Chương 463: Chapter 458 - Garden guidance

"I've been to some shady places in my time, but that has to be the worst, without a doubt," Kat muttered as the warped door closed behind them with a wooden groan, like the building itself was coughing them goodbye.

"Bah." Rosa waved a hand.

"It wasn't that bad, was it? I barely counted a single severed head in a jar."

"Are heads in jars common?" came the just slightly too discordant chorus of whispers that served as Nol'viz's voice to her left. The robed girl watched Rosa curiously. Rosa smiled mischievously.

"You bet."

"We do not wish to bet."

"Oh. Well, how about a friendly wager instead?"

"Is there a difference?"

"Yep. I'm sure you'd win the wager."

"Stop it, Rosa." Kat lightly swatted the back of Rosa's head and gave her a flat look. She then turned to the masked Cabal girl.

"Don't listen to her. There's no difference, and heads in jars aren't a thing. It'd be worrying if they were." Rosa shot the woman an aggrieved look.

"I was conditioning the enemy to trust in misinformation. Which side are you on?" Kat's mouth opened for a moment, then her brow furrowed. She turned her eyes forward, ignoring Rosa. Rosa let out an offended little laugh.

"We are beginning to better understand why it is recommended not to trust your words," Nol'viz said, giving Rosa a brief, considering look before moving to trail behind Kat. Rosa ran a hand through her hair.

"The woes of being a misunderstood savant." She threw one last glance at the crooked door behind them, then pulled her purple mantle tighter around her shoulders. At least she could surprise Scarlett when she revealed she had managed to secure more than half the reagents the woman needed but hadn't expected to lay hands on until the next day. She wondered if she'd be able to make any demands in exchange for handing them over. How likely was that to end in more misery than reward?

Kat stopped farther down the narrow street and looked back at her as Rosa counted on her fingers.

"Are you coming? I'd rather not stay in this place any longer than necessary."

"Hmm? Oh, I think we'll be alright. I'd like to see the big, burly man who'd pick a fight with the three-eyed girl with the death-whisper stare." The 'shopkeeper' they'd just concluded their completely above-board transaction with had done more than a few extra takes the moment they saw all of Nol'viz's eyes blink.

If Rosa were the sort of innocent lass who wagered with anyone but the highly fleeceable, she would have wagered half a chorus and a clean pair of boots that the first footpad who saw them would discover a pressing appointment elsewhere before Nol'viz had a chance to charm them with her dulcet little graveyard choir. Kat glanced at Nol'viz.

"Maybe it's best if you…don't show yourself." The girl tilted her head, but then folded into a pool of darkness that slid beneath Kat's shadow. The Shielder glanced down at it with visible discomfort and stiffness, then her eyes shifted from the smear of darkness beneath her boots to Rosa.

"What?" Rosa asked.

"Why the face?"

"I don't often have people hiding in my shadow."

"She's being helpful. We should encourage the youth when they take initiative. Besides, some people pay extra for that sort of thing."

"No, they don't."

"Well, not respectable people. But that's hardly our market."

"There is no market." Kat shook her head, then started forward down the street. Rosa soon caught up.

"If you don't mind me asking," Kat said as they passed the empty rain barrel where the litter of kittens had been earlier, lowering her voice until they reached the bend leading back towards the alley they'd first come through, "why were you following us, Nol'viz?" The shadow at the Shielder's feet shivered, and a gaunt man with a brimmed hat pulled low over his face—who'd just stepped out of a doorway nearby—stopped to stare as Nol'viz's voice seeped out.

"We were curious. We have not walked the streets of Elystead before. We believed you would allow us to observe them."

"Excellent instincts," Rosa said. Kat glanced back at her.

"What about Carnwedain?" the woman asked, turning forward again.

"Where is he?"

"We don't know."

"Did he leave you?"

"No. We left him."

"…Alright. Sure. Where are you staying, anyway?"

"Shadows." Kat's lips pressed into a thin line. Rosa gave the woman a moment or three before clearing her throat.

"To be fair, shadows are cheaper than inns." Kat sighed.

"Rosa."

