Rays of morning sun slip through the blinds into the bedroom, and a glow scatters out upon the area. Sebastian's ethereal form kneels next to the bed, and he eases his voice into Aristespha's long ear. "Dear... Time to wake up. You turned off your alarm last night. Dear?"

A grumbling mumble sounds out from under the covers, and Aristespha rolls her head purposefully away from Sebastian into a mass of blankets. Smirking with a lift of an eyebrow, Sebastian shakes his head and drifts over Aristespha to the other side of the bed, his visage floating downwards to just above the mattress. He grins wide at the ivory face peeking out from bed sheets. "Well... It looks like SOMEONE had a little too much last-"

A pair violet eyes open to a dim glow and stare unamused through Sebastian. Growling weakly, Aristespha averts her narrowing gaze away briefly and hides a wince. "I am fine. Sebastian."

Sebastian rolls his translucent blue eyes playfully and slowly nods with an exaggerated flair. "Of course you are, my dear."

Returning her tired gaze towards Sebastian, Aristespha sighs and gradually removes the covers off herself. She stares up to the ceiling, rubs the temples of her head, and rolls herself to the edge of the bed. Silvery blue hair drapes over her face, and her hand reaches out and pats around the floor underneath the bed. Sebastian sinks through the mattress, searches briefly around, and gently calls out to Aristespha. "It's up against the wall near the bedpost, dear."

Aristespha's hand slides sideways along the hardwood floor, bumps into a metal box, and instinctively latches onto the top. Guiding the container over just under her view, she undoes the worn locking clasp and flips the aged hinged lid open. With a few pokes into the assorted contents, she lifts up a single vial towards her half-open, darkened eyes. With bite, she pries the cork off, spits out the stopper, and tilts her head back, dumping the clear fluid back into her mouth. Sebastian slips up from underneath the bed, stands up next to the side, and watches Aristespha cringe and cough. "Fine, are you?"

Slowly sitting up, Aristespha places the glass tube upon the nearby nightstand and narrows her violet eyes at Sebastian. "I'm fine... Now..."

Pausing a moment, she buffers a belch and swallows hard. "Soon..."

She works the disgust from her face between winces and cringes, shaking her head. Sebastian mutes his amusement and dons a plain smile. "It never tastes any better, does it?"

Aristespha sighs smirking, and shrugs her shoulders, stretching her neck. "No. Generations of medical mages have yet to figure out how to counter that awful taste. That, or none ever wanted to ruin the effectiveness in exchange."

Lowering himself down to a seat upon the bed, Sebastian sideeyes Aristespha. "So... Do you remember anything I told you last night? Or, do I need to-"

A violet eyed glare strikes Sebastian briefly. A moment later, Aristespha softens her gaze with a slow nod. "Yes. I wasn't..."

She furrows her brow in thought and rocks her head between confidence and indecisiveness. "THAT far gone."

Drawing in a slow, deep breath, she recounts calmly. "There is a job about a missing evuukian teenager that was directly sent to our group from a guild ID we've never seen..."

Consciousness returning in full, Aristespha's hand reflexively reaches out to her aetherphone on the nightstand. She quickly taps a side button, and the current date and time flashes up. An exhale of relief escapes her, and she relaxes some of her tension. "Good. Did NOT sleep in too much."

Her eyes squint down at the notification list, and she quickly taps in her security code upon the display. Sorting through on screen menus, she pours her full attention towards a series of messages. Sebastian notices the quick change of focus and slides around, peering above her shoulder. "What's the matter, dear?"

Aristespha curiously scrolls through the messages and glances over to Sebastian quizzically. "Valavera sent me a few messages last night."

Sebastian blinks and scans the evuukian text upon Aristespha's aetherphone screen. "Is she okay? Please tell me she's not the missing teenager."

Quickly shaking her head, Aristespha drags a finger tip up the aetherphone display and hovers over a section of text. "No. She's just fine, Sebastian. Beckerin took her along on a few side jobs on their way back, and she has been at home for a few weeks."

Narrowing her stare upon the text, she cocks her head to the side, stray locks of long hair falling upon her shoulder. "Says she knows the missing teenager and told her parents to hire us specifically to find her."

She slowly turns her head and gazes at Sebastian, a mix of intrigue and concern upon her face. "Valavera says she has information about where the teenager might be and wants to talk to all of us over the phone because of how sensitive it is."

Tilting his head to the side, Sebastian relaxes his ethereal form in thought and twists his mouth. "Did she mention anything else?"

Aristespha returns her stare upon the aetherphone screen and searches the lines of evuukian text with a gradual shake of the head. "No. She's being vague about what she wants to tell us. I guess Beckerin probably advised her on how to phrase it all via a message. He has always been careful about anything written or recorded."

After a moment of pause, Sebastian's eyes widen, memories springing back to the front of his mind, and he sternly watches the display scroll. "It might be something about the Terra Priests."

