Another day, another sunburn, another chapter. Read on, my pretties...

Themes: Hurt - Johnny Cash, Eternity ~ Memories of Waves and Light - FFX-2 Piano Collections, The Little Things Give You Away - Linkin Park, mystline - nujabes, Non Je Ne Regrette Rien - Edith Piaf (that one song from Inception)

EDIT: (oops, forgot the reviewer corner segment again!)

Chapter 8 - The Little Things Give You Away

Outside of Werites Beacon, the sea began to whip up a strong wind, its breeze carrying into town. The trees leaned to and fro, their branches creaking and leaves rustling. A few citizens had to hold their hats on their heads just to keep them from fluttering away in the strong gust. Because of this, Norma Beatty woke up earlier than usual because the branches of a nearby tree were tapping against the window forcefully. Tap tap tap.

She slowly groaned and rolled over. "Go 'way… Zzz…" The tapping continued, if not growing stronger. Tap tap tap... TAP TAP TAP. She pulled her pillow over her head and growled in drowsy frustration to herself. Still, the taps continued. Finally, the brunette found how futile her efforts were in returning to sleep, and she sat up in bed rubbing her eyes. "Stupid wind…" She muttered quietly to herself.

Looking over at the window for a scrap of paper with Walter's handwriting on it, she was surprised to see none. In fact, the blond Ferines was still in bed, turned away from her on his side and supposedly still asleep. She lifted the covers off of her and spun to stick her skinny legs out to the side of the bed, looking over at his slumbering form.

Most of the covers had slipped to around his stomach, leaving his upper torso and shoulders bare. Getting up, she tip-toed over to peek at his face. Most of his hair had fallen into his face, and he had a bad case of bed-head. ...Again. She giggled and poked him in the shoulder. "Hey sleepy-head, wake up." He shifted slightly, so she kept poking him.

Eventually, Walter's eyes slid open and looked over at her with a lethargic expression. He made a small sound, a question mark seemingly at the end. "Whuh…?"

"C'mon, get up. I still can't believe I woke up before you." Norma chirped, a smile on her face.

He blinked and rolled onto his back, rubbing one of his eyes. "What time is it?"

Norma looked over at the clock across the room. "It's almost eight."

"I slept in…" he commented shortly, sitting up finally and scratching his head. "How did you wake up before me?"

Norma pointed at the window, "It's really windy outside, the dumb tapping woke me up." To prove her point, the branches tapped on the window again.

"Ah." The blond yawned and got out of bed, stretching his arms as he walked over to door where his shoes laid.

"I'm kind of surprised, Wally. Usually I don't see your face in the morning; you're always gone." Norma said, throwing her covers back onto the bed in what, to her at least, looked neat enough to be presentable.

"You're never awake to see me in the mornings, I'm always gone early."

"What time do you leave anyways…?"

He stopped for a moment in thought, "Uh, usually around six-thirty."

Norma paused suddenly, her eyes wide as he continued slipping on his shoes. "Bwuh! Why do you get up so early!"

"I wake up at five-thirty. I leave at six-thirty."

"Don't you ever wake up at a normal time?"

Walter shrugged, "I'm a morning person. I don't like wasting daylight like you Orerines."

Oh, not that again… At least he didn't say it with contempt in his voice. "Again with the whole Orerines thing. It's starting to get old, ya know." Norma pouted, her cheeks puffed up.

"No, I didn't mean it like that. Almost every Ferines I know is a morning person, while Orerines are moreso the type to stay up past midnight. Our clocks are just different." He stood up and looked around in the bathroom for something.

Norma grabbed a change of clothes and called out, "I'm getting dressed, just so you know. Stay in there!" As she pulled off her t-shirt, she said loudly, "I bet you guys like spicy food too, right? Or is it just you?" After pulling on her dress, she paused to see if he would answer. He didn't, so she shrugged and continued, clasping a panel closed and zipping up her collar. She then heard a mumbled reply, and stopped, walking a little closer to the door. "What was that?"

"My mother liked spicy food…" Walter replied quietly, his voice tinged with some emotion she couldn't identify.

