Nathaniel saw four arms extending four firearms towards himself, Travlack, Chrissy, and Jay. Out from under a broad brimmed hat towered a woman with piercing eyes. The hands clenching the gun were thin and bony, almost insect like. Two antennas twitched violently from the holes in her hat, assessing them for threats. Nathaniel squinted, attempting to make out a face from the shadow of her hat.
"Hands up, I'm not asking," she said. "I'm authorized by the DLF to–"
She froze.
Nathaniel saw the woman cock her head in Travlack's direction. He held his DLF badge out in front of him, the light reflected back into her eyes. She holstered all four firearms and marched forward, snatching the badge. Nathaniel watched her lower pair of arms fold while one of the higher arms adjusted her hat, revealing blonde hair. The other upper arm held the badge in the light where she inspected it thoroughly before handing it back to Travlack.
"Inspector–Travlack. What the hell are you doing on reservation land without paperwork?"
Nathaniel hopped off his capastra and approached the woman.
"It's on a pack noko we were tracking before you ambushed us!" he reprimanded. "We are the escort for a prize winner and DLF or not, you can't just–"
She appeared larger now that Nathaniel stood in front of her. The top of his head reached the center of her chest, just under the collar of her shirt. She stared down at him, waiting for the rest of his sentence. Nathaniel failed to form any words, her black irises and piercing white pupils caused him to fall silent.. She took the pause to start her own spiel.
"Marlowe. Game Warden Marlowe, and as far as I know? Four escorts and a VIP would have known to enter through a checkpoint, not the back way. Furthermore, what kind of escorts lose their pack animal? Either you're lying or you're inept, and either way I'm taking you back."
Marlowe turned back to Travlack.
"I was expecting a different set of DLF operatives, but no matter," Marlowe flicked out a notepad. "Does this travel party have anything to declare?"
Before Travlack could answer Chrissy hopped off her mount and spoke up.
"We're not going anywhere! The paperwork you want is in on our noko and you won't let us through without it? How does that work?"
Nathaniel watched Marlowe look her up and down before turning back to Travlack.
"Inspector, who is she?"
"Ranger," Chrissy interjected. "Ranger Taniel, and–"
"So you're inept," Marlowe stated.
Nathaniel turned his head to cough. He barely managed to cover the smile on his face with his arm. Marlowe stowed her notepad and stepped toward Chrissy, looming over her. Neville clung to her back, hiding his face in her shoulder from her glare.
"So, 'ranger'--you led your escort onto conserved grounds without so much as a warning? Isn't it your job to know the rules of the land?"
Chrissy sputtered a response to no avail. Nathaniel pulled his map from his vest pocket and examined it, coming to a realization. The map and the copies he packed showed migration patterns and known animal territories, not conservatories or borders. He sighed, stowing the map away in time for Chrissy to find her words.
"We're tracking our noko, okay? Even if we entered the right way, we wouldn't be able to get through!"
"So you knew you were sneaking onto conserved lands?"
A long silence descended onto the group. Nathaniel could see Chrissy's jaw tightening, pondering her next words very carefully. He looked at Ava, who stared at Marlowe with Vae in complete bewilderment. The next movement came from Jay, who hopped off of JJ and approached Marlowe with a calm stride.
"Marly–"
"Marlowe. And who are you?"
"I'm their escort for this part of the journey! Jay's the name, I hope you're having a great day."
Jay stuck out a hand expectantly.
Marlowe did not move an inch.
"Because," he trailed, "There's no day like a capridae…?"
Jay's hand remained where it was.
Marlowe's four arms folded across her chest, her eyes piercing through Jay's lax posture.
After another minute of silence, Jay retracted his hand.
"Oh you Endos," Jay sighed, "Always so intense. You don't even blink."
