"Keep your voice down" She says hastily "No he's not here.." Her eyes quickly shifting over to Hijiro who is now talking with Balthazar. Looking back she can guess Sandru can tell that she's lying badly. "Okay maybe he is, Ameiko is here too and you dated her didn't you?" She pretends to huff a little, then leans over to whisper "So... yes.. that sort of thing?"
"Prèt-ti fi renmen sournwa-ti gason, men Prèt-ti fi yo pa pral di l '...
Sournwa-ti gason, li gen yon sekrè, men Prèt-ti fi li konnen li."
"Longshanks yo bèbè, 'Pwen' ey?"
Sneaky-boy, he has a secret, but Woojie-girl she knows it." Snorfling at his own joke, "Longshanks are dumb, ey 'Points'?"
Balthazar widens his eyes as he hears Hijiro's inquiries. He scratches his bald head and tries to put forth some wise words, though the subject makes him feel a litle awkward.
"Well, Hijiro, to tell you the truth, I am not particularly well versed in those matters, but as you may know, that is part of the reason why I left the Sacred Mountain. Now... the easiest part is knowing if you like someone. You just have to be honest with yourself, and the impact of that person in your life and thoughts, and whether you long to be around her or not. Remember that friendship and love might sometimes be mistaken, but friendship can many times be the stepping stone for love. You know friendship; if what you feel seems much deeper than that, it could well be love. As to how to know if they like you back", he shrugs, "I suppose you never know. There are hints, but the only way of knowing for sure is talking about it. My vows have taught me that, indeed, speaking the truth can speedily settle all matters in life - for better or worse."
Oh.. oh.. I thought. Sienna starts to feel really guilty about it now. "I don't know.. I mean about.. him. I think maybe, he said .. he likes to know me .. does that help?" After all the pair of them have gone through the last thing Sienna wanted to do was bring back painful memories for her brother.
Hijiro listens carefully to Balthazar's words of wisdom and nods as he contemplates them. "I .. I DO long to be around her... a lot... she smells so nice. Almost like a kitsune girl. Better, even. But I.. I can't just talk to her about it. What if she doesn't feel the same way? Besides, she seems so edgy around me. Maybe she doesn't like me at all? Or... I don't know... Western girls are strange I think. What if she doesn't like me because I'm a kami?"
Sienna starts laughing at the end of that. "You like Jubrayl? Jeez, you have some boots to fill if you want to do that. Not that you'd want to." She gives her brother a swift playful punch to the shoulder. "Heh, thanks that helped... I think. Do me a favour would you now that I'm actually going on an adventure with you?" She winks at him and starts to sing a song they both know quite well hoping Sandru will join in. The song is the one the Sienna sang to Hijiro a few days ago.
Shalelu's comment elicits an entirely new spate of chortles in the Goblin. "Ki moun ki di te gen yon pwoblèm?"
"Huh, mwen te mande sou li & li ...
"Sournwa-ti gason bezwen jwenn tèt li soti nan nwaj yo & pran yon desizyon ki pwoblèm la sèlman mwen ka wè ...
Oke, & sekrè l 'yo ...
Kou O 'sekrè l' yo pouvwa pran desizyon pou l '."
"Huh, I was wondering about he & her...
"Sneaky-boy needs to get his head out of the clouds & make a decision is the only problem I can see...
Well, & his secret...
O' course his secret may make the decision for him."
Hearing Sienna break into the same song he had heard her sing before, Irnk begins accompanying her & Sandru, his performance marred slightly by the fact that although the tune is obviously the same, Irnk is singing in Goblin.
Balthazar refrains from asking who is Hijiro's love interest, not wanting to invade the boy's privacy. He goes on trying to be as general as possible, while stil remaining helpful.
"Well, Hijiro, if she doesn't like you because you are different, then that is a problem that is actually taking care of itself. Infattuation does not last long, and after that is over, what remains is love and friendship, so tell me - would you want to be friends with someone that dislikes you based on who you are or what you look like? I am certain you can choose your companies better than that. You fear she doesn't like you because she is edgy; I believe that is hardly an indicative."
"That, and I guess it seems like she prefers older men... I think." He looks over his shoulder for a very brief moment to confirm that Sienna is still riding over with Sandru, and sighs.
Once the song is over she notices Hijiro didn't join in. She seems visibly disappointed. She whispers to her brother "Damn it, I thought he'd join in to lift his spirits. That song from mother always lifted mine. Let.. let's try some of your advice."
