Aranoa Soli: Alchemist Extraordinare (Part 2)

You get to know a person pretty well by what sorta food they like. At least that's what Mama taught me.

She said that the things people eat actually tell you a lot about them.

If they like sweet food, they're usually pretty agreeable, friendly, even helpful. Mama liked sweet food, so I'd say it's pretty accurate.

Spicy foods mean that they are super high-energy, need a LOT of stimulation, and a very big risk-taker! I can confirm that, since I love spicy foods! 

Bitter foods means someone is either very calm and collected, or very aggressive. Mama said there's no in-between. I dunno anyone who likes bitter foods. Why would you eat something bitter when you can just eat something tasty? I don't really get it.

If they like fruits and veggies, it means that they like new experiences, are careful, and are emotionally stable. Papa liked fruits a lot, and he was usually the more calm one of my parents.

Salty foods mean that they are ambitious, but it also means that they're stressed out a lot.

Obviously this doesn't say everything about a person, but I think Mama is right that what a person eats kinda reflects who they are a little.

Morrison—the Deerkin merchant guy—likes salty food, since when I asked him what he wanted to eat, he asked for salted nuts.

I never made salted nuts before, but I think I did good, since he's snacking on them right now.

"So...how old did you say you were?" Morrison says, popping another salted nut into his mouth.

We've been traveling towards that Xande place for maybe a few hours now, so we've made good progress. Charles is much faster than any old carriage, so if we're lucky, we can make it by nightfall. Apparently, Xande is a few kiloflicks outside of the eastern border of the Plains, so my calculations should be right.

Oh, isn't it exciting going someplace new? You get that super tingly feeling running up and down your spine that makes you giddy. I wonder what the place is like.

I've never actually been this far east before. Of course, I've been to the western shoreline before, but that doesn't really count! It's still part of the Plains, so this is officially my first time leaving home!

Hmm...if Mama and Papa were still here, would they approve of me going out and looking for them? They said that the Saltrock Plains are safe, and that the outside world is dangerous. Back then, they never would've let me leave on my own.

But that was then, and this is now. I'm a professional alchemist and a good mage! I can handle myself!

Plus, once I do find them, it'll make them see that I'm more than capable of traveling with them!

"Aranoa?"

"Hm?"

Morrison calls out to me, brow raised.

"You've been staring out into the horizon for quite some time now."

"Ah, right. Sorry." I mumble, turning to look over my shoulder at him. He shakes his head.

"Nothing to apologize for." 

He pops another salted nut into his mouth. "You excited?"

"Very!" I answer way too quickly, fists pumped.

He chuckles. "I figured."

"How could you tell?"

"I know Felines are excitable and all, but you've been bouncing around so much that I thought you might fall off."

"Hm? Oh!"

I look down at myself. Morrison is right.

I'm sitting on the root wall at the edge of Charles' shell, and my legs are swinging back and forth. I force myself to stop—for only about three seconds until they start swinging again.

I can't help it!

There's just so much to think about.

Xande.

Morrison told me all about Xande earlier. It was one of the biggest cities in the region, built along the eastern coast beyond the Plains. Apparently, there were enormous stone buildings, huge markets, airships, people from all over the world, and—

"Do they have a fountain made entirely out of silver?"

Morrison blinks.

"...What?"

"A silver fountain!"

I turn around, arms spread wide. "If it's such a big city, they surely have fountains made out of silver and gold and that kinda stuff! Silver is a pretty valuable metal, so I think it would be cool if they have one! Like maybe it's in the middle of a big plaza and the water comes out of a dragon's head!"

"Quite an imagination."

He scratches his chin.

"Hm. I suppose there is."

"Wait, really?!"

"Maybe not with the dragon head, but yeah."

"That's awesome!" I say, nearly jumping off the wall.

Morrison laughs. "I've been to Xande plenty of times, but I guess I never paid much attention to the fountains."

"How can you not pay attention to a big silver fountain?"

"It's only the largest kingdom in the Nousa continent. There's a lot to look at."

I gasp. A lot to look at...that sounds so cool.

I turn back towards the horizon. The Plains stretched behind us like a giant green blanket. I'd seen them so many times that I knew exactly what everything looked like. The same fields. The same hills. The same distant mountains. Flowers whose bloom cycle I memorized, weather that I can predict almost to a tee.

But ahead...things are different. Even the air feels different.

Hm. Maybe I'm imagining that part. Actually, I probably am.

But it does feel different. Maybe it's because it's unexplored grounds—well, to me at least.

I pulled my hat down a little as the wind picks up, Charles maintaining a fast pace.

"Morrison?"

"Hm?" He hums.

