Brilliance, a Legend of Mana Story
Chapter Thirteen -Picking Up Strangers-
"Lighten up babe!" Vandal laughed, clapping Sable hard on her back. "The jelly here says drinks are free! Don't you, jelly?"
The child that looked like Rachel bowed quickly, and backed away towards the bar. Vandal laughed, slapping his hands on the table. "I'm having the time of my life. What about you?"
"I ... I hate you ..." she whispered.
He laughed harder, nearly falling over backwards in his chair. "You're hardly the first woman to say that!" Wiping a tear from his eye, he got up, jumping onto the chair, and then onto the table. "Ladies and gentlemen, I shall now recite a poem."
"There once was a man from Polpota." He drew a spear from the sling at his waist, and drove it hard into the table. "He died! The end."He waited, then looked around at the empty room. "Tough crowd," he said.
"Hate ..." Sable growled, her voice growing stronger.
"Babe, you haven't touched your drink." Leaping from the table, he pressed his mouth to her ear conspiratorially. "C'mon, if you don't drink in a bar, people will think you're crazy."
The door opened, and an old couple entered, hesitating when they saw the two Nanten. Vandal eyed them suspiciously, then shivered. "Gods I hate old people."
"... Hate ..." Sable repeated, not looking up from the floor.
Vandal ripped his spear from the table, and sat down, twirling it from hand to hand, watching the old couple as they ordered a bottle from the girl behind the bar. He considered messing with them, but his heart wasn't in it. Hanging around Sable always dragged down his mood.
"C'mon babe, let's clear outta here. Might as well resume the hunt for those heroic little buggers."
Sable said nothing, but stood up fast, sending the chair skittering across the room. She turned and faced the old couple, scowling, before stalking out the door. Vandal shrugged and followed. "Put it on my tab, Jello."Elleira ripped the robe off and threw it aside. "Goddess I hate those Nanten!"
Cervantes removed his robe as well, folding it neatly and setting it on a table. "Well, now we know Domina isn't safe."
"Meimei must've cleared out ... where would she go?" Elleira spun a chair around, and sat in it backwards. "This whole thing is giving me a headache."
Cervantes chuckled, handing her the bottle. "This will clear that right up, and a number of other ailments as well."
"Knyjatekkan ... hehehe ..." She blushed, rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment. "Must've ordered it out of habit."
"A whole bottle?" he asked teasingly.
"Hey, I can hold my liquor. If we had the time, I'd prove it to you." She winked, and passed the bottle back to him.
Cervantes chuckled, pulling a clip out of a coat pocket, and hooking the neck of the bottle to his belt. "Later then."
She smiled, and stood up. "My master would've berated me, said I had a problem or something."
"Hmm. Well, I've known people who wouldn't stop at a bottle, and their capacity for spirits was nearly inhuman. But it wasn't what killed him in the end, so perhaps I was wrong about him."
She nodded solemnly, and decided not to dig deeper. "Where to next?"
Cervantes scratched his chin thoughtfully. "We'll try Lumina."
"Lumina?" she frowned. "Any special reason? There's not much there."
"No reason. Its just closest, that's all." He glanced at their discarded robes. "Should we disguise ourselves again?"
"Nah. I'm getting bored of running around. I'm hoping to see a fight pretty soon."
She jumped to her feet with a loud 'Whoop!' and rushed the door. Cervantes stared after her for a moment, then chuckled. "You're a very odd girl, Elleira."
Meimei approached the man sitting in the corner, and cleared her throat. When he looked at her, she smiled flirtatiously, and bowed in a way that appeared polite, but showed of her cleavage to full effect. He didn't blink, or make any reaction she was used to, but she continued with her sales pitch anyway. "Hello there stranger. I don't suppose you need a fortune?"
He turned back to his drink, and swirled it around thoughtfully. "Sure, why not."
"Okay!" she said excitedly. She closed her eyes, and began her familiar routine, but before even the first word came out, tremendous pain shot through her entire body. She fell forward, knocking over his table, and spilling his drink. He caught her before she hit the floor, however, and the pain faded nearly instantly.
"Are you all right?" he asked.
She looked up at him weakly. "Actually, according to what I just saw, no. Buy me a drink, Escad?"
