Chapter Thirty-Two: Return to Swamp's Bottom
Hikari lay on her bed, thinking. Her emerald eyes staring at the alabaster ceiling above her, her mind filled with what ifs. She sighed and raised herself into a sitting position. Her friend Chihiro was standing in the doorway, watching her friend with great apprehension. "Hey Chihiro," Hikari greeted her friendly sullenly.
Chihiro tried to smile as she greeted Hikari, but she found it hard. Everyone was unnerved by waiting for the council to approve of three people who would accompany them to their quest to find the Great Opal. "Hi Hikari," Chihiro said in reply, "I don't suppose they've chosen the three who are to accompany us have they?"
Hikari shook her head. "Not yet, though according to Kai they said that they're only trying to figure out who will be the third person to come with us." She muttered. "Supposedly they've allowed Kasumi and Kai to come with us, but only after two days of debating. According to Kasumi there were five people who were chosen by the Ruby, so of the three remaining they have to choose one."
"Hope they choose the third member soon, because I'm growing really impatient."
"We all are Chihiro, but try to wait a bit longer. It shouldn't take them too long, and besides two out of the three required people have already been chosen."
"You're right. It's shouldn't take them horrendously long just to chose a Ruby wielding spirit who will accompany us on our trip. I guess I really want to go back to Swamp's Bottom and…"
She was interrupted by Kai who walked into the room that moment, "Sorry if I was interrupting anything, but the Council finally choose the third member of the party that's to accompany you."
"Finally," Chihiro shouted ecstatically, "it took them long enough!"
"So when are we to leave?" Hikari asked, ignoring Chihiro's shout of joy.
"We are to leave this afternoon, after the Council of Phoenixes officially announces those who are to accompany Chihiro and her companions."
"So who did the council choose to come along with you and Kasumi?"
"Someone by the name of Takeo is supposed to come with us."
"Have you ever met him before?"
"Once or twice, he's pretty nice from what I've seen."
Chihiro looked at her companions and said rather deftly, "well I should be going; Haku said that he wanted to talk to me about something before we left for Zeniba's cabin." She left.
"I can't help but think she did that on purpose," Hikari muttered thoughtfully. Kai nodded in agreement and sat down on the bed next to her.
"Me too," Kai agreed dryly, "she is aware of our relationship after all."
"Do you think we should spy on Chihiro to see if she really is meeting with Haku or if it was just an excuse to leave?"
"It's not a bad idea, but if she does turn out to be talking with Haku then let's leave because they probably have something rather important to discuss if only they are chatting about something." Hikari agreed quietly and they slipped out of Hikari's room. They found Chihiro and Haku chatting softly in the hallway, their voices were grim and foreboding.
Kai walked back inside, followed by Hikari who managed to listen to a few statements of the conversation between Chihiro and Haku.
"So Sakura might not be at Swamp's Bottom but possibly somewhere else?" Chihiro had said to Haku, her voice soft yet harsh.
"If Sakura really was searching for me and the others it is possible that she is in an obscure area searching for us," Haku had informed softly and coldly his emerald eyes observing his beloved intently and grimly, "even if someone had met up with her and told her that we had been found, how do we know that wherever she had been searching wasn't too far from Swamp's Bottom?"
"You have a point…what should we do then if she's not at Swamp's Bottom?"
"It's very possible that we will have to search for her, which I'm not fond of doing."
"Me neither it's too easy for us to get separated if we split up to search for her. Not to mention that the Evil One and his forces could easily recapture you, me, or anyone else traveling with us."
"Exactly, meaning that we might have to wait for her if we don't find her waiting for us at Swamp's Bottom and the Evil One would get a chance to find Hikari's opal before we do." Chihiro had been silent, and before Hikari could hear her reply the door to her room had closed.
"You were listening in onto their conversation weren't you?" Kai accused her after they returned to Hikari's room, more accurately the office-like room that was located a few feet away from the entrance to the set of rooms that she resided in. He sat down in front of her, his dark red eyes bore into hers enraged.
"I couldn't help it," Hikari admitted defensively her emerald eyes focused onto Kai's dark maroon ones. "I would have heard more if I the door hadn't closed."
