I'm back! NaNo went well, but my brain still feels fried. Oh well.

Review Response: Dear Azrael de Angelo, greetings! Aw, thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoy this story so much! I hope you enjoy this new update!

Dear Fox Princess, hello! First off, thank you for review so many of my chapters, I appreciate it a lot! I think most of your questions were answered by the chapters following them ... but you are correct about the mystery color Bickslow doesn't know the name of. Wren and Cana get alone fine, it's Cana and Wren's tag along bodyguard (AKA Bickslow) that teeter between disaster and infamy.

Dear Guest, hello there! Oh, now that would be telling, now wouldn't it? Feel free to take a guess, but unfortunately her love interest is going to have to remain a mystery for a long time. Remember, she's only physically six right now, so romance is the last thing on her mind. As for Bickslow's overprotective tendencies ... not sure, depends on what kinds of trouble they get into. Here's a new chapter! Enjoy!

Dear Anonymous, hey there! Thank you! I was hoping people would like her and not mind her sibling relationship with Bickslow! Here's an update as requested!

Dear Wandering Mage011, hi! It's okay, I'm just happy you reviewed at all! Oh good, I was afraid their first mission was a bust ... I still haven't quite settled into the groove when it comes to the Fairy Tail world. There's a lot less material on it than say, Transformers. Wren's problem makes my head hurt just thinking about it too, which is why we haven't actually seen the classroom yet (and hopefully never). The nightmares will be explained, but not for a long time yet, so feel free to form theories of your own in the meantime. I'm excited to get this mission arc started, it has a very important plot twist in its later parts... Hope you enjoy!

Dear Dutchess-Of-Dirt, hi there! Wow ... I didn't actually think anyone would figure out what the marsh was. (Tips hat) kudos to you. I hope it wasn't too graphic of a nightmare? It's hard to tell with me sometimes. Glad you're loving it and, you are correct. Their streak of good missions is about to be broken, so hold onto your hats/scarves/loose accessories and get ready for the next couple of chapters!

Author's Note: Hmmm, what to say, what to say ... oh! I'm going to be regularly writing a timestamp of how long Bickslow and Wren have been in the guild right under the chapter title. In case anyone is wondering why ... it's mostly for my own benefit, as I'm trying to keep track of the timeline so I know where to make changes and when, but hopefully it will be useful to you all as well. Any guesses on to what goes wrong on their upcoming mission? Let's see ... nope, I can't think of anything else to say at the moment so ... on to chapter!

Copyright Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any references made in this story. The only things I own are my OCs and the plot.

Chapter Eight: Escort, Part 1

(Three weeks, five days since joining Guild)

Mest bowed politely at the waist in greeting to the tall, slightly portly man sitting behind the desk in front of them. Rihanna nudged Bickslow hard in the side before doing the same, Bickslow clumsily following her lead with a faint grumble. As they straightened up, Mest smiled and said, "Greetings Spellmeyer-san, I am Mest from Fairy Tail and these are Bickslow-kun and Wren-chan. We are here to fulfill the request you posted."

Spellmeyer-san looked down at Bickslow and Rihanna with obvious skepticism, "Just you and two children? To protect my boys? Isn't that a bit…" His voice trailed off as he notice the death glare Bickslow was giving him and Rihanna's deadpan expression.

Sensing the rising tensions, Mest stepped forward just a bit and waved placatingly, "They may be young, but I assure you, Spellmeyer-san, the three of us are perfectly capable of escorting your sons to Suisen. We are all fully fledged members of Fairy Tail, after all." Spellmeyer-san still looked doubtful, but apparently the reputation of Fairy Tail was enough to keep him from making a bigger deal out of his doubts.

Clearing his throat a little, Spellmeyer-san steepled his fingers fingers together and leaned his elbows, "Yes, well, most of the necessary details were included on the job poster I commissioned. As stated on the poster, you will be escorting my two sons, Orazio and Conrad, to a boarding school in Suisen. Under no circumstances are you to let them come to harm from bandits or wild animals or … or what have you. Now, Conrad has a tendency to … wander when bored, so under no circumstances are you to let him out of your sight, especially when the carriage is stopped. Supplies for your journey are included, but you will only receive your pay when you return from having safely escorted my sons to their destination. Understood?"

Mest nodded seriously, "Of course, Spellmeyer-san." Rihanna mirrored his solemn nod, then shot Bickslow a hooded look when the boy only frowned thoughtfully at their client. Luckily, Bickslow seemed to know better than to voice whatever was going through his head, and thus said nothing as Spellmeyer-san stood up and rang a small bell that had been sitting on his desk.

Behind them, the door to the spacious study opened and the butler who had shown them the way in poked his head around the door, "You rang, sir?"

