I slowly rise from the floor, my vision blurry. As I rub my eyes, I realize it's tears. Tears? Why was I…
"Morning, Kit. We're off to get breakfast," Rurin calls.
"Oh." I get up, wiping my eyes. "Sure, I'll come with."
The eatery downstairs is smallish, but posh. Soon we're all crowded around a table in the corner.
"There's this bar I want to visit," I announce. "It's called Sidewinder Pub."
"Didn't think you'd be the one to want to try drinking," Vernicia remarks.
"Don't you need a license for that?" Rurin asks.
"It's not that. It's Jim," I clarify. "I did some research."
"Oh yeah, the thing she did last night," Hal speaks up. "At first I thought it was an astral projection of some kind, but her entire metaphysical self just up and left her body. You know, like how ghosts are, but without the dying–"
"Hal! Shut! Up," I hiss. "I swear, nothing ever stays inside with you around, does it?"
"What's so bad about it that you'd want to keep it secret?"
"W-well…" I nervously twirl a ponytail. "I still don't really get how it works… and, um…"
"It does explain a few things, though," Rurin notes. "Like how sometimes you'd just go dead still."
"Yeah, it's fine! We all have our secrets," Vernicia laughs.
"Oh, are you gonna tell yours too?" Hal wonders.
Vernicia goes weirdly quiet, then looks to the side. "That's… not my decision to make."
"Ah. I see," Hal relents. "Well, if anything, I'm a respecter of boundaries."
I throw him an irritated look. "Oh, really?"
"What are you guys talking about?" Marc asks.
"Nothing! Well, nothing you should worry about," I reply. "Did you unlock any more files?"
"I just woke up; I'll perform better with some food in my system."
"Meh… fine." My gaze wanders to a TV on the wall, which is showing the news. Then
I suddenly freeze. "Huh?!"
"What?" Rurin looks at the TV as well. "Oh. It's that event. For, uh, cosplay, right? The costumes do seem legit…" Then he also freezes.
"Right? We should… ah, crap," Vernicia mutters. The news reporter is happily reporting on the event – StarsCon kicks off in Scaravale's Grand Venue.
"I knew something was up with that man!" I stand up, my paranoia returning in full force. "He led us on, and we didn't even realize it! Should we leave? Maybe we should leave. We need to leave!"
Marc sits me back down. "Cool your jets, Kit. We may have fallen for his ruse, but we don't know his game yet. And he hasn't made a move, either. It won't be wise to act without any intel."
I take a shaky breath. "Right. Intel's what we need."
"Yes, I believe you mentioned a lead," Vernicia supplies.
"Ah! Yeah! Jim," I say, my composure returning. "We'll check out Sidewinder Pub after this. And, um, keep an eye out for anything suspicious."
Thinking back, I wonder why I mistook Jim for Fred back when I saw him. Their builds are almost the same, now that I recall. And Jim is an earthmover… does that mean Fred is an earthmover?
I shake my head, then finish off my hot chuchu. There's no way to know unless we run into him again. And if Fred really is an earthmover like Jim, then it would be too late for us.
Wait, no, I'm being paranoid again. I need more chuchu.
Later in the day, we walk down the orange district's broadway, trying to retrace my path. It's just Verni, Dia and me.
"Ew. There's a rat under the ice," Diantha points.
Vernicia looks down at it. "How'd it get there?"
"In this cold, no less… it never got like this in the badlands," I mutter. But then, I never saw stuff like this in general out there. "Oh! Maybe the puddle flash-froze overnight while the rat was taking a bath."
Diantha smirks at me. "You think so?"
I look away, now red. "Uhm, never mind. I think it's somewhere around here."
Sure enough, there's Sidewinder Pub right between the orange and blue districts.
"Okay!" I roll my shoulders. "Let's grill the barista for clues."
"Bartender, not barista," Diantha giggles, moving past me. "Oh. The door is locked."
"Meh." I blow the door off its hinges with a single straight kick. Not very thick, despite being metal.
"Who's there?" a gruff voice calls out, followed by the sound of a gun being loaded.
"Huh. Armed," I note, walking in. As I scan the dim pub with my night vision, I notice movement behind the bar.
"Don't come any closer!" The bartender quickly emerges and fires his rifle at me.
PING, SPANG! Meh, they're just regular live rounds. No match for my scales.
The bartender's eyes widen in fear, then flash with recognition. "Wait a minute – wargh!"
I have him by the collar before he can try anything funny, then I pull him onto the bar's counter.
"All too easy," I sneer. Diantha and Vernicia also enter, cutting off his escape routes. "We have some questions for you, bartender. And if you value your life, you'll talk."
The bartender struggles in vain against my grip. "You're… the aeronauts he was talking about?"
"You–!" I'm so surprised, I throw him to the floor. "How do you know about us?!"
