Jeanne Alter II

"Seven!"

The mob of horsemen around the great bald dunce cheered, the purple cloth purse jingling as a fist slammed into the table it rested on. Jeannette could see that Yenno mouth was gaping as well at his lucky roll, the gaps between his remaining teeth nearly as wide as his entire mouth was. She gave a quick glance down, and saw the bravo that agreed to judge the game had in fact been correct. A three and a four were on the two dice, and suddenly the one legged bloat across from them was one failed roll of the dice from victory.

'Of course the moron had to agree to this,' she looked to her right side, and saw the idiot looking contemplative, his jaw set in a thoughtful pose as he looked at the dice. He wasn't worried, but he was a little uncomfortable, as he reached out to pick up the cup and dice, 'We just had to bet all our money one one game, didn't we?' she asked herself as he tossed the two dice into cup, before taking a third dice from the bravo and tossing it in as well.

The game was Nektindon. It was a game that had a simple goal, get from a high number to zero, it could be anything from fifty to one thousand depending on the den you were gambling in, by subtracting the results of dice rolls. Yet the number of dice rolled could change based on you or your opponents rolls. So that seven had just landed Yenno on a nine, which due to weird little rules, meant that her moron would have to roll three dice instead of two or one that her master would have rolled if Yenno had gotten any other roll.

Which was a problem, because the idiot was down to three. You only won a game of Nektindon if you hit zero, or if your opponent goes under zero. So unlessher master rolled literally all ones on his three dice, they were about to lose every fucking coin they had to this crippled old shit stain. As her master began to shake the cup, his right hand on the bottom while his left hand covered the opening, she turned her attention back to the fat bastard across from them.

The man had apparently been some kind of Khal about two decades ago. Not a big one, but the whole title had been enough for him to get in Pentos and get some kind of palace. Of course, being a small Khal, his head got as fat as his gut was now, and he'd gone and gotten his leg ripped off by another one of those horse fuckers. Now, he spent his time hanging out in the dingy inns and taverns on the outskirts of Pentos. He had his hanger ons, the crowd of mostly half dressed former riders hollering like apes in heat behind him were proof enough of that, but Yenno was really just a fat slob winding away what years he had left before his arteries finally clogged up.

'God I hope it happens soon,' Jeannette grimaced as Yenno turned his eyes up at her, and had his mouth open even more. She nearly heaved at the sight, 'Please, like, I'll go to one of the Saint's stupid services when I get back if you have it happen right now,' when the almighty seemed to refuse to do so, 'This…this is why I wanted to burn France,' the man almost seemed to lean forward towards her, 'Not even a lighting strike, just one little bit of plaque clogging up an artery around his heart.'

"You know," Yenno spoke up, and his voice was as dumb as his face was, 'If you want to raise the stakes," his eyes were specifically on Jeannette again, "If you offer your friend for an hour, I'll take one of those dice away."

The dumbasses behind the old horse fucker began to holler and whoop even more. Jeannette was fairly sure they were about to fling their feces at each other in celebration of what they no doubt considered a clever suggestion. Jeanette felt some heat dance along her palm, but let out a short breath, as she stared down at her Master, who was still focusing on the cup with the dice.

"I don't think so," Master's voice wasn't even flat, just mildly disinterested. Finally, he smiled, and slammed the cup down on the table. For a second, he left it sitting there, before dramatically pulling it up.

Three little dots were facing the sky, one on each die.

"Mirre!" the idiot laughed, his hands held high above his head, using the call of landing a zero in the game.

The entire crowd behind Yenno stopped making a sound, as they almost all scuttled forward to stare at the dice, and their jaws hanging open so widely that it looked like a fly or two flew into a few of their open maws. Yenno's was the most open, and the most dumbfounded. His eyes had shrunk to pinpricks, and it seemed almost as if his entire body had just completely shut down in shock.

'Heart attack, heart attack, heart attack,' unfortunately, the fat man finally moved, turning his head to their bravo judge, 'Fuck! One thing! I want just one thing!'

"He cheated!" Yenno screamed, his voice now so high pitched that Jeannette almost thought she saw some of the glass on the window crack. She barely contained a snort from that, "This little shit," but upon his voice remaining high pitched as he pointed at her Master, she actually did fail to contain a laugh, "must have cheated. It's impossible that he got three ones."

"It's entirely possible," the idiot next to her said in his "I am a dumbass, so please underestimate me" voice, "Like, if you think about it, it's a one in six chance on each dice, so you just need that one in six to ha-"

"Check the dice!" the fat man screamed, pointing down at it. The bravo, a man in his early twenties, leaned down. He was fairly good looking, a mix of Andal and Rhoynish with long curly gold hair and a dark complexion, and he was also quite skilled with a sword, the thin rapier-like blade along his side. Still, he looked nearly as shocked at the men across from Jeannette, though less devastated…which made since since he wasn't the one about to lose a very sizeable purse on this one dice roll. The man grabbed each dice, and one at a time weighed them in his hand. Jeannette could see that he was judging to see if they were loaded. He then set them down. Before picking them all three up again in his hand. Finally, he ruled them once more, and a two, a four and a five were the result. He stared at them for a moment, before shrugging his shoulders.

"The young man wins," his confirmation was sheepish, but it was all that was needed. The younger man folded his arms together while smirking, and Jeannette turned her attention back to the blob.

