Aelle eventually catches up with TRITHAL as she finds him sitting under a lone tree at the edge of the valley near the forest. As she gets closer, she notices there are two graves under the tree. She approaches TRITHAL, who is sitting there staring into a yellow flower. Aelle sits down next to TRITHAL.
Aelle: "Lord Thrax read the letter to us. How are you feeling, Tsutaru?"
TRITHAL: "I really don't know how to feel. This is too much to take in all at once."
Aelle tries hard to think of a way to cheer TRITHAL up, even though there's probably nothing anyone could say or do for a person who's found out they were betrayed by someone they've trusted and have held in very high regard. So, Aelle tries to communicate without words and looks at the flower TRITHAL is holding.
TRITHAL: "It's a yellow rose. They were Minako's favorite."
TRITHAL stands up and walks toward the two graves. Aelle follows. One grave appears to have been there for a few years. The other appears to have been placed more recently. The stone on the first grave reads 'Minako Hitukiri-Trithal'. The second one reads 'Hitukiri Furai, Master of the Kaze Sword'. TRITHAL places the rose on the first grave then steps back, folds his hands and closes his eyes, and quietly recites a mantra.
Afterward, TRITHAL says "I don't know why they put my name on her stone because we never got married... but she was definitely my soul mate. She was the only person who saw beauty in me when others, including myself, found none. She was able to soften my hardened heart and show me how enjoyable life can be. I wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of my life with her. We had planned to make our home in this very place. We wanted a family and a long, happy life. When she fell ill, I felt as if I was dying right along with her. I loved Minako mind, body, and soul. Even though her soul is now a part of my own, her mind has ceased to exist in this world and her body is buried under this tree. All the love Minako had for me will remain with me for the rest of my life... however the woman I was in love with will forever be absent."
Aelle, still at a loss for words, says nothing as TRITHAL continues...
TRITHAL: "The funny thing is, even though I have every right to hate and despise the master, I really can't find it in myself to do so. I mean, he did do a very bad thing that hurt everyone, but I can't help but respect him... the same as I have since the day I joined his dojo."
After waiting a minute, Aelle asks "So, what are you going to do now?"
TRITHAL: "I don't know. I need time to think about all this. I need to sit down and decide what my real place is in this world."
Aelle hands TRITHAL his weapons and says, "While you're deciding, don't forget about the role you're playing right now. Your party members are counting on you to help them get this whole mess with the missing princess straightened out and get Axem out of jail."
TRITHAL takes his weapons from Aelle, inhales then exhales a deep breath and says, "Yeah, you're right. We do have bigger fish to fry right now. Let's head back."
With that, TRITHAL and Aelle walk back down the valley toward the town.
-------------------------
MEANWHILE, back at the dojo... Palledoris decided that, instead of sitting around digging in their asses, the remaining party members should do something constructive while Aelle is making sure TRITHAL calms down to the point to where he won't explode in a psychopathic rage and kill everyone. To that end, she gets the party to clean up the dojo. The remaining Saibot chicks plus CHRIS, THRAX and Jeff commence to dusting, knocking out cobwebs, scrubbing the floor, and polishing the statues and stuff under the direction of the senior Saibotian wizard.
Palledoris gave the "easy" job of dusting to CHRIS what with her being aware of how much of a complainer CHRIS is. He tries to do it and stops in a 1/4 of a minute's time saying, "I can't do this job. The dust is getting to me. Lemme do something else."
Pallerdoris, being more forgiving and understanding than the quartet, tries to work with CHRIS and gives him the job of polishing the statues. Before he could even polish one statue, he already had had it with it whining, "This polishing solution is making me all woozy. I want to scrub the floor. (proudly): I'm good at that."
Palledoris honors his wishes again, and...you guessed it, he was soon complaining about scrubbing the floors.
CHRIS: "My arms still hurt from when we were rowing the barge on the Dolmaiyan River. Can't I just sit down and relax?"
THRAX has been overhearing the whole time, then chimes in, "Chris, you wanted to scrub the floor. Now you don't want to? Can't you be a team player? I'm allergic to everything. These cobwebs aren't to friendly to me but I'm still trying."
CHRIS: "I was doing fine before you had me dusting."
Anri: "Uh, weren't you just standing there doing nothing before that?"
CHRIS (turns to Anri with a 'geeking out' look on his face): "Uh, no, actually I was looking at the corners and walls... I thought this place could use some plant-life."
THRAX: "Uh-huh. And where were you gonna get the seeds and fertilizer and pots and trowels and shit to do all that? Out of your ass?"
CHRIS: "Uh, no, I was gonna make do with man-made materials and other shit around me."
THRAX stands there for a second then returns to his 'knocking out cob-webs' job.
THRAX: "You are lucky Trithal ain't here to make fun of you."
While they continue to work, they exchange in idle conversation. THRAX, CHRIS and the Saibot chicks tell Jeff of their adventures, etc. Jeff tells the party stories about swordsmanship training, and about TRITHAL's history there.
Danika: "So, Jeff, who was this girl Minako?"
