Chapter 17: "A Night of Chaos"

Alaylle stares at the flower in her hand. 'I can't think of where to put this…' She turns the gaze from the flower to the flower arrangement she has made. 'How about… no… that wouldn't feel right…' Alaylle looks around the room of the flower shop in Prontera, trying to force out an idea. Her gaze stops at her mother and at Kaori for a while before turning back to her flower arrangement.

Neyrilla is quietly kneeling in a corner of the room, gently playing the koto with her eyes closed. Kaori is carefully watering the flowers while stopping now and then to listen to the music.

Alaylle smiles for a moment and gently sets the last flower in place. She carefully picks up the flower arrangement, gets up from kneeling and walks over to her mother. "Mommy! I'm done!" She carefully sets the flower arrangement down and kneels again.

Neyrilla opens her eyes and stops playing the koto while gently looking at her daughter's flower arrangement. "Hmm… Very good Alaylle!" Neyrilla smiles softly at Alaylle and then takes another careful look at the flower arrangement. After a moment she starts laughing softly. "Hmhmhmm… Alaylle, you seem to have captured the essence of someone in this." Neyrilla smiles and gestures Kaori over. "Kaori, come over here for a moment please."

Kaori blushes softly and walks over to Neyrilla as soon as she is called. "Y-yes?" Kaori looks at the flower arrangement in front of Neyrilla and turns her gaze even closer to the floor than usual, blushing deeply. "O-oh! It's me…"

Alaylle giggles and hugs Kaori. "Yup! It sure is!"

Neyrilla smiles softly at Alaylle, then looks at the flower arrangement and then at Kaori.

Alaylle nods softly. "Kaori here, you can have it!" Alaylle smiles happily.

Kaori bows to both Alaylle and Neyrilla, "Th-thank you very much… I'll take good care of it…"

Neyrilla smiles at Kaori, "I'm sure you will, dear." She then turns to Alaylle. "Alaylle, that's enough lessons for today… why don't you go get the food for dinner tonight?" She quietly takes a bag of zeny from her sleeve and places it gently on the floor in front of Alaylle.

"Okay!" Alaylle quickly picks up the bag of coins and tries to get to her feet… a bit too quickly. "Ouch!" Alaylle winces at how her legs have fallen asleep from being sit on for too long. She manages to sit back down on the floor on her bottom while she rubs her legs back awake.

Neyrilla laughs softly. "Still haven't gotten used to sitting in a seiza, have you, Alaylle?"

Alaylle shakes her head. "Nuh uh! Just give me a few minutes sitting like this, and my legs go completely numb!" She giggles as she tries rubbing the feeling back into her legs.

---
The southwest part of Prontera hustles and bustles as food vendors yell out their prices and continuously try to sell their goods. Alaylle walks along the lined up food carts looking at all the food and mostly ignoring the vendors' attempts to shove their products in her face, as well as their usual tricks to get her attention. She stops in front of a well-stocked cart filled with a variety of foods. A long brown haired girl in a white dress with pink highlights smiles at Alaylle. "Hello Miss Alaylle!"

Alaylle smiles happily back at the girl. "Hello Colette! The usual stuffs today… and with honey, sweet potatoes, and… Hmm… Savage meat too!"

Colette nods slowly and calls out loudly. "Porter!" A merchant carrying a cart quickly arrives at Colette's call. She quickly fills the cart with fruit, vegetables, a few jars, and some cloth-wrapped meats. "Alaylle's house, as usual." She smiles at the merchant and turns back to Alaylle. "You're earlier than usual today, Alaylle. A few weeks ago you were coming in so late… What was happening then, anyway?"

Alaylle smiles awkwardly as she pays Colette for the food. "I was… uhm… well… I was exploring outside."

"Really? What's it like out there?" Colette leans forward expectantly.

"Well… it's really green and there are so many strange creatures and monsters!" Alaylle thinks for a moment. "It's kind of dangerous too…"

"Eh heh heh… looks like Karian's finally rubbed off on you! You know how much she likes to travel."

"Well… I don't think I like it as much as Karian… but… yeah… I guess I do like it a bit."

Colette finishes counting the coins and puts them away in a pouch. "Did you know she wanted to get you to travel around more? I got it out of her when she tried stealing an apple from me."

Alaylle blinks her eyes and then giggles. "Really? That sounds soooo much like Karian! But you know, I'm doing this all on my own! I mean… it's not like Karian is with me all the time when I go outside."

Colette leans against her cart. "Hmm… then maybe one of her plans backfired. It's not the first time it's happened… remember that time when she tried painting lemons orange and tried passing them off as oranges?" She grins. "If I remember correctly, you bought them and made juice from them… and sold some delicious lemonade for more than what you paid… Karian was quite confused over that!"

Alaylle giggles and nods. "I remember that! Right after that, we sold lemonade for a while… Come to think of it… I think that's around the time me and Karian became really close friends! I was only eight years old at that time too…"

Colette nods slowly. "So her scam became something else… I wonder what she's doing now?"