----

Tassilda stands in the middle of the wrap around kitchen, inspecting a number of glass tubes in wooden rack holders. Grasping onto one with a gloved hand, she slides it up out of the frame and holds it up against the light coming through the window over the sink. A faintly milky liquid swirls within the confines of the glass container. Examining the contents, Tassilda squints her light blue on black eyes and pulls a plotting smirk to the corner of her gray face. Lowering the tube over the larger basin of the kitchen sink, she places her other hand around the glass and her hand, closing her eyes. With slow breaths, she concentrates, straightens her posture, and calmly mouths out careful incantations. Moments later, gradual flows of magical energy glide along her arms and consolidate into a single trail, condensing into the open mouth of the glass tube. The cloudy fluid glows brightly, the magical power collects, and small bubbles form upon the interior sides. With the concoction foaming at the top, Tassilda opens her eyes, waves off the excess magical flow with a hand, and carefully inserts the glass container into another wooden holder at the bottom of the sink. Quickly checking her hands for overflow and spillage, she gazes over to a series of black rubber stoppers and one white wax cork. A sinister spark lights her eyes, and she sharpens her smile, focusing her attention upon the wax top.

An irregular series of wooden creaks echo out from the stairs. Seconds later, a groggy Deedri plods through the archway into the dining area, combing the mess of multi-colored hair out of her view. She brushes the loose fabric of her pajamas against a wall corner, her tail lazily swaying with the momentum. Walking closer towards the kitchen, she rubs her forehead with one hand and feels her grip on a small vial of clear liquid in the other. Blinking in surprise, Tassilda breaks from her task and curiously watches Deedri sloppily navigate to the front of the refrigerator. Deedri slides the hand off her head, roughly opens the fridge door, and side steps with a slight stumble out of the swing path. Grasping onto a carton of orange juice inside, she yanks it out swiftly, keeping it at the ready. Tassilda cocks her head, lifts a very confused eyebrow, and places her hands on her hips. "What are you doing?"

Blinking to a moment of awareness, Deedri draws a long breath in and sighs reluctantly towards a groan. "Ungh. Self medicating."

In a quick series of motions, she claws off the stopper in the vial, dumps the contents down her throat, folds the carton open, and quaffs a long pour of orange juice. Tassilda opens her eyes wide, watching Deedri wince, squirm, and tense all over her body. Dropping the carton back down upon the nearby countertop, she breathes deeply and slumps her shoulders into full awareness. Glances into the mouth of the nearly empty carton, Deedri bites her lip in embarrassment. "I'm sorry. It takes a lot of orange juice to counteract THAT bad taste."

Tassilda slowly nods, brushes her raven hair over her swirling horns, and widens a very amused grin. "I SEE. I was wondering what you were up to last night."

Deedri closes the fridge door, places the stopper back in the vial, and stands back, supporting herself against a nearby counter. "It was a... rough day. So, I stopped by..."

Fighting her embarrassment down to a grimace, she glances her auburn eyes around in feigned innocence, her furry, tufted ears flicking. "A place that many other clinic staff visit after their... Rough days."

She glances over to Tassilda and notices the intrigue and curiosity swelling up on her face. "Uh, so um... What are you doing right now? Making potions? Um..."

Tassilda chuckles lightly and pivots her gaze upon her project, shrugging casually. "Oh. Nothing too complicated. Just making a batch of dispelling charges."

Deedri focuses her semi-groggy stare upon the tubes of milky fluid, and nods. "I see. That's actually a good idea."

A smile pulls across Tassilda, and she turns back around to face Deedri. "Yes, I figured it would be nice to have something to dispel those annoying little bits of magic without requiring our energies at the time."

Frowning momentarily, she grumbles under her breath. "... and counteract any other cute tricks that Veevi happens to figure out without wasting valuable effort..."

Hearing Veevi's name, Deedri tenses her posture and scans around the area quickly. "By the way, have you seen Veevi today?"

Tassilda's focus locks on to Deedri, and she quirks an intrigued eyebrow. "No. I believe she's still in HER room. For once."

Narrowing her stare upon Deedri, Tassilda leans forward slightly. "Why?"

Reluctantly, Deedri sighs and shakes her head. "I, uh, had a run in with her last night before getting to my room and..."

She averts her face briefly away from Tassilda. "Well... I, um... Made sure she knew my claws weren't for show."

A proud smile springs up upon Tassilda, she steps forward in front of Deedri. Lifting her hands off her hips, she places them on Deedri's shoulders and stares Deedri in the eyes. "As you SHOULD. Someone of your talent should NEVER have to suffer grief from someone like that."

Blinking to attention, Deedri presents a humble smile. "Thank you. I appreciate hearing that."

Tassilda releases Deedri, walks over to the kitchen sink, and directs her voice over her shoulder. "You should NEVER be afraid to stand up for yourself."

A bit of hesitation infiltrates Deedri's voice, and she grits her teeth briefly. "I know that. BUT... I'm a bit worried what might happen because of... HOW I stood up for myself..."

Seconds of tense quiet later, Tassilda eases her head over, leading the rest of her body, and faces Deedri with a delightfully curious grin upon her gray face. "OH. Really? How ever did you stand up for yourself?"

Deedri snatches up the carton of orange juice and drinks slowly, stalling for time under the patient stare Tassilda.