Sienna kicks the horse into a short canter to bring herself alongside Hijiro and Balthazar, making sure to be next to Hijiro "Hey..."
Sienna then begins to have a short conversation in her head.
Come on you can do this! I will make a fool of myself. No you won't just remember what Sandru said, just make conversation. Small talk you remember like the girls used to do in the caravan all the damn time. I don't know how... Yes you do, stop doubting!
Sienna suddenly is sitting bolt upright in the saddle, "So how're you two doing on this fine journey? Think we'll find ourselves many shinies along the way Jiro?" She asks smiling at him.
God that sounded so forced. Shut up it will work. Says who? Says yourself you ninny.
Hijiro seems to visibly brighten when Sienna rides up. He gives an odd glance at Balthazar, with a little scowl on his face even, but when he turns to Sienna, he smiles and nods to her.
"Hey," he says, repeating her greeting. "I... I'm fine. Did... you have a nice chat with Sandru?"
Idiot, she's talking to YOU now... don't bring him up...
"Oh, we're going to an abandoned castle, at least it's supposed to be abandoned. I DO hope there will be lots of sparklies and shiny things to collect. With luck, nothing will be protecting them and we can collect them all!" His smile grows to a grin and his step grows lighter still as he talks.
"Of course the most important treasure there will belong to Ameiko, but hopefully she will share the remainder with the rest of us. What do you think... will she be generous with us?"
He looks over at Ameiko and sighs softly, then back at Sienna and his grin turns to a sly smile and he whispers to her, "If not, there are ways to make sure we get our share."
"It's an castle, if the tales from when I'm little should be anything to go by there should be a lot of sparklies. The message did say something about a vault. Hmmm, I'm guessing though the important treasure for Ameiko might be something to do with her heritage more that anything truly valuable. She doesn't seem to want much in the monetary way of things, after all Rusty Dragon is brimming with business." She tries to assure Hijiro.
See that's not so bad, keep it up. You're only saying that to cheer me up. Sounds like you need it. Shut up...
"Say Hijiro what have you liked of Sandpoint for the few years you've been living here? Find it alright?" She continues with a cheery ring in her voice.
Hah, I got this.. right?"
Hijiro smiles as her question brings back the past couple of years of his life in Sandpoint. "Sandpoint is very different from Minkai and I was very frightenend when I first arrived. I think what I've liked most about Sandpoint is that most of the people made me feel so welcome. Especially Ameiko, who helped me learn Common so quickly."
He turns and glances toward Ameiko on her (horse? wagon? whatever...). He bites his lip thoughtfully and turns back to Sienna.
Ameiko is so beautiful, but I think Sienna is too, in a different way. He sighs softly and blushes.
"Sandpoint is so very different from my home village. It's not so green, and is very dry. It took me a long time to get used to it. And so many new things to learn and do. And so many new things that were dangerous, like the goblins. It was definitely all the nice people of Sandpoint that made life there good for me."
"Have you always lived in Sandpoint? What do you like most about it?"
Huh.. he's looking at her fondly...wait calm down, don't get angry, pretend you didn't notice. Do it.
Sienna's eye twitches a little. "I .." Sienna then regains a little focus slumping down into a more natural ride on the horse. I didn't always live in sandpoint, I used to travel around a lot until well.. you know. The storm.. that." She holds back some tears and changes the subject.
Dammit girl move on from that he already knows that story.
Erm, yea, then I moved around in a caravan not unlike this one. Eventually landing in Sandpoint and doing odd jobs for my older brother Jubaryl. Anyway for me, it is quite busy. Very noisy place, I usually hung around outside of town instead. I liked it most at night, there isn't many clouds in Sandpoint. Thank Desna... She seems worried when she talks of clouds. "So I can see the bright moon in all its glory. If you ever heard random scampering outside the walls of the town in the dead of night that was likely me." She chuckles realizing how stupid that sounded.
If anything it was good being planted in one place for a while. I feel like travelling might the thing for me, how about yourself ever thought of just up and leaving sandpoint? What made you stay? She asks curiously
"I just never thought much about traveling. I never traveled much as a child. It must have been great fun and excitement to always be traveling with a caravan. I just always lived at home with my parents and my brother. Well, almost always, aside from a few trips to visit my uncle. When I got here, all I could think about was going home, but I didn't know the way or anything, boats always scared me a little, and it's not like there are caravans to Minkai or anything. So I stayed." He shrugs a little.
