Chapter 11

It was hard, Kairi decided, to be so close to her country yet be unable to go see it. Yes, she heard of its destruction-slash-death and she was on a mission, but it didn’t make it any easier for her to kill the need to set her eyes on what used to be the place she called home.

Stein had – probably rightly – decided that he’d represent the both of them in the currently-ongoing meeting with the other leaders who would lead platoons in the upcoming battles. She did not know how Stein was planning to handle the meeting, but she was going to put her faith in him. He’d told her he would try to get her posted at the Jajya wall so she could deal with the enemies that came that way (‘personally’ was left unsaid between the two).

Karyme offered to give her a quick tour of the estate, and Kairi accepted it. As already implied, the tour was quick, with Karyme pointing her towards rooms she would need to use in the duration of her stay there, and a cursory mention of the other rooms available in the estate. After that, she showed the younger girl the gardens.

“This is also the place I practice whatever spells I have in my arsenal,” Karyme knew she was blatantly lying, but she felt justified doing it. Kairi was restless ever since Stein entered the meeting, and from what little she knew of the cocoa-haired teen… “Go ahead and practice some spells. I’ll watch.”

Surprised, Kairi turned to the blond. “Seriously?” she asked, her tone one of disbelief. Karyme elegantly quirked a brow – Kairi did not want to know how such an action could be done elegantly – and the younger conceded. There were several spells from the book she read that she was itching to try out, with most of them being in elements she never used before.

Karyme stared at the younger female for a while before she decided she did not like that smile on Kairi’s face. It was creepy. The “oh you don’t know what you just asked for” sort of creepy. The Doyle heiress resolved to have Aydan’s spells on hand… just in case.

Twenty minutes and fourteen heat shields later, Karyme resolved to never be near the younger Thyride whenever she was trying out new spells. The almost-insane giggling every time Kairi managed to get a spell right – and when she did not get it right, for that matter, was quite disturbing. It was as though the younger female had never had so much fun before in her entire life – which led Karyme to question what kind of childhood Kairi had lived through.

Oblivious to the thoughts running rampant through Karyme’s mind, Kairi continued her attempts at perfecting the Lightning-element spell she was learning. It was a hard one – then again, Lightning was a difficult element to learn, much less master. She had her right hand in front of her chest with her left gripping her right wrist. The spell she was aiming for required her to mold the element into a ball, and releasing it would cause damage equal to ten explosion spells… or so it said, theoretically.

“Oy, Kairi!” Stein’s voice cut through her concentration just as she nearly managed to finish compressing the tennis ball-sized lightning. Yelping, the ball dispersed and she was thrown backwards, stumbling a little to get her footing back – Karyme’s heat shield kept her firmly in place. Kairi flailed her hand – for such a small thing, that spell packed a lot of punch.

“What is it?” she asked as Karyme dropped her shield and came up to check on her hand – the elder winced slightly at the mild burn marks on Kairi’s visible. Stein came up to them, took a look at Kairi’s hand himself and smacked her upside the head.

“Let’s get your hand looked at first, then I’ll let you know.”

~*~

After Kairi’s hand was bandaged with a stern warning from one of the doctors to not attempt Lightning-based spells without a Lightning-user nearby, Karyme surprised herself by still hanging around with the Duo. They found themselves back in the garden, settling themselves comfortably under a tree.

“It will be dark soon,” Karyme commented, and Stein glanced at the sky, as if surprised the day was ending so soon.

“What was it you wanted to tell me?” Kairi asked, prodding Stein’s arm to get his attention back on the matter. Stein shook his head, as if to rid his mind of intruding thoughts and grinned at the younger teen.

“Guess where I got you posted,” he announced a little smugly. Kairi blinked at him slowly for a moment before her eyes widened.

“No way. You got me the Jajya wall? Seriously?” Stein’s response was to continue smirking his ‘hah told you I could’ smirk and the youngest among them did something Karyme thought Kairi would never do. She squealed and proceeded to hug the life out of Stein, who flailed his arms in a desperate ‘get this mad woman off me’ moment.

Five minutes later (in which Karyme took two minutes to snap out of her surprise, two to laugh at Stein’s predicament, and the final one minute to pry Kairi off him), Stein broke the other news he had. “We aren’t sent to the same area, though.”

Kairi froze then. “What?” she asked, all joy gone. The younger’s reaction was confusing for the Doyle heiress, but Karyme watched silently as Stein poked her right in the middle of her forehead, a gentle smile on his features.