'Heart attack, heart attack heart attack-'

"NO!"

'FUCK!'

"I do not care what you say," he forced his way out of his chair, showing a surprising degree of grace in his movement for a man with only one leg, though he almost knocked the money hye had bet to the ground from the table, "This little shit cheated!"

"Cheat?" Her Master raised his hands up in mock offense, "Why, how dare you," that his voice wasn't offended in the slightest only made the whole thing likely more infuriating, "You were allowed to choose our judge even," he waved towards the Bravo, who was doing his best to slowly step away from the table, not wanting to be involved in the coming confrontation, "Why, I demand by the laws of the Prince of Pentos that you give me my payment now."

"Payment," the fat man stopped, staring at the idiot for a moment, before laughing. The men behind him began to laugh too, many of them beginning to stalk forward around the table. The bravo backed away further, which actually caused Jeanette to roll her eyes.

'So much for the whole Bravo name,' she thought, 'Ain't nothing courageous about you, jackass,' Yenno pulled a long knife from his side, and pointed it directly at the idiot, 'Oh, you really are a complete dumbass, aren't you?'

"Now listen you little cheating shit," he said, his voice only now being forced by conscious effort to be deep once again, "You are going to give me all your money, and the Ash Valyrian," he pointed the knife at her Master, "Or else," he swiped the knife along the table, cutting the cups along the table in half, "I'll cut you up and feed you to my dog."

"Uh huh," the moron didn't even blink, "Listen to me you rolly polly," Yenno gritted his remaining teeth together, "You are going to give me my money, and let me and my friend leave here, and give me an apology for accusing me of cheating," he smiled, "Or else, you are going to get your ass kicked."

"What?" the old man chuckled, "By you?" He then raised up his eyes to Jeannette.

"God no," the moron laughed, "I mean look at me," he held out his arm, "I'm a thin reed," and then something changed in his voice, "And as for my friend, well, I'm choosing to be merciful," he then smiled, "You wouldn't last five seconds."

One of the goons finally got close enough, and grabbed her idiot's arm. Before anything beyond that could happen, the man lost his grip, being sent flying into a nearby table. Now, standing where the last man had been, was the Mutt. Hound's blue hair danced around his body, having come to a stop from rushing to be here, likely from the front of the inn.

"Hey Ritsuka," he said, giving a quick glance over towards them, "How'd it go?"

"I won the money," her Master said firmly, glaring at Yenno, whose eyes were bulging from his skull at the sight of the tall, muscled Irishman who had suddenly appeared from nowhere. Jeanatte was able to again hope that the man's heart gave way, but instead the tub of lard somehow kept his body functioning, "This guy, however, made an insinuation that I'm a cheater."

"Reeeeaaaaaallllllyyyyyy?" the Mutt said, giving the man across from his a side eye. He then leaned forward, his red eyes meeting his opponents', "That's not very nice. Sounds like these guys are sore losers," he then placed his foot on the bottom of the table, "Sore losers," he then kicked the table up so it spun on it's side, and then slamming it forward with the ball of his foot, causing it to fall all over the crowd of Yenno and his flunkies, "shouldn't even be playing games in the first place."

Jeannette felt a smirk come over her at the sputtering coming from the other side of the table. The idiot smiled as he stood up, and walked over towards the purse on the ground, having been forced to slide off when the blue haired asshole had first lifted the table upward. He then turned around, held it up to her and the mutt, and pointed towards the exit. She saw the taller man nod at that, while her smirk only grew wider. The three of them turned, and marched out of the seedy little inn, all the while her master let the coins bounce around in the cloth bag.

The mid-day sun was bright, and after being inside that dingy little cove, Jeannette had to cover her eyes to protect her vision. Still, it only took a moment for her to adjust, though it just made her more frustrated in her still partially human body. She squeezed her hand into a fist, and let loose a little bit of an exasperated sigh.

"Being a human sucks," she observed, and the idiot shook his head, while his mutt barked out a laugh. This caused her to puff out her cheeks, and give them both a glare. She'd never really existed as a normal human after all, having been born as the stupid Saint's dark reflection. Or…how Frog Eyes conceived Jeanne's reflection would be. Either way, it meant she actually had not really lived as a human before arriving on this plane, so making sure her two merged was likely harder. Plus, it meant the aches and pains that afflicted this worn down body she was stuck in were always pricking at the edges of her mind. She placed her finger next to her dumb master's ear, and flicked it.

"Ow!"

"Don't laugh at me, jerk," she sniped, and that only caused him to turn, and give him one of his consistently stupid smiles.

"Sorry, sorry," he said, before looking forward. For a few more minutes, they continued down the road, the dirt eventually being replaced by cobblestone. As they finally seemed to get into the main part of the city, Jeannette finally sighed, and turned her attention back to her master.

"So how did you cheat?"

"Oh that was simple," her master laughed, not even bothering to deny the accusation, playing with the bag of coins, "Emiya taught me a bit about tracing magic, so when I started to shake the cup, I was able to push in some magic into the dice and tell which side was up," Jeannette could almost imagine the dice lighting up inside a cup, with only her master able to see which way they were facing, "Then I used some more magic to catch each dice along the side of the cup when the one was facing upward, and slammed it on the table when I was sure I had what I needed to win."

