Quinn hated good-byes. They were the way of telling someone "Well, take a good look at the people you're talking to. It's gonna be a long time until you see them again."
And when the people in question were his own grandparents...
He sighed.
...not that saying goodbye to Roine and Julia later would be much easier.
His grandmother did, between sniffles, remind him to, as he expected she would, eat right, dress according to the weather and everything else maternal parents usually had a habit of doing. His grandfather did, not surprisingly, look at him with the look he usually had when he was saying goodbye to his grandson. It pretty much said: "You'll be okay, son."
He hefted the sack Gowan had packed the day before on his back, and grabbed his sword. And as he fastened it to his back alongside the sack, its hilt easily accessible over his right shoulder, he turned to his grandparents.
"Well, this is it, I guess." he stated, looking at them both. His grandfather, Gowan, with ever the thoughtful look in his eyes, only marred by concern for his one and only grandson, and Maria, his grandmother, who looked just plain worried. And as he turned and departed, he could hear his grandfather shout:
"Take care, son. Remember what Yu-Shan taught you. It will serve you well, now that you travel alone."
Yu-Shan had been his martial arts teacher from the days where they lived just a little stretch on the outskirts of the plains west of Horam, the city of martial arts. Yu-Shan did not, like the others, have a dojo there, neither did he normally take on students to his unusually unorthodox style of martial arts. The goddess only knew to this very day why he chose the boy that bore the name Quinlan, and took him as his student. It puzzled a lot of people, seeing as he had been firm in his choice not to take on any other student that had come his way, asking for his tutelage in the arts.
Quinn had truly enjoyed the lessons.
Yu-Shan had seen him one day, as he watched a group of boys practice karate from the window in a dojo, the one of many that had been the main attraction to the city. And he had walked over.
"So, you wish to train in the martial arts, boy?"
"Yeah." he had answered wistfully.
"Why?"
"'Cause I want to be good at it." the boy had answered, not taking even a second to think about it.
"Do you want to be the best ?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Nah, I don't care about that. I just want to be as good as I can." he had replied, as he turned back to watch the practicing troop.
Yu-Shan didn't speak for a while after that, but just looked at the boy, deep in thought. Then, just before he left, he turned to Quinn, coughing to get his attention.
"Boy?"
"Yes?"
"Do you know where I live?"
"No."
Yu-Shan lifter his arm, and pointed to a house along the water-duct that was running through town.
"Come and see me tomorrow, boy. And bring your grandfather. Tell him that his old friend would like to see him."
And he had.
And to this day he had never regretted it.
And as Quinn, almost fourteen years later, left for Vane, he thought of his old master. And he decided that he would, if time allowed, go to Horam to see if his old master still lived there.
Quinn walked along with a rather morose look on his face as he turned to follow the river. The carnival should be set up nearby; a couple of hours worth of walking alongside it, and he should see it. He was, after all, going to see his friends.
They probably would be surprised to see him, since he usually came by at Althena's day, when no one worked anyway. Well, except for the traders and, obviously, the people at the carnival.
So, as he came upon the river, he headed west.
He was lucky with the weather, he supposed. The sun was shining easily as bright as yesterday, although it was a bit more cloudy today, he surmised. Good thing there were no rain, though. That would have done wonders with his mood. He smiled a bit at that. It felt good.
Yep, he was definitely gonna drop by the carnival.
The splash he heard from the river caught his attention for a while. It would seem the fishing was good. At least, he thought, for whoever felt like spending the day with a stick in his hands. Quinn didn't care much for fish, nor for the task of acquiring it without the aid of silver.
*You're safe from me, at least.*
He turned his head back to the front, as his attention returned to the trip, and... wasn't that a flag he saw right over those hills ? It would seem like they had decided to set up the carnival a bit farther up this year. He decided to pick up the speed a little, shortening the time for him to reach the top of the hill. And, as he went along, the top of tents and huts and stands in a myriad of colors and patterns would appear over the 'horizon'.
