I feel like the last update wasn't all that long ago, but that is most likely just me making an excuse for avoiding the effort needed to write the next chapter. It'll be wonderful and all worth it when this story finally reaches its end, but until that point it's just a lot of hard work with a small community to back me up! But as there is no rest for the weary, I must sally forth. (And yes, I can use the words sally forth because I would never say them in casual conversation).

It may have just been Church's own delusions, but as he sat silently awaiting a most generous dinner from his hostess, he felt as though things hadn't been so quiet in ages.

For the first time in a long while, he wasn't being mauled, stabbed, grappled, beaten, or threatened, and he had to admit that it felt pretty good. On the flip-side, Church realized that this lull in his recently exciting life was because of the absence of any dangerous or mentally unstable females from his immediate vicinity.

Without Airi's newfound ability to effortlessly fluster him, Melona's insatiable hunger for the spice of life, or the volatile vices of girls like Elina and Nyx, things had calmed down considerably. Church had to admit that sitting here quietly awaiting the third guest for dinner was even more peaceful than his time in the forest with Alleyne and Nowa. Even there, he had either been undergoing rigorous physical therapy or intensive conditioning for his throw-down (beat-down would probably be a better word) with Echidna almost every day. And being anywhere near the angel duo was just asking for trouble.

Yes, for once it was nice to just sit somewhere and not worry about life-threatening situations of the near future or, even better, about how to disengage yourself from the pink bunny girl begging you to do something ludicrous for her own amusement.

Either way, the current peace of mind was bittersweet, as Church was well aware that it only existed because he was separated from people he cared about. After all, he hadn't seen any sign of Airi and Melona since Vance Castle, and when he had last seen them, neither was in very good shape.

Still, Daedalus had assured him that both of his friends were OK, and for now that would have to suffice, although being unable to stealthily gawk at Airi's beautiful hair and Melona's beautifully under-clad body was a major blow to his happiness.

In an attempt to shake off the dismal thoughts of being separated from the numerous beauties he had come to know and love (or at least grow fond of, in the cases of people like Echidna, Nanael, and Nyx), Church returned his attention to his current situation, which included waiting for someone to make their way to the kitchen table so that he could take advantage of his hostess' wondrous generosity. Honestly, how much did a girl have to do to prepare for dinner? What was the holdup?

His half-hearted grumbling aside, Church was honestly just glad to have a positive turn of events befall him for once. Oh sure, Mirim had rescued him that time the earlier this morning, but that was hardly enough to make up for all of his bad luck. He needed more lucky breaks if he was going to stay in one piece in this crazy world.

In all honesty, it was better to just take what he could get.

Elsewhere in the troubled lands of the realm, a peculiar array of elves was traipsing about the woods that surrounded a human settlement they had decided to skirt. Awkward was the best word to describe the four-man troupe, and that had been the case ever since Lucas had become an active member of the party. Every hour of every day consisted of a tense standoffish atmosphere between the estranged boy and his peers, which consisted of his ex-mentor/big sister figure, an old instructor whom he held bitter resentment for, and the girl of his dreams who he had secretly admired yet also envied to no end.

Needless to say, few words had been spoken among the four travelers for quite some time, as Lucas had to denote almost all of his energy to controlling his raging anger and avoid whirling on Echidna and attacking her, despite the futility of such a thing. None of the three ladies of the group wanted to say anything that would set the boy off, because the older two knew that things would turn ugly fast, and the younger was afraid to accidentally incite something unwittingly.

After all, it was a well-known fact that Lucas despised both Echidna and Alleyne: the only thing keeping him from trying to kill Echidna or ditch the group altogether was Nowa's presence there. He knew that his unrequited crush would never abandon her beloved teacher, especially for him, which only served to embitter the boy even further regarding the buxom blond combat master he already loathed so much. He would never understand how Nowa could be so blind to the unfairness and numerous faults of her instructor, but he attributed her devotion to naivety and innocence, instead of believing that his crush could love someone he hated. Delusion at its finest.

Honestly, Echidna would rather just ditch the boy somewhere before he caused some sort of group conflict, or better yet, take him aside alone at some point to settle things for good. The only problem with that was that Echidna knew Lucas would try to 'settle' things by attacking her, and she was reluctant to hurt the boy even in the name of self-defense. Keeping him within Nowa's sight and therefore within her influence was the only way to keep Lucas from doing something drastic, and more importantly, keeping the Calibara Elf from having to do anything to harm him.

