Within a day, the group was on the road to St. Curtis. Buwaro walked along the wagon most of the time, while Kieri finished healing in the wagon. Eventually, he asked, at Rhea's prodding, if Heathcliff would teach him the basics of magic. The man was somewhat reluctant at first, since the boy was a Fire Demon, but he reasoned to himself that Kieri could put out any unnecessary flames if it came to that.
Buwaro surprised him by nearly mastering the Fireball spell with little more than a few minutes of instruction and an hour of practice. "Impressive," Heathcliff admitted with a smile as Buwaro showed him the ball of flame, burning merrily in his hand. "Sammy took a full day to get it down that well."
"It's still a lot of work to do," Buwaro admitted. "I have to put lots of energy into it."
"Still a good starting point," Heathcliff nodded pleasantly. "Keep working with it, and it'll get easier."
Buwaro nodded and began focusing, working with the spell. By the end of the next day, he was working on more advanced Fire spells and had mastered the basic Fireball. After four days of study, he'd mastered a long-range Fire spell, a minor explosive Fire spell, and a spell that simply lit fires, which of course helped with camping. The next few days saw him mastering a spell to quell flames and one that created a smokescreen.
Heathcliff was a bit concerned by his rapid growth. "He's taking to magic very well," he said casually to Kieri.
"Most Demons are somewhat better with magic than Medians," Kieri explained, "but he does seem to be better at it than most Fire Demons. Even better than some Fire Angels," she admitted. "Perhaps it is part of being a Duke?"
"Maybe," he sighed as Buwaro began conjuring flames to linger and flare around his claws. "That kid's gonna be a terror to fight soon, isn't he?"
"Yes," Kieri smiled. "But I think he knows a bit about when to fight, now, too."
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The next day, Kieri decided to teach Buwaro about flight, since it looked to her eyes as if his wings were large enough to bear him aloft. He was eager to try, but the first hour or so wasn't as productive as the time he'd spent on his Fire magic. He kept forgetting how to flap his wings, as he was not used to the idea of swimming, much less "swimming in air."
Kieri finally came upon a thought as she realized this. "Would it perhaps help if you had a swimming lesson?" she asked.
"Uh?" Buwaro asked, shrinking back at the mere thought of water. "I'd, uh, I'd rather not do anything with water..."
Kieri sighed softly. The thought of a Duke of Hell being so afraid of water was definitely an unusual one, and probably laughable to any other Angel. "It might help you to understand what you're missing," she told him gently. "It would be a good way to get the lesson down."
"Well, maybe, yeah," Buwaro murmured, "but I don't like water...I dunno why, it's just so scary to me."
"But I'm a Water Angel," she replied, pouting. She hoped the implied hurt would get him to at least try.
He hesitated when he saw the expression on his girlfriend's face. "...alright," he sighed finally. "I don't know what it is – it just feels scary to me."
"What is it about the water?" she asked, leading him down to the river below the wagon.
He thought for a moment as they walked, but finally said, "I dunno," his voice taking on a slight whine, like a child who felt like a fool for not knowing the answer.
Kieri smiled and led him down to the water. "It's alright," she said. "We'll figure this out, okay?" Finding a shallow part of the river, they eased in while holding hands, and got the water up to their knees. They stopped there as Buwaro began to quiver, and Kieri said, "Alright, first I'd like you to think about how it feels. Maybe we can find out what the problem is that way." He nodded and closed his eyes, focusing on the water as much as he wanted to ignore it and go running away. "Is it the cold?"
"No. I mean, snow's cold."
"And snow is basically frozen water, so..."
"Wait, really?" he asked, eyes snapping open to stare at her.
She giggled. "Yes, it is. It's frozen rain, basically."
"Weird. Is that where rivers come from – the snow melts?" he asked.
"Yes, it is," she smiled. He smiled in a bit of pride at finally getting it, and began to concentrate on the river's feel again. "Is it because it's wet?"
"I don't think so," he murmured. "I mean, it's not like it hurts, but it does feel weird. Like I need to be afraid, and I don't know why."
