[https://img.wattpad.com/8c9a2993809fcc664a6d0f0160b31c5b27a362b2/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f6f42495254756439566e693239673d3d2d313235363539383637352e313736613262303862663236386439393538343633353832313137392e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]

The light drizzle was picking up to where the droplets stopped freckling the dirt road and coloured it darker. The sun was still out so Stella figured it would clear up soon, but it didn't hurt to take shelter under the little roof outside the town walls. She stood there clicking her boots against the post to shake off loose dirt. Every few seconds she would glance at the horizon.

This is stupid. Why would she wait at the gate? They already know to find her at the tavern when they arrive, but waiting at the tavern didn't feel right. She sat there earlier as staff's eyes felt heavy the more time she spent there without a purpose. This felt better. A warm welcome into Nectar Village. It is the least she can do. I mean they are coming to help her find her sister. Why would they be coming to help her find her sister? Who are these people? They had 6 months to think about it, but the letter said that they will be arriving today. She didn't understand why she felt so nervous. This is stupid. She should go back to the tavern...in a couple of minutes.

She wasn't sure how much time had passed but the sun sat alone in the sky and the flowers that spread all around the outside of the village glistened with drying raindrops. She saw three familiar figures appearing into view on the dirt road. Jack was pointing at all the flowers. His mouth wide open, matching his eyes. Ace and Tenny spotted her first as they were waving with all their strength. Ace stopped Tenny and mumbled something. Jack shook his head and the three of them started waving with extravagance, but this time in complete sync from left to right. They are so stupid.

"Long time no see," Jack said with his bright smile. Stella felt her nervousness end. They were already here, and they seemed glad to be.

"You have gotten a lot bigger. You have been training hard, good Sir. How was your journey here?" Stella greeted. Tenny decided he would climb onto her shoulder for now. Jack's face fell flat.

"We ran into bandits on the way here. Twice it happened! Groups of three and BOTH times, Ace ran off and left me to fight them."

"Miss Stella! I was so scared! They looked so mean, but you should have seen your boy Jack here. He was like pow, whapow, whoosh, boom. He was so cool. We even took their stuff." Ace re-enacted a drama filled performance.

"I don't think robbing the bandits was the right thing to do, but after I fought them, Ace would reappear and take their stuff and run off again." Jack continued in his disappointed tone.

"Yea let's not dwell on that subject too much. What is the gameplan Miss Stella?" The two decided not to get into his criminal behaviour.

"Well, what is done is done. We can take that to the town hall and get your new ledgers and trade in the stuff you got to fill it out a bit. After that I am thinking we try and get information about the mercenary group and plan further at the inn tonight."

"I like the way you think," Ace said as he drives away a bee.

***

The town is busier than Jack was accustomed to, but much of it felt like home. Kids played in the streets, citizens pleasantly carrying about their day. He knew there wouldn't be a large military force in this town, but it still felt off from the familiar. The constant reminder of being in Nectar Village came in the architecture. The structure of the buildings was very similar to home, but only in structure. Jack imagined this is what an ant in a flower bed would feel like. Colours spilled everywhere. The variety was mind blowing. Houses had vines, some had specific arrangements of swatches, while some just looked like they picked every flower outside the village and planted it in every location they could. It was a spectacle for the eyes and the nose. Each footstep came with a different fragrance, which was a bit much for their Mystical friend.

Jack's head was on a swivel. He wanted his eyes to capture as much as it could. He knew he had to be looking for something, but he really couldn't help being distracted. "Where should we start?" Jack asked without making eye contact.

"We are looking for any word on a mercenary group that calls themselves Eclipse. They have been operating for quite some time under the radar. I am not sure what makes them so difficult to track down, but people in the village genuinely have no idea about them. The only suspicious activity was that over the last few weeks, small groups carrying weapons came here, but no one is sure that they left. I know it is a flimsy lead, but I am guessing a group with that number of members might be them, or someone that knows about them."

"That's not bad. This village is ideal to hide," Ace said while scratching his chin. "Nectar village is well known, so a lot of people pass through here regularly. If they are hiding in the crowd, then it will be difficult for citizens to find any clues about specific individuals."

"Okay, that makes sense. We could try our best to ask indirectly then." Stella decided. "If they are gathering in this town, then there must be a reason. We should probably figure out if anything is happening."

"We should do that. Great idea but be careful not to ask too much. We should be patient, so they don't catch wind that we are looking for them, then things can get dangerous. Did you ask a lot of people already?" Tenny and Jack followed the conversation with their ears while they looked for anything suspicious.

"Yea, I asked quite a few people before you guys arrived. I am sorry, I didn't think it would be this difficult." Stella looked down. She had to be more careful this time.

