Alt. Title: Lying is the Most Fun A Guy Can Have Without Taking Off His Clothes
Leaving had been easier than expected.
Goodbyes were a lot harder. Nya clung to her mother for at least a minute before they parted their hug. She spent the good portion of an hour running her hand along the weaponry in her smithery, silently praying that it would still be in business by the time she returns. And in a spacious, private room in her castle, Nya knelt down and lit a lone candle behind her father's portrait. Unlike her mother's hug or the final stroll around her shop, the dim glow of the candle offered no solace.
With nothing more than a bag of necessities slung over her shoulders, Nya departed without a glance at the village that previously held her whole life.
She travelled with remarkable grace and calm. Sleeping in trains and sneaking on the back of carts, walking on wooden shoes in the burning sun, hitchhiking sneakily on boats, Nya made it away from the island she lived on, and onto the peninsula.
Spring rain fell. In a small village, huddled in a long black coat, a young man stood, shielded from the rain by the canopy of shop roofs. He stared wistfully at a pair of red boots, tilting his head to get a better angle of the detail. The boots were of fine leather, neatly stitched and accented with red silk. They seemed so durable in all weathers, and so beautiful, too.
"No," he murmured. "I can't." The last time he placed a pair of red shoes on his feet, he never wanted to take them off. They had been rough and worn, but they carried too much sentimental value for him to part with them.
He leaned his face against the window; his warm breath leaving condensed vapour on the cold glass.
"Sir, are you alright?"
Nya had been watching the poor guy lean against the window. He looked so tired and weary. Even though Nya tried not to concern herself with other people, she felt prompted to help.
"No, I'm not," he murmured, more at his own reflection that the concerned girl who approached him. "I'm in love with the aesthetics of footwear I'll never own." Shooting a wistful glance back at the window, he turned around, facing Nya.
She blinked. Once, out of confusion, twice, because she was still confused. "Are you alright now?"
"Sorry about that. I get far too attached to shoes," said the man. He clasped his hands together and dipped his head towards Nya. "Cole," he said.
Nya studied his face carefully. His tanned face suggested that he, like her, was a commoner, but his wide eyes and mouth indicated that he mightn't be from a nearby region. "The name's Nya," she said, bowing her body. From our greetings alone, there's already an evident cultural difference.
"I've never met a Nya. Nice name," he said, tilting his head back up. "You're from the Land of the Rising Sun, let me guess."
"How could you tell?"
Cole gestured to the sword hanging off her back. "Look at its make. It's so iconic of your country." He smiled, thinking of all the Rising Sun swords he had seen – in more ways than one. "Say, have you met the King there?"
Nya laughed. "They say the Emperor and Empress there are still recovering from their missing daughter. Surely they wouldn't have time to meet with a lowly blacksmith."
"It's been, what, six years since her capture?" Cole said. "The princess could be thirteen or fourteen now." Cole knew that a missing relative was not something one would simply 'get over', but he continued to criticise the monarchs. "It's ridiculous that the Emperor would contain the forest beast in his own castle, especially in the reach of the princess," he added. "I will never be able to understand royal logic. But, less about that. I'm honoured to meet a fellow traveller. How are you?"
They talked a bit more, or at least, they tried to. Cole said that he was just travelling around, trying to find enlightenment or something like that. "I was going to make this a well-funded expedition," he added, "but that would ruin the point." In return, Nya told him about her brother in great deal, and how she was going to save him, despite not being sure how.
It was a weird feeling – having someone who was willing to listen to her problems and not simply shrug her off as weird for being the reason why her brother was missing.
"So, you're going to travel down the peninsula into the mainland?" asked Cole. "Funnily enough, so am I."
"If you want, we could travel together," suggested Nya. "A hero doesn't get much done without her sidekick, after all."
Cole frowned. "What are you implying?" He agreed to travel with Nya, though. Finding enlightenment could come in the form of friends. Nya was searching for her destiny – and Cole knew that destiny and enlightenment often came hand in hand.
The two mutually agreed to stop at the nearby bar to get a sense of what was happening. Nya burst in, rather dramatically, slamming the door against the wall. Heads turned as she strode in confidently. Cole followed, flipping up the collars of his coat to look inconspicuous. Apparently Cole wasn't the only one who recognised Nya as foreign by the katana she had. A middle-aged man, the innkeeper, no doubt, approached the duo.
"Visitors? Foreign visitors in particular?" the innkeeper smiled. "What a day! We would be happy to accommodate travellers."
"I've never seen someone from the Land of the Rising Sun in flesh," said a bard, propped up in a corner, turning to Nya. "Are you really as isolated from the rest of the world as people say?"
Nya let out of a polite laugh. "I'm naturally isolated, sir. Whether that's a common trait across my country, I'm unsure, but best not to judge a whole nation by the nature of one member, am I right?"
Laughs burst out across the bar, accented by cries of "hear! hear!".
Cole sulked behind Nya, eyeing the others suspiciously. Looking across the bar, he noted his surroundings. Mainly people from the village, he noted, and full of young apprentices and scholars. It had been a while since the traveller ran into any people recently, and he was restless.
