Enter The Light
Part Three: The Roads Less Traveled...
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Standard Disclaimer Thingie: Digimon, all related characters and merchandise are not mine. This plot is. Mostly. Don't steal it. Don't sue me. Read on!
###
The wind was whipping about dangerously, and the carriage had trouble staying upright. Even with no experience in weather-magic, Miyako could sense the storm coming and knew that she'd have no way to avoid it. Trying to stay calm, she poked her head out the window.
The clouds were growing darker by the second, and the wind stronger. Still many hours away from her destination, they were certain to get caught in the brewing storm. "Is there a place to stop near here, to get shelter?" she called to the driver. In the winds, he was having difficulty staying upon his perch atop the carriage.
"None that I know of, milady," he replied. "We passed the nearest village an hour ago, and the next one's not for some distance."
Miyako shivered. The air was growing steadily colder, and flurries were beginning to fall. "What should we do?" she wondered, half to herself.
"We'd best stop at any rate, milady," the driver answered. "If we keep going, the Monochromon are likely to freeze. If it's a bad enough storm, we may lose our way, too."
"It sounds like the best plan," Hawkmon put in. "The winds are strong; we may be in for a blizzard."
"This late in the season?" Miyako wondered, but she couldn?t dispute the evidence ? a storm was definitely approaching.
"Stranger weather has happened, milady," the driver commented. "Shall I find a place to stop?"
"Yes," she answered. "Find a place off the road, as safe as you can, and then come inside this carriage before the snow starts. The Monochromon - ."
"There's not much that can be done for them," he finished. "They're hearty creatures, they may survive the storm."
###
Daisuke felt the blood rush to his head. He leaned back in his chair, suddenly light headed. "I ? I'd forgotten," he confessed, his voice an almost-whisper.
"So had I," Hikari said. She was definitely pale now, and cold, even so close to the fire, wrapped in the blanket. "Do you think - ?"
"No," he answered sharply before she'd finished the question. He sat up, turned to face her, and took one of her hands in his own. Her skin felt cold and clammy to the touch. "Miyako knows how to take care of herself, I'm certain of it. She's survived storms in the wilderness with the rest of us, and she's survived sandstorms in the desert. She's got magic on her side now, don't forget."
"Yes," Hikari agreed, slowly, "but, in a carriage on a road, she'll be defenseless and without shelter. She can put a shield up against the winds, but for how long? And the cold? What good can magic do against that? She'll surely freeze ? possibly have frozen by now, even." She shivered again, and shut her eyes.
###
Miyako awoke shortly after the sun rose, peeking through the ice covered window of the carriage to fall upon her face. She was wrapped tightly in her warm cloak and covered again with a blanket that she was lucky enough to have found stored within the carriage, along with an emergency lantern that had been their only heat through the night.
Hawkmon was already awake, shivering slightly but hopping up and down and flapping his wings in order to warm himself. The lantern was lit, but Hitoshi, the carriage driver, had gone out, she assumed, to check on the Monochromon. His partner, a small and quiet Plotmon, remained inside, dozing near the lantern.
There had been only a little food for them to eat the previous evening ? only what each had brought with them. The trip had promised to be quick and easy, and they were to have arrived in time for the evening meal, so they'd packed the food lightly, and it was only by luck that neither had eaten before the storm began. Thus, they had enough to last through dinner, but not enough for breakfast the next morning.
The carriage door didn't seem eager to open, but a hard shove helped force the matter, and Miyako stepped outside into the glitteringly bright world. She squinted through the sunlight and made her way down into the snow.
Hitoshi was attempting, with little success, to shovel out the wheels of the carriage. He halted his work when he saw Miyako approach, wiping the sweat from his brow. "I don't know that this will make a difference, milady," he said when he'd caught his breath. "The snow is deep."
The snow was deep, coming high enough to cover the wheels, although farther off it seemed to have drifted higher in some places and lower in others. Miyako shivered, rubbing her arms. She looked around, and could see nothing but snow for a fair distance. Sighing, she said: "We can't stay here too much longer. We haven't any food, and it's cold."
Hitoshi nodded solemnly. "We won't get very far on this," he said, gesturing to the carriage. "Unless you know how to get it free. Digging won't work, especially as I haven't got a good shovel." He held up the stick he'd been using.
She sighed once more and massaged her temples, exhausted with the thought of how much magic it might take to melt that much snow. "I don't know that I could get it free," she answered, "and even if I could, we'd hardly be able to go very far."
"The only thing left then is to walk," Hawkmon put in from the carriage doorway. He turned toward Hitoshi. "Do you know how far it is to the nearest village where we might find shelter?"
The stout driver thought for a moment. "On foot, at least an hour's walk or more. It may be too cold to attempt. And it may take longer than that, with how deep the snow is."
"Still, if it's our only chance, then we must do it," Miyako concluded. "Pack everything up you can carry, and let's go."
###
By early morning, the sun was again peeking through the thin cloud cover that remained. When mid-morning came, the sun was again at full strength, and some of the snow was already beginning to melt, causing great lumps of snow to crash to the ground after sliding off of rooftops.
Hikari awoke feeling warmer than she thought she ought to, with a nagging feeling somewhere inside the pit of her stomach. She felt disoriented, and wasn't eager to leave her bed. Slowly, she sat up and was not entirely surprised to discover that she felt a bit nauseous. She laid down again, then, and looked up at the ceiling.
