Enter The Light
Part Thirty: The Trader Xiao
Standard Disclaimer Thingie: Plotmine, charactersnot mine. Don't steal, don't sue, don't forget to Moo.
From dawn onward, Iori had been working, and by the time the sun was about to sink in the western sky the sweat had beaded on his forehead and he was feeling quite warm despite the chill still present in the northern air. He climbed down from the roof he had been helping to repair, wiping his brow and turning to see the rest of the village.
It was a miracle that no one in the village had died or been badly injured. A few of the elderly people had some more serious burns, the result of not being able to move quickly enough to escape their homes before the fire reached them, and quite a few people, including Iori and Ami, had inhaled far too much smoke than was good for anyone, but by and large the injuries were minor. The village itself had taken a great beating, however. Many homes were completely destroyed and most all of them suffered fire damage or had lost walls and many belongings. In a village of only a little more than two hundred people, no one had escaped unscathed.
While Koushiro had buried himself in his book, searching for a clue to the reason and origin of the Tyrannomon attack, Iori had decided to take things into his own hands. He'd first commissioned their driver to return to the palace with a report of what had happened and a request for help. He hoped that the request would be answered with a fleet of Piyomon messengers, as there were none in the village, and wagons full of supplies.
In the meantime, however, the villagers themselves had decided to immediately begin the process of rebuilding. The forest nearby held plenty of trees, and a large group of them immediately went to cut lumber for wood so that homes and shops could be rebuilt. Iori joined up with a group of women, led by Ami's vivacious grandmother, and they began to work through the debris, clearing aside piles of splintered wood that had once been walls and furniture. Much of it could be saved for firewood, and they built a huge bonfire in what had been the town square, keeping warm and cooking plenty of food in its flames.
A nagging thought kept poking at the back of his mind as he worked, though, and Iori kept glancing toward the skies, toward the forest that surrounded the village, feeling that three Tyrannomon would not be the last of the attacks on this place.
There were a great deal of people hurrying through the corridors that Sora had never seen hurrying through the corridors before. She glanced toward Piyomon, concerned, but her partner was as clueless as she.
"Something's happened," she said.
"Another attack, do you suppose?" Piyomon wondered.
"No, no," Sora disagreed, stepping aside quickly as a group of men quickly hurried past, narrowly avoiding her, seeming not to notice her existence. "This is something else besides."
"Perhaps a particularly devastating attack," her partner suggested, turning her head to watch as the small crowd rushed down the hall. "Should we try to find out more?"
The crowd of men disappeared around the corner. Sora stared down the empty hall for a moment, then turned in the opposite direction. "If there's something that we need to know, I'm sure that we'll be told before long," she decided, but her mind did not leave the matter. Instead, she thought about it for much of the rest of the day, keeping it at the back of her thoughts through everything else that she did that day.
It would have been a quiet day otherwise. The sun was bright and the sky clear, the weather slowly continuing its warming trend. Sora spent much of the day with Momoe, walking in the gardens, sitting quietly in the sun. After some time, Mimi joined them, an anxious expression on her face, but she didn't seem inclined to discuss it, and so they kept up their small talk and gossip and tried to think of other things.
Sometime in late afternoon, however, explanation appeared in the form of Yamato, who appeared at the edge of the garden they'd been sitting in for several hours now. Sora could tell by simply looking at him that something was wrong, she hadn't imagined it, because he looked as though he'd spent a very busy morning. His clothes had been of the sort intended to look respectable and nice, but he'd removed his jacket and not bothered to replace it. His tunic had come un-tucked and wrinkled, his hair was standing almost straight up, and his face had a look of exhaustion to it. Sora caught his eye the moment he entered. Without interrupting Mimi and Momoe, who were engaged in an animated discussion, Sora got to her feet and made her way to the edge of the garden.
"Something's happened, hasn't it?" she said, her voice barely a whisper. "Has there been another attack? Something worse? I know there's something, even Mimi's aware of it."
