Chapter Five
Chapter Five: The Restaurant Business
Teo was the only one of them who had managed to sleep through the night upon re-entering the restaurant and inn. He kept himself quiet as he had awakened before the rest of them having been asleep longer. The storm had fully drenched the outside and all he could see was pieces of snake everywhere from the night before. He headed outside with his dao in hand and began walking to the pieces that were still frozen.
“I wonder.” He said to himself.
He heated the dao up with Breath of a Salamander and began melting the ice which was easier since Toshiro was asleep. The heat melted a hole into the snake as Teo began to pry the scales off of its body.
“I may need another bag.” He thought to himself,”Make one for supplies from these snakes and prepare an increasing spell for capacity but lightweight. A spell like that could take a year but the capacity might not even be needed then.” He puts his hand on his chin and thinks for a few moments.
“Ka’l Naj Ch’am, could work.” (Twenty House Grab/Hold). It won’t be as capable as a larger bag but it’ll help get these snake parts saved for resources and maybe the blacksmith in Areno could use them for something.”
Teo grabs a snake head and drags it to the steps from a few yards out and sits down. He sets his dao in the sand still being hot with a smaller flame since it wasn’t in use. He quickly walks up stairs and grabs his bag from beside the bed and returns down stairs. He sits by the snake head and removes three jars without the lids from his bag.
“Three should be enough for venom. Just have to be careful, less I end up like Kitanni but worse.” He takes a breath and opens the snake’s mouth and begins pulling on its fangs as if it was an utter. The venom pours into the jar quickly and fills it up when full he puts the lid on it and seals it tightly. He continues this for several minutes before each jar is filled up.
For the next several minutes he scales the snake’s head and body and sets them to the side. This was for his personal collection and to help Amane see his past memories. If he wanted a full glimpse of what happened he needed a sample from Toshiro as well and anyone else who might have been involved at that point but those two were the only ones left. He should be able to make do with that.
Using the snake's skin, he makes a makeshift bag by quickly sewing the end of it together using the fang as a needle. Then using his sword to cut the top and make it smaller for carrying. He looks down at it and focuses on it.”Ka’l. Naj. Ch’am. Ka’l. Naj. Ch’am. Ka’l. Naj. Ch’am.” As he chants the bag begins glowing on the inside. He repeated the words several more times before it settled down into a deep fog of emptiness. The spell used on it increases the bag size several times as well suspending the items in the state they are entered into the bag.
“This won’t be as long lasting as a larger bag could, but seeing as it's just for the snake parts, this will do fine.”
Teo continues on by removing body parts from the large snake including the eyes, the tongue, fangs and blood. He smells the ocean and heads behind the bar following the river. When he arrives and sees the waves, he inhales deeply and enjoys the smell of the ocean’s salty water. He sees some dried out driftwood further up the coast and walks over to it. He grabs it as well as some for a fire. He digs a hole quickly up shore and places the wood inside it and stands it up right around the edges.
He returns to the steps and grabs the snake head and brings it down to the beach where he sticks it in the hole. “Breath of a Salamander.” He whispers as he points his hand down at the hole. He didn’t need the dao to use that technique, only focus. He thought to himself,”That magical fire should remove the skin off this creature by the middle of the day,”
Teo heads up the bar again and takes the jars and puts them back into his bag carefully. He sets it down in his room and goes back down stairs. He goes behind the counter to see what they have to use for cooking: a brick oven, some pans, and some utensils.
Must not cook much variety here. He thinks to himself. He turns and spots a note on the counter. “What’s this?” He stares at it for a moment just seeing Amane at the bottom and decides to read it.
“I agreed to watch the restaurant for a couple days as Vic had to resupply. He’s bringing us back some Dune lizards as payment. Signed, Amane.”
“Interesting turn of events. No one else probably knows but this is a good chance to make a little money to fund our travels. We can’t just get by on charm and battle prowess.” Teo says to himself.
Teo concentrates his energy as he walks back outside into the heat. His interest in cryomancy heightened after watching Toshiro perform against the snakes. He needed to keep these snakes on ice to use them in the future. He walks to the nearest snake with his bag, his hand and chants. “Ja Cehuetziz” (Water Freeze) to freeze the snake parts more and engulfs them in the bag. He continues doing this for several more pieces of snakes until he gathers all he really can.
As he piles them into his bag he begins thinking about the note Amane left for them. They were running the bar which meant running the kitchen. They had tons of snakes out here so he could possibly try to work some magic with the snake meat. He had never really run a bar or restaurant before this but he was curious to try.
It had been a couple hours since he had collected the snakes and in the same time he had begun cooking parts of the snake in the brick oven. This definitely wasn’t the first snake he had cooked in his life but it was the first sand snake he had. It was a huge snake with a decent amount of meat on it. Snake steak is what it seemed like he was cooking. If cooked right it’d probably taste like a white fish of some kind to him but here he wasn’t sure what the equivalent was.
He put the wooden peel back into the oven and pulled the snake back out and sat it on the counter. Removing a knife from the drawer along with a fork he cut into the thick slice of snake meat and picked up a piece of it. Here goes something. He thought to himself before eating it. Teo prepares himself for a terrible taste since it wasn’t really seasoned at this point; he was just trying to get it cooked correctly before adding more to it. “Wasn’t too bad. Next one I’ll add some melted butter and some salt with pepper to it while it cooks.”
Teo began another batch of snake filets in a pan he found and added some extra ingredients into it, including the butter and salt with pepper. Give it fifteen minutes and I’ll check on it again.
Teo drinks a glass of water quickly and heads up stairs to his room to grab a journal from his bag. A leather bound journal with Drazteca marking on it. Removing his quill from the side of it he dips it in ink and begins writing.
“The end of week one in this new place which seems to be called: Aren. I’ve met a couple of younger adults, I want to call them kids since they aren’t in their twenties yet.
Kyra is an elven princess in the forest section called Quadrant Two. Her aim and precision with her bow is top notch and she has an interesting ability called multi-arrow. She’s compassionate and well meaning and currently is the best chance of getting through to the next person I’m writing about.
Next to her is Amane, he’s a lone swordsman who uses a katana much like my mother’s.
He’s got his own unique talents as well and they seem to be vast and varying. His spiritual energy is weaponized and highly dangerous but he’s also a pyromancer. There is something deeper as well as his body seems to absorb energy that is mixed with his own. He used holy energy from within after I used the holy sun field change. He’s powerful but not focused as much as he should be. I think that’s due to not having a challenge in a long time. His body almost works instinctively on its own without a conscious decision like with the barrier situation.
A day or so after that I met some more people around that same age. Toshiro and Kitanni. People from Amane’s past, his best friend from home and Kitanni, Toshiro’s, ‘girlfriend’ or something like that. Toshiro is a cryomancer and is ‘hunting’ down Amane for something he says happens but Amane has no memory of it. Kitanni is a healer who is just out here because she wanted to come with Toshiro. She has her uses as a healer but recently discovered she could absorb poisons.
We’ve met another man on our travels and he appeared as if from nowhere before walking into the bar. He’s an umbramancer and it seems like he knows Amane somehow but they didn’t talk about it. In our first encounter with him, he and Amane were communicating in a weird way. We had a large-scale battle with a gang and then a transformed monster of undead flesh. We were good up to that point. In the night, Amane had encountered sand snakes when he was helping Victor Auller outside with Kyra. We cleaned them up, and now I’m cooking them, but during that battle a final serpent showed up and took Tenkai. Amane is not taking it well at all.
They definitely seem to be good people but they have some confusion and emotional issues for sure. I’ll guide them as best as I can.
Speaking of guiding, Lord Quetzalcoatl had shown up in Aren through me. He rescued Amane from a falling disaster. Lord Quetzalcoatl believes Amane is the one to help us in our Infinite Night. Only time will tell.”
Teo puts his quill back inside the journal as a placeholder and closes the book. He leaves it sitting on the counter and turns to his snake which had been in there longer than intended but still looked fine. He uses the peel and drags it out enough to where he can grip it with gloved hands.
He cuts into it and sees the butter flowing across the inside of it. He quickly pulls the bones out of the piece. He had used the bones as a guide and to keep it attached better so it didn’t fall apart in the brick oven. He cuts the snake into a piece he can eat and lifts it up and savors the flavor of what he had cooked.
“Not bad at all.” Teo says to himself. “Maybe we can sell this.”
As he finishes cooking Kitanni and Toshiro come down stairs. The smell of the snake cooking had attracted Toshiro’s attention and Kitanni was ready to get out of the bed after her ordeal. They sit at the bar next to each other and see Teo behind cooking.
“Busy morning?” Toshiro asks.
“I gathered some snake parts and did some enchanting. Amane volunteered us to watch the bar.” Teo replied.
“Oh...how nice of him…” Toshiro says while rolling his eyes.
“It’s for a reason. Victor is bringing us back Dune Lizards so we can travel faster across the sands. Seems like a good deal and we get to stay here and rest a little longer before going back out into the desert heat.” Teo adds.
“That will definitely help us travel.” Kitanni speaks up. “What do you have here?” She points at the snakes sitting on the counter.
“A plain snake I used for testing the brick oven and then one I just made with seasoning. Have a bite, I’ve got plenty.” Teo smiles at her. “After your night, I’d say eat all you want, call it revenge.” He jokes.
Kitanni laughs,”Definitely revenge.” She says as she grabs a fork and stabs it. “Take that!” She smiles before eating a piece of it. “It’s pretty good, Teo. Thank you.”
“Of course.” He looks at Toshiro,”What about you?”
“I’ll try a piece,”Toshiro replies. “I can help out in the kitchen if you want. My father taught me to cook at home. He was a skilled swordsman and almost as skilled as a chef.” He stabs a piece with another fork and eats it quickly. “Definitely good. What about some lemon juice?”
Teo places his hand on his chin and thinks for a moment. “Hmm..that could work.” He begins rummaging through the cupboards and behind the counter. “Not finding it.”
Toshiro got up from his chair and headed behind the counter. “I’ll look in the pantry area.” He heads into the door leading to the pantry and begins searching.
Upstairs in the room, the door is still shut but Amane and Kyra are very much awake. She sits next to him as he lays on the bed with his hands behind his head. They had been up for an hour but didn’t want to come down yet. She was listening to what he had to say about his dream.
“Okay, hold on. I’m confused.” Kyra states.
“Which part?” Amane jokes. “I’m confused too.”
Kyra laughs slightly,”You’re saying you had a dream about someone who looked like you but much much older?”
“Yeah, the same style of armor and the swords were pretty identical to the ones I usually carry. He even had gray eyes before they turned black and red.” Amane replied.
She looks at him with an intrigued look upon her face,”How common are gray eyes in your area?”
“To my knowledge, my father and myself. Though his eyes had gotten dull towards the end of his life. I think he lost hope in people.” Amane stated.
Kyra sighs hearing that to think someone who was so close to Amane would lose hope in people seemed weird from what she knew about Amane. “Well, sometimes people can’t help but do things to help them get through the day. This was after your mother passed?”
“Yeah.” Amane replied, looking down. “I still can’t figure out who’d want to kill her. She was the nicest person to everyone.” He wiped a tear out of his eye as he thought about her.
She could feel the sadness within him talking about her,”We don’t have to talk about her, but she sounds nice.”
“She was.” He replies. “Anyway, my eye color isn’t common and I don’t know anyone with it.”
“I know a person besides you with it.” She smiles.
“Who?” He asks, confused.
“The Elder of the Sacred Grove.” She laughs,”I just found that out myself recently. He’s apparently half Arenian.”
“Really?” Amane asks excitedly.
“I was surprised too.” She looks towards her home,”Can’t wait to see him again.”
Amane smiles and touches her left hand. “I’d like to meet him too.”
“I’ll make sure you do. Though he’ll probably say something like: you need to stop bottling up your emotions and grow into a stronger tree by embracing yourself.” Kyra laughs.
“Well if that’s the case, then I guess I should get on with it.” Amane jokes but even as a joke he knew it needed to happen, he just wasn’t good at opening up. Though he did seem to be able to with Kyra.
“You should.” Kyra says sternly but with a soft smile.
“Yeah.” He said looking back up at her and noticed the red parts of her hair in the sun. “Thank you for listening.”
“Of course, Amane. You need to open up with someone and if it’s me, I’ll gladly help.” She had noticed his hand but didn’t move hers or his. “Probably time we go down stairs.” She adds.
“Probably. I’ll grab my weapons.” Amane replies.
“Not this time. No weapons. You’re going to be normal Amane today. Not a warrior.” Kyra stated with her intent to separate him from the warrior persona he always had.
Amane sighed,”No armor either?”
“Right. Just your training suit, the one under your clothes which definitely functions as a tank top and pants.. That’s it.“ Kyra replies.
“Alright.” He stood up and took off the gear he didn’t need. “Better?”
