Post by Lady Hammer on May 29, 2007 18:24:23 GMT -5
XIII. The Florist Contract
The hue of the sky darkened, a cold blue becoming black, decorated with the first few silver sequins guiding townspeople through the bleakness. Most people in Vaskio left the street for their homes to find sleep, though a few entertainers lingered behind, dancing below the light of the street lanterns.
ARC’s front door opened for only a second to let a sharp Adia, a nimble Kireina, and a fumbling Loki out into the city. At once, they headed in the direction of the asylum.
Aeslyn watched them through the upper windows of the building, fighting the urge to clench her fists or break down from the nausea that was creeping up on her. Something told her that Kireina would end up just like Kedo. Missing. Nothing about Vaskio comforted her anymore, not that she could say it comforted her much before. But, it was time for her to be going. Maybe Theshol would be a better place. Just as she was downstairs and nearly ready to grab her cloak and leave, Phio stopped her.
“Aeslyn, wait! I wanted you to stay for a second…”
“What for? I thought you’d be happy to see me on my way,” the woman replied snidely. Phio figured he had that coming.
“It’s Centa. I was wondering if you would stay for a few minutes to get him together again. He’s not feeling well.”
“What do you expect? The man was skewered, Heywood! I’m surprised he’s back on his feet again. I figured he was dead.”
“You’re jealous, aren’t you?” Aeslyn’s temper shot through the roof, and Phio sensed it. “Because Centa is alive, but you still have nothing on Kedo.” Suddenly, she grabbed the smaller man by his tunic collar, much in the way Centa had done to Loki since she had a few inches on him, and glared into his brown eyes.
“Screw you.” Then, he was dropped, hitting the ground hard. But, he let her get away. She had every reason to be upset, because out of all the children and siblings, Death was the most unfair of all. Kedo hadn’t done anything to die, but Centa might’ve well been slapping Karma in the face.
“Where is he?” she suddenly demanded, making her way to a secluded little kitchen just a ways past Centa’s library.
“He’s in a loft. The hayloft past the next hallway.” His eyes followed her into the kitchen, followed her hands to an iron kettle. A small fire was lit under it, and water was soon in the midst of preparation for tea.
“So… then you’re really going to stay for awhile?” Phio asked her timidly, coming up behind her slowly. She held back an angry sigh.
“You requested that I stay.” Her voice was trying to hide a great deal of frustration and anger, and he could tell. However, she had yet to blow up. There was silence as Aeslyn looked for the perfect assortment of loose tea. All that separated the two from the silent spider’s looming web was the slight bubbling of the water, and the lambent flames licking the bottom of the kettle.
“Who are the rest?”
“None of your damn business,” Aeslyn snapped at once, packing herbs into a tea ball.
“You know about all of them, though, don’t you?” Phio asked, folding his arms. “I don’t know why you keep it such a secret.”
“I only knew of Kedo, okay?” The woman’s voice was raised just below a shaking point. “This new girl - Kireina - she was a complete surprise! Okay?”
“I don’t believe you. You’ve accused Centa and I of being secretive. Is this some way to slap us in the face, or are you just being hypocritical?” With a wave of her hand, the fire beneath the kettle gathered in Aeslyn’s hand, and it was extinguished in a second. She poured the hot water in a mug, splashing steaming droplets all over the counter and floor, and plopped the ball in to steep.
“Believe whatever you want. It still won’t get you closer to the information you want,” she said, scouring viciously through the cupboards. Honey. Tons of it. It and tea. Orange blossom honey, blackberry honey, wild flower honey, rose honey, and then lotus honey. Lotus eating was known to be a very relaxing habit, so hopefully the honey would have its desired effect.
“Milk?”
“Milk?” Phio echoed. “Yes, I think…” He left the room, leaving the woman there by herself to think about everything she was trying not to.
Kedo.
Where the hell was she? What happened to her party? How was Kireina under her nose in the same damn city for so many years? Questions. Her mind then found Phio’s state of mind; Questions were Death’s little yapping pets. Her eyes stared into the steeping tea, the herbs leaking a rich brown color into the water. Her head was trying to do the same thing.
Suddenly, Phio came back, startling the fire breather, but neither of them said a word. He merely handed her a small, ice-cold jar of milk.
Once the two made it to the hayloft, Centa was sitting up, barely awake. He looked rather sickly, and Aeslyn didn’t blame him. His wounds seemed to be taking their toll, so timidly, she handed him the tea.
“It has some chamomile in it. And lotus honey. Milk, too.”
“Thanks,” he said in a whisper, taking a careful sip. It was warm enough to put life in him again. “We need to talk about your family.”
“Why? Why the hell does my family matter? They’re my business!”
“Who are the people in your bloodline, Aeslyn? Where do you come from?”
Phio’s voice made the molten anger bubble in her heart. She remembered her past painfully clear, and she remembered Kedo and Kireina, but she doubted the two remembered each other.