Wait, his mom? Norma thought, her interest perked. She hadn't heard anything about his family or his past since finding him at Lumen Spring, so she was quiet and let him continue.

"I got it from her. She used to make curry all the time, so spicy it was a hazard to anyone who tried it." A long pause. "I loved it though... even if she couldn't cook to save her life…" She heard how strained his voice was, and slowly peeked in through the doorway, her bare feet cooled by the wooden floorboards. He stood in front of the mirror, his hands on the counter and staring down at the sink. His fingers tightly clutched the edges of the white porcelain, and his blond hair fell into his face, obscuring her view.

Norma hesitated, then quietly approached him and stood next to him. She gazed down at his hands, so tense they were shaking, and gently covered one with her own hand. He flinched, looking over at her with stormy eyes, almost accusing her of being there. She looked down at the sink, avoiding the heavy emotion in his gaze.

She took her hand away and started to back out of the room, but a cool hand caught her wrist. She twisted her head around and stared at the Ferines, her meek eyes staring back at her in the mirror behind him. The blond opened his mouth, but seemed to second-guess his train of thought and closed it again. He let her wrist slip from his fingers and his arm fell to his side, his face twisted away from her.

Norma found her voice in the thick tension and quietly asked, "Wally…?" Ice-blue eyes flicked back at her. "Are you… ok?"

Walter looked at her for a long time, then turned his head away quickly, but not so quick she didn't see a look of heartache pass across his face. He slowly shook his head, blond locks shifting in front of his face.

Norma didn't seem like the type, but she knew that expression well enough to know what it was. Grief. A sadness so strong, it was only attributed to a death of a loved one. She knew because she's felt it before, a year or so ago, when she received news that her teacher Sven passed away. Without hesitating, she took a few steps and locked her arms around Walter's torso in a hug, her face burrowed in his shoulder. He was tense, trembling slightly, and smelled like rain.

The blond tensed even more and looked down at her, her face hidden in his black shirt. The blond felt his eyes beginning to water, and shook away the feeling. Biting his lip, he wrapped a single arm around her back and leaned his forehead against her head, closing his eyes.

The two people stayed like that for moments, minutes, the time seemed to tick by unseen. The only real change were Norma's feet growing tired, and Walter having a hard time trying to keep emotions under control by taking deep steady breaths. In this time, the wind blew harder, and the tapping grew more furious and out-of-control.

The moment between the two was shattered by the sound of broken glass. The two jumped, and like a bullet, the blond had skidded out of the bathroom, his arm on the door frame to find out what the sound was.

The wind, it turned out, had grown so powerful that the branch had crashed into the glass with such ferocity it shattered. The screaming howl of the wind outside exploded in the room. Norma ran out of the bathroom and looked at the window with a startled expression on her face. Walter was quick to recover and rushed over by the window, pulling their belongings over to the far side of the room, his glass crackling under his feet. Norma, having no boots on, could cover her face against the wind blowing into the room, the papers on the desk fluttering away and the curtains straining against the hooks.

As the blond came back for another trip, his fingers grabbed a small battered notebook only to have the wind rip it from his hands, the volume falling out of the window and to the grass below. "No, my notebook!" Norma cried, and began to run over to the window, ignoring that she hadn't any shoes on and that her feet were likely to be ripped apart.

Walter was quick to grab her wrist and pull her back, "Are you forgetting you don't have any shoes and that we're two stories up? Calm down!" He tried to keep a hold on her, but she thrashed in his grip enough that she had freed herself.

"No, I have to get my notebook! It's my only-" A howl drowned out the last of her words as she turned for the door. Running at a sprint, she pulled the door open with difficulty, trotting down the stairs as the wind pushed the room's door shut with a room-shaking slam. She heard her name being called behind her, but didn't pay any attention to it. The blond wasn't far behind her, as he leapt down the staircase three at a time, while she had already been opening the door outside. The innkeeper yelled at her to stay inside, but she ignored it as she unlatched the door, the wood flying open and the breeze rushing inside, blowing papers everywhere.

