The day disappeared into night. Kurogane was allowed to be with Nakietra, but no one else was allowed at all. When they saw her the next morning, up and walking around, Sakura and Syaoran smiled at her. Fai didn't smile though at all and she noticed it. She left it alone though as Nero banged on the door with his head. Zuo let him in and found Mokona and a feather with him. Sakura was the most impressed that they were able to get a feather. Xion kept her word and gave Sakura the feather she rightfully won. Xion did not show them off outside her house, but her nephew did.
Fai was informed on how to make Nakietra's medicine as well as everything he would need to know as her disease progressed. He listened carefully. He and everyone else got very depressed when they heard she only had one month (maybe two) left to live. Nakietra didn't say anything about that as they moved into their next world. There, they saw that she was no weaker or any different than she always was except when night came. That was the only times she asked to be alone, even to Kurogane, Mokona, and Nero. Worlds passed through their eyes, almost a new one every day. Fai kept track of it just like Nakietra was.
This landing was calm just like every recent one. There was no open space here though, it was a cave. Along the walls were a few torches, barely enough to see by. Nakietra lit a fire ball and held it up to see. Immediately every reached for their weapons as they saw the creatures appear in the darkness.
Nakietra threw the ball at the ceiling and kept it there just how the spirits taught her. Kurogane covered her back then and they moved two steps out from everyone else to give themselves them. Nero took the middle then while Syaoran and Fai covered Sakura. He was starting to get good with the knife Tomoyo left him.
The creatures were never ending. Many of the creatures were just a little bit shorter than Sakura, and all were armored. Nakietra held one close before knocking it unconscious. It disappeared in her hands and she watched a blue ball of light float up to the ceiling. She watched it disappear and she understood where she was and knew what these creatures were: Orcs.
Nakietra
We need to escape. Unless we could destroy whatever is bringing these monster from the other world (machine or portal), they will just keep attacking us. It's easier to escape since no one here knows what to look for. Hell, I don't even know what I'm looking for because I know we aren't in any of the caves around Kardia. I see a path leading up. It will slow us down but heading up always seemed to work in the past. I nudge Kurogane.
"Up there!" I yell and point. He gets my meaning and turns to lead the way. I take my place next to Nero and we heard the other's that way. Nero falls back and takes out a few. I pause and send a few fireballs but we don't linger. The path ahead straightened and we came into natural light. I kept everyone going until they were in the sunlight near the edge. I looked back and saw the monsters couldn't even leave the cave. They can't stray far from their portals I remember..
"They won't leave the cave," I tell them and relax. I lower myself and sit on the ground. I feel exhausted. I wish I could sleep just a little bit.
"Nakietra, do you know this place?" Fai asked and sheathed his knife. Mokona was hiding in his shirt and looked like he was asleep again. Moving us from world to world seemed to be more exhausting for him as the days went by. I look behind us. This place is shaped into an oval and there's an overreach also to block the worst of the sun. There's plenty of sky visible though and the land looks very far down from the little bit I can see through the clouds. We must be on a mountain. I inhale deeply. It smells like fall and the air is freezing up here.
"Not this place, but I know the world. This is where Marina is, and she has a feather for us," I share and continue to look out. I'm tempted to look over the edge but I'm afraid of what I'll find.
"If we find Marina, you can save your home then," Sakura says happily. I nod my head, not sharing her enthusiasm. I don't want to even think about seeing Marina again even though I know I have to.
"Mokona, where's the feather?" I ask while looking at the quiet cream puff. He shudders awake and things.
"Mm…it really far under us," He responds while his eyes scrunched up. I rub my shoulders. I don't want to climb down from this mountain.
"That…can't be good," I respond. I close my eyes and try to imagine Nero or Sakura making it down a mountain alive. If it's too steep neither will be able to get a foot hold. Mokona means its mostly under us though so that means it's underground. I grimace. I don't want to see anymore spiders.
My ears perk up and I open my eyes. Someone is making crunching noises with the ground. I look around and see two hands appear over the edge and then a dark brown head. My breath slows. Could it be…? The arms pull the person up and I jump to my feet. I wait until he's over the edge to run to him.