Yamato frowned deeply and inclined his head back in the direction of the palace, indicating silently that he didn't think it would be the best thing to discuss in this place. Glancing back toward Mimi and Momoe briefly, Sora followed him as quickly as she was able. Only when they had gone inside and a door shut behind them, the conversation from distant rooms dim and quiet, did he speak.
"It seems there's been an attack, although minor, in Hida."
"Hida…where Iori and Koushiro went?"
"Right." He nodded, gesturing that she should follow him as he made his way down the hall. "It's not certain yet if it's the same sort of attack. It seems there were only three Tyrannomon involved."
"Three? That's all?" Sora's eyes were wide. "Nothing else? They've sent nearly – no, more than an army's worth to every place else!"
"That's why it's not certain if it's the same group. Iori sent their driver back almost as soon as they'd arrived, and he reports that between he and Koushiro both there were only three Tyrannomon spotted. He does report extensive damage to the village, but it's a very tiny village. There's almost no buildings undamaged, and all the townspeople have gathered in the abandoned, yet unharmed, home of the last Lord of Hida, long gone."
Sora absorbed this as they turned a corner. After a brief moment, she said "They need lots of help."
"What they need is a virtual army to rebuild the entire village, and the need someone to oversee the village. There's no magistrate, no Lord, no Lady, virtually no leadership aside from one elderly woman. There are no doctors, no medics, and no nurses. They needed assistance long before the Tyrannomon attacked."
"What happened to the last Lord of Hida? Why did no one take his place?"
Yamato shook his head. "History and politics are not my best subjects, but it seems that the last Lord of Hida died nearly twenty years ago. The title was passed on to his niece, who was married to a Lord in the Northern Kingdom and showed no interest in tending to properties in Yagami." He sighed. "According to Iori, local legend has it that she stayed for a day or so and then left, claiming the manor was haunted. She's not been seen since. We could try to get in touch with her, but it would take longer to send word to her in the Northern Kingdom than it would to send an army to Hida."
"So you're sending an army?" Sora paused in the middle of the hallway to stare openly at him. Yamato grinned slyly.
"So to speak," he answered. "He wants to see you."
"To see me?" she echoed. As Yamato had already resumed walking, she hurried to follow him. "He – does he want me to go to Hida?"
"I've no idea what he wants with you," Yamato returned vaguely, shrugging lightly, not glancing in her direction. "He only told me to go and find you and to do so with all speed. There was a look in his eyes that I'm not usually fond of arguing with."
"Yamato. You're scaring me. There's something you're not telling me." Sora felt a shiver travel down her spine. She hesitated briefly in the hall. He turned again to face her, the same sly smile crossing his face.
"Of course," he said. "I left the interesting parts for him to tell you himself."
"This place?" Hikari questioned, her eyes opened wider than it seemed possible.
She was halfway out the door of the carriage they had taken to expedite their travel through the village in search of any sort of sign of a crystal when she'd stopped, suddenly apparently amazed by that which was before her.
Miyako, who had climbed out before her, stated with certainty, "Yes. There's a great deal of some sort of magic coming from very near here," She then glanced back in her direction and was surprised by what she saw. "Do you know this place?"
"Not officially, no," Hikari said hesitantly, taking the final step down from the carriage so that Takeru could follow. She looked back past him toward the last person climbing from the carriage, wondering if she'd see any recognition on Daisuke's face.
"So, unofficially," Takeru put in, frowning as he gazed over the small house that stood before them, "you've been here?" He glanced in her direction and saw the way her gaze traveled and followed it.
"Unofficially, yes," Daisuke said, frowning. He looked away from the tiny hut and met Hikari's eyes. "I remember this."
There was a moment of silence. Hikari turned away from him after it had passed and asked Miyako, "So, the crystal is beneath the house? Inside the house? Above the house? Part of the house?"
