Sylphid's Happiness Revisited

Chapter 3

Ryu and Bell waited, quietly for almost a full hour, listening to the various doors open and close in the hall. "Seems like Welf will be working late tonight like usual." Bell commented, counting and not hearing the appropriate door count.

"Shouldn't it be two people? From the door count." Ryu commented, but she knew Bell would know better.

"No, Mikoto and Haruhime sleep in the same room." Bell's mind shot to what he knew about the pair.

"Well how long do you think until Welf goes to sleep, I don't think they will want to wait too long." Ryu commented, keeping track of time by a melody in her own head.

Bell held up his hand with all five fingers extended, he slowly began to decrease the number of fingers held out. The moment the last finger lowered Ryu could barely hear the slight clang of a hammer striking an anvil. She only raised her eyebrow in surprise, "How would you have known?"

"He's been working on making me new armor at night and working on new weapons during the day. Since we haven't been in the dungeon again since... well you know." Bell commented, adjusting the position of the dagger on his hip slightly to fit more comfortably. "If we move now, we should be alright."

Ryu nodded and shifted her own short swords she had received from her room after Bell had agreed to assist. She had missed the familiar weight of Alf's Lumina, but she didn't let that bother her.
Bell watched for a second, before moving and opening the window waving Ryu out.

.

.

.

The city seemed abnormally quiet, the noise of the city had dropped dramatically since Freya had destroyed the red-light district, but the pair didn't mind. Bell followed closely behind Ryu who had a map leading to where they were going. They darted left and right down several small alleys until eventually they found themselves in a small, deserted courtyard.

It was a small courtyard with paving stones covering the ground. There were several pillars supporting the surrounding buildings. A moderate sized oak tree filled the center of the courtyard yard with a handful of white benches wrapped around the tree.

They waited for about a minute when a shadow seemed to depart from the near full moon glow. As a black cloaked individual that both recognized, it raised a gauntleted hand in the universal sign of wait. "Follow me." It said in its metallic grinding voice as it tossed a small ball.

A giant cloud of smoke formed in under a second obscuring the entire courtyard. Bell felt the gauntlet grab his arm, out of reflex Bell grabbed Ryu's hand so she could easily follow.

The pair were blinded for a second, then the smoke seemed to vanish as they entered a stone hallway. Bell couldn't help but raise an eyebrow, "Really Fels is this necessary? All of this..." He waved towards the smoke.

"Yes, can never be too safe. You never know who might be watching." Fels glanced upward towards a tower that seemed to pierce the heavens.

Ryu stood there for a moment, "Well, what's going on?"

"I'm glad you decided to bring Cranel Gale. We received information that he might be necessary. But to answer your question... well why don't we talk as we walk." Fels started taking a few steps forward making almost no noise.

Ryu silently hated the mention of her nickname, "Can you please not call me that? It's marred by a bloody history."

Fels seemed to observe through the shadowed hood but nodded. "Of course, Lion, regardless we need your help, we have received news that a Xenos had been sold on the surface. It seemed Ikolas Familia managed to actually start the process before they were taken down."