Until now, Elyza hasn’t talked to Trizzi much. Trizzi has always seemed impossibly out of reach, but also incredibly close all at once. She’s kind, thoughtful, and incredibly helpful to her students. Elyza admires her, she really does. That admiration definitely has a crush attached to it, but she never thought she would ever act on it. 

 

Well, traveling with Trizzi and the rest of them sure complicates that. Elyza is finding more and more adorable traits to like about Trizzi. Before she knows it, she’s awake at night while everyone else is asleep, listing them all. She has to tell herself off, to not go chasing after something she can’t have. She’s happy with acknowledging her little crush, but that’s all it can ever be. Trizzi isn’t like Miya, or any other girls Elyza has been with in the past. She’s off limits, and that’s that.

 

Luckily, Elyza can’t get too far in her own head about all of this, as her ‘charges’ aren’t exactly a handful or anything, but they sure make the journey interesting. 

 

A few hours into travelling, Cheese stands up abruptly, making his way over to his little backpack and rummaging around in it. Elyza looks to Cariston who gives her a just as curious look back. In fact, she’s about to ask what he’s doing, when he makes a noise and sits back down again with an unopened envelope in his hands.

 

Everyone seems to be watching him as he hums to himself happily and opens the letter. His eyes scan over the writing with incredible speed, a small smile on his face before he sets it aside and reaches into the envelope once more and pulls out a ring.

 

“Oh, this is so exciting!” he announces to them all. 

 

“What is it?”

 

“Well, professor Reginald thought I would look out of place as a mouse in the city, so he gave me this.” Cheese replies, holding up the ring so everyone can get a better look at it.

 

“Jewellery can make you less of a mouse?” Cornelia asks with a frown, obviously confused by the concept.

 

“It’s going to disguise me, make me look like anything I want.” Cheese answers, saying it like it's the most obvious thing in the world. “But what do I want to look like…”

 

“Well, the best choice is probably-” 

 

“-Oh, I know! I’ll look like your little brother, Cariston. Humans are the easiest to imitate.”

 

Cariston goes to say something else, but Cheese is already grinning excitedly, concentrating as he puts on the ring, which is more of a bracelet due to how small his hands are. He seems to sit there for ages, not even moving as he stares at the ring. After about an hour, Elyza looks up and has to stop herself from yelping in surprise, as there sat across from her is a small child. 

 

It’s the strangest thing, one moment Cheese the mouse is sitting there, and then suddenly a smaller version of Caristion appears. Everyone seems to just stare, blinking a few times in disbelief. Poor Trizzi looks up from the book she’s reading and has to do a double take.

 

“Oh, erm. Cheese, you look…” Trizzi trails off, looking a bit flustered, but also very excited about this. Elyza couldn’t care less for all this magic bullshit. Like it’s cool he can now look like a different person, but she doesn't even want to think about how it all works. She has her own magic, her healing spells and a few other things she’s picked up along the way, but she doesn’t really like to think on them. 

 

Things seem to settle down again, everyone giving Cheese a few confused glances before seeming to remember again that yes, it is Cheese, and that Cariston hasn’t turned into a five-year-old boy. Cariston looks a bit shaken by it all but is as equally as excited for Cheese. It's obvious the two of them are close, it's nice to see honestly.

 

After a long silence which everyone seems to realise feels a bit awkward, Cariston speaks up and asks Trizzi what book she’s reading. She seems surprised he asked, carefully marking her page before she shuts the book and begins a very long winded explanation on what it's about. Elyza tries to listen and keep up, she really does, but she gets lost somewhere in the middle when Trizzi starts talking about her own theories on the subject. 

 

She just smiles, watching Trizzi launch into another related topic while Cariston listens to her eagerly. Elyza does not have a clue what Trizzi is even talking about, but in usual Trizzi manner, her excitement about it is adorable. Elyza sighs softly to herself, adding another thing to the ever growing list of adorable Trizzi traits. 

 

As they approach Kier, the first stop on their journey, Trizzi gives them a bit of information on how things are going to go. They’re going to be in Kier for two weeks, while Trizzi does some work for the academy. After that they’ll then move onto Strasa, where there will be some more work with the academy and the students will be expected to help. 

