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	Chapter 5 - The King and Misa [NEW]
	Misa kissed Keitaro on the cheek and got up, just before his parents and Mr Avalon returned from in the kitchen. “Keitaro, what are you doing on the floor?” asked his mother. “Oh, I erm, fell down the stairs,” he lied. “Great, we have a defender who can’t even walk down a flight of stairs,” exclaimed his father, causing most people in the room (Keitaro being the odd one out) to start laughing. Once it died down, Mr Avalon signalled to the door of the living room, and Keitaro led him and Misa out. When they had left the house, Mr Avalon turned to Keitaro’s parents, who were standing in the doorway. “I just want to clarify this, Master Keitaro has all he need for the night in that bag, and you will be delivering his things tomorrow?” he asked. “Yes, that’s right,” his father confirmed. “Then here, please take this,” he said, while reaching inside his coat to take what looked like a small notepad. He scribbled his signature onto the bottom of a page and handed it to Keitaro’s mother. ‘PALACE ENTRANCE, VISITING’ It said at the top. “Just hand that to whoever is at the palace gates and they will let you in, but if you have anything magical to deliver, please take it in a separate bag and hand it in straight to the guards. They will have to check it, for obvious reasons, and it will be delivered to Keitaro once it’s cleared,” and with those last words, he walked away from the house. Keitaro turned to follow him, and his eyes widened when he saw how they were getting to the palace. A car. He was actually going to travel in a real car. There weren’t many of these around in Karamune. Mr Avalon unlocked the doors and climbed into the front seat, while Misa climbed into the back. It was only when Misa called him that he realised he was just standing, gawping at the machine. He rushed into it, banging his head off the roof as he did so. “Wow, you really are clumsy aren’t you, Ket?” Said Misa. “Ket! Who’s Ket?” “It’s you, silly,” exclaimed Misa. “I can’t keep saying Keitaro, can I?” “Why not? It’s my name,” he argued. “Everyone needs a nickname, don’t they?” “Well call me Kero then, Ket just sounds weird.” “and Kero dosen’t?” questioned Misa, “Besides, Ket suits you better, ‘cause it sounds cuter.” ‘Great,’ Keitaro thought, ‘she thinks I’m cute.’ Mr Avalon started up the car; it felt really strange to Keitaro. It started shaking, and just as he was worrying that it might be broken, Mr Avalon drove off. The road away from his house obviously wasn’t built for cars. It was cobbled, and as the car rolled down the hill, it was shaking vigorously. Maybe it was going up this road in the first place that had broken it. “Kero? Why are you holding onto the seat?” asked Misa, giving him a ‘You’re insane’ look. Keitaro blushed, and let go of the seat, he was clinging on to it without realising. They finally came off the cobbled road, and into the town. The grass of the hill was replaced by concrete, and the car drove much smoother. From then on, Mr Avalon kept to concrete surfaces, so the drive was much more comfortable. Keitaro lay back against the seat, it was much more comfortable when the car wasn’t shaking, although he still felt the vibrations of the engine. Mr Avalon had explained it to him when Keitaro pointed out that the car might be broken. It was just the engine. Apparently it was what made the can move so fast, and it shook when the car was stopped to show that it was working. Keitaro stared out the window at the passing buildings until the palace came into view. “There you go Kero!” exclaimed Misa, throwing one arm around his neck and pointing with her other, “your new home!” Keitaro looked up to the palace that loomed over him even from the distance he was. He’d never seen a sight like it, a huge building, unlike any other palace Keitaro had seen. He’d never seen one up close, of course, but he’d seen pictures in books. The palaces in the other kingdoms and cities weren’t as tall as Karamune’s. This had to be at least 4 floors high, but then again, Karamune’s palace was home to all of the servants as well as the royal family and guests. “Nice, huh?” came Misa’s voice from behind him. “You know, you shouldn’t leave your mouth open like that, it’s very rude” She was right, his mouth was wide open. He blushed and snapped his jaw shut so fast his teeth hurt, and he had to open it again. Misa giggled, and reached her hand over to Keitaro’s chin. “Here,” she said, shutting it slowly. “Wow, you can’t even shut your mouth, and you’re going to be defending Karamune?” she laughed. Keitaro had heard that a lot over the last hour. Was he really cut out to defend the kingdom? “Awww, don’t look like that” apparently his thoughts were portrayed by his face “you know I was kidding,” he looked up at her face. She was smiling so sweetly. He laughed briefly, but Mr Avalon cut in. “We’ll be there in 5 minutes you guys, OK?” “OK dad” Misa responded. Keitaro said nothing again; he was just staring at the palace. 