Episode 78

High up, sparse clouds slowly drift along with the gentle air currents above, the noon sun beaming down upon the landscape of Ark. A low, fast paced rumble reverberates throughout the idle town's soundscape. With thrusters and hover pads glowing brightly, a huge carryall zooms on by. Faint trails of ionized air dispersing quickly, the massive airborne transport lines up towards its destination within the river peninsula. Large metallic, mechanical clanks sound out. The large vehicle's massive wings tuck in, narrowing its profile. Jets rotate downwards, and the massive machine slowly descends vertically towards the treeline. The reflective markings of Greater Azure Alliance logos flicker briefly in the sun, and the carryall drops out of view, landing gear extending out.

Standing in front of the Ark Inn, Brennon squints across the river towards the heavy woods, halts sweeping the front steps, and points out enthusiastically. "There's another one! That's another GAA carryall. That HAS to be the seventh one that's landed around there!"

Kristine rolls her green eyes at Brennon and scoffs with an argumentative tone towards her brother. "Sixth one. You really need to learn how to count."

Sneering his upper lip, Brennon shoves a large pile of dust and dirt towards the sidewalk near his sister with the push broom in his hands. "WHATEVER. Still..."

He glances over the river waters with an uncertain twist of his brow. "What the hell is going on?! I mean, like, NOTHING happens out here. NOW, the GAA is sending everything they've got right over THERE."

Defiantly brushing back the debris off her side of the steps with a bristle broom, Kristine awkwardly grimaces, hints of nervousness slipping through, and unconvincing proposes. "Maybe it's an exercise or a drill? Gods, it's not like they don't use this area all the time for random stuff."

She dismissively shrugs her shoulders and sweeps up another pile of dirt down a nearby sidewalk. "Maybe it's just a really big training thing?"

Pauses a moment, Brennon thinks and slowly shakes his head. "Nah... If it was one or two carryalls... Maybe? But-"

A huge shadow casts down upon the inn from above, shading out the vicinity. A rattling rumble vibrates throughout the area, and both teenagers gawk up in utter surprise. Over a hundred meters long, the air carrier gradually descends towards the river, rotating itself along its flight path. Aligning itself with the center channel of the river, the huge military vessel slowly dips its extending keel into water. With a final descent, the massive volume displaces the water into a huge wake, launching out large crashing waves against the riverfront. Upon the flat top of the vessel, military personnel scramble into various land vehicles and control stations, large ramps extending into ready positions. A torrent of churning bubbles blasts out from behind the floating hover carrier, and it accelerates around the river bend, sailing further away.

Remaining in speechless awe, Brennon and Kristine stare blankly at the vessel going down the river. In the shock of the moment, they fail to notice the humvee pull into one of the parking spaces in front of the inn. The powerplant spins down, and the driver's side door opens up. Cideeda slides out with a mix of fatigue and eagerness blatant, pulling against her body suit. "Okay! Just lock the doors for now. We'll deal with it all later, because I need a shower NOW."

The rest of the doors open up. Bach groggily eases himself out of his seat, puts his unsteady boots onto the pavement, and yawns, rubbing the temple of his head. Sotalia hops out, steps next to Bach, and slips a supportive arm under his shoulder. "Going to make it up the stairs?"

Blinking a few times to awareness, Bach fights off the drowsiness and nods with an appreciative smile. "Yeah. Yeah... I think so. Just REALLY tired right now."

Aristespha projects her voice through the cab from the other side of the vehicle and hoists up a medical kit under her arm. "THAT is not surprising in the slightest. Just take it easy for the rest of the day. You should feel a bit better with a big lunch and many stamina potions mixed in."

Dretphi steps out of the humvee behind Bach, pats his back gently, and motions forward. "Let us get you upstairs."

Rubbing his blue eyes, Bach fights back another yawn, twisting it down into a grimace and smirks with a little embarrassment. "Yeah... Definitely wouldn't mind just laying around and watching random aethersite videos on the phone until I pass out."

Dretphi closes the doors on her side of the humvee and protectively walks behind Bach and Sotalia. Hitting the lock button on the driver's console, Aristespha closes up on her side. She walks up towards the front entrance of the inn and spots Brennon and Kristine still captivated by the military activity in the distance. Studying the huge vessel slipping out of view, she smirks over towards Brennon and lifts her eyebrow. "By the way, Brennon. You were quite right about your suspicions."

Awkwardly blinking back to attention, he glances over towards Aristespha, puzzling. "Huh- WHAT?"

Aristespha maintains a professional demeanor and nods at the goofy teenager. "The evuukian man you saw in the woods. It turns out his presence there was NOT a good thing. He was very likely a Terra Priest and extremely dangerous. Thankfully, whatever he was planning did not come to fruition."

Narrowing a stern stare upon Brennon, she instructs, hints of concern in her tone. "Now... I will NOT recommend you being too adventurous at your age. But, I WILL recommend that if you come across anything that suspicious in the future, do not be afraid to let the police and guild know. It could make a bigger difference than you shall ever know."

