[RadiantBeam]

Originally Posted by Satashi

Parts 1-6

Spoiler for Vivid Life pt. 7:

"Library?" Corona asked me at once, smiling from ear to ear. "I want to practice some on these new math problems we have, they seem like fun." Her words turned a few heads, but those that were in our class last year just passed by as if it was nothing out of the ordinary.

Rio hummed and thought about it, a strange sight coming from her. "Are you sure? Do you feel okay, Vivio? You took quite a blow earlier."

I nodded. "Passing out from the heat is embarrassing, but I don't think it'll bother me in the library, why?"

Corona looked shocked. "You don't remember?"

"Re...member?"

Rio put her hand on my forehead. "About lunch?"

"Lunch?" I reached up and took Rio's hand from my forehead, but accepted her grasp when she interlaced out fingers. "What do you mean?"

Corona looked impressed. "I wonder if that was intentional to make her forget?"

I looked at Corona now. "Wha-what?"

"Never mind, never mind!" Rio started walking, swinging our hands in a half arc as we left the classroom. "To the library!"

Einhart was waiting for us at the front gates and smiled when she saw me walking along with a cheerful Rio. "Are you feeling better?" she asked me while falling into step next to me when Corona made space for her.

"Lots, I'm just embarrassed I fainted on the first day of school. Normally I'm really good about being in the heat." Einhart blushed and looked at me a little closer, moving some of my hair away and looking at my temple. "Is something wrong?"

"No," Einhart shook her head.

With that confusing statement, I walked with my friends down the unfamiliar path leading into town before we came across the streets we knew that lead to the library. We could have taken a bus, but due to my insistence of being fine, we saved our money and walked the twenty-some minutes to our destination.

The cold air came over us at once and I let out a happy sigh at it. "Oh thank goodness, air conditioner." I hummed happily as we waved to the receptionist who knew us by name and continued to our normal spot. About half way there, I saw someone carrying a large stack of books that went over their head. The top one fell off and clattered onto the floor, making them struggle to try and pick it up without dropping the rest of the books.

"Coming?" Einhart and my friends turned back to look at me from a little ways ahead.

Spoiler for Vivid Life pt. 8:

"One second!" I called back before hurrying over to the person and picking up the book for them. "Here, should I help you carry them?" At that moment, the person peeked around the books and I couldn't help but grin. "Arf!"

"Hello, Vivio." She wagged her tail when I took half of the stack for her. My friends came back to me and after a few greetings, we were each carrying a few books while walking with our friend to the office she shared with Yuuno.

My oldest friend was at his desk, glasses slightly down on his nose as he looked at papers in front of him. "That stupid Chrono..." I heard him mutter to himself while his eyes scanned the document before him. When I cleared my throat he looked up and blinked a few times before realizing we were helping Arf carry the books. "Oh! Thank you, girls."

I smiled at him and was nudged by Rio, whose foot I quickly stomped on. She made a high pitched whine and turned to Corona, who accepted a hug and stroked her hair. "Hi, Yuuno-kun!" I greeted as if nothing had happened. "Chrono-san got you working again?"

"Yeah," the male leaned back in his desk and sighed. "He needs information on things that would normally take me a few days to get, but he needs it tomorrow. I'm going to be pulling an all nighter again."

"Want some help?" I asked at once. I had worked with him enough in the past to be known as 'The Little Librarian' all around the building. In fact, most everyone on the staff knew my name.

"We can help too," Corona offered at once. She had a summer job with the library last year and although she worked with Yuuno, she was more a go-for. Rio was nodded as well, showing a fang over her bottom lip. Einhart-san, the poor girl, was looking a little out of place with this new turn out. Although she was smart, I knew being at the library wasn't her idea of time well spent.

"I appreciate it, but you just got out of your first day of school, right? I can't have you working part time already-"

I interrupted him with a happy tone. "The more you say no, the more time you're going to waste before you tell us what we should do." He gave a helpless smile at us and Arf hopped on the corner of the man's desk, tail wagging.

