Keiko and all the other girls had seeked shelter as soon as it started raining. They found a nice patch of trees near by were they could hide from the fight.
Keiko watched in horror as she saw for the first time just how bad this thing was turning out. She was greatful to Kakeru for telling her to get out of there and probably saving her life and identity. If she hadn't been killed they most likely would have sent her home. She didn't even wanna think about what her parents, the king and queen, would have done if they found out that she was running around the country with a bunch of boys and servents dressed as a male.
But it pained her to watch as evryone was hurt.
They were terribly out numbered and it would take a mirracle now to save them.
She winced as she saw Anji get lashed in the arm, Otaru fall to the ground uncounsious, and Kakeru being gained up on with more then just a few soldiers.
"Huh? Who's that?" Keiko whipered to herself.
"What?" the other girls asked, who had over heared her mumbling.
Keiko pointed to the dark figure who had run ontu the battle feild and had taken the limp Otaru in her hands.

"MMMmmmm...." moaned Otaru. He had gotten pretty beaten up after he had fallen off his horse. Horses galliping around him, weapens falling at his feet, and getting trampled on by blind soldiers.
He opened one eye, then the other.
Staring down at him was a red head stranger.
"How you feeling?" asked the stranger.
'Like heck...' thought Otaru, but didn't respond out loud.
"Were am I?" he asked, trying to sit up.
"In my little humble cottage." replied the little red head.
"I saw how you were so unfairly getting trampled on out there. So I brought you in out of the cold." she told him.
"Thats war for you." said Otaru.
"Yes, but still." she stopped, for moment, getting off his bed to make him some soup. "My names Aika. Whats yours?"
"Is the war still going on?" he asked, ignoring her question.
"Yes, but you need to rest." she said, coming back over to him with warm soup.
"Alright." he agreed, thankfully taking the soup and laying his head back on his pillow.
Keiko grinned impishly as she realized that her small group was gaining the advantage of their miniscule battle. Often, she found her eyes wandering in the direction of Kakeru, as he struggled valiantly to ward off the flood of soldiers with nothing but his long, and surprisingly plain, sword. She'd had no idea the stubborn, stuck-up prince could fight so expertly!

Anji, she observed, wasn't doing quite as well. Often, he would struggle to stay atop his jet-black horse, while at the same time struggling with one or two soldiers. Keiko realized, quite suddenly, that she had never once seen her brother use any weapon other than a long bow. She cursed under her breath, catching Staci's attention as she too watched the battle.

"What's the matter, Keiko?" she asked in a whisper, though she seemed unaware of it.

"Anji's no good with a sword!" she said hotly, staring intently at her brother. "He needs a bow!"

"Well, the fight's almost over, anyway," Rina said pointedly, her face pale and drawn. "We can carve him one after this is over. Actually," she added, "I think we could all probably use weapons after this..."

Keiko nodded her agreement, then turned back to the battle. The knight, Jiro, was knocking the last of the enemy soldiers off of their horse with the butt of his broken wood-lance, and, with a sickening crack, the man's skull broke, and he toppled off his horse with a moan. Kakeru quickly snatched the horse, along with the other horses that the soldiers had fallen off of.

Quite unexpectedly, the rain began to calm, then cease, and Keiko, Rina, and Staci ran from their hiding place to assist in any way possible. Then something suddenly struck Keiko's mind like a blow.

"Where's Otaru?" she asked the approaching forms of Kakeru, Anji, and Jiro.

Jiro, still holding the shaft of his broken and splintered lance, turned in his horse and looked around. "I knowest not where he might be..." he said vaguely, his expression going curiously blank.

None of them seemed to take notice of the tiny cabin not far from them, where Otaru was held in the care of a red-haired girl.

Otaru warily watched the freckled girl, Aika. He simply KNEW that he had seen her somewhere before...

"You know," he said with furrowed brows, "You look very familiar..."

Aika blushed. "Do I?" she giggled, and absently began smoothing the covers of Otaru's bed. He watched her still, trying to recall some memory of this girl.

Unexpectedly, another girl entered the room, carrying with her various jars and cloth. Realization struck Otaru like a bolt of lightening to the ground, and he sprang up in his bed.