The young mage pushed her spectacles down her nose and squinted at the house. "I'm not sure. I think I would have to go inside to be certain." Glasses still perched on the tip of her nose, she said, dryly, "I daresay one of you might be able to gain us entry without difficulty?"
"I don't know why this should surprise me so," Hikari mused, an expression of thought on her face. "The boy who found the digivice lives here."
"Here?" Miyako echoed, one eyebrow raised. "That is an interesting coincidence."
"You'll find it even more interesting, then, that he and Daisuke have met," she said, glancing again in his direction.
All eyes turned toward Daisuke, who had not completely followed the conversation. "Somehow, that doesn't surprise me," Takeru noted dryly. Patamon poked his head with one paw. "It seems rather like you to make friends with the villagers."
"No," Miyako said, shaking her head. "That's too convenient to be a coincidence…."
"And yet, there it is," Hikari said, grinning. To Daisuke, as an explanation, she said, "It was Shijo and Maigo who found your digivice. In the ruins of the prison that was destroyed. They brought it to Miyako, who brought it to me…and to you."
"Shijo?" Daisuke echoed, eyes growing wide. Hikari was pleased. It seemed that he was remembering, had remembered him and that part of his past.
The door of the hut was opening slowly, one of the inhabitants undoubtedly drawn to the sound of conversation outside his or her home. A small girl's face appeared in the doorway, her eyes wide in her small face as she stared at the strangers. Hikari reached out, took Takeru's arm in her hand and nudged him back a few steps. After a moment, Miyako followed. The girl's eyes peered over those who stood before her and then a memory of her own lit up in her mind and a smile broke out on her face.
"You do live!" she cried cheerfully and, shyness and fear forgotten, she pushed the door open the rest of the way and darted forward on her small legs. When she'd reached Daisuke, she wasted no time with decorum or awkwardness but simply wrapped both her arms around his legs and squeezed tightly.
After only a moment of hesitation, during which he glanced briefly at Hikari, who, having seen him this way before, smiled in encouragement, he bent and lifted the small girl in his arms, greeting her as though he had never forgotten a thing.
"Did you think I was dead?" he asked her when she had released her hold on his neck enough for him to breathe again. "It hasn't been that long, has it?"
"Months and months," the girl answered him solemnly. "You're going to stay a bit now, aren't you?"
"For a bit, I think," he answered, noting that the door had opened and a slightly larger boy had appeared in the entranceway, similarly staring at the visitor as though he were seeing a ghost. Daisuke let himself forget that he had forgotten and said, cheerfully, "Hello Kodo. I'm not a ghost."
The boy giggled, apparently finding such a notion hilarious, and then ran forward to offer hugs of greetings, which they were still in the midst of when a woman, obviously the mother of both children, appeared in the door.
"Every time you come here you tell me you're all right," she said, her voice a mix of relief despite her scolding tone. "Yet then you go away for even longer. I'm not supposed to worry?"
Something about her tone of voice changed him. Daisuke set down the girl he had been holding and got to his feet. "No ma'am," he said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.
Though he was not dressed opulently, nor was he dressed in any sort of rags, and though his different appearance had not concerned her children, Hikari suspected that Mama would not be so quick to overlook any obvious change in him. Still, it was time she knew the truth about him, and if he didn't tell her, the news would surely reach her by way of her sons, who were both still staying at the palace. Sure enough, the next thing that the woman did was to notice his change of dress and the fact that a carriage waited a few steps behind.
"Who…are you? What's happened to you? Something's different."
"Yes ma'am," he said, again sheepishly rubbing his neck. As though aware of the action, he abruptly stopped the motion, stood up straight and shoved both arms behind his back. "I haven't been truthful with you. I think that I should, now."
"About what?" piped up the small boy, who was helping his younger sister to her feet. "About how you got such nice clothes?"
Daisuke took a deep breath, and Hikari could see that, although it was not going to be an easy task, he was determined to do this on his own. So, although she wanted to, she didn't step forward to help him in any way.
He glanced briefly at the clothing he wore and turned toward the boy. "Well, yes," he answered.