Kieri thought. Perhaps he had a history with water – Rhea had mentioned the Styx was near his home, after all. "Let's go a little deeper, then," she said cautiously.
Buwaro's hand clenched hers a little tighter. "I don't know," he said.
"It's okay," she smiled. "I'll be right there." He nodded, nervous as she led him deeper. Every few steps, he clenched a bit tighter and unclenched, as if to reassure himself. A while later, they were about halfway up the belly in the water. "You okay?" she asked.
"No," he murmured. "I don't understand."
"Maybe you fell into the Styx when you were small?" she asked.
Buwaro closed his eyes, thinking. "I might have. I feel really panicked, like I don't even know why except that I just know something's gonna go wrong. Like I'm gonna...like I'm gonna just, just die."
Kieri hugged him. "It won't. I promise."
He gulped. "Alright. Let's...let's try more tomorrow, okay?" he said. "Or, maybe in an hour or so."
"Alright," she replied. They made their way back to shore.
Back up at the wagon, Kieri told the group what they'd discovered. "Figures," Rhea sighed. "Poor guy." She put a hand on his shoulder.
"It's alright," he said. "M-maybe I can find a way to get over it."
"Time in the water will probably help with that," Heathcliff said. Buwaro nodded, shivering from the thought. "At least your girlfriend will be there to help you, if it goes wrong. Her Water magic could give you a place to grab with ice, or dam up the water."
Buwaro stared at him with a strange expression. "What up the water?" he asked, as if disturbed.
"Block it up," Heathcliff sighed. "Some words sound the same, but don't mean the same thing. They're called 'homophones' if you're wondering."
"Yeah, I was about to ask if we were thinking of the same word," the boy chuckled nervously.
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Another week passed. After dropping off the Fairies near the Southern Forest, the group moved north. Buwaro wasn't sure whether to be happy at leaving the river behind or not, since he did want to overcome his fear.
Still, it hasn't been pleasant to be in that water, so he was quite relieved.
Either way, Kieri taught him a bit about flying, worked with him on reading, and even taught him what she knew about unarmed fighting. There were a few times he'd gotten a little close with his claws, and he'd felt bad about it at first, but she shook her head and smiled. "If you are skilled enough to injure me," she replied as she bandaged her wounds, "you're skilled enough to injure most people in a fight. And if you injure someone enough, you can force them to stop fighting you, either by scaring them off or wrestling them down."
From there, Buwaro asked what wrestling was, and once he knew, he wanted to learn how to wrestle. He turned out to have a bit of a knack for it, being able to scrape sensitive spots with his claws to gain a temporary advantage and taking quickly to the grabs and escapes – especially with his new understanding of punches and kicks. Rhea found herself impressed at how he took to this particular combat art.
And then Kieri taught him how to suplex someone. Building up his strength enough to do so with someone his size was fairly easy – all he really needed was the flexibility, which Kieri worked into his routine. Soon he was able to bodyslam his girlfriend with ease, though she always made sure that she had her arms loose while they practiced, so she could catch herself before she hit anything.
He wasn't great at it, but Miranda said she'd teach him a bit once things settled down with the baby. Kieri had been surprised to learn that Miranda was more than a potion brewer, but had once been for-hire for pirates and other sailors.
The night before they reached St. Curtis, Kieri and Buwaro gave a quick demonstration of what he'd been learning. "He's gonna be a beast when you're done teaching him to fight," Rhea grinned as they finished.
"Aren't I already?" Buwaro asked. Rhea was about to respond when she saw his grin. The group got a few chuckles from the pun.
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The next morning, as they arrived in the city, Buwaro found himself too excited to stay in the wagon, despite Heathcliff's quiet pleading. Surprisingly, most people gave him a look of surprise, then ignored him.
Rhea was almost more concerned about that fact, than about the possibility of them lynching him.
Buwaro held Kieri's hand as they walked, but he was obviously bouncing with interest at almost everything. Kieri giggled at his pointing at certain things, watching the entire city closely. "It's such a pretty place," he said, gently running his hand along a huge root from the tree at the center of town.
"I know," she smiled, "it is beautiful."
