Chapter 3: The Adventure Begins
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Porom woke up early in the morning from a terrible dream. It hadn't really been about anything in particular; in fact, as soon as she opened her eyes, she forgot what had happened in her dream.
I hate it when that happens, she thought, rubbing her eyes. She looked around her dark room, wanting to go back to sleep and dream a better dream.
But she had things that she had to do: Cecil was coming to pick them up at 7:00, and she had no idea what time it was. Feeling a little hungry, she decided to go in the kitchen to look at the big grandfather clock and get a snack while she was at it.
Being so small, Porom was able to walk throughout the house as quietly as a cat. She walked into the kitchen and pulled a chair over to the counter as quietly. When it was in place, she climbed on top of it and then got up on the counter to reach the brown and white porcelain cookie jar, pushed back against the wall, out of Palom's hungry reach.
She sat on the counter, her legs dangling over the edge, munching on an oatmeal cookie. She squinted at the tall, grand clock across the room, trying to see where the hands fell. In the hazy blue, pre-dawn light, the black hands stood out just enough for her to see. It was a quarter to six.
She still had an hour and fifteen minutes left to get ready; she was tempted to spend half of it asleep. But she still needed to get dressed and get something better to eat than an oatmeal cookie.
An oatmeal cookie with raisins, perhaps? She wondered vaguely. It's certainly an improvement on a plain oatmeal cookie.
She also had to wake up Palom without waking up Mira.
She walked silently down the hallway, cramming the last bite of her cookie into her mouth. She pushed the last door open and stepped inside, stubbing her toe into something and gasping sharply, trying not to scream. She kept her eyes focused on the floor, trying to find clear spots to step on. She wished Palom would clean his room more often.
She finally reached her brother's bed and gazed down at him. When he was asleep, he looked rather cute; he wasn't speaking or causing trouble or anything like that. So Porom was loathe to wake him up at this early hour. Nonetheless, she yanked the blanket off the bed and threw it onto the floor. Palom sat up with a start and gazed around groggily. When he saw Porom, he moaned and fell back onto his pillow.
"Go away, Porom," he muttered. "It's too early. I don't care if you had a bad dream; go back to your own bed."
"It's 5:45, Palom. Cecil will be here in only a little more than an hour. At least get dressed and then you can go back to sleep," Porom asked.
"I'll travel in my night clothes," he answered, though his muffled, drowsy sentence wasn't easy to understand.
Porom gave up with a sigh. "Well, if you do get up, don't wake up mom. I'm going to eat breakfast." With that she left the room again to get more oatmeal cookies, a filling if not nutritionally void meal.
She was sitting at the table, eating her fifth cookie in the dark, when she saw her brother enter the room. He was rubbing his eyes and he looked annoyed.
"I thought you were going back to sleep," Porom noted and reached into the cookie jar for her sixth cookie.
"I tried too," Palom growled. "But after you woke me up, I couldn't get back to sleep. So I figured I'd come join you. What's for breakfast?" he asked, climbing into the chair opposite his sister. She nudged the jar across the table to him.
"Oatmeal cookies," she answered, her voice muffled by cookie crumbs. Palom reached into the jar and pulled out a raisin-studded cookie.
"Not much of a breakfast," he complained, but bit into his cookie hungrily.
"We're not allowed to use the stove, and I don't know if I'd have enough time to make a descent breakfast anyway. Maybe Cecil will have something better for us. Half the things he and Dharma bought yesterday were food items."
"I sure hope so"
"I don't really care. I love oatmeal cookies. And they really fill you up because the main ingredient is oats," Porom explained, savoring her cookie.
The twins dressed and packed their last supplies in half an hour, and Porom spent another ten minutes convincing Palom that he would need his fire rod at some point. He finally agreed to take it, but didn't see the use in it.
"Hey, Porom, I feel kinda weird."
"Really? How so?"
"I feel a little funny about not telling mom about this."
"It's called guilt, Palom."
"Oh, so this is that guilt thing that Dharma keeps talking about."
"I feel kinda guilty about it too; but I said that I wouldn't tell her, so I'm not going to. Cecil should be here really soon. We should go wait by the door," she suggested and headed for the front door. Palom followed her and they both sat down next to do the door to wait…
Porom's eyes jolted open when she heard a soft knock on the front door, and she realized that she had dozed off. She stood back up and opened the door, not surprised to see the white haired knight on the step. He wasn't wearing his heavy armor this morning, but wore a black breastplate over a white shirt. His hair was soft and feathery instead of stringy with dried sea water; he must have had a bath. A heavy looking backpack was on his back. Full as she was, Porom wondered if there was anything good to snack on in it.
