Sumiko Story, Chapter 11

Chapter 11: As the Days Go By</b>
“Time passes ever onward.”
••
The rain was coming down so hard outside that is rose up in a mist upon whatever it came in contact with. Still, though it was raining hard enough to thoroughly soak the cloak I was wearing within seconds, there was something… different about it.
“Akira, where are we?” I asked, as he led me away from the prison.
“Northern Terragondia, about a week’s walking distance away from Terra’kenis. If it were lighter out, you might be able to see a little of the tree line from here. We’re still pretty far close to Central Terragondia—that’s where Solavare is located— but there are some trees that start popping up by the boarder.”
“I thought so… the rain feels… lighter.” I commented, briefly glancing up at the torrent clashing down on us.
“Heh, I wondered if you’d notice,” Akira said, looking back at me. “The rain feels lighter, because it is lighter. Well, a bit anyway. It doesn’t rain nearly as hard in Northern Terragondia and Terra’kenis as it does in Solavare.”
“Oh… okay,” I said slowly. “So where are we going now, and how are we going to get there?”
“We’re going back to Solavare.” He said, stopping in front of a large brown horse. “And we would ride there, but you don’t know how to ride, and we haven’t the time to teach you currently”
“Actually, Fozen told me all about horseback riding the day before you came. I know all about the saddle, and the reigns and the different gaits, and the —” But Akira cut me off before I could continue on in my little rant.
“Yes, but knowing and actually experiencing are two very different things and I’m pretty sure you haven’t ever sat on a moving horse before—let alone travel at the speed we would need to…. Unless you also did that while I was gone.” He said sounding amused while untying the horse from what I guessed was a tree.
“Why didn’t you just tie it up over there?” I asked, jabbing my thumb back towards the jail.
“What, the horse?” He asked looking up. I nodded. “Two reasons,” he said. “One, it probably would have gotten stolen, and two… look at what we just crossed.” He said pointing back the way we’d just come.
I looked back to see a large bridge, leading all the way back to the front doors of the jail. There had been so much rain, I hadn’t noticed what we were crossing. Also, my cell had been on the other side of the building, so I hadn’t been able to see it from my cell.
“This guy doesn’t do so well with heights,” Akira continued, patting the horse on its neck as he spoke. “Not to mention it’d pretty much be a giveaway someone was here to break you out.”
“Alright, fine!” I said, rather impatiently. “But you still haven’t said how we’re going to get to Solavare—just how were not.”
“Oh, I’ll have to use that technique again. But it’s late enough by now, that I should be able to transport us right to the house. No one in their right mind would be caught out in this gale.” He said, tightening up a few things on the saddle.
“What about the horse?” I asked apprehensively.
“He’ll be on his own for a little while. I’ll send him off towards Terra’Kenis as a false trail. Someone will find him, and if no one does… well, then there’s plenty of room in the forest for him to live.”
“B-but… your horse…”
“Oh, he’s not mine. I stole him from a patrol of guards awhile back.”
“Oh…” I watched as he took off the bridle, and hid it in some grass nearby. Then he slapped the horse  on it’s haunches, and it took off. Galloping away, out of sight.
“What about the saddle?” I asked suddenly.
“ I rigged it. It’ll fall off in a couple of days. He should be far enough away by then that it sholdn’t matter. Now, no more questions untill we get home, if you please.” He said, grabbing my arm, and pulling me into a run in the opposite direction he’d sent the horse.
“Wait, I thought we were using a technique!” I gasped, as I stumbled to catch up.
“What did I just say?” Akira asked, not breaking stride, or sounding winded in the least.
“Oh, come on! You just told me one thing and then dragged me off into the antithesis! Gimme a break!” I said exasperatedly, catching up to run beside him.
Akira sighed, despite the fact that we were still streaking along the countryside. “We are, but not in front of that infernal prison! As rainy as it is, there are guards who are still required to keep watch, and I don’t want them seeing anything suspicious!”
“But you just said”—
Akira cut me off, sounding annoyed. “Normal townsfolk will all be inside. It’s the dead of the night, in the middle of a monsoon-like torrent. I told you we’d be traveling hard, did I not? I wasn’t lying about that either. Now hurry up, and stop complaining! I know you can keep up with me—we’ve had training sessions that are harder than this.”
“Yeah, yeah, I get it already!” I said, rolling my eyes, and smiling despite myself. Akira was just the same as always, touchy as ever at any time he had to get wet. I laughed to myself a little but, he was just like a cat the way he disliked rain so much. “Just try and keep up with me,” I said, laughing, and ran past him.
“Sumiko,” he sighed, trying to sound annoyed, but I could tell he was smiling.
We raced along the countryside, hardly saying anything except the occasional warning to watch for footing, just enjoying in each other’s company. It was nice. I hadn’t really thought about it for a while, but it seemed to me— sometimes – that I was losing Akira. Like we were drifting apart as I grew up, pulled away by some freaky force I didn’t quite understand. I didn’t like that thought. So it was nice, to have times like these, no false pretenses, no stupid acts, or rules to follow. They showed me that Akira was still in there… a fact I was grateful to know.
After a while (I had lost track of time) Akira ran ahead of me to the top of a large bluff, and stopped.  I followed, stopping, more or less beside him, slipping a little bit on the wet ground. I was breathing hard, and had to wait to catch my breath before asking “What’s up?”
Although we had just run the same equally long distance, a good deal of which he had outpaced me for, Akira didn’t seem to be as tired as I was. Either he had already caught his breath in the time it took me to catch up (which, mind you, wasn’t very long) or he had never lost it in the first place. Stupid show-off.
“This is far enough,” he said, and paused for a sigh. I guess he was a little out of breath after all, I thought smugly.