Failing to maintain his stumbling composure, Brennon summons up a bit of proper procedure and straightens his posture. "Oh- Um- Yes, ma'am! Thank you. I'll do that in the future."

Aristespha smiles respectfully, turns away towards the entrance, and rolls her violet eyes mildly amused. Enjoying the moment's accomplishment in brief silence, Brennon turns around to his sister and grins pridefully. "SEE! I FUCKING TOLD YOU!"

Kristine groans in disgust, shaking her head, and aggressively flicks a pile of dirt over onto Brennon's side of the front walkway. "GODS. WHATEVER."

Bach, Sotalia, and Dretphi walk through the lobby of the inn. Sotalia glances over at Johnathan cleaning up a number of glasses at the nearby bar and waves for his attention. "Hey, Johnathan?"

Johnathan pivots towards Sotalia's voice, nods briefly, and smiles with a concerned twist. "Oh. Yes. How can I help you all today? Looks like you all have had quite the day... Already."

Shrugging her shoulders with a smirk, Sotalia sighs brightly and chuckles. "Oh, you could say that. But we're okay. Just a little worn out and needing a few days of not doing anything."

With a sly smirk, she searches her mind briefly, perks an inquisitive eyebrow towards Johnathan, and coyly asks. "You have any drink specials sold by the pitcher?"

Chuckling with a grin, Johnathan glances behind at the selection of bottles behind him and returns his gaze towards Sotalia with a confident nod. "We have a few favorites... And the stock to make any of them."

Aristespha walks up to the conversation, glances between Johnathan and Sotalia, and curls her mouth curiously. "What do you have by the bottle?"

---

Through the windows along the long stretch of wall, the faint glow of nearby city lamps barely creeps over into the large inn room. Along the horizon, bright lights highlight the top of the distant treeline across the river, the blinking flight lamps of drones darting around in the starry night sky. Fluttering her emerald green eyes open, Cideeda stares up at the plain white ceiling in the dark, drawing in a long breath, and releases a stalely frustrated sigh. She quietly grumbles to herself and rolls her head side to side upon the pillow, flicking her furry ears. Vainly searching for a comfortable position she tugs at her covers. She stares groggily upwards and closes her eyes, attempting to calm herself into slumber. Drifting off into her thoughts, she contorts her light brown face through a range of grimaces and uneasy winces. She reopens her eyes, sighs quietly, and grumbles to herself in fvalian, spikes of self aggravation slipping out.

A noise tickles her furry ear, and she perks it towards the source. Hearing the sound again, she slowly sits up in bed and searches around the large, dark inn room. A few sweeps later, she settles her gaze over towards Bach in the bed at the end of the row and she watches carefully. Tossing and turning, Bach rolls over to new position, mumbles incoherently, and winces in his sleep. With a shudder in his breath, he tenses up sharply, cringing in between fits of muttering. Cideeda pulls the covers off her, rests her feet on the floor, and stands up quietly. Slinking silently across the room with her tail waving out from underneath her nightshirt, she carefully navigates the hard wood floors over to the side of Bach's bed. She kneels down and watches the discomfort and unease upon Bach's face. Her furry ears flick forward, listening carefully. Gritting his teeth, Bach mumbles out a few clear words in between his pained cringes. "... why won't... ...I'm sorry..."

Cideeda softens her gaze, a slight frown curling at the corners of her mouth, and sighs sympathetically. Her concern sharpens with each shift between fear, sadness, and pain upon Bach's face, the visible tension and discomfort building up. In the darkness, a tear escapes the corner of Bach's eye, rolls down over the bridge of nose, and barely reflects the sparse light from the windows. Leaning close, Cideeda rests a gentle whisper upon Bach's ear in a reassuring tone. "It's okay. You are okay."

With a sad tremor in his voice, Bach mutters out something incoherent in his slumber. Moments later, he winces out tears in a remorseful whimper, slightly shaking his head upon his pillow. Listening to the meek pleas from Bach's unconsciousness, Cideeda narrows her worried gaze and quietly ponders. Searching her mind, she musters up a calm smile and softly speaks to Bach. "It's fine. Everyone got out just fine. Everyone is safe."

Resting her hand gently upon Bach's topmost shoulder, she rubs his arm comfortingly. Bach grimaces, rolls his head slightly, and sighs with an uncertain, sad whine. "You... sure..."

Cideeda slides her grip down and holds onto Bach's forearm. Thinking a moment, she softly presses her claw tips with a few squeezes and gently smiles. "Yes. It's okay. I'm fine. Don't worry anymore. It's going to be okay. This is just a bad dream."

Over the next minute, the twitches of discomfort subside upon Bach's face. The distress within his unconscious mumbling fades away, settling down into a calmer tone. Cideeda gently rubs his forearm and watches his breathing ease to a peaceful snore. The tension throughout his body gradually subsiding, Bach shifts his head, settling fully upon the support of his pillow, and slips into a deeper slumber. With a relieved smile, Cideeda gazes upon Bach and quietly sighs, shaking her head.