“Yeah. Let’s hang out with Amane the person for a change instead of Amane the warrior for a day.” Kyra replied as she took his hand and drug him out the door. She was in her baggy tank top and pants also with ‘no’ weapons.
Amane looks down at her waist for a second and sees a pair of daggers. “What about those?” He says as he points downward towards her waist.
Her face turned red in embarrassment as she tried to sneak out her own weapons. “Caught me.” She laughed hesitantly. “Also keep your eyes up here.” She joked trying to cover herself.
“Kyra.”
“Amane.”
“The daggers.” He adds.
“Fine.” She huffs. “I’ll put them back.” Kyra says as she removes her daggers and tosses them to the bed. “Better?” She says repeating what he said.
“Much better.” He joked. “I don’t really mind. You just made me leave mine so you might as well leave yours.”
“Fair enough, but if we need protection who will do it?” She says sticking her tongue out at him.
Amane laughed and was smiling at her,”We’ll be fine. I can shoot a blast of energy from my palms and set people on fire. There’s that.”
“True but what about me?” Kyra says, being a pain.
“Kill them with your good looks.” Amane jokes.
She blushed and turned a dark shade of red at his comment. Kyra wasn’t expecting that answer from him of all people. A joke or not, it wasn't something she was used to hearing from people outside of her home. Even in the trees, she felt like it was just to be polite to her. In the rest of the world she hadn’t heard from anyone yet..until him.
“Uh..Kyra, are you okay?” Amane asked with his right eyebrow raised and a smirk on his face.
“Yeah, shut up. Let’s go down stairs.” She grabs his hand and begins dragging him down stairs. With her in front it gave her face time to calm down from being red.
As they come down the stairs, Kitanni looks over and sees Kyra dragging him down by his hand and smiles while looking at them. “Seems like someone is getting closer.”
“Wait what?” Kyra says, dropping his hand.
“No need to be ashamed.” Kitanni jokes.
“Shut up.” Kyra says as she walks past her and out the door for fresh air.
“Don’t think I don’t see what’s going on with you two.” Kitanni says to Amane as he comes down the stairs the rest of the way.
He raises his right eyebrow at her,”I’m so confused.”
She sighed,”You don’t have to hide anything.”
“Kitanni, look at me.” He said, staring at her. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
As she looked at him, she realized his face was dead serious that he truly didn’t know what she was talking about. “Oh my god...you’re truly oblivious aren’t you?” She says in the nicest way she could.
Amane shrugged,”Probably.”
“We’ll just have to see how it goes when you both figure it out.” She jokes with him.
“I guess so.” He shook his head. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m much better. Thanks for asking.” Kitanni replies.
“I’m glad. You weren’t doing too great last I saw you. It’s nice to see that you’ve recovered so well.” Amane adds. “That’s some power you have.”
She looks down at the table and grabs her water. She takes a drink before speaking again. “I didn’t even know I had that. I’m going to learn a lot on this journey with you all.”
“I welcome you. Just make sure you do it for you and not for Toshiro. If things get too bad he may not be able to keep you safe. I, of course, will try to help but it’ll be hard if we’re all engaged in a battle.” Amane replies in a worried fashion.
“I know I need to get better at close range and fighting in general. That’s nothing new. I’ll try not to slow you all down.” Kitanni replies seriously.
“Welcome aboard then, Kitanni.” Amane adds.
“Thank you, Amane.”
“Anyway, where are Toshiro and Teo?” He asks.
“Toshiro is in the pantry and Teo is..” She pauses.
“Down here!” Teo yells out from the cupboards behind the counter. “Thanks for telling us by the way.”
Amane rolled his eyes,”What did you want me to do? Wake you up in the middle of the night? Bother her while she is resting? Bother Toshiro while he was watching over her?”
“True enough. Just a little more notice would have been nice.” Teo replies.
“I found out at the last minute too but he’s paying us in Dune Lizards. So I’ll cope with the anger if it gets where we’re going faster.” Amane adds.
Teo sighs behind the counter,”I’m sorry for complaining. Wish he’d have said something before he left with us all there.”
“Apology accepted.” Amane smirks. “What are we looking for?”
“Lemons and or lemon juice.” Kitanni replies.
“Why?” Amane asks.
“For seasoning. This snake needed something more than salt, pepper, and butter. Toshiro thought of it.” Kitanni added.
“I forgot that Toshiro actually could cook. Toshin definitely trained him to be a house husband.” Amane joked with Kitanni. “Maybe you can take advantage of his knowledge and put him to work.”
Kitanni turned red quickly as she realized what he was getting at. He turned her earlier conversation with Kyra back on her but he was still so oblivious to himself. She shoved a piece of snake into her mouth.
“Alright, alright. Stop teasing her, Amane.” Teo says calmly.
“She started it.” Amane jokes. “But yeah. Let me go check on Kyra.”
Kyra had been staring into the distance towards the trees collecting herself. The redness in her face had gone down and pale skin was back to normal. She wondered what was going on there and what her own people would think if they saw her with Amane. She knew deep down that she cared for him as a friend and that was how she was trying to keep it. That was her friend and friends look after one another. She came back inside as Amane was going out to check on her.
“Welcome back.” Amane said to break the silence.
“Thanks.” Kyra replies. “Ready to relax?”
“Ready to try.” Amane adds. “Not used to this whole relaxing thing.” He waves his hand around.
“Well, try.” She retorts.
“That explains the pajamas.” Toshiro says as he comes back out of the pantry.
“Fair enough.” Amane replies. “Find your lemon?”
Toshiro shook his head from side to side. “I guess he’s out.”
Teo stays looking around and pops up hitting his head on the cupboard. “mother..” He pauses”..lemon. I found the lemons.” He pulls a bag of them out and sets them on the counter. He pulls out three bowls from the cupboard and sets them on the counter. “Let’s start squeezing.”
“So much for relaxing.” Kyra states.
“No, you can relax.” Teo says. “Amane has to work because he put us in this situation.” He laughs.
“Fair enough.” Amane says once again. “Kyra, relaxing is gonna have to wait for a bit.”
“I see. Guess I’ll get some practice in.” She says as she points at the dart board.
“Enjoy your darts.” Amane adds.
“I’ll come watch.” Kitanni says. “Have fun boys.”
“Loads.” Toshiro replies.
Amane, Toshiro, and Teo spent the next half hour squeezing lemons into a bowl. Toshiro took it as a challenge to squeeze more lemons than Amane did, but Amane didn’t care and it wasn’t a challenge for him. Teo was just happy he didn’t have to do all the squeezing himself. An entire bag of lemons squeezed into three bowls. Never able to relax but at least they were done with that. This was definitely the weirdest thing Amane had done in his travels, not being a good cook of any kind, he wondered how this was going to go for them. Teo thought that the lemons were a good idea that Toshiro had but only time would tell.
“What about garlic?” Toshiro asks.
“We could make garlic butter with lemon.” Teo adds.
“Well, you guys enjoy that. I’m not exactly a decent cook and would probably be in the way.” Amane replies. “I know my limits.” He laughs.
“Backing out of a challenge, Amane?” Toshiro asked.
“We were having a challenge?” Amane questions with a blank deadpan look on his face.
Teo smirks and snorts trying not to laugh.
“Of course, we were. Why do you think I was trying to squeeze more?” Toshiro responds.
Amane puts his hand on Toshiro’s shoulder,”I don’t know.” He calmly says to him. “It was your idea for lemons right?”
“It was.” Toshiro responds coldly.
“Then it’s your burden to bear. You’re welcome; for all the help though.” Amane said as he walked away towards Kyra and Kitanni. “Hey, Kitanni, you want to switch with me? He’s being weird about lemons.” Amane laughs as he walks over there.
“Sure.” Kitanni replies as she trades places with him.
“Thanks.” Amane adds.
He sits down at the table beside Kyra who is still playing darts. He watches her as she throws the darts perfectly hitting the bullseye each time. To him, she was just really good at aiming her shots and not missing. He was close range so his precision aiming wasn’t as good as her at any distance. He was most definitely fascinated with her skills. He looks up at her as she gets ready to throw another one,”Don’t miss.” He says jokingly.
She turns and throws the dart while looking at him,”I won’t.” She said as the dart hit the bullseye again. “Ready to relax?” She asks.
“If it’ll get me away from lemon zest over there.” Amane replied.
Kyra laughed,”You know cooking isn’t so bad.”
“I know.” He sighs,”I’m just not good at it. I can feed myself but I can’t exactly say I like or care for extra seasoning. I pretty much just eat for the sake of eating lately. No time to get too into my cooking when I was being hunted.”
“While that’s a good point, you can’t go wrong with some basic seasonings and knowing how to do some things.” Kyra states.
“Can you cook, Princess?” Amane asks.
She scoffs at him because of his use of princess,”Of course I can. I am a Princess, after all. Knowing how to cook is second nature and a requirement of royalty in Quadrant Two.”
Amane pulls his head back away from her,”Easy there, Kyra. I was just messing with you.”
“Well, now you know, don’t call me princess. Out here I’m not a princess I’m just an elven lady traveling with her...with her friends.” She smiles slightly. “I don’t want to be above anyone, I just want to be Kyra with you all. My own person, not my title.”
“I’ll try to keep that in mind for you.” Amane replies. “Sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it, Amane.” She pats him on his head like a child before she walks over and pulls the darts from the board.
Amane shakes his head,”Woof woof.” He laughs. “I also like being scratched under my chin and behind my ears.”
“Come on, stand up and play with me.” Kyra hands him the other set of darts.
“I’m not going to be good at this, but alright.” Amane replies.
Kyra grabs his hand and pulls him up from the chair. “Stand here.” She says pushing him into position.
“Whoa, slow down, Kyra. I can walk.” He laughs.
“Then go faster.” Kyra jokes.
“I’ll show you fast if you keep this up. I will outrun your elven self.” He says back in a sarcastic manner but also slightly serious.
“Oh is that a challenge, Amane.” She said, poking him a little bit with her index finger while smiling.
“Do you want it to be?” Amane replied with a smirk.
“Once around the building after darts?” She said seriously.
“You know what...” Amane replies as he throws all the darts at a high speed without taking his eyes off her. “Let’s go now.”
There is a loud gasp from the others as the darts hit the board. Each one landing in a consecutive line from top to bottom on the board. Lowest Score, middle score, Bulls-eye, middle Score, and lowest score again. Kyra turns her head and looks at the board and is also confused.
“What the.. Amane?” She says looking at him and back at the board.
“What?” He replies as he looks at the board. “What in the Underworld?” He shook his head. “Your turn.”
Kyra pushes him back a little bit and turns sideways so her body is up against his but neither one of them is paying attention to her body placement. Their competitive nature came out as both were focused on the challenges.
Kitanni looked closely, seeing how close they were together and pointed to Teo and Toshiro to look. Toshiro laughed as her body was against him entirely, not even in a subtle way. Teo shakes his head as he watches them. It was almost as if they were dancing together at that closeness with Kyra’s body and backside pressed up against Amane. He was surprised neither one of them was blushing and realized the amount of focus they had in the challenge.
“You watch. Those two are going to end up together by the time this is over.” Kitanni whispered to Teo and Toshiro
“Shh.” Toshiro speaks directed towards Kitanni. “She can hear you.”
“Really?” Kitanni asked.
“Yes.” Kyra responds. “Very much so.”
Kyra throws each dart with precision and matches Amane's score just horizontally. Landing each one in the same score zone and one in the bulls-eye just to prove a point. She turns around and stares at him.
“Same score. Purposefully.” Amane smirks. “You are definitely talented.”
“You want to see speed right. Come on.” Kyra demands as she looks him in the eyes, face to face.
“Let’s go.” He replies.
Kyra grabs him by his shirt and pulls him outside by it even though he was following her without her needing to do that at all.
Toshiro laughs a bit seeing this whole situation.”I have never seen him be dragged around by anyone. This is definitely a sight to see.”
Teo looked at him from the corner of his eyes, ”You aren’t going out there?”
“Not at all.” Toshiro laughed. “I know where my speed is and it isn’t even Amane’s level and if she’s so confident in her speed to beat him, she’s probably faster than him.”
“I wouldn’t count him out of this race.” Teo replied. “He’s not wearing armor.”
“While that’s true, I think she still has the edge.” For Toshiro someone just had to have the edge over him. Someone needed to beat him in any category that Amane was good at.
After Amane and Kyra walked out a customer had walked in. An older guy probably in his fifties with a bushy beard and shaggy hair as if he had been traveling from further away.
“Greetings.” Teo says loudly.
“Uh..yeah, are you guys open?” He asked.
“We are to an extent.” Toshiro adds.
“Well after watching that couple storm outside I wasn’t sure.” The man replies.
Kitanni snickers to herself and lowly says,”Couple.” under her breath.
“Oh yeah, they’re with us. They’re also very competitive. We learned that just a moment ago.” Teo shakes his head,”Anyway, Vic left us in charge of this place while he’s out resupplying.”
“Do you think you can handle a large party as well as customers?” The man asks.
