Mendax waited.
His fingers tapped against his arm as he stood there before dawn.
His jaw locked as the hours wore on.
Flos should have gotten his letter already. A reply shouldn't be difficult and was needed.
It was, at times, necessary for him to be sent before Lord Nix or Flos had decided on what was to be done. Yet this level of friction after a direct question of their intent left him hanging.
There was only so long he could use Calces Zizan before the man caught on to foul play and sent someone else.
Which, of course, would be Mendax's problem to deal with. His hands that would get dirty, and his potential wounds to clean, as he chased after a foolish woman when he didn't even understand why he was sent.
Mendax was gone before dawn came before the awaited letter arrived.
———————————————————
Aureum arose with the dawn, feeling refreshed after a full night's worth of sleep. That refreshing feeling quickly evaporated as she hurried to repack all her belongings in time to meet up with the others.
In a rush she wandered the streets, only to pause at her destination.
Where?
"We're here!" Sitis yelled to get Aureum's attention.
Aureum looked away from the man she'd been staring at. There was something weird with his face, but he began walking away before she could get a clear look.
She went over to the others. Sitis looked as durable as he had last night, but Lacuna was wearing something decidedly more comfortable. It was still a dress, but a simpler and less delicate one.
"Are your things nearby, Lacuna?"
Aureum asked because she lacked the heavy packs over the shoulders that Sitis and Aureum sported.
"Oh no, it's all in here," Lacuna replied, patting the small satchel she wore over one shoulder.
She opened it up, and Aureum saw a void of blackness.
Lacuna reached into it and pulled out the iron quarterstaff Aureum had seen her with earlier. She stopped halfway and dropped it back in before closing the bag.
"It's a dimensional storage. My mentor gave it to me."
Aureum knew of them. Many of the cleverer ones were rings or bracelets, but even the bags were out of most people's reach. The problem of their supply gave even the simpler ones an outrageous price.
"Who is your mentor again?"
"Oh, he's not very well known."
"Try me."
"Mors? He has a pearl of lightning."
Aureum blinked in surprise.
"You were right. I don't know of him."
Lacuna shrugged.
"He likes to be understated."
"He's the benefactor of Bonumbas," Sitis added.
So another big shot.
But Aureum didn't know enough about Bonumbas to be able to tell what he was implying other than that. Lacuna swatted at his arm.
"Shouldn't we get going?" Lacuna asked.
"Have you already had breakfast?" Aureum asked.
"No, but is that it? Nothing else to do?"
Aureum looked back at the city. In the daylight, it looked unimpressive as always.
Perhaps this time that brat would grow up differently.
Or maybe that was the true face of the city, needing the gaudy lights to bring in anyone's attention.
Aureum frowned.
"There's nothing more I can do, for now. Let's go."
———————————————————
Was it difficult to travel slower?
It was easy.
Talking and walking is a way better time to spend the day than soaring high in the hot sun. Though the latter is far more efficient.
Maybe all Aureum traded was sore legs over sore shoulders when it came to the physical burden.
For most of the day, the conversation was pleasant. It was unfortunate there was only so long light topics like discussing fashion trends could last. The weather didn't change quickly enough either. Instead of suffering silence, Aureum tried to delve deeper.
She was curious about who she was traveling with, after all.
"Pardus said you were meeting your family, Lacuna?"
Aureum spoke while lifting her leg over some hole.
"Did he? It's true. I learned what I needed to from Mors, according to him, and so now I needed to go back home."
"Did you not want to leave?"
Lacuna paused before she spoke.
"I actually begged him to let me leave, for years," she said. "But he always told me I needed to train. Until about a month ago. He brought up leaving himself this time."
"Odd," Aureum commented.
Lacuna slowly nodded.
"You can't understand Mors' mind, Lacuna," Sitis said. "No one can."
"He's a person just like anyone else, Sitis."
Her frustration allowed Lacuna to look at him. For a moment.
