Perhaps unsurprisingly, the rumor quickly spread that there was a Duke of Hell in town, and where he was. Luckily, the rumor didn't drive business too far down, as apparently it also got around that he was being peaceful. A few people even came by just to see if the rumors were true, and Buwaro's gracious and humble attitude seemed to have impressed some.
Still, Toby, the Hukai that was hanging around Sammy, was a bit more wary of the Fire Demon now, and many of the other Medians seemed nervous to be around him too long.
Soon, it was late in the afternoon. Buwaro and Rhea were taking a snack break, with the Jakkai helping Buwaro with learning math, when Kieri saw a familiar face in the crowd, much to her shock. <Brother?> she murmured, seeing her twin sticking out of the crowd. She turned her head to Heathcliff. "Mr. Sinclair, I believe that's my brother – may I?" she asked.
"Sure," he nodded. "I'll go get Rhea and Buwaro."
Kieri bowed to the man gratefully and hurried to catch up to Kazai. <Brother!> she shouted, and he whirled, eyes wide.
He practically tackled her with glee, relieved beyond words to see her again and hugging her tightly. <Kieri, where have you been?!> he asked.
<Looking for you!> she replied. <I'm so glad you're safe!>
<As am I!> he grinned, but his look turned grim. <Especially with the Demons everywhere! Zahariah and I aren't sure what to do, the Medians don't even seem to care that there's a horde of monsters in their midst!>
<Kazai,> she began.
<And they say there's a Duke of Hell here, too!> he murmured with a shiver. <We can't face a foe like that – we have to get out of here, fast! Once we get back to Heaven, we can mobilize and destroy them, including this Duke!>
<I've met him,> Kieri replied smally.
Kazai's eyes swelled to the size of dinner plates. <What,> he squeaked.
Kieri took a deep breath while her brother reeled from this revelation. <I met him. Before he even became a Duke, actually. Just let me explain, alright?> she said at his frown.
He stared at her for a long time, frowning in thought. <Alright,> he said dubiously, obviously concerned, until a look of confusion came across his face. <But what do you mean, 'before he became a Duke'?>
At that moment, Buwaro and Rhea came out of the wagon, and Kazai jumped at the sight of the great black wings and the person attached to them. <Calm down, Kazai,> Kieri implored. <That's Buwaro. He was adopted by an Angel, he's really gentle.>
He stared at the Fire Demon, who hadn't noticed him yet, then stared at Kieri. <A gentle Demon,> he repeated, obviously disbelieving. Then the rest of it clicked. <Wait, adopted by an Angel? Why?!>
<Buwaro was still in his egg when Darius found him,> Kieri explained. <He saved my life twice now,> she added, seeing the shock once again on her brother's face, <and he's the closest friend I've ever had. He is a sweet young man who means no one any harm, unless they harm him or those close to him.> She grimaced. <He once fought a Seraph, right when he became a Duke, because he'd thought that the Seraph had killed me. He was about to kill the man over the thought of losing me. But...he stayed his hand when he found out I was still alive. He was mortified at what he'd nearly done.>
Kazai blinked. <A Demon was about to kill an Angel, over an Angel,> he clarified. <For the sake of an Angel.>
Kieri nodded, looking away. <He heard about mother yesterday. He...was mad at the Seraph that had hurt me, but he was willing to forgive the man, once he'd learned that I was alright. But after hearing about mother, and what she'd done to me over the years...he was livid. He was furious beyond anything I'd ever seen in him before. Even Rhea said she had never seen him so angry. He spent the whole afternoon and evening comforting me.>
<Who's Rhea?> her brother asked, trying to ignore the shiver at the thought of their mother fighting a Duke of Hell.
<The Jakkai girl that just came out with him,> she said meekly. <They've been helping me look for you.>
"Snowy?" Buwaro said from right behind her, causing her to jump and Kazai to hesitantly reach for his axe. "Is this Kazai?" he asked, smiling nervously. Her brother perked up upon hearing his name, no longer reaching for his weapon.
"Y-yes," she sighed in relief when her brother dropped his hand back down. <Kazai, this is Buwaro. Buwaro, Kazai. He doesn't speak Angelic well, so...>
Kazai looked Buwaro over, then tentatively extended his hand. Buwaro gently took it and shook. <Good meeting,> Buwaro stated, <happy to hello you.>
Kazai blinked, replying and correcting, <Good to meet you.>
"Huh? Oh, right," Buwaro said, facepalming gently.
