A/N: Hey guys! this one is a bit longer, so I hope that it makes up for the missing of a story. This is a bit of a side story, but I enjoyed writing it and I hope you enjoy reading it. Read, Review, Enjoy!
Chapter 4, Part 1: What's On Today's Agenda?
[22nd Floor Base; Morning]
3rd P.O.V~
"Hey, Silica."
"Huh?" The voice that caught the young dragon-tamer's attention belonged to the only girl that hung out nearby, Kira. The girl, who was only about a year older, was still in her dark purple pajamas she always slept in. Silica, who had been lying on a table in her group of friend's 'base' with her best friend Pina, he been called out by the young Jedi who was sitting nearby.
Sitting up tall, Kira looked around while asking Silica, "Where is everyone?" It was true, only the two girls where in the large base today, an uncommon thing considering not everyone was usually busy. But on today, it was no surprise. After 3 months of being trapped, the 53rd floor boss was about to be taken on, and everyone who wasn't here (excluding Liz, who was usually in her blacksmith store in Yggdrasil City or getting materials to make the best weapons she could.) was at the boss fight by now. Only Silica and Kira had sat out, as both had overslept to leave with the others.
Finally answering her friend's question, Silica stated lazily "Boss fight."
"..." Kira faced her head down, her body beginning to shake. With a jump and fist to the air, a yell roared from the young Jedi, "WHAT!? OH when they get back... Wait...I have a better idea." Rubbing her hands together, a mischievous glint appeared in Kira's violet eyes. Those same eyes slowly turned to Silica.
"Hey...Silica."
"Huh?" The Cait Sith poked her head up, a worried expression filling her face.
"Let's..." A pause held for a moment... "GO ON AN ADVENTURE!" The Jedi once again struck a pose, fist in the air and eyes starting at the young girl across from her.
Silica and Pina's ears both pointed up, and the two companions looked at each other. With a smile and a nod, they both turned to Kira, with Silica stating "no use sticking around here, let's do it!"
"Yeah!" Both of the two girls stepped to each other, and gave a loud high five before pulling out their menus and switching into their respective gear. The reason Silica was excited to go and step out of her comfort zone was that her goal was to join the clearing group, and she thought this might be a good chance to improve upon her skills.
Stepping out of the base, both girls looked to each other. Silica, who had Pina sitting on her left shoulder, looked at her partner for the day, and asked, "So, ummm…what ARE we going to go?"
Pausing, Kira put her hand on her chin and looked slightly up. As she started to scratch her head, pulling the dark purple and black hood from her robe off of her head, she told Silica was a grin, "Hehe, about that…..you see, Master and I can't fly, so leaving Aincrad is kinda a pain-"
"Wait! Have you not left New Aincrad yet!?" Silica interrupted Kira; she hadn't realized the pair of Jedi's hadn't left New Aincrad in the 3 months they had been there.
The young Jedi quickly shook her hands in front of her body, quickly spilling out words. "What, no! Of course I've left this place; I've been down to ground level PLENTY of times, plenty."
Silica leaned slightly forward with a smile towards Kira, "Come on, it's not a big deal. We can go down and help you learn the layout."
With a sigh, Kira leaned down and talked in a defeated tone, "Alright…" She quickly bolted up, "Let's get going!" Before she could react, Silica was already being dragged alongside Kira, who was running towards the main town's Teleporting Gate.
With a smile, Kira and Silica, who was now flying low beside the fast paced Jedi, but smiled and stated, "To Alfheim!"
Chapter 4, Part 2: A Journey's Start
[An Hour Later – Yggdrasil City]
Silica P.O.V~
Not matter how many times I saw the Fairy Capital, the beauty was something that I couldn't ever quite get tired of, but seeing someone's first time seeing a place like this was one of the few things that got old even less.
I could barely keep up with the speeding Jedi as she ran around the town. "Whoa, this place is huge!" Spilled from Kira's wide-open mouth multiple times.
"It's even prettier at night!" I walked beside the Jedi now, and she smiled at my statement.
"It's been FOREVER since I've seen a place like this. I haven't had a chance to leave the 22nd floor much and explore the other places in Aincrad, so this is awesome!" Words flew from my friend's mouth while we walked along avenues and streets, looking at the large buildings and tiny shops made from the material that they all laid on, the Grand Tree. As we kept walking along, (Well, I was walking, Kira was running in and out of shops looking at all the new items that New Aincrad didn't hold.) I stopped and look at the Jedi I had come here with to ask a simple question, "Hey, Kira…Where are we going to go after this?"