As they rounded a corner, Buwaro heard a yelp. He glanced at the source – a Jakkai woman with a bag of groceries, backing away from him. He slowly backed up, motioning with his open hand to let her pass. She stared at him, as if confused. "What is this?" she asked suspiciously. "A Demon, being nice?"
Buwaro paused, thinking about her reaction. Finally, he sighed and sat down, looking the woman in the eye, letting go of Kieri's hand in the process. "I don't get it," he said frankly.
"Huh?" she asked, confused.
"Maybe I'm the weird one for Demons," he said, gaze lowering a bit. "Maybe I'm not supposed to be nice. But if that's the case, I don't care. I'm perfectly happy how I am. The only time I've ever really wanted to hurt someone was because they hurt Snowy. Uh, Kieri," he said as he motioned to his friend. "I thought he'd killed her. And when I found out she was fine, I felt really bad about hurting him." He stared at her again, saddened and angered at his thoughts, and she shifted nervously under the intense gaze. "Am I really that weird, because I'm a nice Demon? If so, I have one question: what is wrong with all the others?"
Kieri stared at him, surprised, before she kneeled by his side. "Buwaro," she said sadly, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I don't think you're entirely alone, no. I don't know why there aren't more as nice as you, though. Maybe they don't think they can be."
Buwaro stared at her, confused, before it clicked. "Because of the Stupid War," he said quietly.
Kieri chuckled in spite of herself at his nickname for the Great War. "Probably," she nodded grimly.
"So you're friends," the Jakkai said, slowly walking closer to them. "I mean, seriously friends."
"Rhea said something about exploding her," Buwaro said sheepishly. "I'm guessing it's a slang or something, though."
Kieri blushed brilliantly. "That's...yes, 'bang' is a slang word," she managed, embarrassed, her hands covering her face. The Jakkai giggled in spite of herself.
"What does it mean, then?" he asked, tilting his head as he stared at his girlfriend.
"It..." She hesitated. "It means sex."
"What's that?"
The Jakkai's jaw dropped as she stared at the two. "Yeah I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that last bit," she said, quickly walking away from the scene.
Kieri was likewise stunned. "Ohhh my," she murmured. "I'll explain it this evening, alright?" she laughed nervously. Buwaro simply became more confused at her nerves, but shrugged and nodded.
@@@@
The Angels and Demons wandering openly in St. Curtis had confused everyone within the Sinclair wagon. Concern was fairly high among the visitors and residents of the city, but most were at least willing to live and let live, if they even believed it was real.
Most people didn't, and considering their encounter with the Jakkai woman with the groceries, that was somewhat of a relief for Buwaro and Kieri.
As the two wandered the streets, though, they came across a very young Angel, and soon came across his mother. <Thank you for finding Tirol,> she said pleasantly. <Normally he does not like other Demons.>
Buwaro hesitantly said, "Um, I didn't understand that."
"Me either," Rhea shrugged.
"Oh, well," she said sheepishly, picking her son up, "Tirol is normally shy around other Demons. My name is Kinako, by the way."
"Other Demons?" Rhea asked.
"What the...?" a heavy voice asked, as if frightened. All turned to see a boar-like Earth Demon, who was staring at Buwaro. "Wh-what...who are you?" she asked quietly.
"I'm Buwaro," the Fire Demon replied friendlily, "What's your name?"
She blinked. "Um, I'm Sahne," she said, as if still nervous. "Just Buwaro?" she asked finally.
Buwaro hesitated, unsure why she'd ask. "Uh...Buwaro Elexion," he said finally. "I was adopted, it's a long story."
The Earth Demon's jaw dropped. "You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you," she deadpanned.
"What is wrong, Sahne?" Kinako asked.
"...it's nothing," Sahne said, in a quiet tone that made it clear that it was anything but nothing.
The slight fear in her eyes suddenly filled Buwaro with understanding, and he facepalmed a second later. "I think I get it now," he sighed. "No, I don't know how I got to be a Duke. Well, not exactly. I had a – what'd Rhea call it, conniption or something – over Snowy getting hurt by an Angel, because she was defending me."
