Aki II: Futamusua 
***** 
Two years passed since that day. 

I had not seen that girl since she warped away from the dust-ridden peak. 

I had wiped her from my mind, and from my memory. 

Almost. 

** 

"Sir, the security arrangements for the Archduke’s arrival into the Archipelago of Tavnazia have been completed, and the guards are at their posts. What is your command?" 

The voice came to my tired brain from the newest green in the Ducal Guard. He seemed to be a bright kid, if only a bit too eager to please me at times. 

I figured he would last three months here before he quit. 

With a flick of my hand, I closed my eyes and sighed gently. 

"That will be all soldier. Thank you. If anything happens, keep me posted." I said with a slight trace of tiredness in my voice. 

The soldier clicked his heels together at attention, and then gave a snappy salute before leaving. 

I strolled slowly down the roadway underneath the heart of the town of Tavnazia, where the various government officials of the Marquisate scurry about on their business. 

The past two days? 

Just a bunch of minor things, but when put all together, created quite the headache. 

The Archduke had decided upon this trip a couple weeks ago, last Lightsday, in order to help to dispel rumors that the beastmen were mobilizing in Davoi, plotting an attempt to take down the Peninsula. Of course, this sudden decision, as usual, was made without him consulting anyone, and of course, was then sprung upon the Guard two days ago. 

It had been a long two days without any sleep. 

It was times like that that I regreted being the head of the Security Task Force to the Archduke of the Grand Duchy of Jeuno. 

Arranging guard shifts, sweeping the ENTIRE area for bombs and other explosives, and making a few...quiet...arrangements with the heads of the local beastmen tribes to stay away. 

I finally arrived at my room, and set my clock to allow me to sleep for six hours, JUST long enough for me to then get back up, shower, and go down to the central hall of the above ground portion of Tavnazia for the welcoming by the Marquisate to the Archduke. 

With that accomplished, I fell down onto my royal bed, and immediately passed out. 

---- 

BRRRIIIIIIINNNNGGGGG!!!!! BRRRRIIIIIIINNNNNGGGG!!!!! 

The unfamiliar sound woke me up with a jolt, and without thinking my right hand grasped the silver dagger from beneath my pillow, and immediately was thrown towards the noise before I even had my eyes open. It embedded itself into the object with a solid thunk, and the sound immediately died. 

It was then that I realized what it was that I just killed. 
The alarm clock. 

Just great? 

I struggled out of bed slowly, unwilling to leave its warm embrace between the silk sheets. Dragging myself across the floor (barely) on my two feet, I threw my limp body into the shower and turned it on. The thousand cold needles poked and sliced through my skin, instantly waking me up quicker and making me more alert than even after downing a bottle of foul panama au lait juice. 

I forced myself to stay under the sizzling jets for five minutes, then bursted free of that torture and proceeded to dry myself vigorously with a blue towel that I had found on the counter next to me. Shrugging on my white guard armor, I then plucked the gleaming dagger out of the destroyed clock and rammed it into its proper slot on my waistband, and then slide the longer sword version of it into the scabbard on my belt. 

Picking up my shield as I leave the room, I flicked off the lights and shut the door. 

I walked with purpose up the stairs to the above cambers, and then hurried immediately into the backrooms behind the stage in the main hall. Once there, I checked the security, and assured myself that the men on guard at the entrances and exits are actually THERE and sober. 

That complete, I headed directly to the Archduke, where he was quietly sipping at some Windurstian tea. Once at him, I knelt down, my left knee brushing the carpet as I bowed my head. 

"My lord." 

After a moment, he uttered three single words. 

"Rise. And report." 

I looked him in the face, being careful to not meet his eyes as I told him that everything was set. 

He smiled for a brief moment, and then sat his drink down on a nearby table, the steam wafting out in lazy circles to the ceiling. 

"Excellent. And I assume you will be there with me on stage today, just in case someone or something DOES manage to slip by your men?" He paused thoughtfully for a moment then continued. "Remember, men and weapons are not enough to stop someone who is determined to kill me." 

His request surprised me. Despite all the various functions and official gatherings that I had planned security for, he had never asked me to be there with HIM in order to protect him. 

"But sir...I assure you?" I started to say, but he then cuts me off. 

"Excuse me, did you just question my orders?" His voice turned incredibly stern, and I felt his iron gaze bore through me. 
"No...no sir. Of course I will be there on stage. As per the Archduke?s request." I stuttered out quickly. 

"Excellent. Let's go." With that, he picked up his drink and downed it in one quick gulp, letting the cup fall to the floor as he paceed his way with great importance out onto the stage, with me following him one half step behind on his left. 

We came to the center of the stage, and sat down in the two red plush seats provided for us, with the podium between us and the Marquisate. 

The first thing that I noticed upon sitting down and looking out upon the crowd that had gathered was HOW many people actually lived in Tavnazia, and had turned out to see the Archduke speak. 

How many people and how many threats could exist out there. 

