Chapter Six

Chapter Six. Problems

“No matter how great and destructive your problems may seem now, remember, you've probably only seen the tip of them.”

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“But you know what the problem is, surely.”

“We don’t have any problems!”

“I believe we do.”

“Well we’ll fix them when we get to them.”

“If we made a plan for it now-”

“Arg!” Vivace bolted ahead of the group, fleeing from the insistent centaur that had been bothering her for the most part of the journey. Elera smirked as the gnome flew past, and sent a glance back at the huffing centaur. Seeing her look, he glared, and she turned away snickering. To that point, the journey had been going smoothly enough instances wise, nothing big having happened since they left the town. The compatibility between Players on the other hand, was beginning to show some wear. For as long as there were only three of them, arguments and decisions making could be done easily, but after a fourth member joined their group decisions became a little more complicated. Elera remained neutral in most cases, but now Vivace, Dolly, and Sforzan would have problems interchangeably. It would be Vivace, rushing them on to their next location, Dolly constantly questioning her plans or judgment, and Sforzan pointing out flaws and methods of improvement incisively. One would think the later two would get along better, but no luck there.

“Oy, leader.” Dolly called, glancing around the darkening sky. “When’re we stopping? It’s getting dark.”

“I vote the next rest area we come across.” Elera put in thoughtfully. “We’re on a main road, we’ll come across one eventually.”

“I’d rather not leave that to chance.” Sforzan sniffed. “It could be a while before we reach said rest spot. I haven’t seen one yet.” He glanced around the Aknia road, and tall trees that surrounded where they were walking. The vegetation in the area had begun changing with the new climate they entered, and instead of the more delicate, lively plants from Burmexia, the foliage grew wild and hardy. It was a much thicker woods they passed through now then what they had been into before, plants growing stronger the further east they traveled. This would continue onto the next continent, only fading as the climate turned frozen to the north in Kuromer, a large kingdom on the continent in the most north eastern part of their map.

“Aknia isn’t as friendly to travelers as its neighbor.” Dolly pointed out, following Sforzan’s eyes over the terrain. “They don’t like Players blotting up their land, so the accommodations Burmexia gives to us don’t exist here.”

“Which is a pity, it would get out of the economy crash so much faster if it did.” Elera sighed. At the questioning looks of the other two, she shrugged. “The Darkwaters pass through Aknia for their minerals. We can collect them and sell them for high prices down in the Core, no one there has them, and they’re quite useful.”

“For demons I suppose they are.” Sforzan commented dryly. Elera ignored him, and continued.

“When we came through here earlier this year, the country was having some problems. The trade has gotten bad recently, and their farmlands have always been fickle. Right now the country's in a recession, so expect some problems later.”

“That’s nice.” Dolly said wearily. “’Welcome to our country, now give us your money or get blasted’. Typical Aknian behavior. We’ll be fine. Hey, Ace!”

The gnome turned from where she was walking ahead of the group, and looked back at the human who had called her name. “What?” she yelled back, still being to far away to speak normally.

“When are we stopping?” Dolly gestured toward the sky, to make her point clearer. The gnome looked up and frowned. She did a glance around the area and waited for them to reach her before she began speaking again.

“Do we want to stop now, or wait for the next rest point?” Vivace asked the approaching group.

“We’ve had this discussion.” Sforzan pointed out, looking down at their leader critically. “If you hadn’t run ahead, you would have heard it. But since you were not in fact within regular speech volume ear shot, let me recap. It isn’t likely that we will come across a camp site any time soon. Perhaps next time you will be present for the conversation.”

Vivace scowled up at the centaur, fighting the urge to stab him somewhere painful. Which would most likely be the knee, since she wasn’t sure if horses had shins. Plus, his leggings were covering them if they did in fact exist. Instead of indulging herself in this mildly violent desire, she resorted to kicking a rock. “If there isn’t going to be a stop soon, we set up camp here, preferably in the woods if there’s an opening big enough.”

“Alright, pinky. Keep your hair on.” Dolly smirked, knowing she was annoying the team captain with the nickname. Since size jokes caused the occasional, unnecessary violence, she chose a less offensive, but still irritating spot to hit her. Dolly peered into the woods, trying to see if the trees were thin enough to put camp out a little ways. Wherever trees weren’t, smaller shrubs were. Elera tapped her on the shoulder, and pointed to herself smiling. The human frowned, but moved back from the woods anyway.

“I told you I would learn plant shaping.” The demon said smugly, stepping forward. She glanced into the woods, and finding a spot where there weren’t any trees, she extended her arms forward, reaching for the plant life in the ground. Feeling the life swimming through the plants, she gently pulled, forcing them out of their natural forms and into something she desired. All at once, the shrubs began moving, stretching into an overhanging of leaves and vines, with the roots of the plants separated into a small number of different columns and reaching back into the ground to prevent their dying. Elera opened her eyes, and studied her handiwork carefully. Finally she nodded, and motioned the rest of the team forward. “Don’t break any of those columns, I can only control living plants right now, and we don’t want this falling in on us.”

The group just murmured in acknowledgment, moving forward to look at the structure. Vivace was inspecting a said pillar, “Does this mean you’ll eventually be able to build entire houses and stuff? One of the royal summer houses was entirely made by a geomancer, right?”

“It takes a lot of training to do that.” Elera said, not entirely modest. “Most geomancers dedicate their lives to making architect if they’re going to do that work. I’m not sure if that’s what I want to do with my life.”

“Right, right.” Vivace said, then she turned back toward the group, who had taken up more comfortable positions and taken off their bags. “Alright, men-”

“Men?” Elera questioned, glancing at Dolly.

