Words can't express how relieved I am to be out of that forest. We must have been in there for at least half a day, maybe more; it's not like you can keep good track of time in a place like that. Compared to the forest a few hours behind us, this one is a lot more friendly. Yellow beams of sun crack through the canopy, brightly illuminating the forest floor. The grass and leaves are soft, and friendly. I've realized a thing that I've taken for granted; the ability to see more than one damned meter from my face. I can see sooooo far! It's really a freeing sensation.
Well, our hell trip through that forest is about to pay off, because we're nearing a town that rests on the Lagrath river. Alisson says he knows a guy there, and that we'll be pausing in the town for a few days before we continue. Personally, I'm relieved to have a moment of respite from all the travel. But knowing Alisson, he isn't getting fatigued, and as much as I hate to admit it, I'm not either, realistically speaking. He must have some other reason for wanting to pause in this town ahead. He's pretty adamant about following Sidonia's orders as quickly as possible, and getting to that jungle way north of here. Sidonians usually operate on a need to know basis, so I have no clue what lay for us there. Alisson might, but knowing Sidonia, he probably wasn't given many details.
Finally, we exit the forest, now no longer being surrounded by trees like the past couple dozen or so hours. In front of us is a large and grassy plain, the tops of buildings peek over the horizon, and the air is crisp and humid. We're close to the largest river on the continent. After some more travel, we arrive at the town. It's name is, actually, I don't care. I've already been to too many human settlements in the past month to keep track. As much as I hate to admit it, I've gotten a lot more familiar with large settlements, and humans in general. If you don't interact with them, then they generally won't interact with you, it's nice. This town doesn't have any walls, despite it being a third the size of Foksly, which is a huge coastal city. Though, this town is surrounded on two sides by water, north by the Lagrath River and east by Lake Aleeze. To the south lay that hell forest, but surprisingly, monsters have never been reported to spill out or wander around the outskirts of the forest. So that only leaves the west of the town open, which is a large road that leads further into Caliphate lands. The Lagrath river is also very populated with merchant ships and fisherman alike, so this town is far from danger.
We near closer to the town, soon entering it.
The infrastructure is nothing special, better than the crap hole Qutrya, but not as good as the Sidonian standard of course. The markets hold an overabundance of fish, and plenty of foreign goods from the Principality, despite it being across the continent.
Alisson turned at me, and flicked his head.
Yeah, yeah. We have to find someplace to store our horses for the time being, else we'll continue drawing attention by being mounted.
Having found a reliable looking stable and coughing up a generous price, me and Alisson walk through the town. More specifically on the very outskirts of the town square. This is my first time seeing a human town square, they don't seem to like the apparent waste of space as much Sidonians do.
"So who's this person you know?"
I ask. I don't want to be completely out of the loop when we see someone new.
Alisson, walking shoulder to shoulder with me, spoke quietly.
"He's someone I know from a deployment a few years back. He's a certified informant, but he was exceptionally helpful to me and Rickard when we were in the neighborhood. He was at quite the high position in a local mafia you see..."
A mobster? To think this so far peaceful town would have a mafia, it's a complete contradiction to my current view of the square.
"How long has it been since then? Do you think he's still trustworthy?"
Alisson shook his head.
"That's the part I'm worried about. It's been about a few decades since then; so anything could've happened." Alisson shrugged. “He could even be dead for all I know.”
A decade is a lot more in human time. I mean, it's like a quarter of their whole life! A decade for us is like a hundredth, but it's not like many Nekomata live past five hundred, much less all the way to a thousand. It's not natural causes that form that barrier of course, the older a Nekomata is, the higher the chance they have of being killed in battle. So the superstition goes.
"What about the mafia of his?"
"They're an illegal substance smuggling organization, or at least were when I was here. They were quite gentlemanly about it; very professional. They didn't have much in the way of muscle, so me and Rickard did some favors for them, which put Sidonia in good faith with the town's underground."
Alisson really doesn't seem to mind who he was working with, or what they do. Oh well, we have to take any allies we can get, the Kitsune are great and all, but just our two races can't very well fight the entire world now can we?
But it seems like the mafia isn't much of a threat, or at least, was. We'll still have to be on our toes though.
...
