Goddamned N key came off my laptop again. I can't get it back on this time. :[ Internet connection is also being shoddy.
First entry to the One Shot Spin Off contest! "Father" by AccessBlade! Her fic made some of you very happy indeed. Enjoy shippers, as I still have no plans to make that pairing canon. Despite the building efforts to convince me otherwise...
And the second entry is "Fun at the Inn" by Rogue Kaiser! Some action in this one, and another pairing! (To be fair, I'm not confirming this pairing either.)
Third entry is "Return to the Inn in Dahngrest" by Forscythe! Lovely tale of humor and revenge! And consequences for your actions...
Fourth entry, "Welcome to Letha's hair salon" by Peachounette78. Guess you weren't fast enough, Dreamer. But who's to say this isn't a regular occurrence?
Fifth entry, "Of Stars in a Fairy Tale" by Shiroi Iyasu. In which Letha proves to be not so alone in her hatred of power tripping fairies.
I'm really feeling the love here, guys! ^_^ I have not settled on a deadline yet, so anyone still interested has time. Tentatively, I should probably say to pretend you have until the end of May.
All entries (and links to entries) are listed in my profile along with the rules and answered questions about the contest. Check in regularly for updates!
Are OCs allowed? Yes! Though don't expect to see them in the main fic (unless you win and request an OC cameo for your prize).
Can I write more than one entry? Yeah, but we're limiting it at two right now. Unless you guys all want to make me an extremely happy Sylph and write a ton of entries.
Wrote myself into a bit of a corner on this one, so that slowed me up a bit. Had to push something ahead a bit to get myself out of it.
Oh! And Peachounette78 informs me that "Va te faire foutre" is what they actually say. Letha fail! She and Yeager are such posers...
Angelic: Huh, somehow I didn't even notice it wasn't signed. I just knew it was you! Have fun with the contest, both reading the entries *coughcough* and perhaps trying your hand at it.
A very selfish person complimented my characterization of the game characters in the omakes! Yeah, that line makes me grin like an easily amused idiot.
And a Passing stranger made a comment about Al actually being Yeager before he was revealed as a fairy. Now that connection is something I kinda wish I thought of back then...
x x x
Chapter 39: Cacti Crustaceans and Curry
x x x
"Bats are just mice with wings" said Catwoman. Well, I wish I had a fucking truckload of flying mousetraps!
I'd never really cared either way about bats before. But they'd at least had the association with Batman going for them. Getting buffeted from all directions by wings and nipped by fangs, however, weighed a bit more heavily on the scale than being the name sake of the Dark Knight.
"Urgh-off-ge' off me NOW!" Needing something more convincing than flailing arms and smothered curses, I lifted both Gemini and threw my whole body into a twirling spin. It was the dagger variation of the Spin Attack I'd been trying to work out with Yuri and Judith the day before. The trail of aer was smaller, but there were two now forming a corkscrew like spiral around me.
The swarm backed off a bit, the closest to me squealing as the sheer mass of their fellows prevented them from completely escaping the attack. For a moment I reveled in my accomplishment as I prepared to go slash happy through the fodder.
Then one of the bats screeched into my face. It must have been an aer fueled attack because besides a splitting pain in my ears and head it created a blast of wind that knocked me backwards. It also caused the cut on my left cheek and several new ones to open and bleed again. Another bat screeched, and another sharp gust bowled me over. Once down, the bats all swarmed me again. I would have gladly spiral spinned them again, but was not in the greatest starting position for that.
"Spiral Flare!"
I found myself patting at my head to make sure my hair hadn't caught fire as crisped bats fell to the ground around me. They hadn't all been killed, but enough were dead or injured so that the others shot up to the safety of the ceiling for a moment. I took the chance to scramble over towards Rita, who had paid for helping me by letting her own swarm in too close to safely cast spells at. Instead she was smashing several of them with one of her books.
It's some indication of how much of a bibliophile I am when my thoughts were, I have to save the book!...and Rita!
"Thanks for the save!" I returned the favor by slashing down a few of the bats before they realized there was another enemy coming up behind them.
"Less yapping, more fighting!" The book hit a bat's wing at an angle that made it crunch and spiral to the ground, its unharmed wing flapping uselessly. Once it hit the ground she stomped on it and swung the book to smack away another bat.
