Chapter 3: Aboard the Ostland[]

"This is an opportunity to recover our honor..."

Yelled Guiche as he ordered the members of the Water Spirit corps to line up.

"Uohhhhh!..." the ten boys raised a scream.

"Our honor has been injured by a sad incident... But G.o.d has not forgotten about us! Her Highness the queen has given us a chance to restore our honor!"

The troops cheered again.

Guiche urged Saito, who was already tired beyond his limit.

"Well then, Vice Captain, please tell everybody about this grand mission."

Two nights ago, Reynal had brought a direct order from Her Highness.

"Eh...erm......eh.... today is a shiny day and the sun blesses us in this starting journey..."

"Forget about the formalities and tell us the queen"s orders already!"

Guiche poked Saito, who was so nervous that he didn"t know what to say, in the stomach.

"Well then. Mr. Guiche de Gramont and Mr. Saito Chevalier de Hiraga: Please escort Her Majesty the Princess"s court lady, Miss Louise de La Valière, and magic academy student miss Tiffania Westwood to Romalia making use of the empire union force on the double."

"Listen! We are to protect these ladies even at the cost of our lives, understood?!"

Said Guiche in an imperative tone, and the members of the knight corps looking at the sky cried out loud overjoyed.

Leaning against the cabin wall and looking at them from afar were Louise, the person they were supposed to escort, Kirche, who came to the Ostland so she could be with Colbert, and the pet.i.te blue-haired girl, Tabitha.

"They tell you what to do but they don"t tell you how..." said Kirche in a shocked voice.

"They wouldn"t stand a chance without the Ostland, would they?"

The expedition to the east was planned by Mr. Colbert who had already brought the Ostland to the grounds of the Magic Academy.

Of course, it was already filled with wind stones. But even being told "immediately", Saito"s party were short on means so they asked Mr. Colbert for help almost cryingly. But... even after Louise said this to Kirche, she looked kind of eager.

It would seem she was remembering something embarra.s.sing and became nervous.

"Does something bother you, Louise?" asked Kirche, calling Louise back to her senses.

"Eh?.... erm?... what was it?"

"Tss! what are you daydreaming of... I was saying that really, this higher ups are spitting off orders as they feel like then throwing everything away, and the next thing you know you are cleaning their mess."

Louise tried with all of her might to give off a serious look,

"Wo-working over Her Majesty"s expectations is my everything!"

Then strange sounds like "shushushushu" resounded behind Louise and the steam-based machine began to move.

"By the way, where is Colbert-sensei?" Louise asked Kirche.

"I don"t remember seeing him when we took off."

This machine wasn"t supposed to move without him, but he was nowhere to be seen.

"Jean is having fun with the gift he got from Saito," said Kirche in an angry tone.

"A gift from Saito?"

"Yes, what was it? That "noto pazo-con" or something? Just what does he find interesting about messing with that garbage I wonder."

Louise had seen it as well, it was the machine Saito brought from his world... Why in the world would Saito give it to Colbert-sensei?

And it came as a shock to her,

Can this be Saito"s decision!? "I"m going to stay in this world, there is no need to stop somebody from the other world to search his way back."

"Saito..."

Her eyes turned red and she could not think of anything. In her eyes, Saito"s shape appeared.

"Ah. I get the feeling that I said some cruel things when I was drunk last night."

Good... Good. It"s good isn"t it? She should do something in return for Saito. ...And as she was thinking this, Kirche put a disappointed face and raised her hands, seeing Louise"s state she could not say whatever she wanted, thought Kirche.

"Geez, this girl is pitiful, her mood goes up and down every now and then, you sure are getting it hard."

Louise answered coldly,

"It"s Her Majesty orders, they aren"t hard."

"Didn"t you want to go to the east? Jean was disappointed, "Ahhh, I thought that at last I was going to the east", I think that"s why he is really interested in Saito"s present. But you said it yourself, that you wanted to find him a way home."

"Yes, I guess..." said Louise with crossed feelings.

"Even then I don"t see you very disappointed, is there a reason?" said Kirche with a smile on her lips as she looked at Louise"s face.

"Thats not true, I.. am very disappointed!" said Louise with a mad face.

"Eeeh, are you?" she continued teasing Louise. "To me it looked like "with this I get Saito to stay by my side," or something like that."

Louise turned away her deep red face and Kirche looked at her over the shoulder.

"Oh my, bullseye?"

"I, I"m just ship-sick!"

Yelled Louise as she headed towards her cabin. As soon as she confined herself on the cabin that was prepared for them she laid herself down in the bed, slapped her face on the bed and exhaustedly stretched her body.

"Ha..." Louise sighed

"I am... I am a coward, I want to hold on to Saito, I don"t want him to go anywhere. Even if it"s his home."

That time when he said as a joke he was going to search for a way back, I tried to stop him without a second thought. "How selfish," Louise scolded herself.

When starting to think like this, she resolved,

"Tell him about my feelings in the last minute so his feelings for me don"t turn into a ball and chain."

