Felinis: Off to Keiv Moc!

Estelle admits that the best part of this journey was having a female friend for the first time in her life. Nannies and maids paid to like her never counted. She never had any one to talk to beside Ioder or eventually Flynn. She wakes Rita up with a hard shake and a smile. "Morning Rita!"

The mage stirs with a groan. "Estelle… it's too early!" Rita pulls the pillow back over head in attempt to go back to sleep so Estelle shakes her "No! I want to sleep!"

"But, Rita, we have to go to Keiv Moc!" Estelle pouts shyly twiddling her fingers. "And… there's a bakery nearby I want go to."

Rita lazily opens one eye. "Can we get coffee?"

"Of course!"

The mage sits up with a sigh. "All right, fine." Rita's rough around the edges and a bit cold, but she's truly a kind person. Whenever Estelle starts a conversation Rita is never afraid to turn away and say she doesn't care, but she'll listen and respond. They walk down the early morning streets Estelle waving and smiling to the people walking by. It's wonderful to see the different lives people live outside of the empire.

The bakery is cute with various cat figurines here and there with cute smiles. A young woman moves about her products with ferocity. "Welcome! Everything's fresh from the oven!"

Estelle runs over with a smile. "Rita! Look! Cream horns!"

"And those are?"

"They're like croissants stuffed with whipped cream. They're absolutely delicious." Estelle remembers tea parties with her mother enjoying the taste of cream horns and smiles. "I want these please!"

The owner smiles pulling some out. "This is a surprised. Almost nobody knows what these are nowadays."

"I'll have some too." Rita says and the woman pulls out another two cream horns. Rita notes the coffee machine off to the side. "And some coffee." As they leave Rita takes a bite. "Pretty good."

Estelle nods. "They're one of my favorites." She eagerly takes a bite and stops. It isn't the same as the ones from home. The texture is flakier and the cream is richer... She knows it's silly to expect them to taste the same but she always found these something full of good memories. Ever since starting this journey Estelle has seen and experienced things are so foreign from her old experiences so now that something familiar drifted in she isn't sure what to think. Estelle bites again and it's delicious, but it's not the same.

"What's with you?"

Estelle realizes her face has been set into a hard frown and she perks herself up quickly. "It's nothing!... Rita what if you had something you loved dearly like a book and you'd read it hundreds of times and you found another copy of the same book… How would it make you feel?"

"A cream horn is a cream horn so it doesn't matter where it came from. Just enjoy it." Rita shrugs. "But, I guess… I wouldn't like it as much. It's not my copy, but it's the same book so I can still enjoy it."

"Thank you, Rita."

The mage's face is dusted pink as she sips her coffee. "Whatever." It is silly to not enjoy something so delicious. Estelle points out some cute clothes in the window and Rita rolls her eyes as they walk back. It's hard to talk about girly things so Estelle brings up books with her and the mage starts an almost one-sided conversation on the theory of constructing cores. "We've found that cores in blastia are extremely dense structures which is why they're so hard to fracture. The problem with synthetic cores in development is that they're practically hollow so the cores don't conduct properly. Plus, they'll shatter like cheap crystal."

"Interesting. Why do you think that happens?"

"They can't create enough energy and pressure most likely." The conversation continues on until they finally make it back to the smiles of their other companions. Yuri seems a bit estranged when they leave. There's no mention of Flynn or of what the two got up to last night. His mind seems heavy and she pulls a little to the side.

"What is it princess?"

"Did something happen?" Estelle sees how much he's trying to keep himself distant. She catches it just barely and stops him with a pull on the arm. "Yuri… your eyes!"

A dark look sits on his face as his eyes narrow. "What about them?"

She hesitates to say the words with how desperate he seems. "…Were they always silver?" Yuri peeks his sword out his sheath and looks at his reflection. "Yuri?" The man turns away and ignores her for hours till they make break for lunch. "It's not too noticeable." Estelle says nibbling into a rice-ball she made.

"That's not the point." Yuri sighs setting his food aside on a rock.

"Does it have to do with your 'moments'?" A fear shakes through his frame so subtly that Estelle feels she might have missed it. "Is that why you went with Flynn?"

