Another thing I realized was about Palom and Porom. Palom wears white with red stripes and Porom wears white with green stripes. I didn't realize that until I took a good look at their character figures on the game last night... My bad. Let's just say that they decided to switch stripe colors around once and kept it that way.
Anyways, Mysidia, ho!
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Chapter 3: Mysidia and a Mountian.
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Sefi had never felt so alive in her short life. She was actually driving an airship without her teacher with her! That alone was a dream come true. Angel was equally exhilarated. She was finally on her way to Mysidia, with her sister and best friends. She'd never been so happy. Red was enjoying herself too. She was a large fan of tantilizing heights; it was fun to see the land whizing by, hundreds of feet below her.
Paloom and Porom, on the other hand, were having troubles with each other. Palom was still under the the assumtion that Porom had told someone that he was helpping the girls escape, and so he was pretty steamed with his sister. Of course, Porom had been nowhere around when the search had begun. She's changed her mind at the last minute and decided to catch them before they left. But now Palom wouldn't listen when she tried to explain what happened. He refused to even look in her direction until the next morning.
"Palom, please listen to me," Porom begged. Palom just continued staring at the landscape, zipping across his line of sight, and didn't answer her.
"Palom, answer your sister," Sefi ordered from the steering wheel, feeling pretty cross with how Palom had been acting so far.
Palom sighed and reluctantly turned to Porom. "What do you want?" He asked, sounding pretty cross himself.
"I'm sorry," Porom said. "Whatever I did, I'm sorry."
"You should be. You nearly ruined our escape; don't try and pretend you don't know what you did," Palom said meanly.
"You think I told them what was going on?" Porom asked, sounding hurt by this acusation. "I didn't agree with your plan, but I didn't tell anyone."
Palom didn't look like he believed her yet.
"I promise, I didn't tell anyone," She added, holding up her right hand. Still doubtful, Palom turned to the others to see what they thought.
"I believe her," Angel stated.
"So do I. I don't think Porom would turn us in and then lie to us," Red pointed out.
Palom's face softened, and he looked really sad. "I'm sorry about how I've treated you. I should have listened to you," Palom said smuggly. He mentally kicked himself for being so mean to Porom. He knew better than that. He half expected Porom to hit him, but instead, she smiled.
"Thank you," She said. "I forgive you."
"Ah..." Sefi sighed. "It's so nice to see twins getting along." And they drove on; not too long afterwards, the were flying over the sea.
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Two boring day of flight later, the big island on which Mysidia was located finally came into view. It would be so nice to finally get on solid ground again. A little beyond Mysidia loomed a high mountain of pale beige and gray rock.
Mount Ordeals, Angel thought, shivering with anticipation and slight intimidation at it's size.
"Mysidia, at last!" Sefi whopped when the city came into sight. Everyone ran to the sides of the ship to see.
"And look over there," Palom said, pointing to the mountain. "There's Mount Ordeals. Above your expectations, or what?" He asked Angel.
"Certainly above my expectations. I never thought it would be so big," She said, still awed by it's sheer mass.
"Well, if you think the mountain's something, just wait 'till you see the city. It's not as important to you as the mountain, I'll wager, but I'm sure you'll like it anyways. It's a facinating city," Porom informed. "I wonder what the elder will say to your showing up and wanting to be a paladin," She mused.
"He'll probably think I'm a copy cat," Angel answered. "I'm waiting to see how he reacts to Sefi wanting to be a dark archer," She added. To this everyone laughed; even Sefi laughed.
"Ha! It's funny because it's true!" Sefi gasped between laughter.
20 minutes later, the airship landed outside the city. Naturally, the landing didn't go un-noticed. Several mages ran forth to see what was going on. When they saw Palom and Porom step off the craft they felt a little better, but they were suspicious of the other three. Quickly, Palom and Porom requested to see the elder and the crowd parted to make way for the five travelers, but not without casting several untrusting looks at the princesses.
The twin mages hurried their companions through several streets, which were mostly markets and shops. Even at the pace they were going, the strangers could get brief glimpses of the various things for sale in the shops and the open market stalls. Beautifully designed and carved pots and pans, silk scarves, colorfully feathered birds, neclaces and earing made of seashells, and various weapons were some of the few things they were able to get good looks at; they made mental notes to come back when they had some spare time.
