Morning came too soon. Sunlight was pushing through the thin curtains and Nero struggled to stay asleep as the sun shinned into his eyes. Finally, he decided to just move away from the sunlight and to make Nakietra let him explore outside. In his mind, it would make it even considering she kept him up most the night with her nightmare. Usually he's able to block them out, it helps that she doesn't sleep much anyways, but last night was terrible. Nero poked his nose under her dress and touched his cold nose to her belly.
Nakietra let out a sleepy yelp but then settled down once Nero moved his nose away. Beside her, Kurogane immediately woke up but then relaxed into annoyance when he saw it was just Nero licking Nakietra's legs that were hanging off the couch. After letting out a long moan, Nakietra roughly pushed herself up and then opened the front door for Nero. The wolf happily padded out the door just before Nakietra let it fall closed.
"I hate when he does that," She mumbled and slumped into the kitchen. Her hair was messy and her dress crumpled, but still she looked beautiful in the dim light as she always did. Kurogane, slightly more awake than her, followed into the kitchen to see what she was doing. The two took a seat across from each other at the table while Nakietra tried to wake herself up.
"You CAN go back to sleep. You could use it," Kurogane told her. She shook her head no and stretched out her arms.
"I don't sleep. I'd rather start breakfast," She said and breathed in sharply before getting up. Her eyes were more awake as she poked around in cabinets and the pantry.
"What are you going to make?" Kurogane asked from his position.
"In my home, we sometimes make these really thin cakes that we eat with cut fruit when we have any," She said while she took out a heavy looking brown bag from the pantry, a basket of eggs and bottle of milk from the fridge, and a variety of fruits from one of the upper ones.
"Can I help?" He asked but not moving to get up yet.
"You can cut fruit," She told him and got out a knife and several sized bowls. She washed the outside of each fruit and put them in whole in separate bowls. He got up and carefully watched what she was doing. "Put each cut fruit in their own bowls," She told him when she was finished, and then went to making the batter for her small cakes.
"Do you miss your home?" He asked softly while they worked. The question caught her off guard for a few seconds, but then she went back to work at the same pace she was working at before.
"Always, but I've learned to deal with it considering I'll never be able to go back," She responded somberly.
"Is that what the Dimensional Witch took from you?" He asked.
"No," She answered with a sad laugh, "It's what the Witch Marina will take from me."
"You never told us why you need to find her," He stated.
"My home is in danger…for some reason, The Dimensional Witch can't interfere with my homeland but Marina can. She's my only shot at this point," She said plainly. Her eyes sparkled with tears, but none fell.
"Why won't she let you go home?" He asked. His voice was tight. He thought about never being able to go home. He loved his homeland, it was familiar.
"Marina likes relics. The more ancient, the better. She wants specific ones though, ones with magic inside them. My homeland doesn't have these artifacts…she also loves to makes everyone's lives around her as miserable as possible," She told him.
"Is there really no other way to save your homeland?" He asked. She paused and stared into her batter.
"My home is being is being destroyed by an insane prince who has an incredibly powerful weapon based off an ancient on…there's no way to stop. We tried a long time ago and all we ended up with was a sky stained with ash and a graveyard crowded with memorial… Do you miss your home?" She asked back, quickly changing the subject.
"Yeah," He hesitated. Nakietra nodded her head understandably and reached under the stove for a pan. She carefully pulled it up and placed it above one of the burners close to her. She lit it from a match in the drawer by the sink and then she was cooking with a spoon to scope the batter and two forks to flip them over.
Kurogane was kept busy then. Once the fruit was cut, the bowls were put around the table. Plates were taken out, drinks were pours, and utensils were found as the sleep ridden slumped in. Even with the help of Syaoran, Dawn made it down to breakfast. No one had changed from their night clothes yet, except for Jack who hadn't even slept yet.
"I never understood how someone who's dying can rush around so much," Jack mumbled loudly as his head slumped against the table. Nakietra balanced two steaming cups and a plate of her thin cakes as she came over with pursed lips. She set the cups down, one at her empty spot and another in front of Dawn, before lightly hitting Jack on the back of the head. She moved away from him and set the plate in the empty center before taking her seat between Kurogane and Dawn, who was dutifully sitting next to her brother. Jack rubbed his head where she hit him and sat up as straight as he ever managed before he had been taught some manners by Nakietra.
"Wait, who's dying?" Fai asked as he snapped out of his half asleep trance. Jack let out a painful moan, but looked like he wanted to put his head down again instead of eating.
"Why do you always hit me?" He asked jokingly but still half asleep.
