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Jaune hummed as he came to, a pleasant sort of… Ache running through his upper half, like a few dozen little pockmarks all along his neck and down his chest. It passed in a moment and, as he relaxed, he became aware of a great many things at once. And two very specifically which pushed to the front of his mind, pressed against his stomach like little warm wonders. Raising his head off the nice, 'I am not going to ask' grey leather wrapped pillows, he looked down.

Fiona lay against his side, curled up with her head on his sternum, right below a couple little bruises he definitely remembered being bite-marks. His thick fur blanket covered up to her waist, but he could see a long stretch of her back and shoulders, nicked and dotted by scars. None were longer than a finger, or half as thick, but they drew his eye anyway. A few he could figure out - little stars for bullet exists, thin trails for claws - but his armored finger drifted over a splotch on her hip, no bigger than his thumb, as he tried to figure out what it was…

"Incendiary." He stiffened and turned, looking down at where Fion had turned just a bit, looking sidelong up at him. She looked… Almost wary, somehow, but shrugged and offered a quiet, "Atlas uses 'em."

"They shot you with incendiaries…?"

"Yeah, but… Not for why you're thinking." She sighed, rolling onto her side and smiling when his eyes locked on the perfect little pink-tipped handfuls it let him see. Running a finger down the edges of the ragged scar on his chest, she sighed, "Perv… They're not that great."

"I disagree."

"Oh, I know you do, believe me." She chuckled, smiling and tapping a finger on her stomach, drawing his eye to another little burn. "Friendly fire. Creeps overwhelmed me, and the squad I was helping just… Opened up. A few rounds got through, but they were just desperate to save me."

"Ah…"

"It was a long time ago, before I was a Huntress." She blinked, realised her mistake, and snorted, "I mean a Happy Huntress."

"I figured, yeah."

"Do they…" She curled in on herself a bit more, tugging his blankets closer and avoiding his gaze. "Do they… Bother you?"

"The scars…?"

"Yeah."

"Only in the sense that I know you got hurt…" She blinked, flicking him a look while one of her ears turned towards him, and his brows furrowed. Quietly, he asked, "Is… Is that a surprise?"

"A lot of guys don't like women with scars, Jaune…" She sighed, unwinding herself a bit and sitting up. He tried not to follow the trail the blanket made on its way down and around her hips, pooling around her just enough to hide her- "I see you don't mind them, though."

"A-Ah… No, uh…" He chuckled and sighed, scratching at his stomach idly. Meekly, he offered a weak, "Sorry?"

"If I didn't want you to see it, I would cover up, Jaune." She rolled her eyes, scooting up the bed to turn and lean back against the wall behind the head of it. He sat up to join her, if only so he had something less distracting at head level than he otherwise would have, and Fiona leaned against his shoulder and went on, "It's… Not a big deal, to some Huntresses. 'If they care they aren't worth being there', Robyn always says. But I've always been a bit, well, conscious of them…"

"Why?"

"They're ugly, Jaune."

"They're as ugly as your-" He caught himself, and Fiona's raised, teasing eyebrows turning to peer up at him, cleared his throat, and said, "Eyes."

"Meaning…?"

"Meaning, they're beautiful, Fiona." He sighed, turning and, before he could overthink it, dipping down to a pockmark just below her collar, where he pressed a kiss. Fiona giggled like it was ticklish and he straightened, resting his armored palm against her cheek. She didn't flinch, from the cold or the metal, and instead stared into Jaune's eyes, mouth open in surprise, while he said, "You're beautiful. And your scars are marks of why. You're brave, self-sacrificing- A hero."

"Jaune…"

"You're everything I ever wanted to be." He smiled, "Everything I still do want to try and be."

