This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

9CE78CED9DB1E259310C59CB Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Hopefully this will come out all right, since it's my first time trying to send a chapter to the list since changing e-mails. Yes, I know this is way overdue. Forgive me?

Huge, huge, huge thanks go to Destral, who actually wrote most of this chapter, since I was suffering from a terrible lack of inpiration. That, and if we didn't get something out we were both going to be facing the axe. Anyhow, Destral gets the M&M Award of Wonderful Person-ness for all his help and great work. Wear it with pride, Des-kun. ^_^

Okay, I've rambled on long enough. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the chapter!

Kate et al.

--"You're...a...dragon..." "Only when I want to be." --Alaric and Ciara, Ciara Chapter 14

Kate Malloy: kamalloy@home.com http://www.gl.umbc.edu/~kmallo1/index.htm FFRPG: Ciara, Sloth NuRPG: Masa&Mune, Delinara, Kala, FAQ Maintainer Fate Game: Karine Head of the Tejinachanians in OW!! ! Official Jousting Champion of Indie Madnesse! Plushie no Miko of ImproWar! Co-Founder of Team K! Bearer of Many Other Silly and Useless Titles!

9CE78CED9DB1E259310C59CB Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; name="masamune17c.txt" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline; filename="masamune17c.txt"

Masa&Mune Chapter 17 -One for the Road

On average, it would take a traveler about five days to travel from Seika to Shinkyo, capital of the Island of Shinbi. Masa and Mune, if they were to transform and use the wind, could have taken the group there in a few hours. However, with Natsuka in the group, they had decided that transformations were out for the time being. Right now, it was better for her to believe that they were *all* humans.

This necessitated a few more inconveniences; besides the extended travel time to Shinkyo, Neria had to borrow a sword from Tanaka-sensei before leaving Seika. However, the group agreed that a few days of walking wouldn't kill them. After all, they were experienced travelers. The weather was pleasant for this time of year, and the road to Shinkyo was fairly straightforward. Neria, Masa, and Mune were looking forward to the trip. As for Sedge, well, as long as he was "doing stuff," he was happy.

The only one with a few reservations was Mela. Her worries were not so much about the trip as they were about the realization that she would have to speak to Masa and Mune about the warnings she'd received from her grandfather's spirit and Tanaka-sensei. She was not looking forward to this one bit.

The well-rested and freshly-resupplied group departed Seika and made their way to the shrine outside the village. There, they met up with Natsuka, who had retrieved her belongings from behind the roadside shrine, and was looking at the sheet of rice paper Soraya had given her. On it was a simple map that outlined the roads they had to follow to reach Shinkyo. She let the others take a look at the map, pointing out that there were a couple of roadside inns where they could spend the first two nights of their journey. After that, they would have to cross through a forest, which meant camping out for another two nights, more or less. Once out of the forest, the way to Shinkyo was a straight road, although they would probably have to spend one more night outdoors before reaching the relative comforts of Shinkyo and its inns. With most of the trip planned out for them, there was very little room for discussion, and the group set off, in a quiet, yet altogether optimistic mood.

The first day of the journey passed mostly in silence. Despite the fair weather, a tranquil silence hung over the group. Mela was deep in thought, trying to make something of the warnings she had received about the Masamune. She kept telling herself that speaking to the wind spirits might clear some of her doubts, but she could hardly confront Masa and Mune directly with the subject in front of the others, least of all Natsuka, who still thought them humans. Mela's attention kept going back to the long-haired oriental girl. If Natsuka hadn't lost her memories, she would have engaged her in conversation, to get to know each other better, if only that. As it was, it seemed that anyone in the group knew more about Natsuka than herself, and although that might have spurred their new travelling companion into talking, it seemed that she already knew as much as she wanted to know, at least from that particular source. Mela took Natsuka's silence as introspection, and let her be out of respect. The girl probably had a lot of thinking to do, and she might as well do it while they traveled. Natsuka had mentioned visiting some shrine or other once they arrived at the capital, and if she had things to sort out in her mind, now was as good a time as any.

