Forged in water

Chapter 1

Chapter One: The City-State Empire

From the rippling tides skating across the water's surface arose a stem of green. Barely a disturbance caused these tides as they simmered down as quickly as they grew. Underneath the water's surface was a different story entirely. The green stem which started off barely thicker than a hair was growing. It expanded and thickened until it decided to add a new color to one of the ends. Blue pedals sprouted from the stem. They were numerous in number but did not have the surface area of most pedals. Instead they created the perfect base for a bee to land on. Just as it seemed that the flower was going to stop growing, another color was added. At first it seemed to be a darker blue but time told a different story. This color was purple. Small purple stems emerged from the blue petals in a symmetrical manner. A ring of purple now existed within the circle of blue which was the final piece to the cornflower. In all of his searching, flowers were one of the most interesting objects found in nature. No wonder Felix's mother loved them as much as she did.
It was dawn, the sun was barely just peeking through the horizon. Felix could not see the start of a new day yet. He got into the scroll store before the sun even hinted that there was an end to the darkness of night. It was early but that was the lot in life decided to him by citizens' need for scrolls. The Medela markets opened up right when the sun broke the horizon, so the select few who ran the shops got up early and Felix was one of them. Sitting in the only chair in the scroll store was Felix with his feet propped up on the counter and his finger inside a box of water.
He called this box a drawing box. Felix was barely able to palm it in his hands, but it traveled well inside of his handbag. The name was one of his creation, just like the rest of the drawing box was. There was nothing else like it and the materials were not cheap. The glass cost him a fortune as did all of the failures, but he was a genius. It took a couple of failures to get right, and he was happy with the result. A portable clear container of water. When he showed Elke his final product that he spent so much time and energy on she outright laughed at him. Stating that he should talk her ear off about something more interesting. She was certainly great for his ego.
A yawn left his mouth and he temporarily forgot what he was doing. The water inside of the container tired bright as day as Felix shield his eyes and turned it back to normal. He eased his eyes open. His feet were no longer upon the desk. The old man would be pleased by that very much. It was for the better. Even though it was his last day he needed to make sure that he was still presenting the Medela Scroll Store in the best of fashion. Felix wondered why the old man did not invest in a better name. With a more creative name, some more people would come in, they would be interested in it. But for now, he just got bookworms and people who wanted to stay up to date. Not the worst crowd and if he needed to explain everything, Felix would have wanted to kill them. He was fine with the current clientele.
Felix scoffed at himself. He was beginning to sound like Elke. Maybe that was her voice inside of him. Sighing, Felix dipped his finger into the normal-looking water and created a different flower. A nice sunflower, since the new day was starting. It took him a long time to learn how to use his gift to this extent and he still needed to use conscious thought. His goal was to be at the point where he could do it subconsciously.
"Mum it was in here!" A little girl rounded the corner into the scroll store at impressive speeds, speeds only kids could reach. Felix sat up in his chair and tried to get the tired look out of his face, he hoped that he succeeded.
"No, it wasn't, we have places to be Sophia." Sophia's mother was a noble. It was clear as day to Felix. He got them occasionally in his shop, but it was more likely for them to send their servants out in such an easy task. That was what his parents did, after all, there was no reason to waste their own time when they paid someone else for their time.
"Hello, welcome to the Medela scroll store, how may I be of assistance to you today?" If he really felt like it, he would get out of his chair and give them a tour but since it was literally one rectangular room, it was largely unnecessary, and he did not feel like it. The scroll store was laid out pretty simply. The walls were lined with wood compartments to house scrolls. They were stacked up higher than Felix could reach, and they were snugly fit. These compartments covered every wall but the one which contained the front door, which was open at all times except when they were closed. The floor was made out of the same wood as the compartments as was his desk. Felix spent most of his day surrounded by the color of wood. Maybe that was the reason he found joy in changing the appearance of water.
He must have said that line a thousand times a day, and Felix was glad that this would be the last day he would have to.
"Oh no, we've fine, just leaving, that's all." Sophia's mother hit her daughter's hand and her daughter recoiled fast and hard. So fast in fact that she tripped over the back of her dress and fell onto the floor. Not very noble like. Felix kept that thought time to himself. Those thoughts were not conducive to his customers having a good experience.
"But mum, I know it was here, I just know it." Felix internally sighed and opened his mouth. He was not sure if he was going to regret it or not.
"Please do not worry yourself." Her mother said as she brought her child back onto her feet and tried to wipe any dust or dirt that got on her daughter's dress. Felix took this moment to examine the mother more closely. There was not too much of note apart from the fact that she was a noble, she looked like any other lady of noble standing. Braided hair, which formed a crown on her head, a handbag made out of fine leather from one patch rather than multiple, and a long flowy dress. It was an outfit that he saw at least a dozen of every day.
"There was a bright light, it was like wow." Kid talk, but she was right. Felix wanted to tell the mother she was wrong. It was a lot better than telling that to Sophia.
"There was no light in here Sophia, no come on, I'm going to leave you with the maid next time." Her mother said back to her. And now the time was ripe.
"Um actually." Felix interjected hesitantly; he did not want to sound cocky. If he did not sound cocky then it would hurt the mother, even more, when she realized she was wrong. That was the type of chaos that he wanted to create.
Sophia's mother paused to look at him as if something was not right, the air between them changed and the tables turned. "The bright light did come from here; it was my fault actually." Humble with malice hiding behind it. Exactly what nobles deserved.
"See I told you." Sophia broke from her mothers' hand and ran towards Felix. She could not have been more than five years old. Maybe he just created a demon for the new generation to deal with. Felix contemplated that idea for a moment before he realized he did not care. He would not be around to see it, so he might as well have his fun now.
"Manners Sophia." Her mother looked down at her.
"You don't have manners when you talk to me." Smart girl.
"If you showed me respect then I would treat you with the same amount of respect." That sounded about right. "Now, we should get going, we have to be done with all of our daily errands in time for the court meeting."
"But I want to see the light."
"I do not think she will leave without seeing it, madam." Manners even though she did not give him any.
"Alright then." The mother shook her head and then looked over at Felix. "Would you mind showing my daughter the light, I'm sure that it would make her day." It was a pleasant way to ask but lacking the honorific that he used. She thought that he was less than her. Of course, she did, he looked like it after all. No matter how much he bathed himself, the years of being on the streets would stick with him.
Felix nodded. "I would be delighted to."
"Wait." She held up her hand and Felix froze, but she turned towards her daughter. That made him relax. He was not sure what she was going to do but for a moment it made Felix feel like he was talking to his mother. "Could you ask..." She was blanking on his name.
