Marian was the kind of woman that just could not stay still. If she stayed in a single town or city for too long, she began to feel trapped, suffocated, or even ill. On the fifth day of her stay in Barlenn, she was already itching to be on the move. Slowly, she packed up her meager belongings into her storage ring. As a traveler, she didn’t have much, and most of it was already in the ring. 

Leaving a note for her good friend Trisha who had graciously hosted her for so long, Marian put on her cloak, grabbed her Rover’s badge, and headed out into the rain.

As she walked, lightning split the sky every now and then, briefly lighting up the streets in flashes of white light, accompanied by the rolling sound of distant thunder. Rain poured down onto the empty streets and Marian could see just a few lone figures with umbrellas or raincoats here and there, forced to be out here in such dreary weather for one reason or another.

Watching their huddled figures, Marian felt a chill that she hadn’t felt before. She shivered, pulled her cloak tighter around her to block out the wind, and tugged her hood lower until she could only see the ground of the street right in front of her. Still, droplets of water struck her chin.

In all, it wasn’t too bad. She’s seen and been in much worse.

Briefly, she fingered the pipe hidden in her pipe, but considering the weather, she sighed and gave up the notion.

Hurried footsteps splashed from behind her.

“Cold, isn’t it?” asked a voice.

Marian nodded without turning. “What are you doing out here in this weather?”

“I could ask you the same question.” 

Marian shrugged and looked up as the owner of the voice finally caught up to her. “Trisha. Did you finish whatever it was that you hurried off for, all secretive?”

Trisha grinned and stuck out her tongue playfully. “Yeah. It took longer than expected, but I got a good deal from it. Lucky me that he’s bad at negotiations. Wait, you knew where I was?”

“Where else at this time of month? In any case, congratulations. It must’ve been hard,” Marian said, the words coming from the bottom of her heart. She knew how much of a miser that particular customer of Trisha could be. “At least it makes up for getting caught out by the weather, right?”

“Yup! Now back to you,” Trisha said. She ran in front of Marian and spun around so that she was walking backwards, back to the wind and rain. “What brings you out here,” she waved at the wind-blown rain, “instead of staying holed up somewhere nice and cozy?”

Naturally, the place she was referring to was her house where Marian had been staying. 

Trisha had a fireplace and a cat, and during the rainy season, it was positively heavenly to sit in front of the fire while wrapped up in a heated blanket, listening to the pattering of raindrops hitting the windows. That was how Marian spent three of the past five days.

Before Marian could answer, Trisha scowled. “You’re leaving again, aren’t you? And without telling me too.” 

When she saw a surprised expression on Marian’s face, Trisha laughed again. “Come on, it’s not that hard to guess. To be honest, starting about two days ago, I kept thinking I’d wake up to find you missing again. In the end, it seems that the fireplace kept you for a bit longer than usual.”

Marian blushed and nodded. “It was… comfortable. Also, I wasn’t going to go without telling you. I left a note.”

“Hmph. As if a note is enough.” Trisha huffed and shot her a glare, unsatisfied with Marian’s excuse. “You won’t stay until the rain stops?”

“No… I don’t think so. Sorry.”

“I see. That’s unfortunate.” Trisha looked a little downcast. “So you’ll be heading to the Consortium now, right? Where will you be heading to next?”

Marian tilted her head in thought. Where will she be headed? That was a question that she was often asked with her being a traveler and all. But as always, the answer was the same. In the past, she always accepted the first request presented and went wherever it took her. It’ll probably be the same this time.

“I don’t know.”

Trisha looked like she had been expecting that answer, with a triumphant grin appearing on her face. “In that case, why don’t you take a trip to Rembert next? I hear the weather there’s a bit better this time of the year.”

“Rembert?” Marian blinked and looked hurt. “Why Rembert? You’re trying to chase me out of the country?”

“Heavens, no! How could I bear to make you leave? You know how much I would love for you to stay, dearie,” Trisha sidled up to Marian and bumped her with her hip, sending Marian stumbling, kicking up water that soaked the leg of Marian’s pants.

“...”

“Oops, sorry. But… ahem… I do have a letter that I want delivered to someone in Rembert. Of course, it’s not particularly urgent, so you can take as long as you need as long as it gets there…” Trisha became more and more embarrassed as she spoke. “O-of course, if it’s too far, I could ask the Consortium as usual…”

At that, Marian shook her head. “No, I’ll do it. It’s expensive to send mail so far, and it’s been a while since I’ve been to Rembert anyways.” She patted Trisha’s shoulder. “No need to waste money.”

Hearing her agree, Trisha jumped up into the air with a cheer, causing several people to look at them with curiosity, and when she landed, she splashed water all around her, including Marian. Marian sighed and rubbed her temples. 

After her birthday this year, Trisha will already be thirty-two, yet she still acted so young. Sometimes, Marian regretted being seen around her. Then again, it was better to be happy and young, so she couldn’t exactly fault Trisha.

After exchanging a few more words, they parted, with Marian continuing toward the Consortium to see if she could catch a request that took her to Rembert, while Trisha went home to prepare the letter.

It didn’t take long for Marian to reach the main Consortium building, and to be expected from a place frequented by Rovers, it was quite lively even on a dark and dreary day like this. 

A warm, yellowish light flooded out from the glass doors, and when Marian pushed her way in, a quiet tinkle of bells announced her presence. A few people lounging in the lobby looked up at her, and one of them with whom Marian was a passing acquaintance waved. She waved back before making her way over to a waiting area filled with magazines and other reading materials.