"How'd you get them?" the little girl questioned. "Can you get some for me?"
The question seemed to stun him for a moment. Her brother poked the small girl sharply, but she didn't withdraw the question. "I could," he said after a moment. "I should have already. I'm sorry."
"So where'd you get them?" the boy asked. "Did you steal them?" His mother, to whom such a notion had not yet occurred, gasped aloud.
"No!" he said quickly, emphatically. "I haven't stolen anything. These are mine."
"So how'd you get them, then?" the boy questioned, frowning, narrowing his eyes.
"My father," he answered truthfully. "My father arranged for them. Look, I'm not who you think I am. I don't live in this village…I live up there." It was the easiest, fastest way to explain everything that he was, and so he did so, pointing toward the hill on the edge of the village, the hill atop rested the house from which they had traveled that morning.
"You work up there?" the boy said, eyes wide.
"No, dummy!" his sister said, poking him as he had poked her earlier. "He said he lives there. That's his house."
"No," the boy said. "Can't be!"
"Well, it's not mine, really," Daisuke agreed, glancing toward their mother out of the corner of his eye. "It's my father's."
"No," the boy said again, shaking his head. "That can't be. You couldn't be…that would mean that your father is the Lord of the village, and that can't be."
"Why not?" the girl retorted, putting both hands on her hips.
"Because if his father is the Lord of the village, why would he come down here and play with us?" he returned, waving both arms for emphasis. This seemed to stun her for the moment, and then both children turned toward him, questions in their eyes.
"Good question," Takeru mumbled softly. This time Miyako poked him. He frowned toward her, but fell silent at once.
"Because I like spending time with you," Daisuke finally said. "You're fun."
"We are," the girl agreed, glancing toward her brother, satisfied by the answer. She nodded cheerfully.
"Don't you have more fun up there?" the boy wondered, gesturing in the direction of the large house.
"Not really," Daisuke answered cheerfully.
"So why don't you come around so much anymore?"
He sighed. "I've been very busy," he said. "Very busy, very far away."
"Doing what?" the boy asked.
"Where?" his sister wanted to know.
"That's enough," Mama's voice put in. She seemed to have recovered enough from the shock of the experience. "Kodo, Onna, leave him be. Go on and play now. Try not to get into trouble."
With some reluctance, both of them obeyed, running off in the direction of the river not far away, waving cheerful goodbyes. After a moment of silence more Daisuke turned toward her, but before he could speak, she did.
"I don't know...I don't know whether to be angry with you or to be grateful you're alive or…I don't know what to do," she told him, then, apparently feeling awkward, looked sheepishly toward the ground. "I…I'm sorry. The children are…."
"They're children, Mama," he interrupted. "Let them be as they are. Be angry with me, be upset if you wish. I'm certain I deserve it."
"Why have you come back here?" she wondered, her hands wringing a dishtowel as they had been since she'd emerged from the door. "To tell me something about the boys? About Shijo and Maigo?"
"About…?" he echoed blankly, glancing back now toward Hikari.
She stepped forward. "You should be quite glad he's alive," she told Mama. "You're not the only one who thought he was dead. Your boys are fine. They're at the palace," she added to Daisuke.
"Thought he was dead?" Mama echoed, turning toward him with alarm. "What's happened to you?"
"Hikari…," he said, sighing deeply, shaking his head slightly. "I don't need her to worry…."
It was possibly the first time in quite some time that he'd disagreed with her. Hikari smiled, oddly pleased by his reluctance. "More than you can imagine," she said to Mama. "Don't listen to him. He needs all the sympathy he can get."
Sora entered the room after a large group of well-dressed men had exited. They were talking loudly and rather animatedly amongst themselves, mostly in tones of great disappointment or anger. They were all so involved with each other that they did not notice that Sora and Yamato were entering the room, and passed them by without any exchange of greetings.
