“Ghiacciolo, Piano.”

With a flick of her wrist, Vii sent a pack of ice needles out to dispatch a feisty earth Scherzando who wanted to try their hand at an easy meal.

If he wasn’t in such a dire situation, Shouri would have found Vii utterly fascinating. The way she had complete mastery of the bodies she was somehow copying was so curious. It made his rhythm itch.

As it stood though, she was trying to manipulate him emotionally and that raised all kinds of red flags in the young Maestro.

“Hey, Riterra to Shouri, you in there?” Vii waved a hand in front of the boy’s face.

“Just thinking,” he muttered.

The Scherzando had been dealt with in the intervening time. “What are you?” he decided to ask directly.

Vii let out a short chuckle. “Can’t tell you that. Not unless you want to become my Maestro for real,” she replied.

“Hrmph,” Shouri grunted. Of course, she had secrets. He wasn’t going to rope himself into a fourth Resonator that easily. The whole situation with Liza was already toeing the line. Besides…

Vii was too suspicious. He couldn’t trust her.

In that way, they were simply using each other – and that was not a good foundation to build a relationship on in Shouri’s eyes.

----------------------------------------

The journey continued. Despite her previous estimates, they reached the mountain ranges after around five hours of travel. The stops to rest and rehydrate weren’t helping. At least water wasn’t a concern – Vii was more than happy to fill them up as many times as Shouri liked.

“Here we are,” Vii announced, pulling Shouri from his thoughts.

The two travelers stood before a cave entrance. It was well maintained and clearly, considerable foot traffic found its way into the inky darkness of the tunnel system.

“Come on.” Vii waved Shouri on as she strode straight into the belly of the beast.

Shouri glanced back at the desert behind him. Certainly, this was a far better option than attempting to brave the Subterris Desert. After making his peace with the surface world, he too descended into the depths.

The tunnel was poorly illuminated, the occasional Rubato crystal lamp glowing softly to just barely light the way. Their march was quiet, only the sounds of their footsteps echoing around them. A soft cool breeze guided their way, blowing against them.

A bright light ahead encouraged their pace, until finally.

“Subterris…” Shouri gasped, his eyes as wide as he could will them.

“This is just one of five caves – this is Southern Subterris,” Vii informed him as she joined in looking over the city that lay before them.

They stood on a cliffside that stood above an entire world that presented itself to the two weary travelers. A combination of holes in the ceiling and massive glowing rubato crystals provided a majority of the light from above. Many large buildings sprouted from the ground, glowing with their own lights. Morning had arrived and the city was waking up, so the buzz of activity began to grow with each passing minute. In the distance, on the opposite end of the city was what appeared to be another cave.

“Come on, let’s see if they have a hotel or inn for us to stay at.” Vii began the hike down the path leading into the underground urban sprawl.

“This is a Natural Reservation then?” Shouri guessed as his eyes bounced around their new surroundings.

“Yeah. From what I’ve read they can be welcoming to desert travelers.” Vii kept her focus on the path they were traversing. “Subterris is big enough that if we cross through it, we’ll end up near the West Trimare Sea,” she told him.

“Right next to Unis-Résonne,” Shouri noted, recalling his geography classes from school.

“Exactly,” Vii said with a nod.

“A stone’s throw away from Lyreann,” he pointed out.

“Indeed it is.”

He waited for her to elaborate but it never came, frustrating the Maestro.

At this point in the conversation, they reached the “ground level” of the cavern. Now on the streets of Subterris, the duo could truly appreciate the feats of engineering required to make this place even function.

It looked like any modern city, complete with stores, homes, and other modern amenities one would expect.

However, the difference they found was in the people. There were no humans or Resonators. The alpha species who called this underground utopia home were numerous in size and shape with body plans similar to Shouri and Vii’s. However, where the two foreigners had skin and hair, the native residents bore scales, feathers, or fur. Where the human body plan called for an oval-like or almost circular-shaped head, the locals had many different shapes – snouts, beaks, and the like adorned their heads.

And like Resonators, these people bore wings, tails, and horns - unlike a Maestro.

These were Naturals, and this was their home.

Furthermore, they made it abundantly clear how they felt about the two guests. Suspicious eyes carefully watched Vii and Shouri closely as they walked down the streets. Conversations suddenly ended as the residents of this cavernous town studied the strange pair. Mothers urged their children along. Shopkeepers stood at the doors of their stores. Even people in their path crossed the street to avoid having to share the sidewalk with them.

“Cautious bunch,” Vii commented.

“They’re not used to Maestros or their Resonators,” Shouri guessed.

“Strong enough Maestros can wipe them out with ease,” the fake otter girl shrugged.

“I mean, that’s true for other towns too,” the Maestro pointed out.

Vii halted them. “No, you don’t get it.” She turned to her temporary Maestro. “Maestro rhythm and the resulting spells cast by their Resonators are poison to Naturals. It deals far more damage to a Natural than a Resonator would take damage,” she explained. “This is before element advantage and the boost the noble attributes give to damage-dealing spell-craft.”

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Shouri furrowed his brow, slowly glancing around. The nervous, scared looks they were getting; without making their intentions known, these people had no idea what Shouri and Vii were capable of, much less what they were even doing down here in the first place.