"Felix." She looked at him for a moment as if she was waiting for something but turned back to her daughter just as fast.
"Could you ask Mister Felix to show you?" There it was.
The little girl ran behind the counter. "Can I please see the light, Mister Felix?" She looked very cute. Felix could not resist a face like that.
"Okay, I'll make the light okay. But maybe not as bright as it was last time, is that okay Sophia?" Felix smiled down at the young girl.
"Yup yup." She nodded vigorously. So very eager. Felix took a deep breath, dipped his finger into the drawing box and closed his eyes for a moment. It was easier to control the images he made if he could see what was happening inside of his mind. To cut off one of his senses from the world in order to heighten his concentration. Then a bright light flickered and made him open his eyes, but he made sure to keep the drawing box bright. Felix took the opportunity to look at what he made. It was a white sphere. Legend has it that the sun which provided them light during the day was an orange sphere. Maybe if it was white, it would have been bright enough to cut through the clouds.
"Woah." Sophia was mesmerized by the light.
Felix smiled down at the girl as she watched his handiwork. It was nice to see someone admire his ability, even if they were soo young. No one ever seemed to find his ability as interesting as he did. He was brought back to the world of the living when her mother spoke. "How much do you want for it?" He truly did despite nobles.
"Um..." He did not know exactly how to respond to it. Thankfully, Sophia still seemed to be enraptured by the ball of white light.
"I'll give you four gold fibers for it." That was a lot of money. More than he ever held at one time. Or at least, more money than he ever owned. Even his noble parents would have never given him that kind of pocket change. They would not have even given it to his siblings without a valid reason. Maybe the mother was just awestruck at how it stole all of her daughter's interest. Sophia did seem to be quite the problem child.
"I couldn't." He could definitely scam them, and he would not be back tomorrow for when they got mad that the drawing box did not work, but he liked to think that he was not a con artist.
"Five then." She pulled five coins out of her purse and let them all clang on top of the wood desk. They were awfully shiny, gold fibers always seemed to be that way. Felix was taken aback as he stared at the money like Sophia stared at the white light. She would probably hurt her eyes if she did that for too long, Felix lost track of where his mind was.
"I..." Felix was tripping over his words, even in his mind where words flowed like a gushing stream.
"Seven then, final offer." She reached into her pursuit and grabbed two more gold fibers, they reflected the white light all around the room, providing some scrolls with light.
"I must decline, for as much as I would like that money, it is not worth that much to you." Felix bowed his head slightly. He could have a really extravagant last night in the capital if he was willing to make one wrong decision. Felix wished he could have, he really did, and yet he did not. That was not who he was. A loud sigh exhaled his mouth as he was relieved that he did not fall to temptation.
"So, you would like to pay less then?" The mother was confused, perhaps he could have worded that better but in his clouded judgment that was the only way he could get that sentence out. It was a long-drawn-out mess. Now would probably be a good time to explain, and probably stop staring because that too was awfully weird.
"No, it's not that." Felix explained.
"Then speak."
"This is just a glass filled with regular water, my ability is to be able to change the image of water." It was him that was special, not the water. Hopefully, she did not try to buy him. He would be flattered of course but with no want or need to go into the noble district, Felix would definitely decline.
"You have an ability too? I thought that daddy said that only nobles had abilities?" Sophia looked up at her mother who was quite shocked and unresponsive at the recent turn of events. Felix remembered that very same lie from his parents. "You wanna see my ability mister Felix. Not anything near as colorful as yours but I like it." She beamed up at him.
"Of course." Felix smiled at the young girl.
"Yay!" She dipped her finger into the drawing box and whistled. Almost immediately, Felix's hands clapped his ears as her whistle literally started to shake his bones, it was so loud.
"Sophia what did I tell you, no using your ability. Your brothers don't have any difficulty not, so why do you?" Felix probably heard similar things to that from his mother. Granted he definitely blocked many of those memories out of his mind.
The little girl ignored her mother. "Did you like it? I can make sounds louder!" Felix honestly did not have a functioning brain at the moment, he felt as if everything inside of him slightly shifted causing him to feel intense discomfort.
"Does it look like he enjoyed it?" Sophia's mother hit her. "Now apologize to Mister Felix." Sophia nursed the smack.
"I'm sorry." She sounded incredibly sad as she looked down at her feet. Felix looked at Sophia, who was more downtrodden than ever.
"Maybe try to see if you can vary the volume of your whistle, make it louder then softer and back and forth. I bet you could make some really interesting tunes with that. Maybe even your mother would let you play them for her." Felix stated hopefully. Her mother on the other hand stared daggers at him.
"Okay, I can try!" Very happy go lucky. She went up to the desk and was about to reach up into the drawing box when her mother's hand stopped her.
"I think that's enough of that today, what about you?" Felix did not so much as make a movement of agreement, but the mother assumed that was him agreeing. That was a no-win scenario. "Do you know where we could find water of your ability?"
"Yeah, we have a scroll with all of the information on my ability and the spring, it's twenty silver fibers," Felix explained. It was one of their more expensive scrolls but the information inside of it was quite extensive. Felix would know, he read it before he put it up on the wall, he was quite interested in it after all.
"Here." She dropped a gold fiber on the desk. "You can keep the rest." Felix sat there looking stunned at the gold fiber. Nobles truly did have money to waste. "Are you just going to stare at it, or are you going to earn it?" And there was the arrogance of a noble.
Felix quickly fetched it off the wall and handed it to the mother. She opened up the scroll and did a cursory glance over it. She did it so quickly that Felix doubted she actually retained anything. She probably just saw the word image and water next to each other and thought it was fine.
"Thank you, Felix, for your patience and help. Now Sophia and I must be getting on our way." There was a little bit of respect in her voice, perhaps he earned from all the help he gave her. That was not what he wanted, he did not want anything from her in the very least. His goal was to have the little girl be happy. It seemed as though he accomplished that quite easily and that put a smile on his face. "Come Sophia it is time to go."
"But mummmmmmm." Sophia loudly complained with her entire body.
"No Sophia, we have other things to get to our daddy will be very mad, okay?" Her mother knelt down next to her and held the side of her face. "I'm sure Mister Felix will be here if we come by another day, so this isn't goodbye." Well, that did not make Felix feel terrible in the slightest whatsoever. He was not going to interject and tell them it was his last day. That would be a little too awkward for his tastes.
"Bye Mister Felix, I'll come by and show you my sounds when I've practiced some more." Such a cute girl.