"What? I'm trying to gracefully avoid calling our employer a terrible person for throwing a child onto the street." The Shielder scowled. The shadow at Kat's feet stirred again as Nol'viz's voice rose.

"We do not require much space. Nor does Carnwedain."

"That doesn't quite feel like it squares with his general volume," Rosa said.

"But noted." They kept walking, winding through alleys and narrow side streets. They spotted more people as they went—a fair few of whom cast lingering glances at the two moderately charming ladies passing through their territory but discovered sudden business elsewhere when Kat's glare settled on them—and Nol'viz seemed to understand the value of not drawing too much attention.

Her shadow thinned, tucking itself tighter beneath Kat's boots and cloak until one might as well mistake it for an ordinary patch of gloom. Soon enough, they'd left the worst of the streets behind, passing under a sagging arch that marked the edge of that charming little pocket of the Puddles District where far too many of the doors looked either guilty or exhausted.

The reek of mildewed wood and what might actually have been refuse faded by more than a few degrees, replaced with smoke, horse, a lingering trace of rain from the morning's drizzle, and the sharper clatter of wheels and traffic. Rosa glanced down at Kat's shadow.

"You know, if you're determined to see the city, Nol'viz, you could try to bring Slate along. Scarlett said she only needed her for a couple of hours. They might be finished now." Kat's head turned, gaze sharpening on her.

"Why are you suggesting that?" Rosa widened her eyes.

"Because I am generous and benevolent."

"No."

"Because children should experience culture."

"No."

"…Because if one scarily monotone moppet is going to stalk me through Elystead, I might as well collect the matching set?" Kat's eyes narrowed. Rosa put a hand over her heart.

"I swear that one had a grain of truth in it."

"Swear on Scarlett, then."

"I couldn't possibly."

"Of course not." Kat rounded a corner onto a sloping street overlooking the busy edge of the harbour, with Rellaria Lake spread beyond the forest of masts and Dawnlight Palace gleaming in the distance. She stopped just before a pair of dockhands came shouldering past with a crate between them, boots thudding down towards the quays. She stood there for a moment, watching the traffic on the street.

"I suppose it doesn't hurt to ask Scarlett, if you want, Nol'viz," she said. There was no response. Rosa stopped beside Kat.

"I think she's already left." Kat glanced at her, then down at her shadow.

"I think she just knows when to keep quiet, unlike some people."

"Maybe that too, yeah. But she's also already left." The Shielder looked back at her.

"Wait, really?" Rosa nodded.

"Yep." She pointed at Kat's shadow.

"It's in the striations, you know." Kat studied the shadows as if she were actually trying to spot what Rosa was talking about. Bless her. Rosa smiled, then stepped closer to the road and started waving a hand at the nearest passing carriage. Most of the traffic here consisted of wagons rattling to and from the harbour warehouses, but a passenger carriage happened to come rolling by just then, heading towards where she stood. Then it continued rolling. That was fine.

Some people simply lacked an eye for opportunity. She wouldn't judge. She waved at another carriage that came by a minute later. The driver looked at her, made a shooing motion, and drove on. Rosa kept her smile firmly in place. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. The third carriage, driven by a broad woman in a patched coat with a pipe clamped between her teeth, slowed with a somewhat resigned air.

"You need going somewhere?" she asked, sounding half like she hoped the answer was no. What was it about Rosa that was causing that reaction?

"That we do," she said, pulling out a small purse with a good dozen solars in it and placing it in the woman's hand.

"You wouldn't mind taking us, would you?" The woman's brows rose slightly, and she straightened.

"'Righty, then. Where to?"

"The Petal District seems like a good start." Rosa climbed into the carriage cabin and settled onto the worn seat with a pleased little hum. Kat followed in after her, giving her a doubtful look.

"Why the Petal District?"

"Because it's pretty."

"And?"

"Well, Allyssa mentioned how she visited Hamet Garden with Scarlett once during the Light Fest. Said it was all flowers and fountains and wealthy folk being fancy." Rosa leaned back.

"I was thinking, since we've finished Scarlett's errand already with grace, daring, and all of that stuff, and Nol'viz wanted to see Elystead, why not show her a more flattering piece of it before Scarlett finds a new way to make us useful?" There was something in Kat's face that reminded Rosa of an argument waiting to be born, but the woman eventually wisely accepted her reasoning with a shrug and sat down opposite her. The carriage lurched forward.

