By the eve before the deadline Mentirix had named, four of the chosen ones were already in Belmoth; Oburon and Anwyn already at the tower, Yaz and Hjalmar staying the night in the village. One, however, had still not departed on her journey.

Caitlyn Sequor was locked in a hospital room, no way of escaping. At least, not with the options available to her at the moment. But there was a way out, she just needed a little help from a friend.

< | ■ | >

The sun rose and reflected unpleasantly on the tower's metallic surface. Anwyn stared up at the tower and immediately averted her gaze, regretting not having considered the fact that reflective surfaces and burning rocks in the sky never made for a good combination.

"You know, I think a chosen one shouldn't be so lazy," teased Kosa, "I've been up for way longer. Oburon too. You should be more like him."

Yesterday evening they'd shared the last of their food with Oburon and had ended up talking. Well, mainly Kosa and Anwyn had talked and Oburon had possibly listened. It was hard to tell with him. Either way, it had come out that the two of them had dreamt the same thing and the two girls were kind of spooked by it.

"Do we even know if I'm really the chosen one anymore?", murmured Anwyn, tucking her chin between her legs. Kosa shoved her, making her hit the dusty ground. "Yes. You're my friend and you're the chosen one. Now, let's get something in that chosen belly. We're going to town to buy new supplies."

What they didn't know was that there were two more chosen ones in town, namely Hjalmar Solberg and Yazmin Ahmed. The two of them, Junior and Hazhil had spent the night in an extremely rundown inn. Dinner had been... Interesting. They'd been served a sort of soup stew mixture with a floating eye in it.

"Eat up, chums," the barman had said, though they hadn't been able to understand the foreign words. To them he had sounded like he had been about to throw up while he had slid their portions across the table, which upon having caught sight of the dish, one could have easily mistaken as a perfectly natural response.

Junior had been the first to commence with eating their dinner, whereas Hazhil had stood up to say she was going to go and look for vegetation - after they'd paid for her meal, which Hjalmar hadn't appreciated - and both Hjalmar and Yaz had been rather hesitant.

"I'm not eating that," Yaz had stated.

"Sure, but you'd better pay me back and let me eat your portion," Junior had demanded with his signature smirk. Yaz had pushed a few coins across the table, then had stood up. As she had began to turn away, Junior had called after her, "Wait! I wasn't thinking in money."

"I know. You're not capable of thought so I did the thinking for you. Now I'm going to get my room key," Yaz had retorted. With those cruel but fairly justified words, she'd left.

"Women," was the last word to have been spoken at the table.

The next morning Yaz headed down to breakfast with Hazhil who had been reminded that vegetation wasn't easy to find in a desert that previous night. To Yaz's disappointment, Hjalmar and Junior were already sat opposite each other. Naturally, Junior called out, "Hey, Headscarf, I saved you a space next to me."

Before Yaz could claim the seat next to Hjalmar, Hazhil had sat down there. Still not giving up, she put on a sugary voice and said, "Hey, Hazhil, you get on with Junior, don't you? Why don't you sit next to him?"

At least Hazhil's intentions were good when she pointed out, "But he seems eager to spend time with you. I thought I'd do you both a favour." This meant that breakfast was torture. Luckily, Yaz was fairly skilled at deflecting his attempts at flirtation and on a few occasions, turning them into insults.

"I can't see why you're fighting this chemistry we have." - "That's quite concerning, I guess you desperately need glasses with such poor vision."

"You know, that mouth of yours would look prettier on mine." - "That voice of yours would sound better on mute."

After breakfast, they agreed to meet in town. After heading out, the young woman remembered that she'd forgotten a friendship bracelet that Hadiya had made her in her room. Hastily, she made her way back upstairs, Hazhil should still be inside. Just as she was about to push open the door, she heard voices.

"So, you two are going to the tower while I distract Yaz? That doesn't seem nice."

There was Hazhil's voice. Part of Yaz felt touched that the nature bound woman's attachment to her sounded like it had been genuine this whole time, while the rest of her was shocked and offended to hear that they were trying to prevent her from getting to the tower.

Now Junior spoke, "Look, do you want Hjalmar to end the war or not? The three of us can handle whatever destiny chucks at us. She can't even handle my good looks!"

"Your arrogance has let you down before, Blake Equus," said Hazhil, her tone oddly calm. Immediately, Junior shouted, "Leave that out of this!"

Yaz turned away. She'd heard enough. All she knew was that she wouldn't allow them to stop her from being at the tower on time.

< | ■ | >

"Caitlyn Sequor. You've certainly looked better," Natalia Lax greeted her friend, sitting down at her bedside. A moment later, she pointed at the blonde's hand, "Yellow doesn't really suit you."

