Vistus

After an hour of relaxing by the rock and pretending she wasn’t watching Jinny’s training session, Laerya and Akorri were left alone with the white Feln. Alex left them with instructions to ‘enjoy Greenglade together’ and ran off without another word.

Now all three of them sat in the rock’s shadow, silence hanging in the air. Lae could not find any words to say. Every time she attempted conversation Jinny would give abrupt one word answers with no desire to expand on them. Sometimes she wouldn’t even say anything in response. Attempting to converse with her was an incredibly difficult task, and Lae was close to giving up. But Alex had said that they should stay together for the day, and he must have known this would prove to be a challenge. He trusted that Lae and Akorri would be able to do something, and Lae didn’t want to disappoint him.

“What do you do for fun?” she asked, trying hard to find a topic they had not discussed yet. During the training session Jinny had put forth only the bare minimum of effort required, so Lae assumed she didn’t practise her magic in her spare time.

Jinny seemed completely lost, her eye flicking in several directions as she tried to come up with a response. The sleeves of her robe almost completely hid her wringing hands. “I-I... I read,” she said eventually.

“Reading’s pretty cool,” Lae said, “though I find it kinda boring.”

“Oh.” Jinny said nothing beyond that.

“I’m... I’m more of a reader than Laerya is,” Akorri put in. Lae gave him a grateful glance, glad he was also trying to communicate with Jinny. He didn’t seem as irritable as when he was talking with Lae. Did she annoy him that much? She smiled inwardly with glee at such a thought.

“Ah.” Jinny looked at the ground. Lae thought that would be the end of the conversation, but then the Feln spoke again after a moment. “W-what kind of things do you read?”

“Fiction, mostly,” Akorri replied, his casual tone sounding strange compared to Jinny’s stilted speech. “I don’t prefer one genre over another. I’ll read whatever I can get my hands on.”

Jinny raised her head, looking at him for a second before averting her gaze to the ground again. “I see.”

Lae thought that spark of interest would develop into something more, but Jinny said very little for the rest of the time they spent together. It was as though talking to Lae and Akorri was painful for her. She seemed to force her words out. Lae was frustrated, but sympathised with her as well. She would leave the Feln girl alone for now and try asking her to hang out another day. Perhaps this was simply a bad time for Jinny?

She and Akorri said their goodbyes and headed for the inn. Lae felt a bit bad for ignoring Alex’s suggestion to stay with Jinny, but she knew the Feln did not want to be around her. It was an irritating sentiment, mostly because it made her feel unwanted. “Am I that bad, Akorri?” she asked quietly as they walked.

“Yes,” the Fillian boy replied without hesitation. Lae’s first reaction was to glare at him, but she found she didn’t really want to.

When he saw she wasn’t biting, he sighed. “Sorry, you’re being serious.” He glanced behind him. “Nah, you’re not bad. I think she’s just a little high strung, that’s all.”

“Yeah?” Lae didn’t like how hopeful she sounded, how vulnerable she must look to Akorri, but she couldn’t really control it. Being rejected by anyone was difficult to deal with.

“Yeah. It’s her issue; it’s got nothing to do with you.” Akorri shrugged. “Give her time, she’ll come around.”

“So if we stick around her enough, she’ll like us?”

“There’s a chance, yeah.”

The village seemed slightly busier now than it had earlier in the day. Lae guessed it was noon, judging by the amount of people outside. There was that steady hum of busy crowds filling the air, a pleasant noise that reassured her. She was aware that, despite this being a relatively small settlement, it had a fairly large community. Quite a few of them were probably magic users, so she felt a little out of place among the crowds. She was glad Akorri was here with her; another non-magic user was always good to have.

The sun was out and the air was crisp. It seemed a shame to just stay cooped up in the hotel for the rest of the day. Lae pondered over her options. Jinny obviously wouldn’t give them a tour of Greenglade, so that meant she and Akorri would just have to explore it themselves.

“Let’s look around the place,” she said to him, stopping the Fillian in his tracks.

“What?”

“Let’s explore.” Lae raised her eyebrow. “Alex said you should do that anyway, so let’s just look around together.”

“Hm...” Akorri seemed unsure. “Really?”

“Why not?” Lae frowned at him. “Oh, you wanna explore alone, right? Wanna leave me behind?”

“Yes.” She knew Akorri was joking because of the smirk on his face. “I want to be rid of you so badly.”