With her other hand of clawed fingers, she deftly combs the white streak of hair dancing upon Bach's nose off to the side of his face. She grants a few final pats upon Bach's forearm and stands back up quietly, silently traveling down the large, dark room to her bed. Stopping in the moment, she pivots slowly and stares out through the windows. Gazing distantly towards the treeline edging against the horizon across the river, she fights down a grimace, drooping down her furry ears. She stares at the flickers of light and activity around the night obscured land, silently pondering to herself between idly wags of her long, fluffy tail. Shuddering herself back to the present, she fights off an disturbed frown and fidgets out her nervous energy. She slips back under the covers and rests her head upon the pillow. Drawing in a few comforting breaths, she lifts her head up briefly, aiming a furry ear over towards Bach, and waits. Peaceful sounds of slumber fill the air, Bach's soft snores joining the chorus. With the conformation, she settles back into a comfortable spot on her bed, coiling up in the covers, and closes her eyes. Her tail slips out, off to the side, wagging freely. Gradually, the fatigue of the day and relief of the night grant Cideeda enough peace, and she drifts off into a proper slumber.

---

A breeze blows across the river, ruffling the leaves above in the surrounding patches of forest. Underneath the shade of a large beach umbrella, Aristespha and Sotalia lounge in foldout chairs upon the sandy lot near the water. Lifting up a pitcher of a mixed drink off the wooden table between her and Aristespha, Sotalia pours her glass full and tops off the other glass close to Aristespha. "This is nice."

Aristespha picks up the refreshed beverage, stretches her ivory legs out, pushing some sand with her feet, and settles comfortably into her chair. "After yesterday... It. Certainly. Is. Nice and quiet..."

Stirring around the ice in her glass with a few gentle swirls, Sotalia lifts her eyebrow up from behind her sunglasses and glances over toward Aristespha. "Gods. Still seems weird to be relaxing here given what we found just across the river."

With a defeated sigh, Aristespha sips her drink, adjusts her floppy hat against the wind, and shrugs her shoulders slightly. "If half the GAA's teams specializing in hazardous materials cannot keep it under control..."

Rolling her violet eyes, she curls up a brief, dismissive sneer. "Then, it really will not matter if we leave here and go back to the house. We're both figuratively AND literally downstream from Ark in Amaranth Valley."

She cringes briefly, mumbling. "Which is an absolutely frightening thought, really."

Pondering to herself a moment, she tips back her glass a bit further than before. Sotalia tosses her fiery orange, wavy hair back with the breeze blowing by, brushing stray locks around her swept back horns with her long black nails, and grumbles uncomfortably. "That. It. Is. Especially after listening to Cideeda explain how close the thing was to just blowing its top and blasting everything up into the air."

With tinges of frustration and irritation, she grits her teeth and huffs indignantly. "Gods damn it. That Hackle better get us the location of where Noxian went after handling this fucking mess for him. I'm getting REALLY tired of stumbling into these supposedly simple missions that turn out to be the worst gods damned doomsday machines on this side of Nexus."

Twisting her emerging sneer, Aristespha swirls her drink idly, her violet eyes faintly glowing under the dark shade of her hat, and groans out her irritation. "OH. I think he WILL..."

A sly smirk appears upon her ivory, blue and gray hinted face, and she narrows her stare ahead with plotting satisfaction. "Because, I do believe he is smart enough to realize that it would be best to keep us happy. Not grant us justifiable reasons to complain to certain media sources on how the GAA is haphazardly risking the lives of the public by handing off critical missions to some random adventuring group."

Glancing over to Aristespha with an amused grin, Sotalia enjoys a long swig of her beverage and relaxes back into her chair. "Damn, girl. Getting your alpha bitch mode armed and ready for the fight right there."

Spiked into the sand, the sword within its scabbard resonates with Sebastian's voice. "To be fair, we'll give them some time to do their jobs."

Sebastian's tone darkens slightly, an ethereal grumbling sounds out. "But... After a week or so, I think we're in our right to demand some gods damned answers."

Chuckling to herself, Aristespha nods slightly and rests her hand on the sword handle. "Still, Sebastian, I am going to demand a SIGNIFICANT bonus to compensate us for sacrificing our sanity in contending with this... ABSOLUTE BULLSHIT."

A reverberating laugh sounds off from the sword, and Sebastian agrees. "Of course, dear. I wouldn't expect any less."

The small waves of the river lap against the waterfront and fill the air with a serene background ripple, Aristespha and Sotalia relaxing further upon their chairs in the umbrella shade. From the nearby parking lot, Cideeda and Dretphi step down a walkway with paper bags of fast food and carriers of drinks in their hands and arms. Cideeda stands in front of Aristespha and Sotalia and glances between the two of them with an amused smirk, flicking her long fluffy tail. "Well... I see you two have been hard at work."

