CH 6 – TO LEMURIA
The two adepts had decided to continue onwards toward Lemuria, it was the closest town and perhaps someone might know what had caused the deteriorating condition in the man they had found. Chirari had been assessing the situation in her mind nonstop since the incident. What could have happened to him? I've never seen anything like that with all of my years of experience. Originally she had tried questioning Retsu. He was a traveler; there was a meager chance that he could have known. Yet, he had known as little about the situation as she had, although he seemed reluctant to admit. He's far too prideful, she thought. That is definitely one of his character flaws in her mind. Why oh why had she had to get stuck with him? It's not as though he'd been anything helpful to her since she met him. In fact, she realized, he's been nothing, but trouble. Unfortunately, he had been just as curious as she had been about the cause of the flesh eating and he had also suggested that it might be contagious. She would have expected to have begun to experience symptoms by now and doubted that it was, but she couldn't afford to be close-minded on this matter. Upon her arrival in Lemuria she planned to consult with other healers who had more years under their belts then she did; she hoped to get some definite results from these ancient physicians.
What is Retsu going to do while I'm there though? She granted herself a quick glance at him. He had been awfully quiet recently. Had the recent events managed to disturb him that much? That couldn't be possible, he didn't seem to be that kind of man anyway. It was almost as though he'd hardened himself against the outside world, well, except for when his temper flared up. That's a problem that all fire adepts seem to have though. I guess he can't really help it, but his temper seems to be a lot stronger than the others who share his powers. Although she really hadn't met all that many fire adepts, so she supposed that she did not really have enough understanding in that area and probably shouldn't be debating it with herself.
"How often have you been to Lemuria?" Retsu's question startled Chirari out of her reverie. "I'm sorry?" was the only reply she could muster in the limited amount of time her thought allowed her to this question. With a somewhat annoyed look, he repeated his question for the absent-minded woman beside him. She thought for a minute before returning an actual reply, "I would have to say whenever I run out of herbs or need some advice on something." How could she not see that he wanted something more specific than that? "And how often is that?" The tone in his voice seemed to say that the Retsu she had known for such a short time was back. "That depends on how many patients I get and, mind you, it's not that many," she thought for a moment and then added as an afterthought, "every once in a while a get a couple strays that wander into the village though." Chirari flashed him an impudent grin. Is she trying to start something with me? Retsu thought as he expressed a sour look towards this annoying female. Who made women anyway? It's not as though they're good for anything.
"It's starting to get dark," she announced, in an attempt to change the subject. He merely grunted in acknowledgement. How could he be so difficult? The man puzzled Chirari, she did realize that all men were like that, but it seemed to be amplified ten-fold for him. "Don't you think we should stop and rest?"
"Are you tired?"
"No, but-"
"Then why do you want to rest?"
"It was getting dark and I thought-"
Once again he cut her off. He was starting to annoy her, respectively, but she couldn't help but admit that he seemed good at swaying something in his favor. Not that this would help him any. "You can still see can't you?"
"Yes, but-"
"No, buts. Keep walking unless you can't. We should make as much progress as possible."
Thus, the rest of whatever conversation she tried to have with him passed in a similar stain. She had a feeling that he was the kind of man who would keep walking until she either collapsed or abandoned him. Both of which, she intended to avoid doing at all costs. Chirari would show him just how stubborn she could be.
Several hours passed before Retsu had been willing to stop and she was nearly stumbling through the dark when he raised his hand as a sign of halt. Fortunately she saw him through the black haze that surrounded the two of them. By that time she had been near ready to collapse, but her determination had kept her going. Stupid man anyway, Chirari thought bitterly. I should like to see him strangled, or at least take someone into consideration beside himself for once! I can't believe him! The only reason he stopped was, because he couldn't see where he was going anymore! Right afterwards he had lit a fire and suggested lighting a torch and continuing. She couldn't believe him! Only her cross glare had kept him from forcing the issue. She swept a strand of her disarrayed hair from her face as she lay down to sleep. As soon as she arrived in Lemuria, the very first thing she was going to do was to take a nice, long, warm bath.
DR: Well, I've finally updated. I hope that you enjoyed this chapter; I kind of used it as a warm up. I had a little trouble logging into my account so I can blame part of that on the lateness of this chapter, but overall, I'm just lazy. Heh, heh, heh…