"SO YOU LEFT home when you were eleven years old?" Nick asked as he and Cristine sat in the rigging of the Pride.

Cristine nodded. "Well, I decided when I was about three that I wanted to be a minstrel," she said, leaning back. "I wasn't planning to leave until I was about fifteen or so - you know, old enough to support myself even if the minstrel thing didn't work. But then when I was eleven, Mum and Dad died." She looked down. "After that, there wasn't really anything left for me in Coffinwell. I had some friends there, sure, and people who would take care of me, but even though I still consider it my home, it's not the same without Mum and Dad. So when Tammy showed up and we clicked, I decided to take off with her." She smiled a little. "It's funny. I feel like doing this - being a minstrel, I mean - helped me cope. Mum and Dad were always really supportive. They put up with me singing all hours of the day and night, dancing round the house...breaking things before I got to be more graceful..." She laughed. "It's... I dunno. It just feels right."

They sat there quietly for a moment, feeling the breeze in their hair. Then Cristine turned to Nick. "So what about you?" she asked. "I know your dad is the captain of the guards in Stornway...why are you trying to become a priest instead?"

Nick shrugged. "I just...felt more at home in church than in training," he said. "My mam and dad aren't particularly religious; I guess I just ended up picking up what everyone else in my family lacked in faith." He laughed. "It's done good, anyway. I feel like I have a strong relationship with the Almighty, and I can help people here in the world, too. To me, it feels like I've found the best job there is...if I can get ordained, anyway."

Cristine nodded again, looking away. They were cutting through the waves at a quick pace, and the Urdus Marshland wasn't far from Gleeba, anyway. They'd be making landfall in a few minutes.

"Well, I hope it works out that we can get to Swinedimples at the right time," she said, smiling. "And then maybe we can find out which one of us is right about how good their programmes are."

Nick smiled, too. "I hope so, too," he replied. "And I can't wait for the evidence to prove me right."

Cristine laughed. "Oh, silly boy," she said, starting down the rigging. "You're so naive - don't you know by know that the girl's always right? Because even if she's wrong...she's right."

"That makes no sense," Nick told her, following her down.

But he laughed, too.

Laughing was easy when he was talking to Cristine.


We made landfall in the Urdus Marshlands not long after nine that morning. As soon as everything was in order, we disembarked and headed inland towards the Iluugazar Plains. It was going to be a long walk.

I ended up falling a little farther back than I normally would have. Nick and Cristine were further up, picking the driest path through the mud. Erik was striding along between us, hands shoved in his trouser pockets. I was walking in the back. I tried to keep my gaze on the mountain pass that led into the Iluugazar Plains, but it kept drifting over to the lanky, silver-haired figure walking alone in front of me.

Darn it...

What I'd said to him the day before wouldn't get out of my head. "Arrogant - self-satisfied - rude - bossy - inconsiderate - pompous - holier-than-thou... I pity the poor fool who has the misfortune to catch your eye." Much as the Celestrian boy annoyed me sometimes...well, most of the time...I still felt guilty about snapping at him like I had. Especially now, after following Mum's advice had left me knowing more but still not quite enough about my feelings.

"Rude...inconsiderate..."

I didn't normally do stuff like that, so I didn't usually feel like this. The squirming in my gut reminded me of how I'd felt when I had been leaving Cristine in the dark about my abilities and why I was always disappearing, except that now it was stronger, more immediate. It was uncomfortable. I didn't like it.

"The misfortune to catch your eye..."

My eyes pulled away from the pass again and back to Erik. I sighed.

Why was I feeling so guilty? He certainly wouldn't have felt like this if he'd been the one to snap at me. There was absolutely no reason to feel this way.

And then something crossed my mind that I never would have thought I'd find myself thinking.

Maybe I should apologise.

After that, I couldn't get that thought out of my head. Everything about me rejected the idea. Apologise? To Erik? What good would it do? The only thing it would do would be inflate his ego. I couldn't apologise to him.

But on one level, it almost seemed like a good idea. The sense of relief I'd felt when I'd told Cristine about me came to mind. Surely telling Erik I was sorry couldn't give me that same feeling...but I almost thought it could.

No. No way. Let him come to me and tell me he was sorry. He, after all, was the one who acted that way in the first place - arrogant, self-satisfied, rude, bossy, inconsiderate, pompous, holier-than-thou...

But even thinking the words made my innards twist guiltily.

I bit my lip and kept walking for a moment. Then I glanced back at Erik. I sighed.

This was going to bother me for a long, long time if I didn't do anything about it.

I can't believe I'm doing this, I thought as I lengthened my stride. Seriously. This is a bad idea. You're just going to make his already huge head even bigger. Why are you doing this?

I didn't really have an answer, but I kept going anyway.

"Erik?"

My voice was quieter than usual, but it was loud enough to catch his attention. He didn't turn, but I saw him start.

"Erik, listen, I need to talk to you."

He still didn't turn around.

I narrowed my eyes. "Erik -" I caught his arm. "Erik, please just listen to me for five seconds so I can apologise!"

That made him stop. He looked at me, silver brows furrowed. "So you can what?" he asked.

I gritted my teeth and let out a long breath. "Apologise," I said, opening my eyes and meeting his. "So please let me talk, because I'm perilously close to not doing it now!"

He raised his eyebrows but gestured for me to continue.

I sighed, digging my hands into my pockets and starting to walk beside him. "I'm sorry I snapped at you yesterday," I said. "It was out of line, and even though I felt it to be true at the time, I oughtn't to have said it. You've really been getting more bearable lately, and I shouldn't have let something like that irritate me to that point. So... I'm sorry, Erik."

