She slowly gathered her senses as she awoke from her lengthy period of rest. Her surroundings were unfamiliar to her, the air was cool and damp, it was a host for the strong scent of mould, dirt and a powerful musk. The space she was situated in seemed fairly large and distant sounds could be heard; yet they were faint and took upon the characteristics of echoes. She was in a cave. Rinoa willed herself to sit upright, her body still attempting to emerge from its sluggish state. Once both her mind and body were fully conscious she silently sat surveying the cave, she knew that the hollowed area must have run deep into the rock and earth as even though it was slightly cold, there was a source of warmth emitting heat, probably a fire in a neighboring chamber. Rinoa rose from the ground where she had been laid on an abundance of furs and linen and preceded to walk forwards, groping blindly with her outstretched arms, as her staff wasn't present. They came into contact with the coarse stone of the cave's wall that was slick due to the mould and mildew that encrusted its surface like putrid wallpaper; it confirmed her suspicions of her whereabouts. Her thoughts and observations were disturbed by the soft clatter of boots on the stone floor that grew louder as the unknown person approached the chamber.
"Well whatdya know, sleeping beauty has finally awoken." Came the mocking tone of her opponent, the rebel Ando as he stood in the chamber's mouth his arms crossed and an amused look gracing his disheveled features. She withdrew her hands from the cave's wall yet refused to face this man, hoping he was still unaware of her disability. "Come, Boss wants to see you." He stated as he approached her and took a firm grasp of her arm. She complied merely due to the fact that her surroundings were foreign to her and so stumbling and colliding with obstacles along her path would surely hint at her disability.
Ando lead her further into the vast caves, the air becoming heavier and ranker in their descent. There were others, mainly males also wondering through the area; they grunted greetings to Ando as they passed. Upon entering a large chamber her guide proudly proclaimed,
"Here she is, Boss!" As if presenting him with a trophy, whilst firmly shoving her forward and causing her to stumble to her knees before an aging man. This man sat upon a large shelf of stone that had been naturally created by the shifts of the earth, candles decorated the slope that lead up to his makeshift thrown creating a soft radiance and produced shadows that danced and flickered on the cave's walls. This chamber was far larger than the one she had been held captive in and there were a number of people present within its confines besides Ando, the Boss and herself yet they had fallen silent upon Ando's entry. She remained in her position, sat on her knees and her head bowed; yet not as a courteous motion, even if she had been gifted with sight she wouldn't look at this man out of disgust. He was the rebel alliance's leader, Mitsuru Kinji. Mitsuru held up Norkio's pass,
"I believe this belongs to you miss Noriko Mimura." He said quietly before throwing the small item at her, it's impact upon the ground before her erupted a small echo. "It says you are a maid to Lady Rinoa Heartilly, so why would Qin's own soldiers attack a mere maid?"
"I wasn't permitted by my superior to leave the Empire." She answered expressionlessly still refusing to raise her head from its current position.
"Such drastic action, for such a lowly servant. It doesn't make sense." His tone was lower, giving it a greater sober demeanor. He rose from his seated pose and descended the slope until he was positioned in front of the young woman, the ends of his tattered clothing, encrusted in dirt from relentlessly trailing on the mud coated grounds of the cave. "However, I sense you are being dishonest. Do you think it wise to be deceitful to someone like myself, girl?"
"No."
"Then why lie?"
"Forgive me.." she began, her voice rang clear in the cave's damp air, "I thought rats such as yourself were accustom to such things." Rinoa knew it was a bold move, yet she was sure of her position within this situation, she was a hostage, used to gain the Qin Emperor's immediate attention and so she maybe able to get away with such cheap blows. She felt the strong grip of Mitsuru's hand grasp at her jaw, yanking her head up so that it came inline with his own. Though her eyes were incapable of seeing this man's face they clearly conveyed her hatred towards him, he was the cause of this civil war that loomed over the citizens of the Qin Empire.