"I think she's in Geffen, becoming a mage. I told her a little about my little traveling and she got excited."

Colette shakes her head. "Well, that's Karian for you… she sure gets carried away easily…"

Alaylle spots a customer approaching the cart. "Aahh… I better leave now, looks like someone wants to shop."

Colette smiles and waves at Alaylle. "Thank you for your patronage!" She winks at Alaylle. "Come again and tell me some more of your stories too! I bet they're interesting!"

Alaylle nods quickly. "I will! Although, I dunno how interesting they are."

Colette rolls her eyes lightly. "New gossip and new rumors are always interesting! And if you hear anything new and neat, come tell me, okay?"

Alaylle nods and waves back to Colette. "See you later!"

---
Alaylle quietly walks along the wall encircling Prontera fountain square and comes to the west gate into the square. A bell suddenly starts ringing, and a portcullis closes the west gate off.

"An attack in the fountain square? But… that means… dead branches!" Alaylle quickly starts running north so that she can get home quickly.

Inside of the fountain square, several people are throwing dead branches of Yggdrasil into the air. The branches turn into monsters just before they touch the ground. The monsters quickly fan out and start attacking the people and adventurers in the square.

Alaylle quickly runs towards the north entrance of the square and suddenly stops when she hears a rumbling sound.

The north portcullis suddenly breaks and a large swarm of monsters burst out of the gate. Several guards and adventurers quickly rush at the monsters.

Alaylle keeps a good distance from the fighting, and heads past the north entrance to get to the east side of Prontera where her home is. Her home is just in sight when a large red colored fly suddenly rushes at her. Alaylle can do nothing but stare at it as it charges at her.

Two arrows quickly hit the fly just before the large fly hits Alaylle. The fly quickly turns and charges at the blue shorthaired archer girl that fired the arrows, only to get hit by two more arrows from it's back. The fly drops to the ground and turns back into a dead branch, which crumples into dust upon hitting the ground. A dark blonde haired archer boy grins and puts his bow away. "Got it!"

The archer girl walks over to Alaylle. "Are you okay? That Hunter Fly almost got you!"

"Uhm… Thank you so much! Yes, I'm all right! I'm Alaylle!" Alaylle smiles happily.

The archer girl ahems softly and the archer boy quickly runs over to her. "Oops! Heheheh… I'm Arima, and this is Moonlyte."

"Nice to meet you both!" Alaylle bows to the both of them happily.

"You should get indoors quickly, it's dangerous out here." Moonlyte nods to Alaylle.

"Oh… okay! Bye bye then!" Alaylle waves happily and quickly runs home.

Moonlyte and Arima look at each other and then both shrug.

---
Alaylle happily washes the dishes after dinner. She turns on the little machine attached to the faucet above the sink and a little puff of steam comes from it. Soon, the little machine pumps water into the sink through the faucet. Alaylle rinses the dishes and turns off the miniature steam pump. She turns around, picks up a towel by the sink and starts drying the dishes. While drying the dishes, she looks over at her father who is examining a blueprint of an invention at the kitchen table.

Neyrilla quietly walks into the kitchen. "Dear… I have a feeling that a certain something will be visiting Prontera tonight…"

Corin looks up from his blueprint, "Aahh… Umm…" He glances over at Alaylle.

Neyrilla shakes her head softly and smiles. "No… Alaylle can come this time… I think it'll be okay."

Alaylle inclines her head as she finishes drying the last dish. "Where are we going?"

Neyrilla smiles softly, "We're going for a little walk…"

---
Alaylle, Corin and Neyrilla quietly follow the road to the East Gate of Prontera. Neyrilla stops right before the gate sits down by the side of the road. Corin parks his cart behind him and plops down next to his wife. Alaylle sits down next to her father and looks at Corin's cart. "Daddy… why did you bring your cart?"

Corin looks at the cart and grins. "Oh, you never know when a few things'll come in handy." He ruffles his daughter's hair. "Don't worry, I don't mind tugging this thing around."

Alaylle giggles and straightens out her hair with her fingers. "Are we waiting for something?"

Neyrilla closes her eyes and nods. "He should be here soon…"

The East Gate of Prontera suddenly is torn open with a horrible grinding noise. Several guards run in the direction of the gate, but then are quickly running in the opposite direction.

Neyrilla shakes her head. "The guards these days are quite unprepared…" She quietly gets to her feet and opens her eyes.

Corin reaches into his cart and tosses a sheathed katana attached to a chain at Neyrilla.

Neyrilla neatly catches the sheath and secures it and the chain around her waist. "He's here…"

Alaylle blinks her eyes. "Mommy, since when can you use a sword? And… who's here?" She turns in the direction of the east gate and spots something approaching. It appears to be a huge goat standing on its hind legs and carrying a large scythe, with several little versions of it following it.

Neyrilla walks towards the large goat and bows to it. "Good evening old rival." She smiles softly up at the goat, which is about half a body height taller than she is.