For the next three hours, I found myself scanning books left and right with magic circles all around me. Although I wasn't on par with Yuuno-kun, I was way more advanced than any of the other staff. I collected data and stored it in a monitor Kris brought up for me before it was sent to Corona. My light brown haired friend was sorting the data into several different types of monitors before having a finished product screen to the side. Rio was working between Yuuno and me, pre-scanning our information before it was sent to us so we wouldn't waste our time on needless things.

Einhart-san had the worst job, I think. She was running around with Arf collecting different books to bring to us to read. As soon as they dropped off a set, more were picked up to replace where they had got them before, only to repeat the cycle over and over again.

When the last hour ticked by, Yuuno called a stop to our operation and looked in satisfaction at the report that Corona had gathered. Although not near as strong as us on the battlefield, Corona was above even Yuuno at that age when it came to knowledge. The report made seemed to really impress Yuuno and he put his hand on her head to show his satisfaction. My friend's cheeks colored darkly and she looked down at the floor, stammering out a thank you.

Rio nudged me again and leaned over to whisper into my ear. "Oh look, you have competition."

I blushed as well and Corona met my eye before looking as if she just realized something and turning away. 'Ohhh....' I felt a twinge of guilt run through me, but it was dismissed when Yuuno-kun spoke to us all.

"Thanks a lot girls, you are all life savors." He brought up a monitor with his device and the screen split after he tapped on it a few times. A small display went over to each of us and I realized it was a small paycheck. I accepted it happily and giggled lightly when my friends stammered out a refusal before finally taking it as well.

After a quick hug to Arf and a slightly reluctant one to Yuuno after glancing at Corona again, we left the library and went into the darkening night.

"What now?" Rio asked while looking up.

Spoiler for Vivid Life pt. 9:

I hummed. "Would you like to come over for dinner?" I smiled at them sweetly.

"Ooh, I would love to," Rio agreed at once.

Corona seemed a little more reserved, but still nodded and smiled. "Sure, Nanoha-san always makes great meals."

Einhart looked at me apologetically. "I'm sorry, I have prior plans for the night." She didn't give us any more information than that, and walked backwards when we made it to the next block. "I'll have to catch up with you tomorrow, bye." With that, she jogged off, leaving us standing at the corner.

Rio placed a hand on her chin. "Einhart is acting strangely."

"She is," I agreed. "She normally bows before trotting off, and this isn't even where she splits off at, is it?"

"From the new school, I'm not certain, but I think she should have gone with us for a few more blocks..." Corona mused. We all looked at each other before nodding and running off after Einhart. We stayed a bit back as to not rise her suspicion and followed her secretly.

After a few blocks we huddled around a corner and watched her sit down at an outdoor table near a restaurant. She ordered a drink and we watched her for a few moments before a person came and sat down in front of her, making Einhart stand up and bow.

"Is that Nove?" I asked curiously. My older friend sat down with Einhart and started talking to each other. I couldn't hear what was being said, but Einhart was blushing rather hard. Nove was smiling at her and pointing out something on a tri-fold brochure. "What are they talking about?"

Spoiler for Vivid Life 10:

"Let's move in closer," Rio whispered to us just before crouching down and duck walking. "Da da da da-da-da da da da num num~"

I groaned while Corona giggled. "Is she humming the mission impossible theme song?"

"She is," Corona confirmed. We followed our friend while staying low to the ground and hid behind a table close by. "Can you hear?"

"Shhh," Rio hissed at me.

A waiter stood next to us and sweatdropped at the sight. "Can I... help you?"

"Cream soda"

"Vanilla coke."

"Cherry coke."

The man sighed and went to go get our drinks, leaving us to carefully listen to our friend while not 'spying' on her... Yeah, that sounded right.

"So, what do you think?" Nove asked curiously.

"I'm... I don't know what to say..." Einhart looked down at the paper before her and placed a hand to her chest. "I'm...really flattered."

Corona whispered over to me. "What is she looking at?"

"Shhh!" I scolded her with a finger to my lips.

Nove was smiling. "I'm going to do it next week, so could you give me an answer before then?"

"Y-yes," Einhart nodded rapidly, looking back at the brochure.