----

Aristespha, Bach, Cideeda, Dretphi, and Sotalia sit at the dining room table, Sebastian hovering overhead, all focus upon the aetherphone upon the tabletop. Valavera's voice sounds out from the speakerphone. "Okay, so Uncle Becker told me to tell you all this over the phone and make sure there's no written record of it, because... Well..."

The unamused tone of Aristespha cuts through the idle air, and she aims her glare at the aetherphone. "It is incriminating of you. We understand, and it is okay. Just relay what you know, so we can help."

A nervous gasp escapes Valavera's side of the conversation, and she sighs long with uneasy acceptance. "Okay. Sorry. When I went out into the woods, I was not the only one that was put on the same type of assignment. My friend Faelatelia and I went out to a meet up with the main guy from the group. We split up after we got our missions, and I was in contact with her until..."

She groans into a stale, frustrated grumble. "My phone broke."

Tension building in her voice, her concern slips out into her cadence. "I... Well... When I got back home, I tried to contact her and find out what happened. Gods, I was hoping she was abandoned like me and had gone back home eventually. But..."

She works through an uneasy breath. "No one has seen her since we both left. And, I have checked with everyone I know and she knew outside the... group."

Sebastian's ethereal form lowers slightly, and he directs his question at the aetherphone. "Do you know where she was supposed to go for her assignment?"

Valavera perks up and promptly responds. "Yes! I told Uncle Becker and he even called in a favor from his friend, Mavian. He scouted the area and found signs that someone had been there a while ago. But... Left..."

Rapping a hand of claw tips upon the table top, Cideeda twists her face into a thoughtful grimace and narrows her emerald green eyes. "The guild mission brief has a huge, vague area that her aetherphone was last detected from a few distant radio towers. Were they able to get anything else from the phone that wasn't on the mission brief?"

Focusing back upon the present, Valavera snaps back out of her idle worry. "Oh, uh, yes? Sort of? Uncle Becker contacted some people he knows from a few of the aether network companies. A lot of messages didn't get delivered to my phone, but they had records of them. There were a few from her..."

Aristespha speaks clearly, firmly at her phone, and interlocks her fingers together, pondering out loud. "What did they say?"

With a drift in her tone and hints of resignation, Valavera answers with a long sigh. "She got accepted into the group. She was given a location to go to, and was told to go there to get taken to the Terra Priest commune. That location sounds like it is within the area they tracked her phone to."

Dretphi nods slowly, processing the information, and sorts through her mind between flicks of her steely gray eyes. "It is a meeting point. For safety. Likely far from the final destination. Heavy forest does not allow useful vehicle transit. The commune could be within walking range. Unfortunately, could be hours, days of travel to reach."

Grumbling within frustration, Sotalia slides the highlighted region around on a tablet on the dining table in front of her. "Gods... So, even if we go to that spot, the real place could be ANYWHERE around here. Probably kilometers away. And, I bet they are keeping an eye on the whole area. Probably just for people like us."

Groaning in agreement, Dretphi shakes her head against the options and wrestles a frown upon her tan face. "Dangerous territory. Likely would be found if we perform a wide search. Ambushed if we get close. Could be left to wander for weeks uselessly. They may leave during. Be gone before we get close."

Tapping a long finger nail upon the tablet display, Sotalia squints her golden eyes at the map, tosses back her dark red hair, and curls the corner of her mouth with a lift of an eyebrow. "It'd be real nice if we had a good overhead view with a good camera."

Bach blinks to attention and furrows his brow, searching his mind. Glancing around the table, he shrugs his shoulders and proposes. "Huh, we might see if Kaleb and Lagi could do a fly over of the area?"

Sebastian hovers over, staring at the tablet display, and tilts his head to the side. "Not a bad idea, bro. But... That's A LOT of area to cover, especially if we want useful photography."

Tugging at the corner of his translucent mouth, he sighs ethereally. "Also... I'm pretty sure if there's anyone there, they'll get REAL suspicious of a dragon flying overhead for so long."

Aristespha narrows her violet eyes, taps her fingertips against each other in thought, and ponders out loud. "So... We need more information to limit the search area..."

Dretphi opens her eyes wide and smirks with a hint of hope in her voice. "We should contact Captain Hackle. He may have information. May be able to get information."

Nodding slowly with a spark in his ghostly gaze, Sebastian smiles at Aristespha. "AND, Hays could be a good one to call up, too. With all the scouting and wandering the woods they've done in the area, they may have seen something that could help. Something out of the ordinary, or check their records for such."

Aristespha gauges the growing agreement between Bach, Cideeda, Dretphi, Sebastian, and Sotalia, and grants a reserved smile towards the gathering. "That sounds like the best course of action, at the moment. If we can narrow the area enough, Kaleb and Lagi might be able to get us the information we need without attracting too much attention and generating too much suspicion."

Sebastian crosses his arms and nods with a growing grin. "He could do a single fly over if the target area is small enough. Make it look like he was just passing through rather than sweeping the area itself."

Sighing in thought, Aristespha aims her voice at her aetherphone. "Regardless, that is the best we can do, at the moment. I wish we had more, but give us time, Valavera."