"Huh?" She gave me a confused look, "Oh, right! An Adventure!"
"Well, do you want to go explore, do some shopping, explo-" My sentence was ended quickly.
"EXPLORE!" I didn't usually hang out with Kira alone, so seeing her like this was pretty entertaining if I say so myself. I brought my menu up with my left hand, put on the World Map, and turned it so that Kira, who was walking to my left, could see the map.
"Well, it's most likely safer to go into a neutral territory, since you're not aligned with a fairy race anyone who doesn't know you would consider you an immediate enemy."
I could see Kira's hair shake up and down at my statement. "Seems fair enough. What about down in this desert area?" I noticed her hand shift to the bottom of my map, and quickly shook my head.
"Salamander territory. We don't wanna go there." I informed her.
"But aren't we in an alliance with them? And besides, they should recognize me since I've been in a few boss fights." My confused friend answered.
With a sigh, I told her, "Yes, we are friends with the Salamanders in New Aincrad, but we were told awhile back that no one outside of their race was allowed to go into their territory in Alfheim.
A mischievous look crossed Kira's face, and I quickly became worried. "Let's go there then."
I stumbled to find the word to reject this idea, "I-I'm not sure that's a good idea…" Too late. Before I knew it, Kira was marching off towards the south. "Wait!" She stopped to look back at me. "You can't fly; we have to go that way." My right hand pointed back towards where we had come from, we had passed up the elevator that transferred players between the cities of Yggdrasil and Alne. A defeated look crossed her face, and she started to walk back towards me. When she passed me up, I ended up losing my footing and was dragged along the Jedi towards the old capital of Alfheim, Alne. I decided to not fight it, as I guessed it wasn't worth the energy to end up at the same spot.
After a short while, we ended up at the elevator plaza, and stepping into the surprisingly simple elevator. Once we stepped into the elevator, I pressed the button that would take us to the ground-level city of Alne.
[Outside the Entrance to Alne]
Silica P.O.V~
If felt like we hadn't been walking long before Kira and I ended up outside of the city of Alne, the old Fairy Capital. We had shortly walked a bit further, talking about old stories with friends and out time stuck in our respective worlds. It was odd to be able to talk about SAO so casually with someone outside of the original experience. It was hard for me to remember that this girl who was only a year older than me had been trapped much longer inside of a fantasy world. While walking and laughing, Kira brought up a point.
"Hey, Silica, how do we get to Salamander territory anyways?"
I brought out my map and moved my finger around, tracing from our current spot to the desert area that the Salamanders called home. "It looks like the best way is to go through the Ruger Corridor, it probably isn't extremely safe but it takes out a chance of us running into players." I stated.
"Well look at you, you're really smart Silica." I blushed at the comment and tried to hold down a surprised smile. Why would she say that? All I did was say something obvious.
"Kirito-san told me about a neutral town in the middle of the Corridor that he and Leafa-San used as a break on their way to the World Tree on their original visit to the city. We can go that way and-"
"Why do players avoid it?" I noticed Kira's head tilt as she asked me this.
"Well, as far as I know, it's because the Corridor is a huge no-flying area, so quick escape from danger is extremely hard. If we just go that way, it should be fairly easy." She wasn't listening. I guess after I brought up no-flying area, she had started rubbing the middle of her shoulder blades with her right arm bent back.
"No fair, everything is a no-flying area for me." Kira started pouting, forcing a giggle from my mouth. I had to bring up my hand and cover my mouth to stop it from being heard, but my Jedi companion tilted her head to face me, an unamused look covering her face. Kira shook her head and put her hands at her side. "Never mind, where should we head to first?"
I looked at the map that had still been out up until now and tilted my head, tracing my finger like I had before.
"Nothing is here on the map that shows anything between us and the Corridor, so we should just be able to go straight there."
"Well lets go then." Kira said, calmly this time. I prepared my feet to be dragged out from under me, but instead we both walked side by side. "We have time, so can I ask a question?"
"Huh? Oh yeah, sure." The gesture surprised me. Most people didn't ask if they could ask me something, they just did.