"Whew," the dog whisted at that, resting his "And you keep saying you're a shit mage."

"I am a shit mage," the idiot admitted, "A really good mage would have been able to alter the dice themselves or magnetize the dice or something," he shook his head, "I was just lucky they let me shake that cup so long that I was able to pull that off. It took me that full half minute to catch everything in place, and had that inn been less noisy, they might have heard that the dice weren't moving by the last couple of shakes," he then lifted up the bag again, "Good news though, we got the money, and it should cover our manse for the next couple of weeks."

GRRWWWWWLLLLLLLLL

"Cht," Jeannette nearly let out a snarl, as the mutt sighed. The two looked at the source of the noise, the belly of their master. They then turned their eyes up to look at his face, and saw a blush of embarrassment across it.

"Well, the other reason I'm a shit mage," he chuckled nervously, "Is that it wears me out really easily," Jeannette couldn't help but look at the mutt, who gave her a look of shared exasperation, "So, maybe we should get to the rest of our team, lunch should be soon," and for a bit, Jeannette couldn't help but imagine the three of them were in some singularity or another, all those years ago.

'Still the same kid, aren't you master?'

"I don't know how I've survived without your cooking," the idiot laughed as he hungrily eyed his plate. There was a slice of thick, honey glazed pork sitting alongside some thoroughly mashed potatoes and a set of well cooked green beans. He in fact placed his spoon in the potatoes, and twirled them around in the almost custard-like mush, all the while his mouth continued to water.

'This was always what the harem protagonist was best at,' she considered, watching her master slip his spoon into the dish, and scarf down the mash into his big gob, 'Damnit, wait for the rest of us!'

"These are excellent Emiya!" the idiot mouthed through the food, "Just like I like it," he then swallowed, before wiping his face, "At least a pound of butter in the stuff."

"I really wish you'd let me cut back on that," the red archer groaned, but that only caused his master to glare at him. The taller man sighed, as he proceeded to hand out plates of dinner to the rest of their team. He'd been trying to get the moron to eat better ever since he'd been summoned, however her master's diet was one of the only things that her master would actually put his foot down on when it came to his own unsavory behavior.

'Honestly,' Jeannette looked over the meal as the harem protagonist placed a platter in front of her, the smells of the feast wafting up to her, 'The fact he actually let a vegetable on his plate mean's he's improving.'

"So," her master turned his attention to his right, and looked over at the crybaby pharoah, "You managed to increase our funds for the next few weeks, right master?"

"R-wai-," the idiot stopped, then made an effort to swallow down his second spoonful of food, "Right, we doubled our money," he looked up to the tiles around the top of the little dining room they had found themselves using at their meeting place in the small manse they'd rented, "So, that should help cover us for two weeks maybe?"

"Yes," the crybaby nodded, a bit of tension leaving her frame. The jackal had been a mess of nerves ever since they'd arrived in the city, though really Jeannette couldn't tell if that was too different from how she was normally.

They'd arrived in Pentos after about a month's travel two days ago. It had been a bumpy ride…and not just due to the shit roads that went through these parts of the continent.

"Hey!" the mutt growled as the harem protagonist passed by him and handed the next plate to his pup, who was doing his level best to not look up and possibly get between the two, "Where the hell is my food?"

"Get your own."

Like the mutt's brat, everyone did their best to look away from the confrontation. The open contempt that the archer was showing for the mutt right now was…honestly a major step down in the tensions between the pair during the actual trip. After the first instance of slamming Cu's skull into the wall, they'd come to blows at least twice. Both times they'd at least managed to not fully pull their dicks out and instead just started punching each other, but it still was fuckin' annoying.

'All men are just lttle brats?' she asked herself as the dog was about to stand up to confront the red bastard, 'Aren't they?'

"Emiya," Master's voice slid over the room, and the taller man sighed. Finally, he dropped a plate directly in front of the hound, with a slop of potato falling off the plate. The mutt then stopped, looked down at it, and sat back down. He gave the cook a glare, and while Jeannette kind of agreed that the harem protagonist was being a pissy little bitch, she didn't necessarily think the mutt had any thing to really stand on.

As far as Jeannette could understand, she had only just remembered who she was two days before the hound's secret was blown. That secret had been that the mutt knew where the flat lion king was, and the fact that the blonde was apparently fucking some high class nobleman or something that the mutt had sworn to. Then also that the femboy was also on the same continent in the west, and that the mutt had nearly smashed his head in during a battle all those years ago. The revelation that he knew where two of their number were, and hadn't already been told about this, managed to piss everyone besides her and the mutt's pup off considerably…so much so that no one talked to him for at least a day.

The idiot forgave the mutt first, because of course he did. Not only was the idiot's brain was just too intune with a fellow imbecile like the mutt not to somehow connect with the mutt. Then fatty monk had forgiven him next, saying that "Forgiveness is a precept of-" blah, blah, blah. Same drivel from her as she got from the stupid saint, and the monk was acting more like the saint now than she did on Chaldea too, asking all sorts of crap about how she was doing. Terrible, that was how she was doing, thank you very much.

…where was she…oh yeah, the mutt. Well the crybaby pharaoh had come next, though that took a few weeks, and even now she wasn't sure if the jackal had actually forgiven the mutt, or rather just accepted it and moved on.