“Already?” I asked, still huffing for breath in a much less dignified manner.
“Yes, actually, we passed ‘far enough’ about a quarter of a mile back, but… I guess I just got so caught up in running….” He trailed away, leaning back to look at the sky.
For the moment, I was thankful for the heavy rain. It felt nice and cool against my skin, and on my face as I turned to look up at the sky with Akira. I forgot myself for a moment, watching th dark shapes of the clouds roll overhead as I caught my breath. I closed my eyes for a moment, enjoying how peaceful it was. Akira startled me out of my reverie by grabbing my arm, and pulling me into that oh-so-familiar embrace. I screwed up my face in disdain, hugging him tight for the shock I knew that come next.
I heard him sigh a phrase into the air, and felt the wind pick up around me. Soon it was whirling around us in a mini-tornado, and I felt an unpleasant jerking sensation as I was lifted off my feet by the intangible force of it. It wasn’t as bad as the first time, although that may have been because I knew what to expect this time around. All I could hear was the blowing of rain around us; I felt the rain lift for just a moment…. Only to come crashing down on me again a moment later at the same moment I felt my feet touch the ground. I opened my eyes, but couldn’t see anything. Then there was a click, and a familiar creaking sound in front of me, I felt Akira pushing me from behind, and I stumbled forward… through the doorway at our house in Solavare.
I stood there for a moment, trying to process what had just happened. Then I realized I was still wet—not too cold, but very, very wet. I quickly reached up to take off my water logged cloak (Not that I’d been using it much) and hung it up by the door. Akira did the same, and I watched as twin pond of water formed in second underneath our sopping cloaks. Think vaguely of how I’d have to mop it up later I looked around at our house. It felt so good to be someplace familiar, with a normal bed, and a normal floor, and of course, actual normal, non-gelatinous food. I sighed, realizing just how much I had missed Solavare.
Suddenly I remembered something. “A-Akira…” I asked nervously. “Are you sure it was a good idea to bring me back here? After all, it was these guys who arrested me in the first place.”  I didn’t want to come all the way back here, just to be dragged back into custody.
Akira walked over and sat down heavily in a wooden chair in the kitchen before answering. I walked over and joined him.
“First of all, it was the Delranian soldiers who arrested you, not the Terragondians. Second, you don’t have to worry about them anymore, the soldiers I mean, not the Terragondians, because they hauled up and left here a few days after you did. They’re gone now.”
“Gone?” I asked.
“Yup, gone,” he answered, gesturing with a hand.
“But… what about the house?” I said looking around.
“They were called out before they made it here. Probably a fake lead somebody gave them on that statue to make ‘em leave.” He said, leaning back casually in his chair.
“How long have I been gone?” I asked, incredulously.
“Hm… about… five days. That’s counting the day you were arrested, since you were gone for most of it.
“Oh,” I said, thinking. If I had been in jail for about three days… then how long had it taken me to get there? Or, how long was I unconscious? Where had I been when I was unconscious? Where had I been for two days?
“How long did it take you to get to the jail?” I asked Akira, still thinking.
“About two days on horseback. I left the day after you were arrested. Now if you’ve any other questions to ask me, would you kindly refrain from asking them until tomorrow morning?” He asked, with a big stretch. “I, for one, could really use a little sleep, and I’m guessing you haven’t slept on a proper bed since your incarceration.”
Now that he mentioned it, I was feeling a bit tired, and the thought of an actual bed was very tempting. Still though, I wanted to stay up a little longer. I resisted the urge to yawn.
“No, I don’t think I have,” I agreed, with a shake of my head. “But I want to stay up a little bit longer. I don’t feel quite like sleeping just yet.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Akira warned. “I woke you up pretty early this morning, and I’m pretty sure you didn’t get very much rest during the day. Not to mention the two and a half miles we ran just a little while back…. No, I think k you’d better got to sleep too.”
Two and a half miles? Had it really been that far? I wondered, to myself. “But I… I really… I really don’t”—I tried several times, failing to stifle the large yawn my body had suddenly decided to initiate. “Don’t feel like sleeping…” I trailed off lamely.
“Alright, that’s it. You’re going to bed right now,” Akira said, standing up, and coming around to stand behind me.
“Okay, okay! But one last question,” I pleaded, standing up to face him.
“I swear Sumi, if I had a coin for every time I’ve heard you say that…” He said, shaking his head.
“Come on Akira! If I stopped asking questions every time you told me ‘no more questions’ I’d be as dumb as a dormouse.”
“Alright, alright, you win.” He said, throwing his hands in the air, “one last question.”
“Do I still have to wear the cloak since the soldiers are gone?” That thing was really uncomfortable.
“Well…technically, no,” he said, slowly. “The people here aren’t as suspicious as the soldiers were, but it would be a good idea to. I’d really actually prefer you wear it when walking around town, but you don’t have to stay here when I’m out anymore. There’s really no point in keeping that rule around anymore since the soldiers are gone.  Just… tell me when you’re leaving, or leave a note first, ‘kay? I really would like it better if you’d stop vanishing on me all the time.”
I smiled up at him. I really had missed him a lot. “Okay, I promise. No more vanishing,” I said playfully, giving him a hug.
“Thanks,” he chuckled, returning the hug. “It’s good to have you back Sumi.”
“I missed you Akira.”
“I missed you too Sumi… now go to bed!”
••
When I woke up the next morning, Akira was gone—which surprised me… until I realized how late I’d slept in. Resting in an actual bed had proved to be more alluring then I’d thought it would. Still, no I had an entire day before me. Countless opportunities and options awaited me now that I didn’t have to stay inside all day. Endless possibilities awaited me… and I couldn’t think of a single one to do for an entire day.
