Another day with the Lost Order, another day of strange injections. Some yellow, some red, most were black though and all of them sent his body on fire. Caused his bones to ache and his stomach to turn. And after every injection he was all but carried back to the quarters that he'd been given. Today though, today they moved him to a new room. One filled with books and furs and scale ornaments. It's only occupant was someone looking out a window. Something in their hands as the teen looked around. "Ok… I'm drugged to high hell right now, but even I know this isn't my room." Gales muttered as he heard the doors close behind him as the room's other occupant turned to him. An older woman, pureblood, and from the different ornaments that decorated the room; a member of very high standing.
"So, you are the Lost Son I've heard so much about." The woman stated as she walked over and looked at the teen. "Gales Ashe, correct?" Voice was like silk, gentle like a lithe breeze and almost hypnotic in nature… but there was something in it that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.
"I didn't know I had a reputation around here… who are you?"
"As of now; no one important." The woman stated as she rested a hand on the teens face and held it up. Woman had to be a solid 7 ft. Running her finger over the teens cheek earned a small frown. "You… look just like your mother."
"I wouldn't know." He snarked. "Now, what do you want?"
"I simply wanted a moment." The woman stated as she gestured to a seat. "Sit." Wordlessly the teen obeyed as he stumbled to a seat and settled down. Didn't feel like he had much of a choice anyway, plus his legs were killing him. Wouldn't be a bad idea to sit for a moment.
"Now what?"
"Now we talk."
Gales snapped awake as he grabbed his head, a sharp pain coursing through his skull as he sat up. "Damn…" Gales muttered as he pulled himself out of bed and moved to his restroom. Some water for his face, and his head was still hurting. He knocked on his skull a few times before sighing to himself. "Ok… this is a first. Usually it's my whole body that hurts, now it's just my head." The teen muttered as he took a breath and dropped down on his bed. A few breaths and the teen stared off into space before muttering to himself. "Haven't thought about that woman in a while." Gales ran a finger along his face as he frowned. "Look like my mother huh…" His finger rested at the edge of his scar and frowned slightly. "I really wouldn't know." The teen admitted as he looked around his room and let his eyes rest on something.
His weapon - not Gandora but it's successor. Blade would still need some time before it was done, but it was coming along rather well. Pyrrha was kind enough to couch him through Remnant-style weapon forging, even letting him borrow her maintenance kit so he didn't have to get his own. "I just hope I can give her tool kit back before school starts." Beacon was still only two weeks; Meaning he'd be cutting it close getting his weapon done in time. Honestly, he did wanna go to Beacon, somewhat, if only to see what it was like. Plus Pyrrha would be going there and outside their jogs and lunch, they didn't get that much time together. "Speaking of which…" The teen turned his head as he looked to see the sun starting to rise. "I'll be meeting Pyrrha in about thirty minutes."
Another morning jog with Pyrrha, another run back home to shower, and then he spent an hour or two working his weapon before he started his shift at Tukson's bookstore.
"Tukson, guess who's back?" The teen called out as Tukson waved the kid over. "Anything new?"
"Nothing new today." Gales pouted as he looked at the older man and walked over, leaning on the counter. "Sorry, slow day today; Although there's still a couple books I need your help putting up."
"I'll get right on it." Gales stated as he looked to an open box and started filing the books away.
"You've been in a good mood, these past couple days. What happened?"
"I got to hit something." Gales said cheerfully as the man frowned. "Relax it was for a good cause." The teen admitted as he started filing the books away. "I went to save a couple friends a few days ago."
"I see; has your "storm" calmed down a bit?"
"Yeah. I really got what I needed out of my system… well most of it." Gales corrected himself as he sighed in relief. "Besides I'm kinda happy today, I got plans."
"You don't usually have plans, usually you just get head to Juniors."
"Yeah, but tonight I'm going over to a friends for dinner instead, going to meet the folks." Tukson blinked in surprise as he looked at the kid.
"That's a good sign, just make certain you leave a good impression."
"Yeah. I hope her mom likes me."
"Her?" Tukson paused slightly as he looked at the teen. "You're friends with a girl?"
