“Good afternoon! Welcome to the Rapid Traveller’s Emporium! How may I help you today, young lady?” The attendant’s spiel had been normal until he actually looked at Yuriko, afterwards, his demeanour changed from professional to ingratiating.

“Hello!” Yuriko said after a moment of silence.

She stopped herself from smiling since he would probably take that as an invitation. A brief look of disappointment flashed across the shop attendant’s face, but it was quickly masked. Thankfully, the glazed look of Aspiration didn’t appear behind his eyes. Uh, she should probably stop meeting his gaze; there was something developing there…

“I’m looking for a travel backpack and a secure way to keep valuables.” Yuriko continued. “And general travelling gear.”

“Ah! You must be taking a trip for the Academy break.” He grinned. “You’re in luck! Most supplies are usually gone by this time, but new models have just been put on sale, and I’m sure you’ll find them quite useful.”

“I hope so,” Yuriko muttered which the young man took as agreement. He led her towards the shop’s interior.

The Rapid Traveller’s Emporium was a standalone shop along a street filled with other commercial buildings. It was closer to the edge of the city than to the palace, though, and its street branched out from an arterial road. Yuriko came here from a recommendation she received from the Imperial Bank, where she’d synchronized her account and was quite surprised to find out that she had more than triple her initial savings.

It appeared that Da’s account hadn’t stopped transferring weekly disbursements of a hundred Sovereigns, but the charge for her tuition in the Academy, and her room and board for the Golden Willow had been suspended. She supposed the Mishala Clan covered the tuition fees as she couldn’t find a billing, and since she lived in the city estate, there was obviously no need to pay for a dormitory. Still, that didn’t account for how much her savings increased. There were roughly thirty thousand Sovies there now. Hmm, maybe Mum transferred an allowance for her? Mum forgot to tell her though. Still, none of her needs required her to actually use the coins, so no harm done.

At least now she’d have the funds at which to plan and execute her escape. She figured she had the rest of the Season of Earth and of Fire to reach Rumiga. She’d reenrol and finish her studies there. While she still wanted to join the Legion Vagaris, the obsession had receded. It was as if breaking those chains in her Anima broke something more than she expected.

Now, however, she felt somewhat cast adrift. She didn’t want to stay in Realmheart, but she also had the feeling that if she returned to Rumiga, she wouldn’t be satisfied by staying there either. Perhaps it was the wanderlust her Davar side had? Anyway, the visions heavily implied that she had to return home or she’d regret it for the rest of her life, so back to Rumiga it was.

And, if she wanted to avoid being chased by the Imperial Prince, she shouldn’t leave an easy paper trail. She had a feeling that using the Imperial Bank would be a telltale sign of where she was staying, but then again, she didn’t want to carry that much wealth on her. A conundrum.

Of course, she could sell any Chaos shards she harvested from Wanderers and Wyldlings. Only the swarmlings required a special tool to harvest Chaos dust, but she had the feeling that her Anima could handle that aspect. That meant that she was unlikely to be hard up for coins as long as she could access the Chaos Sea. Actually, maybe she could form shards on her own? No, no, that’s a bit dangerous. Maybe if she had more practice.

She withdrew twenty thousand off of her account, and the Bank’s attendant handed her a gold crown, nine gold marks, nine silver crowns, nine silver marks, and ten silver pennies. A hefty weight, but she’d rather have change than carry too big a denomination.

So she asked where she could buy such things, backpacks, a better hip satchel, and a better coin purse, and had been directed to the Rapid Traveller’s.

“This here’s the cream of the crop. A spatially expanded backpack that allows a hefty amount of clothing, along with runescript weaving that cleans dirt and other nasty stuff from your dirty laundry. All it needs to work in neutral iarvesh is a jade cartridge a day. Endurance and self-repair runescript weaving will take another cartridge worth a day.” The attendant pointed at a rack filled with an assortment of backpacks and satchels.

