Exploration

Miyori didn't know what she'd expected, but Noa laid out his story—fae and all—so matter-of-factly that she found herself following along, like it was all perfectly reasonable and logical. 

And the thing was…it kind of was. When you left aside the parental abandonment and illegal activity, all that was left was the choices Noa had made—and as cagey as he'd been up till now, when he laid it all out it seemed as though he wasn't ashamed of those choices. 

Miyori wasn't sure how to respond at first, but she found herself following Noa's lead. And at least on the question of Iseki and their blood magic, they were exactly on the same page. 

"Someone needs to figure out what they're up to," Noa said, once he'd finished explaining the deal he'd made. "We might not be able to stop them, but we can pass word along to people who can. If they're messing with fae magic, we might be able to get the fae interested enough to intervene." 

"What about the police?" Miyori asked carefully.

Noa hesitated, then shrugged with artful carelessness. "Them too, maybe. But I get the feeling if it were easy to stop Iseki breaking the law, someone would have done it before they got this far." 

She couldn't deny the logic of that—and she could appreciate that he had his own reasons to stay far away from the law, under the circumstances. So she let that line of questioning drop.  

They worked a little longer on pinpointing the areas Miyori had spotted on the map the day before. Noa asked Miyori if she would help him with research the following day, and she agreed.

Danger and all, she found that it was a relief to be on the same page with Noa at last. 

***

The next morning, Noa was dressed and ready to go when Miyori met him downstairs. 

"We should start at the library," he said. "We need a map."

He took the lead like a man on a mission, so focused he barely stopped to grab them both breakfast on the way. Miyori had elected to stay small on her day off, so she didn't really need anything, but he still insisted. 

They paused outside the library for breakfast, Miyori eating her single donut hole and Noa finishing the rest. They were two of the first people in the building. 

Miyori had never used the map section of the library before, but Noa acted right at home. He made a beeline for the front desk, asked about a district map, and was led to a section of the library with maps larger than any Miyori had ever seen in her life. She pored over them, trying to envision which parts matched what she'd seen the day before. 

"This area," Noa said, drawing a large circle with his finger. "It's going to be something here." 

They examined office buildings, storefronts, and even warehouses, comparing notes. Finally, they narrowed down their list to a set of city blocks. 

"I think this is about the best we can do for now," Noa said, staring down at his list of buildings. 

"But there are dozens of places we could look," Miyori said. "Are we just going to try them all?" 

"No," Noa said, "next we need to figure out whether Iseki owns any of these. Ownership information will be in some sort of legal office in the area." 

He led them back to ask a librarian about that, and got back a sheet of paper with a number of mailing addresses. He scanned down the list, took them back to the map section to check districts, and circled two addresses. 

"The information we need should be at one of these legal bureaus," he said. "It's just going to be a matter of getting it." 

Miyori just nodded along, more than a little intimidated. How did he know all this stuff? Was he just making it up as he went along? 

Then she realized the problem. "They won't be open on the weekends, though, will they?" she asked. 

Noa paused, and then made a face. "No—no, they won't, will they? I guess that's about as far as we'll be able to get today. I can go by the offices tomorrow." 

Miyori nodded. "Research is one thing, but don't do too much exploring alone, okay? I want to come with you." 

Noa sighed, but instead of arguing, he checked over the map one last time. "Do you want to just…go today?" he said. "See if we can narrow down our list by checking things out in person?" 

Miyori shrugged. She didn't have any other plans today, and it seemed that Noa was practically vibrating with the urge to keep moving. "All right," she said. "It can't hurt to try, right?" 

*** 

It turned out that Miyori was a lot better at examining neighborhoods than she was at reading maps. 

Their information had led them to a business district, notably empty on a Sunday. Noa looked happier once they arrived and it became clear how good a day it was for snooping. 

"How high can you fly, anyway?" he asked. 

Miyori shrugged. "I can't get to the top of a skyscraper or anything, but high enough." 

"Great. Do a pass overhead and see if anything stands out? I'm going to start on the main streets. If anything seems weird, come down and we'll mark it on our map." 

Noa's map from the tourist office was covered in odd scribbles at this point, and after a few hours it was starting to look even more ragged. They weren't really sure what they were looking for, but some of the buildings were in better repair than others, and within a few hours Noa was trying to sketch in utility lines based on the locations of fire hydrants and meter boxes. 

Miyori was starting to get worn out from so much flying, but walking around town for hours with a map in his hand didn't seem to be bothering Noa at all. 

When they reached the end of the district they were exploring, Miyori finally broke and asked for a break. Noa relented, leaving her on a park bench for fifteen minutes and returning with drinks and food. He poured Miyori a helping of soda into the bottle cap and carefully used a clean toothpick to pick out several chicken nuggets. 

Eating human food at pixie size was never really dignified, but the amount of effort he put in to accommodate her was touching. Miyori wasn't really hungry yet, just tired, but she couldn't bring herself to turn him down.

"There are just so many factors to consider," Noa said abruptly, between bites of onigiri. He was staring with a faraway expression at the park drenched in late afternoon sunlight. "We don't really know which infrastructure they're focused on, or what a part of their system might look like. It's just going to be a lot of guesswork." 

Oddly, he didn't sound frustrated. Miyori wasn't sure she could share his optimism, so she let the moment stretch.

When he was done eating, Noa stood up and stretched. "It's starting to get late, but…there's one more thing I want to try. It might end up being stupid, though, fair warning." 

Miyori looked up at him. "Sure…?" 

He grinned at her, sheepish. "Okay. Give me a second."