Unexplored Lands :CRACK: - Private

[Lolita no Hime]

What little relief had filled Muralei before quickly went out the window, and the frown that had previous filled his features returned. Certainly if Ike and Quinn were here, she'd have no problem with telling him so. Likewise, if they were off touring Quinn's world somewhere else for the time being, she would have probably just gone ahead and said so. Still, Muralei allowed the negation of the topic for the time being, and merely nodded as they continued on their way to Ereg Amar.

"Well, it really is good luck that it's so close. Had I appeared anywhere else, I might have found myself lost for days." Good luck? More like way too coincidental. If this was the work of Moonie, she'd done this on purpose! And with her love of messing with the lives of others, no doubt there was a reason for him being here...

[Little Pastry]

Nessa was slightly relieved as Muralei let the topic drop, but some uneasiness lingered. He would have to learn about it eventually, but if she could stall until they at least got to somewhere for Muralei to sit comfortably, since she wasn't about to tell him the news standing up.

A small smile returned to her features as she led Muralei down the path. "That is pretty good luck! I mean, these woulds can really confuse someone if they don't know their way around. Of course I've been here most of my life, so I can figure it out alright, but I don't know about you." Just by Nessa's trustful opinion of this truly being a coincidence, one could tell she knew nothing of Moonie or her love of plucking people out of their own worlds.

Eventually, they broke through the trees and arrived in Ereg Amar. As usual, some people were walking through the streets, and the sight of Muralei caught nearly everyone's eyes. Nessa had grown used to leading around people who would get stared at, so she didn't mind it. She walked up to the house where Quinn and Ike should have been staying and knocked on the door. "Ariquis? You theeere?"

After a few moments, the door opened. "Yes, I'm here, what - o-oh, you brought someone else." She looked up at Muralei, once more visibly impressed by height. An expression on confusion on her face, she asked, "And who might you be?"

[Lolita no Hime]

Muralei looked around at all the people, wondering whether or not to be surprised at the fact that he was so tall. He never really out much thought into the fact that Quinn was short, somehow instead just assuming the elf was still young and had some growing to do... although as it seemed, this was really not the case.

Eventually they came to a house, which Muralei assumed belonged to Quinn, seeing as that would likely be where the elf and Ike would be staying. When the door opened, they were greeted by an older woman who Muralei felt safe to assume as Quinn's mother... still, there was a part of him that just loved to be charming, as he usually was with most of his female patients. "Hello, my name is Muralei. Although I'm not too certain as to how I arrived in this world, I'm Ike's... father."

He decided it was probably easier at this point to introduce himself in such a manner, seeing as it was unlikely David would ever find himself in this world to say otherwise."This is Quinn's home, am I correct? I believe he mentioned an older sister at some point. That wouldn't be you, would it?"

[Little Pastry]

At the mention of Muralei being Ike's father, Ariquis only looked for confused. But then Muralei kept talking, saying something that made Ariquis feel quite flattered. After all, it wasn't every day she got such a compliment from a handsome stranger like that! A smile appeared on her face and she gave a small laugh, glancing away.

"That's quite kind of you to say, but I'm his mother." She looked back up at Muralei, still smiling, "I'm Ariquis. It's a pleasure to meet you, Muralei... would you like to come in?" She stepped back and held the door open, an invitation for him to come inside.

Meanwhile, Nessa was making plans to congratulate Muralei for being so smooth with the ladies. Not while Ariquis was right there, of course, but it had to be said...!

[Lolita no Hime]

"Ah, how silly of me, of course! My apologies. And it is a pleasure to meet you as well, Ariquis." Muralei replied, with a slight laugh, as he followed Ariquis into the house. Muralei's first thought upon seeing the line of cots in the front room was how Quinn had mentioned his mother was a healer. There were no lights, which came at no surprise considering how Quinn had been confused by the existence of electricity.

But unlike something Ike may have thought upon entering the home, Muralei didn't even take notice of the fact that the house wasn't as clean as his own. After all, it was only in more recent times that lightning elemen perfected methods of dusting; way back when Muralei was younger, most homes were rather similar to this, save for the presence of electricity.

