Shattered crown: The Friendly Skeleton

## Page 1

Part 3: Chapter 1

Evelyn Luciole - Secret Officer - Mirfield, Lynne

Outside Glassvale, everything seemed to be business as usual for Lynne. The streets were emptier than usual, granted, but there were no signs of panic or violence. However, the ominous smell of smoke hung in the air and blotted out the stars, a grim reminder of the fate of Mirfield's neighbor. Evelyn kept a sharp eye on her surroundings, wary of traveling at night - especially when they were moving so slowly. The civilians they had picked up at the hospital or somewhere else along the way were gone by then, having said their thank-you's before heading their separate ways.

After a short while, Evelyn spotted a large inn nearby - one where they might all be able to eat in peace before they had to hit the road again. Everyone was probably exhausted, but she knew without a doubt that they were hungry by then, so a quiet meal would definitely do them some good. "It seems like a nice place," Asbel commented, presumably having noticed her eyeing the building.

Evelyn agreed. It looked warm and brightly lit, two stories high; it's place so near to the train station probably kept it well off, with all the travelers passing through. Deeming it best to plan their approach before they entered the establishment, Evelyn decided to check on Leif, who had been all but completely silent in his makeshift stretcher. She stopped to look over her shoulder, addressing no one in particular. "Is Leif awake?"

Silas Reid - Botanist and Odd Job Part-Timer - The Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Silas stared up at the ceiling of the inn, his arms spread out across the bed. Given how close Mirfield was to Glassvale, he wondered again if this violent uprising nonsense would spread to this small town. Maybe even spill into the other provinces. Despite all his speculation, who really knew? Nothing—Nothing like this had ever happened before.

He turned over on his side. Will this be another sleepless night?

At least no one will try to break in while I’m awake. Lynne was famous for its robbers and pickpockets. He pulled his wallet and stared at its contents—a folded-up piece of paper and four coins. The rest was spent for a warm bath, a hot meal, and the room. He’d hoped there would be extra to rent a horse in the morning, but it seemed not.

He sighed, sinking further into the bed’s embrace. He wasn't going to risk going to the seller. He wanted to go home. But could he run for two days, without a proper bath, a proper meal, or a proper bed? He'd thrown away that horrid gun, his only defense, once he left the city. He was lucky—extremely lucky—enough that he didn’t cough up a river of blood and expire on the way over.

He sighed again. If the town of Brightwick wouldn’t let him pass, he would have to walk the entire length of Lynne’s perimeter that bordered Fairhaven and Braile until he found an exit. Well, fuck that. Might as well accept that I’m stranded. But would it really be worth it? Wasn’t there anyone he knew in Lynne that could help him out— whether it was getting him through or giving him a safe place to stay?

The answer was no. No, he did not.

But he did know a lot of people who would gladly watch him suffer as he did now. Well, who needs those rotten bastards anyway.

Now in desperate need of a walk, Silas pushed himself off the bed and went out the room.

Tabaraamon - Shadowed One - Mirfield, Lynne.

Tabaraamon prodded Leif with a stick. The big man growled at him. "I'd take that as a yes." The shadow said before pulling the cart the rest of the way. "I'm going to disappear for a bit, I doubt my presence will improve the owner's mood."

And with that he dissipated into a dark mist that smelled faintly of sulfur.

Matthew Barton - Outlaw - Fairhaven.

The train he was riding rumbled down the tracks, he could see the dim outline of Hydris on the horizon. He wasn't worried about another attack, the rebels wouldn't try anything like that twice. He hoped.

Either way tomorrow morning he would be able to find out something about the man he was looking for. And hopefully he would find out about the man who orders him to look for this "Nathan Stone."

Dimitry Popov - Mercenary -Mirfield, Lynne.

Dimitry had been giving Tula some space, since he didn't know what was going on with her. He had a general idea, and it seemed that it was at least partially his fault.

"It would seem that I have a great deal of explaining to do. I'm sorry I kept so much of my past secret, it seemed like the right thing to do. Maybe it was the right thing, but only for me." He said in a low voice.

Maybe she would understand, maybe she wouldn't, but at least he would know.

Tula Nikos

Dimitry had come up by her as the group had ventured to a nearby inn, and startled her slightly. She did, however, listen in, and nodded in agreement. "I understand, I still haven't told you as much about me as I could have. Though, most of my past shouldn't have followed me all the way to Falcon's Reach, and I'm afraid it may land me in a lot of trouble now that the King's men are looking into the both of us. The Princess is likely doing the same." Tula clasped her hand in his, continuing in a light tone. "Full disclosure, you hear?"

--

Viktor Starkov-Letter to Czarina Andreyevich

Moi soverenyi,

Adjusting to Falcon's Reach has hit the worst possible start. Word of this will probably not reach Rojya, and my letter will probably not reach you, for a long while-but the revolts have created mass chaos almost the moment our Ambassador and the Ambassador of Grail-El arrived. Not only that, but Tula has stepped completely out of line and out of my control. You may take whatever measures necessary are needed as punishment for the both of us, because we are both in equal states of remorse. The King has banished her from the premises of Hydris and who knows how long that will last? ...

...Your sister has been very uneasy. The King held an execution with her and the other Ambassador present, and she has fallen into a very deep depression since Tula had been exiled...

...I apologise that I cannot be there to stay the revolts in our own country, but I understand where I belong. Soverenyi, if you may, pray for us. Pray for Klaus Grisha and Anya Bodrov as they keep you safe in Rojya's time of struggle as well as our own.

With fond regard,

Viktor Starkov

He set down his pen and glanced at Alina, who was asleep in her day clothes. The rioting and the slurs outside the Embassy had died down, and she seemed-for once-calm. Her features, usually sharp and serious, had relaxed and her choppy hair fell all around her face. It made a small smile rise to Viktor's lips-after all, it was the little moments that mattered now in times of trial. Tula would say something like that, or make a dumb joke to try and clear the air that only Ryan would laugh at. It was times like these that made Viktor feel lonelier than ever before, and reflected back on cold nights at the Iron Academy when he was a boy.

Rain had begun to fall outside, eradicating the protesters and darkening the slim view of the outside that the closed curtains had created.

 Asbel Sutherlin - Rebel Mercenary - The Friendly Skeleton Inn

Evelyn nodded to Tabaraamon as he disappeared for the time being, then made her way over to Leif. "Well, here's what I'm thinking: we get Leif set up with a room and some food, make sure he gets something to eat, then we have our dinner and let him rest. Food for roughly a dozen people will take some time to prepare anyway, so we'll take care of Leif and get settled into our rooms while that's being done."

"Sounds alright, so long as there are no objections from Leif," said Erick.

Asbel, meanwhile, was preoccupied with the inn itself. The sign above the door depicted in chipping, sun-bleached paint a grinning skeleton in a spiffy-looking hat. He seemed poised to start dancing, one hand on the brim of his hat and one foot raised slightly off the hypothetical ground. Below this picture were the words "The Friendly Skeleton." Asbel smirked at this and made his way to the inn's nearest window, through which he could see the front desk. There was a petite blond woman behind it, leaning slightly away from a well-dressed, lanky man, probably in his late thirties, whose voice was raised almost to a shout. Asbel drew closer to the glass, attempting to listen in.

"-know what I saw! Are you calling me crazy?" The man's face had gone pale, and the bags he carried were open and hastily packed.

"Sir, I'm afraid we don't really 'do' refunds here," the woman drawled, picking the dirt from beneath her perfect nails.

The man loudly brought his hands down on the desk. "If I had my way, this goddamn nightmare of a tavern'd be burned to the ground!" The woman glanced up from her nails, almost as if expecting the man to leave, and he promptly did. He stormed out of the building, slamming the front door behind him as he left, and Asbel continued watching as the woman sighed and pulled out a book. How curious...

"Uh, Boraci? I just heard something very..." Before he could finish his sentence or even pull his eyes from the window, Asbel saw a familiar stern face heading for the tavern door, and his eyes went wide. Had he made it all this way alone?

 Silas Reid - Botanist and Odd Job Part-Timer - The Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

The exact moment Silas had seen his group of ex-hostages was obvious. With his mind somewhere else, he almost would have missed them, if it weren't for how... foreign they all seemed outside the tavern. He was out the front door when he found himself drawn to the large, mismatched group and their chattering, and froze as recognition took hold. "You," he just said.

Despite how shaken up some of them appeared, they seemed more or less in one piece. He didn't expect to meet them ever again and quite frankly, didn't really want to. He wanted to stop with the speculations and forget about everything that happened that awful, awful day, and they were just reminders.

Still, whatever amount of propriety he had in him forced him to stay. "You made it," he said. He glanced at the woman in the uniform he didn't recognize. So she was telling the truth about getting them out. "Have the rebels been chased out yet? Is it safe?"

Dimitry Popov - Mercenary - Mirfield, Lynne.

"Full disclosure. Even the bad bits. Especially the bad bits." He said and squeezed her hand. "I'll try to gets seats before this place fills up."

Dimitry walked through the door his shoulder bashing Silas as he passed. "No, if it was safe we wouldn't be here. We're getting food then crossing the border." He growled in response to the man's question.

He glanced at Tula and said. "I'll cover for you if needed." He assumed she hadn't had time to pack a spare change of cloths, much less any moneu when she had been evicted from Hydris.

Kristen Mernoth -Noble - Mirfield, Lynne.

Kristen looked at Leif. He nodded a little. "I think he's fine with it. Right?"

He grunted as agreement. Kristen nodded. "He's alright." She suddenly noticed that the big cloaked figure was gone. She looked around and couldn't find him. Not a trace.

Tula Nikos

She raised an eyebrow in a scolding manner at Dimitry's curt response to the man-though, she wasn't familiar with the young blonde in question, so she wasn't one to judge. At Dimitry's offer, she felt heat creep up to her face. "I-It's alright-well, thank you...I just realised I probably don't have a lot of money on me. A-And by a lot, I mean...I don't have anything." She fished into the front pocket of her uniform pants and held out a hand. "I had two rubles and mascara." Her face flooded pink in embarrassment and she hastily put the items back in her pocket.

 --

Ryouki Sato

He eyed the exchange with the blonde who incited a conversation with the group as they entered "The Friendly Skeleton." The man's gruff attitude and stern voice resonated somewhat, but he wasn't sure if he ever met the man before.

"Erick, do we know him? Asbel and Dimitry seem to..." He whispered to Erick, trying to keep low.

Taiyo, now catching up with the rest of his family, seemed to overhear and whispered back. "If your friends remember him and you don't, surly you must be getting old."

His face flushed and he flicked her nose, making her squeak in pain and Tsukiko rushed to her side. "I'm fine." Taiyo protested. "Brother's just an old meanie..."

"28 isn't old-" Ryouki started, but at the realisation of how much time had actually passed, he felt shock resonate within and tried to shrug it off by ignoring Taiyo, who still held onto her nose as if it still hurt from a light flick.

 Boraci - Sneedie - Friendly Skeleton

"No kidding," I responded to Asbel. Dimitry was either really tired, really hungry, or both. Those seemed to be his two modes, and he was charging straight into the inn. That man from before - weird hair, if I recalled, weirder than Asbel's - seemed to be shocked at the sight of our group. Granted, I kind of doubted his survival too. I guess all first impressions weren't what they were cracked up to be.

Which reminded me about what that other guy said about this 'nightmare' tavern. As I had been pulling Leif, I hoped I looked a bit shorter. It was true I was taller than him, but hopefully people would focus on him, almost catatonic. Nonetheless, I crouched over the cart handle, jamming it into my gut. As I pushed my cloak up by moving my shoulders, I silently cursed Tabaraamon, just being able to 'poof' away.

Erick Bailee - King's Bodyguard - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Erick laughed at Taiyo's remark - wickedly, as if she had just stepped into some kind of trap. "Oh, you just wait. You'll be old like us soon, and you'll start forgetting stuff too. Pretty sure I started finding gray hairs and forgetting what I came in here for..." He paused to think for a moment - more about the appearance of the man from before than anything else. He couldn't imagine having to make it all the way there on foot. "Oh, about five years ago, give or take."

Erick looked to Ryouki, calmly addressing his question. "Never got his name or anything, but I remember seeing him back at the theatre. Pretty sure he ran off on his own while the agents were trying to evacuate the place."

Evelyn Luciole - Secret Officer - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Evelyn was, in all honesty, surprised to see the loner from before alive and well. He didn't seem pleased to see them, but she could hardly fault him for that. With a brief glance in Dimitry's direction as he answered the man's question, she decided to add to it. "Getting the necessary personnel and supplies to drive the rebels out of Glassvale will prove difficult with the transportation system the way it is, but help will come eventually. I'm sure the King will see to that."

That being said, she excused herself for the moment with a small nod and began making the group's arrangements with the extraordinarily disinterested innkeeper. "We'll all be eating here, but I doubt we'll be staying the night. We just need one room for a few hours."

"Hey, Miss Luciole?" Erick clasped his hands behind his back and leaned a bit to one side, peering around someone's shoulder from the middle of the group. "I know you probably came prepared and Dimitry offered to help with the food, but you don't have to pay for the room."

Evelyn blinked at him. "It's one room, Bailee. I don't think it'll ruin me."

Erick's face flushed. "Yeah."

Evelyn drew a coin purse from her pocket and nodded toward the innkeeper, still staring at Erick. "I'm going to pay for the room now, okay?"

He nodded. "Yeah, you do that."

By then, Asbel was almost doubled over in his efforts not to laugh, a hand against the wall for support. Evelyn ignored him and looked to the loner as she was handed the key to Leif's room. "What are your plans? Do you have plans?"

Asbel Sutherlin - Rebel Mercenary - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Despite an abundance of amusing distractions, Asbel's attention was drawn to the conversation he had overheard earlier. What could have caused the customer's outburst, he wondered? Perhaps there really was a friendly skeleton wandering around the inn. This thought sparked a memory he hadn't visited in a long time, and he found himself tempted to share it. "Do you remember when we were in those tunnels five years ago and we found a talking skeleton? Robert, or something?" He looked up to Boraci, but his head had lowered somewhat in an attempt to blend into the crowd, and Asbel had to do a double take to meet his eyes directly.

## Page 2

Ryouki Sato

Taiyo scowled. "I don't like him anymore."

Ryouki laughed it off. "You're kidding yourself, Tai. You have a long way before that happens."

Tsukiko stepped forward and cupped her hands around her brother's face, having to stand on her toes to do so. "You've aged really well though, Brother. It's like, there's no difference between the last time we saw you and now-with exception to the eyeliner and long hair...and the metal arm."

"Yeah..." Ryouki nodded. "You can let go of my face now."

"Erick's not going to get jealous of your little sister." Tsukiko raised a brow and let go of his face. Ryouki worked his jaw somewhat before addressing all three of his siblings. "Watashitachiha, sugu ni kanzen ni oitsuku kotodeshou. Anata no subete wa amarini mo henkō sa rete imasu." ((We'll be catching up in full soon. You all have changed too.))

"Anata o sukide wanai, aniki." He heard Usami murmur once he diverted his attention to the general subject-the blonde man. ((Not like you, Brother.))

Asbel recollected the memory of the tunnels, and the talking skeleton. Ryouki chuckled and spoke up. "I think his name was Rick."

Boraci - professional neck crinker - The Friendly Skeleton, Mirfield, Lynne

Currency hadn't really made its way through my thick skull quite yet, but I understood the concept. It all seemed so arbitrary. When Asbel started talking about the tunnels, I smirked a bit.

"Robert and Rick both sound correct to me. That was probably the weirdest thing in there that didn't necessarily try to kill anyone." I paused, aware that I had been bored for so long, discovering things while sitting in libraries and stuffy rooms, instead of caves and fresh air. While my research was intriguing, it felt like a weight around my neck. I needed to get it done to remove the weight. This was... fun. "You don't think this inn has some sort of Wastes creature in it, do you?" Besides me, I thought.

Food sounded good, but I doubted the furniture in a common traveler's tavern was sturdy enough, but then again, the innkeeper didn't say much, which made me lean toward the assumption that she'd seen a lot. I caught a whiff of some kind of stew, but could only focus on trying to identify each of the ingredients. Most nights I preferred uncooked. Raw. Perhaps I'd just settle Leif in his room and scavenge for a bit before we were off again.

"I'll just bring the cart and Leif to his room, then?" I asked, reaching for the key in Evelyn's hands.

 ilas Reid - Grumpy Cat, Duh - The Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Silas stumbled back when someone he faintly recognized but certainly hadn't met before stepped away from the group and harshly pushed past him to get to the door, growling something he could only guess were the answers to his questions. Rubbing his shoulder, he shot a glare at the man's back and turned his attention to the woman.

"My plans are the same as there were ten hours ago—getting out of this godforsaken province. How exactly I'm supposed to do that is still uncertain." He waved a hand towards the other side of town, the one bordering Fairhaven. "The soldiers over there won't let me or anyone else who isn't one of them though. I'd take the trains if it weren't for that incident earlier today and all civilian destinations weren't just in some other place in Lynne."

He crossed his arms. "What about you? Will you head further in with the other survivors or do you think you can pull another miracle and wave the soldiers away?" He had to admit he was a little curious. At this point, Silas thought they were just amateur do-gooder vigilantes, another thing Lynne seemed to have great abundance of. Vigilantes, rebels, assassins—how very romantic their simple minds were.

Silas looked at the hooded figure that approached her, his eyes lingering for just a moment, but he didn't think much of the man. He was tall, covered in cloth and shadows. He thought he might have seen claws reach out, but he passed it as a trick of light or that his hands could have gotten the worst of the fighting, the fires, or some other unfortunate circumstance.

Dimitry Popov -Mercenary - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne.

Dimitry didn't respond to her, he didn't want to embarrass Tula any more. Money problems were not a major issue for him.

He leaned against a convenient wall and let Evelyn talk to the owner. The heated inn was better than the chill that seemed to permeate all of Lynne. He wasn't meant for this, he could shrug off heat that would drive most people mad, but he couldn't stand the cold.

He was also quite tired, he hadn't slept since the train ride here, and that hadn't been that restful. "What a day... What a damned day." He said under his breath. He leaned his head back and slightly tapped it against the wall behind him. At least they were helping the local economy with this sudden explosion of business.

"How are you holding up?" He asked Tula. The initial shock would have worn off and she would have probably had plenty of time to think about what ever events led to her being here.

Tabaraamon - Shadowed One - Glassvale, Lynne.

Tabaraamon reformed back in Glassvale and made his way to the theater. Inside a group of men and women armed with Grail-El weapons were searching through the rubble. He kept himself hidden as he watched them. Occasionally they found someone alive, when they did they shot the survivor.

One approached Tabaraamon's hiding place eyes so fixed on the ground that she bumped into the shadow. Tabaraamon grabbed her throat before she could scream and examined her face. She wasn't Grail, that was obvious. But she did carry a brand new auto rifle, a type Dimitry had said wasn't for export.

He released the woman and dissipated again, reforming on the roof of the Friendly Skeleton. He must have found a rebel group supported by the Council, or by a military unit operating on its own.

-Tula Nikos-

"Better than when I was being questioned by His Royal Asshat, that's for sure." Tula exhaled and tucked a stray curl behind her ear. "I still regret what happened...I haven't been so angry in years."

Dimitry Popov - Mercenary - Didn't go anywhere.

"I'm sure that once this is all over you'll be able to return to your old position. I doubt that your ambassador had much of a say in the decision. The king is a overbearing fool, with far to much power." He said the last sentence in a whisper, he didn't know the political loyalties of the people near by.

His resolve to see the king removed from power had been growing stronger for some time now, but this was really what pushed him over the ledge.

Evelyn Luciole - Secret Officer - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

"I'd appreciate it." Evelyn handed the key to Boraci before shooting the innkeeper a questioning look; one which it took her much longer than it should have to finally notice. When she did notice it, however, she soon caught Evelyn's meaning, and looked to Boraci. "Down the hall, fourth door on your right." The woman's eyes lingered on Boraci after she fell silent, but she appeared neither alarmed nor suspicious - just curious, in a disengaged sort of way.

"Thank you," Evelyn added, hoping to distract the woman. Even though she wasn't the one being stared at, it still made her uncomfortable.

The innkeeper's eyebrows flicked upward for a split second before she dove nose-first into her book again.

When the loner responded to Evelyn's question and posed one of his own, she got the feeling she was being tested. "We'll try the border. The King will be wanting some of us back in Hydris as soon as possible, and we also have witnesses that need questioning. If those guards have any sense, they'll let us through. If not..." The thought frustrated Evelyn. She sighed and shook her head. "We'll probably move south - not sure how far yet. That may depend on what we see along the way."

