Somewhere Someplace

The sun shined tall and wide westwards, the day early and fresh yet the air felt dry and only becoming dryer. With each passing day, the world tilted ever more towards winter. Not that Antica could complain, of course; for whatever reason, she preferred the cold air. There was just something that… Well, it was more preferable to hot air. Although, perhaps it was less 'cold' and more 'cool' that she preferred. Not that she herself could comprehensively comprehend.

Regardless, she did not particularly fancy the summer.

Right… Her arrival to this place was during the winter, if she recalled correctly. So, she had only experienced seasonal 'summer' twice so far… And the first time was…unpleasant. Without the full functions of her Remnant uniform system and other such appropriate gear, there was no temperature regulation and the like.

Frankly, now that Antica was reflecting on this, she would not be surprised if half the reason for why she had ended up so…massively dehydrated despite her water-recycling capabilities was from sheer depletion due to excessive sweating… Indeed, she had sweated a lot both during that first summer and that more recent second summer, she realized…

Odd, since she was not usually supposed to sweat because of, well, the aforementioned temperature regulations—as well as augmented cellular cooling efficiency from her essence's automated commands.

However, 'sweating' was not even why she dislike the summer, or…spring for that matter—anything sun or hot-related, truly. Her pale and peachy skin was simply too sensitive, unused to being unshielded from solar and ultraviolet light.

Granted, skin repair and maintenance were part of her essence's encoded automated functions, thus any 'burns' or damage were quick to vanish—albeit not without making her skin 'sparkle' somewhat. But even so, direct sunlight nevertheless made her sensitive skin feel…very weird and discomforted.

Of course, Antica could more than tolerate such irritants and discomforts. However… If there was an option between to be uncomfortable or to be comfortable, she would…perhaps…probably prefer the latter over the former. Odd that she was even contemplating this; though, it was not like she had anything more or better to do at this immediate moment, standing here in this grassy field of a world with hills and dense woodlands afar, awaiting and doing nothing.

Having had travelled through almost the entirety of the night, fifteen hours in journey total, they had finally stopped for a proper break now that it was daybreak.

The Company escort were attending to their own needs whilst their horses—those equines being quite resilient and high-stamina considering they had managed the almost all-night travel—were grazing away upon the grass. These ones did not seem to be picky, it seemed. Red and Blue, meanwhile, were quietly keeping to themselves near their wagon whilst the unicorn grazed and…stared at the other horses, with focus. Novea was also off somewhere, probably attending to her corvid.

This was not going to be a long stop. Sergeant-major Hathway was adamant at keeping things moving; he wanted to reach Grandberry quickly. Antica did not know which exact -berry suffixed locality they were now in, besides no longer being in Humbleberry. However, she was told that they were getting close; a few more hours or so, depending on maintained speed.

None of the Company soldiers had interacted with her thus far, including Hathway and his men with whom she already had some pre-established familiarity—again, these were the same bunch Faulkner had assigned to follow and monitor her during her time at the Company's headquarters in Strawberry. Antica did not believe it was a coincidence that Faulkner had dispatched these exact same soldiers to 'rescue' them… No doubt, these soldiers were not only adhering to the Company, but Faulkner's own interests personally—and she already knew that he did have his own interests.

What she did not know was what element she herself played into it all…

Regardless, though, it seemed that they were 'playing along', so to speak… Not talking or communicating with her, they were not making an indication that there was an association between her and the Company. She was in a different 'form' and such was necessary for her 'cover', thus she was presuming. Yet although they were not interacting with her, she could certainly feel…eyes were on her.

Antica sighed and began to walk, strolling around really. She distanced herself; with her back facing any potential snooping eyes, she began to press and poke at her terminal device's screen. She was just doing a basic check, nothing exceptional.

Throughout the last week, she had ordered Bee to maintain a…much higher altitude than standard. There was, indeed, no telling what she could have potentially attracted with all that noise she had made… And she recalled very clearly that those unknowns had the means of taking out sentinels; thus, they must also have the means of detecting them… Granted, such was the concern since the beginning—it was why she was hesitant to even bring Bee along.

