Auria sat on the edge of the cliff overlooking the beach. In her lap sat a notebook, and to her left sat a map of Ikaria, she had been doing some calculations to see approximately where her father could have gone.
"Let's see… It was the thirteenth when we met up with him, wasn't it? Yeah… thirteen plus five is eighteen, that was my birthday, and it takes five days to get from there to Faerlie… If he went to Sayre..."
Auria thought for a while, wrote a few approximations on the map, and drew lines approximating the distance between the two points.
Auria wrote down the places her father would have had to visit in order to collect the ingredients he needed. Going from the Temple to the Eagle's Nest just a few miles out of the city. He had to have been able to get to the Eagle's Nest already, it fit the timeframe.
Auria's eyes bulged and she circled a point on the map, she knew where he was… Or at least, where he was going to be.
"Bingo!" She exclaimed.
Auria, feeling confident, packed up her things and ran back to Fehr's house. She had to say her goodbyes before she left, after all.
As Auria entered the house, she was greeted by Constance racing up and down the stairs with Fehr practically stepping on her heels as she followed.
Auria followed after them. From the looks of it, Fehr was nagging Constance about something, and Auria followed, calling her name a few times before shutting up and just waiting for them to finish.
However, no matter how much time Auria waited, they just didn't hear her. It was like she was invisible. Perhaps she was too small to notice… Nah, that wasn't a possibility.
Eventually, Constance whirled around and walked up to Auria, "By the way, a call came in for you… From a certain Major General, I'm sure is dying to know where you ran off to,"
"Eh… What'd you tell her?" Auria asked.
Constance snickered and grinned, "Well, I haven't seen you around here anywhere… Sure is a shame if a certain Colonel went missing, but I haven't seen anything,"
Auria smirked, "You're the best, Constance, thanks a bunch," She said, then hugging Constance. Fehr had stopped nagging Constance for a moment to let them have their moment, "Also… I'm gonna be leaving today, I got somewhere to be and I gotta get there soon as possible,"
Constance shrugged, "Sure, sure, don't need to go into detail, just visit sometime… I mean, Fehr really likes it when you're over, so you should visit for her sake,"
Fehr giggled, "Oh, Constance, you love having Auria over, you used to come crying to me every time she would leave as a child asking when she would be back,"
At this point, Constance's face had become beet-red, "Wh- I did no such thing! You're lying! This is slander!"
Auria giggled, but this soon turned into a full-on laugh as she watched the two begin to get into a playful argument.
Auria said her goodbyes, gave her last hugs to Constance and Fehr and boarded the train. She had only been with them for a couple days, but it already hurt so much to leave them behind.
As Auria sat down on the train, waiting for it to begin moving, she reached into her trunk and pulled out a notebook. She had been keeping track of all of her adventures so far, and even dabbling a bit in poetry.
She took a pen and began to write into the book, "Sometimes I wonder if the sky is even real… Can I believe in something I'll never have? I can rearrange just about anything into whatever I want… And it isn't like I'm suffering, but even with all that, the sky really is the limit… I'll never have it,"
Auria read and reread this a few times before turning the page and writing more of her thoughts into it, more of the details of what has happened over the past few days.
She heaved a sigh, "It's gonna be a long week…"
Auria closed the book and placed it back into her trunk. She reached over to her staff and twirled it around a few times in her hands.
After a few moments, the train began to move. Auria glanced out the window, she had to come back and visit sometime. She heaved a sigh and leaned back in her booth, it was time to relax a bit. Though, it didn't exactly last too long.
As the train entered through a tunnel, it was pitch black inside for a few moments, and as they exited the tunnel, a loud screech was heard from in the cabin.
Auria jolted upright, clutched her staff, adjusted her hat, and trotted out of her room car and into the next car.
"What's going on? I was just about to get some sleep…" She murmured.
As Auria got a better look at the situation in front of her, she was greeted with a terrible scene of events. She actually almost threw up but kept her composure.
Laying just in front of her was a man, his legs bent the wrong way, foam escaping from his mouth, and his neck twisted in a fashion that shouldn't have been physically possible.
Auria felt herself get dizzy and propped herself against her staff, "Ugh… Disgusting…" She murmured under her breath.
Already, there were people surrounding the body and asking the woman questions about the man, people sure loved to solve problems, after all.
Nobody paid Auria much attention, but she eventually leaned against a wall for a few moments to regain her composure. She could handle fighting and all, but when it really came down to it, death scared her. Though, the deaths of others scared her more than her own death.
Auria mustered the courage after a few deep breaths and a lot of focusing and wandered over to the body. By this point, people had already begun to accuse each other, people tend to do that when they suspect a murderer among them.
