Chapter 17: East and West

Mari was worried as they were heading back to the Raposa Village. She knew that the world was once again in danger but worries zipped through her head and she couldn't focus. She didn't mind the adventure. All these strange new things scared her, and she didn't know how to adjust.

Someone else other than Wilfre was trying to do something against the Creator, but she could barely comprehend what it was. Wilfre was apparently on their side against their new foe, but she simply couldn't believe that either. She remembered what happened when she sided with him, and the result of all the terrible things he had done. Mari couldn't bring herself to do that again.

Most of the Village was gone to the Creator knows where. Last time, at least from what Roselyynn and Thunder said, it was a lot easier to gather up the missing villagers. Mari didn't know if they were scattered all over the world or if they were all in one concentrated spot. She was the Mayor, and yet she seemed to have let her people down once again and wasn't able to protect them.

There was another Book by the looks of it, which Mari didn't understand. She didn't want to interact with Maelynn as much, as she honestly couldn't trust her judgment. Why would she side with Wilfre despite knowing all the evil he had done? Why did Roselyynn and Thunder, and Penelope for that matter accept this? Did he trick all of them?

Thinking about all these things gave her a headache. She just didn't know what she was supposed to do.

The walk back to the village was quiet. Roselyynn and Thunder took the lead of escorting the Raposa to the Village. They weren't saying anything. Penelope, who had caught up and was currently in the back, also said nothing. She seemed to be deep in thought, fairly distant from the rest of the group.

Circi analyzed the tension. She flipped her wavy orange hair and crossed her arms. "It seems that we have a lot of work to do when we return to our village. For starters, we've been away for a while, and the town was emptied from our knowledge. Right now, it's our responsibility to put things back into order." She said. Circi broke some ice with what she was saying, though a problem that arose was that nobody really said a word after that. The heroes said nothing, each with their own doubts and insecurities about the situation, and Mari and Jowee were awkwardly quiet.

Heather decided to say something, her meek voice trying to chip away at the silence. "…Why is everyone being so quiet? Is something the matter?" She asked, looking around.

Mari took a deep breath and proceeded to rant about her frustrations. "I cannot believe that Maelynn! How can you just trust Wilfre for so long yet be prepared if he turns on you? That makes no sense!" She exclaimed, tugging on her curls. "It's like she doesn't know how much hurt he's caused!"

"She does though." Thunder pointed out. "In situations like this, you might need to ally with your worst enemies."

"In times like this, we need to find the rest of the villagers." Mari responded quickly. "I don't care about making allies right now. We have them in the rest of the world."

Penelope furrowed her brow and crossed her stubby arms. "Do we though? I doubt we've explored that much of the world. There's other places to encounter that we haven't been to yet," the first creation hero retorted. "…Like the Gemstone Isle."

Roselyynn and Thunder stopped walking and stared at their mentor. "The Gemstone Isle? Isn't it that one place that Jewel mentioned? Like where that really strong rabbit king that exiled her is?"

Penelope bit her lip. "Yes. The Creator told me we'd be going there at some point."

"When did she tell you this? Why didn't you say anything?" Roselyynn asked, beginning to badger questions onto her. Penelope tried her best to maintain her composure and not lose it in a shadowy trainwreck.

"She told me before we went to Lavasteam." Penelope answered. "I haven't asked more about it since, but we were supposed to go there after Castlebrooke."

"Why didn't you say anything though? That would have been important to know before we left the Renard Village."

"Do you honestly think it would have been a good idea to mention that we were going someplace else while we were in the Renard Village?" Penelope asked back, crossing her arms. "Did you not understand how tense it was on the ship? If I said something, who knows how long else we'd be on the Cavalier Soleil? Everyone would have exploded by now!"

The Raposa who they had been traveling with turned back confusedly when they noticed the heroes weren't there and when they heard Penelope yell. Penelope was still maintaining her composure and making an honest effort to not lose her mind. Jowee frowned and called back at them. "Hey, is everything ok? Why'd you stop?"

"Penelope told us that we're traveling to another location at some point." Roselyynn answered, hiding the bitterness in her voice. "We don't know when, but she kept the information concealed from us until now. Like she generally keeps things hidden."

"Keeps what hidden?" Mari asked, looking concerned.