Natsuka hadn't realised how quiet she was, and how much the others noticed. She wasn't used to being with a group. Maybe she never had. It wasn't something she could remember, and there were no instincts to guide her. She had closed in on herself ever since leaving Seika, trying to remember something, anything, about herself. Left with the void of amnesia, she clung desperately to the one hope she had of recovering her memory; the Yamidori Shrine in Shinkyo. She was almost unaware of the five people that walked with her, oblivious to the conversation between the twins and the one called Neria.

Neria, Masa and Mune conversed sporadically, perhaps trying, subconsciously, to fill the void that seemed to have sprung up amidst the previously tightly-knit group. Neria was aware that it was Natsuka's presence that kept them on their toes. Keeping the Masamune's true nature secret had been agreed to on an unconscious level, and it was apparent that that was one of the reasons why conversation seemed so hard to maintain. That, and the fact that Mela was hardly speaking at all. And that Sedge seemed to prefer humming rather than speaking. He was humming a song that sounded faintly familiar, one Neria couldn't quite put her finger on but almost. All in all they seemed little things, but mounted one on top of the other, they kept conversation to a minimum. Still, there wasn't anything that needed important discussion. In the end, after close to two hours of conversations that died on the third phrase, Neria decided to let it rest, and instead focused on the countryside. Masa and Mune seemed to agree, because they made no further effort at conversation. Thus, silence fell over the group until well into the afternoon. Even the short stop they made to eat was quiet, and their travelling rations weren't much depleted; Sedge was the only one who ate his whole meal, while Natsuka and Mela seemed more interested in their thoughts and only nibbled. Neria had been worried that perhaps Masa and Mune not eating might have given them away, but Natsuka was so oblivious to everything around her that she didn't notice that they had opened their rations, looked at them, then at Natsuka out of the corners of their eyes, and put them away again. The stop had been short, since they had all finished eating rather quickly. Not having anything to discuss, and not being particularly tired, they had moved on in just under half an hour.

The afternoon seemed to crawl by at a snail's pace, but it had gone by. Shortly after the sun had begun to disappear beyond the horizon, the group spotted lights in the distance.

"That must be the inn on the map," Mune announced. As if he had spoken the words of a magic spell to wake the sleeping, Natsuka and Mela looked up. Neria found it amusing, and contained a smile. Sedge made a noise that sounded like agreement, but his mouth was full with an apple he had taken out of his pack a short while back. Looking forward to a bath, a hot meal, and a comfortable bed after the long hours spent walking, the group pushed onwards a little harder; the sooner they got to the inn, the sooner they could enjoy the little luxuries it offered. The inn's magic seemed to affect even Mela and Natsuka, who were actually focusing on the real world rather than their thoughts.

It didn't take them much longer to reach the small inn, a discreet two storey affair. The architecture was traditionally Shinbian, with stout wooden walls, a functional roof, few windows, and very little space for decoration, at least on the outside.

Upon sliding open the heavy wooden doors, they were greeted amiably by the innkeeper, his wife, their two children, and a couple of other guests, travelling merchants, by the looks of it, who were sharing dinner in the common room. Natsuka took care of dialogue with the innkeeper, and Sedge, coaxed by Neria, took care of the necessary monetary transactions. That taken care of, the group were escorted upstairs. The second floor was a single large chamber, rather empty-looking with its large bedding cupboards and folded screens set against the wall by the stairs and the two futon that had been laid down for the two merchants. Once bedding was provided for Neria, Mela, Masa, Mune, Sedge, and Natsuka, the room still seemed three-quarters empty. Sedge, Masa and Mune had, upon Neria's suggestion, set up three of the folding screens around the group's bedding to provide some more intimacy.

"Doesn't look... like high season, does it?" Sedge asked no one in particular, breathing heavily and wiping some sweat from his brow.

