The Other Side of the City

Nona had been quite surprised when the chase rapidly led them to the main avenue. Considering the illegal activities those boys were involved in, she had assumed that they would choose to stick to hidden areas.

She had hoped to surprise them by rapidly getting the upper hand, courtesy of the hundreds of races she had participated in in her hometown’s narrow streets.

Well, she soon discovered that she had underestimated her opponents.

Because in a crowded, open area, those little rascals had the advantage because of their ability to sneak everywhere to avoid - or simply bump into - the pedestrians.

“Damnit, where did those little pests go? Left or right?”

“Should we throw a coin to decide–? Ouch!”

“It’s not the time for idiotic suggestions, you slowpoke leader!”

“Hey, I’m not slow! But it’s not easy to run fast trying to avoid bumping into everyone!”

“Oh please, you know that you don’t need to be nice 24/7, right?”

“Wait, I think I’m detecting their scent…Yes, definitely it’s coming from that alley.”

“Well done Vesper–Ah, damn, sorry, I was about to touch your hair.”

“Oh, well, when I’m on this form I don’t mind that much–oomph! N-Nona, d-don’t s-queeze m-me s-so h-ardgdgd!”

“Ah, sorry, sorry! You are so cute in this cat form.”

“Tsk, a panther would have also come in handy.”

“I-I already warned you that I still don’t dominate shifting into big animals!”

“And besides, wouldn’t a panther spread panic and attention in the city?”

“...I guess this time you are right, slowpoke leader.”

They followed Vesper’s feline form towards a different alley area. They ended up in front of a block of old buildings. Vesper stopped in a shop whose decayed, half-broken door was a bit ajar. Nona opened it carefully. Going by the wooden counter, the empty, dusty shells and the rickety tables and chairs, the place had been an old bookshop in the past.

Once inside, Vesper went directly to one of the shelves behind the counter. She sniffed again, her white whiskers moving. Then, she shifted back into her human form.

“Can you help me with this?”

“Sure!”

Nona approached the bookshelf and lifted it with no effort, throwing dust on the top of their heads as she set it aside.

Thorny snickered placing his small hand under Vesper’s jaw, closing her completely opened mouth.

“After a while, you get used to her brute force.”

The shelf was concealing a small hole in the wall that forced Nona to crawl and Vesper to shape into her cat form once again. The hole led to a narrow tunnel that sloped downwards. It was way longer than they were expecting. As they followed it, the air became stuffier.

“Are you okay?” Nona inquired when noticing Vesper’s fur on edge.

“I don’t like confined places very much.”

“Jeez, me neither. Where the hell did those scoundrels go–?” Suddenly Thorny shut up and stopped. “Wait, don’t tell me this is a trap! What if they are working with them?”

“With the Order of the Violet Rose, you mean?”

“It’s the Pink Daisy, you fool. At least remember the name!”

“Well, trap or not, I’m not giving up on my sword or Vesper’s bestiary, so let’s continue.”

Thorny cursed but reluctantly followed Vesper and Nona. Finally, the path widened, and they exited to a new crowded place, though quite different to the one they had just come from.

For starters, they were underground, meaning that the sources of light were magic lanterns floating in the air. Second, the people there looked both poorer and also more dangerous than the ones from the surface - Nona noticed that almost everyone was carrying some kind of weapon, even the youngest. And finally, it seemed that it was also market day there, though the several stalls that filled the wide area were more varied and disorganized - not to mention that the arguments among the merchants from the underground were actual physical fights instead of verbal discussions.

“Well, I bet this place does not appear in the local guides,” Thorny joked, not bothering to turn invisible because there were a few fairies flying around. There were even a couple of goblins that were trying to trade some things in one of the stalls - without much success by basing on their loud, unintelligible grunts.

“What a curious place,” Nona looked around in awe, and gasped while pointing towards one particular stall. “Wait, are those dwarfs?!”

“Don’t point at them, they are very proud people and are very easily offended,” Vesper meowed hurriedly.

