Chapter 4
It was hard to keep up with Sinn. That's what Orill Blackstone thought for the twentieth time as she tried to keep a close distance but also not get noticed by the navy blue cloaked bangaa. Sinn was incredibly fast, even at his walking pace. Put that together with her short height and she had to almost run to keep up with him. As she turned another corner, she wondered if the bangaa was actually going anywhere, or if he had noticed her and was simply trying to shake her. Well I won't be. Orill thought angrily and scowled as Sinn turned yet another corner.
Sinn kept up this charade for another hour, amused by the moogle's attempt to stalk him. After a few hours though, Sinn grew bored and quickly darted down two side alleys in a row and climbed up a nearby building, leaving the moogle very tired and confused. Sinn laughed and had to duck down his head to avoid an angry glare from the little moogle. He heard her shout "Come out kupo! You f---ing scum bag kupo, show yourself." Sinn would have stayed and watched longer but he had places to go. He left Orill standing there, exhausted, angry, and frustrated.
Orill shouted a few more curse words at the bangaa before giving up. She started walking out of the alley and came face to face with Alewor Koad of clan Dip. The human looked a bit drunk but still managed to smile when he ran into Orill. "Hello sidekick, where'd your beloved bangaa go?" He mock stared around the alley for a bit calling out "Sinn, oh great mighty Sinn, where are you? Oh please save me from the mean Alewor, he won't leave me alone!" "Shove it and get out of my way kupo!" The moogle shouted some more choice words at him. "Oh but we've only just begun little moogle, why don't you stay and play for a bit." The human mage snickered and shoved her backwards. Alright, if the mage wanted a duel, he would have one.
Orill thought as she started muttering some words under her breath. A thundercloud had begun forming above Alewor's head but the drinks he'd had gave him the illusion he had great superpowers. Alewor was still taunting when the bolt of lightning came down upon him, knocking him down and numbing all his nerves as jolts of electricity flew threw him. He laughed as soon as he was able, rolling around on the ground. "Ohh little moogle, you are in for it now." "Are you still taunting me kupo? God!" Orill said in annoyance and kicked the human in the face, knocking him out. Orill was still smiling when a dark shadow fell over her. As she looked up, all she could manage was a pathetic "Oh…" The rest of clan Dip stood in front of her, armed and very sober. Alewor, while being drunk, was not stupid. He had backup. Orill managed to send two fireballs flaring at her enemies, making them catch fire and roll around on the ground before she was tackled by an enemy behind her. She cursed as her arms were held and the rest of clan Dip (the rest that was still up and walking that is) took turns beating her senseless.
Sinn strolled into Muscadet, a nearby city that still would have taken the average traveler a while to get to. Sinn was not the average traveler. Muscadet was a fairly beautiful city, surrounded by forests. Not that Sinn cared much of course, he was only there for Marche. Omem had informed him that he had advised the Marche and his clan to head there to find information on the whereabouts of the criminal alchemist Ciyep. Apparently he had been doing illegal experiments of something or another, and Muscadet had been his city of origin. Sinn figured that he could beat Marche to the punch, being a better tracker and much quicker traveler. He would find Ciyep; then wait in ambush for Marche to arrive.
Sinn was not very patient, but he figured it'd be his best chance to catch both Marche and Ciyep alive. All he needed to do was wait for the most opportune moment. It didn't take Sinn long to figure out where Ciyep was hiding, just threaten the right people and you always get correct answers. He was headed out of Muscadet when he bumped into Orill.
He cursed his bad luck, but then seeing her, thought better of it. Her white body was covered dirt and bruises from head to toe. Tuffs of hair had been ripped out. She looked like a teddy bear that had been transformed into a dog's chew toy. When she saw Sinn he could've sworn that she'd started turning purple. "Sinn you rat-kupo bastard, you ditched me in an alley, kupo you…" She kept swearing, so loud that people walking down the street stopped and turned to stare. Sinn plucked the screaming cursing ragged moogle up and covered her mouth with one hand.
Oh well, there go my hopes of getting an early start. Sinn thought to himself as he took the moogle to a motel. "Alright, I'd like two rooms." Sinn told the motel owner, ignoring his stare at the moogle which had stopped silently screaming and now had taken to sinking her teeth into Sinn's hand. Sinn didn't mind, as long as she was silent for a change. Besides, he was used to things cutting his hands, using them to block swords and all. As Sinn took the keys from the clerk and walked to the rooms he whispered to the moogle, "Alright, alright, fine! Wow, you are way too persistent and annoying. You can come with me. But you need to learn when to keep your big mouth shut. It'll get you into trouble you know. And would you please stop sinking your teeth into my hand? It kind of hurts..." Orill was so shocked to hear manners from Sinn she let go almost as soon as he said please. He put her gently on the ground and said. "Alright, we wake up when I wake up, which is very early. Be ready. We go to see a mage early in the morning to fix you up. Then we leave for Lutia Pass immediately. Get some sleep." He gave the room key to her and left for his own room, right next door. Wow, she thought, still stunned. He does have a soft side. Silently, for once, she went into her room and fell asleep almost immediately.
Sinn remained seated on his bed, debating what he should do. There were two sides in him, fighting for control. One was the younger more chaotic side, the real Sinn, and on the other was a newer wiser side he had only briefly glimpsed before. The Sinn side won of course. He listened against the wall and heard the gentle snores of the female moogle. Sinn left his room silently, headed down to the clerk and told him that he wouldn't need his room tonight after all. He also cancelled the wake up call for Orill's room. Leaving the motel with a huge grin on his face, Sinn left to go find Ciyep.