"No. I haven't had any problems for a while now." Yuri say clenching his fingers into the earth. "Why, dammit?" She smiles and holds his hand for comfort. The man let's out small huff and smiles. "Thank, but I'm fine. I'm a big boy! I can tie my own shoes and everything." Estelle will admit, Yuri is ungodly charming without trying. It's easy to see why anyone might fall for him with his rogue charms.

"I'd believe that if you ever buttoned your shoes." She quips. "Or even your shirt."

"But, my man cleavage is a gift to the world." Yuri cries dramatically. "How could I ever deny the masses my beauty!"

"Ugh, then I want to return it." Rita groans. "You're banter makes me want to vomit. Save it for your boyfriend."

Yuri rolls his eyes. "He's really not my boyfriend."

Estelle nods bitterly. "I can vouch for this." Unfortunately, Yuri doesn't seem to see love when it's staring in the face.

Rita flips a page and raises a brow looking at Estelle's face for a sign of dishonesty. "Huh, you two are weird." They are indeed.

It's another day till they reach Keiv Moc and Yuri has to say he's sick of rain. It always seems to be raining wherever they go, but Karol says that's just part of the weather. The aer is greasy in the woods as the trees tower far higher than any of them have ever seen.

"I had no idea trees this big existed..." Estelle stares in awe at their moss covered trunks.

"Yeah, but it doesn't exactly look healthy for them to be this overgrown." Yuri notes feeling a hint queasy from the aer.

Rita kneels down and picks at some of the grass and flowers. "It's just like you said, Karol. It's like what happened at Heliord when the blastia went berserk."

Karol bristles turning around with Repede. "Be careful... There's somebody here."

From the rustling bushes out walks the Old Man with a smile as he brushes off leaves. "Hey, what a coincidence!"

"What the hell are you doing in a place like this?" Yuri says getting ready to flick his sword into Raven's face.

The man shrugs casually as he laughs strolling up to them. "Ya know, out for a forest stroll, takin' in the nature..."

"Something smells fishy." Karol glares.

He pouts lowering his head. "What? Where's my welcome?"

"You didn't think we'd honestly be glad to see you, right?" Rita spits.

"Aw, ya don't mean that." Raven smiles with a shit-eating grin. "I can come in handy ya know."

Karol looks at the man like he's grown three heads. "...You're not thinking of coming with us, right?"

"Of course! It's lonely bein' out here all by my lonesome." Raven cheers strolling forward without a care in the world. "What, no dice?"

The glow of a spell seems to light under Rita's feet as she glares at him. "You'd better watch your back. If you try anything funny, you're dead." She lets it go with a 'humph' and Estelle follows behind.

"Hey, ya don't really think my story stinks that bad, do ya?"

Yuri glares him speculatively. "Yeah, the stench is sort of coming off of you in waves." Hell, the man literally has a fishy smell to him. "So, interested in telling me about that Hanna Quinn?"

The man smells himself and seems to ponder the matter of his stench. "Hmm, maybe I do need a bath."

"Hey, answer me! What do you know about my mother?' Yuri says grabbing his collar, but Raven just smiles. "Tell me!"

"Huh? You're her kid! That's a shocker." Raven smirks. "Funny, weren't yer eyes dark grey. Ya sure go through a lot of wardrobe changes."

"I'm not getting distracted by cheap tricks." Yuri glares.

"Did ya know that old Lowell was a real monster? Left his poor girl and her kid ta die while he ran away." He's smiling with such a disgusting grin. "I know for a fact Hanna died but who'd have thought her kid would have made it!"

Yuri growls. "Do you ever plan on talking to me straight Old Man?"

"That depends. Ya got the means ta pay for that kind of info?"

"What do you want?"

"I'm a simple guy. Just let me stick around."

"Fine." Yuri says letting him go and catching up with the others. Rita is full of nothing, but contempt when the Old Man starts trailing behind. The most redeeming quality the guy seems to have is being good with a bow and that he has a pleasant enough scream when bug spray is in his eyes.

Rita trails her eyes over to look at him as they climb on the enormous branches. "I know there's not much point in bringing it up again, but this guy's really fishy."

Karol nods glancing back. "Yeah, how long's he planning to stick with us, anyway?"

