Ra Side Story (2/13)

Aria and I walked further down the street to finally meet the blacksmith. As soon as we arrived, he seemed like he didn't want to talk to us, until Aria began to speak.

She had an adorable voice, almost elusive enough to convince anybody to answer her. As she began to converse with the blacksmith, I got the feeling that she knew she could get her way.

"Excuse me sir! Do you know where we are?" Aria asked him.

The grizzly old blacksmith, wielding a black beard with strands of gray hair in it, turned his mean eyebrows up to Aria. I was surprised to see her adamant face waiting for the answer, rather than recoiling in fear.

"The Americas. District Eagle. Why?"

"Because I don't know where I am. I was with my dad and now I'm with Mister Ra. What's your name?" 

Aria spoke in the same harsh tone that the blacksmith did, gliding her fingers up the length of the staff while talking.

"The name is Ronaldo. S'there a reason you're here? You want me to take a look at that thing you're holding?"

The conversation continued between the two with me standing on the side. I felt like a chaperone for the both of the while they talked, and I was distant from the substance of the actual conversation. As it went on, Aria found quite the intelligent purpose in having the blacksmith check the weapon.

She explained to me that if Ronaldo spent time checking the weapon, he'd know the style in which it was created, and therefore track down the location of its creator and Aria's home. Her step-by-step thought process was impressive to me, as I didn't even get that far in my own mind. The more and more she operated, the stranger she got to me...

"Hey, Aria, how old are you exactly? That was really clever..." I muttered.

"Huh? Only eight, why? I didn't find it to be very clever. Oh, hey Mister Ra, can I see your Ichor?"

"Ichor?"

After another short banter, Aria was able to explain to me that the Strands I knew about had a different name in her area. She was too mysterious.

Aria masterfully summoned golden strands out of the palm of her hand and showed me another replica of the same staff she was holding in her other hand. She threw the copied one to me and I caught it in midair. When I placed my hand onto it, I was immediately pulled down to the ground as it's weight became too much.

"Heavy..."

"That's weird. Altair reacts so positively to you...I asked because I wonder if this thing once belonged to you. I found it, to tell you the truth, but I found it buried in my home town."

"I see. No, I've never owned anything like that. To be honest with you, I'm fairly new to the Earth as well. I used to live up in the sky, on one of the floating Islands I'm sure you've heard about." I told Aria. Her eyes perked up at the mention of the floating Islands, but I didn't attribute it to anything. She was just a curious girl.

Ronaldo came from the back of the shop and set his hands gently on the counter in front of Aria and I. With a deep sigh, he leaned his head into his crossed arms.

"I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that there's no shop with the insignia of the engraving on that weapon. The good news is, there is a person not far from here that goes by the same name. The sun, with four marks around the tops and bottom of the symbol. Solstice is who you're looking for." Ronaldo told us.

"Great, so we'll search for Solstice and go from there. Thank you, Ronaldo. Come on Aria, let's go."

As I led her out of the shop, her eyes seemed curious once more, not leaving Ronaldo's line of sight.

"I don't like that guy very much." Aria scoffed.