Chapter 13: Fantasies and Fire-magic
It was late the next day when Natsuki finally woke up, nestled in a blanket but the shady edge of the forest. Her muscles ached and protested when she sat up, but the Halfling ignored it. Shizuru sat with her back to her, feeding small pieces of wood into the fire, upon which, suspended by a crude frame, was a pot of smoking something. The scent wafted up Natsuki's hyper-sensitive nostrils and she could think of nothing else. Silently walking up to behind Shizuru, a devious thought entered her head. Though Natsuki would not usually act on such childish ideas, she reminded herself that she had been set free from that life. The life of an assassin.
"Boo!" she shouted, putting her hands on Shizuru's shoulders. The princess didn't move a muscle.
"Natsuki is oddly loud of foot for an assassin," she remarked, tossing another branch onto the fire. Natsuki cursed under her breath and sat beside her, stifling a groan as her weary limbs objected vehemently. "Am I to assume that Natsuki's stiffness means that she is not fit to resume traveling?"
Doesn't miss a beat, that one… I find it slightly creepy.
"No. I am fine, Shizuru. We have lost too much time as it is." Natsuki replied, peering into the pot of broth. Her stomach gurgled and she blushed, embarrassed. She reached a hand into the pot to try the broth, but it was swatted away by Shizuru.
"I have no idea where that hand has been- Natsuki does not want to poison our food, does she?"
Natsuki grunted and sat cross-legged on the hard ground, impatient as a five-summer child. "Hurry up, then. I'm hungry."
The tawny-haired princess merely chuckled quietly and picked up the ladle, stirring the broth around a couple of times, then counter-clockwise. Her hand tingled uncomfortably where she had touch Natsuki, so much so that she could hardly concentrate on the task at hand. Her head ached like a man who had bought out a tavern the night before and her mouth was dry. She had kept vigil for a whole night and a day, and was not as hardened to the road as Natsuki was. She was also magic-less, unable to mask her weariness.
"Natsuki?" she ventured, wanting to start conversation. The rumblings and rustlings of the forest at night had been her sole companions aside from the soft growling snores Natsuki made in her sleep these past days, and she needed the reassurance of human contact.
"What?" the girl snapped, eyes darting hungrily from the broth to the fox she knew was spying on them from behind a large bush to the left. She could smell it on top of the filth and broth- it stank of congealed blood and raw meat. However, Natsuki's feral powers examined the fox and found it to be nothing more sinister than curious, if not a very hungry. It would not risk entering the clearing uninvited, sensing Natsuki's powers. She felt an overwhelming rush of kindness, not something she much cared for. "Shizuru, how much broth did you make?"
Shizuru, about to voice her conversation-starter, stopped and considered. She anticipated entering Orner the next day, and so had cooked most of what they had left. "Enough."
"For me and you? Or more?"
"More."
Natsuki scratched her ear. "Then I have a friend we should feed."
Shizuru, taken aback, looked around, but saw only foliage. She almost laughed as she considered that Natsuki could talk to plants, but dismissed the idea. She admired Natsuki's uncharacteristic kindness. "Invite them here, them."
Natsuki's face contorted for a time, as though she were trying very hard to remember something. Several moments passed with just the cracking of the fire, then Natsuki relaxed and nimbly rolled onto all fours, tail swishing low, ears limp. She loudly turned towards the treeline, making strange, yipping noises while cowering. Shizuru did not know much about animals, but the posture was obviously meant to provoke a sense of security. Then it struck her that the 'friend' Natsuki had spoken of might be an animal. She felt a sense of disappointment that Natsuki could communicate and relate to it in a way she and Natsuki never could, but pushed it aside, brushing it under the already-bulging carpet of her feelings. They could not- would not- hinder Natsuki's progress towards Roedrenmon.
