Wind and Water

by Number III

The sun rises and sets with relative consistency throughout the year, as the seasons pass in kind. However, in the timeless gap between realms, there is no such thing to measure time with. So who knows how long I had been there, before I was escorted out.

9. Far Across the Sky

Wind and Water Chapter IX: Far Into the Sky

Disclaimer: Mabinogi belongs to Nexon and whoever else developed it... enough said.

A/N: Okay, so I already know that VIII was basically just a filler chapter. It's the best I could come up with to get Aeria out of Dunbarton as planned because, really, I can't see a way to move the Plot forward in the way I want to if she stays. Sorry for the delay, I was at camp and couldn't really write at all.

For those of you concerned that I'm characterizing Aeria too fast... the Aerias of the past and the Aeria of the present are different people. Aeria, as she is now, is a girl with a fragmented memory and a tenuous sense of identity that she's trying to come to terms with, along with her given responsibilities... and I'm doing an alternate continuity / rewrite anyway. This version will occasionally be updated, but I'll be focusing on the other.

Ne?- Right?

"Speaking" "Reading Aloud"

Narration- Describing off-screen events (When it appears in story)
Exposition- Restating the most recent events of the prior chapter.

'Thinking' '-Telepathy-'

Underlined text is written on paper/wood/etc.

Flashback, Memory, and Similar.

"While in flashback, this is speaking."

'While in flashback, this is thinking.'

Abb Neagh was a broad valley with a lake in its lower portion. The grass was green and wildflowers were abundant. Several animals – wolves, boars, foxes, and raccoons, were sighted, but none of them noticed Sert and I walking along the road. The sun had just risen a short time ago as we paused to eat breakfast. "Hey, Aeria..." Sert spoke, "What do you mean you were brought here to stop the Fomors? I mean..."

I shifted uncomfortably. How could I explain to Sert my circumstances? That I was not dreaming of events from my childhood, but from a past life? That I wasn't, really, human like he was, but a soul brought forth from the void in a body crafted from the aether?

"Master said she was brought here to stop the fomors, so Master means that she was brought here to stop the fomors!" Eiry chirped, having regained her usual cheer.

"That's not what I meant, Eiry." Sert responded, looking to me in bewilderment, "It's her choice of words that's bugging me..."

'-I... don't remember anything else before showing up in Tir Chonail... I've had a recurring dream of a heavenly woman asking me to help stop the fomors... So...-' I spoke in response, unable to tell the true story as I originally intended.

"I see..." Sert said in response, before shrugging and leaning back, arms crossed, legs folded, "Well, I don't care. Whatever reason you're here, I'm your friend. I'll be along to watch you."

I nodded, looking out over to the lake, unable to face him.

We continued after that, walking through the sunny, picturesque scenery of Abb Neagh, careful to avoid attracting in danger. Eventually, we left the lake behind us and entered into a forest, and then passed out of that as night fell. We were in sight of Taillteann now... It came upon us as a surprise – we exited the forest and there it was. Taillteann was similar to Dunbarton in that both were surrounded by farms and walled, but Taillteann was made of... browner... stone and guarded much more heavily.

"So," Sert started after an uncharacteristic period of silence, "Any idea what we're looking for and where to find it?"

'-Two people... Don't know where they are.-' I responded, mentally adding 'or what they look like.' We passed the guards at the gate without incident, receiving a simple nod from each of them. The kind that says, 'We're watching you if you find trouble to make. Come to us if trouble finds you.'

The city was built on a hill, and it showed, given the way the road meandered along and branched at random. Taillteann, I decided, was not a very planned out town. It looked like it had just been thrown together hurriedly within the walls.

...Not that it was cramped or anything of the sort. It just didn't seem to follow any sort of general order.

We searched through the town as night fell and found out, to our dismay, that Taillteann didn't have an inn or tavern... Which meant we'd be sleeping in the streets... Sert remained insistent we'd find somewhere to stay, but I had already decided it was a fruitless effort and simply sat down, leaning against one of the houses bordering the town square. With a sigh, Sert sat down beside me. We sat that way for about half an hour until I noticed something strange... There was a small, wooden puppet, no bigger than my hand, standing in the middle of the square jumping up and down. I glanced to my side to see Sert was already asleep, before jabbing him in the side with Eiry's hilt. He awoke with a slight start, and I'd had to muffle his scream to keep him from waking the whole town. I pointed at the doll and stood up, my companion mirroring me. At my attention the doll stopped jumping and made an about face... glancing back to watch me. '-I think it wants us to follow.-'

Sert palmed his face, "If you were anyone else I would've just ignored it and gone to sleep, you know?"

