Nobody's Girl; [Ask First]

"She's not hurt, at least," Liseran murmured.

When Valen asked about who she was, she stiffened a little and looked to the side. She knew she wasn't allowed to say anything, but looking at the distraught little girl, she knew she was accountable for the events that had transpired. She merely nodded.

"Of course," she said. "But not here."

She merely watched as Fable turned into nothing but a mere shadow. The sound of footsteps could be heard.

"I think I sensed it this way," a strict voice said.

Liseran bit her lip.

"Come with me. I'll explain everything once we get to safety," she said.

Liseran took hold of both Remi and Valen's wrists and quickly dragged them out of the alleyway. If Valen noticed, the smallest marks were forming around them in a sort of large umbrella. They were glowing but at the same time colorless and a haze formed around them like a simmering mirage. Two officers were holding out Cartic marks in the alley, but as the group passed, they didn't notice a thing.

They were out in the open streets again, Remi still sniffling.

"This way," she murmured.

They would temporarily rejoin the crowd of people but make a detour towards a house close to the path leading to the woods. It was an old cabin, but it was lit. A Cartic mark was on the door, which had no knob or handle, and Liseran touched it. It opened and she led the two inside.

The cabin looked like an apothecary with shelves full of ingredients and bottles, a bare counter, and a table with seats. A doorway led into the kitchen and another led to a set of stairs.

"This is a friend's house," she said. "We should be fine here. Would any of you like a drink?"

Remi looked down and said nothing.

"That creature you saw back there," she murmured. "Is an Incantus, as you might have guessed. He was, how to put it, a prisoner of ours we were using as an ally. However, the girl took off the collar that was keeping him from changing form."

She bit her lip.

"He...was my responsibility," she said as she tucked her hair back. "I'm so sorry...if I had kept an eye on him, none of this would have happened. That said, I don't trust the little one will be safe even in the hands of the Expiate."

She looked to the side.

"Do you have anything else you'd like to ask?"

"Yes, but not for you," he replied bluntly. He looked down at the little girl and slowly knelt down to one knee. He pursed his lips and blinked a few time but he kept eye contact with the child until he spoke. "Can you tell me what your mother is like?"

He lifted a finger to the cross he wore on his collar to pin down the neckerchief tied there.

"See this? It's made of silver and blessed by twelve priests. I got it for my service as a knight and on it I swear I will do everything I can to find your mother."

Liseran's cheeks flushed, not out of bashfulness, but sheer mortification and guilt about everything. She merely stepped back and watched as Valen asked the little girl.

Remi lowered her eyes.

"Sh-she's pretty and...and wears a pink dress with little flowers on them," she said. "Her hair's brown and her eyes are the same color as mine. I lost her in the crowd when we were talking to Expiates."

Liseran lifted her head upon hearing the word.

"The Expiates?" Liseran asked.

Remi nodded. She opened her palm which showed a Cantic seal on it.

"They wanted to check papers," she said. "Mama had them, but when the Expiates looked, they said they needed to talk with her privately. I tried to follow after her, but they were going so fast and I got lost."

Liseran narrowed her eyes.

"If she's with officers, then I can help find her," she said.

Remi frowned at Liseran and looked at Valen.

"Do you promise?" she asked. "I'll forgive you for killing that dog if you do. I...I think you're a good person."

Valen let out a heavy breath through his nostrils and placed a hand on Remi's head.

"I promise to do everything I can."

He looked up at Liseran and stood up slowly. "What do you propose we do?"

Remi froze a bit at the sudden contact, but yielded, smiling.

"Thank you," she said as she clasped her hands together. "That makes me so happy!"

Liseran's eyes softened seeing Valen act kindly towards the little girl, but she straightened up and answered his question.

"If she's really with the Expiate, she'd be brought to the station here in town," she said. "Our best option is to check there first....or at least I can."

Liseran adjusted her glasses.

"You're an active Walpurgis, they'd be at you the moment they glanced at you," she said. "I can at least, however, have the guise that I'm, err...well that I'm..."

Liseran cleared her throat. "That I'm visiting my father there."

"Your father?" Remi said.

