The clouds were dismembering, falling apart and clearing as the yellowing sky up high became more revealed, dimming. Antica and Novea were once again out in the world above; things recollected, they were making way to rendezvous with Red and Blue at the Upperberry Guild facility, which was…not necessarily…close to their prior location.

It was an awfully silent walk; Novea was in no mood for conversating… This was rather…different, indeed, for Novea was usually talkative at least to some degree; never truly so silent. However, not that Antica herself was in any mood for conversating either; she hardly ever was—now more especially.

She had too many things lingering in mind deep down within.

Instead, Antica simply…tried to utilize this temporary moment of allowance before she had to don that metaphoric muzzle and…metaphoric blindfold; she was peering about with her still open eyes.

They were walking down a dirt-gravel road, only a few buildings scattered about… Truly, this settlement seemed more like a collection of separate settlements with how spread out everything and everyone was—the polar opposite of Coastfield. Though, there were still denizens about, and thus she would periodically close her eyes or more sufficiently raise her hood to keep her ignited eyes discreet.

The two continued to silently traverse as Antica evaluated what she could, resisting the urge to…scan random objects of vague interest to add to her records. Eventually, however, her cyanic eyes did return to Novea who was walking in front…

Truly, Antica was uncertain if she had ever seen Novea be so silent and…affectless prior when it was just the two of them. She was not completely naive and aloof either; it was obvious that…this shift was likely a product of that ‘meeting’ with that ‘assigned’ whoever…

However, she knew it would be useless to inquire into, even if she continued to ponder.

“I refilled the…uhm…shot carry-thing—bag… I put more into it” Antica began to speak, trying make small-talk for once—to speak while she still could…

Novea…took a second or two; “Huh?” her mask-obscured eyes finally glanced behind; “Oh, rightly… Yeah, I…I noticed… Thanks for that; I’ll try not to…”—she paused momentarily—“I will use as much as necessary.” Her voice abruptly went from her usual awkward to one more…cold and…detached almost.

Nevertheless, the silence resumed as the wind began to blow; air became cooler as the world became sleepier.

“Hey…” Novea, surprisingly, began to suddenly speak… “Nil… Antica…”

Antica’s attention withdrew from…a strange…insect of sorts that had apparently caught her attention—a bee, it was a bee. “Hm? What is it?” She shifted to Novea.

Yet Novea’s speakings…stopped. She deliberated and froze in voice… Cogitating…

Antica did not need see behind Novea’s mask that obscured the befallings within…to infer that…a struggle of sorts was occurring behind.

A contradiction between actual desires and regulated protocols; between what was wanted and what was mandated, directed; between adherence to directives and adherence to what felt ‘right’ and…‘good’. All relatable experiences and feelings, most certainly, would that Antica were able to comprehend, let alone acknowledge, such.

“…nothing, sorry…” Novea canceled her words. “Just… Be prepared for anything, including the unexpected; that is all.”

« J’eșom síc çeù semper… » Antica was as prepared as ever… « Sed… Nûmne tu’eș eù què’st praeparatù vero ita? » But… was Novea the one who was truly prepared?

Novea let loose a light breath; “You have a weird tongue; it’s honestly hard to even hear the relation with Trinitarian…” she remarked, perhaps more open than…required.

« I believe that I have a standard functioning ‘tongue’, unless you are referencing ‘language’ and not the gustatory sensory organ, » Antica simply replied, swapping languages, pretending as though the word for ‘language’ in her primary did not also share the sense of meaning ‘tongue’.

Novea glanced… “It is a little uncanny how you can sound like a different person despite having one voice, just from a flip of tongues…” she remarked, before her mask-obscured eyes returned to front… “But it might be better if you did not speak much, even in your tongues…” Without any further elaboration, she simply went silent.

Antica, too, went…silent; she retreated…back into her head.

The two silently continued making way… Until, finally, as they walked over and down a small lumpy hill, appearing before their sight was that unmistakable building which stuck out with respect to all else around: the Upperberry Guild hall…

However, unlike the Guild halls Antica had observed prior, this one—at least at the distance her still open eyes were peering—seemed more…brown, wooden, and…some other word… The shape and general…design were the same as any other Guild hall, but it was hardly as…complicated or ‘sophisticated’ with the aesthetics and painting…

‘Cheap’, right, that word; that was she was thinking of… Indeed, as the locals would say, it looked ‘cheap’—whatever that was supposed to truly convey.