"Heheh, you're almost as effective in a fight with only a book and no magic at all." Gemini Left sliced through the membrane of another bat's wing, almost taking the whole thing off. Gemini Right stabbed up into a mouth just as it was opened to shriek another attack at us. The blade came away with blood and gray matter. Yech.
"Shaddup!" Smash. Another bat down. But the bats that had been spooked away by the Spiral Flare attack had gotten bold again with the lack of any follow up blasts of fiery death, and flocked to us en masse again. Frustrated, Rita snapped, "Do that spinning attack again!"
"But-" I wanted to protest that I might hit her, but she book-smacked another bat right into my face. I swear she did it on purpose!
Promising myself I'd get her for that later, I prepared to let loose another spiraling aer attack.
"Ready..." Rita pressed her back up against mine. I was already starting to spin and had to force myself to go through the move slower so as not to tangle us both up.
"Woah, what are you-?"
"SPLASH!"
I wasn't quite sure how she pulled it off, but the aer from her attack got caught up in and carried along by the aer pouring out of my daggers, causing a miniature hurricane to form around us. We were like the eye of the storm with two watery arms arcing outwards. The bats were caught by the wave and washed to the far side of the cave, catching some of the others that had been swarming our friends on the way.
"Well...that was interesting." I quirked an eyebrow at Rita, "I never knew you could do that."
"Well, now we know."
"...Soo, you didn't know either..."
"I'd been meaning to experiment with it," she said dismissively. "Now we've gotta deal with the rest of them." Returning her book to its harness hanging from her lower back, she whipped her scroll out and charged up a glowing red formula.
I suppose I should be glad she decided to experiment with water and not fire... A few bats tried to attack her from behind but I caught them with my Gemini in time. Rita, meanwhile, ignored the little party behind her in favor of launching barrage after barrage of fireballs. Seemed she was going with quantity over quality, since a big spell would just be a waste of magic if it couldn't hit the darting bats.
"Hey!" Rita and I looked over at Yuri's call. "Everyone try and take down the leader!" He got off an Azure Edge through the press of bats, the blue aer slicing through the air towards one bat that was hanging back from the interspersed fighting. That particular bat flapped its wings to fly up above the attack, but now Rita and I knew what to look for.
"...It has lightning bolt antennae..." I muttered disbelievingly.
"Who cares about that!" Rita's scroll was tracing a complex pattern through the air, "Just keep the rest of these monsters off me!"
"Aye aye, ma'am!" So I provided cover while keeping an eye on Rita to see what spell she was cooking up (in case I needed to jump quick out of the crossfire...at least it shouldn't be another hole in the ground).
"O disturbing power now unleashed, mete thy judgment upon the evil before me... Violent Pain!" It was like the shadows on the floor themselves suddenly reared up high in the air before arcing downward and stabbed through the lightning antennae bat. The magical attack damaged it and brought it back down to our level.
"Marche Waltz!" Estelle's slender blade dipped and cut gracefully, slicing membrane wings to ribbons.
"Ah!" A bat that had managed to get past my guard and latch onto my arm. Its sharp teeth sank into my flesh, and I ended up cutting myself a bit when I stabbed the annoying bugger with a dagger. "Flippin' Dracula wannabe..."
"Come on, wind, knock 'em around," I heard Raven chanting. Funny, he sounded kinda distorted. As I turned to give my attention back to the leader bat, I was struck with a sudden surge of vertigo.
"Uhn," I groaned a bit and dropped to one knee before I fell over. Aware that I was open to an attack, I tried to shake it off as I looked up again. Was that one bat flapping over my head or four...?
Eh? Now there's no bats, but two Judiths... I closed my eyes tightly and pressed my face into the palm of my hand.
"Are you alright?" the krytian asked with concern.
"Bloody little bastard bit me..." I grumbled. Was I just light headed from loss of blood or was the damn thing poisonous?
Hands, presumably Judith's, took hold of my bitten arm and rolled up my sleeve to expose the injury. "...I think it may have injected aer directly into your veins."
"Oh, that's just peachy."
"I suppose it's to deal with larger enemies," she mused. "Those fangs don't do much damage." I made a small noise of exasperation while bowing my head lower. Breathing deep through my open mouth seemed to help slightly... She patted my shoulder reassuringly. "Just wait it out here, we'll finish things up."