For a long moment, he walked silently, scanning my face. I wasn't really sure what I felt from him. There were too many different things, and they seemed a little more distant than before. I supposed I preferred it, though, in comparison to the overwhelming flow of emotions I'd felt before I'd taken Mum's advice.

Finally, he nodded slowly and said, "Your apology is noted...I will be sure to inform you when acceptance is received."

I smiled a little. "I'll be waiting on the edge of my seat."

He snorted softly.

"You were hung over yesterday, were you not?" he asked after a moment.

I sighed. "Yeah, I was. It was stupid. I was irritated, and I decided to go for a drink...and then another."

Erik raised an eyebrow. "Only two? And you were hung over the next day?"

"In my defence, they were very strong," I said. "I've a strong head usually - two drinks might leave me a bit tipsy, but certainly not hammered like I was." I rolled my shoulders. "They didn't really taste all that great til I was already well on my way to being wasted, either. A tip, Erik - if you ever go back to Gleeba, don't get the Desert's Throat."

"I will keep that in mind."

We walked along in silence for a moment, slapping at a couple bugs along the way. I glanced forwards at Cristine and Nick, who were still talking animatedly. I smiled.

"They look so happy."

Erik looked up at them. He didn't quite smile, but his brows unknotted a little. "They do," he agreed.

I looked at them for a while longer, and then laughed a little. "I really want to go bother them."

Erik rolled his eyes. "You are a strange girl, Tammy."

I laughed louder this time. "Oh, come on - it'll be fun!" I took hold of his arm and ran forwards. Then I burst in between Nick and Cristine with a rousing chorus of "Ninety-Nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall".

Cristine jumped, Nick laughed, and even Erik joined in as we started singing, "Ninety-nine bottles of beer!

"Take one down, pass it around,

"Ninety-eight bottles of beer on the wall!"


We had long since taken down the last bottle of beer by the time we reached the other end of the mountain pass, where it opened up into the Iluugazar Plains. I could see clearly for ages. The current location of the nomad village Batsureg was only a couple miles further.

So it wasn't too much longer before we reached the yurts. When we got there, I was struck by the similarity of the arrangement to the one Cristine and I had encountered last time we'd been there six months ago. And the one before that. I supposed it was something to do with their ever-changing lifestyle - any bit of consistency was probably welcome.

We stopped by the stores briefly. Erik got a new pair of claws - handrills - and Nick got a lightning staff and a pair of green tights to go under his robes. The tights were a practicality. The plains were much chillier than anywhere we'd been so far this journey.

As we wandered through the village after that, I caught sight of a familiar weather-tanned face, dark hair, and slender dark eyes. "Batzorig!" I called. "Batzorig, how are you?"

The nomad boy turned, and I paused a little. He'd clearly grown - filled out and grown a bit taller. And he looked more...chiselled. He'd gotten kind of handsome.

"Tammy," he replied. "Cristine. What brings you to the plains this day? And who are these new companions?"

"This is Nick," Cristine said, "and Erik. We've been travelling together recently. So how've you been doing?"

His features darkened briefly. "I have been with rather more stress of late. My sixteenth birthday is tomorrow and I am not sure either my father or I are prepared."

"Oh." I knew enough about nomad culture to know what he was talking about. Sixteen was the age of adulthood among the nomads, and as the son of the chief, Batzorig took over the running of the tribe on his sixteenth birthday.

"Well, I'm sure you'll be a great leader," Cristine said, smiling. "You know everything there is to know about life here."

Batzorig nodded absently, glancing off towards his father's yurt. "Thank you, Cristine," he said then, looking back. "What business brings the four of you to our plains?"

"We are searching for a golden fruit," Erik said immediately. "Have you heard of such a thing in this area?"

"Hm..." Batzorig put a hand to his face, thinking. "I do not think so. But then, I have been distracted of late. Perhaps you will be with more luck if you ask the other villagers. Please, excuse me - I must attend to something."

He nodded cordially and left.

"See, Erik," I said after a moment, "that's how you leave when you're done with something. Make a pretense of being nice about it. People are a little more mollified than if you just get up and walk away."

He rolled his eyes. "Come," he said. "Let us ask about the fygg."

But our luck wasn't any better anywhere else in the village. None of the nomads had heard about the fygg. One, though, gave us a suggestion.

"Perhaps you should ask Sarantsatsral," she told us.

"Saran - who?" I asked. I couldn't even remember the rest of the name, let alone repeat it back.

"Sarantsatsral," repeated the nomad. "She is the good witch who has recently become adviser to our wise chief Batkhaan. She has travelled widely and knows much about places that we nomads have little knowledge of. Perhaps she will be with the knowledge of where you may find such a fruit."

"Thank you," Nick said. "We'll certainly keep that in mind."

The woman nodded as we left.

Then I looked round at the others. "A witch?"

"A good witch," Cristine said, though I could hear the doubt in her tone.

Erik snorted. "I have heard of a great many good mages, but never a good witch."

Nick glanced towards Batkhann's tent. "If it's our best shot, though..."

We all hesitated. Then, slowly, we started to nod. "If it's our best shot," I echoed. "Come on, then. Let's go meet this Sarantsatsral."


Ninety-eight bottles...

Okay, so that was probably a little stupid, but what group of friends doesn't do anything stupid once in a while? Besides, my brother thought it was hilarious when I told it to him. Oh, well...

I don't know why Batzorig keeps ending up being described as handsome in my fanfics; I mean, he's okay-looking in the games, but he's not that great. Dunno. Maybe it's just that I like the idea of the cute Asian guy ^_^

Aaaanyway...

May all the bodies of the heavens watch over you!