 

Upon arriving in Kier, Elyza starts to feel a little less uneasy. The streets are full of people, but it isn’t overwhelming so. Trizzi explains that the lights festival for the summer solstice has just ended. She points out a few decorations still left up as they travel through the streets, murals and paintings of brilliant yellows and oranges bring a strange but pleasant brightness to the place. 

 

The carriage stops outside of a tavern in the trade district named ‘The Absent Elf Inn’. Trizzi explains the academy has paid for a few rooms here for them all to stay in here. Elyza is quick to pick up her belongings from the carriage, deciding it's best to just pick a room, and then whoever wants to share with her can.

 

Everyone has a similar amount of luggage, apart from cheese who seems to have way, way more than anyone else. He seems to have brought...cages? Elyza realises exactly what the cages are for when he lifts the blanket placed over them and starts to chat excitedly with the mice inside. Cariston is the closest one to him at the time, which means he’s forced into a rather hasty introduction to Cheese’s family.

 

“-And this is my cousin-aunt, she was just my cousin, but I forgot to separate them and then oops, more family members for us!”

 

Elyza decides she does not want to be part of whatever that’s going to turn into and hurry’s up to the room she’s given. It’s a fairly basic room with two beds in it, each one pressed against the opposite wall so there’s some space for her belongings beside her bed. She goes through the motions, doing what she’s used to by now. Settle in, check the room for anything weird, unpack the same items she always does, ready to leave quickly if she has to.

 

She finds herself sitting on the bed, just staring ahead lost in thought. She was excited about all of this, excited that this was a chance. A chance to do something, to be better. But now, she’s not so sure. In the academy, she was safe. Away from prying eyes and no one knew who she was, who she really was anyway. But here, she’s out in the open again. Suddenly the knots in her stomach aren’t from excitement, but from dread. She takes a deep breath, her hands starting to shake as she squeezes them into fists tightly. 

 

He can’t find you here, you’re safe. 

 

She repeats that over and over again until the panic passes and she starts to feel slightly more like a person again.

 

Her thoughts are interrupted by several of the inn’s staff carrying a ridiculous amount of luggage into the room, shortly followed by Cornelia, who as usual, seems nonchalant about the whole thing. 

 

“Naliah took the last room, so it looks like we’re sharing.”

 

Elyza manages a smirk, her breath less shaky now as she sees the perfect opportunity to have fun with this. “Not looking forward to having a roommate then?”

 

“I’m used to my own room. My father always saw to it that I had everything I wanted, a room to myself being a basic need.”

 

“Used to getting your own way, huh princess?”

 

Cornelia seems taken aback, the smirk only widening on Elyza’s face at the reaction. “I have a certain standard of life, not that some lowly guard like yourself could ever understand that.”

 

“Oh ouch, I’m wounded.” Elyza says, a hand to her chest as her eyes meet Cornelia’s. “I’ll try not make your time here with me too unbearable. In fact, I think you’ll enjoy it.”

 

Cornelia rolls her eyes at Elyza’s flirting, staring her down for a moment before huffing and moving over to her belongings and starting to unpack them. Elyza just smiles to herself. Sharing a room with little miss prissy will be great fun, and hopefully getting to know the rest of them a little bit better will make this whole thing worthwhile.

________________________________________________________________________

 

They spend the first morning settling in and unpacking, Cheese trying to introduce his family to anyone that will listen. By the afternoon, they’re all settled in and decide to take a walk into the market to at least just have a look around.

 

Elyza watches as the students seem to chat excitedly, Cornelia and Naliah even exchanging a few words in pleasant conversation. It is nice to see them all getting on so well, but it makes it all the more apparent the wedge that’s drawn between them and her. She’s a guard protecting them, making sure they don’t get into trouble. She doesn’t belong here, she certainly doesn’t belong with them. 

 

She’s broken out of her thoughts as she notices Naliah stop, looking into an alleyway to the left of them while the rest of the group continue onwards. Elyza watches her carefully, an uneasy feeling coming over her as Naliah seems to grin wildly, a look in her eyes which is not normal. Elyza watches her for a couple of seconds, the feeling of unease only growing as Naliah doesn’t move, just keeps on staring and grinning. She moves to catch up to Naliah, her hand already on her bow. Elyza isn’t some inexperienced child, she’s seen people become mad and violent. She’s sunk more than a few arrows into said peoples heads before they’ve had a chance to hurt others. She doesn’t want to hurt Naliah, but she will if she has to. But when she gets there, Naliah is looking at her innocently, as if nothing has happened. 