"Because you have no manners, as usual," Nakietra responded and took a sip of her drink. Dawn raised a hand to her mouth and stifled a laugh. Nakietra laughed too then. "Make sure you drink that. It'll make you stronger," She told Dawn quietly and gestured to the other cup. The young girl of thirteen removed her hand from her mouth, revealing a very innocent smile, and reached for her cup and took it with both hands. She set it on the table closer to her and then reached into the folds of her pale yellow night dress.
Nakietra
I rub the side of my head. I've had enough of Fai to last me my entire existence both here and in The City of Wind. He's the most annoying person I'll ever meet. I look around quickly. Syaoran and Sakura are casually talking while they reach for separate bowls of fruit to load up their plates; Kurogane is playing with Nero who was begging for one of the flat cakes. They're his favorite I remember. Jack is slowly trying to figure out how to eat, Fai is playing with his food of course along with Mokona, and then Dawn….
"I have your bracelet," She says. I look at her. She looks down and in her tiny hand I see the glistening gold bracelet. Gently I pick it up. I've never seen it glisten so much. I rub my fingers over the twisted chain. It's never been this strong before. This can't be my bracelet. The center piece, a gold plate with a rose rising up covered in diamonds is so shinny. Even all the missing diamonds have been replaced. I turn it over and see the inscription.
Corenta lensites a Lash o Sian
Forever we will meet in the Land of Sand…
I've known what the back said ever since I could talk, but no one has ever actually been able to read it before. The words became dirt filled and smudged through all the years it's survived. My grandmamma even said she's never seen the words before and she knew that her grandmamma never saw them either. The bracelet had come from our ancestors. It was the only thing left from the Land of Sand where our City of Wind once stood. My hands follow the chain to the clasp. It's no longer broken. I close my eyes.
"Toya, stop!" I yelled. He struggled in my arms and reached toward the flame engulfed house without any other care than saving his little sister. I wasn't that strong, but with my slight weight and having my feet dug firmly into the mud turned out to be enough to hold him back.
"Father! Sakura!" He yelled with tears streaming in his eyes. Tears streamed from my own, from the smoke and my own internal torment for my tiny cousin that I knew was inside. He broke his other arm away and I tripped him to the ground before he could try to rip my arms from around his waist. I tumbled on top of him and hopelessly tried to hold him down in the ground. I knew he would kill himself if he got to the fire. I couldn't let him do that.
"Toya they're gone, we can't do anything!" I yelled at him. We both should've know that. The fire was in full swing and most of the outer walls were burned away to show that everything inside was already black.
"No!" He refused and pushed me off him. One of his fingers somehow hooked into the bracelet on my arm and yanked it lose with one yank as he stumbled to his feet. He took off to the fire.
"Toya!" I yelled and stumbled to my feet. Before he could get close enough, Hiro jumped over the wall surrounding the castle and knock Toya to the ground. He easily held the other man down until others came to put the fire out even though we all knew whoever was inside was long since dead. I stood where I was with tears staining my cheeks, watching as Toya's heart tore in front of me. Even Hiro had a few tears, whether it was from the smoke of the fire, Toya, or both. We all knew they were dead long before me and Toya had arrived from town. We knew there was no way any of us could have saved them.
I clutched the bracelet to my chest. Hiro's gone, Toya's in hiding, and it's unlikely that I'll ever see him again. At least I have my bracelet to remember my mother though. I wore it every single day after she died until the clasp broke. I still kept it on me though after that until Jack stole it. I breathe in deeply. Nero can't talk to me like Hiro and Toya could. He didn't understand certain
but at least I had one thing to remind myself of them and my mother. I wore this bracelet every day since she was killed, and kept it with me even after the clasp broke, right up until Jack stole it from me that is. I felt pains of heartache as I remembered that I only had Nero to talk to about my past now, but he didn't understand why we people did certain things. Our life is too dangerous and excessive to him. I lost everything that day. Toya wouldn't smile as much, Sakura was gone, and my aunt hated me for letting her daughter die. I blamed myself for months for killing my cousin until Hiro forced me to come back to reality and realize that there was nothing I could do in that situation
"Are you okay?" Kurogane whispers in my ear. My eyes fly open and my entire body twitches at the shock of him being so close. I drop my hand to my lap and cover my bracelet in a delicate fist.
"Yeah," I manage. One of Dawn's cold hands rests over my closed fist. "I'm just happy," I respond. I look around and see that everyone has some food on their plates, even Dawn. I have absolutely nothing. I take a flat cake and put some apple on it. Kurogane pats my shoulder and goes back to distracting Nero.
