Once again, days went by. Soon came the well-renowned end of the week, which I for so long was expecting.

During these 5 past days, I got to interact very often with the trio since lately each afternoon they never fail to come to the inn to simply waste time. Deep down, I know very well why, but I think it’s better off if I were to ignore their true motive. Their presence was a huge relief to my otherwise monotonous day.

"Finally done with it?" I asked Nia concerning the book she had borrowed.

She nodded.

I knew she had read this book several times in the previous few days, which demonstrated how much free time we both had. She in the morning at many reprises tried to bond with Zaraha and Finn. There wasn’t much they could do together or talk about, so most of the time when not eating, she would be on the corner rereading the same book again and again. It was a sad display that testified to our current living condition. The thing which I planned to fix up today with Elliel's estimated visit By the time we reached the restaurant part, it didn’t take me long to notice the little commotion there was on the first floor.

"Good morning, Zaraha, good morning Finn." we both greeted.

"Good morning, An, Rena."

Just like every morning, Zaraha was already on the counter, and today Finn too, but unlike usual, both were dressed very differently. If I were to say it was like they were about to get somewhere important, especially Zaraha, who clearly looked more "charming" than usual.

During these past few days, I got to know almost everyone working for the inn. Zaraha was one of them. I wasn’t given much information by the trio, but apparently just like Nia and I, she isn’t just a customer or someone related to the owner like Finn. She was a little of both; I was told that before she became pregnant, she was one of the girl working in the inn, and that it was only after she became pregnant that she began to live in the hotel section under Madam's care. While being under Madam's watch, she is also helping with the best her pregnancy allows her.

"Are you two going out?"

"Yes, we’re going out. Zoraya said we’re going to get big brother."

"Big brother?"

"Yes, big bro is—" Before he could finish, he was interrupted by Zaraha.

"Finn, I think you should go tell your mother that you’re ready."

With that, it was obvious that there was something about that big brother that she didn’t want Finn to reveal, so we didn’t overstep ourselves and went to take our usual seat.

Not too long after having taken a seat, a now familiar commotion was heard from outside.

"Zaraha, my beauty, it’s finally the day, isn't it!"

"Wooo! Girl, Poumpous aren’t we today? "

The duo, Charles and Henry, blurted out at Zaraha upon passing through the inn’s door.

"Shut up you two!" she shouted at them, already exhasperated.

"You must’ve missed your—"

"Come on boys, it’s still early in the morning, it isn’t time yet for this kind of behaviour." Franq calmed, entering the door at its turn.

For his words, the two apologized in their own way and made their way toward us.

"If this isn’t our friends An and Rena!"

"Can you three just shut up for a damn minute inside my inn? You're damn loud! " Madam shouted at them, as she emerged from the kitchen along with Finn.

"Madam, Good morning, Finn, too. And yes, we’re sorry for the commotion.

Not even wasting a second on them, she went to Zaraha;

"Good morning, you three." We greeted

"Hi," they all responded, dragging a missing chair to our table. "Rena, as beautiful as always, as far as I can see."

"Thank you."

"It’s always a blessing to be allowed to see such a-"

"Franq." Nia interrupted him.

"Hmh, yes?"

"Thanks for your book," she said, handing him back the book she had borrowed, which he weirdly for a good minute stared wordlessly.

You’re already done with it? You’re quite a fast reader, I must say... I’m impressed—Ouch! " A slap landed on his head; "What was that for?"

"Stop staring at that book, you idiot. For calling us creeps. You’re certainly a hell of a breed."

To their words, he just awkwardly laughed it off.

This has been a familiar sight these past few days, them clowning around like drunkards. There were times when they were about to overstep themselves with their jokes, but they do at least know where to set limits and even where to apologize when needed.

Usually they arrive somehow after breakfast just to leave after lunch, but today I couldn’t help but notice that they were arriving earlier than usual.

"You three are very early today, aren't you?

"Hey, both of you, look at who is back."

Looking at the entrance which he was pointing at, I saw Elliel entering the structure. Unlike the last time, where he was dressed rather shabbily, he was this time dressed in a more reasonable outfit, similar to the one I was given.

