The Path to Sin (Ikken Isshu + Griselda Banks)

[Griselda Banks]

((I'm not positive on this, but I think maybe two summoners can't summon the same aeon when they're in close proximity; the tedious battles with Belgemine throughout FFX suggest such a thing.

Oh, and...would it be too much to ask you to not let Jalisat get healed up at the temple? I was thinking it could be a pretty convenient way to get Jalisat into the party if Aer could just sort of forget he's in his pocket. Like, fiends would attack the temple or something and he'd be distracted? Does that work? I could probably still make it work if you don't want to do that.))

Eddora stretched out her arms and called out to the presence in her heart that was Ifrit. She expected to feel the sudden transfer of her consciousness to his enormous body, but to her surprise she felt no answer. He was still there inside of her, but...he felt dormant, somehow. As though his attentions were focused elsewhere. But there was no time to contemplate this; she hastily ceased calling out to him and turned to Valefor instead.

Immediately, she found herself within the strong, graceful body of the bird aeon. She swooped over the village, gathering up power in her wings and thrusting it at the sinspawn, sending them sprawling onto their backs. She darted downwards, her beak piercing their thick scales. Dark blood spurted from their bodies, speckling her beak, but she did not falter. She was chasing down one of the smaller sinspawn when she felt a sinister presence prickling at her back.

Whipping around, she let out a shriek of anger. Sin was nearly on the beach now, causing the wind to howl around it like a monsoon. Valefor beat her wings desperately, fighting against the wind. Yet despite all her efforts she was steadily driven back. The wind howled all around her, tearing trees up by the roots and ripping up the wooden planks that made up the village of Kilika. The roof of a nearby hut whizzed past her, nearly colliding with her. The wind caught her wings in just the right way that she turned halfway around before she could stop herself.

A few humans stood near the edge of the trees, and as she watched she saw debris hurtling towards them. Most of the humans dodged out of the way, but one - her heart palpitated horribly, for that was her summoner - stood immobile, dangerously far from the protection of the trees. Valefor soared as fast as she could for her summoner, the wind speeding her along, but before she was even halfway there a jagged plank hurtled through the air and-

Pain. Agony. She didn't know where she was, or anything that was happening around her. All she knew was the white-hot pain burning in her stomach. Gradually, however, she became aware that she was lying on the ground, on dirt rather than boards - had someone moved her here? The howling of the wind had gone - Sin, Sin is gone - and all she could hear were her own ragged gasps of pain. Were there voices speaking around her? She couldn't tell. She found her hand - hand, a hand; I'm human - clutched around something wooden, clutching it so hard it hurt. But nothing hurt as much as the middle of her body. It throbbed, it pounded; she wished she would die. But I won't do anybody any good from the Farplane....

((Now, don't worry; help is on the way. This is part of my plan. But, since I didn't think you'd appreciate reading ten pages all at once, I thought I'd let you jump in and say what your chars are doing now xd ))  

[Ikken Isshu]

((I'm going to take this post from Eddora's perspective for a brief moment, just because I have an idea for drama. :XP: Hope ye don't mind.))

But I won't do anybody any good from the Farplane...

All at once, a distant scream cut through the pain. But it was like a rock dropped into the ocean; before long, the ripples faded, and the pain washed right back up to swallow the scream.

Had it been her own scream? She'd heard that in times of great pain, people sometimes wouldn't realize that they were screaming. But the silence - no, not silence, but stillness, was too absolute to be certain of anything...

Her name was echoing through the stillness, as if she stood on an island out to sea, and a hundred people on the mainland were calling it out. But try as she might, she couldn't see the mainland.

~

Calaman was astride a Sinspawn, struggling to wedge his sword under its scales so that he could impale its soft innards, as he had done with at least two others by now. By chance, the beast bucked and spun around just in time for Calaman to see the wooden plank collide sickeningly with Eddora's body. There was a flash of light up in the sky as Valefor shrieked and vanished, and Eddora collapsed.

The world went silent for a brief moment; Calaman had failed.

Then it all came back in a rush; the bucking Sinspawn hissed inhumanly at him, his sword chafed in his hand, and Ifrit roared somewhere in the distance.

But Eddora lay motionless on the ground, a cold and static point in a hot, bloody, chaotic world.