"What's Xande actually like?"

He's silent for a moment.

"Busy."

"That's it?" I say, turning towards him.

"Very busy."

"Oh." I frown. "That's not very descriptive at all."

He smiles. "Well it's true."

He walks up beside me and leans on the root wall, staring out into the horizon.

"Alright. Imagine every person you've ever met in the Plains..."

"I haven't met that many people."

"Just play along, okay...?" He sighs.

"But I haven't—"

"Okay, how about this? Imagine...a third of the Plains."

"Yeah?"

"Now fill it with as many people cramped together as possible...and put them all into one place."

My eyes widen. "That's a lot of people."

"It is."

"And they're all...different? Feline, Deerkin, Wolfen, Foxkin, Harefolk, all those all in one place?"

"Very much so."

"Woah..."

I smile widely. "That sounds awesome..."

Morrison tilts his head towards me with a strange look.

I raise a brow at him. "What is it?"

"Nothing," he says, shaking his head. "You're just taking this better than most people would."

"Taking what?"

"Leaving home."

I blink at him, before looking back to the horizon ahead. Only the blue of the sky stretches in the distance, not a single kingdom in sight just yet. 

I...don't really know what to say to that. I am leaving home.

For the first time, I'm going somewhere I'd never been. I don't know where any of the roads are. I wouldn't know what places to go to and what places not to go to, or what people are like there. I don't know if it's safe or if it's dangerous, and I don't know what sorts of things await me there.

All I know is that this is the first step to me finally finding the Philosopher's Stone—and one step closer to finding my parents.

I should be more worried and afraid...but instead all I can feel is excitement. So much of it that I almost can't contain it.

Because for the first time in my life, the world wasn't something I had to imagine.

It was right in front of me. And I wanted to see all of it.

"I think..." I hum, hugging my knees to my chest and resting my chin on them. "I think I'm ready."

Morrison smiles, the wrinkles near his eyes creasing.

"I think you are too, kid."

Charles gives a deep, rumbling hum beneath us.

I tap his shell with a boot.

"And you're ready too, right boy?"

Another, gleeful hum.

"See?" I grin. "We're all ready!"

Morrison smiles with a nod of his head, before turning back to the horizon, lips pursed. Silence hung between us for a few minutes, until—

"...Why do you really want to go to Xande?" he asks.

"Huh? What do you mean...?" I ask back, swaying my feet.

"I know you're just escorting me and whatnot...and you said you wanted to 'beat up' the people who sold me those guys," He jerks a thumb towards the hippocampi. "But why are you really going?" 

He turns to me, his eyes, horizontal and narrow, squinting at me.

"I still don't get what you mean..."

"You've been out here your whole life. It's safe, it's familiar, it's your home. And yet, you're leaving just to help out a stranger. I can tell you're a good kid..." He pauses. "But I can also tell that you want something out of this."

...

...

Was it really that obvious?

"I..."

"No, I'm sorry." Morrison sighs, shaking his head. "Sorry, that's a personal question. Call it a merchant's curiosity—"

"It's okay," I assure. "It's okay."

With a deep breath, I tell him.

"Around...seven years ago now, my parents left home and never came back."

His expression softens.

"They left to search for the Philosopher's Stone."

"An artifact that holds the secrets to alchemy's truest form."

"Mhm. I knew that they were gonna be gone for a long time...but I was okay with waiting. I had Charles here, a-and I knew a bunch of stuff already! I was...I was fine with waiting."

I pick at a loose thread on my sleeve.

"But as the years went by?"

I blink hard, my eyes blurring as my voice dropped to a near whisper. "I started wondering...what if they never come home?"

"..."

"So I've just been wandering around the Plains aimlessly, doing the same things over and over again. Doing alchemy, gathering ingredients, taking care of the atelier. I enjoyed it, because I love what I do."

I stare out into the horizon. "But I wanted to leave. I wanted to go out there and finish what they started—and maybe, just maybe, I can find them and bring them home with me."

I look down at my boots, picking at a speck of dirt.

"I was just never brave enough to go out there on my own."

"Until now?" Morrison asks.

"I dunno. Even now, I can't really say I'm brave enough to continue journeying further than Xande...but I wanna try. And I guess fate decided it was time for me to stop sitting on my butt all day." I say, managing a smile.

"I see."

Another break of silence.

"I think," Morrison says, taking a deep breath. "You're braver than than you give yourself credit for."

I blink. "Really?"

"Yeah. You've been living out here on your own for seven years. You've learned how to take care of yourself, how to run an atelier, how to make your own medicine. And now you're heading into a place you've never even seen before because you decided you wanted to help someone."