Asbel Sutherlin - Rebel Mercenary - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Boraci's question stuck in Asbel's mind, but he wasn't sure how to answer it before he had already made his way to the front desk next to Evelyn. Something was going on with the inn, but Asbel had no idea what it was. Maybe he was reading too much into things again.

Erick's face lit up at the mention of Rick the skeleton. "Yeah, that was a nice break from all the deathtraps and Mare attacks. He seemed like a nice guy."

Asbel smiled and nodded in agreement. "He did." After a short pause, he addressed Silas. "You should stay with us for a while, Mr. Reid! We're probably your best shot at getting out of here, not to mention better company than thin air - most of us, anyway."

Tula Nikos

"Printessa Alina doesn't even know that much about where I came from." Tula whispered back. "I'd have to explain further, but I did a lot of things I regret, and this has brought back everything. I wouldn't be surprised if my girls decided to join in the fun of the revolution. Then, I'd be more than screwed." Her eyes quivered, but she remained strong to conceal her emotions from ruining things.

--

Ryan Petrushkov

He finally had made his way to the train, finding there some rather distressed and pissed off looking Fairhaven guards. Alarmed at the realisation that they may be looking for Tula, he hid out of their line of vision and stripped himself of the Rojyan military jacket that could give him away as one of the Ambassador's guards. He slunk around, trying to find a way onto the train without catching their eye-to no avail.

One of the guards, a man around Alina's age with a stern expression that Ryan towered over, had cleared his throat and called out. "Excuse me, but are you boarding this train?"

Ryan-now terrified-made an attempt at a common accent in response. "Yes. I need to get to Fairhaven." The lilt of the common accent felt odd in his mouth, but it had the guards convinced, and they didn't seem to catch anything off about Ryan.

The older one, a bulky man with a bushy moustache, grinned. "Oh really, where to?"

"Hydris." Ryan beamed.

The older guard laughed. "So I see, so I see." Then, the older guard raised his sword at Ryan in tandem with the younger guard. "Why aren't you there right now, Mister Petrushkov?"

His cover blown, Ryan panicked and reached for the pistol at his hip and aimed it at the guards. "You don't understand, I am on important business!"

"You can drop the ridiculous accent, it's offensive." The younger guard lunged forward in an effort to be intimidating.

Ryan smirked. "I could have said the same thing when I arrived and you two were making fun of my 'accent.'" He made air quotation marks with his fingers and promptly shot the younger guard in the leg. As the younger man sank to the ground, the older one lunged forward with the blade. Ryan dodged his blow and raced for the train.

"You Rojyan people are mad!" The older guard roared,

Ryan could have retorted with a witty comeback, but found his heart racing too hard and his breathing too precious to waste on the likes of a worthless man like this guard on his tail.

 Silas Reid - Botanist and Odd Job Part-Timer - The Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

"The king needs you?" Silas said with a raised brow. "Now that I recall, you haven't exactly told me who you people are when we were all at the theater." And what was this about interrogations? Was he wrong about them being vigilantes?

He was taken aback at Mr. Sutherlin's suggestion and looked to the side, his expression hesitant. "I... I don't know. I'll have to think about it." He couldn't make it on his own, and they hadn't died yet. He might have underestimated these heroes a while back. Perhaps he could still use them. His ticket out once again. Not the most desirable but not unbearable either. "When did you say you will be leaving?"

Dimitry Popov - Mercenary - The Friendly Skeleton, Mirfield, Lynne.

Dimitry nodded. "I'm certain some of my old associates are involved. Or, they will be very soon. And that won't be good for anyone.

He put a hand on her shoulder. "No matter what you have done I'll be here for you. Remember that."

He didn't ask who her 'girls' were, since he was sure that she would explain it later. "What do you want to eat? If anything it'll distract you from what's going on."

Rankin - Grail-El special forces soldier - Fairhaven/Wastes Border.

Rankin knew there was a border fortresses a few miles ahead, but he didn't think it would be an issue. He could outrun everything the Falcon's Reach military had. Other than bullets of course, but he was confident that they wouldn't be able to adjust for his speed to actually hit him.

He gunned the engine and leaned farther forward. In his headlight he could see a soldier holding a hand up ordering him to stop. Rankin didn't even swerve to avoid the man who dove out of the way.

Several other guards shot at him but missed and he left Falcon's Reach territory. He angled to the north and started driving toward the fleet's last reported position.

## Page 3

Evelyn Luciole - Secret Officer - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Evelyn's chin lifted an inch or two in response to Mr. Reid's first question, which she assumed was rhetorical. The second, however, she was happy to answer. "I don't think we did. My apologies," she said. "We'll be leaving tonight after we have some dinner, no more than a few hours from now. You're welcome to join us if you like, whether you plan on following us out of here or not."

Asbel Sutherlin - Rebel Mercenary - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

"Let's all sit down, then." He glanced back at Dimitry and Tula, hiding a smirk as he motioned for them to follow. "You too, lovebirds." To his left was a large room where several other people were dining, and he spotted a long table near the opposite wall where they all might fit. Just as he started to walk toward it, however, he paused to look back at Evelyn. "Oh, and whenever Leif's food is ready, I can take it to him. Not sure if he'll be up for it by then, but it's worth a try." He wasn't about to pass up an opportunity to snoop around the place after what he had heard. There was mystery afoot.

Erick Bailee - King's Bodyguard - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Erick briefly placed a hand on Ryouki's shoulder before heading for the long table on the other side of the room, trying not to smile. It seemed wrong to enjoy sitting down with everyone and goofing off after the day they had had, but what else were they supposed to do? If they dwelt on it all, Erick was sure he would go crazy. And truth be told, he kind of liked being in Lynne again.

 Tula Nikos

Her flushed pink smile became a red expression of embarrassment at Asbel's call to their attention. She shrugged it off and took Dimitry's hand from her shoulder, lacing her slim fingers into his callused ones. "Come on, let's get to it then! I'm starving." Taking the lead, she headed for the long table with everyone else.

--

Ryouki Sato

Ryouki followed Erick over, glancing back at his siblings who seemed to slowly come over on purpose to give their eldest space-or was it really that distant now? His anxiety grated at him for that moment, but upon sitting down, he felt he had a chance to calm down.

Whispering to Erick once next to him, he smirked. "That soldier and Dimitry are really hitting it off, I'm happy for him."

 Silas Reid - Botanist and Odd Job Part-Timer - The Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

"No... thank you," Silas said uncomfortably. "I was just about to go on a walk. If that will be all... " He bobbed his head and walked back outside. He didn't much enjoy being with large groups of people if he could avoid it. He found it rather dull, and they would end up annoying him.

Hands bunched inside the pockets of the remains of his coat, he stopped to look at Glassvale in the distance, still covered with smoke and zeppelins. The frigid night air touched his cheeks and he lowered his head, spotting a patch of flowers next to the inn. If there was something that could take his mind off things for a while, that would do perfectly.

He knelt down and brushed the back of a finger against a petal. He was fond of black calla lilies these days... It was difficult to get their color right, though. Whoever planted these did a horrid job of maintaining them.

"What a waste," he murmured.

Dmitry Popov - Mercenary - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne.

Dimitry didn't blush at Asbel's commentary, at least he didn't feel any heat in his cheeks. And even if he did blush it would be difficult to tell.

He let Tula lead him to a pair of open seats. He pulled hers out before sitting in his. For several seconds there was a jangling and clanking as he maneuvered himself so his weapon belt didn't dig into his side, or his pistol wouldn't go off when he shifted his weight.

He dug in his pocket and took out his money pouch, counted out several coins and placed them in a small bag which he slid down the table to Evelyn. "That should be enough, as long as no one buys any expensive liquor." He shot a glance at Asbel while the other man exited with the Vallakian.

Kristen Mernoth - Noble -Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne.

Kristen carefully sat down next to Erick and his partner with the metal arm. "What happened?" She asked bluntly, indicating the prosthetic. She remembered that it might be a good idea to be more tactful in the future, but it was to late for that.

Maybe if there was an interesting story she could put it in the foot notes, it was always good to have some interesting footnotes that wouldn't be ignored by readers.

She looked around at the other people, there was Evelyn, Erick, his partner, several people who seemed to be his siblings, the white haired man with scars, the Grail-El soldier, a messy haired woman who had an accent Kristen couldn't place, and who was obviously close to the Grail man. Then there were several others she vaguely recognized.

Leif Regnar - Bodyguard Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne.

Leif was not happy about the cast, or the cart, or the smell of this inn. Actually he wasn't happy about anything. And there was the threat that some one would have to feed him. That really got to him, he wasn't a elderly man that couldn't do anything. And knowing his luck it would be the the bat person or Asbel.

Stupid shotgun, why didn't kill him? This was going to be a very bad few weeks. Months... How ever long it took to return to normal.

-Taiyo Sato-

A young woman who was seated near Usami pointed out Ryouki's prosthetic and Taiyo leaned in to add. "I was about to ask the same question-"
"Taiyo," Tsukiko chastised her. "Stop putting him on the spot."

Ryouki shook his head. "No, it's fine. May as well talk about it anyway..." He finger over the newly repaired rivets. Taiyo caught Usami averting his eyes and began to regret chiming in somewhat.

"I was in the Second War of the Wastes." Ryouki laughed shakily. "I know right, I don't seem the 'war man' type, but hear me out. There was this horde of Grinning Ghosts and one of them tore this arm to shreds with her teeth alone."
Taiyo felt her stomach plummet. Tsukiko, sensing her sister's distress, clutched her shaking hand under the table. A glance at her twin let Taiyo know of Tsukiko's inner struggle as well.
Ryouki continued. "I...I thought I was going to die. I have the Czarina of Rojya to thank for the new limb."
The curly haired Rojyan soldier caught this detail and questioned. "Genya? How did you..." She paused a moment. "Oh yeaaaah! I remember you! You were at the ceremony!"
Taiyo managed a smile at Ryouki's bashful response. "Y-Yes, yes I was."
"She gave you that?"
Ryouki nodded. "Most of the other veterans got money. I got an arm, and a very nice arm at that. You'd agree, right Usami?"
Usami managed a somewhat curt nod and focused more on the grease on the back of his hands instead of the conversation. Taiyo frowned. "You're a big boy, Usa. Use your words."
"It's brilliant!" Usami enunciated for Ryouki to hear, earning a smile from the eldest of the Sato siblings. Taiyo was set on edge by his distant tone, but shrugged it off. "It looks really cool, Brother."

Boraci - The Friendly Skeleton, Mirfield, Lynne

The key was old, well-worn. I followed the instructions and trudged as quietly as I knew how, my attempts to be in vain because of the ridiculously clunky cart I drew behind me. I inserted the key, and the door swung open on squeaky hinges. It was a basic room - plain bed and desk in one corner, a window in the middle of the wall, and a curtained-off area that smelled like the right place for the chamber pot. Another table had a washbowl, towel, mirror, and pitcher. I pulled the cart the rest of the way in, my back not particularly liking me.

"You've arrived," I said. Seeing the man's discomfort, I decided this would be better if I said as little as possible. He seemed to have a lot of pride, and I wasn't exactly the fairest of them all. I positioned the cart next to the bed, secured the sides of the blankets under Leif, then tipped the cart with my leg. The result was Leif thrown on the bed, but still in one piece, and the cart had an altercation with the floor. "I'm sure somebody will come in with food soon."

I was straightening the cart when I heard footsteps in the hall. Judging from the gait and weight, and, yes, he announced himself. It was Asbel. I peeked my head and enormous ears from behind the door and scrutinized him.

"Where are you going?" I was anxious to get to the next floor and find a decent launch pad. It was suitable to fly from the ground, but it taxed my shoulders much more. And there was no way I was hunting on the ground.

 Erick Bailee - King's Bodyguard - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Erick responded in a low whisper when Ryouki commented on Dimitry and Tula, having taken a seat neat to him. "Same here. Seems like Dimitry's said more in the past few hours than he did the whole time we were in the Wastes." Erick hardly meant this as a snide remark or a complaint. Truth be told, it made him happy to see. Shame about the man from before, though - Mr. Reid, he heard Asbel call him. He wasn't sure what was going through Mr. Reid's head, but he hoped he would find his way back to them eventually. It wasn't that he doubted the man could take care of himself, but... Well, he hadn't seen any weapons on him.

When Miss Mernoth asked Ryouki about his prosthetic arm, Erick was a bit surprised, but he guessed he could understand her curiosity. Propping his chin in his hand, an elbow on the table, Erick listened to Ryouki tell the story. Over the years, it had lost some of its sting, but the scene was fresh in his memory. He hated to think about how much more vivid and gruesome it still probably was for Ryouki, hearing him talk about it. When Taiyo finally managed to get a few words out of Usami, though, Erick couldn't help smiling. Did he sense progress?

He then looked to Kristen, his following question coming out a bit more quietly than he'd intended. "What's your story, then, Miss Mernoth?" As if to make fun of his own solemn tone, he spoke up again with laughter in his voice. "I mean, what brought you to Glassvale, if you don't mind my asking?"

Evelyn Luciole - Secret Officer - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Evelyn took the small bag of coins and gave Dimitry a respectful nod. "Thank you. And yes, I'll make sure of that. Speaking of which..." She spoke up a bit so everyone could hear, addressing the entire table. "If anyone plans on drinking any alcohol, it had better be in moderation. If you're tripping over your own feet by the time we leave this place, I'm not dragging you along with the rest of us." Just as she finished speaking, she caught sight of a young man standing next to her, bearing a striking resemblance to the innkeeper. Judging from his expectant expression, he was there to get everyone's orders.

He seemed delighted to see such an interesting bunch of people, but he maintained focus. "The corn soup's good if you're cold. You don't look dressed for Lynne." His voice was so soft it was barely audible, and almost too quick to keep up with.

Evelyn smiled. "That'd be great, then. Thanks." The man nodded and moved on to the next person.

Asbel Sutherlin - Rebel Mercenary - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

And with that, Asbel politely excused himself from the table. He had caught Dimitry glancing over to him at the mention of alcohol, which was a rather unpleasant surprise - though, he guessed he could have misread his meaning - and Evelyn's patience had already worn thin. Besides, he had business to attend to anyway.

Asbel's calm facade dropped like a ton of bricks when he saw Boraci, his smile widening and his voice lowering to a conspiratorial whisper. In his hands was a small tray with a bowl of steaming soup and a glass of water, which Asbel seemed anything but concerned with keeping level in his excitement. It threatened to slosh onto the tray at any given moment, but Asbel didn't so much as glance down at it once. "I'm going to go investigating. There's something strange about this place, and I intend to figure out what that is." He tilted his head down a bit, still looking up at Boraci. "Or you could join me. Do whatever you please while I tuck Leif in or what have you, then we can go see what all the fuss is about with this inn. What do you say?"

Boraci - The Friendly Skeleton, Mirfield, Lynne

Asbel seemed relieved, the various liquids he carried sloshing about. I considered his offer, biting my lip. There was considerable commotion in the main eating area, and there was that disconcerted man that rushed out of here.

On the other hand, that lone straggler seemed interesting. I wondered how much I could creep him out.

My stomach grumbled, but, truth be told, if something was the tiny bit interesting in this forsaken province, I'd take that over hunting. At least for a little bit. I tipped the door open some more, giving Asbel the room to come in. In all honesty, Leif was like a silently judgmental log. I knew he was doing it, but I couldn't really do anything about it, because he couldn't move by himself.

"Count me in. But the death of several unusually large rodents or small livestock is on you."

 Kristen Mernoth - Noble - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne.

Kristen blinked several times, she hadn't expected that she would be in the presence of two veterans of the second war.

It took her several seconds to collect her thoughts. "Well, my family is from the lower ranks of the nobility, so I had a lot of free time as a child. I liked to write, but nothing I wrote was any good. I guess my imagination wasn't that great. I've been working on a history of our age, starting with the Second war of the wastes."

"I was going to Lynne because it's sort of the center of the rebellion and I wanted to be there when it all started so I could accurately portray the events. I hired Leif since he seemed like the sort of fellow no one would ever mess with and got in the train. All my notes got lost in the accident so I'll have to start all over again. But I will have a nice little story for the introduction that'll help capture my reader's attention." She said with a sad smile, that had been two years worth of work gone in an instant.

It had been stupid for her do to. Really stupid, and now she was injured, Leif had almost been killed and all her work was gone. How naive she had been.

Dimitry Popov - Mercenary - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne.

Dimitry absent mindedly fiddled with his multi-tool. It had a tooth pick in it, which he had always though was sort of stupid. It was meant for weapon maintenance but had a tooth pick.

The man asking for orders turned to him. "Beef stew if you have that. If not I'll take the corn as well. And hot cider if you have that." Dimitry requested.

He looked around, Asbel was missing, maybe the other man was looking for the can. That might be, probably was, what was happening. He wondered what would happen once they crossed the border. He had shown some interest in joining the rebellion as a mercenary. But he had to think about Tula, and he figured it would not help her cause if he became a rebel.

Erick Bailee - King's Bodyguard - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Kristen's story brought a smile to Erick's face, and he was quick to respond. "I'm glad to hear you plan on starting again, though. Sorry to put pressure on you or anything, but it's..." He paused, searching for the right words. "I think it's important to have more people like you writing about our history; people who actually care about getting it right. Seems like half the stupid rumors I hear about the Second War turn out to be from the history books."

He looked to Ryouki's siblings with a slight smirk. "You wouldn't believe some of the stuff I've heard about Ryouki and me. It's freakin' priceless. Oh, we only joined the team so we could use the money afterwards to quit our jobs and run away to Rojya, or I was actually only sixteen at the time, or Czarina Andreyevich had a thing for Ryouki - the list goes on."

Asbel Sutherlin - Rebel Mercenary - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Asbel nodded to Boraci and entered the room. "I can live with that." That being decided, though, he was left with the business of tending to Leif, and if looks could kill... Asbel guessed he would react much the same if their positions had been switched, but it couldn't be helped. "Well." Asbel sighed, searching for the least awkward approach to the situation. He set the tray on the bedside table, avoiding eye contact with Leif. Despite the fact the man could hardly move a muscle, Asbel was a bit intimidated. "I considered trying to convince one of the ladies out there to do this instead, but I wasn't sure if that would make you feel better or worse."

He took a chair from the desk in the corner of the room and set it next to the bed, then took the bowl of soup from the tray. It was right about then that Asbel realized he had no idea what he was doing.  "Alright, let's get this over with."

## Page 4

Leif Regnar - Bodyguard - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne.

Leif moved his eyes to watch Asbel more closely. "I don't really care who feeds me. I don't like that I have to be fed." He said with some difficulty. "Now let's get this over with. Don't get in the beard, it's hard enough to clean."

He opened his mouth wide to accept the soup. He wasn't excited about swallowing it either, but being feed through a tube would be infinitely worse. He had an awful though, he would have to get someone to brace him upward so he could relieve himself.

Kristen Mernoth - Noble - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne.

Kristen blushed slightly. "Well, I will do my utmost to depict it in the most accurate fashion. Maybe you could help me with it?" She said.

"I do know about some of the rumors and utterly ridiculous lies. Like you all rode into the last battle on the backs of nightmares and sand worms. Or that Alice was a reincarnated hero from the first war. Or that there was some sort of shadow monster that helped you. How did such stupid ideas get started?" She asked no one in particular.

((And if this was a sitcom Tabaraamon would walk in right now. But since it's not a sitcom he won't.))

Dimitry Popov - Mercenary - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne.

Dimitry turned to Evelyn, and since it was likely he would be around her for some time asked. "So why did you join the secret police?"

The reasons people gave for their choice of occupation was a good indication of what sort of person they were. Especially if their occupation was as dangerous and unpopular as being in the secret police. From what he heard the secret police were almost as reviled as the tax collectors, which was impressive.

Unknown - Unknown - Hydris.

A man and woman sat in a dinghy hotel room in one of the less law abiding sections of Hydris. The man was obsessively cleaning an automatic rifle while woman was tossing a dagger into the ceiling, letting it stick before tossing a second knife next to it, causing the first knife to fall into waiting hand. She had been doing it for an hour by now with out injuring herself.

"I wish I knew who was still alive, or still in the unit. If Rankin was there he would cover for us. Alexi is going to pissed, Jefferson might support us, or might slit our necks himself depending on his mood." The man sighed.

"What about what's is name? The one who actually did the deed?" The woman asked.