He smirked. "If you want. But its a funny way to pick up strangers."
Elazul woke shivering. His dreams had been filled with the bloody and terrible images, and his own feelings of helplessness. Awake, he was consumed by Pearl's identity crisis. All the Jumi had accepted both of her sides, but Pearl herself had been unable to. He'd seen her eyes get more and more desperate as she tended him, and there was nothing he could do.
He'd spent so much time unconscious from his injuries, he had no idea when she had left. Or how to go about finding her. And he knew in his heart that this wasn't one of her typical distracted wanderings.
He fought himself into a sitting position, and gasped loudly, pain wracking through his sides and limbs. Godhand ... that murderous creature ... was powerful enough to take on and nearly destroy three of the strongest fighters in Fa'Diel. Even Riven had nearly died, and he was far and away stronger then anyone he'd ever seen, excepting Elleira. Warriors like the Nanten did not just appear. So where did they come from?
It reminded him of an argument he'd had with Elleira while she was drunk. She'd made a crack about recreating the world with imagination, and that all of their memories of the past were false. It seemed a ridiculous notion at the time, despite having seen the Mekiv Caverns appear completely out of nowhere. But that didn't mean SHE had created the caverns ... did it?
He shook his head. If Godhand were from beyond the oceans, how did he get here? The Penguin Pirates admitted they could not go very far in their ships. They would pass a certain point, and end up back where they started. Godhand, and the Nanten had to have somehow found a way around that.
And they had access to powers unheard of in these lands.
Elazul got to his feet, hissing through clenched teeth, and looked out the doorway. There was no one outside. He shook his head again. Pearl had seemingly grown up after their adventures with Riven and Elleira, but perhaps she had not changed as much as he thought. Getting lost while "thinking" was one of her vices. A dangerous vice, to be sure, and pure hell on whoever was her guardian. He turned to look for his sword, before hearing a stick crack behind him. Elazul turned, cautiously; in his wounded state a Nanten soldier would cut him with little effort.
A young blonde boy knelt next to the fire, stoking it carefully, looking up for approval at another man, with dark skin and eyes that shone like prisms in full sunlight, despite the darkness that surrounded them. "Come and sit, if you're well enough. If not, I can wait," the child said.
Elazul frowned, because it was clear from the boy's face it was not him speaking the words. The rainbow-eyed man gestured at a log on the opposite side of the fire pit. He staggered out, trying not to reveal how hurt he was, before settling himself onto the log.
"I apologize for speaking to you through proxy ... I am aware it may be awkward for you, but I have no wish to drive you mad." The tone of the voice was so casual that it was hard to mistake the implied "Yet."
"What do you want?" Elazul asked. "Who are you?"
"My name is Khoval. I am the father of Sable."
When Elazul didn't react, both man and boy relaxed. He was taken aback, startled to realize the shiny-eyed stranger was ready to kill him if he'd recognized the name.
"My daughter was defeated in battle recently. I spoke to the man I entrusted her guardianship, and he said it was a lone swordsman. He spoke the name as well, but your mortal names seem nonsensical to me. You appear to be a lone swordsman, not too recently out of battle, so I assumed the worst."
"If she strongly resembles you, sir," Elazul said, "I'm certain I've never met her."
Khoval shook his hand dismissively. "She wears a cloth to hide her eyes. She is ashamed of her lineage." He looked away, frowning, and Elazul sensed more then a little guilt from the man. If, in fact, he was a man.
"Nevertheless, you have recently fought the Nanten, I gather?" Khoval said, startling the Jumi.
Elazul swallowed hard. "I've only fought one of them."
"That would be Godhand." Khoval, scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Well, Godhand's enemies are no matter of mine. I only barely approved allowing Sable to fight in his pet war. All I want is the man who injured my daughter."
"All's fair in war." Elazul winced. He hadn't meant to say that, hadn't even thought to say it.
Khoval stood up, gesturing curtly for the serving boy to follow. "On the battlefield, perhaps. But never with my daughter."
Author's Note - With QuickEdit installed, I've had to make some alterations to the story. And while I'll miss my tildees around the chapter title and asterisks marking the POV change, I don't think it will influence the reader's flow. Now, excuse me while I go cry ....