Jeff: "Well, Minako was Master Hitukiri's adopted daughter. She was a year older than me, so that would make her a year younger than Tsutaru. She wasn't the hottest girl in the world, but nice to look at and a warm, friendly person.... basically a pleasure to be around. She was always there for us... like she used to bring us ice water and towels when we trained on hot days... and if we hurt ourselves she would treat our wounds. She was one who gave of herself to others, and that's a quality not very many people have. Alot of us guys have tried to horn in on her, but she made her choice when she chose Tsutaru. I think they made the perfect couple. When Tsutaru first came here, anyone could tell that deep inside he was fighting a lot of personal demons. After they started dating, Tsutaru turned into more of a person. Minako was very happy with him too. It seemed like she had found the missing piece to her soul as well."
Rishna: "That sounds like such a fairy-tale romance..."
Jeff: "... Y-eah... But anyway, as fate would have it, Minako fell victim to a very strange disease which ultimately took her life. Tsutaru never left her side while she was in the hospital. Right when she died, Tsutaru fell into a coma. No one knew why, but could speculate that he became so depressed and grief-stricken that his brain just went and shut down. Well, it hurt all of us a great deal, but understandibly more so for Tsutaru. A week later he woke up, and when he was recovered enough the master challenged him to a sparring match... where Tsutaru almost killed him. That was when the master gave him the name 'Divine Wind'. He left the same day and headed north... never to be heard from again until yesterday when I found you guys in Myria."
Alys: "So do you think Trithal-san will take over the dojo like your master wanted?"
Jeff: "I don't know. The way it sounded in that letter (the parts of it I understood anyway) it seems Tsutaru is the only one the master trusted enough to take over. In the time since the master died this dojo has fallen to neglect. No one comes here anymore to practice. The master's swordsmanship style is becoming a dying art. I guess if anyone were to care enough to keep it alive, maybe it would be Tsutaru."
THRAX: "I guess the real question would be, would Trithal want to?"
Just as THRAX was saying that, TRITHAL walked back into the dojo accompanied by Aelle. TRITHAL walks to the middle of the room to make an announcement:
TRITHAL: "I think I've decided what I want to do... I think I'm--"
At that very second, some guy burst through the front door, startling everyone.
guy: "Jeff... You're not going to believe this---" (noticing TRITHAL) "Holy shit! Where did you come form, Tsutaru?"
TRITHAL: "My mama's pussy. Now, what's going on, Steve?"
Steve: "Well, you remember Adam, right? Well he's been going to that one shady dojo that popped up at the end of town recently... and he's planning some kind of a demonstration tomorrow with the other students there."
Jeff: "Oh God! Are you serious?"
TRITHAL: "Eau-kay... Care to fill me in on what's happening?"
Jeff: "That new dojo on Mordentshire Road has some creepy clientèle. It's rumored that the master of the place is trying to raise an army to bring down the government in this prefecture."
TRITHAL: "What would be the point in that? Morgura doesn't have anything that the other prefectures don't have! Besides, half of the people who live here are some kind of Kung-Fu fighters. Who in their right mind would even consider trying to pull a coup d'etat here?"
Steve: "Well, apparently Adam and the others at that dojo. They're planning on holding a rally at the United Prefectures Day festival in town tomorrow to try to raise support for their cause."
Jeff: "Well, what are we gonna do about it?"
After everyone thinks for a minute, TRITHAL says, "Why don't we do the democratic thing? How about we round up the guys and go to this rally and see what they're up to... and then try to counter whatever it is they're doing?"
Jeff: "Um, about that... Most of the guys have either left town or found other schools. Except for maybe you, me, and Steve here, there's no one else who'd show loyalty to the Kaze dojo."
THRAX: "Well, we'll back you guys up! Right, girls?"
The Saibot chicks: "Yes, Lord Thrax!"
TRITHAL: "What about you, Chris?"
CHRIS: "Dudes, all this questing has me beat. Let's just find that chick, get Axem out of jail, and go home."
TRITHAL, once again, raising his arms up in his signature awkward manner, walks over to CHRIS and blurts out, "CHRIS, YOU---"
Palledoris: "Lemme handle this, Trithal-san. (to CHRIS): "Chris, you're right. Let's go find Ella. In fact, you can be the leader. So, leader, where do we go from here? Where are we gonna go to find Ella?"
CHRIS: "Oh, I don't know. I have no idea where she could be."
Palledoris: "Well, neither do we... so what should we do in the meantime?"
CHRIS: "Oh, I don't know. I guess we're here and all, so we should just keep on going doing what we're doing."
Palledoris: "I see. How about we help support some new friends of ours by checking out this rally they're talking about?"
CHRIS: "Well, OK, I guess that's OK."
Palledoris: "Fantastic then."
Palledoris has a sly smile on her face because she has succeeded in getting CHRIS to go along with the whole thing without resorting to violence, yelling or cursing. TRITHAL has a puzzled stunned-look on his face a'la Wayne Campbell while uttering and moaning out all confused, "Wha~? Wha~?"
By this time, the hour was growing late and the sun was setting. Everyone agrees to meet at the dojo the next day and prepare for whatever kind of shit is waiting to hit the fan. The party then heads back toward the motel... stopping at an IHOP on the way.
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