After a few moments, the nausea had abated slightly, and she sat up again. This time, she felt better. Tailmon, sleeping at the foot of the bed, uncurled herself and yawned, arching her back as she stretched, waking. Her big blue eyes blinked in the bright sunlight as she gently combed her tousled fur with her claws.
Slowly, lest the nausea return, Hikari pushed the covers back and swung her legs over the side of the bed. The cold air surprised her, as did the wooden floor. She shivered and suppressed an urge to dive back between the blankets again. Laying about wouldn't get anything done, she thought sensibly as she slid her feet into the warm slippers that waited beside the bed. A warm robe was hung on the bedpost, and she pulled it over her shoulders, grateful for the protection it offered against the cold.
"Did you dream?" Tailmon questioned, pausing in her grooming to peer intently at her partner.
"I don't think so," Hikari answered. The soft slippers padded to the large window, and she pulled back the heavy drapes to look at the glistening snow below. Already, the workers had been outside, clearing paths and shoveling the snow so they could get to the Monochromon, and now the paths of bare, dead grass crisscrossed their way through the snow covered grounds.
Hikari released her hold on the drapes, letting them fall back into place and blocking some of the blinding light that reflected off the snow. "If I dreamt anything I don't remember it. I'm not sure if I ought to be pleased."
###
About an hour and a half after they'd started, Miyako began to feel warm, and not because she was exerting herself. She wasn't really. The snow was deep ? it came as high as her knees ? but she walked in Hitoshi's wake and they went slowly so as not to exhaust themselves.
The sun felt stronger, and they could hear the sound of dripping water from the trees nearby. Miyako paused in her footsteps to listen. "Does it feel warmer to you?" she asked of no one in particular.
Hitoshi paused, leaning against the long branch he'd previously used as a shovel and now used as a walking stick. He was quiet for a few moments, assessing the temperature, which he hadn't paid much attention to before that.
"Come to think of it, it does," Hawkmon said. He'd been flying most of the way ? the snow was too deep for him to walk in if he'd wanted to ? but he now landed on the edge of the pack Miyako carried on her back.
"It does feel a bit warmer," Hitoshi agreed, removing his warm, woolen hat. "I hope it doesn't get too much warmer."
"Why not?" his Plotmon partner questioned from where he was, riding in his partner's backpack.
"If it gets too warm then the snow will all melt," the carriage driver replied. "Then we'll have to worry about floods." He shook his head to indicate that this was not a desirable situation.
"How much farther do you think we'll have to walk?" Miyako asked as they resumed their trek.
"Not too much farther, I should think, milady," Hitoshi called back over his shoulder. "No more than another hour. I hope there'll be someone in the village there to offer some food and drink to weary travelers."
###
Takeru had busied himself since midmorning, helping as best he could. He'd offered to assist in the kitchens, but had been turned away on the grounds that no one believed he was capable of producing anything edible.
After the hectic previous day, it was relatively calm in the infirmary, with only the worst cases of frostbite still needing major treatment. The snows slowly began to melt as the sun emerged, and search parties were organized to set out from the palace in search of those who could not be found, in the hopes that they would find living people and not simply bodies.
Come mealtime, however, extra hands were needed for serving, and so Takeru found himself doling out food to the many villagers who needed it. As the snows had begun to melt and travelers began to make their way to the village, those who had stayed behind were in need of food, and so it was decided that the new arrivals should be fed as well.
The endless stream of people slowly began to ebb, and almost two hours after the noon hour had passed, Takeru could finally take some of his own food to eat. He was serving himself when Hikari approached, carrying an empty bowl and examining some soup.
"It's not bad," Takeru informed her, "but this one's better." He gestured toward the pot of soup he was serving himself.
Hikari sniffed the concoction hesitantly, shut her eyes, and then nodded her agreement. "It does smell better," she said, and held out the bowl so that he could serve some. "Has there been any word? Of ? Miyako?"
Takeru had been present that morning when Hikari had told her brother of her concern for the missing Chosen. Immediately, Taichi had decided to send swift flying messengers to Jun and Lady Ichijouji to determine if Miyako had arrived safely.
"Nothing yet," Takeru answered. "I wish there was something that could be done, but with the roads as they are, the snow so deep, it's hardly safe to travel." He sighed, shaking his head.
They walked, carrying their bowls with them back to the dining hall. Now mostly emptied of the hundreds of villagers Takeru had served, there were only a few people remaining ? mostly those who had been working to help to make and serve the food. At the end of one of the long tables, though, was a single figure. A bowl of soup was on the table, another in his hand, and while he ate, he was studying a large volume.
"Have you made any progress?" Hikari questioned, and Daisuke looked up from his soup bowl and his book, shaking his head.
"None," he answered, shoving the book aside for a moment. He almost-slammed his empty bowl down on the table in a frustrated gesture. "Nothing at all. I'd wonder if I hadn't dreamt the whole thing up, except V-mon remembers as much as I do and I don't think we could both have the same dream." He frowned, considering for a moment, and then shrugged it off. "Has there been any word?" he asked, casing a concerned expression in the Princess' direction.
It was Takeru, however, who answered: "None yet."
