Adinaa points in a panic at the floating white orb. "Tom, what' happening? Have we failed? Is this the end for us?" Adinaa is looking at Tom despondent.
Andee jumps to his feet. "Mom, calm down. It's OK." And grabs her in a hug. "It's fine."
"No, no it's not fine. Everything we've done is unraveling." And she runs off into her bedroom.
Andee, a bit taken aback, turns to Tom. "What's she talking about?"
"She's upset. All this tech, and the stuff you two are up to, it's got me real concerned too. I told you that orb was dangerous. I had no idea it could do that. Now imagine how your mom feels, seeing that Bitani appear in your house, and he could see her. I don't like that thing."
Mykee's eyes are moving fast between Old Tom and Andee and he looks concerned. "I'm not letting you guys take Lykon away from me. No way. He's the best friend I've ever had, and I'm learning so much. No way."
"For now just power it down, completely. And, burry it in the linen chest in our room until we sort this out." Andee orders his little brother.
Mykee rushes with the white orb to their bedroom. Andee turns to Tom. "All right, lets clear the air. Why did you react like that when I said his name was Husarii?"
"Not here. In my shed."
"Andee, we still have to get that cloth for my aunt." Nayaa interjects.
"I forgot about that. All right. We'll come by your shed later. I'll meet up with Ricio first and see what he wants, but when we meet in your shed, everything comes out on the table." Andee drives his point with hard eyes. Old Tom nods in agreement.
Andee and Nayaa are in the West Market. It's busy as usual. All kinds of people milling about. Alcamas and their carts hauling stuffs. Stalls and their sellers pitching their goods. Pure organized mayhem. Andee and Nayaa are off to the side from the mayhem, leaning against an adobe wall. They are by the entrance of one of the many industrial row shops there.
"My aunt is pissed at me because I didn't get her cloth yesterday. Or any berry-fizz."
"Did you tell her what happened?"
"Yeah, but she doesn't care. She didn't see me hurt, so like usual, she said it was my fault." Nayaa counters with a sad pout.
"I'll tell her."
"What's the point, she doesn't care. It's why I went after the berry-fizz in the first place. She needs it for her customers. That's why she has so many now, ooohhh-free stuff, and she's behind on the work."
"Send some over to my mom. She's really good at making clothes, but she hasn't had any orders in a while."
"I will. But now I need to get that cloth, to get her off my back."
Andee nods. "What's taking them so long?" He asks getting inpatient.
"I'll check again." But as Nayaa lifts off the wall to head for the entrance, she makes eye contact with a large man, about 20 meters away and staring at her. She turns military style to the left, snatching her head around and heads for the door, but then stops. She snatches round to the right, one-eighty, and walks back to Andee.
"That fat guy's been staring at us the whole time."
"I noticed."
"What's his deal?"
"Ask him."
"I will. He's getting on my nerves. And if he's working for the blue guy..." Nayaa retorts then spins towards the big man, again snatching her head round just fast enough to see a blue streak out of the corner of her eye, if it's there. But no blue streak, just the man. He is both tall and fat, and standing next to an over-packed alcama. She walks towards him holding eye contact, forcibly staring him down, but he won't break gaze. She's a bit surprised. She's used to forcing people's eyes away with her steely glare, so she snatches her head back to Andee who's leaning against the wall. He shrugs his bewilderment at her now that that it's obvious the large man is focused on Nayaa. Andee then snatches his head to the left than right. No sign of blue anywhere.
Nayaa stops about six meters from the big man. Does a quick left to right, no blue. "What do you want fat man?"
"I want that Parzor staff of yours." Pointing at her weapon. Nayaa taken aback looks over to Andee. He is equally surprised, and focuses a hard glare at the man.
"So you work for the man in blue?" Nayaa asks glaring at the fat guy.
He frowns. "I work for no man. Men work for me." And glares back at her with pride and an ego bigger than himself.
Nayaa twirls her lips to the side. The man seem to sincerely not know what she's talking about.
"Then how do you know about Parza?"
"I know Parzor staffs belong to Parzor Warriors, and they're usually not little girls." Nayaa turns to Andee again, this time her expression intonating; at first confusion, followed by, 'here we go again'.
