Chapter 34 Preparation part 6, the tale of Vaan
Vaan stood on a street corner lost for words, no logic in his head could explain the princess's actions, and then to just run past him without a word. If only she knew. The same thing had happened at the tomb, and no one else reacted but him and Ashe. Vaan stared absentmindedly at his ring, why did the stone show them a vision of Reks? And now again in the tunnel, and why to only Ashe and him? But such questions were wasting valuable time, there was work to be done. With his training over and done with, there were hunts to do. As he wandered down the streets of lowtown a sodden figure trudged out of a shop.
"Penelo?" He gasped. "What happened to you?!"
Penelo looked daggers at him. "Training." She answered simply.
Vaan shrugged. "You look like you're wearing the river." Suddenly a thought came to him. "Hey, you wanna go on this hunt with me?"
Penelo blinked. "A hunt? I dunno."
"You're always telling me we don't do enough together." Vaan sniggered. "Come on, it'll be fun."
The young mage shrugged her shoulders, defeated. "Ok fine, but only if its fun."
-
"That was anything but fun!" Penelo grouched as the pair of them emerged into the sunlight.
Vaan was looking distinctly more cheerful while clutching a bag of money. "We got paid didn't we?" He said grinning ear to ear. Penelo snorted, while Vaan was practically untouched she was covered in a thick dark gelatinous substance.
"I hate flans Vaan, you know I hate flans." She whined trying to scrape some of it off.
"How was I supposed to know it only attacked girls." Vaan protested, this was the wrong thing to say because Penelo rounded on him.
"The petitioner said it when we were done," She spat. "Said he told you that from the start."
Vaan shrugged. "So I forgot, but like a said we got paid."
Penelo was about to tell the young orphan just where he could stick his bag of gil when a familiar figure rounded a corner.
"Vaan, excellent." Basch panted as he ran up to them. "You're the last to... What happened to you?" He said raising an eyebrow to Penelo. "You smell like a sewer."
"Nah, she always smells like that." Vaan chuckled before ducking to avoid a rock.
"No matter." Dismissed Basch, "I need you both to come to lowtown now."
Penelo squirmed uncomfortably. "Is there time for a bath?" She said hopefully.
Basch scratched his head. "Normally no, but I think you'd better." Without another word Penelo dashed off to the city bathhouse.
"Wait a minute." Vaan asked suspiciously. "Why are we going to lowtown?"
Suddenly Basch's expression became very sombre. "The princess is assembling everyone who was involved in the last little adventure. Think of it as a debriefing."