"Yeah, why do you ask? Is that important?"
"… you really need to make a good impression."
"I do?"
"Yes, you wanna keep your relationship going, you're going to make the best impression you can pull off with her folks." Tukson stated before pausing. "Still; I wasn't expecting you to get a girlfriend in only a couple months of being Vale." Tukson admitted as he saw Gales nod his hair. "How in Oum's name did you pull that off?"
"Oh well; I ran past her four times, talked to her the fifth time and we started jogging together everyday after."
"That's it?"
"Well; after a while we started doing lunch hook ups, and recently she bought me metal, but yeah. That's it."
"That's it?"
"That's it."
"Really?"
"Really." Tukson stayed silent for a moment as he looked at the teen.
"Wow… I wish it was that simple back in my day…" The man muttered as he shook his head. "We had to do flowers and gifts and dates… you just run past a girl a couple times… how does that even work?" Gales shrugged his shoulders as he looked at Tukson. "Does Junior know about you won't be making it to work at his club today?"
"Yeah I told him after I picked up the twins. They wouldn't stop glaring at me though when I said I was going over a girl's house tonight."
"… I bet."
"Seriously, first they were glaring at me for Neo giving me her contact info, now this… do you know whats up with them? Still trying to figure out why they were so mad at me."
"Women get simpler as they get older." Were Tukson's sage-like words.
"Really?"
"No."
Pyrrha's House
Theti hummed happily as she continued preparing dinner. A smile on her face as she turned her attention backwards, watching her daughter stare at some of their things and started to rearrange them. Then she did it a second time, and a third as if she was uncertain of where they should go. When she did find a good spot for them she moved to a few more things, making certain some old pictures were aligned properly, searching for lingering dust, and anything they might have missed. Theti just giggled as she pulled her gloves off and walked over to her daughter. "Sweetheart, you've been sprucing up the house for the past three hours. Take a break."
"I'm sorry." Pyrrha muttered as she moved a vase and started fidgeting with her fingers. "I'm just nervous, this is the first time I've invited a friend over." She wasn't lying, Theti knew that much. With her daughter's talents came a lot of isolation; because of it making friends had always been difficult for her. One of the reasons they moved to Vale was to give her a fresh start. As sad as it sounded, this really was the first time she had invited a friend over. No wonder she was nervous. She wanted to make a really good impression. "I want everything to be perfect."
"Perfects overrated sweetheart." Theti stated as she stood with her daughter and smiled. "Now breathe." Pyrrha did as her mother instructed, and for the next minute or so they went through one of the breathing exercises they had picked up from their time in Mistral. "Everything's going to be fine love, you're friend's going to come over and we're going to have a great time together. Right?"
"Right."
"Good now help me with dinner. Can't have our guest starving when he gets here."
"Of course." Pyrrha admitted as the pair walked over to the kitchen, strapped on a pair of gloves and returned to the food.
"So~" Theti began as her eyes sparkled. "Tell me about Gales~." Pyrrha just shook her head as she looked at her mother.
"Mother I tell you the same thing every time you ask."
"I know, but I just want to hear you talk about him some more, so I know what I'm expecting when he walks through the door in an hour." Humoring her mother Pyrrha just smiled as she thought back.
"Gales is… he's a very kind person, always seems to have a smile on his face. Helpful too, I remember when we grabbed lunch once he cut it short because a little girl had gotten separated from her parents. We spent the next 12 minutes searching before we found them. Since we've met I've never seen him mad." Pyrrha paused for a moment as she sighed. "He eats a lot." She said with a bit of a laugh. "Whenever we grab lunch he easily eats at least four times what I can." She admitted as she started to drift away and developed an almost dreamy look on her face. "He's very athletic, well built too, not like most boys I've seen. When we run, I have trouble keeping up with him most of the time, but every time I get tired he slows down and rests when I need it. And… this may sound silly but he has this supernatural air about him; something primal and rugged I can't quite explain, it's like something out of a romance novel; when a cityborn woman meets a jungleman." Theti gave a curious yet knowing look at her daughter as she continued.
