Chapter 29

Clementine

"I'm glad to get away from the water, sheesh..."
Varian said as he helped Cassandra tie up the boat.
"Me too, Varian."
Cassandra definitely agreed.

Threthorn was a pretty strange place, but it was beautiful like Koto in it's own little way. There was dark colors like browns and greys and blacks, rather than blues, or purple and golds...

Cassandra didn't quite like this place for some reason, it seemed too... familiar. She looked around the area as Varian and her walked on the streets. People had shawls and long coats, sometimes they had grey hair and piercing yellow eyes, it made Varian shudder.

"Maybe... we should find somewhere to ask about this place some." Cassandra said to Varian quietly, "...If we don't get robbed." She muttered really quietly that time; she didn't want him to hear that part because of his past of being a thief.

"Well, you're definitely in the right place. Threthorn." The man tapped his fingers on the counter, bored. "If you're here to visit, you might want to be careful. There's some... unwanted here..." The man added. "Unwanted? Elaborate." Cassandra crossed her arms and raised a brow.

He shifted his eyes and leaned in to whisper to the both of them; "Magic folk."
Then he leaned back with a slight bewildered expression on his face for dramatic effect.

Varian suddenly felt unsafe here.
He was giving Cassandra the "Can we go now?" look.

"I...see..." Cassandra uncrossed her arms.

Cassandra looked at Varian, "We'll just grab some supplies and some food, repair the damages down to our boat from the whirlpool and then we can head back to sea and continue to our next destination, okay?" Cassandra told him with a soft, warm, comforting and assuring voice.

Varian nodded. "Okay..."
Cassandra and Varian then left the pub and headed off to the streets again.

"I don't understand, why is all the stores either closed, horrible-looking or doesn't have what we need?!" Cassandra growled. Varian shrugged, "I don't know, I just wanna get out of here..." He said to her. "I know you do, you've said it 23 times, trust me, I kept count." She snickered.

Varian did a small laugh, but then shook his head and glared because he was trying to act like that offended him, even though it didn't. "Hello there, travelers." A woman's voice was heard.

They both jumped and screamed when they saw the short woman in front of them that wasn't there before. Cassandra, hand to her chest, gasped; "When did you get here?" She wheezed.

"I saw that you looked a bit lost, and I, Clementine, thought I'd help you two out..." The short woman responded, not to the question though. "You see, I live around here and know every little place in these streets." She added. Cassandra, like she always did, didn't quite trust her.

She was always not very trusting of people upon first meeting; even with Varian slightly.

"Good, do you know where we can find food and supplies to fix our damaged boat?" Cassandra decided to play along. "Oh yes! I do, come along, come with me, Miss, Mister..." Clementine walked off and beckoned the two. They followed the short woman...

Cassandra paid for the food and packed it in her bag carefully. "Varian, catch." She threw a cloth bag filled with fruit, "Put that in your backpack for me, would you? Or your bag? I don't care which, just put it somewhere." Cassandra said to him. Varian fumbled the bag in his hands before managing to get a good grip on it. "Okay." He took off his backpack, put the bag of fruits inside then closed his backpack and put it back on his back.

Cassandra wandered around, gathering materials and tools that could help fix the damaged boat, while... Varian stared at alchemy equipment, "Ooh... This is one of the most famous flask and beaker sets, it is said that Demanitus himself used to use similar flasks and beakers with his alchemical work." Varian explained to Cassandra (who was half-listening) and Clementine.

Varian then realized his mistake and covered his mouth.
But Clementine didn't seem bothered by it. "Oh? Dabble in the arts too, eh?" She raised a brow.

"Oh, uh... Yes! I like doing alchemy... A lot of people hate it and I just assumed you..." He nervously rubbed his own arm. "Ah, don't worry yourself, alchemist, you and I are both familiar with it and do not mind it at all." Clementine put both of her hands on her chest, holding her hands together. "Well, that's good. Thank you..." Varian felt slightly safer.

Cassandra paid for the supplies and looked at Varian, "Time to go." She said. Varian looked at the flask and beaker set and pouted. Cassandra sighed, "Let me guess, you really want that set there." Cassandra smirked as if she already knew what he was going to say.

"...Yeah." Varian shyly looked away.

Cassandra picked up the box and then bought that too, and once she had got done buying it, she handed it to Varian. "Thank you, Cassie!" Varian smiled widely, his eyes lit up with extreme excitement. He was always excited when alchemy was involved, even more so when Demanitus was involved with it somehow; Cassandra took notice of this during the Demanitus Chamber.

"There's an hotel right by the corner there, if you're staying the night, that is the one I recommend, all the other ones stink, literally and figuratively." Clementine pointed at the building that was the hotel. "Thank you, Clementine." Cassandra nodded and thanked her.

"Goodnight, have good dreams..." Clementine waved and walked off...

Cassandra still didn't trust her.
Varian wasn't thinking about anything except for his flask and beaker set.
Ruddiger was just thinking about apples.
And Owl shared the same distrustment as Cassandra.