“Mm. There’s only one male here.” Dolly agreed, sharing the look. “I think if we’re going with single genders, we would say ‘women’, since we’re the majority.”

“Yes, and that does include men, doesn’t it?”

“It does.”

“A-HEM!” Sforzan interrupted, sending glares at both the smirking females. “I believe that it was a figure of speech, and one that works just fine. Continue, Vivace.”

Vivace looked put off at having been interrupted, and glanced between the team for a moment trying to regain her place. Finally finding it, she began again. “Alright, genders!-”

“Is that any better?” Elera wondered, causing another interruption. As Dolly was opening her mouth to reply, a loaf of bread was flung at her. The next one went at Elera, catching the demon by surprise, since she was still watching the assault on Dolly.

“Genders!” Vivace huffed, glaring at them with the supply bag open. “Now is the time for food. We’ll eat, and get some sleep. I want to be to our destination soon.” She tossed another bread piece toward Sforzan, who caught it grimly.

“And have you figured out the solution to that little problem yet, leader?”

“We have no problem!” Vivace cried, taking some bread out for herself, and getting the rest of their supper out as well, which consisted of smoked meat and water.

“A few hundred miles of water isn’t a problem, Zanny.” Dolly smirked sarcastically, looking over at him. “Didn’t you know that?”

Vivace turned to glare at her, and passed the food around to the rest of the team. The centaur was having none of it. (None of the answer, of course, he took the food without complaint). “The Stone is located on an island, an island close to Kuromer. How are we going to get there? Ships don’t go to the island! It’s completely uninhabited. If we try to get someone to take us there, we’ll draw suspicion to the place. Not to mention we’ll have to go all the way to Kuromer first, that or the Barren Lands. A ship won’t take us from here. We need a plan. And please don’t call me that.”

“We’ll figure it out when we get there!” Vivace replied, ripping a chunk out of her food. “We’re not close enough to know our options.”

“Would Zan be better?” Dolly asked casually, ignoring Vivace’s point. “I can’t think of anything to go with Sfor well. The only thing I can come close with is Sef or Sephy, and for some reason that seems like a bad idea. Not sure why.” Dolly glanced up, thinking. “I think there was a guy I called Sephy once. Had a long sword. Didn’t end well.” Dolly continued thinking for a moment, then shrugged nonchalantly.

Sforzan glared at the gnome. “We can begin planning now, and work out the specifics later. It would make later much easier. We don’t always have to run into things.” He turned his glare onto the human. “Just Sforzan is fine, thank you. I have no interest in your womanly obsession of finding ridiculous nicknames for people.”

“Womanly-?” Dolly started, looking over at the centaur with a surprised expression on her face. “There’s nothing womanly about making nicknames, in fact, I’ve met a number of men who’ve done it. Maybe you just don’t like them because you have no good ones…?”

“Hardly.” Sforzan responded, glaring at the female. “I simply see no reason to give names to something when it isn’t the proper name. There’s nothing wrong with what a person is born with.”

“There’s plenty wrong, if the said person doesn’t like it.” Dolly returned. “Why should parents be able to name their children, without the children being able to change it if they want to?”

Elera’s eyes followed the two back and forth, waiting for one of them to do something openly offensive. Vivace for her part, was simply glad the centaur had gotten off her back about the plans and could care less what the other team members were doing with each other. The two said members were looking at one another icily, having a comment over nothing erupting into a fight. Much to the gnome’s dismay, the centaur was returning his attention to her.

“Vivace,” Sforzan put emphasis on the name, clearly pronouncing the different part to prove he intended to use all of it. “about those plans-”

“There are no plans!” Vivace said getting fed up and flinging her hands up. “If you want plans, make plans! But we can do without them.”

“Ace is grumpy.” Dolly pointed out idly, purposefully using her chosen nickname for the gnome. “Maybe we should get some sleep and leave this off for later.”

“I’m not grumpy!”

“I think we should do it now, putting it off any longer would be pointless.” Sforzan shot back. “And as our leader, Vivace has a responsibility to overseeing them.”

“What?!”

“I think we should get some sleep. If Ace doesn’t want to look at plans, then as our leader she doesn’t have to.”

“Err-?”

“Vivace needs to take her role more seriously. If she won’t, then perhaps we should give people assigned tasks?”

“We had tasks before, for a while. Ace was in charge of plan making. She’s the one who got us to Don Tensh. I’d say her plans are fine.”

“I’d say Vivace was simply following someone’s advice, and it wasn’t much of a plan!”

“Well, you-”

“Both need to be quiet.”

The two turned to look at the demon who was crouching next to the opening of their camp and looking out along the path. Vivace walked over, first glancing at Elera then at the road cast in darkness. The demon sniffed. “Put out the fire.”

Not ones to argue when it looked like someone had something important to put in, Dolly quickly put the fire out, and both of the remaining team members moved toward the opening with the others.

“What is it?” Dolly asked warily. Not having the senses as high as the demon, the other members in the group also failed to recognize the sudden threat. Nothing on the road moved. The forest let off the quiet sounds of night, being no different from the other times of worry free dark fall. Elera made a hushing motion, not looking away from the street. Suddenly a gust of wind floated past them, brushing against their backs as they waited for the interruption. Elera’s head snapped up.

“Onto the road. Now.” She said not bothering to keep quiet. She leapt up, grabbing the bag that was beside the entrance where she’d left it. The others followed suit, confused but immediately alert. Almost as soon as they had gotten out of the shelter, a large crash echoed behind them, and leaves billowed out around their feet, riding on the shockwave of the impact. Spinning around, Vivace saw a large tree branch had collided with the top of their shelter.