And that just left-

"Hope you choke," the cook spat.

"Knowing your food, I know I will."

The Harem protagonist then passed to the monk, who accepted the plate, smiling that she only had potatoes and beans. As she placed her food down, her attention immediately snapped to the pharaoh.

"Could you continue with our plan Nito?" she asked calmly. That caused the dark-skinned woman to smile. The pharaoh brought her fist in front of her throat, and coughed several times into it.

"So now that we have enough funds to not place us in immediate danger of losing our source of shelter," the house had been a small place that the Bat Knight had suggested before they had left his ren faire. Was a small…"Manse" if she understood what it was called, that was sometimes rented out for important merchants that conducted business, but were not so wealthy as to actually afford a real palace. They'd had enough to rent it for a few days, and so they had set up shop here, "We can now focus on getting to our next missing heroic spirit."

The pharoah pulled out something from her side, and placed the compass on the middle of the table. The compass pointed between the pharaoh and Jeannette herself, towards the west. Because they were all so close, that meant their compass was tracking their target, whichever one of the other servants that was. Still, since it was pointing west, that meant…

"They are most likely in the richest quarter of the city," the crybaby continued, "Among the manses of the richest and most powerful families of Pentos," Jeannette felt a bit of her teeth grit, but just shook her head. These guys were assholes, but they weren't legally allowed to practice slavery, even if they basically replaced it with lifetime servitude. They lacked the general self absorption of the Old Blood back in Volantis, so she was at least not going to have to deal with something like that again. She then returned her attention to the conversation, "So more than likely, they themselves are a member of one of those families."

"That a good or bad thing?" the mutt barked, a bit of the ham hanging out of his mouth.

"Both," the pharaoh said quickly, "Good, because hopefully, they won't be in any kind of danger, because I have had quite enough of that for a while, thank you very much," the crybaby then turned her attention to Ritsuka with her hands on her hips. Jeanette couldn't help but snort at the exasperation on her face, as the idiot just gave her his stupid "I know what I did, and you can't make me say sorry" face. The jackal sighed, before continuing, "Bad because…bad because that means more than likely whoever this is, they will have a family that might tie them down to this plane."

That had been the other discovery they'd made. The more connected you were to the plane, the harder it was to break you from its grasp and remind you of who you were. The monk and…and Arash had been so disconnected that they'd been able to get their memories back quickly. The hound and the pharaoh had been more connected, and even though they'd each only had one person they really cared about, it had taken quite a bit of a pain to wake them up. And if it took that to wake up someone with only one or two connections, the thought of waking up someone with much more…

"Well," her master sighed as he wiped his face, "We'll figure it out when we meet them," he then looked around, "Team, I say we take the rest of the night off. We'll have enough money to go buy some expensive clothes to make us fit in in the morning, and then we can go search the manses with the compass, to see if we can find them tomorrow."

"I'm up for it," Cu nodded. Most everyone else, including the pup did too, though the little prick gave her master a glare.

"Then it's settled," he then looked toward the cook, "Now Emiya, about secon-"

"God, it's like she's here with us right now."

"-How rare, an Ash Valyrian. These are so rare, how do you do it my friend. Now…little gray wing. Hold still, with these silks, your pathetic human limbs will be chained…but your body, your body will fly like the dragon yo-"

"

AH!" Jeannette shot up from her bed. The image of a man of Valyrian descent crossed her mind, his long white hair and his purple eyes continuing a dancing flame. She began to hug herself, remembering the Elephant patrician leading her up that night, the night everything in Jeannette's world changed.

'I fucking hate being human,' she thought to herself, hating the clammy way her skin became after she sweated so profusely that her sheets were damp all around her. She rubbed her hands up and down her biceps, trying to create friction to warm herself, 'It's all just a way to live in these horribly shitty bodies. What I'd give for just five minutes with my body before this crap…before…'

…

Yeah, now that she was thinking about it, she probably wasn't getting back to sleep anytime soon. She pushed herself from beneath the covers and stood up, if for no other reason than to allow the sweat covered sheets time to dry and become more comfortable. She walked to the door of the small room she had sequestered for herself, and pushed it open slowly.

The main hallway of the manse was completely empty, no one to her left or right. Of course, it was dark, though the light from the stars was bright enough that it came through a few of the windows that were open at the end of the hall. She slowly snuck her way out the room, and closed the door behind her. Once she was out and about, she looked around the hallway, and slunk down the hall, until she finally came to one door between the monk's and the mutt.

'I wonder,' she stood still there, for what was probably longer than she should have, staring at the door behind which the idiot was sleeping. She didn't really k…no, she knew why she was standing here, right now. But she didn't want to acknowledge that, so she just kept standing there, eyes locked on Ritsu…the idiot's room. And then she turned her head, and began to march away from the door, 'Nope. Not awake enough for that shit tonight.'

As she marched into the atrium of the manse, she looked to her right toward the kitchen. That would probably be the best place to go to clear her head, or at least find something to stuff her mouth and drown this shitty feeling in her gut.

'And if not,' she thought as she did her best to dodge around the rented coaches, 'Maybe it'll make me puke it out.

However, she was so absorbed in her thoughts, that she failed to really consider a few things as her hand gripped the handle to the door. That for some reason, the door to the kitchen was illuminated, that she could hear some sounds of metal from within, and that she could just remember one door being opened besides her own along the hallway they had all slept around.

