Chapter 12: I Was Scared

Life without joy is not really living. One of the greatest lessons that I learned was to try and look at each new day with the wonder and the innocence of a child. Even though the unknown can bring dangers that you must be wary of, it can also bring happiness beyond your imagination. The point is that even with prophecy, you can never know for sure what’s going to happen next; that’s what makes living interesting!

Ryan didn’t know what ‘Priestess of Light’ meant, but it sounded really cool and important, so he just nodded without asking for an explanation. Plus, he didn’t want to look stupid, thinking that everyone else probably knew what it meant.

Auntie Hannah acted so nice after that speech. She even helped Ryan pack his bags with stuff he’d forgotten. Although, he hadn’t forgotten that much in his opinion: just underwear, pillows, shoes, dental items; pretty much everything he’d gone without for the past five years. Hannah even had the droids give Ryan a bath, but he didn’t mind so much since he figured out that he could bring in the massage droid while he laid in the platinum tub.

Oh, yeah. Right in the sweet spot. By sweet spot, Ryan referred to the little spot on his back that he couldn’t reach no matter how hard he tried. The droid’s soft rubber hands did their work so well that if he’d been born a Werecat, he’d be purring.

Before Ryan left the bathroom, he thought he’d try a little experiment with the candle on the shelf. He figured that since he could shoot fire out of his hands and not injure himself, he might be able to touch a flame and not be burned. He was wrong. Ryan boldly put his whole hand into the very large and very hot thermal candle, and just like every five-year-old who has tried it before, he got burned. Ryan yelped out in both pain and embarrassment, and he muttered a few curse words under his breath that he hoped his host didn’t hear. When Hannah asked him what happened, he lied and said that he tripped.

As Ryan stepped out of the apartment with Hannah escorting him, he was surprised to see that the rain had stopped and the sun had come out. No evidence of the night’s previous battle remained, but that’s not what stood out to Ryan. As far as he could remember, on the few occasions that it hadn’t rained in Fernady, the sun had never shown through the clouds, not even once. But today, Ryan saw Fernady City in a whole new light ... literally.

Ryan had often wondered if Fernady would look worse if the sun ever shined, but now that he had a good long look, the place didn’t seem that bad. A little dirty still, but for some reason, Fernady no longer seemed as foreboding to Ryan today.

Ryan faced Hannah Lioness to say his final goodbyes. “Well, you know me, Auntie Hannah. I’m not one to get choked up easily, or say some sappy goodbye, or do anything sissy. So why don’t we just make it short and sweet, eh?”

As Hannah met his gaze, and she started tearing up, Ryan could hardly help getting a little watery-eyed himself.

Ryan sniffed and wiped his snotty nose, shivering with emotion. “Fine,” he said with his voice breaking into something fairly squeaky. “So I’m not as tough as I act sometimes. What do you want from me? I’m not made of stone you ... you-” Ryan buried his head into his arm to keep himself from blubbering like an infant. He even turned purple again.

Could this day get any more embarrassing?

Hannah laughed a little even while welling up with tears. “You’ll always have a home with me, Ryan. I want you to remember that,” said Hannah as she started to pull on something from her blouse. “I’ll be sending you an Interplanetary Message every chance I can, but if you ever find yourself in danger with no alternative, I want you to take this vial and drink it.” As she spoke, Hannah pulled out a small glass vial with a strange looking liquid inside.

When Hannah gave Ryan the vial, he suddenly felt a surge of some kind of power emanating from the glass cylinder. He studied the strange gem-like substance contained in the vial, but even more curious was that the liquid glowed with a pure white light. Steam seemed to float out of the container, and Ryan could’ve sworn that he saw faces forming out of the mist. It might’ve been creepy, except the scent that the vial leaked gave off a very relaxing smell.

Hmmm! Fairy pine. Wait, how did I know that and why does that seem familiar to me?

Before Ryan had time to think on it, the vial seemed to vanish. Well, not vanish per se. It sank into his hand, almost as if his skin had liquefied as well. Ryan freaked out, clawing and biting at his hand in an attempt to dig the vial out, but Hannah stopped him.

“It’s okay, moron. There’s nothing to worry about, so calm down.” Hannah spoke in a soothing voice as she held Ryan’s mouth, but she was obviously a little freaked herself by his behavior. “I knew you would never remember to keep it, because ... well, no offense, but you’re kind of an imbecile. So I had an old ghosting friend of mine put a psionic spell on the vial so that it would hide itself inside your body until you need it most. Don’t worry, it’s perfectly safe.”

Ryan wasn’t convinced. “Uh-huh. And just what is this ‘perfectly safe’ substance that you have literally shot into my arm like a druggy.”

Hannah shrugged uncomfortably, hiding things as usual. “Let’s just say, that it will be better if you find out for yourself when the time comes.”