"Your drinks," A male voice sounded, making us all jump slightly. We all took our drinks and I looked at my cherry coke in the glass bottle. "Can I get a straw?" i asked up at him. He gave a lopsided smile and handed me a straw from a pouch he was wearing. "Thank you." I placed it in my bottle and sipped.

Rio rolled her eyes. "Why do you drink from a bottle with a straw?"

I felt flustered at the question. "J-just pay attention to what's going on."

Einhart sighed and I noticed her leg was bouncing up and down rapidly, a clear sign that she was annoyed. "Now see here..." she muttered out before turning around and glaring at us. "What are you girls doing!?"

We all stood up in embarrassment, standing in front of the small circular table that we were clearly visible behind. "Ahahaha... We weren't spying on you." Rio laughed out.

Nove laughed. "Who said anything about spying?"

"We..." I scratched my head. "What are you guys up to?"

Einhart blushed and looked down before herself again. I think she was about to try and hide whatever pamphlet she had, but Nove plucked it from her and showed us. "I'm moving out into my own place, and asked Einhart to come with me."

The news made all of us give a small cheer of joy for our friend. We each took turns hugging her, making Einhart look as if she would pass out from all of the emotion shown to her. We all had worried about Einhart in our own way over the last few years since she lived alone. It seemed really lonely and I could tell that she always enjoyed staying over with me some weekends. Nove was basically her unofficial guardian as it was anyway, so living together would really benefit my friend.

Einhart was looking really scared now, cheeks red and eyes almost spinning. "Eep!" I fanned her. "Calm down, Einhart-san!"

Nove laughed and sipped on her drink. "I need to talk with her some more, so you girls run along now, okay?"

"Okaaaay," we all answered at the same time. With that, we each gave one more smile before waving and walking a few steps before were stopped by the waiter, who was asking us to pay for the drinks we each had. After we all panicked for a moment at the thought of accidentally stealing drinks, we all paid for our own and jogged away.

After wasting so much time, we decided to split for the night instead and I soon found myself walking to my house alone with Kris. When the door opened, Nanoha greeted me and shooed me upstairs to change into my house clothes. As I trotted up the stairs, I passed by my parents' room and saw Fate packing a suitcase. "Fate-mama?"

"Hmm?" She looked over her shoulder and smiled at me. "Hey, have a good day?"

I nodded. "Yeah. You leaving soon?"

"Tomorrow, I'll be gone for a few days." Fate informed me cheerfully. "I'm going to be working with Teana on a job here on Mid, so I'm really looking forward to it."

"Oh, I see." I nodded and smiled. With that, I continued over to my room to change.

~**~

I awoke the next morning with a long yawn. Nanoha was shaking me lightly with an amused smile on her face. "You over slept," she informed me pleasantly. "Hop up and get ready for school, okay."

"'kay," I agreed, closing my eyes again and hugging my pillow. I was just about to go back to sleep when I felt the covers being pulled off of me and being lifted into the air. "Mamaaaaaaaa." Nanoha sat me on my feet and held my shoulders as I wobbled a moment. "I'm up, I'm up." She laughed at me, ruffled my hair, and left to finish cooking breakfast.

Spoiler for Vivid Life pt. 11:

Walking over to my dresser, I opened the top drawer and pondered what underwear to put on. After rooting for a bit, I pulled out a pair of boy shorts style dark crimson panties that were more lace and frill than anything else. I pulled them up and adjusted them, actually liking how they fit. I slid my arms through the matching style bra straps and reached behind my back to struggle with the clasp. My small fingers worked to latch the hooks, getting one done and messing with the other, only for the first to pop off. With a groan, I repositioned it to my front, latched, and spun it around to put on properly. Now with my needless fanservice done, I walked to my closet to finish getting dressed.

My school uniform was plucked from a hanger and put on quickly before I ran downstairs. Mama had moved my breakfast from a plate to a large wrapped tortilla that had a toothpick in the end so I could eat it while walking to meet my friends. I accepted it and nommed a bite before hugging Fate-mama tightly. She promised to be back in a few days and even offered to bring me back a souvenir from the capital. After an extended goodbye, we gave each other a hi-five, or low-five for her, and I trotted out the front door.