###
In fact, Hitoshi's estimate was a bit optimistic, as it took nearly two hours of further walking before he and Miyako reached their destination. By the time they'd arrived, the sun had increased its power tremendously, and the snow had begun to melt in great amounts. The snow, which had before come to Miyako's knees ? and therefore causing the lower half of her skirt to be completely soaked with snow ? now barely reached her ankles, and as a result, large puddles were beginning to form. Rather than getting bogged in the snow, they were now bogged down in rather deep mud.
The ground was still frozen ? the warm spell not having been intense enough to thaw it, and so the water simply pooled on the surface of the ground rather than sink in, and so in the places where there was little mud, there were deep puddles.
When Miyako arrived at the tiny village, she was never so happy as to see a few ramshackle huts on the outskirts and a few farmers pulling Monochromon through the mud with great difficulty. It was too warm to wear her mittens, and she discarded the scarf as well, but she kept her cloak on her shoulders, though the heavy material felt far too warm in the increasing temperatures.
"How far do you think we are from Ichijouji Manor?" Miyako questioned of Hitoshi as they sloshed through the river the road had become on the way into the village.
For an answer, the carriage driver squinted in the bright sunlight and turned his head to the west. Miyako followed his gaze. Just beyond the village was a forest of fir trees, and beyond that she could see the dim shape of a building in the distance. "That's it over there, just beyond that forest," he answered. "Ordinarily? It'd take an hour to drive it, maybe two hours on foot. In this mud? We'll be lucky to arrive by nightfall." He shook his head grimly, frowning.
"Excuse me," said a voice nearby. "Did I hear you say you were in need of transportation?"
###
The Chosen who currently occupied the palace gathered to discuss Miyako's situation. A message had been returned from Lady Ichijouji, which reported that she'd had no visitors that day and had received no word on Miyako's location. It was then that Daisuke made a suggestion.
"You what?" Hikari asked, beginning to feel a bit lightheaded.
"Listen, Miyako wasn't even supposed to go in the first place," Daisuke reminded her. "I was. If I had gone, she wouldn't be out there ? who knows where ? who knows if she?s all right or not. Let me go and search for her. If she's alive, I'll find her."
"How would you do that?" Takeru wanted to know. "She could be anywhere, now."
"There aren't that many roads that travel to where she was going," Daisuke replied. "She'd have to be near one of them, right? It won't take long at all to search near them."
"That's possible," Yamato agreed. He stood, leaning against the wall, arms folded, and a skeptical expression on his face. "It's also possible that she's hours from the roads. In a storm like that? The snows become blinding. The driver could have become disoriented and traveled in the completely opposite direction." He glanced toward Iori and Mimi for confirmation ? both were from northern reaches of the kingdom where snows were common in the winter months and storms happened far more often.
"It's true, Daisuke," Mimi stated, a worried expression on her face. She was seated in a comfortable armchair, and she fidgeted as she spoke, her hands fiddling with a chain around her neck. "I've been caught in such storms. It's not possible to see."
"Then the digivice," Daisuke suggested, removing his from his pocket and holding it up as if to prove it existed. "If I get close enough, I'll be able to detect her."
"But what if you never get close enough?" Sora asked. Her voice was soft, barely above a whisper. Like Mimi, she sat, but instead of fidgeting, she?d been staring at her shoes, not really seeing anything that was there. She looked up now, as though snapping out of some sort of trance. "What if you can't get close enough to detect her? The digivices can only sense from so far away."
Koushiro spoke up: "The book, Daisuke," he reminded him, eyebrows raised slightly.
Frustrated, Daisuke clenched the fist that held his digivice. "Well, we must do something," he stated. "We can't just leave her for dead, can we?"
There was a long silence that followed this.
"No," Taichi said, just as Daisuke was about to open his mouth and announce that he was going to go anyway. Every head in the room turned to face him.
"No?" Hikari echoed, blankly, feeling lightheaded again.
"No," Taichi repeated. He leaned back in the chair he occupied. "He's right," he said then, nodding toward Daisuke. "We're hardly going to abandon Miyako if there's a chance she's alive and in need of help. However, I don't think it's wise that only one person go."
"I'm going," Daisuke put in before anyone could suggest otherwise. "If not for me, Miyako would be here, and so I'm going." When Koushiro opened his mouth to speak, he interrupted: "I'll bring the book with me if I have to, but I'm going."
There was a hesitant silence in the room as Daisuke's expression flatly dared anyone to disagree with him. "If you go, then I go," Hikari said then, surprising everyone in the room. "It was my idea that Miyako go in your place. I'm as much responsible for this as you are. I'm going as well."
Taichi sighed a long, suffering sort of sigh, but didn't bother to argue, just shook his head slightly. He glanced toward Yamato just as he stepped forward, not changing the position of his arms.
"I'll go as well."
###
Miyako turned her head toward the voice that asked the question. It appeared to have come from an oversized hat. She blinked a moment, and the hat moved.
"Hello," the voice said. "I am Wizarmon." The hat moved backward, allowing her to view the digimon beneath it. "If you are in need of transportation, I am eager to provide it."
"At what cost?" Hitoshi questioned. "Can we leave today?"
Wizarmon glanced upward. "Depends on where you wish to go. It may be best to leave today, before the snows melt. And, it may be best to leave tomorrow, after you've had some rest. Where do you wish to go?"
Hitoshi pointed one hand in the direction they were headed. "Ichijouji Manor," he answered. He glanced toward Miyako. "We don't need to rest, but it would be best if we found some food before we go. How soon can you be ready to depart?"
