As the night passes, so too does the thunderstorm, leaving frozen dirt and icy wind in its massive wake. Honestly, I was secretly hoping it would heat back up. My current fresh vibes have not been doing me any favors in the cold.
As the sun peeks over the horizon, all of us except Lee congregate in the mess hall.
"All right! Who's ready to look for Cryos?" Rurin raises his hand.
"Where to start, still no idea," Angelina sighs.
"Eh, you get used to it. We'll find them eventually. We, umm, just have to be optimistic," I tell her. "And maybe lucky? I dunno."
"The real question is, where to first?" I glance out the frost-coated window. "North, east, south… is there even anything south of the badlands?"
"Oh! Ridgeside Station," Vernicia proposes.
"Huh? That's not south."
"Not what I mean! Remember how Monty Kekuro said that what we seek isn't in the places we previously visited?" Vernicia stands up, looking proud of herself. "That means one thing, and one thing only… we leave this region! Ridgeside Station is the ticket to broadening our horizons."
"Speaking of tickets, though…" I pull out my darmas. "Will this be enough for everyone? Or wait, will everyone even be going?"
"Don't worry about funds." She holds up a full money pouch. "I found the strongbox! It's in the central office under the desk, if you want some too."
"Not a bad idea," I nod. Then I notice Verni still staring at me. "What? I'm not gonna spend it all on Youya."
"Y'know, there's so much in there, we probably all could, really," Vernicia replies, pocketing her cash. "I'm talking a few thousand darmas, easy."
"Whoa!" Rurin hops to his feet.
"Hmm?" Jim had given me sixty, and apparently that was a lot… so a thousand…
"Whoa there, don't work your brain cell too hard," Diantha tells me.
"Tch! Whatever, let's just load up," I decide, standing up. "Money, spare supplies – Marc, how's the Tetrider?"
"Ready to roll," he confirms.
"Cool. You coming, firefolks? More feet on the ground never hurts."
"You can count on me," Hal volunteers. "Let's do this."
Jetta leans back. "Not me. I'm gonna get ahead on my training with Master Lee."
"Hey, no fair!" Hal looks annoyed.
"What exactly are you training for?" I ask. "I mean, you're already a pretty strong soldier, right? I imagine all the firemen are."
"Not everything can be burned or shot," Jetta says. "So we're learning something new. But Hal's a prodigy at it, for some reason. It vexes me."
"I… think I get it," I nod, then glance at Marc. "Well, good luck."
"Hey, Hal! You sure you'll be okay without me?" Jetta calls.
"Will YOU be okay without ME?"
"Shut up! Get outta here."
Soon we're outside, our feet crunching in the ice-layered dirt. "Where's Ridgeside Station, anyway? The great ridge is huge," I mutter.
"Closer to Chandonis," Vernicia says, raising her wings. "Just follow me. We've flown by it a couple of times before."
"Have we?" As I launch into the air, a frozen breeze blows through. "Ugh! First thing I'm looking for over there is a skysuit."
"I thought they were custom designed," Rurin says.
"Then something similar! I don't care," I retort. "Say what you will about their lack of style, Verni, but they worked. Gah, I need tougher sandals too… or maybe just combat boots."
"Aw, but your toes," Diantha pouts.
"What about them? Er, never mind." I never can tell with that girl.
As we cross over the great ridge, I notice that it's still fairly cold. I guess that means the season is here? Maybe I shouldn't have passed up that crop jacket after all.
The five of us land in front of Ridgeside Station. It's a lot bigger than I expected, seeing it up close instead of from above.
"Um… you think we'll be fine?" Diantha wonders.
"Eh, we've got tons of funds now," I shrug.
"Dummy. I mean our wings," she replies. "If anyone looks at them while we're out like this, won't they freak?"
"Well, we were fine in Chandonis…" I recall my time in the Seaburgs. "If anyone asks, you can just say it's a shell."
"A… shell?" Diantha fails to form a sly comeback.
"Apparently if you don't know they're wings, they just kind of look solid. Or like capes, I've also heard," Vernicia says. "I was wondering this myself while I was out sh– scouting one night. It's like how a bug's wings fold back."
"Tsk." The noise involuntarily escapes my mouth. "I mean, birds do it too, sort of."
"My gun, your weapons," Angelina points out. "Those they'd notice first, I think."
