Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Jigsaw ❯ Go West ( Chapter 2 )

CHAPTER TWO

"It's always nice to have a friend to confide in and blame for your mistakes."

-Hallas Sallah, How to Make Friends and Keep Them for as Long as You Need Them

Tione shot up from the grass. "It's you! You're the guy from the market!" she said. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

Aleric scratched the back of his head. "I think I'm Aleric Iu Duno…" He smirked and held his chin between thumb and forefinger. "And who the hell do you think you are?"

Tione crossed her arms. "Tione Larion. Don't bother committing it to memory." She raised an eyebrow and examined Aleric. “Now, what are you doing to my tree?”

He looked to be around twenty years old, was well over six feet tall with a bright, tanned face that implied he had little to do with the indoors, and a somewhat muscular build—he looked easily strong enough to carry her, gods knew where Tione got that idea. He sported a head of unkempt, short blond hair that was such a vivid yellow it looked that, like his disposition, it was full of sunshine. Tione was just close enough to notice his deep blue eyes behind long bangs. As for his wardrobe, his short tunic and trousers were in even worse shape than Tione's dress. They were torn, dirty and tattered and his pants were tied off with pieces of coarse rope at the ankles. He also wore a belt with an empty sheath attached to it around his waist, and a large red leather satchel over his left shoulder. He was handsome… but not that handsome. He looked thoughtful, then regarded Tione with an apologetic smile. “Y… your tree?”

"So what are you? You said you were a hero?"

"Well, Tirone… yes, I am." Aleric put one fist on his hip and rested the other on his blade. “Told you I had a sword.”

“That's Tione. And I haven't heard of you.” Though, Tione reminded herself, what would a hero be doing in Sheste? The worst crisis they'd had was when one of the wild pigs living in the woods past the field got into an old lady's garden and ruined her turnips, and that was nine years ago.

“Aleric Iu Duno—the hero who, whilst in Baylin, incapacitated the drunkard of the Disgruntled Donkey inn? Aleric Iu Duno, who valiantly frightened away the rats from the Duke of Prill's cousin's son's wine cellar? The great Aleric, who bested the moldy bread of Dhomi's Bakery?” All the while Aleric brandished his sword and performed convincing mimes of his heroic deeds.

“This is depressing.”

“Listen, I take what jobs I can get.”

“Have you rescued any damsels?”

“I'm working up to that.”

“Fought any dragons?”

“Ah - actually I'm terrified of dragons.” Tione thought she noticed Aleric blush.

“Well, that can't look good on your resume.”

"Well, Fiona… I'm afraid that's a long story. Now, I'm an adventurer, I guess… Ever since I was seventeen, I've traveled from city to city, going wherever and doing whatever I wanted. I have beheld all seven thousand wonders of Jigsaw and have seen so much of this country that I could never get lost in it." Aleric swept aside the long, uneven bangs that hung down in his face, only to have them fall right back down to where they had been. "Ever. And you? Just who are you?"

Tione had heard of the professional hero business. Heroes or groups of heroes would register with guilds and accept quests and jobs, and whoever claimed to be able to do the job quickest and most cheaply got the job. Now it was apparent that it was not all glamour and glitz. "Well, if you absolutely must know, I'm running away from home to go on a quest and to discover the truth about my family." Regarding Aleric again and remembering that he wore the same necklace she did, she held up her own. “And this thing. You… have one like it?”

Aleric frowned down at it. “Yeah. My grandpa gave it to me… just said that if I ever lost it he'd have my head. So, I figured, how hard can it be to keep track of one little trinket? So I still have it.”

Tione was shocked. She'd read about things like this in storybooks—people destined to fulfill some purpose, often brought together by some trinket, usually a ring or necklace. It was about as original as talking weaponry and enchanted rings, but she supposed the idea for these things had to come from somewhere. “Me too… well, kinda.” But with him?

Aleric flashed an excited grin. “Hey, maybe we're meant to be on a quest!”

Tione drew back. “Ah-- I already have a quest.”

Seeming to ponder this for a moment, Aleric shrugged. “I suppose that's fair enough. But… Where you headed?"

Tione remembered what Elin had instructed to do, feeling a pang of sadness. That would be where she went, no matter what the cost. "Sela. Why? Oh, I get it! You want to come with me, don't you? You're still bent on the idea of sleeping with me, aren't you? Well, forget it!" She considered brandishing her spoon threateningly, but thought better of it when she realized she would probably just get laughed at. She didn't even know how to use it yet.