They had almost reached the edge of the Puddles District, the first sturdier buildings of the Docks District sliding past outside, when a shadow crept along the lower edge of the carriage window and spilled down the wall. It pooled on the floorboards, thickened, and rose into two short figures seated opposite each other.

"We have retrieved Slate," Nol'viz whispered, looking straight at Rosa.

"Good job." Rosa smiled.

"Did Scarlett have any complaints?"

"We were informed to listen to Kat before you." Rosa clicked her tongue.

"Favouritism." She glanced at Slate, whose eerie emerald-green eyes peered out from beneath her black hood and tracked the movement of the streets outside the window.

"Slate also wished to understand the purpose of this excursion," Nol'viz added. Slate turned to look at Rosa.

"I do."

"Culture," Rosa said. Slate drew her faint brows together beneath the hood in that careful way of hers, like she was still deciding which muscles suited the task best.

"That is an insufficient answer."

"Snacks, then."

"Neither of us requires sustenance." Rosa reached out and patted the girl's head lightly.

"That's what makes it a luxury of culture instead." Slate's brow tightened just a touch further, but then she released it. She nodded once and turned her attention forward.

"Very well." It was lucky Rosa was such a good actor, or else she might have failed to hide the shock on her face. She wasn't sure she had ever managed to convince Slate that easily before. She touched a finger to her cheek, murmuring. It couldn't be that her charm continued to grow without limit, could it? She caught Kat's dubious look from across from her and grinned at it, before deciding to lean towards the carriage window and point out the passing sights to their new arrivals.

On their way towards the Petal District, they passed through several of the broader thoroughfares of the suitably rowdy and avaricious Coins District, and Rosa took the opportunity to have the carriage pull over near one of the smaller markets for a short jaunt among the stalls.

The coachwoman gave them a startled look when they climbed out with one more passenger than they'd started with—it would've been fun to see how far her eyes could have widened if Nol'viz hadn't hidden herself quite so well—but the solars seemed to speak louder than suspicion, and she had no objection to waiting for them to return.

The market they found was one of those that pretended not to be a market at all and behaved more like an open-air boutique, with tidy stalls beneath coloured awnings and vendors who smiled just a touch too broadly. Rosa didn't mind, though. The money she was spending wasn't even hers. She bought honeyed twists, roasted nuts, little cakes glazed in some syrup she didn't know the name of, and a steaming drink that smelled of apples and cinnamon.

When they returned to the carriage, she distributed the lot to the waiting hands of Nol'viz—who received each offering with solemn curiosity—and Slate, who studied hers as if waiting for it to explain itself.

"You may thank me in song later," Rosa said.

"We cannot sing," Nol'viz whispered.

"I will not attempt it," Slate added.

"Hmph. Ungrateful little waifs." Kat snorted. Rosa spent the rest of the ride trying to teach Nol'viz and Slate how to properly eat and critique their miniature feast, but it proved to be a task in itself when one simply enveloped whatever she was handed in shadow until it vanished in an instant—only to quietly declare it 'potent'—and the other launched into a far too clinical breakdown of sweetness, spice, texture, and about half of the things the cook had touched throughout the morning.

In the end, Rosa was forced to concede that this might be a challenge too great even for her. Eventually, they reached their destination. The carriage dropped them near a broad square, from where they headed down a long stone walk until they reached a large garden complex bounded by thick hedges. The entrance had two pairs of guards in crisp red gambesons standing beside it, keeping a watchful eye. Rosa had heard that Hamet Garden wasn't actually open to the public at the moment, but…

The nearest guard's attention turned to them as they approached, focusing on Rosa's mantle, Kat's scar, and Slate's hood in that exact order. Rosa gave him her brightest smile.

"My, what strong men. Mind letting these fair maidens through~?" The man's eyes narrowed at first, but then they grew slightly unfocused, and a softened smile spread across his face.

"Certainly. Go ahead." He and one of the other guards motioned them past.

"Thank you." Rosa leaned in just a touch as she passed, pitching her voice lower.