"The innkeeper says that they get very few visitors this time of the year. There's usually more of them around harvest-time." Natsuka explained. The innkeeper had also asked if she was guiding the group to Shinkyo, among other things. Realising that the man had taken her for a local, she had decided to play the part. It suited her somewhat, gave her, in a way, more of an identity. A smile played on her lips briefly.

"And when's that?" Sedge continued. Natsuka shrugged, smiling faintly.

"Wakannai. I'm not a local, even if I look like one..." she stuck her tongue out playfully. For some reason, Sedge always seemed to improve her mood. Neria noticed that. Mela, however, was thinking that it suited her quite well that there were so few people staying at the inn. Perhaps she could speak to Masa and Mune tonight. Part of her cheered up slightly at the prospect of getting that particular thorn out of her side. The rest of her shivered inwardly, wondering, perhaps, if the thorn was just about to go in much, much deeper.

Their sleeping area sorted out, the group took turns to bathe, except for Masa and Mune, who went downstairs under the pretext of sharing the dinner table with the innkeeper's family and the other two guests. The other four had dinner later on by themselves, after the merchants and the innkeeper's children had gone to bed. It was a quiet affair; the innkeeper and his wife served them their meal, and although Natsuka did ask a few questions about the local area she quickly ran out of things to ask. Theirs hosts didn't invade the group's privacy by asking questions, retiring to bed after the guests had finished eating. Before heading for bed, the innkeeper's wife served them tea and plum wine, which everyone declined, except for Sedge. In the end it was Sedge who prompted everyone to go to bed when he offered to sing for them. Masa and Mune appeared through the front door just in time to help Neria, Mela and Natsuka to drag him upstairs, but after they had tucked Sedge in, they headed back to the ground floor, explaining that they would keep watch just in case.

Despite falling asleep shortly afterwards, Sedge's snoring kept them awake for longer than they would have hoped. Eventually, one by one, sleep took most of the guests of the inn into its hazy embrace. Almost all...

*****

Mela glanced at Neria, Sedge, and Natsuka, who appeared to be sleeping. Carefully she slid out of the room and headed downstairs. She knew that Masa and Mune planned to stay down there so they wouldn't disturb the others. Natsuka had accepted their explanation that they would feel more comfortable keeping watch. To say the truth, she couldn't remember if people kept watches while staying at an inn, and it felt kind of odd, but they were out in the countryside, after all, and one never knew when something could appear out of the blue and devour the guests of a small inn like the one they were staying in.

It took her eyes a few moments to adjust to the darkness downstairs in the small common room. She'd forgotten that Masa and Mune wouldn't need any light.

"Mela?" she heard Masa whisper, "Hang on a second; I'll bring you a candle."

She didn't need to see in order to sense that Masa had come up beside her and now held a candle out to her. Gratefully, she took it and used a small fire spell to light it.

Blinking, she glanced over at Masa and Mune, who had resumed their natural forms. She frowned.

"Don't you think it's a bit dangerous to change back?" she asked. "What if someone sees you?"

Mune shrugged. "Everyone except you and Natsuka is asleep. The moment she makes some sort of movement, or any of the others wake up, we'll know. It doesn't take that long for us to change back."

Nodding, Mela looked back and forth between the two. She wasn't exactly sure how to begin. This wasn't a conversation that she really wanted to have, but she couldn't ignore the warnings any longer. She could almost feel the proverbial thorn throbbing in the flesh beneath her ribs.

"What is it, Mela?" Masa asked, startling her. "You've seemed troubled ever since we left Seika, and we've gotten the distinct feeling that it has something to do with us."

Mela looked at him suspiciously. "You guys haven't been getting into my head or anything, have you?"

"No, no!" Mune hurriedly explained. "We don't enter people's minds without permission, unless it's in defense of a friend, like we did in Skenic to Marya."

