Sabi

For the whole morning, Nomi was sad, worried, scared and confused at the same time. Even though she did not admit it, Teo was sure she felt proud, for her 'son' had been called to serve the Emperor. While Iisai and Teo sat quietly and ate their breakfast, Nomi was running around the kitchen making sure everything was perfect.
"Nomi, please.. Calm down.." Iisai tried to grab the gnome by her shoulder.
"What? Calm down? I can't calm down! How could I possibly calm down!?"
Nomi seemed more nervous by every passing second.
"I will be alright, and I promise I'll be back as fast as I can"
Iisai shouted after Nomi, who had just vanished into the dining hall. Teo sighed.
"She really cares about you."
"Yeah, but I can't blame her" Iisai smiled.
"That's what mothers are like, right?"
Teo nodded and smiled.
"But I still wonder.. what it would be like to have brothers and sisters and both parents at home and all.." Iisai said and leaned on his hand.
"I bet it's nothing like this... having a goblin as a mother.."
Teo put down her toast.
"You at least have a mother."
Iisai rose his head.
"But.. You don't?"
Teo didn't answer. She just looked out the window, but her face told more that 1000 words.
"May I ask.. what happened?"
Iisai asked carefully. He was fully aware of the awkwardness of the situation.
"No, you may not. Or you may, but don't expect to get an answer."
She replied, still staring absently out of the window.

Half an hour later they were standing at the west gate of Sairin.
"I couldn't find Drake from anywhere to tell him good bye. Do you know where he might be?"
Iisai asked Teo. Drake had disappeared and just as mysteriously Aikatherinee was gone as well. The later part pleased Teo especially.
"Why should I know where Lizmaer residents?"
"Um.. Cause you're his friend?"
Teo frowned.
And you're not?
"Did he tell you that? Well, that's a lie. He's not my friend or enemy."
Iisai looked surprised.
"But I thought..."
"Thought what?"
He hesitated, thought over again and said,
"Nothing. I must have misheard something, he he."
The frown on Teo's forehead deepened, but she let it be.
"Right, well, then we should get going. Are you sure you have everything now? We can't turn back."
Nomi looked at Teo, eyes so restless. "Don't worry. I helped him pack, he shouldn't lack anything."
She nodded approvingly.
"Good."
Then she turned to look at Iisai.
"Now, I'm sorry but we can't take your mechanical chicken, you need to cope with camels."
He looked horrified.
"What? Why not?" He whined.
"Because."
Teo took a deep breath.
"Because as much as I like things that will automatically go home, I can't see it as anything more than a burdening function on our journey. Imagine, if the enemy forces us away from it, and it will just run back here? Do you see my point?"
Iisai saw, even if it didn't please him at all.
"Do you?"
"S'pose so..."
Teo turned to Nomi.
"The sun is getting higher and higher. I want to thank you now for everything you've done for me, in the case we shall not meet again."
Nomi looked like in pain.
"Hey, it's nothing, and I know you'll take good care of him.. I�ll be waiting for your safe return.. Now, are you sure you don't want the money?"
She had tried to force Teo all morning to accept it, but she had refused.
"YES I'm sure of it. I told you, Iisai offered me that I shall not pay for the whip's repairment and that will take care of the money issues. I accepted. After all, it�s only till we get to S�kai and that is not hopelessly far away."

Iisai knelt in front of his short mother.
"G'bye, mum, don't worry. I'll be back before you even realize that I was really gone.."
Nomi closed her eyes. She couldn't hold the tears anymore.
"Make sure you will! If you don't-don't-..."
Iisai hugged her tight.
"I know, I know. I won't get any dessert."
He smiled to her and slowly rose up.
"Let's keep in touch, mum. Take care!"
He got on his camel and rode next to Teo, who had watched to touching scene. Her heart felt only heavier. She forced a smile to Nomi, waved her hand and started riding, heading south. Iisai joined her seconds later, after waving Nomi one last good bye. Now Sairin was growing smaller and smaller behind them. For a while, they rode in silence. Teo believed Iisai was bravely swallowing tears and let him be. But then, he spoke.
"Myoo-I mean.. um.. sorry... Teo� " He still randomly messed up with her name. She looked up to see the position of the sun and shaded her eyes with her hand.
"..What is it?"
Iisai hesitated.
"What exactly is going to happen now?"
She still didn't look at him.
"..Well, as I told you last night, we will first head to Sabi in order to get closer our goal, the Palace of Soko in S�kai and refresh. All possible assaults that might come to our way I shall demolish and keep you safe. From Sabi we shall check the situation over again and continue as fast as possible."
She didn't say anything more, and Iisai didn't ask further. He already knew she would tell him everything and only what she considered he needed to know. Maybe it was for the best.

