“OKAY, that’s enough!” Andrew finally could not take it anymore. “You are both being very distracting right now!”

Mila’s face was now just a moment away from touching Isabel’s. She wanted to proceed, forgetting where they were, just like a moment ago.

But the magic was broken when Isabel averted her face while pretending to cough. At least her hands were still around Mila’s waist.

“That was not our intention.” Mila cooly explained. “It has been a while since we had a moment to ourselves.”

“That is not even fucking true!” Andrew heaved in disbelief. “You do this shit every day!” Mr Crow joined in his protest by cawing.

“I have to say,” Mila raised her hand to play with Isabel’s locks. “You are misinterpreting our actions. We were only talking during our travel. I would most certainly remember kissing a beautiful girl if it had happened.”

It was so cute how Isabel blushed. Mila’s smile returned to her lips. She wrapped her girl’s hair around her finger while admiring the shine.

And it was the truth. It was unfortunate but also understandable how Mila and Isabel had kept their interactions chaste. For most of the time they had been on the road, the events in Ocheon had hung over their heads, casting a long shadow.

The touches, sweet words and brushes were pleasant but also left Mila hungry for more direct contact.

Andrew opened his mouth again, but Isabel glared at him, not letting him argue more.

“We are listening, okay?” She shifted her attention back to the conversation between Andrew and Mortimer. “So don’t be an ass.” There was a lack of energy in the quip.

Mila noticed the tinge of guilt in Isabel’s voice. Her girl missed Tiff. There were some things her girlfriend wasn’t willing to spill to Mila or Andrew.

“Sure you are.” Andrew rolled his eyes. “See what I have to deal with?” He turned back to Mortimer, who looked at them as if they were aliens.

“What?” Mila squinted at Mortimer. “Do you have anything to say?”

Instead of Mortimer answering Mila, he spoke to Isabel. “I-I was trying to h-hold back, but I have to a-ask. Wh-what the hell are you doing? You are too old, and she is too young! You should be ashamed!” He looked at Isabel as if she was a criminal. “I-I mean, M-Mila, was it?” He stammered. “L-look, wh-why d-don’t you come h-here for a m-moment?”

“That won’t be necessary.” Mila studied the man. It was clear he was afraid of her, perhaps both of them. “I am of age.”

“N-no, see, let’s talk about it for a moment.” Mortimer continued, but his voice grew quieter and more unsure by the moment. “I am n-not sure what this woman t-told you, but… And two girls? How does that work?” He couldn’t wrap his hand around the situation.

“Isabel is not taking advantage of me.” Mila cut him off. “If anything, it is the opposite. I am the one who is the older one.” With a corner of her eye, Mila noticed Vatim sneak past them to have a better look at the still unmoving band of thugs.

But Mila didn’t have time to see what the boy was doing. She felt Isabel growing increasingly uncomfortable with the situation. “Isabel~” Mila turned sideways in her lap and leaned against her collarbone while looking up. “Look at me.” She put her palm on her girl’s face and turned it. “Don’t look anywhere else. You are perfect as you are.” She kept playing with Isabel’s hair.

“Mhmm.” Isabel melted under Mila’s touch, her expression relaxing.

“That’s how it is.” Andrew sagely nodded. “Well, I think they are going to listen now, so could you please repeat?”

Mortimer still looked in disbelief. He turned towards Andrew with the unspoken question - ‘Is this fine?’ on his face.

“Mila is older than Isabel. And try to not imply Mila is a child. It makes her grumpy… Well, more than usual.” Andrew explained.

“You do that too.” Mila pointed out while poking Isabel’s lips.

“When you are acting like one.” Andrew shamelessly admitted. “And see? She is listening now.”

“Right.” Mortimer didn’t notice Vatim now standing next to Laum, poking the bloody man with the tip of his toe. “I still think there is something wrong about this.” He still had doubts about Mila’s actual age.

Isabel started to giggle. “Stop that.” She moved her head back from Mila’s exploring fingers. “It tickles.”

As her girl laughed, Mila happily enjoyed Isabel’s breasts repeatedly pressing against her. “I don’t think I can.” She continued to tap her fingers on her girl’s face.

“Stooop~” Isabel pulled Mila closer, clearly wishing for the opposite.

“Okay, Mila! You know what?” Andrew tried to get the girl’s attention back to him. “If you stop and sit on a chair, I’ll forget about the mess you made earlier.”

“Oh,” Mila blinked. That had slipped her mind. After a moment of indecision, she decided it was for the best to get done with this mess and move on. “We can agree on these conditions.”

Isabel let out one last chuckle before unwrapping her hands from around Mila. “That was mean.” She whispered before pushing Mila out of her lap.

“I regret nothing,” Mila was unrepentant and moved to sit down next to Isabel.

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After Mila had sat down, Andrew spent a minute looking at her as if she would spontaneously burst into fireworks just to mess with him. When she didn’t, he continued.

“As you ‘heard’, Mortimer is pretending he doesn’t know what we are asking about.”

Mila and Isabel turned their heads to look at the sweating man.

“Th-that’s how it is,” Mortimer reaffirmed. If only he wasn’t blinking and fidgeting so hard, it would look almost believable.

“Was that a question or a statement?” Mila questioned.

“R-really. I don’t know anything.” Mortimer tried to convince them. “It’s the first time I am hearing about ‘Keepers of the Truth’ or their village.”

At that moment, Andrew facepalmes. “Mortimer, my dude, I didn’t even mention that name.”