Alisson knocked at the door, first with a series of three light taps, followed by five heavy knocks in an organized pattern. They were in a quite part of the town, despite it being mid-day. The building in front of them had been an old residence for several working-class families. Alisson was not hopeful that his old friend would still be here, furthermore Alisson doubted the decade old knock signal would even be usable if he was.
However, lo and behold, after a minute had passed did the door creak, and open a sliver. Alisson felt an eye wrap itself around him for a moment, before the door was swung wide, and familiar figure stood smiling.
"Why if it's not the Pixie himself! I wasn't expecting to see you again!"
"I'm glad you share my enthusiasm, Fredrick."
"Gah! Cut the crap with those formalities kid, it's Fred. Only you’d get your panties in a knot from manners. And you haven't changed an inch, have you?"
Insulting my height and manners already, it's Fred. For being so unlike the Sidonian mindset, he's extremely favorable toward our cause.
The man standing in front of Alisson was far different from the one that stood before him all those years ago. He was now in his late forties and was barely recognizable. It's an extreme wonder how humans change so fast.
"I suppose not. Though perhaps I've grown at least a centimeter or two?"
Alisson smirked.
"Nah. And who might this one be? Looks like a little girl version of your old pal."
Fred turned his head his head at Celis like any man would to a human child.
He was always in the opinion that age meant nothing in one's maturity. I used to disagree with him about it too.
"Well, I suppose that hair color isn't a common trait...but your quite on the mark."
Alisson retorted, speaking for his apprentice.
"Well anyways, come in! Come in!"
Fred beckoned them as he retreated within the building. Alisson walked forward and turned toward his apprentice.
"Stay here."
Alisson said with narrowed eyes, scanning the street. Celis nodded her head and turned on her heel, perfectly standing right of the door. Alisson continued further into the dark building, quietly closing the door behind him.
"Ahh, thanks for leaving the kid out there, better to let the men talk it out."
Fred said, leading Alisson up a flight of stairs. The building seemed to be in extreme disrepair from the inside, mold and cracks littered the walls; and the only illumination was that of the sun peeking through the cracked windows. The room that Fred walked into on the second floor was a complete contradiction to this. The walls of the relatively small room were fine and cleanly, and miscellaneous papers and boxes were neatly organized around the room. After taking a seat at a table in the middle of the room, and Fred lighting an oil lamp, they proceeded to converse.
The building they were in was an incognito storehouse for Fred's organization, and it also served as a third-party meeting point in case the mafia wanted to meet with untrustworthy people in a relatively unimportant place. To think this building had remained so unchanged within a decade spoke volumes of how well the mafia had taken care of it.
It turned out that not much had changed in the past decade regarding Fred and his ‘gang’ as well. Fred's mafia still remained out of the town's jurisdiction, they still traded underground items and substances, and they had yet to become violent. Thanks to the town's position as a juncture of trade between two nations, the mafia had always been in amazing business. They had infinite access to the Principality and the Caliphate's capitals thanks to the Lagrath river.
They were both very far away from both nations, yet extremely close.
Alisson had no real opinion of this organization. For certain items to be banned and such sparked no sense of justice in him, no such a system of restricting any item existed in Sidonia. The prospect of an underground organization only intrigued him. They were a company in all but societal acceptance, and because of that, had to operate in the shadows. Good for them, if they were making ends meet, in Alisson’s opinion.
How human society creates such instances of such alien concepts.
"Well enough about me, howa you been? Haven’t you been on edge since the, uh, Caliph declared war on ya’ll and all?"
"Fine really. The last real war happened before I was even born, and the current one has yet to kick off, so I suppose you'd call my job boring."
"Well, I mean, no offense, but it is totally lame.”
Alisson completely understood Fred's opinion of his work. Compared to other, more glamourous positions in Sidonia, or even Andestine, his tasks had not been flashy. Other than the occasional border skirmish, Alisson hadn't lived during a real war since the Caliphate surprise attacked the 6th army. Something that had yet to change Sidonia; for they always acted as they were in a state of war, or at least tried to. Sidonia as it was now was spared from the reality of a full-scale war: The death, the terrifying slow sapping of manpower and supplies, always being on the defensive and losing ground bit by bit; no matter how hard they fought. The encroaching, imminent destruction of the entire empire and Sidonia herself; was commonplace, or so he’d heard from the elder Nekomata who’re much older than him.