Silence. Even Kinako seemed nervous now. "A Duke? S-seriously?" she asked Sahne.
"Why'd you think I was so scared?" she chuckled, though there was no humor to it. "Kid could fight a Guardian toe-to-toe. I'm surprised he's even friends with an Angel, much less talking to us."
Buwaro stared at them. "Buh?" was his response to those statements. "Really?"
Kieri hugged Buwaro with one arm. "Buwaro is gentler than that," she told them.
"Well, not when that Denevol guy nearly killed you," Buwaro muttered nervously.
"S-still, he's not well-trained as a warrior, since I only recently began teaching him," she admitted. "The main reason he fought off my...assailant – far better trained than I – was because he basically went berserk, without going, you know, Berserk."
The pair before the two lovebirds fell silent at that. "Lemme get this straight," Sahne said quietly. "A Warrior-clan Angel and a Duke of Hell are friends, and willing to fight for each other. What next," she half-shouted sarcastically, "is Syndel gonna be at the stage tonight doing a violin show?" Kinako merely shrunk away from Kieri, looking to shield Tirol with her body.
Buwaro stared at Sahne, then Kinako, then began to massage his sinuses with a groan. "Look," he said, his voice now on edge as he glared at the two, "I don't know what your problem is with Snowy all of a sudden, and I don't care. She's the nicest person I've ever met. I don't know why, or what, but she seems to have family problems, and I'd really appreciate it if you stopped looking at her like she's going to explode and hurt someone any second now." He shook his head and stalked away. "Come on, Snowy," he said, "let's ask someone else about your brother."
Kieri shook her head in disbelief. That had been fairly eloquent and quite angry – she'd never seen him like this. "Buwaro, please," she called after him, and he stopped, looking back sadly. "Please calm down, they're not threatening me."
"Like we're that stupid," Sahne snorted.
"Okay, ya know what," Rhea growled, "Kieri here's been through more than enough shit lately, okay? Who gives a flying fuck what her family does?"
"We care," Kinako snapped, "because she's like those other two ruffians, the ones that got arrested! She's trained from birth to be a killer and miscreant!"
Kieri felt something snap inside of her. "Oh yes, trained from birth to kill," she muttered lowly, her expression darkening, her voice dripping with sarcasm and anger. "So what if I failed every combat test I ever took?!" she shouted as she whirled on her two accusers, startling them all and causing Tirol to jump in his mother's arms.
In her anger, she switched back to Angelic, barely aware of the change, barely even aware of her tears starting to flow. <So what if I learned Lingo despite my mother desperately trying to keep me a simple, stupid soldier, to ban me from the class?! So what if I simply didn't have the heart for fighting despite hours and hours and days and weeks and months of drilling that did nothing more than make my hands bleed?!
<So what if my mother told me how worthless I was every time I failed to be even an average warrior?! So what if she literally punched me for any perceived failure?! So what if I literally had no friends my whole time in school, because everyone was either disdainful or afraid of me?! So what if my brother was my only comfort my entire life?!
<None of that could ever matter! After all, I'm from a Warrior clan, so I must be an accomplished, willing, bloodthirsty killer!> She struggled for something foul enough to say, and finally switched to Lingo in order to do so, tears streaming down her face as she managed a weak, squealing snarl of, "Well fffff-FUCK YOU TOO!" With that last outburst, Kieri took to the air and flew away.
Buwaro immediately took off after her, though he wasn't quite fast enough to catch up until she'd landed well outside of town, being clumsy with his wings still. Either way, he managed to keep up for the most part. Finally, she landed and curled up under a tree, sobbing uncontrollably. Once he had landed as well, Buwaro sat by her, quietly trying to comfort her with his arm.
He hadn't understood most of what she'd said, but he'd caught a few words. It sounded like she'd had some kind of problem with her mother. In fact, it sounded like that problem was pretty big.
Once she was aware of who was there, she began to bawl into his chest as she squeezed him tightly. Buwaro's hand merely stroked her hair for a time, until she quieted her sobbing for a time. "Snowy?" he asked quietly. "What happened back there?"