"And I'm sure you won't mind exercising a little discretion with children involved~" His gaze dimmed a little further, flicking towards Slate before some new instinct settled over him and he straightened, deliberately looking away. They continued past and were met with an impressive enough sight, though Rosa supposed it was more impressive during summer. The garden was divided into several broad sections, each a little realm of its own.

A good number of flowerbeds sat bare or only just budding; others were in the first hopeful stages of bloom, and still others had been arranged into colour with the help of fountains, lanterns, and carefully organised paths. Rosa had just reached the last step of a short set of stone stairs when Kat caught her sleeve. She turned to meet the Shielder's eyes.

"Did you use your charms on those guards just now?" Kat asked. Rosa blinked at her, then smiled faintly.

"Who knows? I can't peer into their minds, so it's hard to say how much my charms played into that."

"I didn't mean it like that."

"Oh? How did you mean it, then?" Kat frowned, measuring her for a moment longer before turning to Slate.

"Did she use a charm?" Slate nodded.

"She did." Rosa held back a sigh.

"That one's very lucky she's cute." Kat looked back at her with a hard glare. Rosa held up her hands.

"Fine. I might have slipped in a teensy bit of charm there. But that was to make things easier for Scarlett. It's not like we're not allowed to be here. I guarantee her name would've gotten us entry too — I simply skipped the dull middle where someone sends a message, waits for confirmation, and invents eleven opportunities for people to wonder why our 'little sister' here looks like she hasn't touched the sun for the last decade."

"Are you being serious, or are you joking now?" She was quiet for a moment.

"I'm actually being serious."

"…Don't do that again, please."

"You've got it. No more charms escaping this treacherous mouth of mine." Rosa mimed sewing her lips shut. Kat's eyes lingered on her, then she led Slate past her and into the garden proper. Rosa watched them for a few seconds before following. They wandered the garden paths after that. Not for especially long, and not with any grand purpose. There were barely any people around, so Nol'viz emerged again, and it was interesting to see how differently the two girls took in the place.

Nol'viz drifted from sight to sight with a quiet, uncanny attentiveness, observing the trimmed but mostly barren hedges, the iron lantern posts, the sleek ponds, and the lazy flashes of fish beneath the fountains. It was hard to tell whether there was any real interest in that attentiveness, but there was something there, at least. Slate, meanwhile, stayed close and said little. She looked at most of the garden with the same mild, assessing focus she might give a wall or a chair.

The only exceptions were the occasional flowers that had managed to bloom despite the season's lingering chill, which earned a few seconds of extra scrutiny before she moved on. Eventually, the path they followed curved towards the entrance of a hedge maze. It rose taller than Kat, all clipped green walls and arched openings. Rosa smiled.

"Nol'viz. Slate. Why don't you two have a look inside?" Both girls looked at her, then at the maze. Nol'viz's three eyes blinked in harmony.

"Are we expected to solve it?"

"That would be the traditional approach." Slate tilted her head.

"It will not be difficult."

"Bold words for someone who just lost an argument with a cake," Rosa said. The girl turned to her.

"I did not lose an argument. And the cake was assimilated successfully."

"Exactly. Go assimilate the maze."

"That does not follow." Despite saying that, Slate exchanged one of those silent glances with Nol'viz that made Rosa suspect they were speaking on one of those different wavelengths Scarlett had told her about. Then the two of them slipped through the hedge opening together. Once they were gone, Kat folded her arms and looked at Rosa.

"What are you doing?" Rosa clasped her hands behind her back, rocking once on her heels.

"Multitasking." The Shielder waited. Rosa's smile widened.

"Also, I thought it'd be interesting to see whether Nol'viz and Slate can actually get lost in a maze." Kat's brows rose in a flat expression.

"By the by," Rosa continued, "we were talking about your Guild visit earlier today, but we never really finished that conversation. How'd things go for you?" Kat's expression shifted slightly, growing a touch more serious.

"It went…alright."

"Just alright?"

"Not sure what you expected me to say."

"They didn't fire you, did they?" The woman chuckled.

"No. The Shields Guild doesn't really do 'firing'. At worst, they could revoke my senior Shielder credentials."

