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lucathia25k words! That's halfway! \o/ But only 10 days left for the rest, the other 25k, and I haven't even finished today's word count. OTL But I finished this scene, so... *grins*
Haha, look, Tekatme's still around! Don't know why his part was so hard to write this time around... Rykatu was easy this time. XDDD
Part 7 ~ 3394 words
TEKATME
"So, what'd you need me for this time?" asked Tekatme as he scratched at his bandages. He'd gone home and changed out of his blood-stained shirt - lord, it felt so good to be out of that collared pain in the ass. While he was at home, he also replaced his makeshift bandaging with some real bandages like his sister always nagged was the smart thing to do, because if that tiny little scratch on his neck turned into an infected mess, it'd be no one's fault but his own.
His captain had his arms crossed. At least he didn't look annoyed or angry, just sort of stern as he watched Tekatme's approach. He smelled kind of dissatisfied too. There went Tekatme's hope that he didn't have another lecture waiting for him. Lord, why was it that nagging followed him everywhere? He had enough of it back home. He didn't need his captain adding to it.
"I heard you were actually a pretty good escort, Tekatme. You surprised me," said his captain.
Huh?
Tekatme breathed in deeply. That was not dissatisfaction. Lord, that was carefully hidden amusement!
When Tekatme looked again, his captain's solemn expression had melted into a grin. His eyes, which had looked full of disappointment to Tekatme, were now teasing. Lord, the guy was toying with him, making him think he was in trouble! If his captain wasn't angry, he should've been smiling from the start or something instead of trying to trick him like that.
Tekatme scowled and dropped his hand from his bandages. He had to resist picking at them. When he actually stopped to think about what his captain had said, his scowl grew even more. Lord, his captain was the one who had assigned him the job in the first place, so what was with his shock?
"Well, thanks for your vote of confidence," grumbled Tekatme sarcastically. "If you thought I was going to royally screw it up, you shouldn't have thrown that job at me." He crossed his arms. His captain wasn't the only one who could cross his arms and look intimidating. Tekatme could too. He glowered to good effect.
His captain chuckled. The nerve of the guy, seriously. If he'd been anyone else, like that partner of his who liked fish too much for his own good, he'd have punched or kicked him for that without a second thought. His captain should be thankful Tekatme respected him too much to actually do that.
"I guess Rykatu didn't say anything bad about me?" asked Tekatme, since if he had, his captain surely wouldn't be all smiles. As he asked this, he gave up on crossing his arms - it wasn't like his captain was reacting to it - and reached up to flatten one of his stupid tufts of hair. It immediately bounced back up once he let go, the stupid thing.
Both of his captain's eyebrows shot up. Was it because Tekatme had called Rykatu by name without a title? It shouldn't be that big a deal. It wasn't like any of them used any titles with Shikatshi even though he was practically running all of Veline by himself.
"He said you did well, though he didn't say much more than that. Strange guy," commented his captain with a thoughtful look.
That sounded like Rykatu all right. Thank lord he hadn't badmouthed him to his captain - Tekatme didn't need another lecture - but that wasn't saying much, really. It wasn't like Tekatme thought Rykatu was going to go out of his way to make a complaint. He'd actually have to speak and all, and he just couldn't be bothered, could he? Lord, Tekatme had tried prodding the guy to speak, but all he got were movements so slight that they almost couldn't pass for a nod or a shrug. You'd have to be a mind reader to understand the guy, seriously.
All in all though, the day hadn't been a complete waste like Tekatme had thought it'd be. He'd gotten to know the next-in-line of the dragon tribe by name, and he'd even gotten a spar out of the guy by accident. He was also pretty proud of himself for behaving so well, at least, up until the point he'd stupidly startled Rykatu into action.
If this was what being an escort was like, then Tekatme thought it was actually a tiny bit better than guard duty at the northern gate. Just a tiny bit. At least he got to walk around. Didn't have to stay glued to a barrel all day with nothing better to do than stare off into la la land. But lord, walking? He couldn't believe he just thought walking could count as not-boring. Walking was totally boring.
The fight though, that had been exciting. Unexpected benefit for sure, something he shouldn't have provoked Rykatu into at all, but lord, it had been awesome, and lord, could Rykatu fight! That nitoryu technique of his when he'd used two blades had been way cool, waay cool. The fight had been too short for Tekatme to figure out if Rykatu's style was based on anything, but from what little he had seen, Rykatu seemed to be self-taught with his swordsmanship.
His fighting ability kind of made up for the not-speaking thing he had going on. After all, exchanging blows with someone brought you that much closer, right? Fighting was a language in and of itself. The guy had been so much easier to understand once he whipped his magic out. Like when he had that blade of ice against Tekatme's throat. See, no misunderstandings there, right? Rykatu had been out for his throat...not that that was a good thing for Tekatme.