I was about to stand up to get to him, but noticing how the three others seated with us were simply waving at him, to which he replied with another one, I chose to do like them, to remain seated.

From the look on his face, he was surprised to see us, most likely with these three, but despite his confusion, he went to talk to Madam, Finn, and Zaraha at the counter.

"An, you were asking?"

"Me?"

"Yes, before I interrupted, you were about to ask something,"

"Ah, that, just forget about —" I was once again interrupted mid-sentence by another commotion from the counter.

"Zaraha!"

"What happened?"

This time, I saw Zaraha pale and leaning on Elliel, who clearly rushed over to her.

"Zaraha, you’re okay?"

The five of us rushed to them.

"Eh... yes, I’m... fine."

"You’re obviously not." Madam shouted at her, "Ei, let’s take her to her room." Without hesitation, Elliel lifted her and went to the hotel part of the inn where her room was.

We tried to follow but we were stopped by Madam. "You stay here, I'll call you if I need you." With these words, she called over two of the servers working to follow her. Nia threw a glance at me and acted as if she had not heard what Madam had just said. She called for the server and slithered her way to follow them. Madam noticed her but didn’t object to her presence.

"What was that?" Charles sighed.

"Don’t know."

"You think the baby is coming?"

"Idiot, she’s barely 8 months pregnant."

"You’re the idi-"

"Is Zaraha going to be alright?" a voice asked.

It was only then that we took notice of the boy who saw everything unfold.

"Of course, she’s going to be alright," Henry rassured. "She just abused with sugar. As long as she gets hydrated, she’ll be fine. Right An? "

Why me?

"Huh, yes, of course, all she needs is water."

"Come on, little brother, join us for breakfast when the adults are getting hydrated."

****

After dozens of minutes, Elliel, all alone, descended to our floor and came to the table the six of us were seated upon.

"So, Ei, how is she?"

"She’s fine?"

Dragging a chair to our table, he simply said, "She’s fine."

"And the baby?"

"Fine too. It was only vertigo, nothing to be concerned about; a short rest should be enough to get her back on her feet."

Hearing this, the three of them heaved a sigh of relief. Despite how mean, teasing, and even annoying they are to her, with the concern they gueninely displayed today, it was clear they care deeply for her.

"That’s reassuring."

"Yes, but as I said, she needs a little bit of rest, so for today, I believe it would be best if she doesn’t move much. So for what she had planned for today,..." He threw a subtle but meaningful glance at the oblivious Finn and then at the trio.

It was then that I remembered that Finn earlier mentioned he and Zaraha were going out to fetch up a certain "big brother."

"Oh... I guess we can do that for them. In fact, it is best that way, right boys?"

"Yeah," they all agreed, standing up from their seats.

Elliel simply smiled at them and said, "Yes, and I’m sure he will be happy to see you three."

"Four, you mean, you forgot Finn."

"Oh, yes, I did."

"So it’s us, who are going now?" Finn asked.

"Yeah, us." Zaraha needs to drink more water, so we’ll be the ones to catch Shawn instead of the two of you. "

Though the little boy was still a little bit concerned about Zaraha, he didn’t seem particularly saddened by the news of the trio replacing Zaraha; in fact, he seemed even happy about it.

To the question that, out of nowhere, was asked by Franq, both I and, I noticed too, Ellieln, were quite taken aback.

"So what about you, An? Want to come with us?"

"Eh? Me?..."

"Yeah, you, now that I think of it, we’ve never seen you out of this establishment during this entire week,"

"Yeah, now that you mention it, this is an opportunity for you to visit the surroundings, dude," he added.

They were quite right about this. This entire week I have been avoiding going out. It was partly because I wanted to have Elliel's accord first and, two, because I never got the drive to really leave the inn, despite how monotonous it can be for Nia and I when the trio weren’t around.

"Yes, but there is something I wanted to talk about with Ei."

"Is it something urgent?" they immediately asked.

"... Not really, but-"

Throwing their arms around me, Charles and Henri announced "Then that’s it. You will talk about it later. I’m sure he’s going to be around till the end of the afternoon. That’s plenty of time for you two to have the long discussion you want."

