In a secure meeting room.

"Explain."

Tabitha's appearance was prim and proper, undamaged by the earlier confrontation. Her demeanor was as the pair saw on their first encounter. A professional secretary and all business. Her expression remained neutral despite the clear hostility emanating across the conference table.

Chewing her tongue, she examined the flustered version of Daire. Tabitha succeeded in ruffling his feathers. Not everything went to plan; she didn't plan how he would react, so everything was within acceptable parameters as far as she was concerned.

"Do you have any idea what you've done? How much you've exposed me?"

"Exposed? I am not sure I understand."

"You know full well what you've done. You wanted me mad? Congratu-fucking-lations. I'm furious."

"No one was harmed. Even the group I hired walked away practically unscathed. I was prepared for you to kill them."

The group she found for the job were people in debt with the guild. It was not enough to put a bounty on them, but it's enough for her to assign them a job they didn't want to do. They were willing and excited initially, expecting the job of testing a merchant to be child's play. Tabitha expected them to leave for another town after being humiliated for a second time. But that wasn't how Daire saw it.

"Not mentioning the humiliation you made us endure... The ripples were supposed to be controlled. But you've put me in the spotlight instead. This incident will spread from mouth to mouth until the entire town and beyond hear of Violet and I. Will you accept responsibility if someone comes looking?"

That was interesting.

"And who do you expect to come looking."

"Exactly who you'd expect. Bounty hunters looking for a mythical Pixie."

Daire deflected. Tabitha let it go. Violet interrupted.

"It was my fault for getting captured right off the bat.."

"No, it wasn't. It was this schemer's plan to-"

Daire cut off his caustic words when Violet's demeanor registered. His words became softer as a result.

"We will talk about it later."

Violet didn't respond, so he was forced to accept her silence as acceptance.

Tabitha was curious about the interaction. She was attempting to parse hidden information in the slightest gestures. It was clear that something happened to create distance between the pair. The question on her mind was why these two were paired together in the first place. Traveling companions. Legitimate business partners. Guard and Princess?

She wasn't ruling out even the most far-fetched ideas since knowing who this Daire person was, was paramount in trusting him with the contents of her operation.

"Tabitha."

His voice was simmering, threatening to boil over again if she wasn't straight with him.

"Why?"

She chewed her cheek—some things needed to be revealed in an exchange.

"I needed to know who you were. How you would react in a pinch and if you were capable of defending yourself."

"You could have asked me directly. I've never lied to you."

"You've been speaking in half-truths, and in my experience, that means people have things to hide. You know too much to be ordinary and are too trusting with what you've given freely. It makes me wonder what the hidden costs are."

"I am in the business of dealing information. There was no cost for me revealing what I have."

Daire shook his head in exasperation.

"It was the price of my desire. I paid you handsomely and will continue to do so."

"That's the thing I am having trouble with."

Tabitha tapped a finger on the umber hardwood table.

"This person you want to rescue is worth thousands of gold. Seeming priceless! And-"

"The same could be said for your cousin."

His interruption caused Tabitha to purse her lips and rearrange her words.

"If you believe that the... information that you've deemed usable for this endeavor is expendable... I am curious as to what information you are holding on to and who will be interested in it."

That was Tabitha's and her sharp mind at work. She zeroed in on the most important matter quickly.

"Someone, somewhere, would likely pay platinum to pick your mind apart. I need to know anything that will potentially come back on me by trusting you. Your actions and words make me think you are hiding, and I want to know if I will be caught in the crossfire for being involved with you.

Daire bit his tongue. He never misled her. He even helped her more than he needed to. But it somehow backfired and made her opinion negative, elevating her hostility.

"Was it worth it?"

"..."

"Your stunt. Was it worth it? I hope so. You could have tested me in private instead of getting the entire guild involved. Those things you're worried about, the ones that might come back to haunt you? Yeah. You screwed the pooch on that one. There were negligible chances of anything occurring before you tested me. Now? I am almost positive there will be unforeseen consequences that I haven't and am not able to calculate."

A palm rubbed all the way up his pace before slicking back his hair. It was already pulled back, so the action only served to personify his frustration. He then rubbed his forehead and pinched the bridge of his nose. Speaking into his hand, his words were muffled.

"There were better ways."

Taking a deep breath in, he settled himself into his chair.

"Fine. What's done is done. I will try to negate the impact as much as I can and make plans, but I am already overworking myself. I'll forgive you for exposing me, but not for threatening Violet. We will still work with you because it is the easiest and quickest way to free Iris. Will you accept having a partner in this endeavor, or will you go it alone? Or, gods forbid, do you still have doubts or questions?"

Tabitha held her silence. Looking back, there wasn't much to hold against him. He'd been helpful in multiple areas, and he was even offering a mutually beneficial arrangement. This wouldn't be the last time they saw each other either. She could work him until he spilled more or cut him off entirely once her cousin was back home.

"I will let the others know you are joining them. Would you like to meet them?"

Daire stood, shaking his head.

"No. I already met them briefly, though they don't remember. Here."

A thick dossier fell onto the conference table. He bought crate's worth of paper yesterday to keep detailed documents and copy his notes.

Tabitha reached over and opened the front cover that was stamped Confidential.

"What is this?"

Daire grabbed his bag and laid his hand on the door handle.

