S a l e t é I I

XVII - Veines - Treize

By the end of the day, the excitement that Cassia had been feeling had started to quieten, becoming a steady, cautious layer of hope within both her heart and mind. Unlike the optimism she'd been carrying before their trip, which had possessed a sharpened edge, this time things were different - it was based on something real, something that was actually coming, and not just on faith that she had to pluck up from within herself.

The only moment that had served to shaken the new, promising air to her day had been a lone, wayward thought. Were the couriers coming? The boy, Spears, had relayed the news that they were, but... Where had he heard that news from? Was it really news? Or was it just a rumour he'd heard during one of his excursions? Luckily, the other girls had dispelled these worries with a few prospects.

"If the people in the districts nearby are talking about the couriers, then it must be official news." Uliana had said to her, when they'd been at the fireside together again, following her time upstairs with Monet.

"Loads of people down here get help from them, especially over here near the old street. If people started spreading rumours that they were coming, and it turned out to be wrong, then all those folks would be pretty annoyed."

"Annoyed? More like pissed. I know I would be if I sat around waiting for them all day, only for them to never actually show up." Klavdiya had said in turn, the mere thought alone enough to leave her with an exceedingly unimpressed look.

The sentiments shared had restored Cassia's hope back to top form again, allowing her to continue with her newfound positive outlook, her appreciation for the girls only reinforced in the process.

Following this latest round of discussion, which had naturally been interspersed with a few dashes of bickering between Uliana and Klavdiya, Zisel had returned to her backroom in order to start getting a feel for the work that she now had to conduct. Cassia had offered to go with her in order to provide some assistance, but the girl had declined for the time being, doing so in a wholly polite fashion whilst expressing her gratitude regardless, instead insisting that she stay with the other girls. 

"Someone has to keep an eye on them." She'd reasoned, rather knowingly indeed. 

Cassia almost considered that a task in and of itself.

Fortunately for her, it felt as if her own high spirits had been a cause for the others to be upbeat themselves, and so any comments that might have led to one of their little squabbling matches were usually allowed to slip by with only a playful glare or scowl instead. Even so, Cassia wished to keep the girls occupied - just in case - and she hoped to achieve this by asking about one of the many things that had been on her mind.

"Klavdiya?"

"Yeah?"

The girls had just managed to come down from another bout of giggles, following a couple of jokes courtesy of Uliana.

"When we were talking to the kids earlier, and Shipshape mentioned his uncle..."

"Shipshape told you about his uncle? I'm surprised it took him this long, he's always going on about his boat." Uliana replied as she heard this, speaking up almost immediately, earning one of those challenging glances from Klavdiya.

"Did he try to convince you to become a pirate or anything? Because he's tried that on me before."

"Cassia was asking a question." Klavdiya said to her now, putting on a deliberately snooty look, suggesting that Uliana's continued interruptions were most unseemly.

"You'd make a good pirate though, we could get you a peg leg and everything."

"Yeah, and you can have an eyepatch after I use that peg leg to poke your eye out."