Return of The Emblem Chapter Two: The Trail

[Mercakete]

"I'm not a pirate!" Gytha snapped, indignant at the accusation, "I'm a mariner! Can't ye tell the difference? Mariners protect merchants at sea from pirates and pirates pillage what they can find! Calln' a mariner a pirate's as insulting as calln' a mercenary a bandit! I'm doin' me job here, not being a hippo-crit!" She was already in a bad mood from Damian showing up. Being called a pirate wasn't helping, but it's not like she was about to fly into a rage and break necks. She'd readdily accept an appology and forgive just as quickly; it just wasn't so apparent by her shouting.

Riled up by being called a pirate, her only responce to Damian was a rough, "Quiet, ye scurvy dog!" and a suckerpunch.

[13th]

Damian merely maneuvered to take as little pain from the suckerpunch. "Fine, fine. This is goin' to be a long ride to Ursaea." He continued watching off the edge, occasionally eying Maw, who was more frightening than Gytha on a normal day.

[-Cynthia-]

"You are not part of the military or a registered merchant ship, you speak incorrectly, and you run around assaulting things on a regular basis. That is a pirate by my definition," Veronika replied, frowning as she watched Gytha sucker punch Damian. "Anyway, do you even have enough evidence to turn him over to the authorities? I do not think anyone else here can vouch that he is a criminal except for you, which means that it would come down to your word against his."

[Mercakete]

"I'm an eye witness to pleanty of offenses and if they still doubt it for whatever reason, they can just talk to the merchants at Fairgale or send 'im o'er there," Gytha replied, getting very tired of being called a pirate very quickly, "And I told ye, I'm not a pirate! Me occupation is t' safeguard merchants and their cargo; Raquel is a merchant, 'er cargo's in this'ere wagon and I'm defendn' it! Even if it's on land, it's become a habbit. Piracy's a terrible crime; don't be accusn' me of it! Pirates aren't only assaultists; get yer definition right, lassie!" I hate pirates! How can she accuse me of piracy?! I've never looted even once, in spite of me bloodline!

[13th]

Damian sighed. "If ye definition of pirate is that low, then I'm a bloody Saint."

[-Cynthia-]

"One eyewitness usually is not all that convincing without some corroboration. He could just as easily accuse you of piracy, I don't see why they would necessarily believe your word over his. Perhaps it is obvious to the two of you who is a pirate and who isn't, but to us 'landlubbers' you both appear to be of some sort of seafaring profession. They could ask the merchants in Fairgale, but that is quite some distance away and fairly dangerous due to its proximity to the Ursium/Neviskotia border. All I am saying is that if you wish to bring this man to justice, you may find turning him over to the authorities in Ursaea rather lacking," Veronika replied to Gytha, mostly ignoring the definition of pirate for the moment.

Edited March 5, 2011 by -Cynthia-

[ReformBlade]

"Geez, no need to punch the poor guy when he's already down! You talk of a code, but damn, that's just plain cruel." Nanahm interjected. He always had problems with people who pick and choose random morals to care about suddenly.

[RPG]

"I disagree." Seliah said promptly, leaning back in her seat. "An ambitious king wouldn't let his goals die after his death. He would have established successors that shared his ideals, and the war would continue." A twisted smirk took shape on the girl's face. "But if you crush an army, and devastate a nation so much that it can't pick itself back up from the ashes, that is a total victory. Pure strength is naturally sought. Raw power will raise you to the top of the world. And then nobody can hurt you anymore." Seliah sat up in realization. "I apologize for that. If I have offended your master's ideals Daloth, my deepest regrets of course..."

[Phoenix]

Their long ride ended when Ursaea came into view, or so Caine would have liked. They had veered off the main road trying to save time but wound up riding to the edge of the cliff. A half mile separated them from the main road which led down into the city.

"Well that was a smart idea." Boris commented sarcastically.

"Oh shut it. We still made good time regardless, now let's go see if the others that are tailing Rodrigo are here." he shot back.

