Catfish and Swamp Gas

Akaelin dreaded going back to Nara. He had lived across half the eastern continent due to the fact that Danica constantly needed a change of scenery. Nara had only pleased her for about three years, though it was longer than most. He had gotten used to the smell after the first six months, but had never been able to grasp the strange habits and traditions save for a few. He tried to remember the shortest route possible, not wanting to be cut off from the rest of the group for too long. If he planned it right, they would reach Nara by midday tomorrow.

Yoko had better be right about this Far Dorcha lady, or Akaelin was going to kill him. Actually, Akaelin was probably going to kill him either way, so it really didn't matter.

Nathifa looked around the small group that had come with them. The Ministry one would definitely be able to keep up with their full pace, but she didn't know who the other three that Akaelin had chosen to bring along were. If they traveled at at least a Society-like pace they would be able to cut the travel time even shorter. At the same time as they were moving, she made sure to keep a lookout for any energies that had influences from a god. Unless Quill started following them, any other aura like that would be one of the gods' Riders.

"Alors, ou allons-nous exactement?" Tynan asked no one in particular. He didn't know if anyone spoke French, but it was worth a shot.

"Nous allons a Nara. Il s'agit d'un petit marais a l'est. Tres dangereux," Akaelin answered absentmindedly.

Tynan asked a couple more questions, nothing different than what the others had asked, so Akaelin gave the same answers.

((Sorry for shortness. I'm working on homework right now. XD

Translation: So where exactly are we going?

We're going to Nara. It's a little swamp in the east. Very unsafe.))

((XD me too. God dang spanish assignments. The future tense doesn't like me
Kitai: Contestarás en pronto tiempo ahora?
Me: Si, si. Contestaré ahora

Translation: Will you answer soon now? Yes, yes. I will answer now
Whoope future tense))

Nathifa didn't speak French, so didn't really understand anything that the ministry person said. The only other languages she knew were ancient Egyptian and Arabic. The first one being a given and the second because so many in the area were fluent in it.

((yes, I has short post too))

((I'm watching Spongebob. XD It's the episode with the French spatula. I found that ironic.))

Tynan was grateful for someone who spoke his language, even if the accent was a little off. His sister Journey was french speaking as well, but he could easily understand why Akaelin hadn't asked to take her along. Journey had always told him that learning english would benefit him, but he had never listened. Now he sort of wished he had, since that seemed to be the dominant language almost anywhere he went.

The sky was beginning to darken with dark gray clouds. Akaelin gave a slight frown. It should've been around mid afternoon. Perhaps a storm was coming? As they moved on, they passed by an eerie looking building, and tiny little flakes began to fall from the sky. "Il neige?" Akaelin said to himself, his mind still in French mode. He shook his head and winced. "I meant, snow."

"Ce n'est pas la neige," Tynan said in a grim manner, his eyes cast up towards the structure on the hill.

Nathifa looked up at the structure on the hill too. She knew basically that a sentence with 'pas' in it usually meant something negative. Tynan had also used the word that Akaelin used for the word for snow in it, so she took that to mean that it wasn't snow. She looked at the swirling flakes for a moment before the idea occurred to her. "Ash?" She asked

Akaelin cast a sideways glance at Tynan, who seemed to know something. "Alors c'est quoi?" he said, asking Tynan what was falling from the sky. He guessed ash as well, but wanted to hear what the other had to say.

"C'est un centre de detention. Les cendres proviennent de ces chambres ou ils brulent personnes. Nous devrions sans doute passer juste dessus.," the chimera answered through clenched teeth.

"He says it's some sort of facility," Akaelin translated. "The ash comes from burning people and we should probably just move on." Personally, Akaelin agreed. People burning other people didn't really concern him.

Nathifa shuddered at the thought of human ash falling around them and created a sort of invisible umbrella that it would go to the side of. Now more people were being burned. While in Salinas it seemed that barely anyone at all knew that a few gods were attempting the destruction of the world at all. In fact, it had been news to everyone from there they had taken along to help them. That stood in stark contrast to the sight that they came upon in Kanten. It seemed that the more easterly countries definitely knew what was going on, and were feeling a bit panicked about it.

"Pourquoi les gens se bruler?" Akaelin asked, wondering why this facility burned people. "Parce qu'ils sont differents. Les anciens. Sans-abri. Schizophrenes. ...Homosexuels," Tynan answered. Akaelin decided not to translate this one. He figured that if Nathifa knew why people were being burned, she might want to do something about it. The last thing they needed was to get distracted. Tynan picked up the pace, seemingly stressed, and Akaelin was right behind him.

((gone for dinner, back in a bit))

((Okay. I probably won't be there though. TT^TT))

((lol, the googlebot is giving me catfish advertisements))

Nathifa was wondering too why people were being burned up there, though she suspected some kind of mass hysteria like the one Kanten had been experiencing. However, she grew a little suspicious of other things when Akaelin didn't translate the last thing that Tynan said. "How much farther to Nara?" she asked instead

"If this is the shortest route - like I think it is - we should arrive there by midday tomorrow," Akaelin answered. They had finally gotten away from the ash. The sky still remained dark, however, and Tynan seemed to relax. Akaelin didn't really care why the chimera had been so tense. It was obviously some personal problem, and the wolf didn't really give a crap about personal problems.

((It could be worse. It could be giving you stuff about gas problems. XD

I have to go for tonight. See ya!))

