Tanya stirred awake. It was an unusually slow process for her, whose dreams were constantly haunted and to whom awakening represented a respite from the nightmares.

Not the last few nights, though. She wasn’t sure if it was the healing or simply a lack of her usual emotional drains, but she had been getting slumber so deep that she couldn’t believe it. There were no dreams of any sort. Just a peaceful, lulling darkness that was free of thoughts. For the first time in a long while, she wasn’t on the run, whether from the Army or her past. The crew wouldn’t meet for another few hours, and until then, she had nothing to do.

It was a strange feeling.

Slipping out of bed, Tanya changed into her clothes, ready to step out of the room and into a bright, new day, filled with promises and—

She frowned.

That was probably a bit much, even with her newfound levity. She wasn’t a naive little girl. The world was still as ugly as ever. She had just found a temporary respite against it, at least until she left for the mission and the ugliness returned with full force into her life. Yes, cynicism suited her much better. She felt more comfortable with taking things with a grain of salt. It spared her many bitter disappointments, and she had experienced enough of those to last a lifetime or two.

But still, she had never once thought that the day would come when someone would know about her past, some of it anyway, and not spit in her face or try to get her arrested. Her reverie was broken by the sound of footsteps approaching. Her instincts flaring, Tanya crouched beside the floor, trying to determine if the person was just walking out or approaching her room. The hallway fell silent, and eventually she breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

A knock sounded on the door just inches from her head.

Her start of surprise nearly knocked her to the ground.

Quickly ruffling her hair and rubbing her eyes, Tanya waited for just enough time to make it look like she had just gotten out of bed. She untucked her shirt, and waited until the knock came again before pulling the door open.

Maude lounged against the doorframe, a small garment bag dropped at her feet. She raised an eyebrow at Tanya’s disheveled state.

“Yes?” Tanya asked, trying to sound drowsy.

“Did I wake you up?”

“Uh, yes.”

“Sorry,” Maude apologized. “I should have known you’d not be awake this early. I should’ve just asked Zuken.”

“Zuken isn’t here. After last night’s meeting, he left to meet some people. Something about transportation facilities.”

“And he didn’t come back?”

Tanya shook her head. There was no need to tell Maude that she had passively maintained a tiny wind draft in front of everyone’s rooms to warn her if they were inside or outside. And another on the floors to warn her if someone was coming downstairs.

Maude’s lips twitched. “Anyway, Elena told me to give you this.” She pointed at the bag on the floor.

“What’s there?” Tanya asked.

“More accouterments, I think. Adventurer stuff.”

Hesitantly, she reached out and stripped the bag open. If it contained something dangerous, then both she and Maude would bear the brunt of it. But she needn’t have bothered with the thought. The insides contained a pair of traveling cloaks that looked to be enchanted to resist the elements and physical force—within limits. There were also several pouches made of tanuki skin, enchanted to have greater space on the inside than the outside, and a pair of thin blades.

Finally, her eyes landed on something that looked like lead shells, roughly spherical in shape and small enough for her to hold three of them in her fist. She looked up at Maude, almost expecting a hint of deception or malice. Instead, she found excitement.

Gingerly, she took one of them in her fingers and observed it. The shell was heavy for its size, enough to throw them across thirty to forty feet, and light enough to carry around. There was the all-familiar sigil of the Great Goddess on one side, and the Empire’s emblem on the other.

“Flash grenades,” Maude explained, seeing her bewildered look, “with Eternal Light bottled inside it. Olfric has been busy preparing these for our mission.”

Tanya blinked.

“It’s not as complicated as it looks. Just a simple infusion of Eternal Light on lead.”

“But lead can’t be—”

“Infused with Eternal Light, no. Here we aren’t trying to sanctify the lead. Instead, the power gets trapped within, and explodes with a bright flash.”

“Wow.”

Maude grinned. “Cool, isn’t it? Zuken constructed these shells and Olfric did the rest. I think you might have made our resident aquamancer way paranoid with your stories about the desert.”

Tanya inspected the shells up close. The overall construction felt a little crude. Clearly, the two had been focusing on efficiency rather than decoration. She approved.

“It’s terrible that this has no market in the Empire. Eir knows, the fringes would have gobbled these up.”

Her eyes snapped open. “How do you—”

“Know that?” Maude smiled impishly. “You’re not the only one hounded by the Cobalt Army.”

“Wha—how? Why?”

“I have vanir heritage. My father is an onmyōji for the Empire.”

“You’re…a deviant.”

That certainly explained it. The Asukan Empire did not look favorably upon bremetans breeding with other species—sad aftermath of the Great War. It was, of course, perfectly acceptable for nobles to dally with other species for an evening of fun or more, provided they…cleaned up their messes.

“I spent my childhood hiding in the fringes with others of my kind,” Maude confided. “But like with everyone else, the Cobalt Army ended up getting to me. I was tried, then given to the nobility to allow them better use of my…unique skills.”

“How bad was it?” Tanya couldn’t help but ask. “I mean, even Bergott gives you an acceptable berth.”

“I am a servant of the Empire. A useful tool for the nobility to use, but a tool nonetheless, regardless of how well I am treated. Given my unique talents, nobles are often in need of my aid. It’s just good business to keep good relations with someone you’d hire to save your own life.”

“I see.”

Maude gave her a knowing smile. “I imagine you’re not so different. A bremetan without any connections to nobility, yet bearing a wind spirit that can put most accomplished adventurers to shame? I think half the reason the Cobalt Army wants you so badly is probably because they think you have a lineage similar to mine.”