“I’m sure.” Lae sighed. “Come on, let’s check everything out. First up’s the marketplace!”

“Dang it,” Akorri mumbled as she took his hand and dragged him towards the hectic bazaar. “I should’ve guessed we’d go here first...”

-

“Akorri! There’s enchanted stuff here!” Lae’s voice was high-pitched as she hopped excitedly around the armoury. “Look, look! A sword with like, fire in it!”

Akorri snickered as he watched his companion bounce all over the stalls. Clearly she had never seen magic weaponry before. It was amusing to watch her dart from one display to the next like an energetic puppy. She was so carefree.

She wasn’t the only one taken in by the stalls. Akorri had seen more than a few things he quite fancied, and unsurprisingly most of them were shiny objects. He hadn’t found the opportunity to take anything though, and with Lae around he wasn’t sure he wanted to try. She had been horrified at his thievery back at the Dragonferry, and honestly, he felt guilty to have disappointed her.

But it was so tempting to just... take something. A water-imbued dagger would look so pretty in his collection. He could put it on display in his home. Maybe he could even use it. Daggers were his go-to weapon for self defence, so he actually had a real reason to take one.

Should he? It would be useful. He looked at it now, staring just past Lae’s shoulder at the small blade etched with navy runes. If he could wait until the stall owner was distracted by another customer, and once Lae wandered off to look at something else, he would have his chance...

It was then he noticed Lae was actually watching him. He looked at her, seeing her eyes narrow in disapproval. For someone who didn’t seem to be very observant, she could read him like a book. It was unnerving because nobody else he knew would have guessed what was going on in his mind... but this rabbit girl figured it out immediately.

“Whatcha thinking about there, Akorri?” she said in a quiet voice.

He sighed. “Nothing.”

“I’d hope so.” She frowned and turned away to look at another display.

Akorri swore under his breath. Why should he listen to Laerya anyway? He didn’t care what she thought. He didn’t... But of course, he couldn’t lie to himself. He cared about what she thought. He cared far too much.

Because he cared, he couldn’t stay. He knew that if he hung around the marketplace for too long he would be unable to fight off his impulse to steal. He hated how natural it was for him and how he didn’t even try to ignore it until now. “I’m going back to the inn,” he said.

“Huh, what?” Lae whipped her head round to face him. “Why?”

“I need some... some time to rest,” Akorri replied slowly. “Alex woke us up too early. I need a nap.”

He could tell by the puzzled expression on the purple rabbit’s face that she wasn’t sure whether to trust him or not. He knew what she was thinking: as soon as they parted, Akorri would try and steal from one of the stalls. It was a normal suspicion to have given the circumstances, but it annoyed him all the same.

“Look, believe what you want,” he went on after a pause, “but I just need to leave this place for a while. Walk me out if you want.”

“Okay...” Lae replied hesitantly. Both of them weaved through the throng of Greengladers as they left the market, and soon they were back on the quieter grassy paths.  “You can manage from here, right?” the rabbit asked. “I’ll see you back at the inn, yeah?”

“Yeah.” Akorri gave her a nod. After being stuck with her for several days it felt good to have a chance to be alone. “See you later.”

With that, Lae ran back into the crowd, eager to get some shopping done. Akorri watched her go before he sighed and turned away, his feet automatically dragging him back to the inn.

Once he noticed where he was going, he changed his course. He didn’t feel like going back to the room just yet. The clearing with the rock might be a good place to rest.

However before he even got there something else caught his eye. A white Feln was walking ahead of him, heading in the direction of the forest. This was clearly Jinny, but at the same time it wasn’t; something was different about her. Her ears were pricked to attention and her head was held high, as if she were walking with a sense of purpose. This was not the same girl he’d met by the rock.

Without thinking, he followed her. Years of thieving kept him light on his feet, and he was able to stick close to her without making a sound. He slunk behind her like a shadow, and when they entered the dense woodland he used the trees to his advantage. She did not detect him even once.

They walked for a while, Jinny’s pace quickening as they went in deeper. Soon the sky was hidden from them, covered by a blanket of leaves and branches. The air was slightly colder here, and Akorri felt it chill the skin beneath his brown fur. He hoped Jinny wouldn’t go much farther.