"I know her name, and what she is….." Who is she tal- "Where did you get the dragon?"
"Huh?" The question surprised me, why did she want to know about Pina?
"I've never seen a dragon before, and the only I HAVE seen, is on your shoulder right now."
"Oh, well I tamed Pina in SAO a long time ago, and when everyone switched their characters to ALO, Pina switched with my character somehow." The happy thoughts of my time with Pina caused me to smile slightly. She really was my best friend.
"Tamed a dragon? Wow, you must be pretty strong!" I realized now the wide violet eyes that Kira was sporting.
I shook my hands in front of my chest while I spilled out words, "W-what, no! I just got lucky is all." It was a bit embarrassing for me whenever I got random compliments from people. I had just noticed how red my face was.
"Come on, you tamed a DRAGON, and a pretty one if I might add." Kira, during my retaliation of the comment, had switched to my left side and had brought up her right hand to pet Pina. After a while of petting Pina while Kira and I talked even more, we ended up passing through a forest and on the opposite side, a mountain standing in front of us.
"How do we get to the entrance?" A confused Kira asked, pointing to the entrance high up the mountain's side.
"Well you just fly!" I yelled, quickly regretting this choice of action. I looked beside me to see an extremely mad Kira staring at me. "I'm sorry! I-I forgot that you couldn't fl-" My words stopped when a slim finger covered my mouth.
"I'll be damned if a wall stops me from going on." I couldn't reply to this. Dust covered my vision, and when it settled a speeding Kira was already half-way up the wall to the entrance. I couldn't move for a minute, I was stunned at the sight of someone running up a straight-upward mountain with pure speed. Before I knew it, Kira had reached the top, and was waving over to me.
"Come on, lets get going!" I could hear the yell that had come from the entrance of the mountain. I quickly took flight, and made my way to the entrance of the Corridor along side of Kira.
"Ready?" Kira asked me, I replied with a nod. We took a few steps in the tunnel, but we hadn't accounted for something. It was dark. Way too dark to see anything, and neither of us had torches or night-vison magic.
"Uh, Kira, this could be a problem." I shyly told her. I saw Kira's right hand move to her left hip, and a long slim object came from her belt. In front of her, Kira held a long silver tube-like object, and without any noticeable movement, a purple light emitted from the left side if the tube. "What are you-?" I hadn't noticed that the light was shining along the narrow tunnel that we were about to go through, giving enough like to be able to easily see.
"Good enough?"
"Perfect!" I bounced with excitement at the trip we were about to take, but quickly stopped when I remembered where we were going. A curios voice replaced my excited one, "Um, Kira, where are we going in Salamander territory exactly?"
"I've heard about a city called Gadan from Salamanders when I take in boss battles, I thought that we could go there."
"That's the Salamander Capital! I think that's a really bad idea." I was extremely nervous to the idea. Of course, like most of the time, my denial was rejected as the Jedi walked away from me. With a sigh, I looked to Pina on my shoulder, "I really hope that we make it there and back soon.
"Kryuuu." Pina mutters while I rubbed under hard neck and walked to catch up with Kira.
Chapter 3, Part 3: Detours in the Dark
[1 Hour Later, the Ruger Corridor]
Silica P.O.V~
Watching Kira fight was something else. She fought the mobs that we had passed by on the level that Kirito fought when I first met him. It was something that I couldn't put words on, watching her bounce around the area's with her violet lightsaber as she sliced up enemies was extraordinary.
"It's really cool to watch you fight." Did I say that? No, Kira did, but she couldn't be talking about me. "You're pretty good."
"W-what? No, I'm not nearly good enough!"
Kira paused for a moment, and started to smile. "Come on, look how far we've gotten so far. Do you think it's just from me fighting? Let's keep going." I had to stop for a moment before the words reached by brain, and I nodded my red face as we continued walking on.
A few minutes passed before Kira paused, as so did I. We had both noticed it, the feeling of eyes watching us. "Silica, we're being followed aren't we?" I nodded my head slowly, confused at why someone was behind us. This wasn't the feeling of mobs following us, but of players. "How far do you think the town is from here?" Our voiced had turned to short whispers.
"Legrue shouldn't be more than a few minutes from here." I tried to recall the map I had looked at before we came into the corridor, careful not to pull out my menu.
