“What did you call this again?” Elaina said around a mouthful of the meat with the flaky outside.

“Schnitzel,” the cook replied with a short laugh, “you haven’t had Schnitzel before?”

Elaina shook her head, swallowing the large bite and then forking another one immediately after. He’d said it was chicken with a special kind of crust,

“It’s delicious.”

The cook gave a pleased nod of thanks, “Well, I’m glad to be of service. Not a lot of places to get a bite down here so I thought I’d open this stand up and see if I could make a living off the people passing through.”

Elaina nodded with her mouthful, hunched over on the stool like some kind of animal trying to protect her kill. It was scooted as close to the counter of his stall as it possibly could be. He’d converted a larger market stall into a food stall. Behind him he had someone washing dishes in a large basin, there was an open grill with some other kind of meat sizzling in a pan. Everything smelled delicious and the lanterns dangling from hooks overhead cast a warm pleasant glow over the both of them as they conversed in the cool evening air.

It stood in stark contrast to that of their surroundings, which were still strewn with the stone debris of the Zelmescan South Gate destroyed long ago, all of which was still mostly too heavy for people to haul away in the state it was in. During the day workers toiled away at breaking the larger chunks down to move, while others worked on scaffolding along the remains of the gate to rebuild. The disaster was notorious in local history, it had kicked off the eleven years of ‘The Faction War’ that had ruined countless Zelmescan lives.

But people were rebuilding, there was hope in that. This man, this cook with the cutlets, was the embodiment of that hope and innovation. He saw opportunity to enrich himself while helping others and he went for it. So long as there were people like that, there was always a chance to bounce back, she supposed.

“And what can I get for you ma’am?” the cook said over Elaina’s shoulder as foot steps approached.

“I’ll have whatever she’s having,” a smooth familiar voice said as she sat down on the stool to her right, “And whatever wine you might have.”

The cook nodded and turned around, going back to the grill to throw more breaded chicken into a pan of oil. Elaina looked up from pushing the crispy chicken around in the creamy sauce it had been served with and froze as she saw her sister sitting beside her.

“Kaethe,” she breathed.

“Elaina,” Kaethe nodded, “Ye’re lookin’ well.”

Kaethe accent was much stronger than Elaina’s was, by far. Most of the accent had likely come over from the blending of older languages in this world, while in Elaina’s Caledonia humans had done a fairly good job of wiping out most outside influences on their culture and language.

Elaina looked behind her out into the dark of the road, then the trees beyond it, “Are you alone.”

“Aye, I am,” Kaethe answered, “why?”

“So if we get into another argument the only person who has to see is the cook and his dishwasher,” Elaina set her fork down and turned slightly on her stool, glaring at her sister.

Kaethe was about the same height as Elaina with hair that was literally red rather than ginger. It had shifted when she had been turned into a vampire. Her skin was pale as well for the same reason. Even if she hadn’t been sitting in the light of the lanterns with her, she was likely pale enough to pick out solely by moonlight. But they had similar enough face shapes and their eyes were virtually identical. But where Elaina was still in her full armor, Kaethe only ever typically wore a finely polished breastplate. It was pretty common even among vampires who wished to remain light on their feet to have a full breastplate to protect their hearts.

“I didn’t come here to fight, Elaina,” she said cautiously as the cook set down a glass of wine for her. She gave a brief nod of thanks without turning her head. The man seemed to know when to keep quiet which visibly agreed with her.

“And what *did* you come here for? I thought I was on my own from now on,” Elaina picked her fork up again and plunged it roughly into one of the pieces she had already cut for herself. She fed it into her mouth as if to keep herself from going off on a tirade on her sister who she had admittedly complex feelings about. Even with how perturbed she was, her heart soared at the mere sight of her.

“Well if ye’re going to be like that about it, perhaps I should go?”

Elaina stared, chewing her food with more force than was probably required. She said nothing for a moment but turned slightly back toward her food and motioned with one hand for Kaethe to continue.

“How gracious of ye,” Kaethe said as her own plate of food was set in front of her as well. She reached over to the glass of wine and took a sip, briefly glancing down at it after she did. After a brief pause she looked up at the cook and gave him an approving nod before taking another sip.

“It’s good?” Elaina asked disinterested.

“Surprisingly so. Not top shelf, by any means, but far better than the swill ye’d expect at a food stall,” she paused a moment before addressing the cook, “no offense.”

“So...?” Elaina said reaching over to her own drink, a simple cup of water, and took a long drink.

“So, I need something of a favor.”

Elaina’s cup hit the counter top harder than she had intended, “A favor?”

Kaethe raised a hand, motioning for Elaina to remain calm, “Yes, it’s important. I wouldn’t have come here if it wasn’t.”

“Clearly. You were rather direct with me, last we spoke,” Elaina snorted.

“Elaina,” Kaethe reached out slowly and took Elaina’s hand, much to her surprise. Her skin was as petal soft as she remembered, “I’m sorry. I spoke out of anger, I’ve had a rough time of it and I took it out on ye, and I was wrong.”

Elaina’s mood immediately softened as her heart fluttered. Their eyes met and she found it impossible to remain angry with her, “I’m sorry too.”

Kaethe squeezed Elaina’s hand gently and nodded, “I know. We can both have a temper when we get into it, hm?”

Elaina nodded in agreement as the tension seemed to release like a breath that had been held for too long,

“What do you need?”

“There’s a matter of some importance that needs to be looked into, regarding the Abyssals. I’d heard word that ye managed to deal with some of the Orbonne company?”

Elaina nodded, finishing off the last of the meat on her plate, “nasty assholes too.”

Kaethe smirked, “yes, I’ve heard about them. The Obsidian court has many tales of their exploits and tactics. Alister was impressed to hear ye’d dealt with so many of them at once.”

“He wouldn’t be if he knew just how sloppy it got,” Elaina countered. “But I appreciate that. It’s a little encouraging.”

Kaethe tapped the counter top hesitantly, “what I need, will be more difficult. Ye’re free to refuse. I won’t hold it against ye, but it’s something that needs doin’.”

Elaina stared at her quietly for a moment and then glanced at her plate of fresh schnitzel languishing away on the counter top. They both knew full well that Kaethe wasn’t going to eat, she’d simply ordered to be polite. Kaethe slid the plate across the counter top toward Elaina, who immediately took it as if she were being bribed.

“Sounds serious,” she said, cutting into the chicken happily.

“’Tis, indeed,” Kaethe said levelly, “The Abyssals are scattered, gone now. But they’ve left behind several messes that need to be cleaned up. Some of which are in places we can’t go, do to their unique knowledge of warding and protection against our kind.”

That made sense to Elaina, the Abyssals were typically thought of as demon worshippers but they’d had plenty of undead in their ranks as well, including vampires. So they had individuals on hand to experiment with to get wards against vampires and their various servants just right. So anyone going on behalf of the Obsidian Court would need to be completely free of vampiric blood and influence.

“Alright, sounds spooky. So we’re talking...what? A cache of their weapons and supplies? A fort?”

Kaethe shook her head gravely, causing Elaina to lower the bite of food she’d been a split second from shoving into her mouth,

“No, Elaina. Much worse than that. They left a door open and it’s been lettin’ all manner of fiendish things out to wander the land. Right at the heart of their territory. Right at their seat of power.”

Elaina set her fork down, her appetite swiftly vanishing as she realized what Kaethe was saying to her.

“We need ye to go to there and put an end to it. We need you to go to Willowridge.”