The room beyond was almost entirely empty of people. It was a small sitting room with wide windows, the type that the palace was filled with and often used rather than any large meeting halls. Taichi was sitting in a chair in front of one of the large windows, shuffling through a pile of papers and frowning severely in their direction. So involved was he with this task that he didn't look up from it when Sora and Yamato entered the room, even after Yamato had shut the door behind them.
"They didn't look too pleased," Yamato commented, crossing the room and taking a few of the papers from the top of the pile, peering over them. He frowned almost as severely as Taichi and looked away. "I guess the negotiations didn't go very well?"
"Horribly, as predicted," Taichi answered, shoving the remainder of the papers in his direction. Looking up from them, he spotted Sora for the first time, the frown leaving his face.
"Negotiations?" she questioned, her own face showing her confusion. "Negotiations about what? With whom?"
"Negotiations with a number of people I hoped I'd never have to negotiate with," Taichi answered, the frown returning. He sank back in his chair and put one hand to his forehead. "Those people who just left, who are largely unhappy with me, were the aides and advisors to the Lords whose estates border on Hida."
"They each want to claim it as their own," Sora concluded.
"Not particularly," he said, shaking his head. "Each one of them wants to give it to someone else."
"Let me guess," Piyomon spoke up. "No one wants to take on a village that's half destroyed?"
"Exactly." He paused, yawned, and sighed. "I've thought about dividing it up, but that would mean removing the villagers or placing each street under the control of a different Lord. They're not particularly happy about that, either."
Slowly comprehending, Sora took a seat in a soft and comfortable chair, no doubt recently vacated by one of the men she had passed coming in. Dimly, she noticed that Yamato was on his way out the door, carrying most of the pile of papers. "What will you do with the land, then?"
"I don't know," he said, hesitating slightly. Suddenly feeling restless, he stood and made his way to one of the windows and stuffed his hands in his pockets. Sora waited a few moments, certain he'd say more before long, and he did. "It has to be given to someone and there's no one who particularly wants it in that area. Even if I forced it on one of them, there's no guarantee they'd pay any attention to it." He sighed, turned away from the window and leaned against the glass pane.
"Do you think the people living there would be interested in moving elsewhere?" Sora asked. He shook his head almost immediately.
"Most of the village cleared out not long after the last Lord died," he told her. "The ones that stayed, they stayed because they wanted to stay, because their families have lived there for generations. There's barely two hundred people left, and they're not interested in leaving or they would have left long ago. It's been nearly twenty years."
"Twenty years," Sora echoed. "Taichi…you can't just give it to one of the other northern Lords. They wouldn't take care of it…."
"I agree," he said, nodding. He glanced toward the floor for a moment, and then a strange mischievous grin appeared on his face. "I was thinking that I ought to give it to Iori."
She was quiet for a moment, staring at him, wondering if he was truly serious. "Something tells me the northern Lords won't like that idea much either," she finally said.
Taichi shrugged lightly. "It's his village, after all," he pointed out. "He was born there. He's the one that's helping them to rebuild, that's no doubt organizing the entire effort of rebuilding. He's Chosen, Sora. Why not?"
"I don't think he doesn't deserve it," she answered, holding up both hands. "Not that he's not qualified, either. The Lords will object, though, and you know they will, on the sole grounds that he wasn't born to it. "
He shrugged again. "The circumstances of his birth have little to do with his qualifications. I don't think he would have been Chosen if he wasn't able to handle it, and if he's able to be Chosen, what's the reason he can't have the land?"
"We don't have any idea why any of us were Chosen," Sora pointed out. "It could have only been circumstance."
Immediately he shook his head. "Mimi was Chosen," he reminded her. "She wasn't here at the time, and yet she was Chosen."
"It was Mimi who released the digivices," Sora returned. "That might be why she was Chosen."
"There's more than circumstance in the selection," Taichi disagreed. "We were all here, except for Mimi, when the digivices arrived, but we weren't all together. Jyou and Iori and Koushiro? They were elsewhere, remember? Why were they Chosen and no one else? Why not, for example, Jun? She was nearby, too."