Norma covered her eyes as the gale beat at them and whipped her hair and dress around. The wind was ripping the leaves off of the trees, fences fell over and a tree had fallen near the item-shop; a full-blown hurricane was occurring right before her eyes. She carefully walked towards the back of the building, the wind blowing her towards the back. She screamed as a branch narrowly fell in front of her, and she turned around it and found the back. She looked around the glass-covered yard, and saw her Relares notebook bouncing away from the area, right towards the canal.

With no thought to her safety, only for her one possession that was left from her mentor, she dashed across the grass, adrenaline pulsing through her veins. She flinched just barely at the stabbing pain of glass shards piercing the soles of her feet, but all of her attention had been given to her most prized possession, being lost and destroyed in the frothy water. Leaping in the air, she pounced on the little book, her hands clutching it tightly. She nearly cheered in triumph, if not for the fact that the powerful wind was slowly pushing her towards the canal.

She tried to turn, but when she tried to stand up, the wind pushed her backwards. When she put her hand down on top of the book, the notebook was nearly ripped from her hand. She was trapped…

Norma saw a blond form looking around the corner of the building, who ran and slid towards her. Walter's expression was furious and worried, and he tried to yell something berating, but the howling squall made them disappear. Growling to himself, the Ferines wrapped an arm around her waist and tried to stand up, but no avail. He tried to crawl away or get to cover, but every time he tried, the wind pushed them back. If they fell into the canal, the whipped water would drown a normal person, and Walter didn't come back to life just to let someone be killed on his watch. Left with only one decision, and probably a very bad one at that, the blond let out his black wings and hoped to Nerifes that whatever he thought would happen, wouldn't.

Nearly immediately afterwards, he and Norma were launched backwards, her piercing and fearful scream so loud he had heard it even over the howling gale. Trying to steady himself, the wind didn't let up a bit, and the two flew backwards. Walter tried to look behind them, but his wings were practically parachutes that caught the wind in the perfect way. The two flew for what seemed like eons, but what in reality was only around around ten seconds.

The so-called joyride ended with a very abrupt stop, when their feet crashed into a fence, smashing it and twirling them around, followed by the blond's back slamming into the face of a stone wall with a loud crack. It felt like a gaet had punched him: all of the air rushed out of his lungs, and he couldn't breathe. His vision blurred, and began to darken at the edges, and a shooting pain ran through his chest. Looking over to one side, he saw that they had crashed into the side of a house, and the door was mere feet away.

The two slid to the ground, and slowly began to make their way to the door. Norma noticed the blond's eyes closing, or was that the wind, and doubled her efforts, her feet crying from the shards still stuck in them. She found the door latch and pried it open with his help. When it was open, the two jumped inside as the door slammed shut again.

Norma fell to the ground, exhausted and out of breathe, clutching her notebook to her chest with one arm and holding herself up with the other. Walter slowly slid to the ground, wheezing and gasping for breathe while clutching at his side. Norma suddenly noticed the inside of the house's interior. Wait a minute… Elaborate furniture, plants everywhere, oriental carpets, huge staircase. This was Granny Musette's house!

As the adrenaline slowed down, her heart slowed and her senses came back to earth. A stabbing sensation stung her feet all over, she was more tired that she should have been that early in the morning, and she heard the gulping gasps of air the Ferines was trying to take in. She turned, and saw him hunched over, wheezing and trembling. The back of his head had slammed into the stone so hard that it had injured the back of his head, blood trickling down his forehead and dripping onto the wooden floors.

"What's going on…? Miss Beatty?" A voice called from the top of the stairs. Norma looked up and saw an elderly lady with a pink gown and a surprised expression stare down at them, holding what looked like a novel in her hands. Norma gulped as the woman looked to the wheezing blond man beside her, then back to her. "You can heal him, can't you?"

Norma started, "O-oh… Yeah, right!" She quickly put a hand to his chest and performed a simple healing spell, her fingers glowing yellow with the color of her eres. His breathing eased up shortly afterwards, and she would have worked on his forehead next if Musette hadn't mentioned something rather important.

