Tales of Cadence/Chapter XI

When they finally reached Brancove, Raven found out why the sky was always so dark; the factory on the edge of the town threw thick clouds of dark, billowing smoke into the air.

“Ew, the people here still use coal!” Felix said, wrinkling his nose in disgust.

“The leader of this nation has been experimenting with newer technology,” Raven said as they passed into Brancove. “They haven’t set up factories in Austror because of all the smoke they produce.”

“The air here is...” Skylar paused for a moment, coughing lightly for effect, “it doesn’t smell right.”

“Do elves have a heightened sense of smell?” Felix asked, looking at Skylar curiously.

“Well, it’s better than humans, if that’s what you mean. But the air isn’t too bad...”

“That must be Rhett’s influence on the area. I’ve heard that he’s the Spirit of Wind.”

“So, where do we go from here?” Raven questioned. “Do we have a reason to stop here in Brancove?”

“Well...” Elsynne started nervously, smiling sheepishly. “To be honest, I’m not really sure where Rhett’s cave is.”

Raven looked to Felix and Skylar; both shook their heads. “Are you even sure that it’s out here in Libra?”

“Yes, I’m positive it’s here on this continent,” Elsynne replied confidently. “I’m just not completely sure where. I know that it’s near this area, though, so I was hoping that we could ask around.”

“Brancove isn’t a large town. We should be able to find someone who knows something,” Skylar said. “Should we split up to make our search quicker?”

Raven nodded. “That might work.”

“Someone should go with you. I don’t trust you not to run off.”

Raven opened his mouth to protest, but Elsynne interrupted him. “I’ll go,” she offered.

“We can meet up back here in an hour with whatever information we manage to collect.” Skylar proposed, ignoring Raven’s glowering and sulking. “And try to stay away from that factory, gods know what goes on in there...”

Raven looked back up towards the factory and shuddered involuntarily. The long, dark chimney looked intimidating against the clouded, gray sky.

“Are you ready to go?” Elsynne asked. She involuntarily reached for his arm and stepped backwards as her fingers skimmed the back of his hand.

“Why do you always try to grab people’s arms and hands?” Raven asked, shrugging away.

“It’s a reflex,” she admitted, lowering her head with embarrassment as she blushed. “I live in a huge city, so I always held my mother’s hand so I wouldn’t get lost.”

Raven tilted his head to the side. “You lived in a city that big and crowded?”

“Yes,” she said, nodding excitedly as they began walking up the quiet streets. “Sometimes there were so many people, I’d get confused and wander away from my mother. I got lost once when I was very young.”

“I can remember getting lost a few times in the cas...where I used to live.” Raven said, carefully correcting himself.

Elsynne smiled. “Itona’s population was nothing compared to my home.”

Raven arched an eyebrow, eyeing her skeptically. “Really? Is there even room for a city that large?”

“I told you I’d show you Lavinia one day,” she promised. “Then you’ll see what a real city’s like.”

“Heh, we’ll see.”

They lapsed into silence again; Raven was surprised that it was not like one of the awkward silences they had often shared before when they used to travel alone.

The streets of Brancove were almost completely deserted, save for the few people who were preparing to leave for their jobs. A few of the factory workers were on one of their rare breaks; their faces were smudged with coal and their fingers were smeared with grime.

“What does that factory produce?” Elsynne asked as a group of workers passed them.

“It’s a textile factory. They make material for clothing.”

“Then why are those people covered in coal?”

“They probably work with the fuel in the lower levels of the factory. They get a few more breaks than the actual factory workers do because their work is a lot more strenuous and demanding.”

“Oh...that’s good for them, then.”

“Yeah. The pay isn’t too good, but at least the employees aren’t being overworked, from what I understand.”

Elsynne fell silent for a moment as she watched another small group of coal workers pass. “Do you think we should ask them about Rhett’s cave? Would they know?”