Ryan knew that pressing her would be a waste of time, so instead he just complained softly, “I’m not a ... uh ... that word you called me. I’m not that.”

Hannah frowned in confusion. “Imbecile?”

Ryan nodded indignantly. “Yeah, that word, IMBESAIL ... I’m not that word.”

Hannah shook slightly, putting a hand to her mouth as a tiny squeak escaped her lips, and then she completely choked up with laughter. Ryan tried to look annoyed, but instead he found himself joining in with her. Hannah laughed so hard that she held her sides before the merriment passed. Seeing that there was nothing left to say, Hannah hugged Ryan tenderly, and he returned the embrace. It felt good to have someone who cared about him again. It didn’t erase the scars of his past, but somehow, it made life that much brighter.

“Do you remember your promise, Ryan Uruks?”

Ryan replied without hesitation. “There’s no way in heck that I could ever forget it!”

Hannah pulled back, smiling satisfactorily before saying, “Then give’em hell, moron!”

That was the first time Ryan had heard Hannah curse. She sounded both fierce and intimidating, like she’d once been very proficient at the art.

“I intend to, ma’am!”

“Good! Now when you get to the Fire Ministry, be looking for a package from me. I left something special for you.”

“Auntie Hannah! You’ve done too much for me already,” said Ryan, feeling a little smothered. “What with the underwear, the baths, and the weird mystical liquid stuff that just vanished into my arm. As much as I love getting stuff - and trust me, I really do - I can’t accept anything else from you.”

“Don’t worry about it, moron. This is just a little something from my youth when I was a young anarchist like you. I don’t have time for her at the Monastery, so you’d be doing me a favor by spending time with her. Trust me, you don’t want to pass this up.”

Ryan frowned suspiciously. “This isn’t something that’s gonna, you know, melt into my body like the other thing, right?”

Hannah held her hands up innocently, though her eyes glinted with a mischievous light. “I promise that there’s almost nothing out of the ordinary about this thing. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you what it is until you see her. Just try not to drool when you do see her. You’ll find out what I mean.”

Ryan knew he’d fail to get anything else out of her, so he said. “Well, I guess it’s time to go.”

A familiar female voice suddenly spoke behind Ryan. “Well, it’s about bloody time!”

Ryan nearly leapt out of his skin, screaming as he instinctively turned to swat away the newcomer. Years of living on the streets had made Ryan a bit paranoid, especially of anyone behind him, so his flight or fight response was particularly acute. Yet despite his quick response, he still somehow ended up on the ground all the same.

Ryan stared up at Éclair as she hovered over him. She moved so quickly and precisely, that Ryan had to think hard to remember everything she did. He vaguely remembered her punching him in the nose as she blocked his arm, then she kicked out one of his knees and swept him off his feet with her other leg. But it all had happened so fast that he barely even recalled the incident.

As he lay on the ground, Éclair gasped and dusted him off, as if that would help the pain that permeated throughout his shattered body. “I’m so, so sorry, Ryan!”

Not as sorry as I feel, sister. Why does she always end up hitting me?

“It’s just that you turned around so fast, you kind of startled me. I guess I’m just a little bit on edge because I didn’t get much sleep last night.”

Ryan barely managed to gasp out, “Why,” but it sounded more like, “NYAGH!”

Éclair seemed to understand because she responded a little indignantly. “I was watching you, of course. To make sure nothing happened to you.”

Ryan felt slightly indignant himself as he came to his feet with a few grunts. “Oh, I’m so sorry for the inconvenience, your highness. That must be so annoying for you ... kind of like getting punched in the nose and knocked on your ass after someone sneaks up on you for no apparent reason?!”

Éclair glared like she had when they’d been in the forest together, and he’d just accused her of crying like a little girl - which, to be fair, she did. “Excuse me. If I recall, I saved your life when we first met. And have spent every moment since then tending to your needs.”

Ryan refused to relent, especially since his pride had just been damaged as well as his buttocks. “Well, jolly good for you, your majesty. Would you like a biscuit for all your hard work? I’d get one for you, except someone just put my back out for turning around too quickly!” Ryan copied her weird accent just to infuriate her further.

Éclair looked like she wanted to knock him down again, either that or go for a shot at the unmentionables. “You are without a doubt the most crude and unsavory character I have ever had the misfortune of meeting.”

“Well, you did just knock me on my aaaa-”

Hannah grabbed Ryan by the ear before he could finish swearing. “One, I might tolerate. But two is pushing it!”

“Rear-end! I was gonna say rear-end, I swear!”

Why are women so violent these days?!

Hannah nodded, releasing his ear after mercilessly pinching it.

Rubbing his tender lobe, Ryan tried to regain some of his former dignity. “Not that you did it on your own. You just caught me off guard, that’s all. Plus, I let you do it. Shiv-rally, and all that jazz.”