Fiona kissed him before he even registered her moving, which he took as a sign that he'd said the right thing. She smiled into it, pushing his shoulder to nudge him back and make him turn. He rested against the cold stone as she slid around to straddle him, still kissing him while his hands slid to her waist. When she pulled away, it was to pepper more biting kisses along his neck. She raised herself up a hair, nipping at his ear, and Jaune held his breath-

"You know, we have a Seal to help you, if you're aiming for an heir so soon…"

"Ack!" Fiona suddenly slammed against him, throwing herself off of him and to the side while she, at the same time, floundered for his blankets and tried to cover up.

"Gnarl…" He growled, turning a more hateful glare on the little gremlin than even he seemed to have expected.

"A-Ah, um…" He smiled, "Or we have the one to stop that, if I misread?"

"Why are you in our room, Gnarl?!" Fiona snapped, wrapping his furs more comfortably around herself and relaxing now that the surprise had worn off. Pouting, she muttered, "And why did you ruin the mood… It was just getting good."

"I was reading the books you translated in one of your more, er, manic periods of work." The Minion explained almost sheepishly, watching Fiona straighten, more curious than upset now. Which was good for her - Jaune still wanted to strangle the little goblin. Holding up a thin little journal, he said, "I believe you were cut off before finishing this one, but… It has a hint to something that may be very important."

"And that is…?"

"A tomb." Gnarl smiled, "For the last of the past Overlord's mistresses, Halicar. Far to the south, even beyond your 'Mistrial'-"

"Mistral."

"-even beyond your whatever, I don't care, on an enormous island she named 'Anon en Karab'."

"But the only enormous island south of Mistral is…" Fiona leaned forward, shaking her head, "Menagerie? Why would she go there?"

"I don't know!" Gnarl sighed, wagging Fiona's journal at her. "You didn't translate! All you got to was that, and that she took 'something important' with her. So come on, up you get, put some shorts on! We have work to do!"

"I need more than shorts, Gnarl!"

"Oh, I don't know…" The Minion cackled, flicking Jaune a look, "Does she need more than shorts, Master- Ack! No! Don't club me with the baby-seal leather pillows!"

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It only took half a day for Fiona to get dressed, find the book she'd been working on, and finish off the section they needed. When it was done, she sent Minions to fetch him, Gnarl and, for some reason, Ruby, and had them brought to the library where she was sitting beside the large crystal at its center, at the same table they'd had their date at. She was leaned over an old, worn looking book, with pages that didn't look like they were made of normal paper but more like a sort of… Cloth, almost, with its edges fraying like an old sweater's threads coming loose. She was skimming the same passage over and over, checking it against a few of what looked like more or less the same sentence while Jaune eased into his seat and Gnarl dragged a little box over to stand on with Ruby peering over his shoulder.

"The rest of the entry is a catalogue." She explained once they'd all settled, "How much food they took, which servants, that sort of thing."

"Is that it?"

"Yeah." Gnarl added, "Surely you found something useful? A dead woman's thousand odd year old travel list isn't exactly productive. Or worth wasting my Lord's- Ow!"

"Gnarl," Ruby sighed, tapping the little wooden spoon on her open palm, "behave."

"...treacherous, torturous little thing, isn't she, Overlord?" Gnarl grumbled, "I'd approve if my head weren't aching."

"Ruby," he sighed, "thump him again."

"What, wait, don't- Ow!"

"Fiona," Jaune smiled, "go on, please."

"R-Right…" Fiona nodded, flicking Jaune a look, flushing just a bit when he smiled, and turning back to her book. "What is important is that she took tools, and a lot of them. And not simple ones, either. Heavy duty tools, for the time at least. Iron chisels, hammers, rivets and drag-chains."

"Drag-chains?" Jaune asked, furrowing his brows curiously.

"You chisel a line into stone, lay the chain in, and then drag it back and forth to slowly wear it down." Fiona explained, miming a back and forth pulling motion with both arms. "It's only really good for softer stone, like… Sandstone. Something like granite wouldn't work for it. A lot of ruins you probably saw on T.V. from out in Vacuo were made with sandstone cut like this."

"Ah." He nodded, "Got it."

