35 — Joezand's Investigation

The harsh sunlight peeks out from between the leaves of the trees, as Joezand walks through the trail in the forest. He wipes the sweat from his forehead, drinking water from a leather canteen he brought with him. Lorelai trails behind him. Anneliese stayed in town to carve some more toys for Louise, while Florian, Agnes, and Iaomai are off doing god knows what.

"God, this heat'll be the death of me." Lorelai says, fanning herself. "I swear, once I'm back in the palace, I'm never wearing a suit of armor again. Screw this."

"Keep it up! It'll only be a while." Joezand encourages. "I just need to be sure of something. If you see anything that looks like a hideout, let me know."

"You're awfully chipper this morning." Lorelai smirks knowingly. "Something good happen yesterday?"

"O-Oh, uhm..." Joezand blushes. "Yeah, you can definitely say that."

"I finished with the bodies late, and I was searching for a place to sleep amongst the empty houses... But I found one the double beds occupied." She teases. "Gotta be honest, didn't think you had it in you."

"C-Cut it out. We didn't even do that much."

"Oh, so you DID do something!" Lorelai whistles. "My, my. They grow up so fast!"

"Come on..." Joezand pleads. "You didn't tease Agnes when she was sharing a tent with Iaomai."

"Because it's not funny. It's sad." Lorelai says. "I saw them in one of the houses too. Can you believe she made him sleep on the floor next to her bed? She treats the poor dude like he's a dog."

"I don't doubt it." He sighs. "Honestly, she kind of sickens me. Like, every time she talks it's either something annoying or cruel. I'm so tired of her. Wish she'd be able to talk normally for once." He looks to the ground for a moment.

"Seems like you need a better family." Lorelai says. "Don't worry, just as I have generously crowned myself as Pult's older sister after training him, I'll also act as yours from now on. Feel free to rejoice or whatever."

"Well, I do need at least one sister that won't want me dead or naked." He replies. "Although, how old are you again? Are you sure you don't want to be an aunt, instead?" He smirks.

"Oh, you think you're funny, you brat?" Lorelai says. "Can't wait until we go back to the palace. Hold out for your next training session."

"Hey now, I was just teasing you back!" Joezand claims. "That's unfair—"

"Wait." Lorelai says. "Is that what you were looking for?"

He looks ahead, the forest giving way to grassy plains. In the middle of them, a gray slick rock formation made up the entrance to a cave.

He can see the purple energy that ran away from him, but it seems faded. It's emanating from deep inside the cavern.

'Found our target.' Joezand thinks.

'Good. Retreat and regroup. He won't go anywhere.' Sunnaria replies. 'Make sure Agnes comes with. Her divine magic will be useful.'

'Understood.' Joezand turns around to Lorelai. "Yup, this is it. Let's leave for now. I'll explain it to you on the way." He says.

"Alright." She says, as they start to head back.

— — —

The hearty smell of homemade stew reaches his nose. Joezand slouches lazily on the chair at Karla's home, as he sees the woman cooking. Florian's sitting close to him."Really, Karla. You didn't need to." Joezand says politely. "We know you're going through a lot, just..."

"I insist." Karla replies, stirring the meal. "You should call the others, too."

"Weren't you with Lorelai this morning, Joezand?" Florian asks. "Do you know where she is?"

"She went off with Agnes and Iaomai. I've no clue what those two are planning." Joezand sighs. "Anneliese was playing with Louise in the morning, they should be coming back soon."

"I see, I see." Florian says. "And how about you? The princely life treating you well?"

"Sort of?" Joezand replies. "It's hard, that's for sure. Takes a while to get used to."

"No kidding." Florian agrees. "Being in charge is a pain. Dealing with everyone's problems just drains the life out of me." He lays his head on the table. "I mean, think about the average thing that gets brought to a royal court. 'This guy stole one of my chickens!' or 'This lady insulted me!'. Can you imagine having to mediate these pointless squabbles every time?"

"Sheesh, that's harsh." Joezand comments. "I wonder how Magyla's holding up without you."

"Without me?" Florian says. "It's likely doing okay. Yago's probably taking care of things. He's the personal advisor of the crown and a very powerful mage. Wise beyond his years."

"I see. I understand you not liking to rule, though. Would you have preferred to stay at the palace instead, Florian?" Joezand asks. "I know it's tradition for the children of Von Styria to have a territory, but still, if you had to choose."