Aleric looked like he couldn't believe what he'd heard. "What? Listen, if you don't think I can deal with a rejection, then… hold on. Did you say you were headed for Sela?"

"So what if I am?" Tione challenged.

"Well," Aleric smiled, looking out past the forest to the west. "That just happens to be where I'm headed. And it just so happens that I know the safest and shortest route. What do you think about that?"

Shortest? Just go west, right? How complicated could that get? "I think you're full of dragon droppings," Tione replied promptly.

"Huh? What do you mean?" asked Aleric.

"Well… you may know how to get to Sela. You may even know a short and safe route. But if I had said I was going to Cyan, you would have said you were headed that way. If I had said I was going to Aldis, you would have said you were headed for Aldis."

The hero looked almost pleadingly at Tione. “You think I'm that desperate?” Aleric crossed his arms and thought a moment while Tione realized she may have been a little hard on him. Before she could apologize, Aleric smiled again. "Well… if you don't want me to come to Sela with you, then how about you come with me to Sela?"

How terrible could it be? Really? Tione looked out into the woods; she'd heard that even that place could be dangerous, and the gods knew what awaited her past it. An overly-forward, and admittedly somewhat handsome, yet debatably competent hero would probably measure up as one of the least harmless things she'd have encountered. Elin had said something about friends and destinies, hadn't she?

“All right,” Tione relented.

“All right?” Aleric confirmed, then cheered with an intense and dangerously contagious smile. “All right! Okay, world! Bring it on! Do your worst!” He raised his tanned, thick fist to the sky over the waving grass.

Tione couldn't help but chuckle, and then laugh into the warm breeze.

Aleric turned to her with an uncomfortable expression, like he'd just felt something wriggle in his shoe. “What?”

“Oh, nothing,” Tione grinned. “But now I have to come with you to see what happens to you!” Everyone knew that karma and luck were far more important than logic and skill.

Aleric looked at his new companion with cautious disbelief, then huffed lightly. “Right… wouldn't want to miss that. Shall we?” He gestured gentlemanly down the path. It was a feeble road overgrown with grass and weeds, more meandering than leading into the shadow of the tall, dense trees and brush that surrounded the border secretively. It was as if it marked the edge of a new world.

Taking the first step seemed so final. “Hold on there, Thrustalot!”

Aleric raised an eyebrow, blinked and sheathed his sword. "Oh, sorry! Aren't you all packed for the trip yet?"

"Packed?" Oops. Tione realized that she had completely forgotten about packing anything. She probably could have packed some provisions at Elin's house, but she had been determined not to disturb anything. Perhaps if she hadn't spent the money she'd brought to the market. She only had a few coppers left.

"You know," Aleric said, patting the bag that was hanging at his waist, giving Tione the sudden urge to root through it to see what kinds of things he kept in there. Tione was a good judge of character, and Aleric was the sentimental type, without a doubt. He probably had some interesting items he couldn't bear to part with from his journeys. "You need a lot of provisions for a long trip. You at least need food and money, and if you're picky, a clean change of clothes. Something to help you find your way comes in handy too. Say, a map or a guidebook."

Aleric was somehow managing to make Tione look like an idiot. She scowled, a bit bitterly. "Well… I have a map." She hoped he'd at least give her that consolation.

"That's IT?" Aleric asked.

"And this," Tione reached into her pocket and pulled out How to Turn a Spoon into a Weapon of Mass Destruction and held it up.

Aleric grabbed it out of Tione's hand and looked at the cover. "A little unconventional, but I suppose this might come in handy…" He flipped through the book, pretending to be skimming its pages. She wondered if he could even read. "Say, have you ever read How to Turn a Spoon into a Sex Toy?"

"No, I have not!" Tione scowled.

"Really? I've read it twice."

"I suppose you would have."

"Want me to show you how?"

"No!"

Sighing dismissively, Aleric flipped to the inside of the front cover, noticing the writing. "Hey, my grandpa's name is in here!" He stared at it in shock.

"You're kidding." This was just too much creepiness for one day.

"Yeah, Mok Duno. Right there." Aleric pointed to the second box filled with names. Sure enough, it was there. "Hey!" His finger moved up the old lettering to another name in the first list. "Loc Duno! Oh! Hey! Come to think of it, all these names have a relative in the other list."

