Sorry about the late update... well, I'm trying to post it up on Mondays now, and I'll try and do that for now on. I've been playing Kingdom Hearts II since it came out, and I've been doing other things... and being lazy and a procrastinator, haha. N E ways, I can see that I have quite a few hits... more than I expected too, so I thank you for that! Well, here you go, the third chapter of A Trickle of Time.
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Chapter 3: Caelin
After a couple of days later, Caden, escorted by Harken and Isadora, arrived at the borderline to Caelin. In another moment, they reached the castle. When they got to the foot of the hill where the castle was standing upon, Caden turned around and looked at the couple.
"Thank you, Sir Harken, Miss Isadora. I can make my way from here now. I don't want you to spend a lot of time on me; you're still preparing for your wedding, are you not?"
"Yes, we are still preparing. Unfortunately, we need to make sure that you have made it safely to the Caelin castle by Lord Eliwood's orders," Harken pointed out.
"I'm fine taking it from here, really. You can go back to Pherae. This is an order from me."
"Very well, if you will excuse us, we will see you some other time then," Isadora said.
Caden saw the two off, and she made her way up the hill to the castle.
"State your name and your purpose," ordered the guard.
"I am Caden, a tactician. I have come here on Lady Lyndis's behalf. I already told her that I was coming."
"Ah, we've been expecting you. Please, go right in."
The guards let her pass through, and she walked down the halls until she reached the wooden double doors separating the outside of the castle, to the inside. She took a deep breath; she hasn't been to the Caelin castle in a long time. As she was opening the door, she was anticipating what, and probably who, she's going to see on the other side. She silently opened the door, trying not to make too much noise. The first person she saw on the other side was Florina; she looked like she was just idly walking by. Florina saw someone at the corner of her eye, and to her surprise, it was Caden.
"Oh! Caden… h-hello. It's… it's nice to see you again. I didn't know… that you were going to arrive this early."
"Yup, I just arrived. It's nice to see you again as well, Florina. How as everything been going in the castle after that raid that one day? Has everything been alright?"
"Y-Yes… everything has been going smoothly. Um… I think you should probably ask, Lyn… I mean Lady Lyn about those things though… I don't know that much."
Caden chuckled, seeing that Florina is always her timid self, no matter how long they've known each other, "Alright, I'll do that. Do you know where she is right now?"
"I may be of assistance, Caden," said another voice.
Caden would never forget that voice anywhere. It was always the same, very optimistic and flattering. She turned around and smiled at the chestnut-colored haired cavalier.
"Hello, Sain. It's nice to see you again."
Caden saw that Florina was keeping her distance from Sain, she looked as if she wanted to run away just about now. Florina would always stay the same about her fear of men, the tactician knew that.
"Ah, Caden, it is wonderful to see you standing in my presence once again. Now, you said that you wanted to meet Lady Lyndis, did you not? She's usually walking around the castle gardens at this time of day. Shall I escort you to her?"
"Escort me you shall, Sain," she said with a smile. "Sain… you're very flirtatious, but you kind of have to stop it. I… don't like you that way, and… let's just say that you don't want that friendship we have right now to come undone."(1)
Lyn was walking down the stone path to the fountain surrounded by bushes. She looked at the water flowing down, dish by dish. Lyn sat down at the rim of the fountain. She looked up at the sky and lied down on the edge. Lyn placed her arm on her forehead and her other arm across her stomach. Lyn persuaded herself that everything was boring for the time being. She wanted to go to the plains. As she closed her eyes, she was imagining that she was standing on the beautiful plains of Sacae, in her little house that she's had for six months.
"Hm… that doesn't look very lady-like, Lady Lyndis," Caden teased.
Lyn immediately sat up and looked at the person with the familiar voice. She saw Caden; Sain was standing a distance away.
"Caden! Nice to see you again."
"Likewise, Lady Lyn. I was over in Pherae for a while, and then I decided to visit Caelin for a couple of days, you know, if that's alright with you," she said as she sat down next to Lyn. (Sain left as the two were still talking)
"Of course it's alright. You're always welcome here."
"Thank you. I will enjoy my stay here. So, how is your grandfather doing?"
"He's doing great. My grandfather has fully recovered since the last time I saw him."
"That's very good news to my ears."
"Yes, it is."
"I was thinking to myself that we didn't make it to Caelin in time."
"Don't think that way. He's all better now."
