Marie approached Prontera, landing at the entrance some time later. Cautiously entering through the gates, she sensed some kind of unrest about, wandering off towards the church, hoping to find Kei there. The town's streets completely empty, not a sound echoed as she searched for some form of life, other than her own footsteps. As she approached the church a rustling in some bushes drew her attention. She drew her beam sword to defend herself and faced those bushes, only to be popped in the back of her head with an unproportionatly large rock.

"...silly girl, you can't go there yet... Kei'd kill me if he let you--..." its tosser stopped as it noticed she wasn't knocked out, just rather peeved. "...Err, hello there."

"Hey, what was that for?" Marie turned around, whining slightly "That hurts!"

The random attacker revealed itself as a random female. She wore what appeared to be a deep violet swimsuit and part of a grass skirt supported at her waist by a leather strap.

"Shhhhhh, keep it down." she frantically shushed Marie and avoided the question "Kei told me to find you and stop you from returning. I'm just doing what I'm good at... Jeeze you have a hard head, you should've been knocked out!"

"Ya didn't hafta hit meh..." little tears streamed down her eyes, rubbing her sore head again "Why has he been acting so strange lately anyway?"

"Well, I'm an assassin. What'd you expect...?" she coughed "...I'll explain everything to you on the way. But right now, we need to get you to Geffen and out of the King's reach."

"... and Kei?" she asked, "Is he okay? I just wanna know, I'll listen to you if he's okay... and cooperate..."

"Kei's fine..." the assassin replied solemnly "...for now... And he won't be any better if they catch you here. Now come on, follow me."

She gestured to follow in the direction that the doppelganger lead Marie earlier that day. Marie snapped back into reality, and asked "Wait, you're not another shape shifter? I was attacked by one earlier... though it was an easy win..."

"...Now what would give you that Idea...?" an impish smile spread across her face "... nah joking. Of course I'm not." Marie let out a small sigh of relief as the assassin continued speaking.

"I guess I should've introduced myself earlier, to get rid of some confusion. My name's Apple, and I was told by Kei to follow you to the magical town of Geffen and hide you there..." she signaled the Klonian to keep walking as she spoke "Of course, you had an encounter with Dopple on the way... Even I didn't see that coming. But I'm very surprised at how you handled him." she nodded. "I bet that left a good mark on him."

"Mark?" she thought "He turned into a puff ov smoke! Oh well... he wanted my blood for some reason..." She shivered at the thought, making a disgusted face "How could he learn about that secret anyway..."

"Oh you'd be surprised what the doppelganger can learn by simply mimicking you." Apple sighed. "...as for the puff of smoke, that was just a way for him to escape unharmed. He can't really die; no monster truly can on this realm. They're just reborn elsewhere..."

"Oh... Hopefully he won't exploit that weakness ov mine..." she continued down the path, solemnly staring at the ground, confused over why everyone was acting so strange lately, but didn't bother to ask just yet. As they walked through the forest the sky grew slightly darker, as if the day was coming to a close though only an hour had passed. Apple led Marie down a winding path, straying from the road to take a detour and avoid further human contact. Soon a huge rope bridge that seemed to be older than the grass in the area appeared.

"Hmm..." Apple hummed as she tested the rope's post "Seems sturdy enough. Lets keep moving."

"Yes..." Marie uttered, as she followed down the path. She stayed silent, only focused on the walking to keep it all of her mind "One foot in front of the other…" she couldn't hold her curiosity anymore.

"Is anyone hiding something from me?" she blurted "Kei's acting strange, and now I'm being led far from the city..."

Apple remained silent; she didn't really want to reply "I-...Kei..." a long sigh broke the silence "...What's it like, Marie...?" She stared oddly at Apple, but didn't look back to notice "What's it like being stuck between human and monster, right and wrong, light and dark...?"

"... is this it, because I can understand the monsters? Maybe if you'd listen, you could know them for what they really are..." lost in her thoughts, she chose carefully what feelings to let out first "Does it make me that different... that it can endanger me?"

"No, it doesn't... It's just..." the assassin stopped "...People are afraid of differences. I know this, I can relate. No one thinks highly of assassins either." she placed her hand on the child's shoulder "However, no assassins have done anything to interfere with other's lives, whereas monsters are seen as a threat... I dunno why you did it, nor how, but since it was you who did it, the king wants you dead, Marie. And since people see you as part monster, you're considered demi-human. That means that bounty hunters can do whatever they want with you before turning you in." Apple stood up straight "Your differences, unlike mine, will get you killed."

"..." Marie remained silent "I have died once before... it can never happen again... either way, that's not right... getting mad for me doing what's right..."

"What you did was against the king, against a human." Apple responded "And since it was against mankind, you're now seen as a threat. The thing I want to know is, why in the world did you confess to doing something so stupid--"

"Who said I confessed? I only told a person I trusted" she reacted harshly "Do you think it's 'stupid' to reunite a mother and child?"

"No, I think it's stupid to steal from a king. Even if it's right, the king holds the highest authority here." Apple shook her head "I also think it's stupid to have said anything to Mother Matilda. She's got the biggest mouth this side of Rune Midgard, what were you thinking?"

