The broken glass in the lobby crunched under Anisha's feet as she made her way to the front window. Elaina trailed behind her by a few feet to check behind the counter for other weapons. Underneath the counter was a long shelf, much of which had been cleared to make room for three more magazines of crossbow bolts. Along with these were a couple vials that looked like they were meant to be tossed as grenades.

"Anisha," Elaina called, placing the vials onto the countertop. The Alchemist stopped at the window and looked back at Elaina before taking notice of the glass containers. She took a moment to peek out onto the street before returning to the counter.

"Looks like Mr. Rashuk was ready to be dug in here for a while if need be," Elaina commented as Anisha picked the vials up and turned them over a few times before setting them back down. Each was a different color, but she seemed to have a good idea of what they did, judging by the look on her face.

"Yeah, it's a real good thing we came in as quick as we did and didn't give him a chance to use either of these," Anisha placed her finger on top of the vial that had a vibrant orange fluid in it, "This one is basically a bottled fireball. You throw it, and everything within twenty feet of impact goes up in flames."

Anisha's finger went to the other one, a cool blue fluid, "This one is just the opposite. Instead of heat, it's cold. But the point of these is to throw them in rapid succession. Heat first, cold second. The immense shift in temperature causes various materials to be ruined under stress. That includes a lot of armor but also..." Anisha trailed off as she motioned to the supports and rafters of the room.

Elaina glanced around the room. She realized that if Rashuk had been given time and was forced to fall back to the warehouse, his initial plan was to bring the whole storefront down on whoever had come for him. But as it stood, they had either moved too swiftly, or he had panicked and forgot what his own plan was. It was strange how often skill and luck could be mistaken for one another and how hard it was to figure out which was which.

A bit of tense silence passed between the two of them at the realization of their near-miss.

"Well, it's a good thing it didn't come to that," Elaina sighed, stepping back from the counter to push the back door open and peek through. Azade had brought Rashuk into a small office enclosure located along the left wall at the bottom of the stairs, but she'd closed the door behind them and hadn't come out for several minutes.

"Do you hear anything?" Anisha said as she stepped up behind Elaina, her body gently pressing against hers as she leaned close to her ear. Elaina froze, turning her head only slightly to look back at Anisha, who seemed to feign a little innocence but had a sort of impish gleam in her eyes. Though the armor prevented the contact from being incredibly intimate, the proximity to Anisha was enough to cause Elaina's heart to flutter slightly. Slowly the redhead turned and slid away from the doorway; Anisha remained close but was no longer pressed to her.

"Anisha?" Elaina queried, unsure of what her intentions were. Perhaps she was only teasing her a little?

"Yes, Elaina?" Anisha tilted her head to one side. The look in her eyes began to speak more plainly as to her intentions now.

"I'm not sure this is really the time," Elaina said with a bit of hesitation, unsure of whether or not she wanted to discourage the woman's interest, "Or really the place. No telling when Azade will be done with him."

Anisha smirked a little bit, leaning now into Elaina as to rest her body against her, "That's sort of the point. We could be waiting for a while, and it would be a shame to waste our time together, wouldn't it?"

Elaina's body responded with an emphatic, yes, her pants feeling like they'd suddenly grown tighter and her armor entirely too restrictive, "I wasn't aware that you wanted more time with me," Elaina admitted.

A shadow of annoyance passed over Anisha's eyes before she tilted her head to the other side, "Well, we don't have to make it some big thing. I'm alright with it just being sex for the rest of the trip, but there's something about someone saving you from having your head taken off that makes you want to take advantage of every moment you have around them."

Anisha's hand went down to Elaina's crotch, gripping firmly at her hardening cock through the trousers, "It looks like you're in agreement with me."

Elaina's brows shot up at the assertive stance Anisha was suddenly taking, and she swallowed hard. She pressed her hips against the woman's grip to signal her ascent, but her eyes shot around the room, looking for somewhere that they could get started. The counter looked like it would be the best place, but movement from the corner of Elaina's eye caught her attention. The door to the warehouse was still ajar, and through the crack, she could see Azade coming up the stairs. Anisha followed her look and took a single step back just a second before Azade went through the door.

Azade stopped short as she came through the door, her red eyes darting between the two women suspiciously, "What are you two doing?"