I ventured into the kitchen, and discovered that we were almost entirely out of food. ‘Guess I’ve found how I’m sending my day,’ I thought dryly, but not really caring. Grocery shopping wasn’t the worst way to spend a day. I was happy to be able to explore the town of Solavare again. If only I didn’t have to wear that stupid cloak…. But I had promised Akira I would.
‘I wonder if maybe I could take it off outside the village,’ I pondered, as I walked back to my room to change. I was almost out the door, before I saw the note. It was written on a small yellow piece of paper, and set on the table. It read:

Sumiko,
Sorry I had to run like this, I would have said good-bye, but I figured you could use your rest. Off at another meeting. I should be back for a little while at noon, so if you’ve still got questions (and I’ve no doubt you do) meet me then. Remember, try not to do anything too conspicuous… and wear the cloak.
-Akira

I rolled my eyes. ‘Try not to do anything too conspicuous’… what, did he think I tried to get myself arrested? I spent the next five minutes trying to get something to write with. After finally locating something I could use to pen a response, I flipped the note over and scrawled a reply;

Relax! I’ll wear the cloak and restrain myself from doing anything too ‘rash’. See you at noon!
-Sumiko

Okay, so it wasn’t exactly elegant, but it did get my point across. Placing the note back neatly where I found it, I turned and ran out the door.
It was wonderful to be out in the fresh air again. There were so many people wandering about, doing their jobs, and some just having a good time.  With the soldiers now gone, people had started to relax more. Parents were letting children play outside again, people were stopping to say hello to their neighbors and to discuss the rising cost of fish oil, or whatever else was on their minds.
All morning I kept my eyes open for any sign of Rohan, but he was nowhere to be found. A gust of warm air rustled the cloak I was wearing. The wind was so welcome after my stay in prison. There had been next to no insulation in the prison, excepting our undersized window, and thus the smell hadn’t been too, uh… pleasant.  Compared to that, even the strong smell of the fish market was like a basket of daisies.
By the time it was noon, the temperature seemed to have risen almost as high as the sun. If it hadn’t been for the constant breezes coming through the valley, I might have fainted, stuck underneath the thick traveling cloak as I was. As it was, I managed to be dazed enough to take a wrong turn, and ended up along one of the bridges big log-like railings. I dawdled there for a moment, letting the spray from the river below cool my face. There seemed to be something familiar about this place, but I couldn’t quite place my finger on it. The glimmer of fish below caught my eye, reminding me that I had to get the one I bought at the market home before it spoiled in the heat, and I hurried off.
About eight minutes, and several more wrong turns later, I arrived home… just in time to see Akira scribbling a note on another piece of paper. He looked up as I walked in.
“Guess I won’t be needing this anymore,” He said, gesturing at the half scribbled note before tucking it into his pocket. “I’ll just tell you instead. I’m going to be out late tonight, so you probably won’t see me until tomorrow morning.” He explained, walking over towards the door. “I just thought you ought to know.”
“Wait!” I cried, causing him to pause mid0step and gaze back at me curiously. “You said you’d answer some of my questions at noon,” I whined, hurrying to put the groceries down on the table.
“Yes, but you’re late, and it’s well past noon,” he said, pointing out the position of the sun, which clearly displayed the truth of his words. “I have to be somewhere.”
“You are, you’re right here, answering my questions,” I shot back.
“Nice try, but, no,” he said, chuckling and turning to leave.
“Wait, please!” I begged. “Just two more questions!”
He gave me a long look before finally giving in.
“Fine— two more, just two more questions.”
“Can I take the cloak off out of town?” I quickly asked, ripping the wretched thing from around my neck.
“Well, I suppose if you’re far enough away it doesn’t really matter.” He answered.
“Okay, second question, will you teach me that wind transportation technique?”
Akira looked taken aback. “You… you want to learn a technique?” He asked, astonished.
Part of me wanted to tell him that I already knew quite a few techniques, not to mention several blades. (Which were kind of like the ‘elite’ techniques) But the other part of me still wanted to keep it a secret. Why? I had no idea. Maybe it was because I wasn’t really supposed to have been attending all of those lessons. Maybe it was just force of habit… I’d been lying about it for years after all. Or maybe it was something else totally unrelated to any of those possibilities. Whatever the reason, that was the half I listened to, simply nodding in response to Akira’s question.
“I don’t know Sumi… it’s rather complex, and difficult to pull off…” At these words, my body seemed to explode with happiness. He hadn’t automatically said ‘no’! That meant, he might actually do it! I thought I might actually be able to pull it off.
“You wouldn’t actually have to teach it to me! If you could maybe explain the hand motions to me, and the incantations, or anything else, I could figure it out on my own!” I added, hopefully.
“Hmm… I guess so… but only if you promise to only practice on the plateaus, it’s way too noticeable to do in here.”
“I promise,” I said, quickly.
The next five minutes were spent learning the hand signs, and memorizing the incantation. After which, he began to explain the little details to me.
“The trick is,” he said seriously, “You have to constantly focus all of your attention on where you’re going. You need to visualize every little detail of the place you wish to end up, so that the technique can distinguish exactly where you want to go. Also make sure you out in the exact right amount of chi. Absolutely no emotions. If you mess up, your destination is thrown off, you might lose a few things, although you will keep traveling. You just won’t end up where you want to be. Not enough chi, and you either don’t move, or you go backwards, don’t ask.” He said, holding up a hand to silence the oncoming question.
“It’s very painful, disorienting, and dangerous because it uses up so much energy. Just whatever you do, avoid going backwards. Now, if you put in too much chi,” he continued, “You are either skewed South, or Northeast, depending on whether it’s good or bad chi. Bad is South, Good is Northeast… again, don’t ask, that’s just the way it is. One last thing,” he said, moving towards the door, only to stop and look back.