"Yes, I suppose so."
There was a slight pause.
"From the way that you were looking when I first walked up to you, you were deep in thought, were you not? I assume that you were thinking of Sacae again…?"
"You're very observant, Caden. It's no wonder how you kept everyone from dying."
"If you miss the plains so much, why don't you go and visit it once in a while?"
"I would love to do that, but since I'm a princess, I can't just go anywhere I want to. I'm bounded by these castle walls, and by the borderline of Caelin. The only time that I can get out is when there's a meeting or a gathering of marquesses in another part of Lycia. Plus, if I do go to Sacae, where would I go? There is no village for me to return to."
"I see… so I guess it's been real hard for you, since your grandfather is teaching you all the rules of being marquess now, is it not?"
"You're right again. Truthfully, I don't want to be marquess, I just want to go back to Sacae," Lyn acknowledged as she was standing up, "I was going to spar now, would you like to come with me?"
"At first you were lying down, why don't you relax before you do that?"
"I haven't trained in a while. It's hard for me to take a break. I don't know what to do if I don't train."
"Alright, then, I'll come with you. Um… Can I spar with you?"
"You know how to use a weapon?"
"Yes, I've been learning how to use a sword. I know I might not be a good sparring partner, but I would still like to have a friendly duel with you."
"That sounds fair. I accept your challenge."
They walked to the training room where Kent was instructing some new recruits. Lyn and Caden walked in during the recruits' training session, asking Kent if they could use part of the area. He accepted, and Lyn and Caden stood at opposite ends.
They bowed to each other and started their duel. Caden was the first one to attack; she ran towards Lyn and leaned forward when she got closer, and swung her sword sideways. Lyn blocked with her mani katti and stepped to the right. Caden hopped back and lunged towards Lyn, Lyn evaded her attack and Caden, since she used a lot of force in her lunge, started to fall forward. She twisted to the left using her momentum and swung her other foot behind to support her stance, and she held the sword in front of her pointing the tip of the blade to Lyn. Lyn used her opportunity to attack, and she swung her sword diagonally to Caden. Caden held her sword above her head as Lyn heavily swung down. The force was great, and Caden's legs gave out and she fell on the ground. She sat up, and Lyn had the mani katti's blade near Caden's neck.
"I win," Lyn announced.
Lyn moved the blade from Caden and offered her a hand for Caden to take. Caden smiled and took that hand. Little did they know, the trainees were observing their duel, along with Kent and Sain. The small group applauded at their performance. Both Lyn and Caden sheathed their sword.
"Caden, I had no idea that you knew how to use a sword," Kent said.
"I've been training off and on. I first learned how to use a sword about five years ago; I haven't been training every day… every month to be exact. I still lost very easily, though. I went against you, Lady Lyn, who has been fighting practically all your life. I've only started, and I'm still not good."
"Wow, you're so great with a sword, I wish to fight you now!" commanded a recruit. He ran past the group and toward Caden. Sain and Kent were too slow to grab him to stop. Lyn, on the other hand, even though she was right next to Caden, moved away from the two who were about to start the fight.
"N-No, wait! Ack! L-Lady Lyn! Whe- ah!" Caden yelped stepping back.
The trainee raised his sword ready to swing. He swung his sword down towards the tactician, and she barely saved herself. She blocked the attack with her sword that was half way still in the sheath.
"Y-You had the intent on killing me! Are you mad!" Caden exclaimed.
"No, just excited," he explained.
He jumped back and Caden pulled out her sword all the way out. She knew that she couldn't persuade him from backing down now.
"Bayle! I order you to stop this!" Kent commanded.
"Bayle!" Caden thought.
She froze at the name and the recruit swung his sword horizontally, luckily Caden gripped her sword in front of her. He hit the sword and Caden stumbled back due to the force. Bayle repeated his move many times; Caden blocking each one as she zoned out.
"What's the matter, you can't fight back?" he intimidated.
"Snap out of it!" she yelled mentally. Caden had to admit that he was fast, probably faster than her. But she was smart enough to predict his moves. All that she needed to do now is to find her opening when to attack. Caden dodged Bayle's next attack, and she lunged forward and hit his armor. He stumbled back and Caden slashed horizontally. She used the flat edge of the sword and pushed him back even more. He lost his balance and fell down. Bayle was on the receiving end instead of Caden this time; she imitated what Lyn did to her, she pointed the sword to Bayle's neck. (2)
"Checkmate," she joked.