So far however, any prospect of ‘war’ hadn’t phased him yet; the Caliphate didn’t look prepared and had yet to do a single thing other than their initial attack. The Caliphate seemed so unprepared, that Alisson wouldn’t be surprised if the initial attack was just a commander going out of their bounds and acting impulsively. Regarding the Principality, they still didn’t bother to commit any more forces to the western front; leaving both nations to be at war, yet only committing a sliver of their strengths for whatever reason.
“Lame indeed. Though someone has to do the things that require slightly more intelligence than a Jedathari peasant.”
Alisson could only hope that this phony war would continue as long as possible in order for Sidonia to bulid it’s strength and supplies further. Alisson’s current task was exactly within this realm, Sidonia wanted him to get to the Freigat Jungle before the real meat of battle would begin. For what strategic advantage, Alisson did not know. But, many a time before had seemingly useless or incomprehensible tasks prove uncanny in their usefulness and effectiveness; and for that, Alisson had a deep seed of trust with Sidonia in her orders.
“Well whatever. I thought all you guys needed were those infiltrators of yours, but they’re way too creepy if you ask me.”
“What? You know any?”
Alisson asked, slightly concerned.
“Oh yeah. I know a couple in this town. They’re always coming to me for random things. But, I’ve gotten them out of trouble a few times, so don’t worry, I look after them. They do things for us too y’know.”
Alisson internally sighed relief. The fact that it was a mutual relationship made him far more at ease. The prospect of a human mafia exclusively helping out infiltrators was far too sketchy; the only explanation would be that the mafia had a grip firmly around the infiltrators, but thankfully that didn’t seem to be the case.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
“Hmph. Well, I sincerely thank you on behalf of my comrades. But getting back to business…”
Alisson’s eyes narrowed.
“Right, right. You came here for a reason, so what is it? Need something ‘delivered’?”
Fred asked with a devious smile and an eyebrow raised.
“No, no. I didn’t come here exclusively for you. I’m simply travelling is all…”
“Ahh. I see, I see. You want a route ‘cross Lagrath?”
“Yes. I was hoping you’d be able to provide me with such. With proper compensation, of course.”
Fred sat in thought for a moment, his hand on his black-bearded chin, pondering. After a second, his eyes settled back on Alisson.
“Yeah, I think I’ve got just the thing…But tell you what, howa bout you do something for me in exchange, just like old times.”
Fred’s eyes sparkled serendipitously. It wasn’t everyday you could get someone as capable as Alisson to do your bidding.
Alisson thought for a moment. There was always the possibility of bad intentions or an unbalanced trade. But choosing to simply compensate Fred monetarily would most likely increase his and Celis’s footprint. Alisson hopped to not be tracked throughout his travels at all.
“Mmm…If it doesn’t involve murder, then I might accept.”
Killing someone was definitely more noticeable than an influx of currency, even though unexplained deaths happened a lot in human territories, to the point of it being a regularity.
“Then we’ve got an agreement sonny. It’ll take a day or so for me to clear our little deal here with the don and get it set up, but if your really intent on travel, then you can be out across the river in three days if you play your cards right.”
“Just tell whatever favor you need ‘fixed’, I still provide a quality service.”
Alisson smiled.
----------------------------------------
A doll, a loyal dog, or perhaps caricature of emotion, stood before a door. She stood, staring plainly into a wall, as if absentminded. This of course was a falsified interpretation, for the watchdog scanned and monitored her peripheral vision, diligently, despite the underwhelming amount of activity. There was one thing she could not see. It was something that had it’s eyes set straight upon the her; for it was strong enough to gaze at things directly, and accept whatever stare was shot back.
----------------------------------------
Jeez, it’s really hot in the sun. Couldn’t have Alisson picked a door in the shade?
Oh well. Being over heated is pretty low on the list of worries.
My list of worries has really increased. It pretty much skyrocketed at Foksly, and I’ve yet to really think about what happened there, and I really don’t ever want to. Hopefully, that’ll be my last run in with crap like those Goblins, or that whole, Davy guy. Well, it should be. The night after all that stuff happened, we took the opportunity to incinerate the corpses, Davy, Sophia, the Goblins, all of them. So it’s not like some zombies are gonna come, chasing me down for redemption or whatever.
You know, I have heard of necromancy, but it’s apparently a really niche and hard thing to pull off using standard magic runes. Some say there’s some book with tons of man-made ones tailored specifically toward raising the dead; whether it be to resurrect or reanimate. Well, I don’t know what to think about that kinda crap, personally I-!