“What-?”

“Our rats got out.”

“So it seems.”

The team turned to look down at the opening of the road, where two figures of opposite genders stood. They were wearing revealing clothing, and had the general look of something inhuman about them. Elera straightened. “From the opening ceremonies.”

“Oh, you remember us, do you?” The female asked, looking both delighted and uninterested at the same time. “Well, we do make an impression.”

“Yeah,” Vivace agreed, anger evident in her voice. “I didn’t know whores had their personal versions of sluts.”

“Now, is not the time.” Dolly muttered in an undertone. The two persons standing down the road blanched. As the male stuttered in outrage, the female returned to a stoic pose.

“It may be wise to listen to the human, shorty.” The female snarled. “The rules of the games restricted us last time, this time we won’t be so nice. You insulted the Rosaids, something we don’t allow.”

“Apparently not.” Elera put in, watching the two casually. “Where is your partner who attacked us? There are others, two more, to your group, that don’t seem to be standing with you.”

“You’ve met these people before?” Sforzan asked, looking around at the forest for hidden shapes. The two on the other side of the road burst into laughter.

“Why, I didn’t notice that thing at first! Not only do they have a pewman, midget and monster, they have a horse!” The woman called. The male let out another laugh, and the woods around them echoed in laughter to mimic theirs. The team glanced around, looking for the source of the noise.

Elera locked her eyes back onto the two standing in front of them, and replied to the centaur. “They were another team at the opening ceremonies in Sol Bremeck. We had a disagreement, and harsh words may have been passed. I’m surprised to see them here.” The trees quieted and the nymphs looked ready to make comments. Before they could, Elera was continuing. “It just means they’ve had no leads, so they’re taking out competition. There’s a reason they’re laughed at.”

“Why don’t you guys come out here and fight if that’s what you want?” Vivace challenged. The ones opposing them were glaring silently at the demon, and rounded their eyes on the gnome as she spoke. “You have a big name for yourselves, but you can’t even fight one on one, face to face? And don’t give me ‘this is where our strengths are’ crap. Everyone knows that means nothing, it’s an excuse. So why don’t you come out?”

The nymphs watched her silently for a moment, then the female shrugged. All at once two figures appeared on either side of the others. Two female nymphs, one with much longer hair then any of the others and a slimmer frame, while the other had shoulder length hair. “Don’t think I’m doing this to be honorable, shorty.” the leader stated casually. “I just have no reason not to comply, and give you an excuse when you’re crawling to the healers. If you’re able to crawl.”

With that she flicked her wrist, and the three beside her disappeared. The team pulled up their defenses just as the three nymphs were closing in next to them, drawing their weapons or summoning their magic. Dolly had a pair of die in her hands immediately, and threw them at the female with shorter hair, causing her to fall back slightly. The human continued, taking out a pack of cards and summoning up a circle around the said Player, creating a ring of play cards around her. The others were distracting the other opposing Players, so Dolly wouldn’t have to worry about someone interrupting her game. One of the biggest flaws in a gamblers card game was that anybody who wasn’t inside the ring had time to attack the gambler and end the game from the outside. As long as the other nymphs were being taken care of, Dolly didn’t have to worry about an external threat. Instead, she focused on spinning the cards, not bothering to give the Player inside a run down of what she was doing.

The centaur dodged back from the male’s first attack, pulling out the book from his side and flipping it open to a random page. He spoke a spell, that may or may not have been located on that page, but would work anyway simply because he had the book open to spill its magic, and a strong gust of wind hammered into the nymph’s side, sending him flying away onto the road. The male jumped up almost immediately, flinging a knife at the centaurs neck. Sforzan summoned up a gust of wind to circle around him, brushing the thrown iron away and creating a shield for himself. Almost unconsciously he spoke the words that would send the spell to his teammate as well, creating shields for the three of them.

Feeling the wind begin circling around her, Vivace continued with the running thrust she had begun when she saw the three nymphs come at her team. She aimed at the leader of the other, who had waited just a moment later then the rest of the nymphs to launch forward, aimed at the gnome. Vivace thrust forward, swishing the sword to the side as the nymph sidestepped. As before the woman dodged around, moving like fluid to avoid the short sword. Instead of attacking, the nymph continued letting the gnome slash and thrust forward, trying to hit her. Finally, after a few more swipes, Vivace backed off slightly. Seeing the nymph’s smile, she growled, and sent a burst of magic into her blade before stepping forward to see if she could find a way to hit the opponent.

Elera summoned up the greenery from the sides of the road, sending vines whipping at the long haired nymph. The female giggled, and leapt away from the attacking greenery before letting out a soft cooing of her voice, creating a shockwave that headed back toward the demon. Elera hissed, and jumped out of the songstress’s way. The shock crashed into the trees behind her, sending wood scattering out onto the road. Cursing inwardly, she realized that the other geomancer must have been the girl Dolly was fighting. Elera flung vines and sharpened leaves that had the edges like razors at the nymph, not caring much for the outcome, she twisted to see the human. “Dolly, she’s a geomancer!”

As the warning was shouted, Dolly felt a sense of dread fill up inside of her. Geomancers were one of the oddity classes that drew their power from somewhere other then themselves. Unlike in the fight with Vivace, where the warrior had been completely trapped inside of the gambler’s game, a geomancer could summon magic from elsewhere, outside the ring of cards. Dolly bit her lip, stopping the cards circling around the nymph, wanting to get out of her position as soon as possible. “Pick.”

