Chapter 7- The Quest Revealed

Franz was awoken the next day at the ludicrous time of 7:30 a.m. "Come on Franz, you know the saying!" shouted Seth quite uncharacteristically happy as he threw back the blinds and let the sun shine in.

"Arg!" grumbled Franz, squirming in his bed. "The light! It burns!"

"No no, not that one! 'When in -, do as the -ians do."

"Not as the -ians do?"

"Nah, that would be too extreme. There's no point in trying to blend in when you're doomed to failure anyway."

"Well isn't someone just a tad defeatist?"

"So says the someone who was too scared to take his beginners drivers test because there wasn't a 100% pass rate?"

"Hey! You know damn well that if anyone fails it would be me."

"True enough. Now get your bum downstairs so we can get to work."

A few minutes later, Seth contracted a bad case of Deja Vu. "Why do YOU get to ride the pony!" Franz was demanding.

"Because you don't have your drivers license!"

"I didn't need a license during the war," he pouted.

"Graduated licensing was only introduced afterwards. And besides your chronic habit on falling off lends me to believe that you shouldn't be on a horse whether you have a license or not."

"I love you too, Seth."

"Stop complaining and get on your donkey."

They trotted along for some time until it became clear that they were exiting the city. Franz leaned out sideways to look at the forest beyond the city walls, coming closer, and closer, and closer. . . "Seth, why do we need to leave civilization?" he asked. "There are mosquitoes out there and I didn't bring any bug repellent."

Seth sighed and waved a bit of paper at him without turning around. "To investigate this, you dummy."

"I thought you said that wasn't what I was supposed to be doing!" he said in a voice full of indignation.

"You were supposed to investigate the stuff on here about the forest, not the town."

"Well what are we looking for?"

"Weeds."

They rode on, until Franz's complaints of saddle sores reached epic proportions and Seth was forced to call a halt. "That'll teach me to give you a donkey," he mumbled.

"Hey Seth, do you think that I could still be a cavalier if I'm mounted on a donkey?" he asked, waving a spear around experimentally.

"If you want," he conceded, "Now stop waving that thing around before you hurt yourself."

Seth spread his saddle blanket over the ground, still cool from the morning frost. He took out a snack but before he could settle in Franz had draped himself across his knees, nestling his face into his lap. "Oh, fatigue~," me moaned.

Seth shook his head, but he was used to it by now. He opened his yogurt cup and took a bite, chewing pensively. Franz opened his mouth and Seth obediently gave him a spoonful. "Franz, I've been thinking-"

"Oh, risky."

Seth shot him a dirty look and took another bite. "-about your cover story."

"What was that anyway?"

Seth rolled his eyes as he gave the next bite to Franz. "You were supposedly surveying the peasants about general happiness and welfare."

"Why?"

"To 'gain insight into other nations well-being and compile ideas as to how to improve our own after the massive attack by the Grados' troops and the subsequent rapage'."

"Rampage?"

"No. Rapage."

"Ravage?"

"No. Rapage."

"Doesn't sound like very official terminology to me."

"I know," Seth shuttered. "I could barely bare to send it when my spellcheck was telling me it was wrong."

"Grammar Nazi. Then why didn't you re-phrase?"

"Ephraim likes to have things his way every once in a while."

"Well I don't blame him," he chuckled. "You're such a tyrant after all. Anyway what about my cover story?"

Seth meanly shoved his head off his lap and stood up. "Well we are here supposedly to help out and wrap up," he said, "But Kyle and your brother will be along sooner or later to help us with the real mission, but I never came up I reason why they should be here."

"Window cleaners?" Franz suggested.

His expression darkened. "That's what Erikia said."

"Mail men?"

"No."

"Topiary examiners?"

"NO!"

"Come to warn us the country has over-flowed with manic ducks and psychopathic swans in our absence?"

"Hmm . . ." he thought. "That might work."

Finally, around midday, they reached their destination. Which was . . . "A tree?" asked Franz.

"No, the entire area," Seth responded. "Now spread out and look around."

It didn't take long before Seth found what they were looking for. "Ah ha!" he exclaimed, "Found you!"

Franz tootled over to see. He turned the plant over in his hands, looking at it. It was green, with vaguely star-shaped leaves and nothing else very distinctive about it. " . . . maple?" he guessed.

"Nah. It's called Mary-June-Anna, and we need it if we ever want the economy of Renais to recover."

"Why? Is it valuable?"

"Yeah, it's what the Frelians use to make certain very effective medicines. They also put it in some drinks, but they're all illegal in Renais because people who drink it have a habit of losing their minds."

"Permanently!"

"No, just for the night."

"Like being drunk?"

"Sort of. Or so I've heard."

"And this is named after ladies?" Franz asked, genuinely confused.

Seth sniffed. "For the medicinal qualities. I think they may have been famous healers or something."

"So, what do we do now?"

"Now we know it's here," said Seth with a tone of finality.