When Arlenna woke up she heard soft giggles, whispering, and Solace's excited little gasps. She pushed herself upright and looked around, Solace was laying on her stomach, her feet kicking behind her like a kid. Wine, the girl, and Dine, the boy, were laying the same way beside her. Wine stayed very still, as if movement might undo the miracle that had just happened.
The dress she wore was barely a dress anymore. You couldn't tell now but it was white once, or close to it. It clung in places it shouldn't, and was loose in others, you could tell it was passed through too many hands. Her feet were bare and bruised, and her long brown hair fell freely down her back, tangled from time spent without care. She looked up with wide green eyes that held more shock than fear. The chains were gone, and no one was reaching for her anymore.
Beside her lay Dine, breathing slower now that he was allowed to. His clothes were simple, the shirt he wore was worn thin at the collar, and the laces were pulled unevenly as if someone had yanked them too many times. He had on brown wool pants and the fabric on his shirt was creased and darkened by sweat. His wrists were marked with faint bruises, where restraints had only recently been removed.
His hair fell into his eyes in messy strands as he tilted his head. His green eyes were bright, but no longer innocent. They carried awareness now, measuring people, learning who was safe. When his gaze flicked toward Wine, something in him softened, just a fraction, she reminded him that they were no longer in danger. Now they were free, but he didn't know freedom was going to mean standing barefoot on unfamiliar ground, unsure which direction they belonged to.
The kids were drawing shapes in the dirt with sticks. They drew little scribbles of their favorite tree, their house next to the blue lichten rock's, the bakery that smelled like lolly'gag berries, the big zipper bridge near their school, and the nice man with the beard who fixed windows.
Solace was bobbing her head, asking questions nonstop. "Wait, so is it cold? It sounds really cold."
The kids burst into laughter. "No, it's not cold, It's super hot sometimes. It only gets cold when the snaw says goodbye!" Wine said.
" And it's called Frostpeak because the king likes the color white! " Dine added.
Solace blinked, processing. "Oh, that's lovely."
Without warning Thiago yawned loudly, then he muttered, "How do you wake up before the sun and immediately adopt two children little sov?"
Solace didn't look away from the dirt drawings. "They're showing me stuff."
Thiago rubbed his eyes, then turned his head toward the three of them. "What kind of stuff?"
Solace pointed at the ground, dead serious. "Important stuff." Dine proudly pointed to a drawing of a chicken wearing a crown, Solace nodded solemnly at Thiago. "See? Very important."
An hour passed, and Arlenna finished stirring the pot. She wiped her hands on a towel, and glanced over her shoulder. Solace was still on the ground with the kids. "Food," she called gently. Wine and Dine scrambled toward the pot immediately.
Solace tried to follow, she pushed up with her hands, but her ribs were aching. An annoyed breath escaped her, "Mmm, nope." She settled back onto her stomach. "Is it mushy navi?" Arlenna didn't bother answering, she just smiled and for solace her expression said enough. "Pass." She laid her head down on her arm.
Arlenna started shaking her head smirking but didn't push it. Thiago sat cross legged by the fire, rummaging through his pouches and muttering to himself.
"You're still sore?" Arlenna asked.
Solace shrugged, the smallest movement she could manage. "Yeah a little, but I'm built like a sun kissed god. I'll be fine."
Thiago laughed."I know I had it, I know I had three bags. Where is it, oh." He pulled out a tiny pouch.
Arlenna smirked. "You keep losing things in your own inventory."
Thiago shrugged, "When you can shrink a pantry into pouches smaller than a coin, things get complicated." He tapped a pouch against his palm, it expanded to the size of his head, then he tossed it into the air towards Solace. "Here you go sun kissed god," he said, chuckling.
Solace perked up instantly. "Yes," she said as the pouch landed in her hands. She opened it and popped a piece of fruit into her mouth. "See? This is real food."
Thiago rolled his eyes, but looked pleased. "Good thing I packed extra, you burn through it like oxygen."
Solace grinned, cheeks puffed like a chipmunk. "Fruit never betrays you," she said after swallowing.
Thiago glanced over. "You'd probably see it as betrayal if I ever ran out."
Solace paused before putting another piece in her mouth and squinted at him. "You would never do something that evil though."
Thiago hesitated, "...I might lose the bag, though."