5 minutes to go that far? Cars really were amazing, even if they shook a lot. The 5 minutes passed easily enough, and they were near the palace before Keitaro realised it. The car started shaking again once it slowed down, and Keitaro held onto the seat again. Misa looked at him, confused, “You know, you could have just worn your seatbelt,” she informed him once the car had stopped, and been turned off. That was when he noticed the strap which was wrapped around her, holding her to the seat. Why couldn’t she have told him that sooner? Misa and her father opened their doors and left, but Keitaro took a while finding the handle (it looked nothing like a normal door handle) he finally opened his door, and followed Misa and Mr Avalon. They had stopped in a place with a few other cars which had been left there. It seemed that this was where people kept the cars when they weren’t using them. As they left, Keitaro noticed a sign, “Royal Car Park.” They still had a walk to the palace which lasted about 2 minutes. Apparently there were no vehicles allowed within 200 metres of the palace. When they finally reached the main gates of the palace, the guards at the gate greeted Mr Avalon. “Ah, Mr Avalon and Miss Misa, you’re back” said one. “And you must be Master Keitaro Dagal?” the second one addressed him. “That’s me,” he responded. Both of them bowed; almost hinged 90 degrees at the waist. ‘I hope everyone here doesn’t bow to me’ he thought. “Please, you don’t have to bow to me, I’m just a kid” The two men straightened up, and the one on the left opened the gate for them. The garden they walked through to reach the palace’s main door was beautiful. Flowers of all different varieties were scattered around, with grass separating each patch. There was a path leading straight up to the palace which they were walking on now, and there were many different smaller paths leading off it, each one leading apparently to a different patch of flowers. Keitaro took a deep breath in as he walked, the air was calm here. They reached the end of the path and approached the palaces main door. There was a small booth by the door here, and Mr Avalon turned to the man inside it. “Mornin’ Hal” said the Booth-man. “Good Afternoon George.” He responded. “Well, look at that,” exclaimed the man who was apparently called ‘George,’ “Twelve Forty five” It wasn’t even one o’clock yet? It felt much later too Keitaro, but then again, he had fought a demon today. He couldn’t help himself thinking what a silver wolf demon was doing in the forest. A demon was an evil spirit which had escaped the afterlife and reincarnated as an animal form. They only usually returned for revenge before the gods caught them and returned them to where they were meant to be. What would the wolf need revenge on around the forest. It wouldn’t be Keitaro or his family would it? The worst they could have done was sold the person a bad potion. “Kero?” Misa brought him back down to Earth. She was waving a card in his face. “Kero? Wake up?” she said again, this time slapping his face with the card. He took it from her, and read the front. ‘Palace entry – Master Keitaro Oliver Dagal’ it said. Oliver? “Oliver?” questioned Keitaro. “Yes, that’s your palace entry card. They need 3 names on them, and being as you only have 2, but you were staring into space when I asked you, Misa decided for you.” Mr Avalon explained. “It goes with Kero. Now you can be Kero-Oli.” Misa said, with her usual chirpy tone. “I like Oliver, but I’ll stick to Kero for a nickname, thanks.” George from the booth was outside the booth now. “OK, You know the procedure, any magical objects?” asked George. “Only standard palace issue,” Mr Avalon answered, taking a few things from his inside pocket for George to see before putting them back in. George held his hand out in front or Mr Avalon’s chest, muttered something that sounded like a spell and moved