Lowering down her sunglasses, Sotalia chuckles, musing. "Well... This pitcher certainly isn't going to drink itself. I thought I'd help it along."

Aristespha smiles smugly, sighs, and shrugs her shoulders nonchalantly. "After extensive testing, we have determined this to be the best spot to enjoy a late lunch. A good balance of sun, shade, and wind, if I must say so."

Rolling her steely gray eyes with a humored snort, Dretphi reaches over Aristespha's and Sotalia's shoulders from behind and deposits a paper sack in each of their laps. "Your food."

A spark of excitement appears on Sotalia's light tan, dark gray edged face, and she opens up the bag eagerly. "Thank you!"

Aristespha methodically removes individual containers out of her bag, sorting through them with an appreciative smile. "Oh. Yes. I was getting really hungry actually."

From the sword, Sebastian's voice emanates with a thankful tone, hinting of sarcasm. "Good timing. They've needed something to slow down the alcohol absorption and let their livers catch up."

Eyeing the sword briefly, a sly smirk cracks on Aristespha. She retrieves her aetherphone, flips up to the messaging app, and starts to type on the screen. Searching around the area briefly, Cideeda furrows her brow at both Aristespha and Sotalia. "Where's Bach at?"

Sotalia turns her head towards a patch of trees at the edge of the sandlot, points to a spot under the leafy shade, and sighs with a slight frown. "He's over there. It seemed like he just wanted to be alone for a bit..."

Shaking her head, she unwraps some of her food. "Even after I TRIED my BEST to encourage him to sit with us. Though... I think he's had plenty enough time to internally beat himself up over things he really shouldn't."

With concern and worry, Dretphi gazes over at the wooded spot and judges the opinions of everyone else. "Should I ask him to join us?"

A confident smile appears on Cideeda's light brown face, and she lifts up a paper bag with Bach's name written on it. "I'll go see if he's worked up an appetite from too much self reflection. Be right back."

A bit of relief eases Dretphi's tensions, and she settles down in another nearby wooden beach chair with her order of fast food. Sotalia slowly shakes her head, drawing in a long breath, and stretches against her chair. "I guess he can't help but to think about things. But... Gods, I still think he really needs to stop overthinking to the point he comes up with reasons to stress and hate himself."

Pausing in thought, she glances down at alert chime coming from her shorts pocket and retrieves her aetherphone. Sebastian ethereally sighs and sympathetically comments. "Well, it can't be easy for my bro. I mean... Come on... Dealing with all this and that has to be a weird existence for him. As the quasi-ghost trapped in the sword here, sometimes you can't help but think about... EVERYTHING."

Nodding in agreement, Dretphi watches Cideeda approach the tree Bach sits under. Sotalia snorts, meeting Aristespha's gaze, and glances down to the sword, nodding with a dramatic curl to her smirk. She quickly taps out of response on her aetherphone, presses the send button, and waits, gauging Aristespha's reaction. Glancing over to her phone after the chime, Aristespha reads the message quickly and rolls her eyes in annoyed commiseration. She eyes the sword and types up another message. Sebastian's voice resonates out with growing suspicion and confusion. "Hey... Are you both looking at me? You know I can't see that well when I'm in the sword and- WAIT."

A surge of paranoia and embarrassment blend together into Sebastian's tone. "You two have your phones out... WHAT ARE YOU TWO TALKING ABOUT?"

Halting in the middle of sipping the straw of her drink, Dretphi rests the paper cup down and curiously eyes over towards both Aristespha and Sotalia. Aristespha and Sotalia meet Dretphi's gaze, exchange glances, and gesture at their aetherphones. Dretphi eagerly pulls out her phone with a mischievous curl into an excited smile and starts tapping out a message. Sebastian's voice pleads out, an indignant twist coloring his tone. "OH. Come on! What are you all typing about?! Don't make me manifest out in public here!"

Cideeda walks casually up under the canopy of the tree Bach sits underneath. With a distant stare detached from his internal thoughts, Bach watches the wind push long lines of ripples across the river from his seat on the ground. Tracing his long gaze out across the water, Cideeda pivots in place, stares out onto the water, and idly wags her tail, perking her furry ears at the ambient sounds. Quiet moments later, she glances down at Bach and hangs the paper sack with his name into view. "So. Are you hungry?"

Blinking back to awareness, Bach notices the bag and gratefully takes it from Cideeda. "Oh, uh... Yeah. Um, sorry. Just spacing out there. It's actually a really nice view, and it's not too hot in the shade."

With a comforting smile, Cideeda flicks up a furry ear at Bach and pries with an inquiring tint in her voice. "So... You doing okay?"

Slowing down his progress opening the paper sack of food, Bach grimaces uneasily, darting his blue eyes around slowly, and eases out an uncertain sigh. "I guess? I mean, yeah. All things considered, this was the best outcome. But..."

He deflates into a faint frown. "I don't know."