Arlenna laughed, "You'd lose your arm if you could shrink it, that's wild." Thiago didn't even try to argue, he just started laughing.
Solace decided to get up from the ground and planted herself next to Arlenna. "Hey, try this one." Arlenna leaned over and bit it, her teeth snapped shut with way too much enthusiasm, like she meant to devour Solace's fingers along with the fruit. Solace jerked her hand back just in time, laughing as Arlenna chewed.
Arlenna's eyebrows shot up, "Oh, that's actually really good,"
"'Actually,' is wild, It's really good because it's not soft and nasty," Solace replied, making Arlenna chuckle softly. Solace wouldn't cook the meals, but she helped with everything else and when it came to food she could eat, she always shared with everyone. "You made food," she said warmly. "Thank you, even if I didn't eat this time."
Arlenna grinned, "Someone has to keep everyone alive."
Thiago turned his head, "Alive?, it was super bland, damn near poison." Solace tossed a piece of fruit at his head. Without looking Thiago caught it, smirked, and threw it back. It hit Solace in the forehead, but she carried on like it never happened.
Arlenna shook her head. "I swear, it's like I'm around children all the time."
"But I come with free fruit," Solace said proudly.
"Correction," Thiago said, "Shrunk fruit."
"Don't ever correct me." Solace snapped, waving a piece of fruit at him as she talked.
"I'll stop the day you start getting your information correct kid." Thiago shrugged, "Until then you should watch how you talk to your fruit supplier." Solace giggled, a piece of fruit was hanging out of her mouth like a tongue.
Arlenna looked at thiago "You should really fix that disaster you call an inventory."
"What disaster?" Thiago asked. Arlenna pointed at his pouches, Solace pointed at his pouches, not even a second later Wine and Dine turned around and pointed at his pouches too. Thiago stared at them wide eyed. "TRAITORS," he screamed, pointing at Wine and Dine. Solace and Arlenna laughed, loud and unguarded, and the kids laughed with them.
After everyone ate, while the kids were playing, the three of them sat in a circle together. "I completely forget if FLEX ten is run by Monarchs, Sovereigns, Or DOPO." Thiago said.
Solace slapped her forehead, "Yo, why do we even keep him around… he's useless."
Arlenna shrugged, "I begged you to reconsider when you asked him to join, but you insisted. You said 'we needed a chore boy' or something."
Thiago pushed Arlenna's head, "Chore boy is actually crazy navi." The group started to laugh.
"Hopefully Frostpeak Dwelling is safe. If FLEX ten is run by DOPO like nine is, then we can't have anyone important noticing us," Arlenna said.
Thiago grinned wide, "Woww really. Damn I thought we'd skip right into FLEX ten, holding hands, singing songs, and asking everyone we saw to join the crew."
Arlenna glared at him then added, "We have zero idea how far away we are from FrostPeak Dwelling, we could be driving for days." She sighed, "I guess what I'm saying is what's the plan? Go back to the airship, use the map and move quicker? or take our chances bringing the kids back now, with just Miss Motion and no actual distance?"
Silence settled between them before Thiago spoke. "This is probably a good time to mention we can't take Miss Motion, the last time I was out I had to lose DOPO. They know what the car looks like now."
Solace put her face in her hands, and slowly shook her head."There's no way."
Thiago started clapping slowly and spoke flatly, "Wow Arlenna, good job, great work."
"Yeah okay bum, I would have said something a while ago. At least they don't know what the airship looks like, or maybe they do and Thiago is waiting to let us know at the worst time," Arlenna said, then she grinned wide and gave him a thumbs up.
Thiago stuck up his middle finger in response. "We could always keep Miss Motion covered here, and come back later." He pinched his nose. "But without Miss Motion, and the airship, everything gets complicated."
There was another long pause, then Solace spoke, "We're just gonna have to cross our fingers and hope the area isn't swarming with dim hating vampires." She paused, looked overhead, and watched the birds fly by for a moment before continuing. "We'll get the kids home first. We're gonna have to walk but once we're inside their FLEX zone, one of us can go find a local map so we can figure out the distance to FrostPeak Dwelling."
Thiago and Arlenna nodded. "Yes ma'am," Thiago said.
Arlenna rolled her eyes at Thiago, "Sounds like a plan." She raised her hand and solace pointed at her, "I suggest after we drop these kids off we find a nice dog shelter to leave Thiago in."