Jeannette flung the door open, and found her eyes squarely on the harem protagonist, calmly playing with a pot and a small fire. It would have been bad enough to run into him here, she really wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone, thank you very much. But even worse was his attire. For you see, for some reason the freaking bronze jackass wasn't wearing a shirt, so she got a look all over his well developed back muscles as he bent over to try and have the pot steam. However, just as she was about to say something, he seemed to realize that he wasn't alone, and turned a frown on his face. That wasn't why Jeannette looked away though. Rather, it was because when he turned around, she got a good look at his naked chest and it was…

'Stupid sexy harem protagonist,' she mumbled in her head.

"What are you doing up so late Jeanne Alter," the bronze man asked, taking a step to allow Jeannette to see he wasn't working with a pot on the skittle, but a kettle, with a small stem sticking into the air and a light mist of steam pouring from its mouth. He gave her a look of pity, with one of those, "Ah, I see you too have suffered horribly" smiles he gave whenever he was giving out advice, "Couldn't sleep?"

"What's it to you?" she asked, marching into the kitchen and walking up to the kettle, "Need some kind of old granny sleeping aid?"

The sad smile turned into a smirk, but the bronze man just nodded, "Yeah," he laughed, "A special tea I found when I was out getting supplies," he said, "Said to calm the drinker so they get several hours of deep dreamless sleep."

…

"So," she turned her head back to the kettle, "When will it be ready?"

"Need it then?" she could hear the smirk growing larger in his voice, and felt the desire to pull up a flame and toss it at his head. But then she felt the aches along her arms, and the pure exhaustion she felt all over, sighed, and gave him a nod.

For the next few minutes, the two just waited there for the kettle to begin to really push steam from its spout. It was mildly relaxing honestly, though Jeannette couldn't help but wonder if this wasn't going to make her fall asleep right in the kitchen, but she managed to keep her feet by reminding herself that if she did get knocked out, she probably would be carried back to her bed by the harem protagonist, and she wasn't about to let that happen.

'I have had enough embarrassments without that hanging over me, thank you very much,' she thought to herself, while doing her best to keep herself awake while waiting for the tea. She looked over at her fellow servant, and saw that he looked honestly kind of like her, now that she could get a good look at him, what with rings under his eyes, and wrinkles all along his face, 'I wonder what he needs this crap for,' she thought for a moment, 'Maybe he's worried about flat king getting fucked.'

The man's eyes seemed to widen as he looked at her, or rather behind her. However, that almost disappeared in an instant, as he suddenly spoke up for the first time in a while.

"So, are you sure you don't want to tell me about your bad dreams," he said aloud, though slightly stilted. She looked at his eyes, and then turned her head, only for the harem protagonist to continue, "I think I have an idea of what's causing it, but I'd like to make sure we aren't wasting any of this on you."
"Wasting," Jeannette couldn't help but chuckle, her gaze immediately snapping back to the taller man, "Hell, you're the one who's still mostly a servant," she stopped, and looked down the opening of her shirt to see the dragon reaching across her body, "You probably don't even need to sleep like we do."

"Only by a certain degree," the man admitted, "Though I've found that without sleep, I feel a greater sense of fatigue than I should, so getting a dreamless sleep is a goal if I want to be one hundred percent for tomorrow and searching for that missing spirit."

Jeannette nodded at that. She wanted to rip into the harem protagonist just a bit…but she was far too tired at the moment to give a shit. She looked at him, as he continued to eye her warily, before he sighed, and placed his hands on his knees while he leaned against the wall. He then stared directly into her eyes, and said-

"I'll tell you my dream if you tell me yours."

Jeannette continued to look at the bronze man. He wasn't smirking at her, like she thought he might be. Really, he looked about as serious as he would get when talking to the idiot about something. It then occurred to her that she'd already confessed what she'd gone through, and more than likely nothing she had had would be enough to embarrass her. Of course, his dream might be something new, so something she might be able to hold over his head. Considering all this, she smirked to herself.

"Not much to say that I haven't already said," she shrugged her shoulders, her eyes focused on the taller man, "It was the night of the Palace Pyre."

"Ah," the harem guy nodded at that. She knew they had had an idea about her life here, her body had been enough proof of the shit she'd gone through. Still, despite being reminded of it, he kept his face still as a stone. She was about to speak up, when he asked, "Was it about the fire or-"

"Oh no," Jeannette snorted, remembering the flames bursting out from the coals, "No, those would be good dreams," she subconsciously brought her arm slowly over her body, then stopped, remembering that she had a shirt and didn't need to cover herself, "No, it was much earlier in the night."

The harem protagonist nodded again. He then let out a sigh, before rubbing his forehead, before shaking his head.

"Is there anything else you want to-"

"No."

"Anything I can do to help?"

"Just the tea," she looked at the kettle, cursing how it still wasn't cooking fast enough. The bronze man nodded a third time, but she smirked at the discomfort on his face, "So why don't you tell me what you were dreaming about?"

The man just stopped, and sighed, before saying, "It's not about Artoria if that's what you were thinking," and he could tell from the slight twitch upwards on the edge of his lips that her disappointment showed on her face. Well, if he knew-

"You sure about that?" she would just have to needle him a bit. Not too much, he could probably pummel her if she went too far, but just a bit, "Not worried about her being off as some lady to some great lord?"