She took that back. Kedo wasn’t much younger than her, but Aeslyn remembered putting so many scars and false memories into her little sister’s head, and she made sure the others got them, too, before they were separated. She remembered telling Kedo how nothing had happened. Nothing at all. And then she would tell her everything. Then nothing. Anything. Whatever would stir the girl’s head up and make it so foggy that she would succumb into giving up. Aeslyn remembered these things herself, and had told so many stories and thought so many things that for all she had known, her and Kedo were the only Eirstars left.
And then Kireina was there. Aeslyn cursed at herself for being so stupid, for not being careful enough. For not trying to avoid something like this. Immediately, she neared the two men and growled.
“You stay away from us, goddamnit! You took Kedo away, and I swear, if you take Kireina, I’m gonna come back and, and…” She stopped. She didn’t want Kedo to be dead, and if she was, Kireina was what she had left. “If she dies, you can bet your asses that I’m gonna come back to make you pay. There’s no reason you have to drag my family into this mess of yours!” Centa and Phio gave each other slight looks, Phio’s with a frown.
“You’ll understand, Aeslyn.,” Centa said, taking the warmth of the cup into his hands. “You will. Find that oracle in Theshol, and you’ll get it. She knows more than we do.”
“Everything is…” Phio started, his words snagging, “… complicated. I’m sure you can understand that, because your past seems to suffer the same complication. This is like a giant puzzle, Aeslyn. Everyone has a different piece.”
“No, you know what it’s like?” Aeslyn asked. The two men were silent, watching her scrape about the room for a bag and cloak. “It’s like a stupid story that no one can finish.”
The night was hot, something unusual and dangerous in Vaskio. An autumn night was cold and torturous, but tonight there was something just as bad in the air. And it wasn’t just arguing.
“I’m sick of you guys already!” Adia had said for the third time, the remark aimed at Kireina. “You think you can lead a team around, and you don’t even know what the hell you’re doing!”
“Adia, what are you talking about?” the watchwoman asked, checking her map for the location of the South Vaskio Asylum.
“I’m talking about you!”
“What did I do?”
Adia’s response was a strange mouth noise resembling an annoyed flatus.
“You’re leading us around like you’re the only one who knows a damn thing!” Kireina stared blankly ahead of her as she walked.
“I’m not leading you anywhere. If you know a better way to the Asylum, I’m not going to object.”
“No one leads me around!” Loki said suddenly. “I’m doing whatever I want! And it’s back to Byrde’s Peak with this!” He tossed the coin purse from hand to hand.
“What? No! You can’t do that!” Kireina shouted, stopping him by his shoulders. “The ARC men trust you! They need you!” The thief shoved her away.
“They’re stupid for trusting a thief.”
“They trusted you,” Adia said, “because you’re a stupid thief.” Fumbling for a retaliation, Loki’s words fell short. Then, his eyes traveled to what the three had finally reached.
The Asylum.
No one was impressed. Adia could feel an odd aura emanating from the tall building, a building that that probably didn’t even use all of its height, a building seeping with insecurities.
“Who are we getting again?” she asked, folding her arms and wetting her lips.
“Heywood said he wanted us to get a florist…” the watchwoman replied, scratching the side of her face. Loki scoffed and approached the building.
“I can’t believe you’d say I’m stupid compared to those guys! What the hell would we need a florist for? This operation has nothing to do with flowers! Or gardens, or anything like that! This is dumb!”
“Yeah, but weren’t you looking for something called the ‘Black Lotus Lore Book’?” Kireina asked. Silence. “And isn’t a lotus a flower?” Silence. Turning up her nose, Adia passed the two of them and went into the asylum.
“You’re stupid.”
Inside, at least two dozen white-gowned Sisters ambled around in stress, talking to themselves in a feverish race to keep things under control. There were patients in loose straightjackets or robes walking around without a clue as to what was going on around them, some of them deranged, acting like something other than a human. Adia caught sight of someone resembling a lamenting tree.
“Um, excuse me,” Kireina mumbled, reaching for a Sister’s sleeve. Adia bumped her out of the way.
“I told you you were trying to take control of everything!” A pout came from the watchwoman’s lips, but was quickly gone. A woman in white came to them with a knell for a heartbeat and the dull gleam from Death’s scythe in her eyes.
“Welcome to this hallow place,” she said in an old lagging voice, her eyes rolling slightly upwards. “The Sovereign is hard at work channeling herself through the Sisters to help these unfortunate souls.”
“It seems you are in fact very busy…” Kireina said, eyeing the other Sisters who would all give her the same drained look. Something tugged at her conscience. A worry. Then, another Sister came towards them, one slightly different. Lively, almost. She came and the other left without a word.
“I’m sorry. Can I help you?” she asked, the corners of her tiny mouth curving up slightly.
“We’ve come from ARC,” Adia started, “and we--”
“You guys got a florist cooped up around here somewhere?” The sound of Loki’s voice, especially the sound of Loki’s voice cutting her off, was the catalyst of Adia’s anger.
“What the hell, Loki! Be--”
“You mean… The Florist?” A frightened look befell the young Sister before them, and spread to the others like the plague. Chilling silence resided among them.
“I guess so. Whoever ARC figures to be ‘The Florist’ around here,” Adia answered haughtily, folding her arms. The Sisters were hesitant to act, but finally, the young one did, the look on her face sour and scared.