"Okay, I will be waiting for you." Felix lied as he waved goodbye to the little girl. Perhaps all nobles were not so bad after all. If they could raise such a genuine girl like her, maybe putting all of them inside of one bubble was the wrong thing to do. Felix scratched his head as he looked at a little ball of white light. He could very easily be wrong. That idea was developed over a decade ago and it was not like being homeless made it any less harsh. It just is what is at this point. He dipped his finger into the drawing box but paused for a moment as he tried to think about what image he wanted to display as the morning rush came through. The rush consisted mainly of all of the regulars who wanted their daily scroll. It made up a good chunk of the store's daily revenue for as much as Felix did not like dealing with that many customers in such a short timeframe.
His first thought was to make a knife, his knife, and he started rotating it and moving it inside of the water. It was hard to make a moving object stay together as Felix started to materialize his knife inside of the drawing box. He stopped once he got to the guard. Maybe it was not the best idea to play with the image of a knife as customers came in and out of the store. That may make them think this is a front for one of the syndicates and that was the last thing Felix wanted to deal with on his last day.
He settled on a flower but not one he had ever seen before. His ability was to change the appearance of water, and that is not limited to the real things he can see but the made-up things he can imagine. It was not too much different from a normal flower like one of those sunflowers. There was a bee landing spot in the middle surrounded by the petals. The part that made the flower one of his creations was the petals. It had a couple of tiered layers of petals, and the two colors of the petals were blue and red. They alternated with the ones next to them rather than the tiers. Felix then spent quite a bit of time trying to get the two colors to blend well together, so much time in fact that he was not finished by the time his next customer walked into the scroll store.
He was not sure how many moments passed before he was interrupted once more. Most customers made a big fuss when they entered the store but this one did not. Felix quickly changed the object inside of his drawing box to be a dagger, pointed directly at Robert, one of his most loyal regulars. "How are you today Robert?" Felix asked.
"Damn, I still can't sneak up on you." Robert sighed as he walked up to the counter. "Just dreading this day of work, and you?" Robert placed an old scroll on the table.
"The same here, what do you have to do today?" Felix asked as he rummaged through the shelves inside of his counter. He knew that there was a letter for Robert. The scroll store doubled as a postal service for those who did not want to use the one provided by the capital. Usually, the folk who use their postal service use it for more secretive letters but Felix knew Robert and his family quite well.
"Starting to the last harvest today. I'm going to see if I have enough crops to get through winter without too many headaches." Robert was one of the many farmers who lived just outside of the walls of the capital. They were also considered to be a part of Medela, and only the nobles seemed to have found a phrase to diminish their standing. Felix long since forgot that phrase. "I think my eldest can help me this year which is quite nice but it has still been a long summer."
"I suppose you will be by here more in a couple of weeks then." If the past was to be believed, Robert would spend his free time during the winter doing nonsense. While he still feed livestock, most of the time-consuming work was with the plants. He would be free to spend an hour talking to Felix instead of a couple of minutes.
"That's the idea. I was going to bring my kids here, see how well they can speak." Felix would miss that chance.
"As long as they do not cause a mess it is fine with me." Felix laughed. "I have got a letter for you." Felix held up a scroll. "It is from your sister." He handed the letter over to Robert who made to give Felix some fibers. "Already paid for by your sister." Felix said as he shook his head.
"Really?"
"I was surprised too." He only met his sister one time but she did not seem like the most responsible sort of person.
"I guess I've got to open it now don't I?" Robert let out a laugh.
"I would like to see what she wrote to you about." Felix shrugged. His sister intrigued him a little bit. While Robert was a regular, stopping by every day from some idle chitchat and the daily scroll, his sister was not. She only stopped by once and gave him a gold fiber for his troubles. While that type of money came easily to nobles, it was almost their entire family's life savings and she spent it on the information. When Robert found out he was quite furious with her and Felix for giving her the information, but Felix did not know who she was at the time.
Robert unraveled the scroll and his eyes looked over the lines until he placed it down on the table. "What does this mean?" Felix looked down at the scroll and read the line that Robert was confused by.
"It means that she does not want you to mourn if this is her last letter." It took a minute to decipher the verbiage. His sister used lingo that came from outside of the capital and that Felix only learned from many scrolls.
"Of course, she doesn't. She sends me only a couple of letters a year and says shit like this. Of course, I am going to worry about her, how could I not with her being an idiot all of the time." Robert sighed as he picked up the scroll and looked at it once more.
"What did she say?" Robert got him quite intrigued with what was contained within the letter. He seemed to be quite annoyed with his sister.
"That she finally thinks she can trap the buffalo."
"And you disagree?" Felix asked.
"Those buffalo have roamed these plains since before we were born. If someone was able to capture them don't you think they would've done so already. They're a fool's water. Everyone knows that, everyone but my sister." Robert sighed.
"I am sure she knows, it was written all over the text I gave her." Felix pointed out.
"And yet she still tries. We don't even know what our ability is." Robert was one of the many families in Medela that lost their ancestral archives. Most knew how to manipulate water due to their family's written history which lent nobles to know how to use their ability while Robert's family did not know what their's was. From what Felix read, everyone got one but only those who knew what it was could use it.
"Maybe she figured it out, she has been out there for years now." Felix said it would be a nice idea.
"And she didn't tell me?"
"Sounds like your sister, right?"
"I guess, I just don't see this ending well." He was dejected.
"What is the worst that could happen? She makes a fortune off of buffalo?" Felix gave some humor by using the best possible scenario. They both knew what the worst was without speaking it aloud.
"Yeah right... How much for the daily scroll today?" Robert tried his best to change the subject. He was reaching into his bag made out of a patchwork of different clothes. It seemed to be barely together at the moment.
"Same as usual." It never changed. Felix smirked as Robert placed the regular two silver fibers down on the counter. He scooped them up without counting and placed them with the other silver fibers.
"I'm not optimistic like you are." That was quite an unusual word for Robert to say and it caught Felix's ears.
"You have been reading the linguistics scroll that your wife bought for your kids." Felix smiled.
Robert let out a false laugh. "Yeah, it's quite good, I guess our kids will be able to speak like nobles if we could keep it up." He smiled at the thought of his kids. "Did she give you a return address by chance?"
"Yeah." Felix nodded.
"I'll be back with a letter soon." Robert made to leave but Felix spoke up.
"Don't be too harsh to her."
