Hi people!
This chapter took me quite some time, huh?
Thanks to Vyctori Windheart, who helped (and is still helping me) with the plot developments!
But now go on and read that chapter already!
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Chapter 7(Kara's POV)
The first thing I felt when I awoke the next morning was the warmth of Will's body. He had one arm wrapped around me and his breath fanned my neck every time he exhaled. I decided to do nothing; I wanted to keep floating in this dreamy state between sleeping and being awake…
A little while later, however, I felt the pressure of Will's body next to mine become stronger. He snuggled up closer to me and I realized he had to be awake. I opened my eyes. He was smiling at me affectionately. "Good morning!" he whispered.
"Yes it is." I said, also putting an arm around him and drawing him into a tight embrace. "Good to know that you've slept well, too." Will chuckled. "I can't believe what those few hours of sleep did for me."
I peeked at his watch. It showed 8:12 AM. "I wonder when Lilly usually gets up." I said, brushing a lock of hair out of Will's face. "Do you think we've still got time?"
"I do hope so!" Will said indignantly. "I remember she was pretty tired as well…"
"Sounds fair enough to me…" I turned over and came to rest diagonally on top of him. Just as I pressed myself a little stronger against him, there was a muffled cry and I felt something obstructive and spiky between us. I reached for the unknown source of the noise – and pulled it out of between us.
"You nearly suffocated me!" a familiar voice said reproachfully. Bubble was dangling limply from my hand, clearly looking like he just got the shock of his life. "Never try something like that again!"
"Hehe, I warned you!" Gas' amused voice came right next to my ear, making me jump. "I told you it'd be dangerous right between them! But you just had to go and get squashed. Look at me, I'm still allrmpfh!!!"
I decided to shut him up by rolling back left. After a few seconds of silence, I rolled back onto Will and picked up the Jupiter Djinni as well. Just when I was about to start telling them off for disrupting our quality time again, there came a noise from the door. I dropped the Djinn on the corner of the bed and rolled off Will again. I looked at the wooden door and saw what seemed to be Root passing right through it!
"Good morning, you two!" she said when she was completely on our side. "Lilly told me to check on you. She's already downstairs, waiting for you. Hurry up and come!" The Venus Djinni lost no time and touched the door again, melting into it and disappearing.
"Arrrgh… looks like the lenient part of this journey is over…" I grumbled as I got up, then reached out to Will. He took my outstretched hand and pulled himself up as well. We set our Djinn, shared another embrace and finally opened the door to go downstairs.
A surprisingly awake Lilly greeted us from one of the tables. We joined her and Will asked: "How comes you are up already?"
"Usually I get up even earlier." Lilly said casually. "Dad said once in his profession it's not very healthy to sleep too deeply anyway…"
"And what profession would that be?" I asked, reaching for the butter.
Lilly leant in closer to us. "Look, I don't want to say it too loudly, some people here might get the wrong idea of my father. But you have probably heard of Dodonpa, the humble thief?"
"???" We stared at Lilly. Finally Will spoke up. "No offense, but if you're talking about the same Dodonpa we know, 'the vicious thief' would be more appropriate…"
"Ah, yes." Lilly said. "You probably know only of the incident when Isaac and his friends came into our fortress to rescue Master Hammet." We nodded. "Well, after that, my grandpa Donpa imprisoned him in the cell where he had kept Master Hammet. He had a lot of time to think down there. When he was finally released, he was a changed man. Lately, I get along quite well with him…" She paused, lost in memories. "When I was born, he was disappointed that I was a girl, so my relatives tell me. He thought I could not become his successor. But I was trained nevertheless in the arts of thieving, and after a while he realized that my gender would not stop me from becoming a great and noble thief. However, until the reputation of my father changes, I'm very reluctant to call myself so."
"I bet Lunpa would be proud of you!" I said, taking a bite from the bread I prepared during Lilly's speech. "He must be worrying about what's going on in the town he founded, unable to reach it from Lemuria…"
"You mean my great-grandfather is still alive?!" Lilly asked incredulously. "I've heard tales of Lunpa and Babi travelling far ago… So they did find Lemuria?"
"Uh-huh." Will confirmed, finishing his slice of bread. "Lunpa's appearance is that of a man maybe ten years older than you dad. They have this draught in Lemuria, it considerably slows the process of aging. But when Isaac and company told him about your father's wrongdoings, he got a little tempered up…"
Lilly laughed. "I can imagine that… Lunpa the noble thief still alive! Grandpa will like to hear this…"
We finished our breakfast and paid, then left the inn. "So where are we headed?" Lilly asked. "Any good ideas where to start?"
