[Zerlina]

When at last the song was over, the sound of the propeller once again became dominant, reminding them of the quest and all that had to be done.

“He’s interesting.” Titania said, looking at Brain’s computer “What’s his name?”

The boy laughed “That’s my computer. It only talks because it’s programmed to.”

“Oh…” she said, confused but not willing to admit it.

“It does a lot of things. So long as I have batteries.”

“Batteries?”

“Things that power it up.”

“Oh. Like magic!”

“No.”

“Oh.”

She shuffled a bit.

“Do you have anything like this where you’re from?” Brain asked, after some time.

“No…we make our own music.”

Deciding not to bring up the fact that his music was all recorded previously, he smiled “Oh? How’s that?”

“Well…we have these things called instruments…”

Brain nodded, pretending he didn’t know what they were.

“They’re little devices that have strings you can pluck, or that you blow into to produce a sound.”

He smiled “Do you play an instrument?”

“Yes.” Titania said, removing an object from her apron; its once polished silver had become scratched and tarnished in places “This is called a flute.”

”Play something!”

“No…” Titania answered “It’s enchanted. Playing a song will cause something to happen.”

“Like what?”

“To tell you the truth, I’m not really sure.”

“Why’s that?”

“Erm…because…” she tried to think of something better than because I’m a miserable failure “…umm…it’s…not to be used until really necessary.”

“Oh.” Brain said, sounding a little disappointed “Your world is so fascinating. There’s magic there?”

“Yes.” Titania answered “But I think your world sounds more exciting. Where I come from, everything is very strict, and traditional. Maybe you know how it’s like, because you were sold to your mili…tary?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Titania seemed proud of herself “Sold to your military. With us it’s different. You’re trapped in another way. There’s so much tradition and so many old ceremonies that you feel you’re about to drown in them. You have absolutely no say in your life. Not in anything.”

“Anything at all?”

“Nope. Everything you’ll do until you die is decided from the time you’re born. What you’ll study, your livelihood, your entire future. The truth is, I was really glad to come here. It got me out of a lot of trouble and granted me the opportunity to be free.”

“Then we’re sort of the same that way.”

Titania nodded “Freedom was something I used to fantasize about. I’d go out to the edge of town and see the fields far away. I’d wonder what it would be like to be there. Sometimes, I’d stand for hours, arguing with myself- should I leave or should I stay? I never did leave. I never felt what it was like out there- if I could go back I would. I just…I was always in love with the idea of being free, but then when I’d think about how safe my home was, and how it was all I knew, I could never make the leap.”

Brain nodded “What was your home called?”

“Madain Sari.” She answered “It was beautiful.”

“I’m sure it was.” Brain commented “Do you want to go back?”

“No.” Titania shook her head “I haven’t told the others, but my home is gone. It was destroyed in the storm that brought me here.”

“How do you know?”

“The eidolons told me.” She said, forgetting that he would not know who the guardians were “One night I was asleep and Phoenix spoke to me in my dreams. He said not to weep for the people of my homeland, for now they wandered somewhere far away, in a land of mist and fog. He said that soon the day would come when they would be born again, and when that happened it would be to satisfy the need of the planet. He calmed me down, consoled me, and he taught me a song that he said was brought to our land long ago. He tells me it’s a key. That’s all that he will say.”

“Can I hear it? Maybe I will know.”

Titania looked unsure, but she saw that Brain would not let her out of it.

“A-alright, but don’t laugh at me…” she pleaded.

“I won’t.”

She swallowed and took a breath.

“Lonley is the wanderer
Who walks along the lark
Looking for the bloody tower
Looking in the dark

For paradise is lain before him
By the riverbed
And though his foes are slain below him
He is torn instead

For ages doomed to wander
Wander, wander with the lark
Wander for his paradise
That’s looming in the dark

‘Oh please my dear
Take heed my love
The end is close at hand
The world has now begun to move
Though we don’t understand

The world is yours
Your child, your love
Its life can be anew
If you can find the paradise
That’s searching now for you’

And so he wandered
All his life,
His gaze turned up ahead
He would have found his paradise
If only it weren’t dead

For on the road below him
Where his foe had once stood strong
The doomed lark lay there dying
His paradise was gone”

The last notes echoed through the halls and dissipated. Titania looked down, coming out of the trance that the song had put her in.