"You're from Sosaria, aren't you?" he asked, almost accusing, the two girls. The girl who had just entered the room nearly dropped the tray she was holding in surprise, and the red-haired girl went pale. She bolted up from her chair, and ran to the side of the darker girl.

"Are you with Obari?" she squeaked. Otaru shook his head fervently and crossed the room to reason with the panic-stricken girls.

"No! I was a servant there!" he explained, "I remember you two as courtiers! Why aren't you there anymore?"

Aika's face still looked slightly suspicious, while the dark-haired girl's face was searching. Then she gasped.

"Hey!" she said, "You're that one serf boy who worked for Obari, right?"

Otaru nodded. Both girls smiled. "My name's Naoki!" the dark-haired girl giggled, and waited for the serf boy to introduce himself.

"My name is Chinen Otaru," he said with a formal bow, and the girls went into a fit of giggles. The blood rose to his face, and he stood.

"Why aren't you both at the palace?" he asked again, and the giggling ceased immediately. Naoki's face went considerably pale, and Aika stepped forward to explain.

"Obari was angry after the princess disappeared," she said gravely. "He forbid the courtiers from entering the castle anymore, and he accused US of helping the princess to run away. He was going to chop our heads off or something, so we ran away. We rode non-stop for about three days, then we came across this place. It was abandoned, but it was still clean, so we just kind of... moved in."

"That's horrible!" Otaru said through ground teeth. Aika looked at him helplessly, while Naoki had returned to her tray of medicines.

"Here, you should drink this," she said, holding out a cup filled with a vile-smelling liquid. Cautiously, Otaru took the cup from her, and lifted it to his lips. When he had finished the entire thing, he nearly toppled to the floor in disgust.

"What IS that?" he choked, falling back on the bed. "It tastes AWFUL!"

Naoki grinned. "Well, then we know it's working," she said, "If medicine tasted good, my patients would want to stay sick just to have more of it."

Otaru blinked. "I hadn't thought of that."

"I didn't think you had."

Aika giggled.

"Let us come with you!" Naoki argued much later that day, as the sun began shining through small cracks in the little cabin.

"But it will be dangerous," Otaru said pointedly. Aika folded crossed her arms in irritation.

"You know, we're only going to follow you in the end," she observed, "And that would be far more dangerous than having us come along with you."

Otaru sighed in defeat, and the two girls giggled happily.

It took them a short time to get ready and pack their supplies, Naoki taking longer in the preperation of her medicines. When asked just to leave them behind by Otaru, she gave him an icy glare, and he backed off.

It was nearly nighttime by the time the small group left, and they got straight to attempting to locate Otaru's group.

"I'm sure that they wouldn't have left without me," he murmured to himself. Aika took a look around.

"Well, that's where your group fought earlier today," she said, pointing in the direction of a large trail, where ominous patches of black and red painted the ground. Not far off was a large clump of dug up dirt.

"Looks as if they had sense enough to bury everyone," Naoki observed, approaching the blood-stained ground. She stood on the spot for a short while, and Otaru and Aika watched her intently. What was she doing...?

Naoki's head shot in the direction of the bramble at the side of the trail. She ran to it, Otaru and Aika close at her heels. When they had successfully pushed their way through the bushes, they could plainly see an orange glow off in the direction of the forest.

"A fire!" Otaru exclaimed happily. Grinning, he ran toward it. The two girls let out excited sounds and followed him closely.

The group was located in a convenient clearing, each looking very solemn. Jiro, seated closest to the edge of the clearing, turned from sharpening a new wooden lance to look at the approaching serf and the two girls, and a smile broke the ominous look on his face.

"Our companion doth return!" he announced, and all eyes turned on Otaru. They stood joyously, all in one motion, and went to greet him.
That night Keiko couldn't sleep. She kept thinking about the war. She hated fighting, she thought it was stupid, and that things could be solved a lot better by just talking them out (even though she knew her self that she was terrible at it.)
She got up and walked over the sleeping figures of her companions and walked over to the river they had been lucky enough to find.
She bent down to take a sip, then sat back on the ground.
She thought of their two new companions and how Otaru and that red head Aika were quite taken with eachother.
Keiko felt happy for them, but she also felt jealous. She wanted someone to care for, someone to care for her...

