Chapter 6: Confronting It All
Sorry for the delay with this chapter! Although if you're reading this in the future, it won't matter much to you at all. Just be aware that it took some time for me to get back to writing this story. Anyways, enough with keeping the delay going with this pre-chapter message, let's get to it!
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In hindsight, of course it was going to be hard for Therion and Tressa to find Cyrus. Odette in particular wasn't very helpful, since after closing the door on them the first time they arrived on her doorstep, all she had to offer them in terms of directions when she opened the door again was that Cyrus had just wandered somewhere down the street after she all but kicked him out. Both the merchant and the thief had wished that they had gotten there about a half-hour earlier, since now they'd have to either wait somewhere for Cyrus to show up again, or go looking around the entire town of Quarrycrest for him.
Tressa and Therion sat on a ledge overlooking the lower parts of Quarrycrest as they weighed their options.
"I mean, we're out here already, so we wouldn't be really missing out on anything if we keep on looking," argued Tressa.
Therion clicked his tongue. "But if he's off gods-know-where walking around, we may just end up walking in circles around each other and never finding him."
"Hey, if there's one thing I know about making up with someone, it's that you have to put some effort into it," Tressa said. "Besides, for all we know, we'll just run into him out of nowhere!"
"That's your assumption, anyway," commented Therion.
"I don't see any evidence to disprove it!" was Tressa's chipper response.
Therion sighed. He simply couldn't argue with that kind of hopeful energy. Besides, it wasn't like Tressa wasn't already dragging him all around the town so far today. As nice as it was to entertain the idea of just calling the day early and loafing around at the inn until everyone came back for the day, he knew that Tressa wouldn't let that fantasy become a reality. She was like a boulder; once she got rolling, there was no real stopping her momentum.
"Fine, fine," he groaned. At that, he stood up and brushed the dust off of the seat of his pants. Then, offering a hand to help up Tressa, Therion added, "But if we don't find him before lunch, we're heading back to the inn. Or the tavern, I could go for an ale."
Tressa pulled herself up with Therion's arm. "Yeah, I guess a lunch break is reasonable enough."
Therion looked up at the position of the sun in the sky. "I'd say that gives us about an hour or so, give or take," he commented.
"More than enough time to find the professor!" Tressa chimed in.
As the pair started walking down the road, Therion half-joked, "What're the chances that he fell down a mine shaft somewhere? It's entirely possible that he did."
"What, are you worried about Professor Albright now, Mr. Stoic-Tough-Guy?" Tressa teased.
"Pfft, not as much as you're making out," replied Therion. "But it certainly would be inconvenient if he were to die right about now."
Tressa nodded. "Yeah, he's a valuable part of the team for sure."
"It's also the fact that I don't know where to sell his stuff if he kicked the bucket. I don't know very many fences around here," Therion clarified. That got him an elbow to the ribs from Tressa. It wasn't an entirely undeserved one.
"I highly doubt that Professor Albright, or anyone in the group for that matter, is going to die any time soon," responded Tressa.
Therion shrugged. "You never know, stuff just happens to people out of nowhere. Like, what if I were to get struck down suddenly in the middle of the street?"
It was at that exact, ironically-timed moment that Therion was then tackled to the ground by a bright white snow leopard. Tressa couldn't help but squeak in shock a little at how right Therion had proven his point. That, and the large cat just attacking her friend out of nowhere. More likely the second point than the first.
"Linde hath founden him!" the both of them heard H'aanit say in the distance.
Pinned helplessly underneath the full weight of Linde, Therion could only sigh. "I guess I should've figured that this'd happen eventually…"
As H'aanit jogged up to the now surprised pair, Tressa couldn't help but scold the huntress a bit. "What's the big idea, huh H'aanit? Linde isn't supposed to tackle anyone in the party like that!"
"'Tis Linde's instinct," was H'aanit's excuse. "Once she trackens her prey, 'tis only natural that she would taken Therion downeth. Now, comen here girl."
At her partner's beckoning, Linde calmly walked off of Therion's back and returned to the side of H'aanit. Therion picked himself up, dusting all the street dirt off of the front of his poncho. "Are we gonna start having problems now?" he dryly asked H'aanit.
"I do not see a needen to adden to thy current list," H'aanit replied.
"Ha-ha. This is why you're single," was Therion's biting rebuke. That comment got him another elbow to the side courtesy of Tressa. Given how he had just been tackled by Linde, that one hurt more than the previous one. As he was rubbing his sore side, Therion then noticed the rest of his traveling party (minus Cyrus) running to catch up with H'aanit. "I guess everyone's here now."
Surely enough, Olberic, Ophilia, Alfyn, and Primrose caught up with everyone else standing around. Olberic and Primrose barely looked out of breath after running after H'aanit and Linde. The same, however, could not be said of Alfyn and Ophilia. The cleric girl was leaning fully on her staff, catching her breath. Alfyn was hunched over, huffing and puffing heavily. "Aww geez… shouldn't… have eaten… before running…" Alfyn groaned between gasps for air.
"Therion!" boomed Olberic. "What is the meaning of spiriting off Tressa like this?"
"Well, we were having an alright morning before I had a walking rug crash into me," sneered Therion. That got him a cold glare from Linde, befitting a snow leopard.
Thankfully, before things could escalate, Tressa decided to step in and explain things properly. "What Therion means to say is that we actually spent some quality time together this morning. I'm sorry if I scared you all!"