"Well, at least it's not too much longer," she said, noticing how Tynan relaxed once they got past the burning place. It made her wonder if he knew what that place was, or had some connection with it. She reached her mind out to check in with Rysak, who was underground with Jetta working on the tunnels. The Rank 1 warrior had made short work of the dirt, but having Rysak down there would speed up the digging process against the rock. The people that would be staying in the tunnels should be able to get into them through the new pathway by the time the next morning at the very most

"Vous voulez voler un peu pour s'assurer que la voie est libre?" Akaelin asked Tynan.

"Pas de probleme," Tynan replied before he shifted form. Akaelin had always thought of chimeras as rather ugly creatures. They weren't really the chimeras of legend, but just a bunch of different animals bred together into one being. So rather than saying a horse/eagle/wildebeast/butterfly/fox/lion hybrid, it was just shortened to chimera. Tynan looked like some kind of eagle bred with a lion, a scorpion and a bat. The eagle part was in his head, the lion his body. Sharp teeth jutted out from his beak, bat wings, and a scorpion like tail completed the picture. A rather bulky thing, he was also a mixture of many different colors, including dark red, blonde, brown, white, and black. With a single flap of his wings he shot up into the air and hovered for a moment before flying at a steady pace in the direction he had been going.

"I sent him to scout ahead a ways and make sure there weren't any...obstacles," Akaelin said. Obstacles could mean anything really. Robbers, fallen trees, clowns on fire. Akaelin had a fairly decent grudge against clowns.

Nathifa was a little surprised when Tynan shifted forms. Up until now she had assumed that the chimeras from the ministry were the traditional type as predicted in mythology, that assumption supported by the fact that the other members were mythical creatures. But now she saw that the chimeras were very much like the Society warriors. Except Society warriors had a single other form when they kept their powers under control, but were essentially chimeras when they awakened. However, there had been some successful experiments that had the warrior have a mixed form even when they were normal - Siva being one of these few warriors.

"Is the people in this town dangerous?" Nathifa asked, thinking this might be a reason for sending Tynan up ahead to scout. She already knew that the surroundings were dangerous for mortals, so a scout wouldn't be needed to go look for catfish.

"Lower Nara is rather shady," Akaelin answered. "That's where all the stoner/cannibals live. They're not exactly cannibals, but with the way they act you'd think they were. We'll be entering through upper Nara. The only thing dangerous there are the catfish. The gators are rather friendly. Sometimes they'll let you pet them." He hoped that they wouldn't have to go into Lower Nara.

((There's an ad on my thing titled, Catfishing Blood Killer. XD))

((XD I have that too. Also a thing about catfish lures))

"Cannibals are never a good sign," Nathifa agreed. "So why are we going to Nara? It doesn't sound like we could find very much help in terms of fighting forces there. You can at least trust me with who you got this tip from that makes it so important to go to a town built on a swamp with man-eating catfish."

"Gary-Stu," Akaelin repeated. Obviously he still wasn't going to tell. He turned to one of the rebellion he had chosen with a slight frown. "I need you to go find me a plant," he said. "It's got purple leaves, yellow berries, and pink flowers." Confused, the person hesitated a moment before leaving. Akaelin then turned to a small woman, the only one left besides Nathifa. "You go with him. Your face irritates me." Tears filled the womans eyes before she ran off after her companion, crying.

Once they were both gone, Akaelin turned to his mate. "Yoko," he said. Since most people saw Yoko as an enemy, they wouldn't have liked the fact that their leader was following his instructions. Akaelin had seen a possible mutiny attempt, so he had sent the three others away.

Nathifa made a mental note as the woman was sent away crying. She would once again have to apologize for her mate later. She didn't show outright disbelief or anger when Akaelin told her who the tip was for this trip, but her brow did furrow a bit in concern. "Is it okay to be following a tip from Yoko?"

"I hope so," Akaelin sighed. "The way I see it, we don't really have any leads that would help us and Yoko wouldn't have bothered if it wasn't something that would be of assistance. I don't know what we could find information wise in Nara. It has a library, but it's very small and doesn't contain much besides some philosophy and a few entertainment novels." The librarian was a younger woman with copper hair and hunter green eyes. Glasses gave her a slightly book loving appearance. Akaelin figured that she would be in 40s or 50s though by now.

((I'mma have to go here soon. Football game. We have another band festival tomorrow too, and then I work on Sunday. >.<))

"It's not that I don't trust Yoko," Nathifa said. "I know that Yoko doesn't want to be a part of what Hel is doing, but my concern is that it might not have truly been him that left the note. You saw how Set was able to control Quill back at the Sanctuary - Hel could have forced Yoko to leave that note. This might all be a ploy to discover our location or to ambush us."

"I don't know if it makes any difference," Akaelin started. "But I once lived in a little village called Orn Blod, a place soley known for its illusions and hypnotism. Everyone in that village had been hypnotized at least once, save for Yoko. I know that a hypnotist is far different than a god, but it offers a small bit of comfort."

"Well that's good," Nathifa said, sounding relieved. "Add on the factor of protecting Kitai and it would be pretty hard to control him then. Yoko doesn't seem like the type that could be physically tortured into submission either."

"Catfish and Lions and Bears, oh my." Faorn commented. She scratched her head, and looked around.

"With none of the 'Lions and Bears' part. Maybe add in the gators." Sarian answered, still in her hawk form.

"Shut up." Faorn retorted. "Why are we supposed to go to Nara, anyways? There's like, nothing good about this place. Absolutely nothing. I will haunt Akaelin if I die from the killer catfish. And I mean it. Or at least, I will do my best to."