"From all reports he's dead. And no rumors popping up, at least none with any hint of legitimacy that suggest otherwise. I know they are here, it makes sense. Fits with the strategic outlines we made." The man said.

"What if we turn ourselves in, give all the information they might want. We'll probably get out of prison before we are too old." The woman suggested.

"Yeah, and the minute we leave the prison we get shot by someone who wasn't caught. Betrayal will not do us any good." He said with a sigh.

-Ryouki Sato-

Ryouki rolled his eyes. "I haven't heard that last one in my life, Erick."
Taiyo shrugged. "That's the point of rumours, Brother."
Tsukiko nodded. "There was one rumour that it was actually the Czarina and the crime lord Bastien Fen who teamed together to create the Wastes war conspiracy. Is that the same Bastien Fen who was your ex?"
The blunt question unnerved Ryouki somewhat. "I haven't heard that name in so long...he's a man named Klaus Grisha now. He renounced his crimes and started over when he became a Body Theif and joined the Rojyan military."
"That sounds fanciful..." Tsukiko murmured. Taiyo, however appeared more than enthusiastic. "Wow! That's so cool!" Colour tinted her cheeks. "I-I'm a bit of a nerd about this sort of thing...I used to hide it a lot. Now that I know you were a part of that...it's shocking! I still remember Usa beating up those stooges that tried to cheat you out of better marks when you were in high school."
Ryouki felt his face burn in embarrassment. "Y-Yeah...those were the days..."

Asbel Sutherlin - Rebel Mercenary - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Asbel was too focused to give Leif an intelligible reply. Feeding someone - especially someone with a beard - was surprisingly difficult to do cleanly. He had (sort of) fed Gavin a few times just to get the little bugger to leave him be, but even that was easier than this. All Asbel had to do was toss something sugary in the opposite direction and he'd go shuffling after it, but this was like performing surgery. The task moved along quickly enough, though, and soon Asbel was scraping the bottom of the bowl. When it was nearly empty, Asbel paused to address Leif. "Are you going to need anything else for a while?"

Erick Bailee - King's Bodyguard - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Erick found himself at a loss for words when Kristen mentioned some of the rumors she had heard. If Tabaraamon didn't show up after they left the inn, he would tell her, but showing her would probably be easier. He gave a bit of a nervous laugh and nodded. "No idea. But I'm sure Ryouki and I would be happy to answer any questions you have about the war, and Dimitry probably would too. Not too sure about Boraci and Asbel, but it couldn't hurt to try." At the mention of Klaus' name, Erick's attention was once again snagged for a moment, and he smiled as Ryouki chatted with his siblings. He decided to let them be for the moment, hoping they might have a chance to bond or something.

Evelyn Luciole - Secret Officer - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Dimitry's question was unexpected, to say the least. She thought it over for a short time, her eyes lowered to the table, before looking up and responding, "I wanted the rebellion to end as soon as possible, and it seemed like joining the secret police would put me in the best position to make that happen. That, and they asked me to." It wasn't a lie, per say, but she thought it sounded innocent enough.

"Why did you become a mercenary?" Evelyn was actually curious. She knew very little about Dimitry or his background aside from the fact he was supposedly very unstable, but she was beginning to suspect he would be immeasurably useful if he began working for the rebels long-term.

 Dimitry Popov - Mercenary - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne.

Dimitry shrugged. "I did some things that meant I couldn't continue to live among my own people, and I wasn't about to join the Falcon's Reach military, and it turns out that plenty of people are willing to hire someone to waste other people from a mile away. Or just stand around and look dangerous. And since I don't really have other marketable skills it works out."

He didn't discuss his religion, since that would raise way to many questions that he wasn't willing to answer. He hoped she left it at that, and didn't ask what he did that forced him to come to Falcon's Reach. But he would elaborate if pressed. He sort of wondered how much she knew about Asbel, like the fact he was working for the rebels. Or had been possessed by a shade. Those were the sorts of things most people left out of conversation.

Kristen Mernoth - Noble - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne.

Kristen smiled. "Thank you. I'll be sure to ask questions until you regret ever saying I could as ask. Though, Asbel is the white haired man right? And Dimitry is the Grail man over there who looks like he has a rather unpleasant taste in his mouth. Sort of crazy how many veterans are here isn't it?"

Maybe she could make two books, one about the war of the wastes and the other about the civil war. There was plenty of material to write about, people had written  entire books about the shooting at the kings ball. And as far as she knew no one had interviewed Asbel, Boraci and Dimitry. Maybe she could convince them to speak to her, though it didn't seem likely. To make matters worse they were the most intimidating members of the group, Dimitry was sitting calmly and he still intimidated her, she hadn't seen Boraci, but from all reports he was utterly terrifying, and Asbel had to be some sort of super human to survive his ordeals.

Leif Regnar - Bodyguard - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne.

Leif ate the soup with some difficulty, the angle made it difficult to swallow, as did the cast. It was decent soup, a little weak when it came to flavor, but he wasn't going enjoy it no matter how good it was.

"No. I don't need anything more. But thank you. I'm going to try to get some sleep now, it's difficult in the cart." He said. He thought about talking to Asbel, ask him about Kristen, but he didn't want to speak much more, and felt that Asbel wanted to be somewhere else.

Jessica Stuart - Ambassador - Embassy, Hydris, Fairhaven.

Jessica paced, reading the report about the attack on the food convoy in Agnorak. She remembered something her father had said when he felt that something bad was about to happen. "I feel a change in the wind, and it's going to bring a sand storm."

A sand storm would be a good way to describe the Grail retaliation against who ever bombed the food convoy. The sort of storm that stripped the skin from the bones and ground the bones to dust.

For some reason there was no request for her assistance, that units already in place would run the investigation into the bombing, and report directly to the First Fleet. She was supposed to put up a neutral front to the king, and block all inquires he might make. She would have to muzzle Richard then, since he was the sort of person that thought of Falcon's Reach as a friend, not a convenient ally.

Tula Nikos-

She laughed at the youthful writer's comment. "Unpleasant?"
As it was her turn for ordering a dinner, she hesitated at first, but then questioned. "What fish do you have here?"
The server thought a moment and then grinned casually. "I'm not sure how to pronounce it...but it's the last shipment of an Anglican Isles import, if you haven't heard about it."
Tula raised a brow, and tucked back some hair in a subtle way to show her gill tattoos on the side of her neck in a sort of sarcastic way. "I'll try it, see if I like it." The server left and she explained to Dimitry with a smirk. "It's probably pestrofa. That's the only fish I've known Falcon's Reach to get from my country. Basic as you can get."

The androgynous one of the twins there heard this and seemed a bit hurt. "I like pestrofa."
Tula grinned and took the opportunity to mend her remark. "One day, you should try mahi. It's thicker and has so much more flavour."
The girl nodded. "Alright, I will." She caught sight of her tattoos and laughed weakly. "That's funny, I can't believe he couldn't tell you were Grecian."
Tula shrugged. "As tan as I am, the stereotype is either tannER or Nochnyye white, with a longer nose. I'm not even mixed," she hammered a fist to her heart. "I'm full-blooded Grecian!"
"Even with the tattoos..." The twin sighed. "Aren't they common for most people in the Isles? Not just Grecia?"
"You should see the people in Kyushu-those people are INKED!" She turned to Dimitry. "Way more than my tats and yours put together, luv."

Asbel Sutherlin - Rebel Mercenary - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Asbel stood, setting the empty dish down on the small bedside table. "Alright. Well, we'll all be..." Asbel clumsily waved a hand in every direction, "around, somewhere, if you should need us. This place isn't too loud, so I'm sure one of us will hear you if you call." He shot a quick smile at Leif before turning to the door and taking his leave. "Come on, Boraci, let's go exploring."

Evelyn Luciole - Secret Officer - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Evelyn eyed Tula curiously as she sparked a conversation with one of Ryouki's siblings, then nodded slowly to Dimitry. "Neither do I. Truth be told, though, being in the secret police doesn't sound all that different from mercenary work, the way you describe it."

Erick Bailee - King's Bodyguard - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

"That's them! And yeah, it's definitely strange. I don't know how it happened, but let's just hope it's not for another quest or something. I think we've all had enough of that to last us a while."

"No one's going on any quests," Evelyn said. "I'm taking you all back to Fairhaven, pure and simple."

Erick smiled sheepishly. "That was a joke." No response. Maybe being hungry made her cranky or something, because she had sounded dead serious. Before he could say anything else, though, the server had turned his attention to him. "Oh, um..." He nodded toward Tula. "I'll have what she's having, thanks." With that sorted out, Erick gave Ryouki a questioning look. "I'm kinda worried about that guy we met when we came in. You don't think he'd stray too far from the inn, do you?"

Dimitry Popov - Mercenary - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne.

Dimitry shrugged. "Maybe. But you have the support of the government, I don't. I kill someone it's murder, you kill someone it's in the kings service. At least as far as I know, I'm probably wrong though since I don't exactly keep myself informed on the legal protection that the secret police operates under."

He turned his head slightly and raised his left eyebrow. "More than the two of us? Do they have any skin that doesn't have ink on it?" He asked Tula incredulously.

He didn't make any sort of response to Evelyn's intentions to take everyone to Fairhaven. A part of him wanted to double back through Lynne and get on a ship to an island outside of the reach of the governments in Hydris, Agnorak, and Rojya. He didn't remember what Rojya's capital was. But there were problems everywhere, and he would get embroiled in them. That was his luck.

Tabaraamon - Bane of bovine - Friendly Skeleton Inn Roof, Lynne.

Tabaraamon sat on the roof of the inn twiddling his thumbs and occasionally throwing broken pieces of shingle at a near by cow in a pen. It wasn't the best use of his time, but he had plenty of it so there was no great loss. The cow probably didn't agree, but it was a cow and Tabaraamon didn't care. It was something to do while he waited for something interesting to happen. Like an earthquake, or a solar flare. Or a war. Those were fun, especially if 'Reachers died. Maybe he would kill the king. But there wasn't much of a challenge in that. Maybe he would kill their army. That would be a challenge.

Or he could journey to far away lands and kill what ever lived there, nothing was stopping him. Who knew what sort of things lived on the other side of the sea, well the Vallak might, but they probably had no idea what to look for. He had though about trying to take in a Kraken, but decided against that rather suicidal course of action. He ran out of easily removed shingles so stopped pelting the farm animals. Maybe he should do something for the good of humanity. He laughed, humanity hadn't done anything for him and what was he going to do for it?

-Ryouki Sato-

"Have you ever eaten pestrofa?" Ryouki laughed. "Miss Nikos describes it to a 't.' It's so bland! It always needs pepper or sauce or something to add on." He caught Tsukiko blushing and stopped.
Tula responded quickly to cover for him and comfort his sister, and Ryouki fell aside, ashamed at his own awkwardness.
At Erick's question, he frowned slightly in thought. "I-I'm not sure. He didn't seem to want to associate with anyone here, so I wouldn't think he'd stay close unless he had some stalker-like curiosity with our new additions."

--

-Tula Nikos-

"There was rarely a face inked, that's for sure. Head tattoos are the worst! I think my gills were the most painful to get done when I had them."
Tsukiko questioned, innocently. "Can I see the other side? I-I'm sorry if that's-"
Tula grinned big. "I'm always up to show off my ink! How else do you think I snagged this Grail babe?" She nodded at Dimitry with a flirty laugh. She unbuttoned a few buttons of her shirt collar to display the dual tattoos of realistic gills on either side of her neck, holding up her messy hair to give the young girl a nice look. Tsukiko's mouth dropped. "I hate needles...I-I would never have the stomach to get a tattoo..."
"I have one!" The other twin grinned and spoke with a voice a little more excited and loud than usual. Her eldest brother was first extremely shocked, and then fumed at his brother, who shrugged, somewhat offended. "Usaaaamiiiiiiiiii..."

Tula clapped her hands, amused. "Well, let's see it!"
"It's not as impressive as yours may be, but I like it!" Taiyo pushed down the sleeve of her tight shirt to reveal a small pair of wings on the back of her right shoulder, and some writing that Tula wasn't able to read, but could place it as the Kyushu lettering. "The kanji means 'liberty.'" The girl explained.
"Simple, but beautiful." Tula marveled and turned to Ryouki. "There's no reason to be angry now."
Ryouki seemed to calm down then, but still had a tense posture and hung his head.

Boraci - Curious and Hungry, Mirfield, Lynne

I immediately unshrugged myself and shut Leif's door. Ah. My back did not respond well to being crunched. And it wasn't like there was much to listen to while I had been waiting. There was a lot of talk of fish and tatoos back in the main room, and the cows outside were mooing irritably.

"So what are your theories?" I asked Asbel as we began walking through the halls. "I would suggest talking to the innkeeper, but she seems rather unbothered. That man from before is probably long gone as well."

Erick Bailee - King's Bodyguard - Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

He guessed Ryouki was right about Mr. Reid. Still, part of him hoped he was wrong, even if they weren't in Glassvale anymore. Finding his way back to the present, Erick smiled at Ryouki, who seemed tense after Taiyo revealed that she had a tattoo. In all honesty, Erick had come close to getting one himself several times as a teenager, but he had never thought of something in particular he really wanted to get. If he was going to have something permanently drawn onto his skin, it had to be good.

Tula and Dimitry looked all the more badass with theirs, and he thought Taiyo's suited her well enough to excuse her age. He wasn't sure he would feel that way if it had been his little sister or his kid, though, since he hadn't spent all that much time with Taiyo in the grand scheme of things. He lowered his voice to just above a whisper, trying in vain to conceal his amusement at Ryouki's discomfort. "Could've been much worse, you know."

Evelyn Luciole - Secret Officer - Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Evelyn resisted the urge to smirk at Dimitry's comment on her profession and instead responded with a curt shrug, eager to change the subject. She looked to Kristen instead, rummaging through her collection of acceptable subjects for small talk. "How is your leg feeling?"

Asbel Sutherlin - Rebel Something-or-other - Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

"Ghosts, Wastes creatures, skeletons under the floorboards, a crazy person locked in the basement... The possibilities are infinite. And yes, I doubt we'll get anything out of the innkeeper. However, the timid young fellow I got Leif's food from seems much more responsive. I think he recognizes the Wastes veterans in the group, so I wager we can convince him to answer our questions." Asbel paused, his brow furrowing. "Somehow."

He was making this up as he went along, really, but it had been a long time since he had been able to. That was probably his fault, though, because he was too lazy to go looking for mysteries like this. Halfway to the kitchens, where he figured he would find the man they were looking for, Asbel's pace slowed slightly when an odd noise caught his attention. "Or maybe they have an infestation of demon cows. That could be it."

## Page 5

Kristen Mernoth - Noble - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne.

Kristen sighed. "Not so great. I can walk, but it is really uncomfortable. I can't bend my leg at all which makes walking hard, and it sort of hurts."

She was doing her best to down play the pain she was in, she wanted the respect of the rough and ready veterans of the wastes and didn't want to be seen as a whiny noble woman who couldn't stand the sight of her own blood. If she didn't have any rapport she wouldn't get the good stories.

Dimitry Popov - Mercenary - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne.

Dimitry leaned back and smiled at Tula, glad for his sand blasted face and its inability to blush. He didn't show off his ink, he didn't want to explain the tally marks that ringed his left bicep, or the laughing skulls that dotted his body. They weren't the sort of things you talked about before a meal. Well, there was one he could show, he rolled up his right sleeve to the elbow. Across his arm was a set of jagged letters. "It says Primo Victoria, which means Victory to the First in an outdated version of my language." He said to Taiyo with a smile. He made a slightly apologetic gesture to  Ryouki for helping corrupt his younger siblings.

Matthew Barton - Outlaw - Hydris, Fairhaven.

Matthew stepped off the train and into an army worth of police, soldiers, and guards all pushing toward the doors in an effort to get a seat. He lowered his shoulders and started pushing through the mass.

He broke through the back of the group and made his way out of the station. Getting into the city proper was easy, he just handed an entry "tax" to the men at the gate and they let him in happily.

The Grail-El embassy was surrounded by angry people, and the tops of the walls were lined with Grail soldiers, weapons aimed into the crowd. Matthew slumped a little and went looking for a place to spend the night.

Taiyo Sato

Taiyo  marvelled at Dimitry's tattoo, and Ryouki caught the somewhat apologetic expression that looked odd on Dimitry's normally perpetually scowling face. He raised a brow at Taiyo. "I'm fine with the liberty thing-which you'll need to explain in a minute-but you are not getting a sleeve on my watch."

Taiyo stuck out her tongue and then stabbed teasingly. "Oniichan, sudeni kōrei-ka shite iru yō ni wa mieru!" ((You look like you're graying already!)) She leaned over and tugged a strand of his long hair to get his attention and laughed harder at his embarrassed and shocked expression.

"Sore wa okashīde wanai!"((That's not funny!)) Ryouki leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest, using said long hair to try and hide his burning face.

Tula laughed. "Whatever she said, the face you made to it was priceless!" Then, she turned to Ryouki's sister. "Well, spill then. what do the wings and kanji mean?"

This made something stir in Taiyo. Her little shoulders tensed, body stiffened, and eyes fell to the empty plate and unrolled dining ware. "It's a looong story, y'see." Tsukiko had leaned closer toward her, and Ryouki became well aware that something was horribly, horribly wrong. 'Onii-chan' instinct took over again, and he clutched one of her hands that rested on the table. Taiyo was startled by the cold of his metal hand, but held on anyway.

"Y-You see," She looked at Tula. "My family all owned this big big metalsmith shop in Braille. Usa and Kiko worked the forges, and were really good. Even Ryouki did before he pursued college, and eventually even higher education in Fairhaven. I wasn't the best at it. I've always had small hands, a-and I hate the grime and the fumes of the forges and I'm not very blessed in the upper body strength department. A-Anyway..." Taiyo began directing her tale towards the rest of the table, making sure not to exclude anyway. "About three years ago, thanks to the pitfall of the economy of the kingdom, the Sato forges had to be shut down. Mama and Papa did their best to try and work with whatever weapons we had left, Usami did mechanics, and Kiko and I kept trying our best in our last few years of high school." She turned to Ryouki with a smile, but her eyes held a feeling that broke the man's heart. "You know this as well as the rest of us Satos, I've always been 'the pretty face.'" Her eyes cast back down again and her grip on Ryouki's hand became white-knuckled. "You're all smart people, I think you can tell where this is going. It started with third year boys. I would get money in exchange for tutoring...and occasionally sex. Then it became mostly sex. Then came the boys from the college, then teachers...then I developed a reputation, and I was able to help us as much as I could. Mama and Papa never knew how trapped I felt in what I thought was the only way I could have been useful." She turned to Tula, whose eyes had begun to shine slightly and she gasped. "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to..."

"Are you going to keep going or do you want to stop?" Tula wiped slightly at the wetness that pooled at the bottom of one eye. "You can if you're uncomfortable."

Taiyo shook her head. "I need to get this off my chest. Why I got this tattoo is because, once we joined the revolution, I was finally free-free from the system, free from whoring myself across Braille, free from feeling like I couldn't do anything. With the rebels, we all have a purpose, and I'm happy because for once I'm not the chain's weakest link-ow!" She flinched at Ryouki's now tight grip and watering eyes. Taiyo's eyes lowered apologetically. "I'm sorry, Brother. This is the truth-"

He shook his head. "You were never useless. Don't say that shit, because it never was true. Who was it that had the second best marks in our entire family? Who was it that could make everyone smile without fail?"

She laughed weakly. "Not Usa, that's for sure." Usami raised a brow in mock offense, but said nothing.

Illyushin Mosin - Polkovnik of the 13th CGD - The Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

"I will pay for my own drink if you don't mind," Mosin said, taking a couple of coins from a pocket in his belt. He leaned forward against the table and called for a waiter. "Do you have Rojyan Vodka Martei?"

Vodka was Mosin's friend. Usually he would slice the head of the bottle with Shashka for good luck, but he would skip it since he was thirsty. He wouldn't drink much though, like Evelyn advised.

Boraci - Mirfield, Lynne

I nodded along with Asbel's ramblings. The mention of demon cows made me chuckle, but my mouth watered a bit. I wondered if demon cows tasted the same as regular cows.

We reached the small, wooden door that was marked 'kitchen' and I knocked, pressing myself into the wall. Maybe I could come across as just a really dark drape.