"I won't, I just have to make sure she's not being too dumb. I'm all she has left after all." Robert ruffled the back of his head before he let out a sigh. "See ya later Felix." Felix wished that he would be there for that letter. Maybe then he could offer up words of encouragement. Or at least he could offer him up a discount.
Felix let out a long sigh, almost taxingly so. If Robert heard it, he would have wondered what weight Felix was carrying to make him sigh like that, but it was quite usual. For as much as he enjoyed talking to Robert, he was always the harbinger of the storm. The storm was all the people Felix would eventually have to tend to. It was his job after all. He would have liked to sit around and do nothing the entire day, but he doubted that the old man would have ever paid him anything for that. Bending his back Felix let out a yawn, the day was starting.
Felix grabbed the scroll that Robert placed on the counter and dipped it into some cleaning water. It would take all of the ink right off without any effort on his part. This was a pretty simple way to get back blank scrolls. They give any customer that brings back a used scroll three silver fibers off their order, it was not much, but Robert took advantage of it every day. Robert. He was always the mark that his job was starting for real.
He would no longer be able to play with his drawing box as much as he liked because he would have to remain as alert as possible. Robert did not care if he did not get a greeting but some of the fancy nobles definitely did. Some would chew him out for not being attentive and others would publicly shame him. Not that he really cared, but it definitely was not the easiest path and Felix preferred the path with the least resistance.
"Hello welcome to the Medela scroll store, how may I be of assistance." That was what he said to every customer that walked into the door. The customers that did not get the greeting were the ones that walked in when he was already talking to a different customer. He did not know what ever persuaded him to get this type of job. He did not like dealing with people. They all sucked.
Felix gained the knack for telling which customers would be difficult to deal with or not. Which customers were raised in the noble districts and which ones worked their way up to a reasonable lifestyle. Not many poor people came into the scroll store. Scrolls were not a necessary part of life but for the people that pursued higher knowledge, they were essential. Serving over one hundred prim and proper people everyday was incredibly taxing on his soul. Maybe that was part of the reason he was leaving. Maybe. Probably. He did not want to admit it was for a stupid reason such as that. That was like running away.
"Hello welcome to the Medela scroll store, how may I be of assistance." Ad nauseum. It made Felix want to cut himself every time he said it.
"Hello welcome to the Medela scroll store, how may I be of assistance." The old man should really change the name. It was not like he owned any other scroll stores, hell there was not even another one in Medela. It could be named scroll store and it would make no difference at all. Felix spent a good bit of time trying to find a more appealing name for the store. Personally, he liked Scrolling the Town Market, but Elke told him it was stupid. She then told him the conversation was stupid and told him he should not tell her stupid things. She clearly thought it was very stupid and Felix could not blame her, but many stupid thoughts appeared in his mind while working there. In fact, the majority of his stupid thoughts appeared in his mind thanks to this job. Not all of them of course, he was stupid elsewhere. Elke made sure to remind him of that.
Another customer stole his brain away from his thoughts. He lost count of how many customers he served at this point. Keeping count was always so difficult when four would come in at once and one of them always was just tagging along. Were they customers just because they walked through the door, or did they actually need to purchase something? He did not know the answer to that question. It was a useless question anyways. The type that would get Elke to tell him he was stupid yet another time before she went off to sharpen her sword in silence or something. He wondered what they would be doing later. She told him to not spend too much time wandering around before meeting up with her. Usually, that meant they were doing something, but what? Felix thought for a couple of minutes, occasionally being interrupted by a customer or two before he realized that there was no amount of thinking that would give him the correct answer. He just got to wait and see. Well, that was not the worst fate, he could be a noble.
Finally, Felix saw the sun dip beneath the rooftop of the building on the other side of the street and he jumped out of his chair and rushed over to the door, and closed it tightly. He spent many hours that day staring at the sun. Every time he thought it made progress was just his mind playing tricks on himself. But he did it.
Last day of work. Complete.
Last day of serving customers. Done.
Last time being nice to nobles. Probably not done but at least he would not have to be nice to nobles. Now it would be his choice.
His own choice. He was not sure if he was gaining this by leaving this job, leaving the capital. But the pursuit of it was enough. He always wanted to be free to make his own decisions, no matter how stupid they end up being. Felix closed the drawing box then picked it with one hand covering the entire top and placed it inside of his bag.
"Hey, there old man." The old man just walked through the front door, locking it behind him. He certainly did not want to deal with customers either.
"What did I tell you about calling me that?" A very nice greeting, but it was the usual one between the two of them.
"That it is very ungrateful and demeaning, it makes you feel like less of a man, and it is no way to treat a superior nor an elder, which you are both may I add." Parts of it were word for word what the old man told him many times, others were what he thought added some unique flair to the sentence.
"Precisely, so why must you continue?"
"Because you are an old man." Felix shrugged; he was right after all. He did not know how old he actually was, but it was clear that he had seen many things in his lifetime. The only things he knew about the old man were that he had grandchildren and that his wife was gone. The eldest of the grandchildren would take over for the shop once he passed on, but he wanted to give the kid as much time as possible without such a responsibility. Felix was curious about what kind of life the old man lived, especially due to the wound on his left leg that made him walk with a stick, but the old man would not budge. He was definitely a stubborn old man.
"And twenty five is soo young." The old man replied in jest.
"Better than sixty five." Felix smirked and the old man looked up, catching on to the jab that Felix just sent.
"Must you always get my age wrong."
"Would you rather me get it right?" Felix asked him.
The old man let out a long sigh. It was not as deep as Felix's, clearly his lungs needed some work. "The youth these days."
"Not like they were back in your time, eh?"
"Exactly."
"Well, maybe you should have done a better job raising us then." Felix put his hands up in a comical shrug. The old man was not amused.
"Very much like you youngsters, blaming your forefathers. If you don't treat me with some respect, mister, I have half a mind to fire you." The old man stated.
"What? Fire me? On my last day? Did our five years together mean nothing to you? I gave you my time and energy and this is how you treat me?" Felix was getting emotional.
"Shut up Felix." He saw right through it.
"One of these times you should have played along till the very last moment. It would have made for a pretty funny turn of events." Felix pointed out.
"Perhaps, but that would have also been very tiring. Though talking to you is already pretty tiring anyways." The old man mused for a moment before his eyes widened. "Today's your last day, I thought that was tomorrow?"
The old man's terrible memory that he never seemed to be able to admit was on full display. Felix sure was not going to work another day in the store. He did not dislike his job, but five years was five too many in his opinion, it was time to leave. "No, today is my last day."
"That's not what you told me yesterday." The old man stated. He truthfully did not remember what he told him yesterday.