Spellmeyer-san set the little bell down as he ordered, "Bring Orazio and Conrad here at once."

The surprisingly english-looking butler bobbed his head respectfully and disappeared, shutting the door behind him as he left to go do as ordered. While they waited for the butler to return with Spellmeyer-san's sons, Rihanna took the opportunity to visually examine the study again.

It was a fairy impressive room, even though it was not overly-opulent. It had a high ceiling to accommodate the towering shelves of books lining two of the walls. Behind the deep mahogany desk Spellmeyer-san had previously been sitting behind was a decently-sized window that offered a lovely view of the back gardens below it. The carpet under their feet was a deep wine color that matched the window curtains and added a surprisingly calm, if formal, air to the room.

Here and there on the towering bookshelves, Rihanna could see a few nicknacks that helped make the place look lived in. A few ornate snowglobes, antique bookends who served no real purpose because of how full the shelves were with books, and even what looked to be a model dragon all in silver, posed in a classic roaring position with little silver wires forming its flames.

All in all, while it was clearly the study of a wealthy person, it did not scream arrogance and riches like she had half-expected it to. It was also very european for a study belonging to a man who spoke Japanese, but then, Magnolia and Aternum hadn't exactly been models of asian architecture either. Still, it seems odd that a world that speaks and writes Japanese would have so many clearly non-Japanese influences. Architecture, names, clothing styles, it's like someone took the various more well-known cultures of the world, threw them into a massive blender, and decided to name the result Earthland.

Rihanna cocked her head thoughtfully to herself, then again, this is another world entirely. I suppose I shouldn't keep expecting things to follow any of the rules and norms of Earth. Rihanna snapped out of that line of thought in favor of switching her focus to Bickslow, who was now beginning to tentatively wander around the study while Mest and Spellmeyer-san discussed various details of the job and reports of bandit activities on the route there.

Rihanna narrowed her eyes slightly in worry as Bickslow approached one of the bookshelves and decided to follow him. It wouldn't do for Bickslow to accidentally set the books on fire with Pappa's and Pippi's lasers after all. Though why one man needs all these books in his study is beyond me. Surely they aren't all for research and managing his business? Approaching Bickslow from behind, Rihanna clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth questioningly. Bickslow barely glanced at her before he resumed studying the names of the books at his eye-level, "Just looking for something interesting."

Rihanna crossed her arms over her chest and clicked a different pattern with her tongue, finishing it with a faint hiss of air between her teeth. Bickslow waved a hand at her absently, "I won't. But it's boring listening to them talk and I've never been this close to so many books before." Rihanna mentally conceded the point. With their previous lifestyle, neither of them had exactly had a chance to peruse a bookstore or library. Or see the inside of a house as big and well-to-do as this.

Rihanna idly scoped out the titles of the books, trying to will her brain into comprehending the scribbles of kanji. Of course, the effort failed to do anything other than frustrate her and she sighed. Just as she was about to get Bickslow's attention and hopefully steer him away from the bookshelves before anything got knocked over or proved flammable by the boredly spinning Pappa and Pippi, the study door creaked open.

All eyes swung to the door in time to see the butler gently herd in a young boy around Bickslow's age, his nose firmly buried in a book and seemingly oblivious of the fact that he was now in the presence of three strangers. The butler calmly closed the door behind him and steered the still-reading boy into the center of the room before saying, "Orazio-dono, we are here."

The boy blinked once, then twice before looking up from his book and noticing the other people in the room. He looked sheepish for a moment before he closed the book and bowed politely, "Ah, sumimasen, I am Orazio Spellmeyer, it is an honor to meet you. Are you the mages from Fairy Tail sent to escort my brother and I?"

Rihanna blink herself before raising an eyebrow, wow, he speaks … very politely. I must be too used to Bickslow. Absently she bowed slightly in return to Orazio, not even bothering to nudge Bickslow into doing so as she was just a little too far to do so while still keeping the motion subtle. Bickslow crossed his arms over his chest, a vaguely nervous expression flitting over his face as Mest introduced them to Orazio.

As Mest introduced Bickslow and Wren, Orazio turned curious blue-green eyes on them, his gaze settling almost instantly on Bickslow's facial tattoo. Bickslow, sensing where Orazio's gaze was primarily resting, started to bristle defensively. Thankfully, any conversation between the two was cut off when Spellmeyer-san said, "Sebastian, where is Conrad?"

Sebastian's face didn't change from its politely neutral expression, but he still somehow managed to give off a weary air, "I am afraid Conrad-dono is missing again, Spellmeyer-sama. His teachers have not seen him since breakfast this morning. Akio-taichō and his men are already searching the grounds for him, sir."