Over the speakerphone, a happy tone shines out from Valavera. "Thank you! Just knowing someone is working on it is good to know. I just hope Faelatelia is okay... It's just... The more I read up about the Terra Priests..."

With the heavy weight of worry in her voice, she continues. "The more... I do NOT think she would want to be part of them."

----

At the head of the dining table in the two story house, Chad stands tall and smiles proud. Camera crew members wedge themselves into ideal positions and aim recording equipment at the gathering. Around the table Tassilda, Trakenthin, Deedri, Modoran, and Veevi sit and watch Chad, waiting expectantly. Veevi briefly glances away from Chad across the table and catches a glimpse of Deedri. She quickly snaps her head away when Deedri's gaze moves slightly away from Chad. Darting his dark blue eyes briefly between Veevi and Deedri, Modoran subdues a suspicious grimace. Trakenthin stares ahead at Modoran until their eyes meet and tilts his head quizzically to either side of him. Modoran shrugs his shoulders and shakes his head slightly, furrowing his brow. Chad hems and addresses the group with a bold tone. "While we may have had some trouble in Hattan, we persevered and aided the town in its time of need. And, with a bit of time to recover and allowing Deedri to assist the Amaranth Valley clinic with her services, I believe we are ready for our next big mission."

Lifting up a tablet from the tabletop, he taps a few on screen buttons and spins it around into view, showing the display to everyone at the table. "We will be providing assistance in patrolling a section of highway with..."

A bright, white grin shines forth from his smiling mouth, and he taps a finger up the display. "The Chrome Crusaders."

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Trakenthin blinks hard, places his phone quickly down upon the table, and rotates his head, gawking at the tablet. Genuine surprise fills Modoran's dusky bluish gray face, and he squints at the text upon the screen, cocking his head slightly. Tassilda covers her mouth with a hand and stares at Chad in honest interest. Tensing up in anticipation, Deedri contains her excitement, flit slipping out into the wag of her long, fluffy tail below the table. Veevi slides close to Chad, into the shot, and smirks slyly to the cameras. Flipping the tablet back around, Chad presses a few buttons and finishes with a swift swipe. "I've sent the guild mission details to everyone. We'll be heading out soon. So, take tomorrow to prepare. We'll be traveling for a week with a Chrome Crusader unit."

Staring around to all the members of the team, he narrows his brown eyes, seriousness coloring his tone. "While we should be fairly safe with such a renowned group, we don't want to disappoint."

He pauses a moment and stresses his point. "SO. Be ready."

Various aetherphone alerts chime out. Watching the reactions around the table, Chad sweeps a curious gaze over the team. "So, any questions?"

Slowly raising a hand, Modoran nonchalantly awaits for acknowledgement from Chad and cracks a partial grin. "So... Any chance we get to drive one of their mechs around? Just for a little while?"

With a tinge of humor slipping out, Chad groans and shakes his head into a sigh. "Unfortunately, NO. This particular division uses small personnel mech suits that are customized to the pilot. Only powered armor suits and your average transport trucks."

Trakenthin lowers his hand back down to the table after the answer from Chad and shrugs at Modoran's curious glance. "Same question."

Crossing her arms, Tassilda scrutinizes Chad's posture, narrowing her light blue on black eyes, and curls her upper lip, forming sneer. "If I may ask, what ever are they patrolling the highways for?"

With a tilt of his head of short brown, coiffed hair, Chad grins humored at Tassilda. "Regular bandits that have been hassling commerce. Normal humanoids that are most likely to be affected by a whole host of charm and enchantment spells."

A sinister smile graces Tassilda, and she uncrosses her arms out onto the table, rapping her long black nails upon the tabletop. "Oh. I see. This certainly seems like a fitting mission for our team then."

Deedri gradually raises her hand, watching Chad grant a respectful nod towards her. "Will I need to focus on our medical needs strictly, or are we pooling resources with their medical staff for the length of the mission?"

Blinking in thought, Chad twists his mouth in thought. "Well, I..."

A few moments later, he draws a calming breath and smiles. "I, actually, don't know at the moment. The Chrome Crusader unit will have their own medical staff, but I think we'll assist each other, regardless. So, I would say focus on our group's medical needs, if only to keep us from being a drain on their resources. And, prepare to assist them, if needed."

Accepting the answers, Deedri nods and glances around the table at everyone else. Her eyes passing over towards Veevi, she notices the pink haired, half-fvalian momentarily freeze, the two making eye contact. Awkward, tense moments later, Veevi averts her gaze away shyly and focuses upon her aetherphone, settling back fully into her seat. Blinking in disbelief, Deedri squints briefly at Veevi and shifts her attention elsewhere, puzzling to herself.

----

The bright moonlight from the night sky projects itself through the gaps between the slats of the window blinds. Groggily stirring from his slumber, Modoran summons forth his limited consciousness towards muffled noises slipping in from the hall. He tilts his head, aims his long, pointed ear at the bedroom door, and waits. Footsteps creak upon the hallway floor and faintly resonate. Modoran cracks open an alert, dark blue eye, focusing upon the entryway. Shadows play underneath the doorway gap and fade away. Seconds later, a series of soft wooden steps softly sound out, fading into silence. Gathering enough awareness, Modoran slips out of bed and cautiously slinks towards the door. He kneels down, lowers his head to the floor, and inspects the floor of the hallway for activity.