“Uh..I’m not sure. How do you like snakes?” Teo replies.
“They’re fine...wait, you mean to eat?” He adds.
“Yes. We have plenty. Killed a horde of them.” Toshiro says.
“Wow..” The guy is stunned by what they said and sees the snake on the counter. “Impressive.”
“Anyway, how many people?” Kitanni asked the man.
“Maybe ten or twelve?” He replies. “Is that okay?”
“That’s fine.” Teo says. “When do you want to come by?”
“Probably a couple hours.” He adds. “We’re just hanging out at the coast a little further up from here but it’s a group of people who all move at different paces. I’m going back to tell them we’ll be having dinner here.”
“See you then.” Kitanni says as she waves him off.
“Be careful.” Teo adds.
“I will. See you soon.” The man replies.
During the time the man was talking to them Amane and Kyra were beginning their race. A race to see who was the fastest between them or if there was a fastest. She had dragged him outside by his shirt and all the way around the building to the back.
“We’re going to see which one of us is faster. A normal Arenian or a normal Elf.” Kyra said sternly.
“Nothing about you is normal.” Amane jokes with her. “Just don’t get mad if I beat you.”
“I won’t because you won’t beat me.” Kyra sticks her tongue out at him again like she had done before.
“She’s gonna get mad.” Amane says out loud but under his breath.
“I’m not going to get mad!” She shouts at him.
Amane laughs deeply at what she says. A genuine laugh not a slight laugh or a smirk and a smile, but a real laugh. Kyra looks at him and sees a happiness on his face she hadn’t seen before. A happiness that had been buried for many years and even more recently.
“Let’s race before you stop being happy.” Kyra says while still looking at him.
“Let’s go.” Amane replies. “Wait, hold on. Stay where you are.”
Amane bends down and starts digging a line in the sand with his hands. He wanted them to have a clear stopping and starting point. He uses his pyromancy and scorches around the line so the black sand is visible even if the line is filled in.
“Feel better now that you played in the sand?” Kyra asks him sarcastically.
“I’ll build a castle next time.” He retorts. “How will we tell when we go?”
“I’ll just say it. You trust me right?” Kyra asks.
“I do. On your royal princess-ness.” He replies.
Kyra begins her count down:
“Ready”
“Set.”
She pauses for a moment as both her and Amane get into a running position.
“Go!” she shouts.
In a blur of speed Kyra and Amane nearly disappear from sight. If it wasn’t for the sand and wind following them they wouldn’t have been seen. In just a matter of moments, they both return to the starting line at the same time. Not a moment slower than the other. Neither of them are breathing hard.
“Was that your top speed?” Amane asks Kyra.
“Uh..no..” she replies, hesitantly, as he keeps up with her. “Yours?”
“No..of course not.” Amane scratches the back of his head not wanting to give in. “Go again?”
“Yeah. Just like before.” Kyra states.
“Ready.”
“Set.”
They take their positions again.
“Go!” She shouts.
Once again a blur of speed pulls sand and winds behind them as if they were a storm of dust. Staying right beside each other until they reached the sand spot again. Both still wondered if the other was going max speed.
“Last time.” Kyra shouts, getting somewhat annoyed neither of them was winning.
“Alright.” Amane agrees.
“One more time.” Kyra states.
“Ready.”
“Set.”
They take their positions for the final time.
“Go!” She shouts.
The same as before a storm of dust clouds following behind an invisible force of speed. Sand kicked up everywhere but no sign of the people..until they rounded the corner. Both slipped in a sand dune and rolled over several times before they settled on the ground with Kyra pinned under Amane who was looking at her.
Amane stared into her vibrant green eyes as his face began getting hot and not just from the sun. “Are you okay?” He asked.
Kyra stares back into his eyes as her face, too, becomes red. “Yeah, I’m fine.” She blushes. “Was that your top speed from the start?”
“Yeah.” He says quietly.
“Mine too. I just didn’t want to lose.” Kyra replies.
“Me either, Kyra.” He smiles at her. “You seem to have a weird way of pulling real emotions out of me that I can’t explain.”
She smirks at him and blushes as she reaches up to his face placing her hand on his cheek.,”Happiness looks good on you.” She realizes that he’s hovering above her as if pinning her down. “You want to get off me?” She laughs.
Amane stumbles back while getting up. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t even realize.”
“No worries, Amane. You were just checking on me.” She laughs. “Little help?”
“Of course.” Amane reaches his hand out to her which she gladly takes and stands up. “Good race, Princess.” He joked.
“And to you as well, peasant.” She laughed.
Kitanni, Teo, and Toshiro stepped out after they had gotten up. Toshiro decides he’s going to speak first. “So who won? It was Kyra wasn’t it?” Toshiro says with a smirk on his face.
“It was actually a tie...all three times.” Kyra retorts.
“You raced three times in less than five minutes?!” Toshiro yells from the entrance.
“We happen to have higher speed than you guys..Toshiro, you’re just slow.” He pauses for a moment. “Slow in speed. I’m not saying you need to get smarter.”
Teo laughs at what Amane said as he tries to clarify it. He almost made it seem like he thought Toshiro was stupid but literally just talking about his speed in relation to theirs. The training Amane had gone through to reach that peak and the innate speed of Kyra. Toshiro wasn’t slow to normal people but to them, he was the second fastest since it was a tie between the two of them. At least how they thought of it currently, no one saw Teo’s speed and Kitanni was a healer so she hadn’t even tried running like that.
“Gee thanks, Amane.” Toshiro grunts out at him. He rolls his eyes and points his finger at him. “Listen here you little shit. I haven’t had the same spiritual training as you so of course my skills aren’t as high. I don’t need you rubbing that in my face.”
“Calm yourself, Toshiro.” Amane says. “I didn’t mention your skills. Just your speed. Do I need to reiterate that you have some skills I don’t.”
“Okay guys, that enough.” Teo steps in. “We have a party of ten to twelve people coming. Go inside. Get cleaned up. Help straighten the area. We’re running this bar tonight. Welcome to the restaurant business.”
“What’s the plan?” Kyra asks.
“Myself and Toshiro will be cooking behind the counter and doing drinks. Kyra, would you like to be a waitress?” Teo replies with a question of his own.
“Not really. I’m not exactly a people person in that regard. Once someone says something about my appearance or my body..I’ll probably hit them. I have been known to do that.” She replied. “I’m just going to make money off some drunk guys by hustling them at darts.”
“If that is what you want to do.” Teo laughs,”We could use some coin or gold whatever it is here.”
“It’s a mix of both. Coins in varying materials. At least in most of the quadrants I’m not sure what elves use.” Amane replies.
“Same.” Kyra adds. “Coins in varying materials. It’s used to trade with the rest of Aren and became standard for the area after the wars. It was a unified currency.”
“How do you know that?” Teo asks.
“Oh my uncle told me. He’s been in most of the wars.” Kyra replies.
“Interesting, that is a lot of information for one man to have.” Teo adds, intrigued by her uncle’s knowledge. “Anyway guys, Amane you can be the enforcer. If someone acts up, toss them out.”
“Can do.” He laughs. “I’ll start with Toshiro.”
“Ha. ha.” Toshiro fakes laughs.
“Kitanni, how do you feel about being a server and waitress?” Teo asks politely.
“I’m fine with it. I can also cook if necessary.” Kitanni replies.
“Then it is settled. Everyone go and get cleaned up now. Ladies first of course.” Teo pauses. “Okay, Kyra and Amane first..since they’re covered in sand.”
Amane and Kyra laugh as they head inside and go upstairs to the room. Amane opens his pack and pulls out fresh clothes immediately removing his shirt and that’s it. Kyra watches him and shakes her head, that wasn’t something she could do with them. Not that she didn’t trust them, but because she didn’t want to be stared at for being topless by people she barely knew. Afterwards the two of them went to the back of the place where there are two baths separated by walls that encompass both tubs. Nothing would be seen by anyone unless it was what they wanted.
Both of them were soaking the tubs of cold water wishing it was hot. Amane could have made it hot but they were in a hurry and just kind of got in the water but they were fine. The cold water on a hot day was nice too. This water was very cold and after their race in the burning heat, it was a welcome change.
“Hey, Amane.” Kyra yells to him from behind her wall.
“What’s up, Kyra?” He replies.
“What is it like in Quadrant Three? I mean when there isn’t a war.” She clarifies.
Amane thinks for a moment before answering,”Cold.” He nods his head. “Yeah, cold.”
She snickers to herself. “Seriously though, what’s it like?”
Amane laughs lightly at her questions. “Fine. Well, when you’re not fighting it’s pretty peaceful. We get snow frequently in the mountains and it sometimes blows into town. The trees we do have are beautiful when in bloom. There is a calmness in the fields as long as you aren’t out late at night, then you have to worry about mirror-gryphons. The night is cold and dangerous. If you feel like something is watching you, there probably is. The food is very different from the food we find here, it’s a bit more posh, if that’s the right word. Not the entire place for sure but the bigger restaurants are.”
Kyra listens to him intrigued as she sinks into the water. She holds her chest down as she sinks downward covering most of her face in water before dunking in and getting the sand out of her hair. She realizes her hair is still pulled back and removes the ponytail holder from it as well as the royal leaf clip from the sides and shakes her hair loose.
“Kyra you’re awfully quiet all of a sudden.” Amane states.
“Sorry, just listening and washing my hair out.” She replies. “Sounds like an interesting place you grew up in.”
Amane looks down at the water and splashes some on his face. “It was. Too bad I can’t really return there for long periods...I am wanted after all. I’d need to be disguised.”
“We’ll figure it out when the time comes, I’ll help you. IF.” She pauses.
“If I show you around?” Amane asks.
“Exactly. If you show me around.” Kyra states.
“Kyra, I’d show you around without you helping me. It’s my home and Toshiro’s. My mother and father’s spirits rest there, at least it feels that way to me. I hope they weren’t absorbed by the vortex because that’s a lot of power in them both.” Amane replies as he thinks about his parents. His thoughts turn sad as he remembers them.
“Amane, no reason to be sad. If you think they’re out there still. I believe you.” Kyra adds trying to keep him from being depressed.
“I can only hope.” He replies.
Kyra and Amane quickly finish their baths after their conversation and get dressed entirely from head to toe before they head back inside. Neither one of them had actually seen each other entirely clean and in fresh clothes. Well, except for Kyra who cleaned his clothes of mud..but she didn’t bathe him. They smiled at one another as they looked at each other.
“Looking good.” They both said in unison.
“You’re up next, you two.” Amane said, talking to Kitanni and Toshiro.
“Heads up, the water is freezing cold but it’s nice in the desert heat.” Kyra adds.
“Don’t think I’ve ever seen you look so clean before, Amane.” Toshiro said with a smirk.
“I like playing outside and getting dirty.” He said with his right eyebrow raised.
“That’s enough of the banter. Go take a bath.” Teo adds. “We’ve got things to do.”
“Then let’s get started.” Amane replies.
“I agree.” Kyra adds. “Show us what we’re doing.”
Toshiro and Kitanni head to the baths after getting new clothes. The two of them spend their time talking to each other. While at the same time they were bathing Amane and Kyra had been cleaning up the place. They cleaned the place top to bottom from the rooms to the bar floors. When Toshiro and Kitanni were done they joined in and Teo went to the back to get cleaned up as the face of the night.
Meanwhile, the group was set to arrive any minute. The last minute touches were being finished up and some snake meat was being placed into the oven for cooking. Teo stood behind the counter with a very fresh looking face instead of one covered in sand and sweat. He was looking more the part with the fresh face and change of clothes. He was ready to lead the night as the host and chef.
Amane took his role at the door, sitting in a chair, as he waited as his role was just a bouncer. Kyra sat down at a table by the dart board so she could make some money betting on darts. Her ears were covered by a headband and her hair naturally, she didn’t need anyone to see that she was an elf. Toshiro headed behind the counter with Teo and began chilling glasses with his cryomancy. Kitanni came back in a more casual attire for her role as waitress but she wasn’t showing anything off about her body at all, she was dressed for comfort not to look eye pleasing.
Amane looks outside and sees the group coming together,”Here we go guys. Big group incoming.”
“Right on time.” Teo replies. “Let’s do this right.” Teo pulled out some plates and began wiping them off with a clean kitchen towel to be prepared along with some bowls and utensils.
With his sword sheathed and stretched out across the opening Amane stood up from his chair and looked at the group as they approached the entrance. “Couple of rules before you head inside.” He said clearly and with confidence.
“What are those?” Someone already drunk yelled out.
“Rule One, Don’t cause any trouble. If you act up, I will not hesitate to throw you out and I mean that literally. I. Will. Pick. You. Up. And. Toss. You. Out.” Amane stated. “Rule two, if you break anything, I will break you. If you have a problem with this arrangement don’t enter and talk to Vic when he gets back. We’re just trying to keep his place in one piece while he’s gone for a couple days.” He removed his sword from the entryway,”If you agree to these rules, enter and enjoy yourselves.” He returns to his seat. “Also keep in mind that if you want to fight someone, bring it out here, see rules one and two.” Amane leaned back in the chair and relaxed himself. His job was hopefully going to be easier now since everyone knew the rules and were piling inside.
