Feelings are confusing :)


The next two days pass uneventfully, although the only ones that seem to be disappointed by that are Kaidan, mostly because he hasn't left the shop in those two days, and Victoria, who seems to grow more frustrated with every second that the right answers don't fall into her lap. Meanwhile, according to Quinn, Ann has been too wrapped up in her studies to care about the passage of time, and Morgan and Mime are happy to take the chance to work on their alchemy, fix the shop, and generally relax after a hectic few days. For all of Victoria's impatience, she at least is considerate enough to not heckle them—only Michael, it seems.

"I don't think your idea of waiting for information to come to us is working," Victoria says to Michael on the third morning over coffee. Both the night before and the previous night, the two of them have gone to the tavern to keep an ear out for rumors. Miners have come and gone frequently with plenty of complaints, but not the right ones yet.

"The name of the game is patience, dear Victoria," he reminds her, smirking at the cross look on her face; whether it's at him calling her out for being hasty or at the playful endearments that she hasn't bothered to tell him to stop, he can't quite tell. "Think about it. I'm sure Goldner took at least a day or two just to decide what to do with Kaidan's artifact."

Kaidan, leaning against the counter, crosses his arms with a bitter grimace. Morgan gives him a sympathetic look and a tentative nudge with their elbow, eliciting a weary flicker of a smile.

"What if he decided to sell it, or get rid of it some other way quietly?" Victoria retorts, making Kaidan flinch again. "Judging by what we've seen so far of the man, he might not trust any of his underlings with the kind of information we're after."

Michael glances at their resident Tinker. "Ann? What do you think? How would one sell or get rid of a magical object such as that?"

Ann hums quietly, gloved fingers tapping against the mug in her hands. "There are markets for such objects, and plenty of black market vendors in big cities like Erodas who would be happy to take it off Goldner's hands quickly and quietly. But out here? I doubt he'd find someone to take it without drawing unwanted attention to himself."

"So he's keeping it, as we've already decided on," Michael agrees. "And short of shaking down the man himself for information—and believe me, that is rather tempting—our only other option is to keep listening to his subordinates."

Frowning, Victoria glances at Morgan. "How many batches of your invisibility potion can you make? Could we make one for a preliminary scouting mission?"

Morgan furrows their brow in thought. "Well, we did find our blue cornflowers in the woods yesterday, but there weren't many. I think we'd better make sure we have enough for the real deal," they say apologetically. "And I'd like to save some for any future recipes that might need them, since they're a rare ingredient…If not, that's totally fine, but…"

"Very well." Victoria pauses briefly, thinking. "We'll try one more night at the tavern doing things your way, Michael. And then I think we'll have to try something else."

He shrugs. "Fair enough."

Mime speaks up tentatively. "Um, you're not going to, y'know, threaten the miners or anything, right? It's not like they like Goldner any more than we do…"

"Most of the guards in his mansion were townfolk in uniforms, just doing their jobs," Kaidan agrees quietly, blue eyes luminous in the early morning. "I had to resort to some…less than diplomatic measures to escape."

With a sigh, Victoria agrees, "We won't threaten them. They're the people we're trying to protect. And besides, we would have no good way to ensure their silence afterwards. We'll think of something else, if we need to."

"We might not," Michael adds, smiling as Victoria's gaze swivels back to him in question. "I heard there's a travelling group of minstrels passing through tonight. They're bound to visit the tavern and put on some entertainment, and entertainment means more patrons, more drinks, and looser tongues."

She accepts this with a reluctant nod. "Does anyone else have any ideas on what to do until then?"

Leaning back far enough to push his chair onto its back legs, Michael volunteers, "Let's give lurking around the mansion a break. We've already mapped out every exterior guard's patrol routes and locations that we could without being seen, and the guards rotate every four hours. What more is there?"

"Look, just because you have the attention span of a five-year-old-"

At that moment, the door to the front part of the shop opens to reveal Elizabeth.