The nymph raised a finger to her lips, a small smile playing behind her hand. Not bothering to look at the cards in front of her, she watched the human on the other side of the barrier. Dolly felt the ground move beneath her, and looked down at the earth at her feet. Just as her eyes landed on the road, the dirt beneath her broke open and a stream of vines burst upward at the human. The tendrils spun up around the human, before clenching tightly closed on the victim it had gotten hold of, disabling the wind shield immediately. Dolly flinched and tried to avoid shouting as she felt something inside of her crack.

“Shit-” Elera cursed, rushing forward to help the human from the binding, before the plants had time to crush the human’s rib cage completely. Behind her there was a tinkering laugh, and the long haired nymph hummed. The ground in Elera’s path began shaking, causing the demon to stumble. A gust of wind floated to her, catching her before she fell and the demon continued, ignoring the attacker from before. The nymph, on the other hand, turned her sights to the one who interrupted her attack, looking over at the centaur who was watching the demon go toward his companion. His mouth was set grimly, and he kept his eyes focused on the two females from his own side, but keeping the two nymphs he now had to handle in the corner of his eyes.

The male nymph sprinted forward, pulling knives free from his sleeves and hurling them at the centaur again, aiming to get one of the blades between the swirls of wind. There was no luck, and the shields held firm. The woman wasn’t so kind, letting out a screech at the Player, forcing a blast of air toward him that rippled the ground in its path. Sforzan responded with a wall of air a few feet in front of him, and reared up, casting a spell to attack the two opponents. The wind behind both of them began swirling, and they were forced off their feet and toward the center of the road, where a whirlwind was formed. The gusting wind kept them entangled for a long thirty seconds before flinging them back out onto the side of the road and disappearing. The nymphs rose, hissing in pain and annoyance, but their anger kindled. Sforzan swallowed nervously. That attack was one of the strongest his book possessed, and opponents weren’t generally suppose to keep moving after it.

Vivace had noticed her teammate be taken by one of the opposing team Players, and the demon stop her fight to help. She knew she couldn’t do the same, now that Sforzan was already trying to handle two opponents. The one in front of her however, wasn’t going down easily either. She had yet to land a hit on the lead nymph, who was sidestepping every attack. The female seemed almost bored, watching her blade flash in and out of attacks. Even the magic in the attacks barely seemed to faze her. It was a pity they couldn’t switch opponents, she was sure she could handle that idiot songstress. Even the rogue would be easier then whatever this woman was. Sensing Vivace’s hesitation and thoughts on her teammates, the nymph stepped forward, only to step back again. Then to either side, her feet moving in and out of a set path. Before Vivace could put thought to the curse forming in her mind, the ground at the dancer’s feet lit up. She made a few more complicated steps to and fro, and the entire area was caught inside of a bright light. A shockwave from the ground up pushed all of Vivace’s team off their feet, dispelling the air shields that Sforzan had put around them originally. A strong wind kept them up for a moment, swirling with the sparkle of magic in the attack. The lights faded, and the gnome thudded back down the ground, hearing two bodies behind her do the same.

She tried to rise swiftly to her feet, knowing the danger of staying on the ground for to long, but a foot catching the top of her head as she was rising forced her back into the dirt. Vivace cursed, and heard a voice ring out above her. “We could continue this, but is there really a point? Why don’t you admit defeat, shorty.”

Something about being called that continuously was beginning to grate on her nerves, and that last offense made something inside of her snap. Without warning, the gnome had brought up her short sword and stabbed it as hard as she could into the opponents leg. A high pitched screech above he told her she’d hit her mark, and the weight on the back of her head disappeared. Vivace looked up, stumbling to her feet, and saw the nymph grabbing the lower part of her shin. Seeing the rage in the Players expression, she pointed her sword forward and muttered darkly, “Why don’t you go to hell? And not the nice kind, either. I don’t think the Darkwater’s would appreciate us sending vermin like you to the demon grounds.”

“You-” The nymph began, pulling herself up. Suddenly Vivace felt the presence of someone behind her, and felt herself tense at what she knew was coming and thinking of whether or not she had time to stop it. All of a sudden a noise from further down the road caught their attention.

“What the hell?” A blonde warrior was standing in the center of the path, viewing the destruction of the piece of road the other two teams were standing on. Beside him, his team was watching with as much interest as he was, a small dark haired girl and brunette wearing healer robes, closely behind them was also a man with orange hair. The nymphs turned to glare, and Vivace could feel both a sense of gratitude at the intervention and a small annoyance at the interruption.

“Do you want something? We’ll be quite willing to take you out after.” The dancer snapped haughtily. The other nymphs were already beginning to lower their fighting stances however, the moment lost from the disruption. Vivace thought it was safe enough to look at how close her demise had really been, and glanced over her shoulder at the male nymph standing a few feet away. Damn those rogues. The leader shook her head and flipped her hair in annoyance, as though swatting away a fly. “Never mind, we don’t feel like wasting the time.”

With that she motioned toward the rest of her group, and the nymphs turned to walk away. sending looks back at the gnome’s team in disgust. Vivace watched them go, not really caring how the end of their battle was. Looking over at the rest of her group, she noticed Sforzan on his feet, watching the passing of the opposing team without comment. Elera had gotten up from the ground as well, and was pulling the vines off of the human. Vivace ran over to help, and after getting the major plants away from Dolly, they got her into a sitting position on the ground. She coughed roughly, spitting blood and holding her sides in pain. Being unable to block any of the dancer’s attack and being crushed by vines had left her fairly beat up, and the demon began inspecting her wounds.

There was a small noise from where the other team was standing, and Vivace looked over her shoulder at where the blonde was shrugging at the healer. The brunette walked over to them, looking in concern at the human. “Would you like some help? Those injuries don’t look to good.”