Corin glances over at Alaylle. "Baphomet and your mother go waaaay back… The two have fought each other for even longer than we have been together."

"It's been several years, hasn't it? How about a match for old times sake?" Neyrilla smiles softly again as she twists the handle of her still sheathed katana into place. Baphomet nods and waves his kids away while holding his scythe offensively. The two stare each other down for a moment… and Baphomet makes the first move, striking diagonally at Neyrilla's shoulder.

Neyrilla quickly draws her katana and deflects the blade of the scythe while slashing at Baphomet's body. Baphomet quickly blocks with the pole of his scythe. He then tries cutting sideways with his scythe. Neyrilla quickly ducks, dashes to the side and strikes at Baphomet's side. Baphomet grunts, but then bashes at Neyrilla with his shoulder. Neyrilla cleanly dodges, "Hmm? That's new… learning from the adventurer's techniques?" Baphomet grins, nods, and charges at Neyrilla again.

Meanwhile, Alaylle has taken the portable cooking device from her father's cart and has cooked several sweet potatoes and covered them with honey, both from her father's cart. Alaylle watches the fight while nibbling on a potato and offering a few to her father.

"Heh… Alaylle, you made my favorite snack… Hmm?" Corin looks at the small Baphomets who have been attracted by the sweet smell of honey.

Alaylle smiles at them and gives all of them honeyed potatoes as well.

Baphomet and Neyrilla stare each other down, with Baphomet having taken all of the hits so far, and Neyrilla not having been touched once yet. Baphomet grins and tosses a large amount of mana into the air. Neyrilla glances up at the energy "Hmm? A wizard spell?" She quickly re-sheaths her katana and dashes to the side. Baphomet grins and strikes the ground with his scythe. A giant lightning bolt strikes the ground in front of him with several explosions of light. Neyrilla is out of range of the explosions and keeps her stance with her sword sheathed. Baphomet looks around, trying to locate Neyrilla. Neyrilla suddenly dashes at Baphomet and draws out her sword quickly 'Earth Splitting Slash'. Baphomet takes the full hit of the slash and is thrown into his own spell. Neyrilla quietly sheathes her sword again and dusts herself off.

The explosions of light end, and Baphomet is on the ground, with his scythe dropped off to his side. He gets up slowly, snatches his scythe and gets to his feet, using his scythe as a staff. Neyrilla tosses a yellow fruit to Baphomet and bows to him. Baphomet catches the fruit and eats it. His injuries heal instantly and he bows back to Neyrilla.

"A good fight as always, Baphomet!" Neyrilla smiles softly. "But you know… midway through the fight, I got distracted a bit by a certain someone's cooking." Baphomet nods. Neyrilla walks over to Alaylle with Baphomet following her.

Alaylle blushes lightly and gives potatoes to her mother and Baphomet. Neyrilla takes a small bite out of the potato and smiles softly. Baphomet takes a bite as well and looks surprisingly at Alaylle. Alaylle blushes again.

Neyrilla motions to Alaylle. "This is my daughter Alaylle… Alaylle, meet Baphomet."

Alaylle bows to Baphomet while he nods to Alaylle. "Nice to meet you, Baphomet…"

"So you old codger! I saw that fight! You're getting stronger! You never used to do those techniques before!" Corin grins.

Baphomet shrugs and pokes the pole of his scythe at Neyrilla.

"Heh… I know she's strong, but what's your sec-Oh wait… I know!" Corin looks at Baphomet's kids. "You've been training your kids haven't you?"

Baphomet grins and nods. He points up at his scythe and nods again.

"Ah! Gotta carry on the family business and technique, eh?" Corin leans against his cart. "Well, I know how hard it is to take care of a kid… dunno how hard it is to take care of five of 'em like you do, but I kinda understand! Here… you came to Prontera looking for this, right?" Corin shoves his cart in Baphomet's direction.

Baphomet halts the cart with his scythe and looks inside. The cart is full of jars of honey. He looks a bit startled and nods. He tosses a bag of zeny at Corin and takes the cart. He motions to his kids and they quickly follow him. He pulls the cart and walks back towards the east gate. He waves with his hand as he leaves through the east gate.

"Heh… still a man that doesn't waste words… but raising kids really has calmed his bloodthirstiness… I mean… he paid this time." Corin grins slightly at the zeny pouch. "Although I have to wonder how he got the zeny…" He taps the top of his head while thinking and counting the zeny. "Ohh… he paid well…"

"Hmm… maybe… it's time to teach my child as well…" Neyrilla quietly whispers to herself while glancing over at Alaylle.

End of Chapter 17
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Chapter 18 Preview!

Alaylle: "Wow… I get to learn from you, Mommy?"

Neyrilla: "Yes dear…"

Alaylle: "Yay! I wanna be all fancy and neat just like you!"

Neyrilla: "Alaylle… you've been watching those adventurers outside too long…"

In the Next Chapter: "Learning the Basics"

Neyrilla: "Hmm… I also have an assignment for you…"
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