My stomach chokes, and my body jumps in a gasp. I break my invincible stare forward, and attempt to nonchalantly look around. Sweat starts to form on my forehead.
What the hell was that?
That cloak of claustrophobia and dread, the hell did it come from?
“Oh my, oh my, what a poor little girl. Come here, Myger petí.”
“Huh!?”
My heart jumps again, a voice, seems to float around me, inches from my face. It speaks in Firrdu, though with an odd phrase at the end.
"Oh hiyo~ You seem lonely, what're you doing?"
A less threatening and infinity less ominous voice calls out to me. Compared to what I first heard, the voice is the same, so why does it feel so different? But, out of a nearby alley, a youth appears, as if materializing from the darkness. That alley was right next to me-! How didn't I see him!?
The guy starts striding for me. He matches the definition of rouge; bright green eyes, charcoal black hair and slightly brown tanned skin.
"What is it? Why are you sweating? Are you already hot jus' from seeing me?"
The boy smirked, now a foot away from me. He stopped, and laid his hands on his hips, leaning into my face with smile. He's about as young as Alisson, but taller than me by head.
"Speechless? Come now, I’m social guy you'll see. Who are you ey? I haven't seen you in town before, so you're either some new blood round here' or my sense for women's been misleading me~."
The way he speaks, he's so damned smug about it! You don't just walk up to some random person like this! Well, calm, calm yourself Celis; If I just ignore him, he'll go away. I don't need to speak to him. Alisson ordered me specifically to not make a ruckus.
I turn my head away, trying my hardest to re-assume my blank stare. But, into my vision shuffles the kid, still staring directly at me.
"Ah, the shy type, howa bout it, I'll introduce myself first; my name's Alfonso, yours?"
He leaned in again as he said 'yours'. I turn my head down and away from him, still not replying. After a second, the guy, 'Alfonso', closes his eyes, and clicks his tongue.
"No luck huh? You're a weird one now aren't you?"
I sigh. I mentally prepare to grab my stilettos just in case he tries anything funny.
Almost as soon as I sigh, my wrists are grabbed in the brief moment that my body was occupied.
W-what!? Get your hands off of me!
I struggle with all my might, but Alfonso simply brings my wrist up by his face. He clenches my wrists with a raised eyebrow. He then smiles and looks at me.
"Oh ho, you've surprised me I’ll tell you that much, and for that, I award you; a dance."
Crap. I can't break free. I think he noticed my gauntlets when he was grabbing my wrist...this could be bad. I look up, growling at him under my breath. Then, suddenly, he pulled me back, into the middle of the road, spinning me around himself.
I struggle as hard as I can, but the most I manage to do is drag my feet.
"Come on, I gotta pop your comfort bubble somehow, or your never gonna talk to me; your footwork is horrible, relax!"
‘Pop’… ‘My bubble’!? Screw you! Don’t you ever refer to me like that! You, you swine!
“Oh, I love your face, it’s real contradiction to your whole silent attitude you got going.”
I…I have no idea what to do…I’ve never been in a situation like this, the only suggestion my mind is offering is murder. I’m starting to think that my array of social interaction is really low…
Gah! He just changed direction.
My feet stumble to wherever he drags me. We’re approaching the alley that he initially came out of. It’s an area out of view; that’s a sign. I can’t reach my stilettos because he has my wrists restrained, but if push comes to shove, I always have my magic.
Alright, the second he let’s go of me, I’ll sock him and make a run for it.
He spins me again, straight into the side of the alley wall; this time, with a lot more force.
“Pwah!”
My body slams into the brick wall, the wind being blown out of me.
“Oh what a lovely voice you have, shame I’ve gotta be a little rough to beat it out of you.”
Alright! He isn’t holding my hands!
I lift up my right hand, attempting to uppercut him.
But, my fist meets air, and after a moment of confusion,
“Gwah!”
…I’m hit instead.
How, how did I miss!?
“Aw, naughty, naughty.”
He kicked me straight in the stomach and he has the gall to say that!? Swine! Absolute trash!
What...I…I don’t know what to do. The sole thought coursing through my mind and body is to draw my stilettos, and get rid of this street trash. I can’t, Alisson said I can’t kill anyone; but if that’s the case then what do I…?
Alfonso’s smug face and what he’s done to me shoot through my mind a final time.