Teo shouted from behind the counter,”Don’t mind him, he’s just being cautious since we’re watching the place. We’ll be much more hospitable.” He says with a smile. “We’ve got water and we’ve got…”He pulls out a bottle. “Cactus ale?”
One of the guys laughs,”Yeah It's a staple out here.” he paused for a moment,”You must not be from here.”
“Not at all. Not even this world.” Teo replies and watches as it goes over their heads. “Just saying a different quadrant is like another world.” He was beginning to think that telling anyone about that was just a waste of time outside of the group and it definitely wasn’t worth telling random people coming.
Toshiro leaned over to him,”I can see what you’re thinking by how you responded. I wouldn’t mention that to random people either.”
“I’m in agreement.” Teo replied. “What’s with cactus ale?”
“No idea.” Toshiro added. “That's something from here it seems. Quadrant Three has different wines but not ales.”
“We’ll take some cactus ales and whatever smells delicious.” One of the ladies says.
“Coming right up.” Teo replies as he pulls out some of the snake meat cooked in butter, salt, pepper, garlic, and brushed with lemon juice. He quickly chops it up and puts it on separate plates. With everyone at the bar this was easier than having Kitanni be a waitress.
Kitanni sat down by Kyra who wasn’t doing much besides watching everyone. “I never expected I’d come out here to be fighting giant undead things and snakes..then running a restaurant.” Kitanni says to her.
“I didn’t think so either..Well two of those things. I wouldn’t have guessed running a restaurant either. It’s the journey not the destination.” Kyra replies. “We’ll be on our way soon enough. Enjoy the rest while you can. If I had to guess each of these guys is the press on type. I know for a fact Amane and Toshiro are, it’s their ‘rivalry’, more like stubbornness, and Teo just seems the type to keep moving while it’s possible to do so.”
Kitanni nods in agreement,”I can see the stubbornness.” She laughs. “Let’s hope things work themselves out in our favor.” She says with a wink. “I can see you two getting closer.” She points to Amane and then Kyra back and forth.
“What?! No!” She begins shaking her head. “It’s not like that.” She takes a breath and calms back down. “I think that I’m the only person he actually trusts fully right now, the only one he sees as his actual friend that he doesn’t have to prove anything to.”
“I agree with that statement. Still doesn’t change how playful you are together. You seem to help each other stay calm and relax.” Kitanni added. “Also, you were both kind of laying over and under one another when we saw you.” She laughed.
“That’s because we both fell! He just managed to catch himself before landing on me which probably would have hurt us both.” Kyra replied, blushing the whole time from embarrassment.
“And the quiet talking?” Kitanni kept poking at her feelings.”There’s going to be more there eventually.” She states.
“What about you and Toshiro?” Kyra retorts. “We all know he literally stayed by your side all night and carried you up the stairs.”
“Nope. Nope.” Kitanni replied. “Let’s not focus on me.” Her face is now turning red too.
“That’s what I thought.” Kyra stated, with a smile.
Amane is watching all of them from the chair seeing how much of a good time they’re having on their days off. This was a huge shift in what he’d thought they’d be doing but he was always taught that if you have down time with friends it’ll make your bond stronger with them. He wondered what if his father’s spirit was in the vortex or if he had found a way to keep his own, his mothers, and Toshin’s from it.
He got up from the chair and walked outside and was looking up into the sky but he couldn’t feel anything. He sat down on the steps and concentrated his power within himself to use his body as if it was an antenna for physic power and spiritual energy. He began thinking about his father and his mother.
“Amane, stay strong.” He heard a feminine voice calling out to him.
“Mother?” He said inside his mind.
“Yes, son, it’s me.”
He could feel the warmth coming from the voice and interaction.”I’ve missed you, so much.”
“And I you. What is that necklace?” She asks.
“A gift from a friend. He said it’d keep my darkness in check.” Amane shrugged.
“Then I am sorry for not getting a chance to teach you how to suppress it myself. I could have taught you before you left but it hadn’t been revealed yet. Your father had a feeling but it wasn’t anything you could learn without knowing what you were suppressing. I’m sorry Amane.” His mother replied.
“You could teach me now. So I have a back up way if I lose this necklace.” Amane retorted. “Having another skill isn’t going to kill me.”
She laughed for a second,”No, it won’t work this way I can promise you that. When you come back to Quadrant Three, my son, come home. The way will be revealed then.”
“Are you, Dad, and Toshin in the vortex?” Amane asks sternly and directly.
“No, we figured a way out to anchor ourselves here. We had runes tattooed into our flesh that would tie us into another area with the same rune in it. Our power is safe, Amane.”
“Thanks to that quick thinking, he’s been denied more power.” Amane replies.
“Come home when you’re in Quadrant Three.” His mother says before her voice fades out.
Amane’s eyes open up as he realizes more people are here and he’s blocking the path. He smirks at them,”Welcome. Couple rules: Don’t cause trouble or I’ll literally toss you out. Rule two, break something I break you. Fight outside if you don’t want those rules to happen to you. Enter if you agree.”
With that said more people entered into the establishment after Amane moved out of the way. Some of them seemed wary upon entry as this place had never had a bouncer before and now it did. They could tell he was young but at the same time they could feel his seriousness. He was definitely a person they had to look out for.
“Welcome, everyone!” Teo says loudly as they enter. “Take a seat anywhere and we’ll be right with you.”
The new guys piled in by Kyra and Kitanni after seeing two women sitting by themselves thinking they would be easy targets. Toshiro looked up from the glasses he was chilling and stared at them. He was keeping an eye on them and not the girls, he knew they could defend themselves if necessary.
“Don’t worry about them. Worry about the guy’s injuries if they try something.” Teo laughs to himself.
“Just looking at them you can tell they’re assholes.” Toshiro replies.
“Wait and see how it plays out. Call for Amane if it’s necessary to toss them out.” Teo adds.
“I’ll keep an eye open.” Toshiro states.
Teo shouted from behind the counter,”What do you guys want?”
“Can we get two cactus ales and two for the ladies?” The guy asked.
“No thanks, we have drinks already.” Kyra stated as she lifted up a bottle of cactus ale.
“What about you?” He says looking towards Kitanni.
“Tried it, didn’t like it.” She replies.
“ You won’t try it once for me?” The man says quietly, trying to manipulate her emotions.
“No, because she’s not interested.” Kyra interjects, getting louder.
Amane hears her voice and looks inside the restaurant to see if he is needed and smirks before he sits back down. He knew someone was going to be an issue but if they were trying to mess with Kyra, it wasn’t going to work.
“Easy there, princess.” The man replies rudely.”I was talking to her, not you. Stay out of it.”
Kyra's face becomes visibly angry as she stares at him for his princess comment. Behind the counter Teo is turning away from the issue because he knows something is about to happen just from the tone and the glaring he can feel coming from that direction. Kitanni gets up and steps away from the area, almost hiding behind the counter. Toshiro continues his process of chilling drinks as he stays out of it entirely.
Kyra took a deep breath and smiled the most fake smile that she could,”Oh man, am I so sorry for intruding on your disgusting way of hitting on women. Get them drunk and then what? Have your way? I don’t think so.” She pauses as she looks to the door. “Amane, do you want to get him or should I?”
“Your choice, Kyra.” Amane laughed to himself. “He’d be safer being thrown out by me though.”
Kyra pauses for a moment,”Safer? Yeah you’re probably right. You come get him.”
Amane gets up from his seat and heads inside the place. This was the first time he was going to toss someone out. He made his way across the bar and watched them closely. The man raised his eyebrow as he watched Amane get closer.
“What are you going to do about it?” The man asked.
“The easy answer is to throw you out. The real question is: How?” Amane replies.
“How what?” He asks.
“Easy way or hard way.” Amane sighs. “The easy way is I can walk you out the door.”
“And the hard way?” The man replies.
“It's a lot more fun for me.” Amane adds as he narrows his eyes and his eyes become red.
Kyra watches him with a smirk,”Are you sure he was safer with you?” She asks.
“Not. At. All.” Amane replies and holds his hand up showing a flame dancing on his palm. “I’ve been looking for a good reason to burn someone today.”
Toshiro looks up, feeling the heat Amane was putting off and shakes his head,”Just toss him out don’t roast him.”
Amane playfully ignores Toshiro with a smile on his face as he creates a large ball of fire in his hand. “Toshiro, this is wholly on him.”
“You’re all a bunch of freaks. Freaks and monsters working for the Sorcerer.” The man yells in Amane’s face.
“That’s enough of this.” Amane said calmly, lowering his hands and extinguishing the flames. The monster comment isn't sitting well with him already because of Toshiro but this just made it worse. “You’re not the first person to call me a monster.”
“Amane.” Kyra adds. “Don’t hurt him too much.” She says slightly worried but more for Amane’s sake than the random guys.
“Yeah, Amane. Don’t hurt me too much.” The man says mockingly. “What are you going to do about it?” He pokes Amane’s chest and pushes him.
“Oh you’re about to find out. Touch me again and see.” Amane threatens him back.
Teo looks onward watching the current situation escalate, he had made Amane a bouncer for a reason. Toshiro and Kitanni were watching closely, the cold around Toshiro getting colder.
Toshiro,”He isn’t realizing that he's messing with a War Veteran. According to Amane, the last person he heard that from was the people he claims killed his mother. This isn’t going to end well…”
“I fully agree, he isn't feeling threatened, he is threatening.” Teo adds.
The man puts his index finger and middle finger against Amane’s chest and is immediately grabbed and twisted back around the opposite direction being broken instantly and just as fast Amane had his sword at the guy’s neck. The visible confusion and shock on the man’s face overrode his broken finger pain. Sweat began rolling down his face quickly as he swallowed hard.
“WHO GAVE HIM A SWORD?!” Toshiro asks, surprised and confused.
“Toshiro, I do what I want.” Amane replies as he lets the man’s left hand go. “Get out and don’t come back for at least the next two days.” He pulls the sword back and motions with it for him to leave.
“Why don’t you come out there and fight me?” The man replied, still trying to act tough. “Put the sword away and fight me with your hands.”
“Oh no.” Kyra says to herself. “Give me the sword.” She sighs and puts her left hand over her face.
Amane sheathes the blade and hands it to Kyra. “Hold this.”
“Alright this is how we do it in Quadrant One. Prepare to taste the sand.” He retorts.
“Don’t kill him.” Kyra states.
“I won’t.” He replies. Amane grabs the man by his shirt and throws him over his shoulder. When he gets outside with him he tosses him on the ground and takes several steps away from him. The man gets up and pops his fingers..that he can. His other two fingers on his left hand still bent backwards and twisted. At this rate this wasn’t going to be the only thing that was broken.
Amane’s black hair flows in the wind as he watches the man prepare himself. He wasn’t impressed at all since he had seen people less the man’s age be stronger than him. Both Amane and Toshiro were stronger than this man and they were still technically teenagers. “Any day now.” Amane shouts at him and then yawns in boredom.
Kyra comes to the door and watches them for a moment,”Let’s take bets!” She exclaims.
“I’m betting on Amane.” Toshiro flat out says with no hesitance.
“Same.” Kitanni added.
“Amane. This isn’t going to end well at all.” Teo replies.
The rest of the building votes for the man outside since they know him and know he’s a decent fighter at least. They were really interested in making some money. Except for one guy..the guy who entered to make the reservation. He didn’t bet at all. He knew they killed the snakes but this was the way of Quadrant One. Bar, restaurant, and gambling. As he thought about it he sighed and smiled.
“Amane.” He shouted towards Kyra.
“Five for Amane. Eleven for the mystery man.” Kyra replied. “Let’s see how it plays out!”
As they watched, Amane dodged punches left and right with ease. His speed and strength were only known to the group and that one guy. The man was getting winded and struggling to remain calm. Amane yawned again since he wasn’t taking this seriously at all. To him, the man was nothing, not even a good fighter. He had just beaten Toshiro, Jericho, a monster, a sand snake horde, each of them stronger than this guy.
“Are you going to fight back?” The man shouts at him as he breathes heavily.
“I was just going to let you wear yourself out. You’re actually not worth my time.” Amane said bluntly. “I’ll finish this on your next attack.”
“WHY YOU?!” The man yells out. His arms flailing quickly but not as quick as any of the group were.
Amane caught his arms and pulled him closer than kneed him in the stomach. “Next time you’re around any women, make sure you treat them with as much respect as you can. Or I will find you.”
The man gripped his stomach and stayed on his knees as the wind was taken out of him and the water in his system was expelled from his mouth.
“Toss me a towel or something, Kyra.” Amane asks.
“Sure.” Kyra replies as she grabs a hand towel and throws it to him.
