've been nothing but trouble!  Theft! Causing commotion! Holding messed up ceremonies with their weird smelling incense!  They're a menace!  They're ruining this town!"

Avara raised an eyebrow at the guard, "I'm quite sure that half the things we humans do seem 'messed up' to the wingers."

"Yeah," Nanami interjected herself into this conversation, hardly surprising, "Just because they have a different way of life with different rituals to us doesn't mean you can be so nasty, you jerk!"

"As much as I'd like to agree with you," Chris butted in, not quite as onboard the defending wingers bandwagon as the others were, "They stole our money!  Oh, yeah, and they also took that letter thing...but, OUR MONEY DAMMIT!"

"We're sorry about this kid, but rules are rules," The guard on the left quickly interrupted, not really wanting a fuss on his watch.  Besides, they were just a group of kids who were robbed; it wouldn't be right to throw them in jail for causing a ruckus... "With no papers granting you permission to enter, we just can't let you in."

With a dejected sigh, Riou led the group back down the stairs that led to city hall, only stopping when he was sure the guards were out of earshot.

"Now what?" Nanami whispered, sensing a need for secrecy, "If we can't get in to see Lord Makai, then our whole trip would've been a waste!"

"I guess that settles our seeing wings problem," Riou replied, "It must've been a winger, and he obviously stole the letter Fitcher wrote for us."

"And our money, let's not forget our money," Chris added, slightly hysterical, "What will we do!?"

"I would have thought our course of action was an obvious one," Avara smirked at Chris before continuing, "But I suppose it was too much to ask of you to be able to figure it out."

Chris scowled, "Well of course it's obvious! I, uh, just wanted to wait for our leader's orders first! Yeah, that's it..."

"Nice save, Chris," Nanami giggled.

"Well, I guess we have no choice," Riou said, hoping to get things back on track, "We'll have to go into the winger district and see if we can find out who took our letter."

"And our money!"

"Yes, Chris," Riou sighed, "And our money too..."

"Winger district?" Nanami looked puzzled, "What's that?"

"Two River City is broken up into three separate districts by the two rivers that flow through the town," Avara answered, merely wishing to show off the fact he knew more about this town than Nanami did, "We're obviously in the human district just now, so we'll have to walk to the winger district."

"Wow!" Nanami seemed genuinely impressed as the four companions began their trek to the winger district of Two River, "Reminds me of that cute young mapmaker I met once...he would've known that..."

"Shouldn't we tell the others back at the inn where we're going?" Chris asked Riou.

"No, I don't think we need to worry Millie and Andrew any further.  They're probably still uptight about Elaine..." Riou stopped, feeling a little uptight himself about Elaine's condition but doing his utmost best to hide it, "I think the four of us can handle one pickpocket, don't you think?"

"I'd feel a lot more comfortable chasing him down here, rather than in a district filled with wingers," Nanami shivered, "I don't think walking in there and saying 'hey, which one of you wingers stole our letter' is going to work."

"And according to those guards, the whole district is filled with thieves!" Chris frowned, "I don't think they'll be eager to help us out at all..."

"I don't think getting our letter back is the problem," Avara said nonchalantly, "But we may have slight difficulty getting back all our potch.  More than likely, the thief would have just discarded the letter and kept the money."

"I had a nasty feeling that was going to be the case..." Chris looked absolutely crestfallen.

"Oh, do stop whining," Avara grumbled, "It's not like it's even your money that's missing.  If you're going to be so uptight about this, then maybe you should just go back to the inn and leave me in peace."

"Hey, if it means annoying you further, then I'm going nowhere, pal," Chris replied, his tone hostile to match his contempt for Avara, "If you don't like it, you can leave!"

"I wouldn't give you the satisfaction, pal."

"Hoo boy," Nanami whispered to Riou, who could only nod in reply.  Both Riou and Nanami stayed quite a few steps behind the arguing Chris and Avara.  It wasn't going to be easy catching a thief when you have such noisy travelling companions...especially a thief who could manage to steal their potch so easily from right under their noses.  As situations go, this one was certainly not a very desirable one...