On the other hand, speaking to Rykatu had been, how should he put it, almost like speaking to a cat who couldn't care less. You never knew when he was listening or when he was completely ignoring you.
Tekatme turned around in a huff and leaned against the wall to wait for whatever was going on in the meeting room to finish. He couldn't imagine that meeting was going on well with how little Rykatu liked to talk. It'd be such a one-sided conversation. He was probably giving those sort-of-nods and sort-of-shrugs of his again. Were all dragons like him, or was that just how he was?
As he waited, he pulled on his other ridiculous tuft of hair that just wouldn't stay down. The damn thing immediately popped back up when his hand left it. He took to staring at the wall across from him instead. It was decorated with three small tapestries, probably done by Lady Tokara herself. This whole building was full of them. He'd heard something about how Lady Tokara was quite a weaver in her spare time when she wasn't playing at one of her disappearance acts. Seriously, when was she ever around? He hadn't seen her once during his entire stay in the village.
His captain leaned back against the wall as well. "So, what happened to your neck?" he asked.
Tekatme scowled. He had a feeling he was going to be asked this question a lot as long as these lord forbidden bandages were around his neck. The bandages were so white, they were practically blinding - and you'd be blind not to notice them - and lord, they were going to garner so much unwanted attention. He sighed and made a face, hopefully one that said that he was stupid and already knew that, so please drop it, okay?
"I snapped my fingers in front of his face," muttered Tekatme.
"And?" prodded his captain. Ugh, so he wasn't taking the hint. Lord dammit, damn his captain for wanting to know the details. He was such a busybody. Tekatme didn't understand why there were so many girls swooning after him when he was basically just a big worrywart and nagged way too much for his own good.
"Flames erupted from my hands. He kind of freaked out. Next thing I knew..." Tekatme mimed having a knife against his neck.
His captain snorted. The nerve of the guy, seriously! Tekatme was indulging him, lord! He didn't have to tell him a damn thing if he didn't want to, captain or not.
"That was dumb of you," his captain said, shaking his head. He had one hand on his forehead as if he couldn't believe what Tekatme had done.
Tekatme rolled his eyes and bit out his answer. "I know." His captain didn't have to rub it in.
"And pretty impressive of Prince Rykatu. He must be light on his feet, or else he wouldn't have been quick enough to take you by surprise," mused his captain while rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "I wonder what kind of training he's done?"
There was that. Tekatme was kind of wondering too. Did the guy train both in his human form and in his dragon form? What would Rykatu be like in his dragon form? More than that, what was he capable of in his dragon form? If Rykatu had transformed in the middle of their fight, Tekatme didn't think he would've done as well against the guy, but Rykatu probably hadn't even considered transforming, not when they were right smack in the middle of a populated street.
"Be glad he's not going to make a big deal out of this. It could have turned into an incident," added his captain, arms folded once again in that intimidating way of his, not that Tekatme was going to get intimidated, no way. Way to douse Tekatme's fun, lord.
"Yeah, yeah, I know that too," muttered Tekatme, waving his hand in the air in dismissal.
His captain sighed and shook his head. "One of these days, something will happen and I won't be able to cover for you."
He smelled worried. Damn him for caring.
Tekatme continued staring at the tapestries on the wall. When that day came, that'd be the day he skipped town. He'd grown to like Veline well enough, and he'd miss some of the inhabitants, but it was no big deal or anything. He'd just be a little disappointed. Just a little.
"So, who's in there right now? Lady Tokara?" asked Tekatme. He had enough of his captain's worries. Time to change the subject. He tried taking a sniff to scout out who was in the room, but all he smelled was the scent of wood. Some of it even smelled rotted, ugh.
"No, she hasn't returned yet," answered his captain.
Seriously? Where the lord was she? He thought she'd at least return to greet Rykatu in person. She was Veline's leader after all.
"Oh, then that means Shikatshi's in there?" he asked.
Shikatshi was Lady Tokara's right-hand-man. Though he was the second-in-command, Tekatme saw the guy a whole lot more than he'd ever seen Lady Tokara - which was never - since she was always out, supposedly doing something important for Veline, but who knew. For all Tekatme knew, she could be out sightseeing or something whimsical like that. There was even a period of time when Tekatme had thought that Shikatshi was the leader since he'd never seen Lady Tokara around. He didn't find out until much later that he wasn't. Maybe he should have wondered, since Shikatshi didn't seem much like leader material in the first place. He was also completely different from all those power hungry idiots that ran the other villages he'd come across.
Tekatme hadn't given it much thought, but Shikatshi was a funny one. Even though he looked like he could be strong with his build, the way he presented himself screamed of his lack of confidence. If not for that, he could've totally run Veline by himself with that mind of his even without Lady Tokara. But well, who knew how the minds of leaders worked? Tekatme would've never wanted the position and all the stress that came along with it. Lord, the guy was practically a walking bundle of nerves.
