The Singing Breeze

A dull thud echoed through the forest as Elsword kicked off of a hollow stump, leaping into the air and striking a swaying block of wood. As he landed, he spun around and swung out broadly, hitting two logs that were flying through the air toward him. Gripping his blade with both hands, he carefully dodged another wave of swaying trunks, rolling to the side and striking the nearest with all his strength.

"Rrr... get out of there..." Elsword snarled, his blade stuck fast in the side of the swinging log. Yanking and tugging furiously, he leaned his whole body forward and pulled his sword overhead, jerking it down as hard as he could. As his sword fell to the ground, a loud crackling snap filled the air. Looking down, Elsword noticed that he hadn't actually managed to rid himself of the trunk; rather, he had pulled it down to the ground. Looking up, he noticed a thick, heavy branch racing toward his head. Several minutes later, after he regained his senses and pulled himself up to his feet, he stomped away, grumbling under his breath as he headed back toward the town.

At the forest's edge, a calm breeze carried the scent of stove fires and the din of the city streets through the air, drifting through the trees and settling into the frosted ground. Elsword trudged through the vanishing snow and the chill winter whirled around him, leaving the sounds of the city in their wake. As he neared the forest's edge, the bustle of merchants and workers was joined by a faint, fluttering melody. Curious, Elsword turned away from the nearby road and headed back into the woods. Following the sound, he hopped over thick roots and climbed up a steep embankment, through dense clusters of elderly oaks until he finally stepped into a small, tranquil clearing. Atop a weather worn boulder, Rena sat with her bow in hand, humming as she plucked an invisible string. The song spilling out into the air was strange and formless, a meandering flight of notes in no particular pattern at all that still managed to capture Elsword's attention with it's sharp, dulcet tone. Spotting him from the corner of her eye, Rena fell silent and hopped down to the ground.

"Hi there." She smiled brightly. "How's your training going?"

Elsword shook his head out, trying to dismiss the dull ache of the lump on his forehead. "It's fine." Completely unaware of himself, he reached up and patted his face, checking for blood. Humming lightly, Rena walked up to him and took stock of his injuries. Aside from the welt on his head, a dozen scrapes and scratches covered his arms and legs and spattering of bruises colored his shins and elbows.

She chuckled faintly. "It doesn't look like it's going too well for you."

Elsword turned his head to the side and scowled at the ground. "I said it's fine. This much is... nothing much for..." His words trailed off and he shook his head again.

"Why don't we take a break for now?" Rena smiled awkwardly and wondering if Elsword was just exhausted or had hit his head too hard. She led him over to the boulder where she had been sitting and helped him up to the top, offering him a skin of water once he'd steadied himself. Once Elsword had chugged down the better part of a liter, he wiped his mouth and sat down, crossing his legs and drawing his cloak around him to guard against the cold.

"Thanks..." He glanced off to the side, "What was that song you were humming?"

"Ah, that?" Rena winked. "That was my secret training."

Confused, Elsword turned to her and his brow wrinkled up which, in turn, caused him to wince in pain and press his hand to his forehead. Rena's eyes widened anxiously.

"Um, why don't we talk about this on the way back to town... you should see a doctor, and you're probably hungry too, right?"

Elsword huffed and crossed his arms. "I don't need to see a doctor, I'm fine..." Despite his claim of soundness, he was listing to the right and had to throw a hand out to steady himself.

"Elsword..." Rena's expression shifted, her eyes filled with a stern but gentle insistence, "Let's go visit the doctor, okay?"

Elsword opened his mouth to protest, but something about her face triggered a distant memory in him. Somewhere, at some time, he had seen someone with that expression before. Was it his sister? Or an even further memory of his late mother? Regardless, he slowly gave in and nodded hesitantly. "A-alright..."

"Good!" Rena bounced up to her feet and offered Elsword a hand. She helped him down to the ground and out of the forest, watching his feet as he walked along the road to make sure he didn't teeter off into a tree.