Evelyn Luciole - Secret Officer - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

She nodded to Kristen, frowning slightly. "If it's any consolation, I do still have some pain medicine you can take later. That should make things a bit easier. I have to admit, I'm surprised you've been so quiet about it. Broken bones are nothing to sneeze at." Evelyn had broken a hand and a few ribs before, back when she was hunting Waste creatures, but nothing this serious. And, unlike Kristen, she had screeched like an angry cat the entire time.

Nearby, Evelyn heard Mosin talking to the waiter, and glanced in their direction. The waiter once again seemed a little flustered by the request, but he was determined to appear competent. "I-I'm not sure about that, but we do have vodka. I'll have to check." He flashed the man a smile and took a step back from the table. "Well, ah, let me know if you all need anything. I'll be back shortly." Having said that, he headed back to the kitchen. As he did, Evelyn couldn't help listening in on the Sato girl's conversation after she and the others had begun showing off their tattoos, but she got the feeling the rest of it hadn't actually been meant as private. The girl was brave to tell such a personal story in front of them, but she had no idea how to react to it, so she lowered her eyes and said nothing.

Erick Bailee - King's Bodyguard - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Erick held eye contact with Taiyo through every word of her story, and he was speechless by the end of it. He couldn't imagine what that must have been like. He had stolen a few coin purses in his day to help put food on the table, but it never hurt him to do it - never made him feel trapped. Ryouki summed up his feelings perfectly, though; just making her family happy and caring for them the way she did was useful. It was more important than a lot of people seemed to realize. "You're a good kid, Taiyo," he muttered lamely, managing a slight smile.

Asbel Sutherlin - Paranormal Investigator - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Asbel stood patiently at the door, rocking forward and back on his heels, and the waiter answered soon enough. He smiled shyly, like he thought he was in trouble for something, and didn't seem to notice Boraci at first. "Can I help you?"

Asbel squinted at him. "That remains to be seen." Halfway through the sentence, the man caught sight of Boraci, but he didn't quite know what to make of him. He simply blinked in his general direction, hopelessly confused. "I was just curious about this inn. I've traveled through Glassvale quite a few times, but I don't believe I've ever been here. Have you been in Mirfield for very long?"

The man's brow furrowed. "For a few months now, actually."

"I'll have to keep this place in mind from now on. How's business been so far?"

The man leaned out of the doorway, eyeing Boraci even as he spoke to Asbel. "Okay, I guess."

"Get a lot of customers storming out into the dead of night, then?"

"Oh, that..." The man's voice grew weary. "I don't know what his problem was. You get a lot of crazy people in these small towns, though. Could'a been drunk too."

Asbel chuckled. "I figured. I can't help being a bit curious, though. What exactly did he think he saw in the inn?"

The man's attention snapped from Boraci to Asbel, whom he looked dead in the eyes. "He didn't see anything. He heard some scary noises and lost his head." The waiter shrugged. "It was probably the cows out back."

-Tsukiko Sato-

Taiyo shook her head. "No, Erick. I'm really not-"
Tsukiko shushed her sister then with a soft glance, sending comforting thoughts her way, to which Taiyo responded with a slight scowl. "Kiko..."
"Tai." Tsukiko raised a brow and then her sister laughed softly after catching on.
"Alright, I'll stop."

Tula, the Grecian woman, moved on the conversation. "So you two are twins, yeah? Any amount of time apart?"
Tsukiko responded and found her sister synchronizing with her, but a second delayed. "Three minutes. I'm older."
"Three minutes. Kiko's the older one."
Taiyo added. "When we were young, no one could tell us apart."
"Is that why you coloured your hair?"
Taiyo nodded. "Partially. There was also this boy at the college I liked and tried to add in my clientelle. He had a thing for brunettes I heard, so I went for it! But he wasn't interested."
Tsukiko remembered and stiffened at the memory. /Lies you tell, sister./
He was very interested, to a point of obsession. It was Tsukiko who had to intervene before that man could seriously damage her sister further.
Taiyo continued. "I like the brown though, it suits me!"
Ryouki nodded. "I agree."

Dimitry Popov - Confused and slightly uncomfortable - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne.

Dimitry opened his mouth and shut it again. There wasn't anything he could say to that. It was rather odd that someone would come out and tell a bunch of strangers that sort of thing. Or maybe it was a cultural thing, 'reachers could be awfully strange.

He sat silently unless called on to speak. He let his hand rest on the grip of his pistol, just in case some unwanted company showed up. There was something that made him uncomfortable about this place, maybe the fact that it was in Lynne was what did it. He hated Lynne, the weather, the crime, the lack of infrastructure, and the fact that it was now a war zone.

His food finally came and without any ceremony he dug in. It was pretty good for a road side inn, a little heavy on the salt and spare on the other spices. But for the price he couldn't find much to complain about. The hot cider was unsurprising, which was why he ordered it, he didn't want anything special.

He would get some more whiskey later, away from the others, he doubted they would feel safe knowing that the man with grenades strapped across his chest was drinking.

Cima - Assassin - Hydris, Fairhaven.

Cima drank down the medication that wouldn't do anything. She did it for its high amphetamine content. She had been growing more violent lately, she didn't know if it was the addiction or the tumor pressing on her brain that caused it, but there was nothing she could do about either one.

She lay down knowing that she wouldn't sleep. She picked up a book and tried to read but the story couldn't keep her attention.

Evelyn Luciole - Secret Officer - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Evelyn received her own meal shortly after Dimitry and began eating, content to be excused from the conversation for a while, before she had an interesting thought. She looked to the Sato siblings, trying to un-furrow her eyebrows for the first time that day. "I'm assuming you three must know how to fight if those rebels allowed you into their ranks at such young ages. Did that happen during your time at the forges?" Something told her the vast majority of the rebels back at the theatre weren't exactly equipped to teach anyone how to defend themselves.

Erick Bailee - King's Bodyguard - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Erick practically pounced on his food as soon as he got it. He had been so wrapped up in the conversation that he'd forgotten how hungry he was, but the inn's food was pretty damn good. Then again, at that point, he wasn't feeling very picky.

Danor Arkaitz - Gunsmith - Fairhaven/Lynne Border

"Ma'am, I'm afraid no unauthorized persons are allowed in or out of Lynne at the moment." The knight looked and sounded just about as exhausted as Danor as he spoke, and she almost felt bad for him. Almost.

She dragged a hand over her face and let out a sigh. "Could you please authorize me, then?"

The knight's eyelids drooped and he tilted his head to one side. "What is it you do? You said you're a gunsmith?"

"That's right."

"No."

Danor threw her hands up. "Give me something else to work with, then! It took almost all day for them just to let me out of Hydris, and I need to get all the way to Braile. I'm tired, I'm hungry, and I don't have the money to bribe you. You really think I'm going to cause trouble?"

The man's frown seemed to overtake his entire face. "Lynne is a dangerous place right now. Besides the fact you could cause trouble, you would also be in harm's way, especially since you're alone."

Danor gnawed on the inside of her cheek, scrabbling for a comeback. That boy she had been traveling with might have helped her case, but it was probably best he stayed in Hydris, especially since he was the sort of person to go looking for trouble. "What do you suggest I do?" Her voice had gone somewhat flimsy with drowsiness.

He shrugged. "Find somewhere to sleep?"

Danor blinked at him, obviously fed up with their conversation, which was going nowhere. "Maybe you're right."

-Ryouki Sato-

"Tsukiko uses one-handed swords." Taiyo explained with an enthusiastic nod in Evelyn's direction. "She's especially good with rapiers. Then Usami's good with almost everything!"
Ryouki noticed the tips of his brother's ears turning red. "N-Not everything. I'm a mechanic first, there's not much more to it."
Ryouki then intervened with a smirk at Usami. "Lies. You. Tell!" He turned his attention to Evelyn. "This guy is EXTREMELY talented with flexible melee weapons-nunchaku, chigiriki, flails, stuff like that. In particular, he's good with chakrams."
"That's your thing." Usami responded.
"Chakrams and knives, that's it, and I'm not being modest about it. You, on the other hand, have definitely had more practice than I have."

Dimitry Popov - Mercenary - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne.

Dimitry kept silent, he didn't know what half the weapons being spoken of were, and didn't want to make a fool of himself.

He ate slowly, since this might be his last decent meal for some time. He didn't know who the enemy even was now. He had started this job to kill rebels, now he might join them, or he might just stay out of it. No, he wouldn't stay out of it, that wasn't his nature. He craved the adrenaline rush, he needed the high that only mortal danger could provide. Only during combat was he truly in the moment, not worrying about the future, not thinking about the past.

"So, what is the plan once ever one has eaten?" Dimitry asked Evelyn. "Flash your credentials in some border guards face? Or bribe 'em?"

Dimitry would have just snuck past under the cover of night, but there were to many people to try that, and they had to cart that Vallak around.

Kristen Mernoth - Noble - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne.

Kristen sat in silence, drinking in the conversation, watching the different people, their gestures, picking up little bits of information about them, their personalities, their comfort zones. The large family was about as far removed from her family life as possible. Her father had always taught her to keep her head down and stay quiet, say little but mean much, and never to embarrass the family. Maybe it was the nobility that her parents struggled to maintain despite her brother and his sociopath Grail wife.

Then the Gracian woman and her boyfriend. Those two frightened her a little. The woman had a certain aspect about her, despite her carefree attitude, which Kristen couldn't put her finger on, yet made her uncomfortable. The woman's boyfriend she had heard of, one of the heroes, but by all reports a dangerous and mentally unstable man with questionable morals.

## Page 6

Boraci - Paranormal Investigator - Mirfield, Lynne

I kept the man's stare until it abruptly faced Asbel. Cripes, this place was shady. The food smelled alright, but it wasn't exactly the ideal inn. I guessed it was their proximity to the train station that kept them in business. The aforementioned disgruntled customer seemed to have a knot in his trousers over a bit more than cows. Even if they were demon cows. I momentarily checked out of the conversation to hear what was going on in the dining hall.

Well, it didn't seem like I was missing out on much. For fun, I listened to the cadence of the noblewoman, and determined her pitch of hearing.
You gonna write a whole book about us raggedy rejects of society? I said to Kristen - I believe that's what her name was. I felt a bit more confident after that, and lowered my hood.
"Look, buddy, it wasn't any cow that caused that reaction. What aren't you telling us?" I grinned. "If you're honest, maybe you won't be dinner."

If this inn didn't have its monster opening filled, it sure did now.

 -Tula Nikos-

Hers and Tsukiko's pestrofa had arrived and Tula are steadily with effort to fill her barren body with sustenance. She noticed Dimitry's uncomfortable demeanor, but said nothing after his question of the undetermined plan. Directing the conversation away from personal strife-which Tula would apologize about prying into later, seemed the best option. Focus on the matter at hand.

As Tsukiko quietly ate her fish, Tula took note of the girl's occasional glances at Evelyn and couldn't hide a minuscule smile. Nothing could amuse her like one-sided, youthfully optimistic affection could. Tsukiko would lift her eyes by the millimeter and when it felt too excessive, her eyes would flit down to the bland fish on her plate that she would eat with more vigor. Her sister didn't seem to notice, which struck Tula as odd considering the connection they appeared to have. Taiyo's attention was on her brothers as they conversed in their other language as not to make the room more awkward. Tula had wanted to learn the tongue of Kyushu a while back, but found the writing much too intricate for her hasty scrawling.

Evelyn Luciole - Secret Officer - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Evelyn didn't bother trying to hide her surprise upon learning what the Sato siblings were capable of.

Erick, as usual, looked amazed. "That is seriously impressive!"

He was right. They weren't just skilled; they were versatile. Even if those weapons weren't always readily available, knowing how to handle so many different kinds was bound to be useful if they had to improvise. Besides that, most of the King's men in Falcon's Reach probably weren't very familiar with a fair number of the weapons mentioned. She certainly wasn't. After Dimitry's question, however, Evelyn's expression grew sober again.

"You make me sound so aggressive. Yes, I plan to let them know who I am, but I'm not the only one the King wants safely out of Lynne. We have very good leverage. If they do refuse, though, I don't pretend to be above bribery."

Asbel Sutherlin - basically Fox Mulder with white hair - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Asbel eyed the man impatiently as he stammered, staring up at Boraci with wide eyes. "I-I don't... I mean, I'm not - we've just had some problems with the upstairs rooms! That's all! This is an old place; the floorboards creak, the foundation shifts... It just unnerves some customers."

"You're a brave man," Asbel commented jokingly, "but not a very good liar, I'm afraid. Try again."

The man wrung his hands and bowed his head, eyes darting in seemingly random directions. "Like I said, we have problems with the upstairs rooms sometimes."

Asbel leaned forward a bit. "And? What? Are they haunted?"

The man's eyes suddenly settled on Asbel's, and after a brief pause, he nodded. "Yes. Yes, they're haunted. Must be the past owners or something."

Asbel raised an eyebrow skeptically before shooting Boraci a questioning look. He wouldn't go up there by himself in a million years, but if Boraci's stomach was getting to be an issue, they could work around that.

 Rankin - Grail-El Soldier - The Divide, The wastes.

The motorcycle roared beneath him as Rankin drove through the wastes, a rooster tail of sand billowing behind him.

Up ahead was a stone formation known as the divide, a jagged wall of volcanic rock that marked the beginning of the "Seclusion Zone" the area that was not explicitly owned by any nation, but was dotted with small Grail-El settlements, typically close to mines or pre fall ruins. Living in the zone were former soldiers, ex convicts and adventurers. In this area there was little government, and town sheriff's kept law with the rifle across their back and the pistol on their hip. He had hidden out with Alexi and Jefferson after the battle of Agnorak in a small town called "Olney" that was in the zone.

He noticed something off about the divide, to many spires, and some of the spires seemed to move. Then a light shown out and surrounded him in blinding white light. He went for his flare pistol and fired off the pre determined flare, red and yellow.

The lights intensity died down and he looked up, straight into the second fleet. He swallowed deeply, what reason could there possibly be for the fleet to be in this close?

Matthew Barton - Outlaw - Stomping Stallion, Hydris.

Matthew sat down in the small bar of the inn he was staying in. "So what's the word around town?" He asked the bar keeper.

"The government wants to shut down all inter provenance travel, which will be bad for business. You got here just at the end." The man said with a sigh.

"Well in that case I'll buy another round. I won't be needing my ticket money any time soon." Matthew said.

" Nother round coming up. Also it sounds like the Grail might help with the lock down. Who knows what they have to gain."

"Strategic advantage maybe. Those things of theirs must be expensive as all hell to run, so what ever it is it's got to be good." He said as he excepted the frothing mug.

"Hope not. The kings not the best, but at least he's one of us, not some sand flea." The bartender said.

Dimitry Popov - Mercenary - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne.

Dimitry nodded. "Alright, Ill just stay out of sight, I doubt the guards would be all that happy to see someone like me. And if worst comes to worst I'll have surprise on my side." He said that last bit under his breath so it would be difficult to hear from much of a distance.

He didn't really want to have to attack the guards, but if it couldn't be helped, well it couldn't be helped. He would do his best to not kill them, just give them ringing head aches and possible concussions.

Kristen Mernoth - Noble - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne.

Kristen heard the voice in her head and froze. No one else seemed to have heard it. And it had been directed at her, asking a question. But what could it have been? Some auditory hallucination? Or a angry spirit? Or was she just going insane? She would answer the voice, and maybe it wouldn't become hostile.

"I'd try. Who are you? Please don't take my brain over." She whispered.

-Alina Andreyevich-

"They aren't shutting down ALL the trains, are they?"
Viktor read over the draft from the King's men recieved from earlier and replied. "It's just a draft, they may not be entirely closed."
Alina flounced up and down on her bed in a mild huff and exhaled. "That would do more harm than good. If anything, rebels are probably so determined they'll stop and nothing and just spread their cause on foot. Shutting down basic practices didn't work in Rojya and certainly wouldn't work in this primitive-" She covered her mouth with her hand in embarrassment and then tried to shake off the feeling and level out her mind. "I want to give my insight, but so far I've been entirely without a clue and even when I do, the King dismisses it like I'm still a child. I-I may be ignorant, but..." Her protests died down and she said nothing. Viktor went to the Princess's side and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You're doing your best, and I applaud you for trying, Printsessa. The King is very flippant and unreasonable and your level brain is fighting to be heard."
She felt a smile creep up to her features. "Thank you. You've never been so warm before."
Viktor sighed. "I'm just tired of the tension here. We've only been in Falcon's Reach for almost two days-barely. There has already been an execution, Tula was...well, Tula, and-"
Alina's pinched expression at the grief of losing Tula seemed to cut Viktor off, and the two were still in contemplation as rain fell.

--

-Ryouki Sato-

"Usami, you need to show off one day. Just a little." Ryouki suggested. "Pleeease? For my boyfriend? Duel me, that's easy."
Usami rolled his eyes. "Fine, but how out of practise are you?"
Ryouki grinned. "You'll be surprised."
Taiyo cheered. "Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!"
Usami shook his head. "We don't have that kind of time."
"Time match. We can keep it short."
"I bet your arm has some kind of advantage."
"No!" Ryouki laughed. "It's just an arm. You just repaired it, you know the extent of what it does is that I have more than one limb and more than just five fingers."
"We're heading to Hydris as soon as possible-no delay."
Taiyo laughed shortly and then proceeded to make chicken noises, embarrassing her brother.
"Taiyo, stop it!" Usami blushed scarlet and his sisters laughed. "You're wussing out!" Taiyo grinned.
"He was in the Second War. He may be Ryouki, but he's faced Grinning Ghosts and Rocs and Kyuuketsuki and..." Usami became quickly flustered. "whatever else is out there!" He turned to his eldest. "Out of practise, my ass. You never forget anything. Even if you've abandoned a craft for a long time, you come back to it full swing."
"Whatever you say, chicken." Ryouki teased, his eyes flashing with a sly glint.

Evelyn Luciole - Secret Officer - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Evelyn squinted at Dimitry, thinking over his statement - what she heard of it, at least. "I'm not entirely sure what the guards' reaction to seeing you would be. On one hand, they would see you as a threat. On the other, there's the rather large possibility that the King would be thrilled to toss you in prison. I'm sure he's terrified of you."

Erick Bailee - King's Bodyguard - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Erick smirked at Ryouki, surprised to see him acting so playful. He really had Usami wound up. "I can understand why you wouldn't want to fight someone who's fought the worst the Wastes has to offer, but what about someone who hasn't?" Erick posed the question with a completely straight face, his eyes settling on Evelyn. It took her a few awkward seconds to notice him and realize he was referring to her, but once she had, she did something Erick was fairly sure he had never seen her do: laugh. Not just a passing chuckle or a condescending scoff, but an actual laugh. It sounded kind of sharp and mean, like everything else that came out of her mouth, but it was definitely genuine.

Erick had the feeling he had been left out of some fantastic joke, but he waited patiently for her to collect herself. "I don't think so," she replied, carefully wiping at her eyes.

"Seriously? I thought you secret police loved to fight."

Evelyn returned her attention to her meal. "I'm not used to sparring for the sake of it. Besides, we don't have the time to waste on a duel. Chat if you like, but I'm not waiting forever for you to finish that food." With a brief glance up from her soup, Evelyn noticed that Kristen had a rather strange look on her face, and leaned forward a bit to catch her attention. "Are you unwell?"

Dimitry Popov - Mercenary - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne.

When Evelyn's attention turned to the girl Kristen, Dimitry breathed a silent sigh of relief. He didn't want to have to say "And if they try I'll leave them in their own blood." He didn't know where her allegiance lay, but figured that his callous response wouldn't make him any friends on either side.

He finished his soup and excused himself from the table. He needed some air, and an atmosphere where every word, every expression might be examined by someone he didn't know, who he didn't trust.

He squeezed Tula's hand as he left. He wasn't sure what he meant by it, maybe that he wanted her to follow him, maybe he meant that she should stay.

Once he was outside he drew his dagger looked at it. The blade was smoking slightly, a rusty mist that swirled around it. He slid it back in its sheath, not wanting anyone to ask about it.

Kristen Mernoth - Noble - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne

Kristen forced a smile. "No, I'm fine, just starting to realize everything that happened." She lied. She wasn't sure if it was convincing, but maybe Evelyn wouldn't pry.

"I wish I could fight. My father wanted to teach me, but my mother wouldn't allow it. She was old fashioned and wanted me to learn dancing and singing." Kristen said to Erick, since he seemed the most down to earth of them all, and she wanted to deflect Evelyn.

Boraci - secret secret secre- FOOD? - Mirfield, Lynne

Well, then, you're in for a ride. I responded to Kristen's thin response. Don't worry about brain take-overs; a friend of mine has that covered, and he's not around.