“My name is Sister Vanessa, and if ARC wishes you to bring the Florist, then it shall be done.” Her white headdress was a sight with her dark hair and large, dark eyes. A friendly woodland creature from heaven. A soft voice made her the sacrosanct one of all the Lady Sovereign’s Sisters.
“So get with it!” Adia snapped. As the woman’s figure left them, Kireina wiped away a bead of sweat and glanced around. Loki followed.
“Do you feel something… odd?” the watchwoman asked, fighting the urge to bite her nails. With the notion brought to her attention, Adia’s magic sense sparked dangerously within her. She wondered if it was just the strange aura from the patients, her eyes watching the Sisters calmly usher the clueless ones back into their cells while tightening their straightjackets. The ones that had them. There were a select few that her sense pointed out as unique, and a straightjacket on them would most likely bring about something awful. Leave it to Vaskio to house the evil psychics with the nut jobs.
Then, Vanessa returned, a short girl no older than 20 at her side, with eerie, staring pink eyes. She wore a frilly black dress and corset which made her seem so fragile that if Vanessa didn’t lead her in exactly the right way, she might break in two. At once, the strange girl gave a honeysweet smile.
“Hello!”
“This,” the Sister began, “is Rose Petals Bootmann. She thinks--” The girl immediately held out a rock from her pocket and showed it to Loki.
“Would you like to buy a flower?”
“-- she thinks she’s a florist.”
“They’re cheap! And I picked them myself!” Quietly, Loki shook his hand to shoo her away. “Aw c’mon pal! I have a wife and kids to feed!”
“Now,” Adia said, turning to Kireina and scratching her chin, “I’m skeptical. Why does ARC think this is necessary?” Kireina shrugged.
“Will you be signing her out now?” Vanessa asked pleadingly. “We’ll be very glad to get rid of her, you have no idea.” Adia sighed, grumbled, and threw her hands in the air.
“I guess.”
Rose stood with a beaming smile by Loki and Kireina, and the Sister went behind the lobby counter to assist Adia in removing the odd Bootmann from the asylum. Without even scanning the documents over, Adia scribbled down her signature when something sharp and slender came whistling through the air past her cheek and pierced Vanessa’s heart. Her gown was white to crimson in seconds as she slumped over the counter.
“What the hell was that?” Loki shouted, whipping around. Several more arrows sailed by, nearly missing them. Kireina’s eyes quickly found two men in a corner on the second floor balcony.
“There! Right there! Head for cover! Everyone!” the watchwoman’s high voice rang. Seeing her and Loki reveal weapons, Adia soon realized she had none, and her magic abilities were too exhausted from the earlier casting of festering boils. Then, another arrow flew by, and she grabbed Rose’s arm and took her behind the counter.
“Listen Flowers, can you fight?”
“For the justice of earth and plants everywhere!”
“Okay. A ‘no’ would’ve done fine.” Screams sounded off as more Sisters were struck down, and she only hoped that Kireina and Loki were good at dodge ball in their youth. Up above was a tall, charismatic mirk-elf, much more handsome than the other Chaos-skinned bastards of evil, and a man that Adia could’ve sworn she saw by ARC before. A puny man compared to the elf, and he wore a tall black hat that couldn’t hide his weak, rat-like face. Her eyes narrowed, and then the sight of a club by the counter caught her eye. Perfect.
“Stay here,” she told Rose.
Loki and Kireina had successfully persuaded the elf to fight them on the ground floor, but even a two-on-one couldn’t give them the upper hand. He had replaced his short bow with a hand sword, and in the first strike had knocked Loki’s knife right out of his hand. Kireina ran forward and was surprisingly quite precise with her sword, but a strike across the shoulder sent her weapon to the ground.
“Ha! You pathetic rookies can’t take me down!” the mirk elf laughed, waiting for them to come at him.
“Who the hell do you think you are?” Loki snapped, spitting in his direction. The elf smiled.
“Tallin Ted.”
Suddenly, the second figure swooped down with a longsword and struck out at a waiting Adia. At once, she parried, shielding her eyes from the splinters of the club.
“Who are you?” she asked. “I’ve seen you before!”
“I’m going to be a regular at ARC now, you see,” he said richly. “They’ll know me very well on a first name basis, and if you stick around long enough, you will too!” He swung; she dodged. “I am known as Emilio von Sanknich.” She swung. Missed.
“Yeah? My name’s Adia! They call me the Petty Mage. It’s kind of like when they call a big man Tiny!” He swung into her side; she screamed; fell; dropped her weapon. Laughing, Emilio stood over her with his blade at her throat when Adia thrust her hand up in the air. A thick yellow fog wafted from her fingertips, and as it enveloped Emilio, boils and blemishes bubbled on his skin.
There was another scream. Adia looked over, and Loki took what would’ve been a strike to Kireina’s heart in his shoulder, heavily gritting his teeth. She wasn’t sure if it was him or the watchwoman who had yelped. Tallin was looking as proud as ever, but then, an oddity occurred.
