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Third Legend Trouble

"Your Majesty." one of the guards said nervously two weeks later. His Majesty, Ruler of Infri and the Surrounding Territories, Blessed One of Those Who Dwell Above, Protector of the People of Fire, and All-Around Good Guy Emperor Largo looked at the man. "Ah, message from the Prime Minister of Washi"

"Well?" the Emperor boomed. The guard coughed, wondering why he was doing this and not the messenger, and pulled out an ornate scroll. Unrolling it, he began reading.

"To His Majesty, Ruler of Infri and the Surrounding Territories, etc., etc., etc., greetings. The Gods have smiled upon my people and blessed me with one of their own, a child who bears gifts like those of the sorcerers of old and can command all the seas. We offer you a chance to surrender to us, for there is no chance that you will be able to defeat us now. Prime Minister Falron"

The scroll the guard was holding burst into flames as Marin stared at it.

"Well, I believe that's a fair answer." Emperor Largo quipped. "Indeed, why would we surrender to Falron when Marin is on our side?" the red-haired girl, relaxing next to him, wrapped her arms around his neck. Despite her unpredictable nature, the girl rarely hurt people if they showed her respect. She really was like fire; mess with her and you got burned, but treat her right and she was the greatest ally. The massive man seemed pleased by the attention the girl was giving him.

"Correct." the fiery girl said. "There's not enough water in the world to put my flames out." the courtiers nodded. The girl swung that lance of hers as if it were nothing; just a few days ago she had hunted an entire pack of the vicious Fire Jackals, and she hadn't even received a scratch out of it. Truly a worthy addition to their royal family.

Unfortunately, the same people had consistently failed to get onto her good side. The girl had no qualms about incinerating any of them if she felt they deserved it. Hence why they all stayed well away from her, as if that would somehow protect them.

"Now..." the girl muttered. "What's this Washi place?" Nobody was particularly surprised. The girl had shown a stunning lack of information, and while they had tried to use it against her, their plans had not really worked. Eventually, they had decided to just deal with it.

"Washi is our... mmm... rival." the Emperor said thoughtfully. Most people in his land grew up not even questioning this; it was just how things were. Marin was always a source of interest for him. "Our countries have been feuding for generations. We've had wars, tournaments, sports games, eating contests, belching competitions, and pretty much everything else. Problem is, the scores stay about the same... what are they right now, anyways"

One of the servants checked a scroll. "One thousand, six hundred, and ninety four wins, one thousand, six hundred, and ninety three losses, and two thousand, seven hundred, sixty-one ties." he announced. Marin blinked at him a few times, then turned back to her foster father.

"Just destroy them." she said bluntly. "If they're that troublesome, wipe them off the map." Largo sighed and ran a beefy hand through his hair.

"It's not that simple, my dear." he replied. "When we go to fight them, their oceans are enough to quench our fires. When they come here, all the water they throw at us just turns to steam. We can't beat them, they can't beat us. So we just end up having contests over even the stupidest things to prove we're better." the girl stared at him for a few moments, then nimbly jumped to the ground and grabbed her lance.
"Going somewhere?"

"To prove my strength." the girl replied. "This Washi place claims to have somebody strong enough to control all water, right? I intend to show them the real meaning of power." she strode purposefully out the door. The room was still for a moment, then the girl came back in. "Er... where is this place, anyways?"

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"Coming!" Lila said cheerfully, hauling the bucket into the kitchen area of her small but pleasant home. She set it down and hurried out the back door. Unlike less practical cities, her home's houses had two exits; one in front for normal use, and a second in the back that led to a small storefront. The residents found it extremely convinient.

Sandwiched between two large, stone houses as it was, her home was allowed the alleyway between them to showcase goods, most of which were hand-made pots and utensils. Metal was good, true, but sometimes people wanted pottery or wood to make their homes feel more... well... home-y. Eldrick and Ella were happy to oblige.

Lila stepped out into the clerk's spot and greeted the customer with her warmest smile. "Welcome to our shop. Is there anything in particular you were looking for"

"Actually, yes." a deep voice replied. Lila looked up at the man in front of her, guessing him to be in his late thirties or so. He was dressed in fine white robes, embroidered with what seemed to be arcane runes. Obviously the wealthy type. "Do you happen to have any magical artifacts in this... shop? I have felt a strong magical presence here from some time"

Slowly, Lila shook her head, slightly wary. The wind was whispering to her.

"Ah... I see." the man replied. "Perhaps you have some ability, then? I can take you for training." Immediately, Lila backed up. The wind was no longer whispering, it was screaming. This man was dangerous; she needed to get away from him! "There's no need to be afraid, child. I want to be your friend." he straightened a moment later and turned around to find one of the village boys standing there, looking annoyed.

"She says no." the boy said. "Leave her alone"

"Or what?" the man asked. He looked at the entrance of the alley a moment later and realized that almost everyone on the street had gathered outside of it. "I'm not doing anything wrong! I'm giving her the opportuity of a lifetime"

"Slavery is not an opportuity." Lila said quietly. "You lure in innocents by telling them they are special, then sell them." the man's eyes widened slightly.