"Good morning, everyone. There's someone at the door looking for you all." She pauses. "Well, he specified the Demon Hunter, actually." Victoria tenses, her hand drifting towards her sword, but Elizabeth adds, "I don't recognize him as one of Goldner's lackeys. He sounded rather worried."

Already frowning, Victoria reluctantly stands. "I'll go see what he wants, then."

She disappears out the door, and Michael gets to his feet, curious. "And I'll go make sure she doesn't bite his head off."

"Much appreciated," Morgan chuckles weakly, and he winks back at them before closing the door behind him.

At the front of the shop, Victoria stands in the doorway, tall and imposing, her posture closed and unfriendly. The stranger stands on the front steps, looking awkward; he's about half a head shorter than her, though his stooped shoulders—a miner, perhaps—and fidgeting, in the face of her intimidating aura, make it seem like more.

"You are a Hunter, are you not?" he asks, and Michael inwardly winces; the man's not off to a good start, bringing that up. "I recognize the sword…"

Expression frosty, she says, "I'm not. I'm sorry, I cannot help you."

"That's not very Knightly of you," Michael remarks, sidling up alongside her. Ignoring the glare she shoots him, he asks the man, "What's going on?"

Perhaps sensing that he's not quite welcome from Victoria's standpoint, the man quickly gets to the point—his daughter, who usually walks to the local school with the other children, never made it there this morning, according to her teacher. The daughter, Marie, would never play hooky, according to the father, and the teacher also seemed to think that there was something the other children were hiding.

Victoria still looks skeptical, so Michael takes it upon himself to promise, "We'll look for your daughter, although we can't make any guarantees. Can we get a description and a way to contact you if we find anything?"

After giving that information, the man adds, "She also likes to play in the meadows in the forest. I've checked there already, but I wouldn't be surprised if she makes her way there later."

Michael assures him that they'll check, and the man leaves, wringing his hands and looking grateful. Victoria shuts the door hard, jangling the newly repaired bell above the door, and gives Michael a cross look.

"You have no business going around making promises like that," she says irritably.

"Well, if you weren't going to help, madam Knight," he retorts, stressing the title pointedly, "I figured someone should. Better err on the side of caution when it comes to missing children, in my humble opinion."

"I-" Lifting a hand to her face, she sighs, "Yes, of course," surprising Michael with the one-eighty pivot to agreement. "We just can't let it distract us from our current mission."

Spreading his hands in a cheerful gesture, he declares, "Well, since we had no plans for the morning and afternoon today, I'd say that won't be a problem." Remembering what she'd shared with him over cards in the tavern, he teases, "Would I be right in saying that you were a little like Marie when you were young? Giving your parents gray hairs and constant worries, disappearing from town to play troll hunter?"

"I was more responsible than that," she replies hotly, crossing her arms. "And tougher than people like to give children credit for. My parents knew better than to be concerned." Her shoulders fall a fraction of an inch. "Well, concerned for my safety, at least. My grades and my image were…another matter."

He opens his mouth, then closes it. In his hesitation, Victoria shakes herself, strong shoulders coming back straight. It's a fascinating change, taking her natural resilience and molding it into a bristling facade of invulnerability. It's the kind of change that he supposes he's not a stranger to either.

"I'll go inform the others," she says shortly, turning to go, but he quickly grabs her attention before she can leave.

"Wait," he says. "I have something to run by you."

Immediately looking suspicious, she says, with the tone of someone who's been handed a timed explosive, "Yes?"

"I'm sure it'll go quicker if we have an extra set of eyes searching," he starts, raising his eyebrows as he inwardly braces himself.

Sure enough, realization sinks in quickly, and her face hardens. "No."

Dropping all pretense, Michael tries to argue reasonably, "Kaidan is going insane, stuck in this shop. He's just too quiet and polite to admit it. And while I'm sure Elizabeth appreciates his skill in repairing her furniture and getting things down from the top shelves for her, she's stopped forcing potions down him, so his health isn't an issue."

"It will be if he gets caught again," she counters.

