Chapter 54: The Scarecrow’s Reverie

“Yet do I marvel… marvel at such a thing… marvel at-at my body made of string… made of straw, metal and everything… I am different to all… yet I wish to sing…”

Wind blew softly past, making her hair to shift like it were the waves of the sea. The scarecrow looked down.

“...how the fuck-fuck did I get on the roof?”

“Vega! What the fuck are you doing on the roof!?” Florato yelled, echoing faintly up to her. Vega hadn’t realized it, but for the past hour, she had been talking to herself. In fact, it was currently midnight and when she peaked her head over the side, she could hardly see Florato, her form becoming a blue shadow blending with the rest of the environment.

“I don’t know-know. I think… I think I sort of walked here.”

“Vega. You’re my friend and everything, but what you said is very dumb.”

“Well when you get stuck on top of a roof with no explanation, I’ll call you dumb-dumb too!”

“Sorry. Can you just-I don’t know, get down?”

Just outside… The Assassin rested on a rooftop, a building that didn’t meet the light of the moon. Sitting down, not hearing their yelling, what words they were saying.

Instead of spying or disguising she was but wondering…

Wondering… what could have been…

The Assassin hand grazed the side of her face, a purple scar that ruined her. Her bare, white like death, teeth almost sparkled in the night. Vega was so silly, from her point of view. And it was so absurd to her that she would be tasked with observing the movements of a scarecrow. She was an Assassin for fucks sake!

And yet… she felt a great envy in her heart. That she got to do what she wanted, be with who she loved, and all the while being so far removed from average folk.

“What could have been… it could have been great.”

“Vega! Do not jump down!” Florato yelled, waving her arms in an X pattern.

“On second thought…” The Assassin leaned back on the roof, watching the scene pan out in utter delight and reconsidered her words.

“Come on-on! Most of my limbs are made of metal, and the rest of me can just be put back together.”

“I know that! I just… I just don’t want you to put yourself in unnecessary danger.” As Florato responded, the Assassin pushed herself up and forward, feeling a genuine warmth in her when the actress showed her care for Vega. “Please, can you find a way to climb down?”

“Okay. Okay…” Vega opened her jacket and searched for an item she could use. Since she both didn’t have her pickaxe and didn’t want to damage the tower, she was pretty limited in her options. Finding only gold, the deeds, and the numerous other letters, she could not find a tool to bring her down to the ground.

Then she got a wonderful idea.

“Hey Florato, do ya know where Kaliba is?”

“He’s off in a gang war.”

“Again?” Vega dropped her head, hearing the croaking of Kaliba not too far from her. He was on a clothesline, fighting some doves for their food. Despite the match being a one versus ten, Kaliba was absolutely styling on them.

Vega was mildly happy for her bird friend, but soon remembered she didn’t have a means to get down.

“Shoot… Florato?”

“Hold on…” The actress snapped up at the scarecrow, smiling in realization. “I’ll just catch you!”

“...okay!” Vega, without any hesitation or preparation, immediately jumped down with no regard for anyone’s safety, especially her own.

“Oh god.” Florato’s eyes opened wide and her pupils turned tiny, as she suddenly had to play catch with her friend’s body.

“Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-” Not Vega that had minded.

“This must be nice.” The Assassin admired, just as Vega’s shadow fell onto Florato. Then Vega’s head. Then Vega’s body. Vega crashed into Florato, knocking them both on the ground with a hard thawack.

“Are ya alright Florato?”

“...it’s not that you were heavy or anything, but you just had a lot of momentum behind you.”

“Always remember, it’s not-not the fall that kills ya, but the sudden stop! But… thanks buddy.” Vega leapt up and pulled Florato in a spin, making her fall almost romantically into her arms. If Vega had been a handsome lad, this would look like a standard leaving scene.

“No worries. You really have a way to make people’s hearts warm.” Florato adjusted her hair and dress, and then gave Vega’s shoulder a pat. “Come on, let’s go inside. We… have some stuff to talk about.”

Vega’s smiling face weakened, like some poison destroyed her cheery mood. This talk didn’t really enticed her, as she had been talking to herself about the past hour. But still, she could hardly refuse the company.

“Alright-right. Can we keep the yelling to a min-minumum?”

“I’ll try, but I’m not sure Skaldi will listen.” Florato shrugged, as she opened the door back into the tower.

Keeping quiet, the Assassin stepped up and onto the edge of the roof, seeing them enter. Before Vega had, she felt a mild breeze blow past, as she turned to look up at the very roof the Assassin was at. She did not notice her, but could feel she was being watched. As she closed the door, Vega wondered.

The scarecrow wondered what happened, for the Assassin to be so far away.