“Why don’t you just practice moving rocks You know, until you get the hang of it. It’s good practice, and that way if you mess up, you won’t end up in the middle of an ocean, or wherever else you might accidentally wind up.” And then he was gone.
Most of his tips had been useful, like the good chi/bad chi thing. Other parts, I already knew about from all of my secret training sessions.
I kept thinking of where I wanted to practice the technique, to the east end of town, of the west end of town? And how far away should I go? It was nice to worry about such trivial things as right vs. left rather than how to break out of jail. Also Akira had said it was a difficult technique to learn, and I relished at the thought of a challenge. There had never before been a technique I had failed to master, and I wasn’t planning on starting now.
I put up the food, carrots, potatoes, fruit—including brawple berries, oranges, and chocolum fruit, which I found good for seasoning. Also I had discovered they lost their sleepy qualities when cooked. I cut up the fish and dried it to make jerky. Only when I was done with all of that, did I grab an orange and head out the door, with that accursed cloak on my head.
I decided to leave from the west side of town, because that was the side of town we had come in on during my first day in Solavare. That was the first time I’d seen the technique used, when Akira used it to transport us from Satoki to Terragondia. If I could find the same plateau he’d transported us to, I’d be able to judge what a safe distance from town looked like.
I started off going west, and somehow ended up east of where I’d started. I was hot, and confused, which combined to make me tired. I sighed, leaning against another one of Solavare’s huge guardrails. I hadn’t even started, and I was already tired. I rolled my eyes at my stupidity, and turned to go when I felt something tugging at my cloak. I looked down to see a puppy with big brown eyes staring back at me.
It smiled, and then yelped a few times, wagging its tail.
“Yap, yap, yap!” It barked happily, running in little circles. If I hadn’t known any better, I would have said it looked almost overjoyed to see me. Then it flipped over on its back, revealing its fuzzy belly, and looking at me expectantly.
It was just too cute. I couldn’t help myself. I crouched down to rub the little dog’s belly, making it whine with pleasure. “Hey there little buddy, what are you doin’ out here? Where’s your owner?” I asked, still rubbing its belly.
Almost immediately after saying this I was interrupted by a little girl, crying out loudly. “No! Catfish, no! ” I looked up to see a little girl, closely trailed by her mother running towards me.”
“Silly Catfish! You can’t go running around like that! I’m your owner now, you have to listen to what I say.” The little girl chastised, gathering the puppy up in her arms.
I was suddenly hit with a wave of déjà vu. Now I remembered why this place had seemed so familiar before. After all, I’d been here only five days ago.” This little girl had been here too, along with her dog, which I now noticed had a bandaged leg. Of course the last time we’d been here, there had been several guards as well, and I hadn’t left conscious.
“I’m sorry about the confusion. He’s just recently developed this habit of running”—the girl froze when she caught a glimpse of my face from underneath my hood. “…away…” the girl finished quietly.
We sat there, staring at each other for a little while, until the appearance of another guest demanded our attention.
“Oh, thank goodness you caught him Ariel,” the mother panted, coming to stand behind her daughter. “I swear, that dog is more trouble then he’s worth.”
The arrival of her mother had caused both Ariel and I to look up, breaking the eye contact we’d been holding for so long. The mother, sensing the strange tension, looked down at Ariel, confused. “Ariel, what’s wrong?”
“Mom, it’s her. This is the girl I told you about,” Ariel said quietly, looking up into her mother’s eyes.
The atmosphere seemed to thicken suddenly. Everyone was quiet, frozen by the tense silence. In fact, the only one who seemed not to have noticed the strange tension, was Catfish. He just sat there in Ariel’s lap, smiling up at us all.
Finally the silence was broken by Ariel’s mother, who suddenly burst into tears, running the short distance between us, and pulling me into a tight embrace.
“Oh thank you,” she sobbed. “Thank you so much for saving my daughter!”
This had been the last thing I had expected. So, I wasn’t entirely sure how to react. I just kind of sat there, and … let her cry into my shoulder. After a couple of minutes, she pulled away and wiped her eyes.
“I’m sorry,” she apologized, recovering her poise. “I didn’t mean to go to pieces like that. It’s just… when I saw you here… after everything you did…”
“Oh, it wasn’t much, really…” I murmured, embarrassed by the woman’s praise. “Your daughter was really smart, and she knew just when to slip away. I didn’t really do much…”
“Are you kidding?” Ariel finally piped up. “You were awesome! Mom, you should have seen her! You know that meanie guard who was picking on me, well, she threw him off the bridge. She threw him! She took down all of his friends too! The all had to pile up on top of her so that she couldn’t beat them up anymore!”
“Oh my,” said Ariel’s mother. “Did you really do all of that?”
I nodded, sheepishly.
“Oh dear, but if they caught you, that means you must have been arrested.”
“Only because they cheated,” Ariel muttered quietly.
As soon as Ariel’s mother had started talking to me, I had known this question would pop up. It seemed inevitable, with Ariel there, for I not to. I figured the best solution was probably just to answer it truthfully. After all, this was the woman who had just thanked me for saving her daughter, I didn’t think she was about to go and report me.
“Um… unfortunately, yes,” I answered cautiously.
“Oh my, that’s terrible!”
“But I bet you broke out of there, huh? That’s why you’re here right now, because you escaped!” Ariel piqued up, curiously.
“Well, uh, I did escape, but I had a little help…”
“Still though, to break out of jail…” her mother wondered, “that’s an impressive feat.”
“Hello mom, we’re talking about ninjas here,” Ariel reminded her, as though it were obvious.