The careful search reveals no signs of anyone around. He begins to lift his head up, and his ears twitch in recognition of a familiar mechanical noise. Quickly cracking the door open, he aims a long, pointed ear out, and catches the unmistakable sound of the back sliding glass door closing downstairs. He pauses in thought, withdraws his head from the hallway, and seals his door. Gradually, he lifts himself up to his feet, wiping the sleep out of his eyes, and shifts his stare towards the moonlit window blinds. He steps over quietly, leans forward towards the window, and lifts an inconspicuous slat up. Squinting against the shine of the moonlight, he scans downwards to the backyard plot below.

Movement captures his full attention, and his stare locks onto a figure moving across the lawn. In the moments, other parts of his mind awaken, and greater consciousness guides his stare. Bewilderment fills his face, and recognition furrows his brow. In the backyard, Tassilda searches the area around her and secures her tight black pants and long sleeve shirt. Darting along the perimeter along the fence line, she arrives at the corner of the back plot and slips over the low barrier. With a final inspection of the dark, moonlit vicinity, she runs off towards the distant ranch style house beyond the large field. Modoran blinks within his confusion, opens his mouth with the start of a mutter, and stops.

Releasing the window blind slat, his dark blue eyes search his mind for a reason, and his hands clench. With a long sigh, Modoran holds his hands up in resignation. Shaking his head slowly side to side, he closes his contorting mouth. He waves off the whole affair with both hands, rocking his head in defiance, and mutters a series of phrases in grumbling evuukian. At the edge of his bed, he whips up the covers, slips underneath the falling bed sheets, and secures his head firmly on a pillow. Pulling a long breath in, he sighs with a quiet trailing groan and rolls up into his sheets.

----

Afternoon sun glows upon the grass around an old log, propped up vertically. Small shadows fill in the cracks of the decaying wood and darken large gouges into the core. A small hatchet sinks partially into the soft lumber and wedges itself by a corner of the blade's edge. The thick, aged trunk rocks slightly, pressing against the smaller timbers supporting it, and settles back squarely onto the ground. Sebastian crosses his arms, hums with an ethereal reverb, and twists his mouth in thought. "Not bad, bro. Getting the spin right for this distance is pretty tricky at times."

Rolling his shoulders, a faint pops and cracks out from Bach's joints, and he swings out the tension within his arms around at his side. "Yeah... To be fair, I think I released it a bit early on that throw."

He pauses a moment, glances over to Sebastian, and smirks curiously. "No offense, man, but I STILL don't know what use ax throwing is going to be for me."

Sebastian shrugs his transparent shoulders, puts his hands out to his sides, and grins nonchalantly. "You never know, bro. I've been meaning to teach you, anyway. Plus, can you think of anything else to do at the moment that beats throwing axes?"

Blinking in thought a moment, Bach stares back at the log target and walks forward with a satisfied, humored smile. "You know... I really can't beat that logic right now."

Reaching the timber stand, he grips hold of the ax handle, yanks it clear, and feels out the balance of the tool. A solid thud sounds out further down the side lawn from a heavy sac landing hard within the outer limits of a painted ring on the grass. A brief fit of frustration sneers Dretphi's upper lip, and she places her hands on her hips. Studying the missed target with a contemplative stare, a faint grumble slips out from her stoic exterior. Cideeda reaches up, pats Dretphi on the shoulder, and laughs encouragingly. "Don't worry, you're still beating me in weight and distance."

Dretphi sighs and shakes her head of platinum blonde braids with a groan. "Release felt wrong. Do not know what specifically."

Lifting up a smaller sac from the ground by a rope around the top, Cideeda idly swings it and plants her feet wide upon the grass. "Timing may have been off. Getting the release just right is always important."

She focuses forward upon the circular target on the trimmed ground and narrows her emerald green eyes. With a few forceful revolutions, her arm circles the weighted bag up to speed. Seconds of concentration later, her hand opens up, the small sac sails up into the air along a calculated arc. Reaching the apex of its flight, the bag plummets down and solidly hits the earth near the exact center of the target. Dretphi glances down at the toothy grin of Cideeda and nods in agreement.

The hot tub gazebo door opens slowly, faint clouds of steam slipping out in the current. Sotalia steps out with a towel wrapped around her head and another towel covering the bottom of her two piece bathing suit. Slowly strutting around to the side yard of the house, she stands with a slight squirm next to Sebastian. "So, how goes the practice?"

With a simple smile, Sebastian shrugs and glances over to Sotalia. "Well... It's practice. Throwing various things and seeing if we can get near the targets."

Bach arrives in front of Sebastian and Sotalia, with ax at the side, and puzzles at Sotalia with a furrowed brow. "Huh, you're out of the water early today. Is the hot tub not working or something?"

Sotalia twists her mouth into a grimace, rolls her shoulders uneasily, and pounders out loud. "No. It was working fine. It's just..."