My eyes instantly started to scan all the faces present, looking for one that might match a member of the Ducal Guard?s most wanted list of terrorists, or possibly anyone that might act like they would pose a threat. While I didn?t expect to be able to find anyone fitting either catagory here, it would be far better to be safe, rather than sorry... 

Engrossed in this, I only faintly noticed that the Marquisate had finished his opening remarks, and had welcomed the Archduke to the podium to talk. 

It was then that I saw a faded and torn hat poking out from the shadows on the balcony in the back, and a bit off to the left. 

A Mage. 

Automatically, my eyes started to track it as the hat started to come came to the marble elaborate railing on the balcony?s edge. The figure?s face and body was obscured by the shadows, but I could barely make out the person's hands. 

I saw his or her fingers fall into what I recognized as a forth-tier spell configuration pattern. The mage's hands started to light up with a bright red glow, illuminating the darkness surrounding him or her to the point where I could faintly see the person?'s lips muttering an incantation. 

It was when those hands ignited that I realized what the mage was going to do. 

Instantly, I quickly tapped the linkpearl twice, signaling to the guards that there was a threat to the Archduke and to close down all exits, and then I theww myself at the Archduke, knocking us both offstage just as the spell went off, blasting a great big hole where the Archduke had stood just one second beforehand. 

The crowd started to panic, and without even bothering to look at the archduke to see if he was ok, I drew my sword, and started to charge my way up through the crowd and up the stairs to where that mage was. 
I got there, and hacked open the lock into the room with one quick swipe of my blade. I stepped in, and immediately point my sword at the would-be-assassin's throat before I could get a clear image of the mage's face. 

"Watashiwa watashichiga futatabiaukotoo shitteta.," the figure said softly, but in a voice clear enough that it rings perfectly in my ears. 

It was then when I heard the voice that I recognized the person. 

The breath was stolen away from me, as I stood there. 

It was her. 

The one that I watched the sunrise with. 

My eyes adjusted slightly, and I could then make her image out. She looked a bit older, but there was simply no mistaking the long black hair and that faded hat for someone else. 

"I don't believe it..." I replied, my brain numbed. 

"Watashio shinasai, shikashi watashiwa yuneno mimalikalano watshino ayatsuio asulu?," she then said quietly. 

She flicked her black gloved hands at me, and a small yellow light issued out of them into me, and suddenly I found that my muscles unable to move. 

She then stepped in close to me, touched my cheek for a moment, and then slipped something that I couldn?t see into my sword scabbard. She smiled at me again, and then took a couple steps back. 

"Watashio tsulesalinasai," I heard her say as she crossed her arms in an 'x', and then closed her eyes. A dark aura spewed out from her, and warped her away instantly. 

"Sir, did you see who attacked the Archduke?!" the green that I had talked to earlier asked of me with a sense of urgency in his voice as he bursted into the room. 

He seemed to freeze for a moment at my nonresponse, then to my surprise, managed to figure out what is wrong with me instantly. I heard him scuffle in his belt for a moment, and then the next thing I knew, he poured a small vial of paralyna into my mouth. The fluid tasted incredibly bitter, but did its job, and within a couple minutes I was able to move again. 

"Sir, did you see who attacked the Archduke?" he asked of me again. 

I start to say "Yes," but before I could get it out, for some reason that I myself couldn?t figure out, the word died on my lips. 

"No, I did not. When I got up here, the mage froze me with a paralyze spell before I could get a good look at the individual. I am sorry?" I say with a tinge of false regret in my voice as I spoke the lie. 

The newbie looked crestfallen, and casted his eyes down at the ground. 

"Damn...ok then. what are your orders sir?" He asked of me. 

I shaked off the last verges of the paralyzation, and I immediately assumed control once more of the situation. 

I activated the linkpearl again and left it on so that all the guards can hear my orders. 

"I want all the exits sealed to the town, and every residence here searched. Make sure the Archduke gets out of here and is en-route back to the Grand Duchy within ten minutes. I want him safe!" I hastily snapped out into the pearl, "If the attempted assassin is still within these walls, I want that individual captured immediately!" 

I tapped off the pearl, and looked at the recruit who was still standing there. 

"That includes you too, you know." I grunted out at him. 

He froze up and his eyes went wide, before he gave me a nervous salute before he spun around and exited. 

It was once that he was gone, that I reached into my sword?s sheath, and pulled out the thing that the girl mage had placed there before she left. 

Tilting it into the sunlight, I realized to my surprise that t was a pink flower with a long green stem, that I immediately recognized? 

A snow lily? 

Why? 

That doesn't make sense at all? Why give me that? 

Carefully, I fingered the petals with my fingertips, and then nestled it away carefully in my pant?s waistband, where it won?t get ruined. 

As I start to strolled off down the stairs to supervise what I know will be a fruitless search for the mage, one odd thought comes to mind. 

Who in Vana'diel is she?... 

-fin Aki II: Futamusua