The walk to the Winger District was brief, and all four had to stop and blink when they arrived there.  The Winger district looked far different to the Human district, it was exactly as if they had walked into a different city altogether, rather than just crossed a bridge.  The buildings and pathways were all completely made of wood, as if to replicate tree houses.   It was rather quaint, if a little inhospitable looking.  If given the option, all four companions would probably have bypassed this district altogether, but since the pickpocket was likely to be in here…well, they had no choice in the matter.

"Do we have a plan, exactly?" Avara muttered, looking around in slight disgust at the primitiveness of the district, "Finding one Winger in a district full of them isn't exactly going to be a walk in the park."

"Maybe we should look for the head Winger or some kind of authority figure," Riou pondered out loud, also looking around to find his bearings.

"Hee, hee, hee, that guy was loaded. I'm rich!"

They all stopped in their tracks simultaneously and looked directly ahead of them.  They saw a gleeful looking Winger child, happily holding a wallet full of potch.  Or, more importantly, Riou's wallet filled with Riou's money.  Riou looked rather surprised and could only smile, "Or we could just get lucky, I suppose."

"Works for me," Chris took hold of his staff and smirked, "Let's get him."

"A plan would be nice," Riou began, but couldn't finish as Chris and Nanami charged at the Winger.  The Winger spotted them rushing forward, and immediately ran off.  It was painfully obvious that the Winger was faster than either Chris or Nanami, and he also had the advantage of knowing the district better than his pursuers.  Riou could only sigh at the sight, and it wasn't helping that the Winger was taunting Chris and Nanami's pathetic attempt to catch him. 

"This is almost painful to watch," Avara said with a hint of amusement, listening intently as the Winger mocked his pursuers, "If it wasn't happening to Chris, I'd nearly be upset."

"We'd better do something, otherwise he's going to get away," Riou paused to think, "Obviously we can't catch him by normal means, he's too fast."

Avara smirked, "Let's see if he can outrun this."

Riou watched as Avara's gaze fixed squarely on the Winger, his eyes moving quickly to keep up with the speedy youth.  Avara waited patiently, picking his spot carefully.  He didn't necessarily mind if Chris got in the way, but it may not be too good an idea to fry the leader of the Orange Army's sister with a lightning bolt.  Thus Avara had to wait until the Winger had enough of a gap between himself and his two pursuers. 

He timed it perfectly.  And Riou just knew how smug Avara was going to be about that.

The lightning bolt summoned by Avara's rune crashed down to the wooden pathway, just missing the Winger but causing him to lose his balance and fall to the ground.  Avara and Riou both calmly walked up to the fallen Winger, as Chris and Nanami huffed and puffed their way there.  The Winger had regained his footing, but was now being lead into a dead end.  The Winger had realized this too, but for some reason he didn't seem too upset about this.  Instead he merely shrugged.

"Jeez, you're stubborn aren't you?" He said, eyeing up the four humans that approached him, "With that kind of money you could be a little more generous..."

"Why should we generous towards a THIEF?" Chris yelled, causing the others to wince at his forwardness, "Hand it over, you little punk!"

"Calm down, Chris," Riou walked in front of the others, looking the Winger straight in the eye, "Could you at least give me back the letter you took with our money?  It's rather important."

"Our MONEY isn't important?" Chris said indignantly, earning himself a nice slap on the back of the head from Nanami.  Avara smirked at Chris' misfortune, but luckily for the surrounding buildings Chris didn't see it, "Okay, okay…jeez.  Letter first, money later…got it already!"

"Letter?" The Winger seemed to think about that for a second before realization dawned, "You mean that worthless piece of paper?  Sorry, I threw it away."

"You did WHAT?" Nanami stood shocked, nicely summing up what the others were thinking, "Why? Where?"

"I can never remember where I toss my trash," The Winger shrugged before continuing, "So you might as well just leave me alone then, eh?" 

The Winger found himself staring at four angry humans, all with their weapons drawn and looking either very angry or very annoyed with him.  Especially the two with staffs, they looked especially pissed off.

"We can still get our money back off you," Chris pointed his staff at the Winger, "That's a morale victory, at any rate."

"What? You're still upset?" The Winger had the nerve to grin at the four companions, clearly a move designed to upset them; it was certainly enough to make Chris charge directly at him, ready to knock the Winger out with his staff.

"That won't work…" Avara muttered to himself, although Riou and Nanami easily heard him.