As his cloak covered all of his face aside from his eyes, it was impossible to precisely gage the digimon's expression. "Hmm," he said thoughtfully, mostly to himself. "Ichijouji Manor, you say? That's a bit of a haul. No direct road from this village. We'd either need to drive through the forest,? he pointed the direction Hitoshi had previously indicated, "or go back to the main road."
"If we head through the forest," Miyako thought aloud, "then we're likely to have to travel slower than on the roads. The mud will be thick."
"Aye," Hitoshi agreed. "Yet, if we travel back to the main road we may lose more time backtracking."
"All the same, it feels safer to go by the main road," she decided. Turning to Wizarmon, she said, "If you would give us a ride, we would gladly accept."
"I am happy to oblige," the digimon replied.
###
Less than two hours after the decision had been made, the three travelers set off from the castle in search of Miyako's trail. In the interest of speed, they'd decided it best to take along a small wagon, just large enough to carry the needed supplies, but it was decided it was best to travel slowly so that they might not miss any clues from the road. There was little daylight remaining by the time they left the castle, but they were eager to make progress while they could.
Yamato drove, as no one was eager to burden another with the task. Daisuke was relegated to the back of the uncovered wagon in the hopes that he might be able to make a few pages progress on the book. Hikari was left to watch the landscape closely for signs of previous travelers.
As she rode, Hikari began to feel that sun was increasing in power as the day wore on. The evidence of this was easy to see as well as feel. Much of the road had become slush or standing water. As the snow had melted and the temperature steadily rose throughout the day, the frozen ground had begun to thaw, mixing with the snow to make most of the road into thick mud. The going was slow. She began to feel an impending sense of nervousness, and not only for Miyako.
Yamato must have felt it to, for, between his grumbling, cajoling, and shouting at the Monochromon he was silent and sullen, glancing often back in the direction they had come and further north, as though he thought something might be coming. When they'd freed the wagon from the tenth mud puddle in two hours, he climbed back on, heaving a heavy sigh. "Does it feel strange?" he questioned of no one in particular.
"Strange?" Gabumon asked, looking up. He'd been lounging over the edge of the wagon, staring blankly at the horizon and wondering if it might be an ideal time for a nap. His partner's question woke him from his doze. "How so?"
"Warmer," Yamato replied. "Much warmer than it ought to be after a blizzard." He'd already removed his scarf and unfastened his coat. Now, he wondered if he ought to remove the coat as well.
"It does," Hikari answered. She was removing her hat as she spoke, tossing it toward the back of the cart.
Tailmon shrugged, unconcerned. "Spring often brings change, and abrupt change," she reminded them. "Strange weather is normal for this time of year."
"That's true," her partner agreed, "but this feels even stranger." As she spoke, Hikari put out a hand and caught a tiny falling snowflake. Despite the warmth, it didn't melt in her hand for a few moments, and it didn't feel particularly cold.
"More snow?" Yamato asked, noticing a flake fall within his line of vision. He looked up, toward the sky, but it was bright and sunny ? the orange-red sun was slowly sinking.
Daisuke had been trying to concentrate, and had read three more pages without jarring his memory when something fell on the page of his book. He stared at it for a moment before it disappeared, leaving a tiny spot on the paper.
"What's this - ?" he wondered, looking up at the sky. It was blue, with only a wisp of cloud, far up, almost out of sight. He sat, reclining against the wall of the wagon, comfortably wrapped in a warm coat, the blanket he'd been using tossed aside, unnoticed, when he'd felt warmer. He craned his neck backward and caught a glimpse of a few tiny dots in the sky. "Snow?"
A flake landed directly on his nose, as though to confirm his question. He stared at it for a moment. It didn't feel cold to him, only soft and light, and tickled his nose a bit. Then it evaporated, leaving only a tiny wet dot in its wake. He wiped his nose.
"It's too warm for snow," V-mon said, but it didn't seem to matter because the snow was falling steadily now.
Daisuke scrambled to his knees and then to his feet and went to the front of the wagon, reaching it just as the wheels became stuck in some thick mud, bringing the vehicle to an abrupt halt. The Monochromon groaned and whined, straining against their harnesses, and Yamato mumbled a curse under his breath, on the verge of shouting. He let go of the reigns and dropped to the ground in one even leap, heading for the back so that he could push.
Hikari didn't seem to have noticed the stop. She was staring upwards at the sky, watching the snow fall, occasionally putting out a hand to catch a few flakes, as though if she didn't touch them she wouldn't believe they were real.
"Yah!" Yamato shouted before Daisuke could say anything. He shoved, hard, against the back of the wagon, enough to jolt those within, though not to free the wheels from the mud. "Daisuke, get out here and help me!"
The spell was broken. Daisuke winced, but turned and headed toward the back of the wagon. "Should we stop soon, anyway?" he questioned. "It's nearly dark ? we won't find much in the dark."
Yamato glared at him as he dropped to the ground. Through narrowed eyes he asked: "Do you want to stop here and make camp in the mud?"
Daisuke's feet had landed on a soft substance. He looked down and saw that he was up to his ankles in mud, and found himself thankful for boots that rose up to mid-shin. He made a face. "No...," he answered. He pulled his feet free and moved himself to the other side of the wagon, ready to push.