"Raguna," I say and stop right in front of him. He looks down at me and smiles. I smile back. I've missed Raguna the most out of all the people I met on my journey's with Hiro.
"It's good to see you again Nakietra," He says happily. I wonder if he's still being forced to house Marina.
"Not for good reasons of course," I say and my smile fails me. He takes one of my hands and squeezes it. I squeeze back. No one likes Marina but everyone needs to listen to her for one reason or another.
"Did something happen at home?" He asks ad his smile fades. I nod my head yes.
"Where are we?" I ask and step back. He lets go of my hand.
"Whale Island. It's an island in the shape of a whale that floats in the sky above a village called Trampoli," He responds. I don't recognize the village's name, but I shiver. This place is an island that floats in the air? Land isn't meant to float in the air. I don't even like falling.
"It…floats?" I question and shudder. I don't like anything that just….floats in air at least. I always feel like it's going to fall. It unnerves me more that I'm on this MAGICALLY floating land. Magic is always temperamental.
"I've been trying to investigate, but a lot of the monsters here are pretty strong," He says his eyes wondering past me.
"These are my friends," I explain while looking back at my gathering group and gesturing to them to come forward, "I've been traveling with them."
"I'm Raguna," He introduces and smiles. Everyone introduces themselves and asks a lot of question about this place. I look over the edge and see a giant plant that reaches up here from the ground. I back up and swallow hard. That's a really long way to fall. There's no way Nero is going to get down there and there's a good chance Sakura will fall.
"Raguna, my group isn't going to be able to climb down there. Not everyone at least," I tell him. He hesitates. Not a good sign from Raguna who is always very forthcoming.
"I have an idea for that. There's a girl named Candy in the village who's very close with the Rune Spirits. She asked them to carry her and her sister here from their home, so maybe she could ask them to bring everyone down here," He explains. I trust this plan about as much as I trust any stranger. I want to meet this Candy before even thinking of trying this.
"I want to meet this Candy first," I say.
"I thought you would say that. Let's start climbing. Who else is coming down but you?" He asks and gestured to the edge. I look over and swallow hard again. I take a deep breath and take a step down to the stalk and start climbing. Syaoran says he's staying and Kurogane is coming with me. Raguna steps down after me and I feel a little safer. I can't fall here, there's no one to catch me.
I keep my calm through the while climb and sigh with relief as I step onto stable ground. I felt like the stalk was shifting with the wind but it could have been my imagination. I look up at the stalk and see it standing perfectly straight. The wind isn't moving it at all. I look around.
To the left of the stalk is an old fortress looking building with a clock face. It looks to be about two floors high and is entirely made of brick. In front of the bottom part of the clock face is a walkway. The clock doesn't work it seems sadly. It would have been nice if it did because the sun is always screwy here. All around the base are patches of yellowing grass and browning leaves. It's defiantly fall here. I hug my shoulders and step back a little bit. Raguna jumps down first and then Kurogane. That climb froze me. I can't wait to get in front of a fire. I should have asked Mokona for my cloak. I look to Raguna.
"That wasn't too bad," Raguna says with a small smile. He's still wearing that buttoned up indigo shirt with the leather apron over it. His dark grey gloves reach just below his elbows and his pants and boots cover his legs. He hasn't changed at all, not that I expected him to.
"Where's this Candy?" I ask. He gestures to the tower. I don't feel confident about this plan.
"She lives here with her older sister and grandpa," He says and walks up to the door. Without a knock or shout he walks through the door. That's perfectly normal in this world though. At least, in this country. Everyone was friendly and thought the best of everyone until proved otherwise. Doors were unlocked during the days, and almost everyone had a key to everyone's house for when the doors were locked at night. I follow Raguna with Kurogane behind me. He hasn't said anything this entire time, but he takes my hand. His hands are warm from the climb. He's not used to it like I am.