And Avara was right again, much to the displeasure of Riou and Nanami.  The Winger easily dodged Chris' attempted blow, and then proceeded to surprise Chris by using his wings to hover in mid-air.  Completely off-balance, Chris crashed to the ground in an undignified heap.  The Winger backed away from the group, laughing at how easily he was outwitting these humans.

"You can't catch me, no way in Hell!" The Winger was still laughing, watching each human carefully for any sudden moves, "These wings aren't just for show, you know.  Granny told me not to use 'em, but to Hell with that!  I'm outta here!"

Avara quickly summoned another lightning bolt, but it seemed the Winger was quicker in the sky than he was on the ground.  He easily dodged Avara's spell, and the lightning bolt crashed harmlessly to the ground.  The Winger flew off mere seconds later, leaving the four companions slightly dumbstruck.

"Let's not speak of this," Chris grumbled as he stood back up, "Nobody else need know of this disaster…"

"You just don't want your girlfriend to know you royally screwed up," Avara was possibly the happiest of the four at this point, if only because he now had plenty of information to blackmail Chris with at a later date, "But I agree.  It wouldn't do much good if word got out that the leader of the Orange Army was both robbed by a lowly Winger, and then completely humiliated by him too."

"So what now?" Nanami moaned, the realization settling in now, "Without that letter, we can't get in to see Lord Makai!"

"Well, we don't have a choice now, do we?" Riou spoke up, glancing at each of his companions in turn, "We'll just have to wait for Fitcher to get here.  He's the only way we're going to get to see Lord Makai now."

"We have to rely on that slimy bastard?" Chris groaned at this, "I'm beginning to think the money I'm owed isn't quite worth going through all this crap."

"Come on Chris, you'll get your money eventually," Riou began to walk back towards the Human district, the others soon followed, "We might as well head back and wait for Fitcher.  Hopefully Lord Makai will be able to help us with our Winger problem later."

The short walk back to the Human district was filled with a somewhat sombre silence.  This failure could have been considered a bad omen, or just a spot of really bad luck.  Needless to say the group's short tenure in Two River wasn't exactly filled with pluses at the moment.  Whether it had been Riou being robbed, and then Riou, Nanami, Avara and Chris failing to deal with one Winger or the whole problem with Elaine and Andrew, right now Two River was not being kind to the Orange Army members.  The four soon found themselves walking towards the city hall again, figuring that would be the best place to wait for Fitcher's arrival.

"Hold it a second," Avara stopped short of the stairs leading up to city hall, "Take a look."

They did. 

What they saw was rather surprising.  A group of people had congregated around the entrance to City Hall.  Along with the two guards from earlier, at least half a dozen people were milling around watching two individuals in particular.  One was a grand looking figure, very authoritive in posture and appearance.  The other noticeable thing about him was the fact that he was obviously not human; in fact he was a Kobold.  A Kobold who happened to be brandishing a rather nasty looking whip.  It was about then the four realized who the other person was; he looked scared and rightfully so. 

"It's Fitcher!" Chris whispered to the others, "And it looks like he's in big time trouble."

"I wonder what he's done…" Riou whispered, "Let's hang back and listen for a minute.  We can step in if things start looking bad."

"Do we have to?" Chris asked playfully, the thought of seeing Fitcher being lashed in public not exactly giving him unhappy thoughts.

"For the crime of desertion while on a reconnaissance mission to South Window," The Kobold was obviously an authority figure in Two River, and he certainly knew how to bark out commands, "And then compounding the crime with a lie about bringing back the person who defeated the Highland Army!  You, Fitcher, are hereby sentenced to 100 lashes!"

The Kobold cracked the whip with his hands, causing the four eavesdroppers to wince.  Nanami was first to comment, "Why do I doubt that Fitcher could survive 100 lashes from anybody?"

"But it's true I tell you! Lord Riou will be here any minute now!" Fitcher was obviously panicking, it was all too apparent in his voice, "Please just wait a little longer, Lord Ridley."

"We're going to have to intervene, I fear," Riou edged slightly closer to the stairs, "Let's wait for an opening."

"Your lies won't save you this time, Fitcher," The Kobold, Lord Ridley, moved closer to Fitcher, he didn't look like he was deriving any pleasure from this.  It was slightly comforting to Riou, but mildly annoying to Chris.