"Say," he said, leaning over to the bartender so no one would hear. "Is there a secret menu, say, around here?"
She slammed down a piece of paper on the desk. "Here, unless you're looking for a different secret menu."
Cole gave an inquiring smile and nod.
"In that case, upstairs two floors, turn left twice, fourth door on your right. The walls are soundproof."
"Thank you," Cole quietly passed her a small pouch of coins. Quickly gesturing to Nya, he added, "and look after her, for me, okay?"
The bartender smiled at him. "Don't worry about your sister. Go have your fun."
While Cole was gone, Nya did her best to make friends. First, the bartender who probed her with excessive questions about her "brother", prompting Nya to realise that her hair and skin colour matching Cole's closely, and them travelling together would probably make sense for the young lady to believe they were family. Nya used her charisma and charm to convince the bartender that Cole was not the man she should chase after, and instead suggested the lonely bard, still propped up in a corner, strumming a qing and singing pathetic love songs. Nya thought the two would hit it on quite well, until the bartender came strolling back, mumbling about how the bard, despite his frequent love-songs, knew nothing at all.
Then, the apprentices and scholars who were excited to hear about the world, but never managed to get enough funds for a trip, asked Nya to tell stories from her homeland. Nya recalled tales of a woodsman and his wife, who was beautiful and could turn into a Crane. The wife would sew silk, which sold for extravagant prices on the market, until the woodsman discovered she had been using her own feathers for the cloth. Another tale, of a woman who was in reality a nine-tailed-fox. And finally, Nya told a story about a princess who lived on the moon. "Kaguya was her name," Nya said. "I loved her too much as a child."
"That's wonderful," whispered one of them. "Who knew the world was full of tales so varied and beautiful?"
In three hours, Cole came back, in significantly better spirits than before.
"Where did you go?" Nya said, arching a concerned eyebrow. "Is this place really a brothel, because if it was, you didn't have to be so secretive."
Cole opened his mouth to either lie, or retort, or to just casually admit to what he had done.
Before he could say anything, a messenger burst in, holding out a scroll of paper. "Have you heard the news? The king in the north-west announced a competition for the hand of his son!"
"Oh, he's gorgeous!" said a waitress in the corner. In her excitement, she nearly let the bowl of soup she was carrying slip out of her grasp.
"Well, he would be more gorgeous if he weren't so… weird!" retorted a singer nearby.
Nya and Cole had raised their heads in unison when the messenger had burst in, and now, the two were even more interested in the news. "Who's this guy… and how is he weird?" Nya asked the waitress.
The waitress placed the soup bowl in front of Nya. "Prince Jay is the son of King Ed Walker. They say he's more interested in art and machinery than anything princes are usually into." With a sigh, she added. "That doesn't change the fact that he's one of the handsomest heirs to his throne in generations, though."
"You can thank his mother for that," nodded the singer. "Still a weirdo, though."
The messenger coughed, waiting for the disorder to die down so he could continue. "The prince has been placed in one of the many towers in one of the many forests. Whoever finds and rescues the prince from his ordeal will receive whatever prize the hero wishes, even marriage to Prince Jay."
"Royals are so dramatic," muttered a student in a corner, prompting giggles around her. "Locking their children in towers, who does that?" She turned around, waving her arms, as support for her comments roared in yells and hollers. "Am I right, people? Is the logic of kings and queens truly failing us?"
"She's right," Cole said to Nya. "Nobles are pretty ridiculous."
Nya nodded at Cole. She hardly knew any nobles, so couldn't give her opinion on what he just said. The messenger's offer sounded interesting, but going to one of the many forests on the Peninsula would mean she had to take a detour, which could potentially mean lost time to save her brother.
"You think you might try to rescue this prince?" asked Cole. "Saving dudes in distress sounds like your thing."
"I've read a lot of stories about girls who would have destroyed the world to save their cursed prince or husband," she said. "Apparently, I'm one of those girls, and I'm searching for my brother-turned-bird. I'll rather not let anything, not even a prince desperate for rescue, stand in my way."
"Is he really going to stand in your way, though?" Cole asked. "Sometimes by helping others, you get what you want in life – and no, I'm not just spitting philosophy at you, because I am most definitely right."
"Yeah, right," Nya laughed. "Maybe we could rescue this prince, though. I could get money from the king to fund my journey and to help my mother, and you can get… whatever you want."
Cole nodded solemnly. "Sounds good. Listen, Nya, do you have a plan?" He thought about the prizes. Anything he wanted. The only thing Cole wanted was absolutely impossible unless King Walker was high heaven itself. The other thing – no one, not even an industrious king, could change a stubborn father's mind.
"Let's hang around here, a bit more," Nya said, pulling out the map given to her by her benefactor. "People gossip here so openly, and it's near major trade routes. I say that we stay a day or so to get an idea of current events, then travel by the Northwestern Road."
Cole nodded, studying the map. "And we're intending to perhaps find this prince? How'll that work with the journey you planned?"