Kazai chuckled good-naturedly, though he was still nervous. <Perhaps we can learn to communicate better with some help,> he asked his sister.
Kieri sighed in relief again. <Perhaps,> she agreed, smiling now. <I am glad you two are able to talk it out.>
<I'm still going to be cautious,> Kazai replied, <but perhaps I don't need to be. We'll find out, I suppose.>
Kieri nodded, supposing it was only fair she not expect miracles. <We shall speak this evening, then?> she asked him. <You and Zahariah can perhaps orient yourselves a bit better in the city.>
<Perhaps,> he smiled. <I will find him, and we'll try and come back this evening perhaps. If that is alright?>
<It should be,> she replied, <though, it is Mr. Sinclair's wagon we're staying in.>
<Well, find out for us, then,> he said. <I'll be back in a few hours, alright?>
<Of course. Take care!> Kieri told him as he left.
"Will he be back?" Buwaro asked as the young man flew off.
"Later on, with our friend Zahariah," Kieri replied. "Come on, let's finish up the day's work."
@@@@
Heathcliff came back that evening, after being informed that Miranda was having their kid, and was shocked to find not only two additional Angels, but Meeros, all in the wagon, having tea and cookies. "I'm going to need a bigger wagon," he grumbled, though he wore a smile as he spoke.
"Oh, hello, Heathcliff!" Meeros chirped. <This man is Heathcliff Sinclair,> he told Kazai and Zahariah. <He's a friend of mine, and he's been helping out Buwaro and Kieri. This is actually his wagon we're in.>
<I see,> Kazai said, he and his friend standing and bowing to Heathcliff. <Thank you for your hospitality.>
The middle-aged man sighed. <It's fine,> he said in Angelic, <you don't need to bow.>
Buwaro stared at Heathcliff in shock, dropping his cookie. "You – you understand – you can speak – but how?!" he asked, a bit jealous of the man speaking Angelic words Buwaro didn't even know, much less understand.
Heathcliff chuckled and shrugged. "I've been around."
Buwaro growled in frustration. "Everyone knows Angelic better than I do!" he yelled, throwing his hands in the air.
"I don't," Rhea said. "You can sing in Angelic, and get the syllables right."
Buwaro looked like he was about to respond, before he put a claw to his chin and thought about that. "...huh. Okay, fair. Still frustrating." Heathcliff chuckled again, rolling his eyes.
@@@@
While Rhea and Jake were out partying from the news of Miranda's new daughter, Florina Sinclair, Buwaro and Rhea spent the evening practicing Angelic with Kieri. Zahariah knew a few basic Lingo words, and used them to practice with Buwaro. Kazai began to feel left out, and asked his boyfriend if he had any pointers on Lingo. Soon, all four of them were learning a language from Kieri, much to her surprise. She'd have never expected she'd be such a good teacher.
It probably helped that she had a much better teacher-to-student ratio than her own school, but it was still a huge boost in confidence.
They practiced long into the night, and even into the morning, using caffeine from their tea to stay awake. Heathcliff offered them energy potions to help them stay active for the day, though he joked it would "come out of their paychecks."
Buwaro had taken him seriously, offering an apology of the highest caliber he knew in Angelic. The entire wagon had gone pale, as he hadn't realized that he had, in fact, said a minor blasphemy – Kieri quickly explained that such an apology was not said except to a high priest of one of the Gods, or in a prayer to the Gods themselves. He'd apologized again to them all, this time with a less powerful form, embarrassed as he could be.
Luckily, Kazai had let it go after a quick explanation.
The morning began with Jake and Rhea quite hung over, the two unable to hear anything without wincing. Kieri and Buwaro decided to let them be, to avoid causing too much trouble. As they began to work the stand, this time with Kazai and Zahariah nearby, Buwaro and Kieri spoke to each other in Angelic for the young man's practice.
After a while, though, Buwaro fell silent, looking as if he'd just thought of something. "Kieri?" he asked. "What would be the Angelic words for my title thing?"
Kieri blinked, then remembered what he'd said the day before to the Earth Angel that had attacked them. After a quick translation, he murmured the words a few times, thinking about them as he tried to memorize the sequence.
