Megimi walked into the village, blushing furiously as she held Gosha's shirt at the hem to try and get it as low as she could. She didn’t like the idea of people looking at her the way they were. The men that were rushing everywhere just stopped in their work to stare at her.

Crates were piled around, and she recognised her father’s emblem emblazoned on the side. There was nothing valuable in them, but her eyes walked over all the boxes as she went by anyway.

She turned her head back to look at the crate she just passed and gasped with glee. She let go of the shirt and clapped her hands together as she rushed over to where a number of girls and women were sifting through a pile of clothes. She pushed with her elbows and caused a number of disgruntled curses to follow her as she made her way to the front of the pack. Once there she started grabbing pieces of clothing others were holding.

"Give them back! They're mine!" She shouted as the women fought her for the clothes.

"I found this piece first, go find your own!" the woman screeched back at her.

"Hey, you, that’s not yours," Megimi reached over and grabbed another piece of clothing someone was trying to get away with.

"Let go, bitch," the woman dug her heels into the ground and pulled against Megimi.

All Megimi could do was let go of the dresses as her arms were dragged in different directions while she held tight.

Falling to her knees she started sobbing.

"It’s alright girl," another woman said as she pat Megimi on the shoulder, "there’s plenty of clothes to go around. I just hope I find something that fits."

The woman pushed past Megimi, sobbing on the ground, and started rummaging through clothes.

Something soft landed on her head. She opened her eyes and noticed the soft yellow colour of one of her favourite dresses. She held it in her hands and just rubbed her fingers together, feeling the silky smooth material.

"Why don’t you go into that house there and try it on darling?" The woman who had pat her pointed to a building just next to them, "That’s where the others are trying stuff on. Don’t be shy."

Megimi stood mechanically and shuffled into the room where all the women and girls were trying on all of her clothes. It was so degrading to be handed a piece of her own clothing as if she should be privileged to receive it. It was already hers. She pulled Gosha's shirt off anyway and threw it into a corner. She listened to what the others in the room were muttering about as she pulled on the dress.

"Wow, this girl must have been skinny," said one woman that Megimi thought could have been the twin sister of the cow she passed on the way into the village.

"It’s a little long, but you will grow into it sweetie," commented another woman to a young girl. The skirt she was trying on was supposed to stop at the knees but it dragged along the ground.

"Wow, whoever she was, she must have been rich. These clothes are so expensive," the woman saying this had just dragged the dress through the dirt to be in here, and it was almost ruined from the effort.

"The boys didn’t get as lucky," a girl said as she tried on a dress that fit her for length, but was too big around her bust.

"You need to grow some breasts honey, to fill that dress out properly."

Laughter echoed through the room but Megimi ignored that. Depression crept up on her to see such finery ruined by the women of this village.

"Hmmm, that’s a good fit," the voice seemed distant to Megimi.

She continued to tie the dress up properly when it spoke again. She realised then that they were talking to her.

"I said that’s a good fit honey. Hey girls, we found someone who actually fits the clothes."

Megimi looked up as the women in the room all turned to look at her. The girl with the knee length skirt spoke in a high pitch voice between all the ooo's and aaa's.

"It fits me too."

Megimi snapped then. She looked at the girl with eyes full of fire. The tears had stopped, but the streaks were evident where they had run down her face. Suddenly she let out a wail, then started screaming at the women and girls in the room.

"NO IT DOESN’T! Can’t you even tell when a skirt is supposed to stop at your knees? Of course these clothes fit me. They are MINE!"

"Calm down girl," the woman who had brought all their attention to her spoke softly, "we all get an item. It’s the rules of the salvage. You should know that by now," the woman’s eyebrow raised, "but, I don’t recognise you. You’re from this village right?"

"NO YOU DON’T GET ANY! They are MINE! My father had them all order for me from a dressmaker. They were all hand-crafted to fit me by the most skilled artisans of the Sunward City. Don’t even try to patronise me with your words. You don’t know anything here. That boy from before didn’t even know who I was..." Megimi sat down on the floor and rubbed her eyes as the tears started flowing again.

"Oh my," said the woman as she picked up the shirt Hi has thrown into the corner, "This is Gosha's shirt. Where did you get this from girl?"

"From Ho Gosha. He gave it to me when he found me at the crash."

