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Chapter One: Unsettled
Long ago, at the birth of magic and time,
A kingdom of nature ruled, with peace sublime.
Alas, it was not to last, as a conflict occurred.
Skies, ocean, earth; it engulfed the whole world.
The world revived, ancient wonders as lures,
Those who gave in were Ruin Explorers.
Something seemed lacking since Rugudorull's defeat - a full year ago already - pondered Ihrie idly in the washtub. It wasn't Fam, wasn't herself ... heck, it wasn't even Galuff, if one felt like being ornery. It wasn't any specific person, just the mood. At least Rasha made things interesting. Too interesting, usually, but interesting.
A sleeping squeak from Fam made Ihrie smile wistfully. She slowly dressed and made her way to Fam; she had a surprise in mind, today.
"Fam?"
Squeak squeak.
"Oh Fa-am..."
Squeak /squeak/ eep squeee...
"Fam!" Not too loudly, Ihrie hoped.
The Wiggan chipmunk-elf woke up, as though she had never been asleep. It wasn't Wiggan-instinctive, Ihrie knew; it was just one of Fam's unique traits.
"Up for something new?"
Fam's naivety didn't always show - she did have some sense behind that giggling persona. "New?"
"Lyle?"
Almost immediately, a flush came to Fam's features. It stayed in full force. "I'd love to!" said Fam, elvish ears jumping a full inch in excitement. Then, as her ears went down slowly, she said more quietly: "Do you think he'll mind?"
Ihrie shook her head; even though the Sword of Sargus had brought out Lyle's kingly side, she knew he wouldn't mind.
...would he?
***
Chapter Two: The Repaired Castle
The kingdom of Reibart, only half a day's ship ride away, was quite different than when she and Fam had left it. When they had left by Lyle's request, the castle was a shambles, annihilated as a result of the mad mage-priest Rugudorull.
Lyle had fixed it up - to say the least.
Spires and silk; even the drawbridge had been cleaned up, it seemed. The stones of memory were around, but more bunched, a stain from the days of Rugudorull but less conspicuous - a graveyard of memories, reflected Ihrie with a smile, having the usual urge to meet her mentor again.
Startled of her thoughts by a soft nudge accompanied by a grin from Fam, she whistled appreciatively at the castle. "He really did go all out," she smiled. "I wonder what it's like inside..."
A squeak said that her friend was thinking the same.
The inside was not particularly different - it was the kind of toned-down elegance Lyle had always shown. Ihrie was tempted, for the first time in her memory, to actually call a castle handsome. It seemed like the castle had become Lyle's counterpart.
His throne room was no different - there were guards, but upon recognizing the two explorers, Lyle had dismissed them. Scarcely different than before, one thing did stand out - a twinkling light was his eyes, eerily close to the Spirits themselves. Fam squeaked, noticing and blushing just as quickly.
Lyle picked it up, giving merely a soft chuckle.
"So... how is it?" he asked in his Reybartan accent.
"The castle, or ourselves?"
Another laugh.
"You come first, you know."
Fam's blush increased, equal with her smile.
"I've missed you."
"Me too," came Fam's sheepish reply.
The two had a bit to catch up, Ihrie knew, friends or more - she headed to a nearby window, to lean and ponder. And get the usual yawn out... upon leaning, her eyes grew wide, the yawn coming out in a quick burst. It would be a while before her energy deterioted that much again.
"It's them. What're they doing here?"
Stepping into the castle courtyard were Rasha and Miguel.
And behind them, for whatever reason, Galuff and Gil.
Ihrie's head promptly dropped on the window frame, moaning softly. It took Fam a full minute to wander over, so intent was she talking with Lyle.
"You okay?"
Weakly, her friend tilted a finger down to the courtyard, moans still ensuing. Lyle walked over, chuckling lightly in the Famishly naive way he could. "It's them?"
"How'd you guess?" asked Ihrie, picking herself up gradually.
"It's not like you to act defeatist. There's only a few people I know that get you to do that," with a motion to the new arrivals.
"Isn't it the truth," muttered Ihrie irritably.
***
Chapter Three: Reunions
Lyle's gentle smile did alleviate some of Ihrie's crankiness.
Some.
This time, it only took her ten minutes to get to the courtyard.
Rasha, in all her white-cloaked self-considered 'glory', gave a quick curtsey; the effect only lasted for a second, though, for she whirled and caught Miguel staring at a less-than-proper spot.
"You looked just - " he began, cutting off by way of a particularly scathing glance.
Don't mess with Rasha when Lyle's around, chuckled Ihrie.
"So," asked Lyle softly, to break up the tension, "what brings you here?"
"You," purred Rasha, cutting off by an elbow from Miguel.
Ihrie blinked, eyes rolling. "I didn't expect to learn anything from them ...Galuff?"
"Miss Ihrie," weaselled the con artist, "there's more treasure to be found."
"We've already been hunting."
Galuff nodded, hands fidgeting but with his characteristic focus. "That's why I'm here."
"Come again?"
"One of your treasures let off a yellow glow last night, covering nearly a mile's radius."
"You could tell that?"
"We checked." Just Gil, apparently.
"And you learned...?"
"You didn't smell like yourselves."
"You learned this, or Gil did?"
The dog snickered. "Gil did," muttered the Tarallian.
"Perhaps he can tell us instead," said Ihrie, half teasing and half serious. The dog, oddly enough, did show a shaded intelligence. Enough to play off, at any rate.
Galuff shook his head vehemently. "Only I know which treasure it is..."
"Anything to get some," laughed Miguel.
"Not that at all." His expression revealed otherwise; they knew the man better than that anyway. "Merely curiosity, a thirst for knowledge."
"That coming from you..." Ihrie just shook her head. "It's hard to swallow."
"He might mean it this time," said Lyle quietly.
"You can't be serious - "
"You're doubting Lyle?" asked Rasha, eyebrows raising in a thinly-veiled threat.
"Just can't win, can I?" muttered Ihrie, dropping her head in a hand and walking off to her miniature - very miniature - treasure horde.
The dog snickered again, louder this time.
***
Chapter Four: The Changeling Light
The golden orb sat in a silver base, clutched in a blue serpent's claw. Being a full foot in height, it nevertheless seemed to loom over those gathered, as though it were sentient, and more powerful than even Rugudorull.
"This is it," said Galuff, eyes twinkling in the soft glow.
"Sure it is ... but why the interest? A glow doesn't seem to be terribly - "
"Don't underestimate a Rabaran glow," interrupted Rasha, eyes glowing but with a much different light than Galuff's. "Even Rugudorull would have a hard time against these creatures - the general consensus is that the Rabaran began the War of the Magi, using agents from within the court itself."
An eerie silence spilled over the room until Miguel chuckled to break it. "She's been studying again."
Lyle nodded, murmuring something quietly.
The Wiggan caught it, ears perking up with curiosity.
"I've heard of the Rabaran," he said slowly, shaking his head as if to forget. "They're a legend to spook children from running through too many corridors. They still do, though," he smiled.
"The Rabarans have no magic of their own, so we go - rather, they steal it from everyone else. Rugudorull's Muppets were merely an offshoot of the Rabaran's originals - they remove their slaves' brains, rendering them utterly mindless, and replace them with a glowing orb like this here."
"Rugudorull never got that far," said Ihrie quietly, "but someone certainly did. Why else would the light be on?"
No one had an answer to that.
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