(collab between myself and Letter Bee)

[b]Renovation - Throne Room[/b]

The answer Seth got about his question was... not as interesting as he hoped. He still questioned a few things about the traveling-through-time logistics, but it wasn't worth bringing any of that up, all it would do was delay the mission. So for now, Seth just smiled and nodded, still appearing relatively clueless for the most part.

Soon after this, everyone was led to individual guest rooms where they were told they could rest until the departure time. Honestly, Seth had nothing particularly interesting or funny to say to that, so he went along with it until he was alone in his room.

[b]Renovation - Guest Rooms, Seth[/b]

As soon as he saw it, Seth gave a low whistle of amazement, "Wow... pretty ritzy." he commented to himself as he looked around, occasionally lifting up a vase or other object to look at it more closely... or perhaps to sweep for bugs or other such nefarious forms of surveillance. Once he was satisfied that the room really was private, Seth just let himself collapse on the bed.

He lay on his back for a moment, going over the details of everything that just happened in his head. It all sounded... kind of far-fetched. Especially the part about the Hearts that were supposedly pure and incorruptible. Seth just couldn't wrap his head around that fact, it just seemed impossible. After a moment he gave up thinking about it and rolled over to one side, facing the rest of the room as opposed to the wall.

It was right around then that he noticed the back door, appearing to lead outside. Was it a balcony of some kind? Some sort of garden or quad, perhaps? Looking at flora didn't exactly interest Seth, and to be honest he was in more of a mood to take a nap instead. With that thought in mind, he slowly closed his eyes.

His dreams would be filled with...fire; endless orange flames that stretched to the horizon, accompanied by screams and wails. A natural disaster? A wildfire?

Nevertheless, Seth would not have time to wonder in his sleep when he heard the sound of knocking.

"Seth?" implored Tocsax in his still-boyish voice, albeit a voice loud enough to go through the door, "Can I talk to you in the common garden?" He must mean the garden at the backs of each other apartments. "I have something to talk about."

[i]Fire...?[/i] That was a new one. He half expected the usual dream, the one with all the rain and the armed soldiers... and [i]corpses[/i]. But fire, this time? Oh well, no time to dwell on it, the voice on the other side of the door sounded like his Nobody compatriot. He asked to speak in the garden.

"Now what could he want?" Seth asked himself under his breath, pushing himself up off the bed and onto his feet. By the time he was out the door, he was just the lazy guy everyone met when he first arrived again.

"Now what could my future employer need with little old me?" asked Seth innocently.

Just behind Tocsax was a young man, 19 years old, with light skin, short-cropped red hair with soft curls, and green eyes. He was wearing a white silk turban and sand-colored special forces armor, and he carried a Keyblade like Tocsax did, a sand-and-blue weapon that evoked water and desert.

"Well," spoke Tocsax, "first things first, let me introduce you to Sultan Shahrukh Mirza the Fifth, ruler of the Basilea's southern neighbor, the Timurid Sultanate of Egypt - he's a Keyblader as well, although currently, he should be guarding Mai's world...if I hadn't asked him to come here."

"As for why he needed my services?" it was Shahrukh the Fifth's turn to speak, "well, let's just say that [i]Toxy[/i] told me that he was going to mentor someone despite his lack of practice. So, I'd like your help in giving him said practice in teaching. You may not be a Keyblade wielder, but if you can wield a weapon, well, we'd like to impart some techniques to you; Tocsax offers the Ars Solum technique, I offer Sonic Blade. Both can be approximated with swords."

Well, this was certainly flattering. Tocsax called a Sultan all the way from off-world duties to teach Seth a technique. But Seth could really only just stand there, hands stuffed in his pockets as the only response he could offer them was an awkward grin.

"I appreciate the offer, really, but as you can plainly see, I am unarmed. Never was a fan of weapons. They always had a tendency to slow me down, so I simply stopped bothering with them."

That was certainly going to be a disappointment for them, for Shahrukh in particular, since he apparently came from such a long way for this, "So terribly sorry." Seth said, having only an apology to offer.

Shahrukh looked at Tocsax...then laughed lightly.

"Toxy, guess you acted before thinking again," he then looked back at Seth. 

"Hmm, I reserved some time for this, and I don't want that to go to waste, so I think we should still teach you a technique anyway." Lifting up his left hand and conjuring up a ball of sand, the Timurid Egyptian Sultan then spoke:

"How would you like the ability to conjure sand up from almost nothing, and permeate it with darkness for added effectiveness?"

Tocsax, meanwhile, frowned at how foolish he had been.

Seth cocked his eyebrow, but only slightly. He couldn't help wondering the motivation behind this, but didn't let himself dwell on it. Part of him felt like he could hold his own just fine as he was now, but it was only a small part of him. The other part of him, a much more... pragmatic side of himself, saw this as a useful opportunity.

Well, who was he to rudely reject such a generous offer?