However, Bee was not an ordinary sentinel and was capable of extreme altitude propulsion—breaching into the mesosphere. Sentinels conventionally were stupidly frustrating to detect, owing to both their size and complete radar resistance; while the exact methods and science of their detection was complex, in general, the higher up a sentinel was, the less likely it was to be noticed—keyword being 'likely'…

Everything was a matter of probability.

However, the caveat to this was that the higher up Bee was, the more imprecise her sentinel's eyes would become despite the wider range; in fact, touching the mesosphere would render much of Bee's specific highlight and overwatch functions useless, everything being too ant sized for precise analysis and determination. Granted, maintaining a stupidly high altitude was fine during their holding by the Humbleberriens, since nothing was happening. But now that they were back on the road, it was perhaps best if…

Oh, wait… Antica noticed. Bee's status was indicating that…it had already adjusted. Hm. Right. Never mind, then.

A convenient element of sentinel general intelligence was that she did not always need to explicitly or directly order them to do something… They could extrapolate and infer. Though, such was also the caveat to sentinels: their information processing was fundamentally interpretive—therefore susceptible to bias.

Regardless, her basic check finished, Antica began to distract herself with other mundanities within her terminal device. Yet as she did so, she found herself continuously relooking at Bee's status and position on her coordinate map system.

Hm… Antica had crossed a line that day, she recognized… Brazenly utilizing Bee's strike ordnance to…intervene in a denizen conflict and end immediate hostilities. Truth be told, it was difficult to predict what could happen now.

And Bee, being her personal sentinel, was…very important—both strategically and…not strategically. Throughout their practical eternity together, there had been countless close calls and near destruction experiences… Yet Bee had managed to persist for as long as she had; it had survived; they survived… However, she knew very well… One very lucky strike with the right anti-sentinel seeker, chaser, lance, or whatever else would be all that it would take…

Usually, she had others in operation alongside Bee—security, decoys, et cetera… But right now, she had nothing. Bee was completely alone.

Hm… Although, she did have those other three still… However, so far, she had been very hesitant to awaken them from their low-consumption hibernation.

Those three sentinels were awfully…different and unique; their activeness could 'heighten' her essence's roots which would also 'stretch' due to the connection… Albeit her essence's roots were already likely quite stretched due to those three still being alive, synchronized, and distant; however, their inactivity and lack of energy consumption nevertheless mellowed and 'thinned' the connecting roots, making such more…vague and difficult to notice.

Although, frankly, if those unknowns were actively looking for her aura and essence trails, they would have surely already found her well before now. Her aura was girthy, after all…

Seriously, this still bothered her. Those unknowns were on top of them practically the moment they had arrived, even if not precisely so… Regardless, there was no other way an ambush of that scale could have been pulled off without prior detection and tracking… Yet multiple strikes by a sentinel had done nothing to alert them?

Hm… Though, it was not as though she had exactly checked. But assuming the validity of her current…hypothesis, that being indirect Calamitous affiliation, this was…probably all part of its game. Though, speaking of its game… What has that abomination been doing, anyway? She had not really been—

"Hey!" Suddenly, a voice came hailing from behind, terminating her spinning thoughts.

Antica immediately switched off her terminal device's screen and turned herself around, seeing…

Novea, though she already knew from the voice. That Bureau spy was approaching, her shadowy corvid on her shoulder though it quickly took off. Antica began to approach in kind, both arriving to each other.

"Hm?" She mumbled as her greeting.

"We have time… Uhm… Can we walk?" Novea immediately asked. "You were already distancing yourself, so this works well… We need to talk. Distant."

Antica felt…weird about where this could potentially be going… It was bizarre, truly, how the even the prospect of Novea bringing up a matter that was inevitability going to be brought up would cause such…strange tensive feelings within.

"Thus, let us…walk and talk, then." Antica nevertheless replied.