onto Misa. Keitaro was next. He didn’t have any Magical objects at all except his potion vials, and they were at home. “Nope,” said Misa, and George held his hand out in the same way as he’d done with Mr Avalon. Just as he was muttering the spell, Keitaro’s hand brushed his pocket. The package Mr Avalon had given him was still in there. If that was magic he’d have to hand it in, but Mr Avalon had told him not to show it to anyone. Keitaro started to panic. What would happen if he lied about the package, and it was magical after all? Keitaro would be thrown out of the palace before he’d even entered. He had no choice here. “Any magical items on you?” asked George, who was now in front of him. Keitaro went to reach into his pocket and extract the package, but Mr Avalon cut in. “It’s OK Keitaro, it’s a routine check, just in case there are any dark magic attempting to get into the palace, you don’t have anything magical on you.” He was reassured now. That meant either it wasn’t magical, or it wouldn’t be discovered by George. Georges hand was pointed square at his chest, and he muttered the spell one last time. Keitaro could hear the spell from this close, even if it was muttered. “I draw the spirits of the hopeful, lend me your strength, and reveal what is hidden.” It was a hope spell. Keitaro tried to remember it as best he could. George stepped back, and announced that they were clear, and free to go into the palace. They walked towards the door, but Mr Avalon turned back. “Oh, George, before I forget, Master Keitaro’s parents are bringing his belongings to the palace tomorrow, and I have given them an FPE-note, here is my copy of it,” he said, handing a piece of paper to George before walking in with Misa and Keitaro behind him. As they entered the main hall of the palace, Keitaro felt his jaw loosen a little, but shut it before Misa decided to do it for him again. The hall was decorated to perfection. The floor was covered with brilliantly shining white tiles, and a large maroon rug on top of them with the golden insignia of Karamune on it, a crescent moon wrapped around a large letter ‘K.’ Tapestries bearing the same were hung at frequent intervals on the walls, and each one was marvellously crafted. The staircase, which they were headed towards now, stretched the length of the back wall, and at the top there was a corridor with three doors. Mr Avalon led them up the stairs into the left door. It led to another corridor, this one with many more doors in it. These corridors were carpeted with a thick blue carpet, and as Keitaro walked he could feel himself bouncing on it slightly. The walls were covered in paintings, and occasionally there was a small table with an expensive looking ornament on it. Eventually they came to a door, which Mr Avalon unlocked before he turned to face Keitaro and Misa. “Keitaro, please forgive me, but I have some work to do, I’m sure Misa can show you to your room.” “I can dad,” Misa confirmed. “Good, but remember he’s not having Yokatu’s room.” “I know, he’s having the spare room near mine and Mako’s.” “Good girl,” he stated, turning into his room. As soon as the door closed, Misa set off at a run. Keitaro ran after her, and just as he came around a corner, there was a door ajar at the end of the corridor he was in. He ran to it and noticed Misa in the corridor through it, so he followed her. “Don’t forget to shut the door,” she shouted after him. He grumbled and shut it as he passed. When he went to follow Misa again, she was gone. Walking along the corridor, he looked for an open door, but didn’t find one. He stopped at the end of the corridor, with a door in front of him. It was worth a try. He opened the door to find, as predicted, another corridor. This one seemed smaller, and only had 4 doors coming off it. “Misa?” called Keitaro, walking into the mini-corridor. A door clicked behind him and he turned, hoping to see Misa. It was a boy, who looked about a year older than Keitaro. He had short-ish hair, which was so black he was almost certain it had to be dyed, and the fringe fell over his eye. The visible eye was a grey shade of blue, and he was wearing mostly black clothes, with the exception of a dark blue bandana tied around his neck, and a pair of red arm warmers which were just visible under his jacket. “Hey, you looking for Misa?” asked the boy. “Yeah, she’s supposed to show me my room, but she ran off,” explained Keitaro. “You’re Keitaro?” he guessed. “Yeah.” “I’m