Anisha looked back over at Azade and gave her a nonchalant shrug, and Elaina's reddened face seemed to say more than she ever could with words, "Uh, nothing. Everything's fine here," Elaina said unconvincingly, "How are you?"

Azade's dark brows knit together, "Uh-huh, well, I just had a little talk with Mr. Rashuk if you two are at all interested in that."

Elaina's eyes flicked over to Anisha, who stepped to one side to move briefly to the stockpile they'd been looking at earlier, "I am; he was quite ready for a fight."

There was a bit of quiet that settled over the three as Azade took in what she saw, "Yes, well, it turns out perhaps with good cause. He didn't know who we were. Rather, he mistook us for someone else here to tie up some loose ends."

Elaina took a step away from the wall that her back had been to and felt the heat of her libido beginning to cool as Azade continued, “It turns out that the little charade that Elaina uncovered last night was not by happenstance; it was done quite on purpose.”

The redhead nodded a little, “I thought it might be,” she said, getting a curious look from both women, “I didn’t mention it, but I had noticed the three of them all perk up at the mention of the name Myanna. From where they were sitting on the crowded deck like, it didn’t seem likely to me that all three would have picked it out so clearly just by chance like that.”

Azade nodded, again seeming to be impressed with Elaina’s observational skills, “Yes, they were looking for us but didn’t know exactly what we looked like. It seems as though our theory before about the shipment was partially true. Mr. Rashuk had been out celebrating after receiving my letter agreeing on the price and meeting with him. He was at the bar and was talking when some men from this Orbonne Company overhead him. They were evidently in the area looking for someone who might know where to find Myanna.”

“Why do they want to know where Myanna is?” Anisha asked.

“My guess,” Elaina speculated, “She was an Abyssal?”

Azade remained quiet for a moment, staring at Elaina as if considering what her answer would be. Anisha’s expression was initially impassive, but when she saw how soft Azade had become, shock set in instead, “Wait, was she!?”

Azade’s red eyes closed for a moment as she let out a long sigh and then nodded, “Yes. She was, for a time.”

The half-elf stepped away from the counter now, her posture considerably more aggressive, “You never told me she was one of them! Do you have any idea what they’ve done to this realm? They were the ones responsible for the whole fucking war!”

Azade’s eyes opened, and she raised her hands defensively in an attempt to calm her friend, “It’s complicated.”

“How is it more complicated than that, Azade!? She was one of those fucking monsters, and now we’re serving her?” Anisha looked away, disgusted, “I can’t believe I let myself be fooled by this. By her!”

Elaina’s eyes drifted between the two as her mind worked to put some things together to formulate a guess, “Myanna betrayed Olcaru.”

The Alchemist’s anger subsided for a moment as her eyes shot back over to Elaina, “What?”

“The Orbonne Company was employed by the Abyssals as their military arm. There was a huge upheaval in Abyssal leadership that left the company vulnerable; nearly all of them were wiped out in the confusion. I’d heard it was betrayal, that Olcaru, their leader, had been slain.”

Azade regarded Elaina silently for a moment as Anisha’s gaze shifted back to her, “Yes, she did. She was the one that defeated Olcaru.”

“Fucking hell,” Anisha groaned.

“That would explain why they’re looking for her; if it had been someone loyal to Olcaru, they wouldn’t have an ax to grind. I’m assuming that’s what this is about? This is a vendetta?”

“It is,” Azade confirmed, “They consider themselves to have lost everything and her to be the source of all their woes.”

Elaina nodded a little. It was a clear motive that made sense to her.

“How is it you’ve such gaps in your knowledge with some things, but you’re so well informed on others?” Anisha asked curiously, “Even I didn’t know about this, and I’ve been living at Mossglade for some time now.”

Elaina shrugged, “Part of my training had me around people who had this as their daily concern. The Obsidian Court held against the Abyssals early on and took in anyone willing to tithe a little blood to them, so the vampires have kept tabs on any and all information pertaining to the Abyssals since then.”

Anisha, satisfied with this answer, for now, turned her attention to Azade, “How many other people at Mossglade know about this?”

Azade’s gaze grew a little distant as she reached back through her memory for the answer, “Um. Gwendolyn for sure does. She was there when it happened. I think Taeko was there as well. Betsy is also probably aware of it through conversations with them. But I think that might be it.”

“And how is it you came by the information?” Anisha pressed.

Azade’s lips curled a little as she fought back a grin, “I have my ways, but suffice to say Betsy can be awfully forthcoming given the proper motivation.”