That was certainly a clue. "Well... who's Loc?"

"Oh. I... dunno. I come from a really big family. Probably some I've never even heard of."

"Great." What did it mean? Tione closed the book for the time being. They couldn't just spend all day standing in a field staring at some book.

Aleric cleared his throat. "Well, anyway, it's clear that you know nothing about setting out on a quest. Ahem. You'll be better off with me." He wasn't arrogant about it; his suggestion was spoken with a concerned frown.

Tione was still irritated at him, and the fact that he was undoubtedly right made her even more annoyed. But, right was right. "Okay. The book? The necklace thing? Yeah, that's something I wanna figure out. But if we're going together, let's establish the fact that I'm not going with you; you're coming with me!"

Aleric nodded emphatically. "Right… Wait. That doesn't make any sense…"

Maybe she was getting too worked up about this. He seemed nice enough, and willing to help. And they obviously shared some kind of connection, gods knew what. But this was, after all, what she wanted. The breeze to the west began to blow more urgently, pointing the weeds and grass toward the forest like millions of arrows pointing the way. It all felt too extraordinary to be real, but after all, she had grown up with the ordinary. "Let's just agree to stick by each other. That all right with you?"

"You got it, Lione."

"That's Tione! Is it that hard to remember a name like Tione?"

"You said not to commit it to memory."

Tione drew back her hand and whacked Aleric upside the head. "That's what you get for being an idiot!" Was he really that dim, or was he just being a smartass? It was so hard to tell.

"Oww!" Aleric rubbed his head with his palm with a mystified look as to how it suddenly started hurting. "Hey… listen… Did you know those little bristles on your eyebrows stand up when you yell?"

Tione didn't bother to answer him. He had to be just playing with her. Tione didn't bother asking Aleric what his own quest was. Maybe, like her, he didn't even know.

Squinting through the sunlight, Tione looked up. She had been so busy thinking and talking to him that she hadn't noticed that they were coming up closer and closer on the dark, dense forest that was ahead of them. It was now less than a mile off. Even from that distance, Tione could tell that very little sunlight ever penetrated through the leaves of the tall trees. It was probably the perfect place for some witch or ogre to live. It was foreboding, but surely, if there was adventure to be had, it was there. She could even see a giant beanstalk growing out of the treetops. Giant beanstalks had been a popular but dangerous source of adventure for thrill seekers for many years.

"Hey! Hey look! There's a giant beanstalk growing out of that forest there…" Aleric pointed out. "Heh! You know, people will actually go a long way to climb the things. There's a law saying that you can't plant giant beanstalks near cities."

"What? Why's that?"

"Can you imagine the property damage that could be caused by a falling giant?" Aleric smashed his fist into his palm. "BAM! There goes a church, or an orphanage! And that's not even counting the giant's pet goat!"

Tione looked into the distance, where the stalk was just a thin green line reaching up into the clouds. It wasn't exactly part of the plan, but Elin had never said anything about not climbing beanstalks. "Well, let's go and climb it and see where it leads."

"I thought we were going to Sela…" Aleric said, scratching the back of his head.

"We are going to Sela, but we're going there first!" Tione said impatiently. "Besides, I'm not traveling with you; you're traveling with me!" She poked Aleric in the chest, causing him to flinch visibly, followed by a small smile to put him in his place.

"Tione… um, you know, there's probably a giant up there," Aleric said, pointing up into the sky with his thumb. “Possibly giants, in the plural sense.”

"I'm not scared," Tione assured him. "I'm not a little girl." She actually knew little about giants other than that the living-in-the-clouds variety had a fixation on the functionality of human bones in grinding bread and the collection of strange magical objects.

Aleric crossed his arms stubbornly. "Compared to him, you are! Even I wouldn't go up there… but you can go and get yourself eaten by a giant, for all I care."

"Fine then… if you don't want any of the treasure that will undoubtedly be in the giant's castle, then you don't have to come." Tione said. As a rule, all giants, dragons and other dangerous creatures that dwelled within castles had at least one hoard of riches, a magical talisman or captive princess with which to attract anyone that would be foolish enough to try to steal them.

Aleric raised an eyebrow in interest. "What do you know about any of that? You've lived in Sheste your whole life, haven't you?"

