The Bumpy Road to Skyhold

Life, Failure / Mishap

"Ow!"   Matsumoto Ooawagaeri felt suddenly as though his entire being was stretched, wobbled, and flapped about like an aluminum sheet in the wind. Traveling with Fujino was normally nothing more than a quick jolt followed by a flash of light and arrival at their destination. This was different. Something had gone wrong. Colors swirled in front of his eyes and his very soul seemed to strobe along with them. Then, as quickly as the experience had begun, Ooawagaeri snapped back into shape and fell bodily onto a hard wooden surface.

The erstwhile Black Blade opened his eyes. Grayish-brown wood filled his vision, bumping up and down uncomfortably and jostling him from side to side. He found his balance and stood. Dust filled the air and irritated his eyes above the mask. As his bleary vision cleared, Ooawagaeri found himself standing in the bed of a rickety wooden cart bouncing to and fro along a dry dirt road. Unremarkable scenery stretched to the horizon around him with little sign of civilization. However, he was not alone.   Sitting across from Ooawagaeri on a makeshift bench built into the side of the cart, a woman in fine traveling clothes watched him with interest. Not far away, the cart's driver shifted as well. His features were hidden by the wide-brimmed staw hat drooping around his head, but those shoulders were broad and arms muscular.   "Hey, you're finally awake," the woman said.   "Ugh," Ooawagaeri couldn't help but clutch his head. "How long was I out?"   She just shrugged, the motion eliciting an audible slosh from the drinking gourd tied conspicuously to her belt. "You seemed pretty drunk when you got on at the last town. Half a day, maybe?"   Now that was curious. Judging by the height of the sun above, it couldn't have been more than an hour since he left Wakigami Castle with Fujino. Unless, that is, this was the afternoon of a new day entirely... Had he been drinking? He didn't remember anything like that. Ooawagaeri said as much, looking himself over for any signs of wear.   "I'd offer you a hair of the dog, but I don't want to share. Sorry." The woman took a deep pull from the gourd before stoppering it once again. It took Ooawagaeri only a moment to realize the thick smell of alcohol in the air was coming from that, and not himself.   "Fair enough. Hey, what's the nearest town?" Even as he spoke aloud, Oowagaeri conducted a brief mental conversation with Fujino. Fortunately, the network still seemed to work just fine, and it had apparently only been a few minutes since he'd left. The Lady Shigeaki had arrived without him at their destination, implying something had intercepted him and him alone during the teleportation. Interesting. For the moment, he didn't have any sort of landmark to give Fujino for pickup, but Ooawagaeri was nursing a hunch about where he might be after all...   "We're heading north now, to Skystead." The woman turned and shook her gourd at the driver. "Hey gramps! How much longer?"   A dark eye glittered with annoyance under that hat before the man turned back to his task. "We'll get there by nightfall, 'least. Now stop badgerin' me. Gotta keep my eyes on the road."   What would Jericho Petalwing do? Such were Ooawagaeri's thoughts as the fullness of his situation came into focus. He realized, after a moment, that the woman was pointing to one of the weapons floating around him. Indeed, it was perhaps a bit strange that his orbiting armory hadn't elicited more of a comment before this.   "Not a bad work," she said. "You're heading there for the same reason I am then, yeah?"   "Normally I would say yes," Ooawagaeri hazarded, "But I really must speak with the Date Clan."   At that, she laughed. "Yeah, you and the rest of the kingdom. You know as well as I do that Princess Masamune won't deign to speak to anybody until they prove themselves."   "Ah." That was that hunch confirmed, then. "We should make haste, then."   "Looks like we'll be rivals, then. What's your name, stranger?"   That was a more complicated question than the woman could possibly know. "Well... I'm not sure what I should say." Then he shrugged and cast his reservations aside. "Ooawagaeri was my name. And yours?"   "Like the reed?"   "The very same."   "Mine's Hideyoshi. Pleasure to meetcha." She favored him with a roguish smile. That was a difficult name to swallow, given Ooawagaeri's history with its other owner. Still, he let none of that show on his face. Instead, he reached out and a small bunch of grapes materialized into his open palm. They glistened with a slight sheen of frost in the midday sun.   "Care for some fruit?"