Chapter CCXLVII: Memories Not So Alone in the Daylight ~Lady North

Lady North stared after the green figure who had almost reached the forest edge. She had sensed strong vibrational signatures emanating from him, and his aura was the strongest she had ever seen. Even her brothers would be no match for this man. At the thought of her brothers, Da'ana remembered just how she got here in the first place. She was at a loss for ideas on how to get back to her Tower, and for some reason, her mind kept throwing the suggestion that this green demon might be able to help her. The Lady smiled to herself, shaking her head slightly. Here she was, willing to trust a demon, a very odd demon at that, but a demon nonetheless, all because of some foreign feeling of familiarity.

The Keeper of the Winds mused at what Aa'ron would say when he found out she was about to trust someone who seemed most likely to kill her before befriending her. Yet here she was, standing to her feet, ready to follow after him. The others sitting around the fire looked up at her with puzzled expressions.

"I know not why I have been trapped here, or how I am to get back,” she said. “However, this person knows more of what is going on than any of us, or at least me. I am also well-versed in the ways of how Fate flows, and somehow, he is connected to mine. If I do manage to get back to my Tower without ever discovering what it is about this person that concerns me, I will never again live in peace."

"But don't you want to go home?" asked the cat-boy Kentaro.

"Home?" Lady North said almost to herself, testing the weight of the word. Sadly, the woman shook her head again. "The Tower is a responsibility. No, my Tower is not my home. I think I might have had one once, but it has been so long that I cannot remember."

Those words had been out of her mouth before she had really thought about them, and their meaning caught her off guard. I had a home other than the Tower? she pondered.

Lady North closed her eyes for a moment, trying to remember a time before she had come to the Tower. It had been awhile before her sisters died, and shortly before her predecessor devoted her soul to the element she commanded. She had been given a stone...she had been on a journey...searching for...someone...

"Well," Da'ana sighed when the memory would not come to her. "I have made my decision." And with that, she disappeared. To the eyes of the men sitting around the fire, at least. In reality, all she did was grab hold of a swift air current that was flowing in the direction of the green demon. When she let go, she was walking beside him. The only difference now, was that his boots travelled along the earth, while Lady North strode bare-footed a bit above the earth on soft, level terrain.

"May I suggest taking a rest in a nearby town so that I may outfit myself correctly?” she suggested. “Bare feet and a white dress are not the best garments for travelling."

He turned to look at her as if contemplating something, and eventually he came to a conclusion. "Whatever floats your boat,” he replied. “Make it a plan."

Da'ana thought to ask about his idiom usage, but the confused look in his face mirrored her own, and she therefore decided it was best not to ask. "Well, there is a small town about three days walk from here to the west," she told him instead.

Once again, he lapsed into a mental conversation with himself.

"...Alright, walk it is," he agreed reluctantly.

"Unless you have a better idea?" she inquired of him.

"No, none at all; a walk is good for everyone," he replied as if stating a simple fact that everyone in the world should have known about. Then he picked up his pace a little bit, to which Lady North let herself lag a few steps behind, to give each of them thinking room.

Surely, the Keeper of the Winds told herself. Surely he would have recognized me if there was some way we had met in the Past. Maybe it is another that I am thinking of...and yet...I find that not likely...

Unbeknown to her, he had felt something. Maybe not a strong enough something so as to help her learn again what she had been missing up until now, but it was still a little something just the same.