"The only contact we've had with you was when you asked us to keep the nightmares away back before Skenic," Masa continued. "But we can sense when someone is thinking about us, and what their current mood is, without having to enter their mind."

"Yeah, well, about that night back before Skenic..." Mela began, her thoughts drifting to the evening spent in the cave. How long ago it seemed! "I had an interesting dream. Well, 'dream' might not be the best term for it, but..." She paused and took a deep breath before continuing. "I spoke to my grandfather that night."

Neither Masa or Mune commented on the fact that Mela's grandfather was dead by then. The idea of a spirit being able to contact a loved one didn't seem strange at all to them.

"Anyhow, the next day we got captured by the Skenicans, and then we went through that whole mess and all...I kind of forgot about the message my grandfather gave me until I spoke with Tanaka-sensei, and he told me something very similar. I suppose all I need now is to speak with Grandmother Sanaraya." She tried to smile, but it turned into a worried expression. "Well, in case you haven't guessed by now, it involves you two, and it's not a pleasant thing. You've never heard of a 'Nightmare Blade,' have you?"

Both Masa and Mune shook their heads and then looked at each other.

"That sounds like..." Mune began.

"The opposite of..." Masa continued.

"Us," they chorused.

"That's what I was thinking too," Mela agreed. "I hoped you might know about it."

"No," Mune said, "We have no idea. We've never heard of such a thing..." He looked at Masa worriedly. "Is it possible that Zeal might have..."

"When, Mune?" Masa asked. "Unless Melchior created it before he made us, how could there be a 'Nightmare Blade?' And if he had made it, wouldn't Dalton or even Zeal herself have used it?"

"What if it was too strong for them to control?" Mune speculated. "What if they locked it away in the blue pyramid? Even *we* couldn't get in there."

Mela had no idea what they were talking about, except that it involved the kingdom of Zeal, the land of her ancestors. She tried to follow along in the conversation, but eventually had to give up.

"What if it wasn't from Zeal at all? Or your world, even?" she finally inquired. "Let's not worry about where it's from right now. Anyway, according to what my grandfather said, your wielder and its wielder are destined to meet in some great big climactic battle to the death."

There was silence.

"Ouch..." Mune finally said. "Who makes these things up?"

"We have absolutely no desire to get Neria involved in anything like this," Masa stated.

Mela thought she detected a hint of anger in his voice.

"It doesn't matter if you want to or not," Mela answered. "If there is some nutcase out there with a Nightmare Blade...or if there's some sort of negative versions of you...they'll probably decide to come after you regardless of your feelings on the matter. And here's the worst part; we can't tell Neria anything about this."

"What?!" Masa exclaimed. He was definitely angry now. "That's ridiculous!"

"Apparently if Neria finds out that this thing even exists, she'll become the prime candidate for using it. It seems that if someone who worked with you gets their hands on the Nightmare Blade, they'll become a pretty unstoppable force. I wouldn't like to try and face down Neria on the other side of a battlefield, would you?"

"But what can we do, then?" Mune asked.

"I guess the only thing we can do is watch and wait," Mela admitted. "Maybe this will never happen. Maybe my grandfather was thinking of a worst-case scenario."

"Or maybe they're out there already," Masa said darkly.

"We'll keep watch," Mune stated emphatically.

Mela nodded. "The three of us, together." She reached out a hand.

Masa and Mune both looked at her oddly. She sighed.

"We're all supposed to join hands to seal the promise," she explained.

Masa and Mune put their hands on top of hers and left them there for a minute.

Mune withdrew his hand abruptly tilted his head to one side. "Natsuka's stirring. I'm going to go keep an eye on her." He changed into the wind and disappeared.

Mela looked at Masa. "You're really worried about Neria, aren't you?" she inquired. "It's almost like you...but that's impossible. Ignore me, I'm just being silly." She smiled sadly. "I'm glad we're not heading for True North...at least this way we won't be putting the village into danger. Hopefully this will never come...or we can lure whatever it is somewhere far away..." She paused for a moment. "Could you do me a favor? I'm so tired, and I don't want to risk waking anybody up if I go back upstairs... could you put me to sleep?"