“Oh, oh yes, of course dearie. I’m sorry I forgot.” Then turning to me, she added in a low undertone so that Ariel couldn’t hear, “You’ll have to forgive her. Ariel has a very active imagination. Ever since she saw you fight, she’s been convinced that you’re a ninja. Silly girl actually thinks they exist.”
I shifted uncomfortably. I don’t think I will ever be able to describe the strangeness of talking to someone, who is convinced that you don’t exist. Ariel’s mother continued, seemingly oblivious to uncomfortable state.
“I can’t say that I blame her though. We don’t have any kind of watch force, or law enforcement around here. Most of us are entirely dependent upon people like you to come along and help us if there’s any trouble. I know it sounds pretty pathetic when I say it like that, but we do our best.  If only there were someone that could teach us to defend ourselves…” she trailed off, looking thoughtful. Then suddenly she started, as if she had just noticed she had been spacing out.
“I’m sorry,” she apologized to me. “We’ve kept you here terribly long.”
“Oh, no, it’s okay, really. It’s not like, I’m in rush or anything.’ I assured her. I hesitated for a moment, before saying what I said next. “Um… I know a few things about fighting and self defense. Er, if you wanted, I could maybe teach Ariel a few things…”
“Oh, really?” Ariel asked, excitedly. “Oh please mom? Please? I’d get to train with a real ninja!”
“Yes, a real ninja, how exciting,” her mother said, not quite matching her daughter’s enthusiasm, but looking thoughtful.
“Only if it’s okay with you, that is,” I added, “and it would only be self defense.”
“Well… I suppose it would be useful to know that kind of thing, and knowing what Ariel tends to do in her spare time….” Her mother added wryly, glancing down at her daughter. “Are you sure it’s not too much trouble?”
“Oh no, I’d be glad to have some company… oh, but not today. I have something else I need to work on right now. Maybe I could pick her up tomorrow morning around nine? I could maybe have her back around noon.”
“Hm… that… sounds fair.” Her mother said after a moment of thought. Her words caused Ariel to do a little victory dance around her feet, Catfish yapping happily.
“I’ll have to pay you of course,” her mother added, throwing me off guard.
“Oh, no! That’s okay, I really don’t need”—I tried, but was cut off.
“No ,no, I insist!” Her mother said over my protests. “We’ll work out a reasonable amount tomorrow, after, uh ‘training’. Now, we’ve kept you long enough. We’ll meet you here around nine tomorrow morning and discuss the fee then. Come on Ariel, let’s go home. Daddy’s is waiting.”
We said goodbye, and I set off again, heading towards the place I had first landed in Terragondia.
••
When I got back to the house, it was dark and pouring buckets. After arriving home, I waited just inside the door, allowing all of the rain to spill off my cloak because it was too soaked to absorb any more liquid, creating yet another puddle-pond on the ground. I hung up the sodden cloak, and went to the kitchen to grab a bite to eat.
I had stayed out later then I meant to, practicing Akira’s wind technique. Mostly I had been moving pebbles around to get the feel of it. The technique was a lot harder to perform then it looked. If I had to guess, I would have said I spent four to six hours on top of that plateau practicing that stupid technique, and I still didn’t like it much. Then as I had been about to leave, I had caught sight of the sunset. So I had stayed around for another half an hour to watch the sun sink down under the plateaus. Of course, by the time it was over it had started to rain, and I had been given the chance to trod home, alone, in the pouring rain.
Overall, I wasn’t home at the earliest time, so I figured there was a pretty good chance Akira might be home. He wasn’t. This didn’t surprise me too much, although I was a little disappointed. You’d think I’d be worried about my older brother being gone at such a late hour, and again, the answer would have been no. Not that I didn’t care, but I knew Akira could take care of himself.
Still, I had hoped he’d be home by now. I decided to stay up a little bit later to see if he’d come back, though my hopes weren’t high. This is something I’d done often. Whenever Akira would mysteriously vanish off on his little ‘trips’. Grabbing a brawple berry in one hand, and a dishrag in the other, I started to clean, while munching on the sweet fruit with my other hand. I continued on long after the fruit was gone, and until the kitchen was spotless. By this time I’d pretty much given up hope of seeing Akira tonight.
Guess I’ll just have to wait until the morning, I thought. By the time I woke up the next morning however, I discovered I was still alone. At first I thought he’d come in late, and left early…. Well, earlier.   But when I checked his room, I discovered his bed still made up, and showing no sign of being recently used.
Akira hadn’t come home last night.
That thought troubled me. It meant he probably hadn’t gotten any sleep last night. Which would make it the third night in a row he hadn’t gotten a good night’s rest. Akira was a very dedicated person, and I was proud that he was working so hard, but I was also a little exasperated… and annoyed.
I mean, work is important, sure, but so was sleep. Didn’t he know when to take a break? Also, what about his employer? Why was he working him so hard? Though I had never met him, I had the strong desire to tell him to lay off. Akira was only human.
Sighing, I got changed before grabbing some breakfast and leaving to go meet Ariel and her mother by the railing.
Hanging out with Ariel proved to be very… uplifting. She kept complimenting me, and telling me how cool she thought I was. It made me feel great, but it was also a little embarrassing. I tried denying it at first, but she just kept coming back more vehemently then before, so I gave up.
Ariel was pretty cool herself… for a little kid, that is. She was extremely sharp, and picked up on whatever I was trying to teach her very quickly. I mean, she still had questions, and lots of them; first of which was of course,
“Are you a ninja?”
Somehow I’d seen that one coming. “I’ll tell you as soon as we get out of town.”
As soon as Ariel’s feet left the giant bridge, she turned to ask me again. I held up a hand to stop her, pointing out along the road. “A little farther,” I said, leading the way. Ariel quickly followed. We walked in question-less quiet to the bottom of the plateau where I had first set foot in Terragondia, when Ariel asked hopefully,
“Are we there yet?”