Fitcher was backing away, but rapidly running out of space to retreat to.  He could only stammer as he backed into a wall, "But, but…"

"Rules are rules, and I won't bend them for you," Lord Ridley cracked the whip again, "Prepare for your punishment, Fitcher."

"I like him," Chris said with a wink, "If we get the chance, offer him a spot in the Orange Army, will ya?"

"Chris…" Riou stopped and shook his head; there really was no point in arguing now, "Just get ready to move."

"No, no please! I'm begging you!" Fitcher was resigned to the inevitable, it seemed, "Could you at least go easy on me!"

"That wouldn't be much of a punishment then, would it?" There was no trace of amusement in Lord Ridley's voice, and you could just tell he'd rather not do this given the chance, but like he said…rules are rules, "Now just get ready and take your punishment like a man."

"Now?" Nanami asked quickly.

"Now," Riou stood up suddenly, the others following suit, "Wait! Stop!"

Fitcher perked up instantly when he heard Riou's voice, "Lord Riou! Thank God! You've saved me!" Fitcher was tempted to run over to the approaching Riou and give him a hug, but the sight of Chris glaring daggers at him and Avara…just being Avara, stopped him dead in his tracks, "This is the person who defeated the Highland Army!"

There was a moment's silence as all eyes fell directly on Riou.  It was easy enough to spot the scepticism on their faces, after all the face of a young boy barely in his teenage years wasn't exactly what you thought of when you thought of the word 'leader.'  There was some murmuring amongst the small crowd; they were obviously interested in this turn of events.

Eventually the murmuring died down, and individual voices could be heard.  A young women piped up, "Could it be?"

She was soon followed by an equally hopeful sounding elderly man, "This young boy?"

A derisive snort was heard a second later, "A boy like him defeating the Highland Army?" The man wasn't hiding his scepticism in the slightest, "Don't make me laugh!"

Then a voice spoke up that instantly hushed everybody else up.  Lord Ridely's focus was squarely on Riou, "Are you truly Lord Riou, leader of the Orange Army?"

Nanami slapped her brother on the back and smiled warmly, "Of course he's Riou!  Go on, tell them you're you."

But before Riou could speak up, he was interrupted by the overeager Fitcher, "You see? Just like I told you! I told you he was coming!"

"Words are all well and good," Ridley glared at Fitcher, causing him to go silent.  Ridley's gaze returned to Riou a moment later, "But we have no proof that you are who you say you are.  Just the word of an untrustworthy individual and your friends."

Glad to finally get a word in edgewise, Riou began to speak, "Well you see..."

"His right hand!" Riou glared at Fitcher, but he didn't seem to notice the young man's look as he continued, "He's got the same rune on his right hand as the legendary hero Genkaku did!  The Bright Shield Rune...  Surely that should be proof enough!"

Riou raised a quizzical eyebrow in Fitcher's direction, and Riou was surprised to note that Avara seemed equally intrigued by that statement.  Riou had certainly never mentioned the rune to Fitcher, so it was somewhat mysterious that Fitcher knew of it.  But Riou had no time to worry about this, as the crowd's excitement at hearing the words 'Genkaku' and 'Bright Shield Rune' was as equally evident as their cynicism from before.

And the most interested in this turn of events?  Lord Ridley. "Let me see your hand," Riou willingly allowed Ridley to see the Rune on his hand, the crowd all struggled to gain a look at it too,  "It is the Bright Shield Rune! Now I understand. Please come this way.  I'd like you to meet Lord Makai, the leader of this town, at once!"

Without another word, Lord Ridley turned around and walked into Two River's City Hall.  Riou stood there for a second before he realized that, finally, they were going to meet Lord Makai.  Finally, the chance to complete their mission before things went horribly wrong.  Riou began to enter the city hall when Fitcher tapped him on the shoulder, "Thanks for saving me, Lord Riou. We should hurry on inside."

Fitcher then made to enter the city hall, but he was stopped by Avara's staff slamming the door shut in his face, as the mage glared at him with an amount of malice Avara usually reserved for people like Chris, "One question.  How did you of all people know about Lord Riou's rune?  Answer swiftly, I am not a patient man."