###
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Part Three: The Roads Less Traveled...
###
Standard Disclaimer Thingie: Digimon, all related characters and merchandise are not mine. This plot is. Mostly. Don't steal it. Don't sue me. Read on!
###
The wind was whipping about dangerously, and the carriage had trouble staying upright. Even with no experience in weather-magic, Miyako could sense the storm coming and knew that she'd have no way to avoid it. Trying to stay calm, she poked her head out the window.
The clouds were growing darker by the second, and the wind stronger. Still many hours away from her destination, they were certain to get caught in the brewing storm. "Is there a place to stop near here, to get shelter?" she called to the driver. In the winds, he was having difficulty staying upon his perch atop the carriage.
"None that I know of, milady," he replied. "We passed the nearest village an hour ago, and the next one's not for some distance."
Miyako shivered. The air was growing steadily colder, and flurries were beginning to fall. "What should we do?" she wondered, half to herself.
"We'd best stop at any rate, milady," the driver answered. "If we keep going, the Monochromon are likely to freeze. If it's a bad enough storm, we may lose our way, too."
"It sounds like the best plan," Hawkmon put in. "The winds are strong; we may be in for a blizzard."
"This late in the season?" Miyako wondered, but she couldn?t dispute the evidence ? a storm was definitely approaching.
"Stranger weather has happened, milady," the driver commented. "Shall I find a place to stop?"
"Yes," she answered. "Find a place off the road, as safe as you can, and then come inside this carriage before the snow starts. The Monochromon - ."
"There's not much that can be done for them," he finished. "They're hearty creatures, they may survive the storm."
###
Daisuke felt the blood rush to his head. He leaned back in his chair, suddenly light headed. "I ? I'd forgotten," he confessed, his voice an almost-whisper.
"So had I," Hikari said. She was definitely pale now, and cold, even so close to the fire, wrapped in the blanket. "Do you think - ?"
"No," he answered sharply before she'd finished the question. He sat up, turned to face her, and took one of her hands in his own. Her skin felt cold and clammy to the touch. "Miyako knows how to take care of herself, I'm certain of it. She's survived storms in the wilderness with the rest of us, and she's survived sandstorms in the desert. She's got magic on her side now, don't forget."
"Yes," Hikari agreed, slowly, "but, in a carriage on a road, she'll be defenseless and without shelter. She can put a shield up against the winds, but for how long? And the cold? What good can magic do against that? She'll surely freeze ? possibly have frozen by now, even." She shivered again, and shut her eyes.
###
Miyako awoke shortly after the sun rose, peeking through the ice covered window of the carriage to fall upon her face. She was wrapped tightly in her warm cloak and covered again with a blanket that she was lucky enough to have found stored within the carriage, along with an emergency lantern that had been their only heat through the night.
Hawkmon was already awake, shivering slightly but hopping up and down and flapping his wings in order to warm himself. The lantern was lit, but Hitoshi, the carriage driver, had gone out, she assumed, to check on the Monochromon. His partner, a small and quiet Plotmon, remained inside, dozing near the lantern.
There had been only a little food for them to eat the previous evening ? only what each had brought with them. The trip had promised to be quick and easy, and they were to have arrived in time for the evening meal, so they'd packed the food lightly, and it was only by luck that neither had eaten before the storm began. Thus, they had enough to last through dinner, but not enough for breakfast the next morning.
The carriage door didn't seem eager to open, but a hard shove helped force the matter, and Miyako stepped outside into the glitteringly bright world. She squinted through the sunlight and made her way down into the snow.
Hitoshi was attempting, with little success, to shovel out the wheels of the carriage. He halted his work when he saw Miyako approach, wiping the sweat from his brow. "I don't know that this will make a difference, milady," he said when he'd caught his breath. "The snow is deep."
The snow was deep, coming high enough to cover the wheels, although farther off it seemed to have drifted higher in some places and lower in others. Miyako shivered, rubbing her arms. She looked around, and could see nothing but snow for a fair distance. Sighing, she said: "We can't stay here too much longer. We haven't any food, and it's cold."
Hitoshi nodded solemnly. "We won't get very far on this," he said, gesturing to the carriage. "Unless you know how to get it free. Digging won't work, especially as I haven't got a good shovel." He held up the stick he'd been using.
She sighed once more and massaged her temples, exhausted with the thought of how much magic it might take to melt that much snow. "I don't know that I could get it free," she answered, "and even if I could, we'd hardly be able to go very far."
"The only thing left then is to walk," Hawkmon put in from the carriage doorway. He turned toward Hitoshi. "Do you know how far it is to the nearest village where we might find shelter?"
The stout driver thought for a moment. "On foot, at least an hour's walk or more. It may be too cold to attempt. And it may take longer than that, with how deep the snow is."
"Still, if it's our only chance, then we must do it," Miyako concluded. "Pack everything up you can carry, and let's go."
###
By early morning, the sun was again peeking through the thin cloud cover that remained. When mid-morning came, the sun was again at full strength, and some of the snow was already beginning to melt, causing great lumps of snow to crash to the ground after sliding off of rooftops.
Hikari awoke feeling warmer than she thought she ought to, with a nagging feeling somewhere inside the pit of her stomach. She felt disoriented, and wasn't eager to leave her bed. Slowly, she sat up and was not entirely surprised to discover that she felt a bit nauseous. She laid down again, then, and looked up at the ceiling.
