Storm Phase – 20
In this epic fantasy, a young wizard with a mysterious destiny, a cat-girl ninja, and a diary that turns into a bat-like creature journey through worlds of monsters and mayhem.
As Turesobei approached the Dairen Pavilion to join his grandfather for breakfast, Enashoma’s bright laughter lifted his spirits. He was glad she was joining them. Though they had fought a lot as children, and still argued from time to time, they shared a close bond. With their father’s absence and their mother’s meddling and frequent intoxication, they often leaned on one another for moral support.
When Enashoma saw him, the wide smile illuminating her heart-shaped face faded into a frown, and the glimmer in her lavender eyes dimmed. It hadn’t occurred to him until now that his leaving meant she would be stranded alone, their mother’s attention focused only on her.
Sweet and caring, Enashoma was entirely unlike their mother, but she was no pushover either. Their father’s steely defiance ran deep in her. She was also incredibly perceptive, and she might be smarter than him. Not that Turesobei would ever admit that to anyone, especially her.
Lacking the willowy frame he shared with their mother, Enashoma was shapely, with burgeoning breasts and wide hips. Her skin was polished ivory, and her flowing hair was a shimmery black that was the envy of every girl in Ekaran.
While they sipped an aromatic, black tea, Kahenan told them about the time he had wandered off alone when he was seventeen and how he had battled an angry mountain spirit, barely escaping alive. They had both heard the story a dozen times.
“It is time, Sobei, for you to start having adventures of your own,” Kahenan said. “I have probably sheltered you too long.”
Enashoma bit into a slice of plum cake. “I’m so jealous.”
“You may yet have an adventure of your own, Shoma,” Kahenan said without confidence.
“Yeah, right.” She closed her eyes and leaned back. “I’ll be lucky if I ever even get to visit Batsa.”
“One never knows,” Kahenan muttered, also without confidence. “Sobei, you had best get moving.”
“I’ll help you pack,” Enashoma said.
“I have to say goodbye to Awasa first,” he replied.
After a brief search, Turesobei found Awasa sitting alone beneath the cool shade of an oak with her attendants standing ten paces away.
Awasa’s guardian of virtue, Lady Inzi Marumi, was a wiry baojen woman with graying hair, sad brown eyes, and a kind smile. She always wore a simple green robe, tied with a rose sash. She served out of obligation because her family was in debt to the Kobarai. Awasa was frequently mean to Marumi, for no good reason Turesobei could see.
Awasa’s bodyguard was a zaboko named Nako Zaiporo. He was short with broad shoulders, slate gray skin, and curly hair. The armor he wore — black leather with gold trim — was more ceremonial than functional.
For generations, the men of the Nako family had served as bodyguards for the daughters of the Kobarai. At sixteen Zaiporo was too young to hold this position, but there was no alternative. He was the last male in his family — his father and his three older brothers having died in a recent skirmish with the Gawo Clan.
The ever formal Kobarai were not ones to break with tradition. They were, in fact, one of the few families left who still assigned full-time guardians of virtue to oversee their daughters. And they were the only family to assign a bodyguard to accompany their daughter within the safety of the walls of Inner Ekaran.
“Come, let’s give them a little more privacy,” Marumi said to Zaiporo, and they moved another ten paces away.
Awasa was embroidering daisies onto a crimson sash. He approached nervously.
“Good morning, Awasa.”
She shot him a look of contempt. “It *was* good.” He admired her beauty and fidgeted while she returned to her craftwork and ignored him. After a few minutes, she finally looked back up at him. “Well, what is it?”
“I'm off today.”
Awasa shrugged. “So?”
“I'm setting off today on an expedition with my father.”
“I know about your trip.”
“I'm going to be gone for at least three months.”
“Yeah, so?”
“Well, I… uh… I thought you might want to… uh… wish me well.”
“Why?”
Turesobei groaned. “Because the expedition will be dangerous. I might get hurt or killed.”
“And why should I care about that?”
“Because… because you should! Because we're betrothed!”
A sly smile slid across her face. “We won't be if you get killed, though, will we?”
All his dreams of a parting kiss or hug or even a tender goodbye crashed around him. He stammered in frustration, blew out his breath like an angry bull, and turned to stamp away.
“By the way, Turesobei.”
He paused, a pang of hope digging into his chest. “Yes?”
“Try to get some sun on your way there. You're looking pale.”
“I look pale because I nearly died from poison a few days ago, and last night I scripted a bunch of spells in a row.”
“Okay. Whatever.”
He began to stalk away but decided to give it one last try. “I'll send you a letter if I get the chance and tell you what I've seen.”