"I'm not saying he isn't," Sitis continued, unperturbed. "But most people's faces have more expressions than that of a reptile's."
Lacuna's mouth squirmed as she tried not to laugh.
Apparently, the description was on point.
She turned back to Aureum.
"I'm looking forward to going back to see my family. I haven't seen them since I was eight. You said you were a student, Aureum?"
"No, I want to contact… I need to reach a friend there."
Aureum found it difficult to say Spesavia was her mentor in front of Lacuna.
She had spurned what Spesavia could have given for her own happiness. Which had ended poorly. To mention a mentor would bring her into even more of a comparison with Lacuna.
She didn't like it.
"Sitis, what made you want to learn from the university?"
Aureum redirected the conversation.
He shrugged.
"What else? To become an ascended sorcerer. It's the only place that studies pearls and doesn't leave it as a family secret. Without it, my chances are slim."
For as simple as these topics were, they also dragged.
It felt like dislodging stones.
Aureum had found the limits of her conversational ability. She'd messed up the mood and hadn't a clue what to say to put it to ease.
"Wouldn't it be good to know what our pearls are, in case of trouble?" Lacuna said. "I'll start. My pearl is lightning. I use the mana externally."
She touched the base of her throat as she spoke, where a yellow pearl rested. Then she nudged Sitis.
"I use stone. It reinforces my skin."
"I'm wind," Aureum said. "I manipulate it. But I'm not very strong at the moment."
"That shouldn't be a problem," Sitis said.
"Who do you take after, your father or your mother?" Lacuna said.
Aureum smiled.
"My Dad. But he'd say that my personality came entirely from my mother. She's of the wood element and grew plants as part of his business. Nowadays she only takes care of the exotic breeds personally."
"I take after a great uncle," Lacuna said. "Which made forming a pearl of my element a bit difficult."
Aureum considered her words as she continued walking.
"It must have been difficult to leave your family so young."
It's probably not the same as when you want to leave them…
Seeing the expression on Lacuna's face she wanted to punch herself from a moment ago.
When will I ever learn?! That one was an obvious touchy subject!
"It was," Lacuna admitted. "But I gained more than I thought from it. I made so many friends I wouldn't have ever met otherwise."
She shrugged.
"It's not that it was perfect, but there was more good than bad."
"Tell me about some of your friends."
Lacuna's eyes lit up. Aureum didn't understand the floodgates she had just opened. She was just happy she'd managed to make Lacuna brighten.
———————————————————
Hours later, Aureum had cursory knowledge of everyone who lived on Lacuna's street.
It wasn't even scandalous information either, but things like how the baker's mother watered her flowers every day, or that the swordsmith's daughter sewed with the steadiest hand. And oh, how pretty her embroidered touches were to her dresses!
Aureum shook her head as she helped set up camp. It was the only thing that allowed her to escape. As she fled, she'd caught a knowing look from Sitis' eye.
I can't even remember half this information. Not even a quarter. And what good does it do me to know what somebody who lives in Bonumbas likes?
It had made the day go by. And Lacuna's joy was infectious.
Still, when Sitis stepped away after they all ate, Aureum found the perfect moment to tease her as playful payback. Also to address the elephant in the room.
"So… have you liked Sitis since you first met or is that a more… recent development?"
More eyelashes fluttered as Lacuna looked down.
"What gave me away?"
"The expression on your face when you looked at him."
"I don't even look at him!" Lacuna frantically whispered back.
"That gives it away too."
Lacuna sat still before she slapped her cheeks and faced Aureum head-on.
When she spoke it was still in whispers though.
"If you can notice within two days of knowing, then how can he not have noticed?!"
Aureum answered with a silly grin.
"How should I know? If you've been this shy since you've met, maybe he thinks this is normal?"
"I have not! I can treat him normally, I swear!"
Aureum raised her hands in playful surrender.
"Then I guess he must have been fooled by your great acting ability."