The demon and gnome exchanged glances, and Vivace shrugged. “Sure.”

The healer kneeled down, looking at Dolly with an concerned expression. As she began to cast her magic, the other team’s members came over, and Sforzan brought himself out of his musings to see how his teammate was faring, joining the rest. It was the blonde warrior who spoke, asking the other team, “Those Rosaids, do you know much about them? We met them over is Sol Bremeck.”

“That’s where we ran into them.” Vivace replied distractedly, watching the progress of Dolly’s healing. “Just a group of jerks. Dancer, songstress, rogue, and geomancer.” She didn’t see anything wrong with giving away the information, since the team’s healer was helping them. It was common courtesy to help out other friendly teams she knew. Just because they were competing now, didn’t mean they might not end up working together on something in the future, and there was no reason to start things off badly.

The blonde nodded. Then looked curiously at the gnome, frowning. He glanced between the gnome and human, and after a moment something seemed to click. “Hey, weren’t you two fighting back at the WildFang? I remember you two causing problems in the tavern back at Sol Bremeck.”

The human and gnome glanced up, startled. Then Vivace remembered the feeling of recognition she’d had in the last town when she saw the warrior. “Oh, yeah. I remember you.” she said, standing up and looking at the human critically. “You’re that kid who tried to stop us.”

The other people present who hadn’t been involved in any of this watched the conversation with interest. The human warrior frowned. “Yeah, the two of you were causing problems. No one was going near the boards because they were afraid they’d be stabbed. So you’re working together now?”

“Yeah.” Vivace replied, glancing at the human on the ground beside her. Dolly shrugged, then coughed at the pain in her ribs. They didn’t need to mention Fortunia, or anything that led up to that. The brunette healing her scolded, trying to get her to hold still while she worked. Dolly did so for the most part. After the healer declared them done, the two teams said their farewells and parted, the other team going forward down the road while Vivace’s group pulled themselves together.

The one thing that the entire group found to be a specific point of that night they remembered, was Sforzan pointing out quietly after the other team had left that they could truly stand to gain by recruiting a healer.

-:-:-:-:-

The arrival in Port Amresta was met with sighs of relief from the weary group, having acquired numerous sores and pains from their journey to the bustling seaside town. The roads were once again packed with Players hoping to get onto the ships that would take them over to the next continent. The team’s first objective was to sleep, and Dolly got them a room at the inn without question, letting them get rested before they decided what they were going to do next. The main problem was that there wasn’t any ships sailing directly toward the island that the Heart Stone was on, and they’d have to find a new way of getting there. This was the same problem that Sforzan had been harping on for the journey, and unconsciously each member had begun thinking of ways to get onto a vessels that might take them out to the smaller island.

The morning after they’d stopped in the inn, it was with great reluctance and weariness that Vivace scribbled a note to the team in case they woke before she returned and crept out of the room. She headed out of the inn into the morning darkness, the sun just beginning to peak over the horizon and made her way down to the shore. It was her first time properly viewing the ocean, the other day having been to tired to look over at the water and take in the sight. The Welsth was located in the middle of a large forest, with swamps on the sides of it but not being swampy itself. She had never before traveled to the coast, gnomes not being the greatest creatures when it came to water. Vivace walked up to the waves, watching as they pulled in and out on the sand.

After watching sun rise above the horizon of the water, casting its glow onto the town next to the shifting mass, and seeing the ships come to life with workers beginning to make their way over the pier, Vivace walked up to a ship office, where all the traveling done by ships in the area was taken care of. She looked at the listings and cringed. All of the ships going to the continent for the next few weeks were booked, filled with Players or other travelers trying to get away from the Aknia economy. The town showed signs of the recession, the prices on the merchandise risen and town functions dropped. There was more liter than Vivace had seen in any of the towns coming here, and considering they were next to the ocean she couldn’t see that as being a good thing. A few of the ships had even gone out of business, forcing the ships that still ran to take on the excess of passengers.

Vivace kicked a rock in frustration. They couldn’t wait around here for weeks to get to their destination. Someone else could find the Hearts Stones by then! She turned to glare at the opposing posts, as though they were standing in her way of getting onto the ships directly. No. They would find a way onto the ships, be it legal or done the hard way. Vivace made note of the next two ships leaving and ran back to the inn.

The shutters opened with a snap, bright sunlight pouring in through the window on the sleeping forms of the team. “Wake up! I have a plan!”

Dolly didn’t bother replying. Instead, she lifted a pillow from beside her head and threw it with as much force as she could muster at the gnome standing on chair between the ends of two beds. The gnome ‘eep!’ed and ducked down out of the way, exposing the rising demon to the projectile. The soft pillow hit Elera dead on as she began sitting up to see what the noise was about, and Dolly flinched. “Sorry El. That was aimed at pinky.”

Sforzan looked over grumpily, glaring at the ruckus interrupting his sleep. The gnome climbed warily back onto her chair, glancing between the three sleep deprived teammates. “I have breakfast.” she squeaked as in appeasement, then adjusting her voice so it wasn’t quite so high, repeated. “I have breakfast. Come eat, we need to talk about how we’re getting onto the ship.”

The three other Players continued glaring at her, the desire to flop down into their blankets evident on their faces. Vivace stood her ground, looking at each other the Players in turn. Finally Elera decided she didn’t feel like dealing with the gnome so early, and dragged herself out of the comfort of her bad and made her way over to the box of steaming food. It was only when the demon had opened the container and the smell of freshly cooked rolls and eggs drifted out into the room that the other two relented. Each of them had a separate section of food depending on what they liked, and beside the box was three steaming cups of coffee. It was obvious that Vivace had already eaten, and the team dug into their breakfast. The gnome was wise enough to wait until they were almost done before she began to speak again.