“Hey, relax. I’m close enough that I could provide back-up when your side needs it,” he told the suddenly-glum female. “Remember what I told you whenever we spar? You can choose who to hurt and who to protect.”

Then, Stein did something that made Karyme laugh inwardly. Completely breaking the almost-touching mood he set with his own words, he started shaking the cocoa-haired teen, with each shake emphasizing his sentence: “You. Can. Choose. Who. To. Hurt. You. Stupid. Woman.”

“I think she gets your point,” Karyme chided gently, her tone one of extreme amusement. Stein blinked at her, as if to say ‘fine, steal my fun away’, but gave Kairi one last forceful shake before he huffed and crossed his arms. Kairi blinked the dizziness away from her eyes, shaking her head in an attempt to right her world.

The moment her vision was not swimming anymore, the youngest of the three began chasing her partner around town in a game of tag of epic proportions – Karyme swore she saw the Duo pass her at least five times in the span of three minutes. She stood there, trying hard to hide her amusement at their childish antics before she called for a halt to their impromptu game fifteen minutes later.

“Time for food, then rest,” she told them, laughing at their playful teasing of each other. They really are relaxed, Karyme thought to herself as she played sarcastic peacemaker to their cheerful banter. It’s as though they aren’t at odds with the upcoming battle at all!

A little more silent observation, though, told Karyme that it was all an act. Kairi, if possible, was even more restless than usual, hiding it behind smiles –her eyes were what gave her away. Stein was worried all right – his agitated fiddling of his swords’ straps said it all, but he focused his worry on making his partner more confident in her abilities. Her family’s bodyguards and the additional soldiers sent by Lord Aitelorn, as if noticing and realizing the Duo’s banter to be a way for them to deal with the stress and nerves of an upcoming battle, made no comment.

Dinner was a peaceful affair, but Karyme was pretty sure none would sleep soundly that night. She did not realize when she nodded off, but when she had awoken early the next day, neither Kairi nor Stein were within the walls of her home anymore.

~*~

The first thing Kairi did when she got to the Jajya wall, much to the surprise of the other commander and soldiers with her, was scale it. It was her motherland beyond these walls – she could not help herself. She remembered traditional buildings intermingled with more modern designs; greenery that was cared for by the elderly; the feel of “home” no matter which part of the area you were in…

“…I should’ve known better,” Kairi muttered to herself, taking in the unsightly rubble that was once the place she called her country. “It was a false hope.” And it was. Everyone told her that – even Seloria. But she still clung onto the prospect that something would have been saved.

It was a subdued teenager that returned to the area they dubbed camp. Kairi deflected all questions by running around to help get things organized, and politely steering the concern away from her when asked. She kept it up for quite a while before running away with the commander and other squad leaders for a strategy meeting.

They were barely three minutes into the meeting before a runner came up to them, out of breath and holding onto one of the chairs they did not occupy for support. “The enemy has been spotted!” Kairi’s eyes widened and the older individuals in the room with her began muttering amongst themselves.

Rather surprisingly, Kairi regarded the runner first; her bright eyes a hue darker than usual. “Are they attacking?” she asked, voice oddly calm. The runner shook his head, already catching his breath.

“No, but-“

“Perfect,” Kairi cut him off, already thinking of their next move. “Knowing Cain, we’re outnumbered, correct?” she asked, lacing her fingers together as she propped her elbows on the table. The runner nodded, and her grin was absolutely feral. “You guys start thinking,” she declared, standing up and turning towards the exit of the huge tent they were in.

“What are you doing?” one of the squad leaders asked in mild annoyance, but he was mostly concerned. Kairi was the same age as his oldest daughter, for goodness sakes!

“Simple,” she said, smirking. “I’m going to tear through their numbers. Makes things a lot easier for when we have a set plan to take them down.”

Kairi chuckled darkly, and her departing words caused chills to run down the others’ spines. Being so used to Kairi’s happy-go-lucky attitude, the promise of pain and death in her tone shocked them. “They will never know what hit ‘em.”

~*~

Kairi got herself slightly beyond the Jajya wall. She shed a few tears when the full weight of her once-home destruction hit her, but kept going. Much of the landscape remained the same as the once-bustling country she remembered, much to her surprise, but she still mapped its current state of destruction into her mind as she walked, ducking into nooks and crannies when she sensed people walking around her.