"That she took that with her means she planned to do stone-cutting in Menagerie, somewhere." Fiona went on, leaning on the table again and frowning, "Whether she knew a place with the right stone, or took it in the hopes of finding the right stone, it doesn't say. And for all that she took a lot of the drag-chains, they wear down quick, they aren't that heavy. Gnarl, do you have any idea what she'd want to build?"

"A tomb, most likely." He shrugged, "She was an elf, and they live a long, long time, for as frail as they are. One of the last of her kind, too."

"Didn't you say the Overlord wiped them all out…?"

"Yes, well… She was a special case." Gnarl shrugged, "What with the whole 'the Overlord liked to bend her over things and have fun' thing they had going on."

"G-Gnarl!"

"What, Mistress Rose?" The Head Minion huffed, "You are young, but surely you know what the sex is."

"I-I mean yeah, but…" Ruby blushed and whacked him again, ignoring his little pouting glare. "Y-You shouldn't talk about- About that like that! It's weird."

"Fine, fine…" He sighed, shaking his head and flicking Jaune a look as if it was Jaune's fault, somehow, that Ruby had whacked him again. When Jaune only shrugged, the Minion went on, "She also lead the cult that sprang up around the Overlord at the time. Cults are fickle to maintain, but as Elves live so long, their longevity can be turned into 'proof' of the cult's truth. Wiping the elves out helped with that, too. She was 'redeemed by service', or some such."

"Service as in…?"

"Mistress Rose says I can't talk about that stuff so openly." Gnarl smirked, cackling lowly when Fiona blushed brightly and nodded understandingly. "Beyond that, she was an adept magic-wielder and healer, and surprisingly loyal considering the whole 'whoopsie, poopsie, we burned down her civilization' thing."

"...this entire history is so messed up, but that somehow makes it more believable." Fiona sighed, pointing at Jaune, "No, uh, sex slave cult leaders? Yeah, none of that. Consider it banned."

"Sure." Jaune chuckled, "No sex slave cult leaders. Somehow, I doubt that will be hard to avoid."

"Yeah," Fiona nodded, "because I will definitely shoot you."

"But Fi!" He scoffed, "People die when they get shot!"

"Eh, I'll aim for your foot." She shrugged, turning back to Gnarl until he stopped whining about how 'boring' Jaune was as an Overlord, and how he was 'missing out on the best bits' because of it. "Anyway, what kind of tomb would she make? One for the previous Overlord?"

"It'd be an empty one…"

"But would a cult leader care?" Fiona asked, "I mean… This doesn't say who went, so was it mostly cult members?"

"I don't know, Mistress." Gnarl answered, picking his nose while Ruby scowled at him. When their eyes met, she twirled her spoon and he gave up, hands in the air in surrender, and explained, "It frankly wasn't something I cared about, so I don't know much. The Overlord was dead, and so my duties were at an end, aside from looking for the next Overlord."

"You are so useful…" Jaune sighed, shaking his head. "What do you know?"

"I just said-"

"That you don't know much." Ruby cut him off, smiling when he turned to scowl up at her. "So you know something. Spill."

"...I remember she took five ships." He sighed, scratching at the side of his head and working his jaw like he was trying to chew out the memories, somehow. "I remember… The tools, like you said, and plenty of food. We were starving, and the crazy elf took it anyways. Bit of a sticking point. But she didn't take anyone by force, and…"

"And?"

"And," he frowned, "the blues vanished just a bit after that."

"Gnarl…" Jaune sighed, running a hand down his face, "Please tell me that the last Mistress did not steal a Hive without you noticing… Or remembering."

"Okay." The little creature sighed, "I won't tell you that."

"I hate you, Gnarl…"

"Yes, yes, I'll remember that the next time I need to scrape you off the bottom of a cliff, Master." Jaune saw Ruby flinch at that, and Fiona scowled a heartbeat later when she realised what he meant. Anger rising faster than he could catch it, or himself, Jaune spun and booted the Minion's stool out from under him. He collapsed in a heap while Ruby 'eeped' and jumped back, and Jaune stepped closer to stare down at him. Chuckling, the Head Minion forced himself up and offered a sheepish, "Right, sorry. I suppose that's a but of an… Off limits thing to jab about?"