~**~

I hummed to myself when the last period of the day came. P.E. was now officially going to be in full swing now that we have all been divided up between people who wanted to be future mages and people who were just going to live their everyday lives.

Of course, because of the majority of people not wanting to be in any type of combat, we were left with only six females in my grade to go for the more physical training and magic development. Because of this, we were combined with the upperclassmen and my little group all found Einhart rather quickly when we entered the woman's locker room.

"Einhart-san!" I smiled at her brightly and she looked over her shoulder to offer all of us a shy smile and a blush. "Are these lockers taken?"

"No," she replied while taking off her shirt. "We claim our own lockers, this one was just mine from last year, so I got here to claim it first." She pulled her shirt over her head and I noticed that she wasn't wearing a bra, despite being a little larger than me. I suddenly felt a little silly from being so worried, despite Corona and Rio both wearing them as well.

After stripping to my underwear, I noticed Corona was looking at me rather intently. I turned to her and smiled, silently asking why I was being stared at. She blushed and chuckled lightly before answering me. "Those are very pretty."

"Thank you!" I beamed at her, having secretly wanted one of them to praise my Fate-mama approved clothing. "I still feel a bit weird in this, to be honest with you." I tried to reach back and undo the clasp. "I can't seem to get it most of the time."

Corona came to my aid and undid it for me with a happy laugh. "You get used to it after a while. You won't even bat an eye." She hesitated a bit before talking again. "I didn't know they made types like this in our size?"

"Fate-mama took me to Victoria, they had all types and sizes." I wiggled into a sports bra and felt at ease in it. Although everyone in my group had barrier jackets, it was against school policy to wear them.

"Oh..." She hummed at that and looked down at her matching set that consisted of a baby blue with white polka dots all over them.

The way her voice was made me feel a little odd for some reason. It was almost if she was sad for some reason. "Everything okay?"

"Eh?" She waved her hands out in front of herself. "Oh, oh! Everything is fine!" She laughed loudly and went back to getting changed, nudging Rio, who seemed to be shy about changing in front of so many people she didn't know.

Einhart seemed to be reading my mind and spoke to me while tugging up her bloomers. "She seems a lot less cheerful today for some reason."

"Did I say something?" I asked softly, finishing changing with a lot less pep than before.

"I don't think so." Einhart closed her locker and I hastened to catch up. "She seems as if she wants to say something but isn't..."

"I see..."

Once we were all outside, we were asked to pair up for stretching. Although I wanted to be with Einhart since we trained together so often, I instead hopped on Corona's back and hugged her from behind. "Let's be partners today!" She blushed but still nodded at me with a small smile.

We started by sitting and parting our legs so we could reach out to touch them. Although Rio, Einhart, and I could touch our noses to our knees, Corona was a little less athletic than us. She managed to complete the stretching with my aid and we swapped places so I was sitting down. "Ne," I asked her quietly while leaning over and grabbing my foot. "Are you mad at me?"

"No?" She hesitated again, and I felt a little worried. "Why do you ask."

"Well," I moved up and went to my other leg, eased forward by her gentle urging hands on my back. "You just seem a little...distant since the locker room. I felt as if I said something wrong?"

"Oh!" Corona shook her head and helped me to my feet so we could go back-to-back and lock our elbows for another stretching exercise. "It wasn't you, I just-nggghhhhh." She paused while groaning as I went a little too far for her.

"Sorry," I apologized honestly.We shifted and Corona pulled on me in return. "You just what?"

"I just... wanted to ask you something?"

"Yes?" We moved again so she was ontop of me.

"Do... Guys like girls who are mature?"

I paused a moment. Rio's words came back to me from the other day all at once. 'Competition...' We moved apart again and she looked at me, trying to hide any give away that she liked a guy. "Yeah, I think so..." I knew Yuuno liked the mature, responsible type...

"I see..." She nodded to herself and looked at me once more before smiling. "I-I guess it's time to get started, huh?" With that, she jogged to where the other students were starting to gather, leaving me behind.

"She feels bad about it," Rio spoke up, making me look over my shoulder at her. "She likes Yuuno-sensei."

I stayed silent before letting out a sigh. "...Great."