"That may be true, but there are some things that you can't help hearing about whether you travel or not," Tione pointed out. “My family taught me to read, and there's not much to do in Sheste besides read at the library.” Despite Aleric's tone, she knew that she may have already manipulated him into checking out the beanstalk with her. But just for good measure, she decided to go a bit further. "Let's compromise, then. If you really don't want to climb it, let's just go to see it."

Aleric looked thoughtfully at the green line connecting the ground and sky. "You're really stuck on the idea of seeing this beanstalk, aren't you?” He chuckled. “Well… I suppose every little thing will excite a country bumpkin like you.”

A what?

“Well, if you really want to see it, I guess it can't hurt.”

“Well. Let's not just stand here forever!" Tione said. "Come on, Aleric!" She nudged him forward with a pat on the back, and walked on past him toward the trees that hung over them as if they'd been listening intently to them. His tunic was frayed and dirty, but warm. She supposed if Aleric was truly full of himself he'd have been well-groomed and squeaky clean despite stories of “heroic deeds.” He was, after all, a free safe trip across Jigsaw.

"Geh. Now what have you gotten yourself into?" Aleric muttered to himself. He shrugged and ran after her. "Here I come, Tione!"

The whole kingdom suddenly spread out in front of her. But somehow, all she could think of was the beanstalk. Why was she so fixated on it? At any rate she figured that it wouldn't be a problem to convince Aleric to climb it. She didn't want to say it to him, even though it was a trip out of the way, a feeling poked at the back of her brain telling her it was the way to go. She thought, with irony, Aleric seemed to be more the type to believe in unexplained premonitions than she knew she was.

She looked up at the beanstalk, which seemed to grow taller, glowering down at them the closer they got to it. They weren't far off from the forest it thrust up out of, and Tione was just beginning to see colored dots all over the beanstalk that stood out against the perfect, clear afternoon sky. She slowed her pace to a walk and let Aleric catch up to her.

"Aleric… what are those colored spots all over that thing?"

“Eh?” Catching up to her and proceeding a couple paces beyond her, Aleric put his hand to his forehead and looked up at the beanstalk. "Oh, it's probably a jellybeanstalk."

"A what?!"

Aleric smiled smugly. "Well, it just so happens that I've been to the only place in Jigsaw where jellybeanstalks grow naturally. It's a ridge overlooking Sela called Jellybean Hill. The size of the jellybeans that grow on them… well, they get pretty big! Anyway, since we're far from Jellybean Hill, someone must have planted that one. It might be in someone's garden or backyard, a collector or something. Or an unsatisfiable sweet tooth."

"Hmm…" Tione had never heard anything about that before. "All right, know-it-all. Can you eat them?"

"You bet you can," Aleric smiled.

"Good, because I'm getting awfully hungry," Tione said. "I haven't had anything to eat all day!"

A bird cawed mockingly from the trees.

"Well, no wonder you're hungry!" Aleric said. "Yeesh, don't you know that you're supposed to eat before you set out on a long trip? The next town is more than a day's walk from here!"

"Well, excuse me, but if I had gone back home, it would be a long time before I got another chance to get out of Sheste!" Tione lied. Well… maybe her family was missing her, but she couldn't go back now, after seeing Elin and her having disappeared like that. Her home village may as well have been a thousand miles away. "I've got some money though…" Tione looked over to Aleric and saw him digging in his shoulder bag, which bulged with whatever belongings he deemed important enough to have hanging off him. It looked heavy; he had to be strong to carry that thing all day. "Now what are you doing?"

"You're going to have to find a way to make some money without having to stay in one place for very long.” Aleric took a small yellow fruit from his bag. “Do odd jobs… steal… whatever…” He polished a bit of grit from its smooth surface and proffered it to her. "Here. Have a sea plum. It was grown in Lest on an island far away from the mainland. They're normally really expensive, but I got them for free. Don't even ask me how I…"

Tione waved it off. "Ick! I don't want anything that's been in your bag!"

"Ah, man…" Aleric mumbled, looking perplexedly at the offering. "I thought you were hungry…"

"Not that hungry!"