"Valid point," Rurin says as we enter the station plaza. "Erm, you think it'll cause problems?"
"Let's just play it by ear," I decide, looking around. Marc and Hal have parked the Tetrider somewhere, and now we're all together.
The plaza opens to three terminals, with national rail lines going north, west, and northwest. The only eastbound rail is the Chandonis local line, which I guess makes sense. People are everywhere, streaming in and out of the shops and restaurants or waiting near the terminals to get on a high-speed tram.
"This place sees a lot of business for a rail station," Rurin remarks.
"Probably because all the major routes connect here," Marc says. "Good for business, yeah?"
"Hey, you wanna try all the shops? We… oh. Hi," Vernicia says, looking at the bearded man who has approached us.
"Greetings," he says, looking us over with eyes that are somehow both perceptively sharp and impossibly drop-dead tired. "You're not from around here, I take it?"
Warning! Overriding. Warning! Cancelling fight-or-flight assessment. Warning! Updating. Need to keep a low profile. Don't freak out.
"Uh, n-no? No." I straighten my dress, trying to calm the alarms going off in my head. Why are my alarms going off? Who is this man?
"You just look to be at a crossroads, is all," the bearded man says. "The terminals in Ridgeside Station have trains going between the biggest cities east of the desert, you know: Scaravale to the north, Sectary City to the northwest, and Proxana to the west, among others."
Vernicia speaks up: "What about… Minoaoa Village?"
"Huh? Min-wah-wah?" I ask. At the same time, the man's eyes narrow.
Vernicia points at the transit map she'd nabbed from somewhere. It looks to be the second stop along the northbound line, just past the great central forest. "I remember reading about it in the Tri-State Area Tribune; it's supposed to be the nicest sightseeing town in the province," she tells me.
"Don't forget, we're on a mission." I put my hands on my hips. "Properly picking our next destination is crucial to its success."
"A mission?" Crap! The bearded man is still here. I feel my blood run cold as he draws closer to us. "Say… are those weapons real?"
Warning! Override failure. Fight or flight? There are people around. Fight or flight? There are people around! Fight or—
"Of COURSE not! We're cosplayers," Vernicia tells him. "I'm extra proud of how the weapons turned out."
The bearded man nods. "Aha. Should have guessed. The StarsCon is in full swing, after all." He casts one last look over all of us. "I'll be going, then. Enjoy your trip to Sectary City."
Then he leaves, fading into the crowd.
I lean over to Vernicia's ear. "What's cosplay?"
"I learned about it in a gaming magazine at the submarine mansion," she answers. "It's basically dress-up, but with roleplaying involved."
"Huh…" I rub my chin. "Doesn't sound too exciting."
"You haven't seen the costumes! They're so… I mean, yeah! It's not for everyone." Verni composes herself. "And I would never put so much effort into making my own costume with frills and flowing sleeves and fancy jet-black… ahem. But you've gotta admire their dedication! And the end result is usually exquisite."
I guess I'll take her word for it. She seems to like it, at least. "That man mentioned Sectary City… I guess the StarsCon is there," I conclude. "That, um, cosplay thing, yeah? Should we even bother?"
Vernicia's gaze flicks to the side, like she just got a message of some kind. "He's still nearby. I think he's watching us somehow," she mutters.
"We should go to Sectary City, then. Just to be safe," Hal says.
"Seconded." Diantha crosses her arms. "I feel like if we go anywhere else, there might be problems."
"This feels like a trap," I growl, pacing in a circle. "Just who is he? Marc!"
"I got nothing," he promptly replies.
"What?! You didn't do your thing on him?"
"I did! But I couldn't pick up on anything," he tells me. "You should know, aside from high resistance, some people might have barriers that I can't get through. It's usually high-ranking officials, though, like execs or directors…" he suddenly stops, his brow furrowing.
"W-we should get moving. I think he's getting suspicious," Vernicia warns.
"You can tell?" I ask. I feel like she's gotten more perceptive lately.
"Don't worry about it. Kiosks are that way," she replies.
"The brochures all say it's way bigger than Chandonis. And it's at a higher elevation, too. I bet we'll feel right at home," Diantha excitedly says.
"Excellent. Then we'll hit Minoaoa Village afterwards," Vernicia declares.
"We aren't tourists! Keep your head in the game," I cut her off.