The inside of the clock tower is filled with cracking, dreary stones. This place really needs some work but it's common for no one to fix up their houses if it still stands. The second floor is better though. The stones are newer and there is a fire and small kitchen. Something is cooking in the oven that smells like fish but I don't see anyone.
"Hey Cinnamon," Raguna calls and pokes his head into the second door on the left.
"Hey," A quiet voice responds. Raguna closes the door and then goes to the last door. Cinnamon must be the older sister then. He opens this door completely and then walks in. I follow inside. The room is small and rectangular with one bed and a dresser. There's a small girl and boy by the bed.
"Raguna!" the girl exclaims.
"Hey Candy. Can you do me a favor?" Raguna asks, leaning over to be eye level with her. I ignore the scowling boy. Candy is a small child that is possible ten. She's wearing a baggy strawberry and yellow shirt with a delicate white skirt to go with it. Hiding her red hair was an over grown hat that matches her shirt in color. The boy beside her is equally as short with elf ears poking out from under his blond hair. He's an elf, but I'm not sure if he's pure blood or not. His clothes are puffy blue pants with a matching shirt, and another white shirt mostly covering that. Around his head is a decorated black head band. Candy smiles at me.
"Sure. What is it?" She asks excitedly.
"There are three people and a wolf on Whale Island. Could you ask the spirits to carefully bring them down here?" He asked. The girl thought about it and looked up into the air.
"I need 40 of each Runey," She responds after a lot of thought. Raguna doesn't say anything for a while. Slowly, he reaches around and took off his slim pack. It always blends so well with his clothes that I always forget about it. He takes out a bulky grey machine and puts it on the ground. Candy kneels on the ground and opens it up. Rune Spirits filled the air. My eyes widen as I watch them swirl around. I've never been able to see them so clearly before.
Candy starts singing then and some went back in the machine. I stared at the spirits again. Raguna always said he couldn't see them, but I always could. These were so much bigger and clearer though than in Kardia. She opens the door to the right and they fly out in a matter of seconds. Raguna picks up the machine and sighs.
"Where will they take them?" He asks Candy.
"To your house," She responds happily as she shuts the door. It looks like it leads to outside. That must be how you get to the walkway.
"Okay. Thanks Candy," He says and starts leaving.
"Bye Raguna!" She yells as we all file out. Raguna says goodbye to the girl in the second room, but that was only thing spoken until we got outside. Once out, I start to see them more clearly. Sprits are floating in the air all around us, singing soft tunes together as they dance around. I was too cold to notice any of it before.
"I thought they were strange when I first came here," Raguna says as he starts down the short hill that leads to a crossroad.
"You never saw them before though," I respond weakly and follow. Kurogane still hasn't let go of my hand. He let's go and wraps an arm around me. He's so warm…
"No one in Kardia ever saw the spirits this clearly," He says and takes the path to the right. I nod my head in agreement and then pause.
"Raguna, why did you leave Kardia?" I ask seriously. I remember Raguna being engaged when I left. Why is he here in this village instead of there?
"Mist disappeared from the village suddenly. I went searching for her, and then I found her here," He says and laughs softly, "Ironically she showed me to another rundown house with an overgrown field in need of work. This one just happened not to belong to her." I laugh myself softly. I know the story well of how he stumbled into Kardia, having complete amnesia, and she gave him a hoe and watering can instead of food and water like he asked. I also knew how she had then forced him to live on her extra farm and run it. For it to happen again…well that's a one in a million shot.
"Raguna, you're a sucker for women," I state. He was going to marry Felicity though. Mist shouldn't have mattered.
"I know. Why else would I still let Marina live in my house," He says and continues straight. Neither of us are smiling anymore I know. I don't even need to see his face to know that.
"Why didn't you marry Felicity?" I ask. She wouldn't have left Kardia with him. She loved the town too much and her father even more, but he wouldn't have left her alone there and still be here. He found Mist, he should have left.
"She got married to someone else," He says and I shut up. I wish I hadn't brought it up.
