Return of The Emblem Chapter Two: The Trail

[Phoenix]

"Okay well I should go gather up the others and tell them what's going on then." Raquel said making a slight bow. "It was nice meeting you Mister Vasquez."

"Same." he said nodding as she turned to leave. He wasn't sure if Synthia had anything else to say before they parted ways, but he did have a simple question for her that brought a genuine bright smile to his face. "So. What kind of performance of mine do you like best, Miss Synthia? Who knows. If I actually do make it to Europa with some extra time, your input my be the deciding factor."

Meanwhile Raquel came over to John who was close by the scene. "Hey, I'm going to need to talk to you and Domovoi sometime soon in case we get into another scuffle. I've been reading about some useful combat techniques and since you're both wyvern riders, you're ... well ... pretty darn useful to the group really. Anyway, I'm going to go get Veronika and the others and then we're going to get ready to head out. Oh and shop's still open if you need anything." she said before running off toward the pier.

Once she arrived, she spotted Veronika, Axel, and Gytha. Waving at the three she said "Okay I spoke with Mister Vasquez and he's going to help us with the issue at the meeting. We'll have to talk about it more as a group though so can we all head back to the wagon now?"

Meanwhile elsewhere ...

As the calm spy began creaking open the door to a run down office, he heard the conversation inside ...

"So you won't let us attack them? Even though they're just going to cause us more trouble than they're worth?" the first spy asked. sounding angry.

"Listen to yourself. You're acting like an imbecile. Sardis has plans with them. They're out of our jurisdiction if you will." the man in the chair behind the desk explained.

"Phoenix is our jurisdiction which means they just stepped into our turf. If we don't deal with them before they start exposing us, we're all going to have to answer to him." he said pointing his right arm at the window as he said it.

"... true, but the consequences for failure are too high. Sardis was there during the first fight, wasn't he? Hayato too. What chance do we have?"

"Who says they fought? Sardis never dirties his own hands. Coward or not, he simply never takes direct action, so it's no surprise really. I'm sure Hayato with no back up could have been a bit overwhelmed himself. Who knows. Point is we can handle this." he explained.

"Hmm. No, I don't think you can. I'll tell you what I'll do for you. Take a few men with you, no more than a couple dozen, we still need trackers on Vasquez at all times. The men you take with you are under your command. I'm giving you full command for this mission so it's on your own damn head if you screw up. Now that suits me just fine."

"Covering your ass? Suits me too. That means when we defeat them, the glory goes to us and us alone." he said smiling and putting his hands on his hips.

"Indeed it does. I'm pretty sure this is the last I'll see you unless you come running back with your tail between your legs but ... nonetheless ... good luck." he said gesturing for the man to leave his office.

As the spy opened the door he found the calm one simply standing there.

"I didn't think it would go down like that."

"More reward for us when we win. What are you doing here? Did you find a healer?"

"Yep. Right down stares with Uller." he said pointing his thumb at the staircase.

"Okay, let's go down there and wait for the others."

"Whoa whoa, wait a sec. I came up here to see if the boss would see him about information on the fire emblem. He wants information on that rather than gold."

"Wha ...?" the man said scratching his head. "Okay well I'm in charge of this operation so that means he really needs to be asking me about things like that."

"You don't know any more than the rest of us."

"Shut up. We'll just take him to HQ when we're done here. I'm pretty sure he's going to end up working for us long term given his interests. Well then, shall we?"

"Sure." he replied before the two began walking back down stairs to meet Shadrak and Uller.

"Hey, you. Healer. You're after information on the fire emblem, correct? Well that's good. We've got lots of that-"

'Lots of that'? What an odd way to say it. the calm man thought.

"-however you're going to have to wait a short while. I'm in charge for this mission. Once it's concluded we'll be meeting up with a very knowledgeable man. He'll honor our agreement. Understand?" the new boss said to Shadrak.

[Zsword]

Shadrak cocked his head a little to the side and closed his eyes as he ponderred the notion. Hmm... I don't have any other better leads right now... "Sure" He said plainly, giving a simple nod as he straightenned his posture again. Oh yeah... this is gonna end SO badly... this guy is trouble...

[-Cynthia-]

"I was just leaving anyway," Veronika said, giving Axel a spiteful glare. "So, how is this Vazquez fellow getting us into this meeting anyway? Did you work out all the details with him?" she asked Raquel, turning her back to Axel and Gytha.