Every now and then, Teo turned to see how Iisai was doing. He didn't seem to like the ride. As a matter of fact, he seemed more and more seasick by every passing moment.
"Hey, you're alright, Iisai?" She asked.
"Yeah... I'm fine... Totally.."
Iisai tried to look okay, but his face was very pale.
"You want to stop?"
Teo inquired, even though she knew the answer.
"Sure... ok then.."
Iisai mumbled and leaped down from his camel. He sat down and closed his eyes, looking very, very seasick. Teo was still sitting on her camel.
"You'll be alright soon? We can't stay here all day."
"Yeah, sure.. just gimme a sec.."
Iisai sighed and leaned against his knees. Teo jumped down and sat next to Iisai, looking at him with quiet compassion. Too much compassion for an Atrac.
"You really don't like riding camels, do you?"
"Heck no!"
Iisai looked still quite not well, so Teo let him be and went off to take a look at the surroundings. She didn't go very far tho, since she couldn't be separated from the boy no longer. He would always need to be within the range of her vision now. And for the matter of surroundings, there wasn't much more to see than sand and few rocks further away. He looked a bit better when she returned to him, and even gave her an awkward grin.
"Heh, I'm sorry to slow us down.."
She gave him an odd look.
"Hey, it's nothing. I needed a break too"
Never make them feel like they'd been babysat. Remember your authority, he taught me. Teo revised in her head.
"Besides, your well-being is my priority number one now, remember? Being your Atrac isn't just keeping you alive, it's also watching after your health in mind and body."
With that, she climbed on her camel.
"I think you're feeling well enough to last next 20 miles, no?"
Iisai nodded and got on his camel.

As the sun set down, they made a small camp under an enormous rock that was just sticking out of the sand. Fire would keep them warm and Teo's eyes were constantly fixed on her radar. They had cooked some meat that Nomi had given them and now sat in satisfied silence, stomachs full. Iisai was looking at her.
"What do you see in those things?"
He asked hesitating, not really wanting to upset her with unthought-of questions. Being an engineer he would naturally be interested in technology unseen before. She rose her eyes and looked at him, trying to decide whether to tell him to go to sleep or actually show him.
"Come here."
Was all she finally answered.
Iisai obeyed quick and sat beside her. She held out her arm for him to see and pressed one small button next to the screen making a group of dots appeared on it. "In my left wrist band, I see us and the enemies. See? That's us here. You are the violet dot, while I am the blue. Those random red dots farther in the west and south are marked criminals, potential enemies in other words. Those we watch out for, tho I highly doubt all of them would be after you. What this radar tells, are the people who might be harmful. Do you follow?"
Iisai nodded, unable to even try to hide his excited interest.
"And.. all of us here are showing.. because of that chemical? A chemical that gives off some kind of signal?"
Teo had been sitting on her knees, but now she straightened them to have a more comfortable position.
"Yes. Indeed."
Iisai frowned.
"But... How come all the criminals have that chemical? Isn't this a grave disadvantage to them?"
"Sure it is. You see, all bandits, thieves, assassins and so on belong to a tribe of their own, and those tribes have their own tribal tattoos. Nowadays, if a person even tries to be a criminal on his own, the leading boss of that area will either kill him or force him to join to his tribe. Those tribal tattoos and the chemicals in them can be traced with our radars if so programmed. When they get close enough, our radars will alarm us. Their desire to control the area and their need to share the bounty is their own grave when it comes to Atracs. They don't afford to have lone wolfs."
Iisai was deep in thought for a while.
"Of course I still do not trust this blindly. There are bad-asses who aren't interested in having you headless, and even some people who haven't gotten caught up yet for working alone."
Iisai remained silent, still gazing at the screen.
"You should go to sleep, we're facing tomorrow a long ride."