We arrived at what I guess is his farm. There's a stretch of field to my left and was mostly tame and cleared while there's a one story house was to my right. Both need some work still, but the repairs are expensive and stumps ad huge rocks like those are hard to remove.
"Here we are," he announces and stops in the area between the front door and the field. I smile softly just as he does. Raguna has no problems working in a field. He enjoys it.
"Do you know if Marina is inside?" I ask and carefully step out from under Kurogane's arm. I need to look strong in front of Marina. She has a habit of appearing around corners whenever someone needs her or doesn't want to see her specifically.
"Nakietra, didn't I tell you that you would be back? I thought you would have brought your brother with you though, but I guess I don't have the option to be choosy with who died when it comes to anyone who's is born with insanity," Marina's silky voice come then. I look past Raguna and see her turn around the corner of the house. Raguna looks back at her, his face hard. Her hazel hair is tied back this time with two curls free and framing the sides of her face. She's dressed in a dark green kimono today with soft pink thread sew into swirls of vines. Her smile is still just as sugary and deadly as I remember.
"The Witch Marina, I have a bargain to strike with you," I say strongly and clench my fists at my sides. She looks me over and smirks. I am not afraid of her, I just hate her.
"Do you really? I know for a fact that you have nothing I want…Th is only one thing I want is an apprentice. Sadly, you're still not the right gender though," She says sourly and then stares behind me at Kurogane. I will not bargain with another person's life. I close my eyes and take a deep breath. She's right, there's nothing I can give her. Except…
"My home is in danger and I want you to save it again. In return, I offer you my servitude for the rest of my life as well as the Lightning hammer," I say formally.
"We went over this last time. The hammer you have isn't real. It's a poor copy and I don't want it. Also, your servitude is less than appreciated considering you don't have much longer to live," She responds as she examines her clean nails. They're pained a shimmery green with some sort of elaborate design with black swirls on them. I clenched my teeth. I need her to help me. I have two more options left. Slowly I crawl on my knees and bow down with my forehead pressed against the ground.
"On my death, I promise you my knife and all the artifacts that go with it. Please, will you reconsider?" I ask. My voice is shaking. I'm angry. I hate her.
"The proud Nakietra, on her knees, bowing and begging to me. Like your brother did," I hear the laugh in her voice, "We both know that didn't work last time," She says and I can hear her smiling. "I will grant your request though, just because I really like your brother. What do you want from me exactly?" She asks. I rise up from the ground and wipe the dust form my face. I sit back on my legs and stare at the ground. I can't look at her.
"I want something that will kill Benji. He has the hammer and it's made immune from normal weapons," I say. I feel tears in my eyes. I won't cry in front of her. I feel so humiliated now. Both Kurogane and Raguna are watching me act like a little girl. I hate it. She thinks about it.
"I will have your solution tomorrow. In the meantime," She says and I heard the smirk in her voice, "There are things to do. Raguna, show the men how to do your normal work. Nakietra will show the girl how to do hers." I hear her sweep into the house then and the door slams shut. It's made of thin wood. Behind me I hear the swoop and exclaims of my group. It looks like Candy kept her deal. I thought I was done with this crap when I left last time. I wipe my face.
"Nakietra, let me show you the inside," Raguna says quickly and grabs my arm. I let him pull me up and then into the house.
"I'm sorry," He states and shakes his head. He releases me and I look around the dimly lit house just so he doesn't see my face.
It's cramped, more so than the old house. In the corner to the right of the door is a small forge, in the upper right is a medicine area, and then the kitchen is to the left. In front of me is a dying fire with a bookcase and chest to the left and a desk to the right. His small bed is in the last corner with a hole-filled cover. It matched the nightstand next to it that was falling apart and the ratty rug in front of the fireplace.
I look at the kitchen. The boxes of vegetables and uncooked food are lining the wall toward the bed and I see all the papers taped to the tops of them. I let out a long breath. I wish I didn't recognize this. The kitchen is equipped with the basics: a cutting board, sink, a small pan and hot plate, as well as one space of clear countertop.