The half-elf nodded a little, understanding something that Elaina didn’t quite have the full picture on. Elaina motioned toward the door, “So what about the rest?”

The woman’s eyes went back to Elaina, and the little ghost of a smirk faded, “Ah yes. Well, evidently, this was all put together by Deiter. He orchestrated the delay so that he could buy the time to search for us, then put on his little act so he could become our guard, and we would just walk him right back to Mossglade. He doesn’t know where it is, but his other sources revealed to him that Myanna was the one that owned it.”

“But when Elaina ruined the show last night and took their place as our guard, it screwed the whole thing up. I guess the incident was talked about a great deal because Rashuk heard about it and considered that they’d come by to shut him up before we had a chance to talk to him about our shipment.”

Anisha motioned vaguely to the counter with a sigh, “Which makes this all make a little more sense and less like overkill. But it looks like he was wrong about them coming to shut him up; otherwise, they would have been here earlier. Or come overnight, right?”

“Not necessarily, “Elaina speculated, “The whole approach could have changed now that I’m involved. Him telling us all of this could have absolutely no bearing on the approach they’ve chosen to take now.”

Azade’s brow perked up, “Meaning?”

Elaina spread her hands, “Possible that they intend to take you by force now that subtly and guile are off the table. They know what you look like now, and they know you’re in a hurry. We don’t know how many men they have total, so there are a lot of possibilities. They could just be laying in wait outside of town. That being said, though, I think they’ll still probably send someone for Rashuk so that the town guard doesn’t hear of whatever it is that’s about to happen. It’s just not as time-sensitive as it would be if they were trying to keep him from talking to us.”

The door came open, and Rashuk stepped into the room, his eyes wild with fear, “No! You can’t let them! You have to help me!”

Elaina’s hand came to rest on her sword as he entered the room, and she took a step away from the door and toward Anisha and Azade, positioning herself between him and the two women she was charged to protect. The man was covered in green smears and what looked like cut and broken vines of some kind, which struck Elaina as strange until she remembered that Azade was a Phyllomage. It seemed likely that she’d used some sort of plant magic spell to restrain him while she had been questioning him.

Azade’s hand gestured subtly toward Elaina to signal her to stand down, “Mr. Rashuk,” she began, “Your problems with the Orbonne Company are not ours. Our only concern is our goods, which we will still pay you for despite all of this, and be on our way.”

“I told you it wasn’t my fault!” Rashuk countered desperately, “They just kept pouring drink into me. I had no idea what was even happening.”

So that was how it had come to be? Elaina hadn’t figured out why he had sold his client out like this, but it seemed none of it had been intentional. He had just been a drunk man imbibing the drinks being bought for him, recklessly knocking them back while chatting up the charitable gentlemen. It was stupid, certainly, but not malicious.

Azade’s hand came up, and there was a faint glow in her palm as she closed it. The broken vines around Rashuk seemed to suddenly come alive. They wrapped around his neck and torso while the dangling ends seemed to shoot down to the floor in a burst of growth and pull him down to his knees.

“Twice,” Azade scolded, barely remaining on this side of calm, “Twice you have nearly cost us our lives, Rashuk. You nearly put us into the hands of our enemies the first time and then nearly killed us with your misguided self-defense. Anisha nearly lost her head to that crossbow of yours.”

The woman’s fist clenched more tightly, and the vines around the man grew tighter. His hands went up to them, desperately trying to loosen them and remain upright at the same time. Elaina’s eyes darted between him and Azade, who simply watched as the vines continued to grow and anchor themselves to new points on the floor. Was she going to kill this man for what he’d done? Elaina wasn’t sure that was something that she could simply allow. Taking life in the heat of battle was one thing but executing a man for his idiocy was another altogether. If they really wanted him to suffer for what he’d done, they could always turn him over to the town guard.

“Now you want us to protect you from the very same people?” Azade’s jaw clenched, “Give me one good reason.”

“Please!” Rashuk pleaded, “I don’t want to die. I’ll..I’ll give you the whole shipment if you just stay one night to protect me!”

Azade’s expression visibly softened, and Elaina noted that it wasn’t the offer of the free goods that had done it. Him saying he didn’t want to die had struck something in the dark-haired woman that had made her a little more receptive to his pleas. Her hand opened slowly, and the grip of the vines loosened around the man, “The whole shipment. And the beasts to pull it.”