Then she was gone, I could practically sense the empty space where she'd just been. Rubbing my face with both hands, I growled in frustration. "Dammit, body, adjust or assimilate or whatever you do with aer faster!"
"Oh no!"
"Letha, move!"
"Oh shi-" I looked up in time to see a wave of water. Then I was rolling backwards through the water, trying not to inhale any as I figured out which way was up. Once I'd sorted myself out, I stood dripping and glaring at Rita.
"..."
"I think ya better start watchin' your back," Raven cautioned her.
She crossed her arms and looked away without remorse, "Hey, at least I finished off that whatever-pus."
"I'm so happy for you," I gritted. Was I angry? Oh, not really, not at Rita. The water at least was probably a mistake (though I still suspected the bat might have been on purpose). But it had been a crap day and fantasizing ways to get back at the mage was making me feel better.
While I was busy being a grump, Estelle had again been instinctively drawn to the wounded. A casting of Nurse and then some First Aids, and she had us all patched up and was back to concentrating on the Pseudo-French Duo.
The Leviathan's Claw girls had woken, and looking sour in the face as they'd realized that not only had we defended them but our naïve princess was using her power to heal them.
"We need no succor from our enemies..." the red head spat. Though the effect was a bit ruined by the wince at the end as she tried to stand.
Her partner also tried to stand, the two seeming to gain strength from their unified stand against us. "You're not gonna make fools of us..." green hair snarled.
"But, with those injuries...!" Estelle started to protest. But then both girls viciously threw something at the ground before them, unleashing a noxious cloud into the air.
Oh, Gawd it's like bad eggs, skunk, and burnt hair!
"Man this stinks..." Yuri hissed, waving a hand to try and disperse the foul air. "Where'd this smoke come from...?"
"The wonders of stink and smoke bombs..." Holding my hand before my nose and breathing through my mouth, I somewhat missed my loose sleeved black shirt. The fitted sleeves of my turtleneck couldn't be used to mask my face at all.
"They're throwin' our canine friend here off the scent..." Raven pointed out, drawing our attention to Repede. The poor dog was whimpering, pawing frantically at his own nose and rubbing it against the dirt.
The girls were able to make a clean get away, because there was no way we were going to walk through that cloud and come out on the other side smelling like that. We had to wait for it to dissipate into the air. And once it had...
"Aah... Wh-what is with this heat...?" Rita groaned miserably as we entered the exiting tunnel. It was long but we could see sunlight at the other end. But it was accompanied by a nearly palpable wall of, as Rita pointed out, HEAT. I found myself thankful that my hair and clothes were drenched.
"Those are the Sands of Kogorh..." Judith informed us. It was her turn to be the travel info brochure.
Raven's eyes widened in amazement even as he wiped at his forehead with a sleeve, "Whoa... We made it all the way there?"
"The Sands of Kogorh. Phaeroh's here," Yuri reminded us in a decisive tone.
Yes... We're on to the next big step of the journey. To me the following debate of the merits of continuing versus turning around, with heavy input from Rita about how insane we all were for considering it, it was all meaningless. Even without the discussion I felt we all knew that we'd go. Even if some of us thought they could get away with striking out on their own (I'm looking at YOU Estelle!).
Honestly, some people can't realize when trying to be noble and not burden others just causes them more trouble.
x x x
Yeager
Karol: I'm still trying to get my head around the fact that Regaey was Yeager's alter ego.
Yuri: This spells out the connection between Ruins' Gate and Leviathan's Claw pretty clearly.
Letha: Well, that and the fact that "Regaey" is "Yeager" spelled backwards. A coincidence like that is rarely a coincidence.
Karol: Huh? Woah, I hadn't noticed that...
Yuri: And Yeager must have been the boss of both guilds.
Raven: Isn't it kinda early ta say that for sure? It is possible that the Regaey we met was just Yeager puttin' on a show. An' maybe "Yeager" is "Regaey" backwards an' the real one has nothin' to do with it. The real Regaey could be off in some ruins someplace, just diggin' away, happy as a clam.
Yuri: We're gonna have a hell of a time if it's really that complicated.
Raven: I dunno, maybe I'm just puzzlin' over it a little too hard.
Yuri: We'll have to keep at it until we get to the bottom of this mess.
x x x
Our goal was the town built on an oasis Judith had told us about. Mantaic.