"Even if they are, we can't recruit them for this. Hell, if they learned that we lost to those people, they might just tie us up and present us to one of the higher ups. We'd be lucky if it was Sardis himself but since he's heading back to HQ I doubt we'll be so fortunate." Boris speculated.

"We need to at least try, now come on before it gets too late out. We need as much time to plan our next move as possible." Caine said before kicking his horse into a gallop.

Boris followed and the two were in Ursaea within the next ten minutes. The two hitched their horses outside a tavern that stood next to a popular inn. Caine looked around suspiciously. Their faces were pretty well known by their colleagues within the organization, and so they would likely draw the attention of familiars. Boris leaned up casually against the tavern wall while Caine nervously paced.

"So, what's the plan again?" he asked, arms crossed, trust fading.

"Okay, we'll tell them that the battle was a stalemate. We need more men to help finish them off." Caine said with a shaky voice.

"A stalemate where around twelve of them survive but only two of our guys? You must be using the broadest possible definition of stalemate imaginable."

"Well help me think, man! We can't tell them that we just ran like cowards!" Caine snapped.

"We didn't run like cowards. We ran like the last two people left for them to butcher."

While the two men argued, a young woman stepped out from the tavern. The blonde woman wore a long black sleeveless coat draping down to her boots, a brown undershirt, and had a couple of swords sheathed on her side. As she walked past the two, she mumbled "Show, show, show, show, show, show ... huh?" she stopped.

Boris glanced at her and then flinched. Caine looked over too but didn't recognize the woman. "Boris! What are you doing here?"

A cold sweat ran down Caine's neck. That perky voice ... ... shit. Silvia. I thought running into regular people was bad, but a field agent? They're the bastards who's job it is to actually deal with failures like ours. What the hell are we gonna do now?

"You don't know? We just got here." Boris began. "Another group was tracking Rodrigo so I'd assume all of them would have passed through here on their way to Europa."

"Right. They told me when they got here. Said you and the others were off handling something else. Rodrigo's holding a concert in Europa soon. Word gets around pretty fast in the network but sadly I can't go. Well I can ... but, that means skipping work." she explained. "What are you two doing here if you're not with the others? Are you tracking the merchant?"

She doesn't know any specifics. This may be good for us. I don't like having to deceive her but frankly I don't want to die. Caine thought to himself, beginning to come up with a lie.

"We tried to take down the merchant and her mercs but lost." Boris muttered.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Caine shouted.

"Lying to her isn't going to save our dumb asses." Boris said coldly. "Look, Silvia, we tried to act on them ahead of Sardis and we're the only survivors. We'll accept any punishment you have for us."

"You failed? Whoa. They must be pretty skilled." she said, putting her hand on her chin. "But I guess you're right. Losing human resources without a good reason and failing your mission to boot. I should just kill both of you right here." she added sounding most casual than one would expect.

"Now wait one second, Silvia. We aren't done yet. We just retreated long enough to regroup and counterattack. It was that or ... die like dogs." Caine explained backing up a step.

"Emmm ... nah. Sardis hasn't executed people for failures and instead finds better uses for them. I think I'll follow his example and find a better use for you two. I'll have to put you back on the team following Rodrigo though." she explained.

"You're not going to kill us?" Boris asked, surprised.

"Heehee, 'Waste not' as Sardis would say." She smiled and then put her hands on both their shoulders. "Now then, why don't you guys go and catch up to the others? They're probably still around here somewhere. Rodrigo's definitely at his mansion this time of night. Probably grabbing some of his awesome props for the show.~"

"Sure thing, Silvia." Boris answered before beginning to walk off. He stopped though and turned around. "Thanks; for giving us another chance. Most wouldn't."

"Thank Sardis." she said smiling widely.

Sardis ... bastard. Caine thought to himself before walking off to follow Boris. As the two began their search, Silvia stood by petting one of the horses.