Kieri looked up into his eyes, her own eyes soaked with tears, and found she couldn't hide anything from him anymore. She no longer wanted to. Perhaps if she told him, he would see that she wasn't worth the effort he kept putting into being her friend.
But by now, that was fine by her.
So she began to blurt out, quietly sobbing every couple sentences or so, all she could remember about her long, horribly painful, worthless life.
Buwaro let her get it out, his heart turning stone-cold in suppressed fury as he heard it all, from the physical and emotional abuse her mother had heaped upon her for not being a "perfect warrior" to the sudden "realization" Kieri had that she didn't deserve to live – and the time she tried to "correct that error." How her father was at least more caring, but often very distant. How her brother was stupid to have tried to care for her at all. How the Warrior-clan Angels thought little of her for her weak fighter's instinct, but the other Angels thought her to be too scary to even try to befriend, because she was a Suizahn.
When she was finally done, he wordlessly picked her up and carried her back to the Sinclair family's wagon. She glanced up at his face, and she immediately looked away. She said not a word as they walked, now concerned about what he'd do.
Would he reject her now? Would he finally see how useless she was? Would he abandon her, like she deserved?
But if so, why was he tearing up?
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It was almost sundown before they got back. Buwaro let her walk in, hoping she would be okay. Rhea had already returned by then, and she hugged Kieri's leg. "Kinako said she's sorry," she said quietly. "She told me you'd apparently put up with a lot of shit you no one should ever have to deal with."
"Sounds about right," Buwaro said quietly, his eyes darkened with rage.
Rhea actually flinched – his eyes weren't glowing, but he was clearly furious. She'd been less scared of the time he'd gone Berserk, and was suddenly glad that his anger was obviously not directed at her. "Buwaro?" she asked, managing to keep the quiver out of her voice. "What's wrong?"
"Snowy's mother," Buwaro said, then quieted as his eyes shut, as if fighting back his anger. Finally, he spoke, his voice barely above a whisper. "If I ever see her, and if she doesn't beg Snowy for the forgiveness she doesn't deserve, I'm going to tear off both her arms and shove them in her mouth. And if I can't get them both down her throat, I'll beat her with the one that remains, and after she's dead, I'll string her up by her intesti-cles." Surprisingly, he was quiet the whole way through his threat, his voice almost monotone.
Heathcliff winced, certain he meant "intestines" but not really wanting to find out. "It's that bad?" he asked quietly.
"Do you recall your parents ever punching you?" he asked Heathcliff, his voice finally gaining an edge. "That's not all she did to her, either."
It was as quiet as the grave for a moment. "Holy shit," Sammy breathed.
"Language," Heathcliff murmured, though it carried little weight as a reprimand.
Kieri nodded quietly, only as a confirmation. She wasn't sure she agreed with Buwaro's assessment, but then, he didn't agree with hers, that she was worthless. "I was angry at Denevol, but what that...that thing did? Kieri's – the thing that just happens to be her mom? I can never forgive her for hurting my friend like that. My girlfriend," Buwaro muttered. "My love," he finished finally.
The group was mostly silent for the rest of the evening. Kieri's eyes were so puffy from crying so hard that a little blue-green makeup could have made one think she'd been punched out in both eyes. Buwaro did little more than comfort her the rest of the evening, and to Rhea's shock, he didn't even eat dinner. He'd completely lost his immense appetite tonight.
He was definitely shaken up...but from the sounds of things, he had more than a right to be. His girlfriend had literally been abused. It suddenly occurred to Rhea that the girl was about as broken as a person could be, and her retreat during the argument over Buwaro's Star Pendant began to make sense. And so, after dinner, Rhea sat with the two and slowly stroked Kieri's hair. It was a comforting action that soon soothed the girl to sleep.
She was already something of an older sister for Buwaro, and it sounded like Kieri needed a proper mother in her life, and frankly, the young lady was glad to step up to the plate.
'Man,' she thought as she closed her eyes, attempting to sleep herself, 'all three of us are total headcases here, aren't we?' The thought left her to chuckle darkly as she drifted off.
