Chapter 10
"Surely you jest, you cannot expect these seeds to be worth 20,000 gil."
"I said the price I said, you either take it or leave it."
Willow stared in bored disillusionment as her companion, the tall, dark, bunny-person named Erenville spoke heatedly with a merchant. It didn't seem like the conversation was going anywhere, but this was at least the fourth merchant that Erenville had been having this conversation with.
It had been the case ever since their ship had landed at the port of Yedlihmad, a sea-town on the edge of a continent called Thavnair. Willow had at first been awed by the majesty of the forests and mountains visible from the sea, but landing at the port and dealing with the local merchants had drained a lot of the majesty she had first imagined of the place.
It was all your typical business dealings no matter how you sliced it. Just people selling over-priced goods to foreign travelers and having to fight tooth and nail for a fair price on goods.
It reminded her far too much of her least favorite part of running the family business; negotiating deals with suppliers. All anyone had ever cared about was money, getting a good for this or that, and she had honestly hated all of it. It was part of the trade, sure, but the part of the business she liked was making a good product.
She enjoyed knowing that their dust was the best in the world, that it worked as intended every time for customers, and that every transaction led to a happy customer. That was the part of the business she had liked the most.
…At least until her "husband" had come along and turned it all for profit and war racketeering. That was the start of her shutting herself out from the world, unable to deal with all of it.
She let out a sigh and shook her head, trying to expel the bad memories from her head. As far as she was aware she was never going to see her home again, so it was best to focus on the here and now.
…And the here and now was watching Erenville argue for a good deal on merchandise for some reason.
Despite Erenville's explanation that it was his duty as a Gleaner to obtain goods and cultural items from around the world to document in Sharlayan, she found it hard to believe that this was part of the process. She imagined searching ancient ruins or traveling to majestic shores and collecting rare and valuable items, not the doldrums of day-to-day business transactions.
That is to say, she found herself incredibly bored. At the very least, bored of just talking to merchants, the continent of Thavnair still contained a resplendent amount of beauty and she was determined to see it for herself.
She turned on her heels and walked away from the boring conversation. It's not like she was going to get lost, it was hard not to spot the harbor where their ship was docked and she could always ask a local for directions. They had until nightfall to 'glean' and return to the ship anyway so it wasn't going to hurt anyone if she just wandered around on her own for a bit.
At the very least she had no intention of bargaining with any merchants, she was here to see the sights and nothing more.
As she glanced around, the people of Thavnair didn't seem all that different from the people she saw in Old Sharlayan, though the style of clothing was significantly different. Sharlayan's seemed to wear far more formal attire, even to non-formal functions, keeping themselves looking studious and kempt.
The people of Thavnair, in comparison, wore much looser clothes, made up of sashes and light-material, most likely to accommodate the heat. Turbans and wraps seemed particularly common to keep one's head out of the sun, while others were clearly more equipped for dealing with the ships and the water of the port.
It was all very fascinating, something she was finding herself getting drawn into-
-When a shadow seemed to fall over her and she felt the large presence of something unfamiliar.
She stumbled on her feet, worried about bumping into this presence, before turning around to see an ocean of dark blue before her. She blinked and lifted her gaze upward, feeling her heart sink as her mind struggled to comprehend what it was she was seeing.
It was… An elephant? Walking on two legs like a person? An all-blue elephant, though with a significantly shorter trunk and two tusks protruding from the side, small beady eyes, giant ears, and gargantuan arms with massive hands on each one. Each finger had to be as thick as her arm!
"Oh goodness, I apologize," the elephant spoke, "I did not see you there."
To her shock and horror it even spoke like a person! It was a living, breathing, elephant person! Of all the Faunus she had ever seen, none had so closely resembled its species as much as this one did and in her mind only one word was screaming out to her-
Danger.
She was in danger if she stayed in its presence. The faunus were blood thirsty creatures who wanted to kill her for the sin of selling dust! Her mind flashed with images of attempts on her life the few times she had found herself out in public.
Her legs moved before her mind truly caught on to what was happening. She was fleeing for her life, running as far away from the monstrous person as she could.
The elephant-man, for his part, just tilted his head in confusion, unsure of what had just happened as he watched the fleeing woman. However he ended up shrugging his shoulders and continuing on his day as if nothing had happened.
For Willow though, the panic would not settle. Her mind was screaming at her, telling her the whole world was out to get her. If she wanted to be safe she had to flee, she had to run. Run where? It didn't matter, she just had to be somewhere where she wasn't in danger.