In response, I merely shrugged, setting off toward the doll, Sert following. The doll, upon confirming I was following, set off at a brisk pace surprising for so small a figure. It led us to a small house on the edge of town, the door of which opened at our approach. From within stepped a girl somewhere between mine and Sert's age, though closer to the latter. Her hair was black and cut short, her eyes an unusual shade of violet that seemed to reflect the light slightly. The girl bent and collected the doll, which sat on her shoulder. "You need somewhere to sleep... Right?"

At my obligatory nod, she stepped out of the doorway, "Come in, then."

Sert placed his hand on my shoulder, only to remove it after receiving a sidelong glance. I entered the dim, poorly lit house and he followed. It was a simple affair... The house was wide with two stories to it, the first being a single room, and the second no doubt serving for residence. The first floor was covered in sawdust and various other powdery substances I couldn't identify. All around there were various wooden handicrafts; dogs, birds, lizards, dragons – everything you could think of. It was a room full of shelves that were covered in string less puppets. In the far corner next to a simple looking chair was an assortment of carving supplies and something beneath a tarp. "Sorry for the mess." Our enigmatic benefactor inserted, "I only just woke up, and had little time before the little one here," She motioned to the doll on her shoulder, "...brought my attention to you." She finished. "There's a room upstairs and to the right you can use... the unmarked one." The girl, eyes continuing to reflect the light oddly, set off to the chair in the corner and lit a candle. "I'll be down here, working on some of my projects."

"Aren't you going to go back to bed... It's the middle of the night." Sert inquired.

"No." The girl responded simply, picking up a small knife and rubbing it against a whetstone.

Sert looked to me, and I shrugged in response. 'Is this how people feel around me?' I wondered. My companion vanished up the stairs, apparently making good of the as yet unnamed girl's offer of a bed. I opted to sit on the stairs and watch the girl, who had become supremely focused on sharpening the knife she was holding. The stone slid across the blade with a high pitch, again and again. As the girl's arms rubbed it against the edge of the short length of steel, her motions became smoother and steadier, almost hypnotic in their artfulness. And then, she deemed the knife sharp enough and placed the whetstone aside before uncovering the covered object... It was an enormous doll, the same size as the girl. The face and basic features had already been carce roughly, and the girl began to work carefully on the joints... As she did so, I noticed that the joints ended in balls that were placed carefully in sockets, and realized abruptly she was carving a giant puppet. To what end she carved, I had no idea, as the puppet was surely too large to be manipulated properly.

It was at that thought I remembered the doll that led me here. The small, feminine thing had moved seemingly of its own accord, with no visible strings whatsoever. The girl had apparently made that doll, so she was probably trying to replicate it on a larger scale. Slowly the doll was fashioned into the vague shape of the girl carving it. A pair of eyes were carved out... or rather, a pair of eye sockets were carved out, and a pair of small wooden orbs then placed within. The speed of the whole process that would surely take anyone else days held me captivated as the girl worked, heedless of my observation.

"...!" A wordless cry filled my ears, startling me with its sudden intensity. Briefly, blurry image was superimposed over the girl at work, so undefined I couldn't identify it at all. "...!" With another cry, it vanished, leaving me wondering. As the image faded, I noticed the girl was now facing me, having ceased working on the puppet. She tilted her head, "Are you alright?" I could hear concern in her voice... as well as a myriad display of other emotions I couldn't identify at all.

I nodded, not wanting to bother someone her wasn't used to me with my oddities. I don't know why I thought I would bother her. Something inside me told me to be careful. Outside, thunder rumbled suddenly as lightning split the sky, causing me to notice it had been raining steadily for some time now. I glanced out the window, watching the rain strike the streets, dimly lit by sheltered, oil lamps. As the girl looked on, I stared into the rain, seeing my personal demons take form and dance about in the rising mist, taunting me. Some I recognized. Some I did not. Some I had dreamed of before, some I must have imagined...

