Ch13-1: Lei’ Igro

“Lei’ Igro! Lei’ Igro!” the familiar chorus of jeers rang from the group of Cyngan children who had gathered behind. They always followed Suzume and Lucci at a safe distance — far enough to run if they needed to, close enough for the words to still sting.

“Oooooh!” the black haired girl turned on them, her eyes flashing in fury and defense. Her face sweltered as she shook one fist at the group, “Go throw yourself off the Island you jerks!”

The kids simply jeered back, enjoying their game of childish torment. Most of their abuse was cast at Lucci, despite the fact that the silver-haired boy was far bigger than any of them. They had found out a long time ago that Lucci would stand by and take their maltreatment, never uttering a word in retort.

Suzume, however, would not take it. Already she was stalking towards them, pushing up the sleeve of her robe. She gave one last warning snarl, “If you don’t kiss-off, I’m going to throw you off the Island. We’ll see if you can really use those wings of yours then!”

Some of the kids gave her a boggled-eyed stare, seeing her seriousness. Instantly, the group began to break up, a number of them dashing off over the nearby rope. For the most part, the other kids seemed to be more scared of Suzume than they were of Lucci… though it was probably because it was whispered that she was half Marked. Her black hair, black wings and black eyes told the story.

Though Ceiswyr was a beautiful place, the children of the city still acted like the children of the lands below — Cyngan or not. It was a hard place to fit in for a half-Marked girl and the boy who was foretold to become the Sygnus.

The Bane. The Darkstar.

Once they were gone, Suzume huffed and turned her gaze on Lucci, who stood watching her with a detached silence. She had learned early on that the only way he could deal with the endless abuse of the other children was to withdraw and put his mind somewhere else.

I wonder what he’s thinking about? I’d never be able to keep my temper the way that he does!

“It’s okay, Lucci,” Suzume told him, walking up and taking his hand. “They’re just being losers… like always.”

The silver haired boy blinked, coming around at her touch. Then he nodded, a rather absentminded nod, as if he wasn’t really sure what he was agreeing to.

More than a year had passed since Lucci had first been brought to the city of Ceiswyr. And despite the cruelty of the other children and the occasional Esgyll attack, Suzume had never been happier in her life. There wasn’t much that she could remember of her time before coming to Ceiswyr, before she had become dark haired and dark eyed. But somewhere she knew that she had never had a best friend that she loved more than Lucci.

A year had done strange things there upon the Island – especially to Lucci. Though little had changed in Suzume, everything about the silver-haired boy had become radically different. When he had first come to Ceiswyr, Lucci had been a young child, looking not much older than five years of age.

He was once younger than me but… that wasn’t for very long.

It was early on that they discovered how quickly Lucci was growing up. Over the matter of months, Suzume watched as her friend had grown into a lanky and awkward adolescent, far taller than most of the adults that lived on the Islands. And the taller he had grown, the more quiet and distant he had become.

Now, Lucci often seemed lost to his own mind. His lucid-silver eyes wandered over the world as if he could hear and see things that others could not. As a young child, Lucci had recounted facts, memories and information about the people of Ceiswyr — people he had never met before. Because this often left everyone disturbed, over time he had come to stop talking to other people almost completely.

Well, except for me. He’s never afraid to talk to me!

Some people muttered that all of it had to do with Lucci’s “Sygnus nature.” They whispered that because Zerom was “developing Lucci as a weapon,” that Zerom would have wanted the “creature” to have “grown to its full power as quickly as possible.” Sometimes there were quiet murmurs that Lucci should have been done away with when he had been small and unthreatening… that Zemi and Zento had waited too long. That the Bane would be upon them once Lucci “recognized his true purpose.”

Do they think that we can’t hear them? Do they think that Lucci doesn’t know how they feel?

Suzume hated them all. She hated them for saying terrible things and for treating Lucci more like a monster than like a person. And she had made it her business to remain Lucci’s best friend and to defend him where he would not defend himself.

Because I know what kind of person he really is… and they don’t! They’ve never gone out cloud watching with him… or swinging by the lake. They don’t know how good he is at playing hide and seek. They probably don’t even know that his favorite color is blue and he loves Aunt SaRa’s fudge!

She knew from the very first time she had met Lucci that he had wondrous powers. Powers that he had only used for kindness. He had been the one who helped to cure her light-weakened eyes so that she could see without needing to keep her eyes covered. It was when she had met Lucci that Suzume had first felt unafraid to speak, because she was no longer alone there on the floating Islands. It had taken very little time for her to find her voice again and to begin to use it.

Why can’t anyone else see that he’s not bad?

It was espcially difficult because as Lucci had gotten older, both Master TsuYa and Master ZenToYa highly disapproved of allowing him to stay there in the city. In fact, there was one point in time when Master TsuYa had objected to allowing Suzume and Lucci to be friends… but that had been fast contradicted by Lord Zemi and Aunt SaRa.

Though Suzume didn’t understand why, it always seemed to bother Lucci that he could never earn the approval of Master ZenToYa.  Maybe it was because Master ZenToYa tended to be warm and friendly to all the other kids… even to Suzume. But when it came to the way he treated Lucci, he was very stern in speech and aloof in emotion. If Lucci attempted to do good things or to be polite, very often his efforts were straight out ignored. But still, the silver haired boy tried and tried and tried.