 

“What’s wrong, Elyza?” she asks softly, the rest of the group finally seeming to have noticed they’ve stopped.

 

“...Are you okay?” Elyza asks, cautiously taking another step towards her as she tries to go over in her head what she’s just seen. 

 

“Yeah. I just saw a kitten in that alleyway. It was cute.”

 

“A...kitten?” Elyza replies, looking down the alleyway to see if she can spot it, but it seems to be empty. The whole place gives her the creeps and she decides that whatever the hell just happened they better just ignore it and catch up with the others. 

 

She thinks of trying to tell Cariston, or someone, about what she’s just seen with Naliah, but then decides against it. Naliah seems to be back to her same mysterious self, and she hasn’t yet summoned a sword to kill anyone, so maybe she is okay. Elyza just puts it down to maybe she really does just like cats, but makes a mental note to keep a close eye on her. 

 

It’s a decently busy market day, many people milling around the stalls and shops as the group make their way through. There are the usual shouts of people trying to sell their wares, as others pack their stalls away for the day, a sight Elyza is definitely used to. She feels a strange twinge of something as she realises she sort of misses Pyke and her trade. She knows it's for the best that she left. Knows that if she stayed there, she would only be unhappy. But she misses doing something, being something other than just another boring guard, especially now that she's just protecting some kids. 

 

“I’m begging you, please. Please help me!”

 

They all seem to look as they hear a shrill voice nearby. A human woman seems to be clutching at a man's arm, a desperate look in her eyes as she begs for help. The man just shakes his head, uncomfortably moving her hands off of him and telling her there’s nothing he can do. She sees them looking over, tears welling in her eyes as she moves towards them.

 

“Can you please help me? My daughter- my daughter is missing, and the guard won’t help. Oh, please help!”

 

No one seems to move at first, them all just exchanging glances at each other before Cariston seems to speak up. “Your daughter? What happened, are you okay?”

 

“She’s been missing for two days now- and- I’m sorry” She cuts herself off with a small sob “It's just that no one will help find her.”

 

“I...of course we’ll help.” Cariston says, a little unsurely as he looks at the rest of the group, obviously seeking agreement.

 

“Oh thank you, thank you so much! We can talk about this at my house, I'll make us all some tea.”

 

They all end up following this woman back to her house. Elyza does think to tell them that they really shouldn’t trust strangers and follow them home, but really this woman seems harmless. She’s just a distraught mother who no one seems to be listening to. Something, yet again, Elyza is all too used to seeing. Once they arrive, she makes them all a soothing tea, which she drinks with shaking hands. Her eyes are wide, erratic, dark heavy bags under them from a lack of sleep. She gives them some basic details, leading them to her daughter’s bedroom, but not seeming to want to enter the room.

 

“As I said before, my daughter, Elizabeth, She’s been missing for two days now. The guard said they would look into it but haven’t found anything yet.”

 

“How old is she?” Cheese asks, seeming to get a bit of a strange look from her. It isn’t a surprise she’s confused honestly, he does currently look like a five year old boy after all.

 

“She just turned thirteen last week.”

 

Cheese seems to think for a moment before replying. “You know, once someone is missing for over 24 hours, the chances of finding them alive is almost zero.”

 

“Yeah, he’s right. She’s definitely dead.” Cornelia chimes in.

 

The woman looks horrified, her eyes darting between Cheese and the rest of the group. Luckily, Cariston steps in to try to save the day, as usual. “Um, please ignore them. Now, is there any reason she would run off, or has anything like this ever happened before?”

 

She seems hesitant, like she wants to say something, but won’t. Elyza watches her, deciding if she should try to coax anything else out of this woman. She looks scared and worried enough as it is without having to deal with this lot and their not so incredible social skills.

 

“If there’s anything else you know, it’ll help us find her.” Cariston says, maybe a little more sternly than he needed to. She seems to flitch slightly, a frown tugging at her lips.

 

“This...This sort of thing happened once before. When she was a baby, just a few days old, she was taken. A guard found her about a week later and returned her to us.”

 

“Wow, you lost her as a baby too? You must be a really bad parent.” Cheese says, Elyza already reaching out to try to get him to shut the hell up. She grabs his arm, giving it a squeeze and glare as he turns to look at her.