<Learning Angelic?> a familiar voice asked. Both turned to see Kinako and Sahne, along with her son Tirol and a Water Demon they'd seen wandering around. Kinako had been the one to speak. "I came by to apologize personally," she said with a deep bow to the lovebirds.
"It's alright," Kieri said quietly. "It's been a stressful...month. Or two, I guess."
<What's wrong, Kieri?> Kazai asked. <Who are these two?>
<We...had an argument a couple days ago,> Kieri replied, trying to keep the peace. <Kinako, my brother Kazai, and his friend Zahariah Sanjulo. Kazai, this is Kinako, her son Tirol, and her friends Sahne and...?> She paused at the Water Demon.
<L-Lakritz,> he replied, surprised. "And here you thought they were just 'bloodthirsty ruffians,'" he teased Kinako. The woman blushed a bit from embarrassment.
Sahne sighed as the Angels and Buwaro began to talk, the words somewhat awkward due to Kazai being unused to Demons, and Kinako being concerned about the two young men with Kieri and Buwaro. "Should we?" she asked Lakritz quietly.
Her partner looked at her in confusion, then surprise, before grimacing. "Maybe," he replied, just as lowly. "I think they should know, but I don't know if it's good to tell them just, outright, you know?"
"I guess," Sahne replied, "but how else are they gonna know?"
Lakritz nodded, and was about to speak when a pair of Jakkai approached the table, asking about wares. They stepped aside, waiting to speak with Buwaro and Kieri. A moment later, though, Heathcliff came back with Miranda and Flo, and the proud parents quickly worked out some deals, while Meeros came by and told Buwaro and Kieri to go enjoy the festival, much to Heathcliff's dismay.
Sahne looked to Lakritz meaningfully, who merely nodded. He went looking for them, hoping they could warn the two lovebirds, while Sahne walked with Kinako and Tirol, praying she wouldn't have to protect them today.
Preferably any other day, either, but she wasn't about to ask for two miracles.
@@@@
The pair in question were wandering the town, enjoying the sights. However, Buwaro's mind kept drifting back to the cloudy day. "Something's wrong," he said quietly. "I haven't been up here long enough to see this season thing before, but it seems off to me."
"I agree," Kieri replied, suddenly glad she'd taken her sword with her today. "We should be on guard."
"Yeah," the young man murmured.
The carnival was bustling, though people tended to part the way for Buwaro and Kieri. Mostly for the obvious Duke they'd heard rumors about, but the presence of what was, by all accounts, an actual Angel was a little intimidating too. Murmurs sounded around them at times, and Buwaro eventually heard a louder few.
"Is she really an Angel?"
"Looks like it. But why's she with the Duke?"
"Did he somehow corrupt her?"
"Gaia save us all..."
Buwaro grimaced, feeling more than a bit self-conscious. He had just put on a brave face when he felt something tug his tail gently, and he jumped.
He glanced back to see a Jakkai child, who had backed away clumsily and fallen to his butt. Buwaro sighed, kneeling and facing the boy with a soft smile. "Hello there," he said. "That was my tail."
The boy looked away. "Sorry," he mumbled lamely. "But I didn't think it was real..."
The father rushed in at that moment, standing before the Demon as if protecting his son with his own body. "P-please have mercy," he managed. "He's just a child, he didn't mean any harm."
Buwaro blinked, straightening and feeling nervous. Was this how everyone was going to react now? "I wasn't going to hurt him," he said quietly. "I didn't even mean to scare him, actually. I'm not like most Demons.
"Heck, I don't think most Demons are what you think they are." All eyes turned to him. "I mean, yeah, some of us are mean, I've met a few like that. Maybe even most of them are like that. I know one I've met didn't have a lot other than hurting people on her mind.
"But it's not like we don't have people we care about. Friends and family we'd protect. I mean, what's this man doing for his son, right now?" he asked rhetorically, gesturing to the two Jakkai. Murmurs sounded in the crowd as it started to dawn on some people. "It's like that.
"We have people we care about, and we'd fight and even...even die to defend them." He grimaced at the stammer, but decided to press on. "Honestly, I think that's the reason the 'Great War' has gone way too far, on both ends – someone gets killed, that person has friends. They kill the guy who hurt their friend, who had friends too. It's a viscous cycle. Uh, vicious," he corrected himself. "But yeah, I've been calling it the Stupid War for about three weeks now."