"Thank you, Natalia, your humour is not appreciated. I need your help. I need to get out of here. Natalia, there's something I must do and it means travelling far from here. And since my parents are trapping me here, I need your help," Caitlyn begrudgingly admitted. She'd always wanted to remain as independent as possible, rarely wanting anyone's help. It was both a result of her pride and her determination. To accept help felt like admitting she was weak and her parents had always told her that she should make her own success, just as her father had. They'd said that with strength, she could succeed.

"Let me guess, you want me to shift into medical staff, steal the key and then smuggle you out?"

It turned out this was going to be easy since Natalia seemed to know exactly what Caitlyn had in mind. So she nodded and remarked on Natalia's able mind.

"Why else would you call for me and not another friend," pointed out Natalia, "Speaking of which, justifying this by saying it's because of our friendship would be... Well, let's face it, we're not exactly close friends, are we? I think you ought to pay me."

Controlling her expression and body language completely, Caitlyn responded, "What did you have in mind?" She had a bad feeling about this. Most associates of the Sequor family tended to be rather desperate when it came to seeking payment for a favour. Natalia was no exception to this, for she requested, "How about you let me shift into you for a month? Or, let's say, until you return."

"No."

Natalia sighed, leaning back, "Oh well, it was worth a try."

Ready to just put the plan into motion and not having given up all hope yet, Caitlyn said, "Are you going to help me anyway?"

"Sure, why not."

< | ■ | >

An hour later, Caitlyn was out of the hospital, dressed in a shirt and trousers that were not her own, as well as wearing a glove on her yellow hand. Natalia herself was still in an oversized lab coat and hadn't returned her hair back to normal because "I should really dye my hair red, it suits me, don't you think so?"

"When I get back, I'll pay for an appointment at Dana's Pixie Parlour," Caitlyn promised though it sounded like she couldn't care less. Dana's Pixie Parlour's name gave many the impression that it was one of those hairdressers that was really cheap and not that great, but acted like it was heaven on Earth, however it was actually the peak of Soustren's fashion and glamour scene. If you didn't know that going in, the bill made sure you did.

"So, that was fun and all, but what now? Where are you going? And how are you going?", Natalia quizzed her.

"Don't start sentences with "and", Natalia, it's rather philistine. Regardless, you needn't bother yourself with me anymore," said Caitlyn, not even sparing a glance for her accomplice. Natalia was not okay with this.

"No. No way do you just get to disappear into the night without a word to me. Knowing you, you're about to whip out your knowledge of Lypera's secrets. I saved your butt there, so I want to at least see you off."

"Fine," grumbled Caitlyn, fed up but aware that if she refused, she'd be at more of a risk of Natalia tracking her down. Maybe this way her "friend" would just say goodbye and then let her go.

They wandered for an awfully time in silence. Initially, Natalia had been pestering Caitlyn about the cause of her decision to leave, but eventually she'd come to accept that nothing was going to become of it. So they didn't speak, simply walked through fields of grass. After a while, day turned into night while field turned into forest and forest turned into forest with a pond. Caitlyn knelt down on the ground, resting her hand on the surprisingly soft moss, and began to whistle. Suddenly, dozens of lilies sprouted up from the ground, glowing like little moons and lighting up the whole forest. It was definitely the right place.

"Woah," gasped Natalia, her focus permenantly shifting out of desperation to take everything in. Meanwhile Caitlyn stood up, muttering to herself, "Come on..."

Within moments, there was a draft and a rustling of the trees, before the canopy opened to make room for-

"Pegasi..." whispered Natalia, eyes and tone filled with awe, "I thought they'd left Soustren when the war started."

"If you know where to look, you find out these things," Caitlyn said in a matter-of-factly manner, before turning around and smiling slightly for her knight in shining armour, "Farewell, Natalia Lax. And thank you."

"Eh, it'll be a fun story to tell next time I'm drunk," responded Natalia, shrugging it off, "See you around, I guess."

Caitlyn nodded affirmatively, then slowly held out her hand for one of the pegasi to smell, while breathing through her mouth. In part this was because she was scared if heights and the idea of flying to Belmoth terrified her, but it seemed to be the only method of reaching her destination on time. In addition, it supposedlt helped pegasi feel at ease and trust people. Fortunately, it worked and the pegasus she was stood by bowed its head, as if to show respect. Caitlyn pursed her lips briefly, then climbed on. This was not comfortable. In spite of her panicking, Caitlyn forced herself to sit upright, the image of a proud warrior, then turned to Natalia, who was waving too her. Once again, Caitlyn gave her a small nod in recognition and then shakily spoke, "Let's go!"