 

“We’ll do everything we can to find her.” Cariston says, giving the woman a warm smile. “Is this her room, do you mind if we have a look around?”

 

She tells them to take as long as they need and quickly darts away before they can go in the room. Naliah gives her a strange look, but Elyza gets it. She sure as hell isn’t a mother, but she understands grief. She understands that that bedroom is probably one of the most painful places for that poor mother to set eyes on just now. 

 

As they open the door to the room it becomes apparent this is definitely not the room of a normal teenage girl. There are spiders skittering around the floor, way too many for them to have just found their way inside themselves. Where there would usually be cheery dolls with bright clothing on, there are disturbing dolls made of sticks and rags.

 

Cariston immediately starts looking at the dolls, going through a few theories out loud as the rest of them fan out and search the rest of the room. Cornelia seems to be staying by the door, watching the spiders warily, which honestly Elyza doesn’t blame her for. She isn't the biggest fan of spiders herself, there’s just something about all their legs and eyes. Definitely gross and creepy, but she doesn't let it get to her too much.

 

“The spiders, the dolls...I’m pretty sure they’re the signs of a hag.” Carriston says as he picks up one of the dolls, turning it over as if he’s looking for something on it. “This is bad.”

 

Naliah finds a diary under the pillow on the bed, a triumphant smile on her face as she holds it up to show the others. They all crowd around to read it, Cariston taking lead in reading aloud to the group since they can’t quite all read it at once. 

 

The diary entries seem to be the usual teenage business with crushes on boys and not knowing what to wear. As it gets closer to her thirteenth birthday the entries seem to start getting darker. She talks about her hair thinning and turning grey. Her mother has tried to convince her it's just puberty, but  Elizabeth wonders why it isn't happening to her friends then. She’s suddenly fascinated by gore and death, spending hours just looking at dead animals and grinning.

 

The last entry is from two days ago which simply says: ‘It is my time. I have to find the true mother. The spiders lead the way.’

 

“That...yeah, that’s a hag.” Cariston says, seeming a bit shaken as he closes the diary and places it down on the bed. 

 

“What do we do?” Cheese asks, looking up at Cariston, looking actually worried for the first time since this whole thing started.

 

“We, well- we follow the spiders.” he says, pointing towards the window where the spiders indeed seem to be leaving the room through the open window. Elyza has a bad feeling about this as she follows the others as they very carefully make their way out of the window, making sure not to touch any of the spiders which they all somehow do. 

 

Elyza takes lead, them all keeping a look out as they follow this trail of spiders out the back of the house, seeming to take countless twists and turns through back alleys. They all seem to freeze as they hear a child laughing. There are no children in sight, and the laugh sounds...wrong somehow.

 

"We need to tell someone about this, who knows how many other children this hag has taken." Cariston says as they all carry on, seeming a lot more on edge now.

 

"There will be more guards on the streets, right? We can tell them." Cheese pipes up, pointing to the street the spiders now seem to be leading them to.

 

It isn't hard to find a guard to share their discovery with. However, finding one that doesn't look at them like they're insane is the issue. The pair they've found on patrol give them a strange look as they recount the tale of hags and missing girls, definitely not seeming convinced but saying they'll report it to their captain. Elyza walks away from the exchange feeling a lot more on edge than before, probably due to the guard suspecting the group more than anything else. Extra attention is not something she needs right now. 

 

The spiders lead to a seemingly abandoned run down house in the slums. Cariston inspects the door for a moment, looking back to the rest of the group quickly before trying the handle. Surprisingly, the door is unlocked and opens with a soft creak. Elyza expects the place to be empty, or at very least for the body of the child to be there, however what greets them is a beautiful young woman sitting in an armchair, a glass of liquid which seems to be wine in her hand.

 

Elyza is taken aback. In fact, that's an understatement. She's amazed such a beautiful woman could be, well, in this place. She realises as she's staring at the woman, her mouth slightly agape, that the entire group have all turned to give her the same disapproving look. It takes her a moment to realise why.

 

"Oh come on, I'm not that stupid." She says gesturing to the woman in front of them. "It's obviously a trap."

 

"There's no trick here, I'm just looking for some company." The woman says, tilting her glass slightly with a smile. "Won't you come drink with me?"