Masa nodded, and a moment later, Mela rested her hands on the table, put her head down, and fell fast asleep.

*****

Natsuka lay on her mattress, listening to Neria's breathing. Mela had slipped out a short while ago, and wasn't back yet. Natsuka had heard a few muffled sounds downstairs, voices, perhaps, but she hadn't paid much attention. She suspected Mela valued her privacy, and if she was talking to the twins Masa and Mune, perhaps she had chosen to do so in the middle of the night because she didn't want the rest to interrupt or overhear them. At times, through no conscious effort on her behalf, the muffled sounds downstairs became gradually more distinct, until she could almost hear what was being heard. When that happened, she would toss on the mattress and try to go to sleep. She didn't want to overhear. Perhaps they were talking about her, wondering what they should do with her. Perhaps she ought to listen in, part of her wanted to, but she forced herself to block out the faint sounds and go to sleep.

But she couldn't. She wasn't sleepy. Either that, or she was so nervous she couldn't get herself to go to sleep. Why did she feel nervous? She didn't feel uneasy, not at all. In fact, listening to Neria's gentle breathing -and Sedge's not so gentle open-mouth snoring -brought her a strange feeling of calm. Maybe she felt safer with someone in the room with her... But then there was the three that were speaking downstairs. What could they be talking about, hidden away from their own colleagues? It was odd. Perhaps they weren't talking about her. Perhaps it had something to do with the other members of the group. But it couldn't be. They all seemed so... Together? Was that the word? A tightly-knit group, a group of friends who trusted each other... But why were Mela, Masa and Mune talking downstairs? What were they talking about? If they had all gone down she would have suspected immediately, they probably knew that much. But why would they be talking about her? They had looked after her. They had offered for her to travel with them to Shinkyo. Surely they meant her no harm?

Whatever the case, she was glad for the company. If she had had to travel to Shinkyo on her own, she might have been attacked. Travelling alone was dangerous. Even being in a city alone was dangerous. Seichiro had taught her that the hard way. Yes, her current companions were a safer choice than travelling alone.

The company notwithstanding, she couldn't sleep, and eventually she found her way out of the bed and over to the wide window that was fenced in by the folding screens that separated their sleeping space from the rest of the room. A gentle breeze blew through it and into the room, enticing whispers out of the light fabric of the yukata she had changed into to go to bed. The temperature outside was gentle enough to warrant that the window remain open. Besides, Natsuka suspected it was the soft sounds from outside that had lulled Neria to sleep so quickly.

The landscape outside was serene. Nothing disturbed the silence except for the mating call of the lovesick cicadas and the whispers of the breeze as it blew through the boughs of the scarce few trees that grew outside the inn. Natsuka pulled some stray hair behind her ears, stopped in mid-motion, her hand sliding down her neck as she felt the sudden urge to climb onto the windowsill. With surprising ease, she did, holding on to the window frame for support. Gracefully, she turned round, passed her hand over the seemingly smooth surface of the inn's outer wall. She found what she had been looking for soon enough: a badly insulated wooden board had warped slightly due to the continued exposure to the damp air outside, enough to provide a suitable handhold. Fixing her hand firmly in the opening, she passed her other hand over the wood. Another nook revealed itself to her shortly. Soon, she was climbing up the wall, heading for the roof of the inn. The ease with which she found hand -and foot-holds astonished her. It felt so natural for her hands to find imperfections in the facade which she had overlooked as they approached it earlier in the evening... Almost as if she had been born to climb walls. As she neared the roof, climbing became something instinctive, her hands expertly searching every inch of the wall, quickly finding support where her eyes saw none. In no time she was pulling herself onto the slanted roof, and she stood up with a sigh of satisfaction. The wind blew all around her, a little harder now that the walls of the inn no longer sheltered her from it, and Natsuka felt a strange exhilaration, as if her body was getting reacquainted with something it had always done and missed sorely.