"Aren't you going to sleep at all?"
Iisai inquired Teo two hours later since she had first time told him to hit the bed. He had moved to the other side of the fire and made a cosy spot to sleep in. She looked rather annoyed.
"Why can't YOU sleep? I'm fine, I don't need that much sleep, but you need. You�re only a weak human"
Iisai crawled up a bit.
"Don't be mad. I'm too nervous and quite.. Scared� to sleep. When you can't sleep you just can't sleep.."
Teo looked somehow offended.
"Look now! I'm keeping watch, you haven't seen one 10th of my true potential and you're telling me you're scared!? How dare you?"
Her ears did something funny, Iisai noticed. They were casted down wards, like a dog or a cat does when they are being insulted or mistreated.
"Have faith in me, Iisai�
She didn't look at him. Her gaze was somewhere far in the horizon. Iisai's mouth dropped.
"H-Hold on! I didn't mean it that way. I'm not nervous because I wouldn't believe in your ability to keep me safe but just because. This all is just so stressing."
He got up, knowing he was moving on thin ice now that she was looking at him again and he almost tripped because of his blanket. Teo sighed. Her ears returned a bit and Iisai sat next to her. His eyes narrowed when he took a closer look at her.
"How old are you?"
Came suddenly his unexpected question that seemed to have troubled him for a longer time now. She looked at him first in surprise, then in confusion. Again she was faced with the choice of either telling or not. She hated it.
Could I trust in a person who I didn't know anything about?
"21."
Once again, she looked anywhere else than him but something told Iisai that if there was still something bugging him, now was the right time to ask it away. He took a deep, deep breath and asked the question that had bothered him most since he had learned about her occupation.
"What made you become an Atrac? What could make one do such a job? Surely you could have chosen something less risky."
Iisai backed off a bit in the case her gaze would possibly kill, but her eyes weren't angry. Just blank.
Stay calm. That's what each of them ask, every single one.
...Then why were you so unprepared for it?
What makes him so different, damnit?
..Because you already cared for him before he was your client.
..Because you already then unconsciously considered him as a potential friend.
That's why.
And now that option is gone.
That's why.
"It's the only thing I'm good at. Surviving. When it came to me that I could make my living like that, it was decided. No fancy story behind it, believe me." She choked an ironic chuckle. This boy of all would never understand. No one did. Well, at least no human did.
Iisai looked at the ground.
"Right.."
�Besides, the choice of my career has already saved your life once. There should be no problem with it.�
Iisai couldn�t disagree. Suddenly, he felt sleepy. He could feel an aura coming from her that said 'Ask further and I'm gonna make you sleep forever'. He went back to his place and soon fell asleep to Teo's great relief.

Her morning did not start well. The first thing her mind actually understood was a loud bang. It wasn't one of those bangs you get when you drop something heavy on the floor, it was more like 'something huge just blew up in pieces'-sort of bang. In 1/10th of a second Teo was on her feet, ready to deal with any sort of enemies necessary. But there was nothing, just a huge dust cloud moving away from them, and small pieces of rock dropping down from the sky. And Iisai. The boy was sitting in the sand, covering his head.
"Iisai, what the hell!?"
Teo shouted, biting her lip so she wouldn't kick Iisai to the head. He peeked between his hands.
"I... you... sorry.."
"What happened? What's with the bang!?"
Teo was quite shocked. Her heart was beating fast and she could have just killed the boy right there.
"I was.. Um.. Practicing.."
"Couldn't you wait till I was up? And what's this?"
Teo took up a huge riffle and pointed it at Iisai. "Don't do that! Put it down!"
Teo leaned on to the riffle. Iisai was biting his lip.
"It's a... it's umm.. a dragon riffle.."
"Why would you have a dragon riffle with you? There are no dragons here. And hey! You didn't have this with you, yesterday. Where did you get it from?"
Iisai looked the other way.
"I.. assembled it when I woke up.. I had the pieces in my bag.."
Teo sighed.
What am I going to do with him...
"You should have told me. This thing's dangerous."
"I know..."
Iisai looked both scared and ashamed.
"I just.. Wanted to test it.."
Iisai snapped the gun out of Teo's hands.
"You built it yourself, huh?"
She grinned. Iisai nodded, not looking at her. She shook her head.
"Should have guessed. Just don't shoot me with it."
"Sorry I didn't tell you about it, honest. I should have had"
Iisai said, turning his eyes towards her.
"I mean.. you can't protect me if I'm about to blow my own head in pieces, huh?"
"Yeah" Teo grinned.
She had finally survived from the first shock.
"And to properly apologize, I'll cook the breakfast" Iisai smiled. Teo settled for a nod. A breakfast would do nicely. The sun had started rising.