Kakeru had awaken to someone stepping over him, accidentily squashing his pinky (hehe ^^). Evidently who ever it was didn't notice because they just continued on stumbling in the dark.
Kakeru got up and followed the mysterious shadow to where-ever it was going. Thinking that it might be a robber.
He followed the dark figure to the river were it bent over to get a drink then sat back, deep in thought as it seemed.

Keiko's mind wandered to her parents. She never knew she could miss someone who barely ever listened to her ideas and went on arranging her future, telling her what to wear, what to eat, were to go, when to talk... and who to marry.
It's not that she didn't like Kakeru (even though he did get on her nerves sometimes) but she wanted to fall in love on her own accord.
She wanted to find mister right by herself. And for all she knew it could be Kakeru, but she wasn't sure. And she couldn't find out by being locked up in a castle for her whole life.

Kakeru hid behind a tree nearby, waiting for the figure to make a move. He could tell he/she were thinking about something. He wandered what...

Despise all her parents had said and made her done, deep down she knew that she loved them. She remembered her father teaching her how to ride her first pony he had gotten had gotten on her tenth birthday (yeah, I know. Hard to imaging that old geizer on a horse, right?)
She felt her body start to shake and tears sting her eyes as she remembered her mother, and how she liked to watch her get ready for balls when she was younger. She always bueatiful, but Keiko thought she looked like a angle that had fallen from the heavens in her ball gown.
Now she couldn't hold them back anymore, she burst out into tears hoping they couldn't hear her back at camp.

Kakeru watched closly for a while untill the figure began to shake.
'Huh?' he thought.
Then he saw as who-ever it was couldn't hold back their feelings anymore and broke down, small sobs escaping from their throat.
And he relized who it was,
"Keiko?" he called out softly.

'Great,' thought Keiko, whipping her tears away and trying to control her sobs. 'Someone followed me.'
"Are you alright?" Kakeru asked, coming nearer and placing a hand a on her sholder.
"How long have you been there?" she asked, sniffing, and holding back another dose of tears.
"For a while," he answered, looking down at her. "Whats the matter?" he tried again.
That was the last peice of string she was holding unto and it finally snapped.
She broke down into tears again, letting all her feeling about this whole thing, the war, the fights, her parents, Otaru and Aika, and this arranged marriage.
Kakeru sat down beside her and wrapped his arms around her waist.
"Shhh... It's alright," he said, stroking her hair and letting her cry into his shoulder. She just kept on rambling and rambling.
Kakeru really wasn't listening to what she was saying. He just tried to comfort her in anyway possible telling her over and over again that it was okay and she didn't need to cry, rocking her back and forth, stroking her hair, and cuddling her close to his chest.
Her tears eventually calmed, and they both fell down into the soft grass, falling into peaceful slumber...

*In the morning*

Anji woke up early in the morning, he started down to the river to freshen up and quench his dying thirst.
But when he got there a very displeasing sight met his eyes.
"KAKERU, I'LL KILL YOU!!!" He yelled.

"You no good, lousy, no good excuse for a human being!" Anji shouted as he struggled against Keiko's grip to rip Kakeru's throught out (^^ I wouldn't mind). "I'm gonna use your intestines to choke you to death!"
Kakeru paled as he stared, frozen stiff, at the infuriated prince. Keiko tried to calm down her raging brother. "Stop it Anji! We didn't do anything! You think I'd do anything with him?!" she screamed in frustration, trying to cover up her embarassment. The rest of the group had waken up to the sounds of Anji's threats, and had gathered around the stream. Each and everyone of them were amazed, and fearful, of how quickly Anji's temper could rise. She felt guilty as she saw the sudden pain on Kakeru's face. She immedietly felt horrible. It's true that he had comforted her in the night, and she was grateful to him for that. She decided to apologize later, but she had to calm her brother down before he thought of more ways to kill Kakeru. In the corner of her eye she could see Otaru running up to her and helping hold back Anji. Anji was starting to wear out.

Slowly and calmly, Naoki walked up to the struggling prince, and pressed a firm finger near the base of his neck. Immideatly, and to everyone except Aika's suprise, Anji slumped into Otaru's and Keiko's arms. Both of the blinked a few times, while Kakeru gave a relieved sigh. Otaru looked at Naoki, dumbfounded.