Hardly noticing the wind, Natsuka turned on herself. She was absorbing the surrounding countryside, the stars in the sky, forming their secret, invisible patterns, the moon gazing lazily down upon her. Something echoed in her, the feeling that she had been here before, with someone. She closed her eyes, allowed her consciousness to shrink away from reality. She thought she began to remember...

(A man, a solitary man, with hair as black as night, dark blue eyes, wielding two swords... Nitoukenshi)

The last word rang clearly in her ears. "The swordsman with two swords," she whispered out loud. Just thinking about him made her shiver uncontrollably. Why? Who was he? Why did he seem to be so important? Would she recognise him if she saw him? Of one thing she was certain, she felt much closer to this 'Nitoukenshi' than she did to any of her current companions. She focused, trying to assimilate the feelings that the warrior's solitary figure stirred deep inside her. Finding no answers to her questions, she let thoughts go. She could almost picture them being blown away by the night breeze. When they reached Shinkyo, she would know what the Nitoukenshi meant, who he was, who _she_ was. Her memories would return to her, once she visited the Yamidori shrine... Or maybe they wouldn't, and she would have to live forever with only half a life. Only time would tell.

Mentally drained, Natsuka half-fell, half-sat on the cold roof of the inn, then went a step further and lay down completely. She had begun to shiver in the cold, and was beginning to think that maybe she should return to her room. She focused on the tiny pinpricks of light in the dark sky above her. Right above her, a slightly brighter star was twinkling silently. She gazed at it for a long time. At some point, tears slipped out of her eyes and rolled down her cheeks, leaving a damp trail where she could feel the wind's bite even harder than elsewhere. That strange feeling of deja vu came back to her, clearer, more distinct: a memory of another rooftop, unlike this one, with different stars. She was sitting, wrapped in a warm cloak, with someone by her side. Perhaps it was the nitoukenshi, perhaps it wasn't. She couldn't be sure, but she wanted to believe it was him. Perhaps they had been friends in some earlier time, a time she could no longer remember. Friends, like Masa and Mune and Mela and Sedge and Neria... Friends... The word stayed with her for what seemed like a long time, and fresh tears welled up in her eyes, but she didn't wipe them away. They felt somehow soothing, cleansing. She stayed there, crying and shivering, for a long time, her mind blank except for the word 'friends'. Eventually, she stood up, still crying, and made her way back down the wall of the inn.

Mela hadn't returned to her bed. Natsuka wondered if she should go check on her. She wanted to talk to her, to anyone. She felt desperately lonely. Perhaps she and Mela could be 'friends'... Mela was the one who had spoken with her the most, the one person she felt close to in the group... But she had been speaking with Masa and Mune, downstairs, in secret. Had they been talking about her? Doubt welled up in her gut again. Would Mela be her friend? Would the rest of them be her friends, if Mela was? If she could somehow make herself 'belong' with these people, perhaps she wouldn't feel so abjectly lonely. Perhaps she could forge herself new memories with them to make up for those she had lost. Perhaps...

Quietly, she crossed the room, wary of waking Neria up, opened the door just enough to slip through it sideways, and closed it quietly behind her.

As she made her way down the stairs, Natsuka heard the faint breathing of someone sleeping. Being especially careful, she continued on down until she reached the common room. There, sitting at the same table where they had eaten their evening meal, was Mela-san. The last third of a candle stood on the table, a tenuous flame flickering atop it. Mela-san had fallen asleep at the table, her head resting on her folded arms. Natsuka doubted for a moment whether she should wake Mela up, but she came to the conclusion that if she woke her up, even if they didn't talk, Mela would go to sleep in her bed, which would save them a lot of trouble the next day. The young girl began to tiptoe over to her sleeping companion.