"NO!!" Calaman screamed, and let go of the sword. His limbs wouldn't seem to obey him. But he tumbled off the Sinspawn, leaving his short sword half-wedged between its scales, and ran at full tilt toward the fallen summoner. He fell twice, unable to right himself properly, but shoved himself up and kept running. "Eddora!" he shouted as he went to his knees beside her. His hands hovered over the plank in her abdomen, but he was too terrified to touch it. Could he help, or would he only make it worse? Could anyone help? He'd never seen such a wound in his life. "Eddora!" he called again. "Eddora!"

Behind him the battle raged. Debris continued to rocket away from Sin's form, but miraculously, no more came near them. It seemed to be somehow aiming the stuff at the battle. How like Sin, Calaman later thought, to fire shots into a battle that could hit either its enemies or its allies. But at that moment, all he could think of was his failure, staring him blankly in the face.

((Drama. xd ))

 

[Griselda Banks]

((Me likes drama 3nodding You know, I was just thinking: both of my characters in the roleplays I'm doing with you are injured right now xd ))

The howling wind died down as Sin retreated once more. The sinspawn that had overrun the island trailed after it like a string of ducklings, and the island was coated with an eerie, ringing silence in the absence of all that noise and confusion. Eddora lay on the ground, oblivious to this silence, deaf to Calaman's frenzied cries. Her blood stained her robes, the red starkly vivid on the pure white, and her every breath seemed to tear the flesh around the wooden stake a little more.

Then her ragged breathing grew faint, and the hand that clutched the wooden plank slackened, falling down to her side. She was horribly pale, almost as if....

"Move aside, there!" came a commanding voice, and a strong hand pushed Calaman to the side. A woman knelt in his place, her plain white tunic and trousers stained with mud and blood, her grimy face taking on a pinched, intense look as she surveyed Eddora's prone form. The woman's long brown hair was pulled back in a single braid, many flyaway strands coming loose and sticking in all directions, making her hair look something like a lumpy brown cactus.

Moving with the quick assurance of someone skilled at her task, the woman bent over Eddora, listening for her breathing and feeling her pulse. After a few moments, she turned back to Calaman and said briskly, "Right. Young man, I need you to pull that stick out of her, okay? I'll seal her up as soon as it's out." She turned and placed her hands on either side of the ugly wound. "Come on, she doesn't have all day!" she urged, even though hardly any time had passed. "If I healed her now, she'd have that infernal plank in her stomach her whole life! So just hurry up and yank it out!"  

[Ikken Isshu]

((O_o To tell the truth, I'm a little disappointed with the current Hearrtes roleplay. It was Bard's idea to make the third one take place five thousand years after the second one, and it seems... mediocre, compared to how much fun we had with the last two. Ah, well.))

Calaman stared, wide-eyed, at the urgent woman.

Is she mad?... No, she's a healer. A white mage, judging by her clothes.

His eyes went to Eddora's wound. His stomach felt sour. Reaching out, he hesitated without quite touching the plank. His stomach turned over; he put his hands around the plank, and as soon as he touched it, his gut lurched horribly, and he convulsed slightly, pulling the plank out as he did so. Without pausing to see the results of his action, he turned away and retched over the bare ground. He hadn't eaten anything in some time, so there wasn't much to throw up, but he retched all the same.

((Somewhat short post, but I like it. smile

EDIT: Oh, and I didn't mention this, but the bit about Jalisat works just fine. I'll have to find a way to occupy Marceil and Mulogo so they don't bug Aer and remind him.))

 

[Griselda Banks]

((Well, the Hearrtes rp is very interesting to read, I must say, but I really do feel that I'm sort of in the backseat if you know what I mean. Maybe the next one will be better?

Oh, and I just realized it now, but the whole plank-in-the-stomach thing was unconsciously inspired by an incident very much like this in the FMA manga several months ago. Interesting how these things seep in; I think it's because her name is Ed.))

As soon as the wood exited Eddora's flesh in a spurt of blood, a white glow surrounded the white mage's hands. Her eyes closed in concentration, and she trembled from the effort of the spell as if her magic power was nearly depleted. It seemed to take a long time before the glow died away, and the woman hesitated a moment or two before straightening up wearily. She mopped her heavily sweating brow and closed her eyes briefly, as if gathering her strength, before bending back down to check Ed's breathing and heartbeat. When she experimentally prodded Ed's stomach with gentle fingers, Eddora let out a yelp and sat up - or tried to.

Ed was disoriented; she found herself struggling weakly against a hand that clutched her shoulder just as weakly. Blinking a few times, Ed stopped trying to sit up and instead looked at the woman bending over her. She couldn't remember where she was, or what was happening, and this frightened her. "Who're you?" she snapped.