There, Marian picked one out at random and began to flip through them. At the same time, she took out the pipe that she had been fingering and took a few puffs after lighting it up. She coughed, her eyes tearing up. 

The smoke was as disgusting as ever…

After a short period of waiting, a Consortium employee called out her name. Marian extinguished the pipe and emptied it out before she made her way over to the counter where the employee had called her. 

As she leaned onto the counter, a young girl in Consortium uniform beamed at her with a friendly, professional smile. The little nameplate pinned on her chest read “Violet.” The girl’s purplish hair made the name quite the apt description. She had clear eyes that showed her sincerity, unlike the eyes of some of the tired and unfriendly employees that Marian had to deal with in the past.

“Good afternoon, Miss Marian. How may I help you today?” Violet said. Her grin grew wider and Marian could almost imagine the girl glowing. “You look very pretty.”

And she had a sweet mouth too. 

Despite herself, Marian smiled back. “Thank you. You are a pretty girl too, especially your eyes. As for what you can help me with… I want you to help me select a request that you think is appropriate for me.”

“Gladly! Can I please see your badge?”

Marian took out the badge and slipped it to Violet, who put it into a terminal. The terminal began to glow, and after a moment, information about Marian’s history as a Rover appeared on a small crystalline screen partially filled with ink. The magic in the terminal moved the ink to display words.

Seeing the advanced magitech in action again, Marian couldn’t help but sigh in admiration for the convenience that was only available in a large city like Fummia. Smaller Consortium branches had to make do with lesser technologies and could display only the most basic of information. 

Many of her colleagues did not know how fortunate they were to be based here instead of working from somewhere in the middle of nowhere.

It took only a few moments for the ink to stabilize and after seeing Marian’s record, Violet froze, stunned, for a moment. Her mouth fell open. “Wow… this is… impressive…”

“I get that a lot,” Marian said, shrugging.

She knew what Violet was talking about. Her record mostly consisted of requests to act as a messenger. She often took requests that took her vast distances, and honestly, it paid very well because few people were willing to deliver letters in a fast and timely manner over hostile lands. But rather than money, it was the nature of delivery and travel that led her to specialize in delivery requests.

After ogling at her record some more, Violet regained her professional smile, although there was a hint of shyness that she covered with a hand to her mouth. “Sorry about that. Going off your record, I assume you want another delivery request? Do you have any particular preferences?”

Preferences. Ideally, the load would be light, although it didn’t really matter all that much considering her ring…

“Not really. But I prefer letters,” Marian said. “Also, make the destination Rembert Kingdom, please. The city doesn’t matter.”

“Got it!” After checking the system, Violet’s eyes lit up. “Rembert Kingdom? That’s perfect! The truth is, there’s this rather old request marked urgent, but because it’s confidential and has to be delivered all the way to the Kingdom, no one’s done it. If you could take it, it'll be a great help for us.”

Even if Violet didn’t explain all that, Marion would’ve still accepted the request since it met her only requirement. Under Violet’s grateful gushing, she completed the necessary paperwork and picked up the sealed letter, placing it carelessly in her pocket, though as soon as her hand was out of sight, the letter disappeared into her ring.

As she left, she waved toward the friendly employee. “Good luck with the rest of your day, Violet.”

“You too, Miss Marion! Safe travels!”

Pulling her hood down, Marion stepped back out into the rain and made her way toward Trisha’s house. When she left at noon, she hadn’t planned on coming back for a few months at least, but here she was.

Thunk, thunk… On the second knock, the door opened, as if Trisha had been waiting for her, dressed in an apron and an oversized shirt.

“Welcome back, dearie~ Do you want something hot to drink?” Trisha asked, cheery as ever. A sly smile stretched across her face and she winked seductively before pouncing forward. “Or would you rather have me as an appetizer?”

“Trisha, I’m soaked. You do not want to hug me.”

At her words, Trisha froze mid-embrace before she pulled back and put her hands on her chin, thinking hard. After a moment, she nodded. “You’re right. Go towel off.”

Marian coughed. “No thanks… I’m afraid that if I do, I’ll end up staying another night. I have to get back to the Consortium for my horse, so let’s make this quick. Where’s the letter?”

“Why the hurry?” Trisha asked with a pout. However, she knew that she couldn’t keep Marian for much longer once Marian made up her mind, so she sighed. She pulled out the envelope from her apron pouch. “Fine, fine. Here it is.” 

Marian took off the wet glove on her right hand and held it out in front of her. Trisha touched the envelope to the jewel on Marian’s ring, and like it never existed, the envelope disappeared.

“Who’s it to?”

“A friend of mine. He used to run a business here making puppets, but he moved a few years back. He wrote to me a while ago, asking if I was interested in providing him with some of my glasswork again, but it’s too far, so I’m just going to send him some of my trade secrets so he can make the glass himself.”

Marian raised an eyebrow. “Sharing a trade secret?”

“Well, it’s not that big a deal considering I’ve got dozens more. Plus, Rembert is pretty far from here, sooo…” Trisha shrugged. She couldn’t care less. As she shrugged, the oversize shirt slipped off her shoulder. 

Marian fixed it for her, earning a glare back in response.

In the end, Trisha managed to convince Marian to stay for a cup of hot chocolate, but soon after, Marian was back again in the rain, her figure disappearing into the stormy darkness as Trisha watched from the window.