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"Past Revelations and a Big Hairy Guy" (To Cave of Wind) The next morning Rei and I got our stuff together and started heading for The Cave of The Wind. After all, that's where the old man told us to go. We hitched a ride on a wagon to South Window and I ran through last night's conversation with the old guy. -An old man walked into the bar hollering something about his daughter and some beast. I ignored him and continued to drain a couple of mugs of sake. Rei sat across the table, sipping some tea and occasionally glancing up at me. Regardless of my efforts, she had fended off all my attempts to learn more about her. We both knew I wouldn't order her to tell 'cuz that would have been unfair. So, as it was, we were just sitting there drinking. The old man stopped at numerous tables to ask something of it's occupants before he eventually made his way over to us. The old man grinned at me, displaying all three of his teeth. "You sir, sartainly you cana help me," he stated more than asked. I looked him over. He looked somewhat sane, so I asked him what it was that I could help him with. "Wella, me daughter was ab...abduck...kidnapped by a monster ofa man," the old man replied with his weird accent. I nodded, "I suppose you're lookin' for someone to rescue her, huh?" The old man nodded excitedly, "Tha's it exactly, sir." I was bored so I asked for the details. He told me about how his daughter grew up playing with a boy across the street. "An' he was an ugly 'un to boot. Na' to mention poor, he couldn't afford a razor for shore, I'd say. He waza hairy boy an' a hairier man." the old man paused to wipe a tear from his eye (he only had one, his other was covered with an eyepatch) before continuing, "An' then he stole my sweet lil Rosa away fro' me." He grabbed a hold of my leg, begging, "Please sir, you mus' save her. I'ma beggin' you!" Rei was about to get up and remove him, forcefully I assume, but I gestured for her to sit back down. "Sure, guy. Just tell me where ta go," I stated sypathetically before prying his arms off of my ankle. He practically blubbered with joy, "The Cave o' the Wind, sir. How cana ever thank you?" I held him at arms length and told him, "Don't worry 'bout it. Just find somewhere to relax for a coupla days and we'll find your daughter." The old man thanked me and sat down at a table and ordered half a dozen mugs of beer. Shortly after that, Rei and I left.- Rei disturbed my reverie to point out that we were at South Window. Surprised, I half-nodded and we started our hike to The Cave of the Wind. As we were leaving, I noticed Rei was staring at a group of playing children. She seemed to be off in another world. I tapped her on her shoulder and we left. "So what was that all about," I inquired, careful not to sound over-eager. "What is what about, Amada," She asked in reverence (After two days, she was finally starting to call me by my first name). "You were watching those children. What's on your mind," I asked trying to sound nonchalant. Rei seemed reluctant to say anything but, after a while, she responded quietly, "It was...my mission...before I met you." I urged her to elaborate and she did. She told me everything. "I was...still am a member of the Temple of the Silver Moon. My mission was to gather children and to...take them to the temple to be trained," Rei told me, pausing before adding, "...like me." I thought this over before I asked her, "And if they don't want to go?" She averted her gaze. "Then we force them to come. If their parents get in the way...," Rei didn't finish the sentence but it was easy enough to figure it out. We walked on in silence before she added, "That was why I was in Radat. It was my first mission." I grunted in acknowledgement. I was shocked to say the least. Rei seemed to be a totally different person than what I had guessed. "Did your parents...resist," I asked, unsure if I should. She nodded and said nothing. I chided myself, what would there have been to say anyway? Underneath her veneer of beauty and her strong sense of duty, there lay pain and despair. It saddened me immensely, poor girl. She continued (what else was there to do), "I saw my parents butchered. I always thought that after all that training, I'd get revenge, but...I'm not strong enough. Besides, I...had no where else I could go, no where I'd belong. Except, with my parent's killers." I tried to give her comfort in some way, shape, or form, "You could start over. Somewhere. You could stay at my place until you were ready to, you know, go on." Rei looked at me sideways, "Thanks. That means a lot to me. But I...don't want to impose." I dismissed her fears, "Nah, you wouldn't be imposing. It's refreshing to have some company every once in a while." I noticed that the formality she'd always directed towards me was gone, probably because she'd finally talked to someone about what she'd held in for so long. I didn't mention it to her, afraid she might clam up and then we'd be back at square one. We talked about various little things until we arrived at our destination sometime in the evening. We stopped talking and we, stealthily (her, not me), entered the cave. We weren't very far in when we saw a huge man with dark brown hair holding a crude axe, chopping some firewood. He looked up and saw us. He was surprised and he drew himself up to his full height which was VERY tall. In my life, I've seen big men, but he took the cake. He had to be at least seven feet tall at least. Rei threw herself in front of me holding her sword and yelled at me, "Run, I'll try to buy you some time!" "No way! I'm not leaving you here," I yelled back, grabbing one of her arms and pulling her after me. After a second of trying to break my grip she cooperated and we ran. The huge guy ran after us, still holding his axe, shouting, "Hold on! Wait!" Thinking we were doing something very stupid, we stopped and looked back at our pursuer. He ground to a stop five feet away from us. He said, "There's no need to run. I won't hurt you!" Rei relaxed a little and, trusting her judgement, I tried to stop my heart's attempt at a drum solo. Rei asked him if he knew anyone named Rosa. "Yes, I do. She's inside. May I ask why? My name is Moldun Gorder," he asked offering a hand. I reached out and shook it, fully expecting to hear all the bones in my hand crunch. His grip was firm but gentle and I was very relieved to find that out. "Her father sent us to "rescue" her. You don't seem the kinda man to kidnap someone though," I replied, trying to keep a tremor outta my voice. "Kidnap? Rosa and I eloped. Her father never did like me," Moldun said, genuinely surprised. He didn't look much like the description Rosa's father had given me at all. He was big. He was kinda hairy. However, he wasn't ugly. Sure, he wasn't a handsome man, but he was far from grotesque. "Hmm. Come on in, Rosa has dinner ready," Moldun suggested. I looked at Rei and she shrugged so I told Moldun, "Ok, sounds good." He led us into the cave to an area that resembled a home. It basically consisted of an open space with some furniture chiseled out of rock. A young woman stood over a fire, stirring some stew in a pot. She looked up and smiled at Moldun, "Guests? Hello. Welcome to our humble abode." Moldun smiled back, gesturing to Rei and I, "Yeah, these two are...I'm afraid that I forgot to ask your name." "Oh...I'm Amada and this is Rei," I said, noticing how hungry I was. Rosa smiled and remarked, "You two make a really good couple, you know that?" After a furious amount of blushing from me and Rei, I finally blurted, "Um... it's not like that. We're...friends." We made small talk until dinner was served. Then Moldun mentioned why we were here. Rosa paled, "So what does he want?" I thought of some way to phrase it and replied, "He thought you were kidnapped and he asked us to, um, check on you." She nodded, apparently guessing the truth. There was an uncomfortable silence before Rei complimented them on their homemaking skills. Rosa's color returned and she managed a weak smile, "Thank you." We finished dinner and said our goodbyes. "We should do this again sometime," Rei told the couple. "Yeah, good luck you two," I added, quite uncomfortable with social events (this was my first). They waved us off and we made it back to South Window not too late after dusk. We found the inn and booked two rooms for the night.
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