Now then, what to do about the merchant. Well I don't want to deal with them in person unless I could actually talk with them ... but I'm sure they're less than happy with our group right now and will just try to hurt me or something. I'm not a very good liar so they'll find me out and I'll have wasted my time. Maybe I should put someone else on this. Maybe Carla? She's in the area. Sure. I'll contact her and see if she wants to give this a try. Okay, now all that's left for me to do is figure out how to weasel my way into that Phoenix concert. Hmmm ...

Some hours later ...

Raquel's wagon rolled into Ursaea after hours and hours of pressing up the path through the mountains. Raquel was no longer even driving at this point so much as sitting frozen like a dead person. Amon had fallen asleep, and Chip was keeping a sharp eye on everyone and everything.

"I'm ... so tired ... I need rest." Raquel spurted out before collapsing over onto the person sitting next to her. "I'll ... do merchanty stuff in the morniiiiiing." she said beginning to fall asleep on the person.

OOC:

There's another TS coming up leading to morning and the next item unlocks from Ursaea. Any nighttime business people might have, do so soon. This is just a quick check point before the next jump. Feel free to do all of that in retrospect as well so the morning post comes quicker.

[roymbrog]

Synthia had fallen asleep a few hours earlier, unfortunately it had been in her seat up front. Leaning precariously close to the seat edge already, she almost fell off when the driver collapsed on her. “Mhmmph… getoff…” she mumbled and sleepily tried to push Raquel off.

After managing to push the merchant partway back onto her side, she stretched, yawned, and looked around. From what Synthia could tell, they had just entered Ursaea through the east gate and were stopped on the street. She took the reins and drove the wagon for a few minutes until reaching the nearest inn. “If any of you are still awake and would rather sleep inside, we happen to be at an inn,” she said as she climbed down from the wagon. “If someone wants to move Raquel I’ll take care of the wagon.”

----

A cloaked figure darted across the rooftops of Ursaea, knife in hand. Somewhere behind her in an alley lay the bloody, burning corpse of one of the most notorious thieves in the city. Thieving from thieves was always the most fun, she thought, it presented the most challenge and no one really cared when a criminal was offed, especially one with such a bloody history as his. Eyes gouged out, castrated, finished off with thirteen stab wounds to the back, robbed, and then set on fire; it really was a work of art, if she did say so herself.

[Mercakete]

Maw was unfamilliar with this territory. Who knew how many native cats were around? She certainly wouldn't be welcome and was frightened at the prospect of that happening again... Whenever she felt afraid of that happening, she had made it her habbit to curl up next to Gytha, though it was rare that the fear was this intense. What was the human doing sleeping outside? ... And why were here hands around the hated human's neck? The amusement was slight but somewhat reassuring. Gytha was weakly sleep-strangling Damian. Since she was asleep, she wasn't using her full might, though it was still amusing to the one-eyed silver tabby.

Fear over pride, Maw padded up to the group's seafarers and quietly mewled, lightly tapping Gytha's face with her paw. She repeated the process -- tapps becoming flat-out, clawed swats eventually -- until Gytha awoke. "Grrarrrghh.... What is it, Maw?" she grumbled, her annoyed expression softening when she saw the cat's giant, fearful eyes and herd the cat's little mew. Letting go of Damian's windpipe, Gytha stroked the cat's head a few times before getting up and stretching. I guess I fell asleep. Well, best find a place to-- Ah. Looks like we're right by an inn. Gytha had, unfortunately, missed Synthia's message, however, having been asleep when she spoke about it.

Though when she saw Synthia wide awake, she asked, "How're we sleepn'? Do we each pay fer our own rooms?" She figured the knowligable mage would know.

[roymbrog]

That was a good question. She had no idea, and wasn't going to wake Raquel to ask. The girl deserved some sleep. "I guess, unless you'd want to split the cost with someone else and share it. I don't think Raquel could afford to pay for all of us, even if she wanted to."

[Kanami]

Eriya stirred awake at the sounds of what may or may not have been a distant scream. Or maybe it had all been in her mind? Either way, she could hear voices outside her window now and it wasn't pleasing her at all. She rolled over to tried to ignore the talking outside but decided that she may as well just take a peak at what retards were discussing their inn fee's this late at night. Drunks, Shady people, or simply foolish mercenaries who didn't know how to keep track of time.