 

They all look at each other, not knowing what to think. Cariston seems to take initiative as usual. "We're looking for a girl, Elizabeth, Have you seen her?"

 

The woman just keeps smiling, her expression not changing. "Won't you sit with me? The wine is delicious."

 

"Look, can you stop with the cryptic shit and answer? I can not be bothered dealing with this." Cornelia says, sounding almost bored as she waves a hand dismissively.

 

Her face shifts, almost unnaturally into a soft smirk. "Fine, I am Elizabeth. That answers your question, no?"

 

"But you're…" Cariston starts, trailing off as he meets her eye, her smirk widens, if that's possible.

 

"Am I not up to your expectations? Or did you just expect to find something else?"

 

"No, I just- uh" he scrambles over his words, a look of confusion and slight panic evident on his face.

 

"Excuse me, miss Elizabeth? Your parents are worried, I think you should go home." Cheese says sweetly, probably trying a new approach as they all seem to be just going around in circles with this girl.

 

Elyza honestly finds it hard to believe this girl is apparently so young, she looks much much older than thirteen, if this really is her that is. Elyza doesn't know anything about hags though, so if Cariston is right in his ideas on what she is, then maybe this is just part of their whole thing.

 

"Oh, fuck this." Cornelia basically growls, storming forward towards the woman as she yet again taunts them about joining her for wine. Elizabeth grins as Cornelia grabs the glass and drinks the small amount of liquid in it. Almost immediately she seems to freeze, her eyes going wide as she looks at the rest of the group. They all watch her carefully, looking for some sign of movement, for anything, but it doesn't happen. She just stands there, staring wide eyed back at them all.

 

"Oh this is so much fun! Would the rest of you like to join us?" Elizabeth asks with a giggle, pouring more wine into the glass which she takes out of Cornelia's hand. Cornelia's eyes follow her, the anger shining brightly in them.

 

"...What did you do to her?" Elyza finds herself asking, her voice low and dangerous as she draws her bow. She sees Naliah beside her summoning her sword with a click of her fingers and a growl. Her sword is different somehow, it looks darker, heavier...it makes Elyza feel uneasy. 

 

Elizabeth seems to falter, the grin on her face falling to a frown. "You want to fight? Well, that's unfortunate." She seems to flick her wrist slightly and a large mass of the very spiders they followed here begin streaming from the ceiling, the walls, everywhere they possibly can. They come to sit around her as what once was a beautiful Elizabeth now seems to be an ugly disgusting creature scowling at them. "I wanted to have fun, but it seems that you're not going to let me!"

 

_________________________________________________________________________

 

"I fucking hate spiders!" Cornelia screams as she kills the last of the spiders with a blast of fire. She's breathing heavily, flames surrounding her as she glares at the corpse of the decrepit ugly hag. Cariston has his hands full with healing Naliah who took quite a beating in the fight. She charged in first, keeping the hag busy while the spiders seemed to come for the rest of them. Cornelia seemed to be paralysed for a long time, until suddenly she erupted in flames and the spiders weren't so much a problem when burnt.

 

Elyza just watches everyone as the battle ends, Cariston checking everyone is okay, looking rather worn out from all the spells he's just fired off in quick succession. She checks herself over, noticing she's pretty much unharmed, before helping Cariston. The glow from his healing spell makes panic spike in her chest for a moment. She pushes it away with a shaky breath, moving away from him to check cornelia is okay now she's less on fire. 

 

"Well, that was a disaster. Look at this stuff, it isn't even nice wine!" Cornelia says, holding up the bottle as Elyza is about to speak. She notices that in fact the wine doesn't seem to be wine at all and the hag must have been using some sort of magic to make it look like fancy wine. Cornelia seems to be greatly upset at being forced to drink something that wasn't wine and is adamant the whole group needs to know about it. Elyza can't help but smirk watching her throw a tantrum like a prissy princess.

 

"Oh yes, it must have been terrible for you princess." Elyza begins with the utmost sarcasm in her voice. Cornelia all but glares at her, her glare softening as Elyza continues. "You're okay though, bad tasting wine aside?"

 

"Of course I am, I can take care of myself…thanks, I guess. Whatever."

 

"Well, that was definitely a hag then, huh?" Cheese says, poking the corpse with some sort of childlike fascination. 

