-12-

The evening was more tranquil and quiet than the afternoon as the several lanterns found across the city made a warm glow of either yellow, orange or red. The majority of the guests either went home or stayed at an inn; the few people outside were soldiers making their grounds, shady individuals, store owners and those with either relaxation or romantic purposes. Milla and Vix continue to walk through the park, the minimal amount of people finally gave the basset hound a chance to relax, she makes a deep breath as the evening air flowed through her nostrils.

Vix, who was besides the hound also took in the peace and quiet of the outer layer's botanical gardens. Shortly after checking his stave he looks towards the basset hound who accompanied him, To think that of all people I would find in this place, it would be Milla Basset, however despite his calm demeanor something was bothering the rabbit, Why can't I see her affinity? Everyone have affinity, at least everyone in Avalice that is…

Perhaps I should ask her… No, I don't think she would know much about the Wu Xing, she doesn't strike me as someone who's interested in such technicalities.

The thing is that, from what I've heard she was able to make shields and projectiles. Surely she must be using ether, right? After all, there's only two forms of energy manipulation, physical and elemental.

It doesn't matter right now, I should ask her why she's here to begin with.

"I must ask, what is someone like you doing here?" Vix asks.

Milla makes a confused look on her face "Someone like me?" she says in response, with a somewhat offended tone in her voice.

"I apologize if my question sounded offensive. I know you're one of the people who helped saved Avalice, but I didn't want to reveal that I knew your identity until you were in a more calm environment. I can imagine the stress such fame can cause."

The hound changes her expression with a smile "I'm sorry, thank you for your consideration."

"So, what are you doing here?"

"Well, I don't know really. I went to Qin in search of my parents, at least that was my original intentions; right now I'm doing a favor for a friend."

"Your parents?" Vix thinks for a moment sympathizing for Milla "I know how it feels to have a family member missing, I suppose we also made friends to compensate for our losses but that doesn't mean that we should forget them, or our past."

"Yeah."

"Though let's not talk about such sad things, let's continue finding our companions."

Milla gives a determined grin and nods in response, she makes another deep breath through her nose "I can finally track Kai's scent, he's actually really far. The scent is faint."

Milla begins to follow the husky's scent with Vix following right behind her.

Kai is leaning against a lamp post with his sniper rifle strapped off and leaning against the same lamp post, perpendicular to his position. Still pondering on who Milla could be with, the husky thinks to himself, A man in a black robe, with an energy manipulation staff. Usually only two types of people would own such a staff, he's either royalty or he's…

No. Whoever that person is, he can't be…

The husky stops thinking about Milla's whereabouts and more about the cloaked girl:

Then there's that girl, perhaps she knows who Milla's with. They're both seem shady and I don't like it, whatever Milla got herself into I hope it won't cause us much trouble.

So we have a man in a black robe, I can assume he have EARTH affinity and then there's that girl who's in the dark purple cloak, if she's traveling with the mystery mage then maybe she uses ether too, then what's her affinity and what instrument does she use to manipulate energy?

Why would they be interested in Milla, other than her being one of the people who saved this world. I was able figure out the Milla doesn't use affinity, so what does she have that they want?

I could just be over thinking things, ugh why am I worried about Milla anyways, we're not friends or anything…

Kai continues to think everything over, everytime he thinks more about the mage and the cloaked girl, the more uneasy he becomes. Why do I keep worrying over Milla, she can take care of herself, she lived by herself for years and even after what happened two years ago…

… I know, I have to find her anyways, rather I like it or not.

As the husky begins to backtrack, he goes through a sudden realization. That girl did notice me!, Kai snaps his tough in frustration the vivid memory of his encounter with the cloaked girl comes back to him: the moment he noticed the girl, he remembered her gesturing with a faint smile.

"How did I not notice that expression when we cross paths" He says to himself in a monotonous raspy voice as he begins to run.

I can only hope that Milla is able to follow my scent now…

Milla and Vix decide to get something to eat, it was about seven in the evening, the hound and rabbit bought some chow mein and sat down on a bench. As Milla eats her noodles she notices Vix's blank expression, "Hey you're okay?" she says as she swallows her food.

Vix notices the hound talking to him "Oh sorry, I'm thinking that's all."

"So you're a mage?"

"Huh, oh this." Vix responds as he holds his stave horizontally, the staff was black with a yellow crystal at the top, the crystal had metalic black swirls besides the crystal with a piece of black metal sticking out of both swirls, which made the staff look like a hoe, "Yes, I guess you can say that." he says with his usual warm smile.

"It looks funny with those pieces of metal sticking out" Milla says with a smile, "So what kind of magic do you do?"

"It's actually called energy manipulation, but 'magic' is an acceptable term. In terms of what it does, well you can say that I'm… special."

"Special?" Milla responds, still keeping her smile "You can say that I'm special too!"

Vix makes a small laugh, "I'm sure you are, you did save this world. I think we should resume looking for our friends."

Milla gestures with a nod, both the hound and rabbit makes their way through the streets, lit up in a blend of warm colors due to the several lanterns. As the hound walk through the streets with Vix, she notices someone wearing a dark purple cloak, as she get's a better look of the persons face her heart sank as she recognizes a panda girl about her age, with dark blue hair and purple eyes. It can't be…

… Norah?!