After a few moments, the nausea had abated slightly, and she sat up again. This time, she felt better. Tailmon, sleeping at the foot of the bed, uncurled herself and yawned, arching her back as she stretched, waking. Her big blue eyes blinked in the bright sunlight as she gently combed her tousled fur with her claws.
Slowly, lest the nausea return, Hikari pushed the covers back and swung her legs over the side of the bed. The cold air surprised her, as did the wooden floor. She shivered and suppressed an urge to dive back between the blankets again. Laying about wouldn't get anything done, she thought sensibly as she slid her feet into the warm slippers that waited beside the bed. A warm robe was hung on the bedpost, and she pulled it over her shoulders, grateful for the protection it offered against the cold.
"Did you dream?" Tailmon questioned, pausing in her grooming to peer intently at her partner.
"I don't think so," Hikari answered. The soft slippers padded to the large window, and she pulled back the heavy drapes to look at the glistening snow below. Already, the workers had been outside, clearing paths and shoveling the snow so they could get to the Monochromon, and now the paths of bare, dead grass crisscrossed their way through the snow covered grounds.
Hikari released her hold on the drapes, letting them fall back into place and blocking some of the blinding light that reflected off the snow. "If I dreamt anything I don't remember it. I'm not sure if I ought to be pleased."
###
About an hour and a half after they'd started, Miyako began to feel warm, and not because she was exerting herself. She wasn't really. The snow was deep ? it came as high as her knees ? but she walked in Hitoshi's wake and they went slowly so as not to exhaust themselves.
The sun felt stronger, and they could hear the sound of dripping water from the trees nearby. Miyako paused in her footsteps to listen. "Does it feel warmer to you?" she asked of no one in particular.
Hitoshi paused, leaning against the long branch he'd previously used as a shovel and now used as a walking stick. He was quiet for a few moments, assessing the temperature, which he hadn't paid much attention to before that.
"Come to think of it, it does," Hawkmon said. He'd been flying most of the way ? the snow was too deep for him to walk in if he'd wanted to ? but he now landed on the edge of the pack Miyako carried on her back.
"It does feel a bit warmer," Hitoshi agreed, removing his warm, woolen hat. "I hope it doesn't get too much warmer."
"Why not?" his Plotmon partner questioned from where he was, riding in his partner's backpack.
"If it gets too warm then the snow will all melt," the carriage driver replied. "Then we'll have to worry about floods." He shook his head to indicate that this was not a desirable situation.
"How much farther do you think we'll have to walk?" Miyako asked as they resumed their trek.
"Not too much farther, I should think, milady," Hitoshi called back over his shoulder. "No more than another hour. I hope there'll be someone in the village there to offer some food and drink to weary travelers."
###
Takeru had busied himself since midmorning, helping as best he could. He'd offered to assist in the kitchens, but had been turned away on the grounds that no one believed he was capable of producing anything edible.
After the hectic previous day, it was relatively calm in the infirmary, with only the worst cases of frostbite still needing major treatment. The snows slowly began to melt as the sun emerged, and search parties were organized to set out from the palace in search of those who could not be found, in the hopes that they would find living people and not simply bodies.
Come mealtime, however, extra hands were needed for serving, and so Takeru found himself doling out food to the many villagers who needed it. As the snows had begun to melt and travelers began to make their way to the village, those who had stayed behind were in need of food, and so it was decided that the new arrivals should be fed as well.
The endless stream of people slowly began to ebb, and almost two hours after the noon hour had passed, Takeru could finally take some of his own food to eat. He was serving himself when Hikari approached, carrying an empty bowl and examining some soup.
"It's not bad," Takeru informed her, "but this one's better." He gestured toward the pot of soup he was serving himself.
Hikari sniffed the concoction hesitantly, shut her eyes, and then nodded her agreement. "It does smell better," she said, and held out the bowl so that he could serve some. "Has there been any word? Of ? Miyako?"
Takeru had been present that morning when Hikari had told her brother of her concern for the missing Chosen. Immediately, Taichi had decided to send swift flying messengers to Jun and Lady Ichijouji to determine if Miyako had arrived safely.
"Nothing yet," Takeru answered. "I wish there was something that could be done, but with the roads as they are, the snow so deep, it's hardly safe to travel." He sighed, shaking his head.
They walked, carrying their bowls with them back to the dining hall. Now mostly emptied of the hundreds of villagers Takeru had served, there were only a few people remaining ? mostly those who had been working to help to make and serve the food. At the end of one of the long tables, though, was a single figure. A bowl of soup was on the table, another in his hand, and while he ate, he was studying a large volume.
"Have you made any progress?" Hikari questioned, and Daisuke looked up from his soup bowl and his book, shaking his head.
"None," he answered, shoving the book aside for a moment. He almost-slammed his empty bowl down on the table in a frustrated gesture. "Nothing at all. I'd wonder if I hadn't dreamt the whole thing up, except V-mon remembers as much as I do and I don't think we could both have the same dream." He frowned, considering for a moment, and then shrugged it off. "Has there been any word?" he asked, casing a concerned expression in the Princess' direction.
It was Takeru, however, who answered: "None yet."