“The factory workers are probably too tired to care about tourists like us. We’d be better off asking a local,” Raven replied cautiously, keeping his voice low. “Let’s look for a business that’s open.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t care, pick anything.”

Elsynne winced inwardly; Raven had not snapped at her in a while, and she had been hoping that they were on better terms. His patience was beginning to wear thin.

“Uhm...what about that place?” she asked, pointing towards the first open shop she saw.

Raven looked at it curiously. The sign showing the shop’s name was unintelligible, but another sign hanging from the doorknob clearly read ‘Open’. The shop windows were clouded with a thin layer of grime and the store itself looked as if it had not been kept up in a long time.

“Well...I guess. It looks like the owner doesn’t get out much, though,” he said, still scrutinizing the small shop. Elsynne eagerly stepped forward and opened the door, motioning for Raven to follow her inside.

A bell rang as the door swung open. Raven warily followed Elsynne inside, carefully taking in his surroundings as they entered the dark, dismal shop.

The front room appeared to be abandoned. Everything in the shop was in disarray; every desktop and box was covered with tools and loose paper. Open books about machinery lay open on the floor, some with their pages ripped out and thrown aside. A few half-finished or broken machines – or rather, what looked like the remains of what was once machinery – sat abandoned in dusty corners of the room.

“It doesn’t look like anyone’s here,” Raven said, trying to ignore his growing feeling of claustrophobia in the crowded, tight store. He pressed his arms against his sides as he navigated through the maze of loose articles on the floor.

Elsynne clasped her hands together nervously as she stood on tiptoe, trying to see over the mountains of machinery. “But the sign said that it was open...”

“I’m not too eager to see who owns a dump like this,” Raven said stiffly.

Before Elsynne could reply, there was a loud bang from one of the back rooms and a plume of smoke issued from beneath a door in the corner of the room. Both Raven and Elsynne froze as the door was thrown open and more smoke drifted into the room.

“Let’s get out now,” Raven hissed under his breath, inching closer to the front door.

“Wait.” Elsynne paused, glancing at him nervously. When he did not stop, she purposely placed her hand on his bare arm.

“Ow! Hey, hey!” he protested, jumping back. His eyes widened with surprise as he crashed into a pile of boxes and fell backwards, wincing as he landed on gears and other machine parts.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t think you’d fall...” she said apologetically, her hands hovering over his as she tried to decide whether she would risk helping him up.

 A figure suddenly appeared at the back doorway, silhouetted by the smoke still filtering through from the darkened, clouded room. The shadowed form coughed and sputtered, waving a hand to clear the smoke.

Raven quickly picked himself up, ignoring the dull throb in his back as he stood. Elsynne positioned herself beside him, watching the silhouette with silent curiosity.

 When the smoke finally cleared they saw a tall man with his long, dirty-blonde hair pulled back in a loose ponytail. The long sleeves of his off-white shirt were rolled up over his elbows, exposing the grease and grime coating his muscled arms.

“Visitors?” he said hoarsely, holding his hand to his mouth as he coughed. “We’re closed today.”

“But the sign said it was open...” Elsynne said, her voice quiet and shy.

“It did?” the man repeated, picking up a dirty rag from the front desk. He quickly wiped the dark grease from his face and turned to face them. “No one comes here anymore, so I guess I’ve left the sign there out of habit.”

“We just had a stupid question to ask, but we can bother someone else,” Raven said quickly, sidling closer to the front door. “You look busy, so we can leave now.”

“No, no, I’m all finished with what I was working on,” the man replied as he threw the rag into a corner. “What can I interest you in?”

“We’re looking for the cavern where the Spirit Rhett lives,” Elsynne said, carefully avoiding his gaze, “we were hoping that you might know where it is...”

“Rhett.” The man spoke thoughtfully, putting a finger to his chin. He grimaced when he realized that his hands were still stained with grease and had left a thin trail of oil on his face. “Of course I know where Rhett’s cave is. I go there all the time.”