With a nod, Novea began to walk; Antica followed. Both retained an equal pacing with each other, neither being directly in front or behind. It was silent for a little, though after not too long, Novea initiated the talking amidst this casual walking.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

"See that horsie and man see all the way back there behind us to my left?" She discreetly pointed out with her thumb… "Keeping on us…"

"I noticed…" Indeed, Antica already had. "He is probably watching me, since we are going farther…"

"No." yet Novea corrected; "Not you. Me."

"You?" Antica tilted her head slightly…

"Yeah, me." Novea repeated. "Not like he was here before I arrived to you, rightly?"

"That is…true." Antica acknowledged… Indeed, the appearance of that far trailing equine and man was concurrent to Novea's.

"And, before you ask, no. This is not the case with those two adventurers either." Novea was quick to add, predicting Antica's possible follow-up. "Only me. He's been on me the moment I separated for privacy…"

"Maybe it is for protection." Antica remarked; "You are a lady, and they might think that you are 'weak'…" As Far Westerners tended to so presume. "But with those two, there is…Red, and he is capable, no? And he is always with… Ehm… Blue, even when they separate from us."

"Oh, rightly. That could be true. And I imagine they aren't affording you that luxury because they're already familiarized." Novea was being maybe a little sassy.

"Or perhaps it is that they are confused and do not think that I am a lady." Antica alternatively purposed. "I am very covered."

"Listen," Novea's voice became franker, "I get you might have a preference now from your week stay in Strawberry, military girl, but let's not be obtuse here: they are obviously keeping an eye on me. I am, after all, the Raven. They don't trust me…"

"Well, I would not either." Antica was very blunt.

"Yeah. I know that." And Novea was in kind. "But they're obviously familiarized with you… I don't think they'd be sent to retrieve us, or you, if they weren't already…" There was a grumble in her voice. "So, is that it, huh? Are they the ones you're with now in the Company? The Thirteenth and their…colonel—I assume the same one who signed that letter, 'Lanford Faulkner' was it?"

« … » Antica did not answer… There was too much ambiguity of Faulkner's expectations to safely infer whether or not she should answer this question; although Faulkner's men had openly introduced themselves to her party, such did not mean her last orders of silence were rescinded. "You know that I cannot answer this."

Novea sighed, simmering a little… "Yeah, sorry. I am just a little antsy." she stated; "I just don't like any of this… I don't trust them either. I mean, retrieving us is one thing, but escort—we don't need an escort…"

"It just the… What is the word? Insurance? Yes, that." Antica replied.

"That's what I am saying though: we don't need insurance." Novea thus said.

"…well, I am doubtful that we would have been captured and held for one week if we had them with us." Antica was frank.

Novea promptly ughed in an almost growly grumble… "Yeah, probably… That might be true…" Indeed, she recognized… "But still… Are they, what, going to be involved fully with our, or your, new mission now or something? Dealing with the Fallen…"

"How am I to answer that?" Antica plainly replied.

"Look, I am just talking, Nil—ahem—Annica."

"Antica." Antica felt compelled to correct.

"…uhm… That's what I said?" Novea tilted her head. "Annica." She was naive to her consonant assimilation.

"It matters little…" Annica sighed, even though it did sound weirder.

"Anyway, my point is," Novea continued on, "I don't trust them… Not this 'escort' or their intentions."

"But you were fine with the previous Company escort, no? When we left Coastfield…" Antica remarked.

"Yeah, but those guys were different." Novea replied; "These guys are GR-13."

"…and I am supposed to know what—"

"That's what the Bureau calls the Thirteenth—those guys." Novea interceptively clarified, pointing; "They have distinct blue bands on their uniforms."

"Hm… Well, you speak with importance of their distinction; that they are not normal." Antica remarked; "So, thus, to ask… What precisely is this 'Thirteenth', then?" she asked, although she already had her own guesses.

"The Thirteenth is…" Novea needed a short moment to articulate an answer… "They are…essentially to the Company…kind of what the Bureau is to the Guild? Though, actually, it would be more accurate to say Exiled Legion, since that's their affiliation…"

"I see…" Yep. Antica had already been given that impression; that this…'Thirteenth' so-called 'grand regiment' was some kind of military intelligence compartment, no thanks to the type of tasks Faulkner had her do in Strawberry… Observation, analysis, she even had to 'covertly' deliver a letter—though it was hardly covert since she was followed the whole time…

Never mind, obviously, that they seemed to know an awful lot.