After many streets of this, they emerged into the town square, and ran up the street leading to the south part of the city. In five minutes the came to a courtyard, surrounding a tower. Many mages were milling about the grassy area, their noses burried in books, but they all looked up when the famous twins ran up the walkway and into the tower with three strangers. The party then ran up a flight of stairs and found themselves in a narrow hallway with several doors, and one in front of them.
Porom knocked on the door, and a man's voice called, "Who is it?"
"It's Palom and Porom," Porom answered.
The door opened and an old man with a bald head and a long white beard appeared in the doorway.
"Goodness; whatever are you two doing back so soon?" He asked, sounding shocked.
"There's someone you should meet," Palom said casually, stepping to one side so the man could see the princesses. The man took a step forward, blinking many times at Angel and Sefi.
"You two are Cecil and Rosa's children, aren't you," He said, more as a statement than a question.
"Um... Yeah, that's us," Sefi confirmed.
"And who are you?" He asked Red.
"I'm princess Red, of Damcyan," She answered. The man was silent for a minute and then said, "I thought that your name was Rella."
"That's not important, elder," Palom said. "Angel wants to be a paladin," He explained.
"You want to take the trial?" The elder asked Sefi.
"I'm Sefi," Sefi corrected. "That's Angel," She said, pointing to her twin.
"Oh. I'm sorry," The elder apologized. "Why would you want to go through the paladin trial?"
"Becuase I do," Angel said bluntly. "Why else?" The elder asked.
"What do you mean?" Angel asked. The elder sighed.
"Come with me," He said, motioning for everyone on the stairs to make way for him. Everyone moved and, once he was on the floor, they followed him into the kitchen.
"Porom, would you please put some water on for tea?" He asked, and she wordlessly went about her assigned task. Meanwhile, the elder and the other three girls sat down at the table, and Palom leaned against a counter.
"Listen," The elder said gravely to Angel, "If you want to be a paladin, it must be for a better reason than for being a paladin's sake. The trial is a tricky one to get through, and it carries a great responsiblity."
"I don't understand what you're getting at," Angel said in a dull kind of voice. The elder sighed again and said,
"Is there something specific you wish to accomplish by undergoing this trial?" Angel shook her head saddly.
"I just wanted to be like daddy..." She said.
"Your father had to shed himself of his dark side if he was to continue his quest to rescue your mother," The elder explained. "He underwent the trials with a purpose. You just want to be able to say, 'Oh, look at me! I'm a paladin!'"
"I object to that remark very strongly," growled Angel, who wasn't the sort of person to lord something like that over poeple.
"It's true, you know," Porom commented from the stove, where she was waiting for the water to boil.
"Come on, Angel, think," Palom said. "Is there any other reason that you want to do this?"
Angel thought for a moment. "Because I want to make a difference...?" She said.
"Well, do you want to make a differerence? I'm looking for an answer, not a question," The elder said.
"Of course I want to make a difference. Who doesn't?" Angel said.
"You know," Said the elder, "There are other ways that you can make a difference."
"But I want to make a difference by becoming a paladin," Angel explained, letting a small whine slip out without meaning to.
"You just want to be like your father, don't you?" The elder asked. Angel nodded her head.
"Daddy's my hero. I want to be like him in a lot of ways," She explained.
"Hmmm... Daddy's little girl, I see," The elder remarked. Angel couldn't help but smile a little; no one had called her that in ages, even though it was too true for words.
"So, what should she do?" Sefi asked. "Becoming a paladin's been her dream since she was four years old," She added.
"And I assume that you have a dream of some kind as well?" The elder asked her. Sefi mummbled something inaudible, and the elder asked, "What? I didn't catch that."
Sefi sighed and said, "I want to be a dark archer," Looking slightly embarassed.
The elder fought to hold back laughter, but dd a terrible job at it. "One wants to be a paladin, one wants to be a dark archer," He said, sounding very amused. "Where ever did Cecil and Rosa find you two?"
"That's what they all say," The twins chorused.
"Back to our plan," Porom said, pouring the boiling water from the kettle and into the teapot beside her, "What should we do? You sound pretty skeptical about Angel taking the trial. And we don't want to take them back to Baron; their parents would skin them alive."
"...You mean that you and Palom helped them run away? Why did no one tell me this before?" The elder demanded. He didn't sound too angry with them, but he didn't sound particularly happy about the situation either, so everyone wondered what the elder would do to them.
"Yeah, Porom. Why didn't you tell him about that?" Palom demanded, and Porom shot a threatening look his way.