Even saying this, it starts to seem to me like a pathetic excuse. In the end isn"t it that I just don"t have enough courage?

I"m just a coward.

Thinking this she felt ashamed and at some point tears started to come out.

Being in this mood the door suddenly opened and Saito appeared before her,

"It looked like you were quarreling with Kirche, is there something wrong?"

Louise pulled the blanket over to her face,

"Wha... what is it?!"

Saito sighed as he sat sorrowfully beside Louise... but Louise didn"t move a single inch.

"d.a.m.n! For a strong-minded girl like you to be such a weakling..." whined Saito. Probably Kirche said something to depress her again, no doubt about it.

"Sheshhh! This girl would be helpless if it weren"t for me," said Saito trying to sound high-and-mighty.

Probably I am the only one able to help, rea.s.sure and encourage her. And thats because she is so d.a.m.n selfish, anyone would have given up by now.

Which means she will be no good without me. Maybe she"d die if I weren"t here? thought Saito, who did not know about Louise trying to jump from the fire tower.

"Louuuiseee.... c"mon cheer up!..... Mm, eh? Louise?" peeling the blankets showed a red-eyed Louise.

"What the!... Why are you crying!?"

"Saito...... Is it OK? Really? Really for real? Is it OK even if you don"t go back?" asked a sobbing Louise.

Saito smiled kindly as she peeked over the sheets.

"It"s all right, I mean, I"ve got good friends and comrades here so, I don"t feel very lonely. Even that Guiche said to me "if you have nowhere to go, come to my home." I don"t know how reliable his statement is, but the feeling alone is alright for me."

Because of those words Louise suddenly remembered her family. She always thought about her father and mother being just annoying. But that was a mistake.

By punishing her themselves, they hoped for the country to forgive her crime of desertion and infiltration of a foreign country. Father said that time,

"If you say you are going to use Louise as a war dog I am going to stand against the government as an enemy."

And Cattleya that will wrap me in a benevolent smile.

I"m sure even Éléonore loves me. If I were to not see them again I would not be able to take it.

"No, please do not say that. I am sure Saito"s father and mother are, too..."

"It"s alright," said Saito laughing.

"Are you really sure?" said Louise with a very sorrowful face. "You might never be able to meet your father and mother again."

Saito thought that Louise blamed herself for bringing him to this world.

He felt sorry about her always worrying about this, because she even wept about it. Therefore he made the decision to lie to her.

"Truth is I have no family."

"Eh?!"

Louise remembered the letter Cattleya sent her, there she wrote that Saito wept like a child on her lap remembering his birthplace.

"Lies, that"s a big fat lie. it was on Chii"s letter that you cried when remembering your place."

"Ah, ehm, nn, well that"s, how do I say it, true I thought about my home, and it made me cry but, its not like I cried because of my family, also true I had friends, there were relatives as well but there were no family."

Saito tried to make it sound as truthful as he could. He didn"t want to hurt Louise anymore over something he could not do anything to fix.

"Really, really for real?"

"Yeah, why would I lie, you sure are a strange one."

Even that visible lie from Saito totally fooled Louise. That feeling to not hurt Louise anymore was so serious that it made her believe in Saito"s words.

"Is that so? I"m sorry, I said some weird things."

"T"s all right," said Saito gently laughing. "So to speak I have no family there but here I do have. I mean you Louise."

"Me!?"

"Yes, master and servant are in some way a relationship that surpa.s.s family, isn"t it?" this words made Louise deep red even to her ears.

"Are you trying to say my existence makes up for your father and your mother? Is that it?"

"Guess I don"t know but, how do I say it, its like the sole existence of your loved one makes things different. I feel like it makes up for any and every thing else," said Saito in a very serious fashion.

Indeed so serious that it almost made Louise faint away. Slowly approaching Saito, Louise"s eyes started to close numbly.

Ahhh! Ahhh, the happiness, if we were to say that it has a shape and a concrete form it would have to be these kind of moments, I"m sure of it.

Louise tenderly held his face with both of her hands and kissed his lips. Their lips met and their tongues began to move. Only the sound of their kissing could be heard in the room, or at least it should had.

PARARI.

"Hnn?"

PARARI.

"!?"

It came to Louise"s ears, a sound different to their lips moving and without thinking she opened her eyes.

PARARI.

She faced in the direction of the sound and found a blue haired girl sitting in the bed besides them turning around pages of a book.

Saito faced that direction as well.

"What are you doing Tabatha?"

"Body guard."

Louise"s face turned red up to her bones.

"Bo, body guard she says... te... choose when and where!!" next thing she heard was some kind of gossiping behind the opening of door.

"What, you want something?"

"Incredible, they didn"t even notice Tabatha was there..." Louise heard Kirche and the members of the Water Spirit corps voices and instantly hid inside the sheets. Saito moved his head slowly.

The members of the Water Spirit"s went so far as to take down the door! And tramped inside the room. Guiche was so amused that he started impersonating Saito.

