“Any luck on the Grimoire?” Lysa peered over his shoulder, breaking Jose’s concentration.

He gave her a death glare and then relented with a sigh, “Not much. All I know for sure is that it isn’t a Grimoire.” That discovery got an eyebrow raised from Lysa.

“It isn’t? It’s a book right? And it has all the same ancient text a Grimoire has.” Lysa yanked the book out from Jose’s hands and performed her own cursory inspection, leafing through the pages with furrowed brows. Jose waited for her to hand the book back.

Honestly, if she can’t even read the text, what’s the point of leafing through the damn book.

“As I was trying to say,” Jose started, opening to a page with a diagram on it, “I believe this is a manual of some kind. The machine in question is out of my depth of understanding, but it is definitely a machine.”

“Maybe it’s got something to do with the forge vessel and their anvil’s purpose…” Laura chimed in without turning around. She was preoccupied with unlocking the contents of the egg, the item in question cradled in a sconce and picked at by her inspecting tools.

“You don’t really buy into Radolfo’s conspiracy, do you Laura?” Jose questioned.

At the mention of his name, Radolfo perked up and pulled away from his work. “If our brainchild can come up with an alternate theory, by all means.”

Jose considered taking the bait again, but he was on the clock. His break time superseded his, admittedly petty, challenge to Radolfo’s baseless assertions.

“I would love to, but I’m pressed for my lunch break. Not even you can keep me away from spending time out of here.” Jose said.

“Or keep him from spending time with his wife.” Lysa remarked.

“Says the woman with a shadow for a wife.”

Lysa chuckled, slamming her palm onto his back with a strong crack.

Jose gave Lysa a dirty look while she feigned ignorance of the situation.

Whatever. He wasn’t going to allow her ribbing to detract from the joys of his lunch break. Today was Emma’s turn to buy lunch and he was feeling like a sub from Alfonso’s would hit the spot.

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Even with the oppressive humidity, the canopies of the mangrove trees provided relief to the otherwise blistering sunlight. There were pedestrians walking around like Jose, enjoying the time outside with friends and family or simply maintaining their shopfronts.

Jose couldn’t help but meander even off the clock, taking a look at shop windows that held interesting items or sublime art pieces salvaged from the Annals for public consumption. Stuff with no apparent purpose put to use for aesthetic pleasures. He walked up to a park bench, his bench, and waited for his partner to arrive.

It didn’t take long before he saw Emma in a violet colored floral gown walking towards him. She wore thin framed glasses which accentuated the brilliance of her light caramel eyes. Her skin was lightly tanned, a byproduct of working as a Vanguard member. Her straight black hair was kept in a short bob, not allowed to grow beyond her shoulders. She was charismatic, resilient, and beautiful and of all the people she chose to marry, she’d picked a stick in the mud like him.

“Mi amor,” Emma began, the two embracing one another in a long hug before she continued, “How’s work so far?” The two started walking through the park's path towards the central plaza.

“It’s going well so far. Everyone’s abuzz about rumors in the colony.” Jose stated coyly. Emma hated talking about her work outright but he felt there was no harm in at least broaching the topic if he didn’t push as hard as usual.

“Oh? Do these rumors have anything to do with a certain mission conducted by a certain group in the colony?” She replied, tongue in cheek. Jose refused to meet her eyes. Good sign she was willing to reference it.

“Well, Lysa mentioned a talk she had with Nora in the morning and they seemed pretty excited about this certain mission.”

“It’s hard not to see why they’d be excited but the whole colony might be overreacting to the rumor.”

Oh? “Why do you think that, love?”

“Well, I really don’t want to spoil our time together with work talk, but we only got a look at the point of interest from a distance before we were forced to fall back. We’re not sure what we’ll find in there.” Interesting. Either Nora gave Lysa an overblown account of the sweep, the Vanguard used the report the Mire Men had given them and simply adopted it as their own, or maybe Emma was lying to him.

He shook his head, removing the third option from his mind.

“Wait, why’d they have to fall back?” Jose waited for an answer and received that knowing look Emma often gave to indicate that she was restricted from talking about it. With no proper answer, it was just another mystery to add onto the rumor, and made the prospect equal parts interesting and dangerous.

“Was there anything interesting you received from those Mire Men people or what?” Emma asked curiously.

