Chapter Six
A Jade's journey.
"I advise against such a thing, Ojou-sama. I know I said that I would accompany you two into town whenever you wished, but leaving the capital with only me to guard you? It's unsafe, princess,"
"Arcadios..." Hisui sighed, shaking her head slightly before looking over the tall man's shoulder at Lucy, who gave the green haired girl an encouraging nod. Normally, Hisui wouldn't have fought the man about the detail of her security - she understood what it was for, and it'd been going on since long before she could understand that having soilders surrounding you all the time wasn't exactly normal for most people in the first place.
It was normal for a wealthy, or say royal, person, heired guards or kept their own security force for protection, even if now a days the people with the least bit of wealth flaunted it by keeping a detail of thugs around them.
But still, acting like an assassin would jump from every nook and cranny and kill her when she and Lucy were going to be under heavy disguise was just plain ridiculous. Not to mention vaguely insulting.
"Lucy is a Mage that specializes in combat - my father and I are the ones teaching her spells and how to fight, you know!" Hisui stated, forest green eyes boring into those of her guard captain. "And the idea is to not be noticed. A guard squad would bring the attention you want to avoid right to us,"
"Hime..." Arcadios said, pleading with her to reconsider.
"Arcadios, this is not like the dragon incident," Hisui reminded him, a pang of guilt filling her as she noticed the man stiffen. "These are not bloodthirsty beasts here to eat us; these are my subjects. How could I ever try and rule them when I don't even know what their lives are like, if I don't see it through their eyes?"
"Besides," Lucy interjected, sensing that the man's resolve against them going on this trip was wavering. The two others turned to give her their attention. "She's loved by the people, so even if our cover is blown, we're not going to be attacked,"
"But-"
"Please," Hisui pleaded, clutching her hands in front of her chest. "You've known me my entire life - when was the last time I asked for something like this?"
Arcadios sighed, his shoulders slumping in defeat. Lucy and Hisui shared similar hopeful looks over his shoulder, before they squealed in excitement, rushing forward to clasp hands and do a three-step dance.
"I have one condition, though, hime," the tall man stated, coughing slightly as the two girls cut their celebration short to give him their full attention. "In the case that our identities are uncovered, we come right back here - no fuss, no arguments, and no delays,"
Lucy and the royal jade shared a look out of the corner of their eyes, before nodding. It was more than what they thought they were going to get, which was a complete shut-down of their plans to travel around and out of the capital.
"We can live with that," Hisui shrugged, she and the blonde grabbing Arcadios by his armored elbows, much to his confusion. "Now, let's get you into a less conspicuous outfit,"
"What-"
"If we're going to be acting like actual Gypsies, we're going to have to start with how we look," Lucy stated, cutting the man off, and pulling him down the halls and towards a room where they had set up multiple disguises for Arcadios to try out. "Hisui and I have our stuff already packed,"
"So that leaves you," the princess finished, and much to the Imperial captian's horror, giggled as she and her companion shoved him into their destination.
It wasn't long before they had forced him into a loose, cotton tie-up shirt like the kind that pirates wore, dark green harem pants, black, thick-soled boots up to his knees, a maroon vest with green embroidery, as well as a bandana and sash in the same color.
Don't forget to mention that he also had a dagger in each shoe, and a sword visibly hanging from his left hip.
Taking a glance at the mirror while the two girls packed an enchanted satchel with the rest of his clothes, Arcadios almost didn't recognize himself. "Hime, I look like the average criminal!"
"Rude." Lucy huffed, moving away from her packing to glare up at the tall man, hands placed dangerously on her hips. "You're dressed like a man from a Gypsy tribe; not a thief!"
Arcadios sighed, motioning placatingly with his hands to calm the blonde. "I apologize, but I still haven't been told what your plans are - just that I've been talked into escorting you around Fiore by myself for an unknown amount of time,"
Lucy blinked, before she smiled sheepishly. "So we didn't...whoops,"
Hisui rolled her eyes, roughly handing the guard captain his new pack. "We're taking a break from training in the castle. You can only learn so much about a wandering people by staying in one place,"
"Besides," Lucy continued. "It'd be fun to live like our ancestors did,"
"Exactly," the princess agreed, turning to leave the room, the other two following behind her. "But with that being said, I'll meet you guys at the stables after I finish getting changed as well."
