Chapter 2:

The tavern was old and musty, stunk of alcohol and mold, and was dimly lit by several hanging lanterns. As soon as they entered the Tavern, Jintosti sat down at the bar and ordered a pint. Tordinick joined another young man sitting at a table and began joking around with him.

Sitting very much out of place at a table in the corner, was a lady Hume, clearly of nobility, and quite disgusted with the slovenly building. Jewelry hung from her neck and wrists and her skin was about the same colour as the pearls from one of her necklaces. Kino sat across from her at the table and she impatiently blurted out, "Well do you have it, Kino?"

Smiling patiently, Kino reached into his pocket and pulled out the ring, "Yes, Lady Emerabelle, I have it right here."

Snatching it from his fingers, Lady Emerabelle crammed it onto one of her already bejeweled fingers, "Finally!" After admiring it for a minute, she reached under the table and pulled out a medium-sized bag of gil, and dropped it on the table, "That should be enough, right?"

A female Hume that was sitting at the next table over stood up angrily, "Bull! That ring is worth twice that much, you miser!"

Kino growled angrily, "Silence Imma! We get paid what we get paid!"

Imma glared daggers at the noble before returning to her table. Lady Emerabelle fanned herself with a silk pocket fan, "Now, Kino, about the other thing I wanted you to do."

"Yes, Lady Emerabelle?"

"I want you to retrieve my husband, Lord Yuusef."

Mumbling under her breath, Imma retorted, "What, did he finally run away from you? Seeing a younger, nicer woman now?"

Lady Emerabelle replied haughtily, "No such thing, wench! He was taken by a group of blackmailers several days ago."

Kino drank some beer out of a wooden shot glass, "Why don't you just pay them, Lady Emerabelle?"

Appalled, Lady Emerabelle gasped, "Why, if I did that, my husband would never forgive me!"

Finty mumbled, "That makes sense, kupo."

Lady Emerabelle's fan grew faster, and she spoke proudly, "Well I did some investigating, and it turns out the culprits are hiding out somewhere in the Baptiste Hills."

Chuckling, Kino shrugged, "You couldn't be a little more specific? I mean, Baptiste Hills is a lot of ground to cover."

"No, I know nothing more than that."

Imma grunted, "Useless blue-blood."

Standing up indignantly, Lady Emerabelle pushed past Finty, "The reward shall be twice that of what you just got, so I trust you will accomplish this. I will be waiting for my husband in our mansion."

Kino watched her leave and when she was gone, he sighed and leaned on his arm, "She's such a pain, but she's the only way we'll get any pay recently. We've been going through what's been a bad time for Tarnen Serpere."

Frill nodded quietly and Kino stood up enthusiastically, "Well, let's not let her put too much of a damper on our day! I'll introduce you to the rest of the Clan!"

First, Kino pointed at Tordinick and the young man he was with, who looked identical to Tordinick, "Over there we have Tordinick the Soldier and Tordinoy the Hunter! You can call them Nick and Noy." Secondly he motioned to Imma, "Then there's Imma the Fighter!" He then pointed to Jintosti, "There's Jintosti the Dragoon, we all call him Jinto, so you can too," Kino then pointed to a beautiful, redheaded Gria, "There we have Tonya the Geomancer!" And then, Kino unenthusiastically motioned towards two Seeq, one was passed out on the floor, empty tankard by his side and the other was laughing drunkenly, "And lastly, there's, ugh, Timton the Berserker and his brother Tontim the Ranger."

Frill patted Finty on the shoulder sympathetically, "I'm sorry that there's no Mooglettes here, Finty."

Finty growled irately, "Kupo! They're just Moogles! They don't have special names!"

Kino shook his head, "No, that's not true, we do have one female Moogle, but she was dispatched on another quest along with a couple other guild members, you can be introduced to them later."

"See, Finty, there's still hope for you!"

"Go away! Kupo!"

Kino sighed, "Anyways, we have a mission to do. I'll be taking Noy, Jinto, Tontim, Tonya and Finty."

Surprised, Frill interjected, "But, what about me?"