"Yeah, and Shikatshi's doing well," said his captain fondly, who Tekatme had heard was childhood friends with Shikatshi, or something like that. Tekatme had never asked, but they seemed enough like buddies to Tekatme for him to believe what he'd heard about them.
"Lady Tokara, on the other hand..." started his captain before trailing off.
"What about her?" asked Tekatme.
He immediately regretted asking because his captain was positively beaming at him, but he smelled not-so-benevolent. Tekatme had a bad feeling about this. A very bad feeling. He scooted away from his captain and stared at him with distrust.
"I'm glad you asked!" his captain exclaimed with a huge smile plastered on his face. "Actually, she's been delayed in one of our neighboring villages. I heard you've visited the place before, so..."
Oh lord no, now his captain wanted him to be an errand boy? What the lord happened to being a guard?
RYKATU
"What the lord, seriously? You know, I think I'd rather have guard duty back now."
When Rykatu exited the meeting room, his escort was pleasantly shouting at Captain Akatkai in a voice that was loud enough to wake a sleeping dragon halfway across the mountain. Rykatu had already heard muffled snatches of the conversation from inside the meeting room, but once he opened the door, he was greeted by Tekatme shaking his fist at Captain Akatkai to complete the picture.
Rykatu stopped in the doorway. Shikatshi stopped right next to him and started wringing his hands together when he saw the squabbling duo in the hallway.
"Ah, ah, they are always like that. No need to pay them any mind, hahahaha..." Shikatshi's voice trailed off when Tekatme leveled a glare at him. Rykatu felt Shikatshi take a step back, seemingly hoping Rykatu would be able to shield him, which was fairly impossible. Even if Shikatshi bent down a lot, he would still be sticking out from the sides, since he was, on a whole, a lot more massive than Rykatu.
Captain Akatkai flicked Tekatme's ear.
"Ouch!" exclaimed Tekatme, hand immediately flying to his ear. He scowled and bared his teeth at his captain.
"That's not how you should treat Shikatshi, Tekatme," reprimanded Captain Akatkai. He looked towards where Rykatu and Shikatshi stood, and was actually looking past Rykatu. Rykatu didn't have to turn to know that the man was trying to catch Shikatshi's eyes to apologize for Tekatme's behavior. Captain Akatkai really took it upon himself to keep Tekatme in line.
Tekatme scowled even more, his eyebrows drawing together in displeasure. "Whatever." He huffed and turned his back on Captain Akatkai.
Around Tekatme's neck, Rykatu could now see pristine, white bandages. It relieved him to know that Tekatme had changed his bandages. That sash he had used earlier would only have made his injury worse in the long run. He had changed his clothes too, to something much simpler and much more comfortable looking. The fact that he wasn't pulling at his collar anymore attested to that. Rykatu was looking forward to changing too once he left the village.
"It's fine, Captain Akatkai!" said Shikatshi quickly. He took a step forward so that he was no longer hiding behind Rykatu. He wringed his hands some more. "Anyway, Prince Rykatu would like to take his leave now, so would you please show him out of the village, Tekatme? I would appreciate it," said Shikatshi, turning slightly towards Tekatme.
"What, you're leaving already?" asked Tekatme loudly, spinning around. The scowl dropped from his face.
Rykatu caught Tekatme's gaze - his sharp, orange eyes were colored with surprise - and inclined his head in affirmation. He heard a soft "oh" come from Tekatme that most likely went unheard by the other two in the room, and saw Tekatme duck his head, his two tufts of hair flopping down in his movement.
Rykatu had thought Tekatme would be more relieved to see him leave, but no matter what anyone felt, it was time for him to depart from Veline.
-----
Tekatme walked him to the northern gate, though Rykatu could have easily found the way there himself having traveled the path once before. Shikatshi and Captain Akatkai had both been adamant, however, that Tekatme showed him the way. It would not do for the dragon tribe's prince not to be accompanied by an escort, or so Shikatshi had said.
At the gates, the guards were different from the ones Rykatu had met the day before when he had arrived at Veline. Tekatme greeted them with a nod and walked Rykatu out. He supposed it was a good thing Tekatme was with him - it made leaving through the gates much easier. The guards merely looked at him curiously but didn't ask any questions.
Once outside, Tekatme stopped and turned around. He scratched the side of his nose. "I guess this is farewell, huh?" he asked. The sky behind him was painted a mixture of red and orange with the setting sun. Tekatme blended right in, the dying sunlight creating a glow around Tekatme's silhouette. It was a little hard to see what kind of expression Tekatme wore with his back against the sunset.
Rykatu inclined his head. It had been quite an experience having Tekatme as his escort in this village that was so close yet still so foreign. Veline still felt foreign to him even after this visit, but Rykatu thought he knew it slightly better now, and he had also learned a little about human customs in his short stay.
"Sorry about spooking you earlier," said Tekatme. He rubbed his nose, his eyes looking far away, as if recalling what had occurred back in the village. He pulled himself back, his eyes focusing on Rykatu. "But I'm glad I managed to get a spar out of you. It was thrilling. Wish we could do it again."
