[Polaris]

Ika stared, still bewildered by the sight of the dragon. "Thanks for telling me Zee..." The sword had a sarcastic tone in his replying clank, "Yeah. No problem." Slowly, smith with swords following behind him, retreated back to their cozy tent.

The next day, Ika warmed up the can of old broth that was under his cot, and took a sip from it. "Zee?" he called, and a large broadsword flew to his side. The sword was extremely large, long and wide. It would be unstoppable, if one had the strength to carry it let alone swing it at an opponent. "Last night got me thinking. Perhaps I should learn to fight..." Light tinkling served as low laughter for the sword, "Really? I've only been trying to teach you since you were five!" Ika waved his hand at the sword, "Yeah I know... But, normally I work the fever out right? I thought practice sparing would be just as good." "Yes, I suppose it would! Carrying my weight would certainly build up your muscles too! Shall I show you a few tricks before you try it yourself?" the sword answered. "Well, Zekeal? What do you want to do?" Ika asked, for his power could force him to anything. "I want to teach you to fight!" Zee answered, "What a stupid question..." Ika laughed softly, "Alright..." He slipped his hand to the hilt of the sword, his grip soft, and the sword guided his hand through the air.

[53]

[Polaris]

A strange looking man, seeming to be in his late twenties but no older than mid thirties, shifted through the gates, trying to be inconspicuous- though it was hard to do so with his coal colored hair that ended in shimmering teal and blue tips. White eyes with only the palest of pupils peaked out from under his eyebrows, but these were not his most alarming traits. No, the real thing was that he carried a sagging, unconscious form in his arms- that of Zen. The poor man, obviously in a state of barely subdued distress, was asking about to find the nearest hospital or care center. Of course, most just shied away from this strange person. Growling to himself, Coaihuicatl again reflected that Zen was indeed a project. "Oh, don't worry, I'm just going into town to pick up some supplies so we can keep on going... don't worry, I won't get into trouble..." Yaahmm. Sure. And how does he signal me? In the middle of the night, blood still fresh on him.

[54:3]

[Polaris]

Ika paid attention to how his arm moved and how his muscles contracted. The sword hung high in the air down onto an invisible opponent. It slashed through the air horizontally. Gleaming in the firelight, it was like some sort of beautiful dance. "Ready to try Ika?" Zee asked. Ika nodded, and the full weight of the sword fell into his hands, no longer supported by his magic. His muscles tensed, and his grip on the hilt was tightened, his knuckles turning white. He raised it into a high arch into the air and slashed an x in front of him. Ika built up the momentum he needed and slashed it horizontally just as Zee had shown him. "Excellent!" Zee clanged happily, "Now add footwork and we'd be unstoppable!" Ika looked around him, "Where exactly is this footwork supposed to fit? I don't know if you noticed, having only lived in this tent for almost sixteen years, but its not very big..." "Then we'll go outside! There's a nice rock that will be plenty big enough, right outside even!" Ika could hear the excitement in his friend's voice. Ika laughed, "Alright!"
Ika felt self conscious as he left his tent, leaving his heavy coat and hat behind. The people of the town had never really seen much of his skin, and the armor like shirt covered no part of his arms. He stepped up onto the rock, and before he raised the sword, he looked around him. No one was up there, but the people down in the square were casting glances at him. He noticed a man near the gate, holding another figure that seemed oddly familiar.... Zen! Ika jumped down from the rock and ran to the strange man. Zee clanged beside him, "What are you doing? It's just some guy!" "He's hurt though..." Ika said. If swords had eyes, Zekeal would be rolling his right now. "What's going on?" Ika said to the black haired man.

[54]

[Polaris]

Coa turned to the man before him and quivered slightly in fear. This foreboding man... decked out in solid metal armor and carrying a broad sword? Coa, not so secretly a coward at heart, just about fell out of his shoes. "I-I'm just t-taking my friend to the h-hospital!" he managed to squeak out. If only Zen would have given him any sort of warning before fainting away on him like that. Oh no. Just, "Hello Coa, be a dear and.." and faints dead away. Of course.