“Hmm,” I said, thinking. “Well, we don’t really have time to climb to the top… so yes, then I guess we’re here.”
“Are you a ninja?” she asked, instantly.
“Yes,” I answered.
Her eyes seemed to sparkle and she gasped, “Oh really?” Then, “I knew it! I knew it! Oh, just wait until I tell mom”—
“You can’t tell anybody,” I said, cutting across her excited squealing. “Otherwise I’ll have to leave. Let’s have this be our little secret, okay?”
She nodded slowly.
“Great, let’s get started then.”
Of course, she bombarded me with questions towards the end of the lesson. Again though, can’t really say I didn’t see that one coming.
I answered her questions as honestly as I could, just ignoring some of them. After ten minutes of non-stop question answering, I had to stop her.
“Geez, where do you come up with all of these questions?” I asked, curiously.
“In my head. I’ve been thinking them up ever since you saved me,” she replied, proudly.
“I can tell,” I said, only half jokingly. “Anyway, it’s almost noon, so we should be heading back now.”
“Okay,” she said, before she started jabbering away happily about what she and the dog, Catfish, were going to do once she got home. I tried to listen to what she was saying, but my mind started to wander. I thought about Akira, and what he was doing right now. I also wondered if he’d gotten any sleep since last night. I wondered who his boss was, and what kind of work he was having him do. Where did he travel to on his trips, and what did he do there?
While I pondered this, I felt something nudging at the back of my conscious. Something that it wanted to remember, but was just out of reach. The first time I’d met… Aaron, he had known who my brother was without me having to say anything.  I had simply said, “My brother, Akira”, and he’d known exactly who I was talking about…. And been afraid of him. Without even meeting him (to my knowledge) he had known who he was, and been scared of him. Then later on, Akira said he had met Aaron on one of his various ventures, and even fought against him. Akira hadn’t seemed much impressed by his strength, but he had warned me about him anyway.
It all seemed like so long ago…. So… why had I remembered it now? I let the matter drop, allowing my mind to wander a bit more, exploring the possibilities, and the next thing I knew, I was fuming about Rohan. What was that guys deal? First he promises to tell me something, then he disappears! I mean, sure I had been gone for five days, and granted, that’s a long time. But, come one, the guy friggin’ lived here for Pete’s sake!  You’d think I’d at least see him around town.
Maybe he’s avoiding me, I thought. Maybe he was embarrassed because I hadn’t shown up, and had decided I didn’t want to see him anymore. Well, if that was true, then it was stupid. Just because I might not have wanted to know something, which coincidentally I did, didn’t mean I wouldn’t want to see him. It was nice having someone to talk to, and he was always so relaxed….
Maybe he moved, I thought, trying to come up with another reason why he might have vanished. Yes… that made sense. I had been gone for five days, so he wouldn’t have been able to tell me. That would also explain why I hadn’t been able to find him around town. But it was so unlikely…. I decided I needed to find some way to find if Rohan was still around town. The only question was, how?
I couldn’t just go around town asking if anyone and everyone if they’d seen him. Well, I could, but somehow I guessed that wouldn’t fall under the term ‘inconspicuous’. If only I knew someone who could ask around for me, or, even better, someone who might know the answer themselves. The answer hit me like a smack to the head. It was so obvious, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it before. It felt like I’d just discovered a new level of stupidity.
The answer to all my questions was walking right next to me, rambling about what she’d had for breakfast. I looked over at Ariel. She continued talking, oblivious to my sudden change in mood.
“Hey… Ariel,” I said, as we stepped on to the bridge that marked the beginning of Solavare. “How long have you lived here? Solavare, I mean.”
“All my life,” she replied not missing a beat.
Perfect.
“Do you think you could do me a little favor?” I asked hopefully.
“Sure!” She answered happily. “Anything you want.”
“I have a friend, a guy named Rohan Shwia, I’m pretty sure he lives here. Do you know him?” I asked carefully.
She frowned slightly. “Um… I’m not really sure. I’m good with places! But… not so much with people.”
I sighed. I hadn’t really expected her know, she wasn’t that old anyway. Still, I had kinda hoped…. Ariel suddenly gasped, clapping her hands excitedly.
“Oh, I know who to ask! My mom would know! She knows everyone in town. If he’s here she’d know. I’ll go ask her right now! See you tomorrow Sumiko!” Then she disappeared into the crowd.
I wasn’t quite sure what to do at first. Should I follow her? Or … just let her go? She had just disappeared into the crowd faster than I could blink, and I had absolutely no idea where she was headed. Well, she was going to as her mother about Rohan, but wherever the heck that was, I had no idea! Still, she had just said she’d lived here all her life, and the streets weren’t exactly empty.
In the end, I decided to just let her go. This place was her turf after all. Besides, there were plenty of people around to help if something went wrong. Moreover, trying to find her now would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. Worse, even… like, trying to find a grain of sand in a basket of barley. Anyway, Ariel was tough than she looked. I was sure she could take care of herself.
I turned to go, when something caught my eye. It was nothing unusual, just a plain old fruit stand. But seeing jogged my memory. I remembered trying to grab some fruit for breakfast, but all we’d had left were the sleep inducing chocolum fruit. I figured that was more of a hazard than anything else. The only reason kept them around, was for cooking, and flavoring. Perhaps it was a good idea to buy some more, non-sleepy fruit— which is exactly what I ended up doing.
By the time I got home, it was roughly two O’clock. (I’d been experimenting with what fruit to buy, and had gotten lost on the way home)I hoped that maybe Akira might have come back to grab something to eat, but not really set on it.
“Hello?” I called quietly, “are you home?”