Tekatme held his hand out.
In hindsight, the "spar" had been thrilling in some ways, but Rykatu wished never to cross swords with Tekatme ever again. He would be able to hold his own, but he doubted he'd give Tekatme much of a challenge, not when Tekatme was practically in love with fighting and seemed to strive to better his skills all the time. Rykatu fought because it was necessary. He had to fight, or else he wouldn't be able to survive, nor would anyone respect him. Tekatme fought because it was his life, his calling. Such a man would no doubt improve by leaps and bounds while Rykatu could only hope to catch the tailwind of that impressive improvement.
Rykatu grasped Tekatme's hand - it was a little larger than his own, quite warm and rough with blisters - and felt Tekatme close his hand around his. Rykatu shook it once before stepping closer to Tekatme.
"May we never cross swords again," murmured Rykatu. He then let go, straightened his satchel, and started walking past Tekatme.
"What? No way!" exclaimed Tekatme, shaking his head in disbelief. Rykatu glanced back. Tekatme's two tufts of hair were shuddering along with him as he shook his head, and he had his mouth halfway open in his incredulity.
That was exactly how Rykatu had thought Tekatme would react. Now that the matter with Veline was done and over with, and he was on his way home, Rykatu felt like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Suddenly, everything seemed much less severe, and much more optimistic. The sunset was quite beautiful too from this angle, like it was all around him. It was different from what he usually saw back home. He felt a warm kind of feeling bubble inside of him, coming from his stomach, or was it his chest? He covered his mouth, his sleeve brushing against his face, but he couldn't stop it.
Rykatu chuckled as he left, hoping his hand managed to muffle most of it.
Tekatme was probably staring.
"Lord, was that a laugh? Come on, do that again!" And there it was, Tekatme's reaction. Rykatu heard Tekatme yell after him from where he stood by the gates.
Rykatu shook his head and waved without looking back. He had a long trek ahead of him.
"Visit Veline again someday, all right? There's lots you haven't seen yet!" hollered Tekatme.
Rykatu ducked his head, his bangs covering his face, and smiled softly to himself.
Unrelated to the above, but I went to watch Harry Potter 7 part 1 today. ^__^ Am I in an HP mood now? Very.
Haha, look, Tekatme's still around! Don't know why his part was so hard to write this time around... Rykatu was easy this time. XDDD
Part 7 ~ 3394 words
TEKATME
"So, what'd you need me for this time?" asked Tekatme as he scratched at his bandages. He'd gone home and changed out of his blood-stained shirt - lord, it felt so good to be out of that collared pain in the ass. While he was at home, he also replaced his makeshift bandaging with some real bandages like his sister always nagged was the smart thing to do, because if that tiny little scratch on his neck turned into an infected mess, it'd be no one's fault but his own.
His captain had his arms crossed. At least he didn't look annoyed or angry, just sort of stern as he watched Tekatme's approach. He smelled kind of dissatisfied too. There went Tekatme's hope that he didn't have another lecture waiting for him. Lord, why was it that nagging followed him everywhere? He had enough of it back home. He didn't need his captain adding to it.
"I heard you were actually a pretty good escort, Tekatme. You surprised me," said his captain.
Huh?
Tekatme breathed in deeply. That was not dissatisfaction. Lord, that was carefully hidden amusement!
When Tekatme looked again, his captain's solemn expression had melted into a grin. His eyes, which had looked full of disappointment to Tekatme, were now teasing. Lord, the guy was toying with him, making him think he was in trouble! If his captain wasn't angry, he should've been smiling from the start or something instead of trying to trick him like that.
Tekatme scowled and dropped his hand from his bandages. He had to resist picking at them. When he actually stopped to think about what his captain had said, his scowl grew even more. Lord, his captain was the one who had assigned him the job in the first place, so what was with his shock?
"Well, thanks for your vote of confidence," grumbled Tekatme sarcastically. "If you thought I was going to royally screw it up, you shouldn't have thrown that job at me." He crossed his arms. His captain wasn't the only one who could cross his arms and look intimidating. Tekatme could too. He glowered to good effect.
His captain chuckled. The nerve of the guy, seriously. If he'd been anyone else, like that partner of his who liked fish too much for his own good, he'd have punched or kicked him for that without a second thought. His captain should be thankful Tekatme respected him too much to actually do that.
"I guess Rykatu didn't say anything bad about me?" asked Tekatme, since if he had, his captain surely wouldn't be all smiles. As he asked this, he gave up on crossing his arms - it wasn't like his captain was reacting to it - and reached up to flatten one of his stupid tufts of hair. It immediately bounced back up once he let go, the stupid thing.
Both of his captain's eyebrows shot up. Was it because Tekatme had called Rykatu by name without a title? It shouldn't be that big a deal. It wasn't like any of them used any titles with Shikatshi even though he was practically running all of Veline by himself.