Regardless, parked next to the pavement outside of that building’s entrance was that familiar wagon and that ever-familiar…horned chimeric equine… It was evident even at their distance that it was…chewing on something… Truly, Antica still could not perceive that chimera the same after what she had witnessed it so feastingly do those four-ish days prior.

Nevertheless, sitting down upon a curb outside of the Guild hall was… Red, his head…down-faced and not-so-attentive. Noticeably absent, however, was Blue…

Antica thought nothing of such.

Yet Novea, on the other hand… “Oh… Raven Mother, do not tell me…” she proceeded to mutter; indeed, just from that certain kind of…man-sit, Novea could infer much already. “Antica, hide your eyes.” she mandated; though, Antica had already closed them by now.

The two quickly descended down the lump of earth, approaching Red who remained statically sitting… He barely raised his head even as he began to hear their encroaching steps, hardly acknowledging until they were right at him.

“Red…” Novea so ‘greeted’ as she arrived and halted before him, her corvid mask-obscured eyes peering into him.

“Finally…” Red merely blurted, his voice ostensibly indifferent; “That took long enough, Gods’ sacred toilet… Thought you Bureau-bugs were supposed to be fast and hasty…” he wavingly remarked; “So, what’s the plan now?”

“We are leaving Upperberry and are skipping Grandberry; we are to head for Strawberry instead.” Novea spoke, her voice forthright. However, her attention then scanned around… “Where is Blue?” she asked what she actually wanted to say; “Is she still in there?” She looked at the Guild hall.

“In there?”—his thumb pointed behind—“Yeah… She is, alongside a party of five Platinum ‘nd Sapphire fuckwits and two receptionists…” Red so replied, his voice ostensibly apathetic; “Bet they’re having a real good orgy in there like it’s a Temple of Fertility or her sister Mistress Pleasure…” The ostensible apathy revealed its bitter core.

Novea, inferences becoming more confirmed from his apparent behavior and affect, sighed in a covert ugh; “Alrightly, Dragon Slayer… What happened?” she interrogated, voice indifferent.

Red let out a frustrated groaning ugh; “What do you think happened?” His strong yellow-amber eyes finally looked at her.

“You tell me…” Novea merely replied.

Red sighed in a hugh… “Same old, same old shit, alright? I got in a verbal shit-spat with the succubus-fuckers in that dump of a building”—he firmly pointed behind—“Even though I’ve barely ever been to this Gods’ abandoned subbranch, they still knew who I was… The receptionists in there went from sweet to bitch in a snap like mage-fucked golems on command… Then I started being a man-bitch to them, then those five fuckers came up and started saying shit like they were fucking those two receptibitches… I got close to crushing their balls and made a huge scene before getting thrown out…” thus his voice aggressively summarized.

“Uhuh…” Novea flatly mumbled, acknowledging.

“I was flaming and flaming,” Red continued, “and Blue tried to talk…and I ended up biting her…”

“And I assume you two ended up having another argument, then?” Novea remarked.

Indeed, such would not be the first occurrence between these two. In fact, just those four-ish days ago after leaving Pebbleberry, Blue and Red had an argumentative dispute of sorts after Blue had finally awoken from that so-called ‘mana-fatigue’ ‘sleep’ she had fallen into—exceptional irritability and confrontational tendencies being common immediate symptoms following such a ‘mana’-induced unconsciousness.

Not that Antica had paid any true attention to such…denizen squabble-bickerings to remember the details, of course, besides that it had settled rather quickly, with the two going on as if nothing had happened. However, even she was observant and analytical enough to know that such did not mean anything had truly been resolved.

Red sighed…

Novea immediately braced for impending…interpersonal relations mediation…

“Nah…” Red, to Novea’s surprise, thus replied, his temper cooling… “After I bit her, she gave me that…frozen sour lady-stare as if her soul left her eyes, before stepping back in there…” he recounted; “She didn’t say a single word, but I know she is pissed… Probably in there now looking to hook onto someone else for the night…”

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Novea exhaled; “Oh, generic man concerns, always…” her breaths whisperingly muttered. “Well, we will wait, then” she simply said, before she walked off… Antica trailing along.