It only now occurred to him that perhaps this wasn’t a good idea. Why was he doing this in the first place? He had to admit to himself that perhaps he was just as nosy as Lae; he wanted to know where Jinny was going and why she was acting so differently. It was an annoying curiosity that he couldn’t ignore; especially not now that he had come so far.

After a while Akorri noticed something was amiss. Jinny was being followed, yes; but he wasn’t the only one tailing her.

He heard them before he saw them. The leaves rustling overhead gave them away, though Akorri could have just as easily assumed the noise was caused by a breeze. From the way Jinny kept walking he guessed she hadn’t heard anything out of the ordinary.

A group of people were moving through the trees, jumping from branch to branch with practised ease. They were dressed similarly to Akorri: they had hoods to hide their faces in colours that looked to have been taken from the forest itself. To the untrained eye, they were difficult to see, especially up in the cover of the trees.

Akorri bit his lip as he realised what was going on. These people were bandits, and they were going after Jinny.

-

“You’ve not had a proper night’s sleep in days, Lorelei,” Yuli said as she and Lorelei walked once more to the fields, the sunset’s calm glow painting the world orange. “If it’s all right for me to say, I am a bit worried about you.”

Lorelei felt both touched and irritated and wasn’t quite sure which emotion to convey. Irritation was always easier. “What business is it of yours?” she muttered.

What Yuli said was true. Ever since accomplishing her task in Blackstone city, her nights had been restless. Nonsensical dreams plagued her whenever she closed her eyes, so she had taken to waiting out the night fully conscious. She wasn’t sure why now of all times her dreams should return; after all, she had done nothing out of the ordinary, nothing that should trigger their appearance. She thought by now she was a master of her craft. The dreams hadn’t come to her when she had practised her magic all those other countless times. So what made this so different?

“It is my business because I am working under your command,” Yuli said, her voice cool and detached despite her obvious anxiety. “If my employer is unable to pay me, then what is the point in me offering my aid?”

Lorelei smirked. Yuli was always so professional, perhaps even more so than the Red Rogue at times. Even when she had no reason to be. “You’re worried about me for a different reason, aren’t you?”

The two women walked on through the fields, a vast expanse of grass stretching out ahead of them and swallowing them up from all sides. There was no one and nothing around for miles. This was far from Blackstone, somewhere in the region of Tananshia that no one frequented. There were rumours of this being a sacred ground, and ever since her first trip here Lorelei knew those stories were true.

“I will admit that, yes,” Yuli said after a few moments of silence. “It seems you know me well, Lorelei.”

“I’d like to think I do, yes.” Lorelei’s smirk widened slightly. “I’m sorry for the hostility. It was unnecessary.”

“I understand.” Lorelei could feel Yuli’s eyes boring into her as they walked. “I would also probably not try so hard to curb my tongue if I was in your position.”

Lorelei sighed. She wondered why Yuli never lashed out at her, or why she was always so considerate towards her. She didn’t deserve it, especially now.

She shook her head. This was not the time to ponder such trivialities. She had burdened herself with a task and she was determined to carry it out, even if it took visiting these fields a thousand times to do so.

“Yuli...” Regardless, she felt some doubt nagging at her. “Do you know why I’m doing this?”

Yuli paused to consider this. “I...” She narrowed her eyes. “I do, yes.”

Lorelei wanted desperately for that answer to be enough, but it wasn’t. She was aware Yuli was helping her for more than just money, but did she realise just what it was that she was doing?  “And you’re okay with it?”

Yuli stopped walking. Lorelei turned to face her, suddenly overtaken by the bat girl’s penetrating gaze.

There was a slight breeze in the air and it chilled Lorelei to the bone. Her breath caught in her throat and she wanted to will away her fear. Yuli had no right and no reason to intimidate her this much. She was placing far too much stock in this girl’s opinion. Why had she stopped? Why was she just staring?

 “I do not approve of your actions,” Yuli said quietly, “but you saved my life. I owe you my loyalty.”

That was probably the best answer Lorelei could have hoped for. She figured Yuli would follow her even without payment, but she had to give her something just make sure she would not stray. Even so, disappointment stabbed her when she heard the bat girl’s answer. It would have been nice to have Yuli’s approval, not just her hollow loyalty.

“Indeed,” she murmured in response, pushing away her displeasure with a nod. She would not pursue this topic again.

As soon as she and Yuli had reached their destination, the first tremor shook the ground.