The beauty got me stuck

OoC - Private for the first person to reply.

IC - Aurius had been a nightmare. Surrounded by the deep beauty of green and blue, one would think it would not be difficult to fall in love with the place, but so horribly dreamlike it had been – hazy and ghastly - that Leuka Spry would normally be willing to dismiss it as a dream. Or a disease. But it wasn’t – and she had physical evidence to prove it. This evidence came in the form of a plain blue key which she now wore around her neck on a string like a talisman (or perhaps as a talisman). She had appeared mysteriously in the City of Aurius, and now carried an unknown piece of jewlery and she had no idea how it got there. She could not but help but think that the two mysteries were connected.

She had spent a vast amount of her money on hiring help to get her quickly from Aurius to Swaraj, for she now vividly recalled Ludwig Dark having a similar key around his otherwise lonely neck. It was not that they had talked much, but Dark had told the teenager in passing that he was born on the shores of Magi Lake. Wildly, she did not know where else to look.

As the morning rose, the white sunlight saw Leuka in a rowing boat along one of the tributaries of Magi Lake. She felt this holiday atmosphere very soothing, and before hiring the little boat from a farmer, the idea had occurred to her that Dark could be living in a hut on the shore somewhere that she would be better off spotting from the river. She was not very strong, but managed to row steadily.

This was, of course, until (whilst happily observing the wanderings of a nearby swan) the prow of her little boat bumped into the bank with a shudder. Leuka jerked forwards and soon attempted to prize the boat from the thick mud with an oar, but to no avail. The boat was stuck, and only one oh-so-articulate word occurred to her as she glared at it; <font color = #2E8AF1>"Shit."</font>

 

<font color = #2E8AF1>"Dark?"</font> She said instinctively as she felt a presence nearby. Feeling rather stupid, Leuka whipped round looking in the right place for the presence, now – above, rather than the land. She gazed up at the winged pendragon, blue eyes widening. <font color = #2E8AF1>"Ah, please! I could do with a hand."</font>

 

Leuka held herself steady, gripping each side of the boat as the young male smugly whipped the boat elegantly from the mud. As the boat floated once more to clear, deep water in the middle of the river, Leuka sighed with relief. <font color = #2E8AF1>"Thanks."</font> She breathed gratefully, <font color = #2E8AF1>"I - "</font> But she was cut short. The prow of the boat had begun to noticeably dip –the boat was filling up with water that squirted in through the holes caused by jutting rocks in the bank where the boat had gotten stuck. <font color = #2E8AF1>"Um. Problem."</font>

 

<font color = #2E8AF1>"Leuka. Hi."</font> She introduced herself hastily to Oz, but not before she stared at him incredulously – some moment for introductions! As potent as the stranger was (Leuka tried not to look too impressed or surprised), the boat was going down whether they liked it or not; and the bank was still a massive jump away. He did have wings…

<font color = #2E8AF1>"Yeah, I’m aware of that."</font> She snapped, fairly angry because of his patronising. Yes, of course she knew they were sinking. Yes, she knew she had to get to the bank. Why did everyone treat her like this? She frowned despite herself – for a traveller, she must look extremely weak.

 

Leuka hesitated. A "lift"? She had never been flown-lifted to safety before – though she had been offered just once, not long ago. But this was a life or death situation, not some walk to a café. Well, it wasn’t life or death… but it was a matter of getting soaked to the skin, and that wasn’t one she wanted to consider. Although tall, Leuka was also very slim and light, and the male could no doubt wrap an arm round her waste and fly her away there and then, but still… close, physical contact and all that.

<font color = #2E8AF1>"Okay, fine."</font> She said with a slight shrug – she extended her paw and took his.

 

<font color = #2E8AF1>"Whoa!"</font> She exclaimed without meaning to, throwing her arms automatically around his neck and turning away, slightly flushed. It was not that Oz was jerky in flight – he was very elegant in fact – but again we must return to the close, physical contact between complete strangers. As soon as he returned her gently to the ground, she took a couple of hasty paces back. <font color = #2E8AF1>"Er, Thanks. I’m just here for…"</font> But she had stepped too far without looking.