Rio took my hand and gave it a squeeze before letting go and running over to Corona, pouncing on her and hanging onto her back, laughing happily to make Corona smile brightly as well.

Einhart put a hand on my shoulder and I looked over and up at her. "I heard," she admitted. "You like him too, don't you?"

"It's...a crush." I admitted, shyly walking with her. "It won't work out, I know that."

"Then why crush?" She asked simply.

I blushed. "I-I don't know... It's just nice, you know? Liking someone."

"Even if it won't work?" I had confused her.

"Even if it won't work." I nodded. "It's about the journey, right?"

Einhart seemed to think about this a moment. "So it's okay, even if you know it may not work out?"

"Of course," I nodded a few times to stress the point. "It's a nice feeling, and sometimes it can give you comfort... I hope you can experience it." I closed my eyes and smiled. "I'd like to see a love-puppy!Einhart-san."

She stayed still while looking at me before slowly smiling and placing a hand on my head. "If you say it's okay, then it's okay." Her hand lingered on my head and when she moved it, she ran strands of my ponytail through her fingers. "I'll put my trust in that." With that, she turned and looked at the P.E. Teacher.

Was there... someone that Einhart liked as well?

A.)Catch up with Corona after school to talk with her
B.)Hope it will work out on it's own.

A, please and thank you. The thought of a lovesick Einhart amuses me.

Originally Posted by DezoPenguin

I vote for A. Why not Corona/Yuuno, after all? Well, except for the crazy age difference, but...they can sit on the sidelines and snuggle while the main cast gets the spotlight! Give her your support, Vivio!

And in other news, it's time for another chapter of

Will Fate Find The Lost Logia Before A Title?

Spoiler for But mostly just eats breakfast and chats:

The next morning found that fog had rolled in overnight, slinking through the streets and the narrow passages between buildings. Yaris and Fate had time for a light breakfast of fruit, rolls, and black tea before Aztek was due to pick them up.


"Um..Val..." the girl hesitantly tried out Yaris's first name, and when that didn't draw a snapping reply went on, "Can I ask you a question?"


"Sure."


Yaris popped something that resembled a grape other than its bright pink color into her mouth and bit down.


"Well, last night I thought you put sugar in your tea, a couple of packets, but this morning you're drinking it straight. Is there a reason?"


"Yeah; I prefer sweet tea, but I drink my first cup in the morning without so that the bitterness helps kick me awake."


"Oh, I see."


Yaris grinned.


"Showoff."


Fate looked confused.


"Observing and drawing conclusions," Yaris explained. "Told you that you could do it."


Fate smiled at her, glad that she hadn't done something wrong.


"Keep thinking like that during today's investigation and you'll do fine. Since it's your first time, let me take the lead, though. If you have any questions, ask them, but use telepathy. You don't have any problems with communicating heart-to-heart, do you?"


Fate shook her head.


"No, I can do that."


"Good. I assumed so, with your ranking, but I figured I'd ask since every so often you get someone who just doesn't have a knack for it. We should practice a little, but should be fine."


"Using telepathy...it's so I don't mess up your plan again, is that it?"


"Part of it, yes." She watched Fate nibble daintily at one of the local rolls, which was twisted into a double-figure-8 shape. "If you get the urge to go blasting off shooting magic again, I would appreciate if you'd check with me first. But there's more to it than that. We may want to coordinate our efforts, to have you take an active role in the questioning. And if you have ideas or useful suggestions, I want to know rather than find out later, when my chance to act on them is gone."


"Oh. I understand."


"Good."


"Do we have a special plan for today?"


"We go back to the beginning—to the university. Like I was saying last night, we tried to piggyback onto the ANSF's investigation to save time, but we hit a dry hole, so we're going to do it right for ourselves, from scratch. Which reminds me, we got distracted when we were discussing possibilities. I said there were three I could think of to explain the lack of chatter in underground antiquities channels, but only mentioned the offworld idea. That's the least likely of the three, by my estimate."


"Is the second that a collector had it stolen for himself or herself directly?" Fate suggested.