“What are the odds...” Raven murmured, somewhat sarcastic. Elsynne shot him a quick look and turned back to the man.

“We’d like to go there,” she said. “We were hoping to set out before the end of today. Do you think you could tell me where it is?”

The man crossed the room slowly, reaching into a holster hanging from his waist. “Do you know what this is?” he asked, thrusting a small, metal device close to their faces.

Raven stared at it for a moment with no response, but Elsynne instantly jumped aside, holding up her hands. “Th-That’s a gun!” she exclaimed, flinching every time the man moved his hand. “Why do you have something like that?”

“Gun?” the man repeated, tilting his head to the side. “Well, yes, but...I’ve modified the designs to my own liking. It’s not just a normal gun.”

“...Eh?”

“You see, I’ve been using Rhett’s power to make most of my inventions. These are my favorites,” he continued, pulling another gun from the other holster on his waist. “I’m using very, very strong wind and fire to project bullets from the barrel, as well as-”

“But it’s still a gun. I’ve seen those before,” Elsynne protested.

He raised an eyebrow, “Really...”

“Because the bullets can’t be propelled by just *wind*, they need more force than that-”

Raven put a hand to his forehead as Elsynne realized that she had said too much. She pursed her lips, hoping the man had not heard or understood what she said.

“You seem to know quite a bit about this weapon...”

“You’re usually a lot more careful than this,” Raven whispered, rolling his eyes.

“It’s nothing. Never mind,” Elsynne said quickly, laughing nervously.

“No, now you’ve got me curious,” the man said, returning the guns to their holsters. He extended his hand. “I’m Stephen Rosner, an inventor...in a sense.”

Raven took his hand and shook it reluctantly, wincing at the traces of grease still left on his palm. “I’m Raven, and this is Elsynne Neott.”

Stephen nodded. “A pleasure to meet the two of you. So...” he looked at Elsynne curiously, “you’re interested in finding out more about Rhett, and you’re familiar with the original inventors of the...gun?”

“We just came to learn more about Rhett,” she replied smoothly, ignoring the latter half of his question.

“You know where he is, right? Could you tell us?” Raven asked.

“I suppose I could...” Stephen said casually, leaning back against the wall, “but...”

“Oh, great, don’t tell us you have some kind of requirement,” Raven said impatiently. “We don’t have time for this. All we want to know is where the damn cave is, then we’ll leave you alone so you can go back to your inventing, or blowing stuff apart, or whatever you do.”

Stephen frowned. “Now, now. There’s no reason to get so worked up. I was just going to ask if I Elsynne would tell me a little more about where she learned about the gun. She obviously isn’t from Libra – I can tell that much by the clothing she wears – and she doesn’t look like a native of Austror.”

Elsynne clenched her fists at her sides and shook her head. “There’s nothing to tell.”

“Odd.” Stephen bent over and picked up a book lying beside his desk. He ripped out one of the loose pages and handed it to her. “A technologically advanced population...every few years or so it’s rumored that one of their people leaves the island and travels to the mainland. Those who follow Baldur’s religion often report the sightings, even if the race is supposedly dead.”

Elsynne dropped the page. “Th-This is just some religious myth,” she said quickly, using one of Raven’s excuses.

 “And besides, there are still some of us who believe those dusty old legends,” Stephen said casually. “I happen to be one of them.”

Raven looked back and forth between Stephen and Elsynne; both were tense and uneasy.

“So, are you going to tell us where Rhett is or not?” Raven demanded, hoping to break up the uncomfortable atmosphere.

Stephen smiled cordially, “Of course. Better yet, I could guide you there myself and save you the trouble of getting lost.”

“No.” Raven shook his head. “No way.”

Elsynne took a deep breath. “Stephen,” she began, saying his name slowly, “I will allow you to accompany us, but...I don’t want you to ask me questions about...the Penna. Understood?”

“So you’ll admit that you’re associated with that race?”

“...Yes, I will.”