Huh. That was momentarily fun. I should do that more often. But back to the matter at hand. Asbel looked equal parts scared and skeptical. The waiter looked anxious to get back to work and away from us. After considering for a moment, I nodded. But first...

Pressing the kitchen door further, I poked my head in and spied a cooked ham, cooling on a tray. My tongue flew out and wrapped itself around the hunk of meat and retracted.

"Let's go check it out," came my muffled response, past mounds of meat. This cooked, dead stuff would have to do. If I was going to be in any way fortified, though, I'd have to properly feed soon. One of the cows had a target on its back. "Upstairs ghosts here we come."

-Tula Nikos-

"Live a little, Usami." Tula laughed, and felt a shock of emotion course through her at Dimitry's subtle squeeze on her hand before leaving the dining hall. Instinctively, she rose in posture, but found it rude to just go follow him off-and she barely touched her food. Tula downed a bit of her drink first and smiled apologetically at Evelyn, and then the Sato siblings before going up to slowly tail Dimitry.

Hesitating before heading out, she took a moment to steady herself and then drew closer upon meeting him outside, eyeing Dimitry sheath something quickly which gave her a small start and a quicker recovery. She exhaled softly. "In Grecia, I remember a saying: Tréla den episkftheite ta vouná, madness doesn't visit the mountains...What's eating at you now, love?"

--

-Taiyo Sato-

Once Tula left, Taiyo nudged her sister. "Did you see the tattoo coming out of her shirt?" She whispered.
"I thought it was a necklace." Tsukiko whispered back as she finished her fish.
"That woman is hiding a lot, but she's reeeeeally cool!"
"She's loud, like you." Tsukiko teased with a sardonic expression.
"At least she's not a coward like Niisan." Taiyo nudged Usami.
"Like Miss Evelyn said-no time." Usami clarified.
Taiyo frowned and turned to Ryouki. "You could ambush Usa one day-"
"That's entirely unfair," Ryouki started serious, and then couldn't help laughing. "because I'm the super experienced Ryouki Sato, the big-shot Hero Conquerer Sensei Warrior of the Wastes!" By then, he seemed to have started to tear up laughing so hard and Usami's face was flushed to the point of being almost fully scarlet.

Tabaraamon - Shadowed One - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne.

Tabaraamon sat on the roof, since he had nothing else to do. He wasn't going to muck about this little town, might attract the attention of the guards. Or the rebels either way he wasnt in the mood to get into a fight. The others wouldn't appreciate it.

He could sort of detect the buzz of Boraci communicating with someone. He couldn't hear what was being said, just that something was being said. He wondered who it was, and if it wasn't someone who had experienced it already, well the shadow wanted to watch them loose their mind for a few seconds.

Dimitry Popov - Mercenary - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne.

"I'm not entirely sure. I might simply be worried and tired." Dimitry said with a sigh. He didn't know what he was worried about, other than rebels, the king's military, and Grail-El bounty hunters.

He put an arm around Tula's shoulder and asked. "What does that mean? Madness doesn't visit the mountains?"
He assumed it wasn't about tall people being sane since that wouldn't really fit him.

He was calmer now that she was out here with him. He normally was when he was with Tula. Maybe he tried to keep the darkness under more control. He leaned against her slightly, not really caring what other people would think of it. Because why should he care what others thought?

Kristen Mernoth - Noble - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne.

Kristen didn't open her mouth, she formed the words and hoped what ever was in her head would understand. "You're making me make a scene, stop it before everyone figures out that I'm crazy." She told the voice, worried that she was actually going insane.

It wouldn't go well for her writing career if people accused her of madness, it would ensure none of her writing would be taken as a fact. If she was going mad at least she wanted to be secret about it, what good was a voice no one else could hear if they knew about it?

Leif Rengar - Bodyguard - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne.

Leif couldn't help but fidget, but it hurt. A great deal of his chest hair had been trapped in the cast and tugged when ever he moved. At least he beard was relatively untouched, which was something. He could hide his hairless body in clothing, but fake beards never convinced anyone. Even children could tell. Then again children were perceptive little insects and could spot all sorts of things that adults wouldn't. Like people lying.

He focused on his family back home, his idiot brother, his other idiot brother, his older sister that was probably going to be a political leader of some sort. His little sister was probably tormenting everyone with questions. Sort of like Kristen, but when a eight year old did it most people thought it was cute. When a grown woman did it most of the time people thought it was annoying, though Kristen could be and had been mistaken for a child.

## Page 7

-Tula Nikos-

Her hand gravitated to the one caressing her shoulder, and she clasped her fingers around his slowly. "It means that our own madness gravitates towards something we're deep in thought about. By 'we,' I refer to humanity, or not. Generally, anyone and anything has at least one spark of madness. Grecians say that phrase when we're curious about someone's trials." Tula smiled softly. "I haven't spoken my home tongue in a long time. It's so different from the Rojyan I used to butcher and hardly understand, and the common language that many of us foreigners have been getting used to."

She pressed her body into Dimitry's, closing the space between the two of them and glanced out at the sky, darkening with clouds over time. "Do you want me to tell my story first or vice versa?"

--

-Ryan Petrushkov-

The train had begun to ease into the next station at Hydris. Outside, it was pouring down rain and the rush of people stirred Ryan's attention as he left the car and made a mad dash for the Embassy. He used his military jacket-turned inside out for the slightest degree of secrecy-as a cover to keep himself from getting completely dressed and darted through the cobblestone streets with as much speed as he could summon, no matter how fast his energy had begun to drain.

Dimitry Popov - Mass murderer - Outside The Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne

Dimitry was silent for several seconds while he thought over what Tula had said. Finally he said "I'll start, I've been wanting to get this off my chest for a long time. It's a long story, so I might need to take a break."

He took a deep breath. "The majority of the crimes I am wanted for occurred in the three years I spent in the Thirteenth Scout Vanguard. It was a secret internal security unit, and we did a things that had to be done, assassinating corrupt officials, hunting bandit groups through the wastes, investigating conspiracies within the military. But we also were little more than attack dogs, ordered to kill people that disagreed with the council."

"I don't know how many innocents we killed, how many criminals we protected when we followed orders. This went on for some time, and we became disillusioned and started planning on how we would make it all right."

"But everything went wrong, a sand ship's crew came under the control of the wastes, and started attacking caravans. My team was sent to set a tracking beacon so the fleet could hunt it. We were attacked, surrounded and cut off from our escape routes. We fought our way to the bridge... Started a ship wide lock down... Deactivated the air filtration systems"

Dimitry's voice cracked as he continued. "And... And... We gassed the entire vessel. Seven hundred fifty people, most of them weren't even being controlled. They just did what they were ordered." His voice was shaking, his eyes distant as the memory climbed out of the dark corner he had forced it into. "I was the one that set off the gas, I wasn't ordered, I wasn't even supposed to have brought the canisters. I did it against orders."

He couldn't look Tula in the eyes, and he couldn't go on until he had calmed himself.

-Tula Nikos-

She took in every shocking word, and at the thought of the gas, Tula physically shuddered at the picture and at the memory of the gas used on the crowd in Falcon's Reach that she made a mad dash to flee from before it could get to her eyes, her skin. Dimitry's actions were the very degree of cruel, and Tula certainly did not feel one to judge.
She squeezed his shaking hand and did her best to physically try to help her beau steel himself together.
"Take your time, love." She whispered between pauses.

When he appeared to have finished, she pressed further in. "I can't feel anything but sympathy, empathy...I understand your pain completely. It's too familiar, really. No wonder you never really told me for so long..."

Dimitry Popov - Mercenary - Out side The Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne.

Dimitry forced himself to stop shaking, since the feeling feed on itself, growing stronger and stronger and he knew that if he didn't stop the process he wouldn't be in a condition to do anything but drink himself into oblivion.

"The worst part was after I did I felt something in my mind break. I don't know what it was, but after that I didn't have a emotional reaction to death... It still scares me. The emptiness that followed... I tried to fill it, drugs, alcohol, alcohol worked, and I drank my self near to death. After the event, we decided to finish our last mission and disappear. You know the ambassador? Her father was taking gold from the ships vault and keeping it. We killed him, we weren't supposed to, but we didn't have the time to do it the right way. I had been in a relationship with Jessica, and used her confidence in me so I could get close enough to do the deed." His voice was growing stronger, he had gotten past the worst part.

"After that we all scattered, I went to Falcon's Reach. I don't know what happened to the others... In Falcon's Reach I did what I do now, but for criminals, I did a lot of things that I don't remember, mostly since I was so deep in the bottle that I couldn't remember my own name. The war started and I joined, since it gave me a chance to escape. Somehow during the war I became the leader of a long dead cult to an evil god. I still am, but I ignore my duties when ever I can." He voice was returning to normal, as being able to tell her everything was freeing.

"I killed that captain in Hydris, I was told he worked for the rebels, but that didn't make a difference. I kill for money, I have since I left Grail-El, and probably will until I die or finally save enough to buy live the rest of my life. Knowing what you know now, I would fully understand if you walked away and never wanted to see me again." He said and released his grasp on her and back away a few feet so she wouldn't feel as if he was going to try and hold her.

-Tula Nikos-

She listened, heartfelt and even conflicted as her moral and her chaotic sides warred for her eventual response. When he backed away, she couldn't help laughing slightly. "You're the one walking away now." Tula walked slowly towards him, took his hand, and pressed it to the center of her chest, just where the Grecian lettering for the word 'wrath' began, firmly so he could feel the ocean pulsing and crashing beneath the skin.
"I want to tell you a story now." Her voice took on a sultry tone, one she hadn't recognised in many years. "Once upon a time, there was a girl in Grecia who loved the water. She would stare at the sea for hours and drank in every detail of the stories of Poseidon and the naiads and neirids. This little girl was devout and fanciful, but did not remain a girl for very long."

"Her first taste of adventure came from blood, as she worked her way to the top of one of Grecia's many groups of juvenile delinquency. She became a Siren, and drank the tainted wine of the sea gods into her skin without hesitation. They call this wine Eris, a potion with mild magical properties that enhances human abilities to give use weak creatures a mere taste of what it's like to be truly excellent. Blood and water were no different, and her love became an obsession. This girl, now a woman, with her sisters of the sea would lure cruel men into their lair, toy with their heart, and drown it out in the sea, savouring every muffled scream. In time, this woman had become a monster."

Dimitry Popov - Mercenary - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne.

Dimitry silently thanked his luck, that she wouldn't run from him, or make him leave. When she pulled him in her tone changed, maybe it was an accent pulled back by the memories, he wasn't sure.

As she spoke Dimitry closed his eyes and focused on her voice. He couldn't tell who she was talking about, if she was talking about herself or her mother. He didn't say anything, but mentally told himself to ask Tabaraamon about the sea gods. What ever she said he would accept, no matter how horrible. She had accepted him, despite knowing his crimes, because, what good was it to tell someone everything, only to recoil when they lay spoke of what they had done?

-Tula Nikos-

"She met a man from Rojya, who had managed to take some of her friends away on an escape to the Iron Curtain, and this young man thought he saw the girl who loved the sea so much behind the blue eyed monster. That was when I joined the military, and..." Her voice fell back to what appeared to be normal. "Well, the rest is history." She guided Dimitry's hand lower to feel the sea beneath her skin and clothing. "I've never changed. Even as a soldier, when I've killed on duty, I enjoy it. I find art in blood and silencing life like I always have. I have been drunk on the wine of Eris all these years and never been sober since. Can you feel it? I haven't heard my heart beat in years, but I know it's somewhere beneath the waves...what keeps me moral, what keeps me loyal to my duty as a soldier and not hanging on to the ocean like that girl I was so long ago."

Erick Bailee - King's Bodyguard - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Erick tried not to give Dimitry's exit too much thought, since it almost certainly wasn't his business, and was easily distracted by Ryouki's antics. He struggled to keep a straight face as he nodded to Usami, gesturing toward Ryouki with his fork. "Yeah, I wouldn't mess with him, Usami. Friendly duel or no, this one means business."

Kristen's attempt to start a conversation caused him to fight even harder not to laugh so as not to be rude, but her remark actually struck a bit of a chord with him and soon wiped the smile off his face. "I'm sorry to hear that. No offense, but we short people are the ones who need those skills the most - even if we have bodyguards. Did you enjoy those other classes at all, though?"

Evelyn Luciole - Secret Officer - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Evelyn's mouth tilted into a half-frown at Kristen's remark, but she didn't press any further. If the girl needed to say something, she would say it eventually - though, possibly not to her. With Asbel and Boraci still gone, she was beginning to worry a little, but the former did tend to disappear sometimes. It would be a shame if they didn't get to eat anything, granted, but she wasn't about to let these people out of her sight, and she didn't have the time or patience to babysit Asbel just then. Dimitry and Tula, on the other hand, she was definitely worried about. She rather liked the two of them, admittedly, but she didn't trust them in the least.

Asbel Sutherlin - Rebel Mercenary - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Asbel visibly flinched when Boraci snagged an entire ham off a tray in the kitchen, and he saw the cook's jaw go slack in pure shock. "Nice shot, partner." Asbel reached out to pat Boraci on the back but paused when he remembered there had recently been a rusty nail in it, left with his hand awkwardly hovering.

In an attempt at recovery, he snapped his fingers and pointed at the cook, who was leaning so far away from them by then that Asbel could have pushed him over with one finger. "You, my friend, have been a great help." Asbel patted him on the shoulder; sure enough, the man stumbled backwards and nearly fell over. "Keep at it." He turned to leave, but stopped just short of exiting the room to follow Boraci. "And if anyone asks, just tell them we're..." Yet another abrupt pause ensued. "Well, just tell them we're looking for ghosts, I suppose."

With that, he made his way to Boraci's side, eyeing the stairway that led to the upstairs rooms as they moved onward. "Nice young man, really. A bit awkward and secretive, but still nice." He shot Boraci a grin. "And I suppose the cook wasn't so terrible either. How's that ham?"

Dimitry Popov - Mercenary - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne

Dimitry held her tight with his free arm. "I can feel the sea." He whispered in her ear. "I've never seen it for myself, but I can feel it now and it is better than I imagined."

What a pair they were Dimitry thought, a mass murderer with a drinking problem and fucked up religion, the other a former leader of a criminal syndicate that redeemed herself only to fall from favour.

"I don't know what I would do with out you." He said softly as he slowly moved his hand through her hair. He didn't really care who saw, because what would it matter? If it made them think of him as a soft hearted romantic they would dangerously underestimate him.

Rankin - SVT13 - The wastes.

Rankin stepped off his motorcycle and waited for permission to board. Eventually the large light blinked on and off to signal that he could climb onto the sand ship. He kept his mask on, since there were spies everywhere, and he had the sort of face people remembered since it was on wanted posters throughout the majority of Grail-El territory.

A officer was waiting to escort him to the bridge and as they walked Rankin asked. "Why is the fleet this close to the border? Is war that close?"

"You didn't hear? A food shipment was destroyed, we aren't sure who did it, but if it was the 'Reachers we'll be ready for them." The officer responded as they walked.

"Hadn't heard, I didn't get the days events package before I left. Anything else?" Rankin asked.

"Yeah, something about sightings of shadowed ones moving through the wastes. But it's probably drunks mistaking adventurers for something more interesting." The officer said with a chuckle.

 Kristen Mernoth - Noble - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne.

Kristen shook her head violently. "My singing voice sounds like someone beating cats and caused two different tutors to quit. I didn't have good balance either, so I couldn't dance if I wanted to, and I certainly did not. Though I think my bad balance would mean I couldn't learn fencing either." She said with a smile.

"Thats why I wrote a lot."

-Tula Nikos-

Her free arm laced around Dimitry's waist and her fingers gripped onto his clothing. Tula smiled softly and chuckled. "I guess this is why Viktor doesn't really like you a whole lot. He sensed your danger and thought I'd fall back." Tula sighed, her grip on Dimitry's hand faltering. "Then I screwed up, on my own accord. My only regret is losing Alina." Glancing up into Dimitry's eyes, her soft smile did not fade. "Now, I'm thankful to have you. Full disclosure." She stood on her toes and kissed him warmly, tears pricking her eyes and falling without resistance.

--

-Ryouki Sato-

Usami scowled and-once again-found his grease stained fingers more interesting than the current conversation. Ryouki felt hurt, but tried to shrug it off, hoping that maybe sometime later he could try to reach his younger brother.

## Page 8

Dimitry Popov - Mercenary - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne.

"Ill be sure to apologize to him next time I see him." Dimitry joked before she kissed him. She was crying and he had no clue what to do, so he just kissed her back.

He heard a sound above him but didn't take any notice, it was probably just a bird. And what ever it was it probably didn't matter any way. He had to do a better job of living in the moment, he half thought to himself before concentrating on living in the moment.

Tabaraamon - Roof demon - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne.

Tabaraamon heard something going on below him, hushed voices and movement. He peeked over the edge to see Dimitry and Tula stuck together. He thought about yelling something along the lines of "get a room" but didn't since Dimitry would probably throw something at him. Like a brick, or cobble stone, or cursed dagger. He couldn't be sure.

He looked up at the sky and remembered that he had done that before and the stars wouldn't be may different. So he went back to balancing his sword on his teeth, he had been trying to do that for several centuries and figured that eventually he would get it. Fortunately he couldn't be hurt by his weapon since he poked himself in the eye.

-Tula Nikos-

She let go of his hand and wrapped both her arms around him, clinging on to his strong frame tight as her kisses grew more hungry and a little aggressive. Tula broke away once she felt a need to draw breath and looked Dimitry dead on as she tried to catch her breath. "That wasn't so bad, was it?" Tula managed through ragged breathing. "I know I'm glad to have gotten this off my chest." Her fingers clenched and unclenched in their grip on Dimitry's back, hesitant and shaking.

Dimitry Popov - Mercenary - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne.

Dimitry breathed deeply. "It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Finally getting that out..." He stopped mid sentence, having completely lost his train of thought. He held on to her, his breathing slow, calming himself down.

Once again he didn't know what to do, so he simply stood there, the two of them interlaced. He figured that they should probably go back inside, since people would be getting suspicious of they weren't already. But he wanted to stay out here, he was happy here. A dark thought crossed his mind, Boraci was gods knew where, and there was the possibility that the bat was listening, and would go tell Asbel.

Rankin - SVT13 - The wastes.

Rankin saluted the ship's captain and handed him the order. "Signed by the ambassador herself." He said.

The captain read the document and nodded "I will get this to my logistical support personnel as some as I can. In the mean time why don't you sit down and have a drink, you must be parched.

"No sir, my orders state that I am to return my headquarters as soon as this is delivered. My commander would not be happy if I do not make my best speed back." Rankin lied. He didn't want to stay since he would need to take his mask off and had no inclination to do so.

Silas Reid - Botanist and Odd Job Part-Timer - Mirfield, Lynne

"What do you want?"

"Is that any way to be greeting your sister?"

Silas crossed his arms and leaned back against the side of the building. He'd carried on with his walk when the cows began to make a ruckus, and was approaching the field he'd crossed when Ada decided to make her appearance. It'd been the first time he'd seen her in a year, yet he hadn't missed her. That was apart of growing up, wasn't it? Leaving your family behind. It wasn't anything special. He wanted to know why she was in Mirfield though. He knew without a doubt that their meeting wasn't a coincidence.

"Really?" she continued, "No, 'hi, Ada! Where've you been? Whatcha been up to? How's Noah?'"

He remained silent.

Ada mirrored the look he was giving her. "Fine. I saw what happened at Glassvale and wanted to make sure you were okay."

"You saw?" Silas bellowed, quick to pick up the connection. The muscles on his neck grew taut. "Is that what you've been doing lately? Working with the rebels?"

Ada shrank back when Silas marched over to her, startled, but soon regained her footing. They stood over each other, her ire rising to match his. "Don't you dare lump those Army bastards with‒" She stopped herself, inhaling deeply through her nose. "You know what? This was a mistake."

Ada turned to leave, but Silas wouldn't have it, wrapping a hand tightly around the crook of her arm. "Whatever it is you're involved in," he said, his voice fierce, "cut your ties this instant. Don't you see that if we stay the course, the kingdom might just descend into pure anarchy? They are trying to bring about a change we don't need, causing problems we never had before."

Ada stared at him, long and hard, before snickering, "You really haven't changed." She shook him off, and he let her slip away, confounded by her words.

Boraci - Ghostbuster - Midfield, Lynne

I shrugged, ham pieces hanging out of the sides of my mouth. By the time we had reached the end of the hallway, any trace of the ham was gone, except for the lingering smell.

