About Crystals and Stars (On hold)

8-2

Maybe she should leave the conversation by telling him why she was stranded on an island south of Crystal Island and in-between the two enemy states.

Mayura blinked her eyes when the sight of a slice of rosy meat offered to her came into her view.

With a smile she took the piece and chirped, "Thank you."

She took a bite and after swallowing it down she addressed him, "Shimon?"

"Hm?" His eyes met hers, widely opened in surprise, while biting into a slice of his own. It looked kind of – cute.

"Why are you here? I mean, where were you headed before you shipwrecked?"

The light of his eyes vanished and he narrowed his eyes before he grumbled, "Crystal Island."

Crystal Island? No wonder his mood shifted. It was the place were the war took form, endless battles, numerous losses. It was the home of bloodshed. Nobody would be happy to go there. Well, except for Rokuro who had always been adamant about becoming a soldier and ending the war.

"How did you end up here?" Shimon asked in return.

Taking a deep breath, she prepared herself to tell him the truth, which she ultimately did. "I was on my way to Tsuchimikado."

His eyebrows rose. "Why? Are you a smuggler?"

She shook her head while taking notice how his gaze was filled with interest rather than reproach. "No, I wanted to see the Lord of Tsuchimikado."

His chin dropped, his mouth slightly opened before he inquired, "You? You realize that the soldiers of Tsuchimikado would have killed you instantly, if they would have learned where you are from."

"You are a soldier and you did not kill me," she countered, feeling a bit more unsure about rising this topic.

"That's... different," Shimon said and averted his gaze, looking down on the cold slice of meat in his fingers. Hers had grown cold, too and she nagged on it despite the sudden nervousness tugging at her stomach.

"Anyway, what did you want from the Lord of Tsuchimikado?"

There was no need to hide the truth, was there? Shimon seemed to be surprised but not suspicious of her reasons to see the Lord of Tsuchimikado. If she held back the truth, he might think she had planned an assassination. She looked at him again and replied, "I wanted to persuade him to end war with Narukami."

He stared at her. Simply stared and said nothing.

Oh, no. Perhaps that had been too much. What had she done? Maybe it wasn't the best idea to tell a soldier she wanted to end the war. She should have gone with something different, a lighter version of the truth.

Suddenly she felt the need to explain herself and rambled, "It's been too long and it makes no sense. Both nations are divided by the sea and the Crystal rests in the middle. Why do we need to fight? Why do we need to pour blood?"

Not once had he blinked. Shimon was still staring at her.

Anxious about his reaction, she asked in small voice, "Do you think I am mad?"

That question finally shook him out of his stare for he blinked. "No, no, I don't. Actually, I have similar reasons to be here. I was on my way to Crystal Island to end the war."

Surprised she gasped. The last rest of her meat dropped out of her hand into the sand. This she hadn't seen coming. Couldn't have. Disbelievingly she uttered, "You were?"

"Yes," he nodded and looked at her openly.

The understanding of his meaning was slowly dripping into a sea of realization. Shimon had meant to end the war as well? In her mind resounded his words from the other day: I hold no grudge against Narukami or its people. Far from it. It's more the other way around. So all this time he had had a similar goal than her?