[55]

[Polaris]

"I know him..." Ika said, looking down at Zen's still form. He shook away that thought, and really wished he had a sheath for Zekeal. "Zee, do you want to be here?" he asked the sword. It clinged, "Not particularly..." "Good. Go back to the tent then," Ika said, dropping the broadsword, which just floated in the air and flew back to their little home. "Follow me the," Ika said, separating the crowd and making a pathway to the hospital just a little farther down the farther down the street from the cook's house.

[55]

[Polaris]

Oh great! If this man said he knew Zen then that probably wasn't a good thing... Zen probably did something or other and this man simply wanted his money back or... Or whatever! Coa was about to rip his hair out in frustration. But that would involve dropping Zen, and then Zen would have some extra bruises to add to her arsenal of injuries. It was tempting, but he knew he'd have his chance to berate her when she woke up. "Eh heh heh... follow you?" Coa looked nervously towards the place where the sword had flown off too. This man wasn't after Coaxcoach too was he? For that very sword was still sheathed around Zen's waist... And bound to start up its regular annoyances soon. "So how do you know Zen?" Coa managed to get out, nervously shifting Zen's weight as her head lolled over the crook of his arm.

[56:5]

[Polaris]

"Zen asked me to help him with his sword. It keeps screeching, but the storm has put me out of commission for the time being. Which I'm sure won't make many people happy today..." Ika explained. "He didn't look this bad last night... Unless I just didn't notice..." he muttered. "Right through here. That building there is the hospital," Ika said, pointing to a four story white washed building with a red cross over the door.

[56]

[Polaris]

"Well, the idiot seemed to have tried to get something done at least..." Coa murmured to himself. "Here, take the sword for now, I don't like it myself one bit and it won't help any in there," he deftly undid Zen's sword belt, and handed it to Ika. "Have fun. I'll be by later today to pick her up, after I'm finished dealing with a certain very troublesome boy..." here Coa looked pointedly at Zen. "Good day," he nodded, and walked towards the door. He'd get directions from Zen when the silly girl woke up, or find his way there on his own. After all, it can't be that hard to find a metal mage in such a city as this.

[57:6]

[Polaris]

Ika took the belt and stared after the man and Zen. "Who was that?" he muttered to the sword. Shrugging, he turned and went back to his tent. "Everything alright with your boyfriend?" Zekeal asked when Ika entered the tent. "Shut up Zee..." a slight layer of sweat was covering Ika's brow and he felt the fever returning, almost as strong as before, "Now Zee, let's keep fighting. Coaxcoach, you can watch alright? Tell me if anything looks bad." He went back to the rock, and set Coaxcoach against the tree, Zee following behind him. "Alright. So footwork. Step forwards once you strike out, but when you are building up momentum lean backwards. Take the a tip from the Chinese and their Ti-Chi ((No idea how it's spelled)). A slight movement in the opposite direction before you do as intended." Ika nodded and took the heavy sword from the air. He felt eyes on him as he started, and as he glanced down from the rock a small group of girls had stopped to see what he was doing. He felt how heavy Zekeal was in his hand before swinging him in circles at his side, getting faster and faster. Suddenly it stopped and he raised it up over his head, taking a single step backwards. Then he let if fly through the air, lunging to both sides, before he attacked the nonexistent person at the end of the rock.

"Excellent! It's like you were born to do this..." Zee praised, the second comment was laced with sarcasm. Ika slashed him through the air horizontally, then turned the blade and let the tip let make the rock with a long scar. Zee let out a loud ring, and Ika stopped, covering his ears once again from his friend's voice. "I want you to fight, but not leave a scar on my mother!" Ika rolled his eyes, "She'll be fine! You do much less harm than erosion or floods, or tornadoes, or..." "Alright I get the picture!" Zee cut him off. "Anyways Zee, just think of it as a gift to her. It show he how strong you are doesn't it? Being about to leave a mark in such a hard stone?" Ika added. "Whatever, let's just keep going..." Zekeal said, slightly annoyed. "Oh come on Zee! We've been friends since we were both born! You're going to let this get under your hilt?" Ika complained. "I'm over it! I'm still just happy I'm getting you to actually use a sword. That's the whole reason your father forged me you know..." This happened quite often, they would start bickering like a married couple, but to any listeners it sounded quite strange since they could only hear one side of the conversation.