Liseran glanced to the side, trying to keep her head high. Her cheeks blushed. She obviously didn't like having to say such a thing out loud.

"He's...an officer there. From there, well, I'll see what I can do. I can go tonight. But that would mean you have to stay here with the girl just in case Mephis comes back. I'll do what I can."

Remi looked at Liseran for a moment and nodded. "Thank you."

Liseran looked at Valen seriously.

"Do you think you can manage watching her? If I can, I'll have my friend come over," she said. "She's an Enkidu. That comes with its own advantage when dealing with Incantii."

"You don't have to worry about expiates giving me trouble," Valen stated plainly. "I'm not exactly in the record books. But if what you say is true, you'll be able to get in and out the easiest."

Valen crossed his arms and let out a sigh.

"I don't have much experience with kids but I'll keep watch here then."

"Do you have any franks here?" The hollow voice chimed in, completely aloof despite the serious tone of the conversation.

"You don't need to eat," Valen deadpanned as his right foot tapped the ground as if trying to step on an invisible bug.

"If I can't do things for the sake of pleasure, millennia just ends up being a lot longer than they have to be."

Liseran gave a firm nod. She placed her hood back on and started for the door.

"I'll try to be back before midnight," she said. "If you need food, the kitchen and pantry are just past that door. There's some cider left, some bread and meat--your franks included. You can warm it up somehow, I suppose, with magic. There's no stove," she said.

She stopped at the door and looked at Remi for a moment. She was going to say something, but stopped herself and then headed out. The door closed behind her. Remi and Valen were left in the small house.

"So you're a warlock, right, mister?" she asked as she turned around.

Her face was serious, but not as frightened as it had been earlier.

"What does Cantus feel like?" she asked. "Is it better than Carta like my mommy said?"

Valen silently lowered himself to a chair and at the same time, a black silhouette of him stretched across the wall and made its way to the kitchen. The young warlock clasped his hands together as the little girl asked him a difficult question. Biting his lower lip, he gave it some thought before answering.

"It feels... troubling." Sitting up, he let out a breath through his nostrils. "It feels... natural, an extension of the body... but it holds a feeling of temptation and... something else... There is use to it.... but each time I call on it, it feels as though something is hurting me inside..."

He breathed out a sigh and looked at the child.

"Sorry. That was probably too complicated to understand, hm?"

Remi's expression saddened.

"That was never how my mommy described it," she said.

Without warning, Remi had taken a seat on the footstool and started resting her arms and her face on Valen's lap.

"Mommy said it was real magic," she said. "That it was very, very special. Like you said, it was a feeling, but she also said it was something that made you want to live."

Remi sighed and opened her palm. The seal's ghastly black color glared against her white skin.

"I never felt a single bit of magic in my life," she said. "And I may never. People consider Walpurgis monsters...that's why when the cat asked me if I wanted to see something magic, I removed his collar."

Remi seemed apologetic about doing so, but she didn't say outright she was sorry.

"Maybe I should make that contract," she said. "If he...if he was right about mommy, then I need to bring her back no matter what."

Valen hesitantly raised a hand and slowly began to pet her head.

"Don't think of that. We don't know what happened to your mother just yet." He pursed his lips tight and let out a sigh. "Cantus is not omnipotent. It can't accomplish everything. The dead cannot return. You would only dam yourself in exchange for an illusion."

"He's right you know."

Valen's own silhouette walked out of the kitchen with a steaming sausage stuck onto a stick and a cup of tea.

"There are facts of the world that simply can't be broken. Even cantus must follow the laws of balance and fact. Birds are birds here, trees are trees here, people are people here." Fable lifted the sausage to its faceless visage and a chunk disappeared into nothing. "And the dead are dead here. Necromancy is nothing but moving around a lifeless husk. Spirit calling is temporary. If you're a bird, you're a bird. If you're a tree, you're a tree. If you're a person, you're a person. If you're dead, you're dead. Nothing will change that."

Fable seemed to lean against the wall as it nonchalantly chats aloud.

"Take it from me, kid. Even if your mum's dead, she ain't gonna want you to waste time trying to get her back. It gets boring when you live too long anyway. Better to just enjoy the moment while you can."