"And what was that?"
"That your last day was tomorrow." The old man responded. Felix blinked a couple times as if he was trying to absorb the information, but the information was soo backwards that his correctly functioning brain just did not understand it.
"That is how the passage of time works." Felix stated painfully slow as he made sure that it made sense, especially in regard to what the old man just said, as that clearly did not make any sense whatsoever.
"Don't talk down to me, I'm still your boss."
"Of course, old man." Felix smirked.
"I told you not to call me that." The old man fired back at Felix.
"Sorry it was too sweet of an opportunity to leave it dry." Felix remarked with quite a bit of snark. The old man did not appreciate that bit too terribly much.
"Why did I even take you in the first place?" The old man put his hand on his forehead as he sighed and slowly moved around the scroll store. The answer to Felix was pretty obvious. His old bones were not exactly capable of working for long periods of time and his memory made him quite abrasive. Felix doubted that many nobles would take kindly to the recommendations that he would give them, and that was if they managed to get any out of him.
"I do not think that is the type of thought that you need on my last day." Felix responded after enough time passed.
"Perhaps you're right Felix." The old man took a seat at the chair, clearly having used all of his energy. "Are you sure that you are leaving? I could offer you a raise." The old man said.
"My first raise in five years?" Felix raised his eyebrow.
"Yes, a silver fiber extra per day."
"No way, that is pocket change." Felix waved it off.
"Pocket change adds up after a while." The old man tried to convince Felix. He of course failed spectacularly.
"I think I am okay without doing the math." Felix smirked. "Besides, my replacement will suit you just fine. He is a starry eyed boy like I was, you can break him in and make sure he does not leave the ground again." He trained him a little bit. He would do fine.
"He'll be nothing like you."
"And you will have to treat him as such."
"Where will you be heading off too?" The old man asked. Felix prepared a story just for this question. Ever since he decided to leave the capital it was held in his back pocket but this was the first time that he ever got to use it. This was probably the first time that the old man actually realized that Felix would not be returning the next day. Perhaps he was just trying to make himself not believe that it would happen. He took a special liking to Felix, in large part due to how well Felix handled the store without him.
"Towards the new settlement on the coast. Figured I would manage my way onto a boat and then see the sights the world has to offer." It was not true. In the slightest. He felt kind of bad lying to the old man but that was one of the prerequisites that Elke made sure he knew about. No one else could know and he needed a cover story. At least it was a story that could leave the old man thinking that Felix would be fine without him.
"You're going to explore the world?" The old man stated with a bit of shock in his voice, Felix tried not to think about the implications of that.
"Well, I have spent enough time reading about it, might as well see what it has to offer. What is the worst that could happen?" Felix shrugged.
"If that is the case then I suppose I should give some sort of parting gift." The old man brought up. Felix raised his hands as if to say no but the old man's words were faster. "Felix please I Insist, you've been nothing but good for me. The least I can do is make sure you leave in good conditions." He hobbled over to Felix with his cane and gave him a pile of silver fibers. It was noticeably bigger than his usual pile. Felix counted it as he put it into his handbag. It was fifty silver fibers. "That's more than your usual rate, right?"
"A great deal." Felix nodded.
"You deserve a great deal more for all that you have done. I wish that I could spare more for you." Felix somehow did not find that phrase lacking in truth. Maybe the old man did develop feelings for him after all.
"Thanks, old man."
"You had to ruin the moment, didn't you?" The old man looked at Felix with quite the exasperated look. Felix gave a shrug with an even bigger smirk across his face. He would always be an old man in Felix's mind. "You deserve to be thrown to the pigs."
"I will tell you if that ever ends up happening."
"If you ever come back, you better call me by my name. We'll greet each other as old friends instead of boss and employee." The old man said.
"I agree to that." A nice gesture but one that Felix doubted would ever come pass. He would certainly welcome it if it did though. It would be nice to meet the old man on a different field than he knew. Maybe he would get to know a little bit more about his past, that would certainly be interesting.
"Till then." Felix gave a short wave as he walked out in the streets.
The streets were nearly empty, the only people there were the ones walking home after a long day's work. The Medela scroll store was located in the Medela day market. During the day peddlers would set up blankets in the large stone street and sell their wares as the buildings did the same. It was the central hub of all of the legal commerce that happened within Medela but if you somehow needed something after sundown it would not be found there.
Medela was the capital city of the empire of the same name. Given that it was a city that hardly ever slept. There was always something going down. After sundown there were just specific places to look. Felix took out an apple from his handbag and munched on it on the way to his usual spot. Elke did want to meet up with him soon, but that did not mean he would sacrifice his routine. He took a huge bit out of the apple. It would probably mean he would have to take a shortcut which he was less than thrilled to do.
Felix knew where to look for activity at night, anyone with half a brain knew where to look. He knew where to look ever since he was a kid. If anyone other than the nobles ruled the capital, it was the syndicates. Medela was a seamless city of wooden buildings along stone streets that stretched on so far as the eye could see, but anyone who lived there knew the capital was split up into sections. The nobles all lived near each other in buildings large enough to house markets while the common folk found their way into small buildings along the outskirts.
While he was almost certain that Elke would make him go into syndicate territory later tonight, he was currently not going there. Actually, now that he thought about it, he would have to take a shortcut through Ostrace territory to get to the safe house faster. There were worse Syndicates to go through, but he definitely was not looking forward to that.
However, his usual spot was just outside of Ostrace territory, if barely. Almost every tavern was affiliated with a syndicate in some way and that was what made this one special. It was not a part of a syndicate in any way. Nor was it a noble tavern. It was just a nice place to be, owned by a couple of independently wealthy people using it as a side hustle. It was nice going into a place and not having to deal with syndicates or nobles.
He finished his apple rather quickly and ate literally every part of the fruit except for the core. Even the excessive apple around the core that people usually left was gone. What could he say, but he was quite hungry. Plus, he grew quite adept at eating the entire apple, it was just he would rather not eat the core. It did not taste good in the slightest. Felix tossed the core into a stream of water and watched it dissolve out of sight.
The acid water stream was one of the many reasons that a town this big could survive. There was no excess trash or waste, all of it was dissolved into nothingness. This was the idea of their late first king, Hugo Gesund the Fourth. Felix read a lot about him but there was one consensus across the board. This guy was too excellent to be real. These streams lined everys ingle major street in Medela, no matter what part of the capital those streets found themselves.
