It didn’t take long for Nina to become bored with the lack of scenery along the road, instead turning her attention back to the group before asking where they were headed. ‘To Runa’s’ was the reply, and the answer caused her to think back to when their plans were discussed on Moonglass Isle. Runa was an arts reseller of sorts if she recalled correctly, and she was also one of the reasons that their escape from Areinis had been a lot more difficult than it should have been. A poor first impression of the woman had subsequently formed in Nina’s mind even though she was still yet to meet her, but it was inevitable. Reina might have cared about some paintings or some other antiques, but she certainly didn’t. Reputation wasn’t worth much if SuTSU had already caught up to you, and that was if you were lucky enough to still be alive.

“She’s useful,” Reina replied once Nina asked about Runa. “People like her have a lot of connections, both in Terminus and elsewhere. Keep an ear to the ground if you want to stay ahead of the pack, they say. People are spoilt for choice these days and there isn’t much loyalty left either.”

Nina’s reaction was muted, acting nonchalant as Svanda then gave her a brief description of Terminus. With three major urban centres which formed a loose irregular triangle around a rugged mountain range, the major components of Terminus were segregated. Southstone, the city which they were currently in, was mostly comprised of offices, shops, and residences, acting as the administrative heart of the plate. Close by was East Terminus, the secondary centre that Nina had seen from the air on approach. Svanda described it as ‘a poorer Southstone’ which was comprised of mostly residences, but Nina didn’t detect any distaste in her tone. It could have been Svanda’s home for all she knew, so she would tread lightly until she had filled in the rest of the blanks. No risk offending anyone just yet, whether they were in The Cloud Orchestra or not.

“The Westworks are on the other side of the mountains,” Svanda continued, pointing out the window in what to Nina might as well have been a random direction. “That’s where the heavy lifting is done, where all the manufacturing takes place. That pistol in your jacket? Made over there. It’s also where we’ll be picking up Julia’s... rather large problem.”

“I still say we pull the plug on it,” Trim chimed in, idly picking at her nails. “She’ll understand, and if she doesn’t I’m not really concerned either. Tell her that she can run the Skywall herself if she wants them so badly.”

“It’s going ahead,” Reina replied, killing the argument with a scowl. “The agreement with Alan is already in place. After we drop this stuff off at Runa’s we can head over to the factory and see what exactly we’re dealing with. From there, we’ll meet up with Alan again before he escorts us to their drop point.”

“What’s the fee?” Jade asked. “For using their drop, that is. It must be pretty expensive if Alan uses it to push his own goods through.”

Reina winced at the question, looking as though she had just sucked on a lemon. Despite her reaction, however, she chose not to respond. It was none of their business, apparently, although Nina didn’t mind either way. It was already hard enough for her to get a grip on some of the smaller numbers tossed around, so whatever figure Reina threw out would probably just confuse her. It was poor etiquette to ask the boss about finances in her opinion anyway, no matter how friendly they were. She would admit that Reina did a good job of blurring the line there, but it wasn’t an excuse to overstep the boundaries either.

“Along with the route through the Skywall, let’s just say you don’t want to know,” she finally admitted before turning her attention to the scene outside. Nina guessed that they must be close as the streets were gradually becoming quieter, but she didn’t know if it was a good thing or not. Not only was the car comfortable, she was also safe right now. A quick nap would be delightful, but unfortunately there were other priorities. The whole Runa thing was first, of course, but her hair also needed a good wash after the salty spray from Areinis had unpleasantly wormed its way in.

“Alright, this is it,” Reina said after a moment, her gaze locked on a building across the street from where the car was stopping. Three storeys tall and about ten or so meters wide, Runa’s shop looked almost identical to the countless others that lined the street. A large glass façade was framed by crisscrossing streaks of steel, while the concrete structure behind it was polished so that the street lights reflected from every surface. There were few actual windows if Nina was seeing correctly, although Terminus’ preference for heavy tint was evident once again. Why they needed such windows was a mystery to her considering that the entire plate was enshrouded in an eternal state of semi-darkness, but she also had to admit that the futuristic feel was tasteful. Drearier than Caecus, that was for sure, yet the plate somehow felt more together.

The group filed out of the car before wandering across the street, Reina taking the lead as she pushed her way through a featureless grey door before disappearing inside. Nina couldn’t even work out how they knew that this was the right building until she spotted a small green sign above the door, ‘Runa’s’ simply written by a flowing hand. Following the procession through the door, she stepped inside to find herself in exactly the opposite of what she had been expecting. Instead of cold grey concrete and steel, the interior of the building was decorated with burgundy walls and timber framing, thick green carpet stretching across the floor beneath her feet. A seemingly random assortment of statues, paintings, and other goods were scattered around the place, while a worn brown leather sofa setting sat in the middle of the room underneath a gold chandelier. After briefly examining a statue of a deer carved from what looked to be a single piece of wood which stood by the door, Nina’s attention was finally drawn to the other side of the room when she heard a cough.