"Eh?  How did I know about the rune?" Fitcher was panicked by the question, and he tried to laugh it off,  "You underestimate me.  Now if you'll kindly move that weapon of yours, we can go in already."

Avara narrowed his eyes at Fitcher, but complied with his request to move his staff.  Fitcher opened the door and went inside, soon followed by Chris and Nanami.  Riou made to follow suit, but Avara stopped him, "For the record, I don't like working with common spies.  And it's rather apparent that Fitcher person is nothing more than that."

"He's gotten us this far, hasn't he?" Riou replied simply.

Avara nodded solemnly, "I do not trust that man."

Riou could only shrug before heading inside, with Avara following close behind.  The group of five walked along the corridor, which lead to one room.  With a polite knock, they entered.  Lord Ridley stood before them, and standing beside him was a man who could only have been Lord Makai.  He looked strikingly young, and a look of concern was on his face.

"Ah, you must be Lord Riou. It's a pleasure to meet you," Makai offered his hand to Riou, who dutifully shook it, "I am Makai, the plenipotentiary of Two River City."

"Glad to meet you," Riou replied politely, ending the handshake.

Chris looked confused as he turned to Nanami.  He whispered, "What the hell is a 'plenipotentiary?'"

"That's the official title of the leader appointed by the three houses of Two River," Avara chipped in, much to Chris' disgust, "Does your sole concern rest on money and nothing more?"

"Quite young to be a leader, aren't you?" Makai's question was enough to break up Avara and Chris before their verbal war escalated into something more serious, "I'm the youngest leader in the City-State, but you make me feel old.  Still, I suppose it helps that your blood is hero's blood..."

Makai stopped and looked rather embarrassed with himself, "I apologize, I forgot that you were unrelated by blood.  At least, that's what I heard from Fitcher."

Fitcher laughed, it wasn't really appropriate considering the situation, "Lord Riou is the one that beat the Highland Army alright. I, Fitcher, personally guarantee it!"

Avara rolled his eyes at that comment, but could not comment as Lord Ridley has something to say, "If he is Lord Riou, he's probably embarrassed to have your personal guarantee, Fitcher."

Chris grinned, turning back to Nanami again, "I have a new hero," He whispered to her.  Nanami responded with a nod, quite interested in the events unfolding before her.

"Lord Riou, Two River welcomes you and the Orange Army to our town," Lord Makai smiled, "Let's fight side by side and drive Luca Blight and his ilk out of State land."

Riou was very glad to hear that.  And he knew Shu would be even happier knowing that Two River was willing to be an ally of the Orange Army.  It was nice for things to be looking up for a change.

"Incidentally, Lord Riou," Makai continued, gaining Riou's attention once more, "I heard you were involved in some sort of incident here in Two River?"

"Oh, that," Riou looked embarrassed knowing that Lord Makai had learned of the robbery, he replied as diplomatically as he could, "There's no need for worry."

"Of course there is!" Chris yelled, quite forgetting where he was and whose company he was in, "That Winger took all of our money!"

There was silence, broken only by Avara muttering under his breath, "Oh for crying out loud..."

"It's the work of those punks!" Ridley seemed to echo Chris' sentimentality regarding the Wingers, "They're sullying the proud reputation of our City of Two River. Please forgive us."

"Those flying freaks are nothing but trouble," Makai followed on from Ridley, and Riou was rather surprised to hear that coming from the leader of Two River, "Originally, they lived in the mountains beyond here. But in my grandfather's day, must have been about 80 years ago I suppose, they came to live here.  They've been officially recognized as Two River citizens by our three houses of congress, but...well, there's no point in talking about it now, I guess." 

It seemed that this meeting was over.  Riou and Lord Makai shook hands once again as Makai said his goodbyes, "We have made a reservation for you at the New Leaf Inn. We'll discuss business tomorrow, so please sleep well tonight."

"Thank you," Riou said simply, as Fitcher led the way back outside City Hall, leaving Lord Ridley and Lord Makai in their discussion.

"Well, that went surprisingly well," Nanami said as they walked down the stairs, "It was practically a breeze, all things considered."

"It just cost us all our money and our pride to get there," Chris added, "But hey, result."

"The New Leaf Inn is just along here," Fitcher chorused, obviously gleeful at escaping his lashing and getting the chance to prove Lord Ridley wrong, "Their food is absolutely excellent!  First class!"