"You were in the crash? Oh my, then that means this really is... And that makes you... I recognised the emblem, but not you. Not the way you came into town. But, we do have a question. Did Gosha come back with you? The men say he wasn’t at the crash site. A number of the young women are worried about him."

Megimi sniffed loudly, "He's fine. Sort of. He's not here though. I need... I need to see his Grandpa."

"I'll go get him for you," the woman went to the door and turned around to the others, "Maybe we should put the clothes back, ladies. The owner is here..."

"No, keep them. They aren’t any good to me anymore anyway covered in dust the way they are."

"Maybe you should come with me Miss Megimi, we'll go find Gosha's Grandpa."

It didn’t take the two of them long to find Gosha's Grandpa. He was on the edge of the village watching the forest. Megimi kept her eyes averted from all the scavenging as she walked through the centre of town again. She couldn’t bear to witness what was happening to all her stuff. When they found the old man he was sitting on a fence post. The woman went over to him and whispered in his ear.

The old man turned around to face her, then nimbly jumped from the post and came over to hug her. He was shorter than she was and she nearly laughed, but that would be rude to her elders.

"So you know what happened to Ho? Please tell me Miss Megimi. I must know," there were tears of love streaming down the old mans wrinkled face.

"Gosha is fine good sir. He found me at the crash site and then proceeded to rescue me from bandits which appeared."

"Yes yes, that would explain why they couldn’t find him. And why there were so many crossbow bolts."

"But sir, he is not coming back."

"Then maybe he has discovered he isn’t really related to me and is running away..."

"That’s not it sir. He said to tell you that he wouldn’t be..."

"He is very noble. Saving the Megimi heir from bandits. Maybe he has run off to try and save another damsel in distress. I hope he doesn’t make a habit off it..."

"You not listening are you sir?"

"Then what is it Miss Megimi," the old man’s voice was soft and full of desperation. Megimi turned her face away.

"I cannot tell you. He thinks you will look at him differently."

"I don’t think there’s anything that could make me look differently at him, why don’t you tell me."

Megimi looked across at the woman who was still standing there and waiting for news of Gosha. She raised her eyebrow slightly and the old man noticed where she was looking.

"Let’s talk a short walk then," he let her go and started walking off into a paddock, "Sakako, please go back to the others, I won’t be long."

The woman bowed to the old man and then ran back into the village, most likely to try and grab some more clothes before they were all gone.

"Now, we are alone. Would you please tell me? There’s nothing he could have done that would make me think of him differently. Even if he killed someone, I could not see it as murder when I see what he was vying to protect," he nudged her ribs with his elbow, "He's a bit of a looker isn’t he."

Megimi blushed deeply, "And a bit cheeky sir. But you’re wrong in your thinking. Gosha didn’t harm a single person. In fact he got hurt a bit during the fight."

"He's shamed by losing a fight?"

"No sir," Megimi rubbed her hands together and started to have sweat bead on her forehead, "I find it hard to say."

"Oh, don’t tell me he wasn’t interested in you? He isn’t grazing in the wrong paddock is he? That’s not such a problem."

"Well, sir, he did seem quite interested in me. But there was this boy when we reached the tower that he seemed a bit taken with. He was quite cute too, but a different cute."

"Ah, so that is it then. He's run off with this boy?"

"Maybe, he was going back to the tower to meet him."

The old man sighed and shrugged.

"But that’s not even the reason. Gosha used some sort of magic."

The old man stopped in his tracks as she said the word.

"Are you sure?" his voice had taken on a more cautious tone.

"I saw it with my own eyes sir. This liquid stretched from his back and..."

The old man put a finger to her lips and she stopped.

"Not even out here should you so freely talk about such things. Even just to say the word within earshot of most residents of this village would have you tied to a stake. You will never mention this again. Not to anyone, do you understand?"

Megimi nodded and the old man removed his finger.

"That’s good then. We'll just tell them he ran off with a boy, at least that'll keep the girls from my door. Though they might mourn for a while," he laughed at his own joke, "But let’s get back to town before they wonder where we have got to. I'll organise with the other Elders to get you back to Sunward City."

"Thank-you sir."

"And thank you, Miss. At least I know what’s happening. The not knowing would have killed me quicker than the worrying about what mischief he's going to get up to."