This great warrior had taught him much about courage and nobility, and she had shown him more kindness than he’d ever seen in this world. Loving her came naturally, and he swore he’d always be as close to her side as she’d allow. His dream was to fight beside her, to be considered a comrade rather than a friend or even a lover.
He thought to himself, as he rode beside the others who were touched by Ariana’s spirit, that he was the one who suffered the most when she left them behind. He knew the others were hurt as well, but it was nothing compared to his pain. He looked at Shadra, who had downcast emerald eyes, and then to Pyxen and Cuoda, both dealing with their pain in different ways.
Pyxen was doing various “trick spells”, which were a specialty of the Pixies. It was possible that Pyxen was the very last Pixie on Earth, and Mezoda wondered how that affected her. She certainly hid her sorrow very well, beneath a veil of bubbling energy. Cuoda, an elf like Mezoda, was quiet and solemn. Perhaps he only dealt with sadness by shutting himself off from everything, by closing up within himself until he was forced to speak or act.
Mezoda shook his head. This was unimportant. Suddenly Ariana’s words came flooding into his mind. “Everything is unimportant in the face of this.” He flattered himself when he suggested to the others and to Ariana that he knew what her task was. He really had no idea. All he knew was that she was on her way to stop something horrible from happening. What evil would she face? What horrors were she trying to prevent?
Soon they arrived at a small village nestled between a clean river and a dark forest. “Clarity Village.” Shabra said, reading a large wooden sign that hung proudly above the metal gate, “Should we stop for some food and rest?”
Before Mezoda could answer, Pyxen had leapt from her horse and was dashing toward the gate. “I’ve always wanted to visit this village!” she exclaimed, dragging her horse behind her by its reigns. It was apparently used to this behavior, as it followed along unalarmed.
Mezoda gracefully got down from his horse and walked to the gate with her. The others did the same as Mezoda pushed open the metal doors and walked in. Pyxen squealed and Shabra gasped. The village was beautiful, with large water fountains everywhere they looked and one huge one in the center of the town. Everything seemed to revolve around water and Mezoda found himself remembering a legend his mother had once told him about the people of Clarity Village being descendents of the great people of Atlantis.
The villagers were almost all Elves, but Mezoda quickly spotted a few Fairies and even thought he caught a glimpse of a Pixie. Most of them had hair of either blue or silver with matching eyes. They wore white or blue loincloths and the females of the village either wore strips of same colored cloth tied around their chests, or enough blue and silver jewelry around their necks to keep them decent. Even the males wore lots of decorative chains and stones around their necks and arms.
A beautiful blue-haired fairy approached them, smiling and handing out silver chains with shining blue jewels to each of them. “Welcome to Clarity Village,” she said with a smile, “stay as long as you like!”
Pyxen was nearly hyperventilating from the excitement as she took off toward one of the shops that read “Clarity Dress”. Shabra smiled and looked to Cuoda. “This is your home village, isn’t it?” she asked.
Cuoda didn’t answer, but he didn’t have to. A female elf with short blue hair had already came to him and was whispering something into his ear. Cuoda merely nodded and walked off into a hut with her. Shabra smiled and looked at Mezoda. “Seems that everyone has something to do but us.”
Mezoda pointed to a large hut near the biggest water fountain. “Lets go in there. It has to be either the inn or the bar.”
Shabra nodded. The hut turned out to be the bar, but it was unlike any bar they had seen before. Even a place as sinful as a bar was beautiful in this village. Instead of the dark, rowdy atmosphere they expected, it was bright and sophisticated. Like the rest of the village, water fountains were all over the place.
“You’d think they’d get tired of all this water.” Mezoda said offhandedly, sitting down at the clear glass counter.
“Water is their source of life and strength.” Shabra told him, “They cannot thrive without it. This village has become rich by using their magic to create beautiful jewels from the water. They feel that the water is a gift to them from God, and to repay that gift, they open their village gates to anyone who needs a place to stay or food to eat.”
“They’re good people then.” He replied. “But what about Cuoda? He’s so cold. Its hard to believe he came from such a friendly village.”
“He has his own reasons, I suppose. None of which are any of our business.”
