-11-

It was a quarter before four in the afternoon, Milla continues to tread through the large crowds of people in an attempted to search for Kai, however all she can see is a sea of guests. The commoners wore casual and basic clothing while the aristocrats wore more complex and regal clothes, she notices a few soldiers, workers and entertainers among the crowd. Some guests seemed fairly suspicious and others, mostly children, were as innocent as ever. Milla asks a few people if they've seen the monotonic husky, wearing a grey cloak, however her efforts were in vain.

Milla begins to worry about Kai's whereabouts, It'll be fine, he's likely waiting or even looking for me… I think…

There's so many people here, a lot more than I'm used to. I just hope things goes well for us.

Milla see's a booth selling popsicles sticks and buys herself a cherry flavored popsicle. She sits on top of an available bench as she eats the fruity popsicle, the flavor distracts the hound of her current situation, temporarily relaxing her.

Ten minutes later she continues to look for the husky who accompanied her for months now, but like before no one knew anyone by that description.

It was now almost five o'clock in the afternoon and the hound is yet to find the lost husky, At least his cloak makes him noticeable, but with this many people around I can't use my hearing nor smell. Milla drops her head in shame, unable to use her naturally powerful senses nor track Kai with a psychic energy signature Kai, where are you?

Milla notices what appears to be a hooded figure, she begins to walk towards the figure hoping for it to be Kai. As she approaches the hooded person she realizes that it wasn't Kai, the person wore a black robe held together with what appears to be a beige sash. It was an older male rabbit with orange hair, white fur and heterochromic eyes which were coincidentally the same color as her anklets.

"Sorry, I thought you were someone else." Milla apologizes.

"It's no problem, though it seems we are both looking for someone." The rabbit spoke with a calming voice which seemed to have relieved the hound of all her stress.

Milla carelessly responds with a bizarre question "Can… Can I hear your voice again?"

"Okay?"

Milla realizes what she just asked, "Eh, I'm sorry about that, so you said you were looking for someone too?" she says with an embarrassed voice with her face turning red, Why did I asked that?! That's weirder than asking someone if I can touch their hair, though Lilac's hair is kind'a fun to play with…

The rabbit gestures with a mellow smile, "I was travelling with a girl, about your age actually. She's a panda with a dark purple cloak on."

Milla ponders for a moment, A panda girl, my age? That sounds familiar, she finally shakes her head in response.

"Ah, I see. Perhaps we can find our companions together?"

"Sure" Milla responds.

"Mind if I ask for your name?"

The hound hesitates to respond, "M-Milla" she said with a soft voice.

"I know you're not from around here, neither am I. Don't be afraid to tell me you're full name."

"Milla Basset" She says with a deep breath, "What's your's?"

The rabbit makes a warm smile, "My name is Vix Cole."

It took Kai about a half hour after splitting up from Milla to noticed that the heroic basset hound wasn't following him anymore, She got herself lost, didn't she. The husky ponders on what action to take, I could try to look for her, but perhaps it's best I wait till night, where everyone will most likely find places to stay.

I think it's best to wait, though knowing her, she's likely looking for me now.

The monotonic husky decides to get some food first before searching for Milla. He buys himself a bowl of chow mein and a quick drink.

After finishing his dinner he went to look for Milla, unlike her however he was more focused, with his powerful sight and photographic memory he was able to look through the thick crowds more efficiently, however despite his skills he was unable to find the hound, I'm sure I'll find her before she finds me, there's too many people for her to use her sense of smell or hearing, also she didn't tag me with her psychic energy because I never allowed her to do so.

Ironic how I'm right now a more efficient tracker, than a naturally born tracker.

It was half past five, the sun was reaching dusk, the sky began to turn orange as the lanterns start to glow. As Kai begins to tread through the crowds like usual, suddenly in the corner of his eye he notices a cloaked figure walking past him, the person didn't appear to have notice him. The husky managed to get a good enough look of the person's face to see that it was female with dark blue hair, the girl was about his height and her face looked young, he assumes that she was about his age however he couldn't see anymore details through her dark purple cloak.

Kai quickly turns around to approach the cloaked girl but she was nowhere to be found, likely lost in the crowd, "Who in the Ancient's name was that?" Kai says to himself, he continues to glare suspiciously at the direction the girl was walking towards, "Something isn't right, who exactly was that girl and why do I feel like she's someone of importance.", the husky shakes his head and continued looking for Milla.

Although Kai attempts to keep his attention towards searching for the lost hound, he couldn't stop thinking about that cloaked girl, Argh why do I keep thinking about that girl, I know something about her is shady, but why does that matter. It's not like I'm any better…

That's it! I need to find out who on Avalice is that girl, let me find Milla first then we'll find out together. Something is going to happen in this forsaken city, I just know it.

Kai couldn't keep his patience so he decides to ask one of the occasional Qin soldiers for the mysterious girl's identification, "Hey, have you seen a girl, about my age wearing a dark purple cloak?"

The soldier responds "No, I can't say I have; is she a friend of yours?"

"Not really, just curious. Here's a better question have you seen a basset hound around my age too, she have orange hair, green eyes, beige fur, currently wearing a beige cloak."

"I have seen a basset hound of that description, she was with some guy with a black robe who held some sort a stave with a yellow crystal at the tip."

"Thank you" Kai said with his monotonous voice.

Kai makes a worried yet monotonous expression as he processes what he just heard, A guy with a black robe, and he had an energy manipulation staff?! The guard said the crystal was yellow, so the person Milla's with have EARTH affinity.

What did you get yourself into Milla…