[Little Pastry]

Ariquis closed the door after Muralei and Nessa entered and then she glanced around with disapproval. "I'm sorry for the dust, I... I haven't much had the mind for cleaning..." Her smile faded some as she recalled the events just a few days ago. But she swallowed the lump in her throat and led Muralei to the interior of the house, which was much homier than the infirmary.

She then led him into the kitchen and gestured towards the table, "Please, sit down... would you like something to drink? I could make some tea." Especially at a time like this, Ariquis wanted to be hospitable. This was Ike's father and the man who let Quinn stay in his home all this time, so of course Ariquis wanted to help however she could.

[Lolita no Hime]

Right away Ariquis was feeling bad for the state of her house, and Muralei shot her a warm smile, "Ah, it's no trouble..." The tone in her voice was rather worrisome. And that coupled with the absence of Ike and Quinn... by now, there was a constant spike of worry in Muralei's mind.

As they entered the kitchen, Muralei sat down at the table and then shook his head to Ariquis' offer, "I'm alright, thank you. Please, don't trouble yourself..." He smiled again, but then his expression seemed to fall in a more worried look, "...if you don't mind my asking, where have Ike and Quinn gone off to? I asked Nessa but didn't get much of an answer..."

[Little Pastry]

Ariquis returned Muralei's smile, taking the seat opposite Muralei at the table. So far, it seemed like Muralei's visit, whatever reason he was here, would be a pleasant change of events... but then he asked about Ike's and Quinn's whereabouts, and the smile dropped off of her face.

She folded her hands on the table, staring down at them. "...this... might take a while to explain. But first, let me ask - what do you know about magic in this world? I assume Quinn has explained healing magic to you already, but... that isn't the only type of magic..."

[Lolita no Hime]

Already Muralei didn't like where this conversation could be going. Still, he answered her question, "I can't say I know much, but Quinn has explained the different kinds. He uses healing magic quite often, which is no surprise considering Ike's condition... and I know he can use destructive magic as well, although that sort is certainly not quite so pleasant to see." He didn't elaborate too much, not wishing to disclose any information to Ariquis that Quinn may not want shared, specifically considering his amplification and the time his magic overflowed...

"...but what does magic have to do with where they are now? Are they alright?" The very idea of something bad happening to either them flooded Muralei with worry all over again...

[Little Pastry]

"I... I don't know." Ariquis sighed, setting an elbow on the table and rubbing her forehead with one hand. "You see, for a long time destructive magic was taboo, but not illegal. But under threat of war from the nearest human country, there was a ban placed on it some two or three months ago. Of course, I told Ike and Quinn about this the first day they were here, but everything seemed alright. They searched Ereg Amar a few weeks ago, so I was sure they wouldn't come again for some time."

"But... that wasn't the case." Ariquis' expression became more and more distressed, the topic clearly upsetting her. "Quinn's father... I don't know how much you've heard about him, but Cyrus is a practitioner of destructive magic. He was going to flee the country to keep himself safe, but he stopped in town to... say goodbye."

"Before he left, that... that gray thing - whatever he was, Rem - he warned us about sweepers coming to Ereg Amar. So Cyrus took them to the next town over, t-to stay the night, to... keep them o-out of harm's way..." Ariquis trailed off and covered her eyes with her hand, breathing slowly and fighting away tears.

Seeing that Ariquis would have trouble continuing to speak about this, Nessa stepped in, looking at Muralei from her seat at the table next to him. "...this all happened, like, the first day they came. They... didn't come back." Her eyes fell to the table and her voice was soft as she finished with, "Nobody came back."

[Lolita no Hime]

The more distressed Ariquis became, the more Muralei frowned, trying to take this all in. So, in effect, they were on the run from the law and what happened to them was unknown. "...my God..."

And yet, despite how horrible of news this was, Muralei still found it hard to completely immerse himself in worry. He'd seen Ike and Quinn go through a lot, even going so far as to break out of a high-security prison in Stendrion and still coming out alright in the end. While Muralei certainly had no opinion on the strength of people in this world, he could certainly judge the strength of Ike: he'd be more than willing to do anything in his power to protect Quinn from harm.

But while Muralei had this to keep him going, another even worse thought came to mind: what if something serious had happened... and there was no way to let anyone in his own world know about it? It would have been as though they had simply disappeared forever...