###
In fact, Hitoshi's estimate was a bit optimistic, as it took nearly two hours of further walking before he and Miyako reached their destination. By the time they'd arrived, the sun had increased its power tremendously, and the snow had begun to melt in great amounts. The snow, which had before come to Miyako's knees ? and therefore causing the lower half of her skirt to be completely soaked with snow ? now barely reached her ankles, and as a result, large puddles were beginning to form. Rather than getting bogged in the snow, they were now bogged down in rather deep mud.
The ground was still frozen ? the warm spell not having been intense enough to thaw it, and so the water simply pooled on the surface of the ground rather than sink in, and so in the places where there was little mud, there were deep puddles.
When Miyako arrived at the tiny village, she was never so happy as to see a few ramshackle huts on the outskirts and a few farmers pulling Monochromon through the mud with great difficulty. It was too warm to wear her mittens, and she discarded the scarf as well, but she kept her cloak on her shoulders, though the heavy material felt far too warm in the increasing temperatures.
"How far do you think we are from Ichijouji Manor?" Miyako questioned of Hitoshi as they sloshed through the river the road had become on the way into the village.
For an answer, the carriage driver squinted in the bright sunlight and turned his head to the west. Miyako followed his gaze. Just beyond the village was a forest of fir trees, and beyond that she could see the dim shape of a building in the distance. "That's it over there, just beyond that forest," he answered. "Ordinarily? It'd take an hour to drive it, maybe two hours on foot. In this mud? We'll be lucky to arrive by nightfall." He shook his head grimly, frowning.
"Excuse me," said a voice nearby. "Did I hear you say you were in need of transportation?"
###
The Chosen who currently occupied the palace gathered to discuss Miyako's situation. A message had been returned from Lady Ichijouji, which reported that she'd had no visitors that day and had received no word on Miyako's location. It was then that Daisuke made a suggestion.
"You what?" Hikari asked, beginning to feel a bit lightheaded.
"Listen, Miyako wasn't even supposed to go in the first place," Daisuke reminded her. "I was. If I had gone, she wouldn't be out there ? who knows where ? who knows if she?s all right or not. Let me go and search for her. If she's alive, I'll find her."
"How would you do that?" Takeru wanted to know. "She could be anywhere, now."
"There aren't that many roads that travel to where she was going," Daisuke replied. "She'd have to be near one of them, right? It won't take long at all to search near them."
"That's possible," Yamato agreed. He stood, leaning against the wall, arms folded, and a skeptical expression on his face. "It's also possible that she's hours from the roads. In a storm like that? The snows become blinding. The driver could have become disoriented and traveled in the completely opposite direction." He glanced toward Iori and Mimi for confirmation ? both were from northern reaches of the kingdom where snows were common in the winter months and storms happened far more often.
"It's true, Daisuke," Mimi stated, a worried expression on her face. She was seated in a comfortable armchair, and she fidgeted as she spoke, her hands fiddling with a chain around her neck. "I've been caught in such storms. It's not possible to see."
"Then the digivice," Daisuke suggested, removing his from his pocket and holding it up as if to prove it existed. "If I get close enough, I'll be able to detect her."
"But what if you never get close enough?" Sora asked. Her voice was soft, barely above a whisper. Like Mimi, she sat, but instead of fidgeting, she?d been staring at her shoes, not really seeing anything that was there. She looked up now, as though snapping out of some sort of trance. "What if you can't get close enough to detect her? The digivices can only sense from so far away."
Koushiro spoke up: "The book, Daisuke," he reminded him, eyebrows raised slightly.
Frustrated, Daisuke clenched the fist that held his digivice. "Well, we must do something," he stated. "We can't just leave her for dead, can we?"
There was a long silence that followed this.
"No," Taichi said, just as Daisuke was about to open his mouth and announce that he was going to go anyway. Every head in the room turned to face him.
"No?" Hikari echoed, blankly, feeling lightheaded again.
"No," Taichi repeated. He leaned back in the chair he occupied. "He's right," he said then, nodding toward Daisuke. "We're hardly going to abandon Miyako if there's a chance she's alive and in need of help. However, I don't think it's wise that only one person go."
"I'm going," Daisuke put in before anyone could suggest otherwise. "If not for me, Miyako would be here, and so I'm going." When Koushiro opened his mouth to speak, he interrupted: "I'll bring the book with me if I have to, but I'm going."
There was a hesitant silence in the room as Daisuke's expression flatly dared anyone to disagree with him. "If you go, then I go," Hikari said then, surprising everyone in the room. "It was my idea that Miyako go in your place. I'm as much responsible for this as you are. I'm going as well."
Taichi sighed a long, suffering sort of sigh, but didn't bother to argue, just shook his head slightly. He glanced toward Yamato just as he stepped forward, not changing the position of his arms.
"I'll go as well."
###
Miyako turned her head toward the voice that asked the question. It appeared to have come from an oversized hat. She blinked a moment, and the hat moved.
"Hello," the voice said. "I am Wizarmon." The hat moved backward, allowing her to view the digimon beneath it. "If you are in need of transportation, I am eager to provide it."
"At what cost?" Hitoshi questioned. "Can we leave today?"
Wizarmon glanced upward. "Depends on where you wish to go. It may be best to leave today, before the snows melt. And, it may be best to leave tomorrow, after you've had some rest. Where do you wish to go?"
Hitoshi pointed one hand in the direction they were headed. "Ichijouji Manor," he answered. He glanced toward Miyako. "We don't need to rest, but it would be best if we found some food before we go. How soon can you be ready to depart?"