"-But Nia."

She’ll be with the others, she’ll be fine. Any other objections? "

"..."

This time I chose to remain silent.

"I guess we have our answers, boys. It should be okay for him to go with us, right Ei?"

"Well..."

"Don’t worry, we’ll keep an eye on him."

"I guess, why not?... if he wants to."

"Yeah!" They all childishly rejoiced.

Without wasting time, they all dragged me to the entrance.

"So where exactly are we going and who are we going to fetch up exactly?"

"Oh, you still don’t know? Well, I think it would be better if it’s kept a secret, and as to who knows, don’t worry, it’s a nice person. I’m sure you’ll like him.

" Or abhor him. "

"Right?"

With that, they burst into laughter.

I often heard them talking about who that person might be. And though I didn’t know much about that fourth person, when they do, it always sets this certain good mood between them.

***

I and the young Finn followed the trio and walked through the city for several kilometers. We passed through the first layer of the city, where the city wall was now what was left of it, and went beyond where it used to be, to the newly emerged, at least for me, city. As we get deeper, I get to see for myself the visible wealth and demographic disrepancy between the inner district and the newly emerged outer one. When we entered the city, we took a different path, so I never got the chance to see it, but now that we were walking among the people, I clearly noticed it. Even when we stayed on the main road, we came across shabby stalls with beggars of all ages; some were quite old, while others were just young enough to pronounce the few words required to beg on random strangers.

Compared to that time when we visited the common district, this time the feeling that literally the population of an entire duchy was stuffed into a city came from the crowd; it was overpopulated.

The trio and even Finn seemed to, to an extent, be used to this display, as they skillfully slithered amidst the people, the dogs, the cats, the horses, and the passing carriage without minding the crowd so much, so just like them, I tried to pay it no heed.

Soon we found ourselves at our actual destination. It was, well, not what I expected-

"I’ve got the paper, so I guess I’ll be the one to fetch him, while you all wait for us here." Franq proposed, waving with his hand a small piece of paper.

Without an objection from our part, he went to the imposing, at least compared to the surrounding bluilding, tower-like structure surrounded by a tall spike-ended fence across the street.

He didn’t even get to enter the courtyard of the place; he was merely at the door showing the paper he got to the guards at the entrance.

From the look of it, one could easily guess what it was-

But still to confirm, I asked, "is this place -"

"A prison? To answer your question, yes, this is a prison.

"I see..."

So the one they were about to fetch, that big brother Finn was talking about and even Elliel knew, was in a prison.

Many questions ran wild at the same time in my head, but I kept myself for the time being.

One of the guards went to the building and a few minutes later came back with at his side a young but tall brown-haired man.

"Here he is."

The man, upon leaving the establishment, warmly greeted Franq before they came to us.

"Gentlemen, It has been a while."

"Sure it has been, what was it, six months?"

"Yes, six long months." "Hi little Finn." Patting the child on the head, he added, "You’ve quite grown in my absence, didn’t you?"

"Yeah! I’ve grown a lot.

It was only then, after having greated everyone, that his attention came to me. An awkward silence took place before he asked, "Is this one with you?" Where is Zaraha? He looks cute and all, but he’s definitely not Zaraha. " He joked, reaching out an arm to me.

"Shawn. It’s a pleasure to meet, I guess. " He said, starring at me with something I wasn’t completely sure was a taunt or hostility.

"An... Likewise,"

"So someone would care to explain to me where Zaraha is?"

Once again, it was Franq who volunteered himself to explain the situation. This morning, she planned to be the one welcoming you at your exit, not us, but she had this sort of seizure—before you say anything, she and the baby are okay. Ei and Madam are at her side. He said that all she needed was a little bit of rest."

"I see. She’s with Ei... I guess she’s okay then. "

It was clear from his reaction and his words that hearing the mention of Elliel and Madam relieved him greatly of his concern.

***

Soon after our discussion, we made our way back to the inn. We took the same path we took to head to the prison from the inn. We just stopped from time to time for Shawn to consider how much the city has changed in the 6 months he was seemingly incarcerated.