“I found some interesting stuff to identify, yeah. What I thought was initially a Grimoire turned out to be a manual of some kind for a device I don’t know so I’m gonna have to delve deeper into the whole thing.” Emma nodded, remaining quiet as he explained what he did know about the book and why it was weird to have found a book like that in this area in the first place.

The Vanguard was responsible for clearing Nests in the vicinity of Ileah and oftentimes came back hauling whatever items were hoarded in those areas but it was an inelegant approach to just scoop all the scrap and have the Annals sort through what was usable. They didn’t even pay attention to the similarities in their hauls from day to day.

“It’s not a priority for us in the field to become knowledgeable in the items we scrounge for the Annals but its fascinating seeing just how many pipes, amber cores, and other miscellaneous relics are in a swamp like this. Like where do amber cores even come from that we find so many?” Emma said with a quizzical look on her face.

On his part, Jose was excited and eager to explain the specifics, “Well these amber cores form naturally from the sap in the mangroves. There’s a whole process I asked a botanist to explain to me at a colony convergence meeting but suffice to say, souls supply trees with these nutrients that they then crystallize and congeal into amber cores. What we have left is the byproduct of that process, a mix of everything unable to be broken down by the tree. The Vespians can do it with their amber magic too but that’s on a whole other league.”

They had finally reached their destination, the central plaza. Numerous food stands were open with the aroma in the air, a swirling cavalcade of sweet treats and savory snacks. Emma gravitated towards her stall of choice, a confectionary stand with frozen sweets topped with cream and fruit.

“Oye, mijo,” a gravelly older voice called out to Jose from a stand up food trolley, “The radio’s busted again. The kids were messing with it and now I can’t get it to turn on. Me puedes ayudar?” Jose smiled and strolled over to the man with Emma in tow. She struggled to get out of his grip but nothing would stop Jose from helping the man (and potentially securing a free meal).

Alfonso was a family friend and anemic to dealing with anything magical or otherwise, preferring to deal with problems in a straightforward and forceful manner. The fact that he still maintained the physique of a young fighter was a testament to that dedication.

“Dame espacio.” The two of them gave Jose the space he needed to perform a cursory inspection of the radio. He placed the palm of his hand on the device and concentrated his attention on the tips of his fingers. A cold sensation crept up from his gut to his arm to his fingertips and then into the device itself. Jose opened his eyes a moment later and turned to Alfonso, “Cores out. The kids probably spent the last of its power. Give it some juice or replace the core and it should be good as new.”

“Gracias, mijo.” Alfonso thanked him but judging by his sullen glances at the radio, he probably didn’t like the diagnosis.

“Well Alfonso, I’m here with the misses and after all that hard work, maybe you can offer us some lunch for the trouble?” He gave Alfonso a wide grin. The man was unamused.

“Mijo, if I gave you a free sandwich every time you came by and fixed something for me, I’d be out of business.” Alfonso looked at the both of them and back at his cart. “But, I can offer you a discount for the work. Two silver mint for each sandwich as opposed to four.”

“Deal!” Jose immediately jumped at the offer, happy to get anything from the old man. “I’ll pay for it.”

“Wait, I thought I was gonna pay for it?” Emma interjected, reaching for her own coin pouch. Jose was faster on the draw and paid for their meal.

“You can buy dessert. We both know you want something from that ice cream stand.” Jose gave Emma a knowing look and she was off to the dessert stand, making a mound of ice cream with cherries and strawberries and cream.

The two of them sat down at an outdoor table and ate lunch together. They passed the time looking at people and talking about the books they were reading.

“How many of those dime novels are there? It seems like you’re chewing through a new one every couple of months.” Jose inquired. He looked at the cover of ‘La Reina’, the titular queen in combat vestments fighting against a group of Infected while holding onto her love interest in her other arm. The back of the book talked a bit about the premise for the latest adventure in the series and the specification that these were considered autobiographical works. Emma took the book back and hugged it tightly.

“You just don’t understand what Ylva has to go through. A story of betrayal and exile, scouring the land of Anhalar for her children and her birthright with nothing but her trusty sidearm and her growing familia. God, I wish I could explore half the places she’s visited in her lifetime.” Emma looked longingly beyond the mangroves before shaking her head and turning her attention to Jose’s book. “You don’t get to criticize me when you’re looking at ‘The History of Scourge’s and their Effects on Fortress Migration Patterns’. Honestly, reading the title makes me want to fall asleep.”