Solace thought about it for a moment, "That sounds like a lovely idea, can you remind me when this is done." Arlenna nodded her head, Thiago rolled his eyes, got up, and walked away.
They started packing quickly, Solace moved Miss Motion, pulling her close to a thick bush. She got out and grabbed a few things from the trunk of the car and messed around with them for about twenty minutes. When she was done Arlenna cut off branches and made sure every inch of Miss Motion was covered.
Thiago shrank their supplies, and placed a second pouch of dried fruit into Solace's hands, enough for her to last hours. Wine and Dine helped however they could, holding sticks, and proudly guarding Solace's fruit like treasure.
"If you eat any of these, I'm going to eat you," Solace said when handing them the pouch.
When everything was ready, Solace knelt in front of Wine trying to think of a solution. Wine had no shoes, only feet roughened by labor, and her skin was darkened from months without protection.
Thiago paused mid step. "Wait." He pulled out two pairs of shoes, worn but intact. "These were mine, and these were Arlenna's old pair, she got new ones when she bought her second sword." While Thiago was talking he knelt down, held his hand over the shoes, and his power made the leather start to tighten. "If I keep them this size." he measured it with his eyes, they should last the journey."
"Why do you have my shoes I've been looking for those?" Arlenna asked.
Thiago chuckled, "I shrunk them down, I was way too lazy to put them away when you asked."
He handed them to Solace, she knelt in front of Wine first guiding her foot gently. The shoe slid on easily. Solace tied the laces slowly, making sure they weren't too tight. Wine flexed her toes, and her eyes widened with excitement. Solace moved to Dine next, the second pair fit just as well. When she finished, the children stood and bounced around, the ground no longer hurting.
"You stay between us, no wandering," Thiago said. Wine nodded hard, and Dine copied her a moment later.
Arlenna rolled her eyes, "You're annoying, I asked you about my shoes and you acted all defensive even tho you knew where they were.'The disrespect I can't believe you'd accuse me of such a thing.'"
Thiago shrugged, "My pouches were so far away I was not grab—" Thiago cleared his throat. "I didn't know why you were accusing me, I did nothing wrong." He turned and started walking away.
Arlenna's jaw dropped, "There's something wrong with your brain, you need serious help." Thiago chuckled as he walked. "Not to mention you just donated my shoes… how generous of you."
They set off, Solace skipping ahead, Arlenna guarding the rear, and Thiago beside the kids. The moment they stepped past the treeline, the soil looked darker and felt softer.
Trees stood tall and the branches were heavy with fruit. Solace jumped and plucked fruit as she walked. She bit into a blue pear with a loud crunch, and the juice ran down her wrist. "This place feeds people," she murmured. Time passed quietly as the group walked, and the woods opened without warning. What had been shadow and bark suddenly gave way to a wide field. They slowed instinctively, not stepping fully into the open.
Wine tugged on Solace's sleeve. "Look." She pointed into the distance.
Near the center of the field, growing in huge clusters were flowers Solace had never seen before. They were a vivid blue, almost luminous against the green around it. Each flower was six inches tall with only three petals twisting around one another in a delicate spiral.
"That's a spuzzlebub," Dine said proudly.
"They only grow in the north," Wine added. "And only near fields like this, they don't like rocks."
Solace looked down and saw a few spuzzlebubs clustered together. She crouched, and leaned in close. The petals curled inward and outward between each other, forming a wild pattern. She reached out, stopping just short of touching it. "Woah, It looks like it's moving,"
Dine smiled. "It does that when the wind is perfect." A breeze passed through the field and the spuzzlebubs shifted. The petals began opening up, some twisted back together the opposite way while others twisted and tangled into their own wild patterns.
Dine glanced at Solace, She met his eyes and gave a small nod. He broke into a run, laughing as he sprinted deeper into the field. Wine followed, feet kicking up grass as she chased him, shouting something about not stepping on the blue ones.
Solace hesitated for half a second longer, then she ran too. She made it several strides into the field before her body started to ache. She groaned, pitched forward and dropped onto the grass with a dramatic thud. She landed on her side, then rolled onto her back, staring up at the sky.
Dine skidded to a stop, laughter cutting short when Solace didn't follow. He turned and ran back."Are you okay?" Wine was right behind him.