"Listen, if you want to travel the way I do…" Aleric said indignantly, "You've got to learn to live like this! That's just how it is!" He sighed in unconcealed disappointment. "Look… maybe you should just go back to Sheste before you get hurt or die or something…"

"Hold on a minute, who's dying?!" Tione said. "Give that here." She swiped the fruit from Aleric's palm. A sea plum, huh? Tione had never heard of a sea plum, much less tasted one, but this time Aleric seemed to know what he was talking about. She took a small bite out of the spherical fruit. After just a moment, her mouth was filled with an overpowering bitter taste. She spit out the bite she had taken. "That's awful! What are you trying to do, kill me?" She drew up her arm and prepared to pitch the fruit at Aleric's head, but Aleric held it still.

"Sea plums aren't that tasty, but they're nutritious!" Seeing Tione's skeptical expression, he added, "I'm not lying! You should eat it, it's really good for your metabolism!"

"Oh, be quiet…" Tione muttered. She looked down at the fruit in her hand and made the decision to try and choke down the bad-tasting fruit, if only to prove to Aleric that she could do it. Not that she cared about impressing him. "Come on. We're almost into the forest now." She resumed walking and took a bite out of the plum in what she hoped was a nonchalant manner. The woods rose above them, the thick branches blocking out their view of the jellybeanstalk, the sky, and the soft, comforting clouds. From inside, birds cooed and cackled, insects chirped, frogs croaked forlornly at the musky, earthy smell of the guardedly dark forest. Bitterness bit at the insides of Tione's cheeks.

"All right, then," Aleric said. He shrugged and walked after Tione. By the time he caught up with her, he noticed that she had taken out How to Turn a Spoon into a Weapon of Mass Destruction. "Wha-- what are you doing?" he asked.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm reading," Tione answered. What if they were suddenly confronted by some monster, or age-old guardian of the forest? She skipped over the chapter on using a spoon to attract members of the opposite sex and got distracted by the chapter on using a spoon as a method of finding harmony with the universe.

"Put that thing away. You're not supposed to read while you walk," Aleric said, abruptly stopping, taking the book and opening it up to a random page. "Chapter five," he read aloud. "How to use a spoon to make others do your bidding. Do you have any idea how ridiculous that sounds?" He began walking again.

"Don't be mean!" Tione yelled, grabbing the book back and hitting Aleric on the back of his head with it with a dull thump. "This belonged to my great-grandmother! So stop making fun of it or I'll use the first attack I learn on you!"

Aleric rubbed the back of his sore head again. "Y'know Tione, I think traveling with you may turn out to be hazardous to my health…"

"Ha! On the contrary, I think a little abuse is good for any man!" Tione said. "So," she said as they worked their way deeper into the forest, "What's Sela like? I'm assuming you've been there before."

"Well…" Aleric said, clearly happy to be off the subject of physical abuse and able to show off his knowledge of Jigsaw once again, "I'm sure you know that Sela is the capital of the kingdom Jigsaw, don't you?"

Tione blinked. She might not be the most knowledgeable about the kingdom's affairs, but she couldn't imagine anyone not knowing that. Even beast people, dwarves and orcs, who preferred to keep to themselves unless needed. "Of course,” she scoffed.

"Hey!" Aleric said. "Do you want information or don't you? Anyway, the current King of Jigsaw is Zenos ni Theid Shynne, right? Since he's an elf, he's ruled Jigsaw for the past hundred twenty years or so. Two sons. Zenos is--"

"Zenos Shynne?" Why did that name sound familiar?

"Sela is also the home of the Sela Magic Academy, and this is where… Hey! And how come you looked so surprised when I told you the name of the King of Jigsaw? Don't tell me that you didn't know the king's name before!" he said with an `and you called me stupid' smirk.

Tione did know about the royal family. She just usually didn't concern herself with people that lived so far away, even if they were royalty. "I… I know who he is! I didn't mean that! They're a bunch of pampered people who live in castles; why should I worry about them?"

"Well," Aleric said, crossing his arms. "You're going to have to learn to. You're going to have to learn to pay attention to all kinds of details and stuff the way I can." He put up his index finger pedantically. "You have to know where you are and you have to always know what's going on around you… say, when did we get into the forest?"

Tione was beginning to doubt if she'd even make it to the Lost Gardens with this guy leading her. "You're a moron…" she muttered as she threw away the pit of the sea plum that she had managed to finish.

Just after Tione threw the pit, she heard a high-pitched voice speak from behind them. "Ouch!"