"Matilda? I never told-" it finally struck her "SHE SNOOPED! I betcha she spied on us when we told her we needed a moment in private! That sneaky...bah..." Marie sighed, a little stressed out "Myu... so I guess I am a monster..."

Just as she muttered that, she could see Geffen in the distance. The darkness lifted as they entered the town, the light of day shone once again on them and lifted the veil of darkness.

"We're here..." Apple said to Marie, stretching with a yawn. "... ahhhh...yes, fresh air. Doesn't it--" She looked at Marie, who didn't have a very uplifting expression on her face. Forcing out the words, she said "...Marie, this is as far as I go. From here on out, you're on your own. Just remember not to do anything you'd regret later on--" Marie's silence got to her "...Listen, Kei's gonna be okay. He's just under interrogation right now. He'll be released in no time, and I'm sure he can handle a month in the Prontera dungeon..."

"Manyu..." she thought "Kei would kill me if I tried to free him... and now I'm alone... maybe I should just head back to Phantomile... but I have a promise to fulfill..." she debated with herself "And some gut feeling tells me the answers lie here..."

She turned around, saying her last good-bye, then plunged further into town, alone and confused.

"Come one, come all!" Marie heard a person shout a few feet away from her "Come and see the Grand Aeon. The Greatest Musician of all time."

She decided to check it out, not like she had anywhere else to go.

"Be amazed as his Music sooths even the fiercest soul!"

"Do you really have to say all that? I'm not that good..." Marie heard whispers from a person with a guitar and pick in his hand.

"Nonsense..." the announcer whispered back "...Just start playing."
She suddenly felt a strange, magic soothing feeling lulling about in her mind. The stress gradually eased away as she squeezed through the crowd to get up front, sitting cross-legged along with other curious children as she smiled slightly. The Bard smiled back at his young spectators and continued to play. He created a melody that Marie never heard before, beautiful, calm "...Crap!" a person yelled from behind her. The musician paused briefly, but didn't let this interrupt his rhythm.

"Load of crap, I tell you!" he continued on "This guy's the same guy who played with Matilda the Wretched! You're not gonna let him take your money again, are you!"

The crowd dispersed suddenly to go elsewhere, pulling their kids along with them.

"Manya..." Marie walked up to him, disappointed at the remarks. She approached timidly, working up her confidence "Don't listen to them! I've never heard such great singing! You're really good!" She stared up, uncertain about what to do, but just stood there awaiting a response.

"...Why, thank you. I--" A large rotten tomato flew directly at his head, hitting him right in the face. Red juice splattered as a group of kids ran off laughing, too far away to catch. The Bard wiped the tomato from his face slowly, only to see his manager before him.

"You worked with Matilda! Why didn't you tell me this! I can't do anything with you now, you're worthless!" he snatched the hat they were collecting money in and placed it upon his head, the bard pleading "But wait, I--"
"Good day to you, Sir!" the manager stormed off without looking back. The bard sat alone, an awkward moment of silence passed, interrupted by the small, shy voice of the Klonian child "Bah, that's not nice... I heard of Matilda... that snitch!"

She felt the anger return, but kept it under control, clenching her fist. She recomposed herself, saying "Regardless, you seem to be a nice person, and shouldn't be judged by such friendships... I don't have anything of extreme value to give you for the performance..." she paused "Except for this..." she held out a large blue pearl, one of the objects she created by means of water magic, and offered it as a gift. The Bard looked for a moment, and then pressed it back to Marie.

"...Thank you, but that won't be necessary. I won't accept payment for pity. I should be used to this by now, another day another lost zenny..." he stood up and brushed himself off "...As long as they didn't harm my Lute, I could never afford another one..."

"It's not pity..." she thought "Your singing... it made me feel happy... and happiness can not be bought and I've been kinda down lately... so please, accept it as a token of my gratitude..."

He oddly smiled at her "It's okay, really... I'll just head to the nearest Kafra PUB for shelter." Sighing, he gazed at Marie's eyes rather than the precious artifact "...Say... How'd you run into Matilda...?"

"I was staying in Prontera for awhile... and she snooped on one of our conversations... got my friend in jail..." her fist shook slightly "And I was to be here alone... supposedly because of her every bounty hunter is after me..."

"Ah I see..." he nodded and folded his arms "...Matilda strikes yet again, ruining another person's life as she has so many times before. I'll never let her get away with this..." He looked back down at Marie, examining her figure "Hmm... You don't like you're from around here... An outcast like myself, I suppose."

The bard took a step down some nearby stairs. "Come, we'll discuss more over Dinner. I hear the Kafra's are serving a mean Peco Peco today."

"... I kinda vowed not to harm another Peco... or anything of its kind... hard to explain, but anything else is okay!"

"Erm... sure." he paused "I guess there's always the side buffet... By the way, my name's Convivial, Convivial Aeon, at your service!"

"Marie Elana!" she said "It's nice to meet you, let's go get a bite; it'll get everything off meh mind."

Aeon nodded, being able to see where he was headed, Marie's pace hastened.

"Heh, Sounds like a plan!" he said, running behind her.