"What sort of training was that?" Elsword glanced to Rena curiously.

"It's a sort of magic..." Rena smiled and placed her finger to her lips, "But for now, it's a secret."

Elsword grimaced. "What? How come?"

Giggling, Rena stared down the open road ahead of them. "I'll tell you all about it when I'm finished, how's that?"

Agreeing despite his discontent, Elsword nodded and lowered his head. "Hey, Rena... Do you know a lot about magic?"

"I guess I know a bit, but if you're looking for an expert, I know somebody who knows a lot more than I do." She grinned slyly but Elsword didn't seem to follow her. "What did you want to know?"

"Can anybody use magic?" Elsword was now staring at the ground sheepishly as though asking this question somehow put his pride at risk. Rena quickly saw where he was headed and was actually a bit surprised.

"Hm... Yes, as far as I know..." She crept up behind Elsword and spoke over his shoulder, her face painted with a devious grin. "So, why do you wanna learn magic?"

Immediately, Elsword turned and stumbled back two steps. Rena giggled at his surprise and he blushed lightly, returning to the path as he adjusted his sword's harness. "I don't want to..."

"But you're worried that you won't be able to beat another nasod with just your sword?" Rena resumed her usual, gentle tone and dropped her teasing smile.

"Yeah..."

The wind whistled by them and brought the noise of a lively city with it. In the scarce silence, Rena paused to consider her response. "It's true that the nasod we fought would have been easier to handle if we were all using the sort of magic Aisha uses... but then, there's no guarantee that they'll all be like that either. If you want to learn magic, I think it'd help out a lot, but at the same time, I think your training as a knight has been really helpful to us as well. You'll have to think it over and decide for yourself which way to take your training," Rena smiled at him, "but I think you'll be fine, whatever you choose. Of course, if you want to learn magic, there's only one person I know who could teach you properly..."

Still oblivious, Elsword turned to Rena, gazing intently. "Really? Who is it? Where are they?"

Rena giggled lightly. "Right now? I think she's in our room, reading over a few books and sipping some hot cocoa."

"Geh..." Elsword nearly froze in his tracks once he realized that she had been talking about Aisha the whole time. "...I better stick to sword practice then."

Laughter and shouting filled the roadside as they crossed through the gates and into the city. "You should at least try to talk to her now that everything has calmed down. Even if you don't want to learn from her, she might have a few books that could help you, and besides that..." Rena sighed fondly, "I think you two will get along a lot better once you can talk things over without arguing and yelling at one another."

"I don't know if we're talking about the same kid..." Elsword glared at her skeptically as they arrived at the town clinic. Beaming, Rena clapped her hands together.

"Here we are. Now, you go see the doctor. I've got to go pick up our new armor and gear and I'll meet you back at the Inn, okay?"

Reluctantly, Elsword nodded and dragged himself into the clinic. Once inside, he considered waiting a few moments until Rena had gone and then leaving himself, but when he turned around, Rena greeted him with a wave as she waited outside the clinic window. Glowering, he waited for a nurse to take him off to be examined, wincing and dragging his feet every step of the way.

The light of a slumped, exhausted candle flickered and finally vanished in a wisp of smoke. In a room on the inn's second story, Aisha sighed in frustration as she unpacked the third candle of the day, the eighteenth that week, and set it alight, placing it on her nightstand and returning to the array of books scattered across her bed. Just as she was about to dash across the room and leap onto her bed playfully, the lock in the door clicked and the handle turned. Rena entered with her arms full of clothes and tools and supplies, setting them down on her bed as carefully as she could. Eying the stack of fabric and metal, Aisha turned to Rena.

"What's all that?"

Rena grinned. "Our new clothes." She sifted through the pile and began sorting its contents into smaller stacks. Aisha approached and looked on as she unfolded a lavish purple dress, decorated with ribbons and finished with a very ruffly skirt. "Here you go, this one's for you."