Makoto, you’re in that one there,” He pointed to the room next to his own. “That’s your room now,” he went to go back into his room, but stopped at the door. “Oh, by the way, Misa’s in there,” and he pointed to the door across the hall. “Ran in saying something about finding a nice dress for Kero.” He walked back in and shut the door, so Keitaro went into the room that Makoto had shown him. The first thing that struck him about it was the lack of furniture. The second was the lack of decoration. There was a bed, and it was a large bed, but that was it except for the cabinet which was next to it. He sighed, and shut the door, noticing the note attached to the back of it. ‘Keitaro, my apologies for the lack of decoration. This room was a spare room until roughly 3 hours before you should be reading this notice. You were originally meant to have a room near Princess Lupato and the other defenders, but I thought you’d be more comfortable here with Makoto and Misa. I also decided you may want to decorate the room yourself, so I held off decoration. When you’re ready, ring the Maid bell. Mr H Avalon.’ Ring the maid bell. Well, he was as ready as he’d get. He looked around for something that resembled a bell, but was unsuccessful. He tried everywhere, and it was easy to look without anything in the room to hide behind, but still found nothing. He walked out into the corridor and knocked on Makoto’s door. He wasn’t sure how friendly he could be, but anything would be better than Misa’s overfriendliness. Makoto opened the door and looked at Keitaro quizzically. “What?” he asked. “I was just wondering if you could tell me where the maid bell is?” “Dude, you are new here,” he stated, with extensive sarcasm in his voice. “Come in.” They both walked into the room. It was covered in as much black as Makoto was himself. “Here,” he pointed to the back of the door. “That’s where mine is, but I had it put there,” he lifted a panel from the back of his door to reveal a small button. “I don’t know where yours would be, they’re different in each room, I’ll call my maid if you’d like,” he offered. “Yes please,” He had is own maid? This guy must be important. He pressed his finger into the button, and Keitaro heard a door open outside, and a knock on Makoto’s own door. When Makoto opened it, it revealed a rather beautiful lady, about 24 years old with short blonde hair and brilliant blue eyes. She was wearing a maid’s uniform with an unusually small skirt. “Yes Makoto?” she asked, with a polite curtsy. “Please Eulalie, I’ve told you that you don’t need to do that for me,” he insisted, referring to the curtsy. Eulalie blushed. “I was wondering if you could assist Master Keitaro Dagal?” “Master Keitaro is here already?” she asked, before Makoto nodded to Keitaro. The maid blushed even harder, and curtseyed to him too. “I apologize Master Keitaro, I didn’t see you there,” she said, emerging from her curtsey. “Please, it’s just Keitaro.” “Oh, aren’t the two of you just so kind to me, what is it you need Keitaro?” she smiled. “I can’t find the maid bell in my room,” Keitaro explained to her. “I see, and which room would yours be?” “It’s the one next door to here,” Makoto cut in, pointing to his wall in the direction of Keitaro’s room. “Here,” said Keitaro, extracting the note from his pocket and giving it to Eulalie. She read the note quickly and walked out of the door into Keitaro’s room. “Thanks” Keitaro mouthed to Makoto on the way out. He walked into his own room through the still open door to find Eulalie searching his bed. He looked away out of courtesy, as he could see up her skirt from the way she was bending over, but he didn’t suppose it took much to be able to see up a skirt that short. He turned back when he heard her voice, “It doesn’t look like you have one in here at the moment, hold on,” she paused a minute, presumably talking with someone. “OK, Keitaro, this room doesn’t have a maid bell, and it will take a few hours for one to be set up, but I’ve been assigned to this room, so I’m your maid. I assume you want to redecorate the room?” she asked him, smiling. He was glad, he had a maid who he could obviously talk with, not to mention that she was pretty too. “Yes please, miss,” he responded politely. “So you won’t let me call you master, and you call me miss. They really did pick a nice candidate for the next defender didn’t they?” she smiled even more than she had when he first refused the title of ‘master’ and took