"Oof… you're definitely as strong as he claims," he grunts, getting up. "Name's Eargus. Jim told me you'd come looking for him eventually. You want to learn about Qinn Industries, I take it?"
"What? Quit trying to distract us," I impatiently reply. "We want to know about Cryos."
"He's… never told me about anyone with that name," Eargus cautiously replies.
"Hmph. Should've known it would be too easy," I grumble.
"How do you know about the earthmovers, but not Qinn?" Eargus sounds confused.
"He never really went into detail about the rest of his kind, now that I think of it," I reply.
"I get it," Vernicia speaks up. "Neocon has the aquanauts, A-Tech has the aeronauts, Metacorp has the firemen, and… Qinn Industries has the earthmovers, right?"
"On the nose," Eargus nods, walking back behind the bar.
"So what about that man who tricked us at Ridgeside Station? Who's he with?" I ask.
Eargus shakes his head. "I'm no informant. Just a record keeper. You'll have better luck if you go talk to Jim himself," he states. "He told me there was an engagement in Minoaoa Village he had to crash, so heading there would be your best bet."
I try to ignore Verni and Dia's excited stares. "Hmph. Let's go, guys."
"Yes! No time to lose," Vernicia grins.
"If this is another trap, I swear…"
"You're still wound up too tightly," Diantha tells me as we walk to the pub's front door. "We finally got a solid lead, so this wasn't completely pointless. And if it does turn out to be a trap…"
"Mmmgh… I guess we've powered through worse," I mumble.
"That's the spirit. Now let's get after him." As we exit through the busted-down entrance, a chilly wind blows through.
"Great," Eargus grumbles.
The following morning, the seven of us convene at an overlook at the edge of the violet district, offering a beautiful view of the long, deep gulch to the east.
"Here's the plan! That man is expecting us to take the railway, yeah?" I point down the gulch. "To avoid this, we'll fly straight to Minoaoa Village from here, bypassing any possible ambushes or traps he may have set up."
"You are not going to carry me for 1400 kiloms," Marc flatly states. "My arms will fall off."
I glare at him. "Got a better idea, hotshot?"
"All of us fliers agreed to it already," Rurin says.
Hal rubs his chin. "Wouldn't your body fall off of your arms?"
"That's not the point! Come on, Hal, we're taking the national rail," Marc declares. "Then we'll drive the Tetrider through the forest to the village."
"But the trap," I insist.
"We don't know if there even is a trap! And aside from that, they're after you, not us," Marc reminds me. "Don't worry, we'll be sure to keep a low profile. Right, Hal?"
"Oh yeah. My profile is just the lowest," Hal confidently replies. "Super incognito, you have no idea."
"Same hat, same boat. See you guys later." Marc flicks a salute, then walks back into the violet district with Hal.
"Mmm… I guess that's fine." I raise my wings. "Alright, let's jet."
The mountains and clouds of this province are unlike anything I've seen before, almost like if Titan's Hill was a whole region. What was this province called again…? Oh yeah, Bayonalin. It's all so high up, and so windy and chilly. Is it this cold even when it's not winter? At least up here I don't have to worry about snow. Whoever invented that stuff has to have some kind of mean streak. Or maybe a sense of humor? I dunno.
After a while, the rocks and valleys give way to green lowlands as we re-enter Steralin. Seeing the low, rolling hills and forests down below fills me with a strange feeling of comfort.
Vernicia flies closer to me. "Wanna sightsee when we land? It might be a while before the landlubbers catch up."
"I wouldn't be so sure. The rail is crazy fast," I recall. "Also, weren't you going to sightsee anyway?"
"But now that I've brought it up, let's do it together!"
"I'm game," Diantha chimes in.
"Me too," Rurin says.
"What! This is peer pressure; I won't stand for this," I protest.
"Sure, buddy. Have fun keeping watch or whatever in the top-rated tourist town in the province," Vernicia laughs. "You'll be shooting yourself in the foot!"
"Grrgh! Someone has to do it, okay? This is uncharted territory; we can't afford to be careless," I tell her.
"My, you're so vigilant," Diantha says.
"The vigilantest," Rurin agrees.
"I feel like you're still patronizing me… whatever! I just don't wanna get fat," I tell them. "We've been lounging around way too much recently."
"You say that like it's a bad thing," Dia coolly replies, flying up below me.
"Huh?"
She pokes my tummy. "I bet you'd look cute with a bit of weight on you."
"N-no way. Then I wouldn't be able to fly," I reply, embarrassed.
"Kidding!" She retreats with a laugh. "It's probably impossible for us to gain weight, so it won't make a difference whether we're lazy or not."
"You think so too?" Maybe I really am worried over nothing. "Whatever. I suppose a bit of fun won't hurt. In moderation."
"Now we're talking!" Vernicia pumps a fist.