Baoba's precious day off was coming to an end.
Of course, his mind had hardly rested this entire time. His latest scenario had a secret evil organisation like what Pando has told him about using the fruits of his labor to steal Noti for themselves. This marked the third scenario where he got found out by an unseen third party that gave absolutely no signs of existence whatsoever.
The possibility wasn't zero, after all.
Baoba had finally deliberated he would hold off on doing anything about this until he saw at least a shred of evidence.
And then he moved on to the next unlikely failure condition.
All this to say, he wasn't exactly resting today.
But at least his body had nothing to do. That was a win.
A win that would only last for a few hours more. He felt reluctant at the idea of wasting this time by staying indoors the whole day, so he quickly put on his shoes, donned the magical earrings that masked his distinctive elf ears, picked up his keys and headed out.
He didn't have a destination, just planning to walk around and see what happened. Maybe he could see something that would point him in the direction he'd been blindly searching for.
Two sets of stairs and one entry door that could only be closed by slamming it shut, and he already regretted that decision.
The streets were empty. Baoba's shoes were directly planted in a deep puddle. Wind and thunder drowned out all the other sounds one could normally hear in this lively town.
It was raining. Hard.
Still not nearly enough to deter a commited hunter, but way too much for comfort.
Shielding his eyes from the drops, he examined the clouds.
'Looks like it'll be short. Whatever, I've seen worse.'
As he started to imagine what to do in the eventuality they got struck by lightning during their getaway, he marched towards the park in a steady rhythm.
'If the lightning doesn't kill us right away, we could still pick up the unconscious one and run away normally... If Venus is the unlucky one, it'll be tougher, but Urtica will manage without too much trouble... If we die, though, it might be worth it to get the mother to stop our definitive death and heal us quickly, like she did for me... But then we would be killed by the Lord anyway. How certain is our loss right now ? We can't kill him, but can he stop us from escaping if we put our mind to it ?
'.... Yeah. Definitely. Right now, encountering him still means total death. I wonde if there's any other way to reliably survive a lightning strike...'
Before he knew it, he had found a dry bench, and the rain was letting down. Like he predicted, it had been a quick one. Spending a few years in the wild had a way of making you good at predicting the weather.
The lake still rippled from stray droplets, and a subtle rainbow could be seen from the omnipresent humidity.
'That's right... I is really humid during a thunderstorm. Being close together, we run the risk of multiple members being struck at once... Should we split up ? Is it better to be isolated or to be struck ? What are the actual chances of an encounter with guards ? What are the real odds of a lighting strike ? Probably low-'
"Are you still stalking me ?"
The sudden extrenal stimuli startled Baoba. His head snapped in the direction of the sound, so fast it was impossible to keep a nonchalant act.
Which was unfortunate, seeing as the person who just spoke was Evans, the captain of the elves' enemies.
This double surprise robbed him of his face for a moment. "Oh ! Uhh, what ? I mean, no ! No, I'm just... here. For fun. Cause I had free time... How about you ? Why are you... here ?"
He mentally face palmed. 'Awesome. Just keep tearing down every once of credibility you built. This is so suspicious.'
The human had apparently not been reassured by that stellar performance. He rose an eyebrow despite the rest of his face being absolutely still. "For an undercover agent, you have a disastrous poker face. But nevermind that. Why did you find me ? I have time."
Baoba cleared his throat. "Hm-hmm. I did sound insanely suspicious just now, but you'll have to trust me on that one, this is purely a coincidence. I like this spot. It has the advantage of having a cover and is pretty prone to rainbows. It's nice." He grinned widely. "On the other hand, having a conversation with you is a laborious task that I would not willingly inflict upon myself. So, on you go. Or you may choose to stay if you like my company that much."
Evans remained silent, as he apparently loved to do, and finally decided on an answer. "I'll stay. You clearly need something to do."
Baoba did not believe that reason one bit. If there was one thing certain about this strange human, it was that he never did anything that didn't benefit him.
'He must still believe l came to him. Oh well. Can't say I didn't warn him.' He decided he simply wouldn't talk and wait until the other party got bored.
So he waited.
Evans leaned against a wall, maintaining a pose that could not be comfortable. He was not talking either.
Neither of them did.
...
For a really long time.
....
'He must think he's so clever. Forcing me to spill beans I don't have. Unfortunately for him, I'm the one with the most free time.'
Still no talking.
A wild cat walked leisurely in front of them. Usually, Baoba would try -and fail- to call it over, but right now, moving and emoting in such a way felt like a small defeat.
...
The cat ran back the way it came from, chasing a bird.
...
By now, the light was getting dimmer and dimmer. Any sort of rainbow was long gone, but it was still not dark enough for the bioluminescent night spectacle either. The view was just kinda dull.