Penelope shook her head and smiled. "Don't worry about it. It's not anything of a huge concern." She said, giving Roselyynn a look of death when the Raposa looked away. Roselyynn huffed at Penelope as the rabbit went to catch up with the others, and Thunder shook his head at Roselyynn as he passed by her.

Despite the long walk to the east to get back to the Village, nothing much had changed from where it had left off. The Raposa Village was desolate and lifeless with the lack of villagers, and a grey, gloomy sky was above. Mari looked upset by this and began to see if any of the villagers were around and in hiding. Jowee and Heather followed around to help Mari in her search, though Circi stayed behind.

She crossed her arms and spoke, examining the desperation. "It's hopeless. Nobody is here—we saw them all get taken away. We have no idea where the villagers are. We need to focus on finding them or focus on getting more help." Circi mused to herself out loud. Tapping on her red earring, the raposa turned to gaze at the heroes.

Roselyynn and Thunder left around this time. They couldn't trust Circi noting how she simply just betrayed them years ago. It was difficult to stay in the village noting what she did, and she still wasn't entirely in Mari's good graces. It was lucky she even got her job back as the Mayor's Deputy. Penelope crossed her arms, still thinking about the Gemstone Isle.

Circi's dark eyes shifted to Penelope. "You have something on your mind, don't you? Something else that you feel the need to focus on over finding the villagers?" Circi asked curiously, flipping her locks. Penelope looked up and tugged on her ears, getting a little nervous. She was still trying to hold back the urge to transform.

The woman looked away, watching the rest of the group in their futile search. Penelope crossed her arms again and tried her best to think of what to do. There were no villagers here. White Tuxedo took them away somewhere, but they didn't know where. There was no way Mari and Maelynn could be on the same ship for extended periods of time without one of them having the urge to throw the other overboard. Mari, Jowee, Heather, and Circi had no weapons of their own and were mostly defenseless.

Penelope shook her head at that last piece. Circi DID have her shadow form to rely on as a saving grace, but she didn't know the extent of the other Raposa's power. She continued trying to think of something, until a thought came to her.

The Raposa Village had a ship. It didn't exactly look like one, but it had a village upon it's back. Penelope had never been on the ship, but Mari, Jowee, Heather, Roselyynn and Thunder all had been on it before and travelled the world. It was one of the Creator's most successful creations.

Turtlerock. They needed Turtlerock to sail on.

Penelope looked at the sky. "Creator, is Turtlerock under the sea? Roselyynn and Thunder have spoken to me before about the vessel they've sailed upon. If we have it accessible, we could use both Turtlerock and the Cavalier Soleil to sail across the world. If we find any of the missing villagers, they could be housed on Turtlerock. If not, I suppose there are other options, but…"

The Creator answered Penelope's call before she could even finish. A light shone from the docks near the beach in the distance, which caught the attention of Mari and the others who were searching. Something appeared to start rising from the depths of the ocean. Circi stared at Penelope, appearing to raise a brow. "Huh. You're better at getting the Creator to answer you than most." She said bluntly, then turning her head to see what was going on. Circi crossed her arms and rubbed them to help keep them warm and headed in the direction of the light.

Penelope hurried after them. When she caught up, she saw that a giant turtle with a village on its back had risen from the sea. This was the first time she had seen Turtlerock in person, though the group that had been looking for the villagers had already gotten on its back. Circi had as well and stared down at Penelope. "Are you coming or staying behind?" She asked curiously, yet she sounded almost mocking.

Penelope didn't have much of a choice on what to do next. All she could do was comply and follow along.

XxXxX

(Renard Village- Creation Hall)

Maelynn was studying the connection between the Book of Life and the Book of Truth again by investigating through the Creation Hall today. Being present in a sacred yet quiet place such as the Renard Creation Hall helped calm her nerves about what had taken place on the Cavalier Soleil. She had to learn more about the connection to understand why she was the Book of Truth's keeper and why it was so important to keep the Book of Life and the Book of Truth away from White Tuxedo.

A frown drew upon the mayor's face when thinking about White Tuxedo. The attempt to rescue Mari and the others and just trying to get into Castlebrooke was hard even though it didn't seem as guarded. Roselyynn and Thunder also got their butts handed to them despite the trials they faced. Infiltrating Castlebrooke was no easy feat and they needed more help if they had any hope of success getting in.