Some past noon they had ridden god knows how far and Teo was getting seemingly nervous.
"What's wrong?"
Iisai asked, looking at her in a way which made her even more nervous.
"What do you mean?" came her dark answer.
"Just that... You look like something's wrong."
There was a silence.
"It's been too quiet. I expected the next assault 15 miles ago."
Iisai didn't answer.
"I don't mean there necessarily will be any assaults, just that the info of our leaving has been passed on like...18 hours ago.� She mentally slapped her forehead.
Damn it Teo! You can�t tell him you expected the scum wanting his head to be more active. It smells fishy anyways. He�s just a boy, he can�t handle such. Just.. Just smile. Or something.
When she looked up to smile to him she saw something far better than smiling.
�Look!"
Iisai turned to see what she was pointing at.
"That, my dear client, is Sabi. You never been there?"
Iisai shook his head.
"Haven't really been anywhere else than Sairin. Or at least not so I could remember.."
They were closing at the town gates.
"It's even smaller than Sairin.."
He sounded a bit disappointed as they rode into the town.
"Oh hush, if that's your problem, I guarantee that the capital city S'kai will amaze you. It's the size of 50 Sairins."
Teo replied a bit impatient as she got off her camel while leaving it to the gatekeeper's care.
"Besides, I thought you'd just be happy to get away from riding."
Iisai had to agree and so he followed her example.

They were walking in a crowd, heading to the closest inn.
"Stay close. Don't you dare drop out of my sight."
She sounded so serious that Iisai decided to play it sure and slightly grabbed her arm, walking a bit behind her but still right after. That didn't seem to bother her, unlike what Iisai did next.
"Look! Over there! Isn't that Drake and Aikatherinee?"
"What? What are you-"
Teo turned around, only to see Iisai running off towards the two of those.
"HEY! STOP RIGHT THIS MINUTE! What the HELL do you think you're doing, huh!?"
Iisai had frozen in the halfway. She was right beside him again.
BANG.
Iisai felt a fist land on his head.
"I'm sorry-I'm sorry-I'm sorry!"
Teo was rubbing her eyes with her arm.
"What am I going to do with you? You realize, don�t you. You can't just run into the crowd. If someone attacked you then there isn�t much I can do to help you!"
Iisai tried to be as small as possible, but Teo's attention was already elsewhere.
"Lizmaer. Can't call it a pleasure."
Aikatherinee looked just as displeased as Teo.
"You're always so polite" Drake grinned seemingly happy of meeting them.
"What are you doing here? You left without a word!"
Iisai inquired, looking a bit hurt. He was still holding his head and staying out of the Atrac's reach, carefully still making sure to be within her vision.
"Oh, long story. How about I'll tell you about it while us having something to drink, it's bloody hot in here. Hotter than in Sairin and that's a lot"
Drake gestured them to follow while Aikatherinee remained silent, looking more than bored with big B.
"Oh yeah. Myooji. Have you heard already? His highness has passed away."
Teo's eyes widened in shock.
"What? When!? What.. Happened..?"
"Two days ago. Apparently, it was poison."
They both stopped, looking at each other. Aikatherinee and Iisai seemed outsiders now. Teo's gaze dug it's way into Drake's eyes.
You know what it means, don't you? his eyes seemed to be asking.
She nodded slightly. Of course she knew. She was forced to wake up from the moment as Iisai impatiently called her name for the third time.
"Teo! Are you listening? What are you two talking about?"
"The King.. Has passed away.."

