{Two Weeks Later}

Rin dropped her pen on her bed.

Folding the piece of paper in her hands, Rin let out a slow breath, the corners of her lips tugging up in a little smile as she placed the letter in the mouth of her wooden messenger bird.

As she sent the letter off to her mother, she finally felt ready.

She stood up. Rin wore a long-sleeved white shirt with a row of black buttons from her neck to her belly button, along with brown cargo pants. Putting on some equally brown boots, she glanced at the girl sitting on Elisa's bed.

Xhez was also putting her clothes on, sulking all the while, as she tended to do these days. She wore a red dress, along with some short black heels.

"We'll be leaving soon," Rin told her. "Is there, uh, anything you want to do before we head up to Cradle? Anything you want to see?"

Xhez simply shook her head.

"But..." She said. "I want to be out of the bag for a while."

"Oh, uh, yeah, that's fine. Just, ehm, make sure you keep track of your Spirit."

"I will."

That was all she said.

Rin did not doubt that, to some extent, June's death was still weighing on her. Especially given that she had perfect memory and she'd spent most of her time since that happened asleep. However, after what Sye had told her, Rin wondered how much of this could be attributed to her use of that Curse magic.

[I'd rather not get into any situations where she has to use that stuff again. Hopefully, things don't get complicated on this trip.]

As Rin picked up her bags, she caught a glimpse of Xhez keeping her head low.

Rin walked over to her.

She got on her knees in front of the sprite, whose eyes quickly met Rin's own, gold connecting with sapphire, as Xhez hadn't cast her spell yet.

"By the way..." Rin said, pulling together a comforting smile, "if you want to talk, if you want to tell me anything, I'm always willing to listen. We're a team, aren't we?"

The anger Xhez displayed faded slightly, giving way to something more... melancholic.

"Yes," she answered, however. "We are."

The two of them walked out, with Xhez having woven her spellsign and putting on her illusion. Making their way up to the Meditation Center, Rin found Maria sitting with her arms crossed.

She did not get up from her seat. Instead, she gave one glance back and said:

"Sit with me."

Rin and Xhez did just that, getting on the floor, opposite her.

Legs crossed, Maria said:

"So, you're going?"

"Yeah," Rin replied. "I figured it's worth a look. After, uh, what Miri said, I'm beginning to think the guild might have held out on me."

Maria nodded slowly, eyes fixed on the floor.

"And, you're certain you don't want Cara or me to come with you? You could even take Sara along again if she was up for it. Though, since that girl does seem to like you, I'd doubt she'd reject the offer."

Rin shrugged.

"I thought about it, but... I feel like having you and Cara with me would attract too much attention. I..." Rin looked to the side. "I might ask Sara, though."

"Eve, as well," Maria said. "That girl's clever. I've come to think quite positively of her instincts. She might be of use as well."

[I do have a target on my back now. I need to remember that,] Rin told herself. [I don't want to put my friends in danger, but... It'll be up to them whether they want to come, so, yeah.]

"I'll ask them," Rin said with a nod.

"Good. Knowing my apprentice has a few bodies next to her will help me-"

Someone knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Maria turned, finding Cara coming into the room.

"I- oh," Cara stopped herself, seeing Rin and Xhez. "You two haven't left yet."

"I just wanted to say goodbye, just in case I'm up north for a while," Rin replied. "I was gonna go over to your office too, after this."

"I guess I saved you the trouble, then," Cara replied.

The strong woman's eyes drifted to Maria, so quickly that it felt like she'd been trying not to get caught looking at her but Rin noticed anyway.

Most of these last two weeks had been spent out doing random, easy jobs for the guild, making enough money to afford a hotel for a few days while she conducted her little investigation. She hadn't gotten to see Cara and Maria for a while, but judging by the way they looked at each other, and how they tried not to, it seemed like something had been developing here.

[I'm just glad they aren't yelling at each other anymore.]

"Uh... I'll come back later," Cara told Maria. "Good luck in Cradle, you two. Try not to get into any trouble."

She closed the door in a hurry.

"Anyway," Maria said, clearing her throat, "before you go, how about we do some meditation?"

"Sure." Rin had no reason to decline. Xhez agreed as well.

"Okay, Xhez," Maria said, glancing over at her. "I take it you haven't done much meditation recently so, allow me to explain. This is sort of like... sleeping while you're awake," she stated. "You want to quiet your thoughts, focus on your surroundings, and allow all of your emotions to flow through you. If you do it right, you'll feel more... aware about everything. A calm mind tends to make better decisions."

Nodding, Xhez inhaled sharply, trying to prepare herself.

"Now, close your eyes... Or don't," Maria said with a chuckle. "You can look elsewhere. Whatever helps you to calm down, and let your thoughts quiet down."

Xhez looked over at Rin.

"..."

The brunette waited for her to say something, but the sprite remained silent.

"Uh, Xhez?"

"Yes?" The sprite asked.

"Why are you looking at me?" Rin asked, a light shade of red appearing on her cheeks upon being under the weight of Xhez's eyes.

"Looking at you helps me focus."

"..."

"..."

Maria barked out a laugh.

"T-That's fine," Rin replied, looking away. "Uh, yeah, go ahead."

Her teacher just shook her head, hiding a smile.

---

"So," Eve said, "we're just gonna go visit the Guild? Isn't that what we did last time we went up?"

The fairy was floating above Rin, who was sitting at a bench beneath her. Xhez and Sara, the latter of which had agreed to come along without much thought, flanked her.

There were so many people at the train station today that Eve had to be in the air like this.

"Yeah, but someone I talked to a couple of weeks ago said that they might have been holding out on me. Uhm, back at the wreckage site, I mean."

"Hm..."

Eve turned in the air, looking at the swarm of citizens waiting for the freshly repaired train to arrive.

"How come there are so many hu-... people today?" Xhez asked.

"With the train fixed, a lot of people have some catching up to do," Eve answered for her. "Honestly, we're lucky the train got fixed so soon. Imagine the chaos that would have happened if it hadn't been."

[That's probably why the Scorned did what they did,] Rin thought. [Oh well. We stopped them.]

Not without a cost, of course.

Reminding herself of that, Rin looked down at her purse, where a pink letter was waiting for her to open it. It was, of course, sent to her by the noblewoman she called her friend, who had been writing to her more and more lately.

[I'll read it at the end of the day. Before bed,] Rin thought. [I hope she's doing alright.]