Eriya sighed heavily and peeked out the window, using the sorry excuse of a curtain to keep her out of the view of the travelers even if they did look up... and had night vision. There were two walking about, and another few on the roof of a cart/wagon. She counted 6 in total, but there was no telling how many were hidden from sight. Either way they wouldn't all be fitting in this inn if there was any more. And even then it was dependent on whether the innkeep would be in a good enough mood to wake up after all the strange and shady customers he'd received today.

Maybe they'd have more luck going to another inn? Perhaps that huge one in the middle of town that looked like it'd cost three times an average inns lodging?

Yawning, she turned away from the window, having lost interest in the group, and sleep slowly returning she trodded back to bed and slumped over. As hard as the bed was, it was still better then what she'd been used to on the road. And it'd probably be awhile before she could sleep in one again.

[13th]

Damian was unconscious, but awoke with a start after he could breathe again. "Gah... My neck... Where are we?" He looked at Gytha and Synthia. "And why is my neck so sore? Was it one of ye?"

[Phoenix]

OOC:

Okay TS time! Anything else can be handled in retrospect.

Amon wasn't sure what to do, so decided to ask Raquel. He didn't want to wake her, but even she would have to realize that she was inconveniencing everyone by dozing off before they had decided what to do about bedding arrangements. A bit of shy light tapping on her shoulder made her sit up and look around dazed.

"What's going on? Why is it still nighttime?" she asked him.

"We're in front of an inn, Raquel. We need to figure out who's doing what and-"

"Oh! Right. Well, I need to wash up so I may as well get a room but I can't really pay for anyone ... or even ... half of everyone. I'm sorry about that. If you want, In the morning before we head out, I'll see if I can't get the innkeeper to let you all get cleaned up. If anyone else can afford a room, they probably should get one. There's probably just a little bit of space left in the back of the wagon if a couple of you want to sleep there ..." She paused having just remembered something. "But don't bother Chip. He lives way in the back, close to the back of the driver seat."

"Um ... okay." Amon replied taking it all in.

"Lastly the horses need to be cleaned, fed, checked for any debris in their hooves, and probably shown some appreciation." she said sighing with a frown.

"Horse work? Wow. You have a long day ahead of you tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? I'm not going to bed like this. I need to wash up, and I don't care how late it is, they're not cramming my horses into stalls in their condition. I'm taking care of this tonight." she said with some fire in her eyes.

"Aren't there people you can pay to do that?" the thief replied, shocked.

"Yeah, but I can probably save if I do it myself, and it's good to not let myself get rusty. I'm not going to be lazy. It can't be any later than eight o'clock, so I should be fine for at least a couple more hours." she said hopping down from the wagon.

I should help. "It's going to be a long night." Amon muttered.

Morning ...

After three and a half hours of tending to the horses and taking care of herself, Raquel finally settled down and went to sleep in a decent enough bed. The wagon had been parked in space between the inn and the stables, a space reserved for that kind of vehicle. The horses spent the night in the stables and Amon slept in the back of the wagon, having nightmares about accidentally roaming too deep into the wagon and being shot repeatedly by Chip as a result.

Raquel rose out of bed irritated. Why was she still tired? She'd gotten ... almost the recommended eight hours of sleep. Shrugging, she got up, got dressed, and began wandering around the inn. If there was breakfast being served, she aimed to get some, and then probably head into town to see what she could stock up on, trade, and sell for profit.

Amon woke up with an aching head. It felt like he'd been smacked in the head with a piece of metal several times. Unsure what could have caused that, he began to open his eyes only to reflexively slam them shut again as another sharp whack came down onto him. Covering his face with his hands, he sat up and moved away. The culprit was Chip. The capuchin wasn't entirely in the wrong from what Amon could tell. He was too far back in the wagon and he could see Chip's hiding place was actually a bolted down crate with a hole in it.

"I ... suppose you could have just shot me. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to intrude." he said.