“Rose Petals, go!” the asylum patient yelled, leaping over the counter. In her hand was a sharpened stick that she threw with all the force she had. Tallin was in too much disbelief to react, and then the stick imbedded itself deep into his arm, spraying violet blood all over the asylum floors. Emilio saw it was time to go.
“Pull the damn thing out and let’s go!” Gathering his self-righteous panache, the elf pried Rose’s weapon from his being, threw it down, and fled with the other man. The girl looked at the stick rolling towards her in the blood.
“Good job, Rose Petals!” she said to it, bending down to scoop it up.
“Are you talking to your stick?” Adia asked, wiping sweat from her brow.
“Stick?” Rose replied. “Who’re you calling a stick? This is my pet rose! I named her Rose Petals!” Adia didn’t bother to respond, but turned to Loki and Kireina who were both helping each other’s injuries.
“Thank you for the save, Loki,” the watchwoman said, blushing, pulling a cloth from a pouch on her waist. She tied it around the wound on the man’s arm, trying to hide a smile, one that was shocked and grateful for what was probably only heat-of-the-moment generosity.
“Thanks for being slick with that sword of yours.” He tore off part of his brown tunic’s sleeve and tied it tightly around her shoulder. “But let the guy take the hits. If this wound was any deeper, you’d have to use your other arm.” Kireina recognized Loki’s type of charity and blushed again.
“We’ve got to follow those guys,” Adia suddenly said. “You know they’re going to ARC!”
Stars had begun to thrive in the sky, and the temperature finally started to drop. Kireina knew Aeslyn was a fire-breather - she had seen her a few times in the bazaar by the Town Square doing her routine. Throwing torches, blowing streams of fire that sometimes changed colors… she knew all along she was her sister, but things were complicated. They had to stay the way Aeslyn wanted them, for whatever reason. She probably knew that was best, but she wished the first words in so many years could’ve been something like “I missed you” instead of “I don’t know you”. Something inside of her made her long to see her out in the bazaar this night, doing the same thing she always did. That much security would’ve been enough.
“Ki!” The watchwoman swung her head around to see Adia and Loki giving her absurdly blank looks. “We’re here,” Adia said. Kireina looked up - indeed they had reached ARC.
“Oh.”
“Alright Loki, do your stuff. We need to get in this place!” Adia folded her arms and let the skirted thief pass, and right away, a hungry grin and lock picking tools appeared. The man was not slick or quiet, and people a few houses down with their windows open - or even closed, for that matter - could no doubt hear him messing with the tumblers. After a few minutes, Kireina and Adia wandered around, trying to act as though they had nothing to do with him, and then Adia finally grew fed up.
“What is taking you so long?” she asked, shoving him out of the way.
“I don’t kn--” Adia checked the door’s handle and turned it. It opened.
“You idiot!” She smacked him in the head. “The damn thing was open all along!” Knowing that he couldn’t play it off, Loki merely put his tools away and walked in the building with his head down. After Rose had stuffed her pockets full of rocks and twigs, everyone else followed him in, held up by the ransacked rooms.
“They’ve already been here! Dammit!” Adia clenched her fist tightly around her club. Then, Kireina walked off, something in her head. An odd feeling.
‘I can’t read any of it…!’ She saw another girl in her head with a face like hers, but older, and darker hair that wasn’t nearly as neat as hers, and her eyes… violet. It had to be Kedo. Kedo wouldn’t have recognized her if they met, though, she figured. Aeslyn must have done a fine job brainwashing her sister into believing it was just them. The only two Eirstars left.
‘It’s all in some unreadable language!’ A vision came to her head. Kedo had a black book, and was walking with it open in her hands as she walked through a forest with three others. Kireina led herself to the Communion Room. Another vision appeared. This time, it was of her. She was in the room with Loki, Phio, Aeslyn, and Adia.
‘I want the Black Lotus Lore Book,’ Loki said, his lips in a tight frown. Phio was silent and began pacing the room, rubbing his cheek. Then, he stood in front of his bookshelf, staring at the notes in his hands.
‘Kedo took something with her to Theshol that was very important,’ he said sadly. Kireina stepped where he would be, feeling a strange presence. ‘That black book is with her, and now I can only expect it to be lost somewhere in the Lich Tower…’ he mumbled with pain in his voice. ‘That book-’ he paused to make a smile that would only humor himself as he viewed his bookcase, idly running his fingers down spines, ‘is…-’ He stopped, and his jaw dropped.
“Right here…” Kireina whispered, pulling the book out with a trembling hand. It was large, black, and leather, and on the first page was the outline of a large lotus. Strange white noise fizzed in her mind as the pictures vanished, and feelings and emotions flooded into her fingertips. Dark haired Eirstars were partial to visions and empathy. She felt this thought from the paper and ink and leather. A screech, a rustle of chains, a cry. A cry for Aeslyn. A cry for the others.
“This is it… it’s right here…!”
“Ki?” Adia wandered into the room after the watchwoman with Rose and Loki, to find tears running down the girl’s face. “Ki! What’s wrong?”
“This is it! This is the book!” she shouted, holding it up, flipping through the coded pages. “And I can find out what it says! Adia, this is it! We could save them!”
