A social atmosphere flowed through the room as Marie and Aeon entered the Pub. "People here are mostly friendly." He told Marie, searching for an empty table "No one cares what happens on the world outside after a few beers or so. Heck, I bet a person can forget life itself in pure drunken happiness."

They walked past a few men, singing songs of which neither knew the lyrics to, toasting their mugs periodically in their drunken semi-stupor.

"Aha, here's one. Nice an' close too, so we don't need to go too far for service." he sat at a small, round wooden table, three pamphlets placed on it. The Klonian sat across from him, scanning through the pamphlet, while music played at the piano near the front of the place. She sat up straight, unable to reach the table due to her size. Bearing a goofy face of embarrassment, remembering she was a kid among adults but soon fixed the problem fetching a stool.

"Darn my height" she chuckled, climbing up into the chair.

"...Hmm, let's see." Aeon read off the menu "Peco Leg, Peco Ala King, Peco Peco Surprise... Wow, I guess there's really nothing here without Peco in it Marie. Salad Bar's gonna have to be your best friend."

He snickered and pointed toward the far corner of the bar, barely anyone there. She glanced over seeing a bar with a ton of different salads and toppings on it.

"Sure, no problems with veggies" hopping off the stool, walking over, she stood in front of the salad bar, out of her reach. Fastly flitting her wings, she came to a hover flying up "Ummmmmmmm cucumbers, dressing... onions" she listed off, getting them on a plate "Croutons...This shall do, if I truly get hungry later on I'll find somethin' else..."

She returned back in contentment, noticing Aeon with his face practically plunged into an open menu. She heard him whisper, "...Crap..."

"Yes?" she thought "Why are ya acting so funny?"

"Shh... stay quiet." he whispered back "And keep your head low, lest you want the guards to get you." He pointed toward the entrance, two heavily armored men walking into the Bar. Surprisingly the casual atmosphere didn't change as they scanned the room, bumping many drunkards around in their search.

"Oh..." she understood, slipping under the table. Hiding behind the cloth, she hoped to avoid yet another sticky situation, possibly even imprisonment. One of the armor-suited hunters approached their table staring firmly down at Convivial, head plunged in the booklet.

"Excuse me Sir…" as he tapped Aeon's shoulder.
"E-uh… Yes?" Aeon responded with a fake jump, as if he was surprised.
"Have you seen a… Wait a second, Convivial!" the Knight exclaimed with a laugh trailing not to shortly behind "It's me, Joe! How's it been?"
"Joe…? Joe, Hey!" Aeon replied happily "It's been fine! What bring you to a place like this?"
"Well, as you see I'm a member of the Lord Knights now. I pretty much lead noob swordies into Knights now, and I'm one of Tristam's right hand guards."
"Sounds nice…"
"He sends us here to see if we could find this girl who stole his breakfast. Pretty silly, eh?" Aeon nodded.

"But he says that your pal Matilda has proof that she's a monster, so we have to keep our guards up and continue the search. Whoever finds her gets a big bonus!"

They continued on for a few moments until the second guard called on Joe.

"Ah, looks like I have to go. It was nice seeing you again Viv; keep an eye out for me." He dashed out the pub, knocking a few more drunken people out the way. Assuming herself safe, Marie popped back up from under the table and sighed "That was close, darn that Matilda! She's going to get me into a lot of trouble..."

"...Hmm, a monster eh?" Aeon thought as he watched Joe hobble out the door "I guess we all have to do what we must for food."

"Nah, it's hard to explain, I never did it for food I did it-" She just realized how she uttered too much "You must understand, I can explain!"

"Now, now... there's no reason to yell." Aeon shushed her. "... I'm no Matilda, nor am I a money craving drunkard like most the people in here..." he rested his head on his hands in a listening position "Now, please. Tell me how exactly she's ruining your life..."

"Well... she kinda snooped when I was telling a friend my story... they figure I'm a monster somehow... but it was I who stole the egg to return to a mother Peco..." she sighed "So now when my friend helped me, she ratted him out... now he's in jail... and every bounty hunter is after meh..."

"I see..." Aeon scratched his chin "Looks like Matilda's up to no good once again." He leaned back in his chair "You see, Matilda used to be my partner for performances. She was always money hungry, and she'd do almost anything for zenny. One day, she got caught sneaking the zenny out of people's pockets while stripping." He laughed "…As if that wasn't bad enough, she then tried to blame me for the ordeal. And I wasn't even playing for her. But, just because of her my popularity has gone right down the drain... as you've seen."