“Hold on! You’re gay because you like men, I’m gay because I hate women. We are not the same.” Skaldi stood proudly as he fixed his tie.

“What the hell did I just walk back into?” Florato shook her head once more.

“Hey miss! He’s just trying to prove he’s better than the big guy.” Sorbet waved, as Bolato rested his elbow on her head.

“You do know I have a name, right?”

“Yeah, but your’s is hard to pronounce.”

“You know how to say Skaldi and Florato, but not Bolato?” Valiato raised her hand, sitting beside the ancient fireworks she had gotten.

“Yeah.” The ice cream lady answered plainly.

“...yeah honestly I get it.” The kid agreed.

“Whatever, what the hell did this conversation lead into hating women?” Florato strutted up to Skaldi and pulled his hair over his eye, which made him snicker.

“Sorry, sorry. We were just joking about how Bolato was defending the spider guy and the Ruto dude.” The redhead flipped his hair out of his face and casted a sly look at Bolato.

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“I think they’re alright.” The soldier crossed his arms and held his head proudly.

“And-and that still doesn’t justify it.” Vega pointed at Skaldi, shaking her head.

“I’m getting to that! But, I decided that Bolato was clearly wrong-”

“I don’t think they were that bad Skaldi.” Florato put her hand to forehand.

“If you guys keep interrupting, I’ll never finish the story. Anyway! Bolato is clearly wrong, and I thought it would be funny to imitate him. Hey I’m Bolato, I love worshiping my Oligarchic overlords.” Skaldi went on to do an impression of Bolato’s voice, with surprising accuracy.

“And then I called him gay.” Bolato responded, causing everyone to laugh, everyone except for Sorbet and Amir.

“I still don’t know what gay is?” Sorbet whispered to Amir.

“~... how did Iozians even come up with those words?~”

“OH, I get it. Skaldi was being an asshole again.” Florato shook Skaldi by the shoulder, making him blabber.

“Ouch! You still know I’ve been shot only a day ago, right?”

“Well, maybe you should have moved out of the way, and then you wouldn’t have had that problem.”

“Oh please.” Skaldi pushed her playfully, before walking next to Vega. A sudden silence took the room, and Vega’s mood.

She really wished she was in stealth mode then.

“Huh. I guess we’re gonna talk-talk now, huh?”

“Yes. We have a couple duties between all of us, which we’ll start in the morning.” Bolato uncrossed his arms, and proceeded to pass out a series of cards. When Vega received her, she recognized Skaldi’s handwriting along with someone else’s, simply labeled ‘Vega’s Job’.

“Nice handwriting by the way.” Skaldi spoke to Sorbet, who blushed a rainbow of colors. Vega kept the cards in between her two hands, waiting to hear what everyone else was doing.

“Me and Valiato will begin scouting out the Cloud district. It’s only a couple miles from here and with skill, we can probably learn the guard’s partols.” The elf squatted down to her level.

“We were planning on distracting them with my fireworks! At least a little bit.”

“Amir and I will start checking what gangs are here. There are more than plenty, but for what the Oligarchs are requesting, we’re either looking for some major factions or some underground people.” As Bolato finished, Amir nodded.

Florato helped Sorbet up, as she looked at everyone in mild embarrassment.

“Well, I can’t really do all that much, but I can join Sorbet. She wants to find out more about the world… and she said she could probably help out with the planning if we head to the library.”

“To be honest, I kinda just want to look at the pictures and forget about the palace, but I’ll also do that.” Sorbet rested her head and Florato’s shoulder.

“These cards are meant to throw off the watchmen if they start investigating us. If we get caught with conspiracy, just hand them the card.”

“Why-why?”

“Because watchmen know how to read, and if we give them something, as Valiato suggested, it will throw them off.”

“Huh. Not bad, little lady-lady.” Vega gave her a quick thumbs up before flipping the card. It read…

“Vega the Scarecrow,

If you are reading this card,

this means you have found me in a bad situation or

you’re putting me in a bad situation.

Fuck you and eat my dust.”

Squinting back at Valiato, Vega had little hope that this idea would work. However, it was certainly not an idea she wouldn’t try, but that she felt a bit scared of her teammates' usage of it.

“Are ya guys sure this would work?”

“Well, yours has your own unique description, while the rest of ours is different. Mine says that I’ve received orders from a centurion Sorbet knows, and that I should be let go. Even has that centurion’s signature and where he can be found.”

“That is true.” Sorbet snapped at Bolato.

“And mine says that I’m searching for inspiration for my musician group, the Blue Stars, and that they have permission to search from Oligarch Tibato. It won’t work if I use it again, but it might get us out of the first initial situation.”