The woman spoke firmly, if a little wearily, as she ignored the question and said, "That was the best I could do under the...circumstances; I've patched you up, but it could come open again if you exert yourself too much. Just don't strain yourself for a few days, and you should be good as new. Well...I was running out of power, and I had to stop the healing before I passed out, so...you'll probably have a scar there for a few years."

"Oh, great," Ed groaned, covering her face with one hand. "You mean the rest of my life." She was tempted to reach inside her shirt and feel this scar, but she managed to restrain herself.

"Excuse me, My Lady, but I just saved your life," the woman said crabbily. "The least you could do is thank me."

"Oh." Ed looked closer at the woman and saw how exhausted she was, saw the lines her sweat had made in the grime on her face. "Thanks. And...sorry." Quickly changing the subject, she tried to look around, which was hard in her position. "Where's Calaman? Cal, are you here?"  

[Ikken Isshu]

((It probably doesn't help that I'm neglecting this RP for days at a time, but I know exactly what you mean. It really has changed since we first began it, and while this setup does allow for a lot more angst, which I love, it also makes the original characters really isolated and center-stage, so that it's difficult for anyone else, even new characters by the same authors, to get in on the action. Gavin and Caelum and Matthias aren't really doing much, relatively speaking; Ebony and Ayra and the other girl aren't doing much except for traveling and a bit of character exposition; and Miciru is just now starting to do something that may or may not be interesting, and even that is only because she has Morceau with her, and Morceau is one of the pseudo-originals. (He was introduced in the second one, but before everyone became immortal in one way or another.)

Anyway, yeah, it's frustrating. But I, for one, am kind of working to change that; eventually, I'm going to have Aer step down, and Haku has a character that is going to step up as Devil, and then I can focus on my mortal characters. But God only knows how long that will take.

Anyway, FFX, anyone?))

Calaman wiped at his lips with his shoulder, and tried not to gag at the taste of the Sinspawn's filthy fluids. He was slick head to toe with the vile stuff, and the taste of it was enough to make him retch several more times, though he was still unable to force anything up. Finally, he turned toward Eddora, saw her apparently healed, and immediately touched his forehead to the ground. The palm of his right hand, with which he had grasped the plank, was reddened by blood, which made it a somewhat singular spectacle, but he didn't seem to pay heed to his appearance.

"Summoner, I have failed you again," he said fiercely. "I won't ask for forgiveness. I'm hardly fit to be your guardian."

With his forehead to the dirt, the fluids from the Sinspawn - blood? Not really - were beginning to seep upward and into his nose. He opened his mouth to breath, but the fluids found that orifice as well. He gagged silently and bore it.

((Meanwhile, on the other side of town...

After writing this next section, I really like the way it turned out. Something about this half of the post is just so... classic? I dunno, but I enjoyed it. =D))

"Sinspawn," Aer grumbled, kicking aside a carapace that was in his way, and continued downward toward the forest. He was appalled by the damage done, even this high on the island, by the Sinspawn; but, at least Sin itself seemed to have left. There weren't too many injured up here, though he knew more would surely be coming soon, now that the village was clear of the beasts.

Alive ones, at least. He pistoned back his foot and kicked another carapace aside, sending the vile thing careening across the stones. He was in a bit of a foul mood, mostly due to the nature of the attack. Sin was supposed to come at the end of the pilgrimage, not at the very outset! But he supposed there was really no one to blame save Sin itself. Still, the stupid beast could at least wait until they were moderately prepared to deal with something on this scale!

Another carapace went tumbling down the steps of the temple, to shatter at the foot of the stairs. An ascending priest gave Aer a dirty look, but Aer gave the look right back. Priest. Hah! Aer was guardian to a summoner, someone actively working to prevent things like this from happening. What did that priest do? Sit in his precious temple and pray for things to turn out all right.

Back up at the temple, though Aer didn't know this, a healer was fretfully tending a man with an ugly belly wound as she kept one eye on a pair of children lying on pallets by the wall. They didn't appear to be injured, even after two healers had inspected them, but they were unconscious for some reason, and could not be woken. The healer feared that they might have concussions, despite the lack of overt injuries. Or perhaps it was the simple traumatic stress of the attack? Either way, they couldn't be considered priorities, mostly just because there was nothing that could be done for them at the moment, but the healer still could not take her mind off of those poor children.

In fact, they had both been hit by a stray Sleep spell that had gone awry from one of the island's defenders, fizzled through the forest, and knocked both of them unawares before they had a chance to react. They would shortly be waking with no complications. And as Aer stalked away from the temporarily incapacitated Marceil and Mulogo, he had completely forgotten that their friend, with certain major alterations, remained quiet and unmoving within his pocket.