From the bushes came a young fox, coat saturated with mud and probably mites. It would have been a magnificent creature, Shizuru mused, as it was a Uren Fox, who were to ordinary foxes as wolves were to dogs: bigger, faster, stronger and much more intelligent. The coat of flaming reds and oranges was brown with muck now, though. She wondered… there was a legend that Uren foxed could take human form to lure chickens from their pens and young girls from their homes. It was magic, Shizuru knew, and Shizuru didn't like magic. It made everything tenfold as complicated as it should be. And the destructive powers… look at Barren. He destroyed a whole land, all because of his magic.
Natsuki and the Uren began a complex dance of twitches and growls, eyes locked on each other. Shizuru noticed now amazing Natsuki seemed when she was doing it… so in her element. How long had she been denied this? Shizuru could almost smell her elation. Or perhaps it was the dirt they were both caked in, she couldn't tell.
After a while, Natsuki padded back over to the fire, where the broth was steaming. Having forgotten totally about it, Shizuru gasped and grabbed the pot from above the fire. She set it down on the grass where it sizzled angrily.
"Shizuru! Are your hands okay?" Natsuki's shouted, back in Allian, shared language of the Allied lands. Her Uren friend was too busy licking his paw to notice.
"What?" Shizuru said, confused by Natsuki's perturbed expression. "What's wrong?"
"You just picked up a scalding pot of broth with your bare hands! Are you burnt?"
Shizuru looked at her hands. They were red raw from the work she had been doing over the last week, yes, but not burnt. "No," she said, suddenly very uneasy.
A new voice spoke up. "Honestly, you all are so stupid. It's magic. Fire magic. How else do you think those pyromaniacs don't blow themselves up every time they cast a spell?" Shizuru wildly looked around, but Natsuki remained clam. By her side, a young man of outstanding beauty, with tousled red hair that glowed in the firelight and a strong, chiseled body. He looked slightly underfed, though, and his yellow eyes betrayed his hunger, flitting from the pot to Shizuru.
Natsuki spoke. "Shizuru, this is Coi. He's joining us for dinner."
The only thing Shizuru could muster was a joke. "Coi is quite unimaginative." Indeed, it was Old Allian for fox. Shizuru had studied the language as a child.
Coi shrugged. "It gets me by." He then smiled. "Not to seem rude, but the last meal I had didn't sit steaming, unmoving on the floor for me to devour. That was four days ago."
"Oh, yes…" Shizuru tentatively touched the pot again. No heat. No burns. She knew it was hot, but could not register the heat. She picked it up and took two crude bowls from their pack. "I'm sorry, we only packed vessels for two."
The Uren snickered. "I've eaten a lot worse than out of a cooking pot, Princess."
Shizuru narrowed her eyes. He knew she was the princess. "You know me?"
"Know of you," He corrected, staring at the pot. "Word travels at speed in the forest. We knew you were in here before you did."
Deciding that she'd excuse Coi's rudeness, Shizuru nodded and passed the food out silently, head suddenly very heavy with thoughts. Magic… she didn't want it. Especially fire magic. It was too destructive, too ferocious and uncontrollable. She mused on this development as they sat eating. Coi and Natsuki grunted and growled at each other, but smiles betrayed their newfound friendship. Jealousy was an emotion Shizuru could not afford to feel, especially owing to this new power. Had it always been there? Had she just not had reason to notice it? She strained her mind back to incidents in her childhood- she could find none…
"Ne, Shizuru?" Her name snapped the princess from her reverie.
"What?" She asked rather abruptly, having not been listening to the conversation. Not that the human girl could decipher sniffles and grunts. Coi and Natsuki turned to her.
"You were spaced out for, like, ever." Said Natsuki. Her voice had lost the sophisticated edge and accent from years of cultivation in the aristocracy of Windbloom, and Shizuru found she preferred the lax and slightly drawling accent she had returned to. And 'like, ever' was not something she'd peg the assassin to say. It was kind of cute.
"Sorry," Shizuru said, deciding to be honest. "Coi, are you sure it's magic?"
The Uren nodded vigorously while drinking the dregs of the pot of broth. "Animals sense magical disturbances better than humans. They're actually on par with the Elves with that. That's why the ecosystem was so thrown after that fool Barren blasted what was once the Mid'Realm."