Felix did not want to ponder the gravity of an accusation such as that so instead he ducked into an empty back alley. He had been looking down a couple of them to find one that was uninhabited. Most of them were occupied by a street rat or two and he did not feel like saying no to them. It was always hard to say no to them. He pushed that thought out of his mind as he reached into his bag and pulled out a small sac of water.
This was adhesion water, better known as sticky water. Probably the second most coveted water and that has been earned by its sheer level of usefulness. Elke gave him a small sac just in case he ever needed it for whatever reason. She told him to use it conservatively. Well, that was a lie. It was more of a threat, and she certainly did not use the word conservatively. In his mind, if he did not lose any then he could use it all he wanted. Felix coated his hands with the water and used it to climb up the side of one of the buildings. It was easier to get through certain parts of the capital by taking the roof tops instead of the streets and this was the easiest way on to the streets. That was until Felix lost his grip.
"Ouch."
That hurt. Felix laid on the ground for a moment. This always sucked. It did not happen every time. When it did, those days sucked. He laid on the ground for a moment longer before he pushed himself into a sitting position. Then he took another moment to himself. With a deep sigh, he got back onto his feet, and onto the wall. He took it a little bit slower this time but before the minute was out, he was on top of the building.
As far as the eye could see, there were buildings. In every direction he could not see the end of them. They were all around the same height except for the ones near the center of the capital, those were the royal buildings. Built to be more grand than anything else. A display of wealth. A gross display of wealth at that.
Saying that the rest of the capital was not wealthy was certainly an understatement, however. This was the biggest city in the world according to the many scrolls that Felix read. It was also the oldest city in the world, and yet somehow it stood stronger than any other. The buildings built there, even outside of the royal's display of wealth and the nobles' private areas, were impressively strong. It was said that at the end of the war of the royals, Hugo Gesund the Fourth gathered the words finest architects, the finest supplies, and the best craftsmen from around the world to give back to the common folk that lost soo much in a war caused by his people. Medela was his gift to them, the city that was strong enough to weather any storm without an issue.
And Felix was enthralled by it.
He remembered his days living alone on the streets, just laying on top of roofs looking at the vast expanse of buildings. It stretched on as far as the eye could see. Felix would watch all of the lights turn on at once at sundown; it was like the sea of stars that were covered by the clouds made their way down to earth to live with him. It was breathtaking. A scene he must remember. He did his best to soak in as much of it as he possibly could in that moment. If he was not in a time crunch, then he would have taken a couple of moments to enjoy them. Probably more than a couple. Alas, that was not the case.
Painfully, Felix turned his head away from the sea of lights and towards his path. He jumped from roof to roof until he was next to the tavern. While the streets were plentiful enough to get anywhere, the roofs allowed Felix to take a direct path which shortened his travel. Felix slid off the roof as gracefully as possible, cleaned off some dust that managed to fix itself onto his cloak. Then he walked over to the entrance of the tavern and pushed the wooden door in to welcome a familiar sight.
It was the same as ever. The wooden walls and floor matched the oil light lanterns gave it quite the cozy atmosphere. Felix could feel himself falling asleep there, and over the years he saw quite a lot of patrons fall asleep. Usually, it was due to the alcohol, but the point still stood. There were tables, most of the bigger ones were scattered along the wall with the smaller ones filling up the center.
Felix looked over towards the bar and his eyes caught the bartender's. She had such brilliant blue eyes. That thought was shoved out of his mind as fast as it arrived. It was the usual bartender, the one that served him everyday since he started going there. He was definitely her Robert, only if he ever told her his name. Besides without a surname, the given name was pretty useless and that was all that Felix was now.
She was in her usual outfit, a jacket tied around her waist, shorts that were barely visible thanks to the jacket and a top that would not leave a lot to the imagination if she was not wearing an apron. All in all, it was enough to keep the men coming back for more without bearing it all to them. However, there was one new part of her outfit, a dandelion tucked behind her ear.
They exchanged their usual telepathic conversation before Felix broke off their eye contact and made his way to his usual table. It was on the far wall. Not the corner, because the corner was always sought after, but just a random table. He could observe most of the bar whilst sitting there without looking too much like a creep. After just a couple of minutes the bartender came over to his table with a glass of beer in her hand. She leaned over the table to give it to him before sitting down across from him.
"You're here early." She smiled at him. It was a nice smile, but a tad forced if Felix was to guess what was off about it.
"I have plans later tonight." What plans, he did not know. But he definitely had plans.
"Oh ho, the young lad has plans. Handsome devil you." She gave him a light tap on the shoulder.
"Not those types of plans." Felix rolled his eyes as he moved his beer closer to him and took a big gulp of it. Not refreshing, but certainly his choice in refreshments.
"If they were those types of plans, would you tell little ole me?" She looked pretty cute. Too bad she knew that.
"Little ole you?" Felix laughed a bit on the outside and a lot on the inside. "You'd need to lose a couple of years if you think that level of cuteness would work on me." Felix statedly plainly. It was the truth, even if it was covered with humor.
"Am I too old, have I missed out on my golden years?" She was looking up towards the ceiling as if she could see past and directly into the eyes of their forsaken god.
"You're dramatic today." She usually hid her flare slightly better but now she was putting on a whole act.
"Apologies, it has been a long day." She sighed as she looked back over to the counter to see that she got new patrons to attend to. The bartender let out a long sigh as she looked at Felix with a pleading look. "Save me please."
"No can do." Felix smiled at her. He knew all to well the torture she was about to face but he did not care enough to help her out of it. Or rather he enjoyed watching her struggle rather too much. Either way he was not going to help, nor even pondered the idea. He was off work and would do nothing of the sort, hopefully for the rest of his life. That was the goal in the very least.
"You can do well to work on that part of you, can't you see I'm a damsel in distress." She laughed at the fable stereotype as she stood up, sighed, sighed again, and then went back to doing her job. Felix watched her as she went. For probably too long, but he knew that she also knew about it, and he was pretty sure that she enjoyed teasing Felix. At least that would make all of her actions make sense.
Felix opened up his small handbag and got out his drawing box. He placed it on the table, not sure if he was going to use it quite yet or just let it sit there. Taking sips out of his giant mug of beer he observed the patrons of the tavern. It was the usual type of folk that were in there. There were a couple groups of friends getting drinks and being antisocial from the rest of the establishment. There were the drunk men hitting on the bartender while they drank their loneliness away. They were a group of females, obviously on their day out, getting drunk and just causing moderate amounts of chaos. And then there were the group of men, who were trying to cause more than a moderate amount of chaos. Those men were always the most interesting to watch the bartender interact with. However, it seems as though they were tame enough at the moment. Most of them were distracted by a group of quite attractive females. The ones who were not were either too drunk to move or passed out because they were drunk, which Felix supposed was the same reasoning.