"Oh no, I'm worried about that," he said, the hint of a smile disappearing, "I'm worried about how we're going to get her out of here, how her health is, if she has been treated well," he gave her a look, "You know noblemen can be cruel to their wives. I don't think she's experienced anything close to what you have," Jeannette almost winced at that, but shoved that reflex down and just continued to stare at him, "But still, I don't want her to be hurt."

"I thought the mutt said this Stark lord was a pretty cool guy?" she spoke up, really just trying to see if she could get a bigger reaction from him.

"And he hid that she was married from me for months. You'll forgive me for not trusting his judgment," the man growled, and had she not been so tired, she might have pushed further. But really, she could tell she wasn't getting any more from him tonight on that, so might as well just listen to his real dream. Once the silence hung in the air for enough time, he sighed, "I'm alone in the dream."

"That's a shock."

"Really alone. Absolutely, positively alone," he continued, cutting through her snark, "I was in a desert or something. The place around me was completely barren, with no plants or animals or structures of any kind," Jeannette nodded as her head formed the picture, "And above me, the sun was dying."

"...sun was dying?"

"Yes," he held one hand out like a ball, and then used the fingers of his other hand to make little strands out of the ball, "The sun above me was coming apart, it had become a barely held together tangle of flame and plasma," he then paused, "Which was why the thing felt so hot, from what I could see."

"Okay," Jeannette wasn't interested or anything, but this was something different than she thought, so she'd hear the rest out, "And what was happening besides that?"
"Well, nothing really," the bronze man closed his eyes, "Really, it was just a feeling I had," he looked at her, "Despair. The feeling of defeat mixed with the heat and the dryness, that was what I was feeling, as I walked along."

"Walked where?"

"...I don't know, just walked," he grumbled, "It was like…it was like I had no purpose, tossed about like dust in the wind," he sighed, "And then I heard a voice," and he turned to her, "And then I woke up."

"And that's it?"

"That's it."

"That's all it took to wake you up and make you come make something so you don't have dreams?" Jeanette couldn't help but point at the harem protagonist, "Did the voice say something or-"

"Not that I could make out," he leaned forward, "As far as I could tell, the voice was…strange, but not too strange," he rubbed his chin in perplexion, "But…I know I don't want to hear it again, and I really don't want to see what happens."

"Moron," she grumbled, "I'm having dreams about being a-," she stopped, closed her lips tightly, and growled to herself, "A you know."

"And I agree," he had a frown on, "This shouldn't be enough for me to have such a freak out," he passed her, and walked up to the kettle. He pulled it up, and began to pour it into the cups, and Jeannette watched as the steam began to float up from the open drinks, "But it is, and that worries me."

"Something from your past?" she asked as she reached her hand out, and allowed the taller servant to pass her a cup. She blew on the top for a moment. She may be a mistress of fire, but she wasn't so insane as to want to burn her mouth.

"Maybe," he said, taking up his own cup, before lightly sipping it, "It has some similarities, but…what worries me," he took another sip, "Is that it's showing me my future."

"Ah," Jeanette nodded. That did make more sense, what with a dying sun and all that. A few times she'd heard servants got strange dreams of premonitions of the future, even if they hadn't had that skill in their previous life. Something about being connected to the Throne of Heroes, mixed with the waves of mystical forces beyond the physical eye, alongside just the conspiracies of Fate itself. And if this guy was getting some kind of view of the apocalypse, she considered while lifting the cup to her lips, then that might be reall-

SPPPIIIITTT

"OH FUCK THASTES AWFUL!" she screamed. The harem protagonist just gave her a smirk, "How do you drink this stuff."

"No appreciation for anything that isn't immediately enjoyable," he chuckled to himself, "You just can't fully appreciate the complexities of it's bitt-"

"That tasted like you shifted sewage water through a used tea strainer," she coughed, nearly prepared to toss the cup away.

"Like master like servant."

"What was that?"

"Nothing," the harem protagonist's voice was far too jovial for it to be nothing, but she realized she wouldn't be able to get much more out of him. She grumbled, as he walked forward, "You will need to get a couple of gulps down before you get off to bed," he said, before grabbing his nose, "Try holding your nose, it should make it easier to down it."

"Do I have to," she glared down at the steaming liquid.

"If you want to avoid having bad dreams, yeah, you do."

She sighed, grabbed her nose, and then swirled the whole drink down her gullet. For a moment, she felt like she was about to blow her chunks all over the smug bastard, but finally she stopped, took in a deep breath, and allowed herself to calm down. She just stood there, her spine tingling as she felt the warmth of the disgusting swill begin to fill her chest. Then she felt her heart begin to slow, and could feel a tingling in her finger tips.

"Let's get off to bed," the bronze man said a bit too loudly, his eyes pointed backward. Jeannette gave a look back to follow his eyes, again to the doorway, but found nothing there. She just stared for a moment, hoping to catch what he'd been looking at, but before long, she had to take a step to keep from falling, "If you want to get some real sleep, we need to get back now."

"Yeah yeah," she whined, beginning to step back. Her companion made a swipe of his hand, and suddenly all but a single lantern around them went out. He then picked up the lantern, and grabbed her by the hand. She was about to pull back, but his strength was enough to lead her on.

