"Oh my!" cried the woman. "Such bright souls. I see their flame. It neither wavers nor dims."
"They were hand-picked," replied the Knight.
The fair, endearing woman came rushing towards the twenty or so children, and on her knees, she caressed the cheeks of the youngsters closest to her. One child smiled widely, revealing a dent in her teeth.
"What's your name, pretty miss?"
"Ala!" she replied happily. "And my brother is Tim."
"A beautiful name, dear. I come from a native town in the east. Do you know what that means in Gregian?"
She shook her head.
"It means piety," she answered. "Say, have you heard the Earthly Myths of the Pelican?"
"Noo?" she tilted her head in a curious desire.
"It's a white, graceful bird from a different world," she stated, getting to her feet. "The forgotten tales say she feeds herself to her young."
"That must be painful," remarked Bell, who dared to picture such a grotesque image.
"You bet it is. But is it not a valiant act of self-sacrifice?"
"Uhh..I guess it is?"
The woman turned towards a narrow corridor that vanished into darkness.
"Follow me, children."
******
The sun sank beneath the horizon. Aiden was still nowhere to be found. Axel had searched everywhere, especially interrogating the sailors and fishermen, all to no avail. At this point, he had grown very worried.
If Aiden had visited as a spy, then he was potentially strong enough to harm one of the Legion, and he would be to blame.
After all, he survived the lake.
"I think it's okay, Axel," Fionna advised, as she gathered mugs from the tables. "He's probably gone around exploring by himself."
"You think so, too?" Axel asked, helping her gather bottles.
Fionna looked back at him. "I guess it's what we'd both like to believe."
"Ha!"
"You'll drop a bottle."
"I'll be careful."
"I think you should report it to the Town Watch if you don't find him by tomorrow. Damn those geezers, what are they even doing? But tonight, try to have some rest."
"What about you? Will you work all night again?"
"Uhh look who suddenly cares about my sleep schedule," she teased. "I'm nocturnal. I sleep during the daytime."
"Is that good for you?"
"Oh please. This acting doesn't suit you."
Axel rubbed his chin. "Well I'd rather not have my bride burning herself out."
"Ehhh? You seem to have grown a pair since last night."
"I was drunk."
"Ha! After what? Three drops of wine?"
"Shouldn't you be glad that your man wouldn't be a drunkard in the near future?"
Fionna paused. Then she moved closer to him, and lightly felt his forehead with the back of her palm.
"Hmm..it doesn't seem like you have a fever," she said. "So, what's up with you today? You're oddly confident."
Axel smiled. "To be honest, I don't know. Maybe it is because the kids are gone? I can finally drop the role model persona."
"I still think it's weird the way those kids were taken," Fionna commented.
"Yeah…" Axel began to drift away in his thoughts. Noticing this, Fionna smacked him on the shoulder, and threw herself into his arms.
"Don't worry. We'll have ours soon," she whispered as she gazed lovingly into his eyes.
"I don't know whether I should be happy or terrified."
Fionna's lush red lips and pretty azure eyes seemed to draw Axel in underneath the crimson shades of the moonlight. He moved slightly. She did too.
And the two met in a warm, love-filled kiss. It wasn't the aggressive, sexually deprived style, but a soft, heartwarming kiss where two hearts knocked at each other, bodies hugged in a refusal to let go. Fionna's skin felt warm in his embrace, and it did excite him a bit.
While they remained tight in each other's arms, Axel spotted a guard outside the window through the corner of his eye.
This guard was staring right at them.
*******
The children played with cymbals, and drums, and toys—all you could think of. The girls adorned each other with cosmetic powders, and braided each other's hair beneath a cloud of colourful dust and noise. It was a practical definition of childhood chaos. With no adults in sight, save for the woman who sat undisturbed in the distance, and a large white room to themselves, there was no one to stop them.
White curtains veiled all 12 entrances, and white cloth wrapped the pillars, walls, and even the floor. Though it was all now stained with the little festival going on here.
In a corner, the woman with the red crown was reading a large book of old, thorny, leather covers. And she muttered words to herself during it all. Some children argued that she was an elf, because of how beautiful she was, while the more learned ones argued otherwise, for she had the ears of man.
Bell approached the woman. "Say fair woman, are we going on an adventure?"
Some other girls paused to listen. Others continued in their madness.
"Not really, my dear," she replied with a smile slightly wider than the last. "It's more like a quest."
"But how can there be a quest without an adventure?" questioned Bill, her younger brother. "Shan't we slay beasts and monsters?"
She laughed. "Oh no dear, your quest is much grander than that."
Now a fine fraction of the kids were bamboozled. 'A quest greater than slaying bad monsters?' It was beyond their imagination (even as free as a child's thoughts were.)
The woman shut the book. "You'll be saving…The Holy Legion, and all of the Fire Kingdom itself."
"...."
All the children reached a silence so deafening that you would think they were muted.
"Lies!" claimed one who found it hard to believe. "How can little wuns like us save the heroes?"
"Hm!" Another nodded his head. "We can't save the good people. Little Tom can't even lift a sword!"
The woman grinned.
"But you can."
Tap! Tap!
Footsteps pressed on them from all sides, suddenly, and seemingly from nowhere. The curtains were lifted in one accord, and twelve women cloaked in black emerged from the outer dark, holding earthen, black pots.
Six held a pot of unknown crimson liquid. While the other six held what seemed like molten metal. At once, the children were terrified, and they boxed themselves up in a cramped circle at the center.
"Tell me, children," the woman said softly.
"Have you heard…
of The Sacrifice of Crimson Flesh?"