"Jack, this isn't my bracelet," I hush to him. He turns from Syaoran's story, which was about some legend as all his stories seem to be, and studies me. He doesn't usually study people, since he's terrible at it, but me and Hiro were always people worth studying to him I guess.
"Mostly. I had it all polished, the chain strengthened, and then a new clasp and diamonds," He tells me seriously. I'm amazed. I'm an expert at determining what's the worth of currency in each world and also finding out what was rare what was common. Diamonds were certainly rare here, but gold was common.
"This had cost…a lot of gold," is all I can manage to say to him. I wonder if he stole the money to fix it since Dawn's medicine is also its own type of fortune.
"Nakietra, you and Hiro changed me. No one trusts me, but I swear to you that I fix that using money I earned. It wasn't easy, but it was worth it...I want to right everything I've done wrong," He say, slightly tripping over words. He lightly scratches his left hand with one finger as he dance around the actual answer. Yes, it was expensive and he probably sacrificed a lot to convince the local jewelry maker to do this after Jack had previously stole millions of things from him before we came.
"Thank you…but I can't take it back," I say sincerely and offer it to Dawn. The two siblings look at me with the same look of confusion.
"It's yours though," Dawn says quietly.
"I know, but I want you to have it," I say smiling sadly. Even though I'm happy to have it back and it certainly reminded me of everything I'm fighting for now, they spent too much money on fixing it for me to simply take …I won't live long enough to have a daughter and to pass it on to like I'm supposed to do. It's better if I give it to someone I trust and tell them to take care of it. Not that I trust Jack, but I trust Dawn.
"No. Nakietra that was your mother's and we have no right to it," Jack says and Dawn furiously nods her head in agreement. I sigh and give up right away. I know Sakura will take it if I ask her to. I easily hook it around my own wrist for now and turn to my food. Everyone is mostly done and I still haven't eaten anything.
"Nakietra, did your mother teach you to make this?" Dawn asks quietly. I take a bite of food and look over to her. She gestures to the cup before taking another sip. I smile. I love seeing her so happy. She's always been weighed down by Jack's crimes, but now there's nothing to keep her away from her happiness but her sickness.
"She used to make it all the time when I was little," I respond, my smile turning into one of sadness. I had just mastered the recipe when she was killed. My heart beats with heartache and I turn back to my food. "I can write down the recipe for you before I go," I tell her. I don't feel like eating at all.
"We would like that," Jack says as he gets up. He collects the empty dishes around the table and stacks them in the sink. It's obvious that every steps is a challenge for him to stand up. I rise and help Dawn to her feet as Jack continues to go. He's telling them to go to the living too. Dawn rips her body away from me and makes her own way to the sink.
"Jack, me and Sakura will do those. Why don't you and Nakietra go in the living room and talk about whatever you're planning," She says and moves him out of her way. Jack looks at his sister and shakes his head.
"How?" He asks unbelievably. I'm not as shocked. Jack isn't the quietest talker and is even less sneakier when it comes to Dawn. Of course she knew something was up. How else did she survive through his crime spree?
"Go," She says lightly. He continues to shake his head out the door. I follow him. The covers we used last night were folded and used as a seat cushion for Fai. I take a seat on my couch next to Kurogane and Nero jumps up next to me on my other side. Syaoran has one couch to himself and then Jack takes the final one to lounge on. I can tell right away that he fell asleep.
"Jack, what did you learn?" I ask. He jolts out of his half-asleep nap and starts talking with one simple, but strong, statement.
"It's impossible," He states and keeps his eyes open this time. Nothing's impossible, I've learned, if you had enough heart to try it at least.
"There once was a certain boy sitting in a dirty cell who told me that nothing was impossible when I made him a bet that he couldn't break out of that same cell," I tell him. He shakes his head tiredly.
"Don't turn my own words against me. I was a child," He says. I shake my own head.
"What are you now then?" I question. Barely a year had passed and he considers himself an adult? He's younger than me at this point.
"A slightly wiser child," He responds. I sigh with frustration.
"Why do you say it's impossible?" Syaoran takes over.
"Guards patrol the house and change every four hours and check in with Ron every half-hour. All doors still have automatic locks, the bars on the windows are now barbed, and there's only one key in existence for the room the feather is kept in and Ron never lets it leave his sight," He names off clumsily.
"What room is it kept in?" I ask.
"His bedroom," Jack says slowly, studying me once more. I swallow hard and dig my nails into my bandages. There isn't much pain but there's enough to keep me brave right now.
"There's only one thing we can do then," I say stronger than I feel.