"Palom, be nice to your sister," The elder scolded. "Normally, I'd be pretty upset with you; your actions were very rash and rather foolish," He said to Angel, who looked ashamed for behaving in such a manner. "However, I'm not sure about that; I've never known anyone to run away from home to take a dangerous test like the paladin trials. You sound pretty deticated to me," He said, his expression softening. Angel's heart fluttered; she hoped that the elder would let her go on to the mountain.
The elder was silent for a moment. And then he said, "Be gone from here. You have a trial to take."
Angel jumpped from her seat so fast that the chair fell over. "Really? You mean it?" She cried, so overwhelmed by joy that she felt dizzy.
"Yes, dear, I do. Your parents will kill me for if they get here, but I believe that you are destined for a fate not unlike your father's. Go quickly, if they're coming after you," The elder said to her.
"Angel's not going anywhere without me," Sefi said, rising from her chair and crossing her arms defiantly.
"And I'm coming too," Red added. "You never know when a good firaga spell might come in handy in a forbodding place like that," She reasoned.
"So, it's a party of three. Very lucky number, three," The elder said. Then he turned to look at the twin mages, staring hard at him, almost as if asking him something with their eyes.
He sighed and said, "As always, accompany the rising paladin."
"Yes!" Palom cheered. "Off again! It's been too long since we've been on a good adventure," He said to his sister.
"I know; we just don't get out enough anymore," Porom agreed.
"A party of five, then. Not as lucky as three, but I suppose it will have to do," The elder mused. "Good luck to you all. Now hurry to the mountain!"
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The next day, the elder was sitting in his library, pouring through a tome on black magic, when there was a knock on the front door.
"I wonder who that could be," He mummbled, set his book down, and went to the door. Imagine his surprise when he saw Cecil and Rosa standing on his front step.
"Cecil! Rosa! Whatever brings you here?" He asked, figuring that it had something to do with Angel and Sefi.
"Have two girls named Angel and Sefi come by here recently?" Cecil asked.
"Um... No, sorry. Why?" The elder said. He wasn't used to lying, but he felt that the twins needed all the time they could get; even if they'd taken the airship up to the mountain, and saved a lot of time.
"Angel and Sefi are our daughters," Rosa explained. "They ran away with Palom, Porom, and the princess of Damcyan four days ago. Mysidia was the first place we thought they'd go. We were hoping that we'd find them here."
"Why would they come here?" The elder asked, though he already knew the answer.
"Angel wants to take the paladin trial. And Palom and Porom are from here anyway. This was the first logical place to look for them," Cecil explained.
"And why not let her take the test?" The elder asked. "If she's your child, I don't see why she would be unable to pass the trial."
Cecil hesitated before saying, "Because I'm afraid she'll get hurt."
"Ah... You fear for her safety on the mountain, do you?" The elder said, not really surprised at this response.
"We're worried about both of them," Rosa put in. "It's mainly Angel that we're concerned with, though," She added.
"I say let them chart their own course. They'd be, oh, 13, 14, 15 by now?" The elder suggested. Cecil and Rosa were both silent for a moment, as if considering what the elder had just said.
Then Cecil shook his head. "I'm not going to let my daughters get themselves killed. If you do see them, let us know, please."
"You will, won't you?" Rosa asked.
"...Of course," The elder assured. If he did see them he'd tell Cecil and Rosa they came back, but they'd only been gone for a day.
"Thank you. Goodbye," Cecil said, somewhat downcast, and he ad Rosa turned to leave.
The elder closed the door, and hoped that everyone would be alright. "Palom and Porom will take care of the girls," He assured himself. "What's the worst that could happen?" And he went back to his book.
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Ah... Another productive chapter. I never knew that listening to Final FantasyIV midis would help so much!One thing that I should probably tell you is that Kain, Rydia, Edge, Edward, Alara, and Cid are helping Cecil and Rosa with the search. They're just waiting on an airship. They'll all be in the next chapter.
The reason why the grown ups, who took the most direct route to Mysidia, got there a day after the kids, who took the long way (they flew up to the Damcyan desert, turned east, and the sailed south until they found the island), is because the grown ups didn't take the most direct route. They took another long way (they flew west and then south and then west again). And they didn't have Palom and Porom to guide them either. I know it doesn't make sence, but bear with me.
Next chapter, Angel goes through the paladin trial! I've got work to do... Come back for the next exciting instalment!