A woman walks down the street with a soft smile on her face.

The moon hangs in the night sky, blood red, painting the city in an ominous hue. The streets right now are filled with rain puddles. It had rained in the afternoon and the seasonal temperature was starting to get colder.

It’s almost winter time, but nevertheless, the woman is wearing a long, elegant, silvery-gray sundress. The cold doesn’t bother her, at least not at this level. Her hair is also quite long and flowing as well.

Hair… no, it wasn’t hair exactly. More like… feathers. Somewhat fine feathers reminiscent of those seen on a land dragon. Nice and blue. Beautiful.

The feathers on her head were the same colour as the feathers on her long tail. A tail about half as long as that of an actual land dragon.

Tonight, this woman, Angelidis Triumvir walks down the streets of the city of Linis. She had just visited tonight’s temporary red light district to see how the streetwalkers had been doing. Many of them were her friends and she hadn’t needed to work in two and a half weeks now.

Not since Grenwiliu shared with Angelidis her windfall.

Angelidis had also ascertained the current conditions of the women working under the brothel that was previously owned by Brai Drumyl, now owned by Dalm.

A number of the women working the streets in that red light district worked under Brai and they told her how things have become with their new boss, Dalm, as of late. Most of them had wonderful things to say about him.

The women working the streets for Dalm were close with the women working in the brothel itself. The women on the streets had to search for clients while the women working in Dalm’s brothel were sought after by regulars very often.

The women in the brothel with their steady clientele were more profitable serving their regulars rather than finding new men. Nevertheless, at the end of the working night, the streetwalkers and the women in the brothel sleep in the same building and talk to each other very often.

As a result, Angelidis learned a lot about the operations of Dalm’s entire brothel simply by asking his streetwalkers. These streetwalkers trusted Angelidis, a streetwalker herself, and were eager to share their news with her after having missed her presence for quite a while.

They told Angelidis about their daily lives now, how the guards under Dalm were less violent and despicable towards them, how their pay had increased and how they were now treated with dignity even from their clientele. There were no more violent scum visiting them.

They also shared with her about how the younger girls who weren’t of consenting age yet were treated now that Dalm was in charge. Apparently, they were taken off prostitution duties altogether. The brothel became something like an orphanage for those girls.

New girls below the legal age weren’t being brought in anymore. The remaining underage girls were given food and some level of education from the other working girls.

Overall, the moods of those young girls improved greatly. The ones who had their minds broken were also being taken care of; their recovery will take much longer. New policies also came into effect at the brothel which basically said that harming the girls physically was prohibited.

Such a simple rule should have been issued long ago but in a brothel of this caliber, that kind of rule would cut into profits. Furthermore, forced dosing of the girls with drugs like Dead Snow was stopped altogether.

Wow… I didn’t think they could really force Dalm to do that without actually killing him. I wish I knew more about this guy, at least what he looks like but… they did it. He kept his end of their deal. How wonderful!

Angelidis feels lively hearing the good news. A skip appears in her step. She gracefully walks down the street returning to the home that she and the girls have been living in for the past week.

It is a nice place in the working class ring of Linis, not a cheap inn. Enough space for all of the girls to live comfortably for now and far from some of the more dangerous areas in the slum districts. Angelidis is heading back there now and has already entered the working class ring.

She passes by other humans and demihumans walking down the street. Some of them are drunk, mostly men. The drunks ogle her when she appears. Angelidis doesn’t take it as a compliment, considering how vulgar their expressions become.

Pathetic.

Soon, she finds herself walking along a street without many people. She’s about fifteen minutes away from home right now. She’s looking forward to seeing Grenwiliu again and playing another game of “charades''.

Ajax told me about it but he doesn’t like playing it… It’s so fun though! Gren and I are unbeatable at it! Although, Kyre and Laun are starting to get the hang of it now…

The young human named Ajax Leonid had taught Angelidis about the game Charades. An interesting game where players team up and try to see if they can beat their opponents by guessing the charades “topic” the quickest based on the non-verbal signals of their teammates.

It happened one night when Claris and Hila were talking with Ajax and found themselves suffering from boredom after all of their household chores were completed. Ajax, realizing their lack of recreational activities, gave them a simple game from his homeland, requiring no tools.

Is it too late to play tonight? No, they’re all gonna be awake, I’m thinking. Let’s see if--

Step. Step. Step. Step.

Angelidis notices footsteps coming from a curve in the street ahead of her. She can’t see who it is but… the footsteps seem clumsy. Another drunk.