Morrison gives me a careful pat on the back. "Being scared doesn't make you a coward, kid. If your parents see how responsible their daughter has become, they'll definitely be proud of you."

My ears twitch, and my tails start to swish back and forth bashfully. I can't stop the smile from spreading across my face.

"...Thanks, old man."

"I'm not that old..."

"You look old."

"I'm only forty-three."

"Eh, old in my book."

"Kids..." he sighs.

I giggle.

"What about you, Morrison? Any kids?" I ask.

"Yeah, two. One son, one daughter—twins. They're both a handful."

"But you love them, don't you?"

"More than anything in the world."

"Heh."

We spend the next few minutes staring at the approaching horizon in silence.

"No longer scared of the big guy?" I finally say as I stretch, spinning around and hopping off from the root wall back onto the grass.

"Charles? He's a lot less intimidating from the back," Morrison admits as he pushes off the wall himself. "I guess I was never really good with big creatures. One time, a client of mine had a pet drake, and while it was friendly enough, every time it breathed, fire came out of its nose and it singed my poor hair and clothes..."

"People can have pet drakes? That's so cool."

"You're paying attention to the wrong things here, kid."

In the near distance, the hippocampi splash in the lake as they argue over the basket of apples.

Wait, my basket!

"Ah! No! I just fixed that!" I yell, running towards them with my arms outstretched. "Bad horsies!"

"See what I mean? Can't keep them still for even a second."

———

The three of us—well, five counting the hippocampi—continued east.

Nothing much happened for the next half day. I showed Morrison around the atelier, and even showed him how I synthesize items. He said that if I ever wanted to, I could partner up with him to help in his merchant business.

Might be fun, but I dunno.

I played tag with the hippocampi at the lake, but I no matter what I did, I just couldn't catch them. They're really fast on land and in the water.

Then I took a nap on Charles' head. He always has a weak barrier surrounding him that lessens the wind pressure, otherwise the entire atelier would be gone because of how fast he's going.

And after that, for a while, there was nothing but the sound of the wind and the my own heart thumping in my ears. Morrison had fallen asleep on a bench under the shade, and the hippocampi are calmly grazing at hay near the lake.

Then, as the sun began to dip below the mountains, I see it.

Something appearing on the horizon. At first, it looks like just a tiny dark line. Just barely a blip.

I squint. "Is that...?"

I stand up. As if he sensed it too, Morrison awakes underneath the shade, as I hear his footsteps come up behind me.

Then, the line grew slowly. Spires and towers raised in the distance. Walls—pearly white and gold—stretched far and wide, almost from one end of the horizon to the other.

"M-Morrison!!" I exclaim, pointing forward. "Is that!?"

The Deerkin smiles. "Yep. The Kingdom of Xande, in the flesh."

We approach closer and closer, and even from this distance...

It's the most beautiful thing I've seen. Dragons and griffins soar from within the walls, clad in white and blue armor. Banners of that same white and blue hang from the walls.

We get closer. Now, the roads below are paved rather than beaten. Carriages and caravans trek to and from a gate. Some carry the same merchant's banner as Morrison's carriage, while others carry banners of which I don't recognize yet.

And as Morrison said, as I looked closer at the people below, races of all kinds are gathered here. Deerkin like Morrison chatting amongst themselves, Foxkin sharing drinks as they ride, and even Dragonborn marching proudly to and fro.

I haven't even entered the kingdom yet...and I'm already so pumped.

I couldn't stop smiling!

I had spent my entire life looking at the same horizon. Wondering, wishing, wanting.

Now there was something new behind it—something enormous, something beautiful.

This is finally the first step in my grand journey.

The people below turn their heads up as Charles' shadow passes above them, mouths open.

With a grin, I thrust my hand forward, tails wagging uncontrollably. "Don't stop now, Charles! The gate is just ahead!"

The giant turtle raised his head, humming gleefully. The wind whips past my face, but my smile never drops one bit.

I grip tightly onto my hat and my charm. Mama...Papa...give me strength!

"Here I come, Xande!"

———

"Huh!? What do you mean, Charles isn't 'street legal'?! What does that even mean!?" I yell, stomping my foot. The guard, a tall, human man in a full suit of armor holds out both palms.

We had arrived at the front gate and dropped down to the ground, Charles using his wind magic to carry Morrison's carriage back to the dirt. The hippocampi seemed much more docile now than before, as Morrison was able to lead them easily up to the gate.

"Calm down, little lady," he says, voice echoing inside his helmet.

"Aranoa, don't be too loud," Morrison chides. "You're gonna attract too much attention—"

"No, you listen here, mister! Charles is family! He's coming inside whether you like it or not!" I point accusingly at the guard.