As Auria approached the body, the other passengers had taken notice of her and, as she was quite obviously Ardenian, they turned on her. An angry mob of Ikarians was the last thing she needed today.
She heard various questions all shouted at once, a few "Did you kill him?" a few "How could you?" and the list went on.
Auria heaved a sigh before tapping her staff on the floor and shifting the ground beneath her so that everyone was forced to move away from her. Needless to say, they were all a bit more than shocked.
"Listen, if I even wanted to kill anyone, it wouldn't be like this… That's… Ugh, disturbing," She shivered, "I'm just an Alchemist on my way to the World Tree, nothing more, nothing less,"
Her Alchemy alone was enough to silence all critics. She was honestly just as concerned as to who did such a thing, and why.
At that same moment, one man, still sitting in his seat, seemingly began to choke, though eventually, this became maniacal laughter that echoed throughout the entire car. Eventually, blood began to seep from his mouth and he hunched over dead.
Auria looked on in horror, the man's drink! It probably got poisoned with Jester Powder! His symptoms certainly fit the bill.
"Okay, nobody do anything! Who knows what could happen next…" She murmured the last bit.
With that, almost everyone stood still while Auria just heaved a sigh and rubbed her temples, who could possibly be the culprit?
At that moment, she saw a figure exiting the train cart. How suspicious, almost as though they didn't want to be seen by Auria.
"Excuse me, I think I just found them! I'll be back!" Auria exclaimed, running off faster than the others even had time to react.
She ran through the cars chasing after this mysterious figure, even going as far as to hop over chairs when they got in her way.
"Stop!" She grunted, she was clearly already having trouble keeping up, "Stop right there!"
She kept pushing through though, really, her heart felt as though it were about to burst out of her chest and beat up the figure itself!
Suddenly, Auria tripped and fell over! This let the figure escape her sight and flee! What a devastating outcome!
Auria pushed herself up, but rested in a sort of push-up fashion, "Ugh… I'm out of shape…" She murmured.
She felt a tap on her shoulder, and as she looked up, she saw a woman smiling at her. She was a bit older, probably in her mid-thirties, but her smile was enchanting, almost intoxicating.
"Oh, poor baby, please, sit here with me," She said.
"Oh… I… I gotta keep chasing-"
"No no no, I insist, please, sit with me,"
Auria begrudgingly nodded and, after finally standing up, took a seat across from the woman. It was a bit awkward, but she honestly needed the rest.
"So, what's your name, dear?" She asked.
"Oh… I'm Auria Crane! I'm an Alchemist, you know,"
"And where are you headed off to?"
"I'm going to the World Tree, I uh… Need to meet some people there, so I'm trying to get there soon as possible," Auria replied.
The woman reached under Auria's hat and patted her head, "Oh, you seem so down… Are you feeling alright? You can cry all your tears with me, I won't judge,"
Auria shifted around uncomfortably, "Err… No, I- I feel fine, promise!"
"Are you sure? I've worked with enough Alchemists before… It's a hard job, especially for a girl as young as you,"
"Oh, really? Have you ever heard of the Godless Alchemist?" She asked.
"Oh, of course, she's a bit of a local legend, you know… For better or worse," The woman giggled, "Ah, but back to the original topic… How are you really feeling? You don't have to feel shy around me,"
Auria inhaled sharply before nodding, "Well, put simply… Thought I could fly, turns out the ground is a lot harder than you think,"
By this point, the lady had reached over the table and pulled Auria in for a hug, "Oh, you poor thing… It's okay… I'm sure that you have plenty of friends to support you… They're everyone's biggest strength, after all,"
Auria smirked, "Thank you… But I really need to be on my way now,"
The woman backed off, "Of course… Auria, was it? I'll remember it… Farewell for now, perhaps we'll meet again in the future,"
"Ah, yeah, maybe we will! I tend to travel a lot!" She snickered before hopping up and trotting off once more. She lost so much time already.
Auria rushed through cars faster than she could really comprehend what was in them. One of them even looked like it was transporting a whole zoo, but she wasn't quite interested in that stuff.
"Where the hell-" Auria muttered under her breath. By this point, she had reached the last car in the train, still with no signs of the figure.
"Was it just my imagination or what…" She rubbed her eyes, "Nah, couldn't have been… Perhaps it could have been-"
Auria was cut off by the sound of the car door opening and then slamming behind her. Turning to face the sound, stood the figure she had been chasing before, though now its features were much more pronounced.
In front of her stood a tall man, lean but handsome in his own way. His jawline wasn't quite sharp, though it could definitely still cut through the cheeze!
"Who the hell are you…" Auria grumbled.
The man simply smirked before turning to a crate and hopping on it. He was just… Resting on it.
"It's nice to finally meet you, Miss Godless Alchemist," The man stated.