Golden Sun: The Sands of Time
Chapter 7: Jorgmund
Mia stared in wonder at the buildings around them. They were beautifully sculpted, made of strong and solid stone. They had statues, made out of marble and limestone. And this was merely a border town? She wondered what their capitial was like. Behind her, she could hear Isaac conversing softly with Alex.
She was still troubled by him. She hated him. And that was a tall order for the normally gentle and caring Mercury adept. Their very element was based on the foundations of healing and caring, and they had a natural tendency to trust people. Perhaps that was where the problem lay. She had opened her heart to Alex once, and he had taken her trust, threw it away on some careless whim.
Her eyes narrowed. She didn't trust Davion. Not one bit. Any friend of Alex that she didn't know was instantly put into "suspicious" category. And something about the elves made her suspicious…… But she just couldn't put her finger on it.
Ivan was grumpy. He hated sand. The fact that his Jupiter alignment made him extra vulnerable to ground-based attacks might have something to do with this. Not to mention that the stupid sand would get into his clothes and into his hair and take forever to wash out even with shampoo and then he'd still fill dirty and-
He was rambling again. Sighing, Ivan rubbed his sore shoulder. He'd received a blow from a sword-hilt from one of those raiders, and it hadn't been tended to yet. For whatever reason, Ivan disliked going to his friends for help, even though Jupiter possessed a rather distinct lack of healing psynergy. Heck, even Mars had the Aura spells. Ivan glanced around. With any luck, he'd be able to keep sand out of his hair and clothes for-
Tripping over a stray pebble, he ended up sprawling all over the ground, face in the sand. Lifting his head, he spat the stray sand particles that had found it's way into his mouth. Jeez. Why did this sort of thing always happen to him? Glancing up, she saw Sheba offering a helping hand, not to mention a wry smile.
"You are becoming more like Garet everyday. You've even got his clumsiness down pat!" Sheba laughed. Ivan, deciding not to reply, settled for grumbling about how his clothes were ruined.
Davion hung back from the rest. He had a natural tendency to drift to the back of any crowd. Perhaps it had something to do with his youth, when he was constantly under the shadow of the king. How was his father, he wondered. He had little news about him, ill or good since he brought along his men to this town. Davion loved his father dearly, but sadly his father didn't seem to think too much of him. Sighing, Davion continued walking further into the town.
"They've been attacking us constantly."
"Indeed. And their strikes are getting worse."
"I fear that soon, they no longer will need to use hit-and-run tactics. Their forces will be able to march on Anthis and overthrow it."
"That will NEVER happen." Davion stood, fire in his eyes. "We are strong. And we won't let any Karan scum take over our city."
Another elf, older looking, stood. "But Lord Davion. You cannot deny that their forces grow stronger with each passing day."
"Indeed I cannot. Nor do I wish to. It is a foolish man who denies what he can see with his own eyes. But if it ever came down to the defense of our great fortress, everyone in there would sooner die than submit to the Karan."
"Noble words." Alex noted as he entered the room. However, the Karan raiders that ambushed us just now seemed stronger than the last time I faced them here. If we allow them to continue, soon they will be nigh invincible, and then, we are doomed."
Jethros, a young elven archer, stood. "I may not be highly learned, but my father has taught me about the legends of psynergy that Alex and his companions possess. Could they not be used to strengthen the Karan?"
"Yes." Davion mused. "But adepts are human, always. The Karan are most definitely not. So who could be strengthening them?"
Alex rubbed his temples and sighed. "I'm sure we'll find out later. For now, I'm going to check on the others."
Picard stood staring out of the windowof his residence. The elves had been rather good to them, and while the local cuisine was somewhat… unsettling, they had taken every step possible to ensure that he was comfortable. As he looked out the window, he saw huge dust clouds, and the strange, watery shapes that were mountains, distorted by the harsh desert air. Picard shook his head. Having been brought up in Lemuria, where water was abundant, he had never thought of settlements formed in places where every drop of the water was scarce. An eye opener, certainly. As he heard the door opening, he turned to face Alex. "Yes?"
"I just came to inform you that we'll most likely be staying here for a while yet. So don't get your hopes up about leaving this place."
Picard let a tiny smile play on his face. "Most certainly not. I'm not going anywhere until my ship is fully repaired, in any case. And that seems to be slightly far off."
Alex shrugged before retreating out of the room again. "Well, take care."
"Remind me why I had to share a room with you?" Ivan asked as he emerged from the bathroom, dressed in the robes of the Jorgmund people. Owing to the oppressive heat, and sandy plains, the robes were rather loose-fitting. And in Sheba's opinion, Ivan looked like a teddy bear in them. Ivan wasn't exactly sure how he was supposed to respond to that, and had thus said nothing.
Sheba glanced at him, and once again suppressed the urge to chuckle. "Well, because Isaac and Garet share a room, Picard's room is too small to share, there's no way in Weyard Mia's going to share a room with Alex, and so she has to go with Jenna, and thus Alex shares a room with Felix, who he knows already from before."
"However," came Ivan's muffled voice from under the bed where his Tisiphone Edge had fallen earlier, on account of a certain hyperactive djinni. "You DO realize we're the only two people sharing a room who are not of the same gender?"
Sheba leaned back in her chair. She was more tired then she realized. "Then we'll just have to be extra careful, won't we?" She yawned. The bed looked good right about now. Slowly her eyelids began to droop…
Ivan crawled even further under the bed. Where was that dumb sword? It didn't seem to be there… Wait a sec, there it was! Reaching out a hand, Ivan grasped the hilt, pulling it to him. "Anyway," he continued. "I'll wager Isaac did this just for a joke. I swear that he was grinning when he gave both of us this r-" As he emerged from the bed, he could see Sheba's head slumped to one side, her breathing deep and steady. Smiling, Ivan pulled himself up.
She must be exhausted from the earlier fight.
Gently lifting her up, Ivan walked over and set her down on the bed, before covering her with the sheets. Standing, he was about to go to bed too when he realized one rather important fact that he had overlooked on account of being too preoccupied with wanting to get the sand out of his hair.
The room had only one bed. Which had been built for only one occupant
After a few second's deliberation, Ivan sighed and sank down next to the sleeping form of Sheba, hoping that nothing happened, and thinking about how satisfying it would be to fry Isaac the next day for giving him this room.