She moved in that manner for a while, making sure her footsteps were quiet and constantly hiding behind walls or ducking into a hidden corner whenever she heard noises or sensed human presence – more than a few times she barely escaped having to engage in combat. Finding the area that was once her home, the cocoa-haired teen ignored the pang of sadness that rose within her, choosing to focus on the task at hand.

She ran up a hill that, in her memories, was behind her home and skidded in an abrupt halt when she spotted tents. So they’re here, she thought, a wry smile on her features. How ironic, Cain. How ridiculously ironic.

“Mystics,” Kairi called in barely above a whisper, smiling when she felt the familiar weight of her daggers fall into her hands. In slow, careful moments, she stood, mentally running through what she remembered of Jajya’s land – the hill was quite prone to landslides, and the only reason why her family’s home once stood where it did was due to the spells that were previously up to stop the soil from hitting the residences.

“This definitely works to my advantage,” she muttered, a slow smirk forming on her features. Kairi started chanting a spell under her breath, but cut herself short and ducked behind some rubble when she heard footsteps and voices.

“Man, this sucks,” a male voice – possibly around 20, grumbled. “Why can’t we attack immediately? I came for the action, not to scout around like idiots.”

“Fool,” an older-sounding male voice retorted. “Scouting is as important as fighting.”

While the voices bickered, Kairi did a discreet scan. Besides the obvious two, there were three others. Perfect, she thought, before tuning back into the little debate they had going on about scouting and fighting.

“-what would happen if you don’t scout and you run into kinks in our plans, huh?”

Kairi emerged from her hiding place then, snickering in an almost insane manner. “Something like this,” she answered in an oddly gleeful tone, daggers spinning frightfully fast. Two of the people she sensed earlier panicked slightly, but followed the lead of the oldest looking one in pulling their swords out. Another two stepped forward, looking as though they itched for a fight.

The oldest one appeared to recognize her somewhat – though from where Kairi did not know. “No, fools, fall back!” he ordered, but the two engaged her in combat, charging with far-too-eager battle cries. Her eyes flashed an odd hue of red, and no one saw how she felled the two rash fellows. All they knew was that she used her daggers, for she took a quick moment to flick the blood of its blades.

“So… who’s next?” she asked with a benign smile, as if she did not just kill two men in an action far too fast for their eyes to follow. “Don’t worry though,” she added as she advanced on them, and the oldest of the remaining three moved to guard his two still-alive charges, even with knowing it’d be futile.

Her eye colour changed from orange to red, and her smile was not assuring at all. “None from your end will escape alive.”

~*~

It was in the late evening that Kairi returned to camp, and with her being almost completely covered in blood, it served for them to panic – especially since Stein mentioned that she was not completely confident in her skills.

“What, no, I’m not injured,” Kairi told them in bewilderment when someone sent a healing spell her way, her bright orange eyes blinking in confusion. “The blood isn’t mine.”

They were a little slow on the uptake, Kairi noticed, watching in something akin to bemusement as they slowly turned and gaped at her. “What?” came the chorus of confused-slash-concerned shouts, and Kairi rolled her eyes.

“The blood isn’t mine,” she repeated slowly, peeling off a torn sleeve that stuck to her skin from the blood. “Be prepared to fight tomorrow, though. I’m sure they won’t continue to keep quiet after tonight.” She made a little disgusted face at the torn fabric. “I’m going to change. Be back later.”

She left them at that point to disappear into a tent she claimed as hers the day before whilst the rest of them murmured and whispered amongst themselves, confused by her flippant attitude. It was less than a minute later that an odd-sounding explosion occurred, and Kairi flew out of her tent with a zipped-up jacket hiding her half-nakedness, scaling the Jajya wall once again. She swept a glance over the horizon and giggled.

“That spell really works well,” she commented, jumping off the wall and hop-skipping back to her tent, humming. Just as her being disappeared into the tent, a runner came up to the other leaders, panting.

“That… that explosion,” the runner said, attempting to catch his breath and report at the same time, “caused a landslide in Jajya. I... I don’t know what caused it, but…” the runner took a breath, “it happened in the area where most of Icolo’s tents were set up. We… we stand a decent chance at winning this battle now!”

As one, everyone but the runner turned to the tent Kairi disappeared into. “What else is she capable of?” came a hushed whisper, but no one had an answer to that.

Early the next morning, a runner sounded the alarm – the same one that indicated enemy forces were attacking. All that were fighting found themselves awake and prepared within seconds, and with Kairi at the very front of the lines, they charged out to meet them.

The war had officially begun.