Angelidis raises her guard for a moment unconsciously. The footsteps sound heavier than a normal drunk man’s. She can hear armour clattering. She recognizes that clattering of armour, that specific clattering…

Every lady of the evening in Linis would recognize that sound of armour.

Oh shit… a guard…

The guards of Linis. Enforcers of the city of Linis who maintain public order and weed out criminals. Angelidis hasn’t had good experiences with them. They’re quite entitled humans who like to impose their wills on the average Linis resident.

They act even worse around demihumans. Not only are they guards who maintain public order but they enforce religious virtues as well. Their intent is to destroy all organizations in the city that oppose the state and the divine Sapiora.

Anyone who would even badmouth Sapiora would face physical punishment on the spot.

Angelidis doesn’t feel like avoiding the guard right now. Why should she have to live in fear all the time? Why should she let people like this kill her good mood?

Perhaps she had simply gotten cockier now that some powerful people were backing her.

To be fair though, running away from the guard would be too conspicuous and she can’t cross into an alleyway along this street to hide. There wasn’t really any option but to continue walking forward.

The guard turns the corner of the intersection a small distance in front of her. He appears, slightly taller than Angelidis and wearing grey, medium-weight armour on his entire body. At his hips, he is carrying a pair of swords; the man appears to be a dual wielder.

On his chest is the symbol of the Linis guardsmen, four vertical lines with a forward diagonal line through the vertical ones. His helmet is a barbute helmet coloured Cobalt Blue. The symbol and the colour of the helmet confirmed that this man was in fact one of the Linis guards.

If it was just a mercenary or a guard from the underworld, it might be an easier experience. Angelidis wouldn’t necessarily go to jail if she decided to dispatch them after all.

But, the worst part was that this guard was someone that Angelidis had met before.

“...Jelli? Is that… you, Jelli?”

He’s slurring his words slightly. As soon as he sees Angelidis however, he stops his clumsy manner of walking and stands up straight. A big smile appears on his face.

“Tild. Hello, how are you tonight?”

“I’m doing pretty good now that you’re here. Help me get out of this armour, I want a quick--”

“Actually, Tild, I’m not working tonight. I’m on my way home now, I’ll see you later.”

“...Huh? No, you’re working tonight, come on, I want to feel nice right now.”

“I’m afraid not, Tild, I really should be--”

Tild, the tall guard, rushes towards Angelidis and grabs her arm as she attempts to walk around and past him in the direction he just came. Normally, Angelidis doesn’t tolerate this. In general, when her clientele start to get too belligerent around her, she simply refuses to serve them.

However, the city guards aren’t such patrons. Angelidis had offered her services to Tild once in the past when she was first starting in this line of work. Not offered actually. Tild was not someone who took no for an answer… and he didn’t pay.

To a Linis guard, her line of work was illegal, warranting criminal punishment. However, the guards didn’t always enforce their laws, especially when they wanted to satisfy themselves.

Angelidis knows the threat here. In that single time in the past, Tild threatened her with the enforcement of the law. Jail time and physical punishment was on the table.

After that single humiliating encounter where Tild raped her, she has been able to successfully avoid the guards. What a slip up right now. She might have been ok encountering a guard, any other guard, but him.

“Sigh. Ok. I’m so unlucky tonight.”

Angelidis steps four paces back and stops before Tild. He doesn’t understand what she’s doing but she’s not running.

“What are you doing?”

Tild asks this question without understanding exactly what’s about to happen.

“Could you handle this scumbag? I’m gonna have to owe you one for this…”

Angelidis speaks this to no one in particular, at least no one that Tild can see at the moment. Tild doesn’t like this odd behaviour of hers (did she just call him scum?). He just wants to use Angelidis and move on with his night shift. Her actions confuse and annoy him.

“Jelli, get over here before I get mad and--”

Suddenly, a woman lands on the ground. A human that Tild has never seen before, graceful and elegant. She landed from straight up with a soft landing as if she was made of air.

The buildings along this street however are at least six or seven levels high so she couldn’t have come from up there, right?

A young woman in a long, red dress with a voluptuous body and chestnut hair, large, heaving breasts and spectacular buttocks. Tild starts to feel blood flowing through his body to his member in preparation. Is this woman a friend of Angelidis, another prostitute?

“Wow, can I have a turn with you, lady? I guess, I’ll just get you another time, Jelli.”

“...What the fuck’s wrong with this shithead? Who exactly is this prick, Jelli?”