“Hey! You can’t judge a book by its title. Sure, the material’s a little dry-”

“A little?”

“But they have sections dedicated to known Scourges and their migration patterns as well as a bit of history on the Ileah and why we use the route that we do.” He hated to admit to her that the bulk of the book was bogged by geographical technical jargon but the material past that was genuinely interesting.

“Alright, I’ll bite. Why do we use the current route that we do, beyond the economical incentives to do so?” Emma prepared herself for his presentation, teasingly throwing her head to the side to be propped up by her arm like a tired student. They both knew that once he got the green light to talk about something he was passionate about, he wouldn’t stop until he was done.

“So, the current path that we go through is the Gash. It’s a triangular slit in the Great Glades that’s theorized to have been formed from the resting remains of a Scourge. The Mobile Fortresses that remain on the path through the Great Glades either cross through the Gash or the Devils Ferry or whatever they want to call it like we do out to the Stardust Beaches and return, making their return trip up to the Green Mouth. Or the fortresses are acclimated to traverse through the treetops in densely packed forests and isolate themselves from the rest of society. They tend to be alchemically focused as a result of easy access to wildlife and exoitc plants living in the canopies while we retain access to a wide number of ruins and Infected nests and thus commit to scavenging as hard as we do.” Jose vomited out the information all at once and although he could see that Emma didn’t register half of the information and its implications, she smiled and approved of the interesting facts.

He decided to avoid getting into further detail, instead just allowing the topic to die down and stare at his partner while enjoying their date at the park.

“Just trying to wrap my head around what you just said makes me realize that there’s a whole wide world out there and we’ve only ever really seen our strip of it…” Emma became quiet again, a sullen air overtaking the atmosphere of their date.

He grabbed her hand and squeezed it once, smiling at her, “Listen, once the opportunity is right, we’ll look at the world together.” She gave him a smile in return and let out a sigh.

“I’ll walk you back to work, love. It’s about the time you need to head back and I have to deliver my report to the Elders about that thing so let's get moving.” They finished the remaining bits of their meal and got up. Jose waved goodbye at Alfonso and the two walked in relative peace and quiet back to the Annals. Emma held him tight, her arms wrapped around his and the pleasant ocean breeze providing mercy to the sticky humidity around them.

Even though they were at peace, he couldn’t help but feel like he fucked up somehow.

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Progress on the manual was going slow and Jose was impatient to get through the material faster. It didn’t help that he was the only one in the Annals, let alone the whole colony, that could properly decipher Arcane texts without falling for the failsafes or trappings meant to obfuscate the translation. He kept himself from thinking about the potential reasons he could be so slow with these translations out of his mind for fear of becoming needlessly snippy or belligerent.

He looked at their work clock and saw that their shifts were almost over. Every time he became stuck on a strip of text or lost focus on the task at hand, he’d pivot away and identify the pipes and cores he’d haphazardly grabbed. The Grimoire was going to be worth the commission once it was done, but he didn’t want the whole day to be forfeit without making some money.

Plus it made him feel better that he could actually analyze and identify the properties of these waterlogged items without taking forever to get it done. All of the practice he was getting at home was really paying off.

“Hey, Jose, come over here.” Radolfo called out to him. Jose turned around to see that the rest of his cabal was crowded around a screen. “The Elders are holding a conference on recent developments near the colony.” He stated in a suggestive fashion.

Jose guessed the Elders had reached their consensus on what was to be done with the potential drop site. Pretty quickly too. He walked over to the rest of the group and crowded around the screen.

The Elders conference room had Ileah’s battle flag, a rust colored cog with green vines wrapped around it, as a banner on either side of the three clustered podiums. Once the timer at the bottom of the broadcast disappeared, the Elders began to enter the frame from oldest to youngest. Elder Nero in his squat and jovial demeanor walked on stage wearing veteran Vanguard apparel; a crisp military uniform with numerous medals on the left side of the vest and the battle flag symbol emblazoned on the right side. He wore a military cap over his head, the sides of his greying hair groomed and slicked within.

Following along was Elder Tessa in her alchemist garbs. There were numerous glass wares wrapped around her waist with a belt containing varying liquids of vibrant colors. Her familiar, a small toad with mushrooms growing off of its back, hopped along behind her.