"How did you---" he whispered. A knife flashed into his hand and he grabbed the boy who had started the trouble. He quickly pressed the blade against the child's throat. "Back, all of you! Or I slit his throat!" A gust of wind tore his arm backwards and slammed him into the wall. The villagers watched as he was flung around several more times, then shot into their arms. Muttering to themselves about foreigners, they carried him off. Lila looked up slowly.

The boy was gone.

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"Too much water." Marin grumbled. "How can anyone stand it"

Emperor Largo chuckled as he looked at the ocean. Indeed, it was creepy how much water there was in one place. He drank the stuff, sure, but there was more out there than could ever be described. You had to experience it, not hear about it. He informed Marin as such a moment later, and the fiery haired (and tempered) girl nodded in agreement.

"So, where do we have to go to find this champion of theirs?" the girl asked curiously, expecting the heavily-built man she had accepted as her foster father to somehow know. The man merely stared at the sea.

"From here, I suppose we'll have to just wait." he explained. "It's dangerous to stay in one place at sea, so Washi moves around a bit. But... they generally know when I'm coming, because they can't resist a good challenge." True to his words, a moment later, part of a city rose up from under the ocean's surface to show a thin, old man, numerous onlookers, and a blue-haired girl standing beside him. Marin narrowed her eyes.

"Largo!" the old man said cheerfully. "Have you come to your senses and decided to surrender?"

"Never!" the portly ruler of the land of flames replied. "Instead, I deliver your offer right back to you! Give up now and perhaps I shall spare your people"

Plesantries exhanged as per the custom of their lands, the two men glared at each other, each trying to get the other to back down. Before either of them realized what was happening, the two girls it seemed were the latest contest had walked forward and were standing at the borders of their worlds; Marin just out of the edge of the land, the other girl at the tip of the sea.

"Kairi!" the old man said. "Crush her!" the girl aligned with water looked at Marin for a moment, then blinked. Marin held up her lance. "That's... well, Kairi won't be defeated so easily! Show them!" the girl quietly held up a blue staff, one with the same pure quality of color and odd feeling of power. The two girls stared at each other.

"Well." Marin said. "Here I was expecting to find some little weakling." the other girl nodded. "You, too? Hey, has that old man been trying to get you to beat me beause of their national rivalry?" the girl nodded again. "Hmm... Sad. So, what now?" the girl called Kairi just shrugged as the onlookers yelled for a fight.

"You have only yourself, Largo!" the leader of Washi yelled. "My audience wins; you don't even have one!" the ruler of Infri swore, then pointed a finger at the old man.

"My Marin is far better than your Kairi! I didn't need to bring other people and part of my citadel to this to try and intimidate you! You lose!" the old man sputtered a curse as the two girls sat down and looked at each other.

"...Whaddaya say we get out of here? If we thought, I think bad things would happen around here." Marin muttered. The quiet Kairi nodded again. The two stood up and headed back the way they had came, each to their element.

"What are you doing!?" both of the rulers roared. "Crush her! Don't copy me! Hey"

"Idiots." Marin muttered. She unslung her lance and pointed it at a nearby cliff. A bolt of fire shot out of it and carved out a massive swath of rock, turning it to lava instantly. A burst of water cooled the rock a moment later. "Hey, she is good. We should fight just to see who's stronger." she glanced over her shoulder for just a moment, and saw Kairi shaking her head. "Darn." she wandered over to her adoptive father. "Come on. We're going home"

Marin was, quite possibly, the only person in the history of the world to ever have spoken to an Emperor of Infri in such a tone and not been executed on the spot for it. Besides the fact that the Emperor knew he couldn't harm her anyways, he honestly liked her fiery spirit. It was no trouble to dote on her whims.

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"So, Lila, you say you saw a boy who helped you, but he disappeared before you could thank him?" Ella asked. Lila quietly nodded her head, feeling slightly ashamed. "And the... ah... the wind can't tell you where he is?" Lila shook her head and hugged her knees to her chest.

"I don't like not being able to thank someone who helped me." she whispered. "Every good deed deserves another. I... I asked the people who had come to help if they knew anything, but they said they hadn't seen him leave, either, and they had never seen him before." Ella gently hugged the girl, knowing that Lila was truly a honest, good person. She was actually this upset because she couldn't do what she thought was right, when most people would have just forgotten about it.

"Come on, dear. I know someplace we should go right now." the old woman said. Siffling slightly, Lila held her new mother's hand tightly as they walked outside and towards a building near the center of town. Eldrick had pointed it out to her when she had first arrived; the Temple of the Gods. Wordlessly, Ella led Lila to the shrine that adorned the far end of the building.

It was a surprisingly simple design. There was a bowl on top where people placed offerings (which were then used by the church to keep itself running), and below that, a stone block that had seven gems placed inside of it, connected by etched lines. Red, blue, green, and yellow gems made up the outer ring, with white, silver, and black forming a line down the middle. White and black made an inner circle, and the outer ones were connected to the silver. Lila gently touched the design, flinched back, then touched it again.

"I want him to hear my thanks." the girl whispered. "I... just want him to know." the yellow gem lit up for a brief moment, and Lila cocked her head. "He knows? But..." she looked slightly downcast. Ella recognized the usual 'wind was talking' look. "All right"

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