A Learning Curve - Etrian Odyssey 4 - Boyxboy

Chapter 9

AN: Thanks so much Ame_Tasogare for commenting on the previous chapter!

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The clinic was surprisingly quiet as Falkner sat at the kitchen table, his arms folded on top of the table and his chin resting on his forearms.

Bryce, Varuna, Nitish, Achyuta and Zoran were visiting the Lush Woodlands, inspecting and investigating the 'secret paths' of the third floor as there had been some strange rumours floating around. Roxbury and Logre were roaming around the city, searching for those imperials that confronted Ciaran last night at the wharf while Fletcher and Blayden were at the wharf, checking out their airships.

And Miach...was undoubtedly lost somewhere. That was probably what Biast was currently doing. He'd be able to sniff out that wistful medic.

"Are you brooding?" Isiah asked suddenly him as he sat at the other end of the table, a cup of some kind of sweet smelling tea in his hand.

"Thinking," Falkner muttered, not lifting his chin from his arms.

Isiah arched an eyebrow at him before rolling his hand at him, indicating for him to elaborate. "...About?"

About a lot of things. About what happened last night at the wharf. About Roxbury's confrontation with Zesiro. About his own confrontation with the mysterious Telem and Durriken.

He hadn't told anyone as he didn't want to cause his guild to worry, but he had noticed the presence of both Telem and Durriken in town just hours after their skirmish with Nitish and Varuna at the Sacred Mountains. They were barely noticeable, and he hated to admit it, but it took him a couple of hours of surveillance to confirm his suspicions.

Their appearance in town seemed to coincide with the Imperial's sudden rise of disorder. The Imperials had always been somewhat restless as refugees of Tharsis, but the last couple of days had seen a spike in their confrontational behaviour. It couldn't be a coincidence, could it?

But...he had never actually seen Telem or Durriken do anything.

"There's something about that nightseeker that bugs me," Falkner reluctantly admitted.

Isiah instantly knew who he was talking about. "They're in town?" he questioned as he leaned back in his chair.

"Yeah."

"What are they doing?"

"That's what bugs me; I don't know," Falkner practically huffed in annoyance as he lifted his head from his arms. "I just see him from the corner of my eye. Not all the time, just enough to irritate me."

Isiah rested his chin in his hand as he leaned his elbow upon the table. "You think he's following you?"

Falkner became silent as he mulled over Isiah's question. "...I think he's following someone else."

"I see," Isiah muttered as his eyes narrowed in a fearsomely protective way. "Do you think he's a threat?"

"Don't know," Falkner answered quickly, but truthfully. "Nitish would have sensed that he was, right?"

"Varuna, too," Isiah muttered as a contemplative expression appeared on his face. "Stay on your toes just in case."

That much was given. "Already am," he uttered before the two of them soon lapsed into a pensive silence.

Things were starting to get serious. What happened to Ciaran at the wharf was alarming. To think that three Imperials would actually try to use force against the wharf-master for the Black Flame. It may have been a mere display of power, but it could have turned very bad very quickly.