Rashuk nodded frantically, “Yes! Yes, of course! Anything you need, it will be yours.”

“Deal,” Azade confirmed.

“Well, I suppose we should go get our things then,” Anisha grumbled sideways to Elaina, “Looks like we’re sleeping here tonight.”

Anisha and Elaina's walk back to the Frog Song felt longer than the trek out to Rashuk’s. The two didn’t say much at first, remaining quiet and taking in the morning bustle of their surroundings. Elaina counted herself lucky that the scuffle down at the warehouse had not attracted any of the town guards. When they’d left, Azade was putting Rashuk to work on cleaning up his own mess so that if anyone were to pass by and inquire, it might look a little less suspicious with the proprietor being the one handling upkeep.

“I didn’t mean to put you on the spot like that,” Anisha said, breaking the silence between them as they walked.

Elaina looked over at her, “What do you mean?”

“At Rashuk’s, getting handsy with you like that,” Anisha explained, keeping her eyes forward.

“Oh,” Elaina waved a hand, “Don’t worry about it. I’m not upset about it.”

Anisha’s eyes finally stole a glance at Elaina, “No?”

Elaina shook her head, “No. I was actually enjoying the attention. If Azade hadn’t walked in when she did, there wouldn’t have been much stopping me.”

Anisha’s head turned, a slight smirk on her face, “Is that right, now?”

“There’s this strange thing that happens to me when I get going; I just sort of move into this haze. My body sort of takes over. Judgment goes out of the window, and all I can think about is satisfying my needs.”

Anisha adjusted her glasses, turning as she walked, “Like a zombie?”

Elaina sucked her teeth briefly and shook her head, “No, not quite. I’m still aware, have all of my senses, and I still think. I just don’t really *care* about anything else. If it’s not directly relevant to indulgence or getting off, it’s almost impossible for me to process.”

The half-elf considered this for a moment, turning to walk correctly again, “You mentioned a curse carried through your fae blood; perhaps it’s related. If not a curse, then perhaps the fae’s natural inclinations toward such lascivious activity.”

“Lascivious?” Elaina said with a hint of offense in her voice, “Look, you two came on to *me.* I don’t think you should be calling me the lascivious one.”

Anisha gave a brief laugh, causing Elaina’s irritation to be defused before it had even got going, “I didn’t mean it quite like that. Bad choice of words. I mean that fae creatures aren’t ruled by things like morality or judgment; they’re ruled by their natures and act according to it no matter what. If such a creature is one of growth, life, vitality, or that sort of thing, it is inclined to breed at every opportunity, right? Lots of fae have something like that in their natures, whether it is intentionally trying to reproduce or if it’s just trying to tempt the weak. However it’s sort of framed, it will often look the same to us.”

Elaina frowned a bit, not having thought of that before. She knew a fair amount about the fae, considering it was in her heritage, but she hadn’t had a chance to study the matter very closely. Growing up, her access to certain materials was limited, and even when she had been devouring the books in the vampire court, the subject matter had been more practical than academic. She hadn’t thought to look into the subject or even see if they had much on it.

“So what you’re saying is that somewhere along the line, the nature of my fae ancestor likely related to either breeding or temptation or something, and a portion of that has been passed down?”

“Right,” Anisha agreed, “Could have been a nymph or a sidhe, but whatever it was, a portion of it has passed down. You experience that nature as moments of singular focus and intent, to the exclusion of all else.”

“Huh,” Elaina mumbled, looking ahead and letting that process for a moment. When it was put that way, it felt somehow less shameful of a thing to experience. It wasn’t an excuse per se, but it made things make a lot more sense. Understanding something, to an extent, could rob it of some of its power over her.

“But you’re not upset; that’s good,” Anisha said, returning to the original subject at hand.

“Oh! No, nothing like that.” Elaina blushed a little bit, “It’s nice, having things like that be with someone who’s not entirely focused on themselves.”

Anisha’s eyes focused on Elaina again, but she didn’t say anything, as if waiting for Elaina to fill that thought out a little bit more before offering anything on the matter. The redhead glanced around as if concerned people would be listening, more wary of that possibility than the actual content of the conversation itself.

Elaina decided that it wouldn't be quite fair to leave things hanging like that and that perhaps it was time to talk about it a little with someone who might not be as judgmental about it as others.