232 Leaving Federal City (1/2)

”Wait!” A hand firmly grabbed Daliea's wrist. ”Can I have one of those massages? I could use one… Right now…”

The gray-skinned girl chuckled and looked back at Jack. ”Sure. Lay on your belly.”

”All right!” With a spry eagerness, Jack jumped onto the bed and landed belly first. ”I'm ready!”

Daliea stretched her fingers and loosened her joints, readying herself to give Jack the best massage she could. She stood over him and started to work on his upper back, going slow and pushing deeply to knead the stress out of him.

”Oh… Yeah…”

Still somewhat unsure of herself, Daliea's fingers gradually crept down to his lower back. She followed down along the spine in search of knots in the muscles.

”You're good at this…” A sigh of relief fled from Jack's lips.

She didn't say it but Daliea was very excited and happy that the massage was going well.

Jack continued to throw random comments as Daliea worked her magic on his back. They didn't realize it but they had lasted almost 30 minutes without keeping track of the rest of the world.

The experience wasn't anything crazy or life-altering, but Daliea was extremely happy to be of use for Jack to make things at least a little bit easier for him. Jack had already been unconscious for some time now but Daliea kept going. Only after removing all knots from his back, arms, and legs did Daliea leave the room.

Everyone in Jack's party, other than the young hero himself, used the night to either prepare for the journey or to enjoy each other's company one last time before they split up.

All grew quiet in the Heavenly Palace Inn. No visitors came this time. No surprise guests found their way to Jack's door.

The fresh morning air was peaceful and heartwarming. While Jack tumbled out of bed, Martha and Marisha were already saying their goodbyes to Maura and little Lina, as well as the other girls.

Zariff was sharing one last brundy with both of his former association mates. Rayard stayed in the kitchen to make sure they offered them a wonderfully extravagant breakfast to send them off.

Other than the goodbyes there wasn't much else to say, so they didn't say much. Even Argyle, who was generally concerned for his daughter's safety, had come but showed little worry and was glad to see his daughter growing together with the husband he thought was perfect for her.

Jack smiled and greeted everybody, also saying his goodbyes. But everyone could tell that something was still off. It wasn't as bad as it was the night before but there was still something different about Jack.

The party all looked at each other and eventually found themselves watching Jack, who was still staring down at his empty plate.

”It's time to go, ain't it, Jack?” asked Maynard.

Jack nodded. ”Yeah… Let's get going. We'll take a ride on Appa to speed things up.”

”Who's Appa?” Lina tilted her head as she blinked at Jack.

”You'll remember him when you see him.” Jack pushed himself up from the table and made his way out of the private room, letting the others follow suit as he continued to talk, ”Based on his speed we should be able to reach Talmook in four days' time. That should speed things up a lot.”

”Seriously?!” Rydel was astounded by that fact. ”That's almost as fast as Ayden.”

”True, but I'm sure Ayden can maneuver better. And that's not even counting having so many people on his back,” reasoned Jack. ”In that case, it'll probably take us about five days.”

Maynard shrugged and smiled. ”Well, I guess we've got a few more days together then. Maybe we can stop by another shrine or temple on the way?”