Yuriko found her eye attracted to a slim piece. She reckoned it would lay flat enough on her back that it wouldn’t throw off her balance, at least not any worse than her own developing body. The expansion runescript lines on it allowed a one point five adjustment, meaning that she could fit half again as much stuff inside that what it would otherwise look like. From the looks of it, she could pack three sets of clothing, assuming she folded them properly, and enough ration bars to last her half a Season.

“What happens if there’s more inside and the Animus powering the expansion lines fail?” Yuriko asked.

“The extra will get vented out through the openings, young lady.” The attendant’s reply was smooth and practised: “You haven’t used expanded containers before?”

“Not at all. It wasn’t that common back in Rumiga.”

“Rumiga?”

“A frontier plane.”

“Oh. No, I suppose it wouldn’t be.” The attendant grinned. “This model in black is worth five thousand nine hundred ninety Sovereigns, but for you, my lady, I can sell it for five thousand five hundred even.”

Yuriko arched an eyebrow. “That’s quite the discount.”

The attendant bowed. “Well worth it.”

Well, the black backpack looked nice, and the cleaning runescript weaving would be quite convenient. That was a bit more than a quarter of her available funds though, but considering how her previous gear didn’t hold up with her adventures the self-repair function was more than welcome.

“Very well, I’ll take it. But I’ll also need a hip satchel and a safe pouch, with the same runescript weaving, if possible.”

In the end, she spent nearly eleven thousand Sovies on gear and another seven thousand on clothing. She purchased forceweave underclothing, trousers, and an overcoat which changed colours upon consumption of Animus. Ankle-high hiking boots came with the outfit, and it also had self-cleaning and minor repair runescript. In fact, all of her clothes had that weaving, though powering all of that would be expensive. That wasn’t an issue with her since she was sitting on more than a thousand lumens of Animus, five times more than what anyone else could store. Well, she didn’t have it now, since doing that would mean having to flare her Anima a little bit. Nothing quite catches attention than having her skin glow with golden flames.

Well, it wasn’t as if she wasn’t eye-catching no matter what she did, but at least she wouldn’t draw everyone’s eyes from hundreds of paces away. She debated getting a traveller’s cloak too, but it would have her go over budget, and the overcoat was nice and warm all by itself.

Now, all she needed was to grab a supply of ration bars, a couple of extra water canisters, then some portable pots and pans. Well, just a pot should do. The backpack even had a compartment for it, along with a dedicated cleaning runescript weave.

Well, it looked like she was ready to leave. The attendant gave her a cheery wave goodbye. Even if he did spend more time staring at her bottom when he thought she wouldn’t notice, he had been quite helpful. He looked nice, too, with a pleasant face and an acceptable physique. She probably wouldn’t mind spending some time exploring his…oh, Ancestors! What in Chaos was she thinking? Argh!

Feeling heat suffuse her face, she let her fringe cover her face and looked down while hurrying away. Of the three incarnations, the third one’s effects just wouldn’t fade away. Rotting trials!

Once she calmed herself down, she continued her shopping spree. Well, all she needed were the ration bars, but she also wanted to get spice mixes to go with them. She’d rather not endure unmodified rations, thank you very much. Even though she could probably materialise sustenance from the Chaos Sea… Well, no need to strain herself. She could also materialise water from distilled Chaos, so she didn’t really need the canteens. Still, what if she found herself in a place with low-density ambient Chaos?

For that reason, the Culinary Arts Centre was her next destination. It was close enough to the Rapid Traveler’s Emporium that she didn’t need to take a Circuit Tram. Ten minutes later, she entered the shop. She spent about a hundred Sovies for ninety-one ration bars. Each one should be enough for a day, though she suspected her appetite would force her to consume them faster. The entire lot was four Jins heavy but they fit nicely inside the food compartment in the bag. The spice mixtures cost her another hundred, leaving her with a thousand seven hundred Sovies and change.