Lacuna hid her face in her hands as Aureum had a good laugh. She poked Lacuna after she was finished.
The hands lowered, as the bright eyes looked back at Aureum.
"Seriously, I have to ask, why him?" Aureum said.
"What do you mean, why him?"
"I mean why him? Pardus is right there too?"
"Pardus? Are you serious?"
Lacuna was grinning with Aureum now.
"Come on, Pardus seemed nice! Sitis seems a bit… boring?"
"No, he's not. He's handsome! And smart!"
"I guess if you're into men built like a brick house he's fine enough. But smart? He hardly says anything."
"That's because he's thinking! And it isn't like Pardus is lithe!"
"Sitis' expressions look pretty vacant to me."
By the time Sitis came back they had devolved into giggles.
"I can't even look at you anymore!" Lacuna said to him. "I have to use the restroom! The restroom!"
He just raised an eyebrow and shifted his questioning gaze to Aureum as Lacuna fled. Aureum just shook her head. She wouldn't be the one to tell.
So he stood, looking at the campfire.
This guy… seriously just say something.
"Did you find anything?" Aureum asked.
Sitis had spent about an hour scouting ahead. Aureum thought this was a pretty useless practice, but had managed to keep that to herself. Maybe he'd just wanted time alone, after all.
He nodded. There was a long pause that tested Aureum's patience before he spoke.
"I found some wolf tracks."
"Yeah, they're pretty common near Nix. Are you thinking of hunting them?"
"No. From the size and weight—I'm not too familiar with the breed, but I believe they're beasts."
Beasts. Animals with a naturally formed pearl. Bigger than their regular counterparts, fiercer, and more intelligent. A few could even use elemental skills.
Though those are rare enough to get named.
Aureum resisted the urge to shiver.
"Are you sure?"
He shook his head as he rubbed his eyes.
"No. Like I said, I'm not familiar enough with them. Being big doesn't always mean being magical. But we should be prepared in case they are."
"Wolves usually go after livestock, not people. Are you saying they would be more aggressive as beasts?"
He shrugged.
"It's possible. I don't know. Personality changes from beast to beast, animal to animal."
His brow furrowed.
"Was there something more?" Aureum asked.
"It definitely seemed like a pair of them."
"What, like a mated couple?"
He raised his hand to his face. Looking at it as if it had the answers.
"They could be siblings, or a parent and child, or a couple. I don't care about that so much as there are two of them."
He looked back at her.
"How good are you at defending yourself?"
"I'm awful at it, honestly speaking."
Sitis' frown deepened.
What are you expecting from me?
He should be able to guess about what level of mana she had just from traveling next to her for the day. Not everybody was as sensitive as others, but nobody was that dense.
She had a few weeks' worth of mana. Weeks.
"But I'm great at running away! You don't have to worry about me."
He expressed his doubt clearly with his eyes.
"Look, I'm not going to do circus tricks just to prove it to you, but my cloak is one of the old butterfly cloaks. I can run if I need to. Just focus on protecting Lacuna if things go sideways."
"I've heard of these cloaks, but would it work? They failed for a reason."
Aureum sighed. He really wanted proof. She looked at the twilight sky.
"I can try a few things but as soon as it's dark it won't work."
Sitis did prefer to speak with his expressions. Currently, he was displeased as well as unimpressed.
Lacuna came back to Aureum being grilled by Sitis.
Jumping, hovering, how fast she could take off, how much light was needed for her to use it. He tested her on whatever he could think of, and when the light ran out he questioned her.
Only when he was done did he turn back to Lacuna and explain the situation about the wolves.
"We may have no reason to worry, but we need to be prepared. So you should get some sleep."
Oh, really! After testing me like that it's "we may have no reason to worry!" She gets off with being prompted for bed, and she thinks he doesn't like her?!
Aureum stomped off to her tent grumbling about dumb young couples.
There was probably no reason to worry. It wasn't like the wolves were heading to Fluentem, after all.