"No, there isn't," Jack says strongly as he locks eyes with me.
"I can go to Ron, and make my way there. I can break a section of his window and drop the feather for Syaoran to get then I can escape," I explain as I trip over my words while Jack keeps saying "No" over and over again.
"NO!" He shouts finally. I stare down at him and he pushes himself up to face me fully. "He. Will. Kill. You."
"No, he won't," I says confidently. I know he'll kill me though if he gets the chance. If we guards on our side, I can drop Ron's keys through also and they can come help me. I'll do anything to help Sakura. Jack looks at me with frustration. "It's the only way," I say.
He lets out a long, frustrated sigh. "Can I talk to you?" he asks as he stumbles to his feet. I get up and internally sigh at what's to come. Jack looks around the room before grabbing my arm and pulling me to one of the baths. I don't know which one. He yanks me inside and quickly closes the door with his back against it so I can't leave.
"What is wrong is with you?" he hushes angrily. I swallowed hard.
"I have a plan to escape. I just need to get the keys away from Ron," I respond more confidently than I feel.
"It's too uncertain," He stumbles.
Jack, I have a few months at the most…do you really think it matters at this point what happens to me?" I ask. A few months left…I'm already nineteen years past my death date though.
"Nakietra…" He tries, "I can't let you..." I slowly roll my eyes.
"Jack, I can make my own decisions. I've always have been able to, but no one would ever let me," I tell him strongly.
"I-" He starts another protest but I cut him off.
"You aren't my brother, so stop trying to protect me," I say and roughly pry him away from the door.
"I'm supposed to stand back and hope you get out alive and not damaged then," He says sadly as he steps away from the door. My hand freezes on the handle and I close my eyes.
"No," I say and walk back into the room. Everyone is in their same places and the small hushes from Fai stop. I take my seat as does Jack.
"What are you thinking?" he asks. I start up at him.
"You're going to break Ron in the biggest way a thief can," I say. Jack's face breaks into a grin.
"I've wanted to do this since my mom died," He says gleefully.
"What are we doing?" Fai asks.
"While I get the feather, you guys are going to rob Ron and burn every deed and title he has, and Robin Hood Jack is going to be in charge of it all," I tell them all.
"That's wrong though," Syaoran stutters. I look at him.
"Syaoran, this man has kidnapped children and raised them into his guards, he destroys people who cross him in any small way, and he has robbed and threatened villages like this one for years. Tell me, are you sure he doesn't deserve it?" I ask. The boy turns his face to the floor but doesn't say anything.
"How are we going to do this?" Kurogane asks from next to me. Jack waves him off.
"I'll figure it out later. I need some sleep first," He says and crashed headfirst into the couch. He curls up into a ball and shields his eyes from the little rays of sun poking into the room.
"What do we do then?" Mokona asks innocently.
"We should go into town," Dawn says suddenly. She and Sakura are standing in the doorway, both smiling and happy.
"That sounds like a good idea," I say and turn to Mokona, "Can I have my other bag?" Mokona spits it out and I snatch it up.
"Do you need things for medicine Nake?" Mokona asks as he waddles over to me.
"Just a little," I respond. I take a sheet of scratch paper from my sketch book and started jotting down a list of measurements and herbs for Dawn.
"Dawn says there's an open air market with all types of things, and there also some free fruit trees scattered throughout the forest for us to pick from," Sakura says happily. I smile to myself as I check each jar of herds. I remember Hiro helping me climb to the top of a really tall tree so I could see the village from where we were. The branch we were on broke before we reached the top, but luckily neither of us got hurt. We didn't try again.
"Really? That sounds fun," Syaoran says mildly with a small smile.
"Fresh fruit is always the best!" Fai exclaims and is immediately out of his seat it seems.
"Nakietra, can you help me climb trees again?" Dawn asks as she scampers up to me. My smile fades a little. I can't risk leaving the house, but she can't know the reason. I faintly remember helping her onto a low branch of a trees so she could pick the fruit, but I don't remember her actually climbing because she was too scared of heights.
"I think I'll stay here. I'm not feeling so strong right now," I tell her and rubbed my slightly aching chest. I have been able to unconsciously block out the pain all morning, but now it's starting to bother me a little. Dawn gives me a small smile, one filled with sadness and understanding. I finish the list and hand it to her. She looks it over while I pulled out another sheet and rest it on the floor while I dig through the jars. At the bottom of all the herbs is a bag filled with precious jewelry and gems. The group probably always wonders how I'm able to get money in any world, but it isn't through stealing like they guessed. Just through buying and re-selling precious gems and metals.
