AFTER seeing the travelers off, Sylmia jumped over the village’s protective walls and used his unparalleled communication ability to send his mind to a distant land. Locating his desired conversation partner, he spoke without warning.
“By the way, Gaagaa, I wanted to talk to you about something that’s been bothering me.”
As for the person he spoke to, he held his silence for a long moment before drolly replying, “…Sylmia, did ye never learn to greet before cutting to the point?”
“Who needs greetings when you’re as close as you and me?”
“Ye risk giving me a heart attack by sending just thy voice into my head without prior notice.”
“We don’t have hearts. Nahahaha!” the Great Wind Spirit chuckled without a care in the world. He couldn’t see the Great Fire Spirit, but he didn’t have to see him to know he had one of his big claws pressed against his forehead about now.
Understanding that chiding the wind spirit would get him nowhere, Ghazan urged him to get to the point. “So? What is it that bothers ye?”
“Right. You know that Nichika is trying to revive Yuna, yes?”
“I granted her my power only after hearing why she needed it. So, yes.”
“According to my son, Ini’s the one who instructed her to do it.”
They were both familiar with that name. It was the last name the fire spirit expected to hear.
“…Ini? The weird one who trailed behind us and was repelled by Yuna?” Ghazan confirmed, doubt lacing his rumbling voice.
“The one and same little Ini who fell obsessively in love with Yuna and became her hardcore stalker.”
Forcing that memory out of the dark pit where he had sealed it silenced the fire spirit. It was the kind of memory none of them wanted to remember, but Sylmia kept digging it up.
“That creeper who rejoiced when she punched him, and not only creeped out Yuna, but also Lulu.”
“Enough. Do not utter another word. Please do not remind me of him.”
“Nostalgic, isn’t he? He was beautiful so I couldn’t hate him.”
“Ye always just watched as a spectator from atop the trees! Meanwhile I was playing arbitrator every single time. Grrr. Now that ye bring this up, ye always did—”
The wind spirit stopped his friend before he could launch into a lecture about the olden days. “But that stalker had quite the outrageous amount of authority for a creep. Though we never did hear the full story about him from Yuna.”
“……”
“After everything was said and done, he took Yuna away with him to the Celestial Realm. What do you think happened between them during that time?”
Ghazan didn’t have the answer to Sylmia’s question. “I do not know,” he answered in a grave voice after a long pause. “We hath merely maintained the balance in this world as she requested of us, and now even that balance has been put in jeopardy…”
“It has. Have you noticed it yet, Ghazan? How our powers are gradually weakening?”
“Does this mean that the world was only in balance because Yuna managed it from above?”
“Great, isn’t it? We only noticed now that she’s gone. At this rate, I might not be able to maintain my human form for long. Aaah, if that time comes, how my fans will fall apart lamenting my loss!”
The Great Wind Spirit chose now of all times to break the serious mood with a joke. Ghazan was stunned speechless. Sylmia tilted his head at the lack of reply.
“Hello? Hello? Anybody there? Strange. Did my wind whispers get cut off?”
Dealing with this man tires me out. Ghazan brought their conversation to a close in a voice that betrayed how he felt.
“In any event, unlike I who cannot move from this place, collecting information is the ‘wind’s’ forte. Notify me immediately if ye learn anything new.”
“So you can hear me!”
Sylmia childishly puffed out his cheeks like someone hundreds of years younger than him, but went ahead and took over the duty of collecting information as requested. In the back of his mind he thought of an old ally—of the Great Earth Spirit who ruled over the land.
“Guess I’ll start by contacting good ol’ Gnocky.”
“Weren’t ye originally the one responsible for keeping all of us ‘Joyful Servant Corps’ in touch? Hasn’t it been ages since we last spoke with Gnockoak?”
“That’s not true. I only recently spoke with him seventy years ago.”
“Unbelievable…”
✦ ✦ ✦
ON the road, the master and apprentice had more or less stopped bickering. Nichika glared at Oswald and got one last cutting retort in.
“You really are the enemy of all women.”
“Not my problem.”
The mountain road was leaps and bounds easier to traverse than Fog Valley. They had descended the gently sloping hills and stopped to meet a wagon coming down the road.
“Hello. Fine weather we’re having today,” Nichika cheerfully greeted the middle-aged man. She was always the one who struck up conversations with strangers while Oswald watched.
“Hello there, young lady. Sure is a fine day. Coming from Windy Village?” The friendly man halted his horse and wiped his forehead with the towel wrapped around his neck. From his straw hat and sun-kissed skin, he appeared to be a local farmer.
“Yes, we are. Is this the correct route to Brownie Village?” she asked with an engaging smile.
“That it is. Keep on this road until you come to a three-way intersection. There’s a sign showing which road leads where, so you should be able to figure it out on your own, but you just have to go straight to get to Brownie Village.” The farmer flashed a toothy smile and pointed down the long road he’d come from.
Since she had him here, Nichika decided to collect what information she could. “Did you happen to see a girl with red hair and an unmemorable young man shadowing her?”
The red-faced farmer laughed heartily and floored her with an inconceivable bit of information. “Of course I saw ’em. As I understand it, the girl is the Spirit Priestess Nichika and the young man with her is the brilliant witch aiding her in her holy journey. They walked past me quite some time ago, so they’ve probably already arrived at Brownie Village.”
“Pardon?”
“Huh?”
“Rubbernecks are flocking from all over to see the big celebrities dropping by that tiny village. If you’ll excuse me now. I’ve gotta get back to the farm. Safe travels.”
Nichika returned the farmer’s wave and watched his wagon go.
“Uh, what did he mean by that?” she asked, incredulous.
“You got me.”
They were about to find out exactly what the farmer meant whether they wanted to or not at the next village.