[Phoenix]

"Have a seat. Now we're just waiting for the others, then we'll get down to business and sicuss our method of attack." the man said to Shadrak before taking a seat on a metal bucket himself.

Meanwhile ...

"The meeting Professor Weyland is holding is in Europa in a few days. A lot of the contacts are going to be there so we may get a chance to find a better lead as well as warn Professor Weyland about them spying on the meeting. He's in a hurry so we'll just meet him there instead of getting dragged along I guess." she explained. "Oh and there's one little issue. At best Rodrigo will only be able to get one of us into the actual meeting itself. If we're going to try to speak with those people we'll have to do that before or after the meeting is over. All anyone can really do inside is try to talk to the Professor I guess."

[Zsword]

"I prefer standing." Shadrak said, taking a much more relaxed, at east posture than what he had before. "But thanks for the offer."

[Snowy_One]

Daloth blinked for a moment, astounded by the girls insight into a story he had literally just pulled out of his ass on the fly. "Seliah." he said, his mind searching for the right words to describe what he wanted to say. He wanted to tell her that the story had just been made up for fun, that it had no meaning beyond entertainment, and it wasn't even that. At best, it was the start of a much longer story, not one to be considered a whole in of itself. But then again, to have someone try and dissect the story caused mild swells of pride to course through his veins, stroking his ego and causing a giddy feeling to rise within his body.

"The story was... was... Not complete. There is much more to tell before you pass judgement on what it means. A character only has meaning when you see them for everything they are. Some are common folk who's lives have been ruined and they struggle to find normalcy, while others are princesses whom people dote on and follow for no reason beyond their own reason to tell a point. Still others hold meaning, but you won't be able to tell until you give them time to grow. Wait until I have another segment ready at least."

[Snowy_One]

Daloth blinked for a moment, astounded by the girls insight into a story he had literally just pulled out of his ass on the fly. "Seliah." he said, his mind searching for the right words to describe what he wanted to say. He wanted to tell her that the story had just been made up for fun, that it had no meaning beyond entertainment, and it wasn't even that. At best, it was the start of a much longer story, not one to be considered a whole in of itself. But then again, to have someone try and dissect the story caused mild swells of pride to course through his veins, stroking his ego and causing a giddy feeling to rise within his body.

"The story was... was... Not complete. There is much more to tell before you pass judgement on what it means. A character only has meaning when you see them for everything they are. Some are common folk who's lives have been ruined and they struggle to find normalcy, while others are princesses whom people dote on and follow for no reason beyond their own reason to tell a point. Still others hold meaning, but you won't be able to tell until you give them time to grow. Wait until I have another segment ready at least."

[-Cynthia-]

"Hmm, so we are meeting this man at some unfamiliar location, then he is taking one of us away from the rest of the group? This certainly seems like it could be some sort of trap to me. We may have to risk it though, since we lack any other leads," Veronika said, returning to the wagon where the majority of the group was.

[Phoenix]

"Hmm, now that you mention it, whether it's a trap or not, the situation could easily get turned on and overwhelm us. I don't think anyone else in this group has met Professor Weyland before so maybe I should go. I mean it just seems like the best option really." She said trying to sound less driven. "And this emblem ... emblem piece, whatever. I won't be able to really protect it on my own. I should leave it with one of you just in case." No one in the summit is going to protect me or this thing. They don't even know what it is. I don't even know what it is ... She thought to herself as they came back to the group.

[-Cynthia-]

"I agree, perhaps it would be best if someone took the emblem piece if you were at the meeting. You are walking into a nest of our enemies who seem to be looking for that very item. I would probably suggest someone from Ursium go, that will make them seem far less suspicious, so that makes you or Synthia the best candidates. I certainly wouldn't be caught dead on the arm of some overhyped celebrity at an Ursian military meeting," Veronika said, unable to disguise the look of revulsion on her face.

[Phoenix]

"Well, hopefully the people there are just those informants Rodrigo mentioned. If not then hopefully they won't think to try something in the middle of the meeting. Professor Weyland's probably a life saver in that regard. If anyone interrupts him, I heard he gets a little ragey so that might help. Maybe. Anyway, that aside I guess we should gather the rest up and move out. Oh and on the way to Europa we should have a meeting of our own. I've been going through a little strategy book my father kept around and I think it'll come in handy for keeping us on top if ... when we get into further engagements with those people." She explained. "You know, just giving ourselves every possible advantage." she added with a wide smile.

