For further warnings, see part 1

Also: We do not own Grandia (though we wish we did!) I'd also like to thank Tolkien, Shakespeare and the creator of Slayers for all their help! (figuratively) We do not own Slayers, Midsummer Night's Dream, or The Hobbit.

9. ~_~ YAMATO

Throne room. Dude, this WAS *the* throne room. The throne room of throne rooms. I’m betting gods don’t have throne rooms like this. This was a THRONE ROOM!

I peered around the incredulous room. It was a monument to art. I felt diminished by its glory. I turned in place with my sword clanking at my side in rhythm as I took in the sight. Lots of red, purple, and bluish hues filled the room the size of the Duke’s whole castle. Intricate tapestries of brave winged beings and lovely seraphim visions filled every blank wall. Silver and diamond lined every nook of carved gold statues and figures of four-to-eight-winged men and women. We walked upon emerald and ruby tiles that made up the pathway, while sapphire and amethyst tiles made the rest of the floor. Stylized symbols were etched along the ceiling wherever paintings or extravagant chandeliers did not rest. The crystalline pillars that supported the enormous room were strewn with riches and solid gold winged figures. The steps led our motley group up a dais upon which rested about twenty thrones of varying attributes, but the largest one of them was pure diamond, with ornate gems placed in strategic locations about its surfaces to form an almost living mural. Around where one might sit red and violet-tinted satins and silks formed luxurious pillows upon which rested who was obviously the queen.

She was gorgeous, she was the only eight-winged Icarian I had seen thus far, and she was just awe-inspiring. A winged helmet covered her face. I could only see her lips, but I could see she was lovely. Flowing freely from the mask were long golden tresses, which rivaled the gold-laden room in luster. She wore a complex costume of white and gold. One long glove, a half boot, ankle jewelry, a wrist glove, a slit mid-piece, golden wing-shaped sections covered the outfit. The seraph’s eight wings were quite apparent, even considering the streaming violet ribbon about her body.

I did the only thing I could think of to do: I bowed.

I would’ve felt silly, except of course, that all my friends, Duke Kamiya, the guards, and the king knelt with me, "My queen," the king dared to say, "Outsiders have come to our lands, they appear hostile, so we have brought them to you for your wisdom on such matters."

I felt a lump in my throat as the guards brought us forward. Even Duke Kamiya was apparently aware of how dumbfounded this place had made us.

The queen smiled, "Angelus, you’re always so serious about such things," oh, her voice was heavenly, "Come, tell me, sirs, why are you here?" she addressed us sweetly.

The lump in my throat grew, I couldn’t even *begin* to speak. Wizard Izumi opened his mouth, but no sound came forth. The Duke continued to stare blatantly.

"Uh... ma’am, we don’t mean any harm..." a small voice spoke out, my younger sibling Takeru.

She turned to him and smiled breathtakingly, "Oh, that’s nice to know, go on, please, young one."

Takeru coughed a bit, but cleared his throat, managing to speak for us all again, "We, uh... need a feather of yours, uh... I think... Right, Koushirou-san?"

Wizard Izumi nodded, urging Takeru to continue, "Um... can you maybe give us one and we can leave. Y’see, we need to have Icarian’s prize, and we supposed that was meaning your feathers."

I smiled, the lump in my throat lessening at my brother’s successfully given speech.

The queen smiled thoughtfully, "Oh, I see, I don’t see why we couldn’t do that for you."

Angelus spoke up abruptly, , "But, my queen, an Icarian’s feather could be dangerous in the hands of the unwise, especially if your intending what I believe you are."

"Oh, you mean give them one of my feathers? Of course I was intending such, they don’t want a useless ordinary feather. The ‘Icarian’s prize’ ingredient for spells most always requires seraphim (eight-winged angel) feathers," the queen explained, and I noticed Wizard Izumi nodding in agreement.

"Well, then," the king began, "They must at least be tested, for the feather could be easily misused by the unwise. They must solve the riddle, or die."