Stephen nodded, grinning again. “Great! I can straighten up the mess in the back later, but I need to grab a few things before we go,” he said as he returned to the still-smoking back room. “I’ll only be a minute.”

“Why are you being so liberal with information now?” Raven asked in a low voice.

“He would have found out something anyway if he was traveling with us...Felix has trouble keeping what he says under control. And that textbook page...” she said, picking up the ripped page again. “Besides, he knows about Rhett.”

Raven nervously scratched the back of his head. “He seems a little...off. Why do you trust him so easily? Just because he believes you?”

“It’s not just him. Skylar believes me.”

“He’s an elf, he’s been around long enough to buy anything.”

Elsynne sighed as she set the paper on a nearby crate. “What will it take to make you believe, Raven?” she asked almost pleadingly. “I want you to trust me.”

“Trust isn’t easy for me,” he replied. “I need real, solid proof.”

Elsynne gestured to herself, placing her hands on her chest. “*I’m* the living proof you need. The blood of the Penna is in my veins.”

“So? How do I know that? Besides stupid stories, I haven’t heard a single thing about the Penna up until a few days ago. For all I know, you could just be any regular human. Same with Felix.” Raven said harshly, narrowing his eyes. “The two of you could just be playing some stupid joke on us.”

Elsynne shuddered and looked away. “You’re just like the rest of them...” she murmured sadly.

Raven shrugged and turned. He knew that he had been cold and somewhat mean, but he only spoke the truth. *‘I can’t believe in something I can’t see,’* he reminded himself, ignoring the pained look in Elsynne’s deep, thoughtful eyes.

At that moment Stephen reemerged from the back room, slinging a small bag over his shoulder. Raven could hear the dull clang of metal against metal coming from the pack as Stephen approached them, deftly avoiding the mountains of machinery and tools.

“Are we ready to go?” he asked excitedly.

“...Yeah,” Raven replied after a brief silence. “We have to meet up with the others in our group at the entrance to the town.”

Stephen arched an eyebrow. “How many people are coming with us?”

“Just an elf and some kid.”

Elsynne turned and clumsily tripped over a wrench that had been carelessly left on the floor. Without thinking Raven shot forward and caught her by the arms before she fell.

“Are you all right?” he asked, ignoring the faint pain beginning to burn on his fingertips as he helped her to her feet.

“Yes, thank you,” she muttered, turning away without meeting his gaze. Elsynne did not speak again as they left the shop and returned to the empty streets.

“Well, what do you know...” Stephen said, flipping over the sign on his door so that it read ‘Closed’. “I wonder how long it’s been like that.”

“How long as it been since you last had a customer?” Raven questioned.

Stephen put a finger to his chin as he thought. “Hmm...I’d say it’s been a good few years since anyone’s stopped by to buy anything. Nowadays they just come by to watch the explosions, I think...of course, the explosions aren’t my fault; it’s not like I can tell when something’s going to blow up and backfire, you know?”

Raven shrugged noncommittally as they walked back to the meeting spot, stepping aside as several carts were brought up the road. Stephen swung the bag in his hand, humming quietly. Raven began to grit his teeth and pushed himself to walk faster.

“Stephen, you believe the Penna exist, don’t you?” Elsynne suddenly asked.

“Yeah. The Penna are mentioned frequently in Baldur’s religion if you really go back and read the old books, along with the Messenger and the Heir,” he replied cheerfully. “I’ve sort of been wanting to meet a Penna for as long as I can remember.”

“Why?”

“Judging from what you said earlier, the Penna must have amazing technology if they’ve already invented the gun,” he replied. “The people of Austror aren’t ready to commit to newer technology. As far as I know, only Libra’s people actively look into these kinds of things.”

“Do you invent so much junk because you like technology?” Raven asked, looking over his shoulder as he walked.