"He said you did well, though he didn't say much more than that. Strange guy," commented his captain with a thoughtful look.
That sounded like Rykatu all right. Thank lord he hadn't badmouthed him to his captain - Tekatme didn't need another lecture - but that wasn't saying much, really. It wasn't like Tekatme thought Rykatu was going to go out of his way to make a complaint. He'd actually have to speak and all, and he just couldn't be bothered, could he? Lord, Tekatme had tried prodding the guy to speak, but all he got were movements so slight that they almost couldn't pass for a nod or a shrug. You'd have to be a mind reader to understand the guy, seriously.
All in all though, the day hadn't been a complete waste like Tekatme had thought it'd be. He'd gotten to know the next-in-line of the dragon tribe by name, and he'd even gotten a spar out of the guy by accident. He was also pretty proud of himself for behaving so well, at least, up until the point he'd stupidly startled Rykatu into action.
If this was what being an escort was like, then Tekatme thought it was actually a tiny bit better than guard duty at the northern gate. Just a tiny bit. At least he got to walk around. Didn't have to stay glued to a barrel all day with nothing better to do than stare off into la la land. But lord, walking? He couldn't believe he just thought walking could count as not-boring. Walking was totally boring.
The fight though, that had been exciting. Unexpected benefit for sure, something he shouldn't have provoked Rykatu into at all, but lord, it had been awesome, and lord, could Rykatu fight! That nitoryu technique of his when he'd used two blades had been way cool, waay cool. The fight had been too short for Tekatme to figure out if Rykatu's style was based on anything, but from what little he had seen, Rykatu seemed to be self-taught with his swordsmanship.
His fighting ability kind of made up for the not-speaking thing he had going on. After all, exchanging blows with someone brought you that much closer, right? Fighting was a language in and of itself. The guy had been so much easier to understand once he whipped his magic out. Like when he had that blade of ice against Tekatme's throat. See, no misunderstandings there, right? Rykatu had been out for his throat...not that that was a good thing for Tekatme.
On the other hand, speaking to Rykatu had been, how should he put it, almost like speaking to a cat who couldn't care less. You never knew when he was listening or when he was completely ignoring you.
Tekatme turned around in a huff and leaned against the wall to wait for whatever was going on in the meeting room to finish. He couldn't imagine that meeting was going on well with how little Rykatu liked to talk. It'd be such a one-sided conversation. He was probably giving those sort-of-nods and sort-of-shrugs of his again. Were all dragons like him, or was that just how he was?
As he waited, he pulled on his other ridiculous tuft of hair that just wouldn't stay down. The damn thing immediately popped back up when his hand left it. He took to staring at the wall across from him instead. It was decorated with three small tapestries, probably done by Lady Tokara herself. This whole building was full of them. He'd heard something about how Lady Tokara was quite a weaver in her spare time when she wasn't playing at one of her disappearance acts. Seriously, when was she ever around? He hadn't seen her once during his entire stay in the village.
His captain leaned back against the wall as well. "So, what happened to your neck?" he asked.
Tekatme scowled. He had a feeling he was going to be asked this question a lot as long as these lord forbidden bandages were around his neck. The bandages were so white, they were practically blinding - and you'd be blind not to notice them - and lord, they were going to garner so much unwanted attention. He sighed and made a face, hopefully one that said that he was stupid and already knew that, so please drop it, okay?
"I snapped my fingers in front of his face," muttered Tekatme.
"And?" prodded his captain. Ugh, so he wasn't taking the hint. Lord dammit, damn his captain for wanting to know the details. He was such a busybody. Tekatme didn't understand why there were so many girls swooning after him when he was basically just a big worrywart and nagged way too much for his own good.
"Flames erupted from my hands. He kind of freaked out. Next thing I knew..." Tekatme mimed having a knife against his neck.
His captain snorted. The nerve of the guy, seriously! Tekatme was indulging him, lord! He didn't have to tell him a damn thing if he didn't want to, captain or not.
"That was dumb of you," his captain said, shaking his head. He had one hand on his forehead as if he couldn't believe what Tekatme had done.
Tekatme rolled his eyes and bit out his answer. "I know." His captain didn't have to rub it in.
"And pretty impressive of Prince Rykatu. He must be light on his feet, or else he wouldn't have been quick enough to take you by surprise," mused his captain while rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "I wonder what kind of training he's done?"
There was that. Tekatme was kind of wondering too. Did the guy train both in his human form and in his dragon form? What would Rykatu be like in his dragon form? More than that, what was he capable of in his dragon form? If Rykatu had transformed in the middle of their fight, Tekatme didn't think he would've done as well against the guy, but Rykatu probably hadn't even considered transforming, not when they were right smack in the middle of a populated street.