At least Lord Zemi likes him…

Lord Zemi had chosen to take the boy in and to raise him by the ways of the people of Ceiswyr. There was a deep sense of adoration between Lord Zemi and Lucci, with the Dreigiau as close as a father figure as could be. The Arweinydd worked to teach the boy the ways of the Earthians as well as one of his kind could — there was a strange sort of understanding between them due to their unusual natures.

It was thought that Lord Zemi was doing everything within his power to prove the old stories of the Sygnus wrong. But despite that, he could not keep his own people from holding to the legends and looking on Lucci with a deep sense of fear and disapproval.

“Lucci..?” Suzume tugged at his hand again, trying to recapture his attention.

Finally, the molten silver eyes focused on her face and a quite smile rose over his features. As if the whole incident with the other children hadn’t even happened. “Do you think Aunt SaRa will have fudge made?”

She sighed, “Is your stomach all you can ever think about?”

“If it has to do with fudge, yes,” Lucci’s grin broadened, becoming teasing in his reserved way.

“Well, I guess it is getting late afternoon,” she gazed up into the sky, judging. Then she turned and craned her head back to look into his face, “It probably would be a good time to see if there is something to eat.”

“I knew you’d see it my way!”

“I did not! I decided it for myself,” she nudged him lightly.

“You just want the fudge, too. Admit it,” Lucci play-bickered.

“You eat so much of it, you’re going to turn into a big fudge!” she retorted.

They did this all the time… but never really meant it, of course. Neither of them were anywhere near as good as Master TsuYa at being mockingly disdainful, but watching him and JouKa go at it day after day gave them quite an example to follow.

“Will not!”

“Yes you will! Then what are you going to do?” she teased.

“Dunno… I suppose eating myself is out of the question,” Lucci noted.

“You’d taste bad,” Suzume added.

“I would not…?”

She giggled and started running. That was the cue for the chase to begin. The two of them raced up over the hills, Lucci’s long legs always keeping him just one pace behind Suzume. He was polite enough to let her win about every time. But today was one of his off days.

“Ahh-hah!” he reached out, catching her. And off they went in a spiraling roll that left them scattered, laughing on the grass.

It took a moment for Suzume to catch her breath, leaning her head back against his chest. Her spirits were high, heart overflowing with the pleasure of his company.  She didn’t need to see him to feel his smile. It lit the hillside, the shifting mists of the day swirling in quiet patterns around where they lay in the grass.

“You two… what are you doing?” a voice drifted down on them from the overlooking hill.

They both lifted their heads, peering up at the serene face of Aunt SaRa.

“We were coming for fudge,” Lucci answered with an honest expression.

“I bet you were,” she replied with a knowing half-smile. Then she eyed them with a serious expression, “I’ve been looking everywhere for you… did you forget what tonight was?”

“Tonight?” Lucci asked, looking puzzled.

Suzume glanced over at him and shrugged, just as confused. Then she turned to shrug to Aunt SaRa to doubly confirm it.

“Just as I expected,” the winged woman gave a sigh. “Tonight is the Assembly, remember?”

“Assembly?” Suzume gaped as it suddenly dawned on her. “Oh no! That’s tonight?”

“Yes, it is?”

Lucci wrinkled his nose in distaste, “Do we really have to go to it? It’s usually just a bunch of grown ups arguing about things.”

“That’s pretty accurate,” Aunt SaRa nodded. “But, yes… Zemi says that you need to be there tonight. I think there’s some important things that will be discussed.”

A lump rose in Suzume’s throat as she began to put two and two together. One hand reached out, clutching the winged woman’s robe, “Aunt SaRa… you won’t let them send Lucci away, will you?”

“What?” she stared down in surprise. “Where would you get an idea like that, child?”

“Why else do they want Lucci to come to the meeting?” the girl replied in consternation.

“Maybe Zemi wants for Lucci to take part in the meeting like the rest of the grown ups? Lucci may have ideas to help us out, too?” Aunt SaRa noted. “He is getting old enough to be acknowledged at the Assembly, now.”

Lucci gave an awkward, sheepish face. He was always uncomfortable when this sort of talk came up, “Well…”

“See there,” Aunt SaRa tugged at the hem of one of his sleeves with a critical eye, “You’re already outgrowing this outfit, too. Pretty soon we’ll have to be borrowing Zemi’s clothes to fit you in.”

He looked down at his sleeves and grimaced. Suzume was looking, too. When he saw her curiosity, Lucci quickly hid his arms behind his back.

“Well, look and see what you can find to fit you that might look somewhat nice for tonight,” she gave them a slow smile. “The both of you. And when you can show me you can come down all cleaned up, there might just be fudge.”

“Okay!” Lucci perked up cheerfully, needing no other urging. Turning to Suzume with a grin he challenged, “Race you!”

And he was off, long-legged strides carrying him like a young Rhawn over the hills. She gave a howl of injustice and chased after him, their shadows intermingling and stretching long across the grass.

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