"I haven't been able to do much work on the house yet, but it's enough to get by for now," Raguna explains. He's trying to distract my mind. My anger for Marina is gone now and all I feel is empty. I hate how everything is so hard. Everything is a challenge.
"What has to be done?" I ask even though I can guess.
"Well…those crates are all separated by recipe already. You know what to do with the rest," He says grimly. I walk to the first crate and look at the paper on top
Popcorn
Remove corn from husk and fry in pan until kernels pop.
This is easy. I look at the other recipes. They're all easy and with instructions. I rub my shoulders. It's cold in here.
Grilled Char
Smoked Salmon
Pickles
Pickled Turnip
Rice Ball
Needle Sasami
Sakura can only help me with some of them. She'll learn how to cook a little better today at least. I wish there was a way to not make her help me.
"I can do this," I tell him. He nods his head
"Once the field is done, I'll come help. There's still some medicine I have to make, as well as some…work in the forge," Raguna responds with a sigh of exhaustion. I feel bad for him. He has to deal with this crap every single day and he can never get all of it done in one day.
"It alright, I can do it by myself," I say with a sigh. I pick up a crate and bring it closer to the kitchen. My arms shake, but I manage alright. I can't believe how weak I've been feeling recently.
"I need you to tell me about your team so I can give them work they can do," He says hesitantly before leaving. I pause for a moment before taking out the huge amount of corn husks so I could start making popcorn.
"What needs to be done first?" I ask as I start to tear the leaves away from each corn. I'll just start husking them for now.
"The field needs to be cleared, a bag has to get filled with fresh fish, and errands need to be run in town," He asks.
"Kurogane and Syaoran can help with the field, Fai can fish, and Sakura is supposed to help me in here. Nero can help in the field too if you let him," I slowly name off.
"Kurogane and Syaoran: field. Fai: fish. Sakura: house," He repeats.
"Yes," I say with a smile. He always had a good memory, "I can help you in town also."
"It would be my pleasure to show you Trampoli," He says and leaves with a small smile on his face. I smile to myself. Raguna was always ready to make new friends and also to do work. I remember helping him and Hiro work in the field for a full season. I always had to do all this cooking afterwards though. I helped clear dungeons, gather materials, and even fish too. I close my eyes. Those were better times even though we had to come back to Marina every night. The door opens and Sakura comes in with Mokona whose sleeping again.
"Put him in front of the fire," I tell her and put aside the three shelled corns. After a while, you get very fast at this. Slowly I broke the hard kernels away with a knife and put them in the pan. Sakura silently watches over my shoulder. I glance back to her.
"Have you ever husked corn?" I ask. She steps next to me front of the mountain of corn.
"No," She responds and picks up a corn. I pick up one of the husks.
"You take the tip of one of the leaves and pull it all the way down til it breaks off at the other end," I say and demonstrated. She tried and it breaks off halfway where the leaves get harder. "It's alright. You just keep taking away the outside leaved until they're all gone," I say and put the husk down to work with the kernels in the pan. As I plucked the kernels away, I watched her work determinedly next to me. I smiled to myself. Sakura is always so determined.
"Have you ever had popcorn?" I ask her as I add oil and heat to the pan.
"Once. It was fluffy though," She says. I smile a little.
"This will be soon. Keep going, we have a lot of work to get through," I encourage and she started working at a faster pace. Soon it was a never ending process. Sakura husked the corn, I picked off the kernels, cooked it, and then put it in a container for sale (which were folded up in the bottom of the crate). By that time, another few corns were waiting for me. I don't know how many batches we made, but the containers soon perfectly filled up the crate and we ran out of corn. I wiped my sweaty hands on my dress and sighed. One recipe down, six more to go. Sakura already looks tired
"We're done?" She asks. I shake my head no and almost laugh. Work was never done when you lived with Marina.
"We have six more recipes to do," I tell her and turn to the crates. "Wash the pan please," I ask and picked up the now filled crate of popcorn. I carry it over and put it on the forge side of the door. I hear the water run as I walk over and picked up the next crate. I pull it over and pop it open. The fish are already scaled, gutted, and salted. They only needed to be cooked now. I certainly don't need Sakura for this. I pick up another recipe for Sakura to work on: rice balls.
