Fifth update... And a goofy little anecdote at the bottom.

*We'll see you guys in Daath... Wait... Should we really be taking Kairi there?* -Asch

Chapter 6.10 - Conflicts and Sidequests
Part 63

"We're making a stop outside Tataroo Valley," Urushi said, sticking his head into the rather cramped interior of the transport. Cramped, because the area usually saved for feet and legs was completely taken up by two ligers who were doubling up as extra seating. But, that's what happens when you put eight people and two ligers in a transport meant for six people at the most.

Not that any of us were complaining. Dark, Ion, and I were curled up with the ligers, Natalia and Noir got one seat, and Reighn, Seth, and Luke got the other. York and Urushi were both up top.

I had also found out something interesting about the strange dragon-esque things that served as horses here on Auldrant. They were apparently called amicaydras. Some breeds were aquatic, others entirely terrestrial, and some were primarily terrestrial, but built for living near or in water. The terrestrial kind was apparently the easiest to tame (which is why they were made to pull carriages) but the kind that could almost double as aquatic were the ones York and Urushi had trained up.

Which, in conjunction to buoys similar to those on the Tartarus, meant we could move over water as well as land.

Handy.

But that's how we got to Tataroo Valley. Okay... it had taken a week of island-jumping, but we'd gotten there.

Dark muttered an acknowledgement, while I continued what I'd been doing.

What was I doing, you may ask?

You'll find out later. Much later, but you'll find out. It's already been hinted at, I'm sure.

And, as I'm sure you've noticed, I'd started poking around to see what my doppelganger can pick up on. It had been an interesting week, despite doing nothing but traveling.

"So, what are we going to do tonight?" Seth asked. For most of the trip, whenever we had stopped for a night, a number of us had found ourselves at a loss for what to do once camp had been made and dinner started. York was usually sewing something—though the cloth had gone from orange to sky blue after the second night—while Urushi fiddled with a piece of fontech. Noir spent much of her time with Natalia, berating the blonde's low self-confidence while stubbornly trying to impress upon her the importance of feminine allure.

I had the feeling York's new project was at Noir's behest and meant for Natalia, not the thing he, Peony, and I were working on.

Of course, I was working on my part of aforementioned project, while everyone else—Dark, Luke, Ion, Seth, Reighn, and the monsters—were left to their own devices.

Seth seemed to have taken it upon himself to be our perimeter guard. Luke and Ion were taking the time to learn as much about cooking as Reighn could be bothered to teach them. Dark would spend time studying the amicaydras, though I would hear muttered curses every time they decided that he needed a bath. They were very good at drenching someone when they felt like it, which would lead to Twilight and Sorylle laughing at Dark's misfortune for falling for the trick over and over again.

It seemed that after about four nights of this, the others had gotten irritated and Seth and Reighn had spearheaded an attempt at us actually doing something other than simply sitting around bored out of our minds. York and I had no problems with the lack of things to do, given our projects, and Urushi was happy enough muddling around with his fontech gadgets, but the others were getting a bit stir-crazy.

I frowned and thought over it. "We've been traveling almost non-stop from Grand Chokmah, and most of that's been through water. I think it would be best if we gave the amicaydras a couple days to rest and wander around on land before we continue," I said.

Noir nodded her agreement. "Yes... We usually don't make them do this much swimming. Unfortunately, with the ferries down and everything else that's going on, we haven't got much of a choice."

Dark sighed. "It's too bad there's only one Albiore. It'd be nice if we could move around in two separate groups all the time."

I raised an eyebrow. "And why not? Class M has a second hover drive, don't they? I know you said the Albiore I crashed and had to be left out in the Meggiora Highlands, but couldn't they just build an Albiore III?" And Aston would... Though I hoped he'd be able to do it with Iemon and Tamara this time.

Dark, Reighn, and Seth all looked at me with the same expression, before Seth and Reighn turned on Dark, who had been the one idiotic enough to comment about it. The former assassin made a face, while Natalia hummed.

"Kairi's right. If we end up back near Sheridan, we should ask about it," she said. "After all, who knows where all we'll be needed. We have enough people, we can split up into two groups without too much compromising."

Reighn sighed and looked over at Ion. "What about Sync? We agreed not to leave him in Daath any longer than we absolutely had to."