The hue of the sky darkened, a cold blue becoming black, decorated with the first few silver sequins guiding townspeople through the bleakness. Most people in Vaskio left the street for their homes to find sleep, though a few entertainers lingered behind, dancing below the light of the street lanterns.
ARC’s front door opened for only a second to let a sharp Adia, a nimble Kireina, and a fumbling Loki out into the city. At once, they headed in the direction of the asylum.
Aeslyn watched them through the upper windows of the building, fighting the urge to clench her fists or break down from the nausea that was creeping up on her. Something told her that Kireina would end up just like Kedo. Missing. Nothing about Vaskio comforted her anymore, not that she could say it comforted her much before. But, it was time for her to be going. Maybe Theshol would be a better place. Just as she was downstairs and nearly ready to grab her cloak and leave, Phio stopped her.
“Aeslyn, wait! I wanted you to stay for a second…”
“What for? I thought you’d be happy to see me on my way,” the woman replied snidely. Phio figured he had that coming.
“It’s Centa. I was wondering if you would stay for a few minutes to get him together again. He’s not feeling well.”
“What do you expect? The man was skewered, Heywood! I’m surprised he’s back on his feet again. I figured he was dead.”
“You’re jealous, aren’t you?” Aeslyn’s temper shot through the roof, and Phio sensed it. “Because Centa is alive, but you still have nothing on Kedo.” Suddenly, she grabbed the smaller man by his tunic collar, much in the way Centa had done to Loki since she had a few inches on him, and glared into his brown eyes.
“Screw you.” Then, he was dropped, hitting the ground hard. But, he let her get away. She had every reason to be upset, because out of all the children and siblings, Death was the most unfair of all. Kedo hadn’t done anything to die, but Centa might’ve well been slapping Karma in the face.
“Where is he?” she suddenly demanded, making her way to a secluded little kitchen just a ways past Centa’s library.
“He’s in a loft. The hayloft past the next hallway.” His eyes followed her into the kitchen, followed her hands to an iron kettle. A small fire was lit under it, and water was soon in the midst of preparation for tea.
“So… then you’re really going to stay for awhile?” Phio asked her timidly, coming up behind her slowly. She held back an angry sigh.
“You requested that I stay.” Her voice was trying to hide a great deal of frustration and anger, and he could tell. However, she had yet to blow up. There was silence as Aeslyn looked for the perfect assortment of loose tea. All that separated the two from the silent spider’s looming web was the slight bubbling of the water, and the lambent flames licking the bottom of the kettle.
“Who are the rest?”
“None of your damn business,” Aeslyn snapped at once, packing herbs into a tea ball.
“You know about all of them, though, don’t you?” Phio asked, folding his arms. “I don’t know why you keep it such a secret.”
“I only knew of Kedo, okay?” The woman’s voice was raised just below a shaking point. “This new girl - Kireina - she was a complete surprise! Okay?”
“I don’t believe you. You’ve accused Centa and I of being secretive. Is this some way to slap us in the face, or are you just being hypocritical?” With a wave of her hand, the fire beneath the kettle gathered in Aeslyn’s hand, and it was extinguished in a second. She poured the hot water in a mug, splashing steaming droplets all over the counter and floor, and plopped the ball in to steep.
“Believe whatever you want. It still won’t get you closer to the information you want,” she said, scouring viciously through the cupboards. Honey. Tons of it. It and tea. Orange blossom honey, blackberry honey, wild flower honey, rose honey, and then lotus honey. Lotus eating was known to be a very relaxing habit, so hopefully the honey would have its desired effect.
“Milk?”
“Milk?” Phio echoed. “Yes, I think…” He left the room, leaving the woman there by herself to think about everything she was trying not to.
Kedo.
Where the hell was she? What happened to her party? How was Kireina under her nose in the same damn city for so many years? Questions. Her mind then found Phio’s state of mind; Questions were Death’s little yapping pets. Her eyes stared into the steeping tea, the herbs leaking a rich brown color into the water. Her head was trying to do the same thing.
Suddenly, Phio came back, startling the fire breather, but neither of them said a word. He merely handed her a small, ice-cold jar of milk.
Once the two made it to the hayloft, Centa was sitting up, barely awake. He looked rather sickly, and Aeslyn didn’t blame him. His wounds seemed to be taking their toll, so timidly, she handed him the tea.
“It has some chamomile in it. And lotus honey. Milk, too.”
“Thanks,” he said in a whisper, taking a careful sip. It was warm enough to put life in him again. “We need to talk about your family.”
“Why? Why the hell does my family matter? They’re my business!”
“Who are the people in your bloodline, Aeslyn? Where do you come from?”
Phio’s voice made the molten anger bubble in her heart. She remembered her past painfully clear, and she remembered Kedo and Kireina, but she doubted the two remembered each other.
She took that back. Kedo wasn’t much younger than her, but Aeslyn remembered putting so many scars and false memories into her little sister’s head, and she made sure the others got them, too, before they were separated. She remembered telling Kedo how nothing had happened. Nothing at all. And then she would tell her everything. Then nothing. Anything. Whatever would stir the girl’s head up and make it so foggy that she would succumb into giving up. Aeslyn remembered these things herself, and had told so many stories and thought so many things that for all she had known, her and Kedo were the only Eirstars left.
