𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐎𝐟 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐨𝐦 | 𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘢𝘯𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯

12 | Land of Leaves

D-535

THE TOWN HAS FALLEN.

    The Naomi Town's demise was expected. For months, the townspeople would teeter through the narrow streets and offer the wrong people their alliance. The official day of their end had all but begun by the time their leader provoked the enemy, thus disappearing during midday. The town had fallen into disarray after that, a tempest bubbling underneath the homely surfaces, cornered by enemies in order to pay the price for their leader's mistake.

  One had left the town at night to flee, but he was met with a tragic fate at the hands of the Akatsuki just half an hour after the gods had claimed the town's lives. It was an unprecedented tragedy for a town that lacked in social intelligence, an unfortunate encounter for a princess already beleaguered by royalty's greed, and a disaster for the princess's entourage over which had been attacked, for the Akatsuki's arrival left the group battered and bruised.

  The team escaped almost immediately. There was no other choice for the group, as they could not afford to meet their end without accomplishing what they'd set out for. Their escape was fruitful, yet not without challenge, and members of the Akatsuki set after them once they had discovered [Name]'s involvement as a royal. It took them a week to shake off their chasers, but they managed to successfully make it out. And so, within a week, they had traveled along the path — cutting through detours and shortcuts — toward the main village; the largest there was within the Fire Nation.

  And then the story began.

  It'd started first from the Hokage office. Two oddly-dressed men had cornered them at the gates, towering and glaring and doing everything in their power to stand against the Servals—being professional in your field still didn't even the power between shinobi and magicians, mages of whom were the strongest in their respective ranks specifically. Still, the men were servants to their village, and so they managed some semblance of composure while interrogating the injured, unfamiliar group.

  The bandaged one glared and spoke, "Who are you and where are you from?"

For a moment, [Name] noticed the slightest hint of reluctance in their eyes and a shift in their bodies that told her more about them than they could ever tell her. She'd encountered nobles and commoners just like them, obscuring their overwhelming fears with a tough facade. It never works, at least, in her eyes their intentions are as clear as day.

  The air has turned rigid; what was once a tranquil day morphed into one where a brewing storm begun to pop from the shadows. Hakan stands tall, far taller than he had been prior — and he glares sharply at them, the black and silver of his mage robe flittering in the wind. "Do not stand there like mannequins and take us to your leader, we seek his wisdom rather than your foolery."

  "We will not permit you beyond these gates lest we are sure you are no threats." Said the bandaged man, nudging the elbow of his fellow worker. "Once again, who are you and where have you come from?"

  [Name] furrowed her brows with slight confusion, stepping forward to assess the situation(a step that rattled the two, as they backed up farther near the gates). She had a clue what they spoke of: their names and where they belonged. It wasn't hard to discover, she'd learned a hefty lot of Japanese for her to understand and form coherent sentences.

  "I am [Name] of Mirus, these are my entourage." She spoke, deftly hiding what needed to be hid. "Have you a clue where Mirus rests?"

The pair shared a subtle gaze filled with suspicion and confusion, having been taught of the foreign continents when they were as young as Genin. The darker-haired one, whose tresses obscured part of his face, hummed.