Gales Ashe; sounded like an interesting person, almost too good to be true. She needed to see for herself to see if her daughter's words matched up with the real deal and it wasn't some sort of romantic haze she was looking through. Pyrrha's story though, was cut short when they heard their doorbell ring. "Pyrrha can you get that sweetheart."
"Alright." Without another word Pyrrha stepped out the kitchen and slipped off her gloves before answering the door. "Hello?"
"Hey Pyrrha. I brought tribute."
"Gales!?" Theti's ear would have enlarged if it could as she heard the name. Quickly slipping off her gloves again she stepped over to the living room and peaked at the door-frame. Couldn't get a good look from here, but she saw a mess of purple for hair. "W - what are you doing here?"
"You~ invited me for dinner. Oh man do I have the wrong day?"
"No y - you're just early…" Pyrrha looked at the clock. "A whole thirty minutes early."
"… I forgot what time I was supposed to be here." The boy confessed as he released a nervous laugh. "Sorry, I can wait out here till it's time if you'd like."
"No!" Pyrrha coughed into her hand. "No. It's fine, you can come in, we were just putting the last few touches on dinner." Pyrrha stepped out the way as she let him in. "Mother, Gales is here." Theti just smiled as she "casually" entered the living room and walked forward. Two-toned hair; check. Scar on his cheek and beastal eyes; check. Tall and well built.
'Che~ck.' She thought before stepping forward. 'Pyrrha was not kidding about this primal and rugged air about him…' "Hello." In a tone that almost perfectly matched her daughter Theti let the teen look her over in confusion before he smiled.
"Pyrrha you never told me you had a sister." That earned him a small laugh as Theti watched her daughter smile.
"No Gales, this is my mother. Mom this is Gales Ashechild, the boy I told you about."
"Theti Nikos, it's nice to meet you." Gales adjusted what he was holding and held out a scarred hand.
'So this is what a mom's hand feels like.' "Gales Ashechild." Gales smiled as he looked at Theti. "You look so young, I can tell where Pyrrha gets her looks from." That caused Pyrrha to color slightly as Gales just smiled.
"I get that a lot from the parents back in Mistral." Theti stated as she did this almost childish turn in her apron.. "Still what do you think? Do I really look like my daughter?"
"Yeah, and I think you both look amazing." Gales confessed. "Your hair is a beautiful scarlet, like a collection of priceless Rath rubies, and your eyes are like an Espina's scales touched by the sunlight piercing through the forest canopy." He continued. "And your skin looks like the moonlight staring down upon the world; you're both gorgeous." Gales smiled as his hosts went silent for a moment, surprised by his choice of words. Pyrrha colored again as Theti leaned over to her daughter. She stood maybe a foot or two taller than her child, and had a smile on her face.
"You didn't say he had a way with words." Theti whispered.
"He never said anything like that before." Pyrrha whispered back.
"So I wasn't sure what to bring, but I brought tribute." Gales stated as he held out what he was carrying to Theti.
"Gales you didn't have to bring anything." Pyrrha stated as she looked at the teen.
"It's custom among my people to bring a gift as a sign of goodwill." Gales stated as he nodded his head. "I hope you like it."
"Oh my." Theti went silent as she unwrapped the cloth as she looked it over.
"Oh my."
"This is… this is beautiful." Theti stated she looked at the garment before her. The dress was green and white with shiny pieces of turquoise on the edges of it. Simple, but beautiful. "I've never seen a dress like this before in my life."
"I styled it after a singer's dress I saw a few times in Mezeporta Square. I don't know the exact materials that went into it, but I think I did a good job in recreating it. I just couldn't get my hands on any gold from the stores so I went with turquoise."
"You made this?" Both women looked at the teen as he nodded happily.
"Yeah, I started on it yesterday when I got done working at Tukson's, had to find a nice store to get all the fabric and I worked on it in my spare time while I was at Juniors and finished around 3 am. I know it's a rush job but… do you like it?" Both women looked at the gown.
"This is a rush job?"
"You could get a job doing this." Theti muttered as she folded the dress again before smiling. "Thank you Gales it's beautiful." She said with a smile. "I'm going to try this on after I finish prepping dinner."