"Why do you refuse to look at me Noriko? Do I repulse you that much?.." He questioned quietly, his grip tightening on her so that she couldn't shun away from him as his face moved closer. "Or is it that you are unable to do such things?" His lips twitched and formed a smile as he witnessed her eyes briefly widen, however Rinoa quickly composed herself and calmly retorted,
"Foolish rat." Mitsuru swiftly released his hold on her and withdrew, all the while a smile upon his face.
"Very well, prove it. Look me in the eye and call me a rat and not only will I not strike you down for uttering such an obscenity at me, I will let you walk free." He now showed his confidence in her lack of vision by folding his arms and strengthening his back further. Rinoa lifted her head and endeavored to focus her eyes on the region his voice had rung from but being robbed of sight all her life their focus fell upon his shoulder area. "Just as I thought." He commented taking his seat again, "So this provokes the question, what use is a blind maid?"
"I haven't been blind all my life and so I am able to still perform tasks."
"How long have you been without sight?"
"Five years."
"Interesting.." Mitsuru mused stroking at a shaggy graying beard. "Tell me Norkio have you ever played the Echo Game?"
"I have heard of it." Rinoa replied in an uninterested tone.
"It is a game that requires skill and an amount of heightened senses to successfully play it, I have been practicing its art form the equal amount of years you have been blind in hope it would improve my combat skills. I admit it is very challenging and so if you participate in this game and impress me I shall consider your freedom, what say you to that?"
"And if I win, you will not only let me go free but scurry away from this land like the rodent you are."
"Very well miss Mimura."
Rinoa was led into a far larger room, that's vastness equaled that of the banquet hall in the citadel. Many of the alliance's followers had joined them in fascination as to whom this girl was and if she would show superior skill to their boss. She was situated in the center of an uncompleted circle of peculiar appearing drums; their forms were mounted upon large thick wooden poles that protruded from the cave's ground, making them look like odd giant statues. Mitsuru approached her; to his surprise she didn't flinch when he fastened a pouch around her slender waist, she was calm and composed.
"This pouch has many small stones in it, I also have one," he held up an identical pouch that's contents jingled softly as he did so, "All you have to do is strike the same drum with one of your pebbles as mine. Each drum has a different pitch so it should be easy to differentiate between them." She nodded in comprehension. "However seems as you are unfamiliar to this game it would only be fair to allow you a small amount of practice before hand, and so these first few throws will not decipher your freedom."
"Very well." She heard his footsteps as he made his way out of the vast circle of drums. If he needed to be impressed then she would need to be efficient and light footed and so Rinoa opted to use some of her dance skills to aid her in delivering her performance to the best of her ability.
"Ready, Miss Norkio?" Question the Boss' hoarse voice. She slowly lifted her right leg until it was in an up most right position, causing her to only balance on one foot, this beautiful pose produced small gasps of amazement to escape the lips of her onlookers. Her arms lingered not far from the small velvet pouch that hung from her waist whilst she listened intensively all the while. Mitsuru produced a gray shaded pebble from his pouch and flick it to a drum on his right side of the circle, its impact created a deep pitch to ring throughout the cave. Rinoa gracefully spun in a full circle on her foot, simultaneously lowering her raised leg and picking a smooth pebble from the innards of her pouch, she threw it in the direction the low warbling emitted from, it struck the same drum causing the low tone to rise in volume once more. She spun again and balanced on her opposite foot in a similar but equally graceful form. This short but elegant performance was well received by the audience behind Boss Mitsuru, as they clapped loudly in enjoyment, causing Rinoa to move from her held position and bow lowly in appreciation, as she would to the noble men and women in the citadel. Even Mitsuru was awed as a wide smiled had become apparent on his face. "Very good, Norkio, it seems you wont need further practice attempts." He commented whilst emptying his of pebbles into his hand, she remained rigid; straining her hearing as she knew this was the true challenge at hand. Noting she was prepared, the Boss threw the abundance of stones. They sprayed across the space like seeds being thrown upon the fields as the farmers sowed them. They hit the drums, pattering against their tight skin, Rinoa closed her eyes in concentration, clearly identifying which drum was struck and when, once the clatter of the pebbles hitting the ground had faded, she once again opened her useless eyes. The entire chamber had fallen silent, not a soul dared to breath loudly in anticipation of witnessing an amazing performance. She opened the pouch fully to gain better access to the stored stones before commencing her assault on the drums. To cover the wide space between one drum and another she used her well-practiced skills as a dancer, performing accurate lifts and somersaults, these were so weightless and light that she appeared to be deifying gravity. After every precise move had been performed she was aware she still had one remaining stone present in her pouch, she freed it from the it's dark confines, spun so that she was once more facing Boss Mitsuru and swiftly threw the stone. Had the Boss not defended the blow by batting away the stone at the precise moment it would have struck him in the center of his forehead. Gasps and hushed exclamations were uttered amongst the crowd, yet Rinoa stood proudly, knowing that she had completed his objective and so could walk free. After a long uneasy silence Mitsuru finally became animate, he begun to clap his hand, the crowd followed in this applause.
