Author's Notes: No, Alex is not gay. He is bisexual. Keep that in mind. Oh, and yes, I realize that the Champa in has hammocks, not beds. But, for the sake of the fic, I will use my magical authoress powers to alter that. Lame excuse, I know.
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Today we lodge at Champa, a city where hunger and poverty can be seen everywhere. Your theories about Weyward being smaller than ever are true, King Hydros. I remember Lunpa telling and complaining often about how long it took to sail the Great Eastern Sea before he came to Lemuria, but I find we had none of those difficulties, even in traveling the same route. Moreso, in roaming the continents, the journeys do seem to be a bit shorter than Lunpa has artfully described.
Piers paused from writing, twirling the quill between his fingers. He idly surveyed the desk the Inn provided, which he had made messy in the few short hours he'd been in the room. Parchment was scattered everywhere with words scribbled on them, occasionally accompanied by quick sketches of maps. The two candles he was writing by gave off tiny globes of light, making the whole room have a soft, rosy glow to its darkness. Piers stopped twirling the quill, setting the tip back onto the parchment. He began writing about the other incident he'd come across that day.
Soon after we entered Champa, Felix realized that he had left behind something on the ship. He remained elusive and secretive as to what it was, but I believe I can safely assume that he keeps a diary as well, and doesn't want Jenna and Sheba to see it. Upon exiting Champa, we met our so-called allies, Karst and Agatio. With them was a person named Alex who is also a Mercury Adept. Apparently, he'd been traveling with Felix before the tidal wave occurred. He seems to be a rather irritating person.
"I resent that."
Piers started, careful not to, in his surprise, knock over both his inkwell and the candles over. He spun around to see Alex, who was peering over his shoulder at the parchment.
"Alex! How did you…? What are you doing here?" Piers demanded, standing up suddenly. Being visited by the very person you were ranting about in the middle of the night certainly was not a pleasant experience. Especially if that visitor had somehow entered your locked room, to which you had the only copy of the key, without making a sound.
"Only to gauge your strength, m'dear." Alex stared Piers in the eye, unblinking. After a few seconds of staring, Piers began to feel uncomfortable. He edged his way over to the wooden door. Alex's stare had not been broken.
"I would appreciate it if you left, please." Piers requested firmly, gesturing to the door. Alex did not move from his position by the desk.
"My reason for doing so would be…?" He gazed at Piers, head cocked to one side like an inquisitive sparrow, smirking. Piers did not like the situation he was in, and the fact that his mind was, against his will, thinking of alternate reasons and situations to explain why Alex was here did not help at all.
"One," Piers began, racking his brain for an eloquent way to say 'Because you're scaring me', "You have intruded on my privacy. Two, it's the middle of the night and I plan to quickly finish writing my entry and then retire to bed, which you are delaying. Three…" He hesitated, trying to find another reason. Good debates were filled with enough reasons to make the person being debated against speechless, trying to find rebuttals. He'd learned that from King Hydros and Conservato. A minute passed. He still hadn't found a reason, and 'Because I said so' sounded too childish. "You…"
"Are scaring me?" Alex supplied. Piers glared at him.
"If I admit for that statement to be true, will you leave?"
"Oh, no. No, of course not. My business with you is unfinished."
"Business?" He didn't like the sound of that. "What is your business here?"
"I have not admitted this to anybody," Alex moved closer to Piers, forcing him to edge over to the other side of the room. "But, in truth, I do harbor some feelings for Felix. No, not what you're thinking—he was the first person I could relate to. He and I, on the inside, both detested Saturos and Menardi. And truly, it hurts me to know that he has cast me away for another Mercury Adept."
"I find it amazing that you've stated your reasons without ten minutes of useless ramble." He usually wasn't sarcastic, but his patience was beginning to wear thin. He silently cursed the Innkeeper or whomever arranged the furniture—He was now cornered, bed and dresser on both sides of him and Alex before him. He'd never seen Alex in combat, but Jenna had described his power the first time she'd witnessed it as nothing short of amazing and 'way above my level'. That'd been perhaps six months ago—Alex's power would probably have increased by now.
"I don't know whether to feel flattered or insulted." Alex moved closer to Piers, who was beginning to feel uncomfortable from the intimacy.
"You still haven't explained what your business is," Piers commented uneasily. Alex smirked more widely.
"I wonder—if you were removed from the picture, would that improve the situation? After much pondering, I've come to the conclusion that it would."
Definitely not good. He didn't want to fight, but that voice of reason in him was being suppressed by his voice of temper. By now, his patience was now paper thin. No—half a paper thin. Actually, correction: his patience had eloped with his pacifist side.
"Hail Prism," he muttered, and a stream of ice pellets began raining in Alex's general direction, but he moved aside quickly from the small chunks of ice. The pellets lodged themselves in the carpet. Well, three hundred of his coins had just gone towards property damage… The momentum of Alex dodging the ice had made him lose his balance. He fell forward onto his palms, pinning Piers beneath him. Onto the bed. He was rather surprised with the situation, but his smirk hadn't left his face.
Piers, on the other hand, definitely knew that this was not good. No, not at all. Nevermind that Felix or anyone else could not warp like Alex, but if by some other means one of them walked into the scene… No, he didn't want think about it.
"Piers?" There came a knock on the door. Oh, that voice had better not be… He began to think about it. "I heard something going on in your room. Can I come in?"
"Perfect timing, Felix," Alex muttered under his breath. "Knowing Felix, even if I down him, he'd attempt to slaughter me even when he's downed if he knew I tried to harm one of his friends. Therefore, I suppose we'll have to continue this another time."
With a shower of gold sparkles, Alex warped out of the room. His sudden disappearance shook Piers. It's not often that your assailant, who is pinning you down and looks as though he's winning the situation, is repelled by your comrade knocking at the door.
"Yes, let me unlock the door," Piers called back after a second. He knew Felix would want to make sure that nothing had happened. Maybe if he covered the hail with a rug… Oh, he wouldn't notice. Piers rushed over to the door and let Felix in.
"What's that?" Maybe he'd underestimated Felix. He'd noticed. The gears in Piers' head began to spin rapidly.
"A rat was continuously running in and out of the room," he lied. "I was attempting to concentrate on writing in the journal King Hydros had given me, but with all the squeaks, my patience disappeared and I tried to kill it with Hail Prism. It ran away, though."
Felix raised an eyebrow. "This Inn is well-kept and doesn't have any rotting boards, holes in the walls, etcetera. And rats don't squeak."
Piers made a mental note to introduce Felix personally to King Hydros, as he was short on good debaters. "Actually, what I meant to say was that someone on the first floor kept tossing things up at his roof, and…"
"Piers, we're on the first floor. This Inn only has one floor, anyways."
Damn, Felix was good. Piers was speechless. Nevermind the thought that Alex was a formidable enemy: Felix in confrontation mode was obviously more difficult to defeat. Out of the frying pan and into the fire indeed.
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Appreciates: Constructive criticism, praise over three lines long, flames with a point, pointless praise, and pointless flames. In that order.
Version: 1.00
Wordcount: 1,397 words sans Author's Notes and ramble. 1,470 with.
Written: January 16th, 2004.
Posted: January 23rd, 2004.
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