a small one handed wand from out of the pocket in her uniform. “Any colours in mind?” she asked. “Well, my room at home has a maroon carpet and dark green wallpaper, so let’s try that.” She pressed her wand to the walls and started a spell. “Spirits of the Faithful, I call you. Grant me the power of change.” Where her wand was pressed against the wall, a dark green patch spread across it like butter on toast. When the patch reached the bottom of the wall, colour started spreading across the carpet too, this time it was maroon. In no time at all, the room was coated in dark green and maroon. “It’s perfect, thanks,” Keitaro said. “Well, let’s go get your furniture then,” she said on her way to the door. Keitaro followed her and she went out of the door that lead from their mini-corridor to the one Keitaro was in earlier, then into the one where Mr Avalon’s room was, and finally stopped outside his door. Eulalie knocked the door twice and shuffling was heard on the other side of it. As soon as Mr Avalon had opened the door, Eulalie spoke, “I’m terribly sorry Mr Avalon, but would you know where Master Keitaro’s furniture is?” “Yes, when the room went out of use, all the furniture in there was moved into the room across the hall from it,” he told them. “Thank you sir,” she said, and walked back along to Keitaro’s room, with Keitaro following. They opened the door to the room opposite his and found the furniture there as promised. “Sorry, Keitaro, but we’ll have to carry it through, I’m rank five, so I can’t use Levitate. It’s a shame really, my exam is next week, and Levitate is the spell I’ve been practicing for it.” “I could help there,” came a voice from behind them, which caused Eulalie to jump, exposing the underside of her skirt again. Makoto was standing in his doorway when Keitaro turned to see it was him who’d spoken. “I’m rank four,” he told them, “I, Makoto Sydney Hechi, state that the two before me have my permission to perform the rank four spell: Levitate,” he then walked up to the door of the room, preparing to cast the spell himself. It was only at this time that Keitaro realised that he had a staff in his hand. “Spirits of the Faithful, I call you. Grant me the power of Levitation.” The cabinet nearest to the door lifted about 3 feet off the floor, and Makoto walked into Keitaro’s room, with the cabinet following. “Where d’you want it Kero?” “Just down by the bed please, next to the other one,” and the cabinet was brought to the floor where Keitaro asked. “Okay you two, now I’ve demonstrated that I can do the spell, you should be able to perform it. Here, you can borrow this one,” he pulled a one handed wand from his pocket and gave it to Keitaro. “Thanks,” he said automatically. They all went into the room and started moving random pieces of furniture, which didn’t work out as well as they’d hoped. After about a minute of trying to aimlessly move the other furniture around, they finally came to some form of system. Eulalie was standing in the spare room so that she could take all the furniture out into the corridor, Keitaro was standing at his door, ready to decide whether or not he wanted it in his room. Makoto was in the hallway moving the furniture either to the unoccupied end of the hall or into Keitaro’s bedroom, where Keitaro (once Makoto had taught him to use the spell,) would then move it where he wanted it. It took about an hour to empty the spare room, and once Keitaro’s room looked how he wanted it, Keitaro checked the clock he’d got from the spare room, (which was somehow still working and showing the correct time.) It showed six o’clock. He went outside to help Makoto and Eulalie put the unused furniture back into the other room, but as he walked into the hallway, he noticed another figure in the shape of Mr Avalon. “Ah, Keitaro, I was just coming for you, but before we get to that, Makoto tells me that you performed a level four spell?” “Yeah, Levitate, but sir, he gave me the permission-” “No, Keitaro,” Mr Avalon interrupted, “I’m a third level magician, and I can grade you at any time I want, could you show me the spell?” he explained. Keitaro took the one handed wand back out of his pocket and aimed towards an armchair from the pile, “Spirits of the Faithful, I call you. Grant me the power of Levitation.” The armchair lifted from the floor and moved into the spare room and Mr Avalon came up and patted Keitaro on the back. “Well done, you are now a High level magician, as is