"Reasonable people, I guess. That cook, though, made a supreme ham." It might've just been my hunger, but it was like food from heaven. The pit of my stomach reminded me that it wasn't going to sustain me for long, but it'd do.

I started ascending the steps. They creaked and squeaked in every possible tone. The second floor was a welcome silence, although it became sort of eerie. The lamps along the walls were dim, the oil low. I couldn't see or hear anything strange.

"That was sort of anticlimactic."

-Tula Nikos-

"Well, do you want to go back or stay out here? It's starting to get dark." Tula scowled coquettishly. "But there are people back there." She laughed and leaned against Dimitry's chest. "They aren't terrible people though, they're nice people, interesting people. Not necessarily good, but nice."

The darkening sky left a purplish tint over the land and the lamps from outside the inn allowed Tula a degree of night vision, but her eyes were closed, in the moment.

Dimitry Popov- Mercenary - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne.

Dimitry smiled and shrugged. "I don't know. I think we should, but I don't want to. I guess it's your choice."

He lightly ran a hand down her side, he was tired, some what dehydrated, his arms were sore, but he was at peace. Someplace he hadn't been in decades.

Tabaraamon - Roof Demon - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne.

Tabaraamon heard people in the floor below so he looked down into a window. Asbel and Boraci were walking around like they were hunting for a poisonous snake. He thought about breaking a window and jumping on one of them, but he doubted they would think it as funny as he would.

Also the window would need to be replaced, and since he didn't have any money Dimitry would have to do it, and probably make him go on a scouting mission through abandoned tunnels in the wastes, which would be incredibly dull.

Erick Bailee - King's Bodyguard - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Erick couldn't help chuckling a little, but he understood where Kristen was coming from. "Guess it all worked out in the end, then! You were just destined for something bigger," he teased, lowering the tone of his voice to something playfully dramatic. "And if you're interested, you could always learn to shoot. I've been meaning to for a long time, but I never got around to anything more than the basics."

When the conversation came to a momentary lull, Erick felt something was amiss, and his gaze soon came to rest on Usami. Feeling a twinge of guilt for poking fun at him, Erick's eyes lowered and he tried to spark another conversation that might catch his attention again. He smiled at Evelyn, deciding their plan of action for the night was still a bit hazy. "So if we do get into Fairhaven,"

"When we get into Fairhaven," she corrected him, not so much as glancing up from her food while she ate.

Erick's mouth shifted into a testy frown. "When we get into Fairhaven, Miss Luciole, where will you be leaving us? Not everyone's got a home base there, if you know what I mean."

Evelyn paused, holding a spoonful of food a few inches above the bowl. "Another inn, perhaps. Unless I decide to turn you all over to the knights and make you their responsibility rather than mine."

Erick barely concealed a smirk behind a mouthful of fish. "If that was supposed to be a threat, it was pretty weak."

Asbel Sutherlin - Spooooookyyyy~ - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne

Asbel was torn between staying close to Boraci and walking as slowly as possible, but the top of the stairs did seem a bit...nonthreatening. All the rooms were empty as well, so at least they wouldn't have to worry about being run off by a traveler trying to get some shuteye. Asbel sighed, unintentionally coming off as more relieved than disappointed. "It was, wasn't it?"

No sooner had he finished his sentence than a sharp, loud slamming noise proved him wrong, causing his shoulders to jump slightly and his eyes to frantically scan the hallway. He expected to see that one of the doors had been shut, but they didn't appear to have moved at all. Had the cook been telling the truth? "Is someone up here?" Asbel called out, trying to keep his voice just quiet enough to avoid alarming anyone downstairs, and received no response. It took him a while to steel himself, but he eventually managed to take a few steps forward. "I think it came from one of the rooms at the end of the hall."

Asbel paused and stared up at Boraci, genuinely worried. "Do you think it's really haunted?"

-Usami Sato-

His eyes flitted up from his stained hands to listen in and then added into the conversation. "I'm pretty sure there's a significant lack of rebel comrades we can actually come across for orders, so I would assume my sisters and I will go undercover."
Taiyo frowned. "We can stay with Ryouki and Erick-" She turned to the eldest. "That is, if you're alright with it."
Ryouki sighed. "We wouldn't have room. The flat is rather small."
Usami's youngest sister pouted briefly. "Damn."
"We also have responsibility to the revolution, Taiyo." Usami reminded Taiyo. "Going into another inn is our only option."

--

-Tula Nikos-

She sighed at his touch. "Let's stay out here. I wonder if we'll see the stars out here."

"You hardly see stars in Rojya." Tula added. "All the machinery and industry being generated has blacked out some of the stars at night. I remember, long ago, I could point out every constellation and star from every story. Leo, Sirius, Virgo, Cygnus..." With a grin, she looked up into Dimitry's eyes. "Orion. Orion was a hunter, a demigod born of Poseidon the sea God and Euryale, daughter of the King Minos, and they said because of his lineage, he could walk on the waves." The night sky began to emerge, and with it small beams of light dotted it in spontaneous patterns. Tula's grin widened and she pointed out into the space. "There he is! See those green ones all in a row? That's Orion's Belt, and that red star where his left shoulder is is called Betelgeuse. It was named by a scientist from Arabya."

Boraci - Twilight Zone

It was pretty vacant up on the top floor. The doors were open, as if perpetually visited by housekeeping. That alone was a strange. Wouldn't the innkeeper want his rooms to be locked?

I flinched when a loud slam came from the back, as pointed out by Asbel.

"Do you think it's really haunted?" he asked.

"It's a possibility, I guess." I scanned the area again, getting... ah, yes, Tabaarom. He was a ghost of sorts, but he hasn't caused the noise. I began forward, the floor creaking under my weight. "Come on, scaredy cat."

## Page 9

Kristen Mernoth - Noble - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne.

"I've never liked guns. They sort of scare me..." she trailed off when Evelyn startedspeaking. She had always thought fire arms were the worst thing about war, they took all the skill and honor out of it. A knight with years of training could be killed by a coward with a rifle, and that wasn't right, she thought.

It looked like at least some of the people in this room might agree with her, now that the Grail man was gone.

She watched the others, trying to find out more about them from their interactions, it was something her father had taught her, and she thought she was good at it.

Dimitry Popov - Mercenary - Out side of the Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne.

Dimitry looked into the sky. "Back home I rarely saw the stars. When I was on a ship I couldn't seem them past the running lights and the ship its self. When I was in the wastes I rarely looked up, I was worried about what was on the ground. Sometimes I worry that they will be blotted out by all the industry that is being built."

He pointed to a group in the north. "Those are called the mouths of heaven's. I think every one else calls them the big dipper and the little dipper, which makes much more sense. That one bright star the bigger one of the mouths is called the sigal star, and is always to the north. Though I suppose you already knew that."

Dimitry didn't really have any idea of the stars and their patterns, he knew plenty of old poems and bits from myths but never anything celestial. He looked above him and felt tinny, everyone of the those stars could swallow this orb they lived on and barely change.

-Tula Nikos-

She nodded. "I don't mind hearing it again from you. My lead girls and I knew the stars like the backs of our hands. It's how we navigated Grecia-not that it's much of a stretch, Grecia is rather small and spread out."

Tula traced the stars of what Dimitry identified to be the Big Dipper with her finger, and then Orion, and others she identified as she went on. "Canis Major...Taurus...Gemini...they make me feel so small, like our world is nothing."

Dimitry Popov - Mercenary - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne.

"I know how you feel. I don't know if it's depressing or uplifting. It makes all our actions seem meaningless, the good, the bad, it doesn't matter when you compare them with the heavens above us. And I find some piece in that."

"The navigation officer in my unit used the stars to find his way, I don't know how exactly, it involved something he called a sextant, and he measured distances between the stars. He wasn't very good at it." Dimitry said and laughed a little at the memory of Alexi chewing Rankin out when they ended up fifty miles away from their destination.

Erick Bailee - King's Bodyguard - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Erick nodded to Kristen. "I'm sure you're not the only one. I'm not scared of using them, per say - just when they're in someone else's hands." He laughed, but a faint trace of concern crept into his expression when he noticed Evelyn.

She sighed and shook her head at Ryouki's siblings. "Honestly, the fact that you would say things like that in front of a police officer worries me. I don't know how you've survived this long with such poor judgment."

Erick rolled his eyes, stifling another laugh. "Oh, and I guess you're going to turn them in for treason, huh?"

"That's not the point. I could if I wanted to."

Erick grinned as if Evelyn had fallen into some sort of trap and pointed to her with his fork. "But you won't turn them in. Because you're one of the good guys."

Evelyn's eyelids drooped as she stared at Erick, her mouth pressed into a thin line. "Please. That kind of mentality is exactly what I'm talking about."

"We can all handle ourselves, I think." He looked to Usami and the twins. "Don't let your job make you suspicious of everyone. That's not a fun place to be."

Asbel Sutherlin - Terrified - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Asbel pouted in Boraci's general direction after being called a scaredy-cat, resisting the temptation to walk a small distance behind him. Boraci was right, admittedly, but there was no need to bring attention to it. He peeked through each doorway they passed, all of them wide open, and saw nothing but the shadowy outlines of furniture. The end of the hallway yielded no immediate clues to the source of the noise, and Asbel saw no other choice than to enter the room it seemed to have come from.

He constantly checked to make sure Boraci was still nearby as he made his way inside. The room was nearly identical to the one Leif was in, arranged in much the same way with the same sort of plain but sturdy furnishings. He saw no doors that could have slammed shut to create the noise, but the bedside table had a large drawer that could have done the job. He turned around and looked to Boraci again, taking a few steps backward toward the center of the room. "The sound did come from here, didn't it? I wonder if it's the same-" Asbel's sentence abruptly cut off when the room's door shut behind them with a huge amount of force, and his breath caught in his throat. "Um..."

-Tsukiko Sato-

Tsukiko flushed at Evelyn's remark on Usami's behavior. At Erick's remark, she tensed. "We've been suspicious of the world the moment we saw what the revolution actually stood for-or at least, I have."
Taiyo placed a hand on her shoulder, meant to be reassuring, but seemed to hold no effect as the older twin continued. "All I had were Tai, Niichan, and our parents...at least for a little while. It's hard..." Her voice dropped lower, targeted only to the two men in front of her. "Do you mean what you're saying? That miss Evelyn is good?"

--

-Tula Nikos-

Tula laughed softly. "He sounds like a weak navigator, then. Of course, I can say the same-sextants were somewhat difficult to grasp. A woman named Astakos was my navigator. She excelled and read the stars like it was child's play."

Silas Reid - Botanist and Odd Job Part-Timer - The Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Silas went back to the inn at a brisk pace, determined to remain unaffected by Ada’s unexpected visit. If she wanted to ignore his warnings because of whatever animosity she still had against him, that was her problem. She was a grown woman now, who could make her own grown-up decisions.

He ran a hand over his hair as he crossed the tavern, glancing over once to the group to see if they were still there, before proceeding to the second floor. It was decided. He would go with them. But before he would check out, he wanted to make sure his room was in order.

As he neared the end of the hall, he could just make out the outlines of Mr. Sutherlin and the curious-looking individual draped in a cloak inside a dark room, facing away from him and seemingly preoccupied with something he couldn't immediately figure out. Were they looking for something? The atmosphere around them seemed unusually tense, and Silas felt inclined to intervene, despite the red flags that advised him against it.

“What are you two doing?” he asked with tired eyes.

The door then slammed shut. Silas blinked, unsure of what to make of what just happened, and hastily continued to go about his business. Don't get involved, don't get involved, don't get involved.

Dimitry Popov - Mercenary - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne.

Dimitry nodded. "Yeah, he wasn't happy about his job. Mostly because he was the one blamed for every little miscalculation, even when it was marked wrong on the maps. He was one hell of a demo man though, could bring a cave system down with two charges, or cut a hole in a fifty foot stone wall in less then five minutes."

"You know, you've never really told me how you like to fight, I mean my preferred method is obvious by the rifle on my back. Because well... From the look of how things are going you're going to need a weapon." He somehow doubted she just beat people with her bare fists.

Kristen Mernoth - Noble - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne.

Kristen sort of folded in on herself, she had forgotten that she was surrounded by people that might be considered traitors, and just being around them could earn her suspicion from the government. She heard a great deal of crashing about from upstairs and wondered what was going on to cause it. Maybe some of the other patrons were getting in a fight.

-Tula Nikos-

"I probably do." Tula agreed. "I managed hand-to-hand to get away from the guards who brought me here, but if I'm going to defend myself while I'm still exiled away, a weapon would be nice."

"Tridents." She clarified. "Tridents are definitely my thing. Naturally, I know guns and advanced swordplay thanks to the military, but I've always felt at home with a trident or a harpoon. Not that we'd find them in Falcon's Reach of course."

Dimitry Popov - You know what he does - You know where he is.

"We might be able to find a harpoon, since there is a lot of fishing in Lynne. I doubt they will have tridents, and I'm going to assume that a pitchfork wouldn't work. Farming implements rarely make good weapons."

Dimitry bent over and yanked the fighting knife he kept in his boot out of said footwear "It's not much, but it's better than nothing. I keep it as a back up, but you'll need it more than I do."

He had thought about lending her his revolver, but since its holster was sewn onto his belt he couldn't give it to her without also giving her his cursed dagger and five of his spare rifle magazines, and forcing him to walk with one hand always pulling his pants up. He doubted they would get in any fights for a while, they were a big group, well armed, and they had a Shadowed One and bat human thing, which counted for something.

## Page 10

Erick Bailee - King's Bodyguard - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Erick's eyes softened as Tsukiko explained her stance on the matter, his smile having disintegrated, and he gave a solemn nod in response to her question. "Yeah, I mean it. I stand by everything else I said too." Just like that, his smile bounced back. "But Evelyn? She just wanted to scare you." Erick's attention was caught when he heard Evelyn turn in her seat a little, looking over her shoulder.

"Dimitry and Tula are taking a while," she realized.

Erick gasped mockingly and raised his hands as if in shock. "They've eloped!"

Evelyn's head tilted slightly to one side. "If so, their timing is awful."

Asbel Sutherlin - Expecting the worst - Friendly(?) Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Asbel wrung his hands, trying to keep up a composed front. This had been his idea to begin with, and he did still want to find out what was going on up here, but he hadn't expected things to actually get this bizarre. Just before the door slammed, he caught sight of Silas approaching the doorway, curious and perhaps a little annoyed.

Asbel took a cautious step forward, raising his voice slightly in the hopes of being heard past the door. "Oh, not much of anything." Asbel leaned his shoulder against the door and tried to open it, more out of curiosity than anything. The doorknob turned, but the door itself remained stuck in place. "If you feel like lending us a hand, though..." Asbel slammed his shoulder against the door with all his strength, but it only gave a slight rattle. "It seems we're a bit stuck."

Asbel stepped back from the door and turned to Boraci with a sheepish smile, throwing his hands out to his sides. "I didn't feel a draft. Did you?" Attempting to gauge his reaction, Asbel paused when he caught a strange flicker of movement over Boraci's right shoulder. Upon closer inspection, it appeared something was lightly tugging at the hood of his cloak. Asbel opened his mouth to speak, but just as soon as he did, the rustling fabric fell still again. He smirked, his eyes slowly moving over every inch of the room. "Are you curious, or was that meant to be frightening?"

Boraci - THAT IS MAh-not mahogany - Mirfield, Lynne

Asbel tried the door, even called for that peach-haired man's assistance, but I could hear his footsteps already receding to another room. I groaned internally, sensing this was because he had decided to hang around us for a bit for his own protection. Like a leech, that one.

"No drafts..." I responded, then feeling a tug on my hood. I whipped around, a fist grasping nothing but air. My radar picked up trace figures of something. Nothing terribly large, as that would have been implausible in a room this size.

Maybe even ghosts were afraid of the Wastes.

"Really?" I said, exasperated. "If you're going to be staying at such a traveled inn, you have to step up your game."

Silas Reid - The Wet-Blanket Skeptic - The Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Silas gave a pause when he noticed the door to his room was ajar. He tentatively reached out to turn the knob before withdrawing to put a hand on his cheek. He was quite sure he had locked it. Must have been thieves. He knew those sneaky little bastards would try to break in when his guard was down sometime during the night. At least he didn't really have anything valuable with him.

He heard Mr. Sutherlin's muffled voice and a bang, drawing his attention back to the two. "Stuck?" That ruled out them rudely slamming the door on him. Maybe a gust of wind had come from the window.

For a moment back there, he'd thought the door closed on its own, maybe by some ridiculous supernatural entity. But ghosts, in the traditional sense, didn't exist.

Perhaps one might argue that there were such things as Grinning "Ghosts" and Nightmares, but he stubbornly believed they would never get this far into the kingdom—the last Awakening was over—and they were hardly mysterious creatures of magic. Falcon's Reach may be behind and conservative in their views, but he liked to think that they were no longer trapped in such archaic thinking. Already, its researchers were working on cracking the biological code behind their transparency and shapeshifting abilities.

Taking one last look at his room, Silas walked over, squinted at their door, and tried the knob. "Can't you unlock it from the inside?" He placed his free hand flat on its surface and pushed, yet to no avail. Damn thing must really be jammed.

"Maybe I should call the innkeeper..." he mumbled, leaning his forehead against the wood. Yet as soon as the words left his mouth, the door fell open and he tumbled inside. He yelped in surprise, landing painfully on his face, and heard the door shut behind him.

"Very funny," he drawled, picking himself off the floor. As if his day wasn't bad enough. "Have anything else for me up your sleeve?"

-Ryouki Sato-

At Erick's dramatic response, Ryouki couldn't help but laugh, despite the situation. His sisters reacted in opposition-Tsukiko rolled her eyes and lay her head to balance in one hand, her short, choppy hair falling with Gravity. Taiyo, on the other hand, wore a cheeky grin. "Maybe she took him away to Grecia."
"Or maybe they're just standing there and talking." Tsukiko said after she craned her head back to try and catch a small glimpse out the window that was further than she had thought. "Stupid couple things like that."
"Ugh, you're so un-romantic!" Taiyo pouted.
Ryouki shrugged and tried to ease Tsukiko's tension. "Romance isn't stupid, Tsukiko. They haven't had a moment alone for a long time, I assume. Though, it has dragged on quite a bit..."

--

-Tula Nikos-

She clasped the knife in her hand firmly and then smiled. "I can work with this." Her free finger ran delicately over-but not on top of-the beginning of the blade's edge in a pensive way. "I do hope, I can wrangle up a weapon somehow. If I had 'Reacher currency on me instead of my useless rubles, maybe I could commission a weapon from those siblings or something." Tula clasped the knife in one hand and took Dimitry's in the other. "Let's go in, it's starting to get darker. I can't even see you without whatever light the stars have given us."

Asbel Sutherlin - Nope. Nopenopenopenope - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Asbel started to say something else to Boraci when Silas stumbled into the room, landing flat on his face, and the door once again appeared to shut of its own free will. Asbel cringed; that sounded like it hurt. He reached out as if offering to help Silas to his feet but stopped halfway, hesitant after he realized the man probably thought himself the victim of some cruel prank. "Do you see anyone laughing, Mr. Reid?" Asbel raised his eyebrows at him before directing a glare at the rest of the room.

Why would something or someone want to trap them in there? Could it be a Mare somehow living out of the Wastes, hoping to scare them to death? If so, it wasn't doing a very good job. In the corner of the room, however, concealed by shadow, Asbel suddenly caught sight of a large humanoid figure, its back against the wall and its arms crossed. It shook its head as if in disapproval, observing them in silence. Asbel didn't see a grin or any claws, so he could only assume this wasn't a Grinning Ghost, but the atmosphere around this person was off in some way; it most certainly was not a living human.

Asbel's heart began to pound, and he tensed where he stood. In a voice weathered with age and smoke, strikingly deep and much quieter than it seemed in that silent room, Asbel heard the apparition speak. "Step up my game? Is that a challenge?"

Evelyn Luciole - Secret Officer - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Evelyn pushed her now empty bowl forward, folding her arms along the edge of the table. "We can wait a while longer. As long as they haven't run off, which I seriously doubt they're stupid enough to do, I don't mind. Same goes for Boraci and Mr. Sutherlin. When they get back and everyone is ready to go, we'll see how Leif is doing. If he hasn't gotten much worse, we'll find the others and get ourselves to the border - take a look at exactly what kind of situation we're dealing with."

"It sounds simple," Erick muttered, "but something tells me it actually isn't."