They better have some freakin' showers.
Once out under the sun it hadn't taken long for my clothes and hair to dry. And then they got damp all over again with sweat, causing sand to stick uncomfortably. And sand has its way of getting everywhere. Every twenty minutes at least one of us had to stop and pull off a boot to pour the sand back out.
And of course we couldn't stop for a break. Oh no. That wouldn't do any good as we'd have to sit in the sun and let our brains bake. Instead we pressed on in the hopes of getting to Mantaic sooner.
Cactus crabs attacked us.
At first I thought I was seeing things, but it was definitely some multi-legged organism with a touch exoskeleton and bulbous cactus growing on its back menacing us with its pincers. Well, it didn't exactly look like a cactus...I could also describe it as a watermelon with yellow spines...but who's ever heard of watermelon in a desert?
"Pierce, pierce, pieeerce!" I was, in fact, using Pierce over and over again to repeatedly stab through the shells and tough plant-like growths. "Dammit, you guys are holding us uuuup!" And crap, now there's sand in my mouth...
Then something pierced me, the sudden agony in my shoulder making my vision flare white and then cloud with pained tears. I blinked rapidly to try and clear my sight while craning my neck around to see. There was a yellow spine going through my upper left arm. "Aw, effff," I grabbed at the spine, nearly swooning at the fresh wave of pain.
Other hands appeared, white gloved ones taking my hand away and holding my arm in place while larger sun browned ones grabbed the spine and yanked. I bit my lip to keep from outright screaming, but couldn't hold back a pained gasp and whimper.
"First Aid!" Estelle was quick to relieve my suffering. She even cast it again, just because. Bless that girl for her selflessness... Once my concentration was no longer entirely focused on my pain, I was able to register that Judith was the one who'd kept me in place and Raven was holding a familiar yellow spine.
"I don't get it," Rita was saying. "This is the kind of scenario that would activate her weird ability. But it didn't go through her." That got her some looks. "You know what I mean!"
"I wonder..." I tried to think back to all the other cases. "On the Atherum...in the coliseum..."
"Wait, it happened then?" Rita was glaring at me, "When? How?"
"When the monsters got loose. One was biting my leg. And then it...wasn't. The look on its face was kinda funny actually," I had to add. "And...earlier...when Karol and I were wandering in the Weasand..."
Karol frowned, "I don't remember that."
"It was before you woke up. Got in a couple of fights with Eggbears..." I tried to cover for how shaky the memory of Jasper's death made me by studying the new holes in my sleeve. Probably needed patches to fix.
"Hmm," Rita crossed her arms, lost in thought. "Do those cases have anything in common?"
I frowned, forcing myself to consider each time. "Well...they weren't all life threatening since I could live with a wounded leg. But I could be either killed or crippled without immediate medical attention..." I rubbed at my arm. That could probably count as crippling, so there must be more...oh! "It never happens when I can't see the attack coming. Either I can tell I'll be hit and can't dodge, or be in the middle of the attack that's about to get worse. This bastard of a crustacean," I threw a venomous look at the dead cacti crab with Judith's halberd still sticking out of it, "got me from behind."
"Okay...so, we can probably conclude that you need to be aware of the attack and regard it as a threat," Rita summarized. "And maybe there's more to it besides that... Finally, we're starting to understand it!" Oh no, there's that gleam in her eye again.
While Rita withdrew into her own little world to mumble to herself and Estelle had me test my arm to make sure it was healed correctly, Yuri addressed both Karol and me. "That reminds me, what happened to you guys back there?"
Karol and I took it in turns to outline our solo trek through the Weasand, with me leaving out the part about Jasper and letting them believe Karol and I had been alone when I woke up. Duke's appearance was something of a shock to them, and the fact that he'd known an aer krene was there led into the others telling us about how it had overflown when Yeager had run passed.
Once we were all on the same page (or on the pages we were respectively supposed to be on), Karol also took it upon himself to try and bring Estelle and Rita up to speed with Firefly. By then the heat and all the talking had taken his energy from him, so his incoherent explanation actually, and this should not have been possible, made less sense than usual. I had to translate most of it for the others.
"Huh," Yuri put out once I got to the point about Simon's sacrifices for the sake of his sister. "For a rich snob, he's got some guts."
