.^^ Duncan ^^

— Fa Shiro —

The bay of the flyer slowly opened, allowing me to walk the princess down towards the front door of the modestly sized home at the top of the cliff.

"Say what you want about the house, they have a King's View..." she murmured, gazing out over the city.

I nodded. "That's true. And they're very militaristic people, when it comes to decoration and building styles, but I hear good things about their music."

She smiled, gently knocking on the door. "I hope they're true... there's nothing I love more than good music or a beautiful blade."

The door opened, revealing the same giant of a man, Knight-Captain Roland. He grinned, and bowed his head respectfully, then whistled sharply in the direction of the stables.

I noticed a smaller building, on the very edge of the cliff, and hummed, as Duncan came out of it, wiping chalk dust off his hands. "Oh! Hello, Princess! And Shiro, yes?" He held out a hand to me.

"How'd you tell?" I asked, shaking it and then looking at the chalk on my hand morosely.

"Sorry, chalk. And it's your hair. Yours has bits of red in the roots. Did you dye it at one point?" He asked curiously.

"It was a phase when I was younger." I shrugged.

He nodded, and held out his arm to the princess. "Right This Way, then, I've got something cool for you to see."

She smiled and gripped his elbow. "Do tell!"

"See, you said you liked music, last time we spoke, Yeah? Particularly Western Flutes?" He asked, leading her towards the small shed.

I hummed, narrowing my eyes, but relaxed at the simple interior, filled with masonry tools, and a portion of the ground was covered in slanted holes of different shapes.

She responded. "Indeed, Yes, and?"

"Well, I like Chalk Art, so I figured I'd hit two birds with one stone! Watch this, and cover your nose with this." He handed her a silk handkerchief, and covered the lower half of his face with a bandanna, handing me one as well.

I raised an eyebrow, just as a soft series of precise flute notes flowed out of the holes, playing a tune, and then jettisoning chalk powder onto the wet canvas, finally choking the room with dust. I covered my mouth and nose quickly, and then blinked in shock at the beautiful mixture of colors on the canvas as the dust began to settle quickly.

The princess gasped, as soon as I nudged her and told her she should open her eyes. "How did you do that? Do you have Wind magic?" She asked.

He shook his head. "Nope. Just good timing. See, that wind was the Northeasterly, which hits that specific part of the mountain every five minutes. So, I carved some tunnels down to the spot, then I made molds, so I can change the shapes as often as I want, and I just put the chalk in there, and then wait for the magic to happen on its own! And it's beautiful, either way, the sound or the colors."

She grinned. "That is masterfully Done... but speaking of colors..." she looked down at her ruined dress and hair.

He blinked. "Oh! Oh, right, uhhhhhhh, OH! Wait, I've got it somewhere... aha!" He poured some glowing water on his hand, and suddenly all the chalk turned to mist, leaving his skin steamed perfectly, his hair shiny and slicked back, and even his clothes in proper order. He offered the canteen to us, and I took it, testing it warily.

The chalk all went away, and I hummed, pouring some in her cupped hands. The chalk turned to mist, and Her hair righted itself immediately, something her famous platinum spikes hadn't managed, to my surprise. Her makeup also disappeared, to her surprise.

Duncan grinned. "See? There you are, without all that stuff. Perfect. But sorry about your hair, I didn't think about that properly. You want to go outside, so there's no more chalk explosions?"

She smiled warmly. "Sure... and thank you. Not many men say nice things about a woman when she's not wearing makeup."

He blinked slowly. "Why not? Makeup is just fake stuff people put on themselves to look different. It's a mask, is all. If they prefer the mask, tell them to hit the road." He shrugged as if that was incredibly simple logic, to him, and then sprayed a thin cloud of something onto the chalked canvass.

"I suppose... what is that? Glue?" She asked.

"Sort of. It's sealant, like for ships. I use it to keep the chalk from smearing." He explained, moving it away from the holes and into the window to dry in the sun, then led us outside, shutting the door just before another chalk explosion.

She chuckled at the fine dusting of chalk that made it through the door. "That's actually very fun. I can easily imagine many hours of amusement. I wish it could play different tunes, though..."

He grinned mischievously. "It does, actually! There's four different winds that hit the spot, at four different intervals, and they all play different notes. Next is the Easterly Proper, in three minutes. Also, I'm working on making something to play notes with, to control the flow of sound, like a real Flute... but I don't have it quite figured out, yet. I will soon!" He assured us hurriedly, grinning again at the apparent challenge he had set for himself.

"I believe you... so, you're a Knight... and an artist? And a Mason... What else, a belly Dancer?" The princess giggled.

He laughed, and shook his head, sitting on a bench on the outside of the shack. "No, that is a skill I do not currently possess... my Clan demands that each of his children learn a real trade, other than being a Knight. Mine is Masonry. The art part is just another portion of my family. My father paints, my brother and I sketch, my sisters carve wood and shape glass... it's just a part of us."

Then he raised a hand, silencing her reply, as a second set of notes began to play, a lighter, aerial themed piece, only about fifteen seconds long, but nicely composed.