 

[Griselda Banks]

((I love angst too, though (and I'm not meaning to complain) generally it's most interesting for the person angsting xd But from my observer's point of view, the focus does seem to be shifting more onto the mortal characters, now that Aer and Tekira's conversation is pretty much over.

But yes, back to the rp on hand. Aer...slight hint of arrogance, maybe? "He was a guardian to a summoner." blaugh Lol, I keep on forgetting to mention this, but it's so incredibly bizarre to be playing two separate and very different roleplays that both include the same character, in such very different roles! Especially since we've got this little one-sided romance/infatuation thing going on between Aer and Ed. (Psst, Eddora, your guardian is the Devil in disguise! rofl ) ))

Hearing Calaman's familiar voice and even more familiar prostrations, Eddora tried to push herself into a sitting position again; she couldn't see a thing lying down. "You really shouldn't-" the white mage began wearily, but seemed to decide it wasn't worth it, and helped support the summoner's shoulders instead.

Ed felt a queer stiffness in her stomach when she sat up, but other than that she felt fine. Once she was sure of that, she nudged Calaman's shoulder gently with her toe. "Oh, get up already, won't you? I hate it when you do that. And I'll be the one to decide whether you're fit to be my guardian or not," she added sternly. "I'm the one whose life is at stake here anyway. You don't need my forgiveness, 'cause you didn't do anything you weren't supposed to be doing. And don't just call me 'summoner'; I have a name, you know."

Before Calaman could protest and deface himself further, Ed turned to the white mage. "And speaking of names, what's yours? You're pretty handy with the white magic."

"Venez, My Lady," the woman said, suppressing a yawn. "My name is Venez."  

[Ikken Isshu]

((Oh, whoops, I guess I did recycle names there, didn't I? x.x I do that a lot. In fact, it's a little surprising to me that there aren't more names in common... But then I suppose, most of my Hearrtes names were original (including Aer). It's this roleplay that's full of recycled names, but most of them are from stuff other than Hearrtes. Calaman was, let's see... originally a feral forest child who eventually turned out to be a werewolf, that was a Zelda roleplay... Aer was just Aer from Hearrtes... Oh, Luseik, Keskes, and Satiyen, did I already explain their origins? Luseik was a draghan, a man with dragon wings, and he was also lord of the Fourth Realm, all in a Black Jewels fanfic; Satiyen was a wehr, Luseik's wolf-man-beast companion, and Keskes was a gejk, his young shadow-creature companion. I think there are more, but I'll wrack my brains for them later. The kids' three names are original, by the way. razz ))

Calaman sat up, a little discomfited, but glad of the chance to breathe properly. All of that done, he turned away again and continued gagging in an attempt to rid his mouth and throat of the vile slime.

~

Aer sighed to himself and tried to think clearly as he walked. He knew he was letting his temper get out of hand, which wasn't him. He wasn't an angry man, was he? No, that was foul-tempered, duty-obsessed Calaman. He was the angry one. No, Aer was a lover, a romancer. He couldn't afford to get his feathers all ruffled over an untimely attack by Sin. Nothing could stand in the way of true love, after all. Not even Sin.

If he had to follow her all the way to Zanarkand itself - well, he would anyway, now that he was more or less her guardian, but that was beside the point.

No, no, like this:

If he had to follow her all the way to the Farplane itself, he would have her heart. It would just take time, that was all. Time and effort, and careful wording, and of course, he'd have to show her that he was serious. Well, hadn't he helped out at the temple? After all, with all the wounded coming in, they'd needed every pair of hands they could get, even non-miraculous ones.

He paused at the edge of the forest, midstride. The thought of healing had reminded him of something, but what was it?

"Aer!" Calaman's voice. The swordsman came jogging up to him.

Ah! Jalisat, the boy, is still in my -

"Come quickly, Eddora is injured!"

"Hold on," Aer said, "I've got to get back to the - "

"She's got a bloody hole in her stomach, you stubborn git, now come on!"

All thought of Jalisat left Aer's mind at the concern in Calaman's eyes and voice.

"What?!"

"That's more like it. Come on, then." They returned to Eddora's side, and Aer looked almost as Calaman had looked - when she'd still had the plank in her, of course.

"You've been wounded?" were his first, tentative words, which made Calaman roll his eyes.