"Who's there?" Aleric asked, whirling around.

Tione, too looked over her shoulder, but didn't see anyone. "Umm… I don't see anyone," Tione said.

"I'm down here!" the voice squeaked. “Just like you people. Always looking up when the grandest of creatures are at your feet!”

Tione and Aleric looked down and finally, amid the forest underbrush, saw a creature that appeared to have the body of a rabbit and the head, legs and tail of an eagle. "What the hell are you?" Aleric asked.

"I am the grabbit," the little creature squeaked.

Already, they'd encountered strange magical creatures. Sure, it was far form the usual storybook fare, but… "Oh, you mean like a gryphon?" Tione asked.

"No, no, no," the grabbit said, waving its one of its front talons. "A gryphon is a cross between a lion and an eagle. I am the grabbit, a humble, yet magnificent cross between a rabbit and an eagle. "I am one of the Grynimals."

Aleric held his chin in his hand. "Grynimals, huh?" he asked. "How many… Grynimals… are there?"

"Why, several!" the creature answered. "The gryphon and the hippogryph are the most famous, of course." The little Grynimal rolled its little black eyes. "It's always the biggest and most beautiful crossbreeds that get the most attention, but the smaller Grynimals are much more numerous. For example, the grymyth is a cross between a squirrel and an eagle. Even though it's a magnificent beast, it can only be found in the most comprehensive of bestiaries. But unlike common gryphons and hippogryphs, we are each one of a kind."

Tione grimaced. "Wonder why that is."

Suddenly, out of the bushes, stirring up the leaves underfoot, bounded another creature with the body and tail of a chipmunk and the legs, head and wings of an eagle.

"Another Grynimal, I presume?" Tione asked.

"Yes!" the newcomer said proudly, standing up on its hind feet to its full height of about six inches. "I am the grythmyth!"

"You sure sound like you're proud of it," Aleric said, finally bending down to his knees to speak to the little animals better.

"Yes," the creature said. "I am a merry grythmyth."

"I see…" Aleric said, rubbing his chin. "Well, do you two know this forest pretty well?”

“Oh, yes.” The grabbit nodded to his friend.

“Like none other,” the grythmyth agreed.

“You see, we're looking for this jellybeanstalk…"

The two Grynimals looked at each other.

"Should we?" the grabbit whispered.

"We probably shouldn't," the grythmyth intoned cautiously.

"Let's just tell them about it," the grabbit suggested.

"Good idea," the grythmyth said, then turned to Aleric and Tione. He pointed his paw to the left. "It's that way… But I'm afraid that you don't want to go anywhere near that jellybeanstalk, because it's growing out of the backyard of a horrible witch!"

"A witch?" Tione asked. Tione had no idea that there could be a witch living so close to her home.

"Yes, a witch," the grabbit shuddered. "The terrible witch Thorn Tivra rules this forest as the most fearsome being in it. Thorn Tivra will not hesitate to cook up and eat anything or anyone that wanders onto her property! It would be the biggest and the last mistake of your life to mess with her! She's an unpleasant person indeed!"

"I'm not afraid of some shriveled old witch! Besides, I have to get up that jellybeanstalk!" Tione said. For once, her own words startled herself. The urge to reach the jellybeanstalk and climb it was overwhelming her.

"You psycho chick! We're not climbing it! We're not even going to look at it, now that we know it's growing in some witch's garden!"

“Now listen…” Tione tried to remember… was it she who was traveling with Aleric or was Aleric traveling with her? Oh well, it didn't matter. All she knew was that she was undoubtedly in charge here. She grabbed the strap of Aleric's satchel and pulled down so that Aleric was eye to eye with her. "We are going! Do you understand me?" She tried to stop herself and convince herself that the beanstalk was not worth it, but the idea pulled at her heart until it ached at the idea of passing it by.

Aleric nodded, wide-eyed. "Got it."

"I just knew I would be able to persuade you!" Tione gripped Aleric's wrist as tight as she could and began dragging him in the direction the grythmyth had pointed. The hero seemed resigned to following her.

"You're going to get yourself killed!" the grabbit called from behind them.

"I don't care!" Tione yelled back in a cheerful voice, walking at such a brisk pace that soon their first acquaintances' shouts could no longer be heard… either that or they had given up trying to persuade her. At this point, she turned to Aleric. She couldn't hide her premonition, leading someone who probably knew better into what could likely be a very dangerous situation. “Listen, um…”

With an encouraging nod, Aleric prompted, “Yes?”