"He won't, not with the disguises we made for him, and he's learned caution after Goldner. Speaking of which, if things go wrong again, he'll have a better time of it if he can learn at least a few paths and landmarks," Michael says, meeting Victoria's gaze squarely. "Kaidan shouldn't be a prisoner here like he was at Goldner's."

Empathy wars with caution visibly behind her eyes; for how rigid and stone-like she's capable of making her expression, a second of eye contact gives her away. Finally, she sighs, levelling a exasperated look at Michael.

"On your head be it," she acquiesces. "You'd better have a plan."

"I already do," he agrees cheerfully, surprised but gratified by her agreement. Perhaps she is learning to have a little more faith in people other than herself. "I've been talking it over with him in our down time."

"Behind my back, I presume," she adds, but with a tone more of dry resignation than true anger, and he grins.

"Let's go deliver the news," he says, but this time, she stops him.

"Michael." He turns, raising an eyebrow, and Victoria seems to mull over her words briefly, narrowing her eyes in calculation, before asking, "Why do you care so much about his feelings? We may be in this together, but we're hardly more than strangers."

"Strangers? You and I, friends who have shared drinks and secrets over games of poker?" he asks with a dramatic gasp.

Unamused, her eyes narrow to chips of ruby, her tone growing flinty.

"You and I," she repeats after him, "are nothing more than colleagues by convenience and necessity. We aren't friends and never will be, not when your life choices stand against everything I fight for, and-" For a microsecond, her wintry attitude cracks. "-and vice versa."

His breath rattles in his chest. Feeling oddly numb, he fights down the urge to clear his throat of something painful lodged there, wondering why it hurts at all. What had he expected?

Something more, that's for sure. Clearly, he was a fool to do so.

"Suit yourself," he says lightly, pretending he didn't hear the slightest tremor in his voice.

Striding past her towards the back door, Michael pauses with one hand on the knob.

Smile.

Pushing open the door in one grand movement, he declares to their motley band, "Friends, we've got ourselves a bad news, good news type of situation."

Victoria moves past him in a ripple of dark hair to explain. While blocking out the sound of her voice, Michael tries to forget the ache lodged forlornly behind his sternum, smiling carelessly, defiantly, through it all.

o0o0o

Guilt worries at Victoria throughout the entirety of their walk to the forest. Then she feels frustrated for feeling guilty at all.

"Victoria?"

Her head jerks up at the sound of Morgan's concerned voice. They've fallen back behind the rest of the group. Mime is pulling Kaidan—who is admittedly well disguised—around by the arm and chattering nonstop, while Michael is teasing Ann about something, judging by the looks on their faces. Victoria looks away.

"What is it?" she asks gruffly.

"Well, nothing, really," Morgan rambles nervously; their fingers, dyed and stained where Victoria's are calloused, twist together mindlessly. "It's just—are you okay? Did something happen with Michael?"

Her stomach takes an uneasy lurch, and she tries to brush it off. "No. Why?"

"Well…it's just…I dunno, you've hardly said a word to each other since we left the shop."

"I think we both prefer it that way." Given the way she'd snapped at him earlier, that at least can't be a lie, so why does it feel like one? It can't be the way he'd looked almost hurt as soon as the words left her lips and she was left wishing she could take them back.

With the sort of guileless transparency that Victoria almost envies right now, Morgan asks, "Really? It seems like you've been getting along better these last few days, and now you're…not." The same disappointment seeping into Victoria's chest laces Morgan's tone. "It's weird, seeing you two not getting along again…or, well, not not getting along but in a good-ish way?"

Morgan's voice creeps up and up, getting higher pitched with every tentative word. This is giving Victoria a headache—just what she needed to go with the ache in her chest.

"What are you trying to say?" she sighs, lifting a hand to massage her temple.

"I don't really know," Morgan admits sheepishly, but they sound almost sad. "It's just like…seeing your parents argue or something." Waving their hands hurriedly, they blurt out, "Not that, y'know, you two are like our parents—well, you do look out for us, so I mean-" Their shoulders fall with a sigh. "Never mind. Either way, you're our leaders, so…"

"We are?" Victoria asks, thoroughly confused.