The final member of the triad, Elder Isabella, was dressed in a fitted pinstripe three piece suit. She was elected to represent the interests of the rest of the colony but her swagger and bravado from recently winning the position had clearly influenced her fashion sense. Or maybe she’d always dressed that way to keep up airs as a merchant.

The three of them compiled their notes and looked at one another. Elder Nero, the man in the center, made a nod to the both of them and stared directly at the audience.

“Good afternoon, fellow colonists. This is Elder Nero speaking with the rest of the council for an emergency announcement. While deliberating on the matter in private, rumors were allowed to swirl and breed an undercurrent of panic and mysticism to the predicament. It is my aim with this announcement that we dispel such notions.” Elder Nero spoke with purpose, pausing at every end of the sentence with a level of gravitas that could even be felt through their little screen. “I will provide a snippet of the scouting report with my capacity as the Vanguard Overseer. Elder Tessa will talk about the implications of our discovery within her means as a scholar. Isabella will cover logistics and what this discovery changes for us colonists.”

Jose looked away from the screen and saw that the others were captivated.

Lysa gave him a side glance and smiled, “I can already guess where this is going.” She turned back to the screen with a knowing smirk on her face. Did Nora already provide her with details on the Vanguards briefing of the situation? Jose wouldn’t have put it past her, especially if Lysa was pestering her for information.

“We have been given coordinates to a drop point near our fortress, courtesy of the Mire Men Caravan. It is outside of our route shifting perimeter so we will not be anchoring at the point of interest. Our Vanguard followed up their report and were unsuccessful in approaching beyond a perimeter established by aggressive creatures in that area. The source of this unnatural perimeter denoted by bite marks in the barks of nearby trees were made by alligators. We have reason to believe that they’ve been assimilated into the ranks of the Infected, but were not able to confirm such an assessment.” Elder Nero read aloud as he scanned through the report in his hands. He cleared his throat and turned the floor over to Tessa.

“The point of interest is a former fortress with a forge specialization. It was an arboreal vessel with plating built to weather the swampy conditions. Whether the monsters have made a nest around or within the fortress is also unknown, but we all know that Nests like to fester in or around souls. If they’ve made their way inside, then that suggests the fortress is still operational, be it, in a dormant state.” Tessa spoke with a gentle authority as she addressed the audience. Her portion of the announcement felt more like a conference lecture than a government briefing, but he honestly preferred it that way.

Isabella pulled the mic off of its stand, sending a ripple of jarring static unpleasantly through their ears. “Alright, this is the point we’ve all been waiting for. Listen up to all of you wannabe adventurers and combat enthusiasts. While it would be preferred to have a Caravan head on over and reap those rewards, we don’t have any affiliated Caravans stationed here at this time. Sending in the Vanguard and leaving Ileah unguarded would be a stupid thing to do and although we have unaffiliated Caravan’s in the area, we can’t afford them nor their contracts should they request dibs on any of the goodies in the fortress.” Isabella was crass and to the point, outlining the logistics of access to the fortress in a manner that didn’t condescend to the audience. It was unbecoming to speak like that as an Elder but it was refreshing to see her pull away from the more reserved mannerisms of her contemporaries and retain the flair that had gotten her elected.

“The long and short of it is this; we can’t pivot off course and even if we wanted to, if the size of the alligators are to be believed, we would have a problem anchoring with those monsters nipping at our heels. We also agreed as a council that the potential items to be discovered in the fortress outweigh the risks associated with having volunteers head over and access the place.”

Jose was starting to understand Lysa’s smile now. He couldn’t help but have a nervous one creep up on his own face.

“We have enough mundane rafts to send one expedition team without suffering any resource losses. We will be anchoring next week and plan to remain anchored for the week for those individuals gathering a team together to venture outside of the walls.” Elder Nero cut in, unable to hide the undercurrent of enthusiasm in his voice. “We can provide some surplus items, courtesy of Elder Tessa and the Annals, but beyond that, it will be your team's responsibility to handle that situation. There are a total of ten spots available on the rafts and as you risk your life for your fellow citizens, you acquire the right to claim most items If you have what it takes, we hope that you apply. Good night and good luck, Ileians.”

The broadcast ended and the digital screen Laura was holding shut off with it.

“Fuck…” Radolfo muttured.

Jose couldn’t help but agree.