Nona rapidly lowered her arm, but she kept admiring from afar the way the dwarfs were polishing their weapons. She really wanted to take a better look, but it was not the time.

They had a more important mission.

“Can you still track those kids’ scent?”

“I will try, though it will be trickier because…uhm, how to say it…”

“It smells like shit.”

“Thorny!”

“What? It does!”

“It’s true that the air is…different here but it’s not polite to–”

Nona shut up when her reflexes kicked in.

She rapidly turned around in time to take a grip of a tiny hand that had tried to sneak inside her magic backpack.

“H-Hey, let me go!” A kid about the age of the ones they were pursuing was struggling to get free from Nona’s grip.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t do that.” Nona’s soft, slightly apologetic tone contrasted with the firm grip she had on the kid. “Two of your friends have already stolen some precious belongings from us, and we need to retrieve them.”

“Tsk, good luck then. Everyone in the capital knows the rule: give a thing and take a thing to wear the devil's gold ring.”

“Yeah, but we didn’t give anything, you thief! So if you don’t want our super strong leader to kick your thieves' asses, you better give our things back.”

“Careful with your words, creatures. I don’t appreciate threats aimed at my children.”

Nona rapidly turned around towards the unknown, feminine voice that had uttered those words, just to find herself with the sharp edge of a dagger dangerously close to her throat.

In other circumstances she would probably have risked a counterattack. She knew half-a-dozen moves that could surely work. However, she stood still while looking at the athletic, tan woman with tattoos covering her arms and hands who was wielding the weapon.

Because that woman hadn’t come alone.

At least a dozen children of different ages had rapidly approached her to point their different weapons at her. The youngest girl wielding a slingshot would be around six, and the oldest boy, a redhead with freckles who was staring at her while blushing slightly, couldn’t be more than fourteen or fifteen.

However, despite several weapons pointing at her now, Nona wasn’t nervous. She had the feeling that that lady, as dangerous as she looked, wasn’t evil.

So, after releasing the kid, she did what she did best.

“Hi, nice to meet you! My name is Nona and I’m a Wish Bearer. A pleasure!”

“WHAT THE HELL?!”

Which was trusting her intuition, while getting Thorny super stressed in the process.

Her introduction caused the woman to stare at her in disbelief before using her free hand to sweep Nona’s bangs off her forehead. After seeing the recognizable mark there, the lady lowered her weapon and spoke.

“Sweetie, are you aware of the danger such a revelation can cause? It’s not wise at all - or just plain stupid - to reveal yourself as someone who serves the same Goddess who has clearly abandoned the unlucky fellas that live here.”

“Thank you, stranger. Thank you.” Thorny said wholeheartedly towards the woman. “Maybe if someone other than me tells it to her, it will stick in her peabrain.”

“I see. I will speak lower then,” Nona said, before starting to whisper. “We are on a very important mission to fulfill the Goddess’ Wish, and in order to succeed, we really need the bestiary and sword your kids have stolen. So do you think we could have them back?”

“Hell no!” At that moment, the two children that they had been pursuing showed from behind the woman. “The sword is pretty meh. But we like the book.”

“Hey, what do you mean with ‘meh’?” Nona said, offended. “It’s a really good weapon!”

“Oh, please, I’m sure you can’t even read what that book says!” Thorny snapped.

The kid who had spoken blushed.

“W-Well, there are a few words we don’t understand.”

“More than a few,” pointed the other kid.

“But the drawings are very pretty!”

“Most of them.”

“Well, yes, there is some kind of ugly spider that we don't know what it is.”

“That I didn’t draw it,” Vesper had apparently forgotten she was still in her animal form and blurted that out.

“That cat can talk?!” one of the other children exclaimed with enthusiasm while the others looked at the metamorphosed druid in awe.

“Oh, yes she can! She is a magical cat!” Thorny rapidly said before Vesper could even think about switching into human form. “And she can also read and draw BUT she won’t show you unless you return the bestiary to us.”

“And the weapon.”