Mortimer froze. Only his lips moved, trying to come up with a convincing explanation. “... please don’t bring me to the Inquisitors.” He finally pleaded. “‘I’ll do anything, but please…”

“We are not going to do that,” Isabel spoke and joined Mila in looking past Mortimer, where Vatim was now poking the nameless trio. “We just need help. Two of our friends are bringing something dangerous to that place. We need to stop them.”

“I-I heard the first time, b-but really, I don’t know where it is.”

“We found it hard to believe.” Mila’s eyes met Vatim’s as he looked at them. There was something about the look he gave them. What was it?

“I-I was never important enough,” Mortimer explained. “My dad was, but not me.”

That sounded… Plausible. Silinth had been cagey about giving away any information regarding his group. It wouldn’t be strange for Mortimer’s father to be the same.

“There has to be something you know.” Andrew was not ready to give up. “A remark, a direction, an anecdote, something, anything.”

“Maybe someone else who would know.” Isabel chimed in. “Your father had friends, right? Maybe you could introduce them to us.”

“My father’s friends…” Mortimer shuddered, suddenly looking like a young, scared boy. “T-they were not his friends. They cannot be trusted.” He spoke with a heavy tone.

“It is still better than nothing.” Isabel reasoned. “You can at least give us names. Then we can go and see if we can get anything out of them.”

“I don’t know.” Mortimer weighed the options. “Maybe. They are not good people. I don’t want to send anyone to those sh-sharks.” He glanced around as if fearing these supposed ‘friends’ of his father would hear.

“You are not leaving us with-” Mila almost offhandedly began a threat before stopping. “Yes?”

Vatim now stood next to Mortimer, who jumped in surprise when he noticed the boy. “Vatim, you scared me. Wait! What are you doing here? It’s dangerous!”

But Vatim was looking at the three of them, ignoring Mortimer entirely. “Are you three strong?” He whispered a question.

“We-” Andrew was first to react, but he didn’t know how to respond. Although, Mr Crow did puff his chest and announced his prowess.

“We are not weak.” Isabel followed up. “But there are many who are stronger.”

From the looks, it wasn’t the answer Vatim wanted to hear. He hugged himself and swayed for a moment before looking at Andrew. His quiet voice barely reached them. “You said I can ask if I need something.” He bit his lip, hiding his face behind his bangs. “I need help.”

“Vatim! What are you saying? You don’t know these people.” Mortimer was mortified. “Look,” He put his hand on the boy’s shoulder. “We can talk about this later, okay? Maybe I can help.” He suggested, but his voice missed the surety needed to convince Vatim.

“Mister, you…” Vatim avoided looking at Mortimer. “I don’t… You- You can’t.”And while he looked guilty for refusing the man, there was also hope when he looked at the trio.

“No, no, surely.” Mortimer shook. He looked unwilling and bitter. “Does… Does it have something to do with where you vanish sometimes?”

Vatim slowly nodded. “M-my family…” His lower lip trembled. New tears and snot started to roll down his face. “Th-they took them.” He tried to clean his face. The heavy sobbing made it hard to understand what he was saying. “A-after we arrived… said we-” He hiccuped. “We didn’t ha-have money.”

“Vatim,” Mortimer slipped off his chair and wrapped his hands around the boy. “Why didn’t you tell me?” He murmured while holding Vatim tightly. “I could have… Could have done something.”

It was all very touching. Mila frowned and looked at her companions, then sighed. It wasn’t like she didn’t want to help, but could they?

They were avoiding pursuit and were trying to chase after Tiff and Kefo. They didn’t know the city and had to keep a low profile, and…

There were more reasons to refuse…

But it was clear Andrew was ready to run out in the streets and tear the city apart until he found Vatim’s family and…

And more importantly, Isabel wanted to help. She was leaning forward with eyes full of pity for the boy as well as anger for what he had to suffer.

Mila sighed again. What was the correct choice here? The most optimal choice would be to refuse here and now before Andrew and Isabel got the chance to offer help.

“Can we?” Isabel asked Mila.

Andrew looked at her as well. Mila studied Vatim and Mortimer. The boy was still looking at them, eyes full of pleading.

The optimal choice was to refuse. It was likely to be dangerous. They didn’t understand the situation. They didn’t have time to plan.

“You both know our situation.” Mila didn’t outright refuse. “This is too large of a risk. We would have to move in the shadows.”

There was an implication in Mila’s words. When she met Andrew’s eyes, he averted his gaze. He understood what she meant. There would be blood.

But Isabel didn’t. “Would you?” She put her hand on Mila’s knee. “You don’t have to, but…”

“I-”

“I’ll help!” Suddenly, Mortimer interrupted their conversation. “I’ll help.” He repeated.

“With what?” Mila found it unlikely. “You are not very impressive. Even the boy knows it.”

“T-there is a map.” Mortimer still held on to Vatim, but now his eyes were blazing with resolve, burning away the tears. “There is a map that leads to the place you asked about. It’s in my father’s old study.” He gulped. “I-I can try to steal it.”

“That’s-” Mila wanted to say ‘a horrible idea’, but Mortimer didn’t wait for her to finish.

“I-If you help Vatim, I’ll get that map!”

“It’s-”

“Tonight!” Mortimer didn’t let them speak. “Even if you fail, I’ll still get the map.”

“Suddenly, there is a map, you say?” Mila found the man’s words suspicious

“I-” Mortimer gritted his teach, forcing himself to speak. “My father’s friend took our home. Forced me out. But the map is well hidden. He wouldn’t be able to find it. It is there! I promise!”

The trio exchanged glances. “Tell us more.” Mila finally urged.