"Does he even have a good reason for being in Keiv Moc?" Estelle says.

"You heard 'em, old man. Spit it out." Yuri says glancing back at Raven as he trails behind.

"Huh? I'm gonna stick with ya guys as long as need be." Raven says brushing back a laugh. "And as fer my reasons, I thought I told ya - I'm on a mission of self-discovery!"

"You said you were 'out for a forest stroll, takin' in the nature'." Rita says looking back at him crossing her arms.

"Oh, I did?"

"If I had a memory that bad, I'd want to find myself, too." Yuri snarks.

"There you go!" Raven cheers pointing at Yuri.

Karol just shakes his head jumping over a large root. "Really fishy. Really really really fishy." They walk over the trees roots and branches finally making their way down to the forest floor. They stop hearing something in the distance. "Did you... just hear a voice?"

"Where are you taking me?" A girl's voice calls.

Estelle steers herself toward the sound. "I remember this voice from somewhere..."

Karol's eyes go wide and he points out at a giant beetle flying around with a blonde girl in its claws. "P-Patty...!"

"What? Someone ya know?" Raven says pointing at the girl.

"We have to save her!" Karol shouts.

"Hey, gimme a sec. I'll take care of it." Raven says flicking out his bow and taking a shot. Everyone stares in shock as the insect explodes and Yuri catches her in his hands.

"Nice catch!" Patty smiles and Yuri drops her unceremoniously.

"And? Are you searching for Aifread's treasure again?"

"Aye." She nods.

Rita snorts. "Sounds so fake. Is there really treasure here? Who did you hear that from?"

"Someone from the Surveyors' Guild 'World's Cellar' told me all sorts of things. They've been all over the world." Patty smiles.

"So they're the reason you went to Ragou's mansion? You didn't even find anything in the end!"

Patty waves her finger with a small tsk. "Anyone who speaks with 100% confidence is actually rather suspicious."

"Guess ya might be on ta somethin' there."

Rita rolls her eyes. "You're 100% suspicious for sure."

"So mean..."

"I'm going to resume treasure hunting for now." The girl says giving a polite bow.

Estelle looks at her with mounds of worry. "If you wander around on your own, you might be attacked by another monster, or something equally dangerous."

Patty confidently stands tall. "I wasn't being attacked. I was playing around."

"I don't think the monster saw it that way." Karol warns.

Estelle yelps pointing at a giant mantis that's looming over the young girl. Patty twirls around and fires three shots from her gun and reloads the bullets while the mantis corpse lays dead riddled in wholes. "Guess that means you'll be fine on your own." Yuri whistles.

The girl tips her hat at him winking. "Do you want to go together?"

"It's quite the opportunity, but I think I'll save treasure hunting for another time."

Patty rocks backs on her heels and walks away. "That's really too bad. I'm still going to head off, though." She dramatically looks back waving. "This is farewell."

"There she goes..." Karol sighs as he they see her fading silhouette.

"Will she really be okay?" Estelle mutters and Rita places a hand on her shoulder.

"She said so herself, so I'm sure she'll be fine." Rita says as they move onward. They have to kill bugs every once in awhile as they go through the woods. The further they go the thicker the aer gets and the harder it gets to breath. They reach a point where they see in between a gap in trees thick globs of golden light spew into the air like a stream. Yuri notes that gnawing sensation in his gut and clenches his fist. "This is the same phenomenon we saw at Heliord. The aer is weaker than it was there, but there's no mistaking it."

There a rumbling behind them as a giant scorpion like creature jumps from the trees wet maul screeching at them. "That monster looks just like the ones that attacked Dahngrest!"

The thing lunges with shocking speed as everyone moves in a flurry to take it out. Arrows fly from Raven's quiver as he strikes between the plates to little avail. Rita launches stones quickly followed by quick eruption of water from below. "Damn, I hope we only have to just fight one."