The two of them quieted down when the bartender presented their drinks, which were glowing blue mugs of crystal liquid. “Is this plain water?” Mezoda asked before taking a sip. “Nope, definitely not plain water.” He said, taking another drink.
Shabra smiled and began sipping hers. “We need to ask someone where the inn is, and also about Ariana. She probably stopped here. She knows this land like no one else. She has to be aware of their attitude toward visitors.”
Mezoda waved for the bartender, who was a handsome male fairy. “Can I help you?” he asked politely.
“Yes, we were hoping you could tell us about one of our friends.” Mezoda began, “She’s a fairy with dark hair and green eyes. We think she may have stopped here. She was traveling alone.”
“Yes, I think I may have seen her. She had a silver horse, did she not? I think she called it Star.”
“Yes, that’s her!” Mezoda said happily. “Did she mention anything about where she was going?”
The bartender seemed to be thinking hard, then his eyes lit up. “Yes, she did! She asked me for directions to Clover Cave!”
Mezoda looked uneasily at Shabra. “Clover Cave? What would she want there?”
Shabra looked thoughtfully at her mug. “I’m not sure. It’s a dangerous place though. I’m sure she could handle herself there, but I don’t know why she would want to go there in the first place.”
“She’s probably going to get a mizuno stone.” The bartender said casually.
“A what?”
The bartender reached into his pocket and pulled out a small blue rock. “This is a mizuno stone. They don’t have a whole lot of power, but they can come in handy sometimes.”
“What does it do?” Mezoda asked, carefully taking the bartender’s mizuno stone and examining it.
“They can create small amounts of water. Our power over water is extremely strong, but outside this village its sometimes useless. Everyone in the village is given a mizuno stone if they decide to travel outside the village for any reason. There are a huge amount of them in Clover Cave, but we have a nice storage here. We don’t give them out to strangers, but if the person seems nice enough, we don’t mind pointing them in the right direction to finding one for themselves.”
Mezoda reached it back to the bartender. “That’s amazing. But why would Ariana want one? She’s powerful enough without the use of stones or gems.”
“Maybe she’s headed to a place of fire, where she will need water to protect herself.” Said Shabra.
“The only fire village near here is Moulder. It’s many miles east from here. It’s a two day trip at best.” The bartender told them before being waved by another customer.
The door to the bar opened loudly and Pyxen stepped in, dressed in a flattering silver loincloth and matching strip of cloth. She’d tied it into a bow at her back and her hair was pulled up into a high pony tail. Her entire body was covered in blue jewels. “Well, how do I look?” she asked.
Shabra grinned. “Beautiful.”
Mezoda put a hand to his forehead. “How much money did you spend on that outfit, Pyxen?”
“Enough to look fabulous. Where’s Cuoda? I want to show him.”
Pyxen squeaked when Cuoda showed up right behind her, one arm entwined with that of the elf he had walked off with earlier. Pyxen eyed her, then looked at Cuoda as the elf walked away. “Old girlfriend?” Pyxen asked.
“Maybe.” Was all Cuoda would admit.
Pyxen put her hands on her hips. “Darn. And here I always assumed you were single.”
“Ok, all one-sided flirting aside, we have some important things to discuss.” Mezoda said quickly, ignoring Pyxen’s snort. “The barkeeper says he saw Ariana, and that she’s heading for Clover Caves, after something called a mizuno stone. We figure she wants it so she can get into Moulder safely, which is a two-day trip east.”
Shabra took over from there. “If we leave immediately for Moulder, we should arrive there around the same time Ariana has, since she has to take a detour to Clover Caves.”
“Yeah, but if Ariana needed one of those stones to get there, how do you think we’ll get in without one?” Pyxen asked, for once saying something useful.
Mezoda and Shabra looked at each other questioningly. Cuoda held out a shiny blue stone. “We already have a mizuno stone.” He said matter-of-factly.
Pyxen snatched it from his hand. “Whoa… this is pretty!” she said rolling it around between her palms a bit before tossing it carelessly back to Cuoda.
Mezoda’s expression brightened. “This is great! Let’s leave within the hour. Everyone eat, drink and pack up! We’ll meet up with Ariana tonight!” And so they ate and drank and laughed. Their spirits were raised, as were their courage, strength, and hope.