"Although, they aren't exactly like us…" Novea continued; "They are a Far West military division, so they operate like one. Not like…"

"Like the web of self-contradicting spiders." Antica plainly remarked.

"Yeah… Not nearly as in depth as the Bureau, to say… But we don't really know too much about them, honestly." Novea admitted…

"You do not?" And here Antica had thought the Bureau knew everything; though, such thoughts were sarcastic.

"Or, at least, I don't know too much about them…" Novea clarified; "As I've said before, I'm only ever told what's immediately relevant, and they haven't really been relevant to what I've done. I wasn't aware they were…even involved until they showed up yesterday."

"So, thus, if their involvement was an important detail, then your Bureau people would have told you so, no?" Antica remarked.

"Yeah, you'd think…" Novea just sighed. "Although…" Suddenly, her breaths shifted towards...hesitancy… "Hm… I… Uhm… Hm.." There was more she wanted to say, yet…it remained trapped.

"…what? What is it?" Indeed, Antica was quick to notice from her voice; "You have more to speak?"

Yet Novea remained hesitant and stuck… "I have…other…reasons to…distrust them and…a lot of people right now, honestly…" she thus…began to say; "Reasons that are not…'in the book', if that makes sense? But…" There was a short pause… "Can…I tell you something?"

"Ehm…" Antica just looked at her… "y…yes? Is that not…what you are already doing?" Indeed, asking was completely redundant.

"Yeah… I just, still, I needed to ask… Just follow with me, please…" Novea needed to go through her own process in order to speak what she wanted to speak, it seemed.

"I am following you…" Antica replied, following literally.

"I… I probably should not even talk about this since…it is an entirely separate…matter that is irrelevant to your…anything, so… And, you know, but… I feel that it might be necessary…" Novea was audibly struggling to convey.

"Speak it. Do not worry about explaining if you are not able to explain." Antica simply suggested.

Novea took in a breath and exhaled. "Rightly…" She refocused her mind and restructured her thoughts. "So… You remember our…little outing…in Strawberry, rightly?"

"…you mean when we walked around and did nothing?" Antica was blunt, though not unfriendly.

"Hey! We did…some things—we talked and…looked at the stars and…then walked more and then… Uhm…" Indeed, they perhaps did not actually do much that night… Novea swiftly shook her head, snapping out of this sidetrack. "Anyway, that's not the point! You remember how I…was dressed very different, rightly?"

"…yes?" Antica, indeed, had noted that detail.

"Well… My doing that was not…just because…I wanted to…look…nice or anything,"—though such was absolutely a motive—"but rather because… Well…" She took yet another breath. "There was an incident."

"Hm?" Antica's attention abruptly sharpened. "An incident? What kind of 'incident'?"

"I won't, or can't, go into the details, because—again—I shouldn't even be telling you any of this…" Novea stated; "But, essentially, while I was 'busy' in Strawberry, I was…confronted by a group of very upset people—but I was with others so that was handled, so that wasn't the actual issue…"

"…it was not?" Antica would consider being confronted by a hostile group an issue.

Yet Novea shook her head. "No. They knew…or their leader knew…a description of me—behind my mask. They knew my physical appearance, that I was a Raven, and they seemed to have known where to find me and…who I was…assigned to." she explained, hesitantly though nevertheless so. "I was…compromised, and I am…confident that they were provided that information… It was a targeted hit against me."

"Targeted?" Antica's voice only sharpened further. "You were targeted?"

"Well, I think that I was…" Novea clarified; "It remains an open question… I could've just been…really sloppy, and they did spin me around too much—but I am adamant that I was not." Indeed, she seemed adamant. "I am…good at my job—I am… I know I am…"

"That is…not in doubt." Antica attempted to reassure, though her tone was plain.