Cooly, Kino replied, "What about you? Your skills are not needed for this mission. Just get to know these guys and don't worry, you'll get your time to shine."

Imma patted the empty seat next to her, "Yes yes, come! Sit down and talk with me!"

Nick switched from his table to theirs, "Hey, can I join in?"

Imma pushed him over roughly, "If you can stand it, Nicky-boy!"

Frill sat down, but as she did, she mouthed the words, "Help me," at Finty. Finty only shrugged and walked away with the group, after they had pulled Tontim away from his booze.

After they had left, Imma leaned forward and leered at Frill, "So, your name is Frill, right?"

"Uh, yes?"

"What size of cup do you wear?"

"Huh?!"

Nick picked himself up off of the ground, "No, no, no, Imma, you ask her that after she's a little drunk, not right off the bat," Nick eyed Frill and passed her a shot glass, "But now I'm curious, what size do you wear?"

Frill picked up the glass and stared into it, "What have I gotten myself into?"

Kino had chartered a wagon ride to the first town at the base of the Baptiste Hills, Imgana, to gather some information on the bandits. As they rode in the cart, Tontim slept soundly, Noy and Finty sat next to each other next to Tontim, making small talk, while Kino sat quietly on the other side with Jino and Kino, who were talking about what was happening once they got to Imgana.

Finty asked Noy, "So does the Clan use a Judge?"

Noy glanced out the back of the wagon, watching Agimimathu disappear, "Nope, we don't, Kino thinks that would be cheating."

Finty gritted his teeth, "I see, kupo. So what is Kino? I know he's a Nu Mou, but what is his class or job?"

"Kino has been everything, really. He has no set job. He has amassed a large amount of spells and abilities. That's why he's the head. Because he's just that powerful."

"Cool, kupo."

They rode along in silence for the next couple hours, until Imgana came into view. Once they reached Imgana, Kino and Jinto left the cart and went into a tavern. As they headed in, Kino called back, "You guys stay in the cart, we shouldn't be long."

They again waited in silence, nothing but the pitter patter of the slight drizzle making any noise. Finty whistled a tune for a while and Tonya fell asleep, barely making any noise.

Tontim woke up and snorted, "Ugh, are we there yet?"

Shaking his head, Noy responded, "No Tontim, we aren't."

Drowsily, Tontim looked around. Tontim was pudgy, like most Seeq, and his skin was a mottled blueish grey with black spots scattered about.

After looking around for a while, he noticed Finty. His eyes lit up and he snorted, "Heeeeeey! New guy! How's it going, new guy?"

Finty shrugged, "Fine…?"

Alternating between laughing and snorting, Tontim whacked Finty on the back heartily, "Oh that's good, new guy! Saaaaaay! You're a Moogle!"

"I knew that."

"Well o'course ye did! Ha! You know we got two Moogles in the guild. Ha!"

"I heard."

"Ha! O'course ye did! Ho ho! We got Anabelli and Onobock, brother and sister, I think, HA!"

"That's nice."

"She's really white, though, it hurts my eyes looking at her. Ha! But you, it doesn't hurt looking at you, know why?"

"Why?"

"CAUSE YOU'RE BLACK. Ha ha ha! You're darker than the night, new guy! I bet if you took off your clothes at midnight, we'd loose you!"

Tonya stirred in her sleep, "Tontim, make sure you're not hurting his feelings."

Gasping in shock, Tontim clutched Finty's shoulder seriously, "I ain't hurting ye, am I?"

Smiling awkwardly, Finty shook his head, "No, no, it's fine."

Returning to his former self, Tontim snorted, "O'course not! Ho! This guy can take a hit! I like you, new guy! Ha!"

Kino and Jinto returned to the cart, they climbed in and Kino sighed, "Well, we have narrowed it down to a specific area, but it seems like the blackmailer, Yugo the Beastmaster, has also captured seven other people."

Jinto nodded, "Aye, it seems like he's just east of here, over the next couple rises."

Kino turned to the cart driver, "You heard us, let's get moving."

The crack of the whip and the plodding of the animals stated that they were getting closer to a battle.