10. ^_^!! TAKERU

She was pretty. Awe-struck, I gaped openly before noticing my brother had just kneeled for the appealing woman who was obviously the queen. Not knowing what else to do, I bowed, too.

The masked king person spoke from a bent position and addressed her, "Outsiders have come to our lands, they appear hostile, so we have brought them to you for your wisdom on such matters," he explained.

Hostile? Us? No way! Unless, of course you count our feelings toward the Duke.

The pretty, eight-winged queen smiled. She was really beautiful, "Angelus, you’re always so serious about such things," she looked at us, "Come, tell me, sirs, why are you here?"

I held my tongue, I was a squire, so I waited for my big brother to answer. I peeked over at him, he was being quiet. Continuing my glance, I noticed Wizard Izumi was tight-lipped, too. Thinking the worst, (that the Duke might answer) I quickly decided to answer, "Uh... ma’am," I stuttered, realizing that this was harder than it seemed, "we don’t mean any harm..." I squeaked.

The queen turned to look at me. Her gaze nearly froze me. The fact that she spoke directly to me was stunning, "Oh, that’s nice to know, go on, please, young one," she encouraged.

I swallowed hard, "We, uh... need a feather of yours," I spat out, "uh... I think... Right, Koushirou-san?" I searched for support.

He nodded enthusiastically. Great help... I mentally rolled my eyes, but pushed on, "Um... can you maybe give us one and we can leave," I began rambling, "Y’see, we need to have Icarian’s prize, and we supposed that was meaning your feathers."

I sighed with relief when the queen didn’t kill me instantly, instead, she spoke pleasantly, "Oh, I see, I don’t see why we couldn’t do that for you."

We would have all let out are collective breath but that Angelus guy interrupted us hastily, "But, my Queen, an Icarian’s feather could be dangerous in the hands of the unwise, especially if you’re intending what I believe you are."

The Queen glanced over at him questioningly, "Oh, you mean give them one of my feathers? Of course I was intending such," She continued, "they don’t want a useless ordinary feather. The ‘Icarian’s prize’ ingredient for spells most always requires seraphim feathers."

Beside me, Koushirou-san nodded his full agreement.

"Well then," the king said loudly, "They must at least be tested, for the feather could be easily misused by the unwise. They must solve the riddle, or die."

Yamato and I both looked at each other. Riddle? What riddle? No one said anything about a riddle. I’m terrible at riddles and my brother, even though he had more then his fair share of brains, wasn’t exactly adept at them ether. The duke was out of the question. Nii-san must have been thinking the same thing ‘cause we both turned worried look to the short red haired wizard on my left, whom look right back at us in puzzlement.

The Queen cast the King a glance that, even through the mask, I could tell was annoyed. "Fine then." She sighed, "You, young ones will be required to solve the riddle..."

"And if we present the correct reply?" Koushirou-san ventured.

"Then you will have the privilege of acquiring one of my feathers," the queen said encouragingly.

"And if we don’t?" I asked weakly.

"Then you’ll be proven unworthy and you’ll die!" Angelus informed me harshly.

I shrunk away, the queen spoke to him, "Oh, Angelus, you’re such a rule-enforcer!" she said disapprovingly.

"Queen Angela, you are taking such matters far too lightly!" he argued, "You know the seraphim feathers could do great damage under untrained hands!"

Queen Angela sighed, "I suppose," she plucked a feather from her pretty wings, "Well, here’s the Prize, but first the Challenge," she smiled, then to Angelus, "You seem keen on getting them out of here, why don’t you ask them the riddle?"

Angelus hmphed at the notion, "Fine, then," he turned and looked directly at me, "Are you prepared?"

I nodded for my friends pitifully.

"Very well then. Answer me this:

Voiceless it cries,

Wingless flutters,

Toothless bites,

Mouthless mutters."

...Nani? What was this winged wonder talking about? Voiceless it cries? Toothless it bites? What could it be referring too? I looked to my brother just into to see sweat trickling down his forehead. No help there.

