Ena's story stuck with Fishy. Even once her tears had stopped, the two of them carried on talking but it wasn't easy for either of them.
"I can't say that it'll get better, but I can give you shelter and food, from now on. If you wish, you can live peacefully here and you'll never be harmed again."
"I've given up living peacefully." Ena replied, "I just want those slave traders dead."
"I see." Fishy smirked, "Well, that's something we have in common."
A snap of Fishy's fingers signalled the door to his house opening, as if he considered himself to be royalty, and stepping through was two of his executives, the strict but fair Ziu who Ena met earlier, and next to him a strangely short girl when compared to Ena; but Ena did notice her pink hair before anything else.
"This is Clara and you've met Ziu."
The two walked up to Ena and reintroduced themselves. Fishy sat in silence whilst the introductions were going on, thinking to himself about the cool introduction that Ziu and Clara had. But in reality, the snapping of the fingers did nothing, he actually used thought communication to call them in earlier, and simply got lucky with the timing. He would have been very embarrassed if no one walked in once he gave the signal that only he knew of.
"So cute…" Clara said as she was unable to let go of Ena's soft silk hand, almost reaching out to stroke Ena's sea hair. "I'm Clara, the second in command."
Clara's bright smile shocked Ena who had never seen such kindness.
"Have you found anything?" Fishy asked, still acting like some sort of budget gang boss.
"We searched as far as we could, even going to the cliff Ena claimed she fell from," Ziu said as he ruffled around with his pockets. "We found this."
A small piece of fabric was handed to Fishy. It was crinkled and torn as if it had survived a storm, but more importantly, was the faded symbol resting on it.
"That's their symbol," Ena said as she planted her face next to Fishy. "That's the symbol of the Decapitated Bears."
"It seems the logo is a literal interpretation of their name." Fishy laughed to himself as if he could do a better job himself.
"There a quickly growing hate group, but more importantly, they are the ones in charge of the slave trade. They are the centre of it all. Every slave that is sold is from them."
"Is that all we know?"
"It's difficult," Clara, the one who had read more books than anyone in the village, interrupted. "They aren't in many books and if they are they have conflicting information. Some say they have been around for hundreds of years and some say they have only recently formed. They typically work in the shadows, so no one knows who the leader is or if there is a leader. It's a shadow organisation that has connected itself to every section of the black market. It's not wrong to think that they could even be the black market."
"So, they are quite a big deal then?"
"Yes, more than we may know. Slaves are often sold to royales, meaning that they likely have connections with many kingdoms and large cities. I overheard someone in Tanba speak about how they wish they were a slave for the king as apparently, it was a better life."
"Tanba?" Ena's ears reacted. "I know of some who spoke of Tanba, they called it an unlucky draw. No one wanted to be sold there."
"Corruption has definitely spread far then."
"Which is why I can't rest." Ena jumped up, flinging on her nearby cloak and equipping her dagger.
"Calm down, you'll only get yourself killed with a weapon like that, plus, The Long Night is approaching, you'll just freeze to death."
"I don't care. The church of the heroes are supposed to be fighting for us, how can they let something like this happen?"
"They wouldn't get involved in something like this." Fishy explained as Clara and Ziu knew they should stop talking. "We've been digging into the church of the heroes, they may be involved in some way."
"How is that possible? We've worshipped them all our lives. We prayed that Fintan would come and save us, we thought that there was a war going on and they were fighting for us."
"They're the type of people to kill their own children." Fishy's words stopped Ena from arguing. It was words that seemed like it could easily be a lie to trick her, but she could feel the pain in Fishy's voice. "I won't stop till that church is obliterated."
"...I understand." Ena sunk her head as she was almost about to sit back down. "I'll accept working with you, what do you want from me?"
"I want you to work for me and the city, a spy of sorts."
"Easy enough, my power is good for that kinda thing."
"Perfect," Fishy said as Clara and Ziu both left, leaving Fishy alone, "Now, come on, I'll show you where you are staying, we can discuss details later."
"No," Ena said, still sat in the warm comfort of Fishy's room. "I wish to stay here for the night?"
"Eh?" Fishy's face turned red with embarrassment as corrupt thoughts filled his mind.
"That's not what I mean," Ena said, "I just wish to talk. You know my story, so I want to know yours."