Calliope rushed towards the orphanage, looking for Aio. She reviewed the information in the audio chip that Cyr left behind.
The Evening Flower, known more colloquially as the Wanderer’s Muse, was a flower Calli saw Cyr purchase often before disappearing for days at a time. Tied to poets of the past, the flower was often used in writing, a representation of lingering hope in darkness, a sentiment shared all too closely by the denizens of Neo-Kamakura, and the underground alike.
It’s always family, she thought. Calli began to recall her own parents as she began pushing her way through crowds of people in the Night Market. Her parents’ faces appeared fuzzy in her memories, but the emotion she felt – one of happiness – those remained with her.
Oh Cyr. What was so important that you had to do this? she thought with regret. You still had your sister. Why? Why…
The ID chip he left behind, placed under the Wanderer’s Muse of his sister’s grave, recorded a garbled conversation between himself and a woman. Though the contents were hard to make out, she recognized the words “Golden Order” in the conversation.
The Clan? Most Division hunters suspected that the Clan secretly implemented their own hunter teams, but no solid evidence was ever provided. The Golden Order was the prime candidate for these suspicions – an investigation team that always seemed to show up at the scene of the deaths of a number of big names over the years. Names like the Four Brothers of the Seasons, the Carrion, and even Caz’s old mentor, Amaritas.
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And they’re here in the Night Market? she thought.
She wasn’t going to let this assailant get away from her, not after what she did to Cyr. But…if she was strong enough to take on Cyr, who was considered his sister’s equal at one point, she must be potentially as strong as a Daimyo. There had to be a way.
Then, it came to her. Perhaps, the greatest enemy this assailant should fear isn’t a member of the Blackbirds. Calli stopped in her tracks, and skidded, looking around at the eyes who fell on her. There was no curiosity in the hardened eyes of the Night Market crowd. They have all seen their fair share of troubles in the past, and were no strangers to the world of violence. Surviving Taysa Polaris’ purge attempts in the past, fighting through the Twindust rebellion, and surviving past waves of subterranean Enthipid swarms, these men and women were hunters in their own right, even if unofficially.
Yet, the Night Market was vast, and its people lived out their daily lives like any other, living below the radar, just outside of the law. Calli frequented this place often enough, noticing the atmosphere – one that yearns for normalcy no different than anyone else’s. Should the Clan extend control over the underground like they did at the surface, all they’ve built up over the years, would be shattered. It was for this reason why they’ve never allowed a Clan member to skirt the entrance of the underground, and why none who ever managed to enter, ever escaped.
And one of them was here right now…
And so, Calli checked her balance and began asking around, seeking those who were open to putting a little extra Mon in their pocket, and the notion of a challenging hunt.