I keep the bag closed as I examined a few pieces worth selling through the small hole. "Dawn, can I have two bags?" I ask her. She looks up from the list and turned to Sakura.
"Sakura, can you get two bags from the pantry. There should be some by the entry way. And maybe some baskets too," She asks happily as she went back to the list. I write down the descriptions of each jewelry piece, the highest price, the average price and also the lowest acceptance price.
"Syaoran, I have a job for you," I say somewhat reluctant. Hopefully, I wouldn't lose any money and he could learn a new skill. He comes over and peers down at what I was doing. "When you're in town, there's this rich jeweler merchant that does small time work for the village. He likes to buy jewelry, so I want you to take these to him and sell them for me. Do you know how to do that?" I explain. Sakura hands me the two small bags and I take out the pieces out and transfer them into one of the bags. I see Syaoran's eyes widen as he stares at the jewelry, "Syaoran," I remind him.
"No," He answers. I finished transferring the pieces and hand him the bag.
"Okay, first off, you always let the buyer suggest a price. If it's too low," I say and hold up the paper, "barter for the lowest price I've written. If he asks for your suggestion, you say the highest price and then negotiate from there. If he won't go for the lowest price, don't sell it. I'd rather have the piece back then lose a bunch of potential money," I say slowly and carefully. Syaoran seriously listens and is drinking in every word in. I turn to Dawn.
"I'll watch him," She says with a nod of her head. While her brother stole, she was the one whole sold most of the pieces. Luckily, the merchant was happy to take stolen merchandise and bring it to the underground, not that she knew that it had been technically stolen to begin with. Jack always told her it was his payment for work, but he never told her what his work was.
"Dawn will help you. Fai," I say since he's also listening. I crumpled up the other empty bag and throw it to him, "You're in charge of the money. Sell the pieces first, then get the things I wrote on the list Dawn has. Make sure the ingredients are of quality value. Whatever's left is for you guys to spend however you want," I tell him and pack the rest of the jewelry away. Syaoran takes the paper I neglected to give him and looks it over.
"Should we go?" Sakura asks. She's holding a stack of three baskets in her arms.
"Yeah, let's go," Dawn responds and grasps Syaoran's hand to drag him over to the girl. Fai came over all by himself with Mokona. Everyone started putting on shoes. Nero stretches out and joins them by the door, but Kurogane stays where he was. I turn to him.
"Aren't you going?" I ask. I don't like being alone, but I know how to deal with it at least.
"I'll stay," He responds and watches everyone leave through the door. I fix my herb back and push it off to the side. I stare at him as he puts his arms behind his head and leans back with closed eyes. I curl up my knees and rest my chin on them. It helps block out the pain. I don't feel like taking my medicine because I'm too entranced by how Kurogane looks.
Hiro's clothes fit him perfectly, though I don't remember him ever wearing those specific ones. They were probably ones we acquired in a different world but he probably didn't like them that much since he left them here. Still, they were once his and he wore them at least once. As an artist, I can't help noticing how the small amount of light makes his tanned skin glow and how peaceful he looks no matter where he is. Always controlled, calm, and organized.
I noticed how his clothes rumpled a little from his posture and how parts of him were darker than others as they shadowed each other over. I can't resist. I quietly take out my sketch book and one of my last pencils and started sketching him on a clean page.
There was always something frightening about drawing the first few lines on a clean page, but there was also always something exciting about the smell of a fresh page touching the air for the first time. I dig my blackened out from the bag and soon it was chipped down millimeter by millimeter as my hands became more and more smudged with the graphite. There was also always something about getting my hands dirty that made me feel successful too.
I don't know how much time passed, but Jack snored all the way through it and Kurogane didn't move. I wondered several times if he knew I was secretly drawing him, and I also wondered why he offered to stay. Going to the market was defiantly an adventure, one that may rival some of our own, and the fruit trees were defiantly a rare sight to see. Even though he didn't know those things like I did, he usually didn't like to leave Syaoran alone when a feather was around. We all knew what happened, or at least what could, when he wasn't around to save Syaoran from doing something life threatening.
I blew off my finished drawing and examined it with a small smile. I put the pencil and eraser away, but all I could do was stare at the drawing. Even if I died right after I saved my home, I would be happy. Kurogane was right, I needed them. In very certain ways, I've always needed people even if those people were quiet and controlled unlike my family.
I put my book in its usual place and curl up on the two cushioned space I have. My feet press against Kurogane's leg and I feel comfortably squished like when I was little and sleeping with my cousins in our shared room. I clutch the pillow and soon I fall into a dreamless sleep for the first time in years.