As they stepped out from the rear entrance of the manor and onto a neat path that stretched away across the estate grounds, Nina learned that The Cloud Orchestra’s safehouse was in fact on the estate grounds itself. Such a large estate had never been short of servant quarters, guest lodges, or even family retreats, so turning one of the smaller buildings on the fringe of the estate into their permanent lodging hadn’t been an issue. For a fee of course, but Reina had said that it wasn’t so bad. She liked the estate because they were one of her most valuable customers, while the Inin family also understood the value of keeping The Cloud Orchestra close.

“Wait, like SuTSU suits? That is so cool,” Rucille exclaimed after Aline mentioned why they weren’t interested in visiting the Merchant District. “It sounds like you’re on a great escapade!”

‘Cool’ was certainly not the word Nina would have used to describe their predicament, but it was hard not to smile at Rucille’s enthusiasm. She had been expecting an uptight and somewhat snobby noble daughter but had instead been met with an open and bubbly character armed with an infectious smile.

“I think this is pretty cool, actually,” Jade said as they walked between beds of colourful flowers on each side of the path. “A noble family with an estate like this? A life of luxury sounds pretty good compared to what we have.”

“Nah,” Rucille rejected her idea as she placed her hands behind her head while strolling at the head of the group. “You can probably tell already, but the life of a noble isn’t for me,” she sighed as she looked at the sky. “Our culture is so primitive. We have the technology to move away from manual farming, nobility, estates, and stone castles, but everyone is too busy clinging to what we had instead of seeing the bigger picture. You must laugh in secret when you see us like this, I mean just look at how you all dress,” she continued as she eyed Reina’s pants which left the bottom half of her calves exposed. “Father would kill me if I tried to wear something like that.”

“I think Zaffre’s Moat is a beautiful place,” Reina said to console her. “I always enjoy spending time here because it’s so peaceful, so different from what we have. I’m sure Nina is enjoying it even more than us because this is her first time here too.”

“Even Luem gave her a culture shock, I don’t even want to know what she’s thinking about Zaffre,” Svanda smiled.

Nina was preparing to deflect the incoming question about her opinion on Zaffre when a face filled her vision. It seemed that Rucille had not only stopped, but also turned back to stare at her quite curiously while getting a little too close in the process.

“Not Terminus?” she asked as her gaze ran over Nina’s features. Wait, did she just sniff her?

“Caecus,” Nina replied while trying not to look awkward, although her expression faltered when Rucille grabbed her hand.

“You’re from Caecus?” she asked, perhaps a little too enthusiastically. “Like, born on Caecus?”

“Umm, yes.”

“Wow!” Rucille cheered while the rest of the group looked her with mix of expressions ranging between Nina’s horror and Reina’s amusement. “I’ve spent some time studying people from the different plates but I’ve never met someone from Caecus! Could you tell me about it sometime?”

If you let go of my hand, Nina thought. Instead of saying that aloud, however, she simply nodded.

“Awesome!” Rucille punched the air with her spare hand, the box of abysswort seeds still tightly grasped within. Nina thought she might drop it, but she clung to it with ease. Nobody wanted to be searching for the seeds if they went everywhere.

“There’s plenty of time,” Reina smiled. Nina silently thanked her for stepping in to draw the matter to a close, sighing inwardly as Rucille let go of her hand before examining the simple silver watch wrapped around her wrist.

“Ah! I’m going to be late with my report on the seeds!” she exclaimed before turning back to the path. “I’ve gotta run to the lab, you know where you’re going, right? Seeya!”

The group watched as Rucille tore up the path before turning left onto another, heading in the direction of a large stone building that loomed in the distance. How she managed to do so while wearing her dress was anybody’s guess.

“She’s quite the bundle of energy, isn’t she?” Svanda said as they continued on their way. “It’s strange though, that we haven’t ever seen her before. I think we’ve bumped into most of the children, but not her.”

“Maybe it’s because she doesn’t seem so… ladylike,” Reina chuckled as they walked straight instead of following the turn that Rucille had taken. “Kromald probably saw her as an embarrassment.”

“Why bring her into the fold now then?” Aline asked as she eyed a small blue lake which sat among the rolling green hills. “Andus I understand, but her?”