Ion frowned. "I think we should use tonight to start making a plan. Though I can't say how well we'll be able to do that, given that we don't know what the other group is doing or has managed to accomplish since we split up in Chesedonia."

Luke and I exchanged a look before he cringed. "I can contact Asch," he said. I nodded.

"And I should be able to piggy-back on that connection so we can all hear. Now that I know I can do something like that..." I trailed off as the coach came to a stop, and readied myself for Twilight's inevitable jump out. Once he was out, I turned and followed, Ion, Dark, and Sorylle right behind. Only then did the five in the seats leave the coach.

Seth and I exchanged a look and then headed off into the nearby forest for firewood while the others unhitched the amicaydras and set up the tents. Only three, rather than the four you would think since we were doubled up and Noir and Urushi always slept in the coach (Noir because she was bossy, and Urushi because, unlike Jade, he really was an old man). We always had two people on watch at any given time, since one person had to keep an eye on the amicaydras and the other had to watch for any enemies.

Of course, once camp had been set up and supper started, all of us save York and Urushi gathered near where Reighn was making our food. Luke took a deep breath and closed his eyes, and I sat next to him, mind almost fully connected to his.

The moment he opened a stable connection to Asch, I jumped through it.

*Don't block us off,* I said quickly, before Asch had a chance to do just that.

"Urk!"

"Asch? What's wrong?" I heard Jade asked. I pulled away from Luke just a bit and started connecting minds.

*Sorry. We all needed to talk,* I said, knowing that everyone could now hear me. Of course, my wording clued the others into the fact that I'd connected everyone.

*Ion! Why did you and Sync switch!? Do you have any idea how worried I've been?!* Anise yelled. I saw everyone on my end flinch.

*I'm sorry, Anise. But we needed to look into something in Daath, and neither of us was comfortable sending me by myself,* he admitted.

*Besides, if it weren't for Sync's argument that Asch should go with you all, Ion would be here without a Fon Master Guard at all,* Reighn added. *Though, him and Luke being able to contact each other like this is definitely a bonus.*

*That said... Kairi...* Asch started. I sighed. I knew that tone all too well.

*We can have this argument later. For now... Where are you guys?*

*The Qliphoth,* Jade said bluntly.

*Still?!*

*With Chesedonia down here now as well as the battlefield, Brigadier General Frings is trying to arrange a ceasefire and a prisoner transfer,* Asch said. *Actually, right now we're picking up him and a few other higher-ups and taking them to Chesedonia to arrange things with Astor to get Engeve's citizens back to the town. Those soldiers need food, and so do all of the merchants, refugees, and whatnot in Chesedonia.*

I nodded, remembering that sidequest from the game, if only barely. I'd only started it twice, and never finished the second time because I'd gotten so fed up with the back and forth.

*And after you're done there?* Dark asked.

*Jade wants to ask Sync about something before we head to Baticul,* Asch said.

*Kairi, be careful. Van's meddling with the passage rings is putting a lot of stress on them. I don't know how long we have before they start breaking, but at this point, it's starting to look like we won't be able to do anything to stop it,* Jade added. I nodded, though he couldn't see it.

*We'll meet you in Daath then.*

*A good thing we stopped here. I don't think York and Urushi would have appreciated if we decided that after we made it to Baticul,* Noir said. Jade chuckled.

*No, I don't imagine they would.*

*Colonel, was that...?*

*Noir, of the Dark Wings. Yes.*

*Old lady...* Anise muttered.

*Anise, she can hear you,* Ion said sweetly. Too sweetly. Noir laughed.

*Yes, I remember you too, little girl.*

*Guys...* Luke groaned. Dark chuckled.

*We'll see you guys in Daath... Wait...* A few groans echoed around. *Should we really be taking Kairi there?*

Silence reigned. At least for about a minute.

*Well... we can't exactly dump her in the water between here and there,* Seth noted. I rolled my eyes.

*I promise to stay out of trouble.*

*Like that's ever helped us before,* Asch grumbled. I hung my head.

*I don't do it on purpose!*

*Just as long as I don't have to carry you to the port only to get on a ferry to Baticul again.*

*Even though we need to go to Baticul after Daath?* Luke asked. Asch was silent for a moment, stewing in his own irritation.