"Good morning, Porom. Are you and Palom ready to go? Or do you need a few more minutes?"
"No, we're ready," Porom assured him.
"Where is he?"
"He's right in here," she said and pointed to her brother, sound asleep against the door frame. Cecil stuck his head into the house and stared understandingly at the black mage.
"It's a pretty early start," Cecil apologized. "I hated to have to start out at the hour, but I didn't want to be seen leaving the city with two children. People might think I was trying to kidnap you. Besides that, the Elder requested it; I'm not sure why."
"Oh," was Porom's flat answer.
"Do you think he'd mind if I carried him?" Cecil asked.
"You can try, but he might be really mad when he wakes up," Porom warned.
"Well the sun's about to rise; we really need to get going," Cecil insisted. He stepped inside the door and scooped Palom up in his arms. He stood still for a moment while the boy squirmed with start, but as soon as he settled he walked back out the door.
"Can you carry both your bags?" he asked.
"I think so; we're traveling pretty light," Porom answered, grabbing her brother's traveling bag from the floor and slinging it over her shoulder.
"Great. Let's get moving, shall we?"
Porom stole a wary glance at her mother's bedroom door, to make sure she wasn't coming out, and headed out after Cecil. She shut the door silently
and the house was still once more.
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Mira sat up in bed, still half asleep. She could have sworn that she heard a door close somewhere. The faint light coming through her east-facing window said that the sun was just rising; this late in the year, the sun took it's time coming up, but was never in any rush to come back down.
It was too early to get up. Palom and Porom would still be sound asleep as well. Mira set her head back down and was snoring again in less than a minute.
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Consciousness returned to Palom before he opened his eyes, and he felt strange. It was a sensation not unlike riding a four-legged animal.
He opened his eyes slowly and found himself being held by a pair of strong arms, clad in white fabric. Then he noticed the black breastplate and knew exactly who was carrying him.
He sat up and looked around, trying to figure out where he was. All he could see was a grassy plain, dotted by small forests, and surrounded by the sea.
"Where am I?! What happened?! Why are you carrying me?! Where' my sister?! If you've hurt her, you'll be sorry!!"
"Palom, calm down," said a familiar voice on the ground. Palom snapped his neck down to look and saw Porom staring at him like he was insane.
"I'm right here. We're on our way to Mount Ordeals, remember? You were asleep when Cecil came to pick us up, so he's been carrying for about four hours," Porom informed. "Now then, don't you have something to say to him?"
"Yeah, I do," Palom said crossly and pushed away from Cecil so hard that he nearly fell out of his arms and onto the ground. "Put me down and don't touch me again," he demanded.
"Suite yourself," Cecil agreed and set the boy on his feet. He backed away, brushing off his arms and cape as if he were covered in icky dust.
"I was thinking more like 'thank you'," Porom corrected.
"Like I'd ever thank him for something!"
"He's just trying to help us, you know."
"I don't care!"
"Say thank you now!"
"No way!"
"Hey! Time out!" Cecil yelled, ending their argument. "This has got to end."
Palom stomped his foot on the grass. "You'll never get a 'thank you' out of me!"
"When did I ask for one? I'm just saying that so long as we're traveling together, we've got to keep the fighting to a minimum. We'll never be able to reach the mountain—let alone climb it—if you're going to argue."
Porom glared at her twin. "That might be a little hard with him around."
"It's even harder with you around," Palom countered.
"Stop that, both of you. I've seen the rest of the world fighting with each other, and I won't tolerate it from you," Cecil said in an uncharacteristically sharp voice. The twins were both a bit frightened.
"We're sorry," Porom apologized. "We didn't know."
"She's sorry," Palom corrected. "I'm not sorry for anything. I'm going home." He ran off toward the city, which loomed far away on the horizon.
"Palom, wait! Come back!" Cecil hollered after him. Palom turned back around and stuck his tongue out at him. Then he turned back and kept running for the city.
"Porom, will he come back?" Cecil asked.
"I hope he doesn't. I am so mad at him right now," Porom fumed.
They were both quiet for a few minutes.
"You want a ride? You've been walking for four hours," Cecil offered.
"…Yeah. That would be nice," she agreed. Cecil scooped her up and began to walk again.