Ryan immediately regretted what he said as Éclair smiled triumphantly. “Well, which is it, oh indignant one? Did I merely catch you off guard, or did you let me?”

Ryan flushed. “I don’t know! Leave me alone!”

Éclair lowered her voice to sound more like a boy. “Oh, what’s the matter? Did the big, bad boy get his butt kicked by a wittle girl?”

The female fiend! She even mimicked my masculine voice down to the smallest detail, thought Ryan to himself.

Still trying to retain what little dignity he had left, Ryan simply nodded slowly and said, “Touché, princess. Touché.” Ryan didn’t completely know what touché meant, but he liked saying words he heard in holodramas to sound smarter.

Éclair shifted uncomfortably when Ryan called her a princess, but before he could start to think too much on it, Hannah butted in. “Princess Éclair Hamashe! I can’t believe I didn’t recognize you last night!”

What did she say? As soon as the words left Hannah’s mouth, Ryan’s mind went blank, and he couldn’t remember her words clearly.

Éclair’s face paled. “How did you-”

“It’s alright, Princess. Starbeard told me everything before he left,” Hannah said.

Starbeard? thought Ryan. What the heck?

Éclair glanced around as if hoping no one heard. “Please don’t call me by that title. I have renounced my bloodline and have chosen the life of an Elemental. I ask you to respect my privacy in this matter.”

Hannah instinctively began to bow, but then stopped herself. “Of course, Prin ... I mean, Lady Éclair. The Monastery will always serve the house of Hamashe no matter what title they may take.”

Once again, Hannah’s voice became muffled to Ryan’s ears as soon as she said that word. House of who? Why can’t I make out what she’s saying?

Something beeped on Éclair’s wrist as a blue light flashed incessantly. “Excuse me for a moment. I need to make a report.”

Hannah nodded. “Of course, my lady.”

While Éclair busied herself with her wrist communicator, Hannah gestured to Ryan to speak in private, pulling him away from Éclair’s earshot. “You know that girl,” she whispered urgently.

Ryan shook himself awake, still a little dazed by the strange phenomenon that hit him earlier. “Well, yeah ... we met her last night, remember?”

“No, you knew her before that.” It was not a question.

Ryan lowered his head. “Yeah, maybe. But apparently, I’m not good enough for her to remember me. Listen ... I ... I don’t want to talk about it, okay.”

Hannah paused contemplatively, as if considering something important. Instead of explaining herself, which would’ve been nice for a change, Hannah simply said. “Protect that girl with your life. She’s more essential than you realize.”

“Well, yeah. Turns out, she’s a princess. I kind of figured that part out the day I met her.”

Ryan turned to leave, but then Hannah said something even more surprising. “And Ryan, play nice, okay.” Hannah had that knowing, mischievous grin of grown-ups thinking of innuendo. Or at least, that’s what Ryan figured.

Ryan started to think that maybe he should act more reserved in Éclair’s presence, that is until she looked up from her communicator and said, “Well, come on IMBESAIL! We have a transport to catch, and I don’t want to be late.”

It embarrassed Ryan to know that she’d been eavesdropping, especially considering all the times that he broke down and cried. Though, he tried not to let his emotions show so as not to turn purple in front of Éclair again.

At least she doesn’t remember the first time I turned purple in front of her ... hopefully.

Before they left, Hannah called out to them. “Just one more thing before you go, Ryan, Éclair. Remember this; the Emperor is not your ally. He may not have been behind the attack last night, but you should be wary of him, nonetheless. That goes double for you, Lady Éclair. Starbeard and I will do what we can from our end, but you should try not to draw attention to yourselves in the meantime.”

As if I don’t have enough problems. Now the Emperor is out to get me, too. Why the heck is everyone so cryptic all the time? And who the heck names their kid Starbeard? What, was he born with facial hair? Talk about an ugly baby!

Despite the absurdity of the situation, and the fact that Ryan had no idea what was going on ... again... Éclair nodded knowingly and said, “I understand.”

You know something, I really hate it when I don’t know something, but everyone around me seems to know something, but they won’t tell me because they don’t want me to know something. You Know!

As he followed beside Éclair, Ryan desperately tried to think of a topic to save him from the awkward silence perpetuated between them. “So, how did you know that I decided to join the Ministry of Fire?”

Éclair’s face said that she thought the answer obvious, but he was too stupid to figure it out; people often regarded him as such. “The medallions told me, of course. See?” Éclair reached into her blouse just like Hannah did. She then pulled out a medallion similar to his own, only it had two lions instead of one.

Why and how do these women seem to be able to keep all that stuff in there? You’d think it’d be uncomfortable, right? thought Ryan to himself as he turned away bashfully.

“After your speech to Lady Lioness,” began Éclair. “The lion in your medallion came into mine as a signal telling me that you were ready. Look at your medallion and see for yourself.”