"A bit late to be wandering around, isn't it?" she heard someone whisper, right next to her, and almost jumped out of her skin. Masa, the green-eyed twin, was leaning casually against the wall, next to her, partially concealed by the long shadows cast by the candlelight. Natsuka could have sworn he hadn't been there a few moments ago. Perhaps he was one of the ninja Soraya had spoken of? Where there ninja outside of Shinbi?

"I... I heard Mela-san leave the room earlier, and I was wondering where she was," Natsuka replied, still whispering.

"As you can see, she is sitting there," replied Masa, somewhat sharply. "Now that you know where she is, I suggest you go back upstairs and go to bed. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

"I... I wanted to... I _need_ to talk to her," Natsuka found it hard to keep her voice steady, despite all her efforts; something had lodged itself in her throat, making it hard to breathe, to speak. There was something about the twin, something about his eyes, that made her very nervous. No, not nervous. Afraid. Very afraid. Afraid, and unwanted.

"I think you ought to let her sleep. She's had a very tiring day, and she needs to rest..." Masa's voice had lost some of its edge, sounded more understanding. "If you want, I would be happy to hear you out."

"Eeto..." Natsuka hesitated for a moment. She still wasn't too sure whether she wanted to talk to the green-eyed man. His eyes didn't look as hard as they had a moment ago, but she was still shocked at how harsh his voice had sounded, at the sensation of being waved away in disgust. "No, it's alright." she decided finally. There was still something about the green-eyed man that scared her. Maybe it was just the memory of his refusal to letting her talk with Mela. Whatever it was, it scared her. "Maybe tomorrow." She turned to leave, wondering if she had interrupted something. She hadn't heard them talking as she made her way down the stairs, but maybe they had heard her coming down. She suddenly noticed that Mune, the other twin, wasn't anywhere to be seen. Disappointed at not being able to speak to Mela, she began to climb back up the stairs. "Oyasumi, Masa-san," she whispered softly as she fought back the hot dampness that had begun to form in her eyes for the third time that night.

"Goodnight," he whispered after her. The young oriental girl disappeared back up the stairs, Masa watching her all the way until he was sure she had gone.

"I think you scared her pretty bad, Masa," Mune appeared from the shadows in the other corner of the room. "She's on the verge of tears right now."

"I suppose so," replied Masa. "Where did she go?"

"I found her laying down on the roof, shivering with cold and crying,"

"She's certainly a strange one," Masa mused.

"You only just realised?" his twin smiled at him. Masa looked back at him, alarmed by his words.

"What do you mean?"

"Remember how we were laughing when she said she wasn't one of us?" Mune asked him. Mela let a little noise escape from her lips, and both twins kept quiet, waiting for her to return fully to the land of dreams.

"Yes?" Masa continued eventually.

"Well, she _is_ like us in that there is something more to her that can't be seen straight away..."

"What do you mean?" Masa asked, enthusiastically enough to elicit another little sound from Mela. Another pause.

"I don't know exactly," Mune shook his head slowly, lowering his gaze thoughtfully. "but there is something about her that isn't quite right. She certainly _feels_ different to when we fought her and the rest of Sinister's people back in Skenic..."

"What do you think we should do?" asked the green-eyed twin. His sibling raised his gaze again, and their eyes met.

"For now, keep an eye out for her. Maybe try to find a little more about her, try to help her to remember." The twins looked at each other for a long moment. "Perhaps we should consult with Mela the possibility of taking a peek inside her mind..."

"You saw how she reacted when she thought we had looked into _hers_" Masa argued. "Still, if there's something strange about her, perhaps we should investigate.

"Understood," Mune agreed. The conversation ended, Mune glanced at the candle of the table, and a gust of wind blew it out, leaving the common room in the dark. Mela continued sleeping, with the two siblings watching over her.

*****

Masa and Mune woke Mela up shortly before sunrise, prompting her to go to her bed so Neria wouldn't suspect. Mela sleepily complied, hardly realising what she was doing. As she crawled into bed she barely heard Sedge muttering something about a spit and a roast pig. Sleep was quick to embrace her once more.