Some of the other recruits applauded. Caden offered her hand to help Bayle up; he ignored it with a look of disgust on his face and helped himself up. Without looking at her, he took his sword and walked out.
"That was a nice form, Bayle, even though you lost," said one of the higher ranking recruits.
Caden sheathed her sword once again.
"Bayle is one of the top trainees. He has great technique, he just lacks the obedience and the timing," Kent said.
"Hm, I can see that," Caden said as she looked at her hand, the one that Bayle refused to take, "He must still be young. I can get why he didn't take my hand, he has his 'manly' pride. He didn't want to take it because he lost to me, me being a female especially."
"Miss Caden, you are not only beautiful, but you're also a graceful swordswoman. I am truly amazed that I have gotten to witness your skill."
"How flattering, Sain. I am not that good wielding a sword, though. It was just luck that I ended up victorious this time. Sain… if he continues with his flattery and all, I might want to hit him or something to shut him up. He's good looking and all that, he's actually a very good talker too, but he should know that he's not my type… and… I don't want to hurt him and all either, but I WILL do that if he keeps this up."
"By the way, while you were fighting, you looked like you had something else on your mind. Were you preoccupied?" Kent asked.
The name Bayle rang in her head again. It showed in her face that she reliving a painful memory. She shook that thought away and answered his question.
"Y-Yes, I had a friend named Bayle who was traveling with me before Lady Lyn found me." She sounded as she was having difficulty saying "friend" and "Bayle" in the same sentence.
"Really? How come he wasn't with you when I found you?" Lyn contributed.
"He… He died, before I met you."
"Oh… I'm sorry," she sympathized.
"I've… somewhat gotten over it now… I mean, it's already been five years."
"Was he someone special to you?"
"He was… just a friend," she lied, "I'm… tired. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to relax. Lady Lyn, can I take one of the rooms?"
"Sure, let me give you one."
The tactician followed Lyn to one of the rooms. When Caden walked inside, she slumped on the bed.
"Wow, I'm not used to this strenuous activity. I've been training a lot, but real battle is different. Everything is different from simulations…"
She went on with her thinking. It was weird for her. When she came here, she was thinking that she was going to enjoy her time here. Now, she was thinking about Bayle. Not the Bayle that she met, her Bayle. She looked at the mirror that was hanging near the foot of the bed. She imagined Bayle standing near it.
"Don't worry, Caden… I'll protect you…" he said in Caden's mind.
She scoffed, and carelessly threw a pillow at the mirror. The pillow hit the mirror, and her image of Bayle disappeared, leaving a shaking mirror behind.
"Protect me…? Yeah right," she fumed as she closed her eyes. She didn't feel like taking a nap right now, she just needed some excuse so she could be alone for a while. Without anything else on her mind, she thought that taking a nap, she might sort of forget about him. She closed her eyes, trying to force herself to take a nap.
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"Lady Lyndis, did you know anything about Caden when you met her?" Sain asked.
"Now that I think about it, no, we really didn't talk about our pasts that much. Caden did sometimes mention that her family lives in Etruia, but I guess that has nothing to do with why she looked so glum just now."
"You think something big happened to her in her past?"
"Probably… there's no other reason why she stops when she hears the name 'Bayle.'"
"Bayle was probably her significant other, something might have happened between the two that must have impacted her that much."
"An interesting statement, Sain. Maybe you should be the one to confirm that for us by asking her yourself."
"Alright then, I will…" he said taking a step closer to the door, he stopped and turned the other way, "…tomorrow. I get a feeling that she doesn't like me much, but it's just a feeling…"
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End of Chapter 3: Caelin
Who is this Bayle Caden keeps on talking about? Find out in the next chapter.
If it's not much, I would like at least three more revews. Sorry for the request. I want to see if this story is interesting so that I can continue.
Author's note:
I like the way that Sain talks in the game, it sounds very poetic. Unfortunately, I'm not very poetic, so I couldn't really get his real Sain-ness in my fic, haha.
1) If you don't get how that saying is structured, I got that from my cousins and from various cartoons (yes, I'm still a kid inside). So, usually one would say, "Shall we?" and the other one would answer "Let's shall." So…yeah, that's how it goes.
2) Sorry that I can't make up good fighting scenes. I don't take any fighting classes, so I really don't know how to describe them.