< | ■ | >

"They'll be back any minute now, I'm sure," lied Hazhil. She didn't like lying. It didn't fit her moral code, but after Junior had threatened to chop off her antlers - though he wasn't serious - she had realised that she had to go through with this. It seemed this was important.

"Sure," murmured Yaz, completely aware of the fact that the two not so gentlemen were making their way to the tower and had ditched her. She would get away. She knew she would. She hadn't grown up with three brothers for nothing. With her older brother and Arham, she'd learnt a thing or two about sneaking out, whether they'd wanted her to or not.

The girls strolled through the marketplace, though market was a bit too generous a word. Market sounded like there'd be a great variety of high quality goods. Here you could buy dead frogs - how had they even got frogs in the desert? - and lettuce with a side of slugs. Also, miniature bottles of sand which seemed a rather bizarre thing to be trying to make a profit from since most people could easily recreate them.

"So, Hazhil, how do you know Hjalmar and Junior?"

It was almost a miracle that Yaz hadn't found out yet. Or rather, it had been Hjalmar's work, making sure their fellow traveller found out as little as possible. Without him around, hopefully she could gather some information that might help her convince Hazhil to let her go.

Hazhil smiled, though there was this emptiness to it, something that made it seem slightly sad, "I'm a medic in the army. Hjalmar is a soldier. Blake a soldier and a spy. I've had to heal him from time to time."

"What a coincidence because I think someone's hurt in that back alley there!", called out Yaz. Mere miliseconds later, Hazhil frantically spun around, almost falling from the sheer momentum. "Where?"

But Yaz didn't respond. She was running, as fast as she could. It surprised her that she didn't end up hearing a second pair of footsteps or anything, Hazhil had just stayed behind. Clearly the dark haired woman had truly been genuine.

< | ■ | >

When Hjalmar and Junior arrived, they were briefly disgruntled to see somebody was already there. With a grumble, Junior muttered, "Great, now what?"

"Maybe he's just a tourist. I mean, a tall metallic tower stands out," commented Hjalmar. Junior glanced up at it, making the same mistake as Anwyn had earlier and regretting it just as much.

Speaking of Anwyn, mere moments later she and Kosa returned from the market with two lettuces, five slugs that they'd got as accidental freebies on the lettuces, a Kribbler flank steak and a little bottle of sand. Seeing new arrivals, Anwyn eagerly waved, "Oh, hello, lovely to see you! I'm Anwyn and this here's Kosa. Oh, I see you've already met Oburon. What are you two called? Have you got any food? What's your favourite texture?"

Hjalmar was just overwhelmed by Anwyn. Especially because she was speaking in a language he couldn't understand. Oburon realised this and quickly said in both languages, "I'll translate," and from this point forth suffered as he translated.

At this point, Kosa intervened, "Sorry about my friend. She's a bit... Unique. What are two good looking men like you doing in the middle of the desert?"

Remembering that she still wanted payback at Kosa for having flirted with her in the past, Anwyn commented, "Uh, yeah, my friend, Kosa, uh, she's, uh, yeah, you're not so bad smelling yourself. Wait, does that...?"

Kosa rolled her eyes. Hjalmar just wished he could make them vanish. Oburon didn't visibly react aside from translating it, but was internally chuckling.

"She's not wrong about the smell. I can smell it from here and you'd think you'd spent the last hour in a rosewater bath, not the desert," said Junior with a lopsided smile.

What was this? Flirting?! Disgusting. Kosa spat on the ground, then threatened, "If you ever flirt with me again, I will press your head into the sand for so long that you gasp for air and then end up with a mouth full of sand."

Oburon's lip twitched slightly. Now this was some high quality entertainment! Junior was a bit disgruntled, but then again, this doesn't mean he was going to stop flirting with her. If she followed through with her feeble threats, he could definitely best her in combat.

Anwyn approached Hjalmar, recognising that he was being awfully quiet, "Hey, you. You're here because you had a dream, aren't you? Glassesfinger said you were the chosen one."

Hjalmar frowned, toying with the idea of telling her, before he shook his head, "You're confused." Somehow he had a bad feeling about telling everyone about being the chosen one. It seemed like bragging about it would result in him and his companions being endangered. He'd rather just keep it quiet until whoever they were waiting for arrived.

That was when Yazmin came running towards the tower. Hjalmar frowned, "Yaz?" Meanwhile, Junior gave her a toothy grin and said, "Nice of you to join us, buttercup."