She truly wished there was some way she could reconcile with her once-upon-a-time charge, but he would never accept her paltry excuses for having abandoned him: hell, she herself even recognized how pathetic her reasons were for ditching Lucas all those years ago. If only she could have made a different decision then, things today would be so different...

But she hadn't, and they weren't. Things were what they were, and it was far too late to change them now. Far too late. As the group continued on in tense silence, not really sure where they were going but sure that they were going somewhere, Echidna stared into Lucas' back, remembering a time when the only expression he ever had to offer her was a smile. Far too late indeed.

Man must always wrestle with logic and primal urge, but Church had never really felt it so pronounced as it was right now. The third member of the dinner party had still not made it to the table, and now that he had been sitting there for ten minutes, Church was inwardly battling between the notions of being polite and urging his hostess to let him eat.

Apparently his distress was a bit more visible than he knew, because said hostess offered a warm and knowing smile as she brushed her dark black hair out of her eyes. "A bit more hungry than we let on, hm?"

Church felt a little embarrassed about being so easy to read, but he brushed it off with a small smile. "I suppose so. I really can't thank you enough for treating me to this. It's very kind of you ma'am."

The motherly woman's smile widened by a few inches. "Please, call me Rachel. There's no need for formalities."

"Ah, uh... well then, my name is Church. Thank you for having me in your home, Rachel."

Rachel noticed Church's awkward fidgeting as she asked him to call her by her first name, eliciting a giggle from her. "My, you really are just like him..."

As Rachel settled herself into one of the chairs at the table, Church refrained from asking about 'him.' The wistful tone in her voice was more than enough for the sensitive soldier to recognize a touchy subject.

Seemingly eager to draw the conversation away from that topic either way, Rachel continued on with something unrelated. "I do apologize for my daughter being so slow to arrive. She suffers from... chronic shyness, I would say. She's very skittish around strangers and tends to avoid contact with them if she can."

Church felt guilty for even being irritable about the wait now that such a telling detail had been revealed. Now he even felt like he was in the wrong here, for making a member of the host family uncomfortable at her own table.

"I could eat somewhere else, if it really bothers her so much. Maybe out in the hall or something?"

His lone companion waved off the suggestion with an airy wave of her hand. "There's no need for that. She'll make her way down here eventually, and I think she'll be just fine after a few minutes around you. After all, you are a lot like her brother, and he's her absolute favorite person in the world. She'll probably warm up to you after a while."

Church smiled knowingly. "Yeah, I have a sister who is probably one of my most favorite people in the world too. I wouldn't trade her for anything."

He was immediately saddened by the thought of Mission, who he hadn't seen in months now. Daedalus had assured him that she was OK, but his brotherly instincts just wouldn't let him not worry. Apparently he sounded a bit more wistful than he had intended, because his hostess most definitely caught his tone.

"I'm sorry if I brought up something unpleasant..."

Church waved her off much in the same way she had him. "It's alright: she's still around to berate me for every little thing, we've just been separated for awhile, that's all. I'm just feeling a bit of sibling loneliness, y'know?"

"Well, I may not know about sibling loneliness, but I certainly do know about maternal. My son has been away for months now, serving the Vance military, although not quite willingly, with the draft and all."

Knowing just how stressful being a soldier away from home was, Church felt he needed to ask about her son's safety. "Have you heard from him lately? As far as I know, there hasn't been any war going on between Vance and some other power..."

Rachel nodded, immediately confirming his own musings. "He wrote us a letter about a week ago, something about how he and his commanding officer almost 'got fried by the Thundercloud General at the gates.' I do hope it wasn't his usual clumsiness that angered her so..."

Church let out a slight chuckle, reminded of a time when he had always been getting in trouble with his superiors. "Let me guess: this enlistment is fairly recent, right?"

Another nod preceded Rachel's answer. "Yes, it's only been a few months... how did you know?"

"From personal experience, I know a thing or two about rookies ticking off their superiors."

Rachel grinned at hearing that, as her hazel eyes took on a glint of curiosity. "Oh, are you a soldier as well? You seem awfully young for that... although I suppose my son is quite young as well: maybe even a bit younger than you are."

Church wondered how he could explain his profession in a sensible way to this woman. He obviously couldn't tell her that he was a commando for an elite international spec ops unit in an alternate world. That would certainly be confusing.

"I'm uh... I was drafted into Vance's armies once too."

Church saw his hostess' grin falter slightly at the mention of his supposed allegiance. She was obviously not fond of Vance in any way. He figured he would go ahead and further his lie to allay her fears.