She approached the wagon’s back and promptly plopped her large carry-bag into it. Antica immediately did the same with her backpack, having been carrying it in her hand. Afterwards, the two simply…waited, standing in place… Two cloaked figures in harmonized…static silence.

Not long after, however, the doors to that Guild hall sprung open, a sighing Blue stepping out as the door shut behind. “Back.” she so plainly announced, glaring at Red who remained sitting where he was; “I handled it. They found a pleasantry in me that was appealing—despite their evident judgements of my…tastes, as always…” She mellowly exhaled; “But they will not…spread any word about this incident across the rest of the Huckleberry branch or the Guild… But you are prohibited from stepping foot on this hall’s…property again.” Her voice was…flat.

“Yeah, yeah… Of course…” Red waved his hand up and down dismissively; “Wasn’t planning on coming back here anyway…” He stood himself up, finally turning to face Blue; “Thanks… I didn’t ask, but…thanks…”

“Thanks is not what I want, Red.” Blue sharply stated, her cold posture and voice…masking what was becoming a more evident irate bleed; “I seriously need you…to—” Yet Blue’s attention abruptly snapped as she finally realized…in the corner of her visual field… “Oh, hi…” Her eyes sprung away from Red and towards those two standing statically still; “I see you two have returned from your ‘business’…”

“Yes.” Novea replied; “Now we are leaving Upperberry. No need to stay here any longer.”

“Yeah, bet you want to leave this dump already, Blue… So, come on” Red said, gesturing with his head… Though, he remained slightly tense; he was not exactly naive to the reality of Blue’s…mood.

Blue, besides walking a little away from the closed door behind, remained where she was. Her cold eyes were looking down, her demeanor so reserved… “Where?” she thus asked, “Where?” Her eyes sprung to Red and…Novea.

“Eastern bulge, Strawberry County.” Novea answered, Red’s eyes slowly turning to her…

“No longer Grandberry, then?” Blue remarked, her voice rather mellow.

“Yeah.” Novea confirmed.

“Hmm…” Blue withdrew her eyes, things happening within… before returning them to Novea; “Why?” she thus asked, “Why?”

Novea, however, remained still in both stature and voice, silence being her answer. Her mask-obscured eyes merely eyed Red instead, whose sweating attention turned to Blue.

“Let’s just go…” Red began to say, “We can talk later, alright… Trust me, Blue, the less you know, the better… You don’t—”

Yet Blue’s eyes snapped right to him; “Considering how horribly you embarrassed me in there, I believe that your speaking rights, hitherto appertaining, are hereby revoked.” Her teeth nearly gritted; “And no. I am not going anywhere. I refuse. I have that choice, and I am exercising it. Unless you tell me right here and right now, why… What the fuck am I even involved in, Red?”

Indeed, compared to those prior instances of Blue’s evident irritations and annoyances, in this moment, she was…genuinely and unequivocally…at her limits—frustrations and anger that she could not express as easily or openly as her other…related emotions. Although Antica could not see her overt stature and behavior, she could infer much of such from Blue’s voice alone.

“I will be completely honest,” Blue continued on, eyes looking at everyone, “I have been…perhaps awfully frustrated these past several days… This was initially supposed to be a transportation job, but Red—without my involvement—agreed to more, and I have not been told any proper details besides vagueness, and I am no longer appreciating it…”—her eyes lanced to Red—“And unlike him, I keep myself quiet and reserved about these…contentions… or, at least, I try to… Despite what it might seem…”

“Blue…” Red tried to interpose, yet…

Blue immediately growled, her nose wrinkling, her grip on her staff tightening.

Red immediately went quiet.

“So, I will be blunt,” Her attention sprung to those two with whom she had attempted to…not be confrontational, “I have no idea who you even are and what you even are… But everyone in all the thousand realms seem to know, everyone besides me” her self-contained accumulated frustrations began to flare more overtly; “But I am not stupid, even if I was born an illiterate serf… Neither am I blind or deaf… I have noticed how people react to you and the looks they have given you; I know when I am associating with something I should not be were I sane.”