"We won't leave immediately." Will explained. "We still have a little business in this town. You know, we encountered one of your father's men yesterday…" He told her the story. As Lilly listened, she seemed to become more and more enraged. "That fool!!" she fumed. "He acted against Dad's orders!! This town should've been left in peace! Oh, wait until I have some talk with him…"
With Lilly still ranting about, we went to the sanctum. The Great Healer was ready as ever. "Ah, it's you. Follow me. I'll lead the way." We watched as he locked the wooden doors behind our group. "They stole from this sanctum once, that's why I have to lock the doors when nobody's inside. It's a pity, though. These doors should always be open, to anyone… But who's your new friend there?"
"I'm Lilly, and I'm gonna have a word with that scoundrel, too!"
"Hmm. That should be possible." He stopped in front of the steel door behind which the prison was located. "Look, I'd like you to interrogate that criminal. Find out where he stole the things you've found yesterday, or maybe where he left his two accomplices. I figured Mind Read would be very useful for that purpose. You shouldn't have any problems."
He opened the door and went ahead inside the little cave that was separated into three small cells. Our Mr. Thief was held in the rightmost one. He approached us when he realized he had visitors. Apparently, the Great Healer had patched him up, his injuries and the damage done to his clothes were gone. But he seemed a little damp instead. Looks like he didn't stand in the correct corner… Will thought gleefully and pointed out the puddle of water that was forming at his feet.
"Hello." I said casually. "Sorry about yesterday. We just thought we had to put you somewhere to protect people from you – including yourself. Then it occurred to us that this town always has rooms especially for this purpose…"
"The reason we're here is that we have a few questions to ask you." Will went on. "It is very simple: The more accurate and true your answers are, the earlier you will be left to your solitude again. Don't lie too much, it will only make matters more complicated."
Lilly stepped forward. "Question Nr.1: Why the heck did you choose this village?"
The criminal seemed to recognize that voice.
"Lilly? Is that really you? Are you going to get me out of here?" he asked hopefully.
"Unfortunately, you get to safely rot in this cell some more!" Lilly said through clenched teeth. "If it was for me, you wouldn't get away that easily!"
"Now back to my question!" she continued. "Vault had been declared protected by my father after the incident with Master Hammet! I assume you know that you acted against my father's orders!"
Mr. Thief was clearly confused. "I never heard about anything like that! Are you sure this is correct?"
Lilly seemed ready to explode any second now. Will stopped her, whispering: "Look, I think he was too busy chasing Isaac all over Weyard to take note of that." He told her of the thieves' encounter with Felix near Madra.
"WHAT?! That's even worse! You had no permission to undertake such a journey!" Lilly sighed in exasperation as she slumped down against the wall. "Boy, is this guy thick…" she muttered under her breath. "He's a lost cause… let's see if we can at least get something useful out of him. It's your turn now."
"Looks like you got yourself into quite some mess." Will stated. "But nevertheless, let's get back to the questions. Kara, you ask him."
"Alright, question Nr. 2: Where have you left your sidekicks?"
The thief snorted. "I don't need those amateurs, I planned to do this one on my own…"
"Tch… look who's talking…" Lilly muttered under her breath. Will nodded, also confirming Mr. Thief was telling the truth. Or at least what he thought to be the truth. I decided to move on.
"Okay, next one. Now we'd like to know where and how exactly you acquired the stuff we found in your 'lair'…" I asked while I could feel Will preparing his psynergy.
"The money I earned fair and square, by hunting monsters!" the thief fidgeted. "And the ring I found in some sort of ruins during my travels…"
"So you robbed the money off poor travellers on your way, and the ring you stole from a citizen of this here town!" Will said, disgusted.
The thief went pale. "How did you guess that?" Will grinned. "It's all a matter of interpretation, so you might as well tell us the truth from now on."
"Wait a moment, please." The Great Healer interrupted. "That ring you are talking about, would you mind showing it to me?"
I pulled it out of my pocket where I put it last night. Since then, I had forgotten about it already. It was a massive ring in a silver color, with a green, spherical gem set into it. "This is my Regeneration Ring!" The Great Healer exclaimed. "It speeds up the healing process on sick or injured people! I usually give it to patients who otherwise would need my continuous attention, which I cannot afford when more people need my help…"
"That means he stole it from a sick person!" Lilly was furious. "How are they supposed to get better now?! And taking money off travellers is as bad! Now they can't even pay for an overnight stay at an inn! This is cruel!!! Even a thief doesn't do things like those!" She kicked out at a wall in her fury, her Venus psynergy making the whole prison shake. "With guys like you, it's no wonder our lot has such a bad reputation…"
She turned to the Great Healer. "Shouldn't you check on that sick person?"
"Don't worry, I will. It has been some time since I gave her the ring anyway, she might already be well again. And I also think we have learned enough here. We shall leave him to think about his wrongdoings."
"Yeah, alright." Lilly said. "But one more thing: Do something about that lock."
All of us, Mr. Thief included, looked at her confusedly. She removed a hairpin from her head and stuck it into the lock to the cell, twisting it around somewhat. I never noticed those… I told Will who was thinking along the same lines. Barely a second later, the lock clicked and the door swung open a bit. "This is way too easy." she explained. "Even someone as dense as him will figure it out eventually."