"Maybe," Sora began, then stopped, shaking her head. "I don't know, Taichi. I don't know what Chose us or why we were Chosen. The Lords are only going to be interested in the fact that Iori wasn't born of noble blood."
"His blood is noble enough for whatever Chose the Chosen, and that makes it noble enough for me," Taichi answered stubbornly. "How does blood get to be noble in the first place, I ask? Well, because some one declares it that way. I say that Iori is noble enough, and I should think my word should be enough to make it so."
Sora shook her head again, but was smiling. "It's an argument to persuade me, I'm sure. The northern Lords I won't be so sure about, though."
He shrugged once more. "I will deal with the northern Lords soon enough. They're the least of my worries."
"So, you're not only of noble blood, but Chosen as well, then?" Mama said when she had heard all that there was to be said. "Somehow, my boys are connected to all that? Somehow, my house is connected?"
Daisuke shrugged, grinned sheepishly, shoved both hands further into his pockets. "Somehow, yes, that's how it seems."
The others had entered the house, to search for the source of the magical energies Miyako had sensed. Standing outside the doorway, they could hear conversation from within the house. Mama glanced nervously in that direction. "And if it turns out you have to tear my house apart to find what you're looking for? Then what?"
He frowned deeply. "Then I'll find you someplace else to live. Or I'll build you a new one. I should have done that a long time ago, I think." He glanced toward her once and then down at his feet again.
"We didn't need a house," she said. "We are, and have been fine with what we have. I know why you did this – why you never told me the truth. It's because you didn't want to buy friendship. It's because you wanted people to like you for who you were rather than what you could do. Am I right?" When he didn't answer right away, she added on, rather cheekily, "your lordship?"
"No," Daisuke said, speaking almost immediately. "Don't. Please." He frowned even deeper than before, removing his hands from his pockets and folding them sharply in front of his chest. "I'm not used to that…." He added, half to himself.
There was a noise from the inside of the carriage, just a few steps away from them, and the door to it creaked open and V-mon's sleepy eyes peered around the edge. "We're here and you didn't wake me?" he asked, yawning.
"We've been here a while, and you were tired," his partner defended. "Didn't want to wake you. "
"I've been sleeping for forever," V-mon responded, pausing to yawn. "I think there's something coming this way."
"Something?" Mama echoed sharply. "What sort of something?"
"Probably a bad sort of something," Daisuke answered, sighing. "It's rarely a good sort of something, I'm learning."
"And this is no different than most times, then," said a voice that he could not identify. From somewhere, perhaps the trees, a single blade came whizzing directly for him, lodging itself in the side of the house, barely an arm's length from his neck. "I'm interested in you, boy. What's the asking price?"
"Price?" he echoed blankly, scanning the trees that circled the house. "What are you talking about?"
Another blade was spinning through the air – this time, he dodged quickly, calling to Mama, "Get inside." Through the corner of his eye, he saw that she did so hurriedly.
"There's no need to protect her," the voice told him. "I'm not interested in her. I'm interested in you."
"Why? Who are you? What do you want with me?"
"I don't want anything with you, actually," the voice answered, and then, from the top of the furthest tree, dropped a tall, thin man. He was dressed impeccably, his dark hair combed neatly behind his ears, a pair of dark glasses perched on his nose. His boots were a shiny, leather-like material that sparkled in the sunlight, his pants and his cloak, which surrounded him entirely, was also black. On his chin were the slightest beginnings of a beard, the same dark color as his hair. "I know of quite a few clients who would be interested, however."
From the tree behind him were a dozen fast moving objects that suddenly dropped from the ground and circled the clearing outside the house. When they'd landed, he could see that they were all Igamon, all armed with a good supply of sharp weapons that glinted brightly against the sun.