Indeed it was the carnival.
"Quinn..." Roine's voice was easily recognizable enough, the same cheery tone as ever. "What in the world? You take a few days extra off? And what's with the travelling sack? I didn't think this was the time of the year that you traveled to Nota. Hey, where's your gramps, by the way?"
Good, old motor-mouth. Nice to see that some things never changed.
"Let's go find Julia, and I'll tell you both." Roine did not miss the brooding tone in Quinn's voice.
And together they walked to the back of the carnival, where all the wagons and equipment stood, and the general public usually weren't allowed to go. Usually. Roine, true to his nickname, immediately began telling him of the latest news from the carnival life. Although an eager talker, Roine wasn't a particular loud one, so he didn't miss the greetings that came from everywhere within the carnival grounds as they made their way to the back, and to the wagons they used while traveling.
"Hi, Quinn."
"Heya, Quinn."
"Greetings, Quinlon-san."
"Mornin' Quinn."
Most of the people there knew Quinn, or at least knew who he was. This, mostly credited to Roine, Julia or both bringing him 'backstage' for a talk, tea or both, today being no different.
The thing about the carnival was the fact that it not only had visitors from the entire world of Lunar, but also performers of all kinds and races. The good thing about that was that it effectively killed off any assumptions of how people were in all the different corners of the world. It was a place where stories were told, music was played, dances were performed, and everyone were enjoying each others company, no matter what appearance or ethnical background they had.
It was another reason why Quinn loved the carnival.
"Quinn..." this time it was Julia's voice rising above the rest.
"Jeez. If I had a silver for each time someone has mentioned my name today..." Quinn smiled.
"Oh hush up." Julia answered waving a hand dismissingly "What's this? A traveling sack? And where are we heading now, pray tell?"
Good, old Julia. Always straight to the point.
Quinn's face lost it's smile, and he sighed. "Why don't we go inside, and I'll tell you. Besides, I could really use a cup of your special tea, now."
Quinn stared at the cup, or rather, at the steam slowly rising from the herbal tea which just seconds ago were poured into it. It rose up a couple of inches, did some sort of a lasso hoop, and continued straight up.
He sighed, and took a sip.
"I'm heading for Vane. Which means I'm not gonna see you for a while." *Maybe not ever.* He looked at them both.
Roine did, quite expectedly, start off asking a lot of questions. Mostly of the "what", "where", "when" persuasion. As in: "What?", "Where were you going?" and "When will you be coming back?"
Julia slapped him in the back of his head before turning to Quinn.
"You had another one, didn't you?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Yes."
"Bad?"
"Let's just say I wasn't in any shape to run the Meribia marathon."
"Still the joker-on-your-deathbed, I see." Julia gave him a lopsided grin. "I can't remember you ever participating in that one, anyway. Not in the three years we've known you."
"At least I was in shape for it."
Julia rolled her eyes, and Roine snickered.
"Well, drink your tea, buster. When you're done, we have a treat for you. Consider it a going away gift."
"And a preview of a coming attraction." Roine chirped in.
To tell anyone the truth, Quinn was a bit curious. Oh, he guessed they had made a new song. That was obvious enough. They were rarely so ecstatic about it, though. This was probably going to be good.
It surprised Quinn a bit to see Julia place herself behind the piano. She had, to Quinn's knowledge never played the piano in her entire life, preferring the flute. At least he had never seen her do that before. But then, he hadn't seen them for quite a while.
Not since they were travelling through the Madoria plains, heading south towards Vega, the city of gambling.
And that was about a month ago.
Quinn's attention wandered back to the musicians who had just begun playing. It was only Roine at first, his fingers dancing nimbly along the neck of the guitar he was probably born playing. It started out easy enough, light in mood, and as it went along, Roine started singing.
He had a surprisingly good singing voice.
