Chapter One: FINDING LODGERS
"So you're both from around here?" The little Tarutaru sat on top of the table in the restaurant. She'd found that sitting in the chairs as the women she was speaking to did often meant she couldn't see a thing, and that sitting directly on the table inevitably made one the center of attention. Her head tilted to one side, as large Tarutaru heads are wont to do. She was dressed in her pretty purple gi and dark hakama that she loved to wear around town.
"Ya, born and raised Bastokan," said the Hume woman. Her manner was gruff and her hair cut very short but her appearance was neat and her posture very straight. She wore a traditional Bastokan outfit in a deep red colour and a red band around her forehead.
"Bastok is the nation to which I currently pledge my allegiance, that is true," said the Mithra, looking down at the table and not at the Tarutaru sitting in the middle of it. She was an odd sort of Mithra. She never smiled and while a look of permanent distraction was not uncharacteristic of many Mithra, her lack of eye contact seemed intense, as though she were perpetually planning something that required all of her attention and that the business of the world around her was akin to fly buzzing in importance.
"All right! I don't see why you two can't stay in my mog house here in Bastok. Just make sure Kupo doesn't get out of line when he's around." The Tarutaru hopped to her feet and made as if to jump to the floor.
The Hume and the Mithra looked at each other in surprise. The Mithra snapped her attention back to the edge of the table. The Hume woman shrugged. "Don't ya want to ask us anythin'? Ya know, like about us or somethin'? Make sure we're not gonna steal anythin' and stuff like that, Miss Nyelli, was it?"
The Tarutaru held her belly as she laughed. "Nyellili, that's my name! There's nothing to steal and Kupo would let me know if anything went wrong. Besides, I've been having trouble trying to find someone to take the place and you're the first who seemed interested. Hey," the Taru suddenly lowered her voice and brought her tiny clasped hands up in front of her face in excitement, "are you two, um, together? If it's a secret, that's okay. That's so sweet, getting a home together."
The two women repeated their look of surprise. The Mithra frowned more deeply, a thing any ordinary observer would not have thought possible, and stamped her chin forcibly down into her hand, driving her elbow onto the table, she glared across the room at the empty bar. The Hume smirked. "We've known each other since we were kids. Just friends, trying to get a break. No romance. That's really not our style."
Nyellili looked visibly disappointed as she slid off the table and on to the floor. "Oh, all right then," she said, and then trotted off with an air of finality.
"But, Miss Nyelli, don't you even want to know our names?" the Hume woman asked.
"Oh! I suppose I do need to know name-wames! How else will Kupo know who you are? Although I suppose there aren't that many Hume Mithra couples that look like you walking around." The Tarutaru chuckled gleefully, her eyes sparkling.
The Mithra continued to menace the bar, looking extremely upset or possibly extremely occupied with some unpleasant sort of planning, the tip of her tail twitching rapidly to one side of her chair. The Hume held her mirthless, crooked grin and explained in a rather patronizing manner, "My name's Ness and my friend's Danjalie. Best not to shorten it. She really doesn't approve."
"Danjalie? That's not a very Mithran name. Sounds more... San d'Orian," Nyellili pondered aloud. She looked expectantly at the Mithra who only continued to glare at nothing and twitch her tail. "All right, Ness and Dani. If you have any problems, Kupo will sort them out. I'll tell him to meet you out in front of the neighborhood as soon as I'm finished moving my things. Off to Tavnazia tonight."
"Tavn--?" Ness started, but the Nyellili had dashed out the door with a surprising burst of speed.
Danjalie was still as a statue, but for the fierce tail lashing and, if anyone could have seen under the table, her fist tightening until the knuckles completely drained of color.
Ness stood and pushed her chair neatly in under the table. "Let's go, Dani."
The Mithra's head whipped around so quickly her short red braids flung out to the sides, the left nearly getting caught on her ear. If looks could kill, she would be the greatest assassin in Vana'diel and Ness would have crumpled to the floor instantly. For all anyone knew, that was exactly the kind of skill Danjalie was planning to master.
Ness laughed heartily. Danjalie stood with such force her chair fell to the floor behind her. She stomped out of the restaurant, her fists pulled straight down at her sides. "I. Detest. Tarutaru," she snarled through gritted teeth.
"Oh, you detest everything, sweets," Ness said, picking up the fallen chair and replacing it neatly before following her friend out of the restaurant at a leisurely pace.
"Hey, Nye! Some cute redhead Elvaan down by the Merry Minstrel is looking for you," a rosy cheeked, silver haired Tarutaru in a turban, curly-toed shoes and too much gold jewelry pronounced as she skipped, arm waving, up towards the guidestone in Upper Jeuno.
Nyellili popped a surprised looking face up from her hiding place behind the stone. But the surprise didn't last long. A wide, not entirely innocent grin spread across her face. "Oh really?"
"Don't you do anything mean, now, Nye," the silver haired Tarutaru admonished, waggling a chubby finger.
"Mamimi, I'm shocked! Whatever are you talking about? When am I ever mean? I'd never dream of insulting a giraffe-neck, I mean, Elvaan." Nyellili pursed her lips and batted her eyelashes.
"Just to make sure, I'm coming with you to find her," said Mamimi, small, gloved hands on her round hips.
"Aww." Nyellili engaged in a full body pout, shoulders slumping dramatically. "Ruin all my fun why don't you?"
"Come on. She's cute!"
"Wait a minute! She!"
"Come on!" Mamimi grabbed Nye by the hand and dragged the other Tarutaru down the spiral steps to Jeuno's lower level.
