CH 3

After receiving a letter, Bookman, Lavi, and Allen travelled to the town of Earthridge to meet the legendary Sage of Life while accompanied by Kanda, who was given orders to join them by his master, General Tiedoll, for unknown reasons. The four of them successfully managed to get to the Sage's home, where Lavi thought he'd seen someone standing in the window of the second floor, but chose to ignore it. They then continued on to meet the Sage, Tsamo Esagel, an elderly man with good manners and a warm smile to match. They all then got comfortable in the main room and began conversing.

"It is to my understanding that the Sage's abilities are focused on the balance of elements." Bookman immediately wanted answers about the Sages for his records.

"That is correct. As a sage, it is my responsibility to maintain unity amongst the elements, just like every sage before me and every sage that will exist after my time has passed." Tsamo pulled a book from a shelf and flipped through the pages. "Ah, here we are," he said as he handed the book to Bookman. "This is information on every known Sage to have existed. Up until now, records like these have only been seen by Sages, such as myself, or apprentices."

Bookman scanned the page with his eyes, careful not to miss any bit of history the Sage was willing to reveal to him. "It seems that every Sage has been a relative of the previous Sage…"

"Ah, yes. The powers we possess are in fact passed down through generations." Tsamo explained. "You may also notice that the genders of the Sages will alternate with every generation."

"I see…"

Kanda slouched in the chair and sighed. He really had no interest in Sages or records. He thought to himself, *"Why the hell would the General want me to come here? I don't see what business I have in a place like-"*

"So…Kanda, was it?"

"Wuh?" Kanda looked at Tsamo, who'd interrupted his train of thought. "Uh, yeah..?"

The Sage smiled. "Since Froi Tiedoll ordered you to come here, you must be his disciple, correct? How is he these days?"

"How do you know him?" Kanda questioned.

Tsamo pointed to a picture on the wall of what appeared to be Tiedoll and Tsamo at a younger age, maybe in their late 20's to mid 30's. "Froi and I go way back. When he joined the Black Order I had already been announced the next Sage of Life, but I couldn't tell him that. For the longest time, he insisted I was an accommodator of innocence as well, but that wasn't the case."

Kanda thought, *"Don't tell me…he only wanted me here so I could meet his childhood friend…"*

Bookman started asking more questions and the Sage was glad to answer them. Kanda was irritated at Tiedoll and kept clenching his fist. Allen watched and tried to listen and understand. He'd noticed that Lavi had been standing behind the chair Bookman was sitting in without saying a word. He was completely spacing out.

"Uhm, excuse me, sir...er, Tsamo…" Allen began. "I was told you wanted to meet me…to talk about my innocence or something?"

"My apprentice takes an interest in the Black Order. When word got out that your innocence had been developing rapidly at such a young age, and Hevlaska had given you the prophecy of 'Destroyer of Time,' my apprentice insisted on meeting you, Allen Walker…Finds you very intriguing and special, with which I agree."

Allen blushed a bit and scratched the back of his neck. "Oh, well that's flattering and all, but…I'm really not all that great, honest."

"Damn right…" Kanda added.

Allen let his evil side show and said, "Sorry? I didn't hear that. Why don't you repeat that to my face? 'Eh, pretty boy?"

"That a challenge, beansprout?"

Bookman sighed. "You'll have to excuse those two, they don't exactly see eye to eye…" He then noticed Lavi spacing out and yanked his collar down to get his attention. "Looks like you'll have to excuse HIM as well…"

Tsamo nervously laughed. "You young men are welcome to walk about my home, if you like. If there's anyone in the world I'd trust other than my apprentice or my own family, it would be exorcists of the Black Order. Besides, I'm sure my apprentice would be happy to meet you three."

Allen stopped bickering with Kanda and said, "I didn't know he was here. Where could we find him?"

Tsamo answered, "Probably in the first room on the left when you walk up these stairs. If not there, you may want to check the room at the end of the upstairs hallway."

Allen got up and walked up the stairs followed by Kanda, who wanted to see if this apprentice knew anything about the Sage's relationship with General Tiedoll. Lavi started to go up behind them, but was stopped by Bookman.

"Where do you think you're going off to? If you're ever going to become a bookman, you'd better learn to take interest in something other than yourself. The information this man is giving us is very importa-"

"No, no. Let him go, too. Besides, I'm sure a bookman with your experience can record this without his help." Tsamo said with a smile.

When Allen made it to the upper level, he went straight to the first door on the left, just as the Sage had suggested, and knocked. When he didn't get an answer, he called out, "Uhm, excuse me, is anyone in there? My name is Allen Walker. I'm with the Black Order…"

Kanda walked up from behind him and tried turning the knob. "It's locked."

Lavi, who had just joined them, went and peeked in the room at the end of the hall. "Hello? ...I don't see anyone in here either, guys."

"I'll handle this…" said Kanda, who then readied to kick the door down.

Allen franticly yelled, "KANDA! Don't!" and jumped in front of the door to block Kanda's kick.

Lavi knew that Kanda would just kick Allen INTO the door to break it down anyway, so he did what seemed best at the time and tackled Kanda before he could damage the Sage's house…and Allen's face.

"The hell?! Get off me!" Kanda shoved Lavi away and got up off the ground.

"Don't just break it down because he didn't answer! Maybe he's sleeping or something. It's not like he did anything wrong…" Allen pleaded.

Kanda grunted. "I've got some questions to ask that guy. He'd better open up and stop ignoring me."

"We all do, I'm sure." Lavi began. "We can't assume we're being ignored. Chill out, Yu."

"DO NOT-!"

Allen pushed Kanda out of the way and asked, "What's in that room at the end of the hall, Lavi?"

"Tsk."

Lavi glanced back at the room. "Looked like some kind of dojo."

The three of them walked down the hall and into the room. "Dumbass. It's a room meant for meditation. They have one at HQ too." Kanda said observing his surroundings.

Allen walked up to the large window and looked out at the town. Then, he said the word. The one word that makes all exorcists spring into action… "Akuma!"