There was an awkward silence between Arcadios and the Celestial as the green princess left them behind. The tall man shuffled his feet, neither sure exactly what they should do to break the tension in the air.
Lucy cleared her throat. "So, should we go to the stables?"
"Yeah, yeah, let's," the guard captain hastily agreed, falling in step alongside the blonde woman. Arcadios knew all the ways in and out and around the castle (it was his job), and he wasn't sure he'd want to walk all the way across the palace grounds with a weirdness between the two of them. "Is there a reason why you two are suddenly dissatisfied with simple trips into the city?"
"No, not really," Lucy replied, shoulders relaxing as the last of the awkwardness fled. "We've just been thinking this is something we should do - sort of a late way to honor our moms, I guess,"
"That's right...next week is Mother's Day, isn't it?" The tall man said witsfully, holding a door open for the blonde. Lucy nodded sadly, turning down a flight of stairs to get to the ground floor.
"Hisui told me that her mom's family had become largely successful in the trading industry sometime during the middle of Fiore's history," the blonde explained, even though the man probably knew most of these facts already. "Gypsies supposedly have haggling in their blood. But anyway, yeah, holding onto the money they earned, they eventually became nobles and therefore the king and queen could marry.
"And this is how Hisui came to be," Lucy embellished, making a 'ta-da!' motion with her hands. "But she also told me that her mom's family never lost touch with their roots, which was how Hisui was able to teach me to dance,"
"I was...unaware that Ojou-sama was the one who taught you that," the guard captain said, a drop of sweat running down his cheek as he recalled the times he had watched the men under his command get distracted by the blonde's entrancing movement when they sparred.
Lucy giggled at the man's uncomfortable expression, wincing slightly as they stepped out into the bright afternoon sunlight, the stables already in view. Not wasting another second, blonde hurried over to the first stall - empty of its horse - and removed the two traveling packs she and the princess had stashed there the day before.
Arcadios raised an eyebrow. "Why are your belongings here?"
"Because if you didn't agree to come with us, then Hisui and I would have left anyway," Lucy winked at the thunderstruck expression on the man's face, not at all repentant. "Makes you glad you agreed, doesn't it?"
The man muttered something under his breath as he grudgingly brought out a horse - a dappled grey mare - for the blonde to saddle and prep to leave while he started on the princess's white mare. He was halfway through with securing the bridle on his own hulking chestnut stallion when the royal jade regrouped with them.
The green haired girl had donned a pale green skirt the color of the dress she usually wore, divided into four sections of fabric tired off with wide white ribbons at her ankles, and a white crop top cut off at the bottom of her ribs. She had an extra bag in her hands, and had removed a lot of the jewelry she normally had on to ease suspicions.
"Are we ready to go?" She asked, slinging the bag to her feet as she looked between her two companions.
"Yes, we are nearly ready to depart," Arcadios stated, heels clicking together and fist rising over his heart in a customary salute to the royal heiress.
Hisui rolled her eyes, sharing a knowing look with Lucy. The blonde girl just shook her head, going back to petting her mare. "Arcadios, you do know that as soon as we're outside the palace grounds, you're going to have to stop that, right?"
The man blinked, then nodded, though Lucy noted it was a bit hesitant, like he had to make major mental adjustments to simply switch around honorifics. "Hisui...-sama, then?"
The green haired girl quirked an eyebrow, not even glancing sideways as her blonde friend cut off a snicker. "More like 'Jade-san'. My real name is known to the entire country, as well as some of my appearance. Since dying my hair would be a waste of time, I'll be going by an alias instead,"
"Then will Lucy-sama and I be changing our names for the time as well?" Arcadios inquired, perfectly okay with changing what he would be called for the sake of his ruler.