"Hey," I protested, "Simon isn't a snob! ...Okay, maybe he is a bit, but he gets better! And damn, but you don't want to get him angry!" I couldn't help grinning as I remembered some instances where mild doctor Simon demonstrated how awesome he could be. "You should never give your doctor a reason not to like you."
x x x
Hair Care
Judith: …
Letha: Uh, Judith? Why are you looking at me like that?
Judith: I was just thinking, your hairstyle is rather unique.
Letha: My braid, you mean?
Judith: Yes, I was wondering if there's a particular reason you wear it like that.
Letha: Ah, not really. I just really needed to cut my hair about a year ago, but felt really bad since it took so long to grow. So I left just the braid.
Judith: Are you trying to grow it back, then?
Letha: Yup. Though with all the fights we get into, it's gonna get damaged and need to be cut again... Hey, how do you take care of yours?
Judith: Hmm? I usually keep it tied up, and wash it everyday.
Letha: Mine never wants to stay tied back though...
Judith: Why don't you ask Yuri? His hair is always down but it looks very healthy.
Letha: …!
*Letha starts shaking, as if laughing*
Judith: Is something wrong?
Letha: N-no! Just...just can't picture...!
x x x
"Seems like a pretty sleepy town," our swordsman observed as we looked around the main street of Mantaic. And indeed, if not for the occasional knight here and there, and the rare open shop with a vendor behind the counter, I would swear it was a ghost town.
Even though I knew the reason, I supplied, "Well, maybe they actually are sleeping? They could just stay inside during the hottest hours of the day."
"Yeah, I can't imagine anyone wanting to go anywhere in this heat..." Rita agreed, her voice tired.
"There are knights even here, though," Karol eyed them with concern. Though none of them had moved, there was the distinct impression that we were being watched.
"I don't recall seeing such intimidating people here the last time I came." Everyone stiffened a bit as Judith's words sank in and confirmed that Something Was Not Right.
The silence was stretching out a tad too long, and the longer we just stood in the street the more suspicious we looked. Yuri must have realized this, as he very naturally picked up the conversation again. "All right, shall we each go our own way for now?"
Rita uncrossed her arms and let them fall limply by her sides. "I'm for that... Before I do anything, I want to give these feet a rest..."
"And I really need to go find a new weapon." Karol hurriedly looked over at me, "Not that your sword isn't a nice weapon, you know, but I, uh..."
"You're not keeping Oberon one way or another," I said. "Since you're going to be doing some shopping anyway, why don't you restock on everything we left back at Nordopolica?"
"Wh-what? Why me?"
"Okay then, sounds like a plan," Yuri agreed casually, though a smirk tugged at the edge of his mouth. "Let's meet up in front of the inn after sunset." And after a quick round of nodding and agreement, everyone split up to go different ways. Karol was left spluttering alone.
"Guys!"
I stopped at his wail and smiled over my shoulder at him. "Yes, boss?"
"How can you call me boss after dumping the work on me?" he stamped his foot.
"Hmm, maybe because I was kidding?" Laughing, I went back and ruffled his hair. "You really make it too easy. But I don't have any plans, so I'll help you."
"O-oh. Thanks!"
Well, that's what I said. And I really had meant to help. But...
"We don't have enough gald..." Karol slumped as we finished counting the money we'd pooled together. Even after tracking down the other members of the group to get them to pitch in we still came up short. Maybe we could have covered the essentials if that was all we needed, but it was pretty important that Karol got a replacement weapon. And the price tag on that axe was a hefty sum.
"What can we do? I don't think we have anything we can sell..." Well, my mp3 player could probably sell for quite a bit if I found someone interested, and even the dead cell phone might be worth something as a curiosity piece, but that plan was my very very last resort...
"...Maybe you could get a job showing off clothes again?" Karol suggested.
"No," I said flatly. "Besides, I don't think these shops are getting enough business to need to hire right now."
"That's true..."
The two of us scowled while wracking our brains for get-rich-quick schemes.
"What if you-"
"No."
"But you haven't even heard my idea yet!"
"I have a feeling the answer is 'no' anyway."
"Aww, c'mon!"
I leaned back so that my head rested against the wooden stand we'd been sitting in front of. The owner seemed a bit jumpy about us just sitting there, where the knights could see us all. I didn't see it as a big deal. As long as we didn't strike up a conversation with him outside of business, the knights shouldn't care.