"But I deserted a long time ago, after deciding that their values were a bit sketchy."

For the first time that night, Rachel dropped her cheerful, chipper tone to scoff. "A bit? Those greedy, selfish, vain nobles and their corrupt armies are the worst sort. If they aren't confiscating whatever they please in the name of security, they're exploiting their tax-gathering rights by constantly increasing the payments every time they come to collect."

It looked as though she were about to continue her little tirade, but at that point Rachel glanced towards the entrance to the kitchen and stopped speaking, probably to protect the innocent ears of who had appeared there.

"Oh, Sera! Dinner is ready dear, are you hungry?"

Church followed Rachel's gaze to her daughter, who stood at the doorway to the kitchen, hiding more than half of her small frame behind the wall. Like her mother, she had pitch-black hair that fell down to her slim waist, although the young girl, probably only twelve or so, sported long bangs that she could hide her eyes behind if she lowered her head. Her simple attire consisted of a linen shirt with equally coarse-looking pants.

"..."

Sera made no move to sit at the table, instead casting a wary, timid look towards the stranger in her home and seeming to shrink in on herself even further than she already had. Deciding that it would be best to avert his gaze, Church did exactly that, hoping to diffuse the shyness this girl exhibited so strongly. Meanwhile, Sera's mother tried to gently coax her in.

"Don't worry dear. This is Church: he's a soldier and very kind, just like Myles."

Her mother's comparison of Church to her brother seemed to lessen Sera's anxiety a little, but it was minuscule at best. She still looked like a deer in headlights, about to bolt at the slightest noise.

Rachel cast a brief glance over at her guest, giving him a silent nudge towards saying something that might help alleviate the tension in her daughter's coiled body.

Getting the hint, Church put on the most gentle and kind smile he could muster before turning towards Sera, although he avoided staring right into her eyes. "Hello Sera. It's very nice to meet you: thank you for having me in your home, you and your mother are very generous."

His considerate tone and words seemed to lessen the girl's timidity, if only by a small margin. But before she could either retreat to her room or accept dinner of her own free will, Sera's stomach let out an audible grumble. Her obvious hunger compiled with her slight acceptance of the elephant in the room, at least for her, urged the girl towards her seat at the table, opposite from Church and beside her mother.

Now that the present family was all seated, Church didn't know if he should begin eating or not. But the question was answered for him when Rachel held out her hands to both Church and Sera, the latter grabbing a hold of the proffered hand. Seeing that, Church gradually did the same, only mildly uncomfortable with it. Having acquired the hands the others, Rachel bowed her head and closed her eyes, and Church caught on quickly.

It was more traditional than he was used to, but it was not something he disliked in the least.

"Why does this keep happening to us?"

Nanael grumbled aloud to Hachiel as the two angels soared through the open skies over the Continent. After the whole blowout at Vance castle, the two of them had lost track of their quarry yet again, and had still not managed to wring a single useful tidbit of information from him. Their mission so far had been the epitome of unsuccessful, and the Seraph had made her displeasure known after recalling them a few hours ago.

In short, only Hachiel's presence had kept her partner and friend safe at all. She was well known as an efficient and competent worker, so when she told the Head Angel that there had been difficulties, she had been believed. If Nanael had been the one to say that, it would have been nothing more than an excuse in the eyes of her superiors.

Hachiel's golden eyes roamed over the heavy rainstorm someway off in the distance. Through heavenly divination, they knew that their target was over there somewhere, but as a general rule, flying through inclement weather was a bad idea. Even though a bolt of lightning wouldn't kill an angel, it would be a far cry from a pleasant sensation.

"It's probably you, Nanael, forever cursed with bad luck."

Hachiel's blue haired companion stuck her tongue out at her, not amused by the dry humor. Hachiel loosed a slight giggle: despite her serious, business-like attitude, she had a fun side as well.

"I guess we could always land and walk there, but..."

Nanael finished the sentence for her, albeit in a far more brusque way. "But that would be a miserable pain in the ass. Besides, can't we just wait for the storm to pass and then go get him? It's not like we'll lose him, the Witch's swamp is the only place he could hide from us."

Hachiel pondered the suggestion briefly before nodding. "I suppose so. And on these plains, he'll be easy to find either way. We have to be sure to restrain him this time, even though it hasn't really been his fault that he keeps getting away from us."

Her asymmetrical partner crinkled her nose in distaste. "Yeah right, I bet he's been planning and plotting these escapes every time. He's obviously in league with the Witch's pet monkeys, he's in on all of it!"

