River-Side Stories

River-Side Stories
Media Information
Length	Pages 188-273
Published	April 28 2007 - October 12 2008
Series Guide
Previous ← Snow Angels	Next Love and War →

River-Side Stories is the third major story chapter of Slightly Damned. This chapter details the events involving Rhea Snaketail, Buwaro Elexion and Kieri Suizahn as they travel to Riverside City to try and find Kazai Suizahn, while meeting with Heathcliff "Cliff" Sinclair and his family.

Summary

Rhea, Buwaro and Kieri are on their way east to Riverside City. As night falls, they make a stop in an abandoned shack; a statue of Mother Gaia there prompts them to talk about the Great War, a conflict that ended three hundred years ago. However, Kieri reveals that Heaven and Hell have kept fighting all this time, and that she's been trained to fight as well. The following morning, Kieri asks Rhea why Buwaro is so different from other Demons, and Rhea decides to hide the truth about his Star pendant, claiming he's just clingy. On their way out, they're attacked by bandits who mistake them for a pimp and his hookers, but they defend themselves.

They reach Riverside by the evening, but Kieri sneezes herself into her cursed bunny form and can't change back, so Rhea smuggles her into the inn. Once there, Rhea asks Kieri to read the book she's brought from Hell. It turns out to be a diary written by an Angel named Darius Elexion, a name that sounds familiar to Buwaro and Rhea. He was an artisan that crafted Holy Emblems, yet that was made to take part in the Great War; this is all Kieri can read before she succumbs to another sneezing fit, and they call it a day.

The next morning, the three of them head into the city to ask about Kazai's whereabouts, but they find nothing. As they rest by a bridge, Rhea spots two kids playing on the frozen river; she heads to warn them of the danger, but they don't believe her, and one of them falls in. She rushes to his help, only to fall into the river as well, leading Kieri and Buwaro to intervene. Dragged by the current, Rhea remembers a time in her youth where one of her nest-sisters fell into a river, and all Rhea could do was call for help, but nobody came; this incident weakened her faith in religion and left her with a great feeling of guilt. When she wakes up, she finds out everyone made it out safely, and that the Helper's Guild gave a hand.

Bedbound by sickness, Rhea must rest for a week, which significantly halts the group's search. She apologizes to Kieri, but the latter doesn't mind, for she's happy to have met the two of them and receive their help. Kieri and Buwaro then head to the Trouble Center to ask about Kazai, but Buwaro's disguise gives them the wrong idea; misinterpreting Rhea's advice to ditch the coat, they go out in town as Angel and Demon, which everyone believes to be costumes. They find nothing about Kazai, but are invited to join the Helper's Guild as they would bring it publicity and earn some money for Rhea's illness. They go about in town doing small chores such as carrying an old lady's groceries home; as evening falls, it starts to snow, and Kieri's sneezing prompts more unwanted transformations. She tells Buwaro that she doesn't want to give into her curse, as she believes it to be shameful: she feels she's being a failure to her family, who are all strong Angel warriors. Buwaro tries to reassure her, but it doesn't seem to work. Back at the inn, Rhea scolds them for dropping their disguises, but stops when she sees Kieri's state. In the morning, Buwaro asks Rhea how to cheer up Kieri, and Rhea suggests the Angel has a crush on him, which he doesn't understand at first. Kieri resumes reading Darius's diary, learning that he also had a crush on her uncle; but mostly, that he was sent to fight the Great War on Medius. This surprised Rhea, who thought Median involvement ended centuries ago; yet Darius was sent there just about 20 years ago, going through the same dark portal that brought Kieri and her friends to Medius.

They spend the day indoors reading the diary; the morning after, Buwaro and Kieri head out again, while Rhea decides to write a letter to her friend Jake to tell him of the past few days. While doing a long series of errands, Buwaro and Kieri hear that Kazai and Sanjulo have been seen in town a few days ago, and that they were headed to either St. Curtis or Weyville. In the evening, the two come across a grumpy-looking man who seems to recognize them as an Angel and Demon, but eventually leaves. A moment later, a girl runs past them just as someone calls for thief, and Kieri stops her, giving the jar she stole back to the storekeeper. That's when Kieri sees a Fairy in the jar, and the girl reveals she's been trying to save it, but her effort has been thwarted, which Kieri feels guilty about. She and Buwaro ask Rhea for help, and her solution is to go in and haggle. As the others wait for her, the girl from earlier comes back; that's when Rhea leaves the store with the Fairy, revealing her haggling was no use and that she just hit the storekeeper and stole the jar. Evading him, they free the Fairy, and the girl reveals another one she's been hiding; both Fairy sisters reunite, and the group offers to escort the girl home.

Her name is Sammy, and she recognizes Kieri and Buwaro for what they are. They escort her to her family's wagon and meet her aunt Miranda, who's very surprised to see all these new people. It turns out the man from earlier is actually Sammy's uncle Heathcliff, who's more than very surprised to find a Demon in his house eating cookies. They also meet Duster, his Fairy companion. Miranda tells Cliff she'd like Kieri and her friends to accompany them to Weyville, but Cliff is not eager at the idea of taking a Demon with them. As Kieri's curse starts acting up again, the group hastily leaves, under the pretense of having to think about it; bunnies being symbols of bad luck, they'd have to hide her curse from the Sinclairs, especially since they're riding on her reputation as an Angel. However, they choose to go through with the idea, as they still have a long trip ahead of them. They leave with the Sinclairs the next morning; however, Rhea got a letter from Jake, which says that a strange monster has been spotted around Farun. Lazuli is still alive, and she's bent on getting revenge against Kieri.

Fights and Events

• Rhea vs Riverside Jakkai Shopkeeper
• Lazuli vs Farun Bandits

Trivia

• The chapter title and cover typography are a reference to the musical West Side Story.