Resting her free hand on her hip, Cideeda flexes her grip on a bag with her name on it and twitches her tail with a sway in her stance. She furrows a puzzling brow towards Bach and mulls over recent memory thoughtfully, dropping a question. "Why did you say you were sorry?"

Bach's blue eyes spring open wide momentarily, and he gazes up to Cideeda confused. "Um- What?"

Narrowing her inquisitive emerald stare at him, Cideeda pries further. "Last thing I heard over the radio, before I turned it off... You said you were sorry to me. What did you mean?"

Contorting between guilt and embarrassment, Bach draws in a long breath and stumbles over an answer. "Well... Um... You see... I, uh, well, kind of went against your last wishes."

Cideeda perks up her furry ears, cocks her head of short, multi-colored hair to the side, and cracks an amused toothy grin. "Well, seeing how I'm alive and standing here, I think I'll be perfectly okay with THAT. When I made those..."

She pulls in a sharp breath, fighting against a sad frown. "Last requests..."

Her toothy grin returns, and she snickers with a snort. "I really didn't think flipping open and slamming closed a few ton vault door like a toilet seat lid was an option."

A humored smirk slips out on Bach's face, and he chuckles awkwardly. "Yeah. Well, uh... Truth be told... Me neither. And, that's THE problem."

Cideeda puzzles at the answer, blinking in confusion. Working through his disappearing confidence, Bach ponders out loud. "I mean... I took your perfectly logical solution to a huge terrible problem and risked it all on the idea that I had the power to make it better. When looking back on it, I- I uh- I could have completely fucked everything up! Not just a little, but ROYALLY fucked it up. GODS! I could have failed at SO MANY points. From not getting the door open, damaging the structure, not being able to get the door closed back up, and so many other ways I just can't think of at the moment."

He slumps his shoulders and hangs his head lower, frowning. "Gods dammit."

Shaking his head, he stares distantly inside himself. "I just don't know if using THAT POWER was ultimately the right thing to do. I mean... Am I allowing poorly placed confidence in some power I barely understand to lead me down THAT path? Which makes me no different than..."

Cideeda kneels down into a seat next to Bach, grabs his shoulder, and gazes her emerald green eyes into his blue ones. "Listen. I fully agree that maybe it wasn't the best thing to do given all the possible odds and outcomes. But..."

Grimacing uneasily, she sighs with a grit of her sharp teeth and squirms slightly. "Even what I did was probably not the best course of action depending on the perspective you take."

She pantomimes the different options with her free hand. "What if I had taken a look at the situation and just told everyone to run for the hills? What if I had gotten trapped in there, and there was no way to shut it down? OR, maybe we could have timed it right? That way it wouldn't have locked when I was there? Then, I hit the shut down, and we all got clear without any problems?"

Squeezing Bach's shoulder firmly, her gaze softens, and she smiles kindly to him. "It was a REALLY fucked up, shitty situation. I navigated it the best I knew how and made the choices I thought were for the best given what I had available. It's the same thing you did."

Gradually averting his gaze from Cideeda, Bach contorts his face, processing the sentiment, and settles upon a halfhearted acceptance. "Yeah."

Lifting a smug eyebrow, Cideeda presents a toothy grin and playfully shakes Bach's shoulder slightly, with a genuinely happy tone. "Hey! The town is safe, and we're all alive to debate all the hypothetical ethics behind getting here. That's a pretty damn good result."

She smiles with hints of concern, leaning around and meeting Bach's gaze. "And the fact you are deliberating about this is a good sign. From my experience, it's the ones who aren't self aware you have to worry about."

A smirk gradually appears on Bach, and his tensions relax a little. Humming in thought for a few seconds, Cideeda chuckles to herself and grins. "Let me tell you one of those fvalian fables that... SOMEWHAT applies."

Bach rests his attention fully upon Cideeda and waits curiously. Cideeda draws in a long breath, wagging her tail behind her, and recites. "Okay... So, a thief goes to rob a house. While he's robbing it, he notices a lot of smoke coming from the house next door and quickly realizes that it's on fire. Well, he decides he really needs to get ready to leave before all the firefighters and police arrive to investigate. BUT. While he's outside loading stuff up into his van, he sees a car parked in the driveway. He realizes that no one is outside at this point, and the fire is pouring out a few of the windows now."

Presenting a puzzled gaze at Bach with a questioning flourish of her hands, she tilts head to the side. "Against the obvious choice to leave, he decides to investigate. And, even goes inside the house when it just doesn't feel right to him. Just as he's about to give up searching, he finds a woman passed out from the smoke. So, he carries her out..."

She leans closer with an amused smirk and playfully grumbles. "To the awaiting police and firefighters."

Donning an uneasy, tight lipped expression, she explains, her furry ears lowering down. "So now, he's REALLY trying to leave the scene and not draw any more attention. But..."

She lifts up a suspicious eyebrow and narrows her emerald green eyes. "The neighbors point out that they don't recognize him to the police, and one officer starts asking what he's doing with all the stuff in the van. Of course, they quickly figure out what's going on and arrest him. Later, he's on trial for the robbery and fully expects to be put into jail for a long time."