"I hope you don't mind me asking… But why were you out in that hurricane... and are those wings?" She said this almost innocently, slowly walking down the stairs as she spoke.

Norma started, her eyes flying to his back. The glowing wings of a deep black-violet color fluttered weakly, but were still there none-the-less. Walter seemed to sense that his wings were still out and felt someone's gaze, as they vanished soon after. He sat up and locked eyes with the old women, the blood which stained his platinum-blond hair giving his eyes even more intensity. "Erm, well… You see, Granny Musette, I…" Norma stuttered, scared that yet another person had found out about Walter's appearance with her.

Her eyes crinkled slightly as she smiled. "Norma, would this happen to be the young man named Walter that Will told me about?"

The Ferines froze in place at the sound of his name, the urge to activate his eres coming out of instinct. He tried to stand, but a bolt of pain ran up his side and he fell back to his knees with a small gasp.

Musette walked up to the two battered young adults and dug in her pocket for something. Pulling out a small folded handkerchief, she handed it to Walter with a smile, "Here, you can use it to stem the bleeding on your head." The blond almost seemed confused on what to do, the puzzlement clear on his face as he slowly pulled it from her outstretched fingers and placed it against his head. Musette turned to look behind her, then looked back at them, "Well, you two look a bit battered, so why don't you join me for some tea."

She walked towards another room, most likely the kitchen, and the two looked at each other. Norma nearly laughed at the mystified expression on the blond's face, as if he had been encountered by an alien from outer space who had offered him something to eat. …Which is practically what happened, really. She stifled a giggle and lifted him by his arm, who's owner hissed in pain and kneeled back down. She huffed, "Come on, you won't get better like that."

He gritted his teeth, growling in pain as she lifted him up by his shoulders and helped him walk with one of his arms around her shoulders. "I can't… Rgh, help it…!" He gritted out, closing his eyes against waves of pain and dizziness as they walked. The pain in his chest had to have come from broken ribs; he recognized the feeling.

The two made their way to the dining room, where Musette had laid out a little tray with cups of steaming tea, plates of scones or cookies, and a bowl of chocolates on a little table near some white loveseats. Man, how did she set all of that up so fast? Norma thought as the elderly women offered them a smile and gestured to the comfortable-looking seats. "Please do sit down."

"Erm.. Won't I…?" Walter started to say, looking at the expensive-looking chairs cautiously, feeling completely out of place and awkward with this friendly old women.

She must have realized her loveseats would be badly stained because of his bleeding head, "Oh, I'm so sorry, it slipped my mind. Norma, would you please fetch a wet towel from the kitchen please?" The brunette seemed to notice, and led him over to a not nearly as expensive-looking dining room chair, then left in a brisk walk towards the kitchen.

To say that Walter felt uncomfortable was an understatement. He felt entirely exposed under her friendly gaze, and the fact that she seemed entirely honest and trusting made things even worse.

Musette must have sensed his uneasiness, as she gave a little laugh. "Oh, please don't feel so uncomfortable, I don't bite."

He jumped and a blush spread across his cheeks, making him try to shrink in on himself in embarrassment. Nerifes, it was like he was a kid again, being manhandled by a crowd of elderly women calling him cute. It was humiliating! Just in time, Norma limped in, carrying a few towels, some wet and some not, and a pair of long tweezers. She plopped down on the armchair next to the chair, and handed him a towel, who busied himself mopping the blood off of his face.

Musette looked at the bottoms of Norma's bleeding feet and gasp, "Gracious, how did your feet get so cut up?"

Norma gave a small laugh at her expense, "Aha… Well, I had run over some glass. I guess I didn't notice until now." She set out a dry towel under her feet and taking a quick slurp of the tea, began to pull out the tiny shards.

Musette took a cup of the tea for herself and took a dainty sip, "Speaking of which, I'm rather curious about how the two of you had gotten here… Especially you, young man. I hear you've been causing trouble with Curtis and Isabella."