Though it would be nice if he could suggest a way for us to earn money, since it wasn't like a bag of gald would just go...walking...by...
Karol looked up in surprise when I jumped to my feet. "Letha?"
"Come on, Ace! I need you and your adorable kicked puppy look!" I grabbed him by the hand and pulled him along as I jogged around the corner and across the street. Fortunately my target hadn't been walking very fast, even if he'd been too preoccupied to notice us. So the poor guy did a double take when I ran up going, "Chaaase!" with a huge grin.
He didn't have that long brown coat I privately considered his most identifiable feature (in a crowd at least). Instead he was just wearing a sleeveless black shirt and had rolled up the bottoms of his dust caked pants. He looked pretty exhausted but still managed a smile when he saw Karol and me catching up. His smile faltered, though, so I guess something in my expression warned him. No matter.
x x x
"This is robbery, I hope you realize that."
"Of course it isn't. We promised to pay you back and we will."
"Our guild's honor is on the line if we don't!"
"Isn't your guild's honor already pretty questionable if you had to shake down a friend for cash?"
"But we didn't! You loaned it to us as a favor out of the goodness of your heart!"
Chase sighed, because it was already too late and he knew it was a losing argument. The new axe Karol was admiring was proof of that. And really, he could have turned us down. We all just knew he was too soft to do that. He was even helping us carry the bags of supplies we bought back to the inn.
"Hey, at least we only asked you to pay for the weapon. We covered everything else we need on our own." Because I'm not that connivingly manipulative, and I'd definitely pay him back at the first opportunity. And count myself as owing him a favor.
"But that was pretty amazing, how you haggled down the price by a thousand gald," Karol said with a mixture of awe and respect.
Chase waved it off, "Aw, no big deal. I'm pretty used to doing that." The smile that had appeared on his face betrayed him though. "My boss isn't very good with money."
"Come to think of it," I realized, "You've never said what your job is."
"You're a member of a guild, right?" Karol guessed.
"Ah, actually I'm...what is that?" Chase pointed out something sitting at the base of a pair of palmtrees where one of the knights was stationed. It appeared to be a potted cactus with a chef's hat...
"Hey Letha, do you think...?"
"I think you may be right, Ace." I looked sidelong at Chase. "Say, have you met the Wonder Chef before?"
"Yeah, a few times..." By then we'd drawn even with the cactus. Putting my sack of ingredients down, I exchanged one more look with the guys before reaching out and picking up the pot. It turned to smoke in my hands and once it cleared the Wonder Chef was standing in front of me. He grabbed my hands in both of his and began shaking them enthusiastically.
I can't say for sure, but I think the knight standing a few feet away groaned and said, "Oh no, not again..."
"Bravo! Magnificent! To have students with such keen eyes!" He dropped my hands and threw his arm across his eyes, as if overdramatically wiping the tears from his eyes. "A chef couldn't be prouder!"
"Umm," I started, unsure of what to say. Then the Wonder Chef grabbed me by the hand again and dragged me towards the nearest house. It was so sudden Chase and Karol were nearly left behind, but when I looked back to make sure we hadn't lost them I noticed the knight was also following.
Wonder Chef just threw open the door of the house he'd brought me to and marched in like he owned the place. The family inside looked startled for a moment until all their eyes fixed on his chef's hat and oversized gold saucepan.
"Kitchen's over there," the mother pointed out a door. She and her husband nodded to the others as they came in, seeming not at all surprised that one of the knights was tagging along. Then I was dragged through the kitchen door.
"The lesson for today is CURRY!" Wonder Chef announced, finally dropping my hand again (which I started to rub the feeling back into) and bustling around the kitchen grabbing pots and knives and food from various cupboards and drawers. Then looking up he saw Chase and Karol in the doorway, hesitating to come in. "Come come, I have time to teach all of you!"
The guys came in, looking as awkward as I felt to be intruding in a stranger's kitchen. The knight came in after them, which the Wonder Chef noticed. "Ah, you again! Will you observe this time as well, or participate?"
"Taking this lesson three times was enough already," the knight grumbled, "and seeing it six times is even worse."
"One can never experience a lesson in the culinary arts too many times!" Wonder Chef scoffed. The knight fingered the hilt of his sword, eying the chef warily. "But with so many students, we really can't allow the kitchen to become to crowded." The knight let go of the hilt with a relieved sigh.