The blur of colors and distant voices passed her by as she ran, until she saw the end of the town, the edge of civilization. She fled from the borders of Yedlihmad and made her way towards the beaches to its side, only starting to slow down once the voices of other people disappeared into the background, soon replaced with the sound of ocean waves.
She slowed to a stop, her heart hammering in her chest, her breathing heavy and ragged. She hadn't run that hard or that fast in such a long time her body didn't know how to respond to it all. Every part of her body ached in pain, the panic having set off every alarm bell in her body to go into fight or flight mode. With the danger seemingly behind her she fell to the sand in a sitting position just trying to calm her beating heart.
And as she did she looked up and saw the ocean before her, the beautiful crystal blue sea that stretched out for as far as the eye could see. Her breathing began to slow, her heart beginning to flutter, at the beautiful sight before her. The way the sun reflected off the waves, the gorgeous colors that sloshed about, the colorful fish that could be seen swimming about…
These were the sights she had been hoping to see, the sights she had been wanting to partake in when she set off on this journey. She slowly adjusted her feet, leaning forward to rest her arms on her knees and stare out at the ocean for a little longer.
Maybe the people here weren't to her liking, but the scenery? It was everything she had hoped it would be.
As she stared out at the sparkling sea she lost track of the time. The way the sun sparkled on the surface as it slowly shifted in the sky, the way the animals splashed in the water, even the way the fisherman moved across the water so far off in the distance. She could stare for hours.
And she likely would have, if she hadn't been interrupted by a strange squawking sound.
"Huh?" She tilted her head, noticing that she seemed to have company now. To her right was a small, round, fat bird with eyes that looked in two different directions at all times and seemed to be staring straight at her.
"Uh… Hello there?" She spoke up, uncertain of if it could actually understand her or not, she wouldn't be surprised if in this new world she found herself in if a random animal like this was capable of speech, "can I help you?"
The creature merely tilted its head, as if confused, before turning it back and flapping its non-existence wings at her. It let out another squawk, and it was clear to her in that moment that no, this creature was not capable of speech.
"Silly me, why did I think it would?" She quietly scolded herself, letting herself have a small chuckle as she shook her head. She then turned to the creature with a tilt of her own head. "Whatever could you possibly want? I don't have any food on me…"
She lifted her hand up and reached out, moving slowly to try and pet the strange creature. It stared at her slow moving hand for several moments, before letting out a fearful squawk, flapping its wings, and running off in a hurry.
"...What was that all about?" Willow asked with a shake of her head. It was an amusing little interaction to say the least, but it didn't make it any less strange.
Just as she was contemplating the thought she felt something was off, as if there was a great disturbance in the area. Her eyes wandered around the beach and noticed that most of the wildlife had left or was fleeing. But what could they possibly be-
Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud trumpeting sound, causing her to turn rapidly in the direction of the sound. A large, elephant-like creature with blazing red eyes was heading straight for her, its large hooves moving with intent. It let out another blaring trumpet, its intent clear-
It was going to barrel her down for the crime of sitting there!
Willow let out a shriek of terror, rolling on the sand to get to her feet. The sand made moving difficult but she was able to get up and out of the way at just the last second, the elephant creature stomping its hooves down right where she had been sitting!
"You- You accursed beast-!" Willow growled, her hands clenching into a fist as they began to shake. The elephant merely shook its head before turning to face her, its massive tusks visible and pointed straight at her. If it wasn't going to stomp her to death it was planning to gore her on one of those massive hooks.
"I shall not be treated like this!" She declared, holding her arm out. In that instance her nouliths activated, floating into the air around her. She had done some small training on dummies and some basic live-combat in Sharlayan, but this would be her first time fighting an actual, living-breathing creature who had it out for her.
"Dosis!" She cried out, holding her arms out and aiming at the creature. Each of her nouliths hummed with energy before firing out a barrage of red aether, striking the skin of the creature with each strike. The elephant let out a trumpeting cry, but shook itself off and-
-It looked like her attacks barely had any effect at all!
"W-What?!" Willow cried out in shock, unable to believe it had just shrugged off her attack like that. What had been the point of all her training if it was useless!? "Phlegma!!"
Her nouliths flew through the air and quickly surrounded the creature, firing off a massive blast of aether in a circle at the elephant, erupting and radiating off of it-
All to no effect. The elephant just shrugged off her attacks again, before scrapping its foot against the ground and beginning to charge at her again. It let out a trumpeting cry as it set its sight on her and she had no choice but to turn and run.