"Do you need any help? I'm not that bad working in the kitchen."
"You sew and you cook." She looked at her daughter. "I like him."
"Mother~"
With two extra pairs of hands, getting dinner ready took less time than it would have should Theti have worked on her own. Same couldn't be said for when the actual cooking was underway though. In the meantime though they made small talk, and Theti tried on the gown that Gales had made for her. When dinner came though, the talking didn't end, rather it just drifted to just a regular conversation. Gales was a very open person it seemed. Seemed to wear his heart and thoughts on his sleeve.
"So Gales, tell me where are you from anyway?"
"I'm from the Old World."
"The Old World."
"The Old World?
"It's what he calls his homeland; It's located somewhere across the ocean." Pyrrha cut in.
"I see, so you're foreign."
"Yep."
"Then what brings you to Vale?" Pyrrha actually stopped eating at that question as she looked at Gales.
"You know you never told me? Wha brought you to Vale?"
"Dust." Gales said simply.
"You came here for Dust? Why, are you part of an offland Dust Company?" Gales just chuckled slightly.
"No it's nothing like that. Dust just sent me halfway across the world."
"I'm not sure I follow." Gales gestured to his necklace as he stroked it.
"Apparently my necklace is made from a specific kind of Dust - a kind that can teleport people from one location to the next. I literally got sent from my continent to this one."
"Dust can teleport people?"
"I wasn't aware it could do that."
"Me neither." Gales stated. "Then again I'd never even heard of Dust until I came to Vale."
"So you didn't come here intentionally."
"Nope, it was against my will." Gales admitted as Pyrrha looked at the teen in surprise.
"You don't sound remotely bothered though."
"Well I'm not anymore, it's been almost three months so I've had time to get over it, also it doesn't mean I can't return home at all, right? I'll find a way back to my continent, and my people. It's just gonna take time ya know." Gales shrugged as he took a moment to eat his salad.
"But don't you miss your homeland?"
"Of course I do, but as I said I'm going to go back one day, just not now. Besides, I like being here. I feel~ at peace." The teen admitted. "I have a normal job, a routine I'm settling in, and I have friends here." Gales looked at Pyrrha and smiled. "And I get to spend more time with them here than I would have ever had the chance to in the Old World."
"Why is that?"
"I moved around a lot, going from town to town dealing with monster problems. I didn't stay in the same place for a long period of time, and we didn't have anything like these Scrolls of the Cross Continental Transmit System to keep in touch with people." Gales confessed. "Sure we had trained birds and Wingdrake, but there was always the risk of them being eaten before they delivered your messages. And unless they're in your team at the moment, it's hard for a Hunter to stay in touch with others. Here? I just need to dial a number and boom I can talk to people." Gales stated as he drifted in thought. "I wish we had something like these back home, but it's too dangerous."
"I see… you don't have anything like the Four Kingdom's back home?" Theti asked.
"No, we have cities and towns and villages, but nothing like your Four Kingdoms. We used to have a kingdom known as Schrade but that was a long time ago."
"What happened to it?"
"We don't really know." Gales muttered as he frowned slightly. "The story goes that thousands of years ago, an unknown disaster struck the Schrade Kingdom without warning. This disaster hit the eastern and western parts of the Kingdom at the same time, as if it had come from the middle of the kingdom itself. Some believe a "certain" chaotic force brought the kingdom to its knee, others think another force did it altogether. Either case the kingdom lies in ruins to this day, and eerie clouds cover the once great kingdom."
"Your people haven't tried rebuilding it?"
"No, after the kingdom fell, monster dens started popping up everywhere around it. We have towns located a good couple miles outside their territories, but that's pretty much it." Gales shrugged as he looked at the pair. "That aside, it's a relatively tame area. Hunter's keep the monsters from getting to the towns and protect the people."
"Well that's good to hear." Pyrrha spoke up as Gales smiled.
"So um… I've been wondering, Pyrrha." Gales paused as he looked around the house for a moment. "Where's your dad? I haven't seen him since I got here." Gales immediately felt like he was stabbed on a shock trap. The look on Theti's face twisted for a moment before it was quickly masked.