Aisha took the dress in hand and looked it over, pleased with the feel and weight of it. She smiled up at Rena, holding the dress in both arms. "Thanks. I'm gonna go try-" She turned toward her bed but stopped before she took a single step. "Oh, first..."

Rena tilted her head to the side. "Hm?"

"Could you trim my hair up for me?"

"Of course!" Rena bounced over to her dresser and pulled out a brush and a comb while Aisha retrieved her shining new scissors and seated herself by the window with a book opened across her lap. Brushing out Aisha's hair was a bit of a trial, and several times the brush caught on a knot or a clump of singed hair, moving on with a painful pop as it pulled and tugged.

"Ah, I'm sorry!" Rena found herself apologizing frequently, though she wasn't surprised by the mess of tangled frizz and fluff atop Aisha's head. They had, after all, just days before fought an exploding machine after running around through the mountains and forest for three days without bathing.

"It's oka- ow!"

Rena's eyes went wide and she backed away suddenly as she pulled a small clump of hair out of Aisha's head. "I'm sorry!"

"No, it's okay!" Aisha tried her best to be reassuring. "It doesn't hurt that much, and I want it to get straightened up and trimmed before I try on new clothes, so it's okay."

Gently, carefully, Rena returned and brushed out the rest of Aisha's hair, carefully working through every singed knot. As she wove her fingers into Aisha's hair and started trimming, she looked over at the book laid out across her lap. Its pages were well aged and covered with diagrams and schematics for mechanical parts and devices, most made of wood and metal and described in a script so sloppy and worn that it could easily have been mistaken for ancient, coded gibberish.

"Have you found anything useful so far?" Rena asked into the air as she held a line of hair between her fingers.

"A lot, but then... not very much either..." Aisha stared at the book, intrigued and yet annoyed. "This book has nothing on actual nasod, but it talks about machines and mechanical engineering a lot. It says that a lot of the 'nasod' were just elaborate machines made to look like people and do work or serve tea and things like that..."

Rena began snipping carefully around Aisha's ears, negotiating the uneven scorching each side of her head had received. "That's exactly what Wally had though, right?" She smiled brightly.

"That's the problem though..." Aisha slammed the book shut and pouted in a vain attempt to guilt the tome into changing its contents. "A lot of the machines in here look like Wally's nasod, but none of them could do anything complicated or difficult, and none of them were very powerful... Especially the huge death ray. It's got nothing about huge death rays!"

Rena chuckled lightly and continued cutting away the frayed edges of Aisha's hair in silence for a time. Of course, she would not tolerate any sort of lull in the conversation, especially when it could easily be filled with teasing.

"Ah~ I wonder when Elsword will get back from the Doctor's..."

Aisha jerked her head to the side sharply. "What! What happened to him?"

"Oh?" Rena grinned slyly, "So you're worried about him?"

Realizing she just walked into a vicious trap, Aisha blushed indignantly and turned back to face the wall. "I'm not worried. I was just surprised that he'd ever go to a doctor, so I figured it had to be something serious like decapitation or something like that."

"No, not that serious..." Rena giggled and worked her fingers back over Aisha's head. "Though he did bump his head and right after that, he started asking if 'Lovely Miss Aisha' would teach him how to use magic."

Aisha recoiled in shock. "You're lying..."

"Yup!" Beaming, Rena snipped the last singed strand of Aisha's bangs. "But, not about all of it, so you'll just have to ask him when he gets back."

"Hm..." Aisha took a moment to consider the possible combinations of truth and falsehood in Rena's statement and she came to the conclusion that, if a knock on the head could make Elsword more polite and agreeable, she might have to invest in a wooden mallet. She was still annoyed, however, and although the cause was clearly Rena's teasing, Aisha found herself more annoyed at herself for being curious about what Elsword had actually said.

With a few final clips and snips, Rena finished her work and set the scissors aside. Stepping lightly, she fetched a mirror from the side of the washbasin and held it out for Aisha. "All done. How do you like it?"

Aisha inspected her hair for a moment, twisting her bangs with her fingers and looking up as though she would somehow be able to catch a glimpse of the top of her head. "I guess you can't do too much when your hair gets burnt all over..."