Before he knew it, he was seeing the bottom of his mug and he looked at it a tiny bit puzzled. It was not a hard day at work and whenever he finished his beer, that was usually what that meant. Felix shook his head, he was reading too much into it, the beer was good, or good enough rather and he was just enjoying it till he no longer got to enjoy it.
With his beer finished preoccupying him, Felix took the lid off of his drawing box and dipped his finger in. Instead of immediately changing the appearance of the water, he let his eyes wander around the tavern. This would be the last time he would be inside of it and he wanted to capture the memory. He wondered how many sights he would be able to properly recreate once he was gone. Felix hoped that it was all of them. They were all precious to him, but he doubted that would happen. It would take a perfect memory and Felix was not blessed with that.
His drifting eyes and mind took ahold of the water inside of the drawing box as it slowly revealed what stood out to him. It was the flower tucked behind the bartender's ear. He quickly changed the type of flower so as to not be teased by her and without a second to spare as she brought out his stew not a moment later.
"Oh, I'm flattered, is that flower for me?" She placed her hand on her chest after she placed the bowl of stew down. The bartender was clearly having too much fun with him.
"It would be, but I can see that someone beat me to the punch." Felix motioned towards the flower tucked behind her ear.
"Oh, this little thing." It seemed as though she forgot it as it took her a moment to figure out what Felix was talking about. "A drunk patron gave this to me."
"It would be the same case with me, no?"
"You're much more than just some drunk patron." She caressed the side of his face and he played along with it. "Besides I'm pretty sure that she had been dared to give it to me by her friends, and I was just playing along with them. They gave me a pretty nice tip though, so I can't complain." The bartender shrugged.
"Anything for the tip then?"
"Anything. I need this really nice skirt, and I guess I should pay the noble whose house I'm using at the moment." Both of them let off forced half laughs. "But you know, a flower for you would mean a lot more to me than some lousy tip."
"So, I don't have to tip you then?" Felix made sure his face looked as happy as possible.
"What nooooo, I live off your tips darling." The bartender grabbed his hand. It took everything he could not to shy away from the physical contact. She may have noticed it anyways, but it did not seem as though she was even slightly phased, so Felix was not quite sure what happened. All he knew was that her hands only touched his for a second and a half.
"It sounds like you have it hard." Felix made small talk.
"So hard, would you be willing to help out a helpless soul?" She blinked as she pleaded with him.
"Of course." Felix dug around in his handbag, careful not to be harsh as to not rip the couple of patch work stitches that held it together till he found the correct number of silver fibers. He dropped them into her hands one by one so she could count them as they fell.
"Second beer?"
"Second beer." Felix confirmed.
"Come right up, just give me a moment to serve my other patrons." Felix nodded in confirmation as she left, taking his empty mug along with her. He turned to his stew and took a bite out of it. It tasted good and that was about as far as his expert opinion went. When it came to food, Felix knew nothing other than how to make it not kill you. Usually for Felix that just meant you cook the piece of meat till it was burnt. Then he was sure that it could not be undercooked because it was vastly overcooked. Burnt meat did not taste good. This stew did. This stew did not have any burnt meat in it. That was probably for the best. The stew there was new every day. Felix suspected it was the random scrapes repurposed into a dish to cut down on their waste just a little. While Felix loved it, he doubted that it really helped too much because he did not know anyone else who ate stew like he did.
That honestly never made any sense to Felix. It had meat in it, meat was good. It had meat juice, even better. Vegetables, good. Cooked vegetables, even better. And it was all together in one nice little package. He could just take one bite and get a mixture of flavors and textures combining in his mouth. He liked combining flavors and textures. Everyone else was missing out.
Before he finished, the bartender came back with his beer, this time in a different mug. Felix eyed it weirdly but quickly decided it did not matter at all. "You know, it'll never get old, watching you drop coins into my hands." Felix was glad for the last part, because otherwise he would not have known what she was talking about.
"Were you thinking about that the entire time we were apart?" A question that cut straight to the point. Felix did enjoy those a fair bit.
"Well, I certainly was not thinking about my work." She responded with a very noncommittal sentence; Felix decided not to push any further on the subject. However, the part that he did push forward on was her body language. Instead of sitting down in the chair across from him she was leaning over it with her arms on the table. Considering she needed to stand for her job, Felix found it rather odd that she did not take the chance to sit down.
"You know, every time we talk, I am surprised that you don't ask me out for a drink or something." That was certainly a conversation topic. Not the one that Felix thought he was going to bring up but it seemed that his mouth and mind were not exactly connected currently. She leaned back for a moment and cocked her head. It was as if she was trying to examine the angle.
"It took all this time for you to bring that up." She responded.
"And yet you never did," Felix responded.
"Maybe I was waiting for you too."
"I thought you were the type of person who would take what they wanted." A slight insult to her person would get her to say something actually committal.
"I don't have my pick of the patrons. I have professionalism to uphold. Crossing that line is a slippery slope." Damn, that was a good reason and he wanted to continue to tease her. But following after something like that was not easy. Thankfully, the bartender spoke up before the silence made Felix say something without thinking it through. "But if I were to ask you out, it would be for coffee instead." That was a hell of smirk that she had on her face.
"And not beer?"
"Beer is my job; coffee is my hobby." She shrugged in explanation.
"Sounds very dangerous beautiful." Felix smirked right back at her.
"You flatter me." She blushed quietly.
"I try my best." Felix shrugged.
She looked at him for a couple of moments. "You're not going to ask me huh." An astute observation.
"For all you know, I could have a wife."
She let out a giggle. "I suppose I don't know much about you. But you are different. And different is special." She pointed out. "If you did have a wife, would that stop you?" The bartender licked her lips and wiggled her eyebrow. "But I suppose." She reached out and grabbed his face. "I'll just have to keep that a mystery for now." She walked away, leaving his second beer in her absence. Felix cursed to himself.
Damn, she took control of the conversation quite easily. A gulp of beer went down his throat. It burned on its way down. Not easy to drink, not at all, and yet he always came back for more. Felix sighed as he continued to eat his stew. He wanted to be able to control the conversation, to make her blush but he supposed that she was immune to something like that. It probably came with her job profession. An unfortunate turn of events, that would have made his last meal there something quite special.