And the thought of that made even Muralei avert his gaze, his hand moving up to his mouth as he was really at a loss for words.

Wait. Another thought crossed his mind. Why would Moonie bring Muralei here, just to learn that Ike had died? Certainly that witch, in all her planing and plotting and scheming, would have prevented something like this? There's no way she would have allowed simply the laws of another world to interfere with her plans... whatever those may be.

And she most certainly wouldn't bring him here just to learn the news that Ike had died. She would have found more pleasure in seeing Muralei agonize with each passing day that Ike didn't return home! No, the only reason why she would have wanted Muralei to learn about Ike's possible demise in this manner... would be if she knew it would cause Muralei unnecessary pain. Which means that, had he remained in his world, Ike would be coming back in two weeks with Quinn in tow, and Muralei would have never heard about this incident!

Oh that witch was tricky.

Unfortunately, all these thoughts remained just that: thoughts; so the two women in the room had no idea that Muralei's silence was in fact rising anger to the way he was being played by the forest guardian, rather than sudden concern for the well-being of Ike.

[Little Pastry]

As Muralei fell into his own thoughts, an awkward silence covered the table. Nessa could tell just by Muralei's eyes that he was turning something over in his mind, but she took it to be worry for Ike. He was pretty much Muralei's son, after all, so that was Nessa's immediate assumption.

And on her other side, Ariquis was still trying to keep a hold of herself, clearly quite upset about Quinn's disappearance. Nessa knew how they felt, being worried for both Ike and Quinn, but she still wasn't either of their parents. Muralei and Ariquis had to have it much worse.

Nessa decided to speak up and try to alleviate what she thought were Muralei's worries. "M-Muralei, look at it this way - the woods around here are kind of confusing, yeah, but they'd be good to hide in. W-What I mean is, maybe they're alright! I know Quinn's dad is pretty tough a-and knows his way around, and that Rem guy seemed like he'd be, um... w-well I saw him change from a wolf to a man to a horse so he could prob'ly protect them pretty well! A-And I bet Ike can hold his own too, so... maybe they're okay, maybe... maybe they're just hiding..."

[Lolita no Hime]

Muralei stayed quiet a few seconds after Nessa spoke, until finally saying in a quiet, calm voice, "I have no doubt in my mind that Ike could do plenty on his own to keep himself and Quinn safe. He's been in the military for three years and was in training long before that. He knows how to protect others. And with his powers, he can summon whole lightning storms to cover their tracks... I wouldn't be surprised if the weather here hasn't been rather strange because of it..."

He knew full well, by his own reasoning as to why he's here, that Ike and Quinn were alive... as for whether they were well, that was up for speculation. Still, there was no easy way to explain this without going in to a lengthy explanation of what hew as and how he was connected to the forest guardian, and that was something Muralei didn't go around telling just anyone! His own word would probably not be enough to convince them of this... but what choice did he have?

[Little Pastry]

"Well there was a pretty big storm that came in the night after they left, but we just thought it was 'cause it's spring..." Nessa frowned down at the table, only slightly relieved by Muralei's words. Even if Ike could make storms to cover their tracks, what if they ran into bad terrain during the storm? Ike might have been able to control lightning, but Nessa was quite sure he couldn't do anything about flooded rivers or muddy paths...

After a few minutes, Ariquis was able to take a few deep breaths and calm herself. She sighed and rubbed at her eyes, murmuring an apology. "There's... there's little we can do now but hope for them to come back." She blinked a couple of times and then looked up at Muralei, "So what brings you here? Did that Kari girl bring you here too?"

[Lolita no Hime]

Muralei frowned at seeing Ariquis so upset. He would have thought the day where he could meet Quinn's family would be on a more joyous note... but it didn't seem like that would be the case. Still, he was thankful for the change of subject, hoping to help lighten the mood here a little, if he could, "Well, actually I'm not entirely sure. I was working on some papers for my patients when I suppose I fell asleep at my desk... only when I woke up, I was here."

He sat back in his chair and sighed, "I have a slight idea how I got here, but it's still rather confusing... it's the same way Quinn wound up in our world, although how that happened is still a bit beyond me..." Did that mean he would be stuck here until Kari came back to pick up the other two? That was no good... he still had patients to deal with! He couldn't afford to miss a day of work, let alone a week!