Tanya suppressed the urge to sneer. “A deviant.”

“Are you?”

She decided not to dignify that question with an answer. “What about Elena? She’s a changeling, but changelings are an exception to deviancy.”

Maude shrugged. “All I know is that she used to be a thief and a rather successful one at that. Then someone offered her a job to steal something from Zuken, and she got caught.”

Tanya narrowed her eyes, instantly assuming the worst. “What happened?”

Maude laughed. “Rumor has it he was so impressed with her that he ended up hiring her. She’s been working for him ever since.” She laughed again, this time with palpable joy. “What a team we make! A sinner, a thief, and an ex-fugitive, all outlaws working for a noble who deals with the worst of the lot.”

Tanya couldn’t help it. She chortled as well.

“So all of this…” She gestured at the bag. “Is this really everything?”

“Hardly,” Maude snorted. “I saw barrels of ration being transported along with water. There’s a lot of dry food. Should be enough to last us for four weeks. Post that, we’re on our own.”

How interesting! Zuken Banksi seemed to stop at nothing to maintain his faithful associate image, and she presumed it would stay that way until he could safely screw everyone over. Aside from him and Olfric, every team member was an outlaw to some degree—people who could just disappear and not have any investigation done about their absence. Given the nature of their job, it would be all too convenient to lay the blame at the feet of outlaws trying to undermine the Asukan hierarchy.

Something else came to mind.

“How are we going to travel all the way to the anomaly anyway? I think I scared them about the desert a little too much.”

Maude grumbled good-naturedly. “You did, but not as much as you think. Besides, we already have a plan thanks to you. Instead of traveling through the desert, we’re going to fly above it!”

“We’re going to fly?”

“Fly.”

“How?”

“Shkroi hawks,” Maude replied, looking entirely amused by the exchange.

“As in, bloodthirsty, meat-loving birds about yay high?” Tanya asked, raising her hand up as far as she could. “A species with a terrifying history of killing their masters and eating them? Those shkroi hawks?”

“Yep.”

Tanya felt like ripping her hair out. They were going to die before they even reached the anomaly. “Why?!”

“We were discussing the logistics of the hawks and how to get them the other day. Zuken doesn’t want to waste time trying to pay his way through the Army channels. That reminds me, how did you travel through the desert without the Army catching on?”

And now Maude expected her to reveal her secrets. Was this why she had shared her sad little “origin” story? To get Tanya to open up and reveal potentially incriminating information? Tanya felt a little insulted about the lack of professional respect her actions implied.

“Let’s just stick to talking about Zuken’s plan.”

Maude harrumphed, reddish hair slightly swaying as she shrugged her shoulders. “Fine. Zuken mentioned he knows a guy who knows a guy who runs shkroi hawk flights.”

“And they won’t get caught?”

“Anti-Scanner tech, probably,” Maude speculated. “Very skilled at avoiding the Army’s detection panels. Good for smuggling goods and fugitives across borders.”

“That’s great and all,” Tanya slowly replied, “if we can ride them without getting mauled?”

“Leave that to Elena. Apparently, she’s great at taming monsters.”

“Charming?”

“No idea.”

Tanya bit her lip in thought. A changeling past her morphing age, with an expertise in charming, a history as a skilled thief, and now, a monster-taming skill. Elena was proving to be quite the character.

“Zuken and Olfric estimate it should take us three days to get there. After that, it’s on us to find the entrance as quickly as possible.”

Three days. Even in the worst-case scenario, we still have forty days to get into the anomaly and get out.

“Can I ask you something, Tanya?”

Tanya blinked. “Go ahead.”

“What are the odds this mission will actually work out? Do you think we’ll survive it?” Before Tanya could interject, Maude spoke up again. “I know there’s a lot more to you than meets the eye. Your mana levels are off the charts, and I’ve seen you conjure wind blades in under a second. I haven’t met anyone with this much skill in windcrafting.”

Tanya looked at her in a new light. She fit into the classic rebel stereotype seamlessly, yet Olfric gave her a wide berth despite her brutish demeanor. She called herself a former fugitive and a tool for the nobility, yet here she was, establishing rapport with a sinner.

Was the interaction genuine? Or was it simply a tool trying to extract information? Had Zuken put her up to this? It would be just like him, creating groups within groups, hiding plans within plans.

The worst part was, she was starting to enjoy it. The paranoia, the thrill, the not knowing everything. The chance of being betrayed and seeking potential avenues of betraying others. Digging into everyone’s secrets, securing alliances, increasing her worth to the team, all while focusing on their main goal: the destruction of the anomaly and the benefits that would come out of it.

Tanya smiled. She’d worked with shadier people before, and she could work with Zuken Banksi too. If nothing else, this success would get her out of Haviskali and out of the Army’s reach, if only for a brief time.

“Well?” Maude demanded uneasily.

Blue eyes met brown. “It takes a few decades for a Class-1 anomaly to evolve, and centuries for it to evolve into a Class-3. This thing has grown large enough for its radiation to escape the desert and register on the Scanners. Who knows how long it’s been alive?”

“That means—”

“The monsters inside have survived the desert’s curse for centuries. Centuries of survival means centuries of accumulated experience.” Tanya leveled her with a harsh look. “If you want to reap the benefits of this mission, you have to do more than survive it. You will need to kill whatever the anomaly throws at you, before it does the same to you.”

“But I’m a healer!”

“Remember to tell that to the monsters before they tear your head clean off.”

Maude’s face turned ashen. “Oh. Right. I’ll, uh, I’ll go pack my battlestaff.”