"What are we doing now?" She asks as she puts the now dry pan back on the hotplate.
"I'm going to make some grilled char. Meanwhile, you're going to make rice balls," I say and drop the rice case closer to her. The rice was already cooked and just needed to be formed and wrapped in seaweed. I guess Raguna already started most of these recipes. Marina probably just put them out though. I look at Sakura and see her smiling. I smile back. I know she knows how to make these.
"Get to it. The sooner we finish, the faster we can go help the boys," I say and pull my crate closer so that it was next to me on the opposite side. I cook two fish on the grill attachment at once and easily finished filling the box before Sakura was halfway done with hers. I smile at her determination and hardworking attitude as I washed the rack. Fish is quick and easy.
"You're done already?" She asks disappointedly.
"Fish cooks quickly. Don't worry, there's plenty of work to do," I say as I run water over my hands. They already hurt from touching the rock salt.
"Right," She says determinedly and goes back to completely focusing on her work. I decide not to disturb her at all. I put the crate next to the other one before getting a new one: Smoked Salmon. The recipe is easy and only requires me to smoke the salmon pieces at this point. I remember cooking with my grandmother a few times. We always cooked fish together that my cousins caught in the stream. They were tiny things. Under my breath, I hum a tune. I don't remember the words or what it's called, but we always hummed it while we cooked. My mother knew the words though even though my grandmother didn't.
"What's that song called?" Sakura asks. I stop and look over to her. Her crate was packed and she stood ready for more work. She looks tired just like me.
"I don't remember. It's a child's song from my home," I say stiffly. "Done?" I question even though I know the answer. She nods her head. I moved the crate away and get her a new one.
"What's left to cook?" She asks as I'm choosing.
"There's Needle Sasami, Pickles, and Pickled Turnips," I name off, not knowing which was the easiest to make for her.
"I know how to pickle stuff," She says and smiles. I smile back and pick up the crate of cucumbers. I placed it next to her and check my fish. Usually it would take a lot longer, but the fish was already cured and halfway finished. It just needs to be heated up a little on some cedar planks. Sakura was finished were her crate quickly and she got the turnips all by herself. I stared the sasami and then she was done. I put my crate to the side the others and wonder how we're going to move them all to the shipping box.
"Do we have to do anything else?" Sakura asks. I look around and let out a huff of air. I know what we should to at least to help Raguna out.
"We have to clean the house and make medicine for Raguna," I name off from what I remember doing in Kardia. Sakura would never be able to make the medicine so the split was even. "You do the house and I'll-," The door opens. I turn to see Raguna, sweaty and tired.
"Are you ready to go into town?" He asks as he looks at the crates and smile. I smile too.
"We finished the food," I say.
"I see that," He says. He takes off his pack and puts a few things from the crates in there before putting it back on.
"Is the field done?" I ask.
"Yeah. The other two are just getting a drink from the stream," He says and picked up two of the crates, "These actually have to go in the shipping box." He smiles sheepishly. I walk over and pick up one. My arms are tired, but I can do it.
"I know. I'll help you," I say. Raguna is just a little cute in his own boyish way. He reminds me of Toya sometimes…before my Sakura was killed that is.
"You don't have to," He says quickly and heads out the open door.
"I want to though," I respond. I notice Sakura scamper over and pick up a crate too. I see her struggle more than me, but she manages. Together we walk across the cool air to the huge box on the edge of the field. I shiver. More cold air. It was nice when I was cooking because there was heat from the hotplate. The boys are sitting in the shade by the steam, cooling off even though it's already cool out. Raguna shifts his boxes to one hand and opens the box. I put my crate in and then put his and Sakura's in. She smiles happily at him.
"Thank you," Raguna says and smiles to Sakura. She smiles back and looks very happy. He closes the box and heads back to the house. There are still three crates there.