"Can't", she snapped. "All of you, follow me. There's a checkpoint a couple of miles from here where I'll have to hold you until paperwork comes through. It's there you'll put in the requests for new validations. As for the prize winner–"
Marlowe turned to Ava and took off her hat, revealing her face. Chiseled cheekbones, shoulder length blonde hair, pale lime insect skin, and two antennas, bowing softly. She gave a nod and put her hat across her chest in reverence.
"I'm sorry for the delay, but if you are a VIP I can't have you travelling unsupervised on conservation grounds."
Nathaniel observed Ava falter, staring at Marlowe. After a moment, her back straightened. Ava took a deep breath and spoke in a calm tone.
"Thank you for thinking about my safety, Game Warden. I certainly would not want to cause any trouble for you."
"Thanks for your understanding, ma'am."
Marlowe carefully placed her hat back onto her head, navigating the holes in the hat for the antenna to slip through. Her gaze sharpened immediately upon returning the hat to its home, now commanding the attention of everyone else.
"Saddle up and follow me. It's just a bit north of here and we'll get this all straightened out."
After Marlowe turned away Nathaniel saw Chrissy's mouth open. Neville put his paws over her nouth, staring at Marlowe with raised ears. Nathaniel shook his head fervently, pursing his lips and widening his eyes. Chrissy removed Neville's paws to show gritted her teeth, and mouthed a word Nathaniel barely managed to understand.
"Fecabre!"
Chrissy turned around and mounted her capastra. Nathaniel did the same while Jay hopped onto JJ. After mounting, Marlowe made eye contact with everyone from back to front. From Chrissy, Travlack, Ava, Jay, and finally Nathaniel. Satisfied with their compliance, she nodded and walked off in the direction she said the checkpoint was.
Jay pulled up beside Nathaniel's right, tapping his shoulder.
"I thought you were going to blow a lid, Boshy," Jay whispered. "Anytime someone delayed this trip you were near blowing a fuse."
"This is the first person who had authorization to delay my route," he replied. "Everyone else were distractions or the distracted. Like Chrissy, who failed to let us know we were walking on a conservation."
Chrissy's capastra pulled up on Nathaniel's left.
"I heard my name," she said, "What's going on?"
"Boshy was saying you got us detoured. Failing to let us know about the conserved land and such."
"Failed to–that's not fair! We were on the trail of the noko, it wasn't important! We barely crossed into the border–"
Squeak!
A paw jutted from Chrissy's shoulder.
Nathaniel followed Neville's paw to see it pointed at Marlowe.
Chrissy stopped talking. Nathaniel looked to see that Marlowe was looking back at Chrissy. Once Marlowe faced forward Chrissy leaned over and whispered in Nathaniel's ear.
"It was supposed to be quick! We would have lost the trail if we went around! And then you would have gotten more annoyed with that, and I don't wanna hear it!"
Nathaniel nodded and remained facing forward. He took off his glasses, cleaned them, inspected them, and put them back on before responding to Chrissy.
"Or, bear with me, you could have listened to me when you were busy deflecting shot quail volleys from behind the noko."
With those last words Nathaniel stared right through her, letting his gaze linger until Chrissy looked away and slowed her capastra down, leaving his line of sight.
"Excuse me."
Nathaniel turned back to his right to see Ava on the other side of Jay, Vae around her neck.
"Endo?" queried Ava. "You called her an endo while back, what does that mean, Jay?"
"Do you remember the thing about the phases? One through three?"
Ava nodded.
"Well, that's only true for exos, like me. I can control the length of my horns–'cept when you catch me sleeping. Marlowe doesn't have phases, that's just how she looks."
Marlowe stopped walking.
Everyone halted their capastra in response. Nathaniel looked between Jay and Marlowe, who slowly turned around and stared.
"And how do I look, Jay?"
"You look great, Marly! I didn't know grand strider Therians got so tall! Endos don't usually walk around in public, so it's good to see more kin."
Nathaniel turned to see Marlowe's pure white pupils staring back at Jay.
He then turned back to Jay, who, with a full grin, stared right back into her eyes.
Marlowe spoke after shaking her head.