There had been a tall, grayscale figure standing behind her, and Leuka had bumped straight into him, and, upon stumbling quite clumsily, knocked them both to the ground. She yelled with surprise as she fell, and then with equal surprise as she stared at the narrowed black eyes of the sudden newcomer, her paws either side of his shoulders. <font color = #2E8AF1>"Dark!"</font>

 

Dark had been wandering; head bowed, the shadowy hair playing around his face. He had not seen Leuka (indeed, he had not expected to see her), and gazed back with as much surprise as she lay wide-eyed on top of him. There was a rather prolonged pause in which Dark did not answer her, then Leuka felt herself be lifted gently to her paws by the same strong hands that had helped her from her boat, which now lay bubbling on the muddy river floor.

<font color = #2E8AF1>"Thanks,"</font> She murmured, blushing, to Shadow as she dusted herself down. She looked back at Dark who had climbed to his paws and was watching her with an unclear expression on his face. <font color = #2E8AF1>"Dark!"</font> She said again, remembering why she was here in the first place, <font color = #2E8AF1>"I was looking for you. I, erÂ… needed you. I mean, needed to speak to you. About, likeÂ… keys. Well, my key. And, er. Your. Key."</font> She gestured awkwardly to the gray key which, sure enough, was resting on his chest by a black string.

There was another pause.

<font color = #2E8AF1>"Er, Shadow!"</font> Leuka had never felt so awkward in her life. <font color = #2E8AF1>"This is Ludwig Dark. Dark; Shadow Degoz."</font>

 

Dark stared at the paw being offered, and hesitated. But then he heard a little voice very much like Leuka’s at the back of his head that said something along the lines of “oh, for God’s sake, his paw's not poisoned". So he reached out to shake the other male’s paw, letting go rather quickly. <font color = #808080>"I’m not looking for anything."</font> He said delicately, perhaps more to Leuka than to Shadow.

But Leuka was having none of it. <font color = #2E8AF1>"Yeah, well I want to know about that key!"</font> She trained off, and turned to Shadow. <font color = #2E8AF1>"ItÂ’s kinda a weird story if you want to hear it. We couldÂ…"</font> She gestured to a grassy bank, <font color = #2E8AF1>"Sit down or something, if you want. You too, Dark."</font> She added deeply.

 

Leuka’s eyes widened for a moment – help? Him? He had already helped her out once, and she had the rather smug feeling that this was a job for alchemists. But she was itching to tell both the young males her story anyway. She positively sprang to the bank after Shadow, and wrapped her arms around her knees. She was already blabbering away by the time Dark sat down (a good few yards away from the pair of them). <font color = #2E8AF1>"Okay. Well. I had just left Watana and was in this inn in Swaraj. Asleep, like. Then I woke up kinda sharply, and I was somewhere else. Standing, right, in the middle of this room – another inn. Somewhere else… I walked outside, and I was all shocked and everything, and found out that I was in Aurius.

I was really confused as I’m sure you two would be as well – I couldn’t remember travelling there or getting knocked out or drunk or anything. And what was more… it happened really fast. And I mean… really fast. A few seconds; quicker even than a Portal. It was like I had teleported.

Then I got distracted by this guy called… Aden or Adun or something, and he was being… well, I don’t want to go into that bit. But the point is, by the time I was… like, undistracted, I realised I had this blue key on a string around my neck. This key. And it wasn’t there before. And I swear, the two things are connected – the key, and me appearing in Aurius."</font>

 

Leuka shook her head softly at ShadowÂ’s suggestion, vaguely possible though it was. She was about to speak, when - <font color = #808080>Leuka.</font> said Dark softly, speaking for the first time. He had been listening intently, but now held forth his own gray key for her inspection. <font color = #808080>This is the key to my motherÂ’s old house.</font> He was very wary of this Shadow person, but knew that he could speak freely in front of him, since Leuka seemed to trust them.

Leuka hesitated, gazing at the key, then shook her head, as if that already ended the matter. <font color = #2E8AF1>No. TheyÂ’re something special. Do you know itÂ’s the key to your momÂ’s house?</font> Dark stared at the ground and didnÂ’t speak for a long time. Just when Leuka thought he was never going to answer her, he spoke again in a very gentle voice. <font color = #808080>I told you that I inherited it from my motherÂ… her house is around here somewhere. ItÂ’s locked. I know that this key opens it, but I havenÂ’t tried becauseÂ… because her bodyÂ’s still in there, Leuka.</font>