 

"Yeah, definitely a hag.” Cariston says, coming to join Cheese looking over the body. The rest of the group converge on it too, all staring down at the ugly mess for a moment. Its mouth seeming too big for its face, long greying strands of hair lying limply across its head, luckily covering most of the face so they don't have to see it in all its horror.

 

"We have to tell her family." Cariston says, giving the rest of the group a quick glance before looking down again. A silence fills the room, stretching on for several moments as the weight of that hits them. Elyza knew whatever they found they would have to report back to the family, but she expected to find a dead child, not...this.

 

"Do you think the guards will want proof this happened?" Cheese asks, finally stopping the weird examination of the body he seemed so fascinated with doing.

 

"I can take her head off." Naliah says, her sword still in hand as she lifts it slightly. "We can take it and that's our proof if needed."

 

"Not the most subtle or graceful. But yeah, knowing guards, they'll want something before they take us seriously." Elyza rubs her temple, already feeling a headache coming on from all this mess already. So much for keeping a low profile, soon the whole city guard will know the group, and more importantly her.

 

They decide to behead the hag, Naliah managing to do it quite easily. No one misses the slight gagging noise Cornelia makes as she watches. They end up back tracking to Elizabeth's home, deciding to let the family know what happened before getting involved with the guard.

 

Elyza feels that nervous flutter in her stomach she's used to by now as Cariston knocks on the door. After a moment, a man answers, looking over them all cautiously as he asks if he can help.

 

"Your wife, I assume, asked us to help find your daughter." Cariston starts, trying to keep any hint of what they've found out of his voice.

 

"Oh yes of course, she was telling me about you guys. Please, come in." He says quickly, opening the door wider and stepping aside. 

 

Cariston goes to do just that, when Cornelia makes a grab for the bag with the head in from Naliah. Elyza see's what she's trying to do immediately and grabs her arm, her grip firm with a quiet growl of a warning. Cornelia does seem to stop for a moment, a look Elyza can't read crossing her face before she speaks up. "It'll be easier just to show you." 

 

"Cornelia, what the fuck?" Elyza hisses, her grip tightening. "You can't show him that."

 

"Why not, it isn't his daughter, and it's not my problem so-”

 

"-Sorry about that, ignore them. Elyza, can you wait outside with Cornelia please?" Cariston asks, giving Elyza a look she definitely understands. The father seems confused, but ushers the other three inside while Cornelia seems to be sulking, as Elyza stares her down.

 

"Cornelia, what the hell was that?"

 

"What? It isn't his daughter, she never was. Why not just show him and let him get over it. It isn't our problem if he's sad or whatever."

 

Elyza just stares at her, not knowing where to even begin. She knew cornelia was a bit above it all and acted as if she isn't like the rest of them. But never did Elyza think this woman could be so incredibly insensitive.

 

"What is wrong with you?" Elyza finds herself asking, not able to form any other thought. "Why would you think that's a good idea? That's a grieving family there. Are you so above us all you don’t think your actions have consequences?"

 

Elyza expects for Cornelia to listen, to reflect on what's being said. Which is why when Cornelia simply tuts, she thinks she may end up hurting her. "Oh please, I can do as I like, I always have. My father never stopped me, so why should I stop now?"

 

"You're not home anymore with your precious father who can protect you. You're here now with us, and-"

 

"-and what, exactly?" Cornelia asks, the same pissed off look on her face Elyza has seen when she doesn't immediately get her own way. "What are you going to do about it?"

 

Elyza swears in frustration, the words leaving her mouth in a sharp tongue she hasn't used in many years. The anger she feels is immense, and she feels power building up and up until she feels she may explode. She turns to Cornelia, her eyes burning, and malice behind her words as she feels the magic energy dissipating with each syllable spoken. 

 

Cornelia flinches, looking confused for a moment before she brings a hand up to her head and winces, looking almost scared as she looks at Elyza. She blinks, once, twice, realisation dawning on her what Elyza has done and she's right back to looking angry.

 

Elyza should feel bad, if not bad then at least guilty for using her magic to hurt someone. She doesn't. She feels triumphant, accomplished, proud to see that smug smirk wiped off Cornelia's face. She isn't invincible, and she needs to fucking learn that. 