Now she just had to get to the Sunset Quadrant and go through the gate there. Oh, she should visit her cousins and aunt Layla first. It’s been a while. She wondered if they'd already left the plane. She penned a quick note and sent a messenger crane. She found an al fresco cafe to rest at while waiting for a reply.

“A lavan berry parfait please,” she said to the server.

She ate slowly, savouring the dessert. How long before she could enjoy it again, she didn’t know. Well, she came out on this shopping trip to prepare, and she planned to leave tomorrow. It would be the First Day of the Season of Fire then.

She’d met with Reinhardt last evening, intending to clear things up with him. She didn’t want to give him any hopes, since she didn’t think there would be a future for them. She was sure she wasn’t attracted to him, either. Except…those rotting memories!

The exiled prince was clearly a handsome man, but she never noticed or cared before. His eyes were intense and mesmerising and he was quite entertaining too. She also knew that the version of her that was a Fate-Spinner wouldn’t have hesitated to spend the night with him.

All that had set her blushing at the sight of him and he clearly noticed. The smug grin he sported helped cool her face, and she managed to stammer out her point. He just shrugged and said that he would await the time she changed her mind. Then he took her hand and kissed it, sending her heart racing again.

The shame of it all had her curled up under her bed covers all night.

Weren’t the trials already done? Why was she being tested now?

Plop!

A spoonful of parfait dropped on the table after her spoon stayed still for too long. She blinked at the wasted cream and growled to herself. She shouldn’t waste food! She’d finished the parfait by the time the messenger crane came back.

“Yuriko Mishala Davar,

It’s been a while and we thought you’d forgotten all about us! Well, we’re staying at the Winespring Inn in the western quadrant of the city but we’re not staying there long. We’re going back to Ulmira in a few days. Captain Lauretta didn’t get a new vessel so we’re free agents for the while.

I haven’t been home in years and miss my family there. Oh! If you’re not doing anything during the Fire vacation break, why don’t you come with us to the ancestral Davar home?

Layla Grehan Davar”

Yuriko smiled and wrote down that she wished to visit them tomorrow. For now, she should bring her things back to the city manor and get a good night’s sleep to clear her head.

She took a Circuit Tram and was back in the manor in time for dinner. She’d probably miss the pampering from Ryoko and Saki once she left. She was just about to settle down for her evening ablutions when Miya walked into her room and dismissed her attendants.

Her cousin’s face was blank and she had an intent look on her face. As soon as the two of them were alone, she said, “You’re going to run, aren’t you?”

Yuriko thought about denying it, but Miya interjected before she could speak, “Don’t bother lying, it’s pretty obvious.”

“Alright,” Yuriko sighed, “Yes, I intend to leave Realmheart soon.”

“Hmph, I expected no less. Well, he’ll probably chase after you. You should get the Progenitor’s blessing before you go. The guards won’t let you leave otherwise.”

“What guards?” Yuriko asked blankly.

“The shadow guards,” Miya muttered. “The ones making sure that you don’t get abducted and turned into someone’s toy.”

There were people watching over her? That was strange. But then, the memory of that creature that attacked her in Fontex Dome surfaced. She didn’t even see the thing until it had her. Only her Anima showed its location. But she couldn't flare her Anima all the time, right? Wasn’t there a way to flare it discreetly?

With practice, yes.

Good to know.

“Where do I find the Progenitor?” Yuriko asked.

“Come. I’ll take you to her.” Miya sighed. “Well, training my Mien will be easier without you.”

“What do you mean?”

Miya rolled her eyes. “For some reason, anyone you got your claws on becomes resistant to my Mien, or any other Mien of our cousins, I think. It’s a bother.”

“Er, sorry?”

“Whatever. Come on. The Fateweaver Dome is in the palace and even if we take a landcrafter, it’ll be a couple of hours before we can seek out beds. I’d like to sleep tonight, you know.”

Yuriko shrugged and the two of them set off.