Her eyes fixed on him, and for a moment her expression softened into something that could almost be mistaken for worried affection. Then she cocked her head to the side, as if she were puzzled. But that expression too soon faded, and her faced hardened again.
“If you send me a letter, I won't read it.”
Sulking, he ambled back home to pack the last of his things. He carefully avoided his mother, who was yelling at one of the servants.
Enashoma was waiting for him in his room.
“What's wrong, Sobei?” she asked as she started rolling up his spare clothes and placing them into one of his packs.
“Awasa doesn't care that I'm going off and might get killed and never come back. She didn't even say goodbye.”
Enashoma huffed and angrily stuffed a shirt into Turesobei’s pack. Her eyes blazed bright. “That little witch! I'll show her!”
“Oh, please don't. That would be embarrassing.”
“Why?”
He shrugged helplessly. “Just because.”
She eyed him dubiously.
“Promise you won't.”
“Only if she doesn't cross my path anytime soon.” Enashoma shoved another shirt into the pack. “I don't know why you keep trying.”
“What choice do I have? Besides…” He struggled for the right words to express his complex feelings about Awasa, but he couldn’t find them.
“I know. You like her, but you don't know why. All the boys do. I don't understand it. She's pretty, but that's about it. I told Mother so. I told her you deserved a better match.”
“That won't get me anywhere. Mother thinks Awasa is wonderful, a goddess nearly.”
“That's exactly what she said to me.”
“It doesn’t matter anyway. King Ugara blessed the arrangement, and I think he would have picked Awasa himself if Mother hadn’t.”
Enashoma frowned and shook her head. “I'm so sorry, Sobei, but Awasa seems just like our mother. You may have to become like Father. I wouldn't blame you if you did.”
“Maybe Awasa will change over the next three years,” he said doubtfully. They would be married once she turned eighteen.
“Mother says I should try to be like Awasa, so that I'll be more popular. That way I’ll get a better marriage arrangement.”
Turesobei took her by the shoulders. “Don't ever do that, Shoma. Promise me you won’t.”
She giggled almost as if she had a little too much wine, which wasn’t all like her. “No worries there. I couldn't care less what people think about me.”
“You're lucky, you know, not having an intended anymore.”
“That's an awful thing to say ... about anyone,” she said in a voice lacking conviction.
“It's not your fault he died, and you’re better off that he did.”
“Yes, but it's bad karma to say it.”
Enashoma’s intended had been fifteen years older than her, with the looks of someone who repeatedly banged his face against a jagged plank. What Wenari had seen was wealth and a dowry far larger than expected. What everyone else saw was a lecherous drunk who was into young girls. That was what had led to his death last year, at the hands of an understandably enraged father. From the beginning, Noboro had been furious with Wenari for making the arrangement, but for some reason, he had refused to have it annulled.
Enashoma finished packing his clothes. “Either Mother or King Ugara will find another one for me soon, and I certainly won't get any say in it.”
“Better King Ugara than Mother again.”
She nodded in agreement. “You're the lucky one. You're going on an adventure. And everything will be better once you're back.”
“I doubt it.”
“Just wait. You'll see.”
He shouldered his pack. “If you say so.”
She sighed deeply. “I’m so jealous.”
“I’m sorry you’re going to be here alone with Mother.”
“I’ll survive. Are you going to tell her goodbye?”
“If she wants to say goodbye to me, she'll come to see me off. If not, well, that's her loss.”
As he started toward the door, Enashoma grabbed him by the sleeve and turned him around. She stepped in close and stared into his eyes. Her lips twisted into a frown.
“What?” he asked, feeling uncomfortable at how close she was. She never got this close, except to shove him and call him an ass.
“Something’s different about you.”
“I’m just me,” he said.
“I’m not sure what it is, but it’s like you have… charisma. Even though you’re still a huge dork.”
“Thanks.”
“I can feel this… this pull toward you.”
She put her hands on his chest and grasped his shirt. She drew him forward a little, then she pushed him backward.
“What are you doing?” he asked, but she didn’t answer.
Enashoma dragged him in close again, until their bodies touched ever so softly and he could smell her cinnamon vanilla bathing perfume. All the while, she stared into his face with her soft, lavender eyes. He blushed, then she seemed to realize how close they were. Her cheeks reddened, and she shoved him away playfully.
“Something’s different,” she muttered. “What have you done?”
“Nothing.”
“Did you try to cast some sort of spell to make Awasa like you?”
“Even if I had, it wouldn’t be noticeable to other people, and it would’ve worn off by now.”