Wizard Izumi called us into a huddle.

"So, guys," he said quietly, "any ideas?"

"Umm...Well," Yamato and I said in unison. The duke just stared dumbly. Thank God.

The wizard sweatdropped.

"Well, it’s obviously describing something," the blonde guard squatted on the floor in thought, "But what do you know of that flutters with out wings?"

"Or mutters with out a mouth..." I added.

"Maybe its a type of food?" the duke put in.

We all pointedly ignored him.

Koushirou sighed. "Well, lets accumulate our thoughts and I’m sure we’ll discover the solution."

So for the next half-hour we threw stuff out on the table and brain stormed. Yamato seemed to think that we weren’t getting anywhere and would glance back nervously at the King, whom spent most of that half hour burning holes in the back of our heads. But I had my hopes...so I kept on trying to give the short- haired wizard some ideas. Some of them were good and some not so good. Occasionally we would manage to get a chuckle out of the Queen with some of more silly ones, as she observed us.

When we hit the hour mark we began to run out material...

Disheartened, Yamato sat down on the floor with a loud clank from his armor, "This blows," he muttered.

Izumi’s head snapped up at that, he stared wide-eyed at my brother. I looked to the wizard to Yamato and back again, confused.

"What?" he asked a little indignantly.

"That’s it, Captain, you’re brilliant!"

"Well, tell me something I don’t know. But that doesn’t explain why you staring at me like..."

The young sorcerer suddenly stood up and strode quickly to the dais were the Queen sat, waiting patiently.

"I have the answer, Your Highness." He said confidently.

The seraphim smiled brightly, "Is that so? Please do go on."

Angelus snorted.

Koushirou-san ignored him, "The answer is: Wind. The wind cries and mutters through the trees, flutters with out wings and bites when it’s cold."

There was a long pause and we all held our breath, awaiting the angelic woman’s response. At first she said nothing but instead frowned a bit and began to lift her hands. Afraid she would strike us dead I closed my eyes tightly...only to open them a moment later in bewilderment. She was clapping.

"Very good, young wingless-ones!" she laughed, " I’m am very much impressed. You’re the first ones to answer correctly in a long time. You have earned the Icarian’s prize."

A small cheer from some of the gathered nobility came forth. I heard some applause.

We all sighed with relief and grinned widely as Izumi graciously accepted the feather from her with a courteous bow.

11. ^_~ KOUSHIROU

One down, three to go. An Astral beacon, the blood of a magic tree, and...

"I always seem to disremember the fourth item," I stated to myself.

"The tears from the flying mythic creature, Kou-san," Takeru stated.

We were sitting at a table in small tavern in File Village, the food wasn’t perfect, but the price was good, and we weren’t complaining about its large portions.

I nodded, "Well, I suppose considering the time it took us to get the first item, that we should hurry our search. This first ingredient took us three days to get there, seize it, and return down the mountain. If Sensei Wizard Mon was correct, we only have four more days to complete the reverse spell on Duchess Takenouchi’s curse."

Duke Taichi burst out suddenly, "Oh my poor Sora-chan!"

I instinctively rolled my eyes as Takeru reluctantly consoled the grieving Duke.

Taichi spoke enthusiastically this time, "But you’re right, we must hurry to save my Sora-chan! What do you suggest, Wizard?"

I blinked, the O mighty Duke wanted advice? Oh well, "I propose that we disjoin into three parties to search for the remaining artifacts and converge again at File Village to conserve time in obtaining the items."

Captain Yamato agreed with my exhortation, "Yes, that is a good idea, but what would the groups be? There are four of us, and three items. Also, we don’t even know where to go to start looking for them. You said you were debating the possibilities while we were climbing down Infinity Mountain. So what’s your opinion?"

I pondered each of his inquisitions, "Well, initially, I would say that the divisions would be as follows: Yamato, Izumi, and Taichi and Takeru."