"You can get some more sleep, if you want," he suggested.
"Will you be alright? You're already carrying so much stuff."
"I've carried heavier in the past; I'll be fine," Cecil assured her. "As I said, feel free to go back to sleep."
Porom yawned and rested her head against his shoulder. As odd as it was, she somehow felt safe.
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"Rai! Rai! Rai, where are you?!"
Rai had been expecting Mira for some time now. And he still didn't have an explanation for the twin's absents that Mira would believe.
All he could do was rush out to meet her and pretend to be as shocked and terrified as she was.
"Mira, what's the matter?" he asked, coming to the stairs and running down to his sister. She sprinted down the isle and didn't stop until she ran into him Then she collapsed in his arms, sobbing.
"Rai, they're gone! Palom and Porom are gone! I have no idea where they've gone! What are we going to do?" she cried.
"What? They're gone?! You have no idea where they've gone?"
"Not a clue! Rai, what are we going to do? We have to find them!"
"Mira, Mira, calm down. They're six years old; they can't have gone far, particularly on a school day. We can find them in no time, I'm sure," he comforted.
"But… why? Why would they just leave without telling me??"
Rai felt terrible about going behind his little sister's back. He wanted so badly to tell her what was happening, to tell her where her only children were, and that they would both be okay. But if he did, she'd kill all three of them, plus Cecil, and maybe even Dharma and Sheila. As much as it pained him, he had to keep the situation secret from her.
"I wish I knew, sister. I wish I knew…"
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Porom glanced over Cecil's shoulder to look for monsters; so far they hadn't encountered anything, which Cecil said was remarkable. However, she did see a streak of brown, red and white coming closer and closer. She let out an annoyed groan.
"Porom? What's the matter?"
"Palom's coming," she answered flatly.
"Really? That's great! I've been wondering how we'd tackle the undead on the mountain. Between my dark sword and your white magic, I didn't know if we had enough power to—"
"He's been such a pill. I don't fee like working with him," Porom mumbled into his shoulder.
"I sort of know the feeling," Cecil told her. "My best friend did some pretty rotten stuff to me recently as well."
"Did you forgive him?"
"I, uh… I'm still trying to figure that out," Cecil admitted.
"Oh."
"But you should forgive him; he's your brother. And compared to what some people I care about have done to me in the recent past, Palom hasn't done anything to you."
"What have they done to you?"
"Maybe I'll tell you some other time. We really should wait up for your brother, you know."
"Oh, I guess so."
"Wait…" Cecil paused and Porom felt him tense. He looked around nervously, as if he were expecting something.
"Cecil, what is it?"
"Something's not right," he said cryptically. He set Porom down and pulled his big black sword out of its sheath.
"Monsters?" Porom guessed.
"I think so. Keep your eyes open."
Porom gulped and went over the incantation for the cure spell. She tried to remember the words for Cura, but couldn't remember the last few words off the top of her head so she forgot about it.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw something move in the grass. When she turned to look, there was nothing there.
"Did you see something?" Cecil asked.
"Over there," Porom answered, pointing to the spot, "but it's gone now."
"It'll be back, whatever it is."
The grass rustled behind them and they spun around to see; it stilled. The same thing was happening on their left and right. Whatever was coming, there were a bunch and it had them surrounded. Porom drew back closer to Cecil, where she would be safest, and began the first part of the cure spell, just to be safe.
"Porom, watch out!" the knight cried and put his sword up to block the monster that lunged at him. Porom let out a tactless shriek of surprise and fear. What could she say? At her tender age, she'd never been attacked by a monster before.
Cecil knocked the monster away several yards, and they both saw that their attackers were run of the mill goblins. They wouldn't be so tough to slay. But while Cecil was dealing with another goblin, a third sprung at Porom and pushed her away from her protector. It pinned her to the ground while the other two goblins crowded around Cecil, cutting them off from each other.
"Get off me!" Porom yelled and punched the goblin in the head as hard as she could. The monster went sprawling with a snarl, but didn't seem to be fazed. And she had put so much behind that punch that she felt a little weak. Her only chance was to scramble back to Cecil—only to be knocked away from him again?
Oh, this was hopeless!
While she hesitated, making her choice, the goblin pounced on her again and she was stuck.
"Help me! Someone help me!" she screamed, even though she didn't think anyone was available to help her.
"FIRE!"