"Lucy is fine, since it's not a very uncommon name, and her appearance has changed some since the GMG. You're not as widely know as either of us, but if you want, we can call you 'Dios' or something," the princess replied, helping her friend onto the grey mare before the guard captain did the same for her. "But don't call either of us '-sama', please,"
"Yes, Jade-san," Arcadios gave another salute over his heart, then turned to mount his own steed. "Are we set to leave, ladies?"
The girls exchanged another amused look, before Lucy suddenly kicked her horse into a gallop, leaving the other two in the dust.
"Race you to the edge of town!" She shouted over her shoulder, a playful gleam in her eyes as her golden braid swung in wild arcs behind her.
"No fair! You got a head start!" Hisui protested, kicking her mare into gear and chasing after her companion. Arcadios let out a sigh, having a feeling that this trip had more to do with taking a vacation than actual studying.
"That was a good meal," Lucy sighed contentedly, hand resting on her flat stomach contentedly, receiving sounds of agreement from her two companions. After a three days of traveling, they had reached Era, home of the magic council, the first major city en route of their wandering, and the first town they had managed to make enough money in by dancing to grab an actual meal instead of the jerky and trail mix stashed in their bags.
"We should have brought more money..." Hisui said, peering in at the few remaining Jewel in her money pouch. Despite having most things paid for her already by her father, managing money was supposedly in her blood yet it was painfully obvious she lacked experience, if their current findings were any indication. "We should do another dance across town, see if we can earn anything else before moving on,"
"Perhaps," Arcadios replied, taking a careful sip of tea as he addressed the princess. "But despite being the council's headquarters, Era is not that big. Your performance was in the middle of town, and there are few places here wide enough for a full routine. Most people aren't likely to pay for a repeat performance, either,"
Lucy groaned, hitting her head against the table and starling some of the other customers who gave their table odd looks. "I don't know whether to be annoyed by how cheap the people here are, or by how expensive it is to eat at a restaurant in this city."
"It can't be helped," Hisui said soothingly, a small smile on her face as she placed the necessary amount of Jewel on the table, plus a tip for their waitress. "We'll just have to move on."
The three started leaving, collecting their belongings and heading towards the door when a hesitant voice called out to them. "Excuse me..." The three turned to see a girl, several years younger than Hisui and Lucy's age with black hair mostly covered by a white bandana.
What the group really noticed about her though, was the intricate, circular henna marks climbing her exposed arms like vines. The girl's blue eyes carefully scrutinized their every detail in return, taking in their outfits, appearance, and bags before they broke into a gleeful expression. "You guys wouldn't happen to be looking for a caravan to join, would you?"
Hisui blinked, taken aback by how eager the girl seemed. Lucy rubbed her eyes, strangely reminded of the first time she and Natsu had met and she wouldn't stop talking about Fairy Tail. "Er...can't say we were, but I take it you're looking for people to come with you?"
The girl nodded, eagerly taking Hisui's hands in a pleading way, eyes suddenly doleful and pleading. The three sweatdropped. "It's such a tragedy! We're down a few people this month, and with out them we might not make enough money to get all the way to Clover Town! And- and even if we manage to get there, we might not have enough workers to cover our expenses! Please? Pleasepleaseplease? We offer food and bed rolls, and Maggie is an awesome cook!"
Hisui looked from the girl to her traveling companions, and unsure look on her face. Arcadios inclined his chin, indicating that he would do as his ruler commended. Lucy gave an amused shake of her head, shrugging her shoulders as if saying that it was the green haired girl's call.
Hisui thought about it carefully, but one look at the large, pouting blue eyes of the girl crumbled her desire to say no. It wouldn't be so bad; there wasn't any real reason for the princess to reject the offer, and it wasn't like Clover town was that far away on foot. A week at max, and then the two parties could part ways and Lucy and Hisui could slowly wander back across the country to Crocus with Arcadios grumbling under his breath about leaving his position for so long.
"Alright, we'll come with you to Clover," Hisui sighed, taking a step back in surprise as the girl gave her a flying huge, nearly knocking the royal jade down on her rear in her excitement.
