Fantasia

Arc2: The Quest

Chapter3: Arrival at Clavia

With some effort Juan and his new friend Marcy the green haired Clavian girl managed to escape from the hoodlums who resides the plains of Zellia, to finally reach the southern gate of Clavia.

The young man stood idly by, that his mouth was widely open –which was more unusual counting his timid attitude in mind- examining the large gate, an impressive masterpiece of architecture, the gate was a bit higher than the walls that guards the town as well as way too attracting in appearance, for it had the allure that one would mistaken for Gold, ornamented with thick tracks of silver and crimson color, appearing like two female angelic figures, with eyes of blue gems, holding some sort of a sphere from the sides.

Juan tried to squint a little bit in order to figure out what was carved within the silver circle; it was the famous Clavian symbol; a winged circle with two parallel lines of different lengths jetting out of the bottom, also giving start to some small horizontal lines –with the number was almost impossible to assume from that distance- driving the appearance of a key.

His inattentiveness was interrupted by Marcy yelling his name, of course the girl was very usual with the gate so she just ignored it and gone to talk to the middle aged guard who was standing by the small side door of the entrance.

"So did you get the permission to enter?" The young asked.

"Yes sir! Hehehe" The girl confirmed with a military salute then finished it with a light laughter.

Sparing no time, Marcy pulled the shepherd and ran with him into the rich village, of course comparing the impression the gate had given him to his new feeling upon witnessing the inside of Clavia, is the closest meaning to the word "incomparable".

The village was simply something new to him, he started by looking at the grounds he's walking on; a pale gray colored mosaic of tiles were covering the land, of course what he was standing on was a road for wagons, since the people walk on reddish tiles on the sides.

Then he raised his eyes to the houses, he smirked, and even for a hasty girl like Marcy, his facial expression is easily translated: "Look where I was, and where I am now", reflecting that Juan's mind is not what one would simply find in people his age.

He couldn't believe how tall the houses were, the only building he could remember and was taller than these was the light house by the eastern cliffs of Ardneria; the one he used to hear the kids of his clan dare each other to visit at night.

And the people, they were humans! of course Juan looks no different from them, yet he never saw such crowd, he felt like a black goat in a white flock, or this was the sole comparison his memories of the grazing times in the plains were able to express.

"C'mon! If you are going to stay like this all day we'll never leave the town!" the girl said snapping him out of this endless chain of impression.

"Ah sorry…" the man answered apologizing.

He had no idea where to go in this magnificent place, his only guide was the girl he recently met, she was walking between people, from a road to another like she doesn't even need to see her path, he asked her where are they heading but she just blinked with one eye and grinned summoning his patience.

And so they arrived into a large shop entrance, the name was "Pete's weaving esthetics for boys n' gals", he was about to sink in what hit him at the gate, but the slender well-dressed soft man grabbed each hand of the two trying to introduce them to the place:

"Hmm… how romantic! A young couple! But young man you shouldn't be tiring this fine mistress with this look of yours…don't you think?" he said with a very sweet tone.

"huh?" was Juan's response.

"Or perhaps you are siblings, either ways, please honor us with your presence, chop! chop! Here! I shall be your guide" he said pulling the surprised man and the blushed girl –Upon hearing him describing them as a couple- into his shop.

"Wait! What's going on here?" Juan finally woke up and asked.

"What do you think? I'm thanking you for saving me" Marcy said with a cute smile.

Of course the salesman started persuading the young "couple":

"We got all sorts of models for young men here, we got cotton and flax for simple yet elegant persons who like to spend less, and if you were ready to spoil yourselves, we had these fine garments of blue and gold silk weaved by the Jubaine family, of course if you were into style you'd heard about them, their fame is uncanny, of course these are ready-to-wear offers, if you have different styles in mind we'd like to have your orders and descriptions, and we'll make sure they'll be ready as fast as possible".

Juan was barely followed the man lips trying to understand what he was saying, as he was distracted by two midgets who were taking measures of his tall, waist, and shoulders, he also tried to find Marcy by shaking his eyes left and right.

"And if you wished for my personal opinion, tights don't suit your body mister, what you need is one of those half-sleeves puffy shirts, blue will look gorgeous on you, and for pants I suggest these dark colored simple pairs, trust me I got my nephew wearing one of these, and girls were raining on him…" and this was as far as Juan could follow before he gave up on listening to this man, and kept nodding his orange haired head like a fool.

"Ta-da!" the green haired girl said showing Juan her choice of clothing for him after appearing from like nowhere.

He pulled his mind together and took a look at the maroon-trimmed dark sleeveless shirt, then he checked the loose night blue pants, but quickly he examined those shoes she choose for him; and finally a pair of shiny polished short leather boots, but before he looked up to give his opinion, she leashed him with a green and black scarf:

"Wow! I knew this scarf would match that headband of yours" the girl commented.