"Did you compose them, as well?" She asked.

"No, a friend of mine, he makes flutes, so I asked him for some tips on how they make music, and then I worked the stone until it was an exact match. Took the better part of the past year, actually, to make the whole thing, and all this week, on how to make the music follow some semblance of a form. Originally, I was just making it for my art, and the sound wasn't the real point, just a nice side effect." He grinned guiltily.

She shook her head. "It's wonderful."

He looked up, counting under his breath, and smiled as a third, completely different sound cane through, lasting almost a full minute. It wasn't flute, that time, but almost like an improper use of a War-Horn, and just as loud. But despite its cacophonous volume, It was deep, eerie, and mournful; a funeral dirge of sound, almost like a Gregorian chant.

"The Southerly, or Austral Wind... sometimes called the Dead Wind. I figured it was fitting to make it sing a Forenzian Dirge." He grinned through a deep blush, apparently embarrassed with the level of dedication and detail he had put into it.

The princess slowly used the handkerchief, dabbing at one corner of her eye. "That was beautiful... Shiro, I want one."

I laughed softly. "I don't even know how to tell you how little luck you're going to have with that request."

Duncan blinked slowly. "You can come and listen, anytime, I don't mind, and my father won't mind, so long as you stop landing the Flyer in the Horse Clearing."

She nodded. "Yes, that-... wait, Horses? Show me!!!" She demanded, already looking around.

He led her to the stables, smiling at her tone as if he found her demands cute, not annoying. He led out a giant of a beast, and smiled as the horse sniffed him. "This is Hex, the smallest, and the gentlest. She's still young, only 12, but she's already had two colts and three fillies, and they've all grown to be the biggest of the lot."

She blinked. "The smallest? She's at least 24 hands!"

He shrugged. "Welcome to the world of Forenzian Warhorses. Smoke over there is the biggest we've ever had." He nodded over at a pitch-black horse in the back of the stable, his nose nearly scraping the roof when he tossed his mane.

She grinned widely, and held a hand out for the mare to sniff. "Hello, there, Hex! I am Princess Sun Eita-Mae, but you can call me Mae, if you like." She kept talking to the horse casually, stroking her face gently, until the horse lipped her pockets, and turned to the side, giving her its back, so she could mount.

However, the horse was about 6ft tall at the back, and she failed miserably, ending up hanging over the horses side.

"Stuck? I have you." Duncan casually lifted the princess, as if she weighed no more than a small feather pillow, and set her on the horses back.

She blushed, and gently pet the horse's mane. "Will she let me ride her around with no bit or saddle?"

He laughed, and entered the stable, exiting on the back of Smoke. "She'll follow the leader of her Herd, sure. Come on, Smoke!" He whistled once, and the horse thundered off like an arrow, instantly accelerating and keeping that speed, as they both disappeared down the mountain path.

I blinked. "Wait... fuck... what about me?"

"Ha! Being the third wheel sucks, eh?" The Giant man, Roland, clapped me on the shoulder, appearing from the shadows. "Don't worry, Duncan is too shy to do anything stupid."

I snorted. "It's her I'm worried about. He seems to have a brain in his head."

He laughed, and sat with me on the edge of the cliff, watching them chase each other in the weirdly colored plain below. Then he handed me a cup of ale, sipping from his own. "So the Emperor wants Forenzia." He said simply.

I started, and then nodded. "As does everyone else."

He looked into his cup, and nodded. "Bad timing... we're close to gaining seats on the Council, and finally clearing out the Corruption that has plagued Lumeria for centuries." He sighed.

I sipped the ale, and hummed. "Maybe it's not my place... but if your Clan were to take a Monarchial position... a merging of the North and West would be best for everyone. No more border skirmishes... we could focus on the world beyond our borders, outside the archipelago's... develop more medicine and machines like Rune's, so they're not just for Nobles, anymore. It would be good." I shrugged.

He chuckled. "And there would be bad, as well, but there always is... markedly less, though, and more spread out, you're right... maybe. If we had someone powerful to back our claims." He shrugged casually when I cut my eyes to him, and took a deep drink from his cup, to hide his face.

I nodded slowly. "In a better world."

He grinned, and raised his cup in a toast. "Yes... To a better world."

—

"That's what he said? Word for word?" The Emperor hummed, tapping his fingers in a rhythm.

"Yes, Emperor." I nodded.

He grinned wolfishly. "I always liked Roland, even when we skirmished against each other in the Straight of Calder... he had an air about him, a calmness that never broke, not even when he went to war... a poise, you might say. And Raven, as well, though hers is the exact opposite, an everlasting Tempest of natural power..."

I nodded again. "He does seem that way, Emperor... but also not above cunning, which is useful."

"Oh no doubt! He understands strategy... and all he really wants is peace, so his people can be the Warriors in the Garden of his paradise island, once more..." he sighed.

I blinked slowly. "Sorry?"