"Yay! Thank you, thank you!" The girl hopped up and down gleefully, hold on Hisui still not relinquished, much to Arcadios's displeasure. Finally, she did let go, only to take the princess by the one hand, and a surprised Lucy by the other. "C'mon! I'll take you to meet the others! We're going to be stuck with each other for days on end, so you might as well get to know them."
"Ah, excuse me...miss whatever your name is," Lucy started, letting the girl - who she guessed to be about thirteen or fourteen - drag her out of the restaurant and into the streets of Era.
"It's Keren," the girl interrupted, half looking over her shoulder at the blonde. "Don't worry about learning everyone's names at once, since even if there aren't that many of us we tend to know a lot of people that come and go. I'll introduce you to the people who've been in the group the longest, if you want,"
"That's nice..." The spirit summoner continued, using her free hand to point back towards the restaurant. "But our horses and belongings are back that way,"
Keren froze mid-step, a pink flush spreading across her face before she whipped around and rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment. "Whoops..."
The girls giggled at her expense, even though they hadn't gotten very far and Arcadios had predicted them turning around to get the horses, having untangled the reins from a stand to the side of the building for people to dock their steeds and grab a bit to eat. He had even started to half walk them over to them.
Keren blinked, then gave a low whistle as she she examined the horses with a practiced eye, sizing them up and even going as far as to run her hands over Hisui's horse to examine how well groomed the fur was, as well as feel the animal's muscles first hand.
"This is a well bread horse," the blue-eyed girl stated simply, giggling as the mare nudged her, as though the horse sensed it had been given a complement. "All three of them are, really. They must have been pretty expensive,"
"They were, er, gifts from a wealthy person we helped out a while back," Lucy hastily improvised, shooting her two companions a slightly panicked glance. "He made a business of trading livestock, I think,"
Luckily for them, Keren didn't push the matter, and within the next few minutes they were riding towards the eastern outskirts of Era, Lucy leading the way with the younger teen sitting in front of her as they made their way along the city streets.
"So, how many people are there going to be, Keren-san?" Hisui asked, having listened to the girl all but dool over what a person named 'Maggie' - who Keren had said earlier was a good cook - would be making for dinner that night, and how everyone in the caravan loved her cooking.
"Well, me and Maggie for starters, then we have Marcus, Maggie's husband and the guy who runs our group. He's really nice, even if he's kinda strict." The young girl stated, blue eyes facing up towards the sky as the seemed to recall every face and name she knew in her traveling group. "There's a lot of other people, like thirty spread out between the different jobs and stuff, not to mention we have people coming and going all the time, so if you're just going to be with us until Clover town you don't have to know everyone's names,
"With that being said, you should know that Sid is the one who usually takes care of the horses, and if you see a rude guy with orange hair and some tinkering device in his hands, just ignore him," Keren huffed, and Lucy raised an eyebrow at the teen's pout.
"Can I ask why?" The blonde asked, watching the corner of Keren's eyes crinkle in annoyance, though not directed at the summoner.
"He's my stupid brother; he doesn't let me do anything by myself, and he treats me like I'm six!" The black haired girl complained, and Lucy and Hisui secretly shared a snicker at the sibling bond.
Still, having been an only child, Hisui couldn't help but feel a pang of envy in her chest. She couldn't exactly speak for Lucy, since the blonde had found people she could consider siblings within Fairy Tail, but the princess had only recently become friends with the summoner, and hadn't been through enough to be bonded like family.
While she had had maids and the children of visiting dignitaries to play with when growing up in Mercurius, the recipient of her strongest bond of friendship happened to be sitting not four feet away, and had been sentenced to death upon their first face-to-face encounter over Lacrima.
Funny how that worked, since from the stories Lucy had told her, the 'Person-Wants-To-Kill-You; Beat-Person-Up/Prove-Person-Wrong-And-Become-Friends-Afterwards' approach seemed to be a common trend in Fairy Tail. She was glad for that, though, since now she had someone, someone outside the castle, someone who she knew acknowledged rank but erased the line anyway, and for that reason she knew the gypsy was someone she could just let go and not pretend with.