Subterris appeared modern enough. However, upon further inspection, it was nothing like Nevepunto – the first and only Natural town he had spent any appreciable time in. Nevepunto was a tourist city, complete with MA Offices, and a healthy number of Maestros and Resonators dwelling within the city limits.

South Subterris was a true Natural town. Maestros and their Resonators didn’t come here to see the sights. The infrastructure spoke to that, it was at least fifty to one hundred years in the past from a technological perspective. Everything was so analog. Electricity was around but mostly was reserved for lighting.

“Let’s try to find somewhere to sleep,” Shouri decided. The best thing they could do for now was to get out of the public eye.

They weren’t here to start a fight. The last thing he wanted to do was bring turmoil to these people’s lives. They were innocent. Just because they had fur, scales, and feathers didn’t make them any less alive.

But even if he said that Shouri was well aware that talk was cheap. Actions spoke louder than words, so the best thing he could do was make himself and Vii scarce.

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“We not have any rooms.”

“Sorry closed.”

“I no accept Marenza Union.”

“Non so l'maelese.”

Turns out that getting a room was tough when people barely spoke the language. Vii even attempted to better explain their situation in Naturalian, but that didn’t help matters.

“Fuck I didn’t think it would be this hard to find a place to stay,” Shouri cursed as they took a break on a bench. He was hunched over, glaring at the ground, gripping one of the half-filled water bottles tightly.

Vii clicked her tongue, leaning back on the bench, gaze trained on the rocky ceiling hanging over them. “So much for good old Subterran hospitality,” she scoffed.

The pair sat in silence, analyzing the situation in their own ways.

“Uhhh, excuse me?”

“Hm?” The two weary travelers trained their vision to the source of the voice. Of course, it was a Natural. A smaller creature, perhaps a head shorter than Taika. They had a canine head with massive fluffy ears and a brown tail swishing behind them.

“You are looking for a lodging?” he asked.

“You speak Maelish?” the Maestro realized.

“I do!” the Natural beamed, his tail wagging. “I practiced it much, but I never been able to speak to a real Maestro with it!”

Vii smirked. “If you got a place to stay, we’ve already exhausted all the local hotels,” she informed the canine.

“We’d be grateful for your help,” Shouri added, trying to remain polite.

“Yes yes! Please! And you can tell me about Riterran cities!” Their benefactor’s eyes brimmed with hope and wonder.

Shouri could see the slight glow of yellow rhythm in the Natural canine’s eyes. He couldn’t help but crack a small smile. Yes, even if they were different species, they still shared rhythm. That same yellow knowledge-rich rhythm which burned with intense curiosity, Shouri knew it all too well.

“Gladly.”

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“La mia casa è la tua casa! Please be comfortable!”

Shouri and Vii looked around their new surroundings with shared curiosity. It was a nice little home in one of the suburbs of the city. No roommates to rub elbows with, no upstairs or downstairs neighbors either. They really could just relax.

Plopping down onto an old couch, the two escapees shared a long sigh.

“Fuck,” Shouri breathed out.

“Agreed.” Vii allowed her eyes to close for just a moment.

“Here you go.”

The tired pair looked up to find their host presenting them with food and drinks.

Vii went ahead and took her share, quickly consuming the sustenance provided. Shouri however, wanted to at least establish something.

“Not that I’m ungrateful for your help, but who exactly are you?” the Maestro asked of the Natural. “For the record, I’m Shouri.”

“Vii.” The fake otter added in her introduction.”

“Oh! I am Miro. I am a Rhythm uhhh, how do you say? Ricercatore?”

“Researcher,” Vii filled in, being able to translate.

“Researcher! Yes, I researcher the rhythm!” Miro beamed once more.

Shouri nodded. He was developing a track record of attracting scholars, thinking about Colette. “You’ll get plenty of things to study about me,” the Maestro chuckled.

“That is good! Not many Maestro come down here! People scare them away!” Miro’s tail was making thumping noises inside the recliner he was sitting on.

“You’re a fox?” Shouri guessed.

“Yes, you are smart! I am a Terra-Nulla.” The fox boy grinned.

“Earth-Null,” Vii whispered to the non-Naturalian speaker.

“Right, Naturals can’t be Slashing, Piercing, or Crushing,” Shouri recalled. “So being Null attribute is more common,” he noted.

“Very smart! I am happy I find you!” Miro clapped. This fox was very excitable, that much was abundantly clear.

“Could we maybe talk after Vii and I get some sleep? We slept out in the desert yesterday.” Shouri demonstrated this with a yawn.

Miro’s eyes widened. “En deserto Sotterraenis?! Per gli divini! Yes yes!” He jumped to his feet. “I make up a room for you. Eat please!” And with that, their host rushed upstairs.

“He’s nice.” Shouri cracked a thin smile.

“Usable,” Vii huffed, polishing off her share of snacks.

“Be nice to him, and I’ll let you cast some spells,” Shouri smirked.

The false otter perked up. “I will be a textbook lady.”

Thankfully he had figured out Vii’s buttons – she was as easy to placate as his usual trio.

…he missed them.