"BACK! BACK FOUL BEAST!!" She cried, her legs carrying her away once again. She didn't know where she was running to or where she could even go, but she just had to get away from this- this THING!! It had picked a fight with her when she hadn't done anything wrong! Why was it even out here and so blood thirsty close to town!? Where were the guards!?
"AAARRRGGGHHH!!" She cried out, ruffling her hair as she ran, the creature hot on her heels. She tried firing off a few more blasts of aether at it, hoping to maybe slow it down, but it just seemed to shrug off everything she threw at it! If anything it just seemed to piss off the creature even more!
"Why meeeeee!?" She cried out, feeling her lungs starting to burn from the exertion. All she'd wanted to do was explore the world a little! See new sights, learn more about this world, and maybe even meet some locals if they were friendly! Not get chased around by the different monsters of the world!
In her panicked running she had not been paying attention to where she was going, and soon she found herself running along a cliff face, a wall of unclimbable rocks blocking her way. She tried to keep running alongside it before a sharp jutting edge of it found herself trapped in a corner, trapped between a literal rock wall and a monster who wanted her skin.
"Oh great, GREAT!!" Willow panted, looking around, desperately clawing at the wall. It was clear she wasn't going to get anywhere though and turned around, watching as the horrific giant elephant was slowly approaching her.
Her back pressed against the wall, staring down this massive creature, she was certain, this was how she was going to die. That was going to show her for leaving her room! The world was a dangerous place and she had no business being in it! But too little too late now, this was how she died!
She squeezed her eyes shut and awaited for death.
There was a loud, angry trumpet cry, followed by the sound of a bird squawking. High-pitched and far more pleasant of a squawk than the bird she'd heard before, followed by the sound of a scuffle.
She dared to peek an eye open to see what was happening, and standing between her and the elephant was a large, yellow bird which, if she remembered correctly from her studies, was called a chocobo. It was flapping its wings and cawing at the elephant threateningly, clearly trying to intimidate something several times its size and weight.
The elephant, in turn, was shaking its head and letting out an aggressive trumpeting, the two animals not seeming to back down. She wasn't sure where the chocobo had come from but for some reason it was defending her and she couldn't be more grateful! Even if she didn't like its odds of winning…
The elephant trumpeted and slammed its front feet at the bird, and the chocobo flapped its wings, puffed its chest, and let out a loud cry of its own in retaliation. The two animals stared each other down for several moments-
Before the elephant let out an annoyed huff and turned around and began to walk away. Willow couldn't believe her eyes, staring at it as it moved away and out of sight around the cliffside. She held her breath every moment until it finally left her sight, where she let out a long, relieved sigh.
"This is too much excitement for my old heart…" She murmured quietly, putting a hand to her chest. Was it always going to be this exciting during her travels? Perhaps she was better off just staying in Sharlayan and studying if that was the case…
"Kweh!" The bird squawked near her face, causing her to nearly jump out of her skin again. The large yellow bird was looking at her curiously, tilting its head as it examined her. She gave it an awkward smile, waving her hand at it.
"Yes, hi there. Thank you for saving me," she spoke to the bird hesitantly, not wanting to anger it after it had finished saving her. "I am very grateful for your help but I really ought to be going now!"
The bird just tilted its head, clearly showing that it didn't understand her language. She wasn't sure why she thought it would, but she continued to scoot along the cliffside to get around the bird, its head following her as she moved.
"Yes, well, I better be going now, yes? I shall just… Get going." Willow hesitated, giving the bird an awkward smile. When the bird didn't reply, she gave it a customary wave and began to walk away, heading back in the direction of town.
She was going to find the first merchant that sold alcohol and get his strongest drink after the day she'd had.
As she walked, the town being surprisingly farther away than she had hoped from how far she had ran, her ear perked at the sound of dirt crunching behind her. She glanced over her shoulder and noticed that the chocobo seemed to be following her.
"Oh, no no, that's okay," she turned to face it, motioning her hands in a shooing motion, "you go home now, okay? I don't need anymore help."
The bird just tilted its head, clearly not understanding her. Willow groaned at this and spoke a little more forcefully.
"Stay!" She demanded, pointing at the ground. The bird tilted its head for a moment, before sitting down on the ground. "...Good. Now just stay there." She motioned one more time with her hands before turning around and continuing her walk.