“And the weapon,” Thorny added after Nona’s sulking comment.

Thorny’s made up lie worked wonders. The kids rapidly returned both the sword and the bestiary and crowded around the magical cat, enthusiastic to see her talents.

“Come on, magical cat, grab that pen better!” Thorny mocked.

“The magical cat would appreciate the imp to remain silent,” Vesper meowed while a small vein appeared in her furry temple.

“Yes, imp, be quiet! You are distracting the kitty!” the youngest girl with the braids said, using her slingshot to throw a marble to Thorny’s head, hitting him right on.

“OUCH! H-Hey, how skilled are you with that thing?!”

“Hehehe.”

“Well, I guess I have to thank you for the unexpected entertainment,” the woman said, standing next to Nona with her arms crossed. She then lowered her voice so that just Nona heard her. “Your druid friend is doing quite a show. Drawing with those little paws cannot be easy.”

Nona’s eyes opened wide.

“Wait, how do you know she’s a druid?”

The woman chuckled.

“It’s pretty obvious, dear. But I’ll keep the secret. It’s been a while since my kiddos looked so happy.” After a short pause, the woman talked again. “You were pretty fast. No one that I know has been able to get a hold on any of my children.”

“Thank you! Fishing with my bare hands in my village did wonders to my speed.”

“I also have the feeling that you are skilled enough to have fought your way through our ambush.” The woman looked at Nona with curiosity. “But you didn’t fight. Why?”

“Because the probability of accidentally hurting one of the children in the process was high. So I didn’t want to risk it.” Nona smiled at the shocked woman. “Besides, my gut told me that you were trustworthy, and that you would listen to reason.”

The woman blinked. “Did you really believe that Enia, the fearsome Princess of Thieves, could be trusted?”

“I don’t know who that is, sorry, but you definitely looked like a nice person. Those children looked very well cared for, and it’s evident they are comfortable around you. Someone that inspires such trust cannot be bad.”

“...You are not mocking me. You are really that oblivious.” The lady chuckled and shook her head while Nona stared at her confused. “It seems like my sister was right. There are still good people left up there after all.”

After a few minutes, Nona realized that Vesper was throwing a pleading look at her since the children were too excited asking about more and more drawings, so she rapidly approached her.

“Well, it was nice meeting you all,” Nona said while picking up Vesper, causing several disappointed groans among the children. “I promise we’ll be back another day.”

“Will we really?” Vesper said in a weak resigned tone.

“Wait, before you go,” the woman removed one of her leather bracelets and offered it to Nona. “You can have this. The guards will think nothing of it, but any thief from the capital will know that you have the favor of the fearsome Enia.”

“Oh. Thank you!” Nona accepted the bracelet. “Please, give our regards to Enia. She also seems to be a really nice lady. By the way, what’s your name?”

The woman burst out laughing before looking at Thorny after this one facepalmed.

“You have it rough with your pal, haven’t you?”

“You have absolutely NO idea, miss.”

* * *

Nona half-closed her eyes at Thorny and Vesper once they were back on the streets.

“I’m glad you are both happy, but don’t you think you’ve laughed enough?”

“Sorry,” Vesper said, whipping the tears from her eyes while Thorny kept laughing boisterously. “But your shocked face when Enia revealed her identity was too funny.”

“Come on, it’s not my fault not having deduced that that lady was Enia herself! It wasn’t that evident!”

“It totally was/I’m afraid it was.”

Nona exhaled a resigned sigh when Vesper and Thorny laughed once again. Thanks to Enia and the children leading them through the intricate maze of tunnels in the underground, they had managed to reach the surface by a different exit placed mere minutes away from the Academy of Magic.

“I guess you won’t waste time telling this anecdote to–” Nona stopped in her tracks and squinted her eyes.

It was dark by the time they left the underground but that didn’t stop Nona from recognizing Adish sitting on the bottom of the stairs of the Academy of Magic, his arms enclosing his flexed legs, his head buried on his thighs, and his shoulders shaking softly, crying.