Arcadios, for all of his well meaning intentions and loyalty to the crown, did not quite understand the mind of teenage girl, and even the friendship Hisui had formed with Jude was nothing like the one she shared with his daughter, an actual peer, an equal that she could talk to as such and not be judged by people who wouldn't understand how lonely a seat of wealth really was.
Politics sucked, and greed and power-struggles caused by such useless desires left those caught up in it blind until they ended up back where they had started - at rock bottom, with nothing but bitter memories, the taste of sweet success, and the scorn of those in the status they had just fallen from.
Which was how she had met Jude in the first place. Contrary to what Arcadios and her father knew, Hisui had sneaked out of the palace and wandered through Crocus in disguise for short periods of time; usually she just sat at an outdoor café and watched people, or she hung around the apprentices of one of the many merchant guilds and tried to learn money managing from people who actually worked the kingdom's economic means, and not stuffy old stock-mongers who hadn't been in the swing of things since the time of her grandfather's rule.
It was chance that some merchants from the guild Love&Lucky in Aclypha had some things to discuss in the capital, and it was also chance that Jude happened to have enough free time while other dealings were in progress to tell his story to a girl, who for all intents and purposes reminded him of his missing daughter.
Even after he had departed back to Aclypha, Hisui had thought to keep the exchange going by sending letters, which had promptly lead to the princess learning most of what she knew about Lucy before she'd even met the blonde in person, and finding herself extremely grateful that the former Heartphilia heiress believed in second chances.
"We're here!" Keren shouted gleefully, immediately jerking Hisui out of her thoughts, the sudden motion making the horse knicker in protest and Arcadios to move closer to her and see if she had a problem.
The black haired girl didn't notice, practically throwing herself off Lucy's mare as they pulled up next to a multitude of tents and wagons, an assortment of horses and other beasts of burden- magical and non-magical alike - being lead and hitched up to the carts, and people in colorful outfits of all shapes and sizes carried goods to load and sell at Clover.
A woman, possibly in her mid fifties with loose grey hair and a kind but weathered face, noticed the four of them, and a smile broke out across her face as she caught sight of the blue eyed teen heading her way. "Keren! Good to see you back so soon; I thought we might have to send someone to go and fetch you,"
Keren rolled her eyes, a light blush visible on her tanned cheeks. "Geez, you miss curfew once and you never live it down, I swear Maggie,"
Maggie's eyes twinkled good-naturedly at the teen, before they moved to take in the people she had brought with her. "And who are these people you've brought with you? I don't think I've seen them in our group before,"
Keren shook her head, excitedly slinging an arm around both Lucy and Hisui's shoulders, both of whom had dismounted while Keren had greeted the old woman. "These guys are going to help us with the big shipment to Clover town! They're, uh..."
Maggie sighed, but didn't look surprised at the girl's pause. The three from the capital sweat dropped, wondering how they managed to get this far without Keren asking their names.
"Really, Ren?" A new voice asked, dragging the group's attention to a tall man with tanned skin, dark blue work pants, a white pirate-shirt, a head of bright, saffron colored hair, and hands that were mindlessly working away at something metal, even when his piercing blue eyes were trained solely on his sister. "I could have sworn you still had the manners to ask people their names before you drag them into work."
Keren's face flushed a deeper shade of red, a tick mark appearing on her head. "Shut it, Taj-nii! I don't want to hear it from someone like you!"
The man raised an eyebrow, unimpressed with his sister's outburst, whereas Maggie just quietly stifled a laugh. Hisui just stood there awkwardly with her companions, coughing lightly to try and get themselves back into the loop.
"Keren, it's not nice to ignore the guests you invited," Maggie finally said as Keren's one-sided argument with her brother dragged on. "Really girl, where are your manners today?"
"I'm so sorry!" The girl said, whirling around and bowing at a ninety degree angle repeatedly. The group from Crocus once again sweat dropped, but Hisui, taking pity on the obviously mortified girl, put a settling hand on her shoulder to calm Keren down.