"That is okay. I am sure we would have known if they left in that time frame. You should continue to ask around. Ask bluntly and as much places as you can. Tenny, you stay with her so you can find us if anything happens. Jack, you should go and check out the blacksmith shop and see if you can find out anything about recent repairs or new items. Talk casually and don't let them know you are looking for something. I am going to check around the tavern for any suspicious behaviour." The trio looked at him with doubtful eyes. "I won't over do anything. I know how important it is, but you also can't stop the town from existing, so sight see a little. If we get too caught up, we will be drained, or we can make mistakes. It is important to relax and stay calm. We will meet at the inn after sunset."

"Oh yea, this is the first time you have ever travelled. You should definitely take it all in. I am sorry, the pressure was probably getting to me too. Thank you again guys. I will see you all later."

"Don't worry guys, I will look after her," Tenny said while finding a spot on her head.

"Be careful everyone," Jack chimed in before they all split up.

***

Jack took a stop at the library for a second. They said it was okay, and it was killing him to see all these flowers and not have any idea about them. He continued walking through the town slowly, looking at people, his book, then the flowers. He was on a loop, but nothing was out of the ordinary. Wait that flower can put people to sleep. Valerian. That is so cool.

Jack stood outside the blacksmith workshop. How to do this? He can't just ask him about his recent work without them asking their own questions. Damn, it is his first mission, and he is already at a loss. Don't mess up, don't get in trouble. Casual. He slowly opened the door.

"What can I do for ya?" the grizzled bald blacksmith bellowed from his anvil. He wiped the sweat from his brow and continued clanking waiting for Jack to say something. There was a thick set man with combed back dirty blond hair standing at the anvil as well. He seemed to be a couple years older than Jack and was wearing a military undershirt. Jack held his breath. Was this good or bad? Could he ask the military? Would that cause word to spread? Would that make him suspicious? He decided to play it safe and stick to the plan. It would seem he was stuck in his head a bit too long because they both were looking at him now after he failed to reply.

"Ya okay kid?" the blond soldier asked in a warm tone.

"I'm sorry! I was waiting for you to finish, and I zoned out. Umm I have a weird request. See what happened was, on my way to this town, me and my friends got robbed by some bandits. We put up a fight, but it didn't really go so well. They managed to steal a sword that was important to me. I was hoping that it made its way here, or if they happened to stop to repair some weapons, any lead so I can track them down," Jack said nervously.

"That is some tough luck kid, but I can't help ya. Billy here is the only weapon work I have done in a couple of weeks. Billy, can't ya ask some of yer comrades if they've seen anything?"

Billy walked up to him and offered his hand. "I'll try my best to retrieve yer goods." Jack took his offer of a handshake with a smile. This might be a good thing, but he should be careful until he meets with the team tonight.

"Thank you very much. My name is Jack."

They walk out back in the town. Jack wondered if he would lose his hair as he got older. Is it a blacksmith thing? More importantly, if they didn't visit the blacksmith then they must have stocked up before coming here. Eclipse clearly knew what they were doing. He wondered if the others were making any progress.

"... can be pretty dangerous," Billy said while waving his hands around.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"I'm sorry I didn't hear what you said."

"Ya really zoned out today huh. That sword must really mean something to ya. I was saying that you shouldn't chase bandits by yourself because it can be dang... Hey! Stop!" Billy took off sprinting. Three guys knocked over a vegetable vendor and bagged a fairly large amount of goods. They were at least a hundred feet away from them while already running. Billy's vigilance was exceptional to have spotted that from where they were.

Jack leaned forward a bit and slightly raised his hands behind his back. Green blasted him towards a nearby rooftop. He began running at top speed while occasionally using Wind Walk to gain on the villains. Billy was still running through the crowd when he saw the green path dash ahead. Jack landed on the back of one of the thieves slamming him into the ground. He kept his body low while pushing off his back foot. The two thieves were in the process of turning around but one was stopped halfway by Jack's fist plunging into his stomach. A fist came towards him from the other thief, but Jack's elbow was flowing from the punch he just threw. It was quicker. He planted it directly on the nose of the last thief, before swinging a left hook directly into his jaw. Jack pointed his palms at his first two targets. A red orb beginning to form in each.

"You guys can stay down. Please." Jack finally exhaled.

"Wow, that was impressive. Three of them at once, and in no time. Those bandits must have been tough to get one over on ya," Billy said after pinning down the first one. He took out some straps that looked like a roll of bandage but thicker. He tied it around their wrists and then tied their palms together. That makes sense. Wisps cannot pass through solid objects to form so there always needs to be at least an inch away from anything. This had caused Jack trouble because using earth mimics required you to be at most two inches away from the earth, and the margin was tricky when he was being chased by a rhino or moustache.