“Thank you.” He replies and throws the towel on the man. “Clean yourself up and then do yourself a favor: go home.”
“Y-y-yeah.” The man replies as he wipes the sweat off his face and the stuff from around his mouth. He wasn’t going to try again. He may have learned a lesson but it wasn’t something they were going to find out any time soon.
Amane heads back indoors to hear cheers and praise for making him look like a fool. Kyra hands him his blade back and holds it in his hand and raises it into the air. “No one else tonight?” He looks around. “Awesome. Enjoy your food and drinks.” He says with a slight chuckle in his voice.
The man’s friend came over to him,”Sorry about him. He’s stubborn and kind of the type who thinks he is better than everyone. Men, women, children, it doesn't matter.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Amane replies. “He should be apologizing to Kyra and Kitanni though.”
“Oh trust me, he’s sorry now.” The friend laughs. “Hopefully after that he’ll calm down and realize he’s not better than anyone or at least he shouldn’t think he is.”
“I’ll gladly teach him again if it's necessary though.” Amane jokes. “Enjoy your visit.” With that said Amane heads up stairs and puts his sword away seeing as he isn’t going to need it and definitely didn’t need it to begin with. It was solely for intimidation.
Kyra watches as he goes up the stairs and looks down. She could tell that everything was still weighing on his mind. Everything they had been through in just a little bit of time. They left together after Amane fought Toshiro and his squad. Traveled through the sands of Quadrant One. Fought Toshiro again and won but not without some emotional damage. Fought Jericho who was easy enough but the undead balloon and skeleton weren’t easy to deal with. Fought off sand snakes and lost Tenkai to one. There was so much he was thinking about and maybe the bouncer job wasn’t the best idea. No one could really tell how he was feeling outside of his optimistic side. She could tell that he really needed some time to himself for quiet reflection. He had to come to terms with everything on his own.
“I think we should let him be for a bit. It’s not been an easy time for him recently. Toshiro knows what’s going on.” Kyra states towards her friends.
“I do.” Toshiro sighs,”I agree though, having him at top form is better than having him exhausted when he’s on your team. We’ll handle this.” He adds.
For the remainder of the night, Teo and Toshiro ran the restaurant with help from Kitanni and Kyra. The party went on through the night as several people passed out on the bar floor after drinking and eating their fill.
Toshiro and Teo counted up the money from the food and drinks that were sold. The drinks were separated from the food since the drinks were already here. The food was theirs since it was made from the snakes they killed. Kitanni helped clean up the bar and got rid of left out food and drink bottles. Kyra counted up her money from hustling the drunk guys at darts and ended up with her own small bag of coins.
Meanwhile upstairs, Amane had actually fallen asleep relatively an hour or so after he had gotten up stairs. The quickness in how he fell asleep was something that wasn’t a common occurrence any more. The exhaustion from the constant fighting and the sand snakes. His emotional turmoil weighed heavily upon his heart and mind.
When the time came for everyone else to sleep they stayed in the same rooms as before. Kyra joined Amane’s room. Toshiro went with Kitanni. Teo had his own room to himself.
Kyra entered the room as quietly as she could and shut the door gently behind her, seeing that Amane had passed out but he wasn’t sleeping peacefully. The amount of heat and sweat coming from his body wasn’t normal for even him. She didn’t know how to help him in this case. A few moments later it died down and he stopped sweating as much. It was just a power fluctuation in his pyromancy.
She walked over to him and put her right hand on his right hand. “Amane, wake up.” She said lightly, shaking him trying to awaken him. Her hand became hot very quickly but not hot enough to burn. “Amane.” She said again with a light shake. “Amane.”
Amane quickly awakens that last time with his hand on his hip as if he was drawing his sword. Luckily it wasn’t there and he snapped back into reality upon realizing this. “Kyra, I’m sorry.” He said hastily.
“No, it’s okay. I shouldn’t have woken you up. You were just putting off so much heat for a bit I thought you were in trouble.” She replied with an exhale of relief.
“Yeah, I’m alright. My body temperature seems to fluctuate higher after so many fights. Feels like I’ve fought every day recently.” He added.
“You’ve been on guard for a while since before we left Quadrant Two. Please, do yourself a favor, and try to let some things go.” Kyra states. “You’re burning yourself out, literally, it seems.”
“I know…” He sighs deeply,”I just don’t know how to.” He looks up at her closely, noticing her eyes starting to close. “You should get some rest.”
“I should.” Kyra walks over to her bed and gets in it and blows out the candle. “See you in the morning.”
“Of course, Night Kyra.”
“Night, Amane.”
Amane returned to his sleep somewhat more peacefully now with her in the room. Kyra soon fell asleep after her busy night of hustling players.
Amane began having a dream of a woman in a cathedral. There was a handmaiden who was doing a lot of research and another woman walking around in a purple dress with a slit up the legs. The books on the table had demonic creatures within their pages and accounts of the Underworld. Those were the only things he could really make out in his dream.
The lady in the dress looks up and makes eye contact,”You shouldn’t be here, Amane.” She smiles at him in a loving way. “You’re too early, get some more experience. We’ll meet soon enough.”
“Is he here?” The handmaiden asks.
“He is and he’s so young and so powerful.” She replies. “I don’t know if the previous one had this ability.”
“That is interesting, Ms. Ama.” The handmaiden states.
“It is.” She looks back up. “Be gone now. We’ll meet soon enough, young Amane.” She says as she waves her hand to force him back out of the area. “Hopefully the barrier will work on spirits in out of body experiences. If not, we’ll rework it for the future.”
As he’s being pushed back his mind pushes out the dream he had about the swordsman with black and red eyes, into her mind. She reaches out and pulls him back in.
“Where did this come from?” She asks angry and loudly.
He mouths to her,”A dream I had.”
“You shouldn’t know anything about this but you do. How do you know?” Ama asks.
“Just a dream.” He mouths back though he wasn’t sure why he couldn’t talk to her with his voice.
“Hold on.” Ama changes the frequency of the barrier and matches his energy allowing him in it wholly. “Tell me what happened.”
Amane begins speaking,”I had a dream about him. It’s like he was talking to someone else. The answers didn’t make sense to me.”
“Details. What happened?” Ama replies.
“He said something about residual soul energy. Dark Protectors. Living instead of killing. Keepers of the Underworld.” Amane said he was still confused by everything going on in this dream.
“Residual soul energy...so they share the same soul. That’s why Tenkai wasn’t reborn with the rest of them, his soul wasn’t in our realm. Dark protectors, I’m not sure about. Living instead of killing..more like loving instead of fighting. Kyra was a lucky woman.” Ama pouts thinking of them together.
“Ms. Ama, you’re saying too much.” The handmaiden interrupts.
“Oh, right. I believe I am.” She waves her hand,”You’re not going to remember anything but this: ask your mother about the keepers of the underworld.”
Amane is forcibly sucked out of the room and thrown back into his body in quadrant one with no memory except a burning desire to talk to his mother about something. He wakes up and realizes the sun is about to come up and heads outside on his own to do his morning meditation.
“I need to see what happened in his current past.” Ama says aloud.
“Can we do that?” The handmaiden asks.
“We can...but I may have to do something since this Sage of Time doesn’t really like me.” Ama replies.
“I just hope you don’t have to..you know..slurp slurp.” The handmaiden jokes.
“Oh god, no.” Ama replies to her.”I’d sooner leave. That old looking guy isn’t getting any of me in that way. I don’t care if he was the Sage of Fortune and Money. No, no way, not this woman.”
(Sesha: Indian name for serpent who symbolizes time.| Saesha: Sage of Time before Horace.)
“Good thing too. I don’t think I could handle your complaining about it.” The handmaiden replies.
Ama rolls her eyes,”Shut up.” She laughs. “I’ll figure something out.”
“Always do, Ms. Ama. You always do.”
Meanwhile Amane was sitting outside in the sand in the same clothes he had on yesterday. His meditation went as well as it ever did. The flame engulfed his body and his energy felt stronger than normal. The slight silver and green dancing within the flames sparked through the rising flame. A hot flame with a soothing aura about it. The soothing coming from the light and holy energy his body had absorbed in the undead fight.
After half an hour of deep meditation Amane got up from his spot and went to the porch of the restaurant. He sat down and felt a cool breeze on his face that just kept coming. Eventually he passed out the porch leaning against the wall. His exhaustion won the battle to fall asleep again. Unknown to him in the direction he was facing and the direction the wind came from, a man was practicing his punches, wearing boxing gloves, into the air and pushing wind out even though he himself didn’t know it was causing a breeze.
Teo was next to come outside as he remembered he had left something all day in a fire. He walked his way down to the beach to see his fire was still burning which wasn’t a surprise to him, just that he forgot during the day. He walked to the literal hole of fire and put it out revealing the skull of the snake with no scales or flesh attached to it. He returned to the bar's entrance when he saw Amane leaning up against the wall asleep. “He still looks like a child when he’s asleep. That is probably the most peaceful I’ve ever seen him.” He walks inside and leaves him be. “Best to let him sleep for a while.”
With the skull in hand he heads back up stairs and places it within one of his bags. Teo wasn’t quite sure what he was going to do with it yet but it’d be at least a souvenir if he ever returned home. A good remembrance of this place along with the memories of these young adults.
Kyra follows suit and comes downstairs and grabs some water in her pajamas. Her body had been covered either in the night or in her armor. Her legs and hands wrapped in vine markings with a slight green glowing from them. She sat down at the bar and drank her water. She was wondering where everyone was and all she knew was that Amane wasn’t in the room so he had to be up somewhere but no one else was up yet? After she finished her water she walked outside into the sun and stretched feeling the sun on her face. Kyra's body was slowly becoming accustomed to her plant based powers as she journeyed with them. The plant-like qualities she was taking on allowed for prolonged time without food, as long as she had water. More changes were in store for her as her powers grew; those changes would have to be explained by her fellow elven peers.
Suddenly she heard a soft snore coming from beside her and looking over she saw Amane asleep on the porch. She smiled softly and sat on the porch across from him against the wooden wrap around the bar’s porch.
Rest up. You’ve definitely earned it. She says in her inner voice. I’m just going to keep you company for a bit. She began to hum a soft tune across from him and hoped it helped him sleep. It was a tune to a song that she loved that she felt he needed to hear once in his lifetime to see how it relates to him. Maybe in their time together she’ll let lyrics slip out towards him but for now, just the tune.
Toshiro came down with Kitanni holding her hand as they went over and sat by the dart board as they stepped over the mess of people on the floor. They weren’t tossing anyone out at this point and weren’t even worried that people had passed out. Clearly they would have rooms if they weren’t already taken.
Toshiro,”I haven’t seen this many people pass out on the floor since my father’s promotion to Clan Head.” He shakes his head as he remembers Fujimoto being passed out on the floor then, too. “Weird man.”
“Who is weird?” Kitanni asks him, confused.
“Fujimoto.” He replies. “That day, he passed out on our floor...well it was technically our floor but it was the cells beneath the house. My father kind of tossed him in a cell as a joke.”
“Some joke. Why would you toss your friend in a prison cell?” Kitanni replies. Toshiro’s eyes dart back and forth thinking about that question as he scratches the back of his head. That’s exactly what he was trying to do with Amane. “I asked you that question on purpose, Toshi. That’s what you’re doing.” Kitanni laughs lightly.
“Those are extenuating circumstances, in my case. In my father's case, Fujimoto was a drunkard but also his friend. He just liked messing with him.” Toshiro responds. “Anyway, how are you feeling?” He asked, changing the subject.
“Much better, honestly. Seems like my blood has finally adapted to the poison and I feel great. At least my body does.” She sighs deeply thinking about how useless she was during those battles.
“What’s wrong, Kit?” Toshiro asked.
Confused, Kitanni stares at him with her face scrunched up,”Did you just call me ‘Kit’?” She asks.
Embarrassed by the question, Toshiro's skin turns very slightly purple from the blush under his pale blue skin. “I did..Is that okay?”
“Yes, Toshi, it’s okay. I just wasn’t expecting YOU of all people to give me a nickname.” She laughed. “You’re usually so formal. I would have expected that from Kyra, Teo, Underworld, even Amane before you.”
He sighed deeply and hung his head down,”If I knew you were going to respond like this I wouldn’t have said anything.”
“Toshi, it’s really okay, I’m just in shock.” Kitanni replies and leans in to grab his hands. “It really is okay.”
“Okay.” He smiles at her. “What is wrong, though?”
Kitanni leans back into her chair,”Well, I was just thinking about the close range fighting that happened. I didn’t really do any of it. I stayed by your side and then went to a long range with Kyra.”