Furrowing her brow, she tints her tone with playful bewilderment. "Oddly and against all his expectations, the judge is really light on the sentencing. This totally BAFFLES him. Why be nice when he was so obviously caught in the act? As much as he didn't want to admit it..."

She rolls her eyes, gritting her sharp teeth. "It was a pretty open and shut case, and he didn't think there was any way to argue against it."

Twisting her mouth in suspicious intrigue, she focuses a dramatic gaze upon Bach. "Somehow while filling out paperwork to process him out, he was by himself, and the judge wanders in to handle some other bit of business. So, they are alone briefly. He decides to simply ask the judge why she was so easy on him? While he's not one to turn down mercy and good fortune, he can't deny how it felt like it should have gone differently."

Smiling kindly, Cideeda leans closer to Bach and asks. "You know what she said?"

Bach tilts his head to the side, narrowing his attentive gaze, and shakes his head slowly. "No. What did she say?"

Cideeda grins toothily and chuckles lightly. "She said that she couldn't very well condemn the man who chose the risk for her daughter's life over the certainty for his freedom."

With the last line of the story sinking in, Bach gradually nods. Deciphering the meaning, he blinks into a blank expression, puzzling more upon it. He visibly deliberates and internally contemplates. Seconds later, he glances over at Cideeda with a pleading perk of his brow, searching for further explanation. "Alright... I'm seeing a few possible lessons to take away from THAT. But..."

Cocking his head of longer brown hair to the side, he squints with grimace. "WOW. I mean, it is a bit murky. And, I'm really not sure I'm pulling the right things from it."

With a humored giggle, Cideeda stands up, picking her paper sack of food up, and stretches out her back, her tail sneaking away from Bach. "Well, don't think too hard about it. They are ALL like that."

Glancing off to the side, she tugs at the corner of her mouth, resting a hand on her hip. "That one was actually one of the straight forward fables."

She motions over to the rest of the team and smiles brightly, her emerald green eyes gaze into Bach's blue eyes. "So, how about you join the rest of us to eat? Afterwards, maybe you can tag along, and we all see what passes for a comic or game shop in this town?"

Rising up to his feet, Bach stands up fully, stretching out some of his stale stress, and smirks with a humble chuckle. "Yeah. Yeah, that sounds like a good plan to me."

Cideeda grins toothily and walks alongside Bach with a confident stride in her step and satisfied wag of her tail. They approach Aristespha, Dretphi, and Sotalia messaging each other with sinisterly humored smiles. Sebastian's voice whines in mild frustration. "This is SO rude."

---

A strong gust of wind blows across the large, sparsely graveled lot, bits of sandy soil stirring up into the air. Flecks of dried grass and specks of white sand gather around the tires of many vehicles and the side of an old, worn store front. A small rust spattered windmill anchored to the flat roof top spins along the surges of airflow and creaks with direction changes. Driving down the long paved road between other quiet businesses, a dark green sedan cruises slowly over the gentle dips in the aging asphalt. The vehicle rolls to a stop next to the sign upon a tall chain-link fence next to an open gate.

Lifting up a folded up paper map, Isaac orientates it into his view and compares against landmarks around him. He glances ahead, left, and right, twisting his mouth, and focuses upon the rusty metal sign, grumbling to himself. "Trusty Tony's Transportation..."

Curling up an uncertain eyebrow, he draws a suspicious breath through his gritting teeth,and releases a slightly disgusted sigh. "Gods almighty, Emanuel... Who the hell are you recommending to me?"

Dropping the paper map into the passenger's seat, Isaac eases off the brake and steers the car through the entry gate. He pulls into one of the many empty parking spots in front of the small, glass walled building, puts the car into park, and turns off the engine. He slowly steps towards the front entry, peers inside briefly, and pushes open the door. The small bell above the door rings out, and Isaac cautiously walks towards the front desk of the small front office space.

Muffled noises of movement sound out from behind a sun damaged, cheap wooden door opposite the main counter. Arriving at the front desk, Isaac suspiciously watches the doorway open on the wall across from him. Brushing off cheaper business attire, an older fvalian man notices Isaac at the counter and presents a sly, chipped fang smile with an enthusiastic greeting. "Hello! Welcome to Trusty Tony's Transportation. You MUST be a customer of EXCELLENT taste to have graced me with your patronage. How can I ever be of service to you?"

Isaac blinks briefly, comprehending the shifting situation, and cocks his head to the side curiously. "YOU are Trusty Tony?"

Tony smiles pridefully, combs his sharp claws through his slicked back, graying hair, and flicks his nicked and notched, furry ears. "Of course! Truthfully, Tony is a shorter nickname. And, it flows so much better in Americ with my business name. A choice bit of marketing on my part, if I must say. So..."

Nodding at the reasoning, Isaac glances around the office space and through the large windowed walls. "Well. You have been recommended to me by a business associate of mine."