“Unless you screwed it up?”
“A spell like that’s a lot harder than it sounds, and if I screwed it up, it wouldn’t work at all.”
“Sobei,” she said tenderly.
“Shoma?”
“Are you okay? Did something happen to you?” She started to poke him in the chest, then withdrew her hand. “Do not lie to me.”
“Aside from getting poisoned? Nothing has changed.”
Except for Lu Bei, and he certainly wasn’t going to tell her about that. Even though he knew she could keep a secret. Lu Bei and all his talk of prophecies and… and that other stuff would worry her. It would worry him too, if he could focus on any of it for more than a few seconds.
There was definitely something different about him now, though. And maybe it was affecting people around him. Shurada, Shoma just now, even Awasa a little, maybe.
Enashoma’s eyes focused on his then drifted down to his kavaru, and then suddenly, he was on a small stone bridge over a stream in a lavish garden filled with ferns and flowering shrubs. Orange-glowing lanterns hung in the trees. Crickets chirped and frogs croaked beneath the willows beside the stream. Avida was full and bright above.
Standing across from him was a shapely woman with a dark amethyst kavaru embedded in the cleavage between her full breasts. Her eyes were shadowed with a color to match the stone. Her light blue dress was thin silk, and it clung tightly to her figure.
Her reddened lips peeled back into a broad smile as she approached him. “Do you remember me?” she asked.
He gazed into her lavender eyes. “How could I forget you?”
They moved in close to one another — slowly, tenderly. Their bodies touched, and then their lips.
“Sobei?” Enashoma asked.
“Yes…” he said distantly. “I remember you.”
“Sobei!” Enashoma shouted.
The vision ended, and Turesobei shivered as his awareness of the real world returned to him. He had stepped in close to Enashoma, and he had placed the palm of his right hand on her chest, where the woman in the vision’s kavaru had been.
Enashoma’s eyes were wide, and her cheeks were bright red.
Turesobei snapped his hand back as if he’d touched a flame, and he went flush from head to toe. “I-I’m sorry, Shoma,” he stammered.
“What was that?” she demanded.
“It was… nothing.”
“It wasn’t nothing. Your kavaru started to glow and your eyes went all distant, like you were looking somewhere else, somewhere far away from here. And then you…” she placed a hand on her chest where his had been “… and then you touched me.”
“It was a vision from my kavaru,” he told her truthfully. “And I’m so so sorry I touched you... there. I didn’t mean to.”
“You’re having visions from your kavaru now?”
“It’s not a big deal,” he lied.
“It sounds like a big deal to me,” she said. “When did this start?”
“I had a very vivid dream about Chonda Lu a few nights ago, a memory actually. Don’t ask me for any details, though. Those faded away within minutes.”
“But this wasn’t a dream, Sobei.”
“No,” he admitted. “But I don’t think it’s anything to worry about.”
“You spaced out and didn’t know what your were doing. *That* doesn’t worry you?”
Yes, he thought. “No,” he lied. “I think this was a unique, one-off thing.”
He certainly hoped it was.
“Do you know what caused it?” she asked.
“You.”
“Me?”
“In the vision, there was a woman who reminded me of you, a kairu with lavender eyes and a kavaru—”
“On her chest?”
He nodded. “It was a deep amethyst.”
Enashoma placed a hand on her chest, her brow furrowing with concern. She started to say something more, but held back.
“When you… got close to me earlier… I think that summoned Chonda Lu’s memory of the woman from the kavaru. She must have meant a lot to him. Like you mean to me.”
“Do you know anything else about her, like a name for instance?”
Turesobei described all that he could remember of the vision. “Sorry I don’t have more to tell you. It was just a stray memory.”
“Visions from your kavaru, Chonda Lu’s memories popping up unexpectedly… I’m worried about you.”
He tried to smile. “I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about, Shoma.”
She took his hands. “Promise me you’re okay.”
“I swear I’m okay.”
For now, but what if he started having more of these visions? What then?
“Have you told Grandfather?” she asked.
“He knows all about the dream.” But he wasn’t going to find out about this vision. He wasn’t going to risk Kahenan changing his mind about letting him go off on the expedition. Besides, he felt confident it wasn’t going to happen again. And even if it did, he doubted it would last for more than a moment or two.
She studied him for a moment, then sighed. “Well, you are a wizard with a powerful stone. If Grandfather thinks you’re okay, then I’ll *try* not to worry about you.”
She grabbed him by the hand and tugged him toward the door. “Come on, we’ve got to get you out of here.”
To Be Continued…