"All you need to know is that some of us get more attention in public than others, Miss Ava. My Therian soul demands my body take a shape suitable to host it, nothing more than a Dulim of the Peak who grows to be tall, or an Igosi who has big ears. I want to hear nothing more of the nature of my soul."
Marlowe resumed her pace.
The party continued in silence for a while before Travlack rode up beside Marlowe. The height difference between the two staggered Nathaniel. If he had only come up to Marlowe's collar, then Travlack would be no taller than her legs, ears not included.
"Warden, who is coming?" he asked. "Mentioned more DLF arriving."
Marlowe looked down at him, not breaking her pace.
"I'll fill you in at the checkpoint. It isn't for civilian ears, Inspector."
Travlack nodded and slowed his mount, taking his place near the back once again.
They completed the rest of the trip in silence.
Later, Nathaniel spotted a lodgehouse complex. A main building surrounded by smaller lodges on the side of the main road, blocked with barriers. Five forest personnel stood guard, standing at attention when Marlowe came close. One of them, an ink colored Cuvio man, spoke first.
"Is that the DLF squad you sent for?"
"Not at all, which means they're going to be late, as usual. This group claims to be escorting a prize winner without any paperwork."
The forest guards looked amongst themselves. A Cerulean Yervite woman spoke up next after taking a sip from her bottle.
"Five people, a serpifeli, and a fat capridae?"
"He isn't fat," Jay chimed, "He's jolly."
Marlowe and her forest guards all stared at Jay for a moment before the Cerulean spoke again.
"What's the protocol?"
"They have to get their papers remade," said a dark green Cuvio woman. "Which means Xander is going to have to run all the way to central and back."
The pale red Cuvio smacked his teeth, and snapped back.
"I just came back from Central yesterday! They lost their papers, you can ride and get it done within two strings, Sherry. Two and a half, tops. Either that, or Don can do it."
"She isn't the blitzer, Xander," spoke the pitch black Cuvio man, "And don't volunteer me, either. Twelve to thirteen segment trip? You can do it in three."
"And I don't want to, thanks for asking. Why not send Regis? Or Anita?"
"Beside the fact that Regis is my second and Anita is our only aquatic specialist, they're claiming to be travelling with a VIP."
Xander smacked his teeth again and stretched his legs.
"Of course it would be a VIP," he muttered. "Three segments. Four if I decide to stop at my leisure. Do they have anything that will get me access? A note? A ring?"
Nathaniel patted his pockets and looked to the rest of the escort.
Chrissy shook her head.
Travlack also shook his head.
Nathaniel skipped over Jay.
Ava fiddled with a ring on her finger, unsure of herself.
"I have my family ring of the Sinclairs. If you showed this to Coordinator Cooper, would that work?"
Marlowe nodded and reached her hand out. Ava dropped the ring into her palm and watched it transferred to Xander, who held it up to admire it.
"Yeah, that'll work for me. I'll be off once I get my pack organized, since I'm the only USEFUL one around here."
Xander shot a look at his coworkers before entering the main cabin, closing the door behind him.
"I hope he trips on a rock," the one Nathaniel thought to be Sherry, said.
Marlowe took off her hat and scratched her head before putting it back on. She turned and addressed Travlack.
"We have enough supplies and lodgings for the time you're here. When you're settled in, I'll come for you and explain the situation. I could use an Inspector's aid while I'm waiting for the group I sent for. The rest of you, get comfortable. Once Xander is back, we can get you on your way."
They followed Marlowe to the main cabin, tying their capastra to the post. Nathaniel took his pocket vinyl and spare disks from the saddle bag. He dropped his disk case from the force of JJ's body hitting the ground beside him. He knelt down to pick them up, and when he rose he found himself face to face with the dark green woman.
"You're Nathan, right?"
"Yeah…forgive me if I don't recognize you–"
"I'm a friend of Amber Vastera. I'm Sherry."
