At least Lake Deunan was peaceful.  Nothing but the quiet lake, and not a single soul in sight, besides the quiet crew of her ship (after she threatened them) and one fisherman in his boat far in the distance.   Lucia leaned her arm on the side of the ship, closed her eyes, and smiled, until she was abrupty poked in the arm by Paineal.  "Er... Lady Lucia?  You really should see this..."

What the hell was his problem?  How dare he touch her!  Did he have no respect for his superiors?  Lucia decided that she'd have to give that stupid boy one hundred lashes or something, since forcing him to take fashion tips from the master of fashion disaster didn't seem to make him learn his lesson.

Lucia stood up and looked at the fisherman that Paineal was pointing at.  Even at that distance, she could see his boat swaying frantically back and forth.

"That fisherman seems to have hooked quite a catch."   Veeshara commented.  The three saw the fisherman in the distance let go of his fishing pole in frustration then start to enter his boat.  He stopped to look at something on the deck of his ship.

Lucia snapped her whip at Paineal.  "Idiot!  Don't ever bother me unless something important happens!"

Two seconds later she was staring wide eyed as an enormous whale rose from the water then swallowed the fisherman and his ship whole before sinking back into the depths of the lake.

Lucia blinked.  "Paineal... Veeshara... weren't whales supposed to be salt water creatures?  Oh well, I suppose it doesn't matter.  Why don't you two take some oars and help our nice crew row this ship away from here as fast as possible?"

What was supposed to be a peaceful sail through Lake Deunan became a mass of screaming and chaos as all everyone began frantically rowing with whatever they could find, or if they couldn't find anything, began frantically blowing into the sail.  No one even bothered to note that they had reached LakeWest until the boat came crashing onto the beach of the town.

Lucia, Paineal, and Veeshara unboarded the boat as the captain cried about his boat being ruined.  Stupid Jowston can't even keep the the very center of their alliance and interstate trade free from freshwater boat-eating killer whales...

Paineal brushed some sand off his chocobo hat.  "I wonder what Lord Biochis is doing, right now."

"Don't get used to calling him 'Lord'."  Lucia muttered.  "Unless he has a really good excuse for infiltrating Jowston without my permission, I'm going to demote him despite the fact that he was a respected veteran under my father."

Unwilling to deal with the stupid Jowston folk and just wanting to get her information as possible, Lucia went straight to the town tavern and asked the bartender if he had any messages for her from a man named Biochis.

"Biochis?"  The tavern keeper asked.  "Why, yes, I remember that name.  I do have a message from Biochis.  Let me just go get it.  I never forget things like this.  It's my job, after all, you know.  And it wouldn't be good for my job to forget things like this.  Now let's see, where did I put that letter?  I'm sure I put it somewhere.  Ah, here it is OW!!!"

Lucia whipped the tavern keeper, who quickly threw the letter up in the air.  After grabbing it, Lucia stormed out of the tavern.  "Stupid freak...."

The letter didn't have any information on it.  Biochis just wrote about how  any information about his plan was on a need-to-know basis and that Lucia needed to trust him.  This was followed by Paineal asking Lucia exactly what her plans were, which was followed by her explaining to him that all information about it was given out on a need-to-know basis.  Which ended up with him asking Lucia why she couldn't trust him, which prompted Veeshara to tell him that he didn't need to know, then he asked Veeshara if she knew, and she replied that she did, and he asked why Lucia trusted her more than him, and she said it was because she needed to know.  After this, Lucia gave the stupid boy one hundred lashes.  Or at least she would have but everyone in the town would have been staring at her as if she was a freak of some sort.

Trust.  Hmph.  Trust had to be earned.  Why did everyone expect it to be given out so freely?  Lucia looked across the vast plain leading to Two River.  Paineal should be thankful that she took him along at all, and gave him an oppurtunity to earn her trust.  This was much more than the races of Two River ever did for each other.  They probably earned each other's trust a hundred times over yet still didn't trust each other at all.  She would give Biochis her trust, but only because she had other things to do.  She had to get to Greenhill.  But first, she'd have to get through Two River...

Two River.  Veeshara and her informants told Lucia about the city before, but she never saw it for herself.  Supposedly, it was a city where three different races lived.  Wingers, kobolds, and humans worked together.  Although word was that the three races also didn't trust each other at all, and that there was quite a large amount of bias and racism among them.