And then Kireina was there. Aeslyn cursed at herself for being so stupid, for not being careful enough. For not trying to avoid something like this. Immediately, she neared the two men and growled.
“You stay away from us, goddamnit! You took Kedo away, and I swear, if you take Kireina, I’m gonna come back and, and…” She stopped. She didn’t want Kedo to be dead, and if she was, Kireina was what she had left. “If she dies, you can bet your asses that I’m gonna come back to make you pay. There’s no reason you have to drag my family into this mess of yours!” Centa and Phio gave each other slight looks, Phio’s with a frown.
“You’ll understand, Aeslyn.,” Centa said, taking the warmth of the cup into his hands. “You will. Find that oracle in Theshol, and you’ll get it. She knows more than we do.”
“Everything is…” Phio started, his words snagging, “… complicated. I’m sure you can understand that, because your past seems to suffer the same complication. This is like a giant puzzle, Aeslyn. Everyone has a different piece.”
“No, you know what it’s like?” Aeslyn asked. The two men were silent, watching her scrape about the room for a bag and cloak. “It’s like a stupid story that no one can finish.”
The night was hot, something unusual and dangerous in Vaskio. An autumn night was cold and torturous, but tonight there was something just as bad in the air. And it wasn’t just arguing.
“I’m sick of you guys already!” Adia had said for the third time, the remark aimed at Kireina. “You think you can lead a team around, and you don’t even know what the hell you’re doing!”
“Adia, what are you talking about?” the watchwoman asked, checking her map for the location of the South Vaskio Asylum.
“I’m talking about you!”
“What did I do?”
Adia’s response was a strange mouth noise resembling an annoyed flatus.
“You’re leading us around like you’re the only one who knows a damn thing!” Kireina stared blankly ahead of her as she walked.
“I’m not leading you anywhere. If you know a better way to the Asylum, I’m not going to object.”
“No one leads me around!” Loki said suddenly. “I’m doing whatever I want! And it’s back to Byrde’s Peak with this!” He tossed the coin purse from hand to hand.
“What? No! You can’t do that!” Kireina shouted, stopping him by his shoulders. “The ARC men trust you! They need you!” The thief shoved her away.
“They’re stupid for trusting a thief.”
“They trusted you,” Adia said, “because you’re a stupid thief.” Fumbling for a retaliation, Loki’s words fell short. Then, his eyes traveled to what the three had finally reached.
The Asylum.
No one was impressed. Adia could feel an odd aura emanating from the tall building, a building that that probably didn’t even use all of its height, a building seeping with insecurities.
“Who are we getting again?” she asked, folding her arms and wetting her lips.
“Heywood said he wanted us to get a florist…” the watchwoman replied, scratching the side of her face. Loki scoffed and approached the building.
“I can’t believe you’d say I’m stupid compared to those guys! What the hell would we need a florist for? This operation has nothing to do with flowers! Or gardens, or anything like that! This is dumb!”
“Yeah, but weren’t you looking for something called the ‘Black Lotus Lore Book’?” Kireina asked. Silence. “And isn’t a lotus a flower?” Silence. Turning up her nose, Adia passed the two of them and went into the asylum.
“You’re stupid.”
Inside, at least two dozen white-gowned Sisters ambled around in stress, talking to themselves in a feverish race to keep things under control. There were patients in loose straightjackets or robes walking around without a clue as to what was going on around them, some of them deranged, acting like something other than a human. Adia caught sight of someone resembling a lamenting tree.
“Um, excuse me,” Kireina mumbled, reaching for a Sister’s sleeve. Adia bumped her out of the way.
“I told you you were trying to take control of everything!” A pout came from the watchwoman’s lips, but was quickly gone. A woman in white came to them with a knell for a heartbeat and the dull gleam from Death’s scythe in her eyes.
“Welcome to this hallow place,” she said in an old lagging voice, her eyes rolling slightly upwards. “The Sovereign is hard at work channeling herself through the Sisters to help these unfortunate souls.”
“It seems you are in fact very busy…” Kireina said, eyeing the other Sisters who would all give her the same drained look. Something tugged at her conscience. A worry. Then, another Sister came towards them, one slightly different. Lively, almost. She came and the other left without a word.
“I’m sorry. Can I help you?” she asked, the corners of her tiny mouth curving up slightly.
“We’ve come from ARC,” Adia started, “and we--”
“You guys got a florist cooped up around here somewhere?” The sound of Loki’s voice, especially the sound of Loki’s voice cutting her off, was the catalyst of Adia’s anger.
“What the hell, Loki! Be--”
“You mean… The Florist?” A frightened look befell the young Sister before them, and spread to the others like the plague. Chilling silence resided among them.
“I guess so. Whoever ARC figures to be ‘The Florist’ around here,” Adia answered haughtily, folding her arms. The Sisters were hesitant to act, but finally, the young one did, the look on her face sour and scared.