"Beautiful! Wilhelm! Would you mind taking the young man to change his clothes?" the seller said ordering one of his assistants.

The midget pulled the young man and took him to a small curtained room, Juan groaned a bit than he did what they've expected, he tried his new wear and came out of the curtains in a shy way, blushing and looking down.

"My God, what a charming young man!" the salesman said applauding.

"Then we'll take it!" Marcy said without hesitating.

At this moment Juan felt that this is too much, seeing the girl paying for the gear, he didn't knew how much money she gave, but still… her kindness reminded him of what he was feeling in his old days when he considered himself nothing but a useless shut-in.

He didn't feel it but his body moved on its own and ran straightly ahead unaware of his path… of course Marcy followed him and stopped him from getting lost:

"Juan?! What's wrong?" she asked innocently.

"Um…nothing" he answered holding his bitter tears with all he got.

"That's great! Now I think we should eat something" Marcy suggested holding her stomach.

And so the orange haired youth, calmed down and started to get used to the town –or at least the part he was in- which manifested by the fact that he could walk without her holding his hand for guidance.

Of course, it was an easy perception that they had their meal at some fancy restaurant, this time Juan insisted on Marcy not to waste money on such unneeded luxury, which she found enigmatically puzzling for her.

After the good meal, the two rented a room in a nearby inn for a nap, noticeable by Juan that they didn't pass by Marcy's house, but he ignored his doubts for the moment, and by evening they were ready for a last shopping round, and this time Juan was the one who guided her, since they were purchasing travelling equipment; an improved map, a compass, canned food, hooks and ropes, and of course sleeping bags and camping gears, however it was quite impressive that the total cost of those things were less than what they spent on the clothes, dinner, and the room.

And it was time to set off, the two headed toward the north gate, for it was –According to the map- the safest and the shortest way to the tower of Grimoires, after calming down some doubts are starting to grow in his mind, mainly about Marcy; Who's Marcy? Is she really as naïve as she looks? Why would she care about him that much? Where did she get all that money even for someone from Clavia? And more importantly…if she was really heading toward the tower why did he find her in the total opposite direction of what she claimed that was her path?.

But all those thoughts were interrupted by the girl starting a silly conversation:

"Say Juan…what do you think of marriage?"

"Wait! what?!" he asked in surprise blushing from the subject.

"Not me and you, you silly!"

"Oh…then I think it's a very good thing, I mean in Ardneria, marriage is such a holy link between a man and a woman, and the younger the married men, the more respected they are." Juan explained, and quickly he tried to escape this subject by asking her about what he considered as the tallest building, an interesting palace with shimmering lights, in the center of the village.

"Oh that…that's a…yes it's the royal palace where King Heinz and his family live, they are the richest and probably the reason why Clavia is so prosperous." The girl answered.

"Why so?"

"They say that Princess Cassandra Heinz is a part of the Hatenaian council, and Princess Cecilia is engaged with the Arcadian prince, so probably this kept the strongest forces on this continent away from our village." Marcy answered.

"Oh they sure are good people then" The orange head commented.

"Yeah they are…I kinda envy Cecilia she's engaged to one of the most handsome men in the continent, prince Artemiciano" the girl added in a passionate accent.

But before Juan tried to follow the conversation, a fast thief snatched a bracelet that Marcy bought earlier, and fled away, but the young man acted quickly -Which seemed new for him to have the initiative- and followed the rogue, accompanied by Marcy, the two tracked the thief to a narrow path, surprisingly it was a dead end for the three of them!

The thief smirked, and Juan got the signal…it's a trap! He turned around to see that four threatening men had trapped them in that alley, Juan held his breath and grabbed the girl from the arm, and pushed her behind him telling her that he'll protect her.

Despite he was afraid, sweat was obviously dripping from every almost every spot in his thin body, and his limbs were shaking in a heavy way, he gulped and bit his lower lip telling himself that it's enough for him to be Juan the coward!

However, only one sole idea filled his head at that moment; he'll use himself as a lure and push Marcy to safety, not caring what'll happen to him…yes in the same way he rushed to save Roné from the Zedai brothers earlier, his knees twitched and a tear dropped from his eye the very moment he pushed his body toward the four men…

But what was unexpected, the second his right foot was lifted from the ground, those rogues were knocked down brutally by an unknown armored youth, he didn't care for him that much, and turned his head back to see the fifth thief who was pinned to the ground by some blonde woman in a maid dress.

He turned his face back to see that the man in armor stood tall, Marcy on the other hand felt somehow happy to see the maid, so relieved that the only thing she was is able to do is to stutter: "Ma…Marcy…"

But the maid walked slowly toward her and grabbed her hand gently, and bowed putting her forehead on the green haired girl hand saying in a tone emptied from any emotion:

"I finally found you…your majesty"

To be continued