Shizuru's last ray of hope petered out. "How bad is it?"
Coi scratched his neck with his foot, an impressive act of contortionism. "What do you mean?"
"How strong is the magic?"
Coi glanced at Natsuki, unease painted across his features. "Incredibly so. I've felt nothing stronger since…"
"Since Barren." Natsuki's voice shook. She didn't want to accept that Shizuru had the same power as the man who had destroyed her world- or what had been left of it after Tomoe had desecrated it.
Shizuru bit back a scream.
-On board the Princess, two leagues from Orner, inside the Allied Border-
"Last time I was here, it was smuggling." Chie remarked, pushing her hair behind her ears. "Good times, eh?"
Tate nodded, glancing back to Mai. His eyes fell upon the low-cut neckline of her robe and he stood staring for many moments before regaining his composure and turning back to Where Chie was lazily slumped over the helm, watching the sun set over the Sea of Rogues. Everything was culminating, Tate knew. They were facing the choice sooner rather than later: to give in to selfish but sensible wishes, or to help the Princess. When the time came, Tate had been sure which path he would choose. Ever the coward, Chie would mock him, ruffling his magically blonde hair. Everyone aboard the Princess felt like one at the moment, and the mood was strained. They neared the Princess, and soon they would have to set their plan in motion. But soon, it would all be over, Tate thought. Over forever, and he and Mai could settle somewhere nice, maybe up in the Host Lands, near the river.
Chie was also fantasizing, dreaming of Aoi regaining her memory and bringing Chie home to her family, in a nice spacious cottage in the green valleys of the Allies. She imagined the smile on their faces as they greeted her warmly. The son they never had, maybe. Or they marveled at her race, perhaps. She would bring Aoi into a tight embrace without worrying about their gender or racial differences. She would sweep her off her feet and carry her down the aisle, where family would be crying and fanfares would be playing…
"Don't get… ahead of yourself, Captain," Takumi stood next to her, looking worse than he had in years. His brownish hair was matted and greasy, his eyes ringed with black. His breathing was irregular and he seemed twenty summers older. This was the harsh reality that Chie knew they faced, and the reason they were cowards.
"You're perceptive as ever, Takumi." She said dryly. What was she to do if she couldn't dream? What was this all worth, in the end, if she couldn't achieve happiness?
"Perhaps it's getting what you planned… what you wanted. But perhaps, Chie it's following your heart… not your head or your conscience, or whatever… Tomoe says. Could you… live with the guilt?"
"Could I live with the guilt of letting Aoi die if I disobeyed Tomoe?"
Takumi chuckled, an unhealthy, gurgling noise. "Whatever you say… Captain." And he slowly ambled off, back to his bunk, for some much-needed rest. Chie turned the ship to port slightly and mumbled some curses in Earthentongue. Not that she used it much any more, or that she'd get to in the near future.
"I heard that," Tate said, in Allian, then repeated it in Earthentongue. Chie smiled weakly. It was now that Tate was so much more than a shipmate. He was her Half-Brother, her dearest, most trusted friend. She might live another hundred years, and could not imagine them without Tate by her side. Or Aoi, or Mai and Mikoto and Takumi.
"Thank you," She said, allowing herself some weakness. "Táe'shi."
"It's okay," Tate smiled. "Máe'shi."
-Barren's Plain, twelve leagues north of Orner-
Nel huffed and puffed his way over the next dune, hands nearly slipping off the boom of his sand-skimmer, a smaller and very fast version of a sandship. It took a lot of mana to maintain the speed, and frankly, Nel was no mage. Eni sailed before him, purple eyes ablaze. She loved this, he knew, this freedom. Being born different wasn't easy. But out here, nobody cared.
He concentrated on pouring all of his mana through the wooden boom and into the reserve of it in a small holding-tank made of Manadium that was just under the thin hull, between the two back wheels. The strong desert winds were doing the job just fine, but it was the mana that kept the little skimmer afloat, only about a foot above the sand. The higher you got, the more power you wasted.
