novelraw Chapter 342 284 - The Ropes
Chapter 342 284 - The Ropes
"Alright, so for tonight's hunt, Mzia, Mayumi, and Boris will be coming out with us. Midas and Argyros will stay here with Solana," Shouri announced to the gathered guild Maestros, and the five guest Resonators. The cafeteria made a fantastic place to hold meetings such as the one that was in progress. There was plenty of room for everyone to sit comfortably, and the kitchen was right there so Solana and her trio could dole out refreshments as tempers flared.
"Awww. Why?" whined Argyros. "I wanna use magic too!" came the complaint.
"You're not old enough to hunt," Shouri stated firmly.
The cat's tail flicked has he pouted at the Maestro. "But that guy let us hunt!" argued the leopard, referring to Scott.
"Different circumstances--if we brought you to a hunting ground, we'd be turned away instantly," Shouri told him.
The leopard huffed, folding his arms across his chest, but knew well enough that the argument was lost.
Solana patted the boy's head as she set a glass of milk on the table. "If you behave, we can bake a cake for everybody for when they get back--what do you say?" she offered, her smile as sweet as dessert.
The cat stared at the Maestro like she was an angel. "O-okay…" he squeaked. Midas raised a brow at his older brother's instant change in attitude.
Shouri let out a soft breath. He was glad Solana had the cats on lock. With the young ones tended to, he addressed the rest of the gathered guild members.
"Boris, you're with Emily and Albarich; Mayumi you'll be with Vince and Zephyr; and Mzia, you're with me and Taika." As the guildmaster spoke he walked around the cafeteria and handed over the blue and green tuners to Emily and Vince, respectively. He held on to Mzia's white tuner and finally passed the twin brown tuners to Solana before she disappeared back into the kitchen.
Tuners doled out, it was time to get ready.
Argyros pouted as he watched all of the other Maestros and Resonators prepare to leave through the window of the cafeteria. "Aw man…" he mumbled sadly. His ears folded back and his tail hung limp.
It should have been him out there. He got the taste of being a hero and wanted to chase that high. It felt so good to help the people of Diyah. The little old ladies that patted him on the head and gave him candy. The Resonator girls who said he was cool.
Yeah, he gained an ego--but he wasn't afforded such luxuries until Scott and Shouri came into his life.
Rhythm felt good. Magic felt good. He was already addicted and wanted more.
"Hey."
The cat nearly jumped out of his skin as he felt a hand on his shoulder. He spun around to find that weird plant girl--what was her name?
"Help us bake this cake and we can go look for a Scherzando," said the plant girl.
Argyros lit up. "R-really?!" His hopeful smile quickly faded. "Wait…you're not the Maestro," he pointed out, his eyes and voice filled in equal parts with suspicion.
"Don't need to be. I call the shots," the girl asserted.
The leopard hummed, wearing his disbelief like a fashion statement.
"Watch." The Nature element spun around. "Hey Lana!"
"Yeah, Holly?"
"After we get the cake in the oven, we're gonna take the kids out to hunt a Scherzando!" she called.
"Oh, okay."
Holly spun around to face one of the kids in question. "See?"
The light of hope had already returned to the young kit's eyes. He nodded eagerly and bounded into the kitchen to help his younger brother and the grown-ups.
"Wash your hands first!" Holly barked. She let out a soft sigh. "Kids," she tittered with a shrug.
"Are you absolutely sure you can keep up?" Emily questioned Boris.
The trio for the evening stood by Emily's motorcycle--the princess was decked out in her gear as usual. Albarich stood by while his fellow winged Resonator discussed the logistics with his Maestro.
"Sure! That thing can't be that fast," the crane said with a smirk.
"A'ight, bet. Al, stick with him. I'll see you both at the hunting ground," instructed the Maestro as she put on her helmet.
Boris huffed to himself, stretching his snowy wings out in preparation. Albarich sighed and followed suit. Emily motioned for the two to get started, which earned a perked brow from the Water element.
"Let's just go, kid. She'll be fine," said the dragon as he bolted from the ground.
"Okay…" the bird conceded uneasily. Boris, too, took off and followed the dragon. From his own admission, Albarich was fast--as expected of a dragon. What he did not expect was the roar from underneath them. He barely caught it; a blur of light streaked down the road, cutting through the darkness. The echo of an engine announced its presence to the world, though it quickly faded as the light vanished into the distance.
"H-hey was that--?"
"Yeah! Keep up, don't want to keep the princess waiting!" shouted the dragon over the wind.
If nothing else, the sheltered snow crane learned one thing that night: don't underestimate motorcycles, or princesses for that matter.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
"Why are they all in line?" wondered Mayumi as she followed Vince into the hunting grounds.