"You really are a bit behind, aren't you? She's been healed, but the scar remains. We need to make sure she doesn't have a need to overexert herself until the wound knits properly." His phrasing was impeccable, which was unusual for him. But he knew that if he'd said 'We need to make sure she doesn't overexert herself', he probably would have heard an earful about men thinking they needed to protect women by hindering them, or some such.

Aer blinked. "A scar?" he said quietly, almost guiltily. "How...? May I see it?"

Even if Eddora had chosen to expose the scar at that moment, Aer wouldn't have seen it, because the words were barely out of his mouth before Calaman whacked him on the back of the head with his fist, and the black mage whirled away from his summoner.

"What's the big idea?" he exclaimed.

"You don't ask a lady so nonchalantly to lift her shirt up in front of you," Calaman said levelly.

"I wasn't asking her to do anything indecent!"

"As well ask a woman how old she is!" Calaman shot back. "It just isn't done!"

Aer looked like he had more to say, but stifled it and slumped silently, looking almost exactly like a pouting child. Calaman fell back to brace himself with his hands, looking back to the summoner and white mage, mildly curious as to whether or not they would react to the eccentric spectacle.

 

[Ikken Isshu]

((A-bump-a.))

 

[Griselda Banks]

((x.x Sorry for disappearing for a week; my dad came home, family came over to visit, and my life just generally exploded. Hopefully I'll be on a bit more regularly now.

Lol, Cal was a feral werewolf child? Awesome. I found myself laughing all through your last post, by the way. rofl ))

When Aer asked to see her scar, Eddora's mouth fell open. "Of all the nerve-" she began, her cheeks flaming, and she tried to stand up, but Venez held her down. "Oh, lay off already!" Ed snapped at her. "Aer, would you quit being an idiot and help me get up?"

"But, My Lady, you mustn't-"

"Oh, shut up!" Ed said irritably. "I'll overexert myself trying to get your hands off me!" So saying, she reached out and grabbed Aer's arm, pulling herself up mostly by her own strength. The blood rushed to her head, and for a moment she felt dizzy and disoriented, but then she blinked and found her balance again.

Looking around at the village, Ed fully appreciated for the first time what damage Sin had caused. The sights were all too familiar: snapped trees, smashed houses, planks and bricks and all manner of debris littered all across the beach. The villagers of Kilika would have to rebuild once again, as they were forced to at least every decade. Ed felt faintly sick, and tried not to wonder whether there were any broken bodies lying amongst all the rubble.

Then she realized she was still holding onto Aer's arm, and let go.  

[Ikken Isshu]

((Short post is short, but I wasn't sure what to do all of a sudden. >.>))

Aer swayed slightly, dazed by the feel of Eddora holding onto his arm. Calaman saw the reaction and scoffed in disgust, rolling his eyes.

"Where did the other summoner go?" he asked suddenly, looking around. "Luseik and his guardians?" They were nowhere to be seen, but further down on the beach, a monstrous figure that must have been Ifrit padded along the sand.

 

[Griselda Banks]

((That's probably an indication that I need to get my plan rolling again stare ))

Eddora shrugged at the question, not really caring where anybody was at the moment. She felt...almost guilty, even though the more rational side of her mind told her there was nothing she could have done, not with her present power (or lack thereof) and one aeon. She was still a summoner, and summoners were supposed to protect the people. How could I have let this happen? the vicious, less-rational side of her mind demanded.

"We need to go," Ed said softly, her ire at Venez abated by the sobering effect of Sin's destruction. "The sooner we can get to Zanarkand, the better. Come on, let's try to find a ship off this place."

"Good luck," Venez muttered, pushing herself wearily to her feet.

Ed ignored her, but soon she saw what the white mage meant. All the boats, large and small, anchored in the harbor were either smashed to pieces or damaged so badly they wouldn't be able to sail for at least a few days. The captains were nowhere in sight, of course, but Ed didn't even need to wonder whether they could be manhandled into setting sail by the end of the day. She knew nothing about sailing, but even she knew that a snapped mast would set the schedule back significantly. She clenched her fists silently by her side, then stomped away from the harbor.

"There has to be some kind of boat somewhere! We have to get off this blasted rock!"

"Did someone say 'boat'?" a voice said off to the side. When Ed and her guardians came to a stop, a man ducked out of a hut that was mostly undamaged. He leaned casually against the doorpost, crossing his arms comfortably.