*Just shut up.*

The connection between Asch and Luke broke, and I held back a scream as Jade, Anise, Tear, Selenia, and Asch were all simultaneously cut away from my mind, something that felt akin to a limb being chopped off. In fact, every telepathic connection had broken.

"Kairi? Are you alright?" Natalia asked, noting my discomfort. I scowled.

"Remind me to tell Asch never to do that again," I said.

"Dinner?" Reighn asked. Of course, this led to something just short of mad scrambling to get food, and I frowned as I ate. Reighn noted the expression and raised an eyebrow. "What? My stroganoff not up to your standards?" He was teasing, but the truth was...

"No... Sorry. This is one of those things I'll have to show you my version for you to understand it. It is good, though. A lot better than Sync's... Which is part of the reason why I've forbidden him from making anything that involves pasta..." I rambled. Ion and Reighn both gave me curious looks, and I sighed. "He's hopeless. He either over-cooks the pasta, under-cooks it, or is so focused on getting the pasta right that the sauce burns."

Reighn snorted. "So that's why we only ate pasta when I cooked it... Which was pretty much every other time it was my turn to cook... For someone that can't cook pasta to save his life, why does he ask for it so often?" he wondered. I smiled.

"Blame me. My recipe book is with Asch, but it's mostly pasta dishes. In fact, I cooked pasta so often that Asch swore if I wasn't so good at making all of them taste so different, he would refuse to even touch pasta ever again," I admitted. "I'm guessing that Sync is why you've got as many pasta recipes as you do?"

Reighn smirked. "Yeah. Sync would bug me about a certain recipe and I'd have to look all over the place to find it. Bit of a pain, really, though I've got to admit, some of the things he made me find were pretty good. Sounds like I'm rather a bit of an amateur though."

I shrugged. "Meh. I always enjoyed pasta. It's one of Sync's favorites now too, no thanks to him being rather impressionable, but even if it wasn't..." I trailed off and shrugged. "Well, at any rate..."

"If you and Sync like pasta, and you already mentioned Asch really only likes it because you can make it in so many ways, what does he like?" Luke asked.

I grinned. "My idea of a salad. It generally involves lots of things that aren't lettuce, though if you really look at it, it's two-thirds greens and a third other stuff, but the other stuff is fun and you don't really notice that there's more lettuce than the extras 'cause it's balanced nicely and tastes really good."

Natalia tilted her head to the side. "What all do you put in?"

I frowned and thought about it. "Well, we're all a little different. There's always some kind of meat. I like to cook it and then cut it up and distribute it... That seasoning from back when Luke joined us? I usually used that on the meat... Hmm... after that... We usually had some cherry tomatoes, though it was amusing, because I'd dump about eight into mine, Asch would take five or six, and Sync would just take two or three. Sync doesn't care for cherry tomatoes, by the way. He'll eat a regular tomato like I eat a peach, but heavens help us if he has to eat more than a couple cherry tomatoes."

After a short round of laughter and a moment of stuffing food in my mouth, I swallowed and continued. "Shredded cheese was something Sync and I practically fought over. Asch usually ended up with less, not that he minded. And if we had any eggs that we'd had for a while that we needed to use up quick, we'd hard-boil them, slice 'em up, and dump them in. And dressing, as usual. It was always funny. We'd tease each other over what we ended up putting in, and there would always be at least one bit of lettuce thrown at someone. It never escalated into an all-out food fight, I mean, we didn't want to be wasteful, but still..."

Natalia smiled. "It sounds like you three had a lot of fun, traveling." I shrugged, poking around the last few bites.

"It was wonderful, while it lasted." I frowned, my appetite gone, and stood. "I'm taking a walk."

*You can finish it,* I added to Mieu.

I needed some time alone.

Fun Fact: FOOD! Is mostly based on whatever the heck I'm eating when I type it. Also, yes, the thing with the salad is very much accurate where Kairi and I are concerned. I literally wiped my boyfriend out of cherry tomatoes when I made a salad at his house the other day. (We then went fishing. I did sorta better than he did. I caught a stick. He got his bait caught in the rocks at the bottom and lost it.)