Spellmeyer-san's face took on an expression of long-suffering and he muttered under his breath about reckless sons and their irresponsible ways. Rihanna carefully filed some of the mumbles away in her mind, already working on categorizing who was going to be the biggest problem on the journey to Suisen. Orazio didn't seem too bad, a little oblivious and something of a bookworm, but not spoiled or irresponsible. Conrad of course, had yet to be introduced, but if the butler's report and Spellmeyer-san's reaction was anything to go on, Conrad was a troublemaker.

"What are you staring at?" Bickslow irritated snap drew Rihanna out of her thoughts again and to where Orazio and Bickslow were having some kind of stare-off. Rihanna sighed and resisted the urge to face palm, then again… Orazio cocked his head as he hastily averted his gaze to the floor, "Sorry, I was just curious. How did you convince your parents to let you get a tattoo?"

Bickslow went very, very still and Rihanna took a careful intake of air as she immediately made to grab her adoptive brother's arm. She hissed softly to get Bickslow's attention, shaking her head rapidly when he finally looked at her to convey that lashing out at Orazio would be a bad idea. It wasn't the boy's fault that he had just stumbled upon two incredibly sensitive topics at once. For a long moment, Rihanna thought Bickslow was going to try punching Orazio anyway. Violence was his knee-jerk reaction to most things and being in Fairy Tail certainly hadn't curbed that trait.

Instead, he surprised her by taking a deep, steadying breath and growling out from between clenched teeth, "Wren and I are orphans and my … tattoo is none of your business."

Orazio shied away from Bickslow slightly, unnerved by Bickslow's rigid tone of voice, "O-oh! Sorry! I didn't know…"

Mest came over and lightly patted Orazio's head, "It's alright, Orazio-kun, but you should remember not to inquire to impolitely into other people's pasts from now on, ne?"

Orazio nodded immediately and glanced shyly at Bickslow and Rihanna again, "Hn, I apologize again, it was not my intent to be impolite-" Further conversation was cut off by the door to the study slamming unceremoniously open.

All three mages jumped slightly in surprise and whirled toward the noise. The perpetrator of the noise turned out to be a tough-looking man in some kind of uniform, a squirming boy being dragged with one hand by the back of his shirt. The boy squirmed harder, his bleached blond hair nearly falling into his eyes as he shouted, "Let me go! Unhand me! I demand you let me go right now!"

The man unceremoniously shoved the boy into the center of the room, his expression a thunderous glower as he turned to Spellmeyer-san, "Found him trying to climb the estate wall, Spellmeyer-sama. Almost fell and broke his neck."

The boy, Conrad presumably, shouted indignantly, "Only because you distracted me, Taichō-boke!"

The man, presumably an officer of Spellmeyer-san's estate guards, practically growled at Conrad, his expression one that hinted distinctly at patience worn much too thin, "I can't wait for you to be shipped off to Suisen, gaki, then when you escape and get lost or kidnapped by some criminal it will be their problem and not mine!"

Rihanna tilted her head back fractionally, woah, serious aggression going on there. Spellmeyer-san broke up the rising shouting match between boy and guard by booming in a surprisingly loud voice, "That's enough, Conrad!" The boy didn't jump or flinch, he simply turned to glower at his father a look of pure rebellion on his face. So much for an easy mission. I can feel the headache coming on already. Spellmeyer-san rubbed a hand over his face tiredly, "Conrad, son, we have been over this before, you are not allowed to leave the grounds unescorted-"

Conrad snorted and looked away as Spellmeyer-san started to launch into a lecture that had clearly been given many times. Spellmeyer-san's voice trailed off and he scowled before heaving a heavy sigh and turning to Mest, "This is my other son, Conrad. He's the one I warned you about." We're supposed to keep this brat entertained? Mest looked vaguely unsure of how to react to Conrad, who was now staring semi-curiously at the mages in the study.

Rihanna and Bickslow exchanged a look, instinctively communicating their opinions without words, the simple meaning of various signals combining into more complicated sentences. Rihanna rolled her eyes and flicked the index and middle fingers of her left hand in Conrad's direction, "He's annoying."

Bickslow gave a minute nod and sneered, meshing his fingers together briefly and clicking his tongue once, "Think we can tie him up?"

Rihanna glanced from Conrad, who was staring at them, to Spellmeyer-san, who was busy trying to calm down his guard, then shook her head faintly, raising her right hand to her eyes and making a flicking motion toward the horizon, "No. Too many witnesses."

