Once outside, Edward decided the first thing I needed
was clothes. I followed him for a few minutes before he stopped and turned to
me. “What kind of clothes do you want? The kind you’re wearing, the kind I
wear, or the kind more like what you wore before?”
I looked around. Most men wore clothes like Edward’s,
but several had clothes like mine. “I like this material and style, but
whatever works better in the forests.” I was still wearing the outfit Nano gave
me, but Dios was a far different environment than the forests of Duran. “I just
don’t look good in pastels or white.”
“Don’t focus too much on what everyone else is
wearing; people wear what holds up best in the conditions they live and work
in. You can tell about where people live and usually what kind of work they do
by what they wear. Anoshii is full of people from all over the world.”
We passed a group of five teenage boys in black
robes. “Are there magic schools?”
“Yes. They’re usually for rich people who would
prefer to pay for lessons than work for them. I taught at one once and couldn’t
stand it. I really don’t know how anyone can learn anything at them.”
“Does Hiroku know magic?”
“Very little. He prefers science.”
“I thought Duran was united in science and magic,” I
said.
“For the most part; they’re separate, but they
coexist. Duran was structured on religion. Each of the great lands once had an
entirely individual culture and religion, and worshiped a different form of
nature. The Reformation was the first time Duran even attempted to unite. It
was a united and unanimous decision that the world would be ruled with politics
and science, since religion had pretty much crashed. We now have no real
religion, but more of a philosophy that nature is important and everything from
the trees to animals have a spirit. Some still believe that nature spirits are
minor gods, or are controlled and guided by minor gods.
“However, with religion at a standstill, magic became
independent of the gods. Where they once believed that magic was created from
the gods, now most sago believe that the gods have magic, which comes from
nature. There is a controversy as to if magic should be acknowledged in the
world’s search for knowledge, or if only science should. If a question can be
answered with magic, is it viable? If politics tries to get involved, people
get furious, because magic is considered separated from law, as religion is.
But people who believe magic is as reliable as science argue that if science is
acknowledged in law, so must magic. This goes on to the degree that most
schools of science teach their students that magic is a useless sport and is
like learning about fairytales. Most schools of magic, which are far more rare,
teach that magic is the reason science works.”
“Your politics sound a lot more interesting than
America’s.”
We walked in silence until we arrived at a shop a few
minutes later, where Edward paused. “This is Lue’s clothes shop. She’s a little
weird, but just remember not to say anything in English.”
When we entered, I was surprised to find that there
was only one woman there, who I assumed was Lue. She had short, spiky, light
pink hair and her eyes were stone grey. She was about thirty and wore a tight,
dark blue, zip-up vest with a matching, pleated miniskirt. Her black boots went
to her knees and her black socks went most of the way to her skirt. On her
upper arms were two identical symbols that I guessed were words.
The walls were wood, lined with shelves of folded
clothes. Below each perfect stack was a small, silver plaque with writing on
it. On the bottom shelves were boots that ranged from cow-boy style to black
leather combat style. There was a large, round wooden table in the middle of
the room with no chairs around it. On the far side of the room was a wooden
counter Lue stood in front of. Next to the counter was a large mirror.
Lue hurried forward to greet us with a big smile and
a question in Sudo, which Edward responded to and indicated me.
“Dera de tatu ike,” she said to me as she returned to
her counter.
“Go and stand by the mirror,”
Edward said in
my head.
I wondered if he was listening to my thoughts as I
went over to the mirror. Lue approached me with a tape measure, which in itself
was perfectly normal considering this was a clothing store. After she measured
me around the chest, neck, shoulders, arms, and down the back without writing
any measurements down, I became uncomfortable. She kept measuring.
Once she was done, she started dashing around the
room, gathering garments from different piles while Edward spoke. My assumption
was that he was telling her what I needed, and she had some kind of
photographic memory for measurements.