Tild looks confused for a moment. Who was this woman, this whore, speaking to him so rudely? Surely not him. Surely not him, a Linis guard who could enforce the law and throw her in prison, surely not him?

“He’s one of the Linis guardsmen, Shaula. I really don’t want to fuck him, could you deal with him?”

“Sigh. Alright, don’t worry about it. Let’s just see what’s the deal with this piece of shit first.”

Tild starts shaking in anger. Nobody should be able to speak to him this way, especially not some random bitch.

“...What did you say to me, you whore? Maybe, just maybe, I’m too drunk here but, I think you insulted me twice now. Do you want to maybe say something better? I doubt you want me to send you to prison or to forced labour, right? Actually, rather than that, apologize by letting me in you!”

“...Ah. So that’s the game here. This is what these shitheads do to you and your friends, Jelli? These guys are the cops of this place, aren’t they?”

Shaula understands. This man, this Linis guard, goes around in his spare time and instead of imprisoning prostitutes, rapes them. Obviously, this man has blackmailed many women this way, hasn’t he… either fuck him, or spend your time in jail.

The guard is a rapist. As a guard, he’s unlikely to face any reprimanding. A man like this is simply going to move on with his life if he’s found out by any higher ups.

The guard is placed on alert in anger and starts walking slowly towards Shaula, fuming with rage. He raises his right arm and tries to hit Shaula with the back of his right hand wrapped in an iron gauntlet.

Shaula takes the hit.

“...Ah.”

Tild looks at his gauntlet. It falls to the ground… as a liquid, bright red from the heat. Tild’s hand instantly feels the scorch of the leftover liquid metal. It appears especially frightening as the red light of the moon colours it even more bloody.

Tild tries to scream, but then Shaula grabs his mouth with her left palm, preventing his screams from escaping and alerting those around.

There actually is a man about two blocks away who might be Tild’s partner, or just another Linis guard, and Shaula doesn’t want him to come over here.

“I’m sure you thought you could do this forever, right? Just fucking cum and then move on, right?”

Shaula looks into the man’s eyes. Supreme fear. Fear that wipes away the taste of liquor on his mouth, fear sends blood away from his genitals towards his muscles and brain, fear that makes him attempt to (and fail to) hyperventilate.

Why do people like this always fear when they receive their punishment? Surely, they should have been prepared for repercussions, right? Could they have simply lived their lives not expecting recompense?

Shaula understands. It’s obvious to her. Every single person she killed who met their inevitable fate by her hands was always surprised to die or lose a limb or feel even one second of pain at her hand.

Well, not like that matters anyways...

While still holding his face, Shaula pierces Tild’s chest with her right hand through his sternum. The moment she does, she ignites the inside of his chest cavity with a wave of heat. His body is destroyed in a radius emanating from the focal point near the bottom of his windpipe.

His heart scorches, his rib cage disintegrates, his spine liquifies. His arms, his gut, his hips, his legs, his head.

The water in Tild’s body evaporates quickly creating a massive steam expansion. The metal armour on his body also starts melting.

Eventually, all that’s left of Tild is a pool of molten metal slowly cooling and hardening on the ground of the streets before Shaula and Angelidis. Nothing vaguely human. No blood. No flesh. No bones. No ashes.

Nothing to tie either of Shaula or Angelidis to a death, especially the death of a Linis guardsmen.

Shaula keeps her ears open. There is nobody in their immediate vicinity. Angelidis laughs.

“What is it, Jelli?”

“Well… in another life, I would’ve let him fuck me and get on with my night. It’s interesting how things have gone over the past couple weeks, huh.”

“Ha! Yeah, in another life, I would have taken the subway to the mall with Ajax and eaten a burger and--”

“Subway? What’s that?”

“...Forget that. Anyways, let’s head home then.”

~

Angelidis and Shaula continue walking through the streets of Linis until they finally spot the front door of their home. The funny thing is that Shaula doesn’t need to remember directions to their home, she simply had to remember the scent of the large turtle shell she brought back with her.

Since it’s placed in her own room and it’s a distinctive scent she hasn’t forgotten even now, it’s the perfect scent to lead her home.

Their home.

The home of Shaula, Angelidis, seven other women and one man. Their residence is a two story house in the working class ring of Linis. There is a living room, a kitchen, three bedrooms and two bathrooms.

They only moved in about a week ago but they’re already finding it to be quite the nice place.

Shaula sees the front door of this beige house. It is quite late at night, but the porchlights are still on, and, in front of the door on the porch, are people she recognizes.

“Hm?”

