Traveling together was . . . well . . . it was kind of special. Emma, Mayako, and Fenix were each three completely different personalities and three completely different temperaments. For all intents and purposes, they were a walking recipe for disaster . . .

Emma, first and foremost, had a horrible temper. Sure, she'd carry as much as her body could handle, and she had a pretty good threshold, but history spoke wonders about the girl's sanity, and at first, there was a fairly good chance that she might have gone off the deep end and beaten someone to a bloody pulp if they insulted her. The looming threat eventually died down over the days into something less brutal--something a bit more normal for her, actually: biting sarcasm and wordplay. The girl could honestly turn anything a person said around on them, and had a bad habit of doing that when she was in a particularly bad mood.

Which was about a third of the time.

While Mayako, for all her good temperament and patience, suffered from two poor qualities. Firstly, she was terribly weak. She couldn't carry much more than a messenger bag, and once she was tired, there was just no moving on without carrying her. They were parking right there on the side of the road until she'd downed half a canister of water and rested her legs for an hour or so. Secondly, she was a complete and total coward. Her show of courage against Emma occurred only because she'd effectively become a meek rodent forced into a corner, and snapping was the only option. Here, though . . . well, there were no corners. Mayako could stub her toe and whine about it for hours.

Honestly, there was a good reason why Emma fell into a poor mood sometimes, and Mayako had more to do with that than anything else.

Fenix, on the other hand . . .

Fenix was either very easy or very hard to get along with, depending on how one defined "getting along." He ignored most of Emma's barbs, didn't complain, and generally pulled his weight as best as he was able to, considering he'd only recently come out of a nine month coma.

This was offset but him also ignoring most of Mayako's complaints, and while he wasn't usually rude he wasn't exactly nice either. Stony was the best way to describe him; that, and a bit frustrated at his predicament, which had less to do with the girls and more to do with the slowness of his physical recovery.

Because of that, they weren't making as good a time as he'd have liked; they were still a long ways from the Church of the Goddess of Light, their destination and the closest thing he had to a home. Though he'd sent a letter ahead to assure his charges that he was alright, he wouldn't be able to rest easy until he saw the place for himself and confirmed that they were doing fine. That, and hopefully they'd know what happened to a certain adventurer...

"We might as well stop here for the night," he stated. He could tell by now about when Mayako was going to get too tired to continue, and that would have been soon. He wasn't doing much better himself; his endurance had always been rather low, and now it wasn't much better than...well, a frail little girl.

"What do we have left for food?" he asked Emma as he started to take off his pack. She was carrying the food and other small supplies; Mayako was carrying the lightest bag, which contained what little extra clothing and personal items they had between them; and he was carrying the heaviest bag, which was the tent and camping gear. A tight budget assured that an inn was very rarely an option even when they passed through a town.

Though her tongue was often barbed, Emma was not hateful of either Fenix or Mayako. To say she was fond of Mayako would be a great understatement. Mayako was the closest thing she had to a sister anymore, and suffice it to say, she loved her like family. And Fenix? Well . . . he wasn't actually that bad of a guy. He'd done enough in Emma's time knowing him to ensure that she was going to stick by him. Whether or not that was a blessing or a curse was for him to decide, but either way, he was dependable enough that she was willing to travel with him. She even let him clean her scar that one night. That said a good bit, actually.

Emma took the bag off her shoulders and set it upon the ground. It was a heavy bag for her. Well . . . it used to be. This was her bag with all her supplies, but they converted it into a sack for food. She still kept her wooden sword in it, though. That was never leaving her person. She undid the straps on the bag and looked in.

"Meager," Emma frowned, "I'd say . . . we could ration it out for a couple of days, but that's the most we're going to get."

With that, she stood up and put her hands upon her hips. Mayako, who'd been trailing behind inch by inch for the last couple of hours, finally caught up to them, stopped, and sighed in relief. Her legs burned and her knees felt like rocks! Making camp was a great idea.

"If only someone didn't eat like a pig," Emma said, specifically loud enough for Mayako to hear her.

This prompted Mayako to tense up. "H-- hey, I-- I don't--"

"Makes me wonder how you stay so tiny, honestly."

Mayako furrowed her brow. "B-- but I-- I don't--"

Emma rolled her shoulders, "Oh well. I guess you're the lucky one that funds our next supply hunt."

Mayako frowned and sulked her head and shoulders. She didn't eat that much! Well-- she didn't think she did. Okay, maybe it was a little more than everyone else, but that wasn't so bad, right? She was a growing girl, and growing girls needed food. Which made her question why Emma ate so scant. But no matter. She sighed. There was no fighting Emma on this matter-- well, no fight that Mayako alone could mount, at least.

