Chapter 15

Gerad looked out anxiously from the castle wall, sword in hand. "Dad! Weren't Enri, Uncle Sabin, and the others supposed to be here by now?" He looked behind him, but Edgar was no longer there. "Father?" he looked around his immediate area and spotted Fasha playing on the wall. "Fasha! Fasha, you're not supposed to be playing on the wall!" He picked her up and set her down on the stone floor. Fasha pouted and plucked at her goggles. "I wanna play up on the wall! It's fun!"

"And it's also dangerous. Where's Dad?" Fasha looked thoughtful and put her chin in her hand. "Papa said he was gonna see how Mama was doing. I think it should be the other way around, don't you, Gerad?" Gerad picked her up again and looked out into the desert again. "Yeah... Dad has been looking a little thin and weak lately... I'm worried about him. What if he's... if he's..." Fasha held onto his tunic tightly. "No! No, don't say it! Papa will be okay, he's the strongest Papa in the whole world!"

"Yes, yes of course he is, Fasha... Why don't you go play with Leah? I'll go check up on Dad." Fasha nodded and ran off to play with Leah in her room.

Gerad opened the door to his father's room and sighed inwardly with relief to find him there, working. "Father, are you feeling alright?" Edgar paused in his work and looked over his shoulder at his son. "Um... yeah, sure. Why wouldn't I be feeling okay?" Edgar's eyes were half-closed, and his face tired, and Gerad could tell not everything was alright. "Father, if you want to rest... I can do this paperwork for you. I'm not a child anymore, I know what to do. You taught me yourself."

Edgar put down his pen and rubbed his eyes. "No... no, that's alright Gerad. I can do it myself. I'm just a little worried about your uncle, Sabin, that's all... I just got... I don't know... tired all at once." he stared at the papers blearily. "Maybe I should rest after all. If you can handle it, Gerad..." Gerad helped him up and sat down. "I can do it, Father. You go rest, and check on Mom too. It'll be good for both of you if you just rest."

Musicaa opened his eyes slowly, groaning a bit as he shifted his head. He ceased to move and took in his surroundings. He was in some tent... with various strange and foreign ornaments hanging on the walls, and somebody was sitting cross-legged on the floor quite close to him. The youth looked up, grey eyes watching him warily. "Ena? Ryu letha ko?" Musicaa blinked at him. "What did you say?"

"Oh, you don't understand our language... but... you have Arlorden eyes." Musicaa looked at him strangely. "I don't have Arlorden eyes." The youth nodded. "You do. I checked while you were asleep, though the old man's is more prominent and easier to see than yours." he extended a hand. "I think in Figaroan tradition it is customary to shake hands, is it not? I asked if you were with us and if you were feeling alright, that's all."
Musicaa took his hand and shook it. "I'm Musicaa. The old man is my grandfather. Where is he?"

"I am Bardoak. I think my father is attending to him... my father the chieftain. The others would have killed you without remorse had I not been there, so feel priveleged." Musicaa nodded. "Indeed I do... but why would they have killed us?"
"My father, Kodaka, has declared that any Figaroan found on our sacred lands unless woman or child will not be shown mercy. The others, however, think Father is being much too merciful, and should kill anyone on our grounds, and I would have thought that too, I suppose... but..." he smiled apologetically, showing unusually sharp canines. "I lost two older brothers in Figaroan wars... and a sister. I do not want anymore needless bloodshed; but it is our sacred lands, and sacrilege will not be tolerated... did I use that word correctly? Sacrilege?"

Musicaa was taken aback by the sudden turn in conversation. "Yes, I think so. But my grandpa; is he okay?"

Bardoak nodded. "He is fine, though he seems drained somehow... like my father looks after he has trained with the Elements too long. Perhaps his affliction is similar?"

A little boy tumbled awkwardlly into the room, running into the pole that held up the tent and falling down to the sand. He felt the ground, and then the pole, before looking around. "Over here, Subin." The boy focused on Bardoak's voice and turned in his direction. "The strong man woke up! He's awfully weak right now though... he can't... can't... uh..." he stuck his hand in his mouth. "Eat?" Bardoak offered. Subin nodded. "That's it! He won't eat yet, but he tried to swing at Dad and he's struggling pretty hard. Dad wants you over there."

Bardoak nodded and got up from the floor. "Okay. You stay here with Musicaa. Be a good boy, and don't run into anything." Subin felt around for Musicaa's bed, and then took a seat next to it. "I'll sit right here, and I won't move."