The pair ducked and weaved through the crowd in front of Lower Jeuno's popular auction house and finally managed to squeeze their way into the adjacent tavern, the Merry Minstrel. The public house was very busy, bustling with customers and staff, line ups at the counter and a troupe of bards performing on the stage to the rhythmic clapping of their enchanted audience.
Mamimi, Nyellili's hand clutched tightly in her own, shoved and pushed her way to the bar and finally released her friend in order to hop up and grab the edge of the counter. "Excuse me," she said, pulling off an impressive chin-up in order to lift her face just above the edge of the bar. "Have you seen a redhead Elvaan lady with pigtails in here? She was looking for Nyellili the Ninja Master?" Mamimi shouted upwards.
"Pigtails! Augh!" Nye groaned from below the bar, a look of utter disgust on her face that no one could see.
The Hume bartender put down the bottle he was pouring to peer down at the tiny yelling face that was obviously straining to keep itself from falling below the counter. "Sure. Left a while ago. Said she might try the Tenshodo."
"Thank you!" Mamimi shouted, the last word becoming muffled in the legs of the crowd as she dropped back down to the floor. "To the Tenshodo!" she directed Nyellili, snatching up her friend's hand and beginning the arduous procedure of leaving the establishment.
"All right, all right! You don't have to drag me," Nyellili grumbled, pushing Mamimi's arm away as they entered the Tenshodo shop, finally finding a place in Lower Jeuno that wasn't packed to the walls with people.
At the far end of the hallway, a very tall Elvaan girl with short red hair tied back in stubby puffs at either side of her neck was looking at the back exit of the shop with a perplexed look on her face.
"Can't let her through. Not a member," the Mithra at the desk leaned down and whispered to Nyellili.
"Of course she's not. Just look at her," Nyellili snorted.
The Elvaan was dressed in a full set of matching decorative plate armor, a glimmering sword and polished shield adorned her sides.
There was a resounding slap and Nyellili wailed. "Oww! What did you do that for?" she turned and cried at her companion, clutching her wounded shoulder.
"I seem to remember telling you not to be mean." Mamimi crossed her arms in front of her chest and tapped a curly toed foot indignantly.
"But—but I just—I mean look at her!"
Mamimi lifted one hand threateningly.
"She won't have to go through anyway," the Mithra explained. "She was looking for you after all."
Beatings forgotten, Mamimi skipped forward, "Oh miss! Miss! Were you looking for Nyellili the Ninja Master? This is she?"
The Elvaan turned around smoothly, as though she could not be surprised by anything, even a glittery Tarutaru skipping towards her at top speed. "Ninja? But you appear to be a bard," the girl said in a high but steady voice.
"I'm Nyellili," Nyellili said gloomily, slouching forward.
"Are you really a ninja master?" the Elvaan girl asked.
"What? Of course I am! Well, I mean, I'm not really a master – ow!"
Mamimi poked her friend hard in the ribs. "Of course she's a master. And what great task have you come to request she complete for your noble family?"
The Elvaan smiled gently. "Actually, I'm interested in the advertisement she placed about her mog house."
"M-mog house?" Mamimi stuttered in confusion, looking from the tall Elvaan to her Tarutaru friend and back.
"Ohh, thaaat," Nyellili chuckled. She sighed with relief, rubbing her recently poked side. "Someone else got to it ahead of you."
Mamimi waved her arms, flabbergasted, and began to shout at her friend. "What do you mean you placed an ad for your mog house? That's not romantic at all! And why didn't you tell me? I could have helped! And what did I tell you about being mean?"
Nyellili rolled her eyes. "Yeahyeah, I'm sorry."
The Elvaan looked down at her feet demurely. "Oh. I apologize for wasting your time, Madam Ninja."
Mamimi gasped. "You're not just going to let her walk away like that are you?"
"Why not?"
Mamimi glared.
"Oh right. The mean thing. But I've already got two people."
"And you rent in three cities, don't you?"
"I—oh, fine. I suppose you can look after my mog house in San d'Oria, lady," Nyellili conceded with an audible harrumph.
The Elvaan clapped her hands in front of her face. "Truly? That would be perfect."
"Of course it would," Nyellili grumbled.
"Of course it would," Mamimi giggled, bowing extravagantly until her nose nearly touched her curly toes.
Nyellili turned and shuffled her way back out of the building as Mamimi skipped behind her.
"Excuse me, Nyellili Ninja Master?"
"What?" Nyellili said with a sigh, clearly not happy with having her moping interrupted.
"Don't you need to know my name?" the Elvaan asked.
"Not really, although I suppose-wose Kupo should know. All right, what is it?"
"I am Amemalie, soldier of—"
"That's great, Amemalie is all I need to know."
"Of course, lady ninja."
Nyellili didn't even turn to see the Elvaan's deep, straight-backed bow.
Mamimi skipped circles around Nyellili all the way back up to Jeuno's upper level. "Nye's got a pretty roommate! Nye's got a pretty roommate!" she sang repeatedly.
"She's not a roommate. I'm just reducing expenses."
"Sure. Why are you such a cheesehead around Elvaan anyway?"
"Because they're pompous. Their nation is a crumbling relic but they insist on proclaiming its awesomeness at every turn. And they're too tall."
"You never complain about Galka being too tall."
"Galka would be the opposite of pompous, so they're not too tall."
Mamimi blinked. "You make no sense."
"So? You make me talk to Elvaan."
"I do!" She continued to skip and sing her song. "For an Elvaan, Amemalie seemed perfectly nice, you know."
"Of course, I know," Nyellili said, face and voice both deadpan. "'Perfectly nice' is exactly the problem. Let's go. We're supposed to be off to Tavnazia by now."
Mamimi hummed a little tune.