"It's because she's the only one of us at full strength," Fenix noted. He and Emma were still recovering from their long stays at the hospital; less strength and stamina meant less food consumed. For his part, he ate as much at their budget and his stomach allowed; Emma seemed to be holding back. Having fasted for as long as she did might have destroyed her appetite; or perhaps she was just being conscious of their funds. He just hoped she was eating enough to keep up her strength.

Speaking of which, they weren't in dire straights of money either; while he'd lost his pack, which had been a blow, he'd at least had his coinpurse still when coming out of the coma. The care with their budget was mostly because for the time being they had no source of income; what they had would have to last for awhile. And if absolutely necessary he knew how to hunt and forage, so at the very least they wouldn't go hungry.

"We need to stock up on food at the next town anyway; it won't be long before we're off any main roads. Might not see civilization for awhile." If they ran out of food after that, hunting and gathering would really be their only option.

"How far, um, d-do you think we are?" Mayako asked, hesitated, and elaborated: "I-- I mean, from where the main roads ends . . ."

It was actually a good question. Emma was personally wondering the same thing. She'd never been out this far at all, and definitely had never come close to the northern borders of her country. Emma felt a bit excited. Mayako, on the other hand, was intimidated by the idea. The only other country she'd ever been to in her life was Cizok. Up here, though, there were no distinct countries. That was a scary thought to her.

Emma, too, experienced a worrying thought, but it had little to do with the act of leaving their country and more to do with something she'd read about.

"And after that-- how far will we be from the City of Sin?" Emma asked secondly.

"We're not far from the end of the main road. The next major town will be Branch; it's the gateway to all the uncharted territories in the north. Most of the nearby settlements get supplies from there when they're not self-sufficient." And few settlements were.

"And we won't be going anywhere near the City of Sin," he added, before giving Emma searching stare. "Just how do you know about that place, anyway?" While not exactly a secret, the City of Sin was well away from the rest of the civilized world. That a girl who'd spent all her life in a small village even knew the name, let alone apparently heard enough about it to be wary of going near it, surprised him.

"Phew," Emma sighed in relief.

She lifted her head to pass a questioning stare at Fenix. What did he take her for, a dumb yokel? If anything, Emma prided herself in being much more well read than anyone else in Hillcrest. No matter . . .

"I've got a couple of books on it. They're, um . . ." she cleared her throat, "They're not very flattering, to say the least."

Incidentally, Mayako had never actually heard of this place. "Wh-- what's so bad about it?"

Aside from the name, of course. But decent places could have bad names, sometimes. Take Hillcrest for instance. Apparently, there was a long-standing asylum called Hillcrest close to Feiyan. But that didn't make Hillcrest the village a horrible place.

"There are two things you don't want to be in that place," Emma said as she held up her index and middle fingers, deciding this was the best way to answer Mayako's question: "One, defenseless. Two, female. Alone, that's bad. Together, that's disastrous."

Obviously, she'd read enough about that place to know what'd happen to a couple of girls like she and Mayako if they set foot into that city.

"It's a lawless place, known for attracting criminals and fugitives of all kinds," Fenix clarified. There were plenty of places and times where being vulnerable and female was bad; this was on another level. Or so he'd heard.

"I've never been there myself," he added. "My mentor said...he's not welcome there." A city of full of very rotten people and a man who had a habit of sticking his nose in others' business. It wasn't terribly surprising he'd have enemies there. Personally, he wasn't disappointed; he could take care of himself, but that still wasn't a place he wanted to visit.

He started to set up their camp. They'd already more or less fallen into respective roles. Emma would get the fire going, and Mayako cooked, of course. He was going to get spoiled at this rate, as he wasn't used to having good food on the road. Or at least good cooking.

Mayako furrowed her brow. How could such a place truly exist in this world? She, like Emma, felt the austere need to be as far from that place as possible. In fact, if she could have avoided it by an entire continent, she'd be even more content with her distance.

"Fortunately, a lot of countries here on this continent keep a blockade around the place," Emma added, "Sometimes people get in and out-- like your mentor," she motioned to Fenix, "But from what I've read, they usually keep a tight border around the place. Supposedly, it's to let the city fester and destroy itself, since it's impossible to lead an army in there and actually succeed."

"I . . . I suppose so," Mayako whispered in meek acknowledgment.

They all got to their tasks without much thought to it. Emma set off into the woods to get sticks, Mayako rummaged through their food supplies and figured out what she could cook for them, and Fenix set up their tent. Emma returned, made a fire for them, and Mayako set a pot over the flames to cook the supplies she'd chosen. The sun was about gone, now, and a fire was necessary anyways, if not for light, then for warmth. Emma didn't actually have many warm change of clothes. She hadn't thought ahead too far when ditching Hillcrest, after all.

Emma sat close to the fire with her knees held tight to her chest, eyes locked upon the dancing flames. She got like this sometimes, quiet and introspective. It was uncomfortable--at least for Mayako. So Mayako, sitting closest to Fenix, turned to him and opted to ask something that'd been on her mind for awhile.