I waited for a moment, listening for a response, but got nothing. Sighing I put up my cloak and walked over into the kitchen…. To see that Akira was home after all. He was sitting at the table, with his head in his arms. Listening closely, I could hear his breathing was slow and steady, and I knew he was sleeping. But… why?
The obvious answer would have been, because he was one seriously sleep deprived person, but I didn’t think that was it. Akira wasn’t the type of person who just sat down at a table and decided to take a nap. I mean, he’d taken naps before, but he usually took them in the late afternoon…. And he didn’t usually take them at the table.
I started to worry, just a bit. Maybe something was wrong. Maybe he’d gotten really sick, or injured somehow, and hadn’t found the strength to make it back to his bed… it had happened once or twice before. Also, supposing just for a minute, that that were true, what was I supposed to do? I had no idea what herbs they had over here to help him, or what medications to buy. Back at home, I wouldn’t have had to worry. I knew every plant and its healing properties as well as my own name. But here….
‘Calm down’, I told myself. ‘Just go over, and see if he’s okay. He’s probably just sleep deprived.’
I walked over to the chair he had occupied; only to discover, that I had been right—he was perfectly fine. The reason he was sleeping so deeply, was clutched in his right hand. I reached out and took the half eaten chocolum fruit from out of his relaxed hands. Looking at where he’d bitten it, I noticed it was semi-dry, and seemed to have oxidized a bit. That meant he’d probably been sleeping here from sometime just after I’d left this morning.
I could see it now—he’d probably come in, and then checked to see if I was home. Seeing that I wasn’t, he had sat down at the table to brood, and absent mindedly grabbed a fruit from the bowl and started munching on it before he realized just what kind of fruit it was. Akira tended to overlook small details when he was tired, such as checking to see what kind of fruit he was actually eating. I could just hear him saying that he might as well get comfortable, once he realized what he’d done. I laughed a little bit, picturing the scene in my mind.
I knew that he’d probably missed a ton of work, he was always so busy. But… I decided to let him sleep. The effects of the chocolum fruit would have worn off by now (actually, they’d worn off quite a while ago), and he was still sleeping pretty deeply. No surprise there. His body was still trying to make up the five nights sleep he’d been missing out on. Surely his boss could blame him for falling asleep. It’s not like he’d get punished for curing himself of sleep deprivation, right?
I waited around for little while, putting up the fruit I’d purchased, and cleaning up the house a bit. For the first time, in what felt like a long time, I was able to just sit down, and do nothing but relax. I sat there, soothed by the sounds of Akira’s steady breathing. I enjoyed his company, because, even though he was asleep, I was with my family again. It was the most important thing in my life— my small, little two person family of Akira and me.
After a little brooding at the table, I decided I’d better go to work on the wind transportation technique before it got too dark. I didn’t want to be caught in the rain again. Getting up as quietly as I could, I grabbed the cloak off the rack by the door. I started to open the door when something made me pause. I looked back at Akira, as if to assure myself he was still there. He looked so… peaceful sleeping there. Smiling to myself, I turned and walked out of the door, closing it as quietly as I could, to avoid waking him.
‘If only he could be that peaceful all the time,’ I found myself thinking. ‘Akira really does worry too much.’
I started heading towards the place I had practiced the technique yesterday, but changed my mind and decided to go to the east side of town. I figured that little pool Akira had taken me to was a safe enough distance away to practice. I would need to find a way up onto the plateau above it though, if I wanted to practice any techniques. I walked for about 20 minutes before coming to the place where the cove with the pool was hidden.  Then I had to face the problem of how to get on top of the plateau leaning over me. Normally I would have just scaled up the side of the plateau, but what if someone walk around the edge of the plateau and saw me? Scaling the giant plateau side was definitely not something any normal person could do. How could I explain it?
“Oh, the urge to climb just struck.” or “Don’t mind me, I just left my necklace on top of the plateau, wanted to get it back.” Yeah right, like that would work. These people were misinformed, not stupid.
No, I had to find another way up. I couldn’t use the wind technique, because that’s what I was here to learn. If I could use it well enough to get up there, I wouldn’t be here in the first place. Besides, using a technique out here in the open was just as bad as scaling the wall. Not exactly the essence of ‘inconspicuous’.
I walked inside the little cove, hoping for some kind of inspiration wave to come and hit me… Sadly I seemed to have use up the last of my inspiration day-dreaming back in the house. Nothing came to me. Nothing. It was like my brain had died inside m head or something. I had no idea whatsoever as to what to do next. Zero. Zilch. Nada. None.
I walked over to the large rock Akira had sat on the last time I’d been here. I had a brief vision of a fish flying through the air…. I giggled, picking up a pebble and tossing it around in my hand. Then I pitched it into the pool.
I was completely un prepare for what happened next.
I had tossed the rock in a curved angle, so that it skimmed the water’s surface, skipping as it went.  Then out of nowhere, a large silver-teal fish had leapt up and caught the rock— seriously, caught the rock. As it jumped, I noticed a strange reddish scrape on its side… almost as though it had hit something. The sudden appearance of the fish surprised me so badly, that I had jumped, and then lost my balance—tumbling backwards off the surface of the rock.
“…ouch…” I mumbled to myself, as I lay sprawled out on my back, staring up at the red cove walls. My head hurt, and my back felt as though I had landed on an upturned pike, although it was probably just a pebble. Staring up at the canyon walls I realized something. The red of the walls, was the same red that had been on the fishes scales. I remembered a loud ‘CLANG’ and the image of a large silver-teal fish flashed through my mind.
‘It’s the same fish!’ I realized, ‘It’s the same freakin’ fish as before!’ What the heck? Was this cove the fishes ‘domain’ or something? Did that fish have it out for me? Both times I’d been here that fish had caused me trouble. Both times.