Evelyn sighed. "The story of my life."

Erick squinted at Evelyn, trying to figure out how much of that statement had been a joke. "This'll all get sorted out in the end, you know."

"I'm sure it will. It's the process of sorting it out that worries me."

Dimitry Popov -  Mercenary - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne.

Dimitry nodded. "They are probably wondering where we went." The secret police weren't very trusting, and might worry that they were reporting to the rebels, and they seemed suspicious of him and Tula already. The two of them would seem suspicious, a criminal wanted by the entire Grail-El governmental - military complex with ties to a rouge special activities unit, and his girlfriend the former bodyguard of the Rojyan ambassador, banished from Fairhaven for enticing a riot that resulted in the deaths of several citizens of Falcon's Reach, yeah they weren't suspicious at all.
And to make matters worse the king hated both of them, at least that's what Dimitry had gathered, which was sort of odd since he had helped save the king's blasted kingdom.

He pushed the door open in time to catch the end of Evelyn's response to Erick. "- sorting it out that worries me."

"Sort what out?" Dimitry asked causally.

Jessica Stuart - Ambassador - Embassy, Fairhaven.

Jessica finished writing the lengthy report to the First Fleet. Normally the daily report was not a big deal, less than a page. Today she had to report on the train bombing, the riots, the possible connection between the riots and Rojya or Grail terrorists. She also requested increased security forces just in case the next group that tried to breach the embassy happened to be part of the Falcon's Reach military.

Finally she requested more information on her father's death, especially the investigation group that had uncovered the stolen gold, something about the man who had forced her at knife point to sign a document reminded her of one of the members of that group. Maybe she was just delusional, but if she wasn't, it would be good to find out.

Lastly she wanted more information about a location known as Povolta that had shown up on several recent high level messages that had contained discussions on assisting Falcon's Reach contain its unrest. She didn't think Povolta was inside Falcon's Reach, but there were a bunch of little towns.

Silas Reid - Botanist and Odd Job Part-Timer - The Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

True, no one was laughing, but that could mean the charade had just begun. It wasn't like he hadn't had someone set up elaborate means to make him look like a fool before.

As he dusted off his clothes and rubbed at the sides of his face, he concentrated on letting his eyes adjust to the darkness of the room. The better his eyesight was, the better he could avoid any surprises.

At first, he could find nothing unusual. By all appearances, the three of them were standing in a regular room of the inn. So far, so good. He shifted his focus on the occupants, who he could make out no better than when he was in the hallway. Yet he could tell that they still seemed distracted. He noticed Mr. Sutherlin in particular was staring at something in the corner of the room.

"Step up my game?" an otherworldly voice spoke. "Is that a challenge?"

He swallowed as he beheld the stranger. If he thought the cloaked figure was creepy, this one was absolutely frightening. "Oh, god." His chest caved, his lips flattening into a thin line. "If this is a joke, you've got me, okay?" To the stranger, he said, "What do you want?"

Boraci - Well, poop. - Mirfield, Lynne

"This is not a joke," I replied quietly, slightly shocked by the sudden appearance of a shadowy figure. How come I hadn't seen it before? It wasn't anything like I'd seen before. Maybe it was a ghost, a bonafide, pissed spirit.

It was human in structure, as far as I could tell, but almost as tall as me. It seemed to be trying to almost scold us for not being properly terrified and jumping out the window. That was always an option. My stomach grumbled softly, bits of ham making their last lap. The game was over, and we had a haunting on our hands.

I decided to mimick the apparition. I leaned up against the wall, arms folded, red eyes like two drops of blood.

"It most certainly is a challenge," I spat, some acidic saliva landing near its feet.

-Tula Nikos-

She had laced her fingers into Dimitry's and walked at his side back into the inn, now sharing the new curiosity as to what the conversation had become within the group. Everything had seemed like suddenly broken tension since Tula and Dimitry had entered. Taiyo had flashed her a somewhat cheeky smile when she registered Tula's appearance, making her smile in response in a way to silently respond, keeping the more pressing conversation first priority.

Asbel Sutherlin - Solving Mysteries - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Asbel found himself drawn to the nearest wall, closer to Boraci and Silas, as the apparition stepped out of the shadows. It appeared to be a grown man, similar in height to Asbel and more well-built, but the rest of his features were a blur, like running ink. This ghost's attention briefly settled on Silas and his question before his dull, pale eyes lowered to the small glob of saliva on the floor before him. "You..." He started to speak but trailed off, taking a few steps in Boraci's direction and leaning toward him for a moment or two. "You smell kind of like the Wastes," seemed to be his only thoughts on Boraci's challenge.

Asbel felt the blurry figure's eyes on him and shrank where he stood, but the ghost continued his train of thought without paying the disturbed reaction any mind. "I don't want anything but a few minutes of your time." The figure's voice was slow and its tone wandered as he spoke; Asbel couldn't help wondering if this ghost might be a bit on the loopy side. "The innkeeper and most of her guests often ignore me, you see..."

Asbel waited for the ghost to finish making his point, but he seemed to be taking his time, so Asbel reluctantly came forward with one of his own. "Not to be rude, but who and what are you exactly?"

The apparition paused, empty gray eyes fixed on Asbel. "That's all pretty hazy. All I know is that I used to be a hunter and now I'm not. That damn fishwife of an innkeeper out there sold all my weapons after I was dead - and everything else besides the clothes on my back, which aren't much good to me now."

Evelyn Luciole - Secret Officer - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Evelyn turned in her seat again, finding herself face to faces with Dimitry and Tula. "Ah. Speak of the devil." She faced forward again. "Getting everyone out of here and wherever they need to be," she answered. "Erick seems to think it's going to be more complicated than simply going through the steps of a plan, and I agree with him. The situation between Lynne and Fairhaven is going to be in constant flux, so a foolproof plan is out of the question - at least until we know more."

Evelyn stared down at the table for a short time, contemplating this, before looking up to Dimitry and Tula. "We were beginning to wonder if you had run away to Grecia together."

## Page 11

Dimitry Popov - Dont look at him funny - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne.

Dimitry cocked an eyebrow before saying "Well, it does seem like a good idea, but for now we are going to stick with you lot. Sorry to disappoint you."

"As for the problem of everything being in flux, well,  I can't offer a magic bullet, but I can offer plenty normal ones if we get in trouble. I sort of doubt we will have many problems with the rebels, we are a large and well armed group leaving their territory, which is normally a good thing. I expect the guards won't be a problem, we've got a good number of secret police, and one of the kings personal bodyguards to boot. They might not like it, but they will probably let us past."

He noticed the small red headed woman looking at him intently, too intently to be just listening. His irritable part came out and he sort of snapped at her. "What are you looking at? Never seen a Grail before?"

She jolted, seemingly startled at his sudden outburst. "No! Sorry! You just looked familiar."

"Yeah, 'cause I'm one of the so called heroes, you want my autograph?" Dimitry said sarcastically but with out the venom that normally went hand in hand with his sarcasm.

"No... Sorry... Didn't mean any offense." She stammered.

"None taken, I just don't like people eyeing me. It normally means they are thinking about taking a shot at me." He responded in a level tone. He had been pretty harsh, but he never had liked people watching him intently.

Matthew Barton - Outlaw - Hydris

Matthew lay down in the cot of the inn he was staying in. He hoped that tomorrow he would find some answers to the man who had threatened his life. And maybe the Grail would want him to work for him, he did have some deep ties in the local underworld, and he had heard that their government recruited people with criminal backgrounds, often as spies and sometimes as assassins. He wouldn't do that, but he could help find people that would be willing to do Grail-El dirty work if the pay was good enough.

Outside he heard people marching, chanting against the king, Rojya, and the sand people. He had always hated this city, it was so stuffy, full of the worst sorts of people, and swarming with police and guards. At least there were plenty of wealthy people to rob.

-Tula Nikos-

She cleared her throat in a vaguely scolding manner towards Dimitry, and struggled not blushing at the insinuation that the two of them had eloped. "Calm down, tiger. You can have a whole session later if you want." Tula matched the sarcastic tone, but it came out slightly playful.

Tula's attention directed towards Evelyn. "If you want a good time to make everything speedy, it's pitch black outside presently."

This made her wonder if Ryan had gotten back to Viktor and Alina safely by then.

Silas Reid - Botanist and Odd Job Part-Timer - The Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Silas shivered as he felt the stranger's eyes on him, but he found the will to stay put and listen to their conversation in silence, his mind hanging onto a particular phrase in his story. "'After you were dead,'" he said aloud. "I see. Well," he clasped his hands together, "I'm leaving."

He scurried to the door and pulled on the knob with renewed vigor, unleashing a torrid of curses under his breath as he did. As if he would give a few minutes of his time to be trapped in a room with-with whatever they all were! The cloaked, possibly disfigured, figure had acid spit, and the stranger was a crazed man who thought he was a ghost. Silas admitted he may look the part, but there must be some other, much more reasonable reason for it. The room was dark, and he was tired. The possibilities were endless! With those two there, who knew what Mr. Sutherlin as hiding?

They could appease the stranger's loneliness. He was getting out of there.

However, the door still refused to budge, just as before. He stepped back. Although the window looked awfully tempting, he would not jump out of it, as he were some scoundrel caught doing something he shouldn't. With how his luck was turning out, he would probably die from the fall too. Or end up crippled for the rest of his life.

"Have you ever thought about asking us to talk to you instead of, I don't know, imprisoning us?"

Asbel Sutherlin - Rebel Mercenary - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

The ghost's brow furrowed at Silas' question, which seemed to discourage him. "I didn't want to risk you running away. Most do. The last one was such a loudmouthed, whiny brat that I didn't see the point in trying, though." He looked to Boraci, mirroring the smirk he had directed at Silas. "I'm not gonna stop you if you do, because that sounds hilarious, but I really was just looking for a little friendly company."

Asbel smiled sheepishly and turned toward Silas, who was beginning to look like a panicked rabbit in a cage. "You're in the company of two seasoned war heroes and you're still nervous? Perhaps there's just no helping you, Mr. Reid," he teased.

"War heroes," the ghost repeated, sounding skeptical. "What war?"

Caught entirely off guard, Asbel tripped over his words for a few seconds before he could get out a response. "The one where we stopped the Wastes from destroying this kingdom. Five years ago."

The ghost's eyes seemed to glimmer and he grinned at Asbel, his face becoming slightly clearer. "I was wondering why this inn had been standing for so long! You know, I used to hunt hellhounds up north when that whole thing started - even quit my old job!"

Asbel frowned. "There used to be a lot of money in that if you were good at it. The innkeeper must have seen your weapons and put two and two together."

"Huh? No, no, she didn't lay a finger on me. Must have gotten sick out in the Wastes or something. I just remember feeling strange, trying to go back home, but I got too confused - couldn't remember how to get there - so I stopped to rest here. Then..." He shrugged. "Whatever happened after that is a blur." He glanced down at his own hazy person. "Heh. I've asked the innkeeper, but she never answers." The ghost's voice had grown quieter, and his enthusiasm seemed to lose its previous momentum. "Well, anyway, you three are probably tired, so I won't keep you." He nodded toward the door to illustrate his point, presumably having released his hold on it. "If you ever stop by the Friendly Skeleton again, maybe you'll pay the upstairs rooms another visit?"

Erick Bailee - King's Bodyguard - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Erick tensed slightly at the mention of his profession by Dimitry, hoping Ryouki's siblings had overlooked it, but he had convinced himself some time ago not to get himself too worked up over that. The truth would come out sooner or later anyway. After the brief spat between Dimitry and Kristen, his eyes lifted from the table toward the latter, and he gave her a light pat on the shoulder. "Don't take it personally. I think we're all a little uptight after everything we've been through today." He then looked to Evelyn, donning a smile. "So! Are we done here?"

With an acknowledging nod in Tula's direction, Evelyn rose from her seat. "I'd say so. Let's get Leif situated, track down Asbel and Boraci, then get out of here. Dimitry, thank you for paying." With that, she headed for Leif's room, trying to remember exact location of the door she had seen Boraci enter. Once she was fairly sure she had the right one, she opened it just wide enough to peer into the room and see if Leif was still asleep.

Leif Regnar - Somewhat irritated man log - The Friendly Skeleton inn, Lynne.

Leif heard the door open and turned his head slightly so he wouldn't only be looking at the new comer out of the corner of his eyes.

"Are we leaving yet?" He rumbled. He had slept lightly for a little while, but then someone started slamming about above him, waking him up. He hoped for their sake he never found out who it was, since he was less than forgiving of that sort of offense.

At least the food had agreed with him, which it often did not, lacking the quantities of fish and meat he was used to. The more annoying issue was the lack of alcohol, and while he didn't go through life drunk all the time, he did prefer to have something in his blood when injured.

Ah, it was the leader of the group that rescue them, strange woman, then again all the women around here were strange to him. Different mind set he guessed. The women back home ran most of everything while the men were at sea, and sometimes even when their husbands were around.

Kristen Mernoth - Noble - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne.

Kristen smiled slightly. "If you say so. You know him better than I do." Though she wasn't savoring any of the time she would be spending around the Grail solider.

"You know, I thought he would be much taller. Same with you." She said to Erick, hoping this wouldn't embarrass him. "None of the reports quite get either of you right." She said to

Almost everything the books said about the heroes seemed flawed in one way or another. At least the heroes she saw sitting around this table or heard crashing about upstairs. Maybe Alice or Poppy were more like the books, she often wondered what really happened, especially to those that never came back. It wasn't discussed, and if the rumors were right a writer who had asked about Hiram Wood had ended up in a ditch with a broken nose and a concussion. Of course it could all be some hoax, there were many books that tried to discredit the heroes, so it was perfectly possible the whole episode had been made up.

Tabaraamon - Shadowed One - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne.

Tabaraamon did the closest thing he could to sleeping, that being resting his arm over his eyes so he couldn't see the world around him. He couldn't fall asleep, and Dimitry often Tabaraamon's irritability on his lack of sleep.

He ignored the noise coming from below, he didn't want to know, since if he did know he might intervene, and he didn't want to intervene, since that typically resulted in more problems then it solved, and those had to be solved, which would result in more problems, on and on. He had decided long ago that unless he had too do something or it would be to his benefit he wouldn't do it. Apathy worked, it had worked for two centuries, and would probably work for as long as he walked this earth. And after that, since who knew what the after life was.

-Ryouki Sato-

Overhearing Kristen, Ryouki pitched in with lighthearted sarcasm. "I'm glad I went unnoticed, they would have thought I was probably very short if getting height incorrect is the trend."

He noticed Usami and Taiyo tensing visibly at the nod to the fact that Ryouki's boyfriend happened to be the King's bodyguard and dreaded the talking to he might get from Usami at some point. He dreaded that his association might drive one more wedge into their once close bond that seemed to start stitching itself together.

Eventually, Taiyo added in. "They never mention Klaus or Klein or whatever Bastien's new person is. It was always Bastien Fen that they would talk about because he was already in old articles and periodic papers for being so into the blood mafia shit he did."
"Don't remind me." Ryouki intoned in a joking spirit, but couldn't hide the hollow tone in his voice that had been affected by his memories of the Kyuuketsuki. He adjusted his right shoulder somewhat, feeling an aching soreness near his neck. "He's a better man now though, I would think. Klaus guards the queen of Rojya after all."

Tula seemed to overhear this and nodded. "He's not a total dick, if that's what you're on about." She laughed softly. "Klaus takes good care of her, and the ghost girl as well, even if he like to give her a hard time and spook her out of her wits. Czarina Andreyevich primarily keeps him in line when that happens."

Silas Reid - Despicable Old Man - The Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Silas furrowed his brow in confusion. "Two war heroes?"

He shook his head and turned his attention back to the stranger when he dared to suggest coming again for friendly little visits. "Oh no, I refuse to be guilt-tripped into this or believe this outrageous story of yours!" He could feel the rage, fear and frustration that gathered over the course of the day threaten to burst yet again. Had he really stepped on the train that morning, thinking something might actually be going smoothly for once?

Once he heard the door unlock, he wasted no time opening it and marched into the hall. Hang the rebels, Ada, and ghost man!

Boraci - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

I couldn't help but feel for the spirit. At least a little bit. He was lonely, then. Just plain loneliness. That was sometimes the worst of afflictions. No one to relate to, to talk to. No one to understand.

I nudged Asbel, nodding toward Mr. Reid's departing figure. He'd get himself killed out of pure intolerance. I mustered a smile toward the ghost. He had grown on me, albeit his approach to making friends.

"I'll see what I can do, sir. The name's Boraci, just whisper yours once I'm downstairs. You seem like an interesting fellow." Insane, yes. But interesting. I gave a little wave and hunched over so I could get out into the hallway, returning down the stairs. I shook my head and chuckled. Never knew what spirits would do.

Evelyn seemed to be retrieving Leif, and the large man seemed slightly less disgruntled than before.

"Time to go," I said lightheartedly and grabbed the wagon.

??? - Lonely Old Fart - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

The ghost gave an amused snort as the short-tempered man stormed off. "He's a stubborn one."

When Boraci nudged the white-haired man, he practically jumped to action, waving goodbye as he hurriedly left the room. "Ah. Well. Nice meeting you, whoever you are! Maybe I'll drop by next time I'm in Lynne."

The ghost nodded to Boraci as he too turned to leave. "As do you."

The ghost entered the room shortly before Boraci did, in the presence of a stern-looking woman nodding affirmatively to a large man in a body cast. Boraci walked in then, and the woman turned toward him. "Ah. Perfect timing. Where did Asbel run off to, then?" Asbel... The white-haired man, maybe? Odd name. Az might be a decent nickname, though.

Though the woman saw and heard nothing as Boraci prepared to wheel the injured man out of the room, a voice unfamiliar to everyone but Boraci lowered to an almost inaudible whisper. "Name's Ben, since you asked. Travel safe." The invisible guest backed away and crossed his arms with a grin, having stolen a peek beneath Boraci's hood. Ben had been curious about it the whole time, but since Az had caught him before he could remove the man's hood earlier, he hadn't gotten a chance to look - without being unduly rude, that is.

It had been such a long time since he had been able to have a civil conversation with anyone. These people were weird, granted, but a weird conversation was an interesting one, and after years of being bored to tears, he was grateful for it.

Asbel Sutherlin - Rebel Mercenary - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Asbel walked down the stairs after Silas, breathing a faint sigh and muttering to him from a distance from which he knew the man wouldn't hear. "You're not going to make me run, are you?" Asbel rolled his eyes and ran to catch up with the man, coming to a skidding stop at his side. "Listen, listen." Suddenly remembering he hadn't eaten all day, already lightheaded and out of breath from the short run, he paused for a second, lowering his voice in volume. "Now, Mr. Reid, I know you don't like us very much. Fine. But I would be immeasurably grateful if you would just..." another pause to breathe, "stop moving for a second and let me talk, because what I have to say might just save your damn life."

Erick Bailee - King's Bodyguard - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Erick groaned halfheartedly at Kristen's comment on his height, resting his chin on his folded arms atop the table. Through a fleeting glance, Erick noticed two of the younger Sato siblings' tensed postures, and he had to fight just to keep the dread and guilt off his face. What if this whole thing turned into something bigger after all? God, what if he had just ruined everything? He was hesitant to believe Taiyo would take it out on Ryouki, but Usami seemed so uptight that he honestly wasn't sure.

At the mention of Klaus, Erick raised his head and forced a slight chuckle. "Yeah, he's a good guy. Just... Really high strung. Like an immortal, bloodsucking puppy that could snap your neck with one hand."

## Page 12

Dimitry Popov - Mercenary - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne.

Dimitry chuckled at the mention of Klaus. "He was a special sort of fellow. Utterly unprofessional, even when you compare him with other people in the group."

"Then there was Anya. She legitimately freaked me out, that being said I had never heard of or seen a grinning ghost before, then again she was probably the second most dangerous one on that journey. I figure that Genya is just about the hardest person to assassinate." He didn't mention her ice powers, since Tula would probably be irritated with him if he started spouting of government secrets.

The most powerful of them being Tabaraamon, who if Dimitry remembered correctly sort of had a thing ghost girl, before he figured that she didn't swing that way. He would have to remember to mock the big shadow about that.

Since everyone was preparing to leave he motioned over the serving boy and whispered. "Whiskey. Fill it up." Before passing his hip flask and a small pile of coins. The boy nodded and left.

SVT13 - Covert Operations unit - Abandoned mine shaft, Fairhaven.