"You are probably already losing a bit of control," Emiya said, and Jeannette couldn't help but nod. She allowed Emiya to lead her through the main atrium, and down into the bedroom hallway, soon past Xuanzang and Nitocris's rooms. She stopped then, in front of the room that she had stopped less than a half hour ago before.

'Was it always cracked open?' she considered, before shaking her head, 'Ah, Ritsuka probably just left it so the air could get through,' she then continued to follow Emiya, who opened her door. She walked through, saw the bed, and felt herself smile. Soon, she walked toward it, and then fell face first onto the mattress, which felt so much better now.

"Good night."

"Good night Emiya," she said, looking up, and giving him a wave.

He stopped, and looked at her for a moment, blinking. He then smiled to himself, and waved back, before going out into the hallway, and closing the door behind her. Now, safe in her room, she reached down to the blankets, pulled them up, and allowed her eyes to close.

"Oh my fucking head," Jeannette grumbled, "God damn Harem Protagonist and his hangover inducing drug tea."

"Jeanne Alter," she looked over at the monk, who was calmly holding the compass in her hand. How Jeannette had gotten assigned to go along with her she'd never understand, but they were together now, and she was looking at her like her head was on backwards, "Do you need a rest," she held out her hands in conciliation, "I understand it has been a long trek, and if you need-"

"I'm fine," she growled, giving her partner a look, "I'm fine," she rubbed her temple a bit, "Just need to walk off that weird sleeping potion the harem protagonist gave me last night."

They'd been tasked to split up earlier in the morning. Jeannette actually hadn't had breakfast, the taste of the awful tea still dominating her mouth, so she'd been grumpy through the whole meeting while the idiot readied their plan. They had three compases afterall, and they all knew the general direction of their target. So they split up in teams of three, Master and harem protagonist, pharoah and mutt, and her and the monk. They would each go to different sections of the city, north, central and south, and then all head west. Hopefully, by spreading out as a wide net, they'd be able to catch who they were looking for. And, should anyone get into trouble, they'd be able to see that something happened that led to the compass pointing backwards.

"Are you sure you don't need a rest," the monk whined, her hand reaching up to Jeanette's forehead. Jeaneette reached up, and pushed it away.

"I don't," she seethed, glaring at the monk. Where did this dunderhead get off acting like this. The entire time they'd known each other, the monk had had a fairly visible dislike of her. But now, she was acting like the freaking saint, always asking if she was well, or needed something. Jeannnette was fine, she didn't need to be babied like this. She looked at the monk, "If we fall behind, we might mess up the mission," she added acidly, "It only works if we keep up with the other teams. They see us fall behind, then that might mean they freak out and come look for us."

The monk just gave her a look with her big stupid puppy eyes, before sighing, and nodding. She made a quick gesture, and then kept moving forward. Jeannette grumbled as she followed, continuing to rub her forehead.

Jeannette was just glad they were able to move around without constant In some ways, it was easier to move in Pentos than in Volantis. For all that Volantis was a trade city, it was clear who were the old blood, and who were just visitors. Here, there were mixes of all different peoples, from Valyrian stock to Andal to Rhoyar to Qaarthi to countless mixes and matches. So even though some did give looks to an Ash Valyrian and a Xi Tin walking together along a busy road, it was only a look, and not a report to the guards or worse. And really, Jeannette had to wonder if it was the fairly loose clothing that the monk was wearing.

'Honestly,' she thought to herself as she watched the bindings beneath the monk's robes, 'I'm surprised the pup hasn't pissed himself considering everything.'

The sight of the mutt's son having a massive crush on the monk had been one of the most hilarious things she'd seen since she'd woken up. Mostly because of how unrealistic it all was, but also from the sheer obliviousness of the monk herself. Most of the time he was trying to act like his sire, but then when the monk would walk by he'd follow her like the sad little puppy he was. He'd gone with his father, but Jeannette had known he'd wanted to join up with them.

'Dealing with offspring,' she thought to herself. For a moment, her mind focused on the mutt. Then, her mind drifted to a blonde girl with green eyes in blue armor. She shook her head, 'How are we going to deal with the remaining servants with families. I can't just threaten to burn them, cause that would only make them our enemies,' she remembered the story of the pharoah's dead brother (and wasn't that history repeating itself), and how the harem protagonist had had to imply a threat to the pup for the mutt to wake up, 'Shit, it's like this whole thing's only going to get worse and worse,' she then though to herself, 'And we better not have to have Master do something like he needed to do to wake me up.'

"Wait!"

Jeannette stopped, and looked over at the monk, who was smiling. Instead of constantly pointing north, they were the southernmost team, it was beginning to spin completely, pointing a bit southwest. Jeannette's eyes widened as she looked down at it, and then nearly gave a fist pump.

"Let's go find the bastard," she said, and she and the monk both began to jog instead of run. As they did so, they made turns and twists down a few alleys to try and move north as well as west. Doing so, the compass began to focus more and more on their target, and Jeannette could feel the victory hanging in the air. After one turn, they found themselves down on another major street, this one with massive bazaars on the sides. The two held out the compass, and it pointed directly west. The monk and Jeannette gave each other a nod, and began to push down the street, the feeling of victory assured.

