Chapter 4: Lost in the Night

"Mist?" Soren wandered the halls the next morning. "Where is that girl?" Soren shook his head.

"Huh, funny finding you caring about someone else." Lethe purred playfully, emerging from one of the rooms.

"Well, Lethe, you went to breakfast earlier with the rest of us. What I find strange is that neither Mist nor Ilyana joined us for dinner yesterday, or breakfast. Mist is the younger of the pair, and, therefore, has a higher chance of being in danger. Don't you find it strange that they've been missing for so long?"

"It's good that you actually care, but, yes, that does seem strange. However, Ike doesn't seem too worried about it."

"That's because he's still suffering from the effects of the hangover last night."

Lethe raised her eyebrows: "There was a party?"

"Yes, and your sister happened to be a part of it."

"My what?!" Lethe nearly hit the ceiling. "How dare you insult my family!"

"I'm being honest. Truth hurts." Soren smirked.

"Alcohol... Wasn't involved, right?" Lethe stared into his eyes. Soren, being a normally insensitive fellow, could see the fear in her eyes.

"Wrong. There was plenty. That's why Ike wasn't even aware of Mist's disappearance. Muarim wisely avoided any of the stuff, so we might be able to search for the two girls with his assistance. Ike, Lyre, and several of the curious passers-by who came to see Crimea's hero all got dead drunk. I never thought Ike would be the type to do it, too."

"My sister... Even when drunk, she couldn't have violated the ancient law... Could she?" Lethe began to snarl. "COULD SHE?!" She glared threateningly at Soren.

The mage backed off: "Who would have thought that you have so little faith in your sister? But seriously, now, I doubt that she'd do it..."

"Huh, you're the cynical one. When even you say that she won't, then maybe she didn't... But I can't let down my guard!" Lethe hissed.

Soren shook his head: "Women." He thought. He was lucky that Lethe couldn't read his mind. Quite lucky indeed.

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Soren and Lethe sat at one of the tables in the Inn's lounge. Muarim eventually descended the staircase, and Soren was the first to interrogate him: "Have you noticed something strange, Muarim?"

Knowing Soren, Muarim was prepared to give Soren the most cynical answer he could think of: "Mist and Ilyana are missing, Ike was being an idiot, and Lyre might have contributed in the future birth of a Branded." Muarim nodded.

Soren smirked: "That's right!" Lethe's head hit the ceiling: "HOW DARE YOU?!"

Muarim slowly backed away from her.

"I called you a brother, Muarim, and you call my biological sister a whore?!"

Muarim winced at her choice of words. "No... Not at all. I did not call her that, I just said that Ike might have taken advantage of her..."

"Oh, that changes things then. I shall kill that beorc brute when I see him."

"I'm amazed you haven't already, knowing how powerful your temper is." Soren laughed.

Lethe glared at him, and even Soren was forced to back off.

"Anyway, we should start trying to find the two girls. It's not like them to be gone for so long." Muarim spoke.

"That's what we were thinking. If Mist's idiotic and perverted brother would get here, we'd be able to come up with a plan!" Lethe growled.

Muarim whispered in Soren's ear: "She's really touchy about that, isn't she?"

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Back in the LPS cave, Mist and Ilyana stared at Tonerk and his comrades in fear. They had torn their jackets to shreds, leaving both girls with only one layer of clothing protecting their bodies from them. Who knows? These laguz seemed more like animals than laguz like Ranulf or Lethe. These monsters might do the unthinkable, and what was once an innocent vacation may become the most terrible tragedy of their lives.

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