Spiders sucked. Cira had no intention of returning to their depths.
Instead, she and the young Marie appeared in a blaze of abyssal lightning, charring the earth to obsidian before the young and old fools.
“I have returned.” Cira said coldly.
It was clear at this point that that girl convinced them to let her go on ahead, arrogant toward the extents of her power, but that didn’t mean these men got a pass. They were still idiots for underestimating an uninhabited island known to be home to spiders.
“M-Marie!” The young man wrapped his arms around her and sobbed into her freshly laundered blouse. “I thought I’d lost you!”
“My dear!” The old man crumpled, “Are you okay?!”
He glanced in shock between Cira and Marie.
“She will be just fine eventually. But the fact remains that all three of you are equally fools.” Cira did not spare any consideration. Lives were nearly lost. Spiders were experienced. “Now where did you come from? I suggest you return.”
“We… we fled Fount Salt—” Marie said ominously before her husband threw his arms around her.
“I’m just so glad you’re alright!” They seemed to be having a tender moment, and the old man crowded around them too, so Cira backed off for a minute.
Why would they need to flee? If something is going on down there, I’m going to have to write Lomp a very strongly worded letter.
Cira must have looked impatient standing there with her arms crossed in deep thought when Marie broke away from the two, “Sorry, Madam Witch. I don’t mean to waste your time. How can I ever reward you?”
“It is nothing to trouble yourself over.” Cira brushed her worries off with a smile, “These two should already have prepared payment.”
She fluttered her eye expectantly toward the two gentlemen.
“R-right. Here!” The young man approached and pushed a pouch into Cira’s hands. It did not feel very heavy, and she noticed a pained look on Marie’s father’s face. “It’s everything we have.”
“This is everything you hold to your name?” Cira dumped it out into one palm. Not that she really needed it, but it wasn’t much. The looks on their faces said it really was all they had. She ended up picking out a single coin and putting the rest back, tossing the pouch back over. “I will take only a single gold coin as payment. Now, you really should go back to where you came from if you only made it this far.”
Cira distinctly remembered seeing an island from the upper boardwalks of Uren. It was incredibly close to Fount Salt. The first official stop on the Dead Belt, and probably a ten-minute flight.
“We… we can’t go back!” Marie cried with tears in her eyes. The other two seemed overtaken with rage.
“I refuse to let them take her!” The husband clenched his fists so hard Cira smelled blood.
She tried to calm them down and ended up hearing quite an unfortunate tale.
“They said everything would be fine since the Gandeux took over…” Marie sounded hopeless, “The Underseer even granted us a home in Silver Lake, but the whole island is crawling with nobles now.”
“The bastards don’t care about the people who toiled their whole lives on that rock,” The old man spat, “They just want to sap off the Saint’s prestige and use their status to do whatever the hell they want.”
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Apparently one such arrogant noble lived high up in Uren, and Marie’s chestnut colored hair caught his eye as she went to do laundry by the river. Just yesterday, in fact. Long story short, her husband was a wanted man. Knocked the nobleman out right there on the spot.
“He said a commoner marriage means nothing to ‘one such as him’, and that he was free to pluck Marie up like a flower on the muddy roadside. I… I just saw red.” He looked deeply ashamed, and suddenly scared of Cira’s response. “Do whatever you want with me, and you can take the boat back… but please let Marie go!”
Wait, what? Oh… they think I’m a witch. Evidently, he had stolen a dropship—one of Earth Vein’s smaller boats for vertical transportation of personnel. If anything, I see this guy in a whole new light. Knocked out a noble on his way to bring his wife lunch, then stole a boat to fly away. That takes gumption.
“Oh, please. If anything, I’m compelled to reward you for your efforts.” His actions could not be said to be different than Cira’s own if she were in his shoes. “You stood up against a man who brings shame upon the entire Gandeux Group. If those above cannot reign them in, it will catch up to them one day, I assure you. Moreover, you will notice I have removed Earth Vein’s insignia from your ship. I don’t recommend going back to Fount Salt, I suppose, but I don’t know about above either. Won’t you just run into more Gandeux?”
The men were in shock at her words and lack of interest in bringing them to justice, but Marie was more concerned about the future, “Then what are we supposed to do? We can’t stay here!”
With the threat of cave spiders, Cira could hardly blame her. “Have you ever heard of Plackelo?”
They had, of course, and the old man even knew how to get there. Though they would have to ascend and descend repeatedly to inch their way over in such a specially designed vehicle as the dropship, but she sent them off with a sealed letter for the mayor. She could help them find a place to at least stay until the heat cooled down.
“Th-thank you so much, Madam Witch!” Marie waved farewell out the window of their ship as it departed from the island, “I’ll never forget you!”
Cira sent them off with a smile and hoped they would find peace.
Alright, how’s that? Quick and easy. Though the pay was low, and spiders, I haven’t had a job go so smoothly in a while. She had admittedly few uses for gold, but that’s primarily because she had so much of it now. Still, she stuffed the coin back in her pocket and called Breeze Haven. It appeared just like she expected, and she climbed the stairs.
___
Dear Lomp,
I hope this letter finds you well.
It has come to my attention that the sudden influx of Gandeux nobles has been making life difficult for the residents of Fount Salt. I would sincerely appreciate if you could do something about that. For if I must step in myself, it is certain to turn into a larger deal than it needs to be. Many thanks in advance.
Warm regards,
Eternal Empress Dreadheart
“That ought to do it.” Cira pored through some old letters her father received years ago to get the tone down and thought she crafted a rather polite correspondence. Without further ado, she folded it up into a paper plane and tossed it out the window.
Breeze Haven rose from the ground as the letter descended. Cira was close enough to deliver it in this way, and her plan was for it to fly straight in the window of the Underseer’s office. Her business lay above, however.
Through Spatial Sight, Cira had determined what she sought in fact existed here but held no regrets in leaving this spider infested clump of dirt behind.
___
With her trustworthy golden spyglass, Cira investigated the next island. This one was nothing but bare stone. The spring must have been somewhere underground. It was a small one, so Cira didn’t even bother getting up. A quick spatial search revealed that she struck out again. Perhaps if the soil was particularly rich, she may still stop by to bag some up, but this island was drab overall.
“You know what…?” Cira forgot for a moment—she didn’t come here for work, nor was she particularly lacking in mana to necessitate an urgent search for bloat worms. The only way was up from here, and she had time. “This looks like a nice spot for a picnic.”
Small islands always were. She had a panoramic view of the sky. No islands in sight, but there was a light smattering of debris stones here and there. Nothing but the sound of the wind and an occasional bird created a pleasant atmosphere.
___
“Ahh, dammit!” Cira awoke to the smell of burnt fish and a stern chill on the breeze. The watercolor sunset was something she couldn’t enjoy as she frowned at the cooking pot she crafted earlier. The fish were no more than charred gunk on a block of stone now, and her tummy grumbled something fierce. “On to the next one, I guess.”
Breeze Haven did what it did best, and Cira rose again through the clouds.