Amon sat waiting patiently in the passenger seat of the wagon. It was Synthia's seat but he would be sure to move once she returned. He wasn't sure what to make of the situation and considered asking either Raquel or Veronika about it when they had a moment, that was assuming they didn't come up and explain it all to everyone right there.

[Mercakete]

"So..." Gytha started slowly, having only been half-paying attention, "We're not breaking into a top-secret meeting and getting on the law's bad side, are we?" Where's Maw? I hope she didn't go off and steal fish again...

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

In fact, that is what Maw had done. She'd somehow managed to steal a tuna and was eating it under the docks' supports connecting it to the land. She was unnoticed and would remain unnoticed now that she was safe. She'd return to Gytha eventually, but for now, this was a welcome meal.

[Phoenix]

"Well ..." Raquel began before pausing to think. It quickly occurred to her that they were on the side of good no matter how she looked at it and she continued with a serious and almost proud tone. "This is perfectly legit, Gytha. Professor Weyland's inventions might be stolen by those people and I need to get in there to warn him. Frankly I think it's best to keep them from getting their hands on anything they might try to use on us. It's not illegal for one of us to attend as Rodrigo's date to warn him either and that's what we're planning to do. So ... yeah." she ended coming back down to her normal reserved tone.

[Mercakete]

"Oh, I see now!" Gytha replied, her voice raising to its excited booming, as she draw her sword and began waving it around in her enthusiasm, "If that's the case, then I say we openly challenge the thieves at wherever-it-is and protect the whatever-it-is that way! GYA-HARR HAHARRR!!"

Up, down, up, down, the sword swooshed lightly through the air as the arm mechanically raised and lowered it with speed and force while her other hand remained on her hip and she stood at a strong stance, smiling broadly. Her eyes gazed forward with assurance as she imagined with anticipation what the battle might be like.

[Phoenix]

Raquel began nervously waving her hands a bit. "N-no, we can't try to fight them at the meeting. Anyone inside is probably just an informant or something. Not to mention if we go after people with no evidence to support us, we will get on the wrong side of the authorities. Right now we're just trying to hinder whatever their plans are at the summit by warning Professor Weyland about them." she explained hoping Gytha would put her sword down.

Listening to the explanation from a short distance, Amon ahah'd to himself. So that's what we're doing. Hurting the enemy however we can for the moment. I can't help but feel that this is going to get us a lot of their attention though. We must defeat them yes, but if they decide to come at us with everything they've got, we're finished no matter what we do. Outside city boundaries is where we'll be the most vulnerable I'd imagine. Those will be the places where no one is around to aid us. We'll need to be careful outside of civilization. This is worrisome.

[Mercakete]

"Oh?" Gytha comented, stopping her sword mid-swing before resting it on her shoulder and bounding it a little, suspicion in her expression and now-quieter voice again, "So, it's only against the law if we get caught?" Soulds like piracy t' me. What is all this?

[Phoenix]

"Uh, maybe I should explain it a bit deeper than that. Okay it's like this. We're not doing anything illegal by having one of us attend the meeting with Rodrigo. It's also perfectly fine to warn Professor Weyland about the informants that will be reporting back to those guys we're trying to take out. The illegal thing would be trying to stop them by force and that's what I'm aiming to avoid. Professor Weyland's pretty thorough so I'm sure if he's warned before the meeting begins he'll be able to snuff out the spies himself. I heard that one year he actually shot a Neviskotian in the third row who had gotten into one of his weapon presentations. My father said he just played the whole thing off as a useful demonstration." she explained, keeping her voice low at the last part.

[Mercakete]

Gytha nodded, finally understanding the situation. "Okay. So someone will go to the meeting while the rest of us keep an eye out for troublemakers," she assessed, nodding to herself in understanding while keeping a calm voice and a focussed smile.

[RPG]

Seliah felt embarrassed, a rare occurrence. "Ah...so it seems I spoke without thinking. My apologies." Seeming somewhat forlorn, she took note of the scenery slowly passing by. "A character's meaning only being clear once everything about them is in the open...it is an interesting point. One that can be placed into judging people as well. And even if all is known, their true meaning or purpose may not even be known to anyone, not even themselves." She sighed. "Point of view...it is a very important concept. It starts fires constantly, and it can rebuild from the ashes." Despite her boredom, Seliah felt oddly chatty. "Life is a silly thing. People treasure and covet it so much, yet countless die and are born each day. Who is to say how much a person is worth? ...Regardless, I look forward to hearing a continuation of your story, Daloth."