Miss Metona.” “Wait, me?” questioned Eulalie. “Yes, I saw you performing the spell as I entered the corridor, and I’m awarding you rank four as well as Keitaro.” Mr Avalon smiled at her, and then turned back to Keitaro. “OK, Keitaro, I have been asked to escort you to the king, so please follow me and I’ll take you there.” He began to walk towards the corridor, but stopped at the door. After a few seconds wait, he said, “OK,” and turned round again. “Miss Metona? The King wants to see you too,” he turned back around, and Keitaro and Eulalie followed. “Mr Avalon? Why does the king want to see me?” Keitaro asked as they walked. “I don’t know, but I’d guess it has something to do with your defending duties. Miss Metona, I’m not sure why you were called either, I just received a call asking if I could bring you along also.” “Call? You have a relative in the palace?” asked Keitaro. “Well, yes, my daughter lives here too, but I’m not getting the call from her, it’s a new recreation of a pre-judgment invention.” He reached into his ear and pulled out a small black thing. “We think they called this a transceiver, it can pick up radio signals sent out by the palace’s main office. I have this as an experimental version; we’re still testing the range and things like that.” He placed the transceiver back into his ear, and carried on walking. * * * * * “I’m telling you my lord, it’s a bad idea.” “I have no choice Haruko; he is the selected master of wind now. Ever since the forming of Karamune we’ve only employed the Masters of the elements to defend our kingdom.” “But sire, he’s 14!” “16,” corrected the King, “And he has shown an amazing ability for learning spells” “He knows hardly any! An idiot who can learn is an idiot all the same, and I’ve been watching him over the past week; all he does is lie around in that forest of his.” “He protects that forest Haruko. He protects it with all his life, which is exactly what we need from one of our four defenders.” “Sire, I strongly suggest that you keep the guard team in place. If you believe he’ll be safer at the palace, I have no objection to him staying, but I beg you not to let the safety of the kingdom fall into the hands of a mere child.” “ENOUGH, Haruko.” The king slammed his hand on the desk and stood from his seat. “My own daughter was at his age when she was chosen to defend Karamune, and she is still standing on this day. Keitaro will take Yokatu’s place, and that is my final word on the matter.” “Sire, I mean you no disrespect, but I simply don’t believe he is cut out to defend Karamune.” He wasn’t going to give up. “Very well Haruko. If he could stand against you, would you believe in the boy?” The question caught him off guard. “I-I’m sorry sire, I don’t understand what you’re-” “If Keitaro could match your skill would you believe in him?” “Yes sire. Anyone capable of fighting a defender is surely capable of becoming one.” The king rested his head in his hands. Was this the wrong decision? Keitaro would surely not be able to stand up to Haruko, not this early in his career. He had no alternative though. “Then you are to assess him personally,” said the King regretfully. “Yes my lord, I will show you that a child is not fit to bec-” The King interrupted him, “You will create a monster to oppose him, and make it seem that it is attacking the kingdom. Mistress Hiroko will be assigned to Keitaro’s shift tonight, and she will be aware of what is happening, as will my daughter. The criteria will be this, after his duty, Keitaro will be called here again. Regardless of his condition, if he can stand in front of me without aid, you will drop any doubts you may have for him. If not, he stays at the palace so that he may be protected, but the defending duty will be passed to Kira Makati, our head magical instructor.” “Those terms seem reasonable. When is his next defending duty?” “Roughly 10 minutes after we are finished here,” the king answered. Haruko left the room, presumably to prepare for Keitaro’s test. * * * * * Mr Avalon, Eulalie and Keitaro arrived at the large doors which lead to the centre of the palace, where the King’s office and living quarters were. Mr Avalon knocked on the door, and a female’s voice answered on the other side. “Name and business please?” the woman sounded bored. “Advisor Hal Avalon, escorting Master Keitaro Dagal and Maid Eulalie Metona to an appointment with His Royal Highness King Karamune,” announced Mr Avalon, in a loud, bold voice. “Come