"Excellent. Wonderful. I have never in all my life seen such skill miss Norkio." Praised the Boss as he slowly approached her; the clapping subsided out of interest.
"Thank you. Now our bargain"
"Ah yes, you walk free and I flee from the land of the north."
"Yes. I want my horse returned to me and you shall give me supplies to travel with otherwise I shall inform the Qin army of your whereabouts." She impassively threatened, whilst brushing stray strands of hair from her face.
"I'm afraid I can't let you go free miss Norkio."
"Why not! We had a deal!"
"Yes, but you lied to me Norkio, I don't appreciate such things and as punishment for this you are to be detained here and put to greater use." He enlightened, clearly enjoying her anger.
"You thieving rat! You're the biggest cheat of all!" She hissed.
"Is that so? Tell me Miss Heartilly did you really think I wouldn't know it was the daughter of the late General Caraway thrown beneath my feet only hours ago?" Mitsuru witnessed her beautiful face shift from a look of anger to mild shock.
"H-how…?" Rinoa began, yet became lost for words.
"Did I know? How many blind girls are gifted with such speed and grace, clear assets you inherited from your father. As for you being blind longer than five years I know this because I have trained this long and could even imagine performing to such a level and show such a degree of heightened senses. You doomed your own freedom Miss Heartilly." The boss informed as he walked away from her, his two henchmen, Ando and Shirou seized her by her arms and led her back to the chamber she had awoken in.
After relentlessly investigating the Zuo kingdom, Squall slumped down onto a wooden stool in the dismal surrounds of a tavern, exhausted and discontented with his efforts. As his glass of ale sat untouched, he focused his thoughts on were to turn to next, however his deep contemplation was disturbed by the entrance of one of his own men. The solider was of a lower rank and stumbled towards the table that Squall was seated at.
"Sir! I have information on the whereabouts of Lady Rinoa." He informed. Squall swiftly grabbed at the man's clothing and yanked him down so that their faces were in line.
"Do you think it wise to announce this information to the whole tavern?" He hissed, clearly annoyed by the soldier's incompetence.
"No sir, I apologize." It was then that Squall noticed the shades of violet and indigo bruises decorating this man's face. He released his grasp on the solider and rose from the table.
"Come will discuss this else where."
Only once outside in the crowded streets of Zuo, did their conversation continue.
"I and three other men were patrolling the fields neighboring the Bamboo Barrier, we stopped a young woman who fitted the Lady's description. I asked her to dismount her horse whilst I checked through her belongings, yet when I turned my back she attacked me with great force, rendering me unconscious. When I awoke I saw her being captured by two rebels who had interfered in the matter and also found my men dead."
"You fool. You had her and you lost her?" Sighed the higher ranked solider, "Which way did they head after this?"
"West, there are rumors of the Shina Mountains being their headquarters due to the caves that run through the cliffs like ant nests."
"Then that's were I will travel. If they find out her true identity, who knows what they'll do to her." Squall informed glumly as he approached his horse. It seemed he had very little time for rest as now he was further from the Shina Mountains than he had been if he were traveling from Qin.