Lue piled clothes on the table until it threatened to
topple over. Finally done, she beckoned me over. To my incredible surprise and
horror, she grabbed my shirt and tried pulling it over my head. I showed my
displeasure by locking my arms stubbornly to my side.
“Soge hinaide kudanai,” she said, annoyed.
“Just let her do her job,”
Edward said.
Lue started slapping my arm. It wasn’t painful,
though I had a feeling it could get to be. I let her do what she wanted, but
didn’t make it easy. She set the shirt on the table and I crossed my arms, then
she picked up a dark green shirt and glared at me until I raised my arms. I
hadn’t been forcefully changed since Mother stopped when I was ten, and having
a stranger do it was no less aggravating and humiliating.
Lue beamed when the dark green shirt was in place and
turned me toward the mirror. The shirt was long-sleeved but thin and light. It
was sort of like the material of Edward’s shirt except it was stretchy, like
smooth, strong cotton. At least it fit.
“Sakai da?” she asked me.
“Do you like it?”
Edward translated.
“Mowa,” I answered. Lue seemed pleased and started
removing the shirt. I tensed, but knew I couldn’t dissuade her. She placed the
shirt on the table and picked up an Easter-purple one. I quickly crossed my
arms. “Laba,” I said.
She glared at me, but as the seconds ticked by, she
considered whether or not I could be persuaded. She finally decided I couldn’t
and put it down. When she picked up a tan-colored shirt, I uncrossed my arms. I
didn’t like the color, but it wasn’t offensive.
After about twenty minutes of changing into clothes,
the only ones I refused were the ones of ridiculous colors or the two that
itched to high heaven. I didn’t only try on light-weight summer shirts, but
also thick winter ones that had me sweating in minutes. Then Lue reached for my
pants and I jumped back.
“Soge hinaide kudanai,” she demanded, but Edward came
to my defense. She handed me my original shirt, which I quickly put it on, and
then started refolding the clothes I turned down.
“Pick out a pair of shoes,”
Edward said. I
frowned as I looked around.
“Those on the right are men’s,”
he answered
my unasked question.
I hurried over and grabbed a pair of black combat
boots, but then hesitated, because I didn’t know if I was supposed to know my
size or try them on. I really needed to learn Sudo.
“You can try them on. You need something with
room, though.”
After I took off Edward’s boots, Lue handed me a pair
of white, thick socks and then resumed her folding.
“Put those on first,”
he said.
I nodded and peeled off my sticky socks, to which
Edward shuddered. I put the clean socks on, then the boots. They were too big,
so I tried on a slightly smaller pair that fit.
We left about twenty minutes later with about fifteen
outfits, a bunch of socks, and two pairs of boots. I really didn’t want so many
clothes, but Edward insisted that by the time I learned to walk through the
forest, I wouldn’t have half of them left, and also that the changing weather
can be demanding. I carried the bag half full of the clothes and the other
empty bags, which I feared were going to get filled.
“What were those symbols or words on her arms?” I
asked.
“What? Oh. Those were protection charms to keep evil
spirits out of her. Even though Duran doesn’t have a religion, people usually
heed the philosophy enough to keep charms, and there are shrines where people
can go to ask the gods of nature for something like a good pregnancy or good
crops. When people mix philosophy and magic, they can create some pretty
powerful charms. Which reminds me…”
He pulled out two small objects, one red and one
blue, and handed them to me. They looked like little, rectangular, silk sacks,
about one and a half inch tall and an inch across. On the front of each was a
word in gold script. On the back of the red one, in the same gold, was a little
pond with two circling fish and a stone lantern. There wasn’t anything on the
back of the blue one.
“Is this a protection charm?” I asked.
“Yes, how did you know?”
“I’m not sure. I guess because the fish seem to be
protecting each other and the lantern is protection from the darkness. I think
I just guessed.”
“Well, you have a great grasp of symbolism. Or maybe
you just naturally understand Duran’s philosophy.”