“My name is Sister Vanessa, and if ARC wishes you to bring the Florist, then it shall be done.” Her white headdress was a sight with her dark hair and large, dark eyes. A friendly woodland creature from heaven. A soft voice made her the sacrosanct one of all the Lady Sovereign’s Sisters.
“So get with it!” Adia snapped. As the woman’s figure left them, Kireina wiped away a bead of sweat and glanced around. Loki followed.
“Do you feel something… odd?” the watchwoman asked, fighting the urge to bite her nails. With the notion brought to her attention, Adia’s magic sense sparked dangerously within her. She wondered if it was just the strange aura from the patients, her eyes watching the Sisters calmly usher the clueless ones back into their cells while tightening their straightjackets. The ones that had them. There were a select few that her sense pointed out as unique, and a straightjacket on them would most likely bring about something awful. Leave it to Vaskio to house the evil psychics with the nut jobs.
Then, Vanessa returned, a short girl no older than 20 at her side, with eerie, staring pink eyes. She wore a frilly black dress and corset which made her seem so fragile that if Vanessa didn’t lead her in exactly the right way, she might break in two. At once, the strange girl gave a honeysweet smile.
“Hello!”
“This,” the Sister began, “is Rose Petals Bootmann. She thinks--” The girl immediately held out a rock from her pocket and showed it to Loki.
“Would you like to buy a flower?”
“-- she thinks she’s a florist.”
“They’re cheap! And I picked them myself!” Quietly, Loki shook his hand to shoo her away. “Aw c’mon pal! I have a wife and kids to feed!”
“Now,” Adia said, turning to Kireina and scratching her chin, “I’m skeptical. Why does ARC think this is necessary?” Kireina shrugged.
“Will you be signing her out now?” Vanessa asked pleadingly. “We’ll be very glad to get rid of her, you have no idea.” Adia sighed, grumbled, and threw her hands in the air.
“I guess.”
Rose stood with a beaming smile by Loki and Kireina, and the Sister went behind the lobby counter to assist Adia in removing the odd Bootmann from the asylum. Without even scanning the documents over, Adia scribbled down her signature when something sharp and slender came whistling through the air past her cheek and pierced Vanessa’s heart. Her gown was white to crimson in seconds as she slumped over the counter.
“What the hell was that?” Loki shouted, whipping around. Several more arrows sailed by, nearly missing them. Kireina’s eyes quickly found two men in a corner on the second floor balcony.
“There! Right there! Head for cover! Everyone!” the watchwoman’s high voice rang. Seeing her and Loki reveal weapons, Adia soon realized she had none, and her magic abilities were too exhausted from the earlier casting of festering boils. Then, another arrow flew by, and she grabbed Rose’s arm and took her behind the counter.
“Listen Flowers, can you fight?”
“For the justice of earth and plants everywhere!”
“Okay. A ‘no’ would’ve done fine.” Screams sounded off as more Sisters were struck down, and she only hoped that Kireina and Loki were good at dodge ball in their youth. Up above was a tall, charismatic mirk-elf, much more handsome than the other Chaos-skinned bastards of evil, and a man that Adia could’ve sworn she saw by ARC before. A puny man compared to the elf, and he wore a tall black hat that couldn’t hide his weak, rat-like face. Her eyes narrowed, and then the sight of a club by the counter caught her eye. Perfect.
“Stay here,” she told Rose.
Loki and Kireina had successfully persuaded the elf to fight them on the ground floor, but even a two-on-one couldn’t give them the upper hand. He had replaced his short bow with a hand sword, and in the first strike had knocked Loki’s knife right out of his hand. Kireina ran forward and was surprisingly quite precise with her sword, but a strike across the shoulder sent her weapon to the ground.
“Ha! You pathetic rookies can’t take me down!” the mirk elf laughed, waiting for them to come at him.
“Who the hell do you think you are?” Loki snapped, spitting in his direction. The elf smiled.
“Tallin Ted.”
Suddenly, the second figure swooped down with a longsword and struck out at a waiting Adia. At once, she parried, shielding her eyes from the splinters of the club.
“Who are you?” she asked. “I’ve seen you before!”
“I’m going to be a regular at ARC now, you see,” he said richly. “They’ll know me very well on a first name basis, and if you stick around long enough, you will too!” He swung; she dodged. “I am known as Emilio von Sanknich.” She swung. Missed.
“Yeah? My name’s Adia! They call me the Petty Mage. It’s kind of like when they call a big man Tiny!” He swung into her side; she screamed; fell; dropped her weapon. Laughing, Emilio stood over her with his blade at her throat when Adia thrust her hand up in the air. A thick yellow fog wafted from her fingertips, and as it enveloped Emilio, boils and blemishes bubbled on his skin.
There was another scream. Adia looked over, and Loki took what would’ve been a strike to Kireina’s heart in his shoulder, heavily gritting his teeth. She wasn’t sure if it was him or the watchwoman who had yelped. Tallin was looking as proud as ever, but then, an oddity occurred.