"But they didn't?"

"No. They don't have any reason to." Kat fell silent for a moment.

"Not yet, at least." Rosa eyed her. She walked over to the back of a stone bench set before a neat statue of some serene-looking woman holding an urn, turning to lean against the bench's backrest.

"What do you mean by that?" Kat watched her, then crossed over and sat down on the bench behind her, facing the statue.

"It's not that they threatened anything like that. Honestly, I just met with the Guildmaster and went over a bunch of stuff about Scarlett, but it wasn't too different from what I've discussed with them before. Arnaud had already told them most of what I knew, so at most I gave them a heads-up about Scarlett having killed the Dragon of Devastation." Kat turned her head to look at her.

"What's got the sudden clouds over your head, then?" Rosa asked.

"I don't have clouds over my head."

"Sorry. What's got the entirely normal expression on your entirely normal face looking so peachy?" Kat rolled her eyes before returning them to the statue.

"It's nothing and a bit of everything, I guess."

"You've got that rare talent for words."

"Not everyone has a silver tongue."

"True. Those are expensive to buy."

"Exactly." Kat let out a low breath.

"…Rosa, are you happy with things as they are right now? Working with Scarlett?"

"Yep," Rosa replied without any hesitation.

"That's good for you. Genuinely."

"Are you not?" Kat's gaze moved over the garden.

"No, I am. Or, at least partially. But in the last few weeks, I've spent maybe only a third of that time actually doing anything, and none of it has directly involved helping people."

"Do I have to remind you that you helped kill an ancient dragon?"

"I did, yeah. But I only helped. And while I think I did my part, it's not completely out of the realm of possibility that you would have managed without me. Meanwhile, most of my colleagues are running themselves ragged around the empire trying to help as many people as possible, every waking hour. That's what I was doing too, before Scarlett pulled me into all the Beld Thylelion stuff." Rosa leaned back over the bench's backrest, watching Kat sideways with her hair hanging next to the woman's shoulder.

"Are you saying you'd prefer that over working with us?"

"No." Kat shook her head.

"This is a hundred times better, no doubt. It's just that…I don't really feel like I'm justifying being here."

"Huh." Rosa's eyes stayed on her, then drifted towards the maze.

"Did something pop up at the Guild that made you think about all this?"

"Something did, actually," Kat said.

"I don't know all the specifics, but there's apparently some mess going on over in Wildscar that they're trying to pull as many senior Shielders into as possible. And I hear Arnaud's been going around saying he thinks I should be promoted to A-rank, so the Guildmaster floated whether I'd be willing to head over there and help while Allyssa and Shin kept dealing with the Scarlett stuff."

"And you're considering it?"

"Don't know. Maybe. But I know Scarlett's doing things that are probably a whole lot more important in the grand scheme of things, so me leaving might just be stupid."

"True. It might be incredibly stupid."

"…Thanks." Rosa laughed.

"Still, that doesn't mean it's the wrong choice." There was a brief silence.

"You think so?" Kat asked.

"Sure. Who knows? Maybe you'll help Scarlett more by going than by staying."

"What makes you say that?"

"My incredible intelligence and acumen."

"No, seriously."

"Scarlett's incredible intelligence and acumen?"

"I'd buy that if she was the one saying it. Which she wouldn't."

"Then call it a gut instinct." Rosa looked back at Kat, and the woman's gaze met hers.

"Well, in the end, it's up to you," she said.

"I just have one recommendation. If you do decide to head off, make sure to ask Scarlett for a gift before you go."

"A gift?"

"That's what I said, yeah." The obvious question lingered on Kat's face, but instead of asking it, she turned back towards the garden. Rosa let her think. They stayed there for a while, listening to the place breathe around them. Water murmured from the various fountains, branches shifted in the faint breeze, and the maze stood still with no sign of the two girls returning. Eventually, Kat looked towards its entrance.

"Shouldn't they be out by now?" Rosa leaned her head to the side, considering the entrance.

"Maybe we should go in and find them," Kat said.

"Nah. Let's give them a bit more time." From the corner of her eye, Rosa could practically feel the woman give her a questioning look. Rosa smirked.

"Who knows? Maybe they've found a friend."