12: Prism
Passing further than Caleria we were forced to leave some of the trappings of expedition behind as we wanted to move quietly and not draw much attention. We are still merely the vanguard, scouting ahead and taking the lay of the land. The real war may come, but it will not start yet. We headed off on the mountain paths and it came my turn to speak...
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"Ayame met with Lady Chris and delivered the message," I whispered to Dios, "She proceeded back through the Grasslands where she gave the same information to Hugo and Lucia. They're going to spread it to the other clans. ...Tell Nash this later."
I glanced over my shoulder back at Ket, who rode nearby. He was in the middle of a yawn with his mouth stretched open wide. That was one person accompanying us who probably wasn't worth too much worry.
Ayame had hid herself somewhere before we set off. I wondered about where she could be. The lovely ninja was always very clever and for all I knew she could be disguised as a soldier, hiding in my trunk, or anything in-between. I would come as a surprise when she spoke to me again, wherever she might be.
Now that we were actually entering the Grasslands, the time for my deception had come. The mountain path was not the place to start though. I would have to be patient until we had advanced further.
The sky was blue with swirling clouds of milky white drifting about aimlessly. "Oh to be a cloud and have not a worry in the world," Sir Stephen's cheerful voice remarked poetically. Both Nikolai and I, who had each been lost in our own thoughts, turned to look at the slim man on his horse.
He shrugged, "I wondered what you were looking at, so I followed your gaze to the heavens. It seems like a pretty nice day, doesn't it?"
Nikolai laughed, "Oh, yeah, while I still remember this, take a look Bishop Sasarai." He reached his small hand over my shoulder and dangled something shimmering before me.
"Is this what the women from Camarro gave you?" I inquired curiously.
"Yep!" he chirruped back, "Pretty, isn't it?"
I appraised the charm silently. It was a many-sided glass prism hung on a string. The warm sunlight shone through it like a million bright beams of a rainbow. The colors were intoxicating. The green of the trees, the yellow of the sun, pink like roses, Harmonian blue, Alterran gray, royal purple- more colors than I could ever name, scattered like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle across my saddle, my horse, the ground, and the front of my uniform. Nikolai peered at the sight over my shoulder. "This is the best it's looked so far," he noted pleasantly.
"That looks delicate," Sir Stephen cautioned Nikolai, "Make sure that you're careful with it."
"Of course," the boy agreed strongly.
"Do you know why they gave it to you, Nikolai?" I asked, trying to prompt him gently back into discussing his meeting with the women.
He pulled his arm back and shoved the prism into his pocket. He leaned forward a bit, placing the top of his corn blond hair against my back. The sigh he gave seemed far too deep and sad to be the sigh of a mere child. It seemed to me to echo with the sorrow of the ages, like the burden he was carrying was ancient and enormous. Sometimes Hikusaak sighed that way.
"Maybe," he grudgingly mumbled, "They didn't exactly say, but I have an idea."
"Oh?"
"It's for the gates," he continued. The gates again. Ket and Olia had taken that down among their notes, and perhaps it did hold some greater meaning.
"It's the key to open them," he explained, not raising his head. He sighed again. Sir Stephen looked at the boy sadly. I shook my head slightly to my companion.
"The twelve will be there and this will open the gates, and then, then, I don't know what," Nikolai finished decisively.
I reached around and touched his head sympathetically, "It might be hard, but I am sure that everyone will try their hardest to make it work out right."
"Sir," Dios broke in, sidling up to us, "I have passed on the word to Nash. He'll make sure Lena and-" My chief-of-staff stopped mid-sentence with his mouth hanging open.
"Lena?" I questioned him seriously.
"Ah, I've gone and said something that I should not..." he sighed, a crease furrowing his brow, "The damage has been done. It is not irreparable."
"Dios, what's all this about Lena?"
He looked regretful, "Actually, Sir, the captain of the guard has accompanied us on this venture. She's just been keeping clear of you so you wouldn't order her to go home."
Lena. All in all, I am not really very surprised. ...It is only a wonder that Nika did not... "I have another question," I said sternly, "Is Nika here as well?"
Dios winces, like I have struck a critical blow, "Yes, Sir."
"Thank you for your honesty, Dios," I commend him simply. It is still no surprise. It was only two days ago that my breakfast contained an overabundance of pepper. I should have known from that moment that Nika had cooked it for me.
I shrugged and smiled, "Sir Stephen, do you think you could ask the ladies to come out of wherever they might be hiding and speak with me for a moment?"
"Certainly."
What could I do? They would not have it any other way.
"How about it, Nikolai?" I asked with a grin, "Is it fate?"