The forest rose up around them in all directions now. If she hadn't kept track of which way they'd come, they could be lost easily, and she realized she had no idea how expansive it was. “It's weird. I just… feel like the beanstalk is the way to go. I can't explain it, but I feel it would be worse to not go there…” She looked away shamefully. Wait, what did she have to be sorry for?

Dead leaves crackled as Aleric shifted his weight to one leg. “I see… so you don't necessarily want us to meet one of a variety of grisly and exotic deaths.”

“N- no!” Tione insisted. “Well, fine! We can not go, but I get the feeling you'll have to drag me away from it,” she said sincerely.

Aleric took a deep breath of the thick forest air, then let it out resignedly. A quick shrug later, he was smiling again. “Ah, hells. I don't got much to lose. And with what's happened lately… eh, I'd be willing to believe in mysterious hunches, I guess.”

As they continued on, Tione became less and less sure of where they were going. If only she had a mysterious hunch that told her where to go; they'd wandered off the path long ago, as the supposed location of the witch's home lie off the path—imagine that. She stepped over a huge root. "Aleric, tell me about yourself. What's your family like? Why are you on this quest?" She didn't even know where he'd originally come from.

Aleric made a quiet guttural noise, and sighed. "What, you're interested in me?" he asked, sounding a little amused. "You actually want to know about me?"

"I just wanted to do something about this awful silence. That's all," Tione quickly replied. It was not that quiet, but the once welcome sounds of the creatures of the forest had before long faded into the background, only making the absence of any real sound all the more profound.

Aleric sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "All right," he said. "Well… I grew up with my parents and my five brothers and two sisters in the city of Florda… My old dad told me that once I was old enough, I would move to Dalabiot, a village to the north, to study to become a dragon master.”

That was something one didn't hear everyday. Dragon masters, as Tione understood it, were responsible for interacting with dragons, from communication and negotiation to the slaying of particularly troublesome ones. They were familiar with their language, culture, physiology… everything. “So… do you know how to speak dragon?”

Aleric laughed, smiling wryly. “Ugrag ia za. Of course.”

Dragon mastery was a prestigious occupation that only a few could hope to pursue. She regarded Aleric's tattered clothing. What had happened? “So, why are you here?”

Scratching his chest, Aleric looked out into the trees. “It didn't go well.”

“I gathered that. What happened?”

He frowned reflectively. “I guess it was a couple things, really. I lost too much to keep trying, but I still wanted to do something. So, I left to do just that. And, this is where I am. That enough?”

"I guess…" Tione replied. "For now."

"Okay, then," Aleric nodded.

Tione noticed something nailed to a tree a few yards ahead of them. "At any rate, there's a sign." She pointed to the uneven wooden board attached to the tree. As they got closer, they saw that the sign looked as if it had been there for a very long time. It had used to be a perfect rectangle, but bits had been chipped off the corners. The black paint was fading, but Tione and Aleric managed to read the name "Thorn Tivra—50 feet" and identify an arrow that looked to be pointing straight up the trail.

"Well…" Aleric said. "It looks like we found it. If you decide that you'd like to live, we can always turn back now…"

“What do I care about logic? I'm traveling with you, remember?” She looked ahead past trees, bushes, vines and various visual obstructions but could see no house or anything that looked like one. She looked to the left and right, in case the sign was incorrect. "I don't see a house anywhere." She backed up to look at the sign again, pushing dead leaves and brush against her ankles. She was glad she'd taken Elin's old boots. "It's pointing ahead, isn't it?"

Aleric scratched his head. "It sure looks like it…" He looked at the sign as if he didn't trust it to keep pointing the same direction while he wasn't looking. "Well, I don't know, maybe the house isn't here anymore."

"That could be… it's just strange that the sign tells directly where Thorn Tivra's house should be, rather than giving some sort of riddle." She stared at the arrow painted onto the sign.

"If we're not able to find it, then maybe that sign is a riddle after all," Aleric said, sounding unsure of himself.

