About an hour later, the pair exited Aureate Hill through its southern gate without incident. Blood River was clothed all in black and wearing the hooded cloak to conceal his features still, but Five was not at all shy about being noticed. He hadn't dared to change out of that pair of not-quite-large-enough pants in front of Five, and so he was stuck wearing them as they dashed out into the grasslands together.

There had been an argument, of course, but in the end, Mister Black had suggested he go along with the arrangement for now as it was his best chance to end the Flowing Water ex-chief quickly and without complication. Even if it was a trap, with Mister Black able to watch the situation they'd know well in advance what to expect.

Once Aureate Hill's walls were safely out of view, River removed the hooded cloak, stowing it in his storage pouch.

"Handy item, that pouch," Five remarked as the garment vanished.

"I tend to like it," River smirked. "So, how fast can you really go? Or is this it?"

Five laughed and shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow. River rolled his eyes and likewise sped up, catching up within seconds.

"So then this is it?" He asked with an impish grin.

"More or less," she remarked, not looking at all surprised at his ability to catch up to her and maintain the pace. "You?"

He shrugged. "I can push it a fair bit more, but this should be okay."

Five smirked. "I'm so very pleased that Your Devilship finds my pace to be adequate enough for his liking."

"So," River decided to change the subject, "How did you manage to end up with a name like Five?"

The woman laughed. "That's my callsign within the Dragonslayers. I have another fake name I used for my work at the bounty office. Only my close friends get to know my real name."

"Ah," River didn't have much to add to that admission, "So then you all go by numbers?"

Five shrugged. "Some of us. My grandpa is One, for example. He's our spiritual compass, so to speak. You'll no doubt get to meet him soon."

"Must be nice, having a blood relative to work with on something like this," River replied, a bit wistful.

"Oh no, he's not my blood relative," Five corrected him. "Grandpa One picked me up from an orphanage when I was young, though. That very same orphanage is a prop of Brave Dragon's now." Anger rose in her tone as she continued. "He shows up, pats some children on the head and gives them sweets, and goes on his merry way. No doubt a reminder of what he could just as easily destroy if pressed, yet many mistake the gesture for kindness."

"Ah, I'm sorry to hear that," River replied, reminded of his own status.

"So then, are you just called River or is there something else to that?" Five asked.

"It's Blood River."

Five arched an eyebrow at that name. "Isn't that rather showy? Your parents--"

"My parents have been dead since ten years past," River responded, "back in the sickness that was spreading at the time."

"Ah, so then your grudge with the Den only extends to clan extermination and not your direct family, then." Five furrowed her brow in consideration.

River barked a laugh. "Not really, I'm actually disappointed that Brave Dragon got to the clan before I did, truth be told. As I said, Flowing Water was a thorough cesspool, and the Ghost is the man most responsible for that state of affairs."

Five frowned. "Surely there's something or someone you were fond of--?"

"A couple. One was Sweet Nectar," he said, surprised that saying that name didn't carry the same pain as before. "A girl living in the attached village, not actually part of the clan. The Den discovered she had some kind of unique body, so Brave Dragon took her and used her as a cultivation furnace."

Both of Five's eyebrows shot up at that pronouncement. "Interesting... I mean, I'm sorry to hear about her, but we also didn't have much information on his recent advancement besides that it happened. I'm just... surprised to hear someone unrelated to the Den has such specific knowledge about it."

"That's quite the gap in your information gathering," River responded, shifting the subject away from that painful episode.

Five shrugged. "It can't be helped, an expert's cultivation secrets are by necessity something they tend to hide, especially when you're talking about somewhere like here in the radius of the Dragon's Den. Opportunities like that are coveted to the point of murder."

"I can't argue with that," River agreed, "since I left the clan for that very reason."

"So then your unique, uh, power isn't the result of a constitution but from an opportunity?" Five probed.

River laughed. "You can say that, yes. An opportunity that almost got me killed by thugs from the Den and that had members of my own clan scheme to try and snatch, yes."

"Sounds like this Ghost of yours is a pretty evil fellow, then."

River shrugged. "I can't say I've seen how he is first hand; the chief was the kind to live in secluded meditation, although I have it on good authority that he'd have eventually joined in with the elders in plotting against me once he came out of it."

"Ah, so then Flowing Water's council of elders was thoroughly rotten."

"That it was," River agreed. "There was one fellow in particular who had a thing for young men and women and collaborated with the Dragon's Den in obtaining the objects of his desire. The others knew about it and did nothing, too absorbed in their own petty schemes or false pride to lift a finger to stop it."

Five gave a low whistle. "I hate the Den as much as one can, but I didn't think they were even stooping to that level."

River shrugged. "They kept the room where he entertained himself in their outpost. I got a good look at it firsthand when I killed the bastard myself. If I hadn't gotten my opportunity when I did, then I would've likely been the next one in that room."

"We'll have to go burn the whole place down when we're done with our friend the Ghost, then," Five announced. "It won't take us far out of our way."

"Oh?" River had been dashing alongside Five during their talk as they continued southward, but he hadn't especially kept track of where they were headed.

"You said that the Ghost lived in seclusion most of the time," Five reminded him, "which lines up with our knowledge that he's hiding out in a cavern not too far from the ruins of Flowing Water."

"Ah, so I have to go back home anyway," River smiled bitterly.

"Indeed." Five agreed.

After that, they continued on in somber silence for about another hour before they reached the burnt-out husk of Flowing Water. The two slowed their pace and entered, Five tacitly understanding why River was stopping here first.

The Dragon's Den had been very thorough in their cleansing of the village, with every building inside the village left charred and shattered, whether it was inside or outside the clan compound. The blackened corpses of the occupants of the town hadn't been cleared and remained frozen where they fell, too burnt for even the usual eaters of carrion to bother with them.

River wandered through the village for a few minutes, finally stopping in front of a small crater-like impression dotted with mulch-like shards of wood. He closed his eyes and stood there for a moment.

"Mister Black," he addressed his ghostly tutor.

"Yes, my young friend?" The old man replied. "I was afraid you'd forgotten about little old me, what with your new lady friend there and all."

"Is--? Did--?" River started to ask something of his teacher but couldn't even form the thoughts to do so.

"I assume you want to know about Blue Ripple," Mister Black responded.

"Yes."

"There are a lot of familiar corpses around here, including all of the remaining Elders, but as for your friend... for good or for ill, he isn't here," Mister Black informed him.

"That's good," River replied, exhaling a relieved sigh.

"Memories?" Five's voice pierced into the closed-eye darkness of his consciousness.

River opened his eyes and smirked at his female companion. "Some. Not that the ones in this hole were very good. Before I stumbled across my opportunity, I was an orphan of no notable status or cultivation, living in a rundown shack here at the edge of the compound. That one particularly bad elder? He's the one who turned it into a hole like this."

"Ah." Five nodded. "Sorry for bringing it up."

River smiled. "You don't have to be sorry, Five." He saw her genuine regret and felt an urge to straighten the record with her. "A boy named Strong River lived here after his parents died, reviled by others in the clan, considered useless by all. He got by on a stipend of porridge and did menial tasks others wouldn't do, occasionally getting picked on by the more fortunate children of the clan."

River then shrugged. "Strong River was named that by his parents, but for the longest time he never lived up to the name. Eventually, he did, so much so that he surpassed the need for that kind of reminder. Strong River entered the outpost of the bandits, but Blood River exited it."

He sighed. "And now Flowing Water is gone. Except for one little last loose end. I believe you can take me there?"

Five smiled, "Of course."

And so the two continued onward on their journey to cleanse the last remnant of the clan known as Flowing Water.