Nina didn’t know either, but thought that she would simply follow the conversation much like how she followed the group down the path. Rucille’s overwhelming attention had been a little intense for her, even if it was just for a brief moment. She would have to start thinking about what to say when she was asked about what Caecus was like, preferably something that wasn’t boring. Frankly, she had more interesting things to talk about from her time on Neo Luesa than she did about her time on Caecus. Paperwork and a daily office grind within an eternal season of greys didn’t make for many good stories.

“I’m sure Kromald has his reasons,” Reina waved dismissively. “Maybe he’s decided that it’s time to bite the bullet and teach her something while putting her in the shop window at the same time. Someone will marry her, even if it’s just because of her family.”

Jade scowled, reminding Nina of her earlier story. She would probably always have a sore spot around arranged marriages, and that was just something that she would have to learn to deal with in her own way. After admiring the collection of flowers that were planted in loose groups around the path, she stepped over the crest of the hill behind the group, finally allowing her to see their safehouse below.

It was a cute little thing. Built entirely of stone with a red roof that matched the manor, small round windows were set into the single storey building looked back in their direction. Placed just inside the fence of the estate, the cottage of sorts had its own access to the street behind it, while a small wooden deck with a sitting area was placed at the front in the sun. It was out of the way, out of sight behind the hill, and quite unimposing. Essentially, it was exactly the type of place that Nina needed right now.

“We’re back!” Jade laughed as she jogged down the hill in the direction of the front door. To their surprise, it opened before Trim stepped out, her skirt and shirt from before swapped out for her usual tracksuit.

“Back already?” Reina asked as the rest of them reached the front porch.

“Yeah, no problems,” Trim smiled with a nod as she sat down on one of the wooden seats that surrounded the outdoor dining table. “Go change up.”

“Finally,” Jade replied as she pushed her way through the door. “I need to get this dust out of my hair.”

“You’re with me,” Trim smiled as she looked at Nina. “Third door on the right.”

Nina smiled before following the group inside. Despite the outer shell of the building comprising of stone, it seemed that the interior was almost entirely made of wood. She admired the thick carpet runner that stretched down the short hallway before watching as Reina pushed her way through the first door on the right. To her left, opposite Reina’s room, was the open door to what seemed to be her office, a simple desk and stack of paperwork sat there collecting an impressive layer of dust. Trim had opened the windows which sent a gentle breeze through the space, but the air still held traces of the musty scent from an extended period of disuse.

There were four bedrooms along the right wall. Reina’s was first, which was followed by a room shared by Svanda and Saela. Trim’s room which was now also Nina’s was the third room, while Jade and Aline shared the final room at the end. Opposite the doors to the three last bedrooms was an open kitchen and living area that featured a stone benchtop surrounded by stools and also a simple brown sofa setting. It was homely, although she wondered if having seven of them living there would prove a little tight.

“Why do you bunk with Saela?” Nina asked Svanda as they both ignored their respective rooms and moved into the kitchen area. Nina did so because she wanted to examine the place a little more, while Svanda had probably guessed that Saela was using the bedroom.

“Think about it,” Svanda said as she ran a finger along the benchtop before examining it for dust. “Reina, Trim, and I were the first group to come here, so we took the first three rooms.” Seemingly satisfied with the cleanliness of the bench, she unslung the rifle from her shoulder before placing it down. “Jade and Aline came after that and shared the final room, so by the time Saela joined, she could only pick between sharing what was left.”

“Not Reina?”

“Do you really think Reina is going to share a room?” Svanda laughed. “Even if we took on three more people tomorrow, we’d be tripling up before she dropped an extra bed in there.”

“I’ll have a look at what we have then. I could do with a wash,” Nina smiled as she walked over to her room, pushing the door open before stepping inside. It was a simple layout, with a single bed on each side of the room and a door in the far wall which led to a small bathroom. There were a couple of small paintings of some flowers hanging around, and also a small wardrobe by the foot of each bed. Seeing that Trim’s stereo and clothes from earlier were strewn over the bed on the right, Nina dropped her bag on the left bed before shrugging off her jacket and entering the bathroom to take a much needed shower.

Zaffre’s Moat hadn’t been so bad, but she hadn’t had a proper chance to wash herself since they had left during the morning and the Badlands had been somewhat unpleasant. Stepping under the hot water and tilting her head back, she smiled as she recalled the series of events that had led to her being here. It had been crazy, but it seemed that she would be able to take some much needed rest over the next few days. That was unless Reina had the idea to drop them into another fiasco at short notice.

Hopefully not.