This had caught a lot of the regulars at the carnival completely off guard, not to mention the new faces occasionally seen around the music stage. That there were someone almost to rival the goddess in singing abilities, never mind a male person having a go in a profession so clearly female-dominated, was no small task to take on. The fact that he sung so well, and had the willpower to persevere through the trouble of getting people to accept it.
As the last line reached its end, Julia's playing started, adding to Roine's guitar, and the song itself. Quinn's attention returned to the song.
Then the song picked up a little on the speed and intensity. Roine played, Julia played, and Quinn leaned himself back in the chair he was occupying at the moment, preparing to enjoy it to the fullest.
And the singing began in earnest.
Quinn was a bit surprised in the change of pace. And as the song went along, Quinn noticed that not only had it picked up in the speed and intensity department, but the song itself had changed quite a lot. A new song, almost. But they had never stopped playing. That, Quinn thought, was interesting.
And the song went into another lull, as time went by. Quinn closed his eyes and relaxed, smiling.
"So... what do you think?" Roine was eagerly awaiting feedback, although he looked a bit anxious.
"It... That has got to be the greatest I've ever heard from you." Quinn still had that awed expression on his face, although he almost burst into knee-slapping laughter when he saw the sheer relief in Roine's face.
But he had meant it. The song had continued for quite a while, changing its sound and style on certain occasions. And Quinn had enjoyed every second of it. That Roine knew how to sing, didn't surprise Quinn in the slightest. Not anymore, at least. His song writing abilities was also up there, along with the best Lunar had to offer. Quinn was of the strong opinion that the carnival was where Roine belonged, no matter what anyone might say.
"It needs another guitar, though. And drums, that goes without saying..." Roine trailed off, as his thoughts returned to the music.
"Roine!!!" Julia almost shouted, mock anger in her voice. "Where are your manners ? For the love of Althena, I ought to bonk you a good one right now."
"Once a musician, always a musician." Quinn had an earsplitting grin by now. "Just let him be. I guess I better get going, if I'm to reach Nota by day."
"We'll see you again soon, right?" Julia gave him a piercing stare, although Quinn could see the humor behind them.
"Sure, I guess." Quinn scratched the back of his head, looking a bit sheepish.
Roine chose that moment to suddenly pop up right behind Julia, grasping her shoulders, his head visible over her right one.
"Well, when you do come back, we'll put on a show for you that'll knock your socks off," he said, changing his voice to sound a bit more commercial and business-like.
"Now, now, Roine dear. Don't make idle promises." Julia shook her finger admonishingly at Roine.
"Who? Me?" The mock surprise in Roine's face and voice was almost enough to crack both Quinn and Julia up. "Since when have I ever done anything like that?" he said, hands on hips and an indignant look on his face, though barely able to suppress a grin.
"Promise me you'll never change." Quinn said, as he reached for his sack, shoulders still shaking with mirth.
"We try, don't we, dear?" Roine shot in, looking over at Julia, smiling the strangest grin Quinn had ever seen.
"Oh, most definitely." Julia nodded her agreement, a matching grin on her lips. The looks on their faces were priceless.
And as they nodded in tandem, looking over at Quinn, he sputtered and laughed out loud.
"Like I said, don't you ever change," Quinn told them, after having recollected himself.
"Waaht, you want more, still?" Roine's voice took on a rather strange accent, dragging the 'a's, and rolling the 'r's rather heavily.
"Dis man, he never get enough," Julia said, in the same broken accent. "Oi vey." They looked at each other, and shook their heads.
"Okay, okay," Quinn said, laughing still. "Enough, already! I'll get my ass in gear and go. Jeez."
He hefted his sack on his back, and proceeded, yet again, on his journey to Vane.
But, for once, he was in a good mood. One could always thrust Roine and Julia to lift his spirit, no matter how far down it was.
After putting some distance between himself and the carnival, he turned around and looked back.
Yep, they were still standing there looking in his general direction. He waved at them.
And they waved back.