The vast plain between Two River and Lakewest was ridiculously large.  The sheer amount of emptyness between the two nodes of civilization made Lucia wonder how Two River could even call itself a district when it's towns were so far apart.  She appreciated the emptyness, though, because it reminded her of travelling freely back at the Grasslands.  After she makes sure that Greenhill will be left to Karaya first before Highland's psychotic prince, Luca Blight, got to it, she most certainly would have to head back to the Grasslands and take a few long-deserved hours of vacation.

The city of Two River so far was pretty elegant.  Nice marble houses and clean streets, in fact, it seemed as prosperous, if not more, than South Window.  Probably because it sponged off the other city-states just as much as South Window, too, judging from what she heard about Two River's weak-willed leader.  Lucia was beginning to wonder why it was called "Two River" when most of the city didn't seem to center around any waterways of any sort.  Not bothering with any sight-seeing, Lucia continued through the city with Paineal and Veeshara following in stride, until she came to a gate and an old man stopped her.  Just when she figured that maybe she could get through the city without coming across a random bum asking her for cash, too.

"Excuse me, m'lady.  Just thought I should warn you that that's the winger district over there."  The old man pointed beyond the gate.  "They're rather... kleptic, if you know what I mean.  They're all a bunch of lousy brats.  And I'm sure that one as well dressed as yourself and your friend there will be primary targets for them.  Can't trust a single one of them, damn wingers."

If they can't trust any of those wingers, why don't they just boot them out of the city?  Lucia sighed.  "If that's the winger district, how do I get through to Greenhill?"

"Oh, so you must pass through there?  Sorry to hear that, m'lady.  The only way to get through to Greenhill is through there.  You can see the map on this here gate to plan your way through the city and get through as quickly as possible."

Lucia looked at the map posted on the gate.  The city of Two River did in fact have two rivers running through it.  However, what was interesting was that the only purpose the two rivers seemed to serve was to separate the city into three different districts, which were clearly marked on the map.  They were the human district, the winger district, and the kobold district.  It suddenly hit Lucia as to why the two rivers were so important to the city.  They weren't used for trade, or even used much for fishing!  They were natural dividers between the three different races of Two River.  The distrust among the three races was so obvious that it was even marked on the map.  Otherwise, the districts would have had more creative names than "Human District" and "Kobold District."  How pathetic!  When Two River practically went to war with South Window long ago (yet another example of how unified the city-states actually were), it was said that they needed the combined might of humans and kobolds together to hold off South Window, and after victory, the races of Two River decided to split up among themselves yet again and just sit safely in their own districts despising the others.  Two River was beginning to seem almost like a mini Jowston.  Three different races that hated each other and only cared for themselves, but only stuck together so they could use each other in times of need.

Well, it was time to see if those wingers lived up to their reputations for being nothing but "lousy brats."  Lucia made Veeshara hold onto all the valuables and potch because her simple country dress was least likely to draw attention, then the three proceeded past the gate and across the bridge to the winger district, with Paineal and his silly getup in the lead.

They barely made two steps into the winger area before Paineal was mugged by three young boys with bat wings.

Lucia barely had anytime to notice that the winger district was a horrible slum where all the houses and floors were made of wood, which was a far cry from the prosperity and marble streets of the human district, before a young female winger got a hold of her decoy pouch.

By now Paineal was frantically chasing the other three wingers for his decoy pouch.  Lucia hoped it was because he wanted to make them think that the pouch was authentic, and not that Paineal was so stupid as to value an empty pouch that was worth thirty potch.

It was just as the three winger boys and the girl made a run for Veeshara that Lucia decided to deal with them.  A crack of her whip sent one of the winger boys crashing into a nearby wooden house.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!?"  Lucia screamed at them.  "You stupid wingers!  There's a reason why the humans of this stupid piece of shit city despise you like the plague, you know!"

The three winger boys stared at Lucia for a moment, then laughed and flew away, without giving back Paineal's decoy pouch.  Paineal sighed and mumbled about losing thirty potch.

Lucia glared at the winger girl that was left.  "Well?!?  Are you going to run off too like the little thief that all of you wingers are proving yourselves to be?"

The young winger girl stared at the pouch, then sifted through it.  She then looked up at Lucia again.  "It's empty..."

"Of course it's empty!"  Lucia snatched her pouch back to save herself the thirty potch that she'd have to spend for another one.  "It was a good thing that I listened to that old man at the gate.  You wingers really can't be trusted..."