 

They just glare at each other, Cornelia eventually looking away with a huff as she turns her back, determined to keep up her spoilt brat routine. Elyza lets her sulk, she doesn’t try to fix the situation. If anything else had happened she might try to talk it out, apologise, but she knows she’s in the right with this one. After a good ten minutes, the rest of the group come back out, all looking a little bit solemn, but that’s to be expected.

 

 “We need to sort this, we can’t let this happen to anyone else.” Cheese says sounding the most serious Elyza has ever heard him. He isn’t making eye contact, eyes on the ground as he speaks. “We need to go back to that house tonight, to see if the mother hag returns. If we stay there and keep watch, we can catch her."

 

"I agree with cheese. No other family should have to go through what they've been through." Cariston says with a small sad nod towards the house. 

 

"Well, I guess we should show the guards the head and explain the whole story." Naliah adds, moving the bag in her hand a bit uncomfortably, probably because of what it contains. 

 

So they do just that, yet again easily finding a guard who seems very uncomfortable with the fact he's being shown a severed head of a grotesque creature. Like the others, he says he will talk to his captain, taking the head and actually hurrying away unlike the last two they dealt with. Elyza guesses that's a good sign, but then again, he could be hurrying away to get back-up to arrest them.

 

With still a while until night falls properly, they head back to the tavern, deciding to have a drink to relax for a bit. It's actually rather nice, everyone seems in good enough spirits considering the situation. Even Cornelia seems to be done sulking and laughs at a few stories Cariston tells.

 

Elyza feels a little out of sorts, still feeling as if she’s on guard duty and can't let herself relax because technically this is still her job. She smiles, joining in the conversation, but out of habit more than anything stays alert to her surroundings.

 

After about an hour of being in the tavern, many people have come and gone. Several loud rowdy men who the barkeep ends up kicking out are the most interesting bunch. Elyza does notice however, a man who came in not long after them still hasn't moved from his seat. She hadn't paid too much attention to him as it's a city, people come and go all the time, but the fact he hasn't moved to the bar to even get another drink is starting to set off the alarm bells in her head.

 

She hadn't got a good look at him, in fact she only got a glance at him as he'd lowered his cloak hood as he'd sat down. She's used to watching people, she'd spent a lot of her time as a child hiding and watching people, thinking she was some cool hero from a story who could save the day. That notion of glory faded fast as she got older. Still, the skills she learned still come in useful, even now.

 

She looks over to the man in question, keeping her gaze to the side of him slightly. What she sees however, is not just some dodgy guy who's trying to pickpocket them. Alenas Torellin sits at the table, a nearly empty glass in front of him. He isn't looking directly at her, more to the side of her. He doesn't meet her eyes, but she knows he's watching her. 

 

Fuck.

 

Alenas had been a contact for many years, she'd met him shortly after she first arrived in Pyke. They'd done business together for a long while, He was the closest thing she had to a friend. Although there’s plenty of explanations to why he would be here in this tavern, him watching her is something that doesn't add up. He doesn't need her, has no reason to be following her, yet here he is.

 

She looks away, trying her hardest to push away the worry she feels in her chest. She doesn't want to confront him in case he really is just here on business and it's a coincidence. She makes a mental note to keep an eye on their surroundings for the next few days to see if he keeps following them.

 

________________________________________________________________________

 

With the night upon them, they make a plan. Naliah and Cariston stay in the tavern since they're the ones who need the most rest after their fight earlier. Elyza doesn't think anything will come of waiting in the abandoned house, but goes along with it as she can see it's important to the group. To her surprise, Cornelia volunteers to go as well.

 

The three of them leave the tavern, letting Naliah and Cariston get some rest and promising they'll be back by sunrise. The walk there is quiet and uneventful, mostly due to them taking the back alley route they followed the spiders through earlier that day. 

 

Upon approach, Elyza holds out a hand to stop the group, pointing out the lone guard that seems to have been posted outside of the abandoned house. Well, it seems they've taken the threat seriously, more seriously than Elyza expected that's for sure. She didn’t think she'd have to deal with a guard when she agreed to this.

 

"What do we do?" Cheese asks softly, moving quietly to see if there’s anyway they can sneak around him. They're all quiet, just watching the oblivious guard standing there.

 

"Wait, you like to sleep with people, right Elyza? That’s a good distraction." 

 

Elyza just looks at Cheese, then back to the man. She feels herself do a little shiver of disgust at the thought. It's not that the man is particularly bad looking, it's just that he is in fact, a man. "Nope, not like that Cheese."