"We leave for Orlin midday four days from now. The information on our meetup is in the dossier. I'll take my leave."

=

"Violet! Daire. Are you both alright? I heard about what happened from the others."

Daire rolled his eyes while Violet rubbed her arms.

"Daire handled it."

Emmy slithered closer. The teen was going to hold Violet's hands in comfort but realized that would be the same as squeezing her.

"I heard all about it. People are saying that he moved like a Lamia in the way he took down Regi. And a few muscleheads boasted about how well he took the punches."

Violet only retreated further into her shell. Until Emmy's next words.

"And that you managed to defeat the mage all by yourself!"

Violet's eyes opened.

"But. I didn't do anything. I got captured."

Emmy shook her head as that clearly wasn't the case.

"That's not how the others see it. They said you had the mage right where you wanted her, causing her to misfire and suffer from backlash so that Daire could fight back. People were toasting to the way you made her writhe on the ground, apparently."

"I..."

"She deserved it for being a jerk. How could anyone threaten someone so cute and fierce!"

"Emmy, stop it. You're embarrassing me."

Violet became uncomfortable again but in a good way. Next, Emmy began boasting about Violet "riding in on a giant bear" and flattening the third ruffian. The Lamia wanted to get a bard to write a song about it immediately because the battle sounded so cool. Violet expressed her distaste while leaving room for Emmy to force the issue if she so chose.

Daire stood next to them, a part of the conversation but not a participant. The way Emmy swooped in and started washing away Violet's anxiety made him feel relieved. He wasn't sure how to tell her how much of a help she was during the confrontation. It would have sounded condescending if it came from him, but the novice adventurer held all the enthusiasm of a teenager talking to her best friend. Thinking about it, Emmy is likely Violet's first female friend. Seeing Violet acting mostly normal and girly, Daire was relieved. He made a mental note to reward Emmy somehow for her timely intervention.

The two girls didn't even notice they were walking and chatting at the same time. Er.... slithering and flying? Hovering and gliding... you know what, I'm not even going to try.

=

The Library was full of smiles.

The smirk plastered across his face couldn't have been broader. It was only outshone by Violet's. Her wide-open, toothy smile twinkled with wonder that reflected in her eyes. The thin, stately, bookish woman attending to the library would be smiling if she could get ahold of the complicated tears streaking down her face at finally having enthusiastic visitors.

The amount of ADHD activities taking place, if converted to liquid form, would be enough to drown the ocean. There were just too many choices in History alone. HISTORY! Huge pieces were missing from The White Tragedy, making everything Daire knew up to this point seem paltry in comparison. The bardic undertones and poetic scriptures contained mysterious and wonderful escapades. The lore explained through artistic expression spoke to him on a spiritual level.

Violet found an entire wall filled top to bottom with romance books and all its subgenres. She flittered to and fro like a hummingbird, eager to find elusive nectar. Urban Romance, Fantasy, Thriller, and Horror... Niche genres involving crime, war, rival factions, or forbidden love between different races. Steamy or Innocent. One True Loves or Reverse Harem Conquerers!

Drool dribbled down her chin as she pulled Emmy by the arm, almost lifting the poor Lamia to reach the higher shelves while she tittered with glee. Fortunately, the one and only librarian was eager to please and gossip, starved for conversation from a fellow romance enthusiast. It turned out that the library was technically a private collection that was acquired book by book by the wizened woman. She opened it to the public almost a year ago, but rarely anyone ever dropped by despite the flyers she put out.

Emmy couldn't follow most of the bubbly talk the two exchanged regarding their favorite genres. Set aside and forgotten, the Lamia glided over to where Daire was picking up books in two's and organizing them in a way only he understood before replacing the books he figured he could get to later. He laid three books out on the ground and opened all three at once while he held a notebook in his lap.

Looking between the two hot spots and feeling even more lost, Emmy decided to find her own place to enjoy.

She wandered over to a small nook near the front entrance where squat chairs were propped up. A short shelf held an assortment of children's books. Emmy almost slithered past it, but there were two books with pretty covers, so she picked them up and started reading.

They were picture books.

Considering Rist is a Magical Medieval society, picture books were still relatively rare.

It didn't take long before Emmy consumed the easy novels and found a bestiary comprising of monsters in NorthEastern Rist, where they were located. The illustrations were well done, and Emmy found herself reminiscing on her parents' stories about hunting or defeating such beasts. There were a good many that she didn't recognize at all.

After being absorbed for nearly two hours, Emmy put the book down and rolled her stiff shoulders before massaging her tail. Glancing over, she saw Daire's prone form obscured by piles of books. Violet and the librarian were sitting at a table, reading two different books while drinking warm tea.

Her tail tapped the floor rhythmically, at a loss of what to do. She was supposed to act as a tour guide but it seemed like her clients didn't want to go anywhere else.

Eventually, after another hour of agitated waiting, she interrupted their sessions.

Daire groaned long and hard before reluctantly admitting he had other things to do. Violet was literally clinging to her book and needed to be pried away with force. She only let go for fear of damaging the book. Both of them were upset by the librarian's adamant stance on keeping all books. Daire tried to register for a library card, but there being no such thing, he was forced to hang his head low as he exited.

"We are definitely coming here again."

"Mm. Mm."

Violet nodded twice. As if the possibility of return wasn't even in question.