Ajax is there as well as two women. Two women with pointed, fox-like ears on the top of their heads, one of them with pink hair and the other with red hair.

The pink-haired woman is reprimanding the red-haired woman.

Ajax, the tall, young man with medium-length, black hair, sits on the ledge of the small porch in front of the house. He is holding his chin in his hands in resignation at the fact that he has to listen to these two argue.

“Ajax? What’s going on?”

Still some distance away from the front door to her home, Shaula speaks. A distance too far for the girls to hear her, but Angelidis, who is right next to her, and Ajax, someone with superhuman hearing, can both respond to her soft voice.

Ajax raises his eyes and notices Shaula. He nonchalantly waves while the pink-haired beastkin woman and the red-haired beastkin woman focus on their conversation. He whispers so as not to distract the two women.

“Hey, Shaula. Yeah well… I just caught Oitra trying to sneak out.”

“Huh?”

Shaula focuses on the face of the red-haired girl sitting with her face covered while being reprimanded by the pink-haired woman. This red-haired girl is Oitra and the pink-haired woman is Hila.

Shaula can see them clearly even from her distance because of her superhuman vision.

“What did he say, Shaula?”

Angelidis can’t hear Ajax’s whispers from this distance unlike Shaula, so Shaula shares Ajax’s response with her. Then, Shaula asks Ajax to clarify.

“Ajax, why did she sneak out?”

“...It was about Plenty.”

“Plenty…”

Shaula remembers that name. Plenty is the name of the woman who was with Inalim when he had conspired to murder Claris in cold blood, Claris being one of their friends living in their home now.

Plenty was on the side of the man that Shaula had killed and she had run away in fear of what might happen to her by Shaula’s hand.

Hila, who was currently reprimanding Oitra, had told Shaula about the relationship between Oitra and Plenty. Even Hila knew how kind Plenty had been to Oitra. Shaula doesn’t feel any ill will towards Oitra who snuck out to…

“So, she snuck out to look for Plenty?”

“Yeah, she said she was only going to be gone for tonight so I think it was really an impulse decision. She didn’t even have anything packed.”

“And, you heard her leave?”

“Yeah, I was just looking at that purple gem thing and I heard the front door open. Everyone had slept early tonight except Oitra so it was obviously her trying to run away. Anyways, I quickly woke Hila up and ran to catch her before she ventured off on her own.”

“I see…”

Ajax mentions the purple gem. When Ajax and Shaula had ransacked Ilna Fautre’s residence, they had found a safe with a sack of gold coins in it. They had taken the gold coins but they had also taken the other thing in the safe.

The large purple gem, a gem about the size of a grapefruit. The girls didn’t know what to make of it. They knew nothing about what that purple gem was but they all could tell it was valuable. Ajax decided to keep it rather than sell it or give it to them.

The gem looked kind of interesting. A souvenir or trinket of this world? Nothing so sentimental; it is merely a curiosity of his.

Shaula finally reaches the front of her home. Both Hila and Oitra notice her arrival.

“Shaula! Jelli!”

Oitra runs towards Angelidis and hugs her, seeking her protection. Anything to get away from Hila’s overbearing, motherly reprimanding. Hila greets the two who just arrived.

“Hey, you two. Sigh… so, Oitra tried to run out on her own in the middle of the night and--”

“Yeah, Ajax told me.”

“Oh yeah, you two are like that… I was just telling Oitra about why that was a really stupid decision.”

“No, no, I get it, yeah.”

Shaula knows why it would be a bad idea to go out at night in this city. The danger of the streets at night, the fact that Plenty might be working as a prostitute in the slum rings so obviously Oitra would search there, the fact that Oitra is not yet an adult herself, only fifteen years old…

Ajax speaks up towards Oitra for the first time tonight. He had decided to leave the lecturing to Hila since he didn’t really feel like such an adult yet. But after all, he is curious:

“Oitra… why didn’t you ask for Shaula’s or my help on this?”

Oitra, currently buried in Angelidis’ breasts, raises her head to look at Ajax, although not directly into his eyes. She speaks nervously.

“W-Well, I… I didn’t want to consult the two of you because… because you don’t like Plenty.”

“How would you know that?”

Shaula questions Oitra in a tone displaying her annoyance. Oitra might have done something truly reckless if Ajax hadn’t caught her. A young girl in her care dying alone on the streets would not have been good on her conscience.

Luckily, she hasn’t fully caught on that Ajax doesn’t sleep. If she knew that, she might have simply waited until a night when both Ajax and Shaula were out before making her escape.