"Be glad he's not going to make a big deal out of this. It could have turned into an incident," added his captain, arms folded once again in that intimidating way of his, not that Tekatme was going to get intimidated, no way. Way to douse Tekatme's fun, lord.
"Yeah, yeah, I know that too," muttered Tekatme, waving his hand in the air in dismissal.
His captain sighed and shook his head. "One of these days, something will happen and I won't be able to cover for you."
He smelled worried. Damn him for caring.
Tekatme continued staring at the tapestries on the wall. When that day came, that'd be the day he skipped town. He'd grown to like Veline well enough, and he'd miss some of the inhabitants, but it was no big deal or anything. He'd just be a little disappointed. Just a little.
"So, who's in there right now? Lady Tokara?" asked Tekatme. He had enough of his captain's worries. Time to change the subject. He tried taking a sniff to scout out who was in the room, but all he smelled was the scent of wood. Some of it even smelled rotted, ugh.
"No, she hasn't returned yet," answered his captain.
Seriously? Where the lord was she? He thought she'd at least return to greet Rykatu in person. She was Veline's leader after all.
"Oh, then that means Shikatshi's in there?" he asked.
Shikatshi was Lady Tokara's right-hand-man. Though he was the second-in-command, Tekatme saw the guy a whole lot more than he'd ever seen Lady Tokara - which was never - since she was always out, supposedly doing something important for Veline, but who knew. For all Tekatme knew, she could be out sightseeing or something whimsical like that. There was even a period of time when Tekatme had thought that Shikatshi was the leader since he'd never seen Lady Tokara around. He didn't find out until much later that he wasn't. Maybe he should have wondered, since Shikatshi didn't seem much like leader material in the first place. He was also completely different from all those power hungry idiots that ran the other villages he'd come across.
Tekatme hadn't given it much thought, but Shikatshi was a funny one. Even though he looked like he could be strong with his build, the way he presented himself screamed of his lack of confidence. If not for that, he could've totally run Veline by himself with that mind of his even without Lady Tokara. But well, who knew how the minds of leaders worked? Tekatme would've never wanted the position and all the stress that came along with it. Lord, the guy was practically a walking bundle of nerves.
"Yeah, and Shikatshi's doing well," said his captain fondly, who Tekatme had heard was childhood friends with Shikatshi, or something like that. Tekatme had never asked, but they seemed enough like buddies to Tekatme for him to believe what he'd heard about them.
"Lady Tokara, on the other hand..." started his captain before trailing off.
"What about her?" asked Tekatme.
He immediately regretted asking because his captain was positively beaming at him, but he smelled not-so-benevolent. Tekatme had a bad feeling about this. A very bad feeling. He scooted away from his captain and stared at him with distrust.
"I'm glad you asked!" his captain exclaimed with a huge smile plastered on his face. "Actually, she's been delayed in one of our neighboring villages. I heard you've visited the place before, so..."
Oh lord no, now his captain wanted him to be an errand boy? What the lord happened to being a guard?
RYKATU
"What the lord, seriously? You know, I think I'd rather have guard duty back now."
When Rykatu exited the meeting room, his escort was pleasantly shouting at Captain Akatkai in a voice that was loud enough to wake a sleeping dragon halfway across the mountain. Rykatu had already heard muffled snatches of the conversation from inside the meeting room, but once he opened the door, he was greeted by Tekatme shaking his fist at Captain Akatkai to complete the picture.
Rykatu stopped in the doorway. Shikatshi stopped right next to him and started wringing his hands together when he saw the squabbling duo in the hallway.
"Ah, ah, they are always like that. No need to pay them any mind, hahahaha..." Shikatshi's voice trailed off when Tekatme leveled a glare at him. Rykatu felt Shikatshi take a step back, seemingly hoping Rykatu would be able to shield him, which was fairly impossible. Even if Shikatshi bent down a lot, he would still be sticking out from the sides, since he was, on a whole, a lot more massive than Rykatu.
Captain Akatkai flicked Tekatme's ear.
"Ouch!" exclaimed Tekatme, hand immediately flying to his ear. He scowled and bared his teeth at his captain.
"That's not how you should treat Shikatshi, Tekatme," reprimanded Captain Akatkai. He looked towards where Rykatu and Shikatshi stood, and was actually looking past Rykatu. Rykatu didn't have to turn to know that the man was trying to catch Shikatshi's eyes to apologize for Tekatme's behavior. Captain Akatkai really took it upon himself to keep Tekatme in line.
Tekatme scowled even more, his eyebrows drawing together in displeasure. "Whatever." He huffed and turned his back on Captain Akatkai.
Around Tekatme's neck, Rykatu could now see pristine, white bandages. It relieved him to know that Tekatme had changed his bandages. That sash he had used earlier would only have made his injury worse in the long run. He had changed his clothes too, to something much simpler and much more comfortable looking. The fact that he wasn't pulling at his collar anymore attested to that. Rykatu was looking forward to changing too once he left the village.