"Let's get going then." We started to walk, but footsteps could be heard in the darkness behind us. No, wait, it was in front of us. "Crap, we're surrounded." My eyes went wide at the thought, and Kira pushed her back to mine, each of us facing a different way. I prepared my dagger that was in hand, Pina took flight, and I could only guess Kira had prepared her weapon too.
"Come out, whoever is following." Kira demanded into the dark. The footsteps stopped for a second, but no reply came. "I said come out!" Her voice rose behind me, becoming angrier.
After a few moments of silence, a voice came out. "That weapon, a lightsaber isn't it?" A deepish calm came from Kira's side, the way that we had entered from.
"What's it to you?" Kira asked, still demanding.
"…." Still no reply.
"I said what's it to you?" Kira once again asked.
"What's your allegiance?" This time, the voice of a younger guy came from my side.
"Unallied, I'm not a fairy so I can't be." I remained silent as this went on, staying ready for an attack.
"Ha, fairies, I didn't ask your race. I said-" Red lights covered both sides of the tunnel as both men spoke, "-where's your allegiance?" The lights were unmistakably coming from weapons similar to Kira's, lightsabers. I wasn't sure how I using a dagger in this fight would fair. Before I could think of a strategy, my back started shaking. It wasn't mine, but Kira's. Was she scared?
"Are you deaf, stupid, or both? Answer my question, now." The red light on my backside moved closer, as I guessed so did the man. Kira's body stopped shaking, and I could feel her take a deep breath.
"I fight with my Master and friends, no one else." Kira finally responded loudly.
"Then if you don't fight for the Sith, you are an enemy. Let's end this quickly." The man on my side stepped forward, and I could see him nod. He wore a pitch black cloak that covered his body, as well as black gloves. White hair was sticking from under his hood, and I could see his teeth smiling cruelly in the dark.
"Kira." I whispered.
"Yeah?" My friend replied in the same way I had.
"Are we going to die?" I was terrified at the thought. A shudder went through my body, it was only me and Kira here and we were the youngest in the group of friends. I wasn't sure how we could win.
"…" Silence.
"Kira?"
"You won't die, don't worry." Did she only say that I wouldn't?
Before I could reply, the man in front of me lunged at me, and I jumped from Kira's back towards him. I didn't want to fight, but I had to for now, until we could get out. My dagger should have been immediately run thorough by the lightsaber, but since this was a game, my dagger stood up to the weapon. I was holding my dagger with my blade running against my arm, and the man I was fighting held his weapon the same. Our arms came up and met in the air, and we passed each other. I turned after landing to see the man coming back at me, his lightsaber hilt now facing his arm and the light facing me. He struck his weapon down, but I managed to hold it with my dagger. The light emitting from his lightsaber illuminated his face at our weapons held together, and I could clearly see his face, though it was still hard to make out. Scars filled his face, making it hard to see a person. All you could really tell was the wide grin and the dark brown eyes. I also noticed how he had many black tattoos covering his face, like markings. We broke off from each other, and leaped back.
"Not bad, kid. Too bad I gotta kill you, you're kinda cute." Pervert.
We both ran to each other, and he swung his weapon across from my left to right side, and I lowered myself under it, as the man was well taller than me so his hits were well too high. I pressed my left hand to the ground and lunged passed him, slashing his right side as I did so. A yell could be heard from the younger man who I had injured, and he yelled angrily towards me.
"That's it bitch, I'll stop having fun and start killing you!" The sadistic voice charged at me, his stance low. He ran his sword through where I was standing, but I had already jumped to the side and slashed lightly across his face, and landed sliding to his right. I could see Kira fighting off her attacker as well, but their fight was something different. They jumped across the cave's walls and dashed to kill the other, every hit tying for a vital spot.
"Hey, pay attention to the fight you're in!" The man I was fighting was running towards me now, his voice showing how annoyed he was. He was much slower than me, so if I just kept this up I should've been fine. He stopped a few feet short of me, and took his left hand and faced his palm to me, throwing it to the side. Before I could ask what that was going to do, my body flew to my left side and I slid onto the ground.
'What the….did I just fly through the air on my own?' My thoughts grew confused, and it must have showed.