“Y-You killed Inalim a-and… the girls told me that Plenty was helping him try to kill Claris…”

It appears that Oitra is fully aware of the gravity of Plenty’s crimes. And yet--

“I-I just wanted to… I just wanted to see her again, I wanted to… I wanted to ask her if… if she really did that to Claris, if she’s really… if she’s really that kind of person.”

Shaula looks at Oitra who refuses to make eye contact with either her or Ajax. Shaula can understand Oitra’s feelings. Bonds of friendship might not break even when you know your friend tried to do something bad, something heinous, something unforgivable.

Even so, Shaula knew about Oitra’s desire to find Plenty. However, she didn’t know that Oitra wanted it this badly, badly enough to impulsively escape their home to search for her in the middle of the night.

Oitra starts crying. Shaula and Ajax can both hear her silent sobbing into Angelidis’ chest.

“Oitra… are you crying?”

“D-Don’t look at me, Hila… I… I know I shouldn’t look for her, sh-she tried to kill Claris but… but I was only ever friends with her.”

“I…”

Hila tries to respond to Oitra’s earnest words but she cannot say a lot about that. In truth, Oitra was friends with only Plenty prior to Inalim’s death. Claris had strong bonds with Hila and Grenwiliu, Laun had Kyre and Dona was too addicted to Dead Snow to really offer friendship.

At that point in time, Plenty was still viewed with less caution than right now. As a result, the girls didn’t interfere when Plenty and Oitra started forming their own friendly relationship. Even in their eyes, it didn’t seem as if Plenty was merely manipulating her.

“I just… I just wanted to find her again. I don’t… I don’t want her to be suffering, to be… I just wanted to continue having her in my life. W-Was… Was that… wrong…”

Oitra’s sobbing increases in intensity. Hila and Ajax feel awkward while Angelidis pets her red-hair and furry fox-like ears. Shaula sighs. She thinks over something for a few seconds. Ajax can tell what she’s thinking and what she’s going to do before she does. Then she speaks.

“Ajax, do you remember Plenty’s scent?”

“No, sorry. That was way too long ago.”

“I see. Yeah, I have no memory of her scent either… Oitra, do you have anything of Plenty’s?”

Oitra faces Shaula with an anxious look in her eyes. She still doesn’t look Shaula directly in the eyes yet. Then, Oitra’s face changes as if she realizes something crucial. Why does Shaula want to know that? Shaula who killed Inalim and despises Plenty who tried to kill Claris…

Shaula, the paragon of justice and punishment in her eyes…

“W-Wait… y-you’re not going to… you’re not going to get rid of her, are you!?”

“No, you stupid bitch, I’ll help you find her.”

“Wh-What?”

“You heard me.”

Oitra looks at Shaula with astonishment. She had only known Shaula to be a brutal and direct person. She didn’t think that… this was even a possible outcome. Shaula offering her help…

“Would you… would you promise not to kill her if we find her? Even if… even if she tries to attack you?”

“Ha! She can’t even hurt me, I don’t need to kill her. Just so long as she isn’t doing something even more heinous right now, I won’t do anything to her.”

Oitra doesn’t like that answer. But she can’t really say anything in opposition to that sentiment. She doesn’t want Plenty to die but… she isn’t sure how she would react if Plenty truly was the heartless monster that everyone else seems to view her as.

Can she allow this deal to be made? Oitra wouldn’t spare Plenty if she was doing something evil, right?

Oitra closes her eyes and accepts Shaula’s deal. If Plenty is the kind of person that she wants her to be then… then right now, she won’t be doing anything evil. She won’t be… She won’t be…

Oitra takes a deep breath and remembers Shaula’s original question. Does she have anything of Plenty’s?

“I-I have something!”

Oitra raises her right hand and shows Shaula a ring, one that was given to her by Plenty as a gift. Shaula asks:

“She gave that to you?”

“Yeah… I… I don’t remember what day or month I was born so she decided to give me a birthday and celebrated it with me. She brought food and an expensive dessert and then… she gave me this.”

“What is it?”

“It looks kind of cheap… I never got one of these…”

Hila looks at the ring. It doesn’t look like anything more than a metal ring. It doesn’t have any engravings, symbols or gemstones.

“She told me it was pretty cheap but sturdy. It was just something to remind me of her. Cheap and sturdy. That’s what she called herself.”

“Ha!”

Angelidis gives a nice laugh to that self deprecating joke of Plenty. Hila thinks about the Plenty she knows and feels like it’s a different person. Was she always so jovial?