Wilfre, who was disguised as 'Vincent' like usual, came into the Creation Hall. He hadn't stepped foot in one for a very long time and looked around. He didn't feel safe touching anything, so a safe looking distance would be fine for now.

A frown drew upon the mayor's face when thinking about White Tuxedo. Just getting into Castlebrooke and rescuing Mari and the others was difficult. It seemed that they would need more help. But where were they to go next from there? What more help did they need?

Maelynn's tall ears stiffened when she heard something bump, and she looked over her shoulder. That was when she noticed 'Vincent'. He had accidentally bumped a side table, and she noticed how he had backed away from it. She could tell that his being in a Creation Hall made him nervous. "I'm pretty sure that the Creation Hall won't hurt you. It's the Book of Truth you should be concerned about, if anything."

'Vincent' spoke how he did if he weren't disguised. Maelynn observed his slight glare and his huff in reply to her comment. "Tch. Even if so, these places are in the Creator's domain. Being in them reminds me that I'm unwelcome. I'm a creature of darkness, not light."

"In my opinion, what you are shouldn't matter in a place like this. What you do, on the other hand, will influence what happens to you." Maelynn spoke, slowly going back to her studies.

'Vincent' changed back to his true form and crossed his arms. He remained in his spot, yet he found himself appreciating how calm Maelynn was about his presence in the Creation Hall. She was a lot more rational than Mari was, from what he could tell.

Wilfre decided to speak with Maelynn about why the Book of Truth would be a concern. He wasn't particularly interested in the green book like he was with the Book of Life. Still, it's existence and what it was capable of was curious. "I believe you may have mentioned the dangers of that chronicle before. What makes the Book of Truth so threatening?"

"The Book aligns truth with ideals. If they don't match up or one's true self if seen as unideal, the Book typically unleashes that of a divine punishment as a defense mechanism. If you draw into the Book of Life, like you did, it corrupts the user and their creations." Maelynn explained. She tugged on her blonde hair. "We had an incident that happened before White Tuxedo came into the picture when someone tried to design a blueprint in the book. We don't like asking the Creator for much. I don't think the incident helped."

Wilfre decided to not ask for more details as a shudder went down his side.

Still, he did want to know the connection between the Book of Life and the Book of Truth, and why White Tuxedo was even after the books from their understanding. He seemed to have avoided from taking them despite desiring them. As he was about to ask for the progress on Maelynn's research, the door slammed open startling Wilfre back into his 'Vincent' form and scaring Maelynn half to death.

Rikki and Aurora were in the doorway, with Rikki being at a loss for breath. Maelynn gathered her books and turned to Rikki, appearing stern yet worried. "Rikki? Is everything alright? Are we under attack?"

"No. The Creation Heroes are back, and they're on Turtlerock." Rikki breathed, tugging on his scarf. The thing he said next confused Maelynn.

"Penelope said the Creator saw us going to the Gemstone Isle after Castlebrook."

Maelynn blinked, clutching her books even tighter. "The Gemstone Isle? But that's the main homeland of the Lapin. And the Lapin really don't like interacting with the Raposa. Why would we be called there?" She asked, quickly remembering what Jewel said. "Do you think this relates to the King?"

"When the Creator looked, she couldn't tell."

Maelynn was trying to remain calm, though it was hard. "If it does, what if we get killed for stepping into the Gemstone Isle? After all, few enter and few leave. A Lapin being banished from the isle is completely unheard of in their culture."

Wilfre remembered when he manipulated Miney. He supposed that knowledge could be applied here. "What if someone if controlling the King in the background and manipulating their actions? It could explain the banishment."

Maelynn shifted her eyes to the ground and thought about it. After a moment of ponder, she shook her head and straightened up with resolve. "No. That would be impossible. The Lapin can't easily be manipulated. Especially noting how they close themselves off. They'd know if someone was trying to use them."

Rikki wanted to add on, but he couldn't. They didn't know as much about the Lapin as they wanted or needed to. Wilfre could tell they had very limited knowledge, but he understood where they were coming from. It was hard to learn anything about a culture when they were isolated.

The Renard Mayor ordered for preparations to be made for their voyage.

It seemed they'd be leaving faster than they had expected.