“Say nothing else. I know how you feel, Kitanni. You’re feeling like you didn’t contribute to keeping us alive.” Toshiro nods as he prepares to tell her parts of a story from the past. “So back when Amane and I were starting our training with our fathers. Which was around the time someone had killed Junchiro. As we were walking to meet up with Fujimoto and Sage; myself, Amane, and my father were attacked by people. My father was fine. Amane was fine..he protected me quickly from the guy attacking. My father lectured me right there and Amane offered me training with him. I felt entirely useless. It was my first real combat experience but I just couldn’t keep it together, I wasn’t ready. I understand you, Kit, I really do.”
Kitanni was happily surprised that he recalled an actual time he needed help and didn’t make one up just to try to get through to her. It was a sign that he was an actual person and had memories even if it wasn’t with people he wanted to remember. “Guess the only thing we could really do is, do what Amane did for you, and get me training.”
Toshiro reeled back a little bit,”You want to ask Amane to train you?”
“No, Toshi, I was going to ask you.” She replied with a laugh. “I guess I could ask him...I’ve never seen you use that dagger you carry.”
He thought about it for a minute and came to the conclusion that he had never actually used that dagger for anything. It was..just a memento of a day gone by. “Truth be told, you’re right, about that. I don’t think I’ve ever actually used one.” He pauses again,”Maybe you should ask him.”
“He doesn’t even carry daggers. Does he know how?” Kitanni laughs, questioning her own words and his.
“I honestly don’t know anymore. He’s got skills that are hidden, I’m pretty sure. All you can do is ask.” Toshiro replies. At that moment, his ears pick up humming. “Do you hear that humming?”
“I’ve heard it the entire time, Toshi. It is a lovely melody.” Kitanni responds to him.
“But where is it coming from?” Toshiro replies and gets up from his chair once again stepping over people.
“I’m coming too.” Kitanni adds as she gets up and follows behind him.
Together they two of them navigated the room around all the people on the floor and eventually made it to the door where they saw Kyra sitting on the porch first and humming her tune still. Looking up at them Kyra places her index finger over her lips then points at the wall. Toshiro and Kitanni look at it to see Amane still sleeping peacefully against the wall.
Kitanni whispers,”That explains the humming.” She whispered into his ear.
Nodding up and down, Toshiro agrees.
The two of them walk back and sit in the chairs they were in before. A few moments later Kyra gets up and walks into the room and sits besides them. “Everything alright?” Kyra asks them.
“Yeah. We were just wondering where the humming was coming from.” Kitanni replied.
“That was me. Just a tune from my home. There are lyrics but they’re in Elvish. They deal with giving someone a reason to fight.” Kyra adds. “It honestly reminds me of him and I think he’d appreciate it if he got to hear it.”
“I’m sure he would.” Kitanni responds. “I appreciated hearing it myself.”
“As did I.” Toshiro adds.
“Thanks, it honestly just makes me remember home. This is the furthest I’ve ever been away from my home.” She replies with a bit of a homesick feeling in her voice. “But I’ve made some new friends, so that helps.”
“Farthest the three of us have been away from home. Amane is used to being away from his home and has been since the war. Kitanni and I aren’t. I truthfully can’t wait to get back home.” Toshiro replies,”I don’t think Amane would ever go back if he had a choice.”
“He does have a choice.” Kyra added. “He can come stay in the forest or he can hang out in Quadrant One. “
“No, he has to come back with me. I’ll make sure of that.” Toshiro adds.
“We saw how well that went already.” Kyra states.
“Guys, please stop.” Kitanni interjects. “We have to get along. Unfortunately, Toshi, she is right. Please stop being so stubborn while we travel.”
“The topic of home brings this up. I apologize to you both.” Toshiro bows his head down.
“It’s alright, Toshiro. I just don’t want to see either of you get hurt for something that isn’t so cut and dry. You have your version of what you saw but not the leading up and he doesn’t remember anything except his mother being killed when he got home. There’s time missing.” Kyra replied sternly.
“I understand this.” Toshiro adds. “I need proof and we have none other than he killed civilians. I can’t undo this.”
Waking up at the surge of energy, Amane gets up and stands in the doorway,”Toshiro, if I was going to go back home I’d LET you kill me first. I’m not interested in being a scapegoat for people trying to claim power. If I go back home there WILL be a fight and we won’t have a town to live in any more. YOU do understand THAT, don’t you?”
“I do.” Toshiro replies. “I’ll rebuild it better if that happens.”
“Sometimes I feel like you’re a lost cause but even though you’ve given up on me, I won’t EVER give up on you.” Amane states and walks away from the doorway and goes further down to the end of the porch. His body still drained as he struggled to keep his eyes open. The frustration with his old friend was reaching a high point again and he needed to step back before he did something drastic. He had to learn to release his anger in a productive way as did Toshiro, it seemed.
“I’m going to go sit back outside with him. Toshiro, good luck with...your everything.” Kyra stated as she headed back outside. She hoped that he would eventually come around but today wasn’t that day.
“Why? WHY are you so complicated about this matter?” Kitanni asked.
“I just am. I need proof, Kit.” He pauses and looks down,”I need..proof..” he replies somberly.
“Then stick around because they’re trying what they can to get YOU some.” She sighed,”I don’t think I’m supposed to be telling you but the only person Amane is trying to win over is YOU. He told me as much after our battle with the giant undead corpse.”
Toshiro looks over to where Amane would be outside,”..win me over..” He remembered some of the words Amane said to him how he wasn’t dead..he just left and left when he needed him the most. When they needed each other the most. Fujimoto tried to get him to let it go but he just called Amane a monster. His father encouraged him to try to fight him but he probably didn’t want to do it because it was Amane and continued to train Toshiro because he wouldn’t let it go.
“Deal with your feelings.” She pauses and sighs again,”I’ll be right here beside you.”
Toshiro sighed deeply as he thought about this conversation. Everyone was trying to get him to let it go but his pride wouldn’t let him..or was it his depression wouldn’t let him? That he lost father because of what happened with Amane or the energy that someone gave him in a dream. He was tied to this path now..and only one thing was going to end: bringing Amane home. “Kitanni, what do you think he meant by, we’ll have no home to return to?” Toshiro asks quietly.
Kitanni thought about the question for a moment and came to the obvious answer in her mind,”It’ll all be destroyed.”
“Of course, but do you think he meant that he would destroy it?” He asks.
“No, I think the army of warriors in Quadrant Three would destroy it searching for him. If you said something or someone sees him and says something. I think at the crossroads you’d have to make a choice: join Amane in fighting back to save the town or join the military in destroying it to get to him.” Kitanni replies.
“So what you’re saying is that I need to keep him away from Yama Zengo to keep the town safe.” Toshiro adds as his interpretation of her words.
“In that situation...he’s the hero. Protecting the town that hunts him. He’s out here getting stronger to fight a being no one has been able to defeat in the last hundred years. I don’t think he wants to see innocent people hurt any more.” Kitanni interjects. “I think I’ll ask him after all.” She smiles at Toshiro,”You never know what people might know.”
“I’m going down to the beach to meditate.” He looks up at her face and weakly smiles back with a lot on his mind now. “I hope you can learn something.”
“I hope you can reflect on your thoughts to figure things out for yourself.” Kitanni added and began her ascent of the stairs.
Toshiro walks out the back door and down to the beach where he sits with his legs folded over one another. He begins his meditation on their conversation replaying moments from it in his head that he felt he needed to understand better. The weight of his own actions weighing him down as much as the actions in the past. How were these current actions weighing him down more than the friendship he had with Amane that always lifted him up? He couldn’t even trust in himself at this point to have a valid opinion on the topic and was working against himself because now it was all he had.
Kitanni made it to her room and grabbed her belt with her daggers attached to it and fastened it to her waist. The entire time she had them she was wondering if Amane even knew how to use them. Kyra carried some too, maybe she should ask her but then again Kyra hadn’t really used hers either.
She thought to herself as she went back downstairs: Why is he so damn stubborn? Was he always this stubborn? How did I fall for such a hard headed person? She questioned herself. They weren’t serious questions at all but she was still curious.
Kyra sat beside Amane and placed her hand on his hand. “He’s just doing what he thinks is right.”
Amane doesn’t move at her, placing her hand on his and is looking off into the distance. “I know he is, but what does it take to get through his hard head? We can’t get these ingredients soon enough. I just wish I knew what they were so I could find them faster.”
“We have to leave that to Teo. He’ll find what you’re looking for and then show Toshiro what really happened.” Kyra stated,”He’s very stubborn but so are you.” She laughs.
Amane chuckles as well,”I am but this is actually a serious manner. I’ve known him our entire lives. You’d think my word was enough. What a best friend he is.”
“Need a new one?” Kyra jokes.
“I’ll take whatever friends I can get at this point.” He laughs again and answers her question with his own. “Are you offering?”
“I might be. What are the perks?” Kyra replied.
“Loyalty. Training partner. Someone who won’t let you go unprotected or alone.” He looks around,”Power?” He shrugs.
“The first one was good enough. I don’t have many friends in general, believe it or not. I kind of run my mouth at home.” Kyra says as she looks down at their hands.
“Kyra, you’ve been my savior and my friend. You’ll have loyalty. I owe you my life for what you did to save me.” Amane states. “I can’t repay that debt as you gave me my life back.”
Kyra blushes at his words but is happy about them becoming friends. “You don’t owe me that, Amane. You saved us all recently. If anything we’re indebted to you.” Amane begins laughing and shaking his head. “What’s so funny?” Kyra asks.
“Us, going back and forth about who is more indebted to the other.” He shakes his head again,”You’ll never have to pay me back.” He pauses for a moment,”You could help me find a girlfriend.” He says jokingly.
“Uh, what?” She says surprised.
“A girlfriend. You heard me.” Amane raises his eyebrow.
“I guess I could.” Kyra says blushing. “What would you be looking for?”
“Brown hair. Green eyes. Pointy ears.” He laughs. “Vine markings.” He continues staring at her out of the corner of his eyes. “Kind of pale.”
“I am not pale!” Kyra shouts.
Amane laughs even harder at her reaction to his description of her. “Kyra, you’re already my friend and you are a girl...to my knowledge.” He turns towards her,”You could have a... well, you know.”
“Oh I do. It’s huge too.” Kyra laughs. “Thanks for the laugh.”
“I bet it is.” He says as he glances her over. “Glad I don’t see it sticking out of your pajama shorts.” He chuckles to himself.
Kyra turns her head towards him,”Were you just checking me out?”
“Whaaat..nooo” Amane says unconvincingly.
“Yes you were.” Kyra laughs,”Just for that I’m going to go put my pants on.”
“Good you can hide that huge beast of yours.” Amane replies.
“How hidden do you think it’s going to be in skin tight clothing, Amane?” Kyra questions in a sarcastic manner.
“I don’t want to think about that.” Amane adds.
“What are your plans for today?” Kyra asks.
“Truthfully, I am burned out, no pun intended. I have energy but I’m so exhausted for some reason. I would like to rest a bit more.” He replies.
“Then you’ll have it.” Kyra stands up,”I'm going to go change.” Kyra pats his head as she walks off, almost bumping into Kitanni. “Excuse me.”
“Oh no I’m sorry.” Kitanni apologizes. “Is he awake?”
“For the moment.” Kyra states as she continues up the stairs.
“Thanks!” Kitanni replies and turns the corner out the door and looks down at Amane nodding off a bit. She laughs lightly for a moment. This was their protector.
“What’s up Kitanni?” Amane asks.
“Right, Sorry. Can you teach me to use my daggers better?” Kitanni asks meekly as she plays in her hair.
Amane sighs and stands up but has a smile on his face. “So much for resting.”
“Is that a yes?” She asks.
“It is.” Amane replies. “Did you want to do it now?”
“I was hoping we could but I know you’re exhausted. I can wait.” Kitanni answers.
“I’m dozing off a bit today. Guess I overused my body recently.” He yawns,”Couple hours should be good enough then we can begin. I don’t want to give you any less than my best.” Amane adds. “Why didn’t you ask Toshiro?”
Kitanni laughs,”He doesn’t know how to use them.”
Amane chuckles to himself,”Guess we had different training after all. I have training in most bladed weapons. If it has a blade I’ve probably used it.”
“What don’t you know?” Kitanni asked.
“I’m not great with a bow. I have decent aim so don’t let the dart board scores confuse you. Nowhere near Kyra’s level but I can manage from a distance enough. Never cared to learn to use a shield because I can parry with a blade or just dodge with my speed.” Amane adds.
Kitanni shook her head as she began to realize that he just liked knowing things about weapons. “I’ll see you in a couple of hours then Master Amane.” She said with a laugh.
“None of that please.” Amane laughs with her,”I’m not ready for that level of commitment.”
Kitanni walked back inside with excitement on her face for learning. She hoped this wouldn’t be just flat out fighting him. She knew that she didn’t have a chance at that point she’d just have to wait and see.
Kyra had come back down during that conversation and was just letting them talk without the interruptions. She was surprised that Kitanni had the courage to ask him in the first place and surprised at just how many weapons he could use effectively yet he chose katanas because they were light and complimented his speed. He was definitely a good tactician.
