Kaze: Guardians

If You Give A Man A Fish...

     "I'm tired!" Juno cried.
     "Tired?! I'm carrying you!" I grumbled, dropping him.
"Hey! You can't do that!" He protested loudly.
"And why not?"
"You don't have the right!"
"Well, you don't have the right to complain!"
"You're a jerk!"
"And you're a...huh?" The little girl had literally jumped into the middle of our argument. She growled at us.
"Uh... Right. Let's...get back on task..." Juno shuffled his feet nervously.
"Yeah. Let's just drop it..." I replied.
We walked in silence. I tried to lighten the mood for a bit, but nobody took the bait. I was just about to suggest a good old fashioned game of I-spy when we heard a voice rambling on about something unintelligible.
"Stupid fish wouldn't bite, and now some sort of hullabaloo in the woods! Stepping on my property is a federal offense, I hope they know. If not, they're about to find out! Eh...?" A bald old man with a fishing rod said, stepping into the clearing and looking at me. I easily towered above him (I'm 5' 9") and my gray jacket was in a considerably better state than the toga/tunic thing he had going on. He appeared to be somewhere in his 50s or 60s. He wore glasses, but I know for a fact they did nothing to help him. The rims were glass free. I simply stared at the crazy old fisherman.
"Sorry if this is your property, Old Fisherman. We're just--"
"Old Fisherman?! Such insolence! Why, when I was your age, the... ah... aged men held the highest of all positions in Hima!"
"When exactly were you my age?" I asked him.
"Only... Oh... Oh, we're getting off topic! You... You... Uh...I forget. Ah, Kasumi. There you are! Did this imbecile harm you, girl?" He said, turning to the silent little girl next to me. She shook her head and made a series of motions in her palm. The old man appeared to understand her.
"She must be using her palm to convey a message!" Juno said, astonished. "It's a secret language!"
"Hush, child. I need to focus, and I can't with all of that racket!" The old man said.
Juno elbowed me in the ribs. "He's not very nice, now is he?" He whispered.
"He reminds me all too much of my former master, what with all of this 'respect your elder!' stuff." I replied.
"You had a master?"
"Yes, but it's okay. I'm far away from him now. I'll never be his slave again!" He seemed confused, but believed me none the less.
     "Ah! I see!" The man said, turning to us. "Kasumi is my assistant, though in recent years she has become more like a daughter to me. Thus, you can understand my paranoia when she goes missing with no explanation! I thank you both for helping her. Now, we're still working out the bugs in our little language, but did she say you had a run-in with the Priestess?!"
     "We did! It was awesome!" Juno said, attempting to get up. I lifted him by the armpits and set him gently on his 'feet'. "Thank you much. Anyway,"
     "How about we go back to my house and you can tell me the whole story there?"
     "Yeah!"
WARNING! Things back then work differently from now. As a general rule, don't follow old men you don't know to their house. It's just a bad plan. Follow the rules your legal guardians set for you.
With the disclaimer out of the way, back to our epic tale!
     The old man's hut was a stark contrast to the magnificent quartz structures of the Eternal Kingdom. Still, it had a quaint, hand built vibe that I just couldn't hate. I smiled at the painstakingly intricate details on the furniture. "Hey," I said. "Did you make all of this yourself?" I asked.
     "A good 40 years ago! Back when I was learning the trade. I had a knack for it, and I never stopped carving until I accidentally cut this here finger off." He held up a stump of what probably was his index finger.
     "Oh. That's... So bloody..." I fake smiled.
     "Dinner is at 17:00." He said.
     "That's a time?!" I shouted. "I thought it only went up to twelve!"
     "It means 5:00 p.m." He rolled his eyes and stepped into the kitchen. I stepped outside and looked up. The sun showed me that it was already 4:30. I shrugged and headed back inside. I fully intended to get some food and hit the road ASAP. I was still on the run, after all...