The monkey scurried back into his box and stuffed the hole with a balled up cloth. Amon shook his head slightly amused, and then exited the wagon.

"Okay ... what to do in the meantime ...?"

A few miles north of Ursaea ...

Rodrigo stood ready with a sword defending his carriage, which happened to be surrounded by the same spies that had been tailing him from before. Among them were Caine and Boris, who also had their swords drawn.

"Come to silence me, have you?" Rodrigo asked, expecting an attack at any moment. "Or ... is this about that guy I ran over trying to put some distance between us? Because that was an accident. I didn't think he was going to actually try that-"

"Enough!" Caine interrupted. "You should have known someone would be tailing you, and you tried to elude us? That leads me to conclude only one thing. You're helping them."

"What? I saw you guys coming and I thought I was under attack by bandits. One person tailing me, fine. I can understand that ... but fourteen? Err ... thirteen. You should have kept your distance. You look like ordinary bandits from a distance. Do you know what I do to bandits in my region, pal? Another five minutes of chasing me and I would have led you all the way to my favorite stomping grounds."

"Told you, we were following too closely, Caine." a random spy whispered. Caine balled up his fist, frustrated.

I need to stop making mistakes ... but we need to find an opening. Some kind of opening or a way to get that damn emblem from the merchant. For now I've got to figure out what to do with Rodrigo. "We made a mistake." he began.

"You mean you made a mistake, and we got dragged along with trying to stop you." the spy muttered.

"We didn't mean for any of this to happen, but what's done is done. You're being followed, whether you like it or not. We need to keep an eye on you and make sure you don't try to help out that merchant."

"Raquel, you mean." Rodrigo interjected. Now what do they want with her? probably whatever they were holding back from me. I won't press them on the issue. This Caine person looks like he's ready to try to stab me just out of spite.

"Her name's Raquel? Huh, whatever. Doesn't matter." Caine said crossing his arms.

Oh no ... Caine has landed us in some big trouble. Rodrigo probably suspected he was being followed, he usually is; but Caine's decision to charge on ahead and confirm the target compromised us, started a chase, cost Kevin his life, and has left us in an unusual position. I'm not sure mercy was the best call on Silvia's part. Boris said hanging his head. He knew no matter what they did, it wasn't going to end all that favorably.

"So what happens now? Are you going to let me go or are we going to start swinging metal?" he asked the group at large.

Urgh, we can't kill'em. We've got no authority to, and Rodrigo getting whacked would look like an assassination more than lucky bandits. Wait. We can use this bastard. "Heh. Heheh. I've got an idea." Caine started.

"Another idea? Come on, man."

"Shut it! Now tell me, Rodrigo, are those jackasses going anywhere in particular?"

"Couldn't say." Rodrigo responded, turning his head away disinterestedly.

"Oh you know, don't you? They're going to Europa aren't they? I don't know what you told them, but they're heading this way." he speculated before turning to the others. "They're coming. They're coming, and when they get here, we're going to take the emblem from them."

Caine, I understand that you're stressed, having only recently been spared from a quick and painful death, and yes time is short, but would you stop blabbering so much? Rodrigo doesn't need to hear what we're planning. Silvia has no excuse for sparing us if we mess up again. Boris protested to himself.

The emblem? The Fire Emblem? Is that what they're after? Oh god, that's just ... sad. Rodrigo thought to himself.

"You're not in charge this time, Caine." One of them commented.

"I know, Kevin was, and Mister Fire Bird over here ran him over when he rode out to try and stop the carriage!"

"Because you exposed us, you idiot!" he shot back.

"I'm the second highest ranking agent in this party after Kevin. That puts me in charge." he said proudly.

"How convenient that the idiot who caused this mess is now in charge."

"Say what you want, but we have a hostage situation this time." he said pointing his thumb back at Rodrigo.

"Me?" Is he serious? I've killed tougher people than these by accident.

