'Why must my luck be like this?' I thought as I scrambled through the empty marketplace with Frantantein, searching for the map that dropped from my pocket.
We've already been here for 30 minutes searching for that stupid piece of paper hidden among the ruins of the crowd from earlier.
Frantantein didn't mind the walking, or at least she assured me she didn't, but there was no way I could find the house without the map.
So I continued searching for awhile before I called it off. It'd probably be faster to just wander. With that decision we turned to the alley Lennint originally took us down and we made our first steps to trek through the night.
The alleys stretched ahead in all directions as if mocking my lack of direction. I chose the one a bit to the left and we walked. And walked. And walked. And then..
Dead end. There were no branching paths this entire time and we spent five minutes walking this way.
Great.
I did a quick turnaround as Frantantein followed. As we walked back Frantantein spoke up.
"Since we're obviously lost, how about we try getting to know each other better?" She asked.
"Alright," I responded, "But what makes you think we're lost?"
Frantantein didn't waste a second to reply. "Well, seeing as we've been walking in basically circles for some time. Not asking for directions is also stereotypical for guys."
"Ok, in that case, do you know where to go?" I asked.
"No. I'm not from here like you."
I felt my face burn a bit. "Is it that obvious I'm not from here?"
She stopped to turn to me with that look that . "If you lived here we wouldn't be lost, now would we?"
I stopped too and put a hand behind my head. With an awkward smile, "That's tru-" She stuck finger at my chest and cut off my sentence.
"And if you have to ask if it's obvious then the answer is already that you're a country bumpkin."
"Fair enough, but aren't you a bumpkin too? You're newish to the city." I figured my embarrassment can be reflected back a bit.
I was wrong.
"Strike two bumpkin. Trying to redirect the issue is another give away. I can be opinionated enough to not let my lack of knowledge show. You on the other hand.. you have 'not from here' in your every sentence." Those.. were some accurate points. "And your third strike was trusting a stranger with information back on the ship. I won't sugar coat it- that was so stupid."
"Okay, I get it I get it. You can get quite brutal for someone so short."
She shoved me forward to continue our walking. "Says the bumpkin who's barely a couple inches taller than me."
'Is bumpkin my new name?'
"Now back to trying to get to know each other. What's your home like?"
As we continued to travel down different alleys, I talked about my village. I started with my parents and their cattle fields.
Although our village was small, the fields we tended stretched a good distance among the hills and cliffs of the mountain. The cows and goats I helped raise kept to their own areas. It seemed like on an instinctual level the goats knew the cows needed the flatter areas, so they kept to the steeper areas that they could easily walk on.
Other than the milk we gathered, we also made leather and coats to sell. Every month my father would fly our products to the kingdom's market. I never got to go as I was too young in my parents' opinion, but once I was old enough I had left.
Frantantein interrupted here, "Why did you leave?"
"Oh, I wanted to go explore the world and see what I could discover," was my answer. I didn't need to share everything, that could wait. Don't trust strangers, right?
At this point in our walk we've been down at least seven streets, and I still can't figure out where that dang door could possibly be.
Suddenly an explosion erupted behind some nearby buildings. I looked at Frantantein and shrugged.
"I think that was my people, let's go find out."
With her mask on I couldn't tell what her face was like, but she nodded and we marched forward.
We turned down a few corners before we saw the crater that was left by the explosion. As we got closer I could hear Soi's voice before seeing her.
"I thought this was supposed to be a locator spell! You almost burned my last feathers, numskull!" I saw their shadows through the last of the smoke. The outlines show Soi knocking Lennint in the back of the head.
"I told you to stand back, didn't I?" Lennint's booming voice pleading back made for an odd sound combination. "I already mentioned that my non healing spells are more.. explosive."
They were still bickering as we approached, it seems they hadn't noticed us yet. I whispered to Frantantein to stand back so she doesn't get attacked again. She silently nodded before stepping into the smoke to hide.
I turned back to my squabbling compatriots. "So, uh, what did I miss?"
Lennint and Soi were each in the middle of speaking before they stopped and looked at me. After a second of staring, Lennint turned turned back to Soi.
"Told you my locator spell would work." That snapped Soi out of her trance.
"Aw shut it you dunder horn. Just because it did work doesn't mean you didn't almost blow us up!" And just like that I was invisible again.
I tried again. "Ahem!"
This time, instead of freezing mid sentence, they both looked at me and shouted, "What!"
Turns out an annoyed rhino and ostrich shouting at you is a terrifying sight. I took a step back before stammering out that I had someone I wanted them to meet, and to not freak out when they saw her. Before they had a chance to jumpstart their verbal duel, I beckoned Frantantein forward.
From amongst the smoke her figure slowly showed. And the first hint of color that makes it through the haze came from the mask she wore on her face.
'Why did smoke make for such an evil entrance?'
Lennint stayed silent, but I heard Soi mutter-
"That mask."