"Time for you to see the power of the Force, kid." The man's voice was still obviously annoyed, but I almost over looked it as I was thinking of the action that had just happened. After I realized what he had said, I picked myself off of the ground and prepared to lunge at him. As I jumped, he took his left hand and threw it towards the ground, and my body grew heavy and slammed into the rock floor under me. I could see my HP bar in the top left go to about 75% of what it was originally at.
"Crap." I muttered under my breath. I was terrified and it made my body shake. I looked up to see my enemy standing over me.
"STAND UP!" A hard kick hit my right side, and I flew through the air and hit the wall across the tunnel. I looked over towards Kira, but her body had flown and landed next to me.
"Kira…" I tried to shake her while I was lying down. "Kira, please wake up." She had been knocked out, and various cuts covered her body. Her clothes were torn, her robe across the room. The two men came to us, both around the same height.
"Sorry to do this little girl, but anyone who opposes the Sith doesn't have the option to live." The older one spoke softly to me, but I didn't notice as I felt Kira's body start to shake. I crawled so I could see her eyes open up, and I turned her on her back. I looked up at the men, tears filling my eyes.
I shoved my eyes into Kira's chest, and yelled "I DON'T WANT TO DIE KIRA." I sobbed, waiting for my HP to hit zero, I couldn't defend myself as my weapon had gone through the air when I did and I couldn't see it. I could hear wings flapping, and my HP slightly rose to 80%. I lifted my head, still holding Kira, and Pina landed next to me. "Pina…" I whispered.
"Kryuu" The short reply met my ears. Pina prepared to heal Kira, but I felt a tug on my right arm. Kira slowly began to stand up, her lightsaber still in hand.
"Sorry, I told you that you're not going to die." She pushed her legs apart, but her body shook unsteadily. Her face was bruised and bloody, as I just noticed my was from the few moves my enemy had landed. But she still stood up, and held her right arm behind her. Her lightsaber emitted purple lights from both sides of the long hilt, and she prepared to fight. The Sith she had been fighting brought his lightsaber from his black cloak, and pointed it to Kira.
"If you want to die that much quicker, I'll assist you." He continued to speak calmly and stepped towards us.
"Silica, Master Emile will be really pissed off if we die, so let's fight." Kira's words word strong even though her body was unsteady. The man that was about to kill us, brought his right arm diagonally across his body, and froze for a moment.
"W-who did you say?" The voice came from the younger man, who had taken a step back, his body shaking.
The man, who was holding up his saber, stepped back as well. "Did you say, Master Emile?"
Kira nodded her head. "Master Emile Carrick, the man who wouldn't let the two of you live in this situation."
"You're lying, that's it." The older man said. "Who is you're Master!? Tell the truth!" His calm voice grew angry now, or was it...scared? The man raised his lightsaber, and lunged towards Kira, but she lunged lower. She stood a foot behind the man, her lightsaber on the opposing side of her body now. What did she do? My question was answered when something hit the ground under the man. Blood. It was blood that quickly filled the ground under his feet, only a few feet from me. I stood up and went to my right, and Pina flew beside me. I saw the man's HP fall to zero, and his top half slid from his left. I quickly looked away, and a thud hit the ground. I looked towards the other Sith, who was shaking in fear. He brought out his lightsaber and shifted his eyes towards me. I looked behind him and saw my dagger, only a couple feet from him.
"Y-You…..YOU BITCH!" His scream filled the cave as he ran towards me, but I easily jumped to his left and rolled to my dagger. I picked it up as he turned to come to me again. I prepared the weapon to attack, but the man stopped again. He raised his hands, but I didn't fly. Instead, something blue went to his fingertips. Before I could register what it was, lightning came from his fingers. I froze. Before I was hit, my life tried to flash before my eyes, but I couldn't quite finish. A purple blade came in front of me, it's holder beside me. The blade stopped the lightning from hitting me, she saved my life.
"Silica, I need to you stop him." Stop him? She didn't mean killing him, did she? I didn't have time to think, as the lightning stopped and Kira flew to her right and slid across the floor. I could see the man's left hand out to his side, and I guessed he had used the Force to hurt Kira. With a yell, he jumped at me one last time. I could see the opening, but I didn't know if I could take it. After that, I jumped to my left and the lightsaber struck downward where I had been. The man quickly shifted to his right and slashed diagonally upward at me, sparks coming off the ground as he dragged his lightsaber. I jumped out of the way. I couldn't do it, I can't kill a person. I can't do it. I kept jumping as he slashed at me, but eventually I ended up with my back to the wall. I held my dagger up to stop attack coming down at me. He kept pulling his blade back and slamming it against my dagger, pushing me lower to the ground. This was it, I was going to die. I was too weak to kill for my survival, I couldn't do it. He brought his saber down and my arms gave out, falling to my side.
