Quiet Burdens

Chapter Twenty-Seven

(Chapter Title)

The Tale Of The Snow~

(So ah, Question, if you could just, I don't know, mess with the characters what would you do? You have unlimited power! GO NUTS!)

Chapter Start!

When the sun rose, everyone awoke slowly, Gil knew they should leave in the morning, so they decided to say in Irragin for another day before heading out.

~Cole~

Cole smiled; he had gotten up early so he could head over to Axels' house on the edge of town to say thanks, and to see how he was doing.

The teen made his way through the frozen town, snow had fallen the night before, and the morning sun glittered off its silvery surface.

He walked, sketch book in his bag, he smiled quietly to himself.

'Axel wount be up until at Least noon, so I can find a nice spot to sketch, I didn't get time to last time I was here because of the burn, but I'm feeling much better, so this should be perfect! Then after... maybe practice with the light magic... Might want to ask Gil for help... Maybe later'

The teen's thoughts wondered for a few more minutes, until he realized something wasn't right... Someone was following him.

When he turned there was no one there...

No extra foot prints in the snow...

He blinked, shrugging it off, then found himself a nice spot in the snow, above the village, and pulled his sketch book out...

The sound of snow crunching could be heard behind him, and the boy turned fast.

There stood the girl from earlier, the one who had the Pickle Jars on her hands.

The two blinked.

"Hi..?" he asked, and she looked at him, the girl had warmer clothes on, but still let her elven eyes fly, her hair waved in her face, almost hiding her lightning green eyes.

"Oh, Hi, umm... Sorry, this is where I normally come in the morning" she laughed slightly, and made her way over to sit next to Cole.

"My Name's Emmy Fang! I've been traveling around, and found this place surprisingly nice" she introduced herself, and looked over the teens shoulder.

"I'm Cole Plotten, and I've been here before... Just never got a change to draw it..." he said looking at her.

"Really? Why not?" she asked, "Because I was injured" the boy said sourly.

"What? Really? How!? I want details!" the girl jumped to the story, sitting cross legged, smiling to him.

Cole blinked...

"Umm... well..." he started, think if he should or should not tell her.

"When I was at the Oasis, with my friends, some... Guys raided the place, he had grabbed them, and they were already in the cell, going back to the capital. One of my friends; Gil, told me to run, so I did... When I was trying to escape, I was burned" Cole pulled his wintery hood off his head, then pulled his bandana down, showing the wrap.

"I somehow made it to here, when someone found me, and brought me to the Inn"

The girl ate up every word, "Well your pretty lucky!" she said, "The people here are So Nice!" she gave him another smile.

"And what's up with that hair? Did you dye it?" Emmy went to touch it.

"N-no its real, don't touch my hair... Please?" Cole pulled back from her hand.

The two sat for some time, until she said she better be heading out. Cole said goodbye, finished his picture, then went to see Axel.

It was a nice quiet day...

Then they all met up for dinner.

~Daisy ~ Jaylen and Hector~

The three woke up at the same time, and got breakfast.

After they all got into their snow stuff, and ran out into the Cold.

They wanted to check out the place, maybe build a snow fort, have a snow ball fight...

The small boys had never seen snow before, so they where excided!

They ran around for hours, only to find some local kids, and join in to their snow ball fight.

They had fun playing in the snow.

Then they all met up for dinner.

~Gil ~ Silvia~

Gil woke up from Cole opening the door to leave early that morning, so he decided to get up as well.

He took his time getting ready, then made sure to not wake Jaylen, Hector, Ralph or Ryan when he left.

But as soon as he got out to the front where he would get breakfast, he saw a princess sitting at the table at the other side of the room, crying.

Gil looked at her, and took a breath, "Ah Silvia" he said going over, and sitting down next to her, putting a hand on her shoulder, she quickly covered her face.

"Not now Gil" she said quietly.

"Okay, one, I know you too well, and two, if someone was being mean, I'll go cut their arm off" he said with a smile, and the girl looked up at him, cracking a small smile.