It was only a minute or two later when she heard the crunching of dirt again. This time when she turned back she saw the chocobo sitting on the ground, far too close by for how much she'd been walking. She glared at it, but turned around and continued walking.
Another minute later she heard the bird again. She turned back and it was sitting on the ground, looking up at her, all innocent eyes like it wasn't up to anything at all.
"I know you're following me!" She growled at the creature, who just shook its feathers and let out a cute 'kweh' in response. "Stop following me!"
Willow took off in a sprint, her third time for that day, trying to leave the bird behind. It was a fools errand though, as her stamina was shot from all her running around earlier…
…Not to mention Chocobos were notorious for their speed and stamina.
As she was nearly keeled over panting, struggling to put one foot in front of the other, the bird simply walked up to her as if it hadn't been any effort at all and nudged her gently with its head.
"...Show off…" she panted, growling a little but lifting her hand up to place it on the chocobo's neck and back. The bird's feathers were surprisingly silky smooth and delicate to the touch, she had expected them to be far rougher or coarse but it was almost like touching a soft pillow.
The bird nudged at her a few more times, pushing her closer to its body. She growled in frustration at this, uncertain of what it was the bird wanted, before one larger push caused her to lurch forward and land on the bird's back.
"Alright! Alright! I get it!" Willow groaned in defeat, flopping against the bird's back. She grabbed hold of whatever she could and wormed her way up onto its back. She had been trained in horse riding, of course, as was part of her more noble upbringing, but there was clearly a world of difference between a horse and a bird, especially a bird lacking a harness.
Still, she managed to hold her own with her legs on its back and a grip on its neck. The bird ruffled its feathers for a moment before standing up, now with a middle-aged woman on its back.
"O-Okay, so, how do I-" Willow started, before the chocobo reared up and let out a loud 'kweh', causing Willow to shriek and cling on to the bird as it suddenly raced off down the beach.
"S-SLOOW DOOOOOWWWWNNN!!!" Willow cried out, clinging desperately to the bird as it ran. The rushing of the wind filled her ears, feeling the spray of water and sand from each strike of its feet. She slowly opened her eyes, taking a view of where it was she was going.
The bird was running along the beach and the view was just as lovely now as it had been earlier, though in a way she was able to enjoy it a little more from the sense of safety atop the bird.
What had been a terrifying ride was slowly becoming another part of the natural world. A smile slowly formed on her face as she got more comfortable, and soon she felt calm again.
Soon enough the bird was making its way back to the port of Yedlihmad, where she saw a familiar looking man stepping out towards the town's border.
"Willow!" Erenville spoke up, waving her down. Willow did her best to slow the bird down, coming to a stop before the man. "There you are. What in the world are you doing wandering the wilds? Let alone on this wild bird?"
"I assure you, it wasn't by choice," Willow sighed, slipping her leg off of the bird and landing on the ground. "Through a series of unfortunate mishaps I was nearly trampled to death by the local wildlife. Though I suppose I'm fortunate that this creature saved me in the end."
"Kweh!" The chocobo replied.
"Goodness. It's fortunate that you managed to survive then," Erenville folded his arms, turning to look at the bird, "but you managed to make a new companion in the process it seems."
"Companion?" Willow scoffed, "oh no no no, I'm not keeping it! It's a wild animal!" Despite her assertion the bird was already rubbing its face up against hers, much to her annoyance.
"I'm afraid that's going to be quite difficult. Once a chocobo has bonded with a person it's quite hard to separate the two," Erenville chuckled. "Even if this bird were to have a previous owner, the fact it's bonded so much with you means it may as well be yours now."
"...You can't be serious." Willow said with a deadpan tone.
"As serious as it rains." Erenville shook his head. "You might as well start thinking of a name."
Willow looked at the bird with an annoyed glare, the bird letting out a cute 'kweh' at her look. She let out another annoyed, gruff sigh at the whole situation.
A decent name though, huh? She stared at the bird, its big green eyes looking into hers, its yellow feathers standing out against the green and browns of the local scenery. It truly reminded her of some familiar faces from her past life…
"...Alabaster." Willow said simply. "I'll call you Alabaster."
"KWEH!" The bird said appreciatively.
"Well, we should inform the crew of the ship," Erenville explained, "they'll need to know we have another mouth to feed and board."
"Greeeeaaat." Willo groaned mirthlessly, despite the cute bird's cuddling.
It had certainly been quite a day.