Alex I looked up to see Rankin reenter the cave brushing dust off his jacket. "I got out orders. Shall we see what's in them?" Rankin said.

"Yeah. Open it up." The team leader said then shouted "Jefferson! Get in here you bum!" Jefferson slowly walked back in, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"Why couldn't you just use the decoding table?" He slurred.

"Because we don't want it to take half an hour. Get to it!" Alexi growled.

"Fine." Jefferson sat down and opened the metal canister and withdrew the orders and slowly read them off. "Directive 84410525. Thirteenth Scout Vanguard is to begin reconnaissance of military encampments under construction outside Hydris and provide level nine intelligence. Once complete infrared flare is to be deployed and airship will arrive to pick up intelligence and provide additional equipment."

"Level nine? What's that again?" Rankin asked.

"Position of command tents, exact troop counts. A map. The sort of things that you need to get from an officer." Jefferson.

"Steal it?" Rankin asked.

"No. Beat out of. We're going to need to kidnap a relatively high ranked officer." Jefferson said.

"Alright. Let's get some sleep before we started planning out how on earth we will do that. It's not going to do any good to be exhausted." Alexi said.

Leif Regnar - Bodyguard - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne.

Leif growled at the bat person. He didn't want to go back in the wagon. He wanted to sleep here until he died. Or got better, preferably not in that order. The bat thing also freaked him out. More so than the shadow man. The shadow man was probably just a hallucination, since no one else seemed to interact with it. Enough people spoke to the bat thing that it had to be real.

"What do you want me to do? Go stiff? Limp? Spread eagle?" He asked, trying to be as helpful as he could, since he would be going into that wagon, like it or not, and he might as well make it the least unpleasant process he could.

He turned to Evelyn. "Could you get me a big jug of ale. Not a pint. I mean a jug. If not a hogs head barrel will be accepted." He started laughing loudly. "I jest! I jest! Even I couldn't drink that much." Though he stopped quickly, since it hurt more than he expected.

Boraci - aw he done gone and made him a friend :3 - Mirfield, Lynne

"Just saw him, chasing after Mr. Reid," I explained to Evelyn, then turned to Leif, trying to assume a non-threatening posture. "Just keep your hands and legs inside the ride at all times." Before I pushed the cart over to the bed and rolled the large Valkan into it, a whispered answer tickled my ear before disappearing. Ben's not that bad, I thought, then realized Leif was on the edge of the cart. He tipped into it.

The resulting sound was cacophonous at best, painful at worst. I cringed, keeping my involvement after that limited to pushing the cart out of the inn.

It was harder to get rolling than I first anticipated, and once it started going, I had built up too much preparatory energy. This resulted in a who-knows-how-heavy cart blasting through the narrow hall, through the main dining area where I shouted -

"Ms. Mernoth! Your bodyguuuuaarrrrdd," before we were outside, and the front door was remarkably intact. "Stay here," I said sternly to the injured man, then made my way around the inn to the cow stables. I pinpointed the one I wanted immediately; under the shaggy brown coat was the thumping red heat spot, indicating blood. Bovine snores covered up the sound of my teeth shaving a fist-sized area, and then pure bliss entered my system. So much blood, energy, food. When I had drained about a quarter of the beast's blood, it awoke, understandable startled. "Sh," I scolded, slipping my poison sack into its mouth. It promptly passed out.

Quite pleased with myself, I drank until I was full. The cow would not be waking. Unfortunately, I'd have to leave the corpse, as day-old blood was no good. I stood up and patted my stomach, satisfied. Had to be at least 150 pounds of liquid in there. I'd have to pee soon. Good thing my cloak already had a ridiculous amount of fluids on it. I strolled out of the stable, content. The group would be ready by now.

```
 Silas Reid - Botanist and Odd Job Part-Timer - The Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

```

Silas stopped in his tracks when he finally noticed Mr. Sutherlin was calling out to him. He turned to fully face the man with an irritated look that softened a bit as he tried to rein in his temper and suppress his memories. (If the happy-go-lucky people in Lucan who could do it after the war, why couldn't he?)

He hadn't commented on Mr. Sutherlin's statement on disliking them, even though his feelings for the group were still up for debate, but he did respond with, "Save my life?" He crossed his arms. "What do you mean?"

He frowned as he noticed how exhausted he seemed. "Are you alright?" he couldn't help but ask. It couldn't have been from just coming over to him. Was he sick? He reached a hand out—an unconscious gesture—but thought better of it and stopped.

"What do you want?" He cocked his head towards the stairs, listening to the screeching chairs, shuffling feet, and raised voices down at the pub. "It sounds as if they're about to leave." He narrowed his eyes. "You're not going to lecture me, are you?"

ula Nikos

She laughed at Dimitry. "Anya? Anya Bodrov...dangerous?! She's so sweet! Klaus terrifies her by simply walking up behind, and not even in a Nochnyye sense, like a human just walking up. Anya'll jump and nearly go through the ceiling." Tula then added. "Not to say she fails as a guard, I've heard she's great at her new job. I just can't see her being scary."

Ryouki quirked a sardonic grin. "Believe me. Anya may not be one of them, but most Grinning Ghosts are quite terrifying." He reached his right hand to rub the back of his neck, which seemed to be giving him some pain.

Or maybe it was what I said.... Tula mused, and bit her lip in slight regret for her word choice. Poor thing, everything seems to trigger him when it comes to Klaus and Anya...there must have been a horrible history. I know he and Klaus were together once before but...

She then decided not to dwell on it, and added to Dimitry. 'Believe me, many people have tried to kill the Czarina, and as you can tell, none have been successful, and now I hope she still is well protected with Klaus and Anya."

"Good." Ryouki grinned again, now somewhat genuine. "I'm glad she's doing well. I've heard there's a lot of unrest in Rojya as well."

Tula sighed. "Yeah, that's a novel of a tale."

 Evelyn Luciole - Secret Officer - Friendly Skeleton, Mirfield, Lynne

Evelyn nearly smiled at Leif's attempts to help Boraci get him back into the wagon, and agreed to his request with no hesitation. "I can do that. But I do expect you to pay me back for it once we're out of here." She realized she would probably have more important things on her mind than a few lost coins once they were out of that inn, but it was the principle of the matter, really. As she turned to leave and headed for the door, she heard a startling thud and spun around to find that Leif had moved from the bed to the cart...rather quickly. "Boraci, get your head in the game, for pity's sa-" Before she could finish her sentence, he had already rushed past her and out into the hall.

After a brief pause, staring at the empty doorway, she made her way out as well. She heard Asbel and Mr. Reid speaking but left them be for the time being, approaching the front counter instead. "Before we leave, just two more things." Evelyn saw the innkeeper's disinterested expression shift for a moment.

"You people make a lot of racket, but you sure are good for business," she observed.

Evelyn smiled politely rather than speaking her mind. "A jug of ale and some soup for the road, please."

"Will do."

Erick Bailee - King's Bodyguard - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Erick placed his chin in one hand and listened with a slight smile, though it was more of a default setting to keep people's eyes off him than a telling expression. He was content not to speak, but he didn't want people thinking he was plotting a murder or something.

He had heard a lot of interesting things about Rojya lately, come to think of it. He knew the place was absolutely crawling with assassins for a time, but he hadn't done a very good job of keeping up with the place's affairs lately. Rather than listen in on castle gossip, as was his habit, he started to pay more attention to every blind corner and dimly lit ceiling beam than anything else. If he had been on edge at work, he could only imagine what things were like for Klaus and Anya.

When he heard Boraci yelling from the hall near the front door, Erick's eyebrows raised. Was it just him, or did Boraci sound a little more energetic than usual?

Asbel Sutherlin - Running on fumes - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Asbel's attention seemed to snag on Silas' outreached hand, which he smiled at and waved away with one of his own. "Peachy." At Silas' last question, Asbel couldn't help grinning. "That is exactly what I was going to do. But because you saw it coming and I'm feeling generous, I'll make you a deal. Follow this group out of here - let us get you out of Lynne - and I will keep my impassioned ramblings to myself." Asbel raised his hands. "If you refuse, my impassioned ramblings are sure to change your mind anyway, so it really doesn't matter to me."

Silas Reid - Botanist and Odd Job Part-Timer - The Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Silas regarded Mr. Sutherlin with doubtful eyes, as if sizing him up and his intent. Eventually, a sigh fell from his lips, taking with it the silence and any annoyance left in his expression. It looked like he was reaching the end of his emotional rollarcoaster. He was too tired to keep it up.

"That won't be necessary. I had already planned on taking up that offer." He turned back to the staircase and put a hand on the banister, intending to end the conversation at that, but paused to add, "Why are you so keen on me joining anyway?" It would be beneficial to him, but what of them? He was humble enough to admit to himself—and just himself—that he wasn't exactly pleasant company... or a particularly useful one either.

Dimitry Popov - Mercenary - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne.

Dimitry shrugged and said "You know her better than I do." In response to Tula's comments on Anya.

He waited uncomfortably, ready to leave, using his thumb to spin the cylinder of his revolver, producing a metallic clicking that could be described as rather annoying.

He heard something crashing towards them and drew his pistol, but kept it under the table where no one could see it. Boraci and the cart exploded into the room, the man bat shouting something about bodyguards. Dimitry slid his weapon back into its holster before resting his hand against his forehead and letting out a low sigh.

The Vallak man in the cart did not look all that happy about his high velocity arrival, or maybe he wasn't happy about being in what amounted to a straight jacket. Dimitry didn't really care, the man fought like a fool, charging around with a hammer, paying no heed to the cross fire. Not surprising at all that he ended up with a back full of pellets.

Dimitry watched as Kristen got up and went to check on the big fellow, while Boraci headed outside, to do something Dimitry probably didn't want to know about.

The serving boy returned and handed him his hip flask. Dimitry dropped a single small denomination coin into the boys hand as a tip before shaking his head to the boys questioning expression.

Asbel Sutherlin - Rebel Mercenary - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Asbel thought over the question for a short while, less rushed than he had been when he half-expected Mr. Reid to up and leave at any given moment. "Hmm." He had seen the question coming, in a sense - it had been written all over the man's expression - but he hadn't really thought about it.

Oddly enough, though, it didn't take him long to find the answer once he did. "Because it pains me to see clever people make stupid choices." Without another word, Asbel descended the stairs, suddenly feeling a hundred years old. Even aside from physically feeling like he was about to come apart at the seams, where did he manage to pick up the habit of vaguely lecturing people like some wise old mentor? Not even thirty years old, and he was already talking in riddles.

Erick Bailee - King's Bodyguard - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

As everyone prepared to leave, Erick breathed a small sigh of relief and set a hand on Ryouki's shoulder. "Next stop, Fairhaven," he muttered, and slowly stood up. If he could manage to find an opportunity, Erick wanted to at least try to talk to Ryouki alone. About his parents, his siblings - and now, as another added issue, Erick had no idea what to do about being found out, and he had a feeling he might have to ask Ryouki.

He didn't want to unknowingly make the situation worse, and as much as he wanted to, he still didn't know Usami and the twins very well. He was not going to be responsible for tearing Ryouki's family apart, especially just when they had finally gotten back together. Whatever the case, at least they weren't travelling on their own. He had to admit, it was good to see Dimitry and the others again.

 Ryouki Sato

As Erick had come up, Ryouki took the hand that didn't currently rest on his shoulder, clasping gently with the metal fingers. Next stop...yeah. Ryouki seemed to mentally send back and at the curt glance from Usami, Ryouki kissed Erick on the mouth for a split second just to spite his second-youngest sibling, and felt disappointed at the lack of a reaction.

"Fairhaven, yeah. I wonder if they're handling things worse or better than we may be." Ryouki whispered back.

Ryouki eyed his sisters as they prepared to leave. Taiyo was adjusting the hem of her tight shirt. Tsukiko seemed to be going through the inventory of a small backpack, and Ryouki recalled his own being misplaced in the episode at the theatre. As he was about to call this to Tsukiko's attention, she handed him the small, black thing in her hands. "Sorry...I kind of...took it."

As he recieved his own posessions back, Ryouki flicked a concerned glare in her direction. "I never pegged you as the pickpocket type, and never would have even now."

Tsukiko shrugged and crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm not. I just saw it and was interested."

Lying. Through. Your. Teeth. Either she had seen something she shouldn't have or actually did take the thing on purpose.

Taiyo stepped in. "I can't believe you didn't even notice, Onii-chan. Like, woooooow. You still seem to be kind of dense sometimes, as usual." The sunny youngster seem to make an effort to ease the slightly tense moment, and worked. Ryouki smiled at Taiyo. "Not all things change, Taiyo."

Tula Nikos

Tula couldn't help giggling to herself, and part of her missed being in the palace with those two. She, along with Viktor and Ryan, had gotten quite close with Anya and Klaus, and the new separation made her heart heavier.

At crash, she jumped slightly and nearly opened her mouth to protest against Dimitry's use of the revolver, but at the relief-and expense of-the large Vallakian-looking man's plight, she immediately felt more at ease, her blood beginning to settle to a low tide.

 Dimitry Popov - Mercenary - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne

Dimitry stood up among a jangling of metal and hardened glass filament armor. He moved carefully, as not to bash Tula in the head with his gas mask.

A fragment of a melody he had heard someone singing ten years ago ran through his head for no apparent reason. He didn't remember the words, just the tune, and it really bothered him.

He swung his rifle across his back, shoved his chair back in to place, and sneezed violently his allergies set off by something he couldn't place. He wanted to put his mask on, but also didn't want to sneeze with the mask on, as it would be somewhat painful. The pressure would push the mask out from his face a little, then the elastic straps would make it snap back and jab him in the face.

"How have you been holding up?" He asked Ryouki. He would make an effort to be more friendly this time around, since he had been more than a bit of a jack ass during the second war. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Evelyn speaking with the inn keeper.

He sighed, it was time they left, every minute they wasted here would give the guards along the border more time to prepare, more time for the rebels to get on their trail. Where one earth was Asbel? He had  vanished as soon as they got there, and it wouldn't be good for any of them to miss meals.

Tabaraamon - Shadowed One - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne

Tabaraamon watched Boraci drain the bovine with interest, it wasn't something he saw often, or ever really. He thought about going down to speak with the bat, but decided against it, the two of them were probably regarded with suspicion already, and if anyone saw them conversing outside, away from everyone else, it wouldn't help.

He walked to the edge of the roof and dropped down, leaving a thin trail of mist behind him which quickly dissipated. He reached out and let his sword appear, twirled it with a flick of the wrist and let it evaporate. He didn't notice that he was standing directly in front of a window and everyone in the room had seen him. Including a serving boy who went completely white with shock.

Tabaraamon tried to smile, Dimitry had told him that people reacted better to smiling. He bared his teeth at them, which didn't help. He saw Dimitry put a hand to his forehead and shake his head, and several people recoil in horror.

Kristen Mernoth - Noble- Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne

Kristen walked over to where Leif lay and looked down on him. He glared back, his eyes partially covered by his bushy eyebrows. "How are you doing?" She asked.

"How do I look?" He muttered.

"Not good." She said.

"I feel worse than I look." He said, then coughed, having inhaled a little bit of beard. "How about you?"

"Alright I guess, better than you. Though I have lost two years of work. Including all the letters of recommendation. Which will make restarting even more difficult. It's not likely my father can call in enough favors to replace them." She said dejectedly.

"Then change your book. Make it about more recent things, not a sweeping history. But don't put in this." He said, grinning as he motioned toward the cast.

## Page 13

Erick Bailee - King's Bodyguard - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

The kiss from Ryouki had come as a small surprise, but a welcome one that he was quick to recover from. He stifled a smile to avoid antagonizing Usami, who already looked a little irritated. Ryouki's quiet reply to Erick's remark made him think; actually, he had considered Hydris their safe, solid goal without giving the reality of the situation much consideration. Things there were probably hectic at best. But whatever they found when they arrived, at least it would mean being closer to home, and he was sure Alice would be doing everything in her power to keep everyone in line back at the castle. It couldn't be that bad.

Erick's attention returned to his current surroundings as Taiyo attempted to lighten the mood, and he couldn't help muttering a snarky remark in return, looking to Ryouki with a feigned expression of concern. "If you're dense, what the hell does that make me?" He dropped the act soon enough when Dimitry entered the conversation, asking how Ryouki was doing, and became patiently quiet.

And then Tabaraamon scared half the people in the room out of their minds, and though Erick wasn't quite shaking in his books, he was visibly uncomfortable. Half of it was because even if he did know who it was, that smile was still kind of unsettling through a shadowy window, and the other half was out of embarrassment on Tabaraamon's behalf. This was going to be a tough one to explain.

Evelyn Luciole - Terrible Person - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Mirfield, Lynne

Once she had everything she needed, Evelyn nodded a halfhearted show of thanks to the innkeeper before returning her attention to everyone nearest their table. "Make sure you haven't forgotten anything before we leave." With that, she headed for the front door and nearly ran into Asbel, who didn't seem to be paying much attention to where he was walking. She didn't bother asking what he had been doing, but going by how sluggish he looked, it definitely wasn't eating.

"Sorry," he said, looking her up and down as if she had appeared out of thin air. He then noticed everyone preparing to leave the inn, and although his expression remained unchanged, Evelyn saw his shoulders slouch a little. "Time to go?"

She smiled pleasantly at him, deciding to let him stew in his own regret for a while before she let him know she had already solved his food problem. "Yes."

He nodded, obviously screaming on the inside, and Evelyn fought to hide a smirk as she made her way outdoors without another word.

Ryouki Sato

His eyes darted to Tula,-who now seemed occupied with something she pulled out of her pocket that was coppery, and seemed to shine against the light of the inn-and then back to Dimitry, who had entered the just finished moment. "Me?" Ryouki confirmed. "I-I've been pretty fine, I would say...since we saw each other last..." Ryouki pushed back some loose hair with his hand, and briefly struggled with getting the strands out of one finger-attempt to be casual: ruined. "It seems you've been holding up decently as well. I can imagine keeping in contact with Miss Nikos for so long must have kept your spirits alive." Having had experience with long distance before, Ryouki spoke with a genuine congratulatory voice, smiling even.

Taiyo added in. "You two are so sweet! Like, you're super rugged, and she's all-" Taiyo struck a pose where she cocked her hip to one side and stuck her hands in fists on either side. "HUAH, badass woman and you two match like this!" She touched the tips of her index fingers together.

Ryouki couldn't stifle a laugh and ruffled Taiyo's coloured hair. "You're a badass woman yourself, Tai."  His youngest sister blushed slightly and turned sharp to the slight reflection in an inn mirror to fix her mussed hair as Ryouki turned back to Dimitry. "Everyone seems to be surprisingly well...I would hope." It felt more than slightly awkward, thinking back on Ryouki's interactions with Dimitry in the past. Neither of them were the talkative type, and most of what plagued Ryouki at night were the worst of times.

Their singing voices did blend well-he could remember. At what point the two decided to burst into song Ryouki could not remember, but he did remember the rush of confidence the epic-put-to-lyrics had stirred in the bunch.

 Dimitry Popov - Mercenary - Friendly Skeleton Inn, Lynne.

"Well that's good." Dimitry said with a small smile. He had half expected Ryouki to have gone insane, what with losing his arm, and nearly dying half a dozen times, he must have he been much more resilient than Dimitry had thought. Everyone had been, though the former drag queen may have been the most impressive in Dimitry's eyes, having had little or no idea what he was getting into, and no training for what they faced.

He cocked an eyebrow at the comment about Tula but shrugged. "I'd expect you're right. Though the first few months were sort of difficult. Never was much good with writing in anything but Grail." He said, laughing slightly at those first, horrid, letters that were probably near impossible to read because of his awful hand writing, inability to spell, and lack of any sort of idea how grammar worked.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Tabaraamon's episode, but ignored it, the big idiot didn't need any help.

He tried his best to control his laughter at Taiyo's demonstration. "I'm glad you think so. That we fit together well, I knew that she was a badass, though it is nice for outside confirmation." He said, grinning.

Dimitry smiled and nodded "I know, remarkably well, all things considered. But we survived the wastes, so really, what more could the world throw at us? More sand and hellhounds?" Though he was some what worried about Asbel, who seemed off. Then again, Asbel had a shade in him most of the time Dimitry knew him, so it wouldn't be all that strange he was different.

He wondered which side Ryouki was on, if he was even on one at all, and just hoped that there wouldn't be familial tension between Ryouki and his siblings, Dimitry knew what familial tensions could lead to, and didn't wish that on anyone, especially someone he considered a friend, or at the very least a comrade in arms.