Tony furrows his brow, signs of intrigue rising, and hums thoughtfully, rapping his thick claws upon the counter top. "OH. Really? Certainly it MUST be someone I know and has been quite satisfied with the services I provide."

Settling his investigative stare upon Tony, Isaac twists his mouth, purposefully keeping his tone even and calm. "Might be. He used to do a lot of work in the recovery and transportation of historically significant cargo."

Narrowing his yellowed eyed gaze briefly, Tony ponders a moment and pulls a widening grin across his face. "Ah! Yes. I think I know the particular, previously adventurous, academic minded individual. How is he doing these days?"

Isaac shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly, keeping a cool, collected front. "Enjoying his retirement however he can and pleases. But lately, he's been graciously educating me on particular aspects of his old career."

With an amused chuckle, Tony smiles eagerly and perks his brow. "Indeed, he is then. And, I'm so happy he is teaching you to come to me. So, how exactly can I facilitate your... Education?"

Motioning at the front of the office towards the dark green sedan parked, Isaac delves into an explanation. "I recently arrived in town, and I don't believe my current vehicle will suit my needs anymore. So, I'd like to... Trade up... to something better suited to exploring the zone."

Eyeing Tony from the corners of his gray eyes, he mentions in a hushed tone. "And... This sedan has too much recent HISTORY on it for me."

A sly smirk creeps out upon Tony's lightly tanned face, and he chuckles in good humor with a darker undertone. "Completely understand. It helps to start out fresh in a new town. And, I just happen to have a wonderful selection of all terrain vehicles, proven to handle what our own Perimeter Weird Zone can dish out."

Narrowing a calculating stare upon the dark green sedan in the parking space out front, he widens his smile, his eyes focusing upon the key details and conditions. He slides his attention back over to Isaac and lifts up a hinged section of desk. Stepping out swiftly, Tony leads Isaac towards another set of doors exiting out into the backlot. "Follow me. Let us see what you desire first before we talk any further."

Isaac follows along behind Tony, maintaining a cautious distance from the purposeful antics of the salesman, and ponders quietly. Moments later, memory reminds him, and he searches for the right phrasing. "Oh. By the way, there's a few spots on my sedan that might need to be..."

Hushing his tone, he relays. "Returned to stock condition to make it... Easier to sell in the future."

Slowing his pace, Tony glances over his shoulder towards Isaac and smirks curiously. "Hmm... Let me guess, an unfortunate horizontal hail incident?"

Isaac decodes the obscured memory and slowly nods his head. "Yes. You could say THAT."

With a reassuring laugh, Tony waves off the worries and shakes his head, opening the door for Isaac. "Oh! Nothing to worry about, then. Around here, not uncommon, at all. Nothing to concern yourself with. I know a few talented people who will make it quite presentable. In fact, they're so good, it'll look like a totally different car."

An odd sense of relief washes over Isaac, and he follows Trusty Tony through a large lot of all terrain vehicles of different sizes and designs, the moist, salty breeze stirring the white sand throughout the area.

---

Out in the backyard of the two story house, Samantha steps up next to Gerald, her attention fully upon her clipboard. Flipping through a number of pages, she grumbles to herself, tossing her brown, shoulder-length hair back in a fit of frustration. She briefly closes her hazel eyes, draws in an audible breath, and exhales, vainly attempting to ease her attitude. Gerald slides his dark brown eyes away from the large camera's viewfinder and lifts a curious eyebrow towards Samantha. "What's wrong?"

Grimacing out her thoughts, Samantha groans, idly rapping her fingers upon her clipboard, and lifts her gaze ahead. "I'm trying to figure out WHAT to do next with the team. We need some drama, action, or..."

She tenses her shoulders and squirms. "Something! A little down time is fine. BUT, we got to be ready to grab viewer attention, again. SOON. With Trakenthin's family off limits, I'm trying to figure out who we should focus on next."

Turning his attention back to the viewfinder, Gerald scratches his head of short, dark blonde hair, shrugs, and aims the camera around at the different members of the Flames of the Phoenix. "Well, I'm sure something will happen, soon enough. We just need to keep an eye for any clues and keep the cameras rolling. Gods know, there's still enough volatility left in this team."

Samantha releases a long sigh, puts her clipboard under her arm, and scans around the back yard. Out of the corner of eye, she catches some movement beyond the brush leading into the nearby forest. Squinting her eyes, she leans back and spots Veevi's contrasting pink hair against the forest green and brown. With her seductive intent blatant, Veevi pulls Chad along. Samantha smirks slightly and signals a small camera team over. "Urdi, Radnae, Harris... They're hitting the forest again. See what you can get."

The older human man leads the fvalian man and woman into a stealthy approach towards the forest, carefully trailing Chad and Veevi. Samantha groans out her annoyance and rolls her eyes with a slow shake of her head. "We might get a good side bit in an episode, but even THAT isn't quite enough."