"Exactly. If the collector hired the thief directly, and the thief didn't talk, then it would stay off the radar. It's possible enough; if the collector was experienced in black-market dealings than he or she would know how to bring in a thief without using intermediaries. Like Zil; he probably has guys on staff that he could have just ordered to get it if he'd been the one."


"Then what's the third option?"


"That we're wrong—well, that Aztek's people are wrong—about this being the work of a pro. That whole idea of the underground antiquities market comes out of the conclusion that the theft was a pro job. If it wasn't, then the idea of a hired hand falls apart, and we're left looking for a very different kind of person behind this."


"According to the file, the computer forensics investigation showed that the security was disabled by use of a passcode."


"Which, if not an expert professional thief who planned the job in advance and got the code through a source or by hacking suggests what?" Yaris prompted, wondering if Fate would reach the same conclusion that she had. The blonde girl bit her lip, thinking seriously about the problem, and then her face lit up.


"An inside job! The passcode was used because the thief already knew it!"


"Uh-huh. So keep your eyes and ears open when we get there, because those are the people we're going to want to know the most about—but I'm going to edge around it if I can. Academics get touchy; there can be some pretty vicious feuds in the ivory towers over scholarship and prestige, but if you start throwing stones at the school they'll close ranks fast. They don't like grubby outsiders poking into the hallowed halls. Though we'll up the pressure if we have to; playing it too nice might be how the local authorities got shunted onto a dead-end road."


"All right," Fate paused for a bit to sip juice and, perhaps, think, because she said, "Val, there's something I don't understand."


"Oh? Ask away."


She'd thought it would be about their investigation, but as it turned out, it wasn't."


"Why did the Andorel NSF go so far in their investigations without us? Crimes involving Lost Logia, even ones that aren't believed to be dangerous, are to be investigated by the Enforcers, or under certain circumstances the Ground Forces' Special Investigations Branch. Isn't that right?"


"Yes, it is."


"So why didn't they call us at once?"


"Jurisdictional pride."


"I don't understand."


"Well, the NSF are responsible for enforcing the law here on Andorel, and they want to show that they can do that. If they have to call in the TSAB, then they feel like they've failed, that we're saying that they can't do their jobs. If they could solve the case on their own, it would be a big boost to their ego, the chance to come in and say, 'See, you arrogant offworlders; we're more than good enough to handle this.' So Aztek and his people waited until the last legally permissible minute to call us in, and they pushed ahead with their investigation right up until the moment we were actually here to take over." Only, she thought, they'd cut corners to try and get to the finish line first, which was how they'd ended up ignoring an obvious possibility—they'd focused only on the most likely line of inquiry in the hope of completing the job.


"That doesn't make any sense!" Fate protested. "We're all working for the same goal, aren't we? To recover the Lost Logia before anyone can be hurt, and to arrest the criminals?"


"True, but that isn't all that matters to people. Self-image and pride in their work are the defining issues."


"It isn't right," Fate insisted. "If we all just did our jobs the way we were supposed to, fewer criminals would get away!"


"True enough, but it's a system run by humans. Consider this: if you'd gotten a formal reprimand over yesterday's incident and been removed from the case, would you just obey and go home, or would you argue and try to stay on the case to make up for your mistake by solving it yourself?"


The girl blushed.


"See what I mean, Fate?"


"Yeah, I guess I do."


"Do you watch crime shows on vid?"


"Sometimes. It's hard to follow a series splitting time between Earth and Midchilda."


"Well, you'll see a lot of shows where competing jurisdictions come up. If the show is about the local cops, then the outsiders will be egotistical blowhards who are out to steal the credit and take over an op the locals have done months of work on. But if the show is about the outside agency, then the locals are provincial ignoramuses who defend their 'turf' and get in the outsiders' way as much as they can. The truth is, there's a little of both bad sides going on every time. That's why I've been trying to softpedal things with Aztek. Yeah, his people colored outside the lines a little, but now that we are here he's been helpful and cooperative. If I got snippy over ANSF doing too much beforehand, it wouldn't change the past and would just turn the present into a pi—er, into a bureaucratic fight."


It annoyed her, moderating her language at work the way she had to at home, but the motherhood reflexes were too ingrained to start talking like a sailor (which she technically was, Enforcers being Naval investigators) in front of an eleven-year-old.