in,” the voice replied. The room they entered was fairly average. It had the same dark blue carpet as the rest of the palace, and the walls were decorated with the same tapestry insignia, but it was less frequent. Where it was every metre or so in the main hall, there were only two in her, one on the wall to Keitaro’s right, and one on the wall to his left. “Just go straight through,” said the voice again. Keitaro looked to where it came from to discover it was an elderly lady, who looked as bored as she sounded. Mr Avalon and Eulalie walked towards a door on the wall opposite them, and Keitaro followed. This lead to a much larger room, decorated the same as the previous room, with only two tapestries, each on opposite walls. There was a man waiting by a door at the other end of this room, presumably to show them into the King’s office. As they walked towards the door though, the man walked straight past them and out of the door they’d came from. “Is that you Hal?” called in a voice from the door that the man was just standing by. “Yes my lord, I’m here with Miss Eulalie Metona and Master Keitaro Dagal.” “Come though, all three of you.” The three of them went into the room, which was apparently the King’s office. It had a dark blue carpet, and the entire back wall was comprised of one huge window, although it didn’t let much light in, as it was already starting to grow dark outside. The only furniture in the room was the desk that the king was sitting in front of, the (very large) chair that the King was sitting on, and 3 chairs in front of the desk. “Please, sit down,” the King asked, motioning to the three seats. They did so, and the King began to speak again. “If you don’t mind Keitaro, I’m going to speak with Miss Metona first, as it will only take me a second.” “Okay then,” Keitaro went to get up, but the King held out his hand. “No, Keitaro you can stay in here, I didn’t mean for you to leave,” he chuckled, and addressed Eulalie. “Miss Eulalie, according to my rankings, you are now a fourth rank magician, is that correct?” asked the King, even though he knew very well that it was. “Yes sire,” she answered. “And it is also correct that you have paid for a rank testing already?” “Yes sire,” she answered again. “And Mr Avalon, you gave her fourth rank free of charge?” “Yes, I did indeed,” Mr Avalon smiled. “So, that means you still have paid examination Miss Eulalie. So would you like to attend this examination still?” “I can’t sire, I haven’t learnt any rank 3 spells.” “Then you will be given a week paid study leave, and take lessons with Keitaro.” ‘Lessons with Keitaro?’ he thought. He couldn’t teach her, he hardly knew anything himself. “OK, I’ll do it sire,” she said. It seemed the time off work had convinced her. “Right, now onto Keitaro,” he said, shifting on his seat so that he was facing him. “As you read in my letter, you are the master of the wind element, and since the forming of Karamune, we have always endeavoured to employ the element masters to defend Karamune.” “Yes, I have the letter here still,” said Keitaro, withdrawing the letter from his pocket. “Excellent Keitaro, now all I need is your personal confirmation that you are up for the job.” “I-” began Keitaro, before being interrupted by the King. “Before you answer Keitaro, I want you to know that as long as you have that card given to you at the front entrance to the palace, you may live here for however long you wish, whether you’re a defender or not.” What did that mean? Didn’t the King want him defending the kingdom? Was he too young? Maybe he really wasn’t cut out for the job. No, he wouldn’t think like that. He had to do it, and he had to do his best. “I’ll do it,” he confirmed. “Excellent Keitaro, in that case, you are to report here in 6 hours and 10 minutes.” “Why? Is that when I start?” asked Keitaro, confused. “No, Keitaro, on the contrary, it is when you finish.” “Finish?” “Yes, each defender has a 6 hour shift, and yours begins in 5 minutes.” “But sir, I don’t have a staff, and I don’t know how to get there, or where there is,” Keitaro said, slowly starting to panic. “Please, Keitaro, calm down. The answer to all your questions is right over here.” He stood up from his chair, and Keitaro leant back for a second, the King was a very tall man. He walked over to the side of the room, where there was a piece of furniture he hadn’t noticed before. A small cat bed. The cat inside the bed looked quite young, it couldn’t be