"The king of what?"
Iisai repeated, about the 10th time.
"Forte, you dumb-ass" Teo said, obviously frustrated.
"As in, where-you-guys-come-from-Forte?" He asked silently.
Drake slammed his fist on Iisai's shoulder.
"Yes, now, could you stop asking stupid questions? For your own good, mate." Iisai looked at Drake, then at Teo. The woman was just staring at her glass, what he suspected contained ale. More than sad or grieving, she looked worried. Aikatherinee didn't really seem to care. She was more concentrated on touching Drake's neck with the tips of her fingers. Iisai tried not to look at their way, and decided to focus on Teo. "Will you be alright?"
"Hm, sure.."
Teo was still absently staring down at her glass.
"Aren't you going to drink it?"
"Nah.. you can take it.."
Iisai reached out to grab the glass, but lowered his head so that Teo was forced to look at him.
"..What..?"
"Oh, nothing" Iisai smiled, trying to cheer Teo up even a bit.
"I'll take this glass now, don't come complaining to me afterwards."
"I won't.."
And then, came the silence. It seemed to last forever, but in reality, it only lasted until Drake's glass was empty.
"I'll check us rooms, ok? There's no point in going out to sleep on the desert when there's comfy beds around."
With that, Drake stood up and started walking towards the desk. Teo rose her eyes. Her head was spinning pretty badly. This wasn�t good. At all. Iisai looked at her with compassion in his eyes.
"You're sure you'll be ok?"
Teo nodded. That wasn�t the right question. She was okay.. She was just far more concerned of Forte�s future now.
"Yes. And don't ask again."

"Alright guys, I've got us rooms!"
Drake walked back with long steps and with a grin on his face, like he would be a national hero or something.
"Due to some weird house-rules, people of opposite sex are not allowed to stay in the same room, unless they're married, or something."
Oh dear lord, I just know what's going to happen now.., Teo thought.
"So, what it means in practice, is that Iisai and me are going to share a room, and so are you too, ladies."
"What? I have to stay with THAT?!" Aikatherinee pointed at Teo.
"You're kidding me, right?"
"Well.. no I'm not"
Drake sat back down and looked Aikatherinee in the eyes.
"But she hates me!"
"We know, but that's the rule, and I can't help it"
Drake explained.
"But..."
Iisai's voice was faint, as he hated to interrupt people, but this time, he had to. "I'm not supposed to get out of Teo's sight. We can't sleep in separate rooms."
Teo sighed. She had been so shocked about the news she had forgotten all of it for the moment. Gladly Iisai had noticed.
"Well.. You have to settle that with the owner, ok?"
Drake grinned. Iisai nodded with a smile on his face.
"Come on, Teo, let's get this out of the way now."
Iisai jumped up and walked to the desk, Teo right after him.
"Um, good thing you noticed that. You are starting to pay attention I see."
She smiled.
"Actually, I just tried to save you. You were obviously as unpleased with the rule as Kathy was."
Teo stopped Iisai by laying her hand on his shoulder.
"That's the reason you pointed it out?"
"Yup. And well.."
Iisai looked away.
"It'd be nice to have a girl in the same room once in a while."
Teo shook her head.
Pfft, men..

"No! No no no no no! What kind of image would it give of our inn if you two stayed in the same room, huh? Not even married!"
The innkeeper, small man with huge moustaches folded his arms and glared up to Teo from the other side of the desk. She bent over it, Iisai (who thought that if her glare could kill the small man would only be a bubbling spot of liquid anymore,) hanging from her other arm. She was getting seemingly angry.
"What are you suggesting, huh!? Are you saying that I should get married with each of my male clients so I could do my job? Huh!? Did you know, 12 of my kind travel trough this town every week! About half of them hold clients, most of them the opposite sex! If none of them can stay here, Your business is going under!"
She was a bit out of breath, Iisai could feel her unsteady breathing. He looked at her face, shaded with anger, and saw how suddenly it all melted away. Actually, she looked rather pleased. From that Iisai could tell that the innkeeper would soon be very displeased.
"Married, you say?"
She had an ominous look on her face and suddenly Iisai froze.
She wouldn't... There's no way she'd...
Iisai closed his eyes and started praying to who ever might listen.
"But.. Isn�t marriage love, passion and trust? Getting on each others nerves from time to time, tolerating one's flaws and learning to live with them?"
The keeper nodded.
"Sounds about right, lass, but what it got to do with this situation?"
Teo took a deep breath.
"I love my job, I do it with passion. I trust in Iisai, We get on each others nerves from time to time and tolerate our flaws while learning how to come over them since our need to live together for the time being."
Iisai opened his eyes, stopped praying and looked at her in admiration. He could see where this was going.
"So, theoretically we are married."
The innkeeper did look displeased.
"That's not the way it goes! You don't have rings, you-"
"In my culture, we don't share rings when getting married."
Teo snapped back, not letting him finish.
"You don't have a promise 'Till death do us apart', you-"
"Ha! Oh yes we do! Wanna see our contract?"
If this innkeeper�s idea of marriage was based on such weak formalities she could easily dodge all of them.
He looked puzzled.
"What?"
"We have made a contract. Do you want to see it?"