Ah. I will. I will.
I bring my head up, my eyes filled with a burning glint. Alfonso’s mouth curves slightly to concern, though his brow piques. My back against the wall, I unsheathe a stiletto in a flash and thrust at the bastard’s face.
All at once, I feel two things impact on my body; a knee to my stomach, and a punch under my shoulder.
My stiletto meets air. I let out a gasp as the air in my lungs is crushed outside of my throat, my entire body being sent straight past Alfonso and into the ground.
“You’ve got all that fancy armor on but you’re crap with those dinky knives, kid.”
Why…? Why? I’m supposed to…I’m supposed to be better than this street trash! Me; The last member of the Regadonian House, to be kicked into the dirt by a smug little nobody!
In my hazed vision, my cheek laying across the dirt, I see my stiletto, covered with dust on the ground in front of me. The sight of my weapon on the floor prompts another rage to fly through my body. I clench my fists, and get to my feet, staring down Alfonso. After a moment of staring back at me, he looked absentmindedly at the sky, and frowned.
“Well, I hate cut our time so short, but I’m in a hectic situation nowadays. It’s a shame you’re such a prude, I guess I’ll just save you for later then. Here’s hoping we meet again, pretty little lady~.”
No. No! You aren’t leaving this alley, not like this! Not after humiliating me!
He turns his back, and start to walk. I draw my remaining stiletto, and charge. Ah crap, I could’ve prepared spells before I committed; well, too late now.
As I near a foot away from Alfonso’s back, he turns in a blur, and I hear a blade exit it’s sheath. One of his arms shoot up toward my stiletto.
And just like that, my momentum is killed as my stiletto stops dead in it’s tracks from Afonso’s blade, a baselard. Before I’m able to disengage or shift my body into another attack lane, Alfonso flicks his baselard with a slight wrist motion; my stiletto is sent flying out of my hands and into the sky.
He! He disarmed m-!
Alfonso twisted his body, a kick coming out nowhere and knocking me off my feet. I fly back, rolling across the ground a meter.
“Really now, you’re such a troublesome kid, learn some respect will ya?”
With a chuckle he exits the alley, my body still in a daze, and left with the view of both my stilettos in the dirt. One of my eyes can’t open, and a hot liquid is leaking down my forehead.
I lay, unmoving on the ground, in silence.
…
“Ah, see you ‘round, don’t forget the place, Pixie!”
“Of course, Fred.”
Smiling, Alisson shut the door behind him. His smile slowly faded.
“I hope I wasn’t too long then?”
“N-no, not at all.”
That wasn’t confident in the least.
Suspicion spurred in Alisson, and he laid a hand on Celis, who still had her back turned to him, starring intently at something. She jumped with unusual force. Alisson felt slight tremors of shaking through her shoulder.
Did something happen? She’d tell me if that were the case. Maybe she’s just nervous from being alone for a while.
“Well, what’s next? What d-did you talk about?”
She seems fine…
“Our route across Lagrath is secure. We’ll be doing a little errand tomorrow in return; we’ll be staying at Fred’s place in the meantime, it’s much more inconspicuous.”
“Ah…”
Celis finally turned toward Alisson, her eyes down, and her mouth tense. Though there was something else that piqued Alisson.
“What exactly is this?”
Alisson spoke as he leaned in and rubbed a smear of dirt off of Celis’s cheek. A rude gesture since Alisson still had his gauntlets on, but Alisson’s intrigue was stronger than his manners when it came to his fratello.
“Ah-! I-! I…I…I t-tripped, earlier.”
“Hmph.”
Alisson did not react, rather he just stared at Celis, blankly. Seeing this, she seemed to get visibly nervous, glancing around indirectly, as though she were a animal that knew it'd done something wrong.
Though, as Celis seemed to peak in uncomfortability, Alisson simply sighed, and mentally dismissed his thoughts.
“Well, anyway, there’s someplace I wanted to take you…”
“Ah?”
In a weird speech, Celis broke her nervousness with both acknowledgement and intrigue.
…
Hah…hah…That was scary. He was staring at me so intensely! I thought I was gonna feint. I can’t believe that even after healing myself with magic, I didn’t think to check for any dirt on my body; I was kicked into the ground after all.
