His mouth dropped, as if he were caught off guard. "Minstrel?" He repeated as if he hadn't heard correctly. The girl nodded her head proudly. "Minstrel." He paused, letting the word ring around the icy cell. Suddenly, he burst. "Why? Why not a Mage or even a thief?! A thief would have been extremely helpful right now!" 676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf1oWuq5gUw
She gasped at his obvious disagreement of her vocational path. "It was traveling Minstrels who discovered I could follow a vocational path at all! It would have been offensive if they risked beheading to teach me all that they knew, and I up and said 'Well thanks for all your help! I think I'm going to be a Mage now, buh-bye!' There were generations of honor and privilege put on the line to teach me these things. I couldn't just toss it out like rubbish." 676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ83gE88dJSr
"Yeh ya could have! Ya really could have!" He nodded wildly as if it would prove his point further. 676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkbPqjDywoX
She shook her head, disgusted. "Have you no honor or gratefulness? Did they not teach you that in your 'Scorupi training' ?" 676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAJDqLMttHZ
He threw her a stink eye, not taking her question seriously. "Can ya break us out or not? That's all that matters!" She pursed my lips before nodding. "Then please! Go right ahead!" He waved towards the cell bars. 676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡolW4ut5eEw
"But what if the guards check on us?" 676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVpHUdu6hgw
"They aren't goin’ to check on us!" 676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCCrmZoUkrI
"But they aren't asleep yet, either. Couldn’t we just wait until the town's settled down for the night?" 676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsZnU4Ad7z3
The boy threw his screech into the air, irritated. "They aren't goin' to come so just bust down the door! We'll run through the forests toward Cance!" 676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡft7J9isdEh
"I can't go back to Cance." She shook her head at the fresh memory. 676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2TLWuRtgxU
The already infuriated boy stood up simply to stomp his foot. "We'll bypass it," he grumbled through clenched teeth, "and make our way toward Arieus." 676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQtLOCSUpVK
The girl shrunk beneath his stony glare, afraid to say more but even more fearful of getting caught in a breakout. If they were caught, he wouldn't be the only one to the gallows come morning. "B-but don't the Arieons enslave animans...?" 676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF3f5h8iqJZ
A slow wicked smile spread across his lips. "Then I guess we'll have to pretend that you're me pet." He stated with an underlying tone of psycho. 676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO0zsPnTaYB
Her throat clenched, forcing her to gulp nothing but dryness. "We've no food. Only that canteen of water..." 676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc2XJydlui2
"My grandfather always said to eat the sunlight and drink the air!" 676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8vf4kPvySJ
The girl’s stomach fought loudly with this, roaring as if it were a puma readying to battle. She hastily wound her thin arms around her caving stomach hoping it would quiet it down, but the damage was already done. 676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6BVJP22hhG
The boy then shut his mouth, realizing why she brought up food. He chewed on the inside of his cheek, wishing it were her he could chew out instead. But he took a deep breath and looked out of the cell. "If we can find my armor, I've hidden a pouch of two hundred gils in the shoulder. Those deadbeat guards couldn't have found it. I can go into Cance and buy bread, cheese, more water. And if I can find my spear I can hunt for wild game. Our only problem would be making a fire." 676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOUQ3VAQ3la
"Wouldn't be a problem at all." She stated confidently, touched by his willingness to reassure her that she'd be fed, and his silent promise of traveling with her. "I gained a single ability from the Minstrels, one of their most famous, in fact." 676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiSgh2eb5Lw
His face fell into despair. "The Pratfall?? Ya gained a Pratfall of all things?!" 676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEt11AyNjFJ
"No!!" She stood to square off with him. "But their Pratfalls are comedic genius." She twisted on her heels to face the metal bars, ignoring his eye roll. "No, the ability I gained was the Hot Lick." 676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNhFdKuQV3T
"The 'Hot-Lick' ? Are ya goin' to slip those bars the tongue?" 676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ775Otj8Oh1
"Goodness NO! Just! Stand back!" she demanded. He back walked to the other side of the cell, his expression doubtful. 676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzj8P1iJRMh
She let out a slow breath and raised a hand to her lips. Bending her fingers toward her thumb, she created a tunnel with her hand. This tunnel would guide the flames. As she took a deep breath in, she remembered all the Minstrels sought to teach her. This was not just an ability, but a flame, and a flame is a proclamation of passion. Like the pounding drum of an Arioen love song or the loaded message of a Scorupion battle cry, passion drives all dreams. Make this flame your dream and you could accomplish anything. 676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡykmMaZWfRe
Her chest welled with fire that warmed her from the inside out. The familiar intensity of the flame rose from her lungs and roared past her lips, heating the lock on their cage and melting it. It fell to the ground with a clank, rolling away from its former post. She let out the last of her breath, the whole prison visible in the light of the flame, and as she shut her lips, they were engulfed in darkness once more.
ns 15.158.61.20da2