[57]

[Polaris]

Coaxcoach watched the scene play out, and heard everything the two said to each other. She, in turn, struggled to communicate, but the bonds held her back once more, just as the last time she'd tried to speak. The garnet and jade eyes of the snakes on her hilt looked longingly towards the sky, aching for the time when the sun was at its zenith.

Meanwhile, Coa had managed to secure a hospital bed, and allowed the nurses to tend to Zen. He'd made sure to get a spot with a curtain, as he was sure that was how Zen would wish it. He still didn't understand the need for her to pretend to be a boy, but it seemed she was more comfortable that way, and so Coa kept her secret. Waiting outside the curtain, he watched the shadow of the nurse as she cleaned up Zen's multiple cuts. It seemed that, from what he could tell, in addition to the light slices across her chest and leg, one of those vagrants had managed to box her in the ribs, and broke a lower one, which had caused internal bleeding. This, he surmised, was why she'd fainted dead away and the reason for why her chest cut had bled more than normal. Sighing in despair, even though he'd been assured by the nurses that the wounds weren't fatal, as the internal bleeding was not from any organ- simply the blood from her abdominal muscles, as the broken rib had scraped against them and cut them up from inside. An unusual injury, but not fatal. His mind turned to other subjects, such as the mage he, they'd apparently, encountered. He seemed like a good type, and he wondered more than a bit nervously exactly what Zen was doing with this man last night. Pondering that, he was left there waiting as Zen slumbered on, knocked out and oblivious.

[58:7]

[Polaris]

Ika heard whispers from below turn into full out conversations, and the small group of female observers had grow greatly. However, the smith paid them no attention. He only listened to Zekeal, and his aching muscles. As he kept fighting, he felt his fever fading, and his power was at a strange height he'd never felt before, and before he knew it three of the swords in the tent were surrounding him. They chimed like happy little kids as they collided with Zee, and the watching audience was in awe and Ika blocked all three swords as they attacked. "See, a natural..." Zekeal muttered as he was raised up to block a quick swipe from a thin riding sword with intricately drawn designs surrounding a green gem on the hilt. "Mmmhmm..." Ika muttered, not really listening that much. As his power grew into the surrounding areas he noticed a feeling that he thought was distress in Coaxcoach. He let go of Zekeal with one hand and raised it, causing all the swords to pause were they were. Slowly he took a step towards it, "What's the matter?" he asked, concern in his voice as he looked at the beautiful sword.

[58]

[Polaris]

Coaxcoach, in turn, struggled all the more when Ika turned his attention towards her. This caused a shiver in the metal, like the ones that had happened previously. It was stronger this time though, and the sword actually bucked up off where she lay by drawing on some of Ika's magic. Of course, it was all in vain, and Coaxcoach finally settled down, seething still, to wait until her bonds were weakest, and she the strongest.

Later in the day, after the nurses had finished tending to her and wrapping up her wounds as best they could (and given Coaihuicatl many suspicious looks when they'd found out Zen was a girl during their work) Zen, did, finally, wake up. And woke up with a roar too. "Coaihuicatl bring me my sword NOW!" he yelled, very upset at being without his sword, in a hospital bed, and in a very unseemly state of undress. "Wha- what?" Coa snapped to attention, jumping out of his seat. "Coaxcoach! Where is she?" Zen hollered, which called the nurses back and demanded she quite down. "I will not! I am perfectly fine and shall leave this establishment at once if you will consent to giving me back my assortment!" He demanded, though still pale in the face. His hands clenched into fists and he struggled to rise from bed, to no avail. Coa, while caught between carrying out her orders and his want to keep her from further injuring herself, agreed. "Yes m'-" he corrected himself just in time, "Sir I shall go and fetch your sword right now," he told her from the other side of the curtain. Satisfied, for the moment with Coa, Zen then turned on the hospital staff. "Where are my clothes? Fetch them now or I'll.. I'll... damn." He realized he was in no place to order the people around like this, and that he could not get up or dress himself in this state. Zen, now thoroughly in a mood, glared at the nurses trying to shush him. "Bring me my clothes and I'll be quiet," he finally relented, being of a more complacent mind. Coa, in turn, had already hurried out the door an was looking for Ika.

[59]