"How'd you do that?" he asked.

Naoki chuckled. "Pressure points. You just need to know where they are, and you can knock out just about anyone." Aika sighed and rolled her eyes. 'Show off' she thought. She walked over to the slumped heap that was causing a commotion a few seconds ago, and helped Otaru and Keiko carry him back to his "bed". She looked him over a little, then turned to Naoki. "You pressed it too hard. He'll be out for a couple of hours."

"Oh great. That'll just set us back a couple of hours." Kakeru complained. Aika narrowed her eyes. "I don't need to remind you that you're the cause of this riot." She said blaintly. Kakeru blushed at the thought of what caused the fight.

Otaru looked at Keiko inquisitively. "Just what was that ruckus about anyway?"

Keiko panicked. She rubbed her neck and laughed nervously. "Oh, nothing important".

Aika rose an eyebrow at Keiko skeptically. "I don't know..." she murmured, looking at the still form of the red-haired prince. "It seemed pretty important to Prince Anji..."

Keiko decided to ignore the comment, and Kakeru coughed nervously. Naoki, with Otaru's help, had lifted the prince to his feet and began dragging him away from the large stream.

Later into the morning, as Naoki began preparing a hearty breakfast of porridge and salted bacon, they began to plan; something they had forgotten to do for the entire week they had been travelling.

"So where are you headed, anyway?" Aika asked curiously. "You say you've been travelling nearly a week, but to where?"

The knight, Jiro, decided to answer her question. "I, myself, Lady Aika, art destined to reach the lands of Par Duneth."

"Par Duneth?" Kakeru questioned with arched eyebrows. "Isn't that the place where the hundred-year war was fought a long time ago?"

The knight nodded somberly. "'Tis true. Those lands art home, also, to the most regal training grounds of all time. It is indeed my destiny to train there; to become exceedingly more skilled, if it is at all possible, than I already am. Surely, thou didst know that?" his eyes narrowed at the pale-skinned prince.

"Actually, I didn't know that," Kakeru answered coolly. "I come from a very concealed kingdom, you must remember. I know very little about anything but that which surrounds me."

"Ah," Jiro said, "Thou dost speak a great truth. Forgive me, then," he inclined his head slightly. "I am acting as one shrouded with ignorance."

"Perhaps you're just excited at the prospect of training?"

The armored knight suddenly laughed. "I suppose thou art correct."

The chestnut-haired knight continued to converse with the prince, while Keiko found herself drifting to where the blond girl, Rina, sat watching the two.

"Have you noticed the way that knight talks?" Keiko mentioned to the tiny girl quietly. Rina nodded thoughtfully.

"I was just thinking about it," she said, furrowing her brows. "He can't be from Allaria, like he says. Only Argorites still speak that way..."

Keiko looked at her companion incredulously. "You mean to say that he's an Argorite?"

Rina nodded somberly. "Although, their kingdom fell apart nearly fifty years ago..." she said, "I wonder what he could possibly be doing here?"

"You don't think he's some kind of spy?"

Rina shook her head in a determinate "no". "Argorites are like a race of knights," she explained. "The only people that ever make the good spies are the Talishans... like Mai was," she added thoughtfully.

"Who's Mai?" Keiko asked, her hazel eyes sparkling curiously.

"She was one of the women working at the... brothel," she said with a note of disgust. "She was always competing with me for the attention of the mistress, and the respect of the women there... I really hated her."

Keiko looked on with understanding. They were silent for a moment.

"What were you and the prince doing this morning?" Rina asked suddenly, breaking the small silence. Keiko's eyes widened with surprise, then a deep blush rose to stain her cheeks.

"Nothing," she said quickly, causing a grin to break out on Rina's small face.

"Ah, I see," she said, nudging her friend in the ribs with her elbow. "Got a thing for the prince, have you?"

The blush in Keiko's cheeks turned a deep crimson, and she didn't answer.

"Breakfast!" Naoki's voice rang out quite unexpectedly. The group, looking suddenly ravenous with hunger, lunged toward the pot that held their morning's breakfast. Acting quickly, Naoki slapped away the hands of the armor-clad knight and the pale prince with a small wooden spoon before they could touch anything. Jiro looked slightly foolish as he stepped away, followed closely by Kakeru.