"H-hey, um, Mister B-- um, I mean, Fenix?" she really needed to get out of that habit . . . Nevertheless, she proceeded to ask awkwardly: "You've mentioned you're mentor a few times now, b-but, um, you've never told me what he's like. D-do you mind if I ask, um, what he's like?"

"He'd an idiot." He stared into the fire and for several moments it might seem like that was all he had to say on the matter. Then he gave a sigh; he knew that wasn't going to be enough, nor was it really a fair opinion of his mentor.

"His name's Zach Kaiser...or at least that's the one he's been going by for awhile now. He's a vagabond; lives for adventure, travel...can't sit in one place for too long. Does stupid things when he gets bored. Drinks, gets into fights. Don't know how he got by until I took charge of the money, either. And his jokes are awful."

He looked up at Mayako. "But...he gets the job done. Helps keep some kids off the streets. And...when it comes down to it, he's a good guy. He's taken on some nasty people just because he believed it was the right thing to do."

Throughout it all, Fenix succeeded at least in reminding Mayako of something. Or, rather, someone. She half-smiled, feeling both nostalgic and sad at that thought.

"He sounds a lot like someone I knew," she replied.

Emma got the reference immediately. She, however, knew a lot more than Mayako did. At least for one particular group of circumstances . . .

"They'd have gotten along," Emma said, breaking her introspective silence, "If they'd met."

She passed Fenix a knowing look and frown. Not only was Mayako not there for that, but she barely had a hint of recollection of that night.

Fenix didn't acknowledge Emma's warning; he knew enough to remain silent. Mayako couldn't remember anything from that day in Galaens, as far as he knew. Which meant she had no idea that he'd met the man they were referring to, and worked with him briefly in an ill-fated attempt to rescue them from the restaurant they were trapped in. Occasionally he wished she would recall it all, if only so he wouldn't have watch what he said all the time, but ultimately he knew it was for the best if she didn't. The bad memories of the night far outweighed the good ones.

It was the last time he'd seen his mentor; his best clues to finding him if he was indeed missing were in that night. Unfortunately, Emma did not know what happened to him, and Mayako had already been unconscious; chances were even if she did regain her memory, she'd would be able to offer any insight.

"I'm sure they would have," he responded at last. "If we're lucky, you'll get to meet him when we reach the church."

"I hope we can," Mayako said as cheerily as she could.

Sometimes, Emma and Mayako could be polar opposites. Mayako could be hopeful, optimistic, and cheery, and at the same place and the same time, Emma could be realistic, pessimistic, and forlorn. And yet, they both--when combatting each others' temperaments--were mutually beneficial to whomever they were traveling with. One presented something to hope for, the other presented something to expect.

This moment was one of those times.

". . . What would you do," Emma began; she shut her eyes and held her knees closer to her chest, "If he didn't make it?"

It took Mayako a second to realize what Emma was asking, after which she felt shocked. Appalled, even. That was a horrible thing to say.

"E-- Emma!" Mayako scolded meekly, "Wh-- why would you ask that? Th-- that's--"

"Abominable?" Emma finished Mayako's declaration, "Welcome to reality, I guess."

Fenix turned to look at Emma, even if with her eyes closed she couldn't see it. They'd had a similar conversation before, when he'd been asking her about what happened after he fell unconscious from Theleaus's assault, and she'd more or less made her belief that Kaiser had probably died that night known to him.

"I don't know," he admitted at length. "Half of my life has been with him now; I've never given much thought to what to do without him. I just assumed that I'd die first, or die with him." It wasn't an unreasonable line of thinking; Zach Kaiser was, as far as Fenix could tell, damn near unbeatable. Anything that could kill his mentor could kill him too, most likely with ease.

"I've never given much thought to the future at all, really..." he said sadly.

"Guess that makes three of us, huh?" Emma said with a frown.

Mayako wasn't even going to combat that. Emma was exactly right: she and Mayako had no plans for the future, or even the slightest idea what lay in store for them. They'd simply packed up and left town with one determined destination, but nothing more beyond that.

With that, though, Emma stood up and brushed herself off. She whispered little more than "I'm going to bed," before turning and making way for their tent. She'd already said and thought enough for one day. If she didn't resign herself to sleep soon, she'd risk a depression--one perhaps as bad as her experiences in Hillcrest. The sudden onset of helplessness, inspired by her companions' mutual lack of direction, drew her hopes even further into oblivion.

Alone with Fenix, then, Mayako considered getting some sleep, too. It was a somber way to end the day, to be sure, but there truly wasn't much she could do to lighten her own mood, let alone anyone else's. All she could do was offer Fenix the comforts of thoughtfulness and hope.

"I-- I--" Mayako fought through her apprehensions, "I'll pray for your mentor tonight, okay?"