But at least for the moment, my nervousness from Alisson and my anger from Alfonso have subsided a little. The view I have is complete contradiction to my internal feelings; in front of me is Alisson, resting his cheeks on his hands and smiling at me. Alisson said he knew a place him and Rickard went to that he really liked, some sort of outdoor dine-in. The light of the orange, setting sun poured in through numerous windows, and warm colored candles were lit, bathing the room in a homey color. The building opens up toward the north, showing a vast landscape outside the city of plains and trees. Off in the distance, rushed the waters of Lagrath, almost eating up the horizon due to it’s size. This view is really great, too bad I feel like crap after what happened today.
I really screwed up today. I think no matter what I did, it would have been a loss for me, I just…I don’t know how to deal with, with whatever that guy Alfonso was getting at. The only thing I thought about was to kill him…though in hindsight, if I really did kill him, it would have been a bigger problem.
What was he even doing anyway! Who just strolls up to some random person like that!? I’ve never had a social interaction like that. I think I should just tell him to piss off if that kinda thing happens again. I was just staying silent the entire time after all; I basically let him have his way with me.
Ew. I never wanna have to think of that phrase again. Though it seemed that if he didn’t leave, he would’ve ended up doing that to me in the other sense…
“Celis. What’s wrong? You don’t get views like this much in human territories.”
Ah…I probably look pretty miserable right about now huh? And in front of Alisson’s smiling face, I can’t help but feel more ashamed of myself.
“Ah…right.”
There’s another problem that I’ve seen today: I didn’t even scratch Alfonso! How!? I fight, and kill, people like those Inquisitor knights, and a bunch of beasts along the road here, but I can’t even handle some street rat?
Hah…I’m pathetic.
Next time. Next time he will die.
…
Something has definitely happened. Celis does not act like this normally.
Still, despite Alisson’s doubts, he remained smiling slightly at his apprentice.
Well, I’m sure a filled stomach and a night of rest would help her attitude immensely.
Him and Celis had spent the last month on the move, and as such their intake of food was mainly from rations. They were Sidonian grade of course, so they weren’t like the trash that human rations were like; but they were nothing to the normal food one could enjoy in the Capital. Alisson had always felt bad about feeding the fratello under him with such sub-par food, not to mention going days without it in some cases.
So that is why, when the order that he’d made arrived, and Celis’s eyes seemed to lighten, rather, they un-dulled, Alisson’s smile deepened.
Infront of the both of them was placed a large, colorful glass filled with multiple layers. A parfait.
It was a wonder to Alisson how in two-hundred years the non-Andestine human lands had advanced so far. Only centuries before the entire building Alisson was standing in did not exist in mind or form. The humans had used goblets, a majority of the population had eaten but rye bread and soup made from what pitiful amounts of food their farm produced. Even nobles had rarely ate such 'luxuries' as meat in those times. But now, even the lesser human territories had no doubt advanced by leaps and bounds, still nowhere near Sidonia, but it was concerning how much Sidonia advanced on a technological level compared to the humans. All sciences were monitored and kept under lock and chain by Sidonia herself, only coming with new feats sparsely throughout the centuries compared to the humans.
This was truly a topic of wonder for Alisson; for if it were him, he’d pour tenfold the amount of resources into the sciences, they had plenty to spare after all.
Though it seemed as though Sidonia were disinterested in the prospect. The frivolity before Alisson was one that Sidonians long had access to; though it was new in the human world, such as the prospect of a restaurant in their society. Although this town was quite in the correct position to host such things, for the population was mainly made up of second-class merchants and citizens benefiting from the international trade that blessed the city.
Alisson nudged the glass toward Celis, offering her the first sip out of one of the two straight straws. She looked at him anxiously for a moment before shyly doing so. Alisson could only be happy with the sight before him.
“It’s good right? It’s apparently made with berries called mulberries. Well, I doubt they hold up to the lingonberries imported from the Far East though…”
After taking perhaps a little too long of a sip, Celis looked up at Alisson with glee whilst licking a bit of the cream off her lips.
“It’s good!”
Alisson smiled bittersweetly at her. Did a frivolity really change her mood so quickly? Or was she faking her joy for him?
Regardless they left the inn and set out for Fred’s place, having their fill on food that for the first time in a month was not rationed. Alisson of course, had little to none of that parfait he’d gotten, for it was far too embarrassing to share a drink with someone. That, and Alisson didn’t have the slightest intention to trespass on the greedily sipping Celis’s euphoria.
***