Maybe it was not supposed to be special because this was supposed to be just a normal day, according to Elke. It was special to him. His last day in Medela, his last day in the city of his birth. How was he supposed to be able to cope with that? To understand the gravity of what that meant? He never even stepped foot outside the capital, what if it was not for him? Felix sighed as he finished his stew. All the questions in the world without a single answer from his brain. Perhaps that was the person he was. Someone who questioned everything without providing an answer.
Damn it, another question. He should stop that. Felix gulped down the rest of his beer in one go. That was a testament to how many times he drank it. It was probably too much in the grand scheme of things. He picked up his dirty dishes and put them up at the counter. The bartender was busy tending to her other patrons. Her rush was about to begin, he could not interrupt her now, nor did he have time to wait for the opportunity.
That was unfortunate. Perhaps it was meant to be that way. To not give him a constructed final moment, their final moment was one that they created with each other. There was a specialness to that, one that Felix would have to respect. Or at least, he would have to learn to respect. This was the only way this time. With no other options, Felix looked at the bartender and absorbed all that she was in his mind. Perhaps in another lifetime he would have gotten to know her better. One that he had not met Elke. Then again, that was a moot point as without Elke, he would have still been on the streets. Nevertheless, he left with saying goodbye.
The outside air was crisper, not necessarily cold, just colder than it was before. Even though the sun was perpetually blocked by clouds, it still did heat up the ground when it was in the sky. Felix once again applied sticky water to his hands and made his way on top of the roofs but this time he did not stop to look at the view. He was probably already taking too long for Elke's liking as it was best not to anger her.
Usually, he would not jump from roof to roof after eating. That tended to upset his stomach but there was something that upset his entire being even more. And that was Elke, she was not to be trifled with. So, he would be jumping from roof to roof and not just anyway roofs, the roofs in the red light district.
The red light district was the heart of the Ostrace syndicate in many different ways. It was in the center of their territory and most importantly, it was the heart of their money-making. If he was looking for something that was morally gray instead of actually illegal, then all he needed to do was stroll into the red light district. Felix tended to think that while he was not a morally upstanding citizen, he was also not like all of the customers that visited the Ostrace red light district.
On top of the roofs, he was not alone. There were a few other loners who were jumping from roof to roof, clearly just wanting an easier and quicker route than the streets. There were a couple of gatherings of people hanging out on top of the roof. Felix made sure to avoid all of those, and there was even a group of people traveling quickly across them, they looked like they were up to no good. Felix made sure to avoid everyone. Amongst the other commands that Elke gave to him, there was always one that trumped all of the others.
Do not get followed.
For that reason, he made sure that his path was a little sporadic, not enough to add more than a few minutes to his travel time, but enough to catch if anyone was following him. Once he was absolutely sure that no one was following him, he made his way to the little shack that Elke told him to go to. When he landed on the roof, he understood why this one was the one Elke purchased. It was shoved in between two other buildings and it was clearly not built with the same level of skill or care as the others. It was quite evidently a shack. The roof did not feel stable at all as Felix crept along with it. He was glad to finally get off the roof when he went down the chimney and into the shack.
Darkness invaded his sight as he slipped into the shack. The lights from the streets were not present inside of the shack. Clearly this building was not made by Hugo Gesund the fourth and the main skilled craftsmen as it did not have any windows. However unfortunate it was, Felix managed to find the water light inside of the shack and turned it on. The shack was just as dank and small Felix imagined it to be, but he did not think that he would have company.
On the floor there was another person, who was positively dead. Felix ran over to her but her hair color soothed Felix's mind. She was a blonde, Elke was a burnette, whoever this was, it was not Elke. After that thought left his mind he turned his attention back towards the women. There was a remarkable resemblance to Elke and her body was completely cold. He knew that to be a mark that she was Elke's kill. Before he got the time to ponder why Elke killed her, the door opened up and Elke walked in.
"I was beginning to think that you would be late." Elke said as she pushed off her hood and shook her head ever so slightly. Felix looked up from the girl's body and their two eyes connected for a moment before she looked away. A deep sigh exited her mouth. Elke ran her hand through her hair before she made her way over to Felix and the dead girl. She knelt down and closed the girl's eyes.
Felix looked up at her and they maintained contact for a couple of moments before he looked back down at the girl.
"It was quick." The tone of her voiced betrayed her. Felix knew that she made it quick because Felix would have liked it that way. He was grateful for her.
A small consolation for the life lost. "Good." Felix felt his muscles loosen as he shifted his body weight away from the girl. "Is she the body double?"
"Yeah." Elke nodded. Felix knew her plan, she spent quite awhile preparing it and Felix knew the entire time but, seeing the body was nothing Felix could have prepared himself for.  "She was on her last breath by the time I found her. I gave her one last meal."
It was probably for the best. The life that was left for the girl was not one to grieve for. For a brief moment he wondered what her name was before he closed his eyes and looked away from. There was no use in dwelling on the past. Felix choked down whatever thoughts he was having with a question.  "What was your plan for tonight?"
"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?"
"I know why you did it. I know that there was no way around it and I know that her life was probably already forfeit but none of that matters. I just need some time to absorb it." A moment of silence collected itself between the two of them "So what is the plan?" Felix could not stand the silence. Maybe with some time he would learn to accept it all, but he doubted that. Ever since his time on the streets, he just did not know what to make of someone dying.
"You don't have to be strong with me." She looked down at him with a warm smile.
"Time is of the essence, I know it. I will be fine, I am stronger than I used to be." He gave off a fake smile and Elke most definitely noticed it. However, instead of pressing she accepted that he wanted to overcome it on his own and answered his question.
"Do you think it's safe for a journey to the Scarnets?" Felix sighed. He never wanted to see that syndicate again.
"No." He shook his head as he stood up. "Do we have any other option?"
"Nope." She smirked at him.
"Damn it." Felix scratched his head. "What are we getting?" He asked her.
"Linde wants some more water." Elke shrugged. "Whether or not I agree is a nonissue since I don't have a way to tell her no. So we should at least try to get the water. Maybe then she won't start off being pissy."
"Pissy?"
"She's a right foul one when she wants to be." That was what Felix suspected she meant, but Felix never knew with Elke.
Felix let out a laugh. "And we are about to spend who knows how long with her."
"You can still back out of it." Elke offered.
"Not a chance Ostrace, I have a chance to meet some old friends" He raised his eyebrows at Elke with confidence.
"Now that's more like it." Elke patted him on the back as they set out into the capital. Felix knew that a long night was ahead of him but he suspected that there would be even longer afterwards. The first one may as well start in somewhat familiar territory.