Amused by the expression, Hachiel let a brief grin cross her face. "He has absolutely no knowledge of their true nature remember? And his memories are completely devoid of anything related to the Witch in any way."

In a truly rare instance, a miracle really, Nanael's face was graced with an expression of contemplation. "Yeah, but you said some of his memories were shielded: actually, you said you couldn't read anything past a few months ago. He could have done anything before that, who's to say what it could have been?"

If anything had been in Hachiel's flight path, she probably would have smacked into it, because she was too busy gawking at Nanael in shock and awe instead of watching ahead of her. Nanael cocked an eyebrow at her friend's look.

"What?"

"What you just said was actually a reasonable, intelligent, astute observation!"

"What are you trying to say?"

"Who are you and what have you done with Heaven's number one dunce?"

Nanael frowned before jerking a thumb back at her pathetically small right wing. "Trust me, no one else in the clouds has one of these."

Hachiel grinned, knowing that Nanael herself was aware of her jest. "Indeed. It would seem you are indeed my best friend, and not an imposter."

This earned a smile back from Nanael, who was glad to remember that no matter what, she always had a friend in the girl next to her. "Yep. That's me. Your best friend, and don't you ever forget it."

"If you don't mind me asking, how exactly do you manage out here? As far as I can tell, your home is very far from any other settlements."

Church made sure to only ask his questions in between mouthfuls of food, for the sake of being polite, and also because the homemade meal of corn, bread, and chicken soup was delicious. Most of his food lately had been from less than quality sources.

Rachel nodded in understanding, fully aware of the seemingly obvious isolation of her home. "We are pretty far from the nearest town, but there is a crossroad about a mile away that leads to several settlements, so we aren't really so bad off. It's just a little more difficult without Myles here to help us load the wagon and help with the horses and all..."

Making the most obvious assumption, Church swallowed another bite of food. "Myles is your son, right?"

Rachel nodded once again. "He's only been away for a few months, but without him, moving around heavy stuff is a bit harder. Sera and I are hard-pressed every time we have to go to town for a market day, and then we have to leave the farm unattended the whole time... but we're so far from other settlements that no one really bothers us out here."

Church refrained from asking about a father: it was clear enough that he wasn't around, for whatever reason. It would be better to let sleeping dogs lie. "Well, no one to bother you but me, right?"

Rachel huffed out her cheeks in mock disapproval. "Oh come now, you're hardly a bother! You're the first guest we've had in awhile, and I for one am happy to have you!"

From the corner of his eye, Church could see Sera nod very slightly in accordance with her mother. She hadn't said anything at the table yet, but she seemed to have grown slightly more comfortable listening to the other two table occupants throughout their conversation. Apparently Church really was a bit like her beloved older brother, at least enough to make her the tiniest bit more fond of the stranger in her home.

"Well I'm glad to be in the company of such lovely ladies. By the way, is there going to be another market day soon? I would be more than happy to help..."

Rachel shook her head sadly. "Well, there is, but one of the spokes on the wagon is shattered, and until we fix that, we aren't going anywhere."

His response was immediate. "Could I somehow help with that?"

Church was surprised when the one who answered him was not Rachel, but her daughter. Her voice was a light squeak, timid and shy through and through. "We... don't have the parts..."

Strangely, Church found himself happy to have evoked some sort of action out of the girl. "I see. How do you plan to go about fixing that? If you can't get to town and need replacement parts that can only be acquired in town..."

It was like a circle of can't-dos and difficulties. Having their son away must have really thrown a wrench in the works around here.

Sera declined saying anything this time, so Rachel spoke up again. "Unfortunately, none of the nearby towns really has a blacksmith. Sure, there are a few people that try and hammer out something decent once in awhile, but the spoke would probably break within a month of replacing it."

"Sounds like it isn't even worth considering."

Rachel sighed as she took her empty plate to the sink. "Exactly. What we did instead was order from an experienced and respected blacksmith from a distant town, but we received a letter a little while ago: apparently she finished it in no time, but the merchant who was supposed to bring it over suddenly refused to cross the border into Vance territory, spouting some hogwash about tension between the Queen and the Count. It's a real mess..."

The older woman ran a hand through her dark hair as she began to wash her plate, letting out another defeated sigh as she did so. Not quite done with his own plate, Church continued to eat, pondering how he could help resolve this family's current dilemma. However, most of his ideas quickly ran into dead ends, and he was left with little else to do but feel bad because he couldn't be of more help.

