Chapter 4

The day after Yue completes her Kimono, she leaves to the next town so that she can see how well her Kimono attracts customers. Days later, Jake's injuries completely heal up and he no longer needs to wear the bandages. He unwraps his arm, leg, and head to find that there are no scars from the attack. He moves his arm around and sees there is no damage to his motor skills. He nods, satisfied with his recovery. He goes to the trash can to dispose of his used bandages, but stops for a moment and takes a look at them. Holding the bandages in his hands brings back the memories that he had with Yue in Blessia Island. The way that Yue helped him with his injuries even though he wanted to be alone makes him feel unusual. He has never seen such kindness from any other human before. Growing up, he was teased because he is half-elf and half-human. Even the human who he cared for and trusted the most abandoned him.

Jake sighs deeply and throws the bandages away. He knows what he is, but he can hardly accept it himself. He doesn't believe that anyone else can either. Even the girl who he once loved has run off from his life to marry a human, the kind he hates the most. Even while feeling this way, Jake has been paying a bit more attention to the bulletin board every morning on his way to the Blacksmith Shop. Every morning, he stops to look at all the random tasks the villagers need for just a few minutes longer than normal. One morning while he looks through the notes, he sighs and says to himself, “I guess she's not back yet. . .”

He quickly realizes what he is saying then slaps himself. He wonders if it’s Yue he is thinking about. He tries to tell himself that it's not true. He whispers that he dislikes Yue and that there's no way that he can be worried about her. So he rushes over to the blacksmith shop and begins to work. Tanya notices but doesn't mention that there has been an unusual change in Jake's behavior. Jake is more relaxed and calm than before. He doesn't get upset when customers mention Cecilia or Kyle. Often times when there are visitors, Jake would be the first person looking up to see who is at the door. Tanya often wonders if Jake is expecting Yue to come by again.

About a week after Yue left with her new kimono, Jake passes through the De Sainte-Coquille Park like he usually does in the morning. He stops at the bulletin board to see if there are any new requests that he can take. His attention is quickly absorbed by a small message signed by Yue.

To Anyone:
I have a small problem, and I need to talk to someone.
-Yue

Jake sighs and looks away. He expected a job that requires his skills as a swordsman. But all Yue needs is someone to talk to, not borrow his skills. He doesn't see any other notes that he is interested in, so he turns towards the Blacksmith Shop and walks away. Once again, something in the back of his head begins to bother him. He doesn't understand what's bothering him, he already repaid his debt to Yue, so there is no reason he should feel obligated to take up her simple request. He asks himself why can't he just ignore the message and walk away? Just thinking about the possible answers frustrates him. If he leaves the message unanswered, he knows that it will bother him for the rest of the day.

He walks back to the bulletin board and takes the note. He stares at it closely for a minute and says, “I'm just going to listen. . . That's all I'm going to do. . .”

He then takes a look around and realizes that he has no idea where Yue may be. In the last request, Yue wrote that she was waiting in Blessia Island. This time, the message is small and doesn't say where can she be found. Yue is not the type who stays in a single place for too long, and she never has an actual pattern as to where she waits for customers. It frustrates him to admit, but he will need the help of another human to find her. He heads south to the Alvarna Port where the dock is located. On the west side of the port is a young woman who can tell Jake where Yue is.

This young woman is Alicia, the fortune teller of Alvarna. Even though she claims to be a fortune teller, most of her predictions are dead wrong. She does have a habit of making some of her predictions come true. But even with such a reputation under her belt, she does have some mysterious and unusual abilities. She can tell the weather for the next day, and even has the power to change it. She has an unusual ability to know where everyone is, and how do they feel about one another. Even with these strange and mysterious abilities, Jake has not once used her services before. Jake and Alicia were born and grew up in Alvarna together. For as long as he has known her, he has never spoken to her. Even for a human, Jake has always found her to be strange and creepy. As a child, Alicia has always had her unusual abilities.

As an adult, Alicia has taken her strange habit to the next level. Now she is dressed like a witch with a pointed hat and dress. Some people claim that Alicia has dual colored eyes, while others say that the difference between her left and right eye is so slight that it cannot count as different colors. She has long pink hair which is rare for humans. Her brother has more of a light purple color in his hair, most likely from his father. What disturbs Jake the most is her witch dress, which may be too revealing for most people’s taste. Alicia has an excellent body figure that makes every other women whine with envy. She has no problem or shame to show off as much of her beautiful body as possible without walking around naked.

As much as Jake would like to avoid the fortune telling, he is in a hurry. He doesn't have enough time to search every corner of Alvarna in order to find Yue. So he swallows his pride, and goes to Alicia in order to help him find Yue quickly. He finds Alicia at the port waiting for customers like she always does. He walks up to her with the most annoyed look he can make, and yells, “hey!!” while flipping a 20 gold piece coin at her. “Tell me where the merchant human is!”