more than six months old. The king leant down and whispered something to the kitten, which stood and stretched his paws before jumping onto the king’s shoulder. “This is Nori,” said the King, holding out his hand towards Keitaro, allowing the kitten to run across it into the king’s outstretched palm. When he was there, Keitaro could see a set of wings protruding from his back. He lifted his front paws and sprung from his back ones, flapping his wings as he travelled through the air to land on the desk in front of Keitaro. “Hello, Master Keitaro,” said Nori. Keitaro was shocked at first, seeing the words come from the mouth of a kitten, but he regained his composure after a few seconds. “Just Keitaro please. I still feel uneasy about the whole ‘Master’ thing.” “Is that what you want me to call you?” asked Nori. It seemed a strange request, but Keitaro thought it best to answer. “Yes,” he stopped, and then added, “Please.” “Very well, Keitaro. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” “Yes, errm, you too.” “Nori will be your guardian for the remainder of your lifespan, Keitaro, as he was assigned to protect the master of wind,” explained the King. Nori opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a loud knocking on the door. Before waiting for a reply, the person opened the door and entered the room. It was girl who looked roughly 18, with long brown hair that reached just past her knees. “Dad? I’ve finished my shift, there were no attacks, but the guard team hasn’t shown up yet.” “I know Lupato, the guard team is back to guarding the inner city with the others, our defender arrived today.” “Master Keitaro was arriving today?” she asked, and without waiting for an answer, she said, “He hasn’t shown up for his shift yet.” “This is because he is sitting over there Lupato,” said the King, signalling to Keitaro. “Oh, I’m sorry,” she blushed, “I didn’t see any of you here.” “Keitaro,” Mr Avalon said, “I think you’d best go with Princess Lupato.” “I don’t have a staff,” protested Keitaro. “Yes you do, I finished the preparations for Yokatu’s old staff this morning. Hold out your hand,” ordered Nori. Keitaro did as he was bade, and held his hand in front of him. A small metal rod appeared in his hand, but it soon began to grow, the same as Taiboku’s staff had done, and within moments he had a fully formed metal staff in his hand. “Lupato, as this is Keitaro’s first shift, I will request that yourself and Mistress Hiroko go with him and tell him as much as you can about how this all works as possible. “Okay dad,” she said, before grabbing hold of Keitaro’s wrist and almost dragging him out of the king’s office. “Maro, contact Sanyu and tell him that Mistress Hiroko is to help Keitaro on his first shift with me,” she ordered the small kitten on her shoulder. He was almost identical to Nori, who was flying behind Keitaro and the princess, except his fur was black, and his wings were larger. “Will do, Lupato,” said Maro. They ran up a flight of stairs, and stopped just before a strange looking door. It was made of metal, and had no handle. Princess Lupato took a card from her pocket, which looked like the one Keitaro had been given when he entered the palace earlier that morning. The door clicked, and swung open to reveal a blank room. “Only defenders can use this room,” Lupato explained when she saw the puzzled look on Keitaro’s face. He still didn’t understand. “Why does a blank room need that security on it?” he asked. Lupato looked at him and smiled. “Because this blank room is the only one in the palace which can bypass the teleport barriers. We can go straight outside using this room.” “Teleport?” Keitaro had never heard of the teleport spell, let alone learnt it. “Here,” she said, lifting up her left sleeve to reveal a piece of fabric wrapped around her arm. She twisted it around, and Keitaro saw a small chip embedded in the fabric. She touched it with her right arm, and used the other to hold onto Keitaro’s wrist. The room around him seemed to melt, and in seconds, it had reformed. He was now outside, standing on a large wall with nothing but miles of sand on one side, and Karamune on the other. _______________________________________­________________________________ Okay, that was a long one. I apologize for that. I am halfway through the character drawing of Eulalie Metona, and I will finished that I'll get the character descriptions up.
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