(Outdated) The King of Elements (part 2)

Chapter 42

He heard McManus give a yawn from the other line before he said, "Okay, okay. Should I brew some tea for you, O Wise Ichi?"

He could tell by McManus's inflection of the word tea that he meant the transmission. The man was beginning to learn after all. "Tea sounds fantastic right about now. Oh, and keep calling me O Wise Ichi, if you would."

After a sarcastic laugh, McManus said "No" with a deadpan tone. "What about the pass to the computer? I'm sure a little poindexter like you don't keep his computer unsecured."

"And I'm sure a little Neanderthal like you knows that saying a password out loud is idiotic. I'll text it to you."

After a brief pause, McManus said, "Call me a Neanderthal one more time."

"I'll see you at the office," Ichi said before he hung up the phone. He heaved a great sigh before he typed his password, The_Urth_is_Real, to McManus. "That man is so difficult," he said before allowing his healing water to flow from his second hand to the injury.

~~~~~~~~~

The_Urth_is_Real? McManus thought to himself as he began typing the password into the computer. He can't be serious. Someone as smart as him should know how to spell "Earth."

Then again, it could be that way so no one who'd heard his pass aloud would be befuddled by the spelling.

After the desktop appeared on the computer screen, McManus worked quickly to bring up the video chat app and clicked on Melody's name. For a few moments, there was only a blank screen, with the words Calling in Progress bubbled in the center. Finally, the queen replaced the darkness, and her joyous expression turned into a cold glare. "Oh. It's you."

"Geez, you don't sound too thrilled to see me," McManus said, trying his best not to sound too flirtatious.

"I'm not. Why have you called me?" She didn't even attempt to hide the coldness in her voice. It seemed that she was still upset about his comment towards her. Man, the woman could really hold a grudge.

He opened his mouth to speak and instantly shut it. Crap. I forgot to check on the transmission. Instead of saying what he really called for, he said, "I was actually calling to ask if you wanted some tea."

"Tea?" Queen Melody's thin eyebrow arched as she gave a quizzical stare. "I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about."

McManus stammered, trying his best between not making a flirty comment and telling her, as well as any potential listeners, of what tea meant in this circumstance. At last, he sighed and said, "Hold on," before he plugged in his uplink to the computer tower. After a while, it showed that she was the only one who was on the line. He exhaled as he went back into the view of the camera. "Sorry about that. I had to check on something. Anyway, Ichi told me that he had something important to tell you. I've no clue what it's about."

"So, why did he send his mule instead of coming himself?"

Gearing himself for a snap comeback, he held his tongue before taking a deep breath. "He's busy with something. Though I do know at least a little bit of what's going on." His face hardened before he continued. "It's Aggaron. Ichi believes that he's planning something again."

"Oh" was all she could say. Her cold demeanor softened up to the political-like expression she wears when she speaks to Ichi. "When do you think he'll be back?"

"That's hard to say." The door knob rattled in front of McManus. At first, McManus believed that it was someone coming to interrupt a what would be a very important conversation, until Ichi strolled in, sneering as per usual.

"I can see that you're not smart enough to lock the door behind you." He snapped the door shut and locked it behind him. "What would you have done if I were a different person?"

"Blame old age." McManus stated as Ichi pushed him aside.

Shaking his head, he turned to Melody. His expression hardened as soon as he turned to her. "I'm not sure if you're up to date on what's going on here, so I'll go ahead and explain it. I believe that Aggaron is taking control of our people. My estimation is that he's planning on attacking the Serene territory and end the treaty between us. If at all possible, encourage your warriors not to kill the Amian if my guess is correct. Try to knock them unconscious so we can collect them ourselves."

"And if we have no choice?"

"Then you have no choice," he answered. "I don't want the Sages poking their noses into this. Not yet, at least. We must make sure that no one knows that Aggaron is reviving himself."

"Why not?"

"Simple. The King is a little... wet behind the ears, to put it politely. If the people find out about him, in the state he's in, I'm pretty certain that they will quickly lose faith in him. The reason why I still have faith in him is because I've experienced what it's like for the King to learn how to control their elements. My brothers were teamed up with the last King, Hiro. He was a terrible excuse of an Amian warrior when he first started. He wasn't able to learn to control his element proficiently until about half way through his Apprentice year. I have faith that the new King will be just as strong as he, but I don't want to throw him into a crowd that doesn't."

Melody nodded. "I see. I'll let my warriors know about what's going on. If we receive an attack from an Amian, I'll let you know post haste."

Ichi gave a foxlike smile. "Excellent. Ending transmission."