S a l e t é I I

XIX - Épaules - Quinze

They'd walked back to the old street via the same roads and paths they'd used to reach the scrapyard, and Cassia was beginning to recognise certain areas and particular landmarks along the way, something that could have only been a good sign. With a little more practice, she might have even been able to make the trip by herself, without any sort of advice as to which routes to follow.

She hoped that she would never have to make the trip alone, but still. Thoughts counted for something, right? 

Upon reaching the market like street, they went their separate ways, Chief wishing them well whilst stating that he was looking forward to seeing them again tomorrow. 

"Hold off on any ideas for now, yeah? Just carry on as normal, take it easy if you can." 

Cassia would have liked to attend again the next day, both because it would have been nice to see the factory children and because she was genuinely interested in the new events they'd witnessed together, the latter actually winning out in terms of her motivation, but she doubted that Monet would pick her. She'd gone out today, after all, and consecutive outings were rare for anyone other than the leader herself.

On the way back to the warehouse, Monet was quieter than usual, even if Uliana wasn't.

"Do you think it'll even affect us? Where did he say this new place was going to be? North of the Red District?"

"Is that far away?" Cassia asked as they went, entering the derelict garage grounds on their way back towards the alleys that would take them to their base.

"It's pretty far, yeah. Almost the other side of the underground, I'd say, kinda close to the tunnel. That's what I mean though, I don't think it would change much for us, seeing as we're over here."

"It could be a catalyst."

Monet had spoken up without looking at the other girls, her statement quickly confusing the talkative younger miss.

"Huh? A what?"

"If this project is successful, we could see similar efforts elsewhere in the future."

"Would that be such a bad thing though? It sounds like the sort of thing that would help a lot of people..." Cassia asked, hoping that she hadn't missed a detail somewhere that would result in her coming across as foolish, a slight trepidation in her tone. Monet replied fairly enough.

"That's what we need to find out. There have been far too many swindlers and con men making their rounds here in the past."

"Do you think he meant what he said?"

Cassia's question wasn't as simple as she'd initially thought, and Monet took a few seconds to reply this time.

"We'll find out soon enough, I suppose."

"He would probably have said a bunch more, if we'd stuck around." Uliana remarked, a point that didn't concern Uliana too much.

"The boys will give us a summary tomorrow. Don't fret." 

The narrower passages that led beyond the garage buildings themselves and into the alleys hadn't gotten any more pleasant in the time that they'd been using them. Cassia still made an effort to avoid catching her clothes on anything in the way of protruding debris, be it from the actual structures or useless parts of rusted, unrecognisable machines or vehicles, even if it was almost impossible to get through without getting one's hands dirty. Indeed, her palms ended up grubby and marked by what might have been some kind of soot, and there wasn't exactly anything she could have used to clean them aside from her skirt.