“So.” She cleared her throat, getting their attention. “I was out checking the ships at the dock, all of them are full of people getting to the other continents. The next available ship to get on is in a few weeks.”

Dolly choked. “We can’t wait a few weeks.” she sputtered, trying to get the food down the proper way in her throat. The other two Players looked at Vivace uncertainly. The idea of hanging around the town for that long wasn’t pleasing. After a moment, Dolly regained her breath. “We can try to see if anyone’s selling tickets to the ships underground.”

Vivace looked over in surprise. “I didn’t even think of that.”

“You were planning on waiting a few weeks?” the human asked, turning to look at the gnome sitting on her chair.

“No, I was suggesting we sneak on.”

The centaur shook his head. “If the ships are this busy they’ll be guarding them well. I doubt we’ll be able to stowaway.”

“And we aren’t exactly the most inconspicuous group, as Dolly likes to point out.” Elera stated, tugging on her horns and gesturing over toward Sforzan. Vivace shrugged.

“I bet I could still find us a way on.” She replied, “There are always ways. But we can check out what Dolly suggested first. Erm,”

Dolly saw Vivace glance over at her, and waved her hand. “Leave it to me. If there’s someone around here pirating tickets, I’m sure I’ll be able to get them. They might be pricy, though.”

“The normal tickets didn’t cost that much.” Vivace said, thinking about the money they’d have to spend. “If they’re too much, maybe we should try sneaking on anyway?”

“You’re not getting the point about how that’s not likely to work, are you?” The human questioned, peering over at the gnome with a feigned innocent curiosity. The gnome huffed, her replacement for not being able to stomp since her feet weren’t hitting the ground.

“We could still try!”

Before an argument broke out, Elera interrupted, smirking. “Dolly, you go look around for some tickets. We need to restock on supplies, so I’ll hit the market.” Seeing the tension still in the room, she went on. “If Dolly can’t grab us tickets, why doesn’t Vivace try to find a way onto the ship. Sforzan…you can find a way that we’re going to get to the island once we’re on the other continent.”

The centaur glared at the demon, fully realizing that the task given was a time waster and that she didn’t actually know anything he could do. Seeing his displeasure she shrugged and smiled apologetically. “Alright, fine. Come to the market with me. You can pick us up more food while I grab us items.”

The centaur still didn’t seem pleased, but noticing that there wasn’t much of any other option he looked back down at his book. “Does anyone need weapon or armor repairs or upgrades while we’re here?”

The group stopped for a moment to think, looking at their fighting gear.

“Ace could use some new armor.” Dolly said from across the room, looking at the gnome’s current attire.

“There are some plants that are native to this country I wouldn’t mind getting the seeds of.” Elera put in thoughtfully. When she wasn’t using the plants around her for her fighting, she would use whatever raw plants she had on her, taking samples of their essence from seeds and creating duplicates.

“And I would like a new book.” Sforzan said with a nod. “We can do that while we’re here. Elera can concentrate on supplies, I’ll find us the new equipment.”

With that decided upon, the group left the inn and set about their tasks. Vivace went back down to the water, knowing the others thought her part was fruitless but uncaring. She had a feeling getting black market tickets would be just as hard as getting regular tickets. After all, Dolly wasn’t the only Player who knew about the underground methods of getting things. Vivace also had the impression that guild members would have a great influence in when they got their tickets, which would make their wait even longer if they couldn’t find another way on.

Vivace walked along the wall that stretched from the beach to the piers and all the way to the end of the town where the peninsula stopped. The ships were being protected by numerous armored town guards, who seemed to be on the look out for people doing exactly what the gnome was thinking. She frowned, seeing the entrances to all the boats have multiple personals watching them, and various protectors walking along the walls and inside the decks of the ships. How were they suppose to get around that? Maybe if they were disguised as workers….Vivace briefly pictured trying to get her team- a gnome, centaur, demon, and human- onto the sea vessels without being noticed. Somehow, even if Elera could hide her face and Vivace got shoved inside of a bag or something, hiding Sforzan would be physically impossible. And there was no way to explain why a centaur would be working on a boat, something that went over water. Centaurs were about as much of a sea faring race as gnomes were, which was not at all. Swimming didn’t seem like an option either, given the same reason. She didn’t even know if centaurs could swim, it would have to be something she found out. Vivace was so busy being caught up in her thoughts that she didn’t notice anyone else around her, and was startled when a wire flew past inches from her face. She squeaked and stumbled back, flailing her arms to prevent herself from falling in the water.

“Watch yerself there little ‘un.” Vivace spun to see a man with a fishing rod sitting on top of a large rock a few feet back from the wall. The man spoke with a slow stride, watching his fishing line drift into the sea. “Didn’t think it’d startle ya so much, or ah would of warned ya.”

“Oh, huh…” Vivace was unsure whether she should be apologizing or yelling, so she contented herself with a small shrug.

“Lost in yer thoughts?” The man asked nodding. “That’s nice to see. So few of ya young folks seem to think anymore at all.”

Vivace really didn’t know what to say to that, so she kept her mouth shut, watching the fisherman sitting on the rock. He just sat there, watching his line out in the water. Vivace glanced back out, following his eyes. Nothing stirred. Looking back at the man she noticed an empty bucket beside him.

“You, err, don’t seem to be having much luck.” Vivace managed after another moment.

“Nope. Never do.” the man seemed pleased with his plight, and started humming a small tune, rolling his line back in. Just as Vivace was about to walk away and continue her stroll, the man began speaking to her again. “Why, you look like the type who might enjoy this. It’s an art, ya know, fishing. How would ya like to give it a try?”