"We know where the inn is," Avara replied in a cold tone, "Our allies are waiting there for us."

"Yeah!" Nanami added cheerfully, "Maybe Elaine's awake now, Riou!"

"Let's hope so," Riou smiled gently, "It just doesn't feel right without her around."

"Oh? What's this?" Chris poked Riou playfully and grinned at the young leader, "Do I detect a possible crush here?"

"She's just a good friend," Riou replied, "She doesn't deserve all the bad things that have happened to her."

"Uh huh, sure," Chris smirked, "Isn't she with that Andrew fellow?"

"They're pretty close, yeah," Nanami giggled, "It's rather sweet, really."

The five companions entered the New Leaf Inn, and there seemed to be a sudden dip of temperature in the atmosphere.  The first thing everybody noticed was Millie and Bonaparte, both sitting down quietly and not making a sound.  That was unusual in itself, but more unusual was the fact that Andrew was sitting beside her…and apparently not minding having to do so.  Riou, Chris and Nanami all had to look twice to make sure they were seeing what they were seeing.

"Something's definitely wrong here," Riou whispered softly as they approached Millie and Andrew.

"Millie?" Chris sounded as worried about the girl as he looked, "What's wrong?  Who died?"

"Oh, it's…nothing really," Millie replied, getting up and walking over to Chris, "Elaine woke up..."

"Well, that's good," Riou began, but was quickly interrupted by Millie.

"And then she dumped Andrew.  Now he's brooding and she refuses to leave her room.  He's quite depressed, and I didn't want to leave him alone."

Nanami looked the most shocked out of herself, Riou and Chris, "Whoa!  Elaine did WHAT!?  DUMPED Andrew?  What happened?"

"That's the problem," Millie continued, "We don't know.  Elaine won't tell us anything."

"I'm guessing that it must have something to do with the fact she was found unconscious, something happened to her in those woods and she can't bring herself to tell us what," Andrew stood up and sighed, "And that's not even the worst part of it."

"It gets worse?" Nanami's voice was filled with disbelief, "I can't see how!"

"Elaine has said that she's going to leave the Orange Army after this mission is over," Andrew stated flatly, with little emotion on his voice, "She's going back to her old ways, Riou.  I don't know what's going on, but I can't just let her go without finding out what's wrong with her.  And I can't do that alone..."

"We'll get to the bottom of this," Riou's voice was meant to assure the troubled Andrew, and it seemed to work, "Let her calm down a little more, maybe in the morning she'll be willing to talk.  But right now we're all starving...and I was promised a good meal here!"

"Lord Riou, I'll come and get you in the morning," Fitcher smiled, rather glad to be getting away from this little debacle that didn't really involve him, "Until then, just sit back and relax!  Everything's going just fine!"

Fitcher left with a cheery wave, annoying everybody else no end.

"I really dislike that man," Avara grumbled.

"For once, you and I agree," Chris added, glaring at the door Fitcher just left by, "Just you wait, I'll get my money from you yet!"

"Come on, let's go," Nanami walked towards the stairs leading up to the bedrooms, "We'll all feel better after a good meal, yeah?"

Nobody was willing to argue that point, either being too hungry or too upset to be bothered doing so.  Avara was the last to head upstairs, and he was able to hear the innkeeper say something that really piqued his curiosity.

"That's strange...Lord Riou has already gone up to his room and had his meal...I'm sure of it…"

Avara's eyes narrowed, as a feeling of foreboding overcame him.  He walked after Riou and the others, catching up relatively quickly.  Everybody wisely chose not to bother Elaine, and instead moved on to the next room.  Riou opened the door and the gasp of surprise was all too evident.  The others all peered into the room to see a Winger sitting on one of the beds.

"You again?" Chris yelled, being held back by Andrew. 

"Again?" Andrew looked to Riou, "You know this kid?"

"Unfortunately, yes..." Riou sighed, but decided not to mention the whole thievery bit to Andrew.  Andrew was already encumbered with far more than anybody needed.

"So we meet again, eh," The Winger grinned and held up a piece of paper, "I asked granny to read this letter of yours for me. I couldn't believe it, so I just had to ask you for myself.  Are you really the leader of the Orange Army?

Riou's reply was short, but to the point, "Yeah, that's right."