"Now!" Wonder Chef clapped his hands while beaming at the rest of us. "First thing's first! Everyone must wash up! Cleanliness is close to godliness and all!"
x x x
The sun was slipping down beneath the horizon when the Wonder Chef finally let us go. We returned to the inn carrying pots of curry, which the house owners assured us could be returned by the inn employees later. It seems neighbors of the Wonder Chef get awfully used to his antics...
"Hey, somethin' sure smells good!" Raven sniffed the air as we approached.
"Dinner," I said, raising the pot in my hands to show off to the group waiting outside the inn. "Compliments of the Wonder Chef." Karol was carrying the other pot, and Chase had been given all the other bags from shopping.
"Ooh, curry!" Raven exclaimed, lifting the lid from the pot in my hands. I took the opportunity to push the pot into his hands and free up my own. "Hey!" Blithely ignoring his protest, I took Karol's pot of curry. Why? Because.
"Karol," Estelle said with a decisive tone, "this is for you." She held out something in one hand, which Karol accepted with both hands held palms up. See? That's why.
"Huh? What's going on, Estelle...?" Karol asked in confusion, looking at the delicate and valuable looking necklace in his cupped hands. "What's this?"
"This is payment for your services. I'm sure you'll be able to sell it for quite a sum." Estelle bowed to the group as a whole, "I want to thank you all for everything you've done."
The Ace looked up at her, brows furrowed in confusion. "Huh? What do you mean? You haven't found what you're looking for yet..."
The princess lowered her head a bit, not able to look any of us in the eyes. "...I'm afraid I must take my leave from you here."
"'Take your leave'...?" Rita repeated in bewilderment. "What are you going to do?" Chase, forgotten at the back of the group, shifted a bit uncomfortably in place. He looked like he wished someone would take our bags from him so he could excuse himself.
Yuri frowned. "You're not thinking of going alone, are you...?"
Estelle looked up again, looking directly at Yuri and adopting a businesslike demeanor, a sort of level tone and expression I imagined she'd learned from growing up among nobility. "My desire to meet Phaeroh is a personal one."
"Are you crazy?" Karol's voice cracked slightly, "That's way too dangerous!"
"Which is why I must go alone. I won't have the rest of you caught up any further in my own selfish quest."
"No no no," I shook my head at her. "Look, this little quest was a personal matter back when we first took the job to escort you. We knew that and we took it willingly. Nothing's changed since then." Estelle's expression wavered a bit, but then firmed again in the defiant set of her jaw.
"Do justice, and punish the unjust." Everyone looked at Yuri. Estelle's eyes widened slightly at the familiar words.
"Huh...? Oh, right. That's one of the laws of our guild," Karol recalled.
Judith closed her eyes and said softly, "There's no justice in letting Estelle march into the heart of the desert all by herself."
"I don't think I have it in me to break our laws," the swordsman said humbly but with a smile. "How about you guys, Karol? Letha?"
"Right!" Karol grinned at the argument.
"I'd never dream of breaking our laws."
"It seems those are the rules," Judith said to Estelle, who had forgot herself to the point that her mouth was hanging open ever so slightly.
"...I'm terribly flattered, really, but I'm afraid I can't let you..."
"Estelle, wait!" Rita rounded on us all. "Have you all lost your marbles? We're talking about a force of nature here!"
Yuri raised a hand, borrowing Rita's argument for his own, "Which is why we're all going together."
Karol fidgeted a bit, "I'll admit I'm a little scared, but I can't just let Estelle go off like that."
Exasperated, Rita spun and pointed at Raven. "You! You talk some sense into them." He looked away a bit.
"If I start whining now, I'll have to go all the way back ta Nordopolica by myself, right? That's no fun."
"Ooh!" the mage growled. "There's no reasoning with any of you." Her eyes lighted on Chase, who looked like he really wished he was elsewhere. "Don't you have anything to say?"
"Uh, I don't really know what's up," he answered a bit nervously, "but...the more the merrier?" He gave a shaky laugh, that died quickly under her glare. I realized about then that I didn't see Judith with us anymore.
"Are you sure you're dead set on this?" Rita asked the princess one more time. Chase gave a slight exhalation of relief when the mage's attention left him.