I named the fish Lucky—because he was such a bad luck charm. Then I promised, by whatever high powers there were that I would see the end of Lucky… preferably in a frying pan.
I moved to get up so as to maybe get a proper shot at Lucky…. Only I couldn’t move. My hand was caught in something. Too angry to want to see what stupid object had ensnared my hand, I tried to yank my hand free. Key word here: tried. It didn’t budge. Sighing, I decided that my vengeance on Lucky would have to wait until after I got my hand unstuck.
I wasn’t entirely sure what it was that I had expected to see when I went to free my hand. One thing’s for sure, it hadn’t been a rope ladder. It was kind of hard to see, because it had been stained the same reddish color as the walls by all the dust, but it was there alright. I sat there, and just stared at it for a little while, still a bit taken aback. Then I felt stupid for staring a rope ladder, and scrambled to untangle my hand.
The ropes were old, but still strong. They were pretty thick too—which meant they didn’t knot easily. In fact, when I went to untangle my hand, I found that, it wasn’t really entangled, or so to speak. Rather than a knot, I noticed that my bracelet had gotten caught on one of the ropes thick cords. It only took me a few seconds to untangle my bracelet, after which I quickly stood up and dusted myself off. Then checking around to make sure there was no one around to see me, I turned and began to climb up the ladder. I know that might not seem like the smartest thing to do. In hindsight, it probably wasn’t the best idea, but at the time—it seemed almost like some bizarrely answer prayer.
I wasn’t sure what I had expected to fin at the top of the ladder. Come to think of it, I wasn’t sure of a whole lot lately. That aside, it hadn’t even occurred to me that another person might be waiting at the top of the ladder. As I reached the top of the ladder, and stepped out onto the plateau, all I could do was stare.
“Rohan?”
He turned around, looking surprised that someone besides himself was up here. Then his face lit up as he saw it was me. “Sumiko!” He said, sounding both relieved, and astounded. “When did you get back? Oh, to Solavare I mean,” he said, coming over to greet me.
“I’ve been back for about three days, but… but what about you? I looked all over town for you! Where have you been?”
“Yes, well, it’s a very long… and not quite so interesting story, so let’s sit down. I was just getting comfortable when you arrived.” He replied, with his usual amount of merry gusto. Grabbing me by the hand, he pulled me away from the ladder to a place by the edge of the plateau, but not near enough to allow fear of falling off. From where we sat, I we could see the path winding off in opposite directions below us, and we had a wonderful view of the sun sinking steadily closer to the horizon.
After a moment of getting situated, I turned to Rohan and asked, so what exactly is this big exciting story of yours?”
“Ah, yes, the story,” He said, as though he had quite forgotten he even had one. “Well, it all started the day I told you to meet me here, so that we could discuss my darling cousin. You see, when you didn’t show up, I assumed you had changed your mind, and didn’t want to talk about it anymore. It wasn’t until the next day that I learn you had been arrested under an hour after we’d parted.”
I shrugged, “What can I say? I work fast.”
He laughed.  “Apparently! So after I heard about that, I spent some time stewing over it, and, to be quite frank—it made me pretty angry. I wanted those soldiers gone. So… I did a couple of things here, picked a couple of fights there, until the soldier got mad enough for a group to actually try and jump me. So, I took the opportunity to drop a couple of ‘helpful hint’, as to the whereabouts of their precious little statuette.”
“You’re the one who dropped the fake hints?”
“Yup,” he answered proudly. “I told them it was traveling north, towards the border with Terra’kenis. Anyway, that did it. They packed up and left the next day, haven’t been back since. I wasn’t entirely sure if you would come back, or if you’d even remember to meet me here at all. Also, I’ve been keeping a low profile, in case the soldiers decided to come back.  So, I’ve been waiting here every night, until it starts raining, just in case you decided to show up. And today it finally paid off—you’re here now!” He said, smiling broadly.
I smiled back, failing to mention it was just coincidence I’d met him here. Suddenly he shifted gears, and I saw a serious look come over his face.
“But that’s not important,” he said, so seriously, it actually startled me a bit. “I’m not what’s important right now. It’s been too long… we need to get you out of here before it’s too late.”
… To say I was confused was like comparing an ant, to the ocean. Forget confused, I was totally lost. “What?” I said, staring blankly. I looked around reflexively to make sure he was really talking to me. “Are you talking to me?”
“Yes, I am talking to you Sumiko,” Rohan continued not missing a beat. “We’ve got to get you out of here before he makes his move!” he said, desperately.
My brain finally started functioning again. “Wait… what? Who… do—what?” I asked, lost beyond all reason.
Rohan stopped, and for a moment, I saw sympathy in those sky-blue eyes of his. “Sumiko… I know you’re not going to believe me, and trust me when I say I get no pleasure from saying this, but… Akira’s not the person you think he is.”
Those last words of his hit me so hard, I thought I might get a bruise. “What?” I asked… no, more like yelled. “How can you say that? You don’t even know him! And, and how did you even know I had a brother in the first place? What do you mean He’s not—and, and who are you?” I asked, both angry, and confused at the same time.
“Sumiko… I… I don’t know how to explain,” he answered, looking worried. “But… but maybe this will help clear things up.” After he said that, I saw his image waiver, like a mirage being dispersed. The shaggy brown hair became shorter, and grew lighter. His skin lightened to a paler complexion, and he seemed to grow a couple of inches taller. The only thing that didn’t change, were his eyes…. Those sparkling sky-blue eyes of his. “I haven’t forgot about you, Sumiko,” He said, in a voice that reminded me of autumn leaves.
Standing before was the very last person outside of the dead I had expected to see.
Aaron was back.