Neria was the first of them to wake up. Thinking that Sedge would probably be needing a bucket of cold water to wake up, and that the rest of them could do with a quick splash of water to wash their faces, she headed downstairs. In the common room she met Masa, who was sitting down at the table with a bowl of soup sitting untouched in front of him.

"Not feeling too hungry today, are we?" she joked. She was in a wonderfully good mood, much better than she could remember feeling in a very long time. She had slept remarkably well, and had woken up extremely hungry. She was looking forward to a good breakfast, Shinbian style. The prospect of having more travelling rations for lunch and the appetising aroma of Masa's soup bowl only served to sharpen her hunger. "I feel like I could eat a whole ox."

"Help yourself," the green-eyed twin invited her, trying not to let the echoes of last night's conversation show in his voice. "If Natsuka asks, we can say Mune and I had breakfast earlier,"

"Good thinking," Neria nodded as she leaned over to inhale deeply from the warm steam that wafted from the contents of the plain ceramic bowl. With a contented sigh she stood up straight again. "I have to get changed first, and I would like to wash my face before that."

"The innkeeper's wife is in the kitchen," Masa informed her. Neria gestured her thanks as she headed to the kitchen to ask for a bucket of water. Masa watched her go, thinking to himself.

Neria hefted the bucket of water upstairs, washed, and changed. When she was finished, she tried to wake Sedge up, who responded by turning the other way and mumbling something about a headache. She was mildly more successful with Mela and Natsuka. Both of them complained and got out of their futons groggily and headed for the bucket giving each other their sleepy 'Good morning' and 'Ohayo Gozaimasu' respectively. After they had splashed cold water on their faces and acquired some semblance of wakefulness, Mela went to change, while Natsuka began folding her bedding. During the brief moment in which their eyes met, while Natsuka was saying 'Good morning' to her as well, Neria wondered if Natsuka had slept properly, because her eyes were rather red and slightly swollen. Sighing, Neria knelt next to Sedge's futon.

"Wakey-wakey, Sedge," she whispered in his ear. Sedge turned again, and Neria took him by the arm and pulled him mumbling to the bucket. She picked it up in her free hand, and led Sedge downstairs. As she passed the common room on her way outside she got strange looks from Masa and Mune, who had taken a seat next to his brother. He too, had an untouched bowl of soup before him. There were a few more plates and trays set on the table, all waiting to be eaten. Neria could hardly wait to eat, but before that, Sedge had to wake up, or else they would have a late start.

Once outside, Neria set the bucket of water on a tree-stump used for cutting up firewood. Letting go of Sedge's arm, she took the back of his head and dipped it into the bucket, turning away in anticipation of the deluge that would follow. The response was immediate: Sedge screamed as he pulled his head out of the bucket, his hair spraying drops of water everywhere as the bucket was knocked to the ground, spilling what remained of its contents over the tree stump and the nearby grass.

"Hurry up, Sedge, or you will miss breakfast," Neria warned him as she headed back inside. As if to emphasise the warning, her stomach growled menacingly. "I feel like I could eat my part, yours, and still have room that of Mela and Natsuka. You cannot say that I did not warn you."

Sedge stopped shaking his head to watch her go, an expression of surprise painted across his face.

"How did she know I was going to wash my hair precisely this morning?" he asked himself, absolutely amazed.

*****

Sedge managed to get changed quick enough to eat some breakfast, and Neria found that both Mela and Natsuka seemed to have more appetite that morning. Once they had finished, they picked up their gear, and left the inn, waving their goodbyes to the innkeeper's family as they wished them a good journey to Shinkyo. It was another sunny day, and although the wind was blowing a bit harder than the previous day, it carried with it the scents of the forest that lay just over a day's travelling further along the road.

9CE78CED9DB1E259310C59CB