"So what were they talking about then?"
"Why do you want to know if you chided me for listening in onto their conversation?"
"I'm just as curious as you are as to what they're conversing about besides it might prove to be of importance to our mission."
"Well," Hikari began her voice a mixture of nervousness and indecisiveness, "…I guess I could tell you what their conversation was mainly about… basically they were talking about Sakura. They're worried that she won't be at Swamp's Bottom when we get there and that we'll have to wait for her."
"They really shouldn't be discussing that…after all she was sighted there only a few days ago. Surely she wouldn't have left that quickly," Kai told her somberly.
"Well… they do have a point. I mean what if she had been staying there for a couple of weeks and wished to resume searching for Haku and those who were captured alongside him?"
"Surely she's been told already that they've already been found. I find it hard to consider that she hasn't."
"You're right…I mean practically everyone in the entire realm knows about it!" Despite her statement, Hikari still was unable to relinquish the thought of Sakura having left once they arrived at Swamp's Bottom. She probably hasn't met a lot of people in her travels, and it's possible that no one told her that Haku had been found. Swamp's Bottom is pretty much cut off from the rest of the realm so they don't get a lot of news of recent events there, and so No-face and Zeniba had been relying heavily on those few who stopped at her cabin to relay news about current events. It's all too possible that Sakura has been doing the same. I shouldn't be so pessimistic, I mean Sakura probably already heard from someone that they've been found, and besides it probably doesn't take her that long to return to Swamp's Bottom after searching for Haku and those captured alongside him. After quickly berating herself for being pessimistic about whether Sakura was at Swamp's Bottom or not, she found Kai staring at her anxiously.
"You still have trouble believing that she will be there when we arrive don't you?" He asked her softly and kindly. She nodded in reply, unable to bring herself to speak. There was a knock on the door before Chihiro was seen entering the room.
"I thought you two would still be here," Chihiro told her two friends halfheartedly, "after all I didn't remember seeing either of you leave the room when I left to chat with Haku. Anyways we're going to the Council Hall, because they want to announce to us who is to come with us." Kai and Hikari stood up and followed Chihiro into the large domed chamber. The Council overlooking them in a high balcony draped with lavish red velvet.
They found Kasumi and a tall male with sleek black hair cropped to frame his expressionless face with cold dark crimson eyes. A Ruby fragment rested gently on his chest, suspended by a thin leather cord. He wore a striped red T-shirt and jeans, much to Chihiro's surprise. He didn't move or speak as Kai stood between him and Kasumi, nor did he when Hikari stood hesitantly to his left, her emerald eyes cold and untrusting.
"I take it that you already know Kai and Kasumi," a male council member with wispy gray hair muttered after they took their positions next to one another, "but I suppose you do not know this fine young man called Takeo, who stands between the one known as Hikari and Kai." No one replied to his statement as no reply had been expected of them as he paused. He continued again in a warm and kindly voice, "you are to journey to Swamp's Bottom in search of Sakura as you are already aware of. Now that you know who has been assigned to travel with you, my colleagues and I shall delay you no further. You may leave."
The five present departed the chamber silently. "I'm surprised that Haku wasn't present." Hikari commented as they neared the entrance to the palace from whence they were to leave. "I expected my brother to accompany us in the Council Hall, for he is an important figure in our little band."
"He said that he wanted to talk to the others," Chihiro replied her voice soft and mellow, "that's why he was unable to accompany us when those who were to travel with us were revealed." They walked under the tall arched doorway and towards the small group that lay beyond. Hikari sighted Haku, Yoshiro, and Natsuko chatting softly amongst themselves. Their expressions were grim and foreboding as Chihiro's had been when he talked to her. He must be sharing his concerns with the others. She thought icily to herself. I should try to dispel his commentary before it affects all of us. Maybe I should enlist Kai to help me with the task; he believes that Sakura will be at Zeniba's cabin when we arrive.
She quickly told Kai her impression about the situation and what should be done about it as they and the others reunited. "Hmm maybe I should go talk to your brother," he muttered thoughtfully, "and try to get him to understand that Sakura should and will be there when we arrive."
