I saw Chantara setting our course for the north, so I immediately knew where we were going.
“We’re seeing the Ignis tribe?” I asked excitedly, “Why that is my home, Your Majesty, and I must warn you, my people are very much like me.”
“What a joy, Red Hands,” Chantara rolled her eyes, their deep blue color filled with frustration, “I cannot contain the joy that I feel about meeting your relatives.”
“Look on the bright side,” Jian walked up behind us, holding my shoulder with his right hand and Chantara with his left, hugging us with himself in the middle.
“At least they can’t be any worse than Ignacio,” Jian added.
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If you asked Chantara, she’d say he was wrong.
“Well, amigos,” I spread my arms wide as we looked at the country before us, “Say hello to my home.”
I looked at the landscape in front of me, the charred patches of grass and burned trees. This was the edge of the country, the wildlands. Things here were legal, so anybody could get away with anything.
“What a dump.” I heard Aella whisper behind me, and I turned to look at her.
“Now I know it’s a bit rough around the edges,” I said, looking into her white eyes as I continued to smile, “But it really is a beautiful country, full of food, fun, and-”
“Criminals?” Chantara added, an eyebrow raised.
“Well…I wouldn’t say criminals, more like…” I trailed off as I tried to find the right word, “Entrepreneurs.”
“Are they entrepreneurs?” Jian asked, pointing at two Ignis men mugging another one, running away with his money.
My smile fell as I saw them, leaving the man helpless. Look, I may be a thief and a criminal, but as I’ve stated before, I only take what I need and leave what the victim can still survive with.
Stealing everything someone has and brutalizing them as well is not the way I do things. Not at all. And I hate thieves giving me a bad name for doing those things. 189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKj27E4hh1H
And I hate having a bad name.
I furrowed my brow, glaring at the two Igni who were still running away. “Let me handle this,” I didn’t like how dark my voice sounded, but I was genuinely mad at these men.
I thought of a happy memory, a time when I laughed a lot, fueling my fire as I shot fire out of my hands, flying over to the two criminals.
“Hola amigos,” I flashed a smile as I looked at their terrified faces, “Now what are two of you doing on a fine day like this with that man’s money?”
They looked at each other for a second, then both shot fire at me. I ducked, jumping over them as I pulled out my two long knives.
“Now that is no way to greet a friendly person, isn’t it, amigos?” I asked, dodging their attacks as they drew their own weapons.
“How could you possibly beat us?” the Ignis to my right taunted, “You are outnumbered, amigo.”
“He’s not,” I heard Chantara say as she ran over to us, followed by Jian and Aella who was flying overhead.
The two men looked at each other once again, seeing how our numbers outnumbered their own.
“Is that so, amigos?” I raised an eyebrow and pointed to my friends who were ready for a fight, “I believe you, mis amigos, are the ones who are outnumbered.”
The one on my left dropped the bag of money, yelling to his friend, “Go! Go, now!” They scampered off, running like the cowards they were.
“Yeah, you better run, ¡hijos de perros!” I shouted, laughing as they tripped over each other, trying to get away from us.
I quickly ran back over to the man who had been robbed, and I knelt down to see his crumpled form. He looked unhurt, just startled.
“Excuse me,” I tried, but when he didn’t answer, I tried to speak the Ignis language then.
“Perdón, ¿señor?” I asked, he looked up at me, his amber eyes wide.
“¿Esto es tuyo?” I held up the money bag, and he took it gratefully.
“Gracias, gracias ¡hombre joven!” He said, putting a hand on my shoulder. I smiled at him, glad I could return his money to him.
As I started to walk away I heard Chantara say, “Why?” she asked, “Why would you do that?”
I stopped for a moment, thinking the question over. Sighing, I turned around and looked at her. Her arms were crossed again and her eyebrow was raised. Aella looked at me in confusion as well, but Jian offered a small smile.
For some reason, I really didn’t know. I couldn’t quite answer it, I just thought it was right.
“Because,” I tried explaining, “Beating up a helpless man and stealing everything he has is not right. That’s not something I do.”
“But you have stolen from many!” Chantara threw her hands up in the air, exasperated, “How can you be such a hypocrite?”
“I am not a hypocrite!” I shouted, offended by the word, “Yes, I may steal things, but as I said before, I steal from those who still have much and don’t steal more from them that could affect their survival. I am no hypocrite, I just have morals.”
“But you stole from me!” Aella argued, “Those 500 ducats were my pay for the day! Those were meant to buy food, to support my family!”
“Well I’m sorry, Ellie,” I said, staring at her eyes filled with anger and fury, “But I didn’t know those were all you had!”
“You shouldn’t steal in the first place,” Jian looked up at me, betrayal and hurt on his face.
“Oh don’t you start yelling at me, too!” I yelled at Jian, “Why must the world always hate me?” I asked myself, then sighed.
“I’m going to a market to get some food,” I said, turning away from the others.
“Wait,” Jian stood in front of me, his arms out to block my path. I merely pushed past him, storming away from the others.
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“So what’s up with you, señor?” the man at the counter asked me, leaning on the wooden stand as he looked at me.