OOC:

There's more to this Rodrigo vs Caine scene but I'm cutting it into roughly two segments for convenience

[Zsword]

Shadrak woke in his room gently, quietly cursing the sun as he rolled out of bed and slowly got dressed. As he put on his belt the slight jingle of coin in his pouch concerned him a little, he had paid for his own board, and the inn was a little more pricey than he thought. He was returning to what he could best call home to re-stock on various necessities, money included. He put these thoughts to the side as he continued to dawn the last of his clothing. With a light yawn he walked outside and threw his hood up; the sun was just plain blinding, and did his best to ignore any strange glares he recieved from the few morning passerby as he approached the cart and waited for the tohers to stir.

[Acacia Sgt]

With the choice between the inn or the wagon, John chose the wagon. He'd rather not spent much of his own money if he could afford it, so with a cheaper alternative, he would rather go with that. Ordering Gil to stay nearby, he took a spot on the wagon, removed his armor, and rested for the night.

When he awoke by next morning, he gave a yawn before stretching a little. He took a look around. He wasn't sure who else was already up, wether there or at the inn. Regardless, he exited the wagon. Looking around, he noticed Gil was still asleep. Not wanting to wake him yet, he stood there, thinking what he could probably do next.

[Kanami]

Eriya had awoken before the sun had even risen, and had left the inn in a hurry to take a look around the town. She'd be tailing a suspicious group for three days now but they'd suddenly disappeared yesterday. Perhaps they'd already left? She felt stupid for assuming the group were up to something in Ursaea. Such an assumption had made her relax and ignore the possibility that the group would leave while she was asleep.

She closed her eyes, carefully recalling the information she'd gathered these past few months. The Kushinada hadn't been transferred to Ursiums royal family as far as she could tell, not officially at least anyway. Meaning there was a high chance that her father intended to either sell the comb to a the highest bidder. But she'd already been through several black market auctions and had no luck in even hearing about high selling loot from Kigen.

So her mission had pretty much ended before even starting until she was approached by a shady man who'd offered to employ her to take out a group of mercenaries working for a pink haired merchant. Obviously she'd refused but she'd several days after her initial encounter she spotted the man again late at night recruiting another figure who had seemingly accepted the offer. The two had parted ways after making arrangements to meet again, and Eriya had decided to follow the recruiter instead of the recruitee, the later was scum, but she wasn't here to police the streets of Ursaea.

It wasn't long before the man stopped and greeted a few others, dressed in similar robes as himself. And after quickly greeting each other they started discussing something about preparing for an explosion in Sergio. But again, she'd shrugged the man and his supposed colleagues as terrorists from Neviskotia. If this had been Kigen she'd be obliged to intervene, but it wasn't her business whether the fools living in Sergio died. Having lost interest she'd retreated back to her inn and slept the remaining hours of darkness away. Only to hear the next morning that a ship had exploded in Sergio and that shady figures had attacked civilians in Sergio.

It wasn't her business, all she'd though at that time was that the man who'd tried to employ her was working for a bigger organised group then she'd originally thought. But mention of a Kigenese man being part of the group had caught her interest.

Why had her father fled to Ursaea in the first place? Could he have been recruited into the organisation the same way she'd nearly been? It would certainly explain why there was no news of the Comb on the black markets. And while the chances of this man being her father were slim, the chances weren't zero.... And quite frankly she'd run out of leads And Eriya knew her father enough to know that he wouldn't have acted without support from a reasonably sizable group backing him up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Scratching her head dejectedly, she dragged herself back to the inn. Another morning, and she'd failed to find the shady recruiter or anyone wearing similar robes. Most likely they'd left the city to wherever they were headed, and it was unlikely she'd be able to gather any decent information regarding the group.

"Back to square one" she sighed to herself as she walked past a familiar figure.

......

"Wait, a second!" she shouted as she reached to grab the shamans arm. Missing her mark only because spinning around suddenly had caused her to lose some of her balance. The man had turned around to face her, though Eriya couldn't really read his expression. She was sure this was the recruitee she'd seen a few nights ago.

