S a l e t é I I

XIV - Mains - Deux

Cassia made an attempt to try and memorise the turns to take in order to get from their warehouse to the old garage area, quickly learning that such an endeavour was currently beyond her capabilities.

Maybe she should have made a note of it in her book? She could have drawn lines, indicating the routes to take, and nobody else would have been able to figure out what they meant.  Maybe Uliana could help her with it later on...

Klavdiya managed to navigate the alleyways without too much difficulty, occasionally slowing down to better avoid particular bits of junk strewn across the paths - bits that Cassia subsequently moved out of the way to prevent them from becoming an issue again. Lots of the pieces of scrap felt oily, and stained her hands with either dirt or a soot like black dust.

They moved quietly, and - whilst Cassia would have appreciated a little chatter - such a silence enabled her to stay sharp, and she kepther goals in mind, her awareness heightened. Nothing around them seemed to move or stir unless made to do so by their own motions, and she really did get the impression that they were alone in a forsaken place.

If not for them, would anyone even come this way today? Or tomorrow? Or at any point during the week...?

When they arrived at the fence at the end of the paths between the warehouses - the route they used as a shortcut when heading out - Monet went first, helping Klavdiya up. After this, the girl in red jumped over, allowing herself to drop down to the other side swiftly. Once there, she assisted Klavdiya again, waiting to help her down as the girl moved to scale the fence for herself.

She had little difficulty actually climbing up now that she was close, only requiring that assistance when it came to lowering herself on the other side.

Cassia went last, climbing up by herself, being careful not to get her skirt caught on anything along the way. Monet waited for her as Klavdiya scouted the yard ahead, and she was grateful for the assistance that the leader gave her as she dropped down to join them.

"Are you okay, dear?" Monet asked, her voice almost a whisper. Cassia replied with some swift nods, backed up by a small smile, both gestures that looked as if they satisfied her companion.

They soon caught up to Klavdiya, who was waiting from the end of that final alleyway, where she had safely surveyed the area ahead. Everything was as it had been the previous day, with nothing having been moved or disturbed as far as Cassia could see.

Did no one use these buildings, even if they were shells of their former selves? Then again, their warehouse hideout might have been old and rundown, but it wasn't in the same state as some of the old garages that made up the yard ahead; broken or non-existent windows, missing doors, splits in the walls, holes in the rooftops...

They were hardly secure.

The same could be said for the streets just beyond the yard, and they certainly appeared far more crippled than the ragtag networks she'd observed from the top of the slope before the old street yesterday. The streets below may have been less than uniform, and less than professional, but people clearly lived in the makeshift homes, and effort had subsequently been put in to maintain and develop them.

Here, on these back roads, the buildings were dishevelled, broken, and essentially picked clean. Cassia could now appreciate just how rundown they really were, considering her new knowledge of the areas that were actually populated.

This time, as the three of them made their way through the ghost of a district, Cassia noticed that they weren't entirely alone. Further down one of the streets, two young men were looking through one of the spaces outside one of the ruined shops. A little further ahead, they saw an older woman carrying a large bag, collecting various bits and pieces as she went up the road. Sounds, largely in the distance, also indicated that people actually existed in Lower Merveille, the familiar sound of clanging being carried by the spacious nature of the underground.