"Ha-ha-ha." The man laughs with jolly. "You're not the first poser I've come across. You're just a kid so you probably don't know. Before the purge, many men walked around with antique Parzor staffs like that." Pointing to Nayaa's weapon. She frowns even more confused. "Oh-that's right little girl. You're not the first to think you could intimidate people by walking around with one of those." Nayaa looks back to Andee for a clue. He shrugs his shoulders with wide eyes. Doesn't know what this guy is talking about.
She grabs her staff and snaps it open in a flash. The man reacts a bit surprised, but not concerned.
"So you've seen many of these before?" Nayaa asks with sincere curiosity.
"I have, and I'm not intimidated by a little girl with an old wooden stick."
"This little girl is a... Parz-a! Master herself." Nayaa emphasizes the correct pronunciation of her art.
"Really? You? A Parzor Warrior?" The man's belly bounces with his jolly laugh. "Than do your thing. Vanish." Nayaa frowns, once again surprised by his statement. She looks back to Andee. This time he jumps off the wall and leans forward, concentrating on the man who continues. "Just as I though. You stole that from some antique dealer, didn't you? Why don't you hand it to me. Along with all your credits, before you get hurt."
"Why do you want it fat man? It's too big for you to use as a toothpick... I think." Nayaa counters, her old self emerging.
The large overconfident man laughs with a jiggle of his fat belly. "They're valuable. They can fetch a mighty credit from the Bitani, if you know who the right buyers are."
"Really?" Nayaa responds genuinely surprised.
"Really, now hand it over."
"Your really want it? Like, you really want me to give it to you?" Nayaa's becoming more and more her natural self. The big man nods with a satisfied smirk. "Oh-kay. If that's what you really want. Why not? Sure. I'm in no mood to argue today. Here you go." She folds the staff and holds it out.
The fat man nods satisfied with himself and approaches waddling on his long legs, set wide apart by all his inner thigh fat. Around them an audience is forming. The man stops in front of Nayaa and reaches out to grab the folded staff, but Nayaa gently drops it between his spread out legs.
"Woops. What do you think fat man? Can you bend over and pick that up without falling on your face?" She asks with her toothy grin. The tall fat man snarls at her, but leans down to grab it. With him now bent over, Nayaa grabs his coat lapels, and swiftly drops-then-slides down under him, her weight pulling the man forward. She swings from the momentum clear under his crotch, grabs her staff, and is back on her feet behind him, fast enough to watch the man fall face first into the dirt. His big fat butt is up in the air. The growing crowd is howling with laughter.
The man struggles to get up at first. Nayaa snaps her staff open and whacks his butt. The enraged man grunts and leaps up so fast it's as if he left 100 kilos behind in his outrage. He spins to face Nayaa. He stares at her with murder in his eyes--from under all the orange dirt on his face. Nayaa on the other hand is looking at him with a goofy smirk, casually twirling her hair looking bored. The man is breathing like a bull, too steaming mad to speak the first few seconds.
"Did you fall? Or were you so hungry... you just had to eat dirt." Nayaa teases him with a mocking tone. Most of the audience howls with laughter, but som
e are starting to act concerned shouting warnings at Nayaa to be careful with this guy.
"You want to play little girl? I'll show you a game, with my blade." The man snarls, thick and throaty, while grinding his teeth which are also orange with dirt. He waddles as fast as he can to his overloaded alcama, then draws a huge curved sword from the pack. It's at least a meter and a half in length with the blade widest near the tip. It looks heavy and formidable but the man yields it with ease. "Now hand me that damned stick, or I'll cut you to pieces."
"Wow, that is a humongous knife!" Nayaa reacts genuinely shocked. "You must have really giant vegetables where you live. Is that why you're so big?" The audience giggles nervously, but most people are staring at Nayaa dumbfounded and shocked. 'Hey! That's Fat Mo. He's dangerous.' Several people from the crowd warn Nayaa. Apparently this man is well known and feared in this market, but Nayaa is unconcerned. She's not done playing with her new friend.
"This is not a knife child. This is a sword."
"Don't you know that metal weapons are forbidden? If the Bitani find out you have one of those... they might put you on a diet. You sure you could handle that?"
"You're a funny one. It's going to be a shame to cut you down. So be it." The man starts swirling his weapon to show off his skills. He may be a fat giant, but his hands are quite dexterous. The sword flies in figure eight loops so fast the blade is blended into a blur. He suddenly stops.
"Wow, that was impressive. For a fat dude you're pretty