Squinting her golden eyes over to the gazebo, she straightens her back and sighs. "Just felt a bit weird being in it today. Couldn't quite figure out what was different, so I decided to get out for a bit."

Lifting a mock accusatory eyebrow at Sotalia, Bach dons a wry smile. "Maybe you've been abusing it a bit too much lately?"

Opening her mouth in a retort, she pauses and averts her eyes away in thought. She grumbles at herself and trails out a begrudging sigh. "You... Might be right. I've never had a hot tub this accessible to me. And... I've never really used one this much."

She bites her lower lip and waves her hand to the side. "Oh, what can I say? I am a bit of a glutton for relaxing in water. Got that habit from my family."

Rolling her shoulders, she rocks her towel wrapped head side to side, stretching out her neck. "We ALWAYS had either a pool, sauna, lake, or tub somewhere around our vacation spots."

Bach glances over to Sebastian and smirks with amusement. "That must have been nice. About the only vacation spot our family took with a lake was one that no one wanted to go in. Well..."

Narrowing his blue stare, he cracks an smug grin. "Except Sebastian."

With an awkward sneer, Sebastian groans ethereally and closes his eyes. "Once. Just ONCE. GODS, I still shiver thinking about it."

The sliding glass door glides along its track, and Aristespha excitedly steps out with a smile and tablet in hand. She quickly walks over to Bach, Sebastian, and Sotalia, and waves towards Cideeda and Dretphi. "Everyone! I heard back from both Captain Hackle and Captain Hays."

A hopeful grin appears upon Sebastian's face, and he motions towards Aristespha, Cideeda and Dretphi arriving nearby. "Good! What did they have to say?"

Taking a deep breath in, Aristespha mentally organizes her thoughts and summarizes. "Okay. Captain Hackle checked with his sources, and they have recent evidence of a Terra Priest group in that area. It is quite a long hike from the meeting point Valavera told us, but it IS a far smaller area they could be in."

She adjusts the brightness of the tablet's display against the plentiful ambient light and presents it out of the sun's glare to the group. Dretphi points out the digital map scale measurement in the corner of the screen, nodding with a slight smile. "YES. THAT is a significant difference. Workable area. Feasible for us to work."

Nodding in agreement, Bach hovers his finger over the screen, tracing a few paths over the area. "Yeah, no kidding. I think Kaleb and Lagi could easily do a few passes over the area without drawing that much attention."

Sebastian leans his head close and glances over to Bach. "Especially if he spaces the fly-overs with a few hours between each. And, maybe do them at early dawn or late dusk?"

Pondering the plans out loud, Cideeda grins and relays the thoughts in her mind. "Definitely should go around dawn AND dusk. That way, it'll just seem like a dragon traveling to and from another location. Any lookouts they have will probably be different people at those times, too. Assuming they've got proper patrols and shifts, they'll probably note it but not be too suspicious."

Sotalia adjusts the towel on her head, lifts a scrutinizing eyebrow at the information, and puzzles with hints of irritation in her voice. "Wait... They KNOW about this group and where it possibly is..."

Twisting the corner of her mouth, she frowns and huffs. "AND, they haven't dealt with it?!"

Aristespha groans and shakes her head with similar sentiment. "I know. The only way I even got this information from Captain Hackle is letting him know about Faelatelia and the possibility of the Terra Priests being involved. It seems this specific group has kept to themselves rather than engaging in the usual activities the Terra Priests are infamous for."

She tugs her mouth towards the side of her ivory face with a brief grit of the teeth and sighs out her own frustrations. "Since this group is also near the border between the GAA and Appaland perimeter territories, everyone has taken a wait and see approach. That might change depending on what we may or may not find."

Sebastian lifts a curious brow towards Aristespha, standing back up straight. "What did Captain Hays have to say?"

Aristespha briefly searches her mind and nods with her thoughts. "Unfortunately, not as much as Captain Hackle. They have been focused on other things since Hattan. BUT, Captain Hays mentioned some strange activity when they were following a group of weird zone animals away from Hattan that led them far south of that area. Faint magical disturbances, odd spirit activity, and strange behavior from the normal wildlife."

Shrugging her shoulders vaguely, she lowers the display, resting her arms. "They thought it may have been caused by the zone creatures, since that is not an uncommon occurrence with having any new creatures in the area. They did note the amount did not exactly match up with expectations."

Crossing his arms, Sebastian gradually tilts his head side to side, and nods with a growing grin. "Okay. I'm thinking this is workable enough and should be worth pursuing now."

Bach gives a thumbs up to his brother in agreement. "I mean, if we can hang out roughly nearby, Kaleb and Lagi should be able to narrow it down for us. Then, we move fast, scout it out, and fall back. Then, we figure out what we need to do further?"

Sebastian gazes over to Bach with a proud smile. "That sounds like a good plan for now, bro. I really don't want to risk too much, but have to get our own eyes on the area. Otherwise, we're just making wild guesses and speculation blindly."