“Oitra, I don’t think that’ll be good enough.”

Any lingering scent from Plenty would be long gone from a metal ring like the one Plenty gave to Oitra. Even Shaula with her bloodhound-like sense of smell wouldn’t be able to find Plenty with this. Shaula thinks to herself about possible alternatives.

“What about… like… oh, what about a hairbrush? Or… a hair clip, anything that might have her hair on it.”

“I… Oh! I have a scrunchie of hers!”

Oitra rolls up the right, long sleeve of her black dress and shows the blue piece of cloth, a scrunchie that could be used to tie up hair, on her forearm. It is possible for Plenty’s hair to remain on this scrunchie, even if just a little.

“You haven’t washed that or anything?”

“I d-don’t wear it that often, I just brought it with me for good luck tonight…”

“Then, that should be perfect. Hold on, let me find the scent.”

Shaula raises her hand towards Ajax. She’s making a request for some energy in order to heighten her sense of smell to as high as she can possibly have it right now.

Ajax gives her his hand without hesitation. Oitra, Hila and Angelidis look at the two of them. They see Ajax’s eyes flicker brightly for a moment. They also feel the air around them get noticeably colder.

They aren’t familiar with the full nature of Ajax or Shaula’s powers yet so this is a novel sight for them to witness. Although, it is a lot more anticlimactic for them since not much else happens to Shaula or Ajax outwardly.

Shaula lets go of Ajax’s hand. She then grabs Oitra’s arm, gently raising it so the scrunchie is near her nose. She takes a deep whiff of the scrunchie. Within moments, Shaula identifies two distinct scents coming from the scrunchie as well as a number of other minor scents.

One of the two major scents is the scent of Oitra, her own hair fibers and sweat. However, the other major scent is distinctly that of another person and their hair. This must be Plenty’s scent.

“Found it.”

Oitra gasps and smiles, her eyes tearing up.

“Oitra, get back in the house now. We’ll go look for her together in the morning. Right now, it’s far too late, just go to sleep.”

“A-Are you sure? I k-kinda want to--”

“I’m afraid so. It would be a lot harder for me to watch you and watch out for threats at the same time while going through the city. Sorry, but just bear with this for now. We’ll go look for her tomorrow, right after you wake up.”

“Ok, I-I’ll get to sleep immediately then!”

Oitra runs back into the house without delay in preparation for sleep. Hope has been given to her. Meanwhile, Ajax, Hila and Angelidis remain outside, just a bit stunned at Oitra’s enthusiasm.

“Sigh… I don’t think she’ll get any sleep if she’s that excited.”

“That’s… yeah, you’re right, Hila. But, it gives me an excuse. I’ll go look for Plenty myself right now. Ajax, you make sure Oitra doesn’t leave or run away again during the night.”

“Alright, Shaula. Just… be careful and don’t hurt Plenty. I know you can control yourself but really, Oitra is so desperate.”

“Yeah, I get it, Ajax, don’t worry. There’s no reason for me to hurt her, it’s not like she can do anything to me.”

“Shaula, are you sure about this? Oitra was looking forward to this, you know? To looking for her with you and finding her and everything…”

“I know, Jelli, but I really can’t take her with me when I go looking. It would be way too difficult to do my thing and have to look after Oitra at the same time. It’ll be a lot harder to avoid guards and shit too if we have to take the streets. I’ll go find Plenty and bring her back here. We’ll deal with whatever else after I bring her back.”

Ajax thinks to himself about contingencies.

“Shaula, if she’s outside of the city, just come back here and we’ll figure out the next step. If you find her but you don’t want to bring her back here for whatever reason, just stay where you are and I’ll come look for you at dawn.”

“Yeah, got it.”

Currently, it was the middle of the night and several hours from dawn. It wouldn’t take Shaula more than an hour to track the scent and definitely not more than an hour to grab Plenty from wherever she’s holed up. Dawn would be a fine time to wait before searching for her.

“Shaula… Do you think that she’ll even want to come back? And even if she does, what if… what if she’s dangerous?”

“Don’t worry, Hila. I’m going to bring Plenty back by force, it’s not about her after all, it’s about Oitra and her closure. We’ll sit down with her and Plenty and think about the future from there. And…”

Shaula knows. Plenty… she’s not someone who doesn’t care about her own life, she’s not an idiot, she’s not powerful. Should she cross Shaula, then…

“If she’s a threat, then that won’t be a big deal either.”