The female winger's eyes filled with anger as she grabbed the pouch back.  "It's not our fault that those humans and kobolds neglect us like this!  They won't deal with us in any merchant deals, all of the public services go to fixing up the streets in THEIR districts, they allow us to starve here in our rags and wooden tiles while they indulge themselves on their luxeries!"

The girl stared at Lucia for a moment before her arms drooped to her side.  "Fine.... I'm sorry.  Here."

After Lucia got her pouch back, she noticed that it felt heavier than usual.  She opened it up and took out a wing ornament.  "What is this?"

"You can keep that, I guess."  The girl replied.  "I'll let you have it to make up for me trying to steal from you."

Lucia held the wing ornament to her face and examined it.  It was an accessory, but not the type that Lucia cared to wear.  Still, the gift did say something.  The girl was trying to make up.  Maybe it was possible for humans, kobolds, and wingers to get along.  Maybe the racism didn't lie as deepdown as it seemed to and Two River and even Jowston weren't as horrible cesspools of greed and distrust that Lucia made it out to be.  Maybe it was possible for everyone to get along and to trust each other.

"Rinka!!!  Get away from those dirty humans!"  A female winger, followed by several other wingers, landed in between Lucia and the winger girl, and pointed all their spears at Lucia.

Rinka tugged at the winger lady's shirt.  "But Aunt Senka, I was just..."

"Being seduced by these evil humans!"  Senka interupted.  "Just look at that crazy evil man and all of his nasty voodoo charms!  He's wearing a chocobo hat for crying out loud!  Stay away from us, you hear!?"

With that, all of the wingers started jabbing at Lucia, Paineal, and Veeshara with their spears.  Although she seriously wanted to teach all those stupid bird bat thingies a lesson, Lucia decided that it would jeapordize the mission if she were to get into trouble there and ended up being chased into the kobold district.  There, a bunch of kobolds barked about how humans weren't allowed there and proceeded to chase Lucia back into the winger district with their swords.  Once there, the wingers and their spears were waiting hoping to catch Lucia so they could discuss the finer points about why she shouldn't be in the winger district.  Telling them she didn't have time for that, Lucia ended up back in the kobold district where the kobolds decided it was best to give her a display of why humans shouldn't be in the kobolds district.  Of course, this display wasn't necessary so Lucia went back to the winger district.  It wasn't very long before Lucia, Paineal, and Veeshara were corned by wingers and kobolds at the bridge over the river in between the two districts of Two River.

Lucia held up her rage rune.  "You know what?  F$#@ this trusting shit...."

Another really good thing about rage runes was that they were great for raging.  The resulting explosion charbroiled all of the stupid sqawkers and the mangy mutts.  Seeing that they were all still breathing, Lucia prepared to roast them all again before Veeshara warned her that killing anyone would make her a hunted woman.  Incoming kobold security forces forced Lucia and her entourage back into the winger district.

Lucia looked outside of an alley then ducked back in as several searching kobolds walked by.  The door to the house she was next to opened up.

"In here!"  Rinka whispered.

Deciding that it would be much easier to deal with a young girl than a bunch of kobold officers, Lucia ducked into the house along with Paineal and Veeshara.

Rinka was rather teary-eyed.  "You... didn't kill Aunt Senka, did you?"

"Huh?  The winger woman?"  Lucia looked at her rage rune.  "I didn't use a very powerful spell.  She probably just got the wind knocked out of her and that's it."

The tears quickly dissappeared from Rinka's eyes as she laughed.  "Haha!  Well, that oughta show her, then.  She's such a butcherknife!  It's not fair.  Chaco's grandma lets him keep a human but everytime I so much as get near one, lousy auntie gets mad at me and throws a fit."

Lucia stared at her.  "Keep a human?"

"Yea, Chaco keeps a pet human named Billy.  He keeps him in the human district though so Senka won't bug him about it.  And I heard that he got another human named Meg, too."  Rinka brushed herself off and looked at Lucia.  "Hey!  Could you be my human?  I promise I won't microwave you like I did the last one!"

Lucia stared at her rage rune.  "Fire doesn't scare me.  But if you think I'm going to lower myself to being a pet then..."  Lucia paused as several kobolds shouted to each other outside the house.  "I don't have time for this!  You wouldn't know of another way to get through here to Greenhill, do you?"