Novea stood there, silent… She could tell more words were…still set to be unleashed; she simply waited for them pass.

“I mean, it is not as though I care for such things considering the man I have fallen for, but I cannot stand this secrecy and constant vagueness anymore… Again, I am not naive! I was an adequately experienced freelancer before swapping to adventuring, and I would hardly ever accept a contract without knowing the basics about whom I am being employed by and what ‘business’ I am being contracted to help with!” Blue’s voice became louder.

Red glanced at the Guild hall, hoping…nobody could hear…

Yet Blue lanced her eyes at him once again; “And you… I don’t quite get it, how is that you can drag me into a cave full of monsters that wish to murder me or do all other manners of vile defilement of me, yet…cannot even…conceive of telling me the truth of what shit you agreed to become involved in! As if you are worried that I will be more terrified of this than nearly dying from a minotaur!”

“…I just don’t want you getting too involved in shit you don’t need to…” Red…said…

Blue growled; “I am already involved you stupid…stupid…moronic doorhandle!” her voice was now overtly…yelling; “If you do not want me to be involved in this…whatever, then I will remain here…amongst the hanged corpses of rapists until you are done, but do not expect to return with me not being the mother of another’s!”

Her being kept in the dark aside, it was now abundantly clear to Red that Blue was also…still rather upset over that ‘biting’ he had done earlier, having called her something…quite hurtful—more especially in the contexts better understood by those two specifically.

“Called me a ‘used-up Rainbow whore’, I hope you get raped by an orc! All you do is moan louder than a slut being double-fucked over and over! You’re such a man-bitch!” Yep, she was fairly pissed—a fact she was no longer suppressing.

“Alright, you know what! No, no, I ain’t—” Red was…now becoming quite aggravated, yet before he could escalate…

“Alrightly, fine.” Novea finally spoke, intervening; “You are owed an explanation.”

“Huh?” Blue’s attention immediately sprung to Novea, taken by slight surprise from the sudden acquiescence; although not completely calm, her enflared affect began to simmer… “Does…that mean you will tell me? That is all…I want—”

“Yes. But first”—she eyed them equally—“you two need to sort out…whatever this is; we are not the only pairs of eyes seeing this. I will tell you when we are back on the road after you two have reconciled.” Novea sharply stated.

Blue…averted away somewhat; breathing, her mind…further cooled… Just the way Novea had said ‘sort out this whatever of theirs’ was so… Indeed, although Blue was going to get what she desired, she was left feeling rather embarrassed…and socially ashamed.

Red also cooled down. “Listen… I’m sorry… You know my ass speaks itself… And you made your point; it isn’t that I don’t hear you…”

“Yeah, I know…” Blue mellowly interposed; “Red, you do not need to… I know; you know I know… I am… Sometimes I just…”

“No, no…” Red interposed; “If I were in your place, I’d be flaming even worse… You’ve got every right to be pissed; I don’t know how you’ve been tolerating my shit, and the fact you do is something I forget…”

“Of course, the stubborn anger beast fails to see the problem with being such…” Blue softly remarked, more…cordially; “Anyway, I apologize. So as long as you are self-aware of what you owe me, and that…no matter how hard your ashen heart tries, I refuse to let you win…”

“Yeah, yeah… I know…” Red waved his hand; “Let’s get out of this mud-dump already…”

“Yeah… Let’s” Blue kind of smiled; “However, should you ever embarrass me like that with your dickishness or ever strike me with those words again, do not be surprised if you find yourself in a Rejinard prison being repeatedly sod—”

“Point is made, Blue, point is made…” Red interrupted…

Truly, what a bizarre dynamic these two denizens seemed to have. Antica could not quite understand it, nor could she be bothered to care to… She just wanted to move on already.

Though… ‘Choice’, huh? For whatever reason, that word…remained lingering within.

-||-

The sun was setting as evening began to fade. The wagon was once again in motion; the unicorn, ever indifferent, was back on the road. Despite the atmosphere now being considerably cooler, a silence persisted.