“Oh, nothing,” I waved a hand nonchalantly, “Just trying to do something good in my life and everyone has to make a big deal out of it, making it sound bad.”
“Ah,” the man nodded, “Once, I picked up a baby rabbit who looked hurt. Next thing I know, everyone in my family’s weirded out since I’m frothing at the mouth.”
I raise an eyebrow at him, slowly backing away from his face. I didn’t want somebody who had been infected with something to be very close to me.
“Right…” I said, looking at the products he was offering to sell, “Well, I saved a man from robbers and now mis amigos made a big deal out of it, and now I don’t know what to do.”
He nodded again. “Understandable,” then he leaned forward and said, “I’ll give you a word from the wise, señor, if you want people to like you, ya gotta give them what they want to see. If they want to see a tough guy, be tough. If they want to see a nice guy, be nice. If they want to see a funny guy, well, be funny.”
I furrowed my brow, staring at him for a moment. “I have no idea what you just meant.”
The shopkeeper stood up, waving his hand as if brushing away my comment. “Never mind, just…what do you want from my shop, señor?”
“Oh,” I said, I’d forgotten why I’d come here. “What do you have for food?”
“Well what do you see with your eyes, señor?” the man sarcastically said.
I have to admit, my right eye twitched a little when he said that. Now don’t get me wrong, I love sarcasm. But if someone uses it against me, I get a bit irate.
“Fine,” I sighed, “I’ll take the jerky and the apple.”
“That’ll be ten ducats for the lot.”
“Ten? I can get that for six in Mixta Civistas!”
“Well, this isn’t Mixta Civistas,” The shopkeeper crossed his arms, “Now are you going to buy them or not.”
I sighed again, this time reaching into my pocket and pulling out the money. “There,” I slapped the money on the table, storming away from the shop.
A smile grew on my face as I heard the shopkeeper say, “Wait a minute, this is only six ducats,” then he yelled, “Hey! You thief!”
But before he could yell any more I was already running away from the small market, looking for the others who were still in the wildlands, the grin wide on my face as I saw them.
“Red Hands,” Chantara nodded at me, her face full of sincerity and concern, “I’d like to say something to you. About before…when we yelled at you…”
I tilted my head, making myself look innocent.
“Yeah, we didn’t mean what we said,” Aella nodded, then elbowed Jian to make him add something to say as well.
“Ow!” He rubbed his arm, then said, “We didn’t mean what we said at all, and we’d like to say we’re sorry.”
“I’m sorry,” Chantara added, looking up at me, “I didn’t mean to upset you, and I didn’t mean to antagonize you. I’m sorry for everything I said, Red Hands. You just…surprised me. Will you accept my apology?”
“Hmm…” I said, stroking my chin as if in deep thought, “Depends. Depends if you decide to call me by my real name.”
Chantara nodded, suppressing a sigh. “I’m sorry…Ignacio.”
“Very well,” I smiled, “I forgive you, Your Majesty.”
That was what broke Chantara’s calmness. “Ugh,” she sighed, “Why can’t you call me by my real name? I called you by yours, is it seriously that hard to say Chantara?”
“Yes, actually,” I replied, “It has a lot of syllables.”
Chantara rolled her eyes, walking away from me. “I can’t believe you,” she said, walking back over to where our ship was docked, “I’ll speak with the Ignis chief tonight, alone. Do not disturb me until then.”
“May you have a restful sleep, Your Highness!” I called to her, waving a hand.
“No. Disturbances.” Was her only reply, but I still smiled at myself.
I heard soft snickering, and turned to see Aella laughing.
“What is the joke, Ella?” I asked, crossing my arms as I raised an eyebrow.
“You know,” Aella said, “If you keep annoying her she’s never going to like you. You’ll never be able to keep her in a relationship.”
I tilted my head once again, my brow furrowing. “And just what do you mean by that, Ellie?”
“Come on,” Aella crossed her arms, a smile spreading across her face, “We all know about your little crush on Chantara.”
“What?” I exclaimed, and immediately felt my cheeks get hot. “What-no. I-I don’t have a crush on-” then I put both hands in my hair, shaking my head, “There is no way in all the world that I like Chantara.”
“Your ears are turning red,” Aella pointed out, “Your ears turn red whenever you truly lie about something. Something you’re embarrassed about.”
“That is not true!” I protested, although I knew she was telling the truth.
“It’s all good,” Jian comforted, “It’s perfectly fine to be in love with someone. Especially someone like Chantara.”
“Just admit it,” Aella joined in, “You like her. And you’ve liked her from the moment you met her.”
Finally, I saw defeat. “Alright, alright. I like Chantara.” At that, Aella cheered, clapping Jian’s hand, “Just-just don’t tell her, okay? I want to tell her myself, and I don’t need you two telling her behind my back.”
“Alright, we won’t tell her,” Jian said, holding his hands up defensively.
“Yeah, we promise.” Aella added.
I sighed, relaxing now that they promised they wouldn’t tell her. I didn’t really know how to express the way I felt about Chantara. It was all still very confusing to me.
“Thanks Ellie,” I said, putting a hand around each of their shoulders, “Thanks, JiJi.”
“Yeah,” Jian said, “You’re welcome. Just please, don’t call me JiJi.”
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