"Well... I think you can get through the city through the sewers, as well as ditch those stupid kobolds that way.  Only we wingers know about the sewer paths."  Rinka looked outside the window.  "But you're not leaving already, are you?  I'll come with you!  I can't abandon my pet human so quickly.  Besides, Chaco was going to Greenhill, I think.  I can show him that I have a MUCH cooler human than he does!"

Lucia stomped her foot.  "Look, I'm not your stupid huma.... dammit!  Nevermind!  Just show me where the stupid sewer passages are!"

Lucia turned around and found herself staring at Senka.  Senka stared at her for a few moments before screaming.  "AH!!!  The evil human is here!  She's here!  She's..."

Lucia covered her mouth and whispered to her.  "Shut up or I'll slit your throat."

Senka quietted down as Rinka stared.  "What did you tell her?"

Lucia turned to Rinka.  "I told her that if she wouldn't be quiet, then the guards would come get me and that would be bad, wouldn't it?"

"Oh!"  Rinka looked at Senka.  "Aunt Senka, I'm leaving with... ah...."

"Teresa."

"Oh yes!  Teresa!  I'm leaving with Teresa to Greenhill so I can find Chaco, okay?"

Senka looked fearfully at Lucia, then at Rinka.  "B... but..."

"Look, Aunt Senka!  You can't dictate my life anymore!  I don't care how much you hate Chaco and how much you hate humans!  I'm going to Greenhill and I'm taking Teresa and I'm going to find Chaco and you can't stop me!"  Rinka picked a spear off from the wall of the house, then she, Lucia, Paineal, and Veeshara left the building.  Senka was about to scream for help again when a throwing knife barely missed her head, so she decided to be quiet.

The wooden gate opened after Rinka pulled a latch on it.  "Don't get the wrong idea.  Chaco's just a rival of mine, even though I didn't tell him that, yet.  It's not like I like him."  Rinka looked up dreamily.  "Haha, Chaco doesn't hold a candle to the manliness of Sid, my wonderful knight in ragged smells-like-rotten-fish armour!  Sid's just so dreamy.  I know he left Two River, but someday, I'm sure he'll come back and carry me away from this horrible place."

Lucia smiled.  At least Rinka realized that Two River was a horrible city, too.  At least for wingers like her.

Rinka lit a torch and the group entered the sewer.  "The path should be straight forward enough.  The sewer used to be a big maze but a while ago some really big machine went around and bulldozed down a bunch of walls for some reason before sinking into the river.  Never figured out where it came from, though.  Watch out for monsters!"

Monsters in a sewer?  What the hell.  It was bad enough that Jowston had killer whales in their lakes.  Well, it couldn't be much worse.  If there were a really large monster in the sewers, either those kobolds or the humans would have surely hunted it out by now to make sure that no custodians get eaten or something like that.

Rinka motioned to a passageway and told Lucia that beyond there was the exit to the sewers, which should take them out of Two River and place them in the Greenhill district.  Finally!  Greenhill!  As Lucia, Paineal, Veeshara, and Rinka entered the passage way, Rinka's torch suddenly went out.

Lucia sighed and lit up her rage rune to get some light, revealing a gigantic enormous horned rat in front of her.  Figures.  Instinctively, Lucia grabbed Rinka and placed her down in front of her, just in time for the rat to eat Rinka and not her.

Rinka pryed the rat's mouth open with her spear.  "HELP!"

As the rat's mouth muscles wrestled with Rinka's spear, Lucia motioned to her two troops.  "Veeshara!  Paineal!  Come!"

The three ran past the rat and just as Lucia reached a ladder and was about to climb up and out of the sewer, Rinka screamed again.  Damn annoying girl.  If sacrificing Rinka to that rat was necessary to get by, then so be it.  Lucia couldn't save her now, anyway.  Lucia proceeded to climb up the ladder until her wing ornament fell out of her pouch and bonked Paineal on the head.  Lucia stared at the wing ornament as Rinka screamed again.  This time it was a scream of pain.

An explosion set the rat's fur on fire.  The rat quickly spit out Rinka as it roared in pain.  Lucia grabbed the girl, then with the help of Veeshara and Paineal, carried her up the ladder while the rat frantically rolled around attempting to put the flames out.

Lucia had trouble adjusting to the light after exitting the sewer.  Fortunately, Rinka had managed to get away with nothing more than a deep teeth cut in her arm, which was quickly bandaged up using one of Paineal's many shirts that Milich made him wear.  Lucia looked around.  "Where are we?"