"Well, yeah," Morgan replies, as if this should be obvious. "You two are the ones with all the ideas and plans. Ann's kind of in her own world—as long as things don't get in the way of her thesis, she's happy to follow, and I don't think Kaidan is used to acting alone in the first place. And me and Mime are just along for the ride, I guess." With a hopeful, awkward little smile, they add, "So maybe think of it as…you two getting along is mission critical?"

Victoria can't help but snort at that. "I doubt it." Upon seeing Morgan's face fall, she sighs, relenting; part of her wants to hope, too. "But I'll keep in mind what you said." No matter what she does, it's going to live in her head rent free anyways.

A look of relief brightens Morgan's expression. "Thanks, Victoria. I'm sure things will work out." They glance ahead and start, alarmed. "Hey, Mime, don't get too far ahead!"

The walk goes by faster than she expected it to. Soon, the trees of the Ivy Woods loom over them all before Victoria realizes that she's spent the entire time stewing over how she's supposed to resolve this sudden distance with Michael. Her insistence on keeping a close eye on him this past week has led to them spending quite a lot of time in the same space, close enough for him to get on her nerves and needle her constantly with his comments and taunts.

Now, she can keep an eye on him from a comfortable distance, watching as he approaches Mime, who looks a little apprehensive at the sight of the forest. He offers Mime something wrapped up in pastry paper that he'd hidden in his bag. The little spirit's golden eyes widen happily as they converse. To Victoria's confusion, Mime suddenly whacks Michael's arm in indignation, which he laughs off with hands raised guilelessly, that same look of affected innocence that seems to be his trademark.

As soon as Mime takes a bite of the treat, her pout vanishes completely as she does a little hop and skip, and something warm and genuine lights up Michael's face. Victoria supposes that she's been trying to watch him so carefully that it's easier to tell now when he's faking it and when he's not, and she's forced to admit that yes, that microsecond of hurt that he almost fully hid was real.

Well, that's troublesome—and almost absurd, on first blush, given all of the other things that she's said to him and that she didn't even think he really heard, let alone cared about. Still, if he's being absurd, so is she, with her irritating feelings of guilt.

"We should split up," Ann declares, looking around with her gloved hands on her hips. "We'll cover more ground that way." Humming briefly, she nods to herself a moment later. "Kaidan, if you don't mind coming with me, Quinn wants some samples from the living forest to see if they can get any clues for resurrecting the wilted part, and a walking step-ladder would certainly help."

"Meaning me?" Kaidan mutters under his breath.

Morgan reaches up to pat his shoulder sympathetically, though they look more amused than anything. "Still better than guinea pig. Have fun!"

Kaidan gives Morgan a betrayed look, eliciting giggles from the alchemist and Mime. Ann makes her way off into the forest, with Kaidan dutifully following after her, leaving Morgan, Mime, Victoria, and Michael.

"Maybe we should split up, too?" Mime asks, but she wilts under Victoria's hard stare.

"I'm not letting any of you go off by yourselves," she says flatly. "No one should be walking around alone."

"But me and Morgan would be together…"

"With no way to defend yourselves in case of danger," Victoria points out, and she adds, forestalling Michael, "And I'm not leaving you to chaperone them."

He flashes her that smirk of his. "Oh, Victoria, darling, if you didn't want me to leave your side, you could've just said so."

She frowns, caught off guard, though not particularly by his words themselves. Perhaps she'd read too much into their less than friendly interaction this morning, and he wasn't really bothered at all by it—otherwise, would he still try to rile her up like this?

When she stares a moment too long, Michael raises his eyebrows expectantly, his smirk slipping at the corner, and she shakes her head. "Let's get going."

Maybe this is all more trouble than it's worth, but Victoria's done running from her mistakes. If some are unavoidable, well, the least she can do is face them straight on.


Whoops guess I'm breaking this up into two chapters.