Children dance about in the street, holding hands in a ring and hopping about. They vanished, replaced by monsters, things more terrifying than I could describe. Impossibly formed with odd limbs and heads, they paraded about, brushing against the window and threatening me before they two vanished. In their place armored men appeared, fighting brutally. One slit another's throat just outside the window, and blood sprayed out, staining the window, when suddenly lightning struck, jumping from one to another – almost at random. They fell, convulsing unnaturally, as a cloaked figure stepped onto the field of battle.

Another strike of lightning, ten times more ferocious than the last. So potent I jumped back... I stared at the open window, stunned and shivering. The visions had grown from simple illusions of the rain into a full experience. I could see the grass of the field they fought on, the mountains in the distance. Everything around me was a blur, the grass at my side dotted with blood. Suddenly the grass was set ablaze and became the burning floor of a building. Smoke filled the air and the window in front of me was cracked and covered in flames. They were all about me, accusing faces and twisted laughter reaching my ears. I reeled... and then... I screamed as the fire licked my limbs menacingly.

"...Ria!" Someone called, but their voice I did not recognize. I curled into a ball as the fire left, leaving an ash-filled building, burned out completely. Rubble lay all around, I was half buried. I lay there as ash fell like snow from the sky, shivering. Above, through the broken roof of the building, the sky was not gray... It was white. So stark and brilliant as ash fell from above, forming a cold blanket that soothed the pain of my burned flesh. "...Ria!" Someone called, but I paid them no heed, turning my attention to something in the front yard of the building. A girl around my age, shadowed and unrecognizable, was digging frantically through the rubble. She jumped back in shock as she exposed a skeletal hand. Draped over its limp, blackened fingers was a singed hair ornament. A water lily. "Aeria!" Someone called. I recognized their voice. As the unknown girl bent to the hair ornament, sobbing, everything shimmered and blurred like watercolors until I was laying on the floor of the doll-maker's house, staring into the rain through an open window. Sert was bent over my prone form, Eiry hovering over him. Nearby, the girl who had took us in also knelt, concerned. I brought my hand to my face, and noticed how it was unmarred, and then let it fall back down.

"Aeria!" "Master!" Eiry and Sert shouted simultaneously, "Are you alright?"

I didn't reply, my mind wondering at the previous events. How had I become so absorbed into that vision? So completely drawn in that I had even lost my sense of identity. It was almost as bad as the Void. I shivered.

'-It... It was just another dream... Don't worry.-' I told them, trying in vain to reassure them.

"Just a dream?" Sert exclaimed, "You call that a dream? More like a waking nightmare, there's no way you're fine after that."

Just as I started to formulate a response, Sert read my expression. "You screamed, Aeria. I'm surprised that the rest of the city isn't here knocking on the door."

'But...' I was cut off again.

"Master..." Eiry said, "Maybe you should look around more thoroughly."

I complied, looking closer around the room. I was curled up in the middle of the room in the fetal position; something I hurriedly corrected as I stood and took in the rest of the room beyond my companions... It was a mess. The window was blown out, the various manikins that had been laying about were all at odd angles (though intact somehow). The puppet-carver herself was missing her knife... which was embedded in the window-pane. The door was open, and... were those scorch marks surrounding me? On top of all that I noticed my companions were soaked.

It looked like there had been an indoor thunderstorm. I found myself empathizing with Sert's surprise... why hadn't the entire square woken up?

'-...Sorry.-' I apologized to the girl. '-I wrecked your house.-'

She shook her head, "It's fine... More importantly... why did you have such a fit?"

I noted she wasn't particularly surprised by my way of talking. '-For some reason... my magic's really unstable. Whenever I'm distressed it goes out of control.-'

"...I see." She said. At that moment, someone stormed into the room through the open door, carrying a battle short sword and an ordinary short sword. He was dressed in a dark teal cloak that didn't seem to hinder his movements at all. His hair was black and swept to one side, much like Ranald's, but it didn't cover half his face, only his eyebrow.

"Hime-sama what happened?" He asked urgently, "Who are they?"

Upon being called 'Hime,' the girl flinched, eyes narrowing a bit in agitation before returning to normal at the rest of the boys sentence. "They're house-guests, and Aeria here just had a nightmare. Apparently, her magic is unstable and goes out of control whenever she's distressed, so..." She trailed off.

"So she wrecked the room during a nightmare."