[roymbrog]

Which performance did she like best? That was a hard question, seeing as she’d seen several of them. She took a moment to think about it; considering that she was talking to her idol, she wanted to be as truthful as possible here. “I’d have to say I like your musical performances the best. You always combine them with something interesting, and I’ve always loved music,” she finally replied.

“Though,” she continued, blushing slightly, “more than your performances, I really appreciate some of the work you’ve done clearing out bandits and the like. I don’t know if you remember, but a few years ago you helped take out some brigands terrorizing people who returned to Ursaea through the mountains; my mother and I were able to return home because of that. Even if you were acting as an informant for that group I don’t believe you worked with people like that on purpose... I guess I'm just trying to say I'm glad you decided to help us.”

[Phoenix]

"Okay then. If anybody else is missing, we need to get them over to the wagon because it's time to get moving." Raquel said as she climbed back up into the driver seat and stood up to make an announcement.

"A song, huh? That would be easier to get set up with the time I have." Rodrigo commented with his hand on his chin. The man from before was sitting in the wagon with the door open simply listening to the two converse while holding his hand on his head, clearly in pain. When Synthia mentioned how grateful she was about the bandits, he grinned and then grimaced. Good and bad memories were creeping up rather quickly for the man.

"Well those who have the power to do something really ought to. That's my philosophy. And I'm glad I could do something to help you and your family out as well, Synthia." Shifting a bit he went into the last thing she said as well. "I guess I'm not perfect though; not seeing through those people. I'll correct that soon enough." he finished.

"Okay um, we're about ready to get on the road again, so can you all gather around and see if anyone's missing. We don't want to leave people behind by mistake or anything like that." Raquel called out to the group.

[Zsword]

Shadrak began to tap his foot impatiently, and pulled out his little black book and started to read through as time slowly eased on. "What is taking you're men so long, I would like to get a better idea about who we are fighting..." He inquired, slight irritation in his voice. Why do people like this have no understanding of time?

[Phoenix]

The calm one raised an eyebrow at Shadrak. "Patience. It doesn't matter how soon they get here since we can't do anything until our targets are on the move again. That could be at any time so just relax." noticing him take out a tome, he nodded a bit. "Yeah, do something to occupy yourself." he said leaning back and placing his hands behind his head.

"Oh right. They're probably still looking for healers. I'm surprised you two found one so fast." the man in charge said with his hands on his hips. He looked Shadrak up and down with a bit of speculation.

"Fate." Uller said smiling widely.

[-Cynthia-]

"Hopefully he does not practice any of his weapons on us," Veronika said, narrowing her eyes. I have a bad feeling about this, trusting some celebrity to lead us to some trigger happy inventor. But I do not know of any other way to find Pavel, so I suppose I will just have to go along.

"Hey! Healer girl! We're leaving now, you can talk to Mr. Fantastic later!" she called out to Synthia as the wagon began to rumble along.

[Mercakete]

"Maw! Time to ship off!" Gytha called, cupping her hands around her mouth to help her already-loud voice carry. That shouted, Gytha swung herself onto Raquel's cart and waited for all to be assembled. Maw'd better not be late.

~~~~~~~~~

The silver tabby's ears swivvled in the direction she heard the familliar call from. She hadn't finished the tuna and there was no way she could bring the whole fish back. Drat. Well, if they were leaving, fish or no, she had to get moving. She hasily grabbed a quick bite more and gulpped it down before hurrying in the direction the call had come from.

~~~~~~~~

The mariner's eyes wandered as she waited. She could still see the ocean, but it was distant enough that Gytha felt like its distance was a metaphor. How long will it be before I see ye again? Gytha wondered, a little melancholy. Shifting her gaze back, she noticed something she hadn't quite taken in until that moment.

"Yer not Ursian," she stated to Amon, looking at him a little blankly from her place on the cart.

Maw arrived and agiley lept up onto the cart's roof. Gytha was apparently talking to someone, she Maw simply took her place on a roof corner and laid down. Undoubtedly they would set off very soon.

~~~~~~~~

The tuna laid partially-eaten under the protruding wood of the dock. It would likely remain unnoticed for a day or so. Then the swarming and the smell would grant it to be uncovered once more.