Solace waved a hand weakly. "Yeah, yeah... turns out joy has some consequences."
Dine laughed and flopped down next to her anyway, grass sticking to his hair. Wine followed, settling on Solace's other side. The three of them lay there in the field, surrounded by blue spuzzlebubs swaying gently around them.
Solace closed her eyes. "This is still worth it tho,"
Arlenna eased herself down beneath the trees, settling into the shade where the ground stayed cool. Thiago lowered himself nearby, his eyes still tracking the kids out of habit more than worry. For a moment they just listened to everything around them, even solace's exaggerated groan drifted back toward them.
Arlenna exhaled slowly, "I used to hate places like this."
Thiago glanced over, "Fields? What did they do to you?"
"Quiet places," she corrected, then smiled. "They make you think." She picked at the dirt with her fingers, then started tracing lines that didn't mean anything. "When I was younger, quiet meant something was about to go wrong. I learned to stay alert, even when I don't need to be."
Thiago nodded, "Yup, that kind of quiet sticks. Even when the danger's gone, your body doesn't believe it."
Arlenna glanced over at thiago, to her it was crazy that someone understood exactly what it was like. So she continued talking, telling him about her past and how expectations never loosened.
Thiago listened, then said, "It sounds like you were forced to survive instead of being taught to live." When he finished, there was silence.
She just looked at him, really looking this time. "You know… I've noticed something."
He raised an eyebrow. "That's rarely good news."
She huffed quietly. "You talk about fighting, and about weapons." Her gaze stayed on him, "But you never actually talk about your past."
Thiago didn't answer right away. His eyes drifted back to Wine and Dine. Solace and the kids were in the middle of the field now, standing carefully around the massive cluster of spuzzlebub's. They were swaying their arms trying to match the movement of the flowers in the wind. He watched them for a second, then smirked and let out a short, dismissive chuckle.
"Yeah," he said lightly. "I don't think everything is meant to be talked about." Thiago leaned his head against the tree, letting the bark press into his massive afro until he felt it on his scalp. "And just because I don't talk about it, doesn't mean there's something important there." The words lingered longer than he meant them to.
Miles away within FLEX Eight, A woman was itching her blindfold. She adjusted it again, even though she knew it wouldn't help. She had a massive bow made of black cloth wrapped over her eyes, and it was tied snug at the back of her head. The bow was large enough that it brushed her hair when she turned too fast.
She was short, about five-two, and dim skinned. She wore a red fitted top, tucked into high waisted black pants. A black belt sat at her waist, while silver chains fell along her hips and thighs. A long black coat hung open over everything. On her feet were black lace up combat boots with thick soles. She had on Layered silver necklaces, and paired them with silver hoop earrings. Her hair was long, thick, and tightly curled, with defined natural coils falling around her face and shoulders. The curls were dense, and shorter curls were hanging over her forehead.
She moved through the trees carefully, one hand was in her pocket, the other was playing with a dagger. That was all she carried, no food, just steel and intent. The pull toward FLEX Nine was impossible to ignore. As she walked, she practiced. "Hi," she said quietly, "I'm Vanpree." She tensed up. "No," she muttered, shaking her head. She kept walking, boots crunching softly over leaves. "Hello, I'm Vanpree." That felt right for about two steps. "Nope." She sighed, putting a hand through her hair. "Hey, you don't know me, but I know you." She stopped walking, and paused. "That's literally worse," she said flatly.
Vanpree let out a breath and leaned forward, pressing her forehead against the rough bark of a tree. Why would this girl even want to talk to me? Someone who was fearless enough to walk straight into trouble and come back carrying people. Then there was me, a girl traveling blindfolded and awkward. Vanpree swallowed, why would someone that cool even give me the time of day?
The thought lingered longer than she liked, but doubt always did. Maybe this was a mistake, maybe I was wasting my time, chasing a feeling that had no right to pull me this far. People didn't like strangers showing up with nothing but questions and knives, and there was no guarantee the girl I saw on my screen would even be there at the end of this journey.
Vanpree's hands clenched tightly, and before she could stop herself, she screamed. It tore out of her furiously, and afterward she bent forward, palms braced on her knees. Then she straightened "But I can help," she muttered. That part hadn't changed, she wanted to help. So Vanpree pushed off the tree and kept walking toward FLEX nine.