The girl nodded.

"You're all uninjured."

She nodded again.

"Well... this is awkward."

She nodded.

"Alright... I'm Aldaron." He said, sheathing his blades and rubbing the back of his head. I noticed, with the shifting of his robe, that he had a bow on his back, along with a quiver of arrows.

The girl spoke this time, "I'm Seimei... Sorry for not introducing myself earlier."

"Sertelein." Sert said from his position, "Though I prefer just being called Sert."

'-Those belt buckles...-' I noted. They were each wearing the same belt buckle I was. They noticed after I pointed it out.

"Ah!" Aldaron exclaimed, "You have one too! Does that mean you-" I cut him off, surging forward and covering his mouth. A simple nod was all I needed to give him in response. After I was sure he wasn't going to continue, and ignoring the quizzical looks I was getting from everyone around me, I removed my hand from his move and stepped back.

"Well... you think these are the two we're looking for, Aeria?" Sert questioned, and I nodded.

"Hm..." Aldaron said, surveying the room, "...I think we were looking for you, as well."

"The girl lost in her own private storm." Seimei noted.

I didn't respond, thinking back on my nightmare. A memory? I was viewing it from a third person perspective, though... It seemed more like some sort of twisted parody of all the things I've experienced thus far. That's what it had to be.

If it were an actual piece of my past, I think I might go insane.

"Master," Eiry said, and I glanced to her, "Let them touch my hilt."

I nodded, removing the sheathe from its place and holding it out to them. '-Touch it.-' I instructed and, after exchanging a silent conversation with each other, they each placed a hand on the hilt... and stumbled back in surprise upon Eiry materializing in front of them.

"Hiya Third, Fourth! I'm Eiry, the spirit of Aeria's sword." The chipper pixie introduced herself as the pair before her recovered themselves.

"Ah... Well, that's not what I expected to happen." Aldaron, being the first to recover, spoke. Beside him, Seimei nodded.

"She reminds me of Chisai." The violet-eyed girl toned in.

"Chisai?" Eiry questioned, and Aldaron pointed to the small doll on Seimei's shoulder.

"Her alchemical doll. She insists it's alive." The boy explained, and winced when Seimei swatted his head.

"Chisai is alive. Just wait until I finish..." The girl trailed off, abruptly realizing something. "...I'm probably not going to be able to finish it for a while, huh?"

I looked over to the large puppet Seimei had been carving. It looked ready to me. Ignoring Aldaron's warning signs, I asked, '-What's not done about it?-'

"Well," Seimei started, "...the joints are still kind of stiff and rough, the wood hasn't been enhanced to make it more durable yet, the fingers are still clumsy, the hidden weapons compartments are still missing their weapons..." Seimei trailed off, listing various small errors and imperfections, topping everything off with, "...and it still lacks a seal so I can transfer Chisai to it."

"So... how long will it take to let it move around?" Sert asked.

"Oh, it can move, it's just a bit stiff and unrealistic." Seimei responded, and I took the opportunity to pose my own question.

'-How long will it take to enhance the wood and apply the seal?-'

"...Probably about an hour, why?" She asked and, Aldaron, seeing where I was going, posed the last question to her.

"Then why not enhance the wood, apply the seal, and finalize things as we go?" He didn't even discuss whether or not he and Seimei would be leaving with us. It was a decision the two had already made, apparently.

"Well... Actually, I can do that." Seimei said, before hurrying over to begin etching small glyphs into the puppet's body.

Everyone watched, slightly bemused, as the girl rushed and fussed over the puppet before, finally, she had created the complex primary seal on the base of its neck. Placing her hands in front of it, the room seemed to darken, the light rushing to dance about before Seimei's hands like a group of large fireflies. Within the ring the lights formed, floated Seimei's doll, which now glowed blue. Suddenly, with a jolt, the blue aura around the doll turned into a spark and raced into the seal on the back of the puppet.

As Seimei lowered her hands and looked at the puppet nervously, its wooden eyes clicked open beneath the visor of the helm Seimei had put on it to conceal its baldness, and it stood and promptly walked over to Aldaron and sucker punched him, knocking him back several feet.

"I guess I deserved that.." He said weakly.

"Well," Sert said, "...it's nice that Chisai here is mobile, but we should all probably get some sleep before we set out tomorrow."