"There was too much…that aligned in their knowing for it to be a major fuck up… So, I strongly have a hunch that…they were leaked this information as part of an intentional hit against me." Novea explained, tense in voice… She felt she should not be disclosing this. "I can't…explain my reasoning too well, but you'll have to trust me on this."

"I…do not doubt you." Antica stated; "But, thus… You are accusing the Company, then?" Indeed, she could see where this was clearly connecting to.

"I mean…" Novea deliberated… "It makes…total sense that they would want to eliminate me, both during the talks in Strawberry and now; to give themselves an edge." She did not necessarily answer, although she did state; "And there were a lot of weird things going on in Strawberry…"

"But would not your own bureau be the one to know the things of you…to leak?" And theirs was a ship with many holes, so Antica had been told.

"…I cannot…answer this…fully, but…" Novea needed to pick her words… "I'll just say, anyone only ever knows things in pieces. You could know I am here, but not what I look like; you might know what I look like, but not my assignment, job, where to find me, or what I am doing. You'll have to trust me on this, but…it is very unlikely for any one leak to contain all of the pieces." she explained. "I've thought this through, I really have; I don't see how it could've been any of the…relevant persons in Strawberry."

"Hm. Alrightly, but if not from the Bureau, as you say, and if it was from the Company or anything else not the Bureau… How would they even know any of these things to be leaked of you…if it is such a scattered secret? They would have to have been leaked themselves, no? Yet not from your Bureau?" Antica questioned, though then realized… "Wait, to clarify, I told them nothing." Although, Faulkner had…inquired some things which she did answer… Hm…

"Oh, yeah, don't worry… I know it wasn't you." Novea stated, though her posture then tensed… "But… That's kind of it…" There was even greater hesitancy in her voice… "Things about you have…already been leaking to the Company, that's been established… But now, and again I have no evidence but it's a hunch, if things about me were leaked from the Company or…someone within the Company, then… Then…"

"…then?"

Novea exhaled… "…there could be a linking stitch between the two." she…said; "I just can't…say it. I have no proof or…evidence, really… And I don't want to…say it…until I see it… Until I know for…a fact that I've been so…disrespected." There was a sizzle in her voice.

"You are confusing me…" Antica plainly stated.

"Yeah, I know, sorry… I am being very confusing…" Novea sighed, pausing in her walk. "And none of this is even why I brought any of this up, honestly… It's not what I wanted to tell you…"

"And, so, what did you…want to tell me, then?" Antica thus inquired.

Novea took a moment… Before, with a breath, she straightened and sharpened. "All I wanted to say was that, with everything considered, should anything happen to me—you know, like, a tragic accident…" She looked straight into her. "Do not believe anything from anyone and especially not them…" Her voice was quite serious and sincere. "Nobody…will tell you the truth about what happened; you won't ever get the truth… Got it?"

"…it is gotten." Indeed, noted.

"Now, that said, I should say," Novea then began to say, "I don't think they are going to actually try anything—on this journey, at least… If they were going to, they wouldn't follow me around or be too obvious. I think they're just trying to tell me that I shouldn't try anything…" She took a short pause… "But, still. My words' standing remain now and future: if anything does happen—"

"Nothing is going to happen to you, Nine." Antica, however, interjected. "I will make sure of that."

"Duh… Huh?" Novea was immediately caught off guard. "What do you…mean?"

"Our cooperation is…mutual and collaborative." Antica stated in simple terms; "Therefore, I am obligated to ensure your protection."

Novea blankly stared, blustering within… "duh-I… I see…" She blushed, indeed; "I… I…"

"This applies to those two adventurers, also." Antica then just had to say.

And so quickly that heated fluster expunged away… "Of course…" Novea sighed… "Still… Thanks. Means a lot that you…feel that." She smiled behind her corvid mask. "Anyway, well…" she promptly ahemed, "That was…really it, honestly, and it seems they are starting to…prepare for departure now."

"We should probably return, then." Antica astutely suggested.

"Yep…" Even if Antica's words were…probably just symbolic, Novea nevertheless felt more eased within. "…Grandberry awaits."