Eni, on the other hand, did not worry about wasting her power- she had practically too much, and using it gave her a thrill like nothing else. She looped and soared over the sand, so free once more, like before the war. Her mind, however, was weighed with thoughts of Tomoe, Nao, and the Princess they were after. It was, of course, why she was doing this.
Later that day, as the night air was just beginning to chill and the sun had dropped below the horizon, Eni and Nel reached Orner. Nel was utterly exhausted, with good reason, but Eni was still jumping around. They had to keep going- those sent to apprehend the Princess would surely not waste time. Eni caved to Nel's moans and tried to rent a room in an inn.
As she entered, the small of wood smoke and ale hit her nostrils like a battering ram. Nel almost blanched, but kept himself together. The sign outside had proclaimed that Orner Shorehouse had meals and lodge at reasonable prices. The patrons, mostly human men in their middle years, leered at them from behind tankards of ale as they walked towards the bar, where the Innkeeper was calculating something on a worn abacus with a look of utter concentration on his hairless face. Fully aware of how odd two young Alkatryz looked amongst the other patrons, Eni hastened, Nel pressed close behind her.
"Good eve," she said, her Allian strained and heavily accented. "We would need beds for one night."
The Innkeeper looked at them. His beady eyes started at their tanned faces, widened at their pointed ears and bulged at the belt of weapons that both carried. Eni possessively fingered her bag of coins. After several ages, he spoke. "Two Gold, since you an yer lad look like young'uns ta me," he held out a hand.
Eni obliged and fished twenty-four Kitl from her bag. She had made sure she knew the exchange rate before she got here. The man regarded the black coins suspiciously, and then peered through the hole in the middle of one of them. "Fancy elf coins," he muttered, but counted them out and slipped them into his apron anyway. "Room twelve,"
Eni and Nel walked upstairs, not bothering to change before collapsing into separate beds. The sheets were itchy and slightly damp, but Eni did not care. There were more important things to think about- like saving the Princess.
-Eastwind Forest-
"Fire magic is unpredictable. Someone might have the potential all their life, but never get the magic at all," Coi explained, sitting by the crackling fire.
"Why?" Shizuru asked, eyes wide like a small child at a pastry shop for the first time. Once she'd gotten over the shock, uneasiness had settled in. She wanted to know how to control this magic, if she could not get rid of it.
Coi paused a moment. "Fire…" he said "Is ferocious. It's life and heat and destruction. You can't use it for healing or anything other than hurting. Thus, it needs a life-threatening situation. It need the strong will to save or protect someone, or the moment before a killing blow.
"Elemental magic rubs off on the wielder. Water makes people empathic, serene and good at taking care of people, but also makes them distant and distracted. Earth creates rock-solid, stoic people, trustworthy and reliable, but a little slow and obstinate. Wind causes hyperactivity, breeziness and quick-wittedness, and distraction."
Coi's eyes slid from Shizuru's red ones and looked down at the ground as he spoke again. "Fire mages can become powerful, excellent leaders, but irrational and uncontrollable. Fire is the most dangerous magic, and instills madness into wielders. Like Barren."
"I'm going to go insane, then?" Shizuru's hands shook as she swallowed. Why this, why now? Why couldn't she just be a normal human, just live a normal life in a small cottage somewhere?
"No!" Coi exclaimed, worry in his eyes. "Well, not if you don't let yourself. It takes a lot of self-discipline. It doesn't help that mental instability often runs in families."
"My father was perfectly sound of mind!" Shizuru shot back- Coi would not insult her dead father, whom he knew nothing of. He was just a fox posing as a boy, of course.
"I think we're talking about different fathers, then."
Shizuru narrowed her eyes. "Blasphemy. I am my father's daughter, heir to the throne of Windbloom!"
"Heir on your mother's side only."
"My mother was not committing cuckoldry!" Shizuru stood up, fists curling. Coi was wrong, he knew nothing!
"Shizuru," Coi said calmly, looking up to meet her eyes. "Have you ever heard the sad story of a boy named Barren Viola?"