"You're welcome," She responds and follows him. I stop and let them keep going. They can handle the rest of the crates. I'd rather check on the other two and make sure they're okay. I sit in the grass with them. It feels nice to sit down.
"What did you have to do?" Kurogane asks.
"Cook," I respond and look up. There are some clouds and the sky is like a sapphires. It makes sense since the sun is setting now.
"What did you make?" Syaoran asked with a smile.
"Salmon, Char, Popcorn, Pickles, Turnips, Rice Balls, and Needle fish," I name off my fingers. I'm amazed I remembered them all.
"Do we get any of that?" Syaoran asks looking hungry.
"No," I sigh. Syaoran looks a little disappointed, but I can't do anything about that. "What do you guys think of Raguna?" I ask.
"We didn't really talk. He was nice though and works hard," Syaoran says and shrugs.
"He's a good guy," I respond and smile. Syaoran doesn't realize he just summarized Raguna completely. I look over. Sakura is talking to him while they carry the boxes out.
"When did you meet him?" Kurogane asks.
"I met him in a village called Kardia. Marina was with him already at that point. Raguna is going to take me into town soon," I say. I watch as Raguna puts his and Sakura's boxes in the shipping box, but they continue to talk. I want to sleep but I don't want to be here. I'd rather go to town.
"You trust him?" Kurogane questions.
"Yes," I answer and slowly get to my feet. Everything feels unstable now in my body. More unstable I guess I should say.
"Nakietra!" Raguna calls across the field. I stand up and brush the dead grass off my dress.
"I'll be back later," I tell them and jog over to him. Raguna is already walking down the path we had taken from the clock tower. I slow down and fall in step with him. He starts talking then. He mentions the people who followed him here: Lara, Mist, and Rosaline. He tells me their stories and how they are and so forth. He mentions Bianca and Tabatha and how they come in the summer and left a few weeks ago when it got colder. I wouldn't expect them to stay, Bianca is picky and Tabatha follows her everywhere. Then he tells me about the village.
Kurogane follows them. Syaoran was hesitant to cover for him, but both agreed that Nakietra's mind hasn't been completely sane since the desert town. He watched them though and listened to parts of their conversations. They sounded like friends. They talked about the people they just visited and also about people they both seemed to know. They didn't touch each other and Nakietra kept her arms wrapped around her shoulders.
When he was convinced they were only good friends and that she was safe, he headed back to the house. Everyone was already home and sitting in front of the fire. Fai was making dinner and there were blankets spread out to make beds for everyone. Nero was gone though, hunting everyone assumed. It was late when Nakietra and Raguna came back, but no one seemed bother. Raguna complimented Fai's cooking while everyone talked to him about anything they could think of. Nakietra didn't eat and just settled on the bed closest to the fire. Kurogane moved by her while listening to Raguna. His amount of knowledge and stories was amazing and had everyone entrapped in them.
Kurogane set a blanket over her and touched her cheek. She was still as ice cold as she had been earlier. He poked her three times. She rolled over.
"What?" She asked. Her eyes are barely open at all. She yawns and wakes herself up a little but her complexion looks just as bad as before.
"Do you need to take your medicine?" He asked. She closed her eyes while she thought about it.
"Yes," She answered. She lifted her head up to check where everyone was before settling back down. He could tell she wasn't even thinking about getting up at this point. "Aren't you tired?" She asked.
"No," He answered with a small smile. She smiled back and took his hand. She rolled on her side to face him, using her other arm as a pillow.
"I feel so tired even though I really didn't anything today," She answered with another yawn. Both of them talked in whispers and stopped when Raguna stopped or when someone asked a question.
"You used a lot of ruins this morning, you climbed down that huge stalk, you cooked a lot, and then you went walking through the town," He named off. She yawned again, looking more and more awake.
"True," She responded and snuggled into her arm.
"Sleep," Kurogane said and released her hand. She frowned and rolled back over just as Fai came over. He lay down on the blanket next to Kurogane and let out a goofy sigh. Kurogane got up and gave Nakietra her medicine before falling asleep while Raguna's stories continued into the depths of night with the other three listening.