"It's fine, Keren-san," the Royal jade stated reassuringly, gesturing to herself, Lucy, and Arcadios. "Excited people tend to forget things. My name is Jade; my companions are Lucy and Dios. We've agreed to help you trade and sell goods in and on the way to Clover, as well as whatever you need help with setting things up.
"With that being said, do you mind telling us where to take the horses and putting us to work?" Hisui looked towards Maggie, thinking that the older woman would have more authority over job assignments.
The grey haired woman gave her an appraising look, carefully scrutinizing the three of them. Hisui felt she might as well have been laid out on an examination table, with all of her skills and assets out in the open. For a brief moment, the green haired girl had the irrational fear that her deception was too simple to avoid being found out.
Thankfully, it seemed she passed whatever standard Maggie had for newbies, and within five minutes Lucy had been sent to help organize trade goods, Arcadios was told to help some of the men move the heavier supplies, and Hisui found herself taking inventory with Keren's brother, Taj.
The princess hadn't heard him speak since he first scolded his sister nearly twenty minutes ago, and it was lucky for her that she was familiar with the system the caravan used to keep track of things, or else she would have been rather at a loss on how she was supposed to fill out her clip board.
As it was, the most common thing the caravan had to trade was spices, some even she hadn't heard of in all her years of learning Fiore's imports and exports. But what caught her eye was not the variety of seasoning, but these little, intricate clock-work tinker-toys in the shape of animals, vehicles, and people.
Hisui had a suspicion that the one who made them was the same person who was standing next to her, lazily chewing on a raw cinnamon stick while marking down the contents of the last wagon.
Now that Hisui had had more time to look, she had to admit, Taj wasn't so bad to look at, with crystalline blue eyes and brilliant saffron hair contrasting each other within the span of his face, and a lean yet seemingly powerful frame that was at odds with how slender and dexterous his fingers were.
She blinked, and mentally gave herself a good scolding. She sounded like some dreamy-eyed fifteen year old girl who had never seen a man in her life. Besides, she didn't think Keren would much appreciate Hisui going after her brother within only an hour of...well, she couldn't say she knew him all that much, but she had certainly met him.
And even if the Royal Jade was that kind of girl, she already had an arranged marriage on her shoulders to the heir of some noble house she'd never met in person. It was the only real sore-point between her and her father; he'd always let her have many freedoms given her position as princess, and yet he himself had married for love.
Hisui knew these kinds of things happened a lot (it was common enough knowledge that Lucy had run away to join Fairy Tail at the news of her father getting ready to hand her off), but she just didn't understand why her father, of all people, was in that band wagon.
Hisui sighed, lightly shaking her head to clear her depressing thoughts. Instead, she slung the clipboard under her arm and picked up a miniature clockwork piece in the shape of a tightly closed flower. Twisting the silver rod around, the Royal Jade noticed the mechanism was a leaf, pressed tightly to the stalk, and when pulled down would cause the flower itself to open in a graceful twirl, the petals of the inner flower ranging in color from jasper to blue, oxidized titanium.
"Gorgeous," Hisui breathed, resetting the trinket to see the full effects once again. It did not disappoint, the polished petals dazzling just as grandly in the late afternoon sun as they had a second ago.
"...thanks," Taj muttered awkwardly, and the princess was so surprised to hear him speak that she almost missed the light blush on his cheeks.
So he did make all those windup toys. Hisui put the flower back (albeit regretfully), before turning to walk in step with the Orange haired man, a small smile on her face as some of the reservations she had about this trip were laid to rest.
So tired... Mashima, y u do that? I had plans to bring in Igneel and everything, and now I'll probably have to start putting up labels or something that says 'canon-divergance.'
Whatever...in typical Trollshima style, you have covered minor plot holes all over the series (such as Fried's 'No-Passing-Over-Eighty' rune wall in the thunder palace arc) with one stone, although the connection to Layla is still unknown if even substantial.
Leave me a nice review to wake up to? Or just go off on me about how you want more Lucy and less Hisui/OCs? I don't mind at this point, I'm just going to bed.
Oh, and thanks to my friend Natalie for proof reading this for me. With that being said, good night folks.