Picking up the Pieces (Nuna)

It's been a week since the attack. The damage over the floating Skyland of Rebble was still devastating. Though cleanup and repair has started and been going well, plugging in some of these holes was going to take some work. The buildings would be relatively easy. Anybody could do that. The ground below them however… Nuna looked at it and surveyed how deep the chasm had gotten.

This confirmed it to her. They were going to have to request aid from the Yellow Monkeys.

"If the Dogs wasn't enough, now we have the Monkey's. If the Blue Pheasants show up, we won't even remember who's island this belongs to," Talo complained.

Albeit a bit more antagonistic, Talo had voiced her thoughts. This wasn't something they could handle on their own. It wasn't as if she was against the idea, but to have to request the aid of two other factions by now when they already had an adversarial standing with central. She may not have had the pride her brother had, but even she was starting to feel the shame of needing support all the time.

Looking at her former house, it was in ruins. A victim of a stray air blast that came flying out of the dragon's mouth. All their most valuable belongings were in there.

{Ryuma… where did you go?} It was all she could think about lately.

"I can't believe we have to live like common priest. "We're the Fischers for god's sake. Central should be the first to send people on building our housing first," Talo said.

She glared holes into his shirt. He shivered and looked back towards her. She closed her eyes, folded her arms, and looked away.

"I take it you're still mad at me, right?" Talo asked.

"Course I'm still mad at you. Why wouldn't I be after what you did?" Nuna said.

Talo sighed. "If I didn't take you outta there, who knows what could've happened to you?"

"If I was there, we could've helped Nylo get out of there faster,"

"You also could've died with him in the process of doing so. I don't regret dragging you away in a situation like that,"

"But… I wasn't there when he needed someone the most. How could I live with that? Both Nylo and Ryuma." Nuna complained.

"Ryuma again huhh? Nuna, you've got to let it go. You do realize the situation that guy is in, right?" Talo said.

Of course she knew. It's been a week and she's seen the distribution of all the bounty papers. There was no mistaking that face and his name was plastered all over it. Ryuma Irgo, one-hundred thousand gold teals.

That was insane and excessive. There was only one thing to take from it.

"They're obviously blaming him for the destruction. Either they're lying to retaliate against him for what he did, or it's possible that they know something we don't about it. There's a rumor saying that he's the shining spirit to that thing," Talo said.

She's heard the rumors, but she never believed it. She knew Ryuma would never cause this. He couldn't be the shining spirit to such a monster. Even if that were the case, how could that even be his fault? It's not as if you could choose to be the shining spirit, right?

"We got to find a way to the lower world," She said.

"And now you want to go looking for him. Please tell me sis, what will you do after finding him? You want to be the next bounty on the list by helping him?" Talo asked.

Nuna stayed silent.

"Look, I've nothing against the guy, but he's reckless and his position will put you in danger. If I'm to see him again, I'm capturing him, no question's asked,"

"Talo!"

"Nuna! You lose all sense of reason when it comes to him. I will not be told to have to hunt you because of it," Talo said. "Your infatuation of him was annoying enough, but it was fine without all this. Now it's too dangerous,"

"Well… I guess that answers my question with where you guys stand," A young females boorish sound of a voice said.

There was only one person Nuna knew who sounded like that. The one girl she didn't want to see. Clara, her proclaimed rival, for one reason or another, decided she needed to come here.

"What do you want?" Nuna asked.

Clara smiled. It was such a lazy smile she swore the girl was mocking her, knowing her dislike of her. "Nothing. I'm just here to tell you that they've decided to recall all the deployed priest back into the Skylands to increase reconstruction,"

"Wait what!? Are they insane?" Talo asked.

{If they're recalling everyone, then there's no chance for me to even go down there now.}

"Apparently, the decision came down from central itself," There was a nasty glare Clara gave off. She looked in the direction of central island itself and bit down on her thumb.

For as much as Nuna didn't like the girl, she had to admit, this was as much emotion that she's ever seen on her. Was she showing disdain?

"The decision alone is going to cause a lot of casualties. Only spirit weapons can harm the demons. Without those, the people in the lower world are sitting ducks," Talo said.

"Seems central doesn't give a rat's shit. They've already sent messengers to every priest guard, hunter, and tithe collectors. So if any of you was expecting deployment for any reason, I'll warn you not to expect any for at least a month," She directed her gaze at Nuna when she said it.

Nuna caught the hint. She was talking about Ryuma.

Nuna walked up to her and stared her straight in the eyes. "I don't get it. One minute you're flirting with him, next you pretend as if you could care less. What are you after Clara?" Nuna asked.

"You mean wonder-boy, right? Listen… I have my own way of showing affection. Once you show a boy how much you care about them will be the moment you lose," Clara said.

Nuna still stared her eye to eye.

"And that business at the exam? Why the sudden interest?" Nuna asked.

"Why the suspicion? Can't a girl realize newfound feelings?" Clara asked.

The spark of electricity raged between the two young woman. The tension was beginning to cause Talo to sweat. "Boy wonder aside. What about our meathead?" Talo asked.

Clara snapped out of her rivalry with Nuna. "Who? Oh right, him…" She fixed her hair and cleared her throat. "The rumors have been confirmed. It seems Toga is the shining spirit belonging to the Red Dogs,"

"I see… I guess we can't expect to see him anytime soon," Talo said.

"Why not? He's a part of us, isn't he? He trained on the island with all of us," Nuna said.

"Get real sister. That's not how they're going to see it. You know the Red Dogs belong in the West. You really think they're going to let a shining spirit among all things to be doing missions for the East?" Clara said.

"The lack of Rebble having a shining spirit all this time is what caused our decline. It would be foolish for them to give us theirs just because it manifested in a Red Dog, they let us borrow," Talo chuckled. "Guess they didn't see that coming,"

"Welp, that's all I needed to tell you. Guess I'll be heading back to work. Though I wish the dumb Dragon didn't do so much," She turned and started walking away.

"Hey wait a minute. There're still some things I want to know," Nuna said. She followed suit.

"Hold on Nuna! Not by yourself you won't," Talo said.

Nuna and Talo followed all the way back to the tents and the local shelter where they were serving everyone affected by the attack. Those who no longer had a stable form of shelter.

Clara was filling bowls of food and passing them on to children, sending them off with a smile only a goddess could give.

It was times like this, she despised the young woman the most. One moment, she cared little for people other than herself, and at others she acted like such an angel. It felt like the juxtapose made it that much more powerful.

The woman looked at her, sensing her malice. "Well what do you expect? I have a code ya know. I refuse to frown or be indifferent to children," As if on cue, another young girl came, and Clara gave her another goddess level smile. The girl lit up in response as Clara passed her some more food. "Despite the desperate conditions they're living in. Children always find a way to smile no matter how harsh their world may be. It's our job as adults to protect that smile for as long as they're able to hold it. We at least owe them that much,"

Nuna huffed. Even she had to admit that she was impressed. There was an adult side to the woman after all.

"Ok… there's no denying that you have a level of charm about you," Nuna said. {A level that even I can't compete with.}

"Thank you," Clara said.

"There's still something I want to know since you were there. What do you know about Ryuma?" Nuna asked.