Nathaniel's eyes lit up, he shook her hand warmly and chuckled.
"She's an exceptional colleague."
"I knew her back in the selection camp. We still write to each other. Her last letter said something about an equally exceptional colleague leading an ecological survey. Something about a prize winner, Zenith?"
"Yes, and a few detours along the way. The DLF put together a team for me, or else Amber would have been my first choice."
"Oh, I hear that. Amber didn't miss anything by not making the top two hundred at selection. Any say I have in where I go has been long since gone. I won't keep you, but it's nice to finally put a face to the person."
Sherry started to walk away before Nathaniel spoke, stopping her.
"I'm sorry, Amber writes about me?"
"Yeah. You're in every letter, I'll see you later."
Nathaniel watched Sherry jog off towards the barricade on the road. Walking into the lodge, he inserted a pocket vinyl into the transcriber and clasped it shut. Ava, Jay, and Chrissy were sitting at the table talking amongst themselves, with Vae coiled around Ava's leg.
Nathaniel walked toward the right side staircase and entered a long corridor. Walking down, every door was open except one. He could hear the sound of hushed voices walking by, and opted instead for another room two doors down.
The room was furnished enough. A bed, a desk, and a drawer, the essentials for any traveller. Nathaniel sat at the desk chair and focused his resonance into the transcriber. With a hum, the needle dug into the vinyl.
He spoke.
"Personal log of Nathaniel Bosh, expedition update.
PFX One twenty-three. Period three. String three. Segment one.
This is now the eleventh seg of the survey, and our luck has run out–again. Chrissy either neglected or forgot to mention our trail on the noko led onto conserved land. In all my wisdom, the only maps I packed were migration and hotspots of animals to see. Maybe I should have grabbed the other one–doesn't matter. She continues being…sporadic."
Nathaniel got up from his chair and paced around the room.
"We were apprehended by a Game Warden Marlowe–four arms by the way, you would have loved to see that. We're currently at an unknown checkpoint waiting for a blitzer, his name was Xander, I believe. Apparently he can get from here to central and back in three or four days–segments–why they forced us to change the calendar, I'll never understand. Speaking of DLF, I ran into your friend Sherry. Turns out she's stationed here. Small world. At least half of it, whatever– anyways, she said you…"
He faltered.
Pondered.
The hum of the transcriber filled the gap.
After a moment, he continued.
"Said you didn't miss anything by not being in the top two hundred at the selection camp. DLF and whatnot. Anyways, all that to say, everything is going about as well as it can be–"
A series of shots rang from outside.
Nathaniel peered outside the window and saw Marlowe standing beside Travlack. She sheathed her pistols and patted Travlack on the back before walking inside. Nathaniel looked down range to see shooting targets.
The hum of the transcriber once again filled the silence
"When you transcribe this over to paper, Amber, please leave out the ramblings. Nathaniel out."
The hum came to an end. Nathaniel waited a moment for the vinyl to stop spinning before taking it out and marking the log number. He then stowed it into his clear case with the others, organized appropriately.
He left the room and walked toward the direction of the staircase. Multiple footsteps climbed the stairs. Nathaniel paused. Marlowe, Travlack, and Chrissy emerged into the hallway. While Marlowe unlocked the door, Nathaniel noticed how straight Chrissy stood. Her shoulders were higher than he normally saw, her hands opened and closed in rhythm as Marlowe showed her in.
Travlack followed after her.
Then, Marlowe looked at Nathaniel.
"You too."
Nathaniel shuffled into the room. Chrissy stared at him, flickering her eyes from Marlowe, then Travlack, and then Nathaniel again. Nathaniel returned her gaze with raised eyebrows and a shake of the head. They both fixated onto Travlack–
Crunch.
Travlack stared back at them, chewing the bite of his apple.
Where had he gotten that?
With a click, the room locked.
Nathaniel and Chrissy turned to the last pair of eyes in the room.
From under her hat, Marlowe's piercing white pupils stared back at them.