"Manyu..." she thought "so sneaky ov her... and greedy... anyway, the longer I'm here, the more dangerous it could be for me, especially since the knights are in town..." she sighed deeply "They probably have me identified... and they could hurt me, it doesn't matter if they hurt me, as long as someone takes me down, that's all that the king cares about..." She sighed deeply, clenching her fist once again.

"So what else are you gonna do...?" he asked "Where are you going to go? What are you going to do there? The same questions I ask myself wherever I go. Something both of us can relate to."

"I'm supposed to go to a place called Geffen..." the young child pondered "But I do not know the way... these lands are so unfamiliar to me, but then again, I'm new to this world... that might explain it..."

"Aha, I see." he replied "I've been there a few times before, I know the way. I just can't go there alone... Say, how's about we party up and head there? I'll be your guide if you'll be my shield for the trip."

"Sure..." she nodded, finishing up her salad "I'm quite the fighter... but seeing how I can talk to the monsters, we might be bale to avoid battles... you know, because I don't really enjoy killing" she looked down "Only if it's necessary..."

"Hah... Even if you could talk to the monster down there, they'd still try to kill you." Aeon sat straight, placing his arms back on the table "You see, down there is where the Legendary Doppelganger lives. And they're all pretty much under his control beyond the first level of the dun--" a drunkard came over to the table, slamming his hands down on the surface and staring at Marie.

"Hey there, gorgeous..." he said through his drunken slur, followed by a hiccup "...You look like someone who's... up for a good time..."

"Ehhhhhhhhhhhh" Marie edged away "Sure, let's just get outta here" she stared oddly at the man, not wanting to get involved "Just get me away from these crazy people!"

"Awww... don't be that way... darling..." Aeon grabbed his lute, as the guy began leaning slightly over the table "...I just want... a little...smoo--"
"Hold that thought!" the bard interrupted as his instrument flew from the opposite side of the table and whacked the man right between the eyes, holding his lute as if it were a bat, as the drunkard stumbled backwards into another group's table.

"Thanks, now let's get outta here before more come..."

She hopped out of her stool, heading towards the exit, waiting for her new friend, eager to leave the pub, not wanting to be among men who weren't sober.

"Yes, lets..." Convivial hopped over a few tables, diving between the dancing drunks and stepping out the door into the night sky.

"...H-hey, wait!" The drunkard stumbled after him "Don't think imma gonna... let you get away wit--" Aeon slammed the door right on his face "Now quickly, let us head to the wizard tower before he remembers how to open the door."

"Yes" she nodded, following. Flapping her wings to a point of hovering to give her legs a rest as she followed Convivial, she said "Lead the way!"

"Oh it's not too far, right over there." He point toward a large tower located at the dead center of the town. At its top a large glowing jewel sat "That jeweled building there. It's the tower that keeps this city out of Glast Heim's darkness. The wizards within use their Magic to keep the land here clear of darkness. However, they're unable to conquer the darkness below the tower. In its basements, that's where we'll find Geffenia."

"I see" Marie said, flying behind him "And that's where I'll be safe..." Marie solemnly stared out into the distance "The doppelganger that you mention, the shape shifter, he controls all the monsters, so they're not as strong as him, right? If so, then we should be fine..."

"Yeah, as long as we stick together..."

"...And so, we'll meet again. My dear Marie..." a voice said from the shadows, unbeknownst to the two adventures "...I'll be waiting for you in Geffenia..."

They continued forward into the door at the base of the tower as Marie talked to Convivial about the monster she met earlier.

"Well... I kinda battled him earlier today, wasn't so much of a challenge" she said "So we should both be fine... just leave the tough ones to me! Who knows? Maybe one day people will forgive me and I can come out of hiding... but what I really want to do is train... once I'm done with that, I can get my revenge, and head back home to Phantomile..."

"Mm... hm, well you must be a grand fighter to battle the likes of Dopple single-handedly and get away with it." said Convivial as they walked deeper into the basement of the tower "I'm sure we'll be fine with you around."

At the bottom floor he walked past a few resting wizards and assassins who merely glared in awe as Marie flew by.

"...Hey, isn't that... that girl from the wanted poster?"

"Yeah, sure is... She's worth some big bucks."

"Well, I saw her first..."

Marie and Convivial walked into the deep cavernous basement and saw two paths. "Just follow me!" Convivial exclaimed leading the way. She followed closely behind, but couldn't help but notice the sound of punching and arguing behind her. Marie ignored the sounds of punches, trying to push it from her mind with the rest of the anger. As they delved deeper, they found an empty spot, vacant of humans and monsters, where they decided to rest awhile.