"It's fine, Captain Akatkai!" said Shikatshi quickly. He took a step forward so that he was no longer hiding behind Rykatu. He wringed his hands some more. "Anyway, Prince Rykatu would like to take his leave now, so would you please show him out of the village, Tekatme? I would appreciate it," said Shikatshi, turning slightly towards Tekatme.
"What, you're leaving already?" asked Tekatme loudly, spinning around. The scowl dropped from his face.
Rykatu caught Tekatme's gaze - his sharp, orange eyes were colored with surprise - and inclined his head in affirmation. He heard a soft "oh" come from Tekatme that most likely went unheard by the other two in the room, and saw Tekatme duck his head, his two tufts of hair flopping down in his movement.
Rykatu had thought Tekatme would be more relieved to see him leave, but no matter what anyone felt, it was time for him to depart from Veline.
-----
Tekatme walked him to the northern gate, though Rykatu could have easily found the way there himself having traveled the path once before. Shikatshi and Captain Akatkai had both been adamant, however, that Tekatme showed him the way. It would not do for the dragon tribe's prince not to be accompanied by an escort, or so Shikatshi had said.
At the gates, the guards were different from the ones Rykatu had met the day before when he had arrived at Veline. Tekatme greeted them with a nod and walked Rykatu out. He supposed it was a good thing Tekatme was with him - it made leaving through the gates much easier. The guards merely looked at him curiously but didn't ask any questions.
Once outside, Tekatme stopped and turned around. He scratched the side of his nose. "I guess this is farewell, huh?" he asked. The sky behind him was painted a mixture of red and orange with the setting sun. Tekatme blended right in, the dying sunlight creating a glow around Tekatme's silhouette. It was a little hard to see what kind of expression Tekatme wore with his back against the sunset.
Rykatu inclined his head. It had been quite an experience having Tekatme as his escort in this village that was so close yet still so foreign. Veline still felt foreign to him even after this visit, but Rykatu thought he knew it slightly better now, and he had also learned a little about human customs in his short stay.
"Sorry about spooking you earlier," said Tekatme. He rubbed his nose, his eyes looking far away, as if recalling what had occurred back in the village. He pulled himself back, his eyes focusing on Rykatu. "But I'm glad I managed to get a spar out of you. It was thrilling. Wish we could do it again."
Tekatme held his hand out.
In hindsight, the "spar" had been thrilling in some ways, but Rykatu wished never to cross swords with Tekatme ever again. He would be able to hold his own, but he doubted he'd give Tekatme much of a challenge, not when Tekatme was practically in love with fighting and seemed to strive to better his skills all the time. Rykatu fought because it was necessary. He had to fight, or else he wouldn't be able to survive, nor would anyone respect him. Tekatme fought because it was his life, his calling. Such a man would no doubt improve by leaps and bounds while Rykatu could only hope to catch the tailwind of that impressive improvement.
Rykatu grasped Tekatme's hand - it was a little larger than his own, quite warm and rough with blisters - and felt Tekatme close his hand around his. Rykatu shook it once before stepping closer to Tekatme.
"May we never cross swords again," murmured Rykatu. He then let go, straightened his satchel, and started walking past Tekatme.
"What? No way!" exclaimed Tekatme, shaking his head in disbelief. Rykatu glanced back. Tekatme's two tufts of hair were shuddering along with him as he shook his head, and he had his mouth halfway open in his incredulity.
That was exactly how Rykatu had thought Tekatme would react. Now that the matter with Veline was done and over with, and he was on his way home, Rykatu felt like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Suddenly, everything seemed much less severe, and much more optimistic. The sunset was quite beautiful too from this angle, like it was all around him. It was different from what he usually saw back home. He felt a warm kind of feeling bubble inside of him, coming from his stomach, or was it his chest? He covered his mouth, his sleeve brushing against his face, but he couldn't stop it.
Rykatu chuckled as he left, hoping his hand managed to muffle most of it.
Tekatme was probably staring.
"Lord, was that a laugh? Come on, do that again!" And there it was, Tekatme's reaction. Rykatu heard Tekatme yell after him from where he stood by the gates.
Rykatu shook his head and waved without looking back. He had a long trek ahead of him.
"Visit Veline again someday, all right? There's lots you haven't seen yet!" hollered Tekatme.
Rykatu ducked his head, his bangs covering his face, and smiled softly to himself.
Unrelated to the above, but I went to watch Harry Potter 7 part 1 today. ^__^ Am I in an HP mood now? Very.
no subject
Date: 2010-11-21 07:52 am (UTC)"lord, it felt so good to be out of that collared pain in the ass"
XDD Heeee.
"I heard you were actually a pretty good escort, Tekatme. You surprised me," said his captain.
Huh?"
EEEeeeeee! *squees* He was surprised at thaaaat! XDD
"If his captain wasn't angry, he should've been smiling from the start or something instead of trying to trick him like that."