"We'll guide ourselves towards him with instinct and intuition," Nya suggested, thinking of words said by her benefactor.
"You must really trust yourself."
Nya rolled up the map, tugging it away from Cole. "It's my destiny to rescue my brother. You have to trust yourself if you're following your destiny."
Cole thought about destinies and futures. It must be nice for Nya – having some set goal in life, with expectations and people who would support you. To be surrounded by admirers and to know exactly who to talk to in order to get help for your problems. And even better – it must be nice to trust yourself, because Cole certainly never did.
"Alright, then," he said. "If you're trusting yourself, then I guess I'll have to trust that you know what to do."
Nya beamed. "Then get ready to enjoy life in this village for a couple of days! The apprentices and scholars want me to hang out with them. Apparently they're fond of folklore from my region. You should go tell some of yours to them!"
Cole wasn't sure if he wanted to spend tomorrow morning hanging out with some energetic teenagers, but he decided to do so anyway.
He tried to recount some tales from his region, but his story-telling skills were incredibly sub-par. The students yawned and shifted, or looked at him with faces ridden with confusion. No matter how interesting the story he was telling, he would always fail to make the plot coherent, he would skip over major plots in the story, and he would awkwardly wave his hands whenever he couldn't find the words to express himself.
Words, especially when storytelling, was not his medium.
Ten minutes or so of hanging out with the young adults, Nya had pulled Cole aside. "Can't you do this a little better?" she asked, to which he responded that he couldn't. He ended up storming out of the bar, much to the shock and sadness of the students. Telling folklores ended up bringing too many memories from his childhood for Cole, and either way, he was sure the village would hear of any famous Middle Kingdom tales eventually.
Nya spent most of her time with the students. Apparently, she enjoyed having people her age to talk to, even though their conversation topics were of frivolous and childish things. Cole assumed the way she was so eager to socialise was because of the alienation she implied to have experienced back home.
Cole ran errands for the town instead. He wanted to move around, to run, to do something with himself that didn't involve pretty girls in darkness of night. The only frustrating thing was people were beginning to like him too much. They asked too many personal questions – where he was from, who his parents was, where he was going.
It felt weird – trying to blend in by being secretive, but the only way to truly blend in here was being open about himself.
It was obvious that he was so desperate to leave a couple of days later. Once it was morning, he leapt out of bed, quickly made himself presentable and threw his belongings together in his bag, before sprinting as fast as possible to the room Nya was in. He knocked on the door with such ferocity that he left a dent. Nya yelled at him to quiet down. Cole slumped against the wall, waiting for his friend to come out.
"Get some chill," Nya said, five minutes later. Her hair was a mess, and so were her clothes, but she looked bright and energetic, as if she was ready to face the world. "Oh yeah," she added, her tone suggesting it was a bit of an afterthought. Cole, I got you something."
She handed him a wooden box. Inside it, lay a pair of fine boots – the same pair that Cole had been staring at when they first met. "The apprentices wanted to get me a parting gift," she said. "I said I wouldn't mind this pair of boots, since you were looking so forlornly at them. I know it's supposed to be their gift for me, but you looked like you needed these shoes."
Cole looked at Nya with utmost appreciation. The two had hardly known each other for two days, and she was willing to dedicate a gift from the students to him? "They're gorgeous," he said. "I can't thank you enough."
"In that case, put them on! I hope they fit," she said, pushing the box into his hands.
Outside of the window he first saw them in, the boots were even more stunning. Cole held the soft fabric in his hands, running them over with a curious finger. The ribbons around the shoes were taut and rigid. Without a doubt, these boots had been made to last. The young traveller slipped on the pair. It felt like they had been made for him – the size was in every way perfect, and the dark red accented his black pants and dark tunic brilliantly.
In a brief moment, images flashed within his heads. A pair of dancing shoes, worn and torn. Rain and black umbrellas and ash. A rundown cottage and a glorious mansion. A beautiful maiden who lifted her floor-length dress to reveal a fine pair of red shoes and pink thighs. A man with pale skin and dark hair, his face etched with a confused, concerned gasp.
New shoes brought back old memories, good and bad, it seemed. Suddenly, Cole never wanted to take them off.
AN: In case if you're confused about place names, Japan will be referred to as 'The Land of the Rising Sun', China is the 'Middle Kingdom' and 'the Center of the World', and Korea is 'the Peninsula' and 'the Land of Morning Calm'. All these names are derived from the meanings/translations of the real place names. So is this fanfiction really set in a fictional universe? No, not really. Fairytales are designed as an extension of the real world, after all.
I know while I'm basing this fanfic off European fairytales, I'm setting them in Asia because European fairytales are generally written so that they could be set anywhere and anytime, and since ninja are Japanese assassins, and I headcanon most of the ninja (particularly Kai, Nya and Lloyd) as Asian, it seems more suitable to give this work an Asian setting rather than an European one.
Anyway, I was hyped to introduce Cole. He's always been a character I've related to, and I swear he's going to be fun to write. If I ever bump the rating of this story up, I blame it all on him.