As his cloak covered all of his face aside from his eyes, it was impossible to precisely gage the digimon's expression. "Hmm," he said thoughtfully, mostly to himself. "Ichijouji Manor, you say? That's a bit of a haul. No direct road from this village. We'd either need to drive through the forest,? he pointed the direction Hitoshi had previously indicated, "or go back to the main road."
"If we head through the forest," Miyako thought aloud, "then we're likely to have to travel slower than on the roads. The mud will be thick."
"Aye," Hitoshi agreed. "Yet, if we travel back to the main road we may lose more time backtracking."
"All the same, it feels safer to go by the main road," she decided. Turning to Wizarmon, she said, "If you would give us a ride, we would gladly accept."
"I am happy to oblige," the digimon replied.
###
Less than two hours after the decision had been made, the three travelers set off from the castle in search of Miyako's trail. In the interest of speed, they'd decided it best to take along a small wagon, just large enough to carry the needed supplies, but it was decided it was best to travel slowly so that they might not miss any clues from the road. There was little daylight remaining by the time they left the castle, but they were eager to make progress while they could.
Yamato drove, as no one was eager to burden another with the task. Daisuke was relegated to the back of the uncovered wagon in the hopes that he might be able to make a few pages progress on the book. Hikari was left to watch the landscape closely for signs of previous travelers.
As she rode, Hikari began to feel that sun was increasing in power as the day wore on. The evidence of this was easy to see as well as feel. Much of the road had become slush or standing water. As the snow had melted and the temperature steadily rose throughout the day, the frozen ground had begun to thaw, mixing with the snow to make most of the road into thick mud. The going was slow. She began to feel an impending sense of nervousness, and not only for Miyako.
Yamato must have felt it to, for, between his grumbling, cajoling, and shouting at the Monochromon he was silent and sullen, glancing often back in the direction they had come and further north, as though he thought something might be coming. When they'd freed the wagon from the tenth mud puddle in two hours, he climbed back on, heaving a heavy sigh. "Does it feel strange?" he questioned of no one in particular.
"Strange?" Gabumon asked, looking up. He'd been lounging over the edge of the wagon, staring blankly at the horizon and wondering if it might be an ideal time for a nap. His partner's question woke him from his doze. "How so?"
"Warmer," Yamato replied. "Much warmer than it ought to be after a blizzard." He'd already removed his scarf and unfastened his coat. Now, he wondered if he ought to remove the coat as well.
"It does," Hikari answered. She was removing her hat as she spoke, tossing it toward the back of the cart.
Tailmon shrugged, unconcerned. "Spring often brings change, and abrupt change," she reminded them. "Strange weather is normal for this time of year."
"That's true," her partner agreed, "but this feels even stranger." As she spoke, Hikari put out a hand and caught a tiny falling snowflake. Despite the warmth, it didn't melt in her hand for a few moments, and it didn't feel particularly cold.
"More snow?" Yamato asked, noticing a flake fall within his line of vision. He looked up, toward the sky, but it was bright and sunny ? the orange-red sun was slowly sinking.
Daisuke had been trying to concentrate, and had read three more pages without jarring his memory when something fell on the page of his book. He stared at it for a moment before it disappeared, leaving a tiny spot on the paper.
"What's this - ?" he wondered, looking up at the sky. It was blue, with only a wisp of cloud, far up, almost out of sight. He sat, reclining against the wall of the wagon, comfortably wrapped in a warm coat, the blanket he'd been using tossed aside, unnoticed, when he'd felt warmer. He craned his neck backward and caught a glimpse of a few tiny dots in the sky. "Snow?"
A flake landed directly on his nose, as though to confirm his question. He stared at it for a moment. It didn't feel cold to him, only soft and light, and tickled his nose a bit. Then it evaporated, leaving only a tiny wet dot in its wake. He wiped his nose.
"It's too warm for snow," V-mon said, but it didn't seem to matter because the snow was falling steadily now.
Daisuke scrambled to his knees and then to his feet and went to the front of the wagon, reaching it just as the wheels became stuck in some thick mud, bringing the vehicle to an abrupt halt. The Monochromon groaned and whined, straining against their harnesses, and Yamato mumbled a curse under his breath, on the verge of shouting. He let go of the reigns and dropped to the ground in one even leap, heading for the back so that he could push.
Hikari didn't seem to have noticed the stop. She was staring upwards at the sky, watching the snow fall, occasionally putting out a hand to catch a few flakes, as though if she didn't touch them she wouldn't believe they were real.
"Yah!" Yamato shouted before Daisuke could say anything. He shoved, hard, against the back of the wagon, enough to jolt those within, though not to free the wheels from the mud. "Daisuke, get out here and help me!"
The spell was broken. Daisuke winced, but turned and headed toward the back of the wagon. "Should we stop soon, anyway?" he questioned. "It's nearly dark ? we won't find much in the dark."
Yamato glared at him as he dropped to the ground. Through narrowed eyes he asked: "Do you want to stop here and make camp in the mud?"
Daisuke's feet had landed on a soft substance. He looked down and saw that he was up to his ankles in mud, and found himself thankful for boots that rose up to mid-shin. He made a face. "No...," he answered. He pulled his feet free and moved himself to the other side of the wagon, ready to push.
###
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