"Oh~ my father lives in Mistral."
"I see… so Pyrrha how long have you been training to be a Huntress anyway?"
"Oh well, I've been training for 6 years now, so since I was 11."
"Really?"
"Yes, I was enrolled in a pre-courses when I was young and my teachers said I possessed a natural talent for it." Pyrrha admitted as she started to think back. "After that I enrolled at Sanctum in Mistral. What about you?"
"Oh I've been training to be a Hunter probably since I was 6." Both women looked at the youth in surprise.
"Really?"
"Yep."
"That's quite an early age to start training isn't it?" Theti questioned as Gales just shrugged. "What made you start so young?"
"I grew up in a hunting school called Caer Eldenwyrm." Gales stated.
"Caer Eldenwyrm?" Theti asked as Gales nodded.
"It stands for Keep of the Old Wyvern." Gales admitted. I grew up there with my master and her colleagues." The teen confessed. "There it's tradition that you start your training when you're 6 and you kep training until you're about 15." He paused as he started to think for a moment. "I wasn't trained alone though, there were a bunch of other kids that were brought in too. We became like the family we didn't have anymore."
"The family you didn't…" Theti paused as she heard the words. "Oh my, I'm so sorry."
"Don't be." Gales stated with a reassuring smile. "Old World or Remnant; losing your parents… losing your family is part of the reality of any Hunter. It's always that risk you find yourself having to live with, knowing that either you or they won't make it back one day." Gales confessed as he touched his necklace. "I never knew my parents, so thinking about them never being part of my life really doesn't bother me. Especially since I always had Ashe to look after me." He closed his eyes in thought. "She's the closest thing I have to a mother, and the other kids that were picked up became the family I never had."
"That's a nice way of thinking about it."
"Yeah." Pyrrha seemed to drift away. "Still… is the Old World really so dangerous?…"
"In a word, yes; we live in the shadow of monsters and giants. Things that have adapted to nature's laws better than any person could imagine and can bend the elements to their will on a whim." Gales confessed. "It's a dangerous land, but it's worth it. You're in touch with nature, you live among animals like Kelbi and Moofah. You see the stars shine with a brightness that shames anything you could ever find here." Gales released a fond smile. "It's a beautiful place… you haven't really seen the world till you've done so from the top of a Larinoth's head. You've never really felt the wind till you've flown on the back of a Rathalos. You haven't really ran till you raced with a pack of domesticated Maccao. You don't really swim till you've done so beside Arowana, Molids and Tuna. You haven't truly heard a story till it's by campfire and you've never sung or danced till you've done so during the nights of great festivals or in the flowery plains surrounded by the Lightbugs…"
"That sounds…"
"Beautiful." Theti finished for her daughter as Gales continued to smile. "It sounds like a whole nother world."
"In a way… it is. Even with all that lies in the open that can harm and end us. There's still things in it that you can enjoy. Things that make life in the Old World worth it. Even if it's just sitting by a creek or watching Aptonoth graze." Gales raised a hand and pretended to pat something. "I remember… when I was 5 that was the first time I ever had seen an Erupe. It ate grass right out my tiny hands and I was able to pat its head. I was so happy that day, fur was so white I thought I'd just petted one of the fabled Kirin." Gales made a small chuckle as he smiled. A moment later though he came back from memory lane and shook his head as he sat up. "Sorry, drifted away for a moment."
"Don't apologize." Pyrrha stated as she leaned back in her seat. "I may not know the creatures you described, but your land sounds wonderful."
"Yes, I'd love to hear more about it." Gales just scratched his head for a moment and smiled.
"Well~ why not. What would you like to know about my land?"
"Well, what stories do you have from your land?" Gales paused as he drifted away for a moment and started to think. Most of the stories he had were of the Hunt. Various tales and trials Hunters had gone through in their careers. Something that stuck out though…
"Well there's an Old Creation Myth I know. Would you like to hear it?"
"Yes please."
Alright then; this is the Tale of the Five…"