"But what could be more straightforward than an arrow?" She poked the arrow with her index finger. As she did that, the sign seemed to transform, so abruptly that Tione was startled. It didn't actually change its appearance, but Tione suddenly found herself looking at the arrow from a different perspective. Could the arrow, rather than pointing fifty feet straight ahead, be pointing fifty feet straight up? She raised her head toward the treetops and smiled to herself when she saw what looked to be the underside of a house supported at its corners and at the center by trees and held in place by thick cords.

Aleric saw Tione staring upwards and directed his own gaze toward the sky. He squinted up into the canopy for a moment. "... oh." He didn't seem to be surprised by seeing a house in the trees or impressed by the fact that a village girl like Tione figured out the riddle that he couldn't. "I suppose you still want to go up there, don't you? Hmm... good luck figuring out how…"

Tione didn't necessarily want to get up there… she just felt that doing so was what absolutely had to be done, like it was the obvious path. But she saw no way reach the house. "Don't you have anything in that bag of yours that could come in handy for this kind of situation?"

"Hmm…" Aleric shifted his weight from one foot to the other and kicked around at the underbrush. “Ooh!” he grinned, and began digging around in his satchel. "Would this work?" He held up a long coil of rope.

"You're the experienced traveler, you tell me," Tione said, folding her arms.

Aleric looked slightly puzzled. Then he grinned and scratched the back of his head abashedly. "Well, honestly…" After a pause, he shrugged. "Okay, let's try it." He threw one end of the rope over a high branch overhead and caught it when it came back down. "Let's see…" He took both ends of the rope in his hands and began "walking" up the trunk of the tree while climbing the rope, his feet scraping against the side of the tree, chipping bark off with sharp scraping sounds. "I'll toss it back down once I'm up, okay? Then we'll find the next branch to get up to."

"Sure," Tione said and watched with an amused smirk as Aleric strained to pull himself up the tree, deciding that she might as well enjoy watching it before it got to be her turn. She leaned back against one of the trees that supported the house. But she stood back up when she heard the tree make the noise of a tiny bell. She stared for a moment at the tree until she saw an upward-pointing arrow that was carved into the trunk light up green. She reached out to touch the arrow, but before she could, a doorway in the trunk slid open to reveal that the inside of the tree was hollow. She looked back at Aleric, but he was already out of sight.

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained…" Tione murmured and walked through the door into the tree. The door closed on its own with a quiet hum and a resounding click. She immediately pressed back against the door, trying to pry it open-- it was some kind of trap! Would Aleric be able to find her? Suddenly, soft, soothing music filled the chamber, and suddenly all her concerns melted away. She hadn't been away from home for even a day and she was already experiencing amazing magical devices, she thought as she small room she had walked into began moving up the tree.

After few seconds, she stopped moving up. The tiny bell rang out again and the door opened once more to reveal the inside of someone's sitting room. There were no windows; the room was dimly lit by a few candles placed throughout, allowing just enough light to prevent anyone in it from bumping into or tripping over anything. There was a fireplace set into the far wall and the room was filled with bookshelves, chairs, tables, and unidentifiable objects, and the walls were papered with a pretty rose print. Could this possibly be Thorn Tivra's house? She walked over to a mirror hanging on one of the walls. Could it be the magical kind that would answer your questions? Next to the mirror, a small button was set into the wall. A copper panel below it read, "broom service." She turned to look at the mirror again.

"Hello? Mirror?" she asked in a quiet voice, feeling like an idiot for talking to a mirror.

With a sigh, the mirror fogged up, revealing the vague features of a human face. "Ah, a visitor," it said softly. "What is it you need?"

"Is this Thorn Tivra's house?" Tione asked.

The face nodded once. "Indeed it is."

So she was in the right place after all, despite the unlikely appearance of the room she was in. "Which way to the jellybeanstalk?"

The mirror's obscure face twisted into an annoyed frown. "Well, how should I know? I'm just a mirror!"

Well, that was just great. Now that Tione thought about it, how could a treehouse fifty feet off the ground have a garden, especially one with something as large and heavy as a jellybeanstalk growing out of it? Maybe she was in the wrong place after all.

As she pondered this, the door to the lift she had used opened. She turned around. "Well, it took you long enough to find the shortcut, Aleric!" Tione said.

But it wasn't Aleric who stepped out, but an old woman wearing traditional black witch's garb and carrying a misshapen old broom. Her wrinkled, familiar face twisted into a look of confusion and anger. "Tione? What in Oh's name are you doing here?"

"Grandma!"