"Don't say that, it looks cute." Rena reached forward and handed Aisha the mirror.

Aisha nodded, still skeptical as she turned her head and glanced at herself. "Are you sure?"

"If you don't trust me, we can always ask for a third opinion..." Rena grinned and her eyes narrowed.

"No thank you." Grimacing, Aisha returned the mirror and stood up, brushing a cloud of hair and dander from her as she turned to draw the curtains. Upon returning the mirror to its rightful place, Rena opened the door to the hallway and stepped outside.

"Let me know when you're finished changing, okay?"

"Okay, I won't take long." Aisha fluffed out her new dress as Rena closed the door and turned, waiting in the hallway. As she leaned against the rough wood of the unpainted wall, she closed her eyes and fell away into her thoughts.

Hm... maybe I shouldn't tease those two so much... Well, I'm sure it'll be good for them~ Although they aren't anything like what I expected when we first met... She breathed slowly as she recalled the first time she'd seen Elsword in Ruben village, enthusiastically training alongside knights who were twice his age and still not as confident. It was only a day later that she had encountered Aisha at Ruben's inn and spent an entertaining evening chatting with her about magic and travel and the sights of the world. They seemed just like normal kids back then too. Really hard working, but still pretty normal... But the way they both started chasing after the El, and the way they run into huge fights without even hesitating is really amazing. I wonder what happened to both of them to give them that sort of conviction at their age... Staring beyond the walls of the quiet corridor, Rena lost herself in speculation and fond reminiscence. She passed the time in time long past until the creaking of wood against a hobbled nail drew her attention to the top of the stairs. Newly bandaged in at least two dozen places and wearing a scowl that would sour milk, Elsword headed down the hallway, glaring at Rena the entire time. Just as she was about to ask how things went, Aisha's voice leaked out of the closed door behind her.

"Okay, I'm done!"

Rena turned her head to the side and whispered. "Would you like to see something good?" She opened the door, motioning Elsword with an innocent smirk. Still glaring, Elsword moved past her and into the room.

At the window, outlined by the light of the late afternoon, Aisha spun quickly and spread her arms out, her skirt twisting around her before settling against her legs. "What do you think?"

Elsword stared, stunned. Aisha, too, was stunned when she realized that she was not, in fact, facing Rena and had just pulled off the cutest spin she could manage for Elsword instead.

"W-What are you doing here?" Aisha pointed swiftly, accusing Elsword of some unstated crime.

Blushing lightly, Elsword raised his arm and pointed back, though he wasn't sure why. "This is my room too! And Rena said-"

"Oh, by the way, I still have a lot of errands to run, so I'll be back later tonight~!" Rena leaned into the doorway, her hands clasped behind her back. "You two have some things to talk about, right? I'll leave you alone for a while then." A mischievous smile spread across her face, "By the way, your new dress looks adorable Aisha! Good luck, I'll see you later~." With that, Rena shut the door and hurried off, leaving her companions to negotiate a truce while she headed to nearest bakery for a cup of warm cider and a maple glazed biscuit.

I really should stop teasing them like that... But they're so adorable! Rena nibbled her pastry and leaned back in her chair. They're still so young, but they're both really capable, so I guess I don't really have to worry over them too much... Although making them blush at each other from time to time can't hurt. Rena's airy laughter spilled into the air as she looked out into the forest. Eventually, they would be back on the trail of Wally and his nasod, fighting almost every day without a moment's rest or respite. Eventually, they might even end up in another dire standoff and next time, they might not be able to hobble away to the safety of their beds after everything is over. Rena understood this, and eventually, they would have no time to sit and talk as the afternoons withered into evening. Because of this, she smiled brightly, laughed freely, and embraced the task before them. Despite all of the difficulty thus far and all the difficulty to come, she was determined to count this journey as one of the happier memories in her life, and for that she was ready to shed as much blood as it took to ensure that no one would die.