"WHAT!??!!?" Takeru and Yamato burst out at once, "You can’t stick me with the Duke! He’ll end up killing me!" Takeru protested.

Yamato shook his head, "No, I’m sorry, but I have to protect my charge here, Takeru will come with me."

"But the Duke will surely die without someone to fix his mistakes," I stated.

The captain nodded, "I know, that’s the point."

I stopped, "Oh yeah..."

The Duke continued to stare blankly, smiling as if he agreed fully.

"As for your other question, I have discerned that the Astral Beacon must be an Orihalcon statue, I just can’t think of any other astral implement that serves as a beacon. I think the best place to locate one of those would be its manufacturers, spirits. Duke Kamiya, I’ll assign this one to Your Grace. The best place to find a magic tree would be in the magic woods, I would think, so that should be your destination, Captain. I’ll somehow find the flying mythic creature, even though I don’t know where to start. Alright then?" I asked, finally set on what to do.

"Hai!" Takeru called happily.

"I guess," Yamato agreed.

"This is for you, SORA-CHAN!" the Duke ‘enthusiastically’ cried.

Sighing, I forced a grin, "Well, let’s go."

12. -_-* TAICHI

I was quite wet, I don’t believe this suits a Duke at all! That stupid river SURELY must’ve plotted against me to get my entire attire of fine robes mudded and soaked!

Appalled though I was at its snidely behavior, I forged on through the tangles of the faerfolk territory. The Wizard said the best place to get an Orihalcon was from the spirits, and the only spirits I know are dead, so I decided to visit the faerfolk instead!

This was quite a nasty trip indeed, though, the forest seemed to attack me at every turn. Those wicked roots, sticking out of the ground like that! And then when the rosebush pricked me just because I picked a flower! I was particularly scared when those killer tapirs tore at my cape! But what was really nagging at me was that nasty river, it reminded me of the time a young knight and his page were working for me and then that moat incident happened. I wonder what became of those two...?

Oh, it doesn’t matter... I scoured the forest, searching for what Wizard Izumi explained this ‘Orihalcon statue’ was... if there really was such a thing. This supposed ‘Orihalcon’ was supposedly a statuette of a supposed ‘lady’ who wore a supposed ‘shrine maiden robe.’ Also, this supposed statue was made of a supposed magical ‘ore’ for which one could supposedly use as a spiritual beacon.

But who was I to question a supposed ‘wizard’ about such things? I looked high and low, left and right, methodically and at random, but I still found no signs of this supposed statuette. I felt frustrated that the wizard could possibly think of giving me misinformation about how to find this ‘Orihalcon’. I was an expert at finding things so therefore the wizard must be at fault for this trouble I was having. Not knowing what else to do, though, I wandered about the forest, checking the trees and shrubbery for clues to the whereabouts of this supposed ‘statuette’.

"But Rina, how come YOU get to give Oberon the cockleshell for his wedding present!?"

Huh?

"Because, Gaurri, *I* deserve to give Oberon the cockleshell because *I* am ten times as loyal to him as you, and the cockleshell shows my respect more than your gift of a pathetic Orihalcon statue!"

Orihalcon? I know that word! I peered from around a tree and was quite amazed by what I saw.

"But Rina, how come *you* always get to give the Faerie king the best gifts? I’m a devoted Faerie, too!"

It was two small, butterfly-winged creatures. Pixie-shaped, and apparently spirits! One of them, which I assumed was male, had long golden blonde locks, which reached down to his mid-back. The other, more aggressive, female one sported flaming red hair tied back with a bandanna. Overall, they were both roughly the size of songbirds, and were having a dispute about *something*.

The red-haired one spoke, "Oh, Gaurri, even though the Orihalcon is a useful, practical gift the king could have many uses for as a spiritual beacon, the cockleshell is just so much more valuable and therefore the only gift which can convey my devotion!"