"Oh? How so?" asked Primrose with a raised eyebrow.
"We just talked things out," said Therion. "Is it so hard to believe that I felt somewhat bad after last night?"
There was a momentary pause from the assembled group.
"You know what? Don't answer that," Therion added.
Picking up after that, Tressa continued, "So we got to talking, and decided to get Professor Albright a gift as an apology for the way Therion acted towards him. Right, Therion?"
Therion nodded. "Yeah."
Walking up to Therion, Alfyn gave the thief a solid clap on the shoulder. "Well shucks, I guess we ought ta owe ya an apology too, Therion! Sorry if we all assumed the worst about you 'n Tressa."
"Indeed," said Olberic. "It reflects poorly on us to track you based on such an assumption."
"Well, you guys seem to get over your mistakes quickly," observed Therion. "But, I suppose that I can't exactly look a gift horse in the mouth."
Having regained her stamina, Ophilia walked up to Therion's side. "Here, let me heal you up. It's the least I can do after having you get knocked around by Linde." Raising her open hand, Ophilia chanted "Bring about the miracle of healing!" as a shimmering light briefly enveloped Therion's body.
In an instant, that sore feeling he had completely vanished. It was nice to have someone who could perform instant healing in the party. Therion had to admit that it was certainly better than having to chug whatever Alfyn threw together in the heat of battle. Sure, it was effective stuff, but for some reason Alfyn's potions and poultices always left Therion's mouth numb or with a bad taste. Turns out there was some truth in the old adage that if something tastes bad, it's good for you.
"Thanks, Ophilia," murmured Therion. The cleric merely gave him a warm smile in response.
Tressa then spoke up. "Hey, you guys wouldn't have happened to see Professor Albright around, have you? We want to give him his apology gift."
"No, I can't say that any of us have," Primrose stated. "I'm assuming you've already checked Odette's home?"
"Yeah, but apparently he left before we arrived," added Therion.
Upon hearing that, H'aanit crouched down beside Linde and gave her a scratch behind the ears. "I believen that Linde can finden the Professor with minor effort," she offered.
"Oh, good idea!" Tressa exclaimed. "Linde should be able to sniff him out in no time! …Wait, does she even have a scent of Professor Albright to track?"
H'aanit gave a slightly cheeky smile at Tressa's question. "Linde is liken no other when it comens to scent. She hath memorized liketh I: the Professor hath an odor of cologne, silken robes, and liquor."
Therion couldn't help but build a tease off of what H'aanit said. "Oh, memorized his smell, have we? Are you infatuated with it, H'aanit?"
The sudden jest caught H'aanit off guard for once. "I—What dost thou imply?!" she cried, visibly flustered. That made Therion cackle a bit from the expression on her face.
"Okay, that priceless look is a good apology," the thief said, smugly grinning.
H'aanit's flustered look quickly morphed to a visage of cold unpleasantness as she glared at Therion. "Just rememberen, thief, I knoweth where thou sleepen," she threatened.
Therion rolled his eyes slightly. "I could make a comment out of that too, but then we'd just be wasting time here," he flatly stated.
"That's probably the most sensible thing I've ever heard you say, Therion," commented Primrose.
"He certainly is correct," Olberic added with a nod. "H'aanit, set Linde on the scent so we can find the Professor sooner than later, if you would be so kind."
H'aanit kneeled next to Linde and began to stroke her partner's fur as she talked. "Dost thou knowen thy target, Linde?"
The snow leopard gave a short growl, which H'aanit acted like it meant "yes".
"Very well, girl. Finden the Professor, and we shallen follow!" H'aanit commanded.
With a flick of her feline head, Linde set off back onto the street, apparently having already caught onto the lingering scent of Cyrus and tracking the smell line. H'aanit was characteristically right behind her hunting partner, having no issues keeping pace with her.
"Oh come on!" Alfyn groaned under his breath as he started to jog after H'aanit. He and Ophilia were still rather winded from arriving to where Tressa and Therion were, so they were already starting to lag behind the others, who were currently doing their best to keep up with the long-legged huntress.
"H'aanit, wait up!" Ophilia cried, fruitlessly waving her holy stave after H'aanit. It was a rather vain attempt to flag her attention to slow down.
Regardless of all of the cries of Alfyn and Ophilia and their near-helpless flailing about, the group of travelers charged ahead, some handling it better than others.
One would normally think that all the running the group did in all the various forests, dungeons, and other locales would prepare them for this, but when one gets down to it, there's a great amount of difference between running from monsters and charging towards their current quest's target, than there was trying to keep up with a leopard who very well knows your limits, yet doesn't care very much about them. Such was life in Orsterra, in some odd way. In fact, one could try to find something insightful about the state of man in such an example of nature. Not that it would do any aspiring oracles or currently-on-vacation scholars any good, but they could try them regardless. They would simply just deserve the ridicule they would get in return if they tried.
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And there you have it! Fortunately for everyone involved, more rational minds prevailed, and the group was quick to recognize their folly in thinking Therion did anything bad to Tressa. They've been traveling together for a while, after all, so expedited conflict resolution would be expected after being stuck together for a bit. Anyways, all that's left now is to put the final touches on this emotional conflict once and for all. We'll be seeing that next for sure.
Until next time, this is The Draigg, and I'm signing off for now!