"Welcome, how may I help you today?" the shopkeeper said as we entered the shop. "Hey! You're that lady from last night." I said while looking at the shopkeeper. It was such a relief that she was able to get away from those thugs. "So that was you who helped me? Thank you very much." she said. She bowed her head and watched as I glanced at the weapons. Rune asked me what kind of weapon did I think I'd want to practice in. I looked around, noticing swords, claws, bows and axes nothing came to mind.
"Don't you have anything that is light?" I asked the lady. She looked around, noticing only swords and other large weapons she shook her head. Sighing I looked at a sword behind some glass near the counter, only to realize something small underneath. "Excuse me, but what are those? I asked. She walked over to me, looking in the case. She lifted the sword and pulled the item from underneath it. "I haven't seen any of these in years." She said with a suprised look on her face.
Wipeing off the dust from the object she explained to us these items were called slashers. I use to hear stories about these from my father when I was younger. I pulled out my coin pouch and asked how much she would sell them to me. "Three thousand meseta" she said with a serious look. I dropped my pouch, my eye twitched a little bit. "Three.. three.. three thousand meseta? Thats a little high don't you think?" I said. It was a bit overpriced for such a small weapon, Rune walked to the counter and placed a bag down.
"Its a bit pricey I agree, but beggers can't be choosers right?" Rune said as he handed me the slashers. He mumbled something to himself and then left, I followed closely behind him. "Thank you, come again ok?" The lady said as we left. Now I kinda figured why those thugs were after her, her prices are ridiculous. We walked through the town, a few townspeople stared at us as we passed by. I continued to look at Runes back as we walked, it was like they had never seen a person with blue hair before. We finally exited the town, there was a light breeze as we walked towards a large field, a single tree standing.
"Alright, lets begin." Rune said. He pointed his finger at the tree. "I want you to hurl your weapon at that tree." He said seriously. I nodded and drew my weapon from its sheath. The slasher was folded up, I slashed it downwards hoping it would unfold, but instead I tossed it onto the ground. "Thats ok, everyone makes mistakes now and then." He said. I picked up my weapon, finally figuring out how to unfold it I readied myself to throw. Pulling my arm back I tossed the weapon with great strength, the slasher flew quickly, sticking in the tree.
"Yes! I did it Rune." I said with a happy voice. He looked at me and shook his head. "Ok what do you see is wrong with this?" He asked. I thought for a moment, thinking nothing was wrong. I hit the target, but then it came to me. "I DON'T HAVE MY WEAPON!" I yelled out. Rune began nodding his head, his eyes closed and a smile on his face. "You see, you're weapon is unique. If you cannot make it return to you after attacking, then you're left defenseless for any kind of attack understand?" he said. I think I began to understand what he was saying, it was going to take alot of practice to get use to this.
I walked to the tree, pulling my weapon free from it. Many hours went by that day, by the time the sun had begun to set I had began getting it. "I think thats enough for today Alys, lets make camp." Rune said as sweat dripped from my forhead. I was exhausted after a long day, placing my weapon back in its sheath I helped Rune set up camp. That night we sat around the campfire, mainly staring up at the stars in the night sky. "You see that set of stars Alys?" Rune said pointing upwards. I crawled closer to him so I could see where he was pointing.
"I don't see it." I said as I tried to find it. He leaned back a bit, placing his arm beside my head he pointed to the stars, telling me to follow the direction his arm was. "Oh I see it now, thats beautiful.. What is that? I asked. He leaned upwards, casting a small Foi technique on the fire. It was amazing to see things like this, even though all that had happened to me, if I would have never left the village I would have never experienced anything like this. "Thats the grandcross, if you look closely you can see a small blue star between them." He said.
I continued to stare at the stars, paying attention to the middle of them. A small blue light twinkled in the sky. "I see it Rune!" I said happily. Smiling at him I noticed he laid down. "That little star you see up there is actually my home Dezolis." He said as he closed his eyes. A few moments passed by and he finally dozed off. I crawled back over to where I was before, curling myself up I stared into the fire, finally falling asleep. A week had passed by since that night, my skills had gotten better in such a short time.
"Alright! Here we go!" I yelled out as my slasher returned to me. "FOI!" I screamed as I shot the fire technique from my hand. The tree caught fire, slowly burning we panicked and doused it with the little water we had. "That was good Alys, but next time try not to hit the tree ok." Rune said with a panicked look on his face. I stood up, wipeing the sweat from my head I let out a sigh of relief. The day was coming to a end, and I was beginning to get hungry. Just then I heard the sound of clapping coming from behind us.
"That was great Alys."