Musicaa looked at his new guard, little Subin. "Hello there. You're Subin, huh?" Subin nodded in Musicaa's direction, but kept his eyes tightly closed. "Yep, that's my name. Do you... know about Memory Pools?" he asked suddenly. Musicaa started. "Uh... yeah... I was thinking about one right now... that's scary. How'd you do that?"

Subin tapped his head. "I can't see, so Dad taught me to read people's Waves. Like their auras, that tell what they're thinking, except in pictures and code and stuff. I don't get it yet, but Dad says he'll teach me more when I'm older. I wanna know about Memory Pools! Can you tell me about them?"

Musicaa crossed his legs on the bed. "Well... where do I begin...Memory Pools... are like big storage containers for people's memories, except they're pools of water-like liquid. Grandpa said when you put your memories in one... after you die, you go back to the first memory pool that you put your memories in, so I guess you sort of become a memory. And you can replay them over and over again." Subin listened propped up on his elbows. "Can we see the people when they're dead?"

"I dunno... Grandpa says he thinks only children can see them... either that or they appear before whoever they want to. But they can't stray to far for too long, or their essences will... pull apart and they will cease to be. He said he thought he saw his mom when he was younger, but he didn't really know if he was hallucinating or day-dreaming, or whether it really was a Memory Pool image of her, so..." he shrugged. "Nobody really has anything solid on them."

Subin looked at him slyly. "I know where a Memory Pool is. I can see my brothers and sister, and Mommy too. I can see their Waves, and they talk to me, I heard them! Daddy goes down to the Pool too, to visit them every morning before he starts training or going over battle plans or whatever. You wanna see?"

Musicaa furrowed his brows, and something in his heart jumped. "I could? You'd show me?" Subin nodded and felt around for his hand. "Come, and I'll show!" he dragged Musicaa through the camp, weaving between houses and stores. "This is our permanent home. We come here half a year during the Sandstorm season, cause the houses are sturdy and sandproof. Its fun here too, and sometimes the women stay here all year round."

Musicaa took a good look at his surroundings.Tanned men hawking their wares in stalls and schooling children in the shade of other houses, women carrying young children on their hips to market, others with their husbands just relaxing in shade, or rationing out water. He could see a large crowd outside one house in particular, the biggest house he had seen so far. "Who lives in there? The giant house?"

Subin frowned and turned his head towards it. "That's our house. The strong man is putting up a big fuss, and it seems like..." he brightened up considerably. "Daddy is having to wrestle him down and tranquilize him! Night-night strong man." he pulled Musicaa again to the outskirts of the small town, and everything got considerably cooler. "Daddy said not to go to the Memory Pool anymore, but I don't see anything wrong with it, do you?"

Musicaa stared at the expanse of Memories. "Oh my... look at all this..." he bent down over the water and reached out a trembling hand to touch it. It made little ripples in the water and an image washed in before him. "That's me... and Grandpa... taking me home." A wailing baby Musicaa kicked and flailed in Sabin's arms, smacking him soundly across the cheek while Selena tried to soothe the fussy baby. "Wow... is that... Grandpa's Memory?" Another image appeared, but it was of a young Sabin this time, playing with his brother, Edgar, and his father, Enri. Musicaa looked harder and another image floated by. "Father," he breathed. "Father..." Enri talking to Sabin, Sabin seeming to implore him not to leave the house. Enri taking up his claws with a determined look in his eyes, bidding his parents good-bye, and leaving. Sabin standing in the doorway helplessly, clutching at his heart.

Musicaa jumped back. "Wait! This hasn't happened yet... that's not possible... unless..." he scanned the surrounding area but found nothing. "Unless Grandpa was here... or something is very wrong with this place..." he looked around again, and felt an oppressive feeling bearing down on him, an evil prescense... or at least a dangerous one. He took Subin by the hand and backed away slowly. "We have to leave... there has to be a reason your dad said not to come here. Has to be..." he felt his mind cloud over and his vision get fuzzy. He pushed Subin. "Go!" he muttered thickly, and Subin heeded and ran. He stepped a few paces back, and his legs grew heavy, making him sink to his knees.

"What... what the heck?" he felt a piercing pain in his forehead and his hands flew to it. "N-no! No! I won't let you take it... No!" he felt something probing his mind, an unwanted thing that made him feel unclean and he shuddered, wrenching himself backwards. "Get out of my head! Get away!" his breaths came in shuddering gasps and he tried to recall the chant for an elemental blast attack, but he couldn't. He raised his hands helplessly in front of him, as if they could ward off whatever was trying to read him. The pain in his head became worse, and he could see a bright orange light through his tightly closed eyelids. "No!"

"Element of Storms, send me your fury, together we will destroy darkness!"