"no no, no one was mean, I'm just..." She took a breath, but Gil finished for her, "Home sick?" the Princess nodded.

"I just wasn't ready for being away for so long... how long exactly?" she looked up to Gil, "Let's see... a couple weeks to get to Clyden... our long forest walk, our stay at Daisy's... the desert, the capital... that took a few weeks... then getting here... about a couple months" he said, then realized.

"The King must be going crazy!" Gil realized what he said, then realized that's the conclusion Silvia came to...

Her Father was most likely looking for her that entire time...

He may have thought she died!

"I'm sorry..." Gil said slowly, "no, it was my fault, I thought it would be a few days, but it turned into months, I did leave a letter, saying I would be back soon..." she looked down.

"May you could write him another letter, just telling him your doing well, and he shouldn't worry!" Gil smiled to her.

The princess looked up at him, and nodded.

The two worked on the letter for most of the day, telling him of her journey, leaving out the illegal parts, and where she is now of course, but still just to make sure he knew she was alright, and will be back as soon as she can.

After the two went out to check out the small village that helped Cole.

They even saw Daisy, Jaylen and Hector having a snow ball fight.

They thought of joining too, but ended up finding some small shops to check out.

Then they all met up for Dinner.

~Ralph ~ Ryan~

When the sun was about half way in the sky these two finally woke up.

Ralph had learned of the joy of waking up late, and Ryan was always waking up late.

They decided to hang out that day, because they were last to wake up, and because everyone else where already gone.

They had eaten Lunch, then went out, Ralph saw Cole with the strange girl at the top of the hill, the two were laughing.

He smiled to himself, then looked around some more.

It was a cold day, but the sun still shinned, making the silver snow glitter like diamonds.

After some time, Ryan and Ralph found a pub.

The two entered, and found some men playing Poole.

They ended up joining, then betting loser buys drinks...

They stayed there until the sun went down...

Then they all met for dinner.

~Rita~

Rita woke up before Ralph and Ryan did.

She found herself wandering around town, seeing Jaylen, Hector and Daisy playing with some of the local kids made her smile.

And she even saw Gil and Silvia shopping.

But when she walked she found herself making her way to a few trees...

It was a path through a wintery frozen forest.

She made her way to the path, then started walking down it...

"I'll have to get Cole to make something for me about this place..." She murmured to herself as she walked.

When she made it to a clearing, she saw a few people practicing to fight in the snow, and over ice.

She blinked. Then made her way over.

"Excuse me?" she asked, and a few of the men turned.

The manly man turned, "Yeah miss?"

"I was wondering what you're doing here?" she questioned.

"Ah yes, we are training rookies how to fight in the snow" Then man looked at them.

"Oh" Rita looked at them, "May I train with you as well?"

The man looked at her shocked.

"If you think you can, we have weapons in that bucket" he pointed to a barrel of swords.

Rita scanned the area, and found a few staffs just lying around.

"I'll use one of these" She took her jacket and scarf off, then picked one up with a smile.

"Are you sure? A Sword Is A Mans Weapon!" he questioned the woman.

"Good thing I'm a lady" Rita gave him a cocky smile.

"Fine, fine" he said, then turned to the Rookies, "Alright!" He yelled to them, "Let's See How A Woman With A Stick Does Against Your Captain!" he spoke in a booming tone.

"Is that a Challenge?" Rita laughed.

"Bring it."

Then man picked up a weapon, and turned.

They started at each other, he sliced his blade down, but Rita used the staff to spin out of the way, then smacked his butt with the stick, he turned fast to look at her smirk.

The man steamed angrily.

He turned fast, cutting at her, and swung up after. Rita twirled the staff around, making the snow blow up, the in the mist she hit his arm hard.

The two fought for at least an hour.

Rita won of course, then taught the men a lesson of how not only a sword if useful, but using anything is helpful.

Then after showed as she taught.

Then they all met up for Dinner.

~Chapter End!

I hope you enjoyed! Until next time! X3