"Then, you've kept fighting because of those you've lost?" the father asked, surprised.
"I wasn't even aware the Stupid War existed until like two months ago," Buwaro said quietly, "but yeah, I think that's honestly why we keep fighting – because we've lost someone close to us, on both sides.
"And it gets worse, it's like they think the same way about their 'enemy' that you do about us – that we're just killers and can-bulls, or whatever the word is. That we're not even capable of thinking, just doing, like evil animals or something stupid like that. Not just Angels to Demons, but the other way around, too."
He grimaced as he thought about his own experiences with that. "I met an Angel who thought that at first. He nearly killed Sno – Kieri, here, just because she was my friend. I barely got him to stop, and I'm not really proud of how I did it."
Silence had settled over the crowd. "I know people think of Demons poorly. Maybe they're right to sometimes, but you're right to think of some Medians, even some Angels, poorly too. Not everyone's a bad person, not everyone's a good person, but there are some of each everywhere, and some that aren't really either. There's bad Angels, I'm sure, just as I'm sure there are kind and gentle Demons."
"Besides you?" Kieri asked, half-teasing.
Buwaro smiled. "Besides me, yeah. I sure hope so," he admitted ruefully.
"Either way, I can't speak for all Demons," he continued to the crowd. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself – if the old man was right, this would work. "But on my honor as a Duke – as the Shadow that Dances With Light – I swear that I mean no harm to Medians, or Medius, or Angels or Heaven, or Demons or Hell. If they mean me harm, I will fight back – but otherwise, I don't have a dog in that fight. Whatever that means.
"Moreover, I swear that I will stop the Stupid War, without blood if possible. If I have to fight, if I have to kill, I swear to only fight those who harm me, or my friends, or innocents, and to kill only when I don't have a choice. Children, people who won't fight – I won't hurt them, and I swear to protect them if they need it."
The words seemed to echo through the clearing, carrying a weight that Buwaro knew was his to bear alone. And yet, he felt no burden – rather, it felt affirming, like he was simply putting to words what he really wanted to do, deep down.
And then he saw Kieri's face, and the fear she had for him – as if worried that he was in danger now. He could tell that she felt the weight too – perhaps everyone had. She hugged him tightly, and he hugged her back, comforting her.
"You really think you can fool us?" a voice asked angrily. All eyes turned to see a Jakkai, red of eye and glasses and with a flower in her headband. "I know plenty about your kind, Demon."
"That so?" Buwaro challenged, his voice normal of volume. He slowly let go of Kieri and walked towards her. He spread his arms wide as he moved. "Fine. Hit me."
Silence. "What?" she asked, confused.
"Hit me as hard as you can," Buwaro replied, "as much as you want. I want to be known as a good person. I refuse to allow someone to hate me if I think I can do something about it."
"B-Buwaro!" Kieri gawked.
"You really don't get it, do you?" the Jakkai snarled as Buwaro came just outside of his own arm's reach of her. "I've seen the damage your kind does firsthand."
"And I haven't seen the damage Angels do firsthand, but I was adopted by an Angel who had, because he didn't want to hurt an unborn child," Buwaro snapped. "That's my point – what's yours?" She backed up a step as he stepped into her space, towering over her. "You are part of the problem I'm trying to stop, just as much as any other killer in the Stupid War.
"I don't mind the soldiers – Darius was a soldier too, not that he wanted to be one. As long as they're trying to do the right thing, and they think about what they're actually doing, that's fine. My problem is with the ones like you. You spread fear and hate, when that's exactly what's causing it to go on forever." He leaned down and glared at her. "I hope for my sake you don't need protecting later," he growled, "because I really don't want to save your butt. I'm gonna anyway, but I really don't want to. I mean, you'll probably find some way to blame me for it." He then straightened and turned to leave.
"Not likely," the Jakkai managed as he walked away. "I wouldn't want help from a Hellspawn anyway."
Buwaro whirled angrily, ready to retort, when he saw something behind her. No, someone – a Jakkai with large cuts in his ears, that looked to be sewn up. And then he saw something shiny in his hands – shiny and sharp. He rushed toward the lady to try and defend her, and she leaped back to avoid him, crashing into the cloaked Jakkai behind her.
A dagger clattered away from the assailant's hand, much to the crowd's screaming shock.