I looked to see Kira still on the ground, her fight had worn her out too much, and she couldn't fight anymore. This was it. My life fully flashed before my eyes this time, as I sat on the ground with my legs under me, arms to the side. I was going to die here; this was one adventure I should've said no to.
"Hehe, this is for my comrades that the Jedi have killed!" His blade came down, but it never hit me. I looked up to see if a purple light had stopped it, but it wasn't. It wasn't a purple light; it wasn't a light at all. It was a long black blade that came from my left side, it was blocking the saber that was about to come down on me. I looked up to see the slender black figure standing next to me, saving me. His face was clearly seen from the red light he had stopped.
I whispered the only words I could find. "Kirito…"
The Spriggan that had saved me forced the lightsaber and wielder back, taking his stance in front of me.
"You ok?" He spoke calmly, but he breathed heavy as if he was exhausted.
I took a moment for me to reply to the question, but I finally managed a, "Yeah, I'm fine."
"Look, more people to kill!" The man interrupted the conversation with a yell, the sadistic smile he had originally taking its place again. "Come on, I've been waiting for a fairy that could actually fight back!" Kirito, who was looking at the man, took a step forward. After that, the man lunged for him.
"Kirito-San, watch out!" I yelled, but I could suddenly see the man who I had been fighting's face clearly. Kirito wasn't standing where he had been, he was gone. I saw a black figure above the man, and the man tried to turn to see him. Too late; The Spriggan was already slamming the man into the ground face first. Kirito slashed both of the man's arms, taking them clean off while he stood on him. I couldn't tell how I felt about the scene in front of me, but the fight was over before it started. Without either arms, the man couldn't fight.
"Stay down." Kirito spoke, a frustrated look covering his face. "How is she?" Was he talking to me? I turned to my side towards Kira to see a figure standing over her. The person picked her up, and I could tell who it was by the light-grey robes he wore.
"Emile-San…." The words escaped my lips. They both found us somehow.
"Leave him, we need to take these two back to the base, he can't fight without his arms." Emile talked calmly towards Kirito, and was met with a nod.
"Oss nona nott lysa auga." As Kirito talked, a sphere of words surrounded him, and I could suddenly see the cave perfectly, as if the whole thing was lightly lite. He had cast a night vision spell, and we could all see clearly I guessed. Kirito walked to me, and stuck his right hand out after sheathing his sword. "Come on, let's go." I slowly reached for his hand, and felt myself become lighter as he picked me up off the ground. "You should really stop letting me find you in these kinds of situations, Silica." A smile covered the face of the Spriggan, his eyes closed as he did this. Tears once again filled my eyes as I grabbed Kirito's clothes, and shoved my face into them.
"Thank you, Kirito-San." I struggled to find the words.
"Come on, the others are going to be relieved that we found you." He still spoke softly. I nodded my head and wiped my eyes, turning to the exit. Kirito and I started walking towards the exit, as did Emile who was holding the unconscious Kira. I could hear the footsteps, and turned when they stopped behind us. Emile was stopped a little past the Sith who was lying on the ground, and spoke harshly to him.
"If you or any Sith hurt these two girls, or anyone I call 'friend', I won't hesitate to wipe your Order of the face of this world." With those words, he continued to walk behind me and Kirito, and I looked forward. After a short while of walking, (And Kirito telling me how they had finished the boss fight and when they got back to base and saw the note I had left that said Kira and I were going to be gone for a while they all got worried after a while and came to look for us. How they found us, he wouldn't say,) we ended up finding the exit to the tunnel, and made it back to the base by dinner.
"Next time, tell us before you go, ok?" The words Kirito had told me before we walked into the base stayed in my mind for the rest of the night. All four of us entered the house, and I was quickly met with Liz running up to me and hugging me.
"Hey, Liz-san. I'm back."
"Where did you guys go!?" Liz demanded from me.
I looked behind me to see that Kira had finally waken up, and with a weak smile and soft voice, she answered Liz's question.
"An adventure."