The guard stands firm, shaking his head. "Even if you had some sort of registration with it—"

"Him! Charles is a him, not an it! So rude!"

"Fine," he groans, "Even if you had some sort of registration with him, he would still be too big to be wandering in the streets."

"But I saw dragons come in and out of the walls! How come they get to go inside and not Charles?"

"Those dragons are regulated and registered under the Royal army. And besides...they're not the size of a mansion."

As he says this, his gaze turns towards Charles in the near distance, who was merely staring peacefully at him as he chewed on a patch of grass.

"That's so not fair!" I bemoan. "Not fair at all!"

"Sorry, kid, but rules are rules. He is not allowed within 200 flicks of the walls just to be safe."

"Huh!? That's...! You're so full of—"

"Aranoa, let me just..." Morrison steps in between me and the guard, clasping his hands together with a smile. "Sorry about the kid, good sir. This is her first time in Xande, so she's not used to the customs."

"I can tell," the guard chortles. Another guard beside him chuckles with him.

"In any case, may I personally vouch for the Tortuga and his owner?"

In case you didn't know, Tortuga is the official name for Charles species. I just don't use it since calling him Charles is much easier.

"How so?" the guard questions.

"Well, when my carriage went off-road due to the hippocampi pulling it becoming disobedient, Aranoa here and the big guy allowed me to hitch a ride and safely transported me here."

"I see. And you are?"

"Morrison Asher. B-Cert Merchant." As he says this, he produces some sort of hard paper from a pocket in his tunic, handing it to the guard, who inspects it momentarily before handing it back.

"You're decently reputable from the looks of it...but I can't exactly make exceptions without approval first."

"Ah, that is most unfortunate. And here I was hoping to grant you a lifetime discount of all of the highest fabrics..." Morrison sighs, feigning disappointment.

The guard flinches, before looking at the guard beside him. Moments pass before either say a word.

Then...

"How about this...I still cannot let the Tortuga inside the kingdom walls. However, I can submit an approval form so that he can be registered as a transport familiar, which allows him to stay near the gates to allow for easy access. That way, if the kid ever needs to see him again, it's only a carriage ride away." He tilts his head with a cross of his arms. "Deal?"

Morrison crosses his arms.

"Hm...it's the best we can get for now, kid. Whaddya think?" He says as he turns to me.

I puff out my cheeks. I don't like it. Not one bit.

Charles is family, and he has been with me for literally every second of my life. It feels wrong to just...not have him there.

But as much as I want to argue, he's not allowed directly inside.

I don't like it...but I understand.

At least with this deal...I can see him easily enough every day, right?

"..."

"Aranoa?"

I step away from Morrison and the guard, walking up to Charles, who was still surrounded by curious children and their parents.

He lets me approach, and I place a hand between his eyes, resting my head on his.

"Sorry, big guy. Looks like you're gonna have to stay out here for now."

I whisper gently as I pat his head. I pull back, observing his expression. He doesn't seem to mind at all, eyes still blinking slowly and affectionately.

"Is...that okay with you...?" I murmur.

He lets out a low hum, the corners of his mouth tugging upwards as he nudges me.

"Really?"

Another.

"...Okay."

I step away, giving him one last pat before walking back to Morrison, who watched the whole exchange.

"So?" he asks.

"Mmh..." I hum, clasping my hands behind my back and swaying on my heels. "I guess it's fine..."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

The guard nods. "I'll have the registration paperwork submitted. It'll take a little while, but once it's approved, he'll be recognized as a transport familiar."

"Familiar..." I mutter. 

It still sounds weird.

"He's family," I pout.

"Yeah yeah, whatever you say, little lady," the guard laughs.

"I'm not little!" I hiss, my tails sticking straight up. 

Morrison puts a hand on my shoulder, giving it a small squeeze. I look up at him, and he shakes his head.

"C'mon, Aranoa." He says as he tugs on the reins of the hippocampi.

"Mrm...fine." I humph, turning away from the guard.

"Welcome to Xande, kid," he says as we pass him.

"Hmph!"

I lock eyes with Charles as we begin to step inside.

He nods at me with a smile.

"I'll come see you every now and then, okay?" I call out to him.

He opens his mouth to let out an acknowledging groan, the children around him giggling and covering their ears.

"I-I'll bring you something! Oh! Maybe some special fish inside the city!"

Morrison clears his throat. "Don't be so loud."

"Oh..." I turn and wave one last time to Charles as we step through. "I'll see you later, Charles!"

I see him nod once more he disappears behind the walls. I hope he'll be alright on his own...