Church was dragged out of his contemplative thoughts when the youngest occupant of the household spoke up again, her voice barely loud enough for Church to notice that anything had been said.

"If Myles were here... he could do it. He could go out and get it..."

Sera's mother looked back at her youngest child wistfully, clearly missing her son herself. However, Church now saw a way for him to repay his current debt. "What if I did it? I could ride out to this town and bring the package back to you."

The look in Rachel's brown eyes screamed no before her mouth even opened. "Absolutely not! That town is very far from here, and a round trip like that would take the better part of a month! I could never ask you to go out of your way like that. You'd have to cross the border and everything!"

Church frowned at hearing that, not because he was really miffed about being denied his chance to help, but more so because the whole trip really would be awfully out of the way. He was still dead-set on locating his friends: after all, Airi and Melona had to be around somewhere, and if he left Vance territory, his chances of finding them would probably be slimmed down even further than they already were. He didn't really have a month to waste.

He wasn't really sure why it happened, but suddenly a very bitter tangent squirmed its way to the forefront of Church's mind.

Why were his chances of finding those two so slim? Because they didn't tell him anything. They didn't let him know where they were planning to go, what their goals were, what they were doing, or anything of real significance. They had left him completely in the dark, and that being the case, Church had no leads for finding them.

This whole damn thing is their fault anyway. If they had just told me something, anything, things wouldn't be like this!

Church caught himself before he sunk any further in his new bitter feelings. Maybe things were actually his fault. He had been the one to ignore Airi's request about staying put, venturing into enemy territory for self-gratification. But then again, maybe things would have turned out worse without him: after all, it was because of him that Nanael had intervened on Airi and Melona's behalf, despite how much she hated doing so.

In the end, Church decided that it was nobody's fault in particular. It was just a crazy twist of fate, screwing with him like it always did. And what could he do about it besides keep on moving?

Airi and Melona were out of his reach, that was a fact. Anyone else he would call friend in this world was who knows where. For now, he was on his own, and that meant he had to do what he would always do in any given situation: be himself.

"What if I go to the town, and organize a new method for transport back? Maybe hire a different merchant or something? That way the trip is cut in half."

Rachel frowned, though she couldn't deny that it was a good idea. "That's still an awful lot of work to pile onto you just as payback for a meal. I can't ask you to do that."

Church flashed his hostess a smile right before lying through his teeth. "It's fine, I'm heading out of Vance territory anyway, so it's not as much as a detour as you think. Besides, I'm more than happy to help you out. It's the least I can do for such a kind family."

It looked as though Rachel wanted to protest further, but she clearly knew that without Church's help, she and her little girl were in a bit of a sticky situation. If he was so willing to help and he insisted that it wasn't much of a detour, who was she to refuse him?

"Are you absolutely sure? I don't want you to feel obligated to do this just because of dinner..."

Church waved her off. "I'm positive. And don't even think about paying me for the trouble. I'm doing this because I want to help, not for profit."

Rachel studied the man before her, struck with his uncanny resemblance to her son: if not physically, then in character. With a sigh of resignation, she nodded.

"Alright then, I'm truly grateful for your help. It means a lot to me that you can be so selfless for our sake. Still, I'm not going to let you walk there, so we'll loan you one of our horses: she doesn't have much to do around here during the off-season anyway. Don't worry, you can send her back with the merchant who accepts the job, it won't be any trouble at all."

Her plan made sense, and Church was relieved to know that he would be able to get away from all of this pesky hiking for awhile. This was the first step to continuing his journey, even though he had no idea where he was going.

"Great, sounds like a plan."

"Are we lost Shizuka?"

"No way. Of course we aren't! I'm absolutely sure that Gainos is that way!"

"I don't know... something seems off... isn't the Amara desert on this side of the Continent?"

"Not all maps are perfect, Tomoe-sama, I'm sure it's only a little bit off. Gainos is to the North, I'm sure of it!"

Somewhere in the exact opposite direction of the two floundering visitors from the East, Aldra sneezed into the book she was reading on military strategy, completely unaware that someone had deduced that her capital was on the wrong end of the Continent.

Well, this certainly took awhile, and again, it was mostly talking. But hey, character development = more in-depth plot later down the road. Do you know how far this story is in terms of completion? Under thirty percent! If only I could afford to drop some of my other stories...

Anyway, remember that reviews or PM feedback is good for morale! Without support I'll eventually become cold and impervious to damage... and love.