"It was just a couple of veggies man. Is all this necessary?" the broken nose thief argued.

"Ya break the law and ya get punished. It's as simple as that. The Three say not to harm anyone for your curiosity and ya did some harming there. Ya know ya was wrong," Billy answered back.

"That is a bunch of garbage. Don't worry, we will be out soon and get you back," a different thief replied.

"Yea yea, I heard it already. Let's go. Jack come with me, I owe ya for catching these chumps." Billy signalled as other soldiers arrived at the scene.

***

"Is that you hon?" a voice called from a short distance as Jack waited just outside the door of their home. He took off his boots and looked up to see large emerald eyes. She had rich bronze skin and a glowing smile, but the most noticeable feature was the child hidden in her tummy.

"Good Evening!" Jack waved.

"This is Jack. He just helped me catch a couple of thieves by the stands. I am trying to give him a hand in catching some bandits. I figured I could treat him a meal. Jack this is my wife, Monica."

"That is perfect, I just finished, and I made enough."

"Thanks for having me."

They sat around the table enjoying a plate of mashed potatoes and grilled chicken. It was wonderful, especially since he didn't realise how hungry he was until the food sat in front of him. He bet he was the luckiest out of the search team.

"So Wind Walk huh? Ya have a real talent for it. I still haven't been able to use it effectively and I have been serving the military for a little over a year now."

"Hon, you talk as if you wanted to join the military. Do you want to join the military someday Jack, is that why you are practising mimics?"

"No, not really. I am on a small adventure with a couple of friends of mine, and we decided we should be able to protect ourselves. Did you not want to join the military?"

"Nah, but I didn't really have much other purpose. I used to be a farmer, but I lost the will for it. Everyone was surprised and they told me that the government would just place me back there unless I came up with something. I racked my brain for quite some time and just decided to join the military since I didn't figure it out. I have grown to like it recently though and it gives us extra on the ledger. We are doing better than when I was a farmer. It always feels good to do good and eat good." Billy chuckled. "About 5 months ago I took down a group of bandits in a night raid. It was my first big bust. Doing good...being there for others...it was...exciting and that's when the job hooked me."

"Yea you really came home thrilled that day." Monica grinned before taking a bite. Billy turned red. Jack quickly looked down at his plate.

"So, are there a lot of crimes that happen here? Back home, we have a large military force so there isn't much crime." Jack grinned a bit thinking back that he was going to the be first arrest back home since the military arrived at his village. That would have looked bad.

"I wouldn't say it is a lot. It is never from people living in the town. Everyone has their ledgers sorted so we get everything we need. Just east of here is Evergreen Village. It is famous for their adventurer and hunting guilds. A lot of young un's want to try their hand at it. They travel from all over and a lot pass through here. They never have their ledgers sorted so they try and steal or cause trouble. Ya going on an adventure, but never resorting to stealing, okay? Good honest work is always the best."

"I will try my best not to." Jack flashed back to Ace and his stupid grin. "I heard of guilds, but everyone says hunting guilds are a terrible profession since Virgo stops them."

"I'm not too sure, but I know that they do cause trouble. I can bet that those bandits that robbed you were travelling to Evergreen. Tomorrow I am sure we will find a lead."

"Don't worry about the bandits, it isn't such a big deal, but I do need your help with something. Have you heard of Eclipse? I think they might be in this town." Jack waited for any sign that would make him regret his question. His shoulders tensing up with every second before a response.

"Eclipse is a big name, but they are something of a myth around these parts. I can't say I know anything is going on around the town," Billy said calmly but Jack definitely noticed that he was shocked by the mention.

"I have heard from other girls around that there are a bunch of guys that harass them. It's not an uncommon thing with people passing through our village so often, but these guys have been here longer than any others. They usually get their stocks together as early as they can. It might be worth looking into."

"Thank you so much Monica! I'll definitely check it out tomorrow," Jack said as his face radiated energy. They have a lead.

"I'll join ya tomorrow then. How about we meet up at 4 in the morning outside the inn," Billy offered.

"Thank you guys so much for everything! I can't repay you enough for your kindness."

"Aw, we are just returning the favour dear." Monica smiled.

***

Jack made a confident stride up to the tavern door. Sunset would be soon, so he was sure he would find Ace here. Jack had something. They could plan and see where this takes them. He is positive they will be so glad! He pushes open the door to see Ace on the table in the centre of the room with two strangers holding him up on their shoulders. They stumbled to the left and the right almost to a rhythm. The waitress stood just off to the side, clapping along with an awkward grin on her face. It was easy to see that she was uncomfortable and was unclear on the rules about standing and singing on the table, and was struggling to stop it. The rest of the bar was pounding the side of their fists to keep a rhythm and those who weren't joining in had their eyes glued to the performers.