*Nahahas out loud, because I'm not sure if that qualifies as a laugh, and I have no idea what you call it. XDD*
"He crossed his arms. His captain wasn't the only one who could cross his arms and look intimidating. Tekatme could too. He glowered to good effect."
*EEeeees/squees out loud too!* He sounds so cuuuuute! XDD
"His captain should be thankful Tekatme respected him too much to actually do that."
*laughs out loud for a second time*
"That sounded like Rykatu all right."
Eeee, laughed out loud for a third time. XDD
"He'd actually have to speak and all, and he just couldn't be bothered, could he?"
Aaaah fourth time! XD This is making me laugh so much!
"If this was what being an escort was like, then Tekatme thought it was actually a tiny bit better than guard duty at the northern gate. Just a tiny bit. At least he got to walk around. Didn't have to stay glued to a barrel all day with nothing better to do than stare off into la la land. But lord, walking? He couldn't believe he just thought walking could count as not-boring. Walking was totally boring."
*snerk* Big quote. Eeeeeeee, I've said that I loooove Tekatme's thought processes, and I'll say it again. I love Tekatme's thought processes! :D
"After all, exchanging blows with someone brought you that much closer, right?"
XDD Eeeeee.
"Rykatu had been out for his throat...not that that was a good thing for Tekatme."
Bwahaha! And fifth time laugh out loud moment?
"He couldn't imagine that meeting was going on well with how little Rykatu liked to talk. It'd be such a one-sided conversation. He was probably giving those sort-of-nods and sort-of-shrugs of his again."
XDD
"That was dumb of you," his captain said, shaking his head."
XDD Bwahaha! How very caring of him.
Hmm~ I wonder what she's doing~
""I'm glad you asked!" his captain exclaimed with a huge smile plastered on his face."
Uh-oh. This doesn't sound so good.
"Actually, she's been delayed in one of our neighboring villages. I heard you've visited the place before, so..."
*points and laughs at Tekatme* Aaaah, poor guy. XD
"When Rykatu exited the meeting room, his escort was pleasantly shouting at Captain Akatkai in a voice that was loud enough to wake a sleeping dragon halfway across the mountain."
Aaaaand I thought this might happen. XDD
*reads it again* *laughs* 'pleasantly shouting?' Bwahahaha!
"Captain Akatkai flicked Tekatme's ear."
Eeeeeee! Distraction! XDDD!
"and saw Tekatme duck his head, his two tufts of hair flopping down in his movement."
Awwwwwww! Cuuuuute!!
""Lord, was that a laugh? Come on, do that again!"
Eeeeee! Yes, yes it was! XD
:D So was the film good?
no subject
Date: 2010-11-22 04:32 am (UTC)Tekatme's part was so hard to write, but it was also fun to write. Ahhh, I'm already missing writing him!
Nahaha? What is that? XDD It sounds kind of like a cat sound. =P
Hahaha, I think I'm getting a hold of Tekatme's thought processes. XD; They are sometimes surprising to me though, hahahah. XD That big quote one wasn't surprising, but it took forever to sound right!
Hahaha, and Tekatme...*shakes her head* That was a huuuge misunderstanding. Otherwise Rykatu wouldn't be out for your throat! How is that not a misunderstanding? XD
I wrote a bit of Tokara's part and then scrapped it. XDD That was how I was going to introduce Shikatshi at first, but it felt more natural to stick to Tekatme and Rykatu's POVs. I wonder if it'll fit anywhere later on. :3
Poor Tekatme indeed! I've been trying to write the next part from a different POV, but I can't get into their heads at all, not like with Rykatu and Tekatme. 0___0;; I guess I'm used to them now. =/ This is going to be hard. Maybe I should have just continued on with Tekatme and made this into "Tekatme's Excellent Adventures". XDDDDD Somehow through writing this whole first section, his back story has become really rich.
Haha, pleasantly shouting. <3 Rykatu's obviously embellishing a bit. XD
Rykatu laughs for the first time! XD It only took him 25k words! XDD
The film was good! It left me wanting more. I didn't think it was too long. There were some scenes that were still cut. I was surprised I actually still remembered quite a lot from the book. :3 (Though I was kind of getting some of the details mixed up with fanfic...) I loved the humorous parts. :)
no subject
Date: 2010-11-22 09:03 am (UTC)I kinda do it like muahaha, really. It's just not as sinister as that.
*busts out laughing* I missed the part about 'la la land'! *flails*
Eeeee! Oh, that would be pretty awesome as well!
:D Eeee, I'm hoping I get to see it soon. It's been... four years now, since the last book? :O
no subject
Date: 2010-11-23 06:20 am (UTC)Hehe, that sounds a little sinister. =P
Haha. XD;
I hope you get to see the movie soon. :3 It has been a while since the book. :O When I was reading the book, I kept thinking about how cool some of the battle scenes could look in the movies. :3