Several kobolds stared at her.  "Bark!!!  What are you doing here?!?  You're not... bark!... allowed here!"

Damn dogs.

Lucia stared at them.  "We have an injured young girl here!  Get her some medical treatment and hurry!  Or are you so heartless that you'll let her die just because she's not a kobold?"

The kobolds looked at each other, then quickly carried Rinka away.  Several more escorted Lucia to a building to wait and to tell their leader what happened while they treated the winger girl.

Lucia had made it to the kobold district, and the Greenhill area was only a short distance away.  Things were going pretty well.  She wasn't worried about talking to the kobold commander.  No officer of Jowston had ever seen her... at least not since she was a little girl when her father was still alive.  There was absolutely no one in Jowston who could recognize her, so she was safe.

Well, okay, there was ONE Jowston person from the entire city state of Jowston who knew her, and she was staring at him right now.

Lucia had trouble keeping from sounding nervous.  "Er..... hello, Borris."

The tall kobold in front of her glared at her.  "Well well, if it isn't Lady Lucia!"

Lucia gulped.  "Gee... Boris, you're back from training in the Nameless Countries just a tad early, don't you think so?  What are you doing here?"

Borris laughed.  "I came home on a short break.  But I think the real question is, what are YOU doing here?"

Just.... great.  There wasn't much time to come up with a plan.  At least Boris didn't yet realize that she was here to totally screw Jowston over.  "I... ah..."

Boris slammed his fist on a nearby table.  "You're here to totally screw Jowston over, aren't you?!  I bet you want to stop us because Jowston and Karaya are going to war again, huh?!"

Damn.  "What?  Of course not!  I mean, yea, we might be at war but.... WAIT A MINUTE!"  Lucia suddenly went from nervous to angry.  "Jowston and Karaya are going to war again?!?  Karaya wasn't planning on going to war with Jowston anytime soon and.. that means... that... HEY!  Jowston is planning on invading the Grasslands AGAIN!!!  I can't believe this!"  It was Lucia's turn to slam her fist on the table.

"What?"  Boris backed up, realizing his mistake.  "Well, no!  Of course not!  Is that what I said?  What I meant to say was... ah..."

Inwardly, Lucia laughed.  Outwardly, she cried.  "I... I'm hurt, Boris.  I thought we were friends, even if we only saw each other for a short time in the Nameless Countries..."

"Okay, okay!  That's enough of that!"  Boris handed Lucia a handkerchief.  "I'll try to talk Gustav out of the invasion, though I don't really have very much influence over Tinto at all, you know.  The best I can do is ask Makai to ask Gustav to put it off and we all know how well that'll go..."

Lucia wiped her eyes.  "Really?  You mean it?"

Boris grunted, then looked at Lucia.  "Just tell me.  What are you really here for, then?"

"I'm going to Greenhill.... to.... er... enroll Veeshara here in the academy!"

Veeshara stared wide-eyed at Lucia, but wisely kept her mouth shut.

"So if you'd just kindly allow me to be on my way to Greenhill..."

Boris frowned.  "Very well then.  But we have to take some precautionary measures."  Several kobolds grabbed ahold of Lucia with their flea-bitten hands.

Lucia looked at the kobolds holding onto her.  "What is this?"

Boris grinned.  "We can't trust humans, girl.  My men will escort you to Greenhill."

Lucia found herself lying down on the floor inside a maximum security kobold carriage.  She sighed and muttered to herself.

"We can't trust humans, girl."

Lucia punched the ground.

"We can't trust humans, girl!"

Lucia stood up and punched the wall.

"WE ALL CAN NEVER TRUST DEM DAMN EVIL SON OF BITCHES HUMANS....... GIRL!"

Lucia fell back to the ground and sighed.  "God dammit, why can't these idiots stop suspecting each other of treachery and just leave me alone?!?"

"Because people need a common enemy to unite against, and when that common enemy isn't there then the people turn on the ones who are most different from them and don't trust each other."  Paineal answered.  "At least that's what Biochis told me."

Lucia glared wearily at him.  "That was a rhetorical question."

"Twas a rhetorical answer."  Paineal replied.

Stupid Two River and their damn internal strife.  Stupid Jowston and THEIR damn internal strife!  Bah!  $@#&) it all....

Rinka landed on top of the carriage, looked into the window, and waved to Lucia.  She pointed to her arm to indicate it was all better.