Blue, sitting in front of Novea and Antica, stared… Waiting, anticipating, becoming less reserved in her…impatience…

“Well, we are on the road; he apologized and I apologized,” Blue began to speak, “and he knows”—she eyed him—“exactly what must be done to…fully reconcile…with me”—her eyes returned to them—“So, you know, I am waiting…” Blue had not…entirely returned to her usual self; persistent ire persisted.

Novea sat there, silent… To be honest, she was expecting these two to…take much longer in reconciling than they ultimately had… These two had a mutual understanding of each other that made rebounding easier, seemingly. Regardless, she had said she would…explain once they returned to the road.

And Blue was only beginning to grumble…

Novea sighed; Red was the one who had kept things from Blue… Why must she be the one who… Oh, whatever… “Fine, to begin: I am a Raven, and she over here…is…not a Raven, but something…else” thus began her explanation.

Rather immediately, Blue’s eyes sparked, almost, as she listened in…

“Ravens being a…people, I guess to say, that hail from the Legendary Age of Smiles. Though, now we are mostly known for our…discreet work…with the Bureau of Scribes and Documentation—the Adventurers’ Guild’s…records, library, and documentation subdivision or department…”

“Eh, think you meant ‘once being the Guild’s department of librarians, scribes, and documenters’…” Red abruptly inserted himself, contributing in his own way; “You bunch had strayed from your original purpose even before everything turned to shit…”

Blue…tilted her head, eyes glancing to Red; “Elaborate, please…”

Red…paused, deliberating, before sighing; “You might’ve noticed this already; for everything the Guild is, it’s no different than any other institution: it cares about growing and keeping its power, and the Bureau’s one of its ways of doing that… Sure, scribing and documenting’s still what they do… The Bureau’s the largest library of shit in all the thousand realms, but they use that knowledge for…shadow business” thus he explained; “Bribery—as you’ve seen—, but also eavesdropping, spying, kidnapping, dirt-collection, extortion, infiltration, fabrication, assassination… You name it, they’ve done it…”

Blue…processed all of that; “Oh…” she blurted; certainly, so many things now abruptly became rather…contextualized. “Ah… And you agreed to…help…these people… We have been…” Her realizing eyes became bleak…

“Now you see why I didn’t want to tell you shit… Like I said: the less you know, the better” Red frankly said.

Blue’s head slowly turned to Novea…who sat statically in place, mask-obscured eyes clandestinely staring.

“We are just searching for someone: a teenage girl by the name of Blossom, a bastard of House Coastfield-Sunnycloud, who is suspected to be in hiding somewhere within the eastern bulge of Huckleberry.” Novea explained, neither confirming nor denying what Red had said—something Blue was not completely aloof to.

Indeed, Blue slowly nodded her head… “Uhuh…” She was now even more disconcerted…

“To find, protect, and escort back to Coastfield” Novea promptly clarified.

“Oh…” Blue exhaled in relief; “Alrightly, that makes…much better sense…” For a moment, she thought she had been roped into…the kidnapping and or…murder of a young girl…

“That is all you need to know for now.” Novea stated.

Blue’s head nodded away, slowly turning to Red; “Yes, now I see…what you meant by it being best to know less… And I know you would never agree to anything terrible, so I will defer to you and your instincts” thus she said… “Although, I would like to know why you opted to become involved with…this shady politicking stuff… Since you are not charging coin, it must be for a favor…” She sighed; “But we can talk about that later… We have had enough for a day…”

“Yeah, thanks…” Red replied…

However, Blue’s eyes then returned to Novea… “I, however, want to be paid for this... Unlike him,”—she momentarily eyed Red—“I work for coin exclusively, not favors, and this is evidently much bigger than me…” thus she said, her mood now more her usual…even if slightly snarky.

“No promises, but I will see if…something can be arranged…” Novea…thus replied.

“Oh, no promises necessary—I keep spare ‘fill-in’ contracts with me; although its usual practice to charge higher rates for shady employers, I am willing to settle for typical freelancer rates, in exchange for both my services…and my silence, of course…” Blue simply smiled.

Novea…almost groaned… “…Great…” Indeed, Blue was a freelancer mage, most truly.