"I see. Thank you for explaining."


Yaris nodded.


"Most of the time it's like that. Nobody goes out of their way to embarrass anyone else and we manage to rub along well enough. It's just a matter of remembering what you said, that we're all here for the same thing. That way it doesn't turn into a vid drama."


She finished the rest of her tea in one gulp and, nothing that Fate was done as well, used her Device to open a link to the hotel room account and approved the bill to be added. Too bad we couldn't have had our meeting with Zil over dinner at the Chateau d'Argent. It'd have been better than that sandwich from the ANSF cafeteria! Despite generous expense account provisions, meals always seemed to be the first thing to slip on a job. Maybe that's why the expense account is so generous—the accountants know we'll never use it so they look good for offering it while saving money.


They waited in the lobby for Aztek's arrival; it only took a couple of minutes because he was right on time. Since she knew he'd had to put in more time after the Enforcers had left HQ, overseeing the processing of the Zil matter, she was impressed by his punctuality.


The fog rolling through the city streets, choking the pathways between buildings, gave the roads an eerie sense of stillness. That impression was violently shattered by the morning traffic; if anything the drivers were even more chaotic and aggressive than they'd been when they could see what they were doing. They might have been driving through heavy fog to question university professors and staff about the theft from a museum of a six-thousand-year-old magical artifact, but it was impossible to sustain any sense of the mysterious and Gothic while executing crazed maneuvers through high-speed traffic.


The rush-hour feeling began to ebb, though, when they arrived at the Var Amnis University campus. They passed open, wrought-iron gates hung from massive granite pillars and proceeded down stately lanes laid out at right angles to one another, lined with tall, elegant shade trees. The fog hid the buildings for the most part, but Yaris got a glimpse of solid gray stone construction with hints of occasional architectural whimsy that differentiated one college hall from another: a large stained-glass window, a corner turret, an onion dome of verdigrised copper. Even Aztek seemed to feel the change; he slowed the convertible to a reasonable speed and proceeded through the campus without any radical maneuvers.


"Well, here we are, the Var Amnis Provincial Museum of Ancient History," he announced as he steered into a parking lot. The museum itself was large, fully three high-ceilinged stories tall to judge by the windows, and of sprawling construction, with wings spreading out left and right from the main entrance until lost in the fog.


"Impressive," Yaris murmured as they walked up the broad stone steps which were flanked, temple-like, by statues of wolf-like creatures with scaled sides, crouched in watchful poses. "Though I suppose I should expect it to be, since this is the capital city of the whole world. 'Impressive' is pretty much par for the course."


The lobby lived up to the adjective with its great domed ceiling and mosaic-tiled floor. Fate stared, rapt, at the display while they crossed to a marble-topped information desk. Given the ring of skylights piercing the domed roof, it would look even more spectacular without the fog outside.


"Can I help you?" the girl at the desk asked brightly.


"Adjutan Aztek, National Security Forces," their escort said, showing his ID. "We need to speak with Dr. Alero."


"Oh, I see. I'll connect you to his executive assistant."


A holoscreen opened up, revealing the a woman in her sixties, her sharp-featured face lined and severe, her white hair pulled back into a tight bun. She peered at them through small, round-lensed spectacles.


"Adjutant Aztek. I thought you had finished with your questions." Her tone of voice matched her expression perfectly.


"Yeah, well, we have more."


"I do not understand the necessity for—"


"Oh? I didn't know you'd recovered the Circlet of Thessidor. You should have informed us."


The woman sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.


"Please do not be facetious, Adjutant. I merely meant that Dr. Alero is a busy man with many demands on his time. Surely you can see that making a proper appointment would be—"


"Look, Miss..." Yaris said, stepping forward.


"Liberty," Aztek supplied with a wry twist of his lips.


"Miss Liberty, I'm sure that the curator has all kinds of important exhibits to rearrange and fundraising banquets to plan, but I think wide-scale dimensional crime trumps that." She was pushing it with "wide-scale," but hey, it was a Lost Logia, however weak.