Iisai laid himself on the soft bed.
"That, was brilliant."
He said to Teo who was examining the room.
"No biggie. I am bound to do what ever it takes to keep you safe. And, it's a lot safer in here than out in the desert. Plus, I can sleep two hours longer in the inns."
Kathy and Drake had still had to stay in separate rooms how ever. There was no excuse Teo could have fed the man so he would have allowed it, nor did she really even want to. She didn't admit it to even herself but she was a bit worried about what Aikatherinee could do to Drake.
"If he hadn't given in, I would have eventually agreed to sleep in separate rooms. Then, I would have taken down this wall and we would have had one huge room where I could see you and still say we are in different rooms."
Iisai shook his head.
"He would have killed you for that.."
Teo laughed, looking more cheerful than moments ago in the table.
"Might be.."
Iisai smiled at the sight. The events after they had made it here had made him curious.
"Tell me of your country." He asked her.
She hesitated at the unexpected request and turned around to face him. Then, she smiled some more and said,
"It�s an island. There lays vast, ancient forests, residents races that exist nowhere else in whole Azul Oscuro and, of course us, Velocies."
Iisai closed his eyes and imagined the landscape.
"Tell me more about the forests.."
Teo sat next to him.
"The trees reach heavens. Huge trees with leaves that are one of a kind shaped like stars. They are bright green at summer but turn blood red at fall.. Why are you so interested?"
Iisai looked at Teo under his red bangs.
"It's only late afternoon. Can we go outside?"
He asked, avoiding to answer her question. He knew that if he'd said he wanted to know more about her she'd lock it all away, out of his reach.

Half an hour later they were both standing outside Sabi, staring at the endless sands of Sevier, trying to avoid getting tons of sand in their eyes. Iisai had an absent look on his face, and Teo suspected that he was still dreaming of the forests she told about.
"Ever seen a real forest, Iisai?"
Teo asked, out of pure curiosity.
"Nah, not that I remember of. Then again, that's not much. I�ve only ever seen this desert."
Iisai smiled, swallowing down the bad memories trying to get up.
"Then you should visit Forte some time, I'm sure you'd like it."
"No doubt about it. With all the star-shaped leaves and stuff" Iisai looked around.
"By the way, which way is S'kai?"
Teo took a quick look at the sun and pointed over yonder.
"It's in west. We still have a long way to go, and we have to cross a river, too."
Iisai looked at her, eyes glimmering.
"Neat! What river?"
"Keisoku" Teo smiled.
She didn't remember when any other would have gotten so excited about crossing a river.
"Is it far from here?"
"Well, about half way to S�kai. We won't see it too soon. I�d say.. Two and a half days since we�ll continue early tomorrow morning."
Iisai's smile melted off.
"Aww, dang."
"Hey, don't look that way. Did I mention S'kai is quite close to shore? I bet we could visit bay of Khali, if you want to."
The same, wide smile got back on the boy's face.
"Yay! Is it a good place to swim?"
"Well, quite good, I suppose."
�There's turtles?"
"Um, no, at least not the last time I was there."
Iisai looked a little disappointed.
"Oh well, they wouldn't have been the same turtles as in east coast, anyway.."
Teo took a good look at Iisai.
"You're homesick?"
"No, no no, it's just... This is all kinda.. Strange, you know? Stressful."
A faint smile rose on the woman's face.
"Don't worry. I understand."
And indeed she did. After all, she had led the way of more than a couple of dozen people like Iisai. For one, short and silent second, the world seemed like a perfect place and these two lonely souls understood each other perfectly.

Chapter 3 - Chapter 5