"Not nice of you to ditch me in town and force your nice friend to make sure I don't go to the place I'm meant to go to to fulfil - that was a lot of 'to's - to fulfil my destiny, even if I didn't tell you that I needed to go there to fulfil my destiny, but either way, it looks like you figured that out," ranted Yaz, shoving Junior in the chest before turning to Hjalmar, "And I thought you might actually be a decent guy. I guess I was wrong."

"Woah, what's going on there," mumbled Kosa, glancing at Oburon hopefully. He ignored her, simply enjoying the show, even though it looked like he was meditating or something of the sort.

Yaz was still yelling at Hjalmar, "You're really that selfish, huh? Typical army! You just take everything away for your precious war! You don't care who you hurt! You don't care who dies!"

Yaz grew quiet, choking on tears. It was wrong to blame Hjalmar for having lost Arham, which in all honesty, was part of the cause of her anger. She'd barely had the chance to process her grief before she'd been sent off on a journey because she was the chosen one. Then, the whole journey there'd been bickering and Junior's unwanted advances. She was just done with this. She just wanted everything to go back to normal. She wanted her family.

Hjalmar sneered, then bitterly said, "You think you're the only one who's suffered from the war? We've all lost someone. At least I'm fighting in the hope of ending that bloodshed. What are you doing? Nothing."

For once, Oburon's expression shifted into one of slight surprise. Realising that Oburon was listening in, Kosa readied herself to annoy him into explaining what was being said when a gigantic rotund man with short scragly limbs, a floor lengthed beard and a magnficent staff appeared with a gust of air. Kosa, having opened his mouth before he came, found herself with a mouth full of sand. Nokia did too because he immediately started barking.

Yaz turned around to face him and bowed down out of respect and desperation to make a better impression than Hjalmar, "Sir, are you the person I was sent to the desert to meet?"

The man clasped eyes upon the kneeling woman and spoke, "I am Libros, guide and Guardian of Words. Why are there so many of you?"

"I had a dream!", squeaked out Anwyn, hopping up and down on the spot. Hjalmar also spoke, "I was told I was the chosen one." Meanwhile, Oburon mumbled, "You're a Gaspia..."

"I assure you, I am not whatever you just said. Did you have a dream too?", Libros said, making it almost sound like an insult. Oburon nodded.

"Four...", muttered Libros, the repeated at a higher volume, "You mean to tell me there are four of you?"

"Aw, he's gonna take away my chosen one privileges, isn't he?", Anwyn wailed at Kosa.

Before anyone else could speak, they were interrupted by the sound of wings. They all turned around, Hjalmar grumbling "What now?" to himself, and saw Caitlyn Sequor approaching the earth on the back of a magnificent milk-white pegasus. As the creature landed, Caitlyn needed a moment to regain her balance and composture, then slid off its back with remarkable grace for a first time equestrian. She patted its mane gently, then whispered thanks. The others just gaped, aside from Anwyn and Kosa, who were gushing about how cool this was.

"Almost as extraordinary as your-"

"Don't ruin this," interrupted Kosa.

The pegasus rose up into the sky, then Caitlyn spun to face the others, or rather, Libros. Junior whistled and Hjalmar snarled, "Don't start flirting now."

This exchange seemed rather irrelevant, but for Caitlyn, it was crucial. She couldn't understand the language they were speaking, but she'd heard enough of it to recognise. Northeners. If she spoke in her mother tongue, they'd immediately recognise her as a Southener, citizen of Soustren. So, being a well-educated woman, she decided to converse in another language. Since she could luckily speak it rather fluently, she selected the language Anwyn and Kosa had spoken amongst themselves and said to Libros, "I believe this is where I was told to come to learn more about my duties as the chosen one."

Libros nodded, then said, "Five. Yes, five's the right number. Four was wrong, five is right."

"And what now? Do they compete or something?", said Kosa, intending it as a sarcastic comment.

"Yes. Yes, they do."

< | ■ | >

A/N: Did you see that coming? I didn't until a couple of weeks ago. Actually, it might have been a whole month. Time's a funny thing.

Quick question before I continue with my random comments. Does anybody have that one image of writing advice about direct speech? There's one where a load of people explained punctuation in a really good way and I could do with it but can't find it anymore.

Anyway, we've got most of the gang together now, so things could get quite interesting. Especially with Caitlyn and Hjalmar being on opposite sides of the war.

Can we take a moment to appreciate Natalia?

I may have originally completely forgotten about Nokia in this chapter. Still, I've now added in one mention.

Did you enjoy the chapter? Any constructive criticism?

heartofhugs

agathokakological_05

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