Walter looked towards the floor as Norma switched between looking at the blond and the older woman, "Wait, you mean the BB's? What happened with them?"

"Bit of a long story." The blond replied quietly.

"I'm sure we have time… Looking at the storm outside, I'm guessing that it would be too dangerous to go outside for quite a while." Musette commented as the blond hesitantly took the cup of tea and tasted it. Hmm, tastes like chai…

Norma suddenly realized something, "Wait a minute, is Shirley over here right now?" Walter choked on his tea, eyes wide.

"No, she and your other friends went out early this morning. I hear they went on a field trip of sorts with Harriett." She noted, and the blond visibly relaxed, sitting back and sipping some more of the warm drink. Setting down her tea, she folded her hands on her lap and began speaking. "But I am wondering your story, you two. As much as I trust you Norma, I do not know anything about you, sir. I wouldn't like to favor you negatively for first impressions, so would you please tell me why you were in Werites Beacon the last few days?"

Norma and Walter looked at each other, exchanging looks. Norma gave him a questioning glance and he took one hand off of his cup to wave his hand. "Go ahead, she'd know if we were lying anyway."

A light laugh, "Sir, you give me too much credit!"

"Please, just Walter is fine. Mrs.…"

"Call me Madam Musette, if you please."

x x x

Over the course of a few hours, both Norma and Walter, though moreso the former, retold their tale beginning with Lumen Spring and all the way to them arriving at her home. They, of course, excluded a few parts, such as Norma meeting with Jay the night before and Walter's feelings on the whole endeavor. However, the two shared just as much information as Norma had with the information dealer. After a few hours, the tea had been drank (and replaced with two more kettles of tea), the blood on both the blond's head and the brunette's feet had dried and been cleaned off, and the two were now sitting next to each other on the loveseat (much more comfortable than the dining room chairs.

Currently, Norma was eating all of the scones and cookies that Madam Musette put onto her plate, while Walter had drank at least four cups of tea, and feeling more comfortable around the older women. Apparently, either chai tea made the Ferines man more sociable, or the older woman was very pleasant to be around. …For an Orerines, at least.

Musette pondered all that they have told her, which seemed to lift a great weight off of their shoulders in having a wise adult to confess their problems to. She clapped her hands together and announced, "Well, since the window of your room at the inn was destroyed by the winds, it will take a little while for them to be fixed. In the meanwhile, you can stay here. While I only have two guest rooms, would I be correct in guessing that you wouldn't mind sharing a room with Shirley, Norma?"

Norma nodded, and Walter took another sip of his fifth cup. "Sure, that sounds great, Granny Musette. Thanks for dealing with us!"

The blond nodded in agreement to her statement, then set his cup down and looked behind him, "It sounds like the wind has died down a bit…"

Musette shook her head, "Sadly, it is probably just the eye of the storm. I'm sure we will hear howling winds outside in a little bit."

Walter shook his head, "I haven't experienced a hurricane on the Legacy before. Are the common?"

"No, they aren't, actually. The Legacy sails through a region fraught with storms once in a while, but this is the first that has been this destructive. A shame too… It will take a lot of work to get Werites Beacon back to its former glory." She shook her head. "Anyway, enough of that. I have a library upstairs if you would like to research something, Walter… But for right now, I'm going to show the two of you your rooms upstairs." The three stood up, one with help from his roommate, and they climbed the spacious staircase upstairs. The two were shown the two rooms, and Walter just decided to go grab a bunch of books and hang out in his room while Norma checked out the library.

A few hours later, she was browsing a few titles on Rexalian history when suddenly a thought came to her. JJ. He was going to try to talk to Wally tonight, and she had completely forgotten to tell him about it. Noted, he couldn't really move around, but still, he'd hate her for it. She then decided to ask for advice from Granny Musette, who she found downstairs watering the wide variety of houseplants she owned. "Granny Musette… Can I ask you something?"

She turned, "Certainly Norma, what is it?"

Norma hesitated, but voiced her concerns to the older women, "Well… You're not the only one I've told this to. I also told everything to JJ."