For what exactly he was jailed for, I still had no idea, but from the mood they were discussing, it was clear that had done, this person was a dear and close fruends of the trio. He would often throw weird glances at me, but I did my best to not mind them. He’s most likely just curious.

While walking around, our group suddenly came to a halt.

I saw the quadro and, more precisely, Shawn glaring at something, or rather someone, that someone.

He had his back facing us, so he had no way of knowing that we were behind him, yet as if sensing the murdering eyes glaring at him, the man turned himself and his reaction to us, and most likely Shawn in particular, was to run.

"This motherfu**er!"

"Ah, shit." Franq sighed.

"Damn, Shawn just let--"

Deaf to Henri’s words, to the man fleeing, Shawn's immediate reaction was to run after him.

"Goodam it, not even a day out of prison, that idiot is already looking for trouble! Charles! You and An stay here looking for the little Finn. "

Charles and Henri immediately ran after Shawn. They, from the way they ran, were clearly not great runners and most likely weren’t adept at sports in general, but they still did their best to run after their friend.

I could’ve helped, but I didn’t for I had the feeling that this was something I had stay away from.

"Where are they going?" Finn asked.

"They... they just went to greet an old friend, but they’ll be back shortly." Franq reassured This time, unable to hold my curiosity any longer, I asked, "Say, what exactly was Shawn imprisoned for?""

He didn’t seem very surprised by my question, but didn’t answer straight away. Instead, when Finn's attention was driven away from us, he responded exactly what I thought could be the answer to my own question.

Murder.

Fifteen minutes later, the three of them returned. Both Charle and Henri looked out of breath; Shawn looked completely fine, and though his clothes looked tidied, I could smell this lingering stench of blood on him.

***

After that incident, we continued our journey back to the inn, and soon enough we were back.

Standing at the front door, spotting one out loud, Shawn declared, "Come, I really miss this place. It feels good to be back." before entering the establishment.

Upon entering the room, the one he stumbled upon on the counter was Madam. "Tantine, it has been a while." He said, clumsily offering her the flower he had bought beforehand on the road.

With a harsh expression on her face, "Have these been stolen?" Madam said.

"Of course not! Those are what we brought on the road, just for you, Tantine. "

Finally melting the mean face she had on her face, Madam retrieved her usual warm and welcoming expression and said, "I would like to accept those, but I don’t think I’m the one who needs them the most." A pregnant woman approached us from one of the tables in the room.

"Zaraha..." Shawn muttered, approaching the woman.

Somehow, a part of me was expecting a moving and sentimental response, since at this point I could’ve already guessed what Shawn was obviously to her. Instead, what we got was the reverberating of a smacking sound across the restaurant. Zaraha, upon reaching Shawn, landed a slap on his face, followed by a second one. She was about to throw a third one but stopped herself.

"It has been a long time, Zaraha. Yoy have really changed in these six months. " He said, referring to her belly.

"Of course I have, you idiot." She raised her hand once again to slap him, only to be stopped by Shawn, who closed the distance and hugged her.

"Sorry for being away while you two needed me the most." He whispered, yet was audibly enough for the trio and even myself to hear clearly.

The trio cheered, whistling and clapping like drunkards, triggering the other people present in the restaurant to do the same.

"Wait a minute!"

"Stop it, you three, you're embarrassing us," Zaraha said.

Pretending to ignore what she had said, "This emotional meeting after a lifelong separation deserves a well-deserved celebration, right boys?" Franq proposed going to their usual table, which the two others, without a single objection, followed.

Seeing that, while scanning the room with my eyes, the person I was looking for was missing, I went to Madam and saw her wearing an exasperated but happy smile on her face while looking at the reunited couple.

"Madam."

"Hum? What can I help? Wait, you’re looking for Rena and Ei, aren't you?"

I nodded.

"She’s not here." After you left, and after Zaraha felt better, Ei proposed making her visit the district.

It was an answer I quite didn’t expect.

"She’s with Ei?"

"Yes, is there a problem?" In truth, I was the one who suggested the idea. I hope it didn’t cause any problems. "