Propping up her chin with her fist, she sways her weight from foot to foot, fidgeting in thought. "What to do..."

Gerald glances over to Samantha, returns his focus back to recording, and aims the camera towards the rest of the team. Deedri and Tassilda discuss different magical recipes, sorting through notes upon the metal mesh garden table. Wrapping her hands around a large cup of tea, Deedri lifts it up to her mouth and sips the steamy, warm drink. Her auburn eyes spring wide in pleasant surprise, and she examines the beverage again, offering compliments towards Tassilda. "Oh! This is really good! You'll have to tell me how you made it."

Tassilda tosses back her raven black hair over her spiraling horns with both hands and leans back into the wooden outdoor chair, giggling lightly. "It's nothing special, really. To be perfectly honest, it's just one extra ingredient I put in on top of a store brand mix. You won't believe it when I tell you."

A sly grin appears on Tassilda's gray toned face, and she narrows her light blue on black eyes at Deedri playfully. "Try guessing. I'm actually curious if you can figure it out."

Biting her lower lip, Deedri's furry, tufted ears twitch thoughtfully, her eyes search the top of her mind, and her tag wags swiftly. "I don't know... Hmm... Let me have a few more sips and sniffs, first."

In the middle of the back yard plot, Trakenthin's tall grath form stands at the ready with a sparring sword. Carefully maintaining a watch of his nearby surroundings, he stares at the ground immediately around him. A gentle wind coasts across the area and brushes the tops of the short blades of grass. Two small, narrow strips of grass stop swaying in sync with the rest of the yard. Trakenthin's hazel eyes widen into an alert glare the moment, his body tenses at the ready, and he swiftly swings his practice blade well above two visually hazy spots joining the unusual patches. The sword halts with a solid wooden clack midair, short of crossing into the airspace above the suspicious ground. With a satisfied smirk, Trakenthin concentrates his gaze expectantly and waits.

Gradually shifting from transparency to full opacity, Modoran grumbles to himself, his dark blue eyes glancing up to Trakenthin. He eases the pressure off his practice dagger, and Trakenthin lowers his sparring sword. Modoran twists the disappointment upon his dusky bluish gray face. "Damn. I thought I was doing decently right there."

Lifting an inquisitive brow at Trakenthin, he pivots around and studies his prior approach. "Okay. What gave it away? I swear I obfuscated my footsteps in the grass when I was getting close to you."

Trakenthin rests his wooden training blade upon his shoulder, grinning proudly, and motions with the flow of the air. "Wind. The grass behind your legs did not move correctly."

Rolling his dark blue eyes at himself, Modoran slumps his shoulders and sighs with a slight droop of his long pointed ears. "Gods... Well. That figures. This is why people sneak between dim and dark spots. Too many details to keep up with in the light."

Shaking his head and pondering to himself, he shrugs back to his nonchalant self and steps away from Trakenthin. "Okay, let's try this again. I think I might be able to do something about that... Maybe..."

Trakenthin nods with a singular laugh, readies his practice sword, and calms himself, fully focusing. During his walk to the edge of the back yard, Modoran stretches out his neck, shoulders, and back. Samantha curls a sly grin and taps her clipboard eagerly. "I think I have an idea."

Gerald rolls his eyes out of view, concentrating upon capturing the activities in front of him, and humors Samantha. "Which is?"

Samantha flips through her notes upon her clipboard and eyes a report printout with a devious smirk. "After the resort, there's been a small, vocal group on the community forums that haven't had the nicest things to say about Modoran."

Blinking in disbelief, Gerald turns his puzzling gaze away from the viewfinder, cocks his head to the side, and stares confused at Samantha. "Really? I mean, he's a bit of smug ass sometimes, but I don't think he's done anything to rile up the fans. What's got those people mad?"

Slowly shrugging her shoulders, Samantha gazes at Gerald. "I don't know exactly. But..."

She sports a sinister smile and chuckles with a plotting tone. "I took the liberty of having the community managers check the details of those accounts..."

Guiltily averting her eyes, she grins. "AND, had the tech department do a few checks. It turns out a few of those accounts connect from Evuukian owned aetherphone companies. Also, initial sleuthing shows one account is definitely from someone living in the heart of Evuukian territory."

Gerald furrows his brow and grimaces with a shifting blend of curiosity and surprise. "Huh. Who would he have pissed off?"

Pausing in thought, he searches through bits of memory rising up into his mind and nods slightly. "Actually... Yeah... Thinking about it more, he got more than a few strange looks from the evuukian nobility at the resort."

With growing excitement, Samantha grins eagerly and narrows her scheming gaze up on the magically fading Modoran. "Exactly! So tonight, when I call Howie, I'm going to mention this and see what he wants to do. But, I've already told the community managers to... ENCOURAGE and ALLOW... Those people talk about whatever they want."

She chuckles to herself darkly, smiling smugly, and hugs her clipboard tight. "I wonder what our researchers will dig up given the right clues."