"Uh, greetings" she stammered nervously trying to sound polite but sounding more afraid. "I'm wondering if you could tell me where the largest library is in Ursaea?" pausing for a few seconds before reaching down to her pouch and pulling out a few gold coins. "I was supposed to meet a few friends a while ago there, but I just can't seem to find the place" she whined, begging the man for his help.

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika slept fairly fitfully and woke up in the morning with a strong desire to clean her sword. As she did so, thoughts raced through her mind. What am I really doing here? No sign of Pavel yet, all that seems to come up is more questions. Am I getting any closer, or is this just another dead end. She finished cleaning and stood up, holding her sword in a combat stance. Doubt is the enemy. I will find him, no matter what it takes.

With this in mind, she walked downstairs, finding Raquel. "What is our plan for today?" she asked curtly. "Are we to continue to Europa, or do we need more supplies first?"

[Zsword]

Shadrak was startled at the fact that some mysterious lady had wheeled him around and asked hima small handful of questions in a short amount of time. He stood their blinking as he re-collected his thoughts "The library... uh.. well." He shook his head as he tried to re-collect what he knew about the area, though he hadn't been in this region for awhile now. "Uh... I do believe it was... two blocks east of the main market... that should atleast get you close enough it that you can either see it from there, or find a sign. Sorry I can't be much more help, I just got back from travelling for a long while."

[Phoenix]

Raquel

She was tired and hungry, but shoved all of that aside for a moment so she could put on as normal a face as she could manage. "Oh, good morning, Veronika. Uh, first I need to grab a quick ... and I mean quick breakfast. If we're going to make good time to Europa, I can't waste too much time in the markets. I want to be on the road again by noon if that's even possible." she explained fiddling with her hair a bit.

"Hmm, hey do you mind if I ask you to do me a big favor?"

Amon

It seemed the other person in the back of the wagon had gotten up to. Amon wasn't sure how long he would be working with these people but he felt that he might be able to travel with more peace of mind if he got to know most of them. He might as well start with John.

"Um. Good morning." he said giving a small wave."

[Kanami]

Eriya frowned at the description she'd been given.

The library's west of the market and 5 blocks down you fool she thought but kept her thoughts from showing on her face.

Could she have the wrong person?

The thought had only entered her mind when she quickly dismissed it as her being hesitant.

It wasn't like she was going to kill the man, if she had the wrong person, she'd just.... No! this was the right person, go away stupid doubt..

Noticing that she'd failed to say anything and kept the conversation hanging, she blushed with embarrassment and self-loathing at falling silent and seeming suspicious, or rather, just stupid.

"The main market? Where can I find that?" she asked innocently, "I just arrived last night and haven't had time to look around."

She figured the man would give her directions and try and send her off. This wasn't getting her anywhere. As the man finished giving direction she looked around trying to think of some reasoning to get this man away from the view of the public.

"The main markets also pretty big here right? My friend told me, It'll be a long time before I find the library. Do you think you could take me there? I'll pay? I really can't miss my friends, they're all I have left in this country."

[-Cynthia-]

"Right, I think we should get on the road as quickly as possible. I feel uncomfortable lingering in one place too long, we may have more luck outrunning our enemies if we stay on the move. What would you have me do?" Veronika asked Raquel, who seemed a bit harried which Veronika found unsurprising given the circumstances.

[Phoenix]

"Well I know we don't seem to be making much progress, with my father or your fiancee, but ... all of this is a bit much for me. I was wondering if maybe you would help me manage the others a bit? It wouldn't really matter which mercs either of us hired. They would just answer to either of us if necessary. Uh, basically just help me boss the others around until we get this done or until things aren't so overworked?" she explained wondering how she sounded at that moment.

[-Cynthia-]

She's looking for someone close to her as well, I seem to have forgotten that in my own worries. "Do not despair Raquel, we will find them. Sooner or later," she said, her tone exhibiting more confidence than her thoughts. "We have picked up quite an interesting group, haven't we? Shady shamans, feuding pirates...not exactly the most heroic group I've ever met," she said, giving Raquel a slight smile. "I can help you keep them in line, it is the least I can do."