“Rose Petals, go!” the asylum patient yelled, leaping over the counter. In her hand was a sharpened stick that she threw with all the force she had. Tallin was in too much disbelief to react, and then the stick imbedded itself deep into his arm, spraying violet blood all over the asylum floors. Emilio saw it was time to go.
“Pull the damn thing out and let’s go!” Gathering his self-righteous panache, the elf pried Rose’s weapon from his being, threw it down, and fled with the other man. The girl looked at the stick rolling towards her in the blood.
“Good job, Rose Petals!” she said to it, bending down to scoop it up.
“Are you talking to your stick?” Adia asked, wiping sweat from her brow.
“Stick?” Rose replied. “Who’re you calling a stick? This is my pet rose! I named her Rose Petals!” Adia didn’t bother to respond, but turned to Loki and Kireina who were both helping each other’s injuries.
“Thank you for the save, Loki,” the watchwoman said, blushing, pulling a cloth from a pouch on her waist. She tied it around the wound on the man’s arm, trying to hide a smile, one that was shocked and grateful for what was probably only heat-of-the-moment generosity.
“Thanks for being slick with that sword of yours.” He tore off part of his brown tunic’s sleeve and tied it tightly around her shoulder. “But let the guy take the hits. If this wound was any deeper, you’d have to use your other arm.” Kireina recognized Loki’s type of charity and blushed again.
“We’ve got to follow those guys,” Adia suddenly said. “You know they’re going to ARC!”
Stars had begun to thrive in the sky, and the temperature finally started to drop. Kireina knew Aeslyn was a fire-breather - she had seen her a few times in the bazaar by the Town Square doing her routine. Throwing torches, blowing streams of fire that sometimes changed colors… she knew all along she was her sister, but things were complicated. They had to stay the way Aeslyn wanted them, for whatever reason. She probably knew that was best, but she wished the first words in so many years could’ve been something like “I missed you” instead of “I don’t know you”. Something inside of her made her long to see her out in the bazaar this night, doing the same thing she always did. That much security would’ve been enough.
“Ki!” The watchwoman swung her head around to see Adia and Loki giving her absurdly blank looks. “We’re here,” Adia said. Kireina looked up - indeed they had reached ARC.
“Oh.”
“Alright Loki, do your stuff. We need to get in this place!” Adia folded her arms and let the skirted thief pass, and right away, a hungry grin and lock picking tools appeared. The man was not slick or quiet, and people a few houses down with their windows open - or even closed, for that matter - could no doubt hear him messing with the tumblers. After a few minutes, Kireina and Adia wandered around, trying to act as though they had nothing to do with him, and then Adia finally grew fed up.
“What is taking you so long?” she asked, shoving him out of the way.
“I don’t kn--” Adia checked the door’s handle and turned it. It opened.
“You idiot!” She smacked him in the head. “The damn thing was open all along!” Knowing that he couldn’t play it off, Loki merely put his tools away and walked in the building with his head down. After Rose had stuffed her pockets full of rocks and twigs, everyone else followed him in, held up by the ransacked rooms.
“They’ve already been here! Dammit!” Adia clenched her fist tightly around her club. Then, Kireina walked off, something in her head. An odd feeling.
‘I can’t read any of it…!’ She saw another girl in her head with a face like hers, but older, and darker hair that wasn’t nearly as neat as hers, and her eyes… violet. It had to be Kedo. Kedo wouldn’t have recognized her if they met, though, she figured. Aeslyn must have done a fine job brainwashing her sister into believing it was just them. The only two Eirstars left.
‘It’s all in some unreadable language!’ A vision came to her head. Kedo had a black book, and was walking with it open in her hands as she walked through a forest with three others. Kireina led herself to the Communion Room. Another vision appeared. This time, it was of her. She was in the room with Loki, Phio, Aeslyn, and Adia.
‘I want the Black Lotus Lore Book,’ Loki said, his lips in a tight frown. Phio was silent and began pacing the room, rubbing his cheek. Then, he stood in front of his bookshelf, staring at the notes in his hands.
‘Kedo took something with her to Theshol that was very important,’ he said sadly. Kireina stepped where he would be, feeling a strange presence. ‘That black book is with her, and now I can only expect it to be lost somewhere in the Lich Tower…’ he mumbled with pain in his voice. ‘That book-’ he paused to make a smile that would only humor himself as he viewed his bookcase, idly running his fingers down spines, ‘is…-’ He stopped, and his jaw dropped.
“Right here…” Kireina whispered, pulling the book out with a trembling hand. It was large, black, and leather, and on the first page was the outline of a large lotus. Strange white noise fizzed in her mind as the pictures vanished, and feelings and emotions flooded into her fingertips. Dark haired Eirstars were partial to visions and empathy. She felt this thought from the paper and ink and leather. A screech, a rustle of chains, a cry. A cry for Aeslyn. A cry for the others.
“This is it… it’s right here…!”
“Ki?” Adia wandered into the room after the watchwoman with Rose and Loki, to find tears running down the girl’s face. “Ki! What’s wrong?”
“This is it! This is the book!” she shouted, holding it up, flipping through the coded pages. “And I can find out what it says! Adia, this is it! We could save them!”