It was a political debate! I’m very skilled at politics, I’m sure I can settle this easily! Then I’ll get back to looking for whatever it was I was looking for. But, upon remembering that I WAS looking for something I searched the ground quickly to see if I could find it, when suddenly... "AH HA!"

The two spirits turned to look at me, "huh?"

I found a shell! I must’ve misplaced it when the river attacked me! I looked up at the two winged spirits. Do spirits have wings? "Ho, spirits!" I called.

The blonde one turned to his companion, "Rina, are we spirits?"

Rina replied harshly, "NO! We are NOT spirits! We’re faeries, and proud of such. What do you want, mortal?"

I smiled, "Well, I think I can settle your debate!" I stated with the calm all great rulers should show.

"Really?" the blonde one, who I think was named Gaurri, asked.

I nodded.

"Okay, then," Rina said, "Solve it."

I stared hard at the two of them, piercing them with my all-knowing gaze, "But first, I have one question..."

"What?" Rina asked.

I continued to gaze furiously, "What was the problem?"

"Ugh!" Rina suddenly collapsed in pain, clutching her stomach.

"Well, you see," Gaurri began to explain, "Our king, Oberon is getting married and we can’t decide who should get to give him the extremely valuable cockleshell and who should give him the ‘practical’ Orihalcon."

"I see," I nodded gravely, "Well, I think the only solution to this is thirty lashings and life in prison!"

"WHAT?" Rina asked, stupefied at my brilliant answer that always had seemed to satisfy the people of my court whenever I was asked to pass judgement.

Gaurri nodded, "I see, makes perfect sense."

"GAURRI!" Rina yelled, "You stupid mortal, how does that solve our problem?"

"Uuuuhhh..." I reached up to scratch my head.

"Hey!" Rina called suddenly, "What’s that?"

I looked at where she pointed, in my hand, there was that thing I was looking for, "Oh, this, it’s a cockleshell. So?"

Rina sweatdropped, "oi..."

"HEY! That’s a cockleshell! GIVE IT TO ME!! GIMME!" Gaurri yelled, snatching the shell from hand and dropping his statuette thing on my toe.

"Ow..."

"Hey! Rina! Look, I’ve got a shell, too!" the blonde ‘faerie’ boasted.

"Oh, yeah, well mine’s bigger!" Rina, the other ‘faerie’ argued.

"No way!" Gaurri said, flittering off towards where I assumed Oberon waited.

"Yes way!" the flame-haired ‘faerie’ called back.

I sighed, "Spirits..."

I massaged my injured toe where Gaurri had dropped his Orihalcon statuette on my foot. I picked up the magical lady in shrine maiden robes astral beacon and walked on, trying to remember what Izumi had sent me for.

"This stupid statuette is heavy..." I complained to no one. Not wanting to deal with it anymore, I wound up and chucked the cumbersome trinket into the forest with a loud "WHACK!"

"OUCH!" I heard a screaming voice. Thinking it another spirit, I dashed towards it to see if he knew where I could find an Orihalcon, which I just remembered as what Izumi sent me to find.

I happened upon two blonde males, though, mortal, not spirit, "Hello, there!" I called, then went to ask, "Do you know... where...?" I suddenly recognized the two boys as Yamato and Takeru.

They turned around, pure shock on their faces. I smiled, letting them know I was okay.

What happened next was so touching, Takeru couldn’t contain his joy at seeing my safe arrival and burst into tears, collapsing at his brother’s feet.

Even dear Captain Yamato could hold in his precious tears of relief for my safety. We sat there together for two hours, just reveling in our happiness.

"He’s alive..." Takeru wailed, nurturing a sore spot on the back of his head where an Orihalcon surely must have hit him... I wonder how that happened?

I smiled, "Yes, Takeru, you needn’t be so worried, I’ll always be here for you..."

Rina and Gaurri do not belong to me, nor do they belong in this story... but hey, at 5:00 AM with no caffeine, see how YOU fair when you're short on names ^_~ Oberon was just fun to put in here...