"Want to make something of it?" Chris held his staff, ready for a fight, "I could blow off some steam right about now, punk."

"Chris, don't…" Millie said softly, "There's been enough fighting for one day."

Meanwhile the Winger just stood looking at Riou in total disbelief.  He laughed after a few seconds silence, "Sorry, I can't believe you. Who would believe you? You're just a kid! What a waste of time, I'm outta here."

The Winger flapped his wings and flew out the open window; Riou ran over and glared at him out the window.

"By the way, I went ahead and ate up your dinner for you!" The Winger laughed as he flew away, once again safe from the humans.

"I don't believe it…" Chris muttered, rubbing his forehead, "What an absolutely crappy day."

"You can say that again," Andrew added, shaking his head.

"Oh well," Nanami sighed, "At least we seem to have reached a deal with Two River City.  That's about the only good thing that's happened today."

"Let's get some rest," Riou was fighting to stifle a yawn, he just about managed it, "We can worry about all this in the morning.  We won't be able to do a thing if we're exhausted."

"Agreed," Avara nodded, "But I'm not sharing a room with Chris.  Not a chance."

Chris stuck his tongue out at Avara, "Feeling's mutual."

"I really hope tomorrow goes better than this…" Riou muttered as Chris and Avara started arguing again.  Riou knew he'd have to talk to Elaine the first chance he got, otherwise he risked losing a dear friend.  And if Elaine left, who knew what that would do to Andrew's psyche.  When the rooms were eventually assigned (Millie and Nanami in one, Chris and Andrew in another and Riou and Avara in the third.  Nobody dared suggest to Elaine that she share), Riou was happy to slip into the bed.  He was soon fast asleep, completely oblivious to Avara moaning about how the mattress was far too hard for him to sleep on…

~~~

Meanwhile...

"Kara, we're lost...deal with it," Malcolm grumped as he limped onwards towards Two River City, only managing to walk because Warren was an excellent makeshift crutch.

"Malcolm, we're not lost...get over it," Kara retorted, her heart not really in the whole brother/sister argument thing at the moment.  Of course, she knew they were lost, but like she'd really admit that to Malcolm?  *As if*.

"I get the feeling you two just argue for the sake of it," Warren quipped, knowing full well that any attempt to alleviate the situation would probably fall flat on it's face, but staying silent would have just driven him insane.

And Joseph...well, Joseph remained characteristically quiet.  He didn't particularly care if they were lost or not, he was just glad to be away from Lakewest.  Uncovering the past might be painful, but he'd never wanted to physically run away from somewhere.  Was it the rune's doing?  Was there something about that little port town that this rune fears?  Family? Friends? The familiar? I suppose it doesn't matter, since I cannot remember anything anyway...

"Look, I don't know whose bright idea it was to let you lead the way," Malcolm rolled his eyes, "But you know just as well as I do that we. Are. *LOST*!"

"No we aren't!" Kara laughed triumphantly, pointing forwards, "There it is!  Now, let me deal with this in a mature manner..."

Malcolm braced himself for the worst.  And that's what he got.

"Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah!"

"Yes, that was very mature, Kara," Warren smirked, "Mind you, I know I'd have done the same thing too."

"No point asking whose side you're on," Malcolm muttered, but not loud enough to ensure Warren would end up dropping him for it...

"Are you sure that's Two River?" Joseph asked rather timidly, but still enough to remind everybody he was there, "I mean, I know I'm not the expert, but doesn't Two River have...you know...Two Rivers running through it?"

"Of course it's Two River!" Kara said, boldly walking into the city, "I mean, look at all the kobolds!  Where else could we be?  It's the kobold district all right!"

Whilst anybody else might have been inclined to agree with Kara, those more familiar with the region would have instantly known better.  People, say, like Malcolm...

"Kara, this is NOT Two River City..." He said with a sigh.

"Of course it is, where else could we be?"

Malcolm sighed again; this is like talking to a small child..."This, Kara, is the Kobold Village.  You have quite wonderfully led us in the COMPLETELY wrong direction.  Well done."

Kara could only stare blankly at Malcolm, then at the village in front of her, then back at Malcolm again.  With realization finally dawning on her, Kara managed to sum up her feelings rather eloquently...

"Oops."

~~~