"So have we decided where we're headed?" Naoki said, pouring large dallops of porridge into small bowls. Keiko took one of these bowls hungrily.

"I think we're heading to Par Duneth," she said through a mouthful of bacon. "Aren't we?" she asked Jiro inquisitively. The knight nodded in confirmation, and, shyly, took one of the bowls that had been placed on a small cloth near the steaming pot.

"Thou art indeed highly skilled in the art of cooking, M'Lady!" Jiro said happily through a spoonful of porridge. Keiko nodded her agreement.

"Otaru helped me," Naoki said, jerking a thumb at the dark-haired serf. Keiko raised an eyebrow at him questioningly.

"I only helped with the flavor, a little," he said bashfully. Naoki smiled at the blushing boy, and handed him a bowl of porridge and bacon.

Now they were back on the rode. And this time they knew were they were going.
Keiko was very tired so they let her ride on a horse. Kakeru steared the horse, leading the way.
"How much farther to Par Duneth?" Keiko complained for the hundreth time.
"I told you 5 minutes ago that it was a least a couple hundred miles. We haven't even walked a mile since then." said Anji who had just waken up about an hour ago and was still angry from this morning. He stayed close to Keiko, watching Kakeru's every move.
'I'm suddenly grateful Keiko decided to run away instead of marry that oaf.' he thought.
"Ugh..." complained Keiko who's rear end was getting soar from the horses bumpy riding.
"What are you complaining about?" snapped Aika. "Your not even walking." she said, rubbing her ankle while trying to balance on one foot.
"Fine," Keiko shot back. "I'll walk!" she said getting off the horse and emediatly stumbling from lack of using her feet for the last hour.
"Whoah, watch your step." said Kakeru grabbing her shoulders to help support her.
"Umm... Thanx." said Keiko, blushing.
Ever since last night Kakeru had been very shy and quiet. Completely not himself. Those must have been the first words he had told her all morning. She was grateful that he wasn't mad at her harsh words earlier that day.
Anji shot daggers with his eyes at Kakerus back, thinking, 'let go off my sister you *&$%@$&*...(pardon my french)'
Kakeru, realizing that he was still holding Keiko, let go quickly, causing her to stumble again.
"Opps, sry." he said.
"No, it was my fault." Keiko said, gaining her balance and keeping her eyes on the ground from embarresment.

They walked on for a couple hours. Kakeru consitrating mostly on his elbow that would brush up against Keiko's every now and then. Keiko would walk back and forth from Anji and Kakeru, bugging them on how much longer this was going to take.
"You act like such a baby, you know that?" Anji said coldly.
Keiko didn't mind though, she just stuck her tounge out at him and ran ahead of the goup, skipping.
"See what I mean?" Anji muttered under his breath.
Jiro over heared him and shaked his head sadly at their childish sibling rivarly.

By night fall Kakeru was back to his normal self, bossing people around.
"Lets stop here for the night." he said poingting to a clearing in the trees.
"There's still a little light. We can still get a good hours walk if we keep going." Anji said, glaring at Kakeru.
"Yeah, well I'm tired. I say we stop here for the night!"
"I don't care if your dying! If were ever going to get to Par Duneth we need to keep going."
"We can walk another mile, TOMMORROW!" he yelled, glaring back.
"No-" Anji started, about ready to throw another insult at Kakeru but was cut off by Keiko, the voice of reason (yeah right).
"Lets just walk a little while then stop for the night." she said, stepping in bettween the two glaring rivals.
"Why are you taking HIS side?!" Kakeru exclaimed angrily.
"I'm not, I'm just-"
"Oh, so your taking HIS side!" accused Anji.
"No I'm-"
"So, who's side ARE you taking?" they both exclaimed at the same time.
"STOP SHOUTING!" She yelled, finally frustrated. "look, we'll walk another mile! Kakeru, U (stabbing a finger in his chest) can ride a horse."
Kakeru fwapped Keiko's hand away, "No if were going to keep going then I'm going to WALK!, Like a man." he said determaindly.
"Baby," Keiko said, before they started walking again to the middle of no were.