Repede aims for the tail but is nocked back into Estelle. The two shrug it off quick enough as Yuri aims to distract it from the front. Three arrows launch into the insect's eyes as a torrent of water pounds into it from above. It his and lashes at all of them with its sharp pincers; catching Karol in his tail before sending the boy flying. Yuri runs and catches him barely. "You okay?" The kid nods and they head back into the fray. A light shines and warmth spreads through everyone, but Yuri stops momentarily feeling at the edge of vomiting. His vision spots a little but he fights through slashing at the monster while Raven manages to flip the thing with a well-timed arte. Karol takes the opportunity to slam his hammer on the things thorax and blood and guts spray with a sickening crack.

"The trees, the monsters, it's got to be the aer that's causing this." Rita huffs wiping some blood off her cheek. There's a cacophony screams as a dozen or so of the same monsters fall from above.

"There's more of 'em!" Karol yelps moving back.

Raven looks at his empty quiver and shakes his head. "Ah, so this is the end, huh? Farewell, all my dear fans the world over."

"I'll make sure your gravestone reads 'Here lies the world's biggest sap.'" Yuri remarks reading his blade.

"You're supposed ta say stuff like, 'We can make it through this together.'" Raven says switching from a bow to a short blade. Descending from above is a flash of red and white as the figure of that strange man they've encountered before.

Raven's eyes go a little wide in recognition. "Duke..."

The white-haired man wields a sword that pulses in power. An arcane circle appears at his feet and in a flash of blinding light and strong winds they look to see the monsters are gone and the aer around them has stilled. The man turns with a nod and starts to walk away, but Rita gives chase.

"Wait! What is that sword? Let me see!" She says running up him. "How did you do that back there? You like, sliced through the aer but...but that's impossible..."

"What good would that knowledge do you?" Duke says looking down at her.

"Well...I mean... With something like that, we might be able to stop the blastia from going berserk... We saw that happen to a blastia. The aer was out of control. We couldn't do anything."

The man pulls his blade from her view. "This was only a distortion. It is a natural occurrence. "

The mage blinks as the words. "...Distortion?"

"Um, thank you so much for helping us." Estelle says attempting to approach him.

"Do not go near the aer krene." He says sternly to her alone.

"What do you mean, aer krene? This place?" Rita says looking at where the golden light pours.

"Aer krene are the springs from which all aer in the world comes." Duke says looking at Yuri. There's something about the way the man's eyes tear into him that scares him. Suddenly, he understands the looks keeps giving him. He knows. "It's not a place for humans."

"Who are you...?" Yuri asks. "This isn't the kind of place you just go for a walk." Duke says nothing only continuing to stare. "We would've been dead without your help, though. Thanks." The man leaves wordlessly leaving Yuri to wonder what the man knows. He seems to see that Yuri's part Entelexeia, but what else does he know? Duke doesn't seem to carry any rage towards his father, or if he does he's doing a great job at hiding it.

Rita is lost in her own world as she gets as close to the spring as she dares try. "...That power... Could it be the Rizomata Formula? I can't tell anything from checking things out here. I have to see some others." As they're leaving and discussing meeting the Don, Yuri has to stop and look into the well of aer. There's something itching under his skin as he looks at it. It's thick like water as his hand touches the surface.

A voice in the back of his head tells him to turn away. To stop cupping it in his hands. That if he touches it he'll change more. Yuri could still pull his mouth away and just ignore the hunger. Or he could plunge in and listen to the imp of the perverse who whispers how it will be sweet. Of how he'll feel better.

Yuri only has to take a little sip. It's curiosity that drives him to taste what he knows is a forbidden fruit. It's a terrible idea! Nothing good can come from listening to these instincts above his common sense. The flavor is sweet in the purest sense of the word. It somehow makes sugar seem pale in comparison as he sips more with a glutton's vigor. Aer… He's been craving aer? Something bubbles in his chest that he thinks laughter as he takes another sip. Yuri licks his lips and drinks again knowing he should stop, but he's still hungry. This is decades long hunger that is finally being satiated.

His thoughts are interrupted by Repede yelling his face. "Snap out of and hurry up! The others will leave you behind at this rate."

Yuri drops the aer from his hands the spell now broken. "Sorry! I'm coming." He runs up following the group looking idly at the drop of gold aer on his finger. It's better he forgets this for now. Now is not the time for being distracted by this. He needs to pull his mind away from everything so he focuses on clearing out monsters in their way.