Alicia catches the coin in mid air and says, “you mean Yue, am I correct? Just one moment and I'll find out for you.” She then closes her eyes, and places her hands on the sides of her head to chant, “Hollyhalla! Jami-la-la! Wahala!!!” After a few seconds of thinking, she continues, “hmm. . . I can see it! I see it clearly! . . . Yue is at Alvarna - North Square. No doubt about it!”

Jake nods and heads north without saying anything else. Alicia then sighs and says, “well, that was rude. Would a simple 'thank you' kill him?” She then flips her coin in the air, and catches it saying, “well, as long as he paid me, that's all I care about!”

The Alvarna North Square is just north of the De Sainte-Coquille Park. The square connects to the farm, the Cherry Blossom Square, the Park, and the roads further north that leads to the monster infested areas. Yue believes that she may get a few customers waiting there who need supplies. Other than a connection between some popular areas, there is nothing there other than Kyle's barn where he keeps his befriended monsters. Jake quickly finds Yue standing close to the road leading to the monster infested areas. He sighs and asks himself, “what am I doing? I said that I would be doing her no more favors, but here I am like an idiot. Oh well, lets get this over with so I can get on with my life . . .”

He slowly walks up to Yue. This time, she is not wearing the kimono that she made recently. He doesn't greet her, or says hi. He only waits until he is noticed instead. It doesn't take long before Yue notices Jake walking towards her. At first, she feels that he may be just walking past her and going for some training. As soon as he gets close, Yue says, “hi there Jake. Are you headed over to Trieste Forest again? Or maybe to Messhina Valley? If you are going into Padova Mountains, I have some hot milk that would keep you warm, guaranteed!”

Jake doesn't say anything in response. He only pulls out the note Yue left at the bulletin board and shows it to her. Yue then takes a quick look at the note then back at Jake. “Oh, you're here about my request?”

Jake sighs and answers, “I'm just going to listen. . . That's all!” He then walks over to a nearby lamp post and sits at it’s base saying, “go ahead, start talking. I'm listening.”

Yue feels happy that Jake answered her request. She was hoping that it would be him when she pinned the request up even though she wrote that anyone could take up the request. She really does have a problem, so she is willing to talk to anyone, but the one person she wanted to talk to was him. Yue doesn't want Jake to await too long before she starts her story. She sighs deeply and begins, “I'm having some trouble in another town. . .”

The first line has already caught Jake's interest. If the story was going to be dull or boring, he would have just ignored her and drift off into a daydream. He sits up and pays attention instead.

Yue closes her eyes and continues, “you see, I created a new kimono so that I could attract more customers. It seem to work, but I think I bit off more than I can chew. There is this guy who lives in one of the town where I sell my goods at. It’s a busy industrial town filled with factories and hungry laborers. I go there a lot because there are a lot of people going to work in the morning and afternoons, so they depend on some of my cooking for a meal. But there is this one guy who's been bothering me a lot lately.

“He is a rich snob. His family owns a successful business, and he has never even seen a day's honest work in his life. Because of this, he spends his time flirting with girls all day. But when I made that kimono, he has been flirting especially with me. He will not leave me alone. Sometimes he even chases me around town. He once grabbed me aggressively, I felt so threatened!”

Seeing the painful and scared look on Yue's face worries him. Like instinct, he unsheathes his sword and checks how sharp it is. Yue shrieks, panicking while trying to figure out what he is planning to do with his sword. Jake then looks at her with a serious face and says, “so, shall I kill this human for you?”

Yue shakes her head frantically yelling, “no, no, no, no!! I don't want you to do that!!”

Jake lets out a disappointed sigh and sheathes his sword. He then asks, “then what do you want me to do?”

Yue sighs in relief then says, “I don't need you to do anything. . . I just wanted someone to talk to. Maybe I can get some advice on what to do. I really don't want to go back to that town if he keeps bothering me. But then I might lose so much business. . . I just don't know what else I can do.”

Jake rolls his eyes in disbelief. It would be easy to just go there and rid Yue of her problem. But humans always feel that no one has the right to take another human's life, even if they have done you wrong. Elves have a code of honor, and violating that code means death, human or not. Seeing that Yue doesn't want him to do something drastic, he feels that a more “Humanlike” plan is in order. So he looks at Yue, and says, “if he likes you so much, then maybe you should just tell him that you're not available.”

Yue looks back at Jake with interest and asks, “you think that'll work? But how do I do that?”

“Buy an engagement ring!” answered Jake. He then looks away and continues, “if you tell him that you're engaged, then there is nothing that he can do to you. I'm sure you know that there are laws that protects engaged or married females.”

Yue gasps happily, and jumps for joy. “Yes! That's a great idea! I could go out and buy a really nice ring and. . . Oh wait.” Yue then pulls out an abacus out of her backpack and starts moving some beads up and down. She calculates the cost of an engagement ring and compares it to her usual earnings to see how much she can afford. After doing her math, she sighs and says, “I'm sorry, but I don't think that will work.”

“Why not?” asked Jake curiously.