"Okay from the top! Last time!" Ace led the choir.

"Oooooooo! I laced my boots and my bag I pack,

The maiden's tears I dry,

I stood with the band on the old dirt track,

As the maiden waved goodbye,

The months were long and the years dragged on,

I craved to hear my maiden's song,

The soft sweet voice let me carry on,

One more time for I die,

The war was done and the band's blood thick,

Came home to a sight that made me sick,

The fates had played a cruel ole trick,

For the maiden had moved on,

Now my home is on the old bar chair,

Drink with the band the lousy pair,

Drink to the words that life's not fair,

Cause now my maiden's gone"

The bar cheered and Ace hoped off the table. The two band mates took more time soaking in the atmosphere.

"Jack, nice seeing you here," Ace said placing his hand over Jack's shoulder. "How did your day go?"

"Clearly not as fun as this, but I thought you said you were taking this seriously."

"I thought I told you to have fun," Ace retorted. "Find anything?"

"Yea let's go meet up with Stella."

***

The team sat back at the dining hall below the inn. Stella had poured some of her stew in a bowl for Tenny.

"You guys aren't eating anything?" She questioned.

"I'm full," Jack denied.

"I'll probably throw up," Ace said slowly.

"Looks like you did get carried away. I could use a drink. Jack how old are you?"

"I turned 18 a couple of months ago," he replied.

"Perfect, let's get a couple of beers. How about you Ace, would you like some more?" Stella asked with a wicked smile.

"I don't see why you hate me." He pouted.

"So I found out that there are some troublesome people that make their stocks really early in the morning. They have been in town for some time, so it is a lead worth following," Jack said feeling like they were off topic.

"That is good, maybe we can see where they are off too. I found out that Eclipse uses here as a base. They do missions out of town and gain reputation outside, so it never ties back here I am guessing. I'm not sure how but the leader is a normal person here, so no one ever doubts him. He doesn't leave the village but always has people to do the jobs he takes up. They run a really tight shift and some fresh recruits said they just pulled off a job, so they came back to town. This is a big organisation, Miss Stella. How did Miss Luna get tied up with them?"

"I don't know all the details, but it was due to politics. I am from a fairly large kingdom called Cartina. It existed for a long time and made a fair number of scientific discoveries, so after the ledger system was created 300 years ago, Cartina didn't conform fully. Instead of the empire handling the resources and systems, it is passed on to the 7 houses. My full name is Stella Ursa de Duo, and it means I was to inherit the leadership of the second house. There is a hierarchy in the house systems and certain houses always want different sectors to control.

"My parents were killed while we were travelling. I was 6 and Luna was 2. After that, the houses fought to adopt us, and the new leader of our house thought it was a great time to get rid of us, so his family would have more power. The other houses wanted to raise us so they might have claim to take over a different sector," Stella explained while waving for another drink.

Jack felt a bit funny after that one, and the taste was horrible, but he didn't want to break the flow of Stella's story, even though he disliked how each sentence seemed to tire her out more and more.

"I got lucky. The house that took me in was kind and full of warmth. The head of the house wanted to use my name, but my adoptive parents just wanted a child they could love. I rebelled a lot when I was younger, to try and get Luna, even just see her, but the house she went to had a troubled past. My new parents didn't let me leave because they feared I would be a target so Luna would be the heir to the house. They had me train a lot and study, but they just wanted me to live. When I was 9, there was an attack in Cartina. They said someone broke into the Luna's new house and killed the entire family. I was told the news and didn't know what to do. My parents consoled me and told me they would protect me. They apologised that they couldn't protect Luna too.

"9 months ago, I turned 18 and there was a celebration thrown. I would be eligible for taking over the Duo house. During the party, the next in line for Luna's house told me that Luna could still be alive. That the former head was in shady business and a mercenary group called Eclipse had him killed and the family covered it up. Eclipse had kidnapped Luna instead of killing her and it was hidden. I snuck out of the Kingdom that night with the help of the girl, Claire. I have been searching for Luna ever since." Stella's eyes filled with tears. Her lips trembled. She bowed her head quickly, but the tears left spots on the wood table. "I lived a good life. She was suffering and I lived a good life. Why?"

"So you can show her. You can teach her all about the things you got to learn. You all have a lot of life to live, and it will be with each other," Ace said calmly.

Jack watched his friend gather herself. They will find her.