"Okay, now WHY did I pay all that money for these horses if we're NOT going to use them??" Keiko pouted.
"HUH?!" Everyone sweatdropped as she pointed to Otaru, who silently led the other four horses. Everyone sweatdropped again.
"Well why didn't you mention that BEFORE??" Anji and Kakeru said in unison.
Otaru sweatdropped, and Keiko giggled. Anji took the horses. "Now we got the horses problem again. Let's see. Aika and Naoki can sit on one, then Rina and Staci, then Keiko and.." He looked at Otaru, Jiro and Kakeru. "ME.." He snarled. Jiro smiled, and Keiko rolled her eyes. "Lets see, that leaves.."
"I'll walk, M'Lord." Otaru said.
Anji wanted to thank Otaru, but he didn't. Instead, he simply nodded.
"I guess that means we're not stopping.." Kakeru said.

Once back to traveling, which was MUCH easier now that they were all, or, almost were all on horses.
"Curious.." Rina said.
"What?" Staci asked.
"Well, His Highnesses Prince Anji and Prince Kakeru and Her Highness Princess Keiko aren't treated with much respect as those of their stature should have, yet Otaru, and Sir Jiro still treat them with such."
Staci shrugged. "That's because Jiro has been trained for honor, and Otaru for respect. They know their place." She said.
"And what about you?" Rina asked.
"I figure, they will have to learn, on this journey, we can't go around calling them 'your highness'. They better get used to it."

A few hours later, many of them were drowsily resting on their horses. Naoki's eyes jerked up. "It's a city!!!" She said excitedly.
"This close?" Staci yawned.
"Oh, no.." Rina said.
"What??" Kakeru looked worried.
"We have to go around." She looked at Anji.
"What IS it?!" Anji said impatiently.
"It's Talish..." Rina said.

"..And she excaped with the Prince!!" Nakaijima said angrily. "I saw them get together with a knight and a dirty little merchant boy."
"Thank you.." Obari smiled evilly. "Thank you very much, Youki." He put his hand on her knee.

"These people are scoundrels!!" Rina exclaimed. "If we go in there, it will be like entering a den of snakes!"
"I heard Talish is like one big bandit camp." Aika said.
"Can't we just go right through?" Keiko asked.
"I think it would be faster." Otaru frowned. "But much more dangerous than going around."
"This is the only way." Kakeru stated. The, up until now, together Rina was shaking.
"Don't worry, M'Lady, I'll protect you," Jiro smiled at her. She blushed.

As they entered the city, people watched them. Some snickered, others sneered. Most of them grinned slyly at the newcomers. Naoki felt eyes peering at her in every which way, and clung tightly to Aika. "Naoki! I can't breath!!" Aika said nervously.
Keiko shivered at this place. Otaru looked around cautiously, and Kakeru narrowed his eyes. The streets were covered in filth, children wailed in the buildings and men fought in the alleys. Other men shouted at the girls. Keiko was in disgust.
"Probably the first time you've seen such a clean human being!" Keiko sneered.
"What was that?" One of the bigger men approached.
"Shut your mouth, woman!!" Jiro said. Keiko looked at him in shock. How could he treat her with such disrespect?
"Hey, Jiro! I-" Keiko fumed.
"Be quiet, or should you wish to stay here with these fine gentlemen??" Jiro laughed with the men. Keiko opened her eyes widely. Was he actually going to leave her there?
"Play along!!" Anji whispered. Keiko raised an eyebrow, then looked at Jiro, who winked at her.
'OH!!' She thought. She lowered her head.
"You have your women well trained," A man beside Jiro snickered. Keiko, Aika, Naoki, Staci, AND Rina all shot evil looks at the man.
"Ah, and they have spunk!" Another said.
"Pig!" Aika exclaimed.
"Maybe it would be wise to keep your mouth shut, wench!" Another man said. Rina was unusually silent.
"I'm NOT a wench, you-" Aika started to say.
"Will you just shut it??" Rina said shamefully.

Aika's eyes filled with a sudden hurt. Rina, feeling like she had just done something terribly cruel, reined her horse in beside the one the red-haired girl and Naoki shared.

"I didn't mean to sound harsh," she apologized. "It's just the men in this town don't care what women are or aren't. To them, we're just women. Just stay quiet and keep your eyes focused on the road, okay?"