Vivace looked around uncertainly. Fishing? Why would she like to learn to fish from a man who couldn’t catch one himself? “Err, no thanks.” she replied, trying to sound regretful. “I’m not really…”

The man was nodding. “That’s what my grandsun says. Not very keen to learn. But Ah’d reckon a Player like yerself has enough going on.” He looked meaningfully at the ships at the dock. Vivace turned to follow his eyes, and heard him speaking quietly behind her, almost to himself. “My grandsun wants to become a seaman one day, like my son. He’s always being yelled at for sneaking into the ships. Oh that time he got lost on the Wave Chaser. Don’t think his Ma’s let him off for that yet. But he won’t spend time fishing. How the boy supposed to learn the patience of the sea if he can’t stand to learn fishing? Yeh have to respect her, she’s a tempest when she wants to be.”

Vivace listened to the speech, but one line stuck out above the rest. “Your grandson? He lives around here to then?”

“Yep. My entire family has worked in the ocean.” The fisherman replied. “The only life we know. It started back with my ol' man- but ya wouldn’t be interested in that. Sun’s getting high. Looks like a time for a nap.” With that the fisherman tilted his head down over his eyes and leaned back against the rock.

Vivace wanted to kick the old man, demanding that no, she wasn’t interested in his dad, but she sure was interested in his grandson and wanted to know where the kid was now. Instead she inspected that man one last time, and looking around, saw a small food stand along the shops lining the water front. She made her was over, looking at the people working the shop. It was dead, with no customers, which Vivace was grateful for. She sat down, waiting for a waitress. After a minute one came out.

“Can I take yer order hun?” The large busted woman asked. Vivace desperately wanted to point out that this was a café, not a bar, and that the woman should seek new employment. Instead, she made a polite reply.

“Uhm, what’s good here?” Or, as polite a reply as she could think of. She had no idea what this place really served, and figured that asking the woman’s opinion might make interrogating her later easier.

The woman placed one hand on her hip, and the other hand holding her pen tapped at her chin thoughtfully. Vivace wondered is she could kick the female without her noticing it was the gnome. After a moment the waitress replied. “Well, depends on what ya like Ah guess. The pasties here taste scrumptious. An’ the iced tea’s good for day time meals. How about some of them for ya?”

“Sure, sounds great.” Vivace replied, trying to sound happy with it. In her thoughts she hadn’t even heard what the woman suggested. The human smiled and went inside to set up the order, and Vivace sighed, looking around. She peered over at the old man again, he was still sitting on the rock. Good. In a minute the woman came back out with the order, cafes having most of their food already made at the beginning of the day to prevent the wait.

“Thanks!” Vivace said, again trying to sound as grateful as she could. One of the advantages to being so small was that pulling off cute faces came easier than most races, and seeming innocent wasn’t that hard of a task.

“Glad to be of help, hun.” the woman replied, pleased with the young gnome sitting in front of her. Honestly, you didn’t see enough people like that anymore. Everyone was rush rush rush, and so busy getting what they wanted that they didn’t have time for some decent conversation.

“Excuse me?” Vivace asked, wanting to be gone with her information as soon as possible. “I’m just passing through, and met some man down by the beach. That old man, still sitting on the rock.” the woman looked over to where Vivace had indicated. “Please, is he always fishing around here? It didn’t seem like he was having much luck with the fish.”

“Oh.” The woman broke out into some tinkering laughter. “Yep, he’s always fishing down by the wall. But yeh’ll never see him with any fish, nope. There ain’t any in the water so close to shore no more. They all swam out into deeper water a long time ago. Dun’ worry, hun.” she said, seeing Vivace’s startled expression. “He knows. We’ve all asked him about that, he’s just like, ‘nope, here’s where I’ve always fished an Ah’m gonna stay here’. Doesn’t care, says fishing’s not about the catch.”

“His grandson doesn’t like that then?” Vivace asked, rounding the conversation to where she needed it. “Seems like he wants to be a seaman, but doesn’t want to fish.”

“Oh, did that old man mention Dilly?” The waitress seemed delighted, and sat down opposite the gnome without invitation. “That boy’s a handful, Ah’ll tell ya that. Always sneaking onto the boats. Yep, Dilly dreams of adventure, but he dun’ want none of his grandpa’s life. Fishing in fish free water.” the woman laughed again. “That entire family’s a little bit odd, if ya know what Ah mean. Dilly just wants to brave the stormy seas and come back a town hero. Like his pa was. Brought back some of the biggest catches this here lil’ port has ever seen. His old man got really successful with them catches, not sure where he goes. A family secret that his great grandpa found once. They live up by the lighthouse now, but Dilly’s always playing with his friends at the rocks.” (Bingo!) “The town’s told ‘em not to, but they’re kids. They dun care ‘bout safe or not, they just want to have fun. Oh, dear. Looks like I got sum company on the inside.” The waitress stood up, looking into the shop windows. “It was nice talking to ya hun. Enjoy them pasties, they're the best on the port, Ah guarantee it.” With the final word and a wink, the woman made her way inside to handle the new customers.

Vivace finished her food (she paid for it, she wasn’t leaving until it was gone), and made her way down the road toward the rocks. She could see them in the distance, toward the end of the wall a distance after the piers had stopped. She hastily made her way down the street, wishing she knew how to bribe small children into giving you information. A bad thing in being such a small, generally cute (until you reached your hundred and fifties to two hundreds, then you just looked like short old people) race was that it was sometimes hard for other, more ignorant people (aka, children of opposing races) to take you seriously.