"I guess I'll try to convince those that Haku told that Sakura will be there when we arrive then," Hikari muttered, but Kai didn't hear her as he was walking towards Haku. They chatted for a while about something before walking over to her.
"Hikari," Haku said to his sister sternly, "were you eavesdropping on Chihiro and me?"
"I was," Hikari murmured meekly, "I'm sorry if I angered you, and I promise I'll never do it again."
"For once I'm glad that you eavesdropped on me, as I made the mistake of sharing fears that proved to be illogical with others. Still you shouldn't eavesdrop on people as it isn't polite and they might be discussing topics that they don't want to be overheard."
"I know Haku. Again I'm sorry for my actions."
Haku smiled at his youngest sister ruefully, "I realize that Hikari, and we should be leaving. Otherwise Sakura might actually leave because we didn't arrive sooner." Hikari chuckled and shifted into her natural form of a silvery dragon with a shining golden mane. Emerald eyes glinting exuberantly as she leapt into the air and soared into the cloudy gray sky after being mounted by Keiko. Zeniba mounted Natsuko, and Rin climbed atop Yoshiro.
Besides her flew Haku, and besides him flew Chihiro. They were silent, neither willing to talk to the others. Towards their right flew Natsuko and Yoshiro, and behind them flew Kai and the other two phoenixes. They appeared to be conversing intently with one another and she caught a few cold glances in their direction. They're probably talking about Chihiro, Hikari thought grimly to herself, or they're talking about how stupid my brother was when he told the others that Sakura wouldn't be there when we arrive.
It wasn't long before the dragons were drenched in a light drizzle of streak-like rain. Chihiro had to stop and shield the phoenixes in an airy container before they could continue their journey. The landscape below them had changed from a shimmering silvery-blue lake from which the phoenix colony hovered above into a flat, and seemingly endless, plain populated by a few sparse trees. In the distance were lush green hills and Chihiro knew by memory that upon the hills was Aburaya. Beyond the hills lay a faint, almost completely transparent, light grayish wall. It shone with a rapidly fading sheen of the purest silver in her gaze.
"We'd better find the Great Opal and stop the Evil One before the barrier is completely overwhelmed by his influence," Zeniba muttered darkly, "by then it will be too late and both worlds will collapse into complete and utter chaos, and from this chaos He shall gain power and rule."
That's why we're heading back to Swamp's Bottom if you haven't already forgotten, Haku replied placidly, we need Sakura's help in finding the Great Opal after all, she is the only one who can figure out where it was hidden, she did hide it and then erase all memories of its location.
"I haven't forgotten Haku. I'm not so old that I would forgot something as crucial as that." Beneath her Yoshiro snorted, his emerald eyes gazed at the small building surrounded by a grove of trees.
If you two would stop arguing, you'd notice that we're here. Without warning he dived towards the building accompanied by Natsuko. She was followed by Hikari, Haku, and Chihiro who were in turn followed by the phoenixes.
They landed in the soft muddy ground in front of the house. Rin, Zeniba, and Keiko climbed off of their mounts and watched as everyone shifted into their humanoid forms. Chihiro destroyed the bubble of air that surrounded Takeo, Kasumi, and Kai before they entered the house, which had been opened by a kindly No-face when he heard Haku knocking on the door only a few seconds before.
"Welcome back Zeniba," Sakura greeted the elderly witch once she entered the building, "I hope you didn't mind me staying here after I left the castle. This fellow here was quite kind and let me stay without hindrance when I asked if it was possible I could stay here for an extended period of time."
"You're quite welcome Sakura," Zeniba answered gently, "I do not mind visitors, and yes No-face is a very kind spirit."
"I see that you've brought the others with you... and may I inquire on the purpose of this trip."
"We're here because of the Great Opal," Takeo told her as the door shut softly behind him, "now that Haku and those trapped with him have been freed we can now set off on our real mission."
"I see… then let us begin our search for Hikari's opal. I'm sure you're aware that it is one of the two opals needed to reveal its location, and then we'll search for the one that I hid. Once we have found the two necessary stones, then yes we'll start searching for the Great Opal."