She lowers her abacus, and says, “well, I would need an expensive and fancy engagement ring. If I use an ordinary ring, that would not impress him enough to leave me alone. I need to show him that I'm engaged to someone equally as powerful as he is, or he might try to buy me out. And when he finds out that I'm not really engaged, things will only get worse for me.”

Jake sighs and asks, “just how much is an engagement ring that's good enough worth?”

Yue starts moving some beads around once again, and answers, “I would need about 1,000 gold in order to afford something good enough. But it would take me a long time to gather that much money.” A bag full of money suddenly falls into her hands. She looks inside the bag and finds that there is more than enough money to afford any engagement ring Yue can get her hands on. Yue wants to say something to Jake, but he is already gone from the lamp post. She then looks south and sees him heading back to the park.

Before Yue has a chance to say anything, Jake yells, “Don't say anything! Just. . . Pay me back. . . Whenever you can. . .”

Yue nods cheerfully and yells, “thank you Jake! I'm glad that it was you who took up my request!”

Jake remains quiet until he arrives at the Blacksmith Shop. He doesn't bother to ask himself why did he did that. All he knows is that he doesn't need the money, so he only used it so that he wouldn't feel useless with Yue's problem. Other than that, he tries not to think about it, even trying forget that he did something nice for her. After he arrives at the Blacksmith's shop, Tanya stops him and yells, “your late! What kept you this time!?”

Jake sighs and passes by her answering, “it's none of your business. If you have a problem with me coming late, then go ahead and fire me! I'll just find a new blacksmith to study under.”

Tanya turns around, and watches Jake return to the anvil to start his job like if nothing happened. She wants to say something to him, but she knows that keeping him under control is practically impossible. As he begins to work, she quickly notices that something is off. She notices that Jake is missing his money sack. She smirks and walks to him slowly. Pretending that she doesn't know anything, she asks, “you know, something is different today. I don't hear the sound of small golden coins ringing together as you walked in.”

“It must be your imagination,” said Jake as he pulls out a hot metal piece out of the furnace.

Tanya remains quiet and continues to watch him. She knows that Jake has something on his mind, but he's trying his best to hide it. When his attention is distracted, Tanya smacks him on his bottom causing him to jump out of shock. Jake then turns around and yells, “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!!!”

Tanya nods cheerfully and asks, “I knew it. Your money sack is gone! What happened to it? Did you lose it on your way here?”

Jake's face turns red out of embarrassment and answers, “I. . . Lent it to someone.”

Tanya smirks fiendishly and places a hand on her chin staring at Jake. “So, Who could you have possibly lent that big sack of money to? There are no other elves in Alvarna, and I know that your father doesn't need your money. So it has to be a human. . . Could it have been Yue?”

Jake's face turns even redder. He then turns around, and grabs his blacksmith's hammer yelling, “I only did her a favor! Just one! That's it! I'm not going to do anymore favors, so just leave me alone, and let me do my job!”

Jake then continues his job, face as red as a tomato. At this point, Tanya feels that Jake may be vulnerable. There are so many things that she wants to ask him, but with his attitude towards other people, she can hardly get a word out of him. She takes a seat nearby and asks, “Jake, let me ask you something. . . Why do you want to be a blacksmith so much?”

Jake stops hitting the metal, and thinks about his answer. He knows why, but he doesn't want to say it. So Tanya continues to ask, “it's not like you need money. Your father owns an inn. I know that he has some slow days, but he makes more than enough to live comfortably. I pay you every week, but you never spend the money. Your money sack just grows a bit more every week. If you don't have to work, then why do it?”

Jake places the hammer on the anvil, the metal he planned to work on has already cooled off. He then tilts his head down and says, “because I want to be strong. I don't want to be weak like you petty humans, I want to be an elf. Elves are tough, they never run away. I don't want to be half human, I want to be a full blooded elf!”

Tanya sighs and says, “you know, not all humans are weak. Some humans are even stronger and braver than elves. Some humans are kind, others are cruel. Some are brave, others are cowards. Some are chivalrous, others are not. What makes humans so great is that each and every one of us are different in some way. I'm sure that you feel that way about humans too, but you will never admit it. Take me for example. Am I the same as some of the other women in Alvarna? Am I the same as Alicia? Of course not, she's way different, almost strange. But what about Yue? I'm sure that Yue is very different than anyone you've met.”

“What's your point?” demanded Jake.

Tanya sighs and answers, “I'm just trying to say that you should give humans a chance. We're not all bad people. When you get to know us better, you may be proud to be as much human as you are an elf.”

Jake takes a moment to think about what Tanya is trying to say. In the end, Jake just looks at Tanya and yells, “I will never give humans a chance! I have made up my mind, and you cannot change that!”

He then picks up the forceps and places the cool metal back into the furnace. Tanya tried her best to make Jake understand that he cannot just pretend that he has no human blood in him. Even though she failed, she feels that maybe Yue can help him understand that with time.