Upon reaching the rocks, she noticed they were empty. Cursing, she realized that simply because the children normally hung out here didn’t mean they were going to be constantly. Vivace settled onto a rock to wait, hoping that they’d be there at some point that day. While she waited, she watched the ships carefully, trying to find a blind spot or flaw in the guards tactics. There didn’t seem to be a sure fire way to get onto the boats, so how did this ‘Dilly’ do it? After mulling over her dilemma, she got up and went around some of the larger rocks to hide herself from view, and pulled out her sword to practice her skills. Next time she ran into the nymphs, the dancer’s innards would be decorating the floor.

It was a few hours before Vivace heard anything to take her mind off of her training. It was late in the afternoon, looking up the gnome judged it to be an hour or two before the next meal would be served for most people. Children’s voices floated over the rock, and she put her sword away, brushing off her brow so it didn’t look like she was going to kill them in some mad craze. How did one act around children? Straightforward was the best path, right? It’s how she always liked it when she was a child. Stepping around the rock hiding her, she saw a few children walking into view. At first they didn’t notice her, content with whatever was going on in their own conversation. Finally one of the boys pulled up short, seeing the gnome watching them.

“Are one of you boys Dilly?” Vivace asked, getting their attention. They went silent, looking at her cautiously. Finally, one of the children asked in a defiant but wary tone.

“Who’re you?”

Vivace resisted the urge to reply with a sinister ‘you’re worst nightmare’ or other cliché line befitting the situation, but just barely. Instead, she answered honestly. “Vivace. A Player looking for Dilly. You him?”

“Yer a Player?” One of the children asked, laughing in the ignorant ways children did. “Ya look like a kid.”

Vivace grinned. Oh how she loved being an only child. “Does my sword look like something a kid would have, boy?”

He opened his mouth to say something, then his eyes fell on the gleaming metal sticking out from behind Vivace’s shoulder showing the hilt of her sword. He went quiet, and the children glanced at one another. Vivace took the opportunity to continue. “I’m looking for Dilly. I’m not here to be mean, I just want to have a little chat.”

“What do ya want?” Suddenly the boy who’d first spoken seemed a little more arrogant. He huffed out his chest slightly, making himself seem bigger in his own eyes. The girl opposite him was smaller then he was, there was no way he’d be scared into anything.

“To know how you get onto the ships at dock. Apparently you have quite a reputation for it.” Vivace said, trying to keep her face calm. She should smack the kid, just to prove she wasn’t a child to be messed with.

“Why should Ah tell ya?” Dilly asked haughtily. “Ah’ll tell my parents if yer mean to me!”

“I told you,” Vivace said patiently, “I’m not here to be mean. I just want to know how you get onto the boats.” At the kid’s defiant expression, Vivace resorted to what she had been figuring she’d have to do anyway. “Maybe we could make a trade?”

The kid’s interest was perked immediately. Even the children not being part of the deal seemed attracted suddenly. “What kind of trade?”

What was it kids were into these days? As a child she was obsessed with adventure. He seemed to like seaman stuff. There you go. But what type of sea based items did she have? Nothing, really. So what would be next? Well, money. Gold was something most adults responded to. Vivace wasn’t sure if children valued money as much as a regular person did, but she figured she’d give it a try. “How about some money for you? I’ll give you ten silver so you and your friends can go and buy some of those things you kids are into, whatever they are. If you tell me how you get onto the ships.”

The buy looked over at the docks thoughtfully, obviously adding up how much ten silver could really get him in a store. One of his friends whispered something to him, then another. The kids seemed to want to be in on the trade as well, and were obviously telling him to go higher, because a moment later he looked back at Vivace. “Ah want fifty.”

“Fifty? That’s half a gold, kid.” Vivace said, waving her hand dismissively. “Sorry, but your information isn’t worth that much. I’ll tell you what, I’ll raise my offer to fifteen silver, fifty bronze. That’s as high as I’m getting.”

“Fifty or no deal!” Dilly stated stubbornly. Vivace watched him for a moment, refusing to pay that much to the child, more out of pride then the expense. Then she shrugged.

“No deal. Your information’s probably bad anyway, just because the guards turn a blind eye to a kid doesn’t make it a good way to sneak onto ships.” Vivace ran her hand through her hair the way she always watched Dolly do it, and made to walk away. “No wonder everyone thinks you’d be a joke of a seaman. You can’t even see when someone’s offering you a good deal. Most sailors have sense.”

“Ah’m a good seaman.” Dilly said, affronted. Vivace shook her head disbelieving.

“Right. What do you do, really?” She jibbed. “Climb up the side of the boat when the lines are down? The guards probably see you, they’re just letting you be a kid. Don’t get a swelled head now.”

“Ah am a good seaman!” Dilly protested, turning to watch her walk away. “Ah’m gonna be the best! And they don’t see me!”

“I don’t believe you.” Vivace responded, placing her hands delicately on her waist. “If you’re really so good, prove it. If you can really impress me, maybe I’ll make it twenty silver. What do you say?”

“Fine!” Dilly puffed his chest out, glaring at the gnome in front of him. “But Ah want it now.”

“You get the money after you impress me, not before.” Vivace replied, shaking her head. Dilly stomped his foot.

“Pa always told me ‘bout Players who promise to pay and run off. Yer one of them. Ah want the money now.”

“Unlike the Players your father has met, I’m noble.” Vivace snapped. “If I say I’ll pay, I’ll pay. But fine. I’ll give you half now. Half after. That good enough for you?” The gnome dug into her purse and pulled out ten silver. The boy hesitated, then reached out and grabbed the money.

“Fine. C’mon, it’s this way.”