A sly toothy smile graces Cideeda, and she places her hands on her hips with sway, flicking the tip of her long, fluffy tail. "If they're really keeping to themselves, they might leave us alone so long we just look like lost adventurers chasing some bogus ruin to pilfer. We just need to keep a look out for any activity and just play dumb."

With a plotting glint in her emerald green eye, she grins, perking her furry ears, and scratches her chin. "We might be able to triangulate where their base is by noting when they have some scout watching us."

The group tosses around ideas and mulls over possible tactics between themselves. A few minutes later, Aristespha spots something out of the corner of her eye and snaps her attention to a trail of dark red fluid running down the side of Sotalia's head. Narrowing her violet eyes momentarily, she widens her stare in surprise. "Sotalia? Did you injure your head?!"

Sotalia blinks back to awareness and notices the finger point from Aristespha, patting her fingers upon the dark red trail. Squinting at the color upon her hand, Sotalia quickly removes the towel from her head. Locks of fiery orange, wavy hair fall from unraveling the towel wrap and rest down upon Sotalia's shoulders. Unfolding the dark red soaked fabric before her in utter bewilderment, Sotalia spots two blotches of black in the mess. The rest of the group gawks in sheer confusion at the dark brown and tan, swept back horns upon Sotalia's fiery orange hair covered head. Bouncing her stare between the stained towel and the stunned silence of the rest of the group, shock floods Sotalia's being. Her face pales, her posture stiffens, and her hands tremble. Without a further word, she snaps a pivot away from the group and speeds off into the house.

----

A pair of golden, nervous eyes stare into the bathroom mirror reflection of a half-emin woman. Sotalia slowly raises her hand to her shoulder, and lifts a wavy lock of fiery orange hair up. Twirling the strands between her fingers, she lets the hair slip out and rubs the trace amount of dark red residue. Her hands touch the dark brown and tan horns on her head, and follow their swept back path. With a long, shaky exhale, Sotalia lowers her arms, places her palms firmly upon the bathroom counter, and aims her head down, staring at the few dark red spatters in the sink. Drawing a long, slow breath in, she raises her light tan and dark gray edged face up and stares at the person in the mirror. "It's... Been a while..."

A series of knocks sound out from the bathroom door. Sotalia grimaces defiantly and yells firmly. "I'm FINE!"

Her confidence drains, and the strength of her voice fades to a listless mumble. "Just give a few more minutes... Or... MORE..."

A few familiar voices drone outside. Sebastian's ethereal tone rises up from the debate and resonates through the doorway. "It's okay. Just give her some time."

From the other side, he projects directly at the door. "HEY. I'm coming in."

Sotalia blinks hard, snaps her head towards the door, and swats at the ghostly visage of Sebastian. "Gods! Oh, will you fuck off!"

Cringing from the swipes of Sotalia's long nailed fingers through his form, Sebastian floats around to Sotalia's other side, keeping a concerned gaze upon her. "Sorry, Sol. Have to make sure you are okay."

Sotalia draws a long calming breathing in, relaxes her curling fingers, and places her hands back upon the edge of the bathroom counter. "I'm... Okay..."

Sebastian rosses his arms, lifts an inquisitive eyebrow, and stares blatantly unconvinced. Sotalia sighs out her frown and averts her eyes to the sink basin below. "For the most part. It's just... Gods..."

Drifting over closer to Sotalia, Sebastian cranes his head to meet her distant stare. "It's okay, Sol. I'm here. Everyone is just worried, and we just want to make sure you're okay. You darted off on us and didn't seem well."

Nodding her head understandingly, she turns to Sebastian with a weak smile. "I... I know. It's just. Gods... A bunch of old memories of my stupid past self coming back all of the sudden. Ones I was happy to never think about. Never thought seeing myself like this would bring them back so STRONG."

Sebastian nods calmly with a supportive smirk. "Is this the same stupid past self that you always changed the subject away from, back when we first started out?"

A soft chuckle escapes Sotalia, and she rolls her eyes golden at herself with a dragging sigh. "YES... The very same. A really embarrassing stretch of my past that just gets harder to look at the older I get."

With a supportive smile and shrug of the shoulders, Sebastian shakes his head. "Yeah... Well, it always seemed like a touchy subject. I just figured if it became relevant, we'd explore it, then."

Sotalia pulls a long breath of air through her nose and exhales out her nerves, faint trembles in her tone. "And, here we are."

Nodding briefly with a grimace, Sebastian unfolds his arms out to the sides. "Yes. BUT, we don't need to go into full details, right now. As long as you are okay and know that we are all here for you, Sol."

A genuine smile graces Sotalia, and she wipes a build up of tears out of her eyes, traces of tension fading from her. "I know. I know. I'll be fine. Just processing a bunch of old baggage that I've been putting off."

She grits her teeth, focuses her stare into the mirror, and shakes her head slowly. "Behold the face of a vain... Arrogant... Stupid... Over-achieving... Glory hungry... Self-important... BITCH."

Hovering behind Sotalia, Sebastian eases his face into the reflection of the mirror and presents a reassuring smile. He stares at the mirror and glances over to Sotalia, with a reassuring tone. "I just see you, Sol. And, that's all anyone else here will see."