'Surely he has to be somewhere eventually.... Right ?'
.......
Both the cat and the bird ran past again, chased by a dog.
Usually, Baoba could make this whole thing into a entertaining scenario in his head. One of the skills one had to learn on the streets was how to keep one's mind busy. Right now, unfortunately, the pressure was getting to him. His mind was not as wild as usual.
He was bored senseless.
And the human -Baoba wasn't sure he was, at this point- was not even moving.
........
'This is bad.'
By now, the silence was so loud it felt like a physical burden. Actually, Baoba was supposed to come back home a while ago. But the situation had devolved into a full blown contest. Whoever broke the silence first lost.
Lost what ? Nothing. In fact, bringing attention to a "victory" would be childish. This moment would no doubt be glossed over by both parties in the future, like it never existed at all.
But still. It was a matter of pride.
..............
An existential mission had a way of making you learn things about yourself. How tough you could be, how much time you can go on without food, your pain tolerance ceiling... Today, to his great dismay, Baoba learned he was not all that prideful.
"Don't you have a hunt to prepare ?"
"Most of the preparations are simply good rest." Evans replied right away, with no more emotion as a normal person would have while falling asleep, as if this interaction had been perfectly normal so far. "We are already as strong as we can be. No amount of training or anything we can do in this insignificant town will do us any good. Why ? Do you need your payment faster ?"
'He still thinks I need the blood. Play it cool, you practiced this.' After all this awkwardness, he was slightly more intense than normal.
"I know you're trying to glean more intel on us. It won't work. You just need to trust me, giving us the blood won't harm you in any way."
That was technically true, by the way. Giving it would be no problem. It was the part where they went and fetched it only to find an army of blood hungry preists on their way back that they might find unpleasant.
"Whatever you do with it, at this point, we will have received our due reward. But temper your expectations. We might not depart in a week. Or a month. Or a year, for that matter."
Baoba grimaced slightly. A year would definitely be too long.
Evans continued, looking completely elsewhere. "To be honest, we might not succeed. This one is tough. But rest assured, we will try our best."
Some more silence passed. Determined to not let it solidify again, Baoba threw a look over his shoulder and said : "Do you believe I don't have anything to say to you now ?"
"I do." Said the soldier, turning away with no more courtesy than a can of fish.
Baoba was once again alone. He wanted to go home already, but decided to wait until Evans left earshot.
He looked particularly weird today. Another update was due to the character notes.
'It'd be nice if I could just never see him again.'
***
The next day.
Baoba was back at the broom.
The architect had decided to make this cathedral out of stone. And today, despite all the obvious reasons why this choice was the only option, he couldn't help but hate the guy a little bit.
Dust was infinite in here.
It was also seen as an affront to Helio, as it kept clouding His radiance. If not for that, this job would be quite a bit easier.
So actually, Baoba hated Helio a bit more right now.
'It's for the mission, for the mission...'
The task was boring. So, whether he wanted it or not, his mind wandered around to the usual unlikely scenarios.
'What if as we run, I trip on a broom and break Noti... I'll just have to make sure everything is put away correctly. But then I could trip on something else. Maybe a priest will come back to make me fall... No wait, they'll just fight me. Also, they probably don't want to destroy it at all, seeing as it's their most prized possession.'
....
'Man, we're really going to be screwed after this, aren't we ?'
The church was powerful. Powerful enough to influence the whole forest.
Among the settlements of the cursed forest, a lot of them had a church of Helio. This religion was pretty widespread. They were the ones in charge of money, charity, beuraucracy in some cases, and trade most of the time. Even though routes were not possible due to obvious reasons, that did not mean communication was impossible.
In fact, the church was also in charge of that.
Making an enemy out of such an entity was risky, if not stupid. They would be banned from every city in this forest. Maybe even hunted down.
'But that's not my current issue. Who has time for future problems ?'
No, the current issue was this annoying feeling that something was afoot, that he had made a mistake of some kind.
So got back to it.
'I haven't seen those rings Urtica mentioned on anyone... Maybe they're not actually a fashion choice, but from a secret organization, and that's why he only saw them on corpses, they don't normally wear it. What if they're out to get us ? In that case, I'd need to-'
Clank
While sweeping absentmindedly, Baoba had accidentally flung a small object into a wall, interrupting his train of thought.
'Not like it matters. This one wasn't going anywhere. Let's see, what if...'
Continuing his thinking, he bent down to pick up and throw away the object.
But suddenly, he froze.
He had never seen the item before, but it was still familiar. Well, as familiar as a thing can be after hearing a passing description once.
It was a weird ring. A little brass ring with no jewels.
And it really didn't seem like a fashion choice.