"I kind of liked the noise and the hustle and bustle of the town. Don't get me wrong," he says quickly. "I like this traveling too... especially because it's... well... it's giving me a chance to... you know... get to know y-, he chokes a minute and then continues quickly. "Get to know everyone a lot better."
I hope she didn't notice that... she'll know I meant her... I don't want her to think I meant just her, because if she doesn't really like me, she'll laugh at me... after all, she's really human and I'm just a kami wearing a human face. And she knows that... oh why did I ever tell them what I really am??? What an idiot!
He sputters and stutters a moment, before continuing on... "So what was it like growing up in a caravan? and what sort of interesting places have you been to?"
Sienna blushes and starts to stumble over her words a little.
Getting to know everyone is a start, yea, I think this can work.
"Ah you know.. haha, I don't remember too many places I went to .. I saw the roof of my cabin more often than I would have liked looking back on it now, hahaha." She laughs a little nervously.
Damn it, why was I such a coward back then, I must remember somewhere we went... wait, I know one.
We.. we once crossed the border into Nidal. The caravan liked to look over the ocean so we took coastal routes quite often. There was a port in Nidal which was quite odd. Interesting place though, since there was many rich or important looking people there. Some of the kindness people I'd ever met, some people even came to my caravan to cure some of the sick. One man even tried to get me to overcome my fears.. it didn't work but he tried. I found out the reason all those people were there. They were going to this place called Hermea. Some island to the West of Nidal. They said they were waiting to be chosen to live there, it was fun to see so many kind and upstanding people in one place. I wonder if Hermea is like that. Ever heard of the place?
By Desna, I'm surprised Pintsize hasn't fallen off his mount yet. I guess he really can't hear us.. that's good.
"Saw the roof of your cabin more than the places you were going to? Sounds more like something I would do. My brother, Seijiro, was always the bold one." He changes the subject quite quickly though...
"This port and this place Hermea sound interesting. And the people trying to get there sound exceptional. Why were these people waiting to be chosen to live someplace? Why didn't they just go there to live?"
Hijiro seems a little more relaxed now that the topic is off him and onto something else...
"I really don't know, something about the people on the island only accepting certain people. I didn't listen all that much, maybe it's something really special. Like how you get accepted to go to mage colleges?" She wonders to herself a bit. "Heh, I wonder if Pintsize needed to be accepted to take those vows of his. I wonder how it works for a goblin." Sienna let's out a chuckle.
"I... don't really understand Irnk and his vows... it seems improbable that a goblin would take such vows and yet he has. Surely someone must have taken him on as a protege or follower to teach him their religion? or maybe he had an epiphany by himself and was touched by his god? That would indeed make an interesting tale. Maybe we should ask him?"
Hijiro peers over at Irnk for a moment, then looks back at Sienna, who is far easier on the eyes than the goblin. He smiles slightly if she looks back at him, but his eyes don't linger long and he looks down, blushing, if she returns his gaze.
Hijiro shrugs and gives a little half smile as Shalelu proclaims this is as far as the caravan goes. "I guess we travel without wagons from here on... Some will have to stay behind to guard the caravan of course while the rest of us go on to Brinewall. Since Ameiko isn't feeling well, perhaps she should stay behind and let us search out this place a bit while she recovers. When we find the vault, we can send for her and she can join us. How does that sound?"
"Oh, I'm sure & the others will have no problem staying & watching the wagons while we deal with any real threats." Irnk replies acerbically & more than a bit cryptically as he grabs his gear & swings down from his wagon.
"Well, shall we?" He inquires of the rest of you as he turns towards the now-little-more-than-a-foot-trail.
HIjiro hefts his gear, in preparation for going on foot from here on... "I'm ready to go."
Sienna agrees with the other two in her own odd way. She trots her horse over to Sandru then says to him aside. "Hey I'm sure you can take care of the wagons and her. Who knows, you might get bonding time if she stays awake long enough." She says rather meekly trying to return the same advise she received a few weeks prior. She gets off her horse and follows the others.
"Yea come on, let's get going." She walks up to Hijiro almost hooking her arm on his but then just reaches over to her other arm and rubs it. She walks past Hijiro looking at the floor rather embarrassed. Sienna does a poor job of hiding it from the rest so Irnk and Balthazar probably see her hesitation.