During that few moments away from them Amane had passed out again. His eyes were heavy and body was exhausted from everything going on. It was amazing that he was even awake that long. But now he had a reason to be awake...in a couple hours. Teaching Kitanni to use her daggers. His other skills were going to be put to use for the first time in a long time. He had only taught one other person: Toshiro.
Toshiro was sitting at the beach still as he listened to the sounds of the ocean and felt the breeze upon his face. The salty air filled his nose and mouth but it was a calming experience for him. The first time in many years he had been to a beach that wasn’t frozen over with frozen waves. His mind flashed back to the day Amane killed the civilians. The pressure and force that weighed him down was immense and the closer he got to Amane the heavier it became. It was a power and a pressure he had never heard of or seen before in his life. It was an experience he didn’t want to deal with again.
He began searching his own memories of the day wondering if maybe he missed something that he should have caught. As he replayed the events his mind focused solely on Amane’s appearance at that time. The shambling walk he had, the finger marks down his face, the streaks of tears flowing through the blood, and the lip print on his forehead. His eyes opened up quickly as he exhaled in surprise as he wondered how he missed that part during that time.
His breath became jagged and quick as if he couldn’t catch it. His mind sees a sign of something more but his pride still wants to see the memories of that day. His mind was becoming more aware of things he missed that fateful day. Now with doubts in his mind he began questioning his old friend’s exile. That if he took him back...no one would have a home any more. They would torch the entire city just to get rid of him and Amane would be the hero of that scenario.
Toshiro knew that he would have to pick a side when they returned home. The side of a political superpower...or the side of a literal superpower? The general who defeated and killed Fujimoto or the monster with the red eyes who destroyed people with a glance? The pressure was mounting on his shoulders as his jaw clenched shut tightly. He could try to out maneuver them both immediately with a duel between Amane and the general. His mind kept racing trying to think of ideas to counter the destruction of the town.
The meditation worked for one problem but gave him so many more. He needed to go home to the family estate and visit the cemetery...to talk to his father. Or at least his tombstone.
Teo had come back down stairs while everyone was busy at the time. Toshiro out back at the beach meditating. Amane sleeping outside on the porch still. Kyra having run upstairs to change into her pants and such. Kitanni was the only one down stairs as she sat excitedly near the dart board drinking some water.
“Where is everyone at?” Teo asks, seeing her sitting over there.
“Kyra is up stairs getting dressed. Toshiro is meditating out on the beach. Amane is asleep outside.” Kitanni shrugs,”You’re right there.” She chuckles.
“That I am.” He replies with a smile. “Did I miss anything?” he asks.
“Not really. Toshiro started things with Kyra over his history with Amane, who woke up just to tell him off. Kyra stood up for Amane and told him off. Me, telling him off. Toshiro walked off because he wanted to meditate.” Kitanni shrugs again as she recounts the issues from the time he was gone.
“Man, I missed the chance to tell him off.” Teo jokes. “And you? Why are you so excited?”
“Oh.” She blushed lightly. “Amane said he’d help me with my daggers.”
“Does he know about daggers?” Teo asks her in a confused manner. “Never seen him use them.”
She laughs at his question because it's the same question they all had before she asked. “We all said the same thing. According to him, yes. He has training in most bladed weapons.”
“Very interesting. He could be a force to be reckoned with.” Teo adds. “I wonder how far he’ll go.”
“I think he only has one goal in mind right now.” Kyra says as she comes down the stairs. “Sorry I could hear you upstairs talking.”
“Defeat the Sorcerer.” Teo says to them.
“That’s the entire plan. Defeat the Sorcerer and what happens on our journey is just extra.” Kyra adds. “That’s how far he’ll go...to our knowledge. I am also curious to see where this path takes him but I have a strong feeling we’re not going to like the outcome when this journey is over.” She sighs and smiles at everyone afterwards,”So let’s enjoy our time together and make this journey meaningful for personal reasons.”
“Right.” Teo replies. “It’s a huge journey to undertake. I hope we can all be useful to him on this path he’s walking.”
“I’m sure we will be.” Kitanni added. “He seems to like people after all.” She smiles as she places her hands on her daggers.
“He likes us.” Kyra replies. “He’s lived a hard life..and it’s getting harder.”
“True but we can always look at the brighter side of things. He has people closer to him for what feels like a long time, if I had to guess. We’ll look after him.” Teo adds. “He’s going to do great things.”
“He already is.” Kyra says with a smile as she glances towards the wall where she knew he was sleeping.
“Anyway!” Teo interjects. “Are we up for another round of restauranting tonight?”
“If we have to.” Kitanni replies.
“We’ll have to get them out of here first though.” Kyra sighs looking down. “How drunk were they?”
“Very.” Teo retorts. “I may have given them something harder to knock them out in the middle of the night.” He laughs. “We needed rest too.”
“That’s true.” Kyra laughs. “Let’s get them out of here.”
For the next hour or so, the three of them worked on getting the large group of people out of the restaurant. Dumping cool water on them when necessary to wake them. At least until Toshiro showed back up and began waking them up with ice. They had to go, so that they could clean up the restaurant. It didn’t matter if they came back but for now they had to go.
Teo and Toshiro pushed them out the door while Kyra and Kitanni kept cleaning up the area that they could. This just made it easier on them to do multiple things at work.
The visitors had gathered their things and began their walk up the beach to their party spot. They came down to the bar and enjoyed the times and are now going back to enjoy each other’s company again. Their beach time fun had just begun and now it was time to return to it. They lost money and gained memories of a strange group of people running the bar that they’d never forget..at least one of them wouldn’t. He waves them off as they continue their walk back.
With the visitors gone, the group was now able to clean everything up again as it was before they arrived. Chairs are put back at tables and tables wiped down. Glass and broken bottles thrown in the trash. Garbage that was left out was placed in the proper trash can. The smell of Cactus Ale was starting to leave as the wind blew through the building.
Amane pushed himself up off the wooden porch and stood up blinking trying to get his eyes to adjust to the light. The wind blew across his face and he yawned as he walked into the restaurant trying to finish waking up. He looked around at the cleanliness of the inside area and that the people were gone. “Everyone is gone?”
“They just left.” Teo replies. “Feeling better?”
Amane shakes his head from side to side,”Not particularly. Is anyone else hot?” He asks with sweat coming down his face. The group shakes their heads as they look from one to another. It was seemingly just Amane who was feeling bad at this point. He sighed,”I guess I’m getting sick.” Amane chuckles lightly.
Toshiro steps forward and interjects. “Does your head hurt? Do you feel like you’re about to pass out?”
“That’s pretty accurate.” Amane agrees.
“Same thing happened to us after that battle when our powers awakened. You got dizzy and passed out on the swords, well so did I, but this is about you.” Toshiro adds.
“After your battle with Toshiro in Quadrant Three, he went through a change as well, I couldn’t get close to him because he was putting off an intense amount of cold. It was freezing everything around him.” Kitanni adds to Toshiro’s explanation.
Kyra’s eyes light up as she remembers Amane putting off an intense amount of heat last night. She sighs,”This might be my fault.”
“Why?” Amane asks, confused as everyone else stares at her along with him.
“You were burning up last night when I woke you up. You were putting off a lot of heat that night. I wanted to make sure you were okay.” Kyra adds as she looks down.
“Don’t worry about it. Guess this is what it’s like to do it awake.” Amane lightly laughs.
Teo grabs him a bottle of water and takes the top off of it before handing it to him. “Here, have some water and sit down.”
“Thanks.” Amane takes the water and sips out of the bottle as he sits down. “I’ll be fine in time.”
“Amane?” Kitanni says softly. “Do you want to hold off on the training?”
He looks over to her and shakes his head,”No. We’ll start it in just a moment. I gave you my word.” He took another sip of water.
“No need to push yourself, Amane.” Kyra adds.
“I’m not. I’m going to be pushing her.” He jokes.
“You know what I mean.” Kyra replies.
“I sure do.” Amane says in a vibrantly fake tone. “I gave her my word. I don’t need to spar with her to give her the basics again.” He looks over to Kitanni,”You know your basics right?”
“I do but a little freshening up on it won’t hurt me until you’re feeling better.” Kitanni smiles.
“Good.” Amane stands up from his seat and grabs the water. “To the outside we go.” He stumbles as he stands up, almost falling over but catches himself on the chair.
“Amane, you need rest.” Kyra states.
“I’m in agreement.” Teo adds.
Toshiro looked at him closely with his eyebrow raised,”You look like your father.”
Amane starts laughing at what Toshiro said,”I can see that. Probably feel about the same as he did when he was hungover.” He pushed up on the chair so he was standing up. “I gave her my word. I’m going to keep it.”
“Stubborn like him, too.” Toshiro states.
“It runs in the family.” Amane replies. “Come on Kitanni.” He waves her out with the bottle of water in his hand.
“I’m coming.” She says gleefully.
She’s so excited. Toshiro thinks to himself.
Kyra watches as they walk out and sighs,”I better go too and keep an eye on him and probably brush up on my daggers as well.” She says with a worried expression as if she had been neglecting them for her bow. “Wait up! I’m coming.” She yells out to them.
Amane turns his head back towards the door and sees Kyra coming outside. “Ah, I have a second student...I guess technically third.”
“Third?” Kitanni asked.
“Toshiro was the first. I just offered him what my father taught me and helped him get his skills up to where they are. I just saw it as helping my friend at that time.” Amane shrugged as the sweat was coming down his face faster since they came outside.
Kitanni turned to see Kyra come up beside her and looked at her confused to see she came out there with them. “Why’d you come out here?”
“To learn. I have a pair of daggers and I have been taught but it has definitely been a long time.” She explains to Kitanni.
“Oh, this should be a little more interesting then!” Kitanni exclaims.
“For sure.” Amane adds through ragged breathing. “Bear with me on this.”
Kyra and Kitanni both were worried about what he was experiencing but Amane was pushing himself to help them and they both knew that he wasn’t going to let them down. The hardest thing was watching him suffer the heat as he helped them.
“To start: your daggers are short blades for a reason and that reason was stealth and speed combat. Kyra, you're basically a stealth person: long range, high speed, great sight and hearing, and able to blend into the shadows using your camouflage colors.” Amane began to explain to them.
Kyra listened closely to what he was saying because he seemed to be knowledgeable about the topic but at the same time she listened because he called her out personally. He paid attention to her enough to see her skill set and it made her joyous.
Kitanni was also listening intently and began to wonder why she chose daggers as her weapons. She didn’t have high speed, she didn’t have long range, or great hearing or seeing and she definitely didn’t try camouflaging herself. Now she was confused and not sure why she chose her daggers. “What about me?” Kitanni asked.
“Truthfully, I’m not sure why you chose daggers myself. Your skill set is healing and poisons it seems. You already know how to infuse your light energy into the daggers. So it is entirely possible that subconsciously you thought using your daggers as medical purposes would be beneficial. They are smaller bladed than a sword and easier to handle at closer quarters.” Amane replied to her, he knew that he didn’t know for sure why she would choose those weapons.
“I can see the reasoning behind that thought process.” Kitanni added, still somewhat confused herself. “I guess in the end I just like them.” She smiled.
“And that's all that matters.” Amane replies and takes a deep breath to the best of his ability. “I personally find the reverse grip on the handle easier to control the blade and safer to use while using them in a fight. Reverse grip being where the blade is on the outside of your hand rather than the inside. That will keep the blades separated from each other so you don’t cut yourself by accident.”
Kitanni takes her daggers off and holds them with the blades pointing towards each other just to see what he means. She nods in agreement as she turns the blades to the outside which gives her more room to use them. “I see.”
Kyra smiles at her and sees the light in her face about learning. She looks back to Amane who is still somehow holding himself up even though he looks a mess right now. Part of her reason for even coming out was to watch him. This way if something happened she could be nearby.
Amane took a drink out of his bottle of water and put the cool water bottle against his forehead. “I’m not saying you can’t hold them inward but when moving fast the outside is safer unless you’re going to stab it into someone instead of slicing at them. Coming down from above using reverse grip while coming up from below using standard grip.” He took another drink from the bottle and took a breath again. “It’d be so much easier to demonstrate it but I don’t have my sword on me.”
“No worries, Amane. You’re actually using enough description for me to understand.” Kitanni states. “Could always get you my extra set.”
“That could be beneficial to you for sure.” Amane replies. “I think you’re understanding it enough though.” He pauses for a moment and looks at Kyra. “Kyra, are you interested in being a mannequin?”
“Uh..I’m not sure.” Kyra said, confused.
“Just going to have you pose for her since I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.” Amane replies.
She shrugs,”I guess I could do that.” Kyra steps over to where Amane is and awaits his instructions.
“Okay, so let’s go over that from the start.” Amane says jokingly.
“Alright…” Kyra replies, not really wanting to do that.
“Reverse grip handling.” Amane instructs.
Kyra takes her daggers as he had explained earlier with the blades pointing out away from each other. Kitanni copies her pose as she does so.