“…I don’t see how that will help us.” She said, trying to avoid looking at Brain for fear of his reaction “It’s very vague. I don’t know who or what the lark is…or the bloody tower…or why on earth the paradise disappeared.”

“Hey, was someone singing in here?” Malice asked, appearing in the doorway.

Titania nodded “Yes. But weren’t you out warning the others about the winds?”

“Oh…uh…right. I was.” He answered “…but now I’m back.”

Titania laughed “Sure. So what do you think of the song?”

“Very pretty.” He said, leaning on the doorway “Very sad. I wonder what Phoenix meant when he said it was a key.”

”I said that a long time ago!”

“So?”

“So you should have been warning the others, not eavesdropping. What if they get hurt in the wind?”

Malice shook his head “I had stuff to do here still. Besides, nothing will happen to them. I know the wind.”

“Eh?” Brain asked, confused.

“I’m Theiran.” Malice answered, non-chalantly

“Eh?”

“That means I know the elements. Particularly the wind.”

“Oh.”

“So… what’s going on in here?” Malice asked, looking at the various weapons in a confused manner.

“They’re like magic, but not!” Titania said, excitedly, clearly proud of herself.

“How’s that?” Malice asked, sitting down with them and looking at the objects suspiciously.

“They’re from my world.” Brain explained “Where I’m from there’s no magic, so we make devices to help us instead.”

“No magic? So…then what do you do if you’re in battle? Just use swords?”

“No. We use those things.” He pointed to some of his guns.

“How does that work?”

“You point and shoot.”

“Shoot?”

“It fires metal at whoever you’re aiming at.”

Titania squirmed a little “That sounds really…terrible…”

“And like it requires no skill.” Malice added, with a clear pride in his own techniques.

“Well, it’s fast, and effective.” Brain said, picking up one of the objects and pretending to aim at the wall.

Titania immediately moved, unsure if he was trying to shoot her or not.

“Relax!” the Earth boy said “It only hits whatever’s on the end of this tube here.”

“Can you…please put it away?” Titania asked “I know that those are common in your world, but not here…and not where I’m from.”

“Fine…” Brain muttered, putting his weapon away.

“We probably have those here in Palis.” Malice told Titania “Somewhere far away, most likely. Either that, or we had them at one point and thought they were useless.”

“They’re not useless at all.” Brain argued.

“Well, we have magic here, so we don’t need little machines to do our work for us. We take care of things ourselves.” Malice replied, and it was clear that his mood was not in its best condition.

“We use our own bodies, too.” Brain said, with a relaxed tone that made Malice’s colour go even further downhill “And that’s all we use. We don’t need odd powers to get rid of each other.”

“Right, of course not. You just point and shoot.”

“If you saw what war was like where I’m from, you wouldn’t make it sound so easy.”

“Well if you knew what it was like to fight down in the mud, using your mind and body all at once, you wouldn’t make battle here sound so easy.”

“I never said it was!”

“You guys…” Titania started, but she was cut off.

“You implied it.”

“I did not! How can you know what I’m thinking or implying?”

“I can hear. That’s how.”

“What the hell is going on down here?” Belial muttered, making his appearance in the doorway.

“Better not come in. It’s crowded already.” Brain said, putting his guns away.

Belial merely smirked “Captain says we’re approaching the area where the shrine is located. There’s nowhere to land the ship, though, so he’ll have to dump it somewhere outside the Rorrim Mountains. We can go through a cavern to get in.”

“When are we going to arrive?” Malice asked, calmly.

“We’ll land in about 20 minutes.” Said Belial.

“Alright, then. Everyone should get ready. We’ll depart as soon as possible.” Malice looked at Brain “Bring only what you yourself can carry, and what won’t slow us down or draw attention.”

Clearly irritated, Malice left; Titania followed him.

“So, really…what was happening?” Belial asked, looking clearly amused.

“Nothing. What’s that guy’s problem?”

“Talk to him in another half hour. He’ll probably treat you like his best friend.” The demon laughed “Then the next half hour he’ll try to kill you.”

“That bad, huh?”

“No. Just lately.” Belial answered, “So, uh…what are those things you’ve got lying around?”