"Yes. I've thought a lot about this." Estelle closed her eyes, then opened them and looked at each of us in turn. "You all have something that's important to you, a goal you give everything to achieve." When her eyes rested on me for a moment, I unconsciously looked down at my left hand. It was gripping the pot of curry a bit more tightly than necessary, and I could imagine the shape of the tattoo hidden under my glove.
"I realized that I didn't have anything like that for myself..." Looking back up at the princess, she had tilted her head back and was looking at the blue sky far above our heads. "And I knew I had to find a purpose of my own, something I can dedicate myself to.
"I made the decision to begin this journey, and I have to finish what I've started. This..." she lowered her gaze down to us again, "this is something I have to do for myself."
I stared at her. Her expression and posture were elegant and straight, the perfect little princess. The ideal 'soft' image was a little spoiled by the stubborn will showing through small signs. But her hands, folded like they often were when she was standing at ease or giving a speech about her intentions, they somehow gave me the impression of a child hugging herself because no one else was there to hold her.
Rita was also giving Estelle a hard, searching look. Finally she sighed in defeat. "...Okay okay, you win. So we'll be aiming for the desert's center."
"Huh...?" Estelle's strong image was shattered at the unexpected words.
"Hey, I tried talking sense into you idiots."
"Rita..."
"There's actually no real need for you to come, Rita." The mage bristled and glared at Yuri. "You've got your aer krene research to worry about, don't you?" he reminded her reasonably. In effect, very indirectly asking if being sure Estelle was safe took priority over her research.
"There's no telling what you idiots will get into if I don't keep an eye on you. The aer krene isn't going anywhere," she looked in the rough direction of the Weasand, "I'll go check up on it later." Ritaaa, you're just concerned about us!
"But!" she asserted, "We're not leaving until we've taken care of all our preparations."
"Well, Karol and I have already started that," I told her, nodding at the bags still in Chase's arms (he was looking very longingly at the inn door).
"I'm sorry to be such an inconvenience to you all..." Estelle murmured apologetically.
Yuri shook his head a bit at her attitude as he rested a hand on his hip, "I think we had a pretty good idea things would turn out like this from the start." Estelle smiled at him gratefully.
"Huh...?" Karol looked around curiously, finally realizing something. "Where's Judith?"
As if she'd heard her name, the krytian pushed open the inn door and came back out. She looked around at us once and tilted her head. "Everything settled?" she asked, as if the outcome had been a foregone conclusion. Which, privately, I agreed it was. And not just because I knew the game plot.
"Yeah," Rita said shortly, probably already regretting having caved in.
Judith looked at Estelle, "Well, what did you decide?" Her eyes were intent, fixed on the princess' face, and it occurred to me that she might be testing the younger girl's resolution. She was, after all, the one who most often pointed out to Estelle when she was straying from her goal.
Estelle nodded, meeting Judith's eyes, "We're going to the center of the desert."
The krytian's wine red eyes half closed, and a smile bloomed on her face. "I had a feeling, so I've made some arrangements. The innkeeper has agreed to help us."
Raven stretched a bit (having freed his hands by leaving the curry pot I'd given him on the door step) then folded his arms behind his head. "We'll wanna be good and rested before we leave this town behind, that's for sure."
"You're always thinking about your next nap," Rita said scornfully, walking up to the archer and giving him a sharp look, "aren't you?"
"Yeah, but I sleep so much better if I have a little company," he grinned at her. His grin turned into clenched teeth as she stamped her foot on his and ground down hard. No one paid this exchange any mind as we finally filed in through the inn's door, Rita with her nose in the air to show how little his attitude impressed her. He just groaned a bit, picking up the curry pot again before he limped back inside.
I paused before going in, looking back at Judith. She was staring out towards the depths of the desert, her expression a little wistful. Quickly I turned to the door, as if I could give her some measure of privacy despite knowing her biggest secrets.
x x x
Hrrm, was there anything I wanted to talk about down here...
Ah, "Hair Care". Judith broke Letha. And she totally did it on purpose. It can be left up to individual opinion if Judith really did only want to have a girly chat about hair, or if she had other reasons (hinted at in the drabbles) for being interested in Letha.
Poor Chase, as I seem to say a lot.
Aaand, hope the piece explaining some rules about the permeability made sense.