“I see-see. A single use, get out of jail free-free card. Still, why is mine so… vulgar?”

“Ehh, it’s because of what you’ll be doing.” Skaldi lowered his eyes to her feet before dragging them up to her face.

“What will I be doing? Will I be joining you guys?” Vega wondered if she’d get a choice in the matter. But the look on everyone’s face was of minor guilt, when friends can no longer aid you on your journey.

“We thought… mainly, I thought that it would be best for you to explore the tower… on your own.” Skaldi stopped, feeling a worrisome pain in his wounds again. This sober remainder of what Vega is progressing towards didn’t help him. He knew that only one person can find out her truth, and that was Vega.

“But why? Don’t ya guys want to check out the place together?” Vega stepped forward, sort of pleading but more inviting.

“Vega, we understand what you're feeling. It’s hard to do such a thing alone.” Florato laid a hand on her shoulder. “But, this is a thing only you can do.”

“Sure-sure, but… you guys can still join me when I open the door and-”

“Vega, you know it's not about that.” Bolato held a hand out to stop her. “You’re becoming your person, not tethered around helping people.”

“You are starting to make your own choices, and find out where you come from. And what road you’re on that leads into the future.” Florato added on, giving Vega a genuine smile. “And this part of the path has to be done by you and you only.”

“Vega… we’ll never know what Kaliber means. But we know what Kaliber means to you. Not that we’ll be disappearing from you, or ditching you, or whatever you may be scared of.” Skaldi’s words cooled Vega’s worry, that someone really understood what her fears was.

“I get it. I know-know. I just… wanted this to be shared.”

“It will be shared. We’ll be here! Sure, we might be dealing with bandits and watchmen, and a whole fucking invasion, but that doesn’t change the fact that we’re your friends.” Skaldi responded dryly, breaking the tension and making some of them giggle, including Vega.

“You already know you’re more than enough. Learning to appreciate things on your own is a part of that. A bittersweet part, but a part no less.” Florato took off her hat and rubbed her hair like she was a little kid.

“Can you do that for us Vega? Can you do that for yourself?” Skaldi took the hat from Florato and offered it back to Vega. Everyone stared at her in hope that their odd friend would go even further beyond. She was still feeling a bit nervous about it, but gave her warmest smile and accepted the hat and put it back on.

“I’ll try-try. No, I will!”

The morning had arrived early for everyone except Vega. The feeling of tense adventure stayed with her the entire time. The sort of feeling you get when you’re a teen going on a first date. It will be weird, it will be intimate, and will definitely be awkward, and if all goes well, you’ll find out that there’s more to you and the one in front of you.

Everyone said they’d meet back in the afternoon at a restaurant and headed out. Just as Vega, Sorbet, and Skaldi exitted out, the elf hopped right in front of them.

“So…”

“Soooo what?” Vega asked.

“Is this what people from Jantok Rock do?” Sorbet whispered behind the scarecrow.

“No-no! But, what is it Skaldi?”

“Uhhh…” Skaldi couldn’t really find an eloquent nor sensitive way to approach the subject. But Vega’s happy smile made him comfortable with asking it plainly. “Hey Vega… do you want to talk about the magic thing you did?”

This reminder, actually had caught her off guard, made her shiver suddenly. When recounting her speech and the sudden appearance of the pitchfork, she had to admit it.

“Yeah-yeah… that was pretty magical, huh?” She sheepishly knocked her fists together, as if feeling praised to embarrassment.

“Pretty magical? You used a Soul Gem on your own. That’s as magical as it gets.” Sorbet hugged her from behind, further spurning her own pride.

“But still, did you know what you were doing? What were you feeling?” Skaldi asked, taking out a pad and pen.

“I don’t know. I guess I was just, feeling really bad that ya guys were fighting and I wanted ya to stop. Didn’t really plan on being magic, or however ya say it.”

“No ideas huh?” Skaldi closed his pad with a single thumb.

“Don’t sound disappointed! It was her first time after all.” Sorbet said without thinking of the implications. I would make a joke about what she said, but it kinda just writes itself.

“Sorry Skaldi. But I can promise ya something. Both of ya.”

“What?” Sorbet let go of the scarecrow and stepped beside Skaldi. The elf waited with baited breath, hoping that he’d get a glimpse behind the curtain that held the secrets of the Voice. Hoping that what she'd promise would allow him to help her.

What she had responded with was satisfying enough for both, as they nodded and waved her off. Holding the map and having distributed gold to the whole party, Vega put on a backpack and headed north, in the direction of the tower.

She repeated what she had said. Not as an assurance or a way to quell her fears, but to keep herself on the right path.

“...I will figure it out. In-in my own way.”