Aika nodded quietly, holding back an onslaught of tears. Rina smiled sadly. /She's not used to being treated like this at all.../

The men at the side of the street soon bored of the caravan, and they went in search of the nearest pub (they hadn't long to search, for the pubs were on nearly every street).

Keiko breathed a sigh of relief and fell in next to Rina to talk. Rina noted, with a ponderous glance at the Sosarian princess, that she had been doing that quite often since she had joined their party.

"How did this city become so horrible?" Keiko asked quietly with a note of disgust in her voice. Rina looked grimly down the alleys of the city, a kind of sadness passing over her.

"It's not just this place, you know..." she said quietly. "It's this whole kingdom."

Keiko blinked. "You mean we're not in Sosaria anymore?" she asked, a note of panic escaping in her words.

Rina shook her head sympathetically. "We haven't been in Sosaria since we passed through Falcam," she explained. "We're in the kingdom of Mar Talisha, now."

The princess suddenly paled. "How big is this kingdom, exactly?" she asked in an off-hand voice.

"Not very big, thankfully," Rina answered. "The entire kingdom is very scummy and over-populated... I feel sorry for the people here..."

Keiko shot a glance at the door of a tavern that had just banged open. Two men, obviously drunk and red in the face, stumbled out with arms around eachother's shoulders, singing mirthfully. "They don't seem to mind much..." she noted with contempt at the staggering men. Rina shook her head with a small sigh and slowly brought her horse in next to Staci's.

"How much farther do you think we have to go through here?" Staci asked immediately, disgust painting her face. Rina looked on at the roads ahead of them, and her brows furrowed.

"I don't know," she said wearily. "This is a pretty big place..." she left it hanging. Staci smiled understandingly.

"Do the others know you used to live here?" she asked quietly. Rina shook her head.

"No, I don't think I really WANT them to know." she cast a weary glance at the figures of the men ahead of her, and smiled. "It's bad enough that I worked in a brothel, and--"

"It wasn't your fault!" Staci suddenly burst out, and Rina flinched. "It wasn't your fault that you worked there! It really wasn't your choice, you know."

Rina shrugged. "I know, but..." she sighed. "Nevermind. Let's go check with the princes and Sir Jiro and see how far we're planning to go today."

Staci looked through the blanket of smog that covered the city and up into the sky. "Day only has a few more hours left, anyway," she noted, squinting into the ominous gray sky. She rode forward with Rina to talk with the men.

They rode steadily the remainder of the day and made it safely through the bleak city. They set up a small camp not fair from it, though far enough to escape the sudden stench that seemed to surround it. Their make-shift fire did little to warm their spirits as they sat beside it that night.

Otaru, looking in comparibly better spirits than the rest of the group, sat with hands outstretched to the fire, quietly humming to himself. Kakeru watched him with a look of odd disgust.

"How can you be so cheerful all the time?" he blurted suddenly, and all eyes turned to him. Otaru, grinning slightly, took his hands from the fire and looked him in the eyes.

"How can YOU be so bleak all the time?" he asked slyly, "Doesn't it bore you at all?"

Kakeru crossed his arms in irritation. "Being gloomy only makes being happy all the better." he explained casually. Otaru shook his head.

"Pardon me," Jiro said abruptly, "But I am also curious to know how thou art capable to hold up such spirits constantly. Prithee, couldst thou humor us?" he grinned.

"Certainly," Otaru replied, "Just don't let anything get to you."

The group stared at him. Otaru grinned. "I noticed today that all those things those drunken men were saying today was seeping into all of you," he explained. "You took all of their petty insults personally, and you shouldn't do that. It only makes things bad. And if you just consider the bright side of things--"

Anji interrupted. "I've heard this speech before," he said bitterly. "I should just look on the bright side of things. Tell me, Otaru, just what WAS the bright side to crossing that horrible city?"

At his comment, Otaru broke out into a warm smile. "Why, getting to the other side." He left it at that, and his hands returned to the fire. The group stared at him in awe for a moment, before shaking their heads, not understanding the way the serf boy's mind worked.

Keiko went to bed that night very cautiously. She was scared that at any minute a soldier would jump out from behind a tree, starting yet another fight were all their lives were in danger.
She eventually managed to fall into restless troubled sleep.