Come on you've spent 16 days here, some physical contact between friends can't hurt .. right? Maybe he'd think I'm .. I don't know.. how do Kitsune feel about that sort of thing anyway? Should've asked earlier, there'll be another time. Yea, another time.
"So pintsize, ready to see what kind of craziness we'll get into?"
"Let's go".
Hijiro's first instinct is to rush to Ameiko's side, but he is bruskly pushed aside by the arrival of Koya, and he kneels nearby watching with grave concern and no small amount of panic.
As Koya rushes to help Ameiko, Balthazar unmounts and starts looking around for any signs of enemy activity in the trees and bushes around them. He walks up to Koya and Ameiko and tries to see if there's any sign of injury to Ameiko, and voices his concern. "Was she struck, or am I being paranoid? The lass was fine just a minute ago."
What in the world .. she was looking tired but this?
Mum.. Mother, is she going to be okay?" Sienna says as she goes to kneel next to Koya as she drags onto her brother's shirt tagging him along.
Being already several paces down the trail when Ameiko begins, Irnk is last to even hear her collapse & only recognizes the sound for what it was after almost everyone else in the caravan has rushed to her aid.
Well, this is an auspicious start.
At Balthazar's words, Irnk nocks an arrow in his bow & pans his gaze about as well.
"Well, what should we do then? Go on in without her? Can we even do that? We don't know exactly what we're looking for. She was our link to her legacy here. On the other hand, it seems she is giving us warnings about what we might face here. Maybe that is to assist us in finding her legacy while she can't be with us? Beware birds that want to fly but can't? What does that even mean? Tengu maybe? And do her other words portend that we have to deal with her grandfather's spirit perhaps?"
"We have no idea how long this 'possession' might last. It seems only logical that the rest of us go on and try to find what we came for, that it does."
Hijiro shrugs as he has little more to offer at this point.
Sienna gets up and brushes herself off, while replying to her mother. "All the more reason we find out what caused that, I am guessing it is something to do with what's in the castle so we shall be back shortly.. hopefully."
Before running to rejoin the others she gives a soft kick to her brother's boot. "Stay near her, help Auntie out okay? See you safely soon."
Once she reaches the others she gives them a swift nod "Shall we be on our way? We might be able to solve those mysteries if we get closer to that castle." She points off in the direction of Brinewall.
"Yes. If anyone can take care of Ameiko, that person is Koya. We'll be of better use if we find what is troubling the poor girl, and all signs point to the castle. Let's go." Balthazar starts walking towards the castle in a slow pace, giving time for the others to join him.
Hijiro heads toward the castle with the others.
Hijiro continues on toward the castle unless something in the ruins calls to his attention.
Sienna joins Hijiro not moving far from him and helping him look around. Sienna isn't all that interested in the town much as it is a wonder that most of this place remains. She wishes to see what's in that castle.
"Well, it's not unguarded... we could try to get in the front door, but we might have to either talk our way past the guards or fight them. We have no idea how many of them there might be. Should we maybe wait a bit, keep an eye on their watch schedule, try to take advantage of a lapse in it if there is one? Or maybe look around for a bolt hole we could use to get in via a back door?"
"Hijiro, if the castle is guarded, then it is inhabited and it has a lord. We should try to talk to him and learn whatever there is to be learned here." Balthazar starts heading calmly towards the front gate.
Balthazar do you think they will just let us in? They might be hostile to all newcomers? I have no qualm moving forward but we should be cautious." Sienna advises.
Hijiro winces at Balthazar's directness. "These inhabitants and their lord if they have one may be hostile. You should show more discretion, Balthazar. Being less direct may be to our advantage in this situation."
Balthazar is taken aback by the group's objection. "Because they [i]might be hostile, we should invade the castle? And then what? Fight and kill every last one of them?"[/b] He pauses for a moment. "What is it we are loking for, anyway, that would make us want to fight these people?"
"I've yet to hear of a lord who would allow the community that supports his keep to fall into such disarray as we see about us Balthazar. If there be a lord within, he is no lawful one." Considering further, Irnk continues. "Personally, I think we would be best served to investigate the town further first. Possibly Sienna's woodscraft will tell us more of what resides herein, if it be a what rather than a who."
Considering further, "To the second question; we came here because miz 'meiko wanted to learn more of her family & what we found down in the swamp hinted that here was the place to look; only as soon as we do so, up an' done to 'er."
"Something rots here, is why we bring violence to this door."