“I like to invent just for the fun of it. The guns with modifications are one of my slightly older creations, you see, but I’ve made tons of other things – some of them with the help of Rhett’s power, if he’s willing to let me borrow any. Unfortunately, nothing’s been well received by the public, so I’ve been keeping some inventions to myself as of late.”

Elsynne looked at him nervously. “Why?”

“Some experiments rarely end well...the things I tend to make usually go up in smoke!”

Raven shook his head and sighed. “It looks more like you make weapons of destruction...”

“Ah, I like to think of these guns as a tool of self-defense. I didn’t start having to fight things until I began traveling to Rhett’s cave. Thank Baldur I haven’t run into any of the dragonlings...they’re trouble, but they don’t mean any harm right off the bat. I don’t see the need in killing every dragonling I see.”

“There isn’t any other way to get rid of dragonlings,” Raven protested. “They’re always looking for a fight!”

“Perhaps that’s because we usually pick fights with them.”

“Not the ones we ran into...”

Stephen smiled ruefully. “I’ll admit that there are some packs of dragonlings that prefer to cause trouble...perhaps because they would rather end a fight before a human can start it.”

Raven frowned, gripping the hilt of his sword. Ever since he had left his home, he had been forced to fight almost incessantly in order to keep himself alive; he depended on his pay for food and shelter.

Fighting was his way of life, but Stephen made it sound as if there were better, more peaceful alternatives.

*‘There isn’t a way to convince people that they can’t fight in order to solve a problem...’* Raven convinced himself. He knew that if he spoke aloud, Stephen might be quick to rebuke his ideals. *‘Sometimes there aren’t any other options available.’*

“There they are!” Elsynne said excitedly, running ahead of Raven to meet up with Skylar and Felix. Raven breathed a sigh of relief, ashamed to admit that he was thankful that Elsynne had recovered from his angry outburst in the shop. He still did not regret having yelled at her, but...

There was a faint call in the distance. Raven turned subconsciously and froze. He thought he could see Ilia, yelling at a few men dressed in long, light cloaks. She didn’t appear to notice him and the group.

*‘How does she get everywhere so damned fast?’* he asked himself, wondering how long she had been shadowing them. It a day or two to reach Brancove, and they had stopped along the way to rest; had she come in while they were wasting time searching for someone who knew where Rhett’s cave was? Raven shook his head and forced himself back into his companion’s conversation.

“You brought someone with you?” Felix was asking, sounding alarmed. Stephen waved sociably as they approached the group.

“This is Stephen Rosner. He’s agreed to guide us to Rhett’s cave,” Elsynne explained, smiling. “And don’t worry, Felix, he knows about the Penna.”

“Because *someone* had to go and open her big mouth,” Raven muttered under his breath, frowning.

“Don’t get so jealous, Raven. Keep in mind that I didn’t find out about her homeland until you did,” Skylar pointed out. “I was in the dark just as long as you were.”

“I’ve traveled with her longer than you have!”

“That’s beside the point. Right now, we should be focused on forming a pact with Rhett, right?”

“You always change the subject when you don’t feel like losing an argument.”

Skylar smiled in reply and winked. “I’m just saving *you* from the embarrassment of losing an argument against me.”

“Ha, ha.” Raven laughed sarcastically, his expression deadpan.

“The Spirit Rhett lives northeast of this town,” Stephen said, pointing in the direction he had mentioned. “It only takes half a day to get there if we travel without rest.”

Skylar exchanged a glance with Elsynne. “Will we be going over any difficult terrain?” he asked.

Stephen shook his head. “No, no. Rhett’s cave is actually *inside* the mountain – we’ll be traveling over relatively flat land to get there. It looks like it might rain, though. Good thing we’re going to have to go through some thick forests.”

Felix shivered. “F-Forests?”

“Yes. They’re very dark and very spooky.”

“Great...”

Raven groaned inwardly as they set off, trying to ignore Felix as he muttered under his breath, nervously wringing his hands.

Hopefully Stephen didn’t plan on sticking around for too long.