“Reina,” a woman said, stepping around the counter that she had been sitting behind before making her way over to them. Short, round, and old enough to justify her long silver hair that was the same shade as Svanda’s, Nina guessed that the woman before them was Runa. The fitting black dress that she wore was thankfully hiding under a thick brown jacket which had clearly been sourced from a poor animal or three, while her eyes darted back and forth across the members of the group with thinly veiled suspicion. Nina was surprised that she could even lift her arms considering how much gold seemed to be hanging of her pale fingers and wrists, but it did explain the slight jingle as she walked. Runa was unforgettable for all the wrong reasons, and Nina was forced to quickly turn her attention elsewhere to prevent herself from gawking.

“Runa, it’s good to see you,” Reina smiled as she met the woman in the centre of the room. “Trade been good?”

“So-so,” Runa replied as she guided Reina towards the sofa setting in the centre of the room, smiling as Trim and Svanda followed behind. Probably smiling because she knew that Trim’s stereo contained what she wanted, but business was business. The rest of the group wasn’t senior enough to join the discussion apparently, Saela loitering by the door while Jade and Aline both examined a marble sculpture of a winged man with interest. Nina busied herself by stepping over to a wall of paintings that hung from the far wall, listening to the conversation on the sofa while half-heartedly trying to make sense of what seemed to be a few random splashes of paint. Maybe she should have been an artist. Throw some paint around before labelling it as neo contemporary and watching the ‘experts’ fawn.

“Demand never wanes,” Runa continued as she sat, sighing as though it was a problem while she sunk back into the sofa. “There’s always someone new. Business owners, clan heads, or even kids who strike it lucky on the frontier and suddenly think they’ve made it. They’re insatiable. A lot of money spent on a useless pissing contest, if you ask me.”

“Not that you’re complaining,” Svanda smiled.

“It pays well,” Runa admitted with a shrug. “But it’s tiring. Almost every single customer that walks through the door to my store thinks that if they just wave some money around I’ll bend over backwards. They’re antiques for a reason, you know? If every clan head’s third son could waltz in here and find what they wanted, this stuff wouldn’t be worth anything to begin with. What’s worse is that the pissing contest does nothing but slowly up the stakes. Mister ‘I got lucky in the mines’ sees that his neighbour has a new statue, so suddenly he wants a bigger one, and an older one while he’s at it. That’s fine and I’m happy to accommodate, but there’s only so far you can go before you hit a ceiling. One day someone is going to come in and ask for the ancient Rimerian crown jewels or something, and then they’ll have the nerve to get snarky when I say I can’t do it.”

“Retire,” Trim suggested as she glanced around the room. “Looking at this, you’re probably sitting on enough of a fortune for both this life and the next.”

“Bah,” Runa replied with a wave of her hand, Nina frowning at the audible jingle that came with it. “Retirement would be the end of me. The trade is my life and I still enjoy it, but we’re not here to talk about that. Do you have them or not?”

Nina watched as Reina nodded, Runa’s eyes lighting up as Trim reached for the one of the many compartments on the stereo. Eyes on the prize while she hadn’t even served them a glass of water, Nina was already becoming to see why Runa was probably as rich as Trim had suggested. If her appearance hadn’t been enough to cement Nina’s initial opinion of Runa at somewhat unpleasant, she was also a miser.

“Have a look over them and then we’ll sort out the finance,” Reina said as Trim placed the rolled-up paintings onto the table before moving onto a second compartment, looking for the ivory. “We have to head over to the Westworks after this, and we’re trying to make good time.”

“You haven’t heard?” Runa asked, staying her hand that had been reaching for the paintings as she raised an eyebrow. “The Westworks are in quarantine. Nobody allowed in or out without special clearance. Some nasty illness apparently, people over there getting infected at random and nobody seems to know what hit them. Whether it spreads to the mountains or not, I don’t know, but production at least has been halted for the time being until there’s an official announcement. They’ve been tight-lipped so far, but their silence has done nothing but fuel the rumour mill. Impossible to separate fact from fiction at this stage, but the people are understandably nervous.”

“When did it start?” Svanda asked, probably a little too quickly.

“Three, maybe four days ago,” Runa replied. “If the reports are truthful, that is.”

Silence descended on the room as the group paused in thought for a moment before Svanda muttered a curse. Nina didn’t know if they were all thinking the same thing or not, but she had certainly come to a conclusion the moment she had heard the news. It was too perfect to be a coincidence, and the thought made her blood run cold.

Sitting down on the floor to steady herself, Nina wondered if it was her fault that a monster was now truly out of the cage.

Rucille was already here.