"What – who are you?" He was only growing more confused by each of the man's attempts at explanation. He glanced toward V-mon, who only a few steps away, watching with wide, confused eyes that mirrored his partner. Daisuke could feel the weight of the small blue box in the pocket of his jacket.
"My name is Xiao," the man said. "I come from the Northern kingdom. I must admit, I didn't expect to find anyone like you, especially in Yagami." A smug sort of smile had appeared on his face, but his dark eyes were hard and cold, showing no pleasure. When this explanation didn't quite garner any response other than further confusion, he sighed, the smile melting away. "Must I spell it out for you? I'm a trader. I deal…."
From somewhere, an arrow came, speeding through the air as quickly as an arrow had ever come. It lodged itself in the ground only inches from the feet of the trader, cutting him off mid-sentence. "You deal in nothing," said another voice, previously unheard. "You make no deals here today."
The voice came from the rooftop of the house behind them, and from another stranger dressed in black, a dark cloak floating behind him as a gust of wind chose that moment to blow through the air. "You'll go, or my next shot will not miss your heart by so much as a finger's space," said the stranger, notching another arrow to an impressively large bow and aiming it directly for the trader, as promised.
For a moment, there was silence. Daisuke felt as though he ought to say something or do something, but he wasn't sure what, and so he only stared.
The trader recovered a bit more quickly. "How intriguing," he commented smugly. "It would seem you have some sort of a rescuer?" He nodded once, almost imperceptibly, and half the Igamon had left the circle and arrived instantly on the roof, their own weapons turned toward the masked stranger.
Undaunted, the stranger tossed aside his bow and arrow and removed a long sword of his own from its sheath at his waist, raising it quickly in preparation of battle. The Igamon prepared to leap.
"No," gasped another voice, this time from the doorway, this time recognizable as Miyako's. The Igamon leapt into the air, the stranger waited, and the attacking Igamon bounced harmlessly off a quickly raised, previously undetectable shield.
"I don't need your help," the stranger told her shortly.
"What's going on?" Hikari questioned, appearing in the doorway behind Miyako. Takeru's head peered around the door a moment later. "What do you want?" she asked, addressing the trader directly.
Xiao smiled, the same smug expression on his face not meeting his cold eyes, and bowed once. "I am pleased to see you, my lady," he said smoothly. "I have come to offer you a deal."
"You speak peaceful words, but you come with a small army," Takeru noted. "I don't know if that's the sort of deal best made."
"What sort of deal?" Hikari demanded. "What sort of negotiations involve throwing weapons at people?"
"He's a slave trader, princess," said the voice of the bandit on the roof. He'd sheathed his sword and now folded his arms, his eyes glaring toward Xiao. "He's come from the Northern kingdom, searching for goods."
"There are no slaves in Yagami," Takeru put in. "They still have them …?"
"They do," the bandit answered. "He's not coming to buy slaves, he's come to seek out those who would become slaves."
"Such a nasty way of putting it," Xiao said smoothly, still smiling with cold eyes. "I have no need to take slaves from the villages of Yagami. I heard that your majesty was in possession of one you didn't wish to keep, and I have come to offer to take him off your hands."
There was a moment of stunned silence. Several people began to speak at once, none of them clearly heard. Hikari put up one hand, halting the conversation instantly, and stepped forward. "Take him off my hands?" she echoed. "Take him where, exactly?"
"Hikari, you're not -," Takeru gasped. The trader's smile turned further upwards.
"To the North, of course," Xiao said, apparently pleased. "I would make arrangements with the slave lords of the Northern kingdom, one of whom would be quite glad, I'm sure, to pay a sizeable sum, a portion of which could certainly be given directly to you, of course, your majesty. The exact percentages could be negotiated. I'm a very flexible person."
There was silence for a long moment. Takeru forced his mouth to close, clenched one fist tightly, and glanced back toward Daisuke to see that any sort of expression had completely disappeared from his face.