Ed looked him up and down skeptically. He wore a dirty mismatched outfit that consisted of a large shirt with billowy sleeves, a worn leather vest, and baggy pants like sailors wore. A dirty cloth that might have been white once but now looked more like a dirty grey was tied to his head, keeping his hair in place. A fringe of curly brown hair poked out from underneath all the same. His face was just as dirty as his clothes, and his cheeks were scruffy and unshaven. A confident little grin completed the picture. "And who might you be?" Ed asked with raised eyebrows. She felt dirty just looking at him.

"The name's Rogan," the man said, offering a little bow to her. "Finest sailor in all of Kilika, though that's not saying too much. You're a summoner, right? I saw you fighting those sinspawn earlier."

"And I don't suppose you could've offered to help," Ed grumbled.

"What? You crazy? I'm just a humble fisherman!" Rogan protested, throwing up his hands in defense. "You guys are the summoners! But I heard you needed a ticket off this place. Can't say I blame you; I'm starting to get a bit antsy myself, what with Sin and all. So how about hopping in my ship? That's two chocobos with one lasso!"

Ed thought for a minute, then looked over at her guardians. Much as she wanted to get going with the pilgrimage as soon as possible, she wouldn't do anybody any good- Well, that had already been made plain plenty of times. So she looked at her guardians, and her eyes silently asked, Do you think we can trust him?

((Rogan = rogue + Logan))  

[Ikken Isshu]

Both guardians saw the unspoken question, but each read it differently. Calaman saw, "Is the offer valid?" while Aer saw, "He's in my bubble. Help?"

They both stepped forward simultaneously.

"First you're the finest sailor in all of Kilika," Calaman said amiably, "and then you're a humble fisherman. Which is it, sir? Are you a man who'll see his duty through to the end, or one who'll step back at the first sign of trouble and leave the work to others, saying, 'I'm just a humble fisherman!'"

"Yeah," Aer said, sounding very sure of himself, "and the Lady isn't interested in your suave ministrations, so back off of her, all right?"

Calaman raised an eyebrow at Aer, but continued, "If you're going to go around offering boat rides, you should present yourself more as a sailor than an opportunist."

"Because the Lady isn't interested in an opportunist!" Aer said a little heatedly. "She'd rather have a man who can be trusted and relied upon to keep his word!" To this, Calaman responded by doing an almost comical double take at Aer, who didn't seem to notice.

"Aer," Calaman said, "what are you babbling about?"

((I'll break it there for comic effect. xd ))

 

[Griselda Banks]

(( xd I love it.))

Instead of looking affronted or trying to defend himself further, Rogan slapped his thigh and let out a laugh. "I like you guys already!" he said with a grin. "I've met plenty of ninnies who couldn't have come up with such a response so fast! So!" He clapped his hands together and stood up straighter. "Special Summoner Discount: Passage to the port of your choice for free, and in return you fight off any fiends that might trouble the ship! I hate fighting, personally, though I'm not a bad shot when it comes to it." A brief flash of sunlight glinting off metal revealed a dagger hidden up his sleeve, and then it vanished again. "Whaddya say?"

Ed crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. "You know, you didn't exactly answer either of them."

"And the Lady has a ready wit as well!" Rogan said with a grin. "If you must know, I'm not all that much of a fisherman. No, the open sea is the place for me. I just like the sailing; I never get a very good catch. But one has to eat, so...." He shrugged his shoulders as if to say that it was hopeless to resist. "And I take my duty very seriously. My duty is to sail, and sail is exactly what I do! It's your duty to battle Sin, if I'm not much mistaken, My Lady. And you do it so much better than I ever could."

"If you're trying to mock me, then shut up," Ed said shortly. "Excuse me, but I must confer with my guardians."

As she put a light hand on either of their shoulders to lead them out of earshot, Rogan called after them, "You know, every time they do that, it means they'll accept in the end!"

Ed rolled her eyes and turned to face Aer and Calaman. "Well?"  

[Ikken Isshu]

Aer, scowling, was silent. Calaman, however, was not so speechless.

"He seems like a good man," Calaman said, "if a little eager to please."

Aer snorted and nudged Calaman in the ribs. Calaman ignored him.

"I think we need a boat," Calaman said with a resigned shrug, "and he's got one. I don't doubt that he'll keep his word, but I do wonder how reliable he'll be if a situation arises where he needs to act."

"I think he's thinking with his manhood," Aer muttered.

Calaman snorted and nudged Aer in the ribs. Aer ignored him.

"He says the passage will be free, but I bet he'll expect you to pay your way by other means. Disgusting oaf."

Calaman furrowed his brow. "Aer, you're doing it again. What are you talking about?"