"Well, that's a good question! I'd never thought about how I'd react at the palace." Florian gets excited for a moment, scratching his chin. "I do think it'd suck, however. I said that I hate solving other people's problems, and problems are all there is at that palace. It's honestly draining me just thinking about it." He sighs. "I don't care about Pult and you hating each other. I don't care about Agatha's, Cecilia's and Thaddius' relationship. I have enough on my plate as is to be out there playing fix-it-up with people that are fundamentally broken."

"Well, that's certainly... a perspective." Joezand says. He'll politely ignore being called 'fundamentally broken.' "But I mean, come on. You really don't care about Agatha and Cecilia being kids when Thaddius... you know?"

"Not really." He answers plainly. His eyes get sharper. "Maybe Agatha, because we're closer. She started even reading stuff to me after she found out about Thaddius and Cecilia. That's why I'm so lackluster at reading now." He shrugs. "But Cecilia and I weren't particularly close, even before all that. When we were kids, she was incredibly jealous that both Thaddius and Agatha would dote on me. Like it's unusual for parents to dote on the younger sibling. Like she didn't know I needed more care than her." He rolls his eyes. "I'm not going to feel bad for someone who treated me poorly my whole childhood, personally. Not saying she deserved it or that it wasn't horrible, just that you won't see me crying any tears about it."

"Woah, okay. She's still your sister, though." Joezand says. "You're... certainly acting wildly different than before."

"Huh?" Florian asks, then his eyes immediately unfocus again. "I'm sorry. What were we talking about?" Like returning to a script, all the sharpness from before is gone.

"Wait, what? What the—"

A knock is heard before the front door opens.

Louise walks inside, holding a carved... sheep? It looks very young, maybe it's a lamb. Anneliese trails behind her, going towards Joezand while Louise goes to Karla.

"Look, Mom." She says with the slightest hint of emotion in her voice. Which, for her, probably means that she's elated. "Anneliese carved me a lamb."

"That's so cute!" Karla replies, patting Louise on the head. "Sit down for lunch now, sweetheart. It's almost done."

"She's bouncing back pretty well." Florian whispers to Joezand. "Or maybe she's just putting up a front for her daughter."

"That's the most likely case." Joezand responds. "Didn't expect you to catch that."

"Why? I mean-" Florian stops himself. "Oh, that's right." He sits upright. "Well, if Karla's happy, then everything's good!"

Again, going back to script. What the hell is going on? He's gotta ask Florian about that later.

"Here." Anneliese says, capturing his attention. She returns his parrying dagger to him. "Phew, carving is pretty fun, actually."

"I told you you could do it." He says, as he takes the dagger back. He notices a few bandages on her fingers, and his hand touches hers as he inspects them. "Did you get hurt?"

"U-Uhm, yes." She says. She reddens up at the contact and looks back. "J-Joezand, uhm..."

"Oh, I'll get up." Florian says, winking to Joezand. "So you can take a better look at her hand." He leaves, sitting on the chair opposite to them.

Anneliese sits down next to Joezand as he looks over her hand.

"You gotta be more careful than this." He says, hand still in hers. "That dagger's sharp, you know? Does it hurt?"

"N-No." She looks at him. She's blushing, but her face dons a dopey smile.

"Remind me to re-do these bandages after lunch." He asks. "Why do you look so happy?"

"I... l-like it when you take care of me." She admits in a whisper. "W-When I skinned my knee during your training, too, you were quick to patch me up. I-I love that about you."

"O-Oh." His own face heats up. "Haha..." He gives out an awkward chuckle.

"The stew is ready, everyone." Karla says, putting on the table. Joezand and Anneliese quickly quit looking at each other as the widow starts serving them. "Eat up! There's a lot here."

"Well, I have an idea." Joezand says. He takes a spoon and digs it into Anneliese's bowl. "Come on, say 'Aaaah'."

"T-That's too far! I-It's embarrassing." Anneliese blushes.

"Come on. Nobody will care." Joezand eyes the others. Florian seems to be watching with a smirk, while Karla is more preoccupied with feeding Louise. He turns back to Anneliese. "Open up."

"F-Fine. But just one!" Anneliese opens her mouth and accepts Joezand's spoon. "Hmmm! Tash ghud!"

"Hey, no talking with your mouth full." Joezand says.

"I'm glad you like it." Karla says with a smile.

"Here comes the airplane!" Joezand says, digging into more food.

"The what?" Anneliese asks, but forgets about it as she accepts the spoon, drinking more of the stew.

They keep having their lunch, as the afternoon passes by with nothing of note.