"Hey! Stop acting like I was a complete moron!" The thief complained. "I'm not stupid!" He lunged for the now open door, but Lilly held up a hand in his direction, shouting: "Quake!"
A brief tremor shook the prison and Mr. Thief was thrown violently off his feet. We had no problems keeping standing, though. Apparently, the quake had only a small range in which it was strong. Lilly quickly locked the door the same way she unlocked it before.
"Nobody ever said you could leave!" she shouted, putting the pin back into her hair. One could only see it if they looked out for it, I noticed.
She turned to the Great Healer again. "I tell you, this won't do to keep him in this cell. He might not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he does possess some moderate skill. He did steal that stuff successfully, after all…"
"How did you do that?" the Great Healer asked, intrigued. Lilly smirked. "Trade secret… but don't worry, not everybody who can do this is as rotten as him…"
We turned to leave, but Lilly faced Mr. Thief once more. "One final piece of advice." she said in a serious tone. "Fear the day you get out of this cell. Dread it, 'cause it won't be pleasant for you." Having said that, she joined us and we left the prison together.
"I'd like to thank you." the Great Healer said outside. "Your help was invaluable… especially that hint with the lock… I'd like to give you this."
He gave something to Will and we looked at it. It was the Regeneration Ring!
"I can't take this." Will said resolutely, returning it at once. "You need this for your job! I will not take this from you."
"Then at least take this." He reached inside of his robes and pulled out a reasonably heavy bag, filled with gold pieces. "These are some of my earnings. Go and buy yourself some decent armor. None of you seem to be properly equipped. No discussions!" He insisted as Will opened his mouth, trying to refuse again.
"Thank you!" Will finally said. "I guess we really can use that…"
"I wish you luck in your travels!" the Great Healer said. "Farewell!" With that, he turned around and left to check on his patient.
(Will's POV)
As soon as the Great Healer had disappeared, I opened the bag and the three of us curiously looked into it. Inside was an awful lot of coins. "Reckon it would take quite some time to count that…" Kara said with amazement in her voice.
"Hey Lilly, I suppose you've already seen big amounts of cash." I said. "Can you roughly guess how much this is?"
"Hmm…" Lilly looked the bag with an experienced eye, sizing it up. "This is much more than 1500 coins, quite a small fortune. Maybe close to 2000, if there aren't any big pieces in there."
"Big pieces?" I looked more closely at the contents. Some of the coins were considerably larger than the normal ones and also had small numbers like five, ten and twenty on them. It seemed that the weight of the big 20 coin piece indeed equalled twenty of the smallest coins.
"Wow, you will definitely get decent equipment with that!" Lilly said, then added: "At least when you consider the not-too-extravagant selection of this town…" Kara and I shot her questioning looks. "Well, you probably know they have way better stuff down in the big cities like Kalay and Tolbi…"
"But there is always the artifacts section…" Kara proposed. "Maybe Isaac left some of his good stuff here…"
Lilly shook her head. "Sorry to burst your bubble, but you'll need at least a five-digit sum if you want to decently shop in the artifacts section…" Her eyes went dreamy as she continued: "They have an original Grievous Mace from Tolbi Springs in my hometown… I could feel my psynergy resonating within it… One day, I'll own that weapon, that's my big dream…"
"I can't believe how smoothly all of this went, considering that this is no fancy game but reality!" I said to Kara, who nodded. "Yeah, I thought that money of Mr. Thief was a blessing already, but I guess we wouldn't have gotten very far with it. Which reminds me…" She reached in her pocket and removed the handful of gold I had given her before the fight. "Since we all earned this money together, let's also put our money in one pool." she said, dropping the coins into the bag. I emptied the thief's purse into it as well.
"I don't have much to add, though…" Lilly said regretfully, showing what was approximately fifteen coins. "That's all I managed to win off monsters on my way down here…"
"Doesn't matter," I reassured her, "you helped earn this money as much as we did and apart from that, neither of us has an amount of gold that can even remotely compare."
"You think I helped that much?" Lilly asked doubtfully.
"Of course!" Kara said. "Especially that hint with the lock was very useful; you know, that criminal has already escaped from this prison once!"
Lilly's face brightened up. "Really?" She dropped her coins into the bag. "Okay, then let's go and buy us some equipment!" she exclaimed, speeding off towards where the shops were. Kara and I couldn't help staring at her. "C'mon, what are you waiting for?!" she yelled, jumping up and down frantically.
"Her mood sure does change quickly…" Kara whispered amusedly as we joined hands and slowly walked after her.
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That one's a little bit short again, but that's because I cut the chapter I was working on in half. That means I already have part of the new chapter eight. Maybe it will be out within a week already. But I can't promise! I do promise, though, that the new chapter will be written in Lilly's POV! In the meantime you can go and review this chapter ^_^
See ya, Quizer