"A sizeable sum, you say?" Hikari echoed. To the outside observer, it would have appeared that she was considering the deal, for she was speaking slowly and with all deliberate speed. Takeru saw, however, that she, too, had clenched one hand into a fist and was squeezing it so tightly that it would have certainly been the death of Xiao if it had been around his neck.
"Oh, yes. The spell is amazing, you know. Quite powerful, much more so than anything currently in use. I'm certain that the slave lords would be quite interested in learning how to mimic and reproduce such effective controls." Xiao was still smiling, and now he glanced briefly toward Daisuke, as though he were looking over a suit he was considering purchasing and thought quite highly of.
There was another long silence which the trader took to mean that Hikari was considering the deal. Takeru saw that her fist was squeezing tightly. Suddenly, she released the fingers of her hand and turned on her heel back toward the house. She'd shut her eyes when she finally spoke, in a controlled voice, on the edge of some emotion that Takeru could not quite identify.
"Mister Xiao, I'm sorry to say that I cannot accept your offer," she said then. Takeru saw the smile slowly melt away from Xiao's face. Having composed herself, Hikari turned back toward him. "I'm not interested in selling that which does not belong to me. There is a reason, sir, why we long ago outlawed slavery in this kingdom. It is because we believe it is wrong to keep a person against their will, to make them become less than a person. I might hold the spell, but I do not possess him, and if I did I would not give him to the slave lords of the north."
Takeru felt a wave of relief wash him, and he was certain that he heard Miyako exhale sharply. He glanced toward Daisuke once more and saw that an expression best described as surprised relief had appeared on his face, his eyes wide and unblinking.
"You will regret that decision, I am certain, your majesty," Xiao replied, his face now a stern frown that matched the expression his eyes held. He forced himself to smile again, but it was a pale imitation, and then he waved one arm and both he and the Igamon had disappeared again.
"You weren't - ," Takeru said hesitantly, turning toward Hikari.
"No," she answered, not even glancing in his direction.
Miyako was looking toward the rooftop, now empty. She sighed deeply, and then turned and went back into the small house to return to her work. After a moment, Takeru followed her, glancing back toward Hikari, who was looking at the place where Xiao had disappeared.
There was a long silence in which Hikari remained, unmoving, staring at the space on the ground, her eyes narrowed, seeing something that was not there.
"He'll be back," Daisuke said from somewhere behind her. His voice was unreadable, betraying no emotions. It sounded, Hikari thought, the way it had sounded when he had been enspelled, as though he were relating facts unconnected with his life.
The thought had occurred to her. Xiao had given up without a fight, without so much as an argument or much of a threat. She nodded slowly but did not otherwise move while she spoke. "I've no doubt of that. He'll have no better success with me should he return a thousand times."
"I wish there had been a fight," Tailmon said, absently flexing the muscles of one paw, her claws glinting in the sunlight. "I wish he had attacked and given me an excuse to claw his eyes out."
"So do I," Hikari said, though quietly. She sighed, leaving whatever dark and silent thoughts she had been thinking behind for the moment, and turned to face the one she had just protected.
He was looking at nothing, his eyes unfocused, and yet he seemed to feel when her eyes were on him and turned toward her. Hikari waited until she had his full focus before she spoke again.
"If you want to go," she said, hesitantly, looking away. Then, she looked into his eyes, steeling herself, and said, more strongly, "If you want to go, if you want to be…if you want to go to the Northern kingdom…."
"No," he said, interrupting before she could finish forcing the words to be said. "I'd rather not." After a moment, a faint smile appeared. "If you don't mind," he added.
"I'd have no objection," she answered, returning the smile. "I made a promise, to you, to your sister, to your father. I intend to keep it."
Daisuke nodded once.
I'm very thrilled with the way that this section has come out. I still don't know where this story is going to end or anything like that but I'm very happy with how it's traveling that way.
This was going to be up a bit earlier but of course life interfered. It is my intention to have another chapter up before Christmas, but we'll see what happens. I've still got lots of shopping to do – and I don't have a lot to do – and so we'll see how much free time I have.