"Oh, if you're not part of a guild like we are, you need to register for every hunt," said Vince.
"If we find you a Maestro not in a guild you'll probably have to do that," Zephyr chimed in.
"I see," mumbled the snake.
It was an interesting thing she never had heard of. Then again, she hadn't heard of a lot of things before that flood. The world was so vast and she had no idea. Her previous owners dissuaded any kind of curiosity, and that hurt so much. There was so much to see and do, but all she learned was how to thresh wheat, wash clothes, and carry buckets of water to the fields. It was hard work, but she felt fulfilled. At least, that was what she told herself.
In two short weeks, her world had gone from a canyon and a river into something billions of times the size. It would be overwhelming if it hadn't been so exciting.
Mayumi's curiosity quickly faded as they continued their march into the forest. It got dark, horribly dark. Her heart hammered. Was this safe? There were Scherzando around, right? That's why they were there.
"Frazione della Incandescenza, Presto Tutti," Vince cast.
The fairy on his shoulder fluttered into the air and formed a ball of light that instantly cut through the dark, and illuminated their surroundings, so they could actually see.
"Oh, you can do that?" Mayumi wondered aloud.
"Yeah, we picked it up while we were in Diyah. Never got a chance to use it since we were always in big groups," said Vince.
"Pretty nifty spell," Zephyr said, as she appreciated the mini-daystar she had crafted. Her expression hardened. "Definitely one I want to max out as quickly as possible," mumbled the fairy.
Sure, a nightlight spell was pretty useful, but the only thing that Mayumi imagined would happen at higher levels would be it'd just make it brighter. Her curiosity got the better of her. "Why?"
"Sometimes, you just really need to change night to day," Vince said with a hollow chuckle.
"Oh, I see," Mayumi nodded. The explanation left a lot to be desired, but she figured if they had a reason to do such a thing, it must be important.
"Anyways, let's get you some spells going through you--I'm sure you want to try some more of your magic," said Vince, waving Mayumi's green tuner at her.
"Yes!" exclaimed the cobra, the tip of her tail twitching with excitement.
Mzia felt weird. She didn't know the word to describe it, but she felt as if she shouldn't be with these two. She was certain there was a phrase for how she felt. Like she was an accessory for this couple that led the way. It didn't help that the pair was quiet, tense even. Mzia held herself. She didn't like this.
Finally, the two stopped.
"Taika," Shouri said.
"Sho," she responded in kind.
"Let's à deux," he demanded.
The vixen stepped back, if she wasn't before, she was most assuredly tense now. "Wh-why?" the Lunar looked to her Solar counterpart. "We have her with us. We shouldn't."
Mzia couldn't claim familiarity with what they went on about. What she did know, is whatever this à deux thing was deeply personal. At least, that's how Taika felt about it. Shouri had no shame in whatever this thing was.
"I think we should show her what a Maestro and Resonator can be," he argued.
"But--!" Taika looked around, desperate for an escape.
"Please, Taika, I love you--let me help you," he urged.
Mzia blushed. That…wasn't what she expected to hear.
"I love you too, Sho. I just--I'm scared. What if you hate me?" she squeaked.
He took up her hands in his, his eyes only for her, a bright yellow glow contained within. "I would never. Come on, we've been through how much together and you'd even question that?" he said with a smirk. The Maestro drew close to his partner, pulling her into a deep embrace.
Poor Mzia covered her face as Shouri held his dear partner close, close enough where their lips could have met and it would have been the natural conclusion to the gesture. Despite Mzia not wanting to intrude on the intimate moment, the dhole found herself morbidly curious and peeked through her fingers.
"A-alright, Sho. Y-you promise--? You…won't hate me?" she asked.
"Never."
Mzia was the Solar element here, but she felt like a mere spark compared to how luminous these two were. She wondered if someone could write several dozen books on just their romantic escapades.
And then she felt it.
Something strange.
Something foreign.
Something she had never experienced in her short life.
It was true, she hadn't met many Maestros, even being on Riterra for nearly eighteen years, but even so, she thought she had a pretty good idea of the range of feelings her stave sniffed out.
This…this was something different.
She let her fluster fall, and stared at the two before her. No longer could she feel Maestro or Resonator, there was just one blob of Maestro and Resonator.
"You didn't explain this to her, did you?" said Taika and Shouri together. "I was doing it with Rebby the whole time we were in Diyah. Then again, Scott did keep them away from us," they continued to speak.
"Uhhh…what are you doing?" Mzia finally found her voice.
"Oh this?" the two asked. "It's just a little thing called à deux."
Darkness surrounded them. Scherzando surrounded them. Even so, these two were so radiant that they threatened to burn the world to ash in their audacity.
And Mzia wanted that.