"My thanks, Your Excellency." Seth responded, offering a short bow to the Sultan. Tocsax might note that this was first bow or any kind of fealty Seth had shown since arriving, and that included their earlier audience with the Emperor and Empress.

"Good," spoke the Sultan, "now, let's move onto the common garden, shall we" And with that, he went inside Seth's room as if he knew its plan - which he probably did - and opened the back door to the garden.

Once he, Seth, and Tocsax were there, the latter would wave his hand at Mai, who was at the fountain, saying:

"Hey, my friend Shahrukh Mirza the Fifth is teaching Seth something! Wanna watch?" In the meantime, Shahrukh would go off to a wide open space with red brick tiles, and face Seth, before once again repeating his sand-conjuration technique, then saying:

"First up, gather your magical energies. Then, think of sand, think of how it feels, how fine the grains are, and how you can move it like a third limb if you have the power." The orb of sand above Shahrukh's right hand was spinning now, before halting, only to turn into a spiked ball, before becoming smooth again. Then, the Sultan - a Keyblader - then tossed the ball of sand at Seth, shouting:

"Catch!"

Seth followed along, and soon found himself watching a more thorough demonstration of the technique he was soon to learn. From what the Sultan described, the technique appeared to hinge on one's confidence, their ability to assert their will on the sand so that it moved according to their desire. He then quickly tossed the ball of sand in Seth's direction.

Seth, who'd been standing there with an unchanging posture, hands [i]still[/i] stuffed in his pockets, didn't appear as though he planned to react at first. It wasn't until the ball of sand was within mere centimeters of colliding with his face that it finally stopped, Seth having reached up and caught it, but did so with such a speed that the naked, untrained eye would be unable to have even seen the movement.

"Think of the sand... and then will it to move..." he said, repeating some of the instructions. He held the ball, which was likely still held together by Shahrukh at the moment and imagined as best as he could an image of the ball floating up from his hand and then protruding spikes just had Sharukh had demonstrated a moment ago. But nothing seemed to happen.

"Come on now, ball... you [i]know[/i] you have to obey my will eventually." Seth said, as if vocally egging the sand on would somehow make it work. But he started to concentrate harder, enough so that, even if for just the briefest of moments, his left eye glowed with a bright light blue instead of it's usual color. It was only a moment though, gone just as suddenly as it appeared.

The ball slowly turned dark, grew spikes...then exploded in Seth's face; thankfully, the man's eyebrows and eyelashes managed to catch most of the sand. Nevertheless, it was a step in controlling things.

Seth winced at the sudden explosion of sand. Quickly, he wiped a gloved hand over his eyes instinctively to wipe away the grains, "Well... [i]that[/i] just happened. Is that normal?"

"For trainees, yes," spoke Shahrukh."The fact that the sand exploded is a sign that you'll be able to control it eventually." He then conjured up another ball, then tossed it at Seth, slightly faster this time.

Seth caught the ball in the exact manner he did the first time around. Like before he concentrated on it, his eye briefly lighting up as before. The ball grew spikes, then exploded again. Lather, rinse, repeat. Although with each ball, though it didn't look it at first, they gradually took longer to explode each time the exercise was repeated. His eye also flashed blue less and less with each attempt as well.

That is, until Seth finally found himself looking at a spiked ball of sand that didn't explode, furthermore, his left eye remained its natural color this time, "Looks like I'm getting the hang of it." he decided to try letting go of the ball and attempted to keep it in midair. It stayed, though it appeared to shiver a bit. Eventually though, it simply shot back toward the Sultan. Was that Seth's doing? Or the Sultan's?

"Good job!" Shahrukh said as he drew the ball of darkened sand back to himself, slowly purifying it, turning it back into glowing brown sand, when it was in his hand. "You did well." He then looked at where Tocsax was still looking at Mai, his expression annoyed at first, then relaxing with a sigh.

"You know, against religious prohibitions, I had a one-night-stand with Tocsax. Why am I telling you this?" the Sultan continued, "because the way he looks at that Mai girl, who comes from a time period where she'd consider what we did lewd, it's quite clear that Toxy isn't willing to let things between us be something more." He was jealous.

A sigh.

"Well, I'll let my best friend be happy, but tell me should Mai end up hurting Tocsax's heart." Shahrukh pursed his lips. "If that ever winds up being the case..." the threat was clear in his voice.

Seth just grinned. That honestly seemed to be his reaction to everything. Well, that and chuckling to himself, which he also did just then as well, "Hmm... perhaps 'Toxy' just needs some time? Or maybe he just needs to hear this from you?" Seth offered with a shrug.

"Unfortunately, I'm not exactly the right kind of guy to ask when it comes to stuff like that." he then let out a yawn that may have been a little too exaggerated.

"Well, that kind of wore me out. Think I'll go finish that nap now." he turned toward the door to his room, but before he entered, he turned back around and offered one last small bow, "My humble thanks for the technique, Your Excellency. I'll try to see to it that it serves my mission well." after that, he finally went back inside and eventually crashed back on the bed. He was tired, but satisfied overall.