“Psychology is my strong point, and I believe
philosophy is very similar. Not math. I don’t like numbers. They’re too
contradictory. One number can mean a thousand different things and can be used
in infinitely many ways. I like how the brain works.”
“You would have gotten along well with Ronez. Anyway,
that’s for you.”
“Thank you. What is the blue one for?”
“Healing.”
“They have their work cut out for them.”
Our next stop was a shop of weapons and farming
tools. As dangerous a combination as that sounded, it was made worse by how
cramped it was between the ten people already there and the many shelves that
divided the room.
Edward focused on a shelf full of daggers, throwing
stars, throwing knives, and swords. One of the swords caught his eye and he
took it down, but after examining it for a few minutes, he put it back and
moved on.
“Pick out a weapon you can keep with you in case
you get mugged again.”
Oh, but that would never happen. I checked out the
daggers.
There was nothing that wasn’t sharp except for the
guns. I really didn’t want to carry a gun around. If I got a sword, maybe
people wouldn’t want to mug me and I wouldn’t ever have to use it. Or, it could
tell people I had something to defend.
There was a dagger with a black handle which came out
over the side with sharp spikes. It was cool, and if struck the right way,
could protect my hand. I just couldn’t imagine actually stabbing someone.
Edward was examining an object that had a small
handle with a flat metal plate. He looked at me and I showed him the dagger.
“You’re
definitely related to Ronez. I think I have something at home you may like
more. None the matter, they don’t have what we came for.”
I put the dagger back, curious to see what Edward had
in mind, and we left. “Do they have light sabers here?”
He frowned at me. “You’re not getting one. They’re
too dangerous for someone like you.”
I sulked, but couldn’t argue with that.
We proceeded to several other stores, most of which
weren’t very interesting. We went to a store full of many different things,
from which I got a bag similar to Edward’s and a headache from many heavy
objects falling off a tall shelf onto me.
We then went to a medical supply store where I got
just about every medicine Edward could think of. Most of them came in little
glass bottles, but some were in boxes or tubes. He also got a large supply of
bandages, stitches (I couldn’t believe they sold them), antibiotics, braces,
and other things I couldn’t identify. He had to show them some kind of card
before he could buy everything.
“Don’t worry,” he said after we left, “most of this
stuff is just for you to take care of yourself if I’m not there and you get
injured.”
“Um… I’m not sewing myself up.”
“Would you prefer bleeding to death?”
“Yes. Yes, I would.”
Edward was silent for a little while before turning
to me. “Where do you want to go? You can’t read so I assume you want something
else to keep you entertained.”
“Are you telling me to go find a good toy at the toy
store?”
“Pretty much.”
I nodded. “That’s really cool of you, but I would
prefer to work on studying Sudo, or magic, or household chores. Without
cartoons and sci-fi comics, I really can’t think of anything else to keep me
busy. Have you ever played chess?”
“I have, and I would be happy to play a few games,
but it isn’t my favorite. Cards are more my thing.”
“What I’d really like is empty notebooks and writing
utensils. Maybe some music. Do you have some kind of CDs or something?”
“Something to that effect.”
We went to a book store and I had to wait in the
doorway because the shelves looked unstable. Edward came out with a very big
magic book for himself and four empty black books of different sizes for me, as
well as a sack of pencils. I got to look at the writing in the magic book as we
walked. I pointed out one that looked cool. “What’s this spell?” I asked.
“An obedience spell. A good one.” There was writing,
probably instructions, and then what was clearly an incantation. I pointed to
the first symbol of the chant.
“What’s this word?”
He glanced at it. “Megal.”
I pointed to the next one. “And this?”
“Udgai.” I pointed to the next one and he caught on
to my plan. “Would you stop that? You have to do more than say the words to
make that work.” I opened my mouth to ask him what else I’d have to do, but he
didn’t let me. “Do you think I’m an idiot?”
“No. But I got two words that I can compare to others
to try to figure it out.”