"An old proverb... 'it is better to be a Warrior in a Garden, than a Gardener in a War.' It was one of my father's favorites, and his as well. Roland as King... a new, Pure Dynasty in the Northern Islands, a Dynasty of Honorable Knights, under the banner of the Roland's, and the Order of the Golden Isle... Yes, that could work. Bring me ink and Paper, and find me my older daughters's ladies in waiting."

I bowed, and went around the castle, finding all three of the older daughters, all around 20-22, born of harem women, like me, and lastly finding ink and paper, as well as a brush and quill, bringing it all to him quickly.

He nodded, and looked at his daughters, then their ladies. "A recent event has brought the attention of the empire to Forenzia, a northern Island that breeds some of the strongest and most honorable warrior-Knights on the face of this planet. We ask each of you to go there, and attempt to find a proper match. If you don't find one you like, it's fine. It is not an arranged marriage, after all, we want you to choose a suitable partner. There's no timeline, no rush. If large, beautiful, honorable, kind Knights and Lady-Knights are not your type, you may recuse yourself from the 'Hunt'." He chuckled.

There were a few soft titters in the group, but they didn't dare laugh in his face, even when he did.

"Ulfavir is also an option, as we are soon to finish establishing a full Colony on the western Shore, and a Port City, eventually... but for now, scatter to the northeasterly wind, dears... and Kuro, go check on Princess Mae, make sure she isn't embarrassing us." He sighed, a thought occurring.

I bowed and exited, going down to the courtyard, where I found the princess trotting the massive horse she'd bought (at great expense) from Roland. Hex danced around her stud, Smoke, while Duncan laughed and gave her small tips on how to ride without a saddle.

"Use your knees to grip behind the shoulders, but don't squeeze unless you feel like you're going to fall! You just lean the opposite way from the fall, and hold on, then right yourself. Works 9/10 times." He chuckled.

"What about the tenth time?" She squeaked, trying to be gentle with the mare's mane.

"You fall, and then you get back up." He shrugged, and slung his coat around her shoulders when she shivered in the brisk morning air.

She blushed, and nodded. "Thank you... it's very warm."

He grinned. "It's magic! Rune made it, a while ago, on my first expedition!"

She blinked, and was halted from replying when a whistling sound filled our ears, and the horses stopped moving. Duncan dove off his horse, tackling the princess, just as a hail of arrows slammed into the wall behind where they'd been.

I whistled for the guard's, drawing my sword, but then paused, as Duncan stood up slowly, three arrows sticking out of his left shoulder. "Are you alright?" I asked, grabbing the princess and pulling her behind a barrel, tightening the armored coat around her.

He cracked his neck slowly, ripping what remained of his cotton undershirt off, the muscles of his shoulder pulsing, and slowly forcing the arrows out of his body by pure force of will, it almost seemed like.

"Oh Damn..." the princess smiled.

I paused in my rebuke of her, seeing suddenly the bright blue glow his eyes pulsed with, as the wind around us shivered, and the breeze suddenly smelled of Salt. Mist started forming on my breath, and the next round of arrows simply melted in midair, splattering against him and almost oiling his bare chest.

"Ooh... oh my..." the princess purred.

"Think of the situation, Little sister, and please shut up!!!" I hissed.

She was going to respond, before Duncan summoned a large sword made of corral and obsidian, then stabbed the ground. Veins of that same blue energy from his eyes spread forward, and changed the grassy courtyard into a lake, plunging the archers into cold, icy water.

The horses clopped away casually, apparently used to displays of Elemental Magic, and wandered over to us, eating a little grass.

Duncan looked down at the archers in the water, and frowned slowly, his usually jovial features turning nothing short of deadly. His voice matched, making me shiver a little in pity for them. "I do not approve... of your methods... nor your target... but if you surrender, I will spare your lives, for now. If you resist, I will give you, right now, an extremely grisly death." They stared at him impassively, and he nodded. "You may wish to look away, Mae..." he growled, removing his sword from the ground.

I covered her eyes, as the lake suddenly froze over, and they were locked in it's embrace, the ice turning, in an ever-expanding circle around them, blood red; as it visibly ripped their bodies apart, leaving only the icy facades behind.

"Release me!" Mae snapped.

"Trust me, you don't want to see that... dear god's I wish I hadn't seen that." I valiantly held back a rising of bile, and shook my head to clear it. "Is that all of them?" I called out.

Duncan looked around slowly. "I cannot See any others, but there's a chance they've run away. I would close down the port, and look for anyone looking to make a swift exit, see if they knew these people." He gestured at the perfectly preserved faces of the enemies.

Mae managed to look through my fingers, and stifled a scream by biting her knuckle, eyes wide with shock.

Duncan heard her whimpering, and darted over, shoving me out of the way. "Are you injured? Did I not block them all?" He asked, boldly checking her for injuries, then covering her in the coat, properly slipping her arms into it.

It shimmered, and stretched into a full formal kimono, but didn't restrict her movements, it looked like. She was momentarily distracted, and gasped, touching the magical silk. "What is this?" She asked breathlessly.

"That... would be My work... and I would like an explanation, Duncan, as to why you are bleeding." Rune spoke, standing behind us, and petting smoke's nose gently, but his aura was bloodthirsty.