June had been to a great many different places over the course of her life. She could safely say, however, that she'd never seen a place like this.
The place they'd ended up in was some sort of underground maze. The halls were cramped and metallic, with sounds from far away reaching all the way to this entrance she and her band were currently making their way through.
"Welcome to the Sacred Shelter," the girl with the lizard eyes said, looking back at her with a smile. "Make yourself at home. We are so glad to have you~"
"Thank you for the invitation," June replied. "Um, is Olivia here?"
"Ah, no, unfortunately, she is not. I will inform her of your arrival, though. How soon can you perform?" The woman asked.
"Any time," June responded. One of the reasons she and her band were able to travel so often was that it didn't take long for them to get set up.
"Could you do so now, then?"
June shrugged.
"Certainly."
"Wonderful. I will let everyone know. For now, though, I will be showing you to your chambers first."
"Sounds good."
They passed a lobby with some purple and black banners and comfy-looking couches. There were a couple of bored-looking individuals sitting down with some drinks on a table in front of them. As June and her friends passed them by they sent them a few courteous nods in their directions.
Both of them carried animal ears as well.
[Hm,] June thought. [Lots of beastborn here. Not that I mind at all, but it's surprising.]
After that, they passed by a cafeteria. June only managed to sneak a peek at this place before the girl with the lizard eyes told her to keep moving, but what she saw was quite shocking. There had to be at least 30 different people, all of different races, ages, and sexes, laughing and chatting as they had their lunch.
[Nice atmosphere.]
"Over here, please," the beastborn girl said, gesturing at a room to the left.
June got a good look at it and...
[I guess I should have expected something like this.]
It was one single room with four bunk beds.
Not exactly the kind of place that afforded much in the form of privacy, but June and her friends were used to sleeping in the same place anyway, given how often they took naps on the backs of trucks or on late-night train rides. It would be okay.
"Go ahead and get settled. We will be back in a little bit to show you to your stage."
"Got it."
With that, the group was left on their own for a moment. Ross threw all of his things onto one of the beds as June walked in.
"This almost looks like an Old World hospital," Ross said. "Where exactly are we?"
"Someplace where we will get paid," June replied. "That's all that matters, isn't it?"
"Heh, guess so."
---
Just an hour later, June was singing her heart out. It didn't matter whether she was performing in a theatre like she had in Libera, or a brothel like she had in Dren, if people wanted to hear her sing, that was reason enough to give it everything she had.
Thankfully, though, this place seemed a little nicer than some of the others they'd been through. The lizard-eyed girl hadn't been exaggerating when she called this a stage.
Of course, any place could be a "stage", but this was a proper one, equipped with curtains at the sides and an elevated ground on which June stood, and several tables at the front where people were listening from.
Because this was just a lounge of sorts, June decided that they should sing some of the softer, subtler tracks they had to offer. Stuff that could almost be classified as background music, though June didn't like the negative connotations of the phrase. That meant that, as she gave her performance, June could actually hear some of the conversations going on around her.
"Things have been going well lately, haven't they?" A man asked someone to June's left. Her eyes briefly landed on them as she picked up on their words.
"Indeed," a girl replied. "Everyone was so panicked after that golden-eyed girl escaped, but, it seems our fate is a blessed one."
[What?]
June nearly stopped singing as she was reminded of someone.
In June's life, she'd only ever met two girls with golden-colored eyes.
Xhez and her sister.
June had been to many places as well, and not once had she seen anyone else with eyes like those. They were part of why Xhez as a woman was so alluring.
[I... Probably a coincidence.]
The two audience members' conversation continued.
"She was found, right?"
"Yes, recently. One of our Liberan brothers saw her. It's all anyone's been talking about, and with good reason."
June's eyes widened. She held her current note for a second longer than she was supposed to, falling out of the song's rhythm and having to clumsily get back on beat.
[... Are they actually talking about her?]
"The fact that she's alive is a problem, is it not?" The man asked somewhat quietly. June heard him all the same.
How couldn't she? She was more focused on their talk than she was on singing.
"Heh, shouldn't be a problem for much longer," the girl replied.
Sure, June hadn't met every single person in the world, so she couldn't say whether Xhez and her sister were the only ones who had that eye color, but there was one peculiar part of these two's statements that made her pause.
The part about the girl having "escaped". Xhez had told June that she'd grown up in the wilderness. Going off on that fact, June understood that something must have happened that caused her to head into the cities.
Could it be related to these people?
If it was, Xhez would certainly want to know about this.
As June finished her first performance a little while after, she went back to her room before the rest of her band and grabbed a notepad out of her bag and a messenger bird.
She'd been looking to write Xhez a letter anyway. This was just something she wanted to add to it.
So, she started writing to the cute, doe-eyed girl.
A smile appeared on her face naturally, even as she had these concerning thoughts going through her mind.
[... have you gotten into any trouble lately?] She asked as she scribbled away at the paper. [I found some people talking about a problematic golden-eyed girl who "got away" from them. That wouldn't happen to be you, would it? Well, in case it is, the people looking for you are out here in Alera. You might want to avoid this village. Stay safe out there, Xhez. With love, June.]
June kissed the sheet of paper, leaving a lipstick mark on it before folding it up and putting it in the messenger bird's mouth.
[Okay,] she thought. [Let's get this to her.]
She walked through the shelter, returning to the entrance.
[Um, how does this work?]
She hadn't quite seen a door like this. The "knob" was just a big metal wheel.
It took quite a bit of effort to open, but once it did, June quickly sent that bird out, with Xhez singled out in her mind as the recipient. She stood there, watching the bird fly away.
[Okay... I can rest a little easier now. I really hope she didn't piss off the wrong people, though.]
June turned around.
And, the lizard-eyed girl was standing there, with her hands behind her back.
"By the Divine!" June exclaimed, nearly slamming against the metal door as she pulled back. "You... You surprised me."
"What did you just do, ma'am?" The girl asked.
"Huh?" June blinked. "U-Uh, I was just getting some air."
"Is that right?" The girl tilted her head. "Well... I certainly wasn't hoping to have to do this. At least, not so early. But, if you're going to act suspicious like this then, better safe than sorry, I suppose."
"What are you talking ab-"
The answer to that question presented itself in the form of the girl drawing a complicated spellsign.
She drew it so quickly and so swiftly that June was given no time to respond. No time to react.
Everything went black.
The last thing that went through her mind before she passed out was those two lizard-like eyes that looked back at her.
Cold and indifferent. They were the complete opposite of Xhez's.
And that lack of empathy that she exhibited in just a couple of seconds shook June to her core.