However, as they did so…slowly, the stalls of the bazaar fell behind them. Instead, as they made their way further and further, they couldn't help but see a rather high wall begin to stand up in the distance. Jeannette already guessed what was about to happen when they finally managed to arrive before the wall, with the compass pointing directly inside the massive structure.

"So they're inside this palace huh?" she said, as the monk nodded. The walls were very high, and quite thick too, if Jeannette could make a guess. This was likely another manse, but one from a really massively wealthy family.

"Let's see if we can go around," Jeannette offered. The monk looked over, and nodded at her. The two quickly rushed around the walls, but quickly found that this manse was so far west that it actually was only walled on three sides, with the final side seeming to be open to the sea itself. That meant that their target was inside this manse, and likely part of a massive family.

"This is most unfortunate," the monk grumbled, rubbing her chin in frustration, and Jeannette had to agree. Chances were this missing servant was from a very rich family, and the chance of her having relations that would tie her to this plane were likely too much to ignore. They'd have to be smart about this if they'd be able figure out who it was, and find a way in. However, just as they were staring at the walls, she raised her finger to the sky, "I know, we'll wait for someone to come in, and ask them about whose palace this is," she gave one of her big dumb smiles, "That way, we can maybe see if we can make a plan of attack."

"...," Jeannette just stared up at the walls for a moment, before nodding, "Nothing better to do," she said.

Of course, this didn't turn out how they had been hoping. The manse only had one door, which had been easy enough to find, but no one was coming in or out as far as they could tell. Of course, it could just be the timing, but for at least an hour, no one came inside or outside the compound. Which meant that Jeannette and the monk had basically sat on the opposite side of the street from the palace, just quietly waiting for the freaking door to open.

As it passed, slowly but surely the central team had managed to arrive, the pharaoh and the mutt with his pup, with the north team still likely taking a bit since they were on the opposite side of the city. The extra company had just made the whole thing crowded, though Jeannette enjoyed the look of complete embarrassment that the pup had when the monk loosened her outer robe to allow the breeze to better cool her.

Teasing a prepubescent boy was fun.

Just as it looked like the pup was about to explode, the pharaoh suddenly got up. She smiled, and pointed at the door. There, carrying a burlap sack on his shoulders, was a young man. Just beyond being a boy, he was of Rhoynish descent, tall, with short hair. He had to be fairly strong, he was carrying what looked like a good bit of something along his back, but he appeared more wiry than stout.

However, more important than his appearance, was that he was about to enter where their comrade was. The group quickly got off their asses, and charged across the road to suddenly land in front of the young man. He appeared momentarily startled, but quickly he steeled himself, preparing almost to huck the bag at them. However, quickly the pharaoh pushed to the front, right in front of him, and then bowed.

"Ah, good ser," she said with her most diplomatic voice, "Tis a please to meet you," she then waved her hand to the side, "I hope you do not mind an intrusion, but we had a few questions about the manse you are about to enter."

Jeannette could see the young man was considering whether to let this eclectic group of weirdos, from a wide variety of different races and cultures, have time of his day. Finally, social nicety won out, and he placed the sack on the ground. He then crossed his arms, and glared at the group.

"Mayhaps you could explain why?" he asked.

"AH well," the pharaoh continued, "You see, we are a group of property developers," Jeannette had to hold in a snort, and she could imagine a similar reaction happening to the mutt, "Our goal is to buy up less developed houses along the free cities, and then develop them into truly valuable estates."

"...," the young man blinked at them, before saying, "I do not believe the manse is for sale."

"Oh come now," their diplomat continued, "Would you not introduce us to your parents first, so they might give us a better idea of what to do?"

"No," the young man said, picking up the door, "Asides, this isn't my parent's house, my family are servants here."

"Oh," the monk spoke up, "So could you tell us the name of the owner of this place?"

The young man stopped, before beginning to open the door faster, "Tis not a right of you to know who owns every individual property," he turned and gave them a glare, "Would be an insult to the owner to give his name without gaining yours," he then pushed himself and his sack inside the door, "Now, if you have no more inquiries-"
"Well then what is your name?" Jeannette spoke up, and managed to catch the boy just enough off guard. Then, he turned, and looked at them expectantly, likely hoping that they would realize just who stupid asking a servant boy was about anything like that. Still, by the end of it, he shook his head, and then added.

"Fine," he said, "I am Baelon Seas."

"Oh," Jeannette had heard enough of western naming conventions to realize the boy in front of him was a bastard. True, this was Pentos, not some other places with rigider hierarchy, so he could be allowed to move forward without any sort of public disdain. Yet he was also marked, likely by an absentee father, though the chance was that he was so hostile to telling them anything was because he was protecting his father's reputation then. The name also said he had some Valyrian in him, considering his use of the name of one of the kings of Westros. Still, they needed to try to get some more information, "Do you stay here, or-"

"Yes," he said firmly, "I do, like most servants do," he then glared at them, "Now unless anyone-"

"Do you have your family in there then?" the question hung in the air from Colan, who was looking at the boy across from him, their close age honestly seeming to get the servant's mind working.

"Yes," he answered in the affirmative, "My sister Sheera," Jeannette blinked, again noting to herself that the family used Valyrian names. However, for a second he stopped, before finally adding, "As well as my mother-"

"Mata Seas."