"Ah yes, the young man who lives with the Oresoren, correct?"

She bit her lip. "Yeah, him… Thing is, I agreed that I'd have Wally talk to him about our whole situation, but Wally doesn't know about my telling him, and he hates the guy, nearly as much as Senny."

She watered a particular large palm then placed the watering can onto the ground. "My, that is a problem."

"And I don't want him to hate me for going behind his back about something, not to mention he doesn't like anyone, really, so… I'm kinda lost on what to do." Norma wrung her hands in front of her, staring at her bare, and now healed, feet.

Musette faced her and gave her a sad smile, "Walter has a hard time trusting other people, doesn't he?" Norma nodded, and the older women let out a small sigh, "I had a feeling, from his behavior when you first arrived. He was so uncomfortable around me, he seemed like a little fawn…"

Norma couldn't help but chuckle at the image, "Well, I'm not sure that a fawn is the right word to describe him." More like a very temperamental cat that likes water... And could fly.

"Usually it would be because of a traumatic event in the past, but as he is a Ferines, I can understand why he would be so untrusting around Orerines…" She paused, then gave Norma a kind smile, "But he trusts you."

Norma looked up at her with raised eyebrows. "Wait, he does?"

"Why else would he tell you all of his concerns, ask for your help, and even to save you from a painful injury from the hurricane?"

"Wait, you mean us crashing into the wall of your house?"

"I heard it from upstairs, dear."

Norma rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "Well, he did tell me something else…" Musette gave her a puzzling expression, and she continued hesitantly, "Before the window broke and my notebook flew out the window, he… talked about his mom. It wasn't much, but he mentioned how she made spicy food even though she couldn't cook to…" It suddenly dawned on her, and she held her hands to her mouth in shock. "You mean…?"

Musette nodded sadly, "Yes, I think he's so cold because he lost his mother at a young age, most likely because of the wars on the mainland."

"That's…" Norma trailed off, imagining how she felt when Sven passed away. If someone had killed him, she would have been pretty bitter too. "That would explain why he hates Orerines more than most... At least, from the Ferines people I've met."

"I can't really give you any advice other than, be honest with him and yourself. But I wouldn't dawdle on telling him either." Musette said finally, and seemed to push her to the stairs.

Norma walked halfway up the stairs, then looked back at the older women. Musette simply smiled mysteriously, and made a gesture that she should continue up the stairs. The brunette smiled, and continued upstairs. Hopefully, he wouldn't blow up in her face about it.

x x x

Well, all of this chapter came out in one go, out of complete inspiration and no planning ahead. I was honestly not planning to bring Madam Musette into this, as Shirley would be the next to discover Norma's secret, but it worked out in the end. I'll just try to continue with this train of thought and bang out another chapter or so.

Also, hoped you enjoyed the fan service at the beginning of the chapter, though it was also a chance to bring in the mention of Walter's mother. I don't think that the reason he hated the Orerines so much was just because of general-Ferines dislike and his jealousy of Senel, so I introduced a 'what-if' scenario. Long story short, his village was attacked when he was out in the woods playing as a kid, and when he came back everyone was either gone or dead. His mom was one of the missing ones, and even though he looked around for a few years, she vanished without a trace… Rest of his back-story to be mentioned some other time, methinks.

Reviewer Corner

Shiroi Iyasu: I kind of thought that it was a bit odd for Jay not to find out as well... But he didn't get nearly as many opportunities to because of Walter. I'd like to think that after 3 years of passing off as an Orerines on the Legacy and perhaps the mainland as well, and spying for Maurits, that he had learned to cover his tracks pretty well. And I'm glad you liked that little moment!

Pandiita: Another new reviewer~! Really, I felt my head swelling from all of your compliments! (And I'm sympathetic about your staying up late, or at least trying, because the story was so good: I do the same thing all the time... Up to around 4-5, actually.) And as for you being excited for the fic, well... I can't say I didn't squee a bit. This is pretty much the reason I write, and your review is probably the thing that broke my writer's block. I'm really glad to have you around for the story, and I'll try and keep up the quality of it!