"Ma'am—"


"Enforcer," she corrected. Did the woman not know this or was she just playing dumb for whatever reason? "Now, can you clear a couple of phone calls off Dr. Alero's schedule for us, or is he insisting on being dragged back to headquarters for a formal interview?"


"I...that is..." Miss Liberty seemed to be at a loss for a coherent response.


"That's what I thought. We'll be there in five minutes."


Aztek reached across the desk and shut off the communications link.


"Second floor, main building, just off the rear of the atrium gallery," the desk girl supplied helpfully, trying—and failing—to suppress a grin. Gee, I'm guessing that Miss Liberty might not be the most popular member of the staff here. Yaris knew the type all too well—uptight, officious, obsessed with protocol, and quite probably responsible for whatever financial success the museum happened to enjoy.


The atrium was the next room in from the lobby, an even larger, elliptical room with flying galleries running around the outside of the room on the second and third stories. In the center of the room, a massive projection of a flying city hovered, alive with thousands of intricate details.


"Is that Legaria?" Fate marveled.


"Yes, the great flying city," Aztek said, unable to keep a trace of wonder out of his voice. Yaris herself was both impressed and saddened—impressed by the magical technology it must have taken to create the city and filled with sorrow at its loss, another once-great civilization reduced to being nothing but one of history's many ghosts. Lost Logia cases were by their very definition full of such ghosts, but Yaris still found herself moved by the cost, the sheer waste of it all, and the thought that one day Midchilda, too, would join the ranks of fallen civilizations.


She turned away from the giant display and towards the elevator across the atrium.


"Come on, Aztek, Fate. I want to talk to this curator. After all, if we have to get past the dragon guarding the gate, then it stands to reason that there's treasure on the other side, which in this case would be a lead."


With that she set off, her heels echoing on the tiled floor.


~X X X~


The steely light of dawn and the fog rising off the lake were oddly soothing for him. Beneath Andorel's sun the stars no longer fought one another for their place in the sky, and the shifting light no longer sought to confuse. And the fog itself, seething and coiling with its own mysteries, hid the world beyond and the greater part of the images that fought with each other, as if the strange liquid air had found its natural state. His stride was firmer, his steps along the cobblestoned street paved sidewalk surer and less troubled.


His mind, though, was increasingly disturbed, his thoughts, fragmented as the strange, shifting world he walked through, were slowly gaining more cohesion, more coherence, and as they did confusion and bewilderment began to be replaced by fear and resentment. Clearer though began to make some sense, at least, of his perceptions, awareness enough to be frightened by what he saw and moved to anger by it.


Anger was easy. Just as work was easy. He could lose himself in his projects, bury himself in experimental research—hard, cold facts where the absence of beauty, the absence of light and hope made no difference and which had their own passion to distract him from what was missing. Just as fury gave him an excuse to direct the pain outwards, an outlet to lash out even though there was nothing to be done, no blame to be laid, no one at fault other than the vagaries of chance or the fates. For a few seconds at least his heart could be deluded into thinking he had power, the ability to change anything at all.


But it was all a lie, wasn't it? The tricks the mind played on itself didn't work once one knew it was a trick, had seen behind the curtain. You couldn't fool yourself when you knew you were trying to do it.


He knew the truth, now.


Knew that the past three five months had been nothing but a sham, his desperate lies to himself.


But he didn't believe the lie any more.


Now he understood.


This was not where he needed to be.


This was not what he needed to do.


But he knew. He knew where to go. What it was he had to do when he got there.


He walked on, awareness of purpose giving his stride even more surety. The fog parted before him, then seemed to close back around as he entered its depths, swallowing him in its silent gray embrace.

Previous chapters:

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3

Nice touch bringing up that many things involving crime and criminals tend to get sidetracked due to feelings of pride. It comes up a lot in every crime show ever aired, but no one ever really mentions that it happens on both sides involved in the problem; and while Fate is right in saying that if pride wasn't involved, less criminals would be loose, it's kind of hard to turn off a human emotion like that.

Also.... seriously, that guy is treading a dangerous line. It seems he's completely given in to the Lost Logia at this point, so he's getting into some bad territory. I'm curious to see if he'll be caught before he kills someone.