"Who are you two, and why are you wiggling and clicking to each other like squirrels?" Rihanna and Bickslow looked away from their conversation to deadpan at Conrad, who had come stomping up to stand next to Orazio. A part of her mind that wasn't irritated noted how Conrad was taller than Orazio and promptly concluded that despite their near-identical appearances, they probably weren't twins.

The rest of her simply settled back to watch the proverbial fireworks as Bickslow opened his mouth, "We're Fairy Tail mages, your dad hired us to make sure some unlucky idiot of a bandit doesn't get annoyed out of his skull after kidnapping you."

Orazio's eyes went wide as he looked from Conrad to Bickslow, then back, carefully inching away as Conrad stomped forward to go nose to nose with Bickslow, "What did you just say?"

Bickslow leaned forward aggressively so that their foreheads were pressed together, "I said that we're Fairy Tail mages here to make sure you don't get foisted off on some idiot bandit who'd stupidly think you're worth something!"

Conrad's right fist balled up and he started to raise it, "Take that back right now!"

Bickslow's voice rose to match Conrad's volume, easily attracting the attention of everyone else in the room, "Or what?" Pappa and Pippi, stirred into action by Bickslow heightened emotions, chanted tauntingly, "or what? or what?"

Rihanna watched the immature exchange of insults, a headache slowly building behind her eyes. Is Bickslow going to do this with every kid he meets? Is this some kind of street orphan friendship ritual or something? Because he never did this with me. A timid voice from her other side drew her attention to Orazio, "Ano, nii-chan, can you please calm down? Bickslow-san, can you please not provoke my nii-chan?"

Rihanna looked up at Orazio, examining his nervous expression and the way he clutched his book. She then looked over at Mest, who was approaching cautiously and trying to get the attention of the two arguing boys without risking getting smacked somewhere sensitive by a startled tiki doll. Breathing out heavily through her nose, Rihanna raised one hand and swung it at thin air, velvet sensations running over her fingers as she tugged at her Shadow Magic.

Bickslow yelped and glowered reflexively at Rihanna while Conrad yelled in surprise and looked around wildly for what had just cuffed his head. Bickslow rubbed the back of his head even though her smack had been lighter than normal, "Wren! What was that for?"

Wren lowered her hand and narrowed her eyes at Bickslow, snapping her fingers twice and making a vertical spinning motion with the index finger of her right hand, "Pay attention."

Bickslow looked away from her and up at Mest, "What?"

Mest blinked once and then turned to Spellmeyer-san and the grouchy guard, "Like I said, Spellmeyer-san, Yamada-san, my two partners are perfectly capable of handling Conrad-kun and seeing both him and Orazio-kun safely to Suisen."

The guard, Yamada-san apparently, switched his gaze from Conrad to Bickslow to Rihanna and back again, "Which one of you did that?"

Rihanna raised a hand lazily and she suddenly had an angry twelve-to-thirteen-year-old towering over her, fist pulled back, "You hit me? How dare you-"

Bickslow was suddenly between Rihanna and Conrad, his voice going down to a surprisingly menacing pitch for a child as Pappa and Pippi's eyes glowed green, "You wanna fight, you fight with me. Got it, Conrad-kun?"

Conrad froze, then backed off slowly, his eyes widening at something Rihanna couldn't see from her position behind Bickslow, "R-right…"

After a little more glowering and snarling, final arrangements and introductions were made and the three mages, their child clients, and several of Spellmeyer-san's men all filed down to the front yard of the estate. A carriage and several saddled horses were already waiting for them and, after another moment of discussion, Rihanna found herself sitting inside the carriage with a bookworm, a hot-headed brat, and a hot-headed brat with weaponized tiki dolls who also happened to be her adoptive brother. She could practically see the tension sizzling in the air like heat waves off pavement on a mid-summer afternoon.

Mest was sitting on the outside of the carriage next to the driver. Where the sun would inevitably beat down on him with all the zeal of a surprisingly hot Fiore spring day, with bugs to potentially buzz annoyingly around his head, and surrounded by men who were older than him and thus only respected his suggestions because he was a mage of Fairy Tail.

Lucky guy.

Rihanna settled back on her seat, silently prepping her Shadow Magic for when Bickslow and Conrad would inevitably cease in their staring match to start a physical fight instead. Next to her, Orazio read a large book, his shoulders hunched and head ducked as if to use the book as a shield from the tension.

Rihanna closed her eyes tiredly as the carriage rolled down the road, absently remembering how she had successfully broken up the fight between Cana and Bickslow yesterday. They hadn't fought for the rest of the day after she'd lost her temper. I wonder if there's a river or pond at our first campsite. Might make things so much more convenient.

Japanese Translations: Sumimasen - "Excuse me" or "Pardon me"

Taichō - Captain/officer of a similar rank to a Captain.