The activating word for the fire spell echoed like thunder for a moment. Balls of fire suddenly materialized in the air above them and rained down to earth. There was one ball of fire for each goblin, and each one was hit perfectly. They all dropped like dead flies and the battle was over.
"Jeez; you're both useless without me," scolded a familiar voice. "If I had known this was going to happen, I wouldn't have left."
At some point, Palom had arrived on the scene and cast the fire spell. As angry as she was, Porom had never been happier to see him in her life.
"I thought you were going to take care of my sister," the mage said to Cecil. "Now I'm gonna have to come along to make sure she's okay. She's the only sister I've got. She may be really annoying sometimes, but I don't want her to die." He walked over to Porom and helped her to her feet.
"Are you okay? You looked really scared," he asked. He sounded genuinely concerned.
Porom nodded, yes. After a few seconds of regarding each other in silence, she hugged her brother with tears falling down her face.
"I'm sorry I was so mean to you earlier," she sobbed. "I was just mad; I didn't mean for it to go so far."
"I know," Palom said casually, still trying to act cool. "I was kind of acting like a jerk; I guess I deserved it. I'll try to shape up. I promise."
"So you're coming with us now?" Porom guessed, drying her tears.
"Well yeah; didn't you hear me a second ago? If that guy can't make sure you're okay, I'm gonna have to look after you myself."
Off to the side, Cecil watched the twin's heartfelt reunion ruefully. He turned his gaze to Mount Ordeals, looming ever in the east. The distance that still separated him from the top frustrated him to no end, and his darker side complained that he would have been half way to the top if he didn't have to work with these fickle, dysfunctional twins.
But his good, rational side took over and drove that thought away. Cecil liked kids, and he certainly liked to think he was good with them. Traveling and protecting a most extraordinary child in the past had taught him the kind of patience needed to take care of a child. As hard as it could be when traveling with small children, Cecil enjoyed the kind of company that only they could provide. Besides, the children he found himself traveling with were no ordinary children. The first was the last of the summoners, and now he had mage prodigies on his hands.
Rydia was just a year older than they, Cecil realized with a twinge of agony. She was so talented, so smart, so kind…
He looked back at the twins; they were whispering with each other about something.
I hope that she survived the shipwreck, somehow. I hope they all survived. But is there any hope?
He carefully approached the twins, afraid of what Palom might try to do. The sound of his footsteps got their attention; naturally, Palom was watching him suspiciously.
"You truly are an amazing mage," he praised, kneeling down to the boy's height. "If you hadn't stepped in when you did, who knows where we'd be."
"I know," Palom agreed. "If it weren't for me, you probably would have been killed by those things."
Porom whacked him again.
"Well, I don't know about that, but you're certainly very talented and we would love it if you came with us up the mountain. Will you come?" Cecil offered.
"Sure I'll come. But you've got to take better care of us. Understand?"
"Of course." Cecil held out his hand to him. "What do you say, lad? Truce?"
Palom considered the offer for a moment before accepting and shaking Cecil's hand.
"Fine, truce. But only until we get back to Mysidia, and then I hate you, like everyone else, okay?"
Porom whacked him again.
"I can abide by that," Cecil agreed. "And Porom, keep the hitting to a minimum, okay? Save your hits for the monsters," he advised.
"Sure," she agreed.
"Now then, that mountain isn't going to come to us. We'd better get going," he pointed out. "In another hour, we'll stop and have lunch, okay?"
"Okay," the twins said in unison.
"Great. Let's go." With that, he picked his pack up from the ground where it had fallen and he started off again. The twins ran after him.
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My brother and I have this really weird comic-like thing based on inside jokes about the FFIV story. There are a bunch of running gags, like break-dancing hovercrafts. But my favorite running gag is Porom's obsession with mongeese. (The real word is mongooses, but I think mongeese sounds more logical. XD) You see, it all started with the battle with Captain Baigan in Baron castle: he's part snake, so Porom proposes that they attack him with killer mongeese she found hanging around the castle.
Porom loves her mongeese, but they freak Palom out to no end. He doesn't get it. T.T
One note about the format, every time I post a new chapter, the line, "I'm setting Rydia aside for a while" keeps showing up. That was the first line from the prologue, and now it's just glued there or something. So I do have to go and fix it as an export document. It's just a minor technicality that is easily solved.
Also, my mom just had surgery this morning to remove a calcium stone from one of her salivary glands. It was a total success, and she's feeling much better than she has been. Let's all have a bog round of applause for her!