"A bit." He nodded, turning to the other two and asking, "So, plans?"

"I can't fly us that far." Fiona shook her head, "And… We can't bring enough Minions to protect ourselves if we need to."

"We could land in Mistral?" Ruby suggested, scooting Gnarl's stool back into place and pouting when he ignored the hand up she offered to help him. "Rude… Anyway, we land there and, I dunno, refuel? Doesn't solve the army bit, but we're both Huntresses."

"Landing is Mistral is a no-go for my ship." Fiona sighed, "I, uh, am not allowed in their air-space."

"What?" Jaune blinked, "Why not?"

"I'm classified as a terrorist by Atlas, Jaune. Mantle doesn't care, and I'm gone before they can do anything, but… Mistral will care, and between the crime families and the government-"

"Is there a difference, really, Mistress?"

"-someone will arrest me to hand off to the highest bidder. Or, try to, at leat." She sighed flicking him, and then the others, a look and adding quietly, "And… It's part of why I left Mistral when I was young, too. Why my family did, I mean. W-Which doesn't… Help with the, uh, crime families, if you catch my drift."

"Ohhhh, does someone have some spicy secrets?" Gnarl cackled before Jaune waved him off.

He remembered what she'd said at dinner, and smiled softly, "You don't have to tell us. We'll just come up with something else."

"I'm sorry, Jaune, I-"

"You're fine." He cut her off with a wave of his armoured hand, resting it on her shoulder and stepping closer when she leaned into it. Holding her with one arm, he said, "Like I said, we'll just come up with something else. Maybe we can get a ship or something? Do the Huntresses know anyone that we could pay?"

"Not, but…" Fiona chewed her lip, sighed, and said, "Robyn is planning a bit of an, um, event. One involving a prototype Atlesian airship that was funded with misappropriated funds and kept secret from Mantle. We want to steal one or two for proof, but…"

"Maybe Robyn will let one fall off the truck?" Ruby offered, chuckling sheepishly when Fiona just cocked her head, ears flicking in confusion. "Is, uh, is that now how the crime peoples talk?"

"...No, but it can be." Fiona snorted, "But yeah, if we help, I'm sure she wouldn't mind us borrowing one. They're meant to carry a platoon, and support droids, with space for storage to boot. So we'd have space for a Minion group. Or…"

"Or?"

"Or a squad of trained Huntresses that need to drop off the radar after a heist." Fiona shrugged, "We just need data and pictures, so… I might be able to get them to help?"

"Asking can't hurt." Jaune smiled, "And if not, we'll loop back to pick up a group and plot a course out. Good plan?"

Everyone agreed, aside from Gnarl, so with everyone important on board with the layout they got to work preparing to leave. And Fiona called Robyn to run it all by her, too.

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Ghira sat up in spite of how tired he felt when Fennec came in, alone for a rare instance and covered in dirt. Ghira waved for him to sit in the chair on the other side of his desk and, groaning, the man took the seat. And the coffee Ghira handed over. It was dark out, but neither were anywhere near bed with the work on their plates, and the coffee was most of what kept them going.

"So…"

"The blight spreads." The agent reported, "Seaweed, kelp, most of the fish… It's creeping onto land, too, up along the southern coastline. Slow but steady. Whatever this is, if we don't find a solution soon, then we'll have many who go hungry."

"Or we'll have to raid Mistral." Ghira sighed, "Like the bad old days.."

"Not everyone would call them that."

"I know." He sighed, picking up the fruit sitting in front of him. It was a simple lemon, but shriveled and foul smelling. And leaking a dark violet liquid he couldn't even begin to guess the origin of when he squeezed it over the plate. "We can't fight amongst ourselves… Not now."

"No." Fennec agreed, "We need to focus, and… And do what we must, for the people."

Ghira nodded and, taking another drink, they started to talk rationing rates and who needed what most direly.

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