“Stabbing downward.”
Kyra takes the daggers already in her hand and motions downward with the blades coming from above her head. Kitanni copies her again.
“Switch to the inside grip. Stabbing upward.” He instructs again.
Kyra follows up with what he says and is followed by Kitanni once more.
“Kyra, show me why it would be a bad idea to use the inside grip when attacking.” Amane asks her.
She positions them inward and holds them at an angle and closeness that would have her cutting herself if she was doing it for real. Kitanni can see the issue with using them that way and was understanding why she shouldn’t use them in that manner.
“Thanks Kyra.” Amane adds.
“You’re welcome.” She replies. “Did any of that help you?” She asks Kitanni.
“It did.” Kitanni responds and then quietly whispers,”I think he just likes messing with you.”
“He does.”
“I do.” Amane adds. The three of them laugh for a couple moments and Amane breaks the laughter to return to their instruction. “Alright. So let’s move on.”
“Of course.” Kitanni replies.
Kyra shakes her head,”When you said mannequin I totally thought you were going to pose me.”
“I thought about it. Then I thought, if I’m feeling sick, I probably shouldn’t be touching any one. Also if it's intertwined with my pyromancy I’m probably putting off a lot of heat so touching you could be dangerous.” Amane responds, in a serious manner. “For your safety. I know my sword can handle it, it was made for spiritual abilities.”
“That is good reasoning.” Kitanni jokes.
“He must be sick.” Kyra says with a laugh.
“From what I’ve learned in my own training, a bent knee stance is best for daggers. A running stance if you will. It lets you push forward on your feet and put more force behind your swings. Remember these weapons are built for speed. They aren’t high damage weapons, they are multiple hits with speed weapons.” Amane adds as he returns them back to instructions.
Kyra takes the position he described allowing Kitanni to see what he meant. She knew exactly what he was talking about and it was making it a lot easier. Kitanni took the same position and Amane stepped back away from them.
“We’ll start with some basic slices. From the inside to the outside with both daggers. Left inside, left outside, right inside, and right outside.” Amane states. “Go ahead and begin. Five sets of each five slashes per set.” He takes a few more steps back and sits down with his water.
With them practicing outside, Toshiro and Teo were inside cooking things up just in case they got more visitors. They had a lot of the snake meat put in the brick oven and were cooking them in different manners. Some with seasoning some without but they seemed to be having a good time cooking together even if they were quiet.
Frequently Toshiro would stare out the door watching them because he would also rather be outside training though he didn’t know if he could handle Amane’s teaching after what he saw earlier in his meditation. His mind was focusing on the cooking and knew they’d probably not really have a kitchen area to prepare food for a while. They just had to keep pushing forward once they were out there. Didn’t mean he didn’t want to spar with Amane to beat him during one.
“You can always go join them.” Teo speaks up to break the silence.
Toshiro shakes his head,”I’m enjoying the cooking and after what I saw while meditating I’m not sure how to confront him currently.”
Teo was a bit confused at what he was just told and now he didn’t know what to say but he was curious so he asked a question anyway,”What did you see?”
“I saw something that proves his side partially.” Toshiro pauses and turns to look at Teo. “What do you need for this spell or ritual? The one to see his memories.”
“That is a good question.” Teo puts his right hand on his chin as he thinks. “I know I’ve gathered probably all the materials here that I could. Some things won’t grow in the desert area though.”
Toshiro interrupts,”There are still more areas to go through. Quadrant Two is a lush forest. Quadrant Three is mountains. Quadrant Four is a rainforest. Quadrant Five is a volcano. The center is called the Palace Area but nothing is really there in general besides the tower.”
“I see.” Teo pauses again before speaking. “Five is the easiest known ingredient: Volcanic Ash. That’s similar enough to know immediately. It’s rich in nutrients and power. Other than that, I’ll need to see what each quadrant has to offer.” He paused again,”Amane’s blood. That’s technically the easiest.”
“Shit.” Toshiro sighed. “I’m ready to get this over with...we need to know the truth.”
Teo nods in agreement as he, himself, was interested in what happened that drove a wedge between them and who was in the right. “Could take the whole journey and we’ll be lucky to survive that.”
“I know and I can’t let him die until we figure this out so I can’t let him out of my sight.” Toshiro states as he watches him from inside the building.
Several hours had passed since Amane began training them with their daggers. Kitanni and Kyra had a quick sparring session at low speed to help Kitanni with her form and adjust her to be better equipped for battle. As he watched them he realized that Kitanni didn’t have bad form per say but she was nervous and shaky. At that point he knew that her main talent was going to be healing and nothing was wrong with that but he also knew that she could protect herself when the time came with the amount of effort she put in.
Kitanni’s face was dripping with sweat as she battled Kyra furiously in their spar. Her reaction times were good but her speed was that of a normal person. They could train her in speed when the time came but for now focusing on her basics and getting her to just a place she could defend herself was the main point of this exercise. At that last moment she slipped on the sand and landed on the ground. Her breathing ragged and her heart beating faster and faster as if to burst from her chest. The sweat poured off her and yet her eyes were still determined. She was growing into a stronger version of herself and her powers were growing with her. She was giving it her best and that was what mattered.
Watching her hit the ground after slipping, Amane called it quits for the day,”Good job today, Kitanni. We’ll call it here for tonight.”
Kitanni pushed herself off the ground,”No, let’s keep going.” She said as she was still determined to continue.”
“No trust me on this, that is enough.” Amane replied. “You have to know when to stop. You’ve worked your body for as long as you could now you need to rest and reflect on what you’ve learned.”
Kyra slips her daggers back into the sheaths and offers Kitanni her hand. “Resting is what you need after that. He’s actually right.”
“Thanks, Kyra.” He says sarcastically. “I have been training most of my life and I’ve been in a war.”
“I know that. But did you know…” She pauses for a second. “Girl power?” She laughs a little.
“Of course, how could I forget about that?” Amane face palms and shakes his head in his hand. “You ladies could both use some water and you’ve both definitely earned it after this.” He replies with a smile as he tries to get up and fails. “I’m just going to sit here.”
During the time they had been training Amane had still been struggling with the sickness from his pyromancy energies. Which meant that he was still having a hard time doing just about anything besides sitting there. Amane slowly pushed up using the empty bottle of water to brace himself. Lucky him it was a sturdy bottle that allowed him to stand up.
Kyra sighed in relief,”I thought I was going to have to drag you back or leave you out here.”
“Not yet.” Amane replied.
“We should get you inside for a bit.” Kitanni added.
“Yeah..I’m ready to go in. I think I’m going to lay down for a little bit once we’re inside.” He smiled weakly at Kitanni,”Teaching you was more important to me.”
“But you need rest too and as the group's healer, you should do that.” Kitanni replied.
“I agree with her.” Kyra states.
“I do, however, appreciate your instruction.” She added.
“Don’t worry about it and I’m going inside now.” Amane replies. “Just keep an eye on me while I walk in there since I’m still struggling.”
Amane took his time making it into the bar and immediately headed upstairs to the room stumbling along the way. He makes his way to the bed and lies down on it after taking off the covers and shirt. His temperature spikes as his body begins putting off heat again.
Kyra and Kitanni had followed behind him until he headed upstairs. They sat down at the bar and got some water. They had been training so hard that they definitely deserved the water and thanks to Toshiro, they were crisp and cool. Perfect for after a hard day of training.
“You did well, Kitanni.” Kyra says after drinking a sip of water.
“Thank you.” She replies. “I hope he’ll be okay. I wouldn’t be anywhere without him.”
“I’m sure he’ll be fine.” Toshiro adds. “He’s done this once before but I think we usually do it while asleep.”
“Yeah and he’s been doing it while awake.” Teo retorts. “Willpower is strong in him.”
“It is.” Kyra adds. “Has been for as long as I’ve known him.”
“Same.” Toshiro replies.
“We’ll just have to wait and see.” Teo interjects. “We’ve gotta clean this place up a little bit and you guys should probably get cleaned up.”
After agreeing to take a bath Kyra and Kitanni headed to the back to get cleaned up while Toshiro and Teo continued cooking and cleaning up. Another two hours had passed and it was time to reopen the bar with everyone ready..except Amane who was still asleep dealing with his pyro-sickness.
During the time of reopening they were flooded with customers again, some of which were the same ones from the previous night including the guy who Amane beat the previous night. They were enjoying this company of customers and we’re able to learn more of the customs in Quadrant One. Everyone did about the same thing they did as the night before: they drank, they partied, they played games, and they just enjoyed each other’s company.
Toshiro continued chilling drinks and handing out Cactus Ale. Teo continued cooking and serving up snake meat. Kitanni rested by the bar so she could talk with Toshiro while he worked. While doing that, Kyra was hustling the dart board and making money off the drunk people. Everything going on was helpful to their funding and would help out Victor when he returned back as would also have some money.
More time had passed and Amane had gotten up from his sleep and while now just feeling tired, he headed downstairs after putting his shirt on. With everyone busy, he sneaks out the front door with no problem. He was resuming his role of bouncer and at that moment no one needed him inside. The cool air blowing against his body and helping cool him down from that experience. Deep within him he could feel a more powerful fire as his own power grew.
After the two days of being gone Victor had finally returned to the Riverpass Bar. It was night time and the restaurant was fully packed with Amane sitting outside and barring entrance to the building as he had been doing the previous days. They had been making some money while he had been gone cooking up and serving up serpent steaks. Teo's quick thinking had netted them some decent funding and definitely some supplies for crafting with, selling or using in the spell to view Amane's memories. They had plenty of possible uses and right now it seemed like a good idea to hold on to it all.
“Finally made it back.” Amane said to him as he walked up to the restaurant doors.
“Took me longer than expected but I'm back and with extra dune lizards. So as soon as you're ready you'll be able to make decent timing.” Vic replied with a smile. “Got your dune lizards right here.”
“Just glad to have you back here. Not going to lie to you, Vic, I was kind of thinking about leaving without them.” He states with a slight smirk. “We’ll get to where we’re going faster that way for sure.”
“Why would you leave them here?” Vic asks, then follows up, “As I said I would.”
“I think they're enjoying the restaurant life. Teo's been cooking with Toshiro's help. Kitanni and Kyra are just kind of chilling out and I'm just out here being a bouncer. Best part is tossing people out.” Amane jokes.
Vic laughed thinking about the people getting tossed out and everyone contributing to keeping the place open. “You guys are definitely helpful and brave. I didn't really expect you to run the place, just look after the building.”
“I think Teo just wanted to run a restaurant. He's been cooking the snakes we killed. We took some materials from them as well but mostly he's been cooking them.” Amane replied. “Oh yeah, we also used your lemons and some garlic.”
“It's all good though. I restocked everything I needed but at the same time you've also made me money while keeping this place open as well as making your own. I'm not taking your profit from the snake meat at all. You did me a favor by keeping the place running as well as watching, not to mention protecting it.” Vic added, he just wanted Amane to know that they had done a good job and really helped him out.”You all did me a great service. It's appreciated.”
“Of course. Just repaying your kindness for the room and board.” He stood up from his chair,”Ready to go in?”
“I am. Let's see what you've got in there.” He replies.
Amane walked in ahead of him and held the door open as Vic entered the building he saw the hustling at the dart board and speed at which Teo and Toshiro were getting things done. His bar and restaurant had never been run so efficiently.
“Welcome back!” Teo shouted from behind the counter. “Amane when did you get outside?” He asked, confused.
“Thank you. I see you've been busy.” Vic states.
Amane waited to speak until after Vic did,”You guys were busy and I walked right out like half an hour ago.”
“I didn’t realize that.” He says in response to Amane. “Very much so.” Teo replies, turning to Vic again.. “Keeping things running. Cleaned the building, served customers, and made our own food. Thankfully, Amane didn't blow those snakes to pieces.” He laughs.
“Could have been much grosser out there.” Amane adds.
“I can definitely see that.” Vic retorts. “But you’ve done a wonderful job here.” He lightly bows to them. “Thank you guys for everything.”
“You’re welcome.” The entire group replies from across the room. Teo at the counter with Toshiro. Amane next to Vic. Kitanni at the bar near Toshiro and Kyra at the dart board.
Each of them got something out of this experience and a break from travel. Amane finally got to spend time with people who weren’t hunting him. Kyra got to spend time out of her home in Quadrant Two and experience things she wouldn’t have otherwise. Toshiro got to learn more about the person he was hunting that he didn’t get to know and find some answers for himself with or without proof. Kitanni learned that Toshiro’s version of Amane wasn’t entirely correct and while she wasn’t sure of his role before, she knew he was at least nice to her and people he called friends. Teo was finally not alone after his week or so of being by himself in a new land as well as running a restaurant. At the end of the night Teo packed away the remaining snake meat for their travels and thanks to his spell it would be held in its current state, always ready to be eaten.
It was two days worth of good experiences and memories that were made.