 

"What do you mean not like that? Can you have sex other ways?"

 

"Well, I just dont like- you know what, I'm not getting into this now."

 

Cornelia is quiet through the whole exchange, just watching the two of them whispering back and forth, before looking back to the guard and taking a step forward. "I've got this."

 

"Wait, what? Cornelia?" Elyza hisses, trying to get her to come back. But in typical Cornelia fashion, once she’s made her mind up about something, she can't be stopped. Elyza just looks at Cheese, who shrugs and takes her hand, pulling her closer and to a nearby bunch of bushes to hide.

 

What they see is something Elyza didn’t think she'd ever get to witness. Cornelia walks up to the guard, twirling with her hair while she compliments him and very boldly flirts. It's incredible, and the most unbelievable thing Elyza has seen. Thinking on how Cornelia is, she never thought she'd be able to pull this off. 

 

Cheese is watching as well, but instead of disbelief on his face, there’s excitement. He's grinning from ear to ear, basically vibrating with joy at this little show. Its only amplified when Cornelia suggests to the guard that they take a stroll together. He seems to agree, snaking his arm around Cornelia's waist as he goes to lead them away. Before he can however, Cheese basically jumps out of their hiding place running up to Cornelia. Elyza just watches the whole thing in horror, seeing a similar look on Cornelia's face.

 

"Cornelia, are you gonna blow him!?" 

 

Elyza rests her head in her hands, resisting the urge to scream as she yet again thinks to herself how the hell are these lot smart enough to have ever been at the academy. She hears the guards confused voice telling Cheese to scram and that the adults are talking. Luckily, Cheese is smart enough to not come back to the hiding spot and give Elyza away. Within another few minutes Cornelia and the guard are out of sight and Cheese is quietly calling to Elyza to come out of their wonderful hiding spot.

 

As soon as she gets next to him he grins, making a comment that Cornelia obviously likes men enough. It takes every ounce of will she has to not just storm off back to the tavern to go the fuck to sleep. 

 

Instead of lecturing Cheese on how incredibly stupid that was, and to never do that again, she finds herself sighing and nodding at him, watching his shit eating grin get wider. 

 

Cheese tries to convince Elyza to hide in the rafters with him. She takes one look at the rickety beams and spider webs, and makes a hard pass. She says she'll hide around the back of the house since the guard didn't seem to move at all. Cheese tries to argue if they’re small then it won’t be a problem, but Elyza really has had enough spiders and gross things for today. Cheese just shrugs, climbing up into the rafters and muttering a few words to himself as he seems to cast something. Suddenly, he’s even smaller than before, fitting snugly on the rotting beams, looking completely at home there. Elyza just leaves him to it, taking up her own position around the back of the house and trying not to think about how weird that was.

 

They wait in their hiding places for about an hour before they hear voices. Sadly, it's only Cornelia and the guard coming back. They hear him ask if she'll come see him again, she makes a non committal comment and seems to leave as quickly as possible. Elyza feels a little stab of guilt, remembering her similar exchange with Miya a few weeks ago. 

 

They wait for a good six or so hours, Elyza bored out of her mind by the time the sixth hour tolls around. The sun is just about to rise when she notices the guard yawning and walking away. When he's out of sight, Elyza finds Cheese still in the rafters. She stands there for a moment watching him as his little ears droop a bit, before she tells him they need to call it a day. Cheese seems a little upset they didn't find anything, but agrees.

 

They stick to the alleyways yet again, surprised to find Cornelia waiting for them about 50ft away from the house. They don't talk on the way back to the tavern. No one exactly wants to admit their stake out was a miserable failure.

 

As they get back to the tavern and head up to their rooms, Cariston sticks his head out of his room, the worry on his face dissipating almost immediately as he rushes out to them. Cheese fills them all in on his watch, which was of course just as boring and uneventful as Elyza and Cornelia’s were. Cariston seems to also share Cheese’s disappointment, but thanks them all for their help.

 

By the time Elyza finally gets to bed, to say she’s exhausted is an understatement. Cornelia is fast asleep in the bed across from her, she literally seemed to lie down and pass out immediately. Elyza finds herself sighing softly, closing her eyes and hoping tomorrow brings a little less mayhem than today has. Although, knowing who she’s with, it definitely won’t.