"Its like the sole existence of your loved one makes things different. I feel like it makes up for any and every thing else."

After that Guiche held his belly and laughed loudly, "Those are the most cliché words I have ever heard, you dumb!"

Somehow out of the hoop Malicorne gave out some too, and started to imitate Louise"s movements,

"Nooooh, Saito... Louise, Louise, just leaked down belowww …" up for the moment Guiche followed and held Malicorne"s body as he whispered in his ear.

"It"s ok because, you know, I will still hold you, Louise."

"Saitooo, Saitoo, aahhn, hold me forever with your sweet wo....." Malicorne couldn"t end the phrase.

Louise, in a fit of rage, used Explosion to blast those unruly guys out along with the wall.

But even then, her anger didn"t diminish the least bit, so, for the time being, she profusely smashed a near-standing Saito

"Idiot!Idiot,idiot! I don"t know! Don"t know you anymore!"

It was a peaceful exchange, but now the remnants of the "void" were still fresh. The moans of the foolish guys still echoed around the place, and the water elemental force people that gathered were breathless because of the destructive force of violence before them, but even before this war-zone, Tabatha was still peacefully changing her book pages.

Louise and Saito ended up spending the time till Romalia in a cabin with no walls.

At night, even after everyone went to sleep, Louise struggled inside her bed to sleep; The words Saito spoke that day made her so happy she could not help it, and that very Saito was sleeping like a log right beside her. Speaking of which, for some time now it had become very natural to sleep in the same bed. She tried to get near his lips but suddenly changed her mind; past Montmorency and Kirche advice caught her mind,

"If you forgive men, they become cheaters," or so she heard. In other words, men want to gather women as if they were part of a collection.

There are women like that too; women like Kirche for example.

Anyways, that forgiving and conveying feelings equals a weakness. This familiar, the moment he conveyed his feelings, he probably thought triumphantly "Yay! Took down Louise!" and was all happy and over himself I guess.

Besides that, I can"t believe my own lack of modesty! Louise thought to herself as she lightly slapped her own head. Probably I"m just not used to this endearment; I mean, I"m so weak to love mood. Just a little "I love you" here and there, and then everything does not mean a d.a.m.n. G.o.d, this isn"t a joke! she scolded herself as she reflected on her own conduct. I"m not giving in that easily, not until marriage... Nonono, even after marriage I"m not giving in before three months...... maybe I should make it just one month? Anyway, putting that aside, let"s try to be more gentle with Saito. Let"s try not getting angry about every little thing. I"ll even try to overlook a little. After all, he is a boy. Well, I will even forgive him for a little cheating. But, am I capable of that, this me? and after a little self-a.n.a.lyzing time she stopped worrying.

Well, I guess it"s alright if I do it little by little. After that, Henrietta came to her mind, Just why did she call us? Is something starting again? After every thing comes to an end, at that time I will convey my feelings, she thought. Strangely, when she thought like that it felt like it did not matter how strong an enemy will be, or how hard times might get, she still could try harder. And as she was satisfied with how far she got that night she went to sleep.

Meanwhile, in a little far away cabin, an inhuman-breasted Tifa was spending a sleepless night. The "Ostland" was designed for long term trips, and the large number of cabins was expected of Kirche"s household. It was a small but solid interior. Beds were just as fluffy in every cabin.

After coming out from the Albion woods, this bed was the first thing she liked. It was totally different from the futon she was used to.

Softly, the body started to sink in the bed, Halkeginia has some dreadful things, but at least this bed deserves some price. She thought.

Normally I fall asleep the instant I lay down on the bed, but today is different she thought while pulling her own long ears. It was only a month and a little after coming out from Albion, but she was traveling again. This time, the destination was the headquarters of religion-- Romalia. Without knowing the reason she was ordered to get ready for the trip, and before long she was already inside the ship. Will it be alright? Elven blood flows inside me and we are going to the home town of St. Brimir religion; if my ident.i.ty were to be found in a place like that it would become a commotion.

She closed her eyes but could not sleep, Saito had said, "It"s alright, we are coming with you and I won"t let anything happen to you," but am I really gonna be alright? Not being able to sleep, she slowly got out from her bed and then from her room she headed to the deck. The Ostland moved by the means of a steam based machine making this particular "shushushu" as it moved around the sky. She walked close to the edge and, looking down, she noticed a dark cloud spreading. As if she was gazing upon a dark sea she began to shiver.

The Ostland was a fast ship which made the wind beat strong on her face, and as she thought of the incoming events her heart couldn"t be put to rest. Tiffania remembered the children in the orphanage. Those children should be giving their all. I too must give my all. Whatever my destiny may be, I probably won"t be leading a normal life anymore. I was already prepared for this when I left Westwood village. I wanted to see all kinds of things;

I"m sure my incoming experiences should show me the way I must follow. Anyways, I am not going to lose to doubts before even starting.

Tiffania focused her energy and moved away as if she was dismissing the black clouds.