The overhead vanity light glints off the tears welling in Sotalia's golden eyes, and she bites her lower lip with a sniffle. Sebastian furrows his brow, chuckles ethereally, and rolls his eyes at himself. "Anyway, you have nothing on the transparent, arrogant idiot that heroically got his dumb ass at the mercy of a lame magical sword, and almost dragged everyone else to destruction."

Sotalia fights to hold back a giggle. Sebastian simply shrugs his shoulders with his hands out to the sides. "Well, it's the TRUTH. EVERYONE saw it."

Seconds of silence hang in the room. Lifting a hand from the counter, Sotalia brushes her fingers through her fiery orange, wavy hair and laughs. "GODS. To think my hair used to be much longer than Aristespha's.

She glances off to the side and smirks. "I have always missed that."

Sebastian floats nearby and examines the bright locks upon Sotalia's head. "Admittedly, I always wondered if that dark red was your natural hair color or not. I just never found any clues otherwise to what else it would be."

Pressing her finger tip upon her eyebrow, Sotalia drags out a dark red fluid from the orange follicles. She drops the residue into the sink and flashes a sly grin to Sebastian via the mirror. "What can I say? I was always very thorough in those regards."

Straightening up her posture, she rolls her shoulders into long stretches and breathes out some tension. "OKAY. I'm going to wash off in the shower. Then..."

Furrowing her brow, she glances around her mind and hums, tinges of suspicion rising up. "I'm going to take a VERY CLOSE look at that hot tub."

----

Sitting in a booth seat in a small diner, Isaac sorts through a stack of paperwork, taps it into order upon the restaurant table, and neatly lays it in front of Blesk. "It looks like a fine application to me. You most certainly will get some attention from quite a number of people at the Grand Library with your magical photography experiments."

Blesk scratches the back of his head, combs through his wild, light blue hair, and smiles graciously. "Thank you so much. I would have never known about Dr. Malkav or even thought about sending some of my results to him."

A sly grin cracks across Isaac's face, and he chuckles lightly. "Oh, not a problem. Dr. Malkav is a good man. He would most certainly be interested in your research and has a little pull on the application side of things. You will most certainly still need to present a strong portfolio of your research. But, from experience, every little bit helps."

Slowly grasping the application in his hands, Blesk carefully inserts the paperwork into a folder and packs it securely away in his satchel. "Of course. But, still..."

He wrestles down an uneasy frown and sighs. "I feel a bit bad for not mentioning you in all of this. I mean, I wouldn't even be remotely as far along as I am without you helping me along."

Isaac holds up a hand and shakes his head with a reassuring smile. "Do not worry. I have unfortunately had some academic disagreements with a few on the admission board in the past. So, it is best that my name doesn't taint your chances. Anyway, you have more than rewarded me with sharing your knowledge with me."

Glancing over to a camera on the table top, he pats his hand on the device. "I would never have dreamed of being able to take this antique store find and breathe new life into it as a fine magical detection tool."

An honest grin spreads across Isaac, and he bows slightly, respectfully to Blesk. "I actually cannot wait to see what pictures I'll take with this. I just hope I'll be able to capture something astounding enough to repay you."

A humbling surge of emotion fills Blesk, and he shrugs with a bit of embarrassment. "Aw... It's nothing really. Just whatever copies of the pictures you take with a bit of documentation will help so much. Any data and results I can catalog will help my research immensely."

He glances over towards Isaac and hints of sadness sneak into his tone. "I really wish you could stay a little longer. We've done so much in a week, I can't even fathom the possibilities if we had a solid month of time to research together. So much progress. It's so... Thrilling!"

With an encouraging smirk, Isaac points to Blesk. "THAT drive there is why you need to get into the Grand Library. There are so many others that will support your efforts and help you bring your research to fruition. There are people there who have been waiting for something like this to come around. You NEED to bring that to them."

Blesk nods slowly, reluctance slipping out and coloring his expression. Isaac chuckles to himself with a nonchalant smile. "Don't worry. Once you get in, I'll be certain to contact you. But... For now, I need to resume my quest of sorts and see what progress I can make with my own research."

The hesitation disappears from Blesk, and he nods sympathetically to Isaac with a faint chuckle. "I, totally, understand. It wouldn't be fair to keep you from your own projects. But, still...

With a genuine smile, he gazes over to Isaac. "Thank you."

Lydia steps up to the side of the table and places down a sandwich and fries basket in front Blesk with her free hand. "Here you go."

Another basket rises into view from below the tabletop and slides up onto the surface in front of Isaac with a push of a small hand. Isaac glances down at the sandwich and sides, and swings his delighted face over to meet the happy smile of the little girl next to Lydia. "Thank you very much, Leigh."

With a reserved smile, Lydia pats Leigh's head and nods to Isaac. "I really hate to see my favorite customer leave. But... I can't keep you from making your living."

She rolls her eyes and smirks humored. "Otherwise, you won't be able to be a customer. Just promise me you won't disappear for two months straight again will you?"

Isaac gazes warmly at Lydia and sighs with a chuckle. "I'll try... Really, I will."