The tapping of Reina’s finger against the table was the only sound in otherwise silent living area as she looked towards the stairs with a bored expression. She had already considered starting without their final participant, but her tapping was eventually joined by the sound of footsteps on the stairs before Saela appeared. She was late, although it wasn’t particularly surprising. Managing to do it when they had only been given ten minutes to rest, however, was something that Reina wasn’t particularly pleased about.

“Let’s go through this one step at a time,” she said while ignoring Saela who took a seat without a word. The scolding, if it was going to happen, could wait. “First is Nina’s recovery. Everyone else, Jade included, is in good condition so we’re almost clear on that front. We’re not running any risks on Terminus if we don’t need to, so I’m going to make sure that we’re as prepared as we can be. Sorry Svanda, but Terminus can be… messy.”

“None taken,” Svanda said with a smile.

“As for the other things that we need to tick off on Areinis before we go, they’re a little more problematic,” she said with a sigh before motioning for the jug of water on the table. After pouring herself a glass and taking a sip, she paused for a moment with a frown on her face. “We’re supposed to pick up some gear from an art dealer on the Light Fountain, but I’m worried about Ormain. He has no idea where we are at the moment, and I’d like it to stay that way. As a result, paying someone to courier the goods out to us is the easiest solution, but then I’m running the risk of them disappearing into thin air. It’s not ideal, because if that happens then we’re left with nothing but an angry customer and a debt I’d rather not have to settle.”

“What goods?” Jade asked.

“Swordshark ivory,” Svanda said with a bitter smile after it seemed that Reina wasn’t going to reply.

“Oh,” Jade frowned. “Yeah, I’d be guarding that like it was my firstborn child.”

Trade in swordshark ivory, like many other products poached from larger marine life around the Five Fountains, was illegal. Attracted to the Five Fountains by the massive quantities of fish that lived among the reefs which sprawled across the island landscape, sharks and whales in particular were disappearing at an unprecedented rate. Their teeth, tusks, and leather continued to support a thriving underground trade that was just as dangerous as it was lucrative. Crackdowns were harsh, but the soaring demand for such products among Terminus’ elite below them continued to fan the flames. The risk of being caught, however, was not something that Reina was worried about. What she was worried about was that whoever they paid to bring the goods to them would have second thoughts about fulfilling the delivery. Areinis was an easy place to lose yourself, especially when you were carrying goods that were valuable enough to cover your wages for the next few years.

“Pass on the job,” Aline suggested. “It won’t hurt our reputation that badly if we make excuses. They’re for Runa, right? She’ll understand.”

“She might if we didn’t make excuses for two jobs,” Reina said. “Svanda and I already picked up a couple of paintings on Zaffre’s which are also for her. Delivering on one promise but not the other raises questions that I’d rather not answer.”

“Paintings?” Jade asked before frowning. “I’m not sure what you’re thinking, but I certainly didn’t see any paintings flying around in the sky when we dropped through.”

“Which is why they’re rolled up in the tubes at the bottom of Trim’s stereo,” Reina said with a sigh. “I don’t want to pass on them either, they’re expensive you know?”

Nina glanced around in search for the stereo, but she couldn’t see it. Trim must have left it in her room, probably because it seemed to be more and more like a suitcase with a stereo attached to it. She had initially scoffed when Trim had called it tactical, but then again she had eventually been proved wrong. Just what else was she hiding away in there? It wasn’t even that large to begin with.

“They should just paint their own damn paintings,” Jade grumbled in response. “If someone can do it on Zaffre’s, someone else can do it on Terminus.”

“People on Terminus aren’t exactly known for their creativity,” Svanda said with an almost self-depreciating smile. “Besides, a painting stolen from Zaffre’s nobility is a lot more impressive than something painted locally.”

“You stole them?” Saela asked. Half the group hid smiles, but Nina instead stifled a sigh. Of course she would be interested as soon as theft was discussed, probably wondering why she hadn’t been in the loop. She already pictured Saela as someone who would get a kick out of sticking it to the nobility, and that was even if she didn’t get paid for it in the process. It was probably ingrained, for someone born into her social standing. Any opportunity to get over someone else was something that they tended to snatch at regardless of significance.

“The Tygstiad Estate was selling them,” Svanda said to dispel the doubt. “Who they stole them from, we don’t know. Typical nobility politics if you ask me, smiles at the front and knives behind their backs.”

“The Tygstiads?” Jade asked after a low whistle escaped from her lips. “Never would have picked them for it, to be honest.”

“It’s off topic,” Reina said to drag the conversation back on track. “As much as I think it’s in poor taste to roll such expensive work up in a tube, it’s what we’re getting paid to do so I’m not going to argue with it. The problem that it creates, however, is that when we deliver them to Runa the first thing she’s going to ask is where her ivory is.”

“So we’ll split up,” Trim said with a casual wave of her hand as she leaned over to take back the jug of water. “Nina does her thing here, and a couple of us can go and pick up the goods. The boat can take us as close as possible, and it’s not like we’re going to be staying long. Since when have you been so averse to taking small risks?”

“They’re not small risks,” Reina replied as her eyes narrowed. “Ormain’s out there with enough money to reward half the fisherman on the plate for spotting us, and he’s also got a bone to pick after we left his subordinate dead in a cistern. I’m not even going to mention how Jade, who will stick out like a sore thumb, would also have to drive past not only the Fire Fountain, but also the Wind Fountain. Even if Ormain doesn’t catch us in the act, it wouldn’t be hard for someone to follow us back and report to him, would it?”

“It has to be on the way out then,” Aline said with a shrug. “Pick it up as we’re leaving so he doesn’t have time to receive a report. We’ll be gone before he knows it and it’s not like there’s a shortage of places to drop either.”

Areinis was unique in that there were no restrictions on dropping through to Terminus. Locations to do so were both generously scattered around the plate and unguarded, so engineering the final leg of their journey was the least of their concerns. As for why they were unrestricted and unguarded, there was no need to do so. It was common knowledge that Terminus was both a miserable place to live and incredibly difficult to leave, so people were simply not interested. Who was going to willingly trade a life of sun and warm weather away for what Terminus had to offer?

“Alright,” Reina said after mulling over the suggestion in her head for a moment. “It’s the best plan we’re going to get, and I like it simple. I’ll tie up the rest of the loose ends before we leave and then we should have time to disappear on Terminus before Ormain can pick up our trail.”

Nina assumed that the group’s silence was their show of approval to the plan. She certainly couldn’t have come up with anything better, and it seemed like the logical decision to make instead of wasting time over a return trip. She did, however, wonder if their jobs usually had so many obstacles to overcome. Probably not, considering that a rogue group of suits and a backstabbing royal faction were certainly outliers, but at the same time she wondered if the group attracted trouble in one way or another regardless. It wasn’t like they were doing honest work, and that in itself was something that tended to create problems.

“It’s smooth sailing from there, right?” Aline asked hopefully.

Svanda chuckled at the question, while Trim simply flashed her a smile. Reina, unfortunately, didn’t share their enthusiasm as she shot the pair a curt glare before letting out a sigh. Reaching for her glass, she took a small sip while the rest of the group watched her in silence. It was almost eerie when it was compared to where they had been staying on the Fire Fountain because the concrete blocked out the surrounding noise, leaving the space in a strange state of tension. Nina could practically hear her own heart for a moment, but the crisp sound of Reina’s glass coming into contact with the table punctuated their thoughts.

“There’s still Julia’s job,” she said softly.

Oh, Nina thought. She had forgotten about that.