As Sye walked up to Rin and her friends, several people gathered around the broken-down train gawked, and stared at her.
It wasn't too hard to understand why. With her clothes betraying her position as a high-ranking member of the Mages Guild, those who'd come here could guess that she'd been sent to make sure things didn't go wrong somehow.
For the civilians, the actual civilians, that was likely a cause to feel relieved. For the less innocent members of the party that was brewing up, that was a cause for concern.
Rin was glad to find herself squarely in the former category.
"Sye," she greeted the woman, putting on a smooth, agreeable smile as she walked away from the men in the suits and hugged her.
"Oof, those arms of yours are a little bulky, Triss," she whispered. Rin didn't have to see her face to know she was grinning. "It seems you haven't skipped any exercise. Good."
"Uh, hey," Rin said to the others. "I have some stuff to catch up on with my friend here. Could you excuse us for a moment?"
Elisa's eyes bounced between them. She only barely spotted it, but Rin could see how one of her fine, thin brows raised up at her. Elisa nodded, though.
All but dragging Sye along with her, Rin took the woman to a spot in the grass where she guessed no one else could hear them.
"I wasn't sure you were going to make it. Thanks for coming," Rin told her, the air of false energy slipping away from her tone.
"Don't be too thankful. You would have been in good hands no matter what," Sye replied, however, holding up a hand. "My superiors were planning on sending someone here anyway. We were well aware that this 'accidentally' broken-down train could likely end up breeding other unfortunate incidents. They wanted to make sure that this group making a mockery of our magic would not continue to sully our name. All I did was volunteer when I saw your letter. That's all."
"If you hadn't come, though, whoever did might have been with them. No offense, but *someone* in your guild is working with the Scorned."
"Indeed. I'd like to think that we've done a decent job of filtering out any suspicious members, but we'd need to gain more information about the Scorned before we can verify this. Setting that aside and focusing on the matter at hand, however, I must say, at first glance, everyone here does seem rather plain."
"You think so?" Rin asked as she looked around.
"Well, aside from some people who are rather well-built," she said with a smirk as she reached over and squeezed Rin's right arm, "the only people here who genuinely look dangerous are... Well, honestly, that girl's the only one."
She pointed behind Rin and, sure enough, she was holding her finger up at Sara.
"I take it that's your classmate?"
"Both of them are," Rin replied. "Elisa used to be in the academy, but... she quit."
"Ah, I see. Well, yes, the one with the permanent death stare over there is the only one here carrying an overtly threatening aura."
"Seriously?"
"Mhm. Even the guards," Sye said as she turned toward a handful of young men and women wearing typical officer uniforms, with some batons at their waists and swords on their backs, "they just look lazy. Anyone here who's innocent is likely going to think that friend of yours is the only potential danger here."
"Anyone who isn't innocent..." Rin muttered as Sye smiled.
"... Is putting up a hell of an act," she finished for Rin. "Either that or there actually aren't any Scorned members here, but, well, if they went out of their way to do this, then... The chances that they will just stand by and watch this train get repaired are rather low."
[They could just be waiting, though. Maybe they don't have anyone on the inside and they're just hiding somewhere. If they are, they'd probably make their move-]
"In the night," Sye said, as though she'd been reading Rin's mind. "That's when I expect this easygoing ambiance to take a sharp turn."
At that moment, Rin's eyes scanned some of the others there. The construction workers, people who'd clearly done some limit-breaking themselves as they casually lifted tons of heavy equipment from one place to another. The guards, carrying the only visible weapons aside from Sara, who kept a hand on the hilt of her sword. Some noblemen and noblewomen, walking around and inspecting it all. Sure, they weren't carrying anything but if they were mages they did not need to.
[... There are a lot of people here. How many of them are innocent?] An idea came to her mind. [Xhez would be able to tell me, wouldn't she?]
"Come," Sye said, however, taking her out of her thoughts. "We're starting to appear a little bit odd being out on our own like this."
"Right."
Walking back to the front of the fallen train almost felt like sitting down in front of a ticking bomb.
As they approached the group again, the men in the suits turned and extended their hands at Sye, who shook them politely.
"Didn't expect to see a member of the Mages Guild here. Any inspections you need to get done?" One of them asked her.
"Just one. I don't believe I will be here for too long," Sye responded as Rin walked up to Elisa.
"Hey, I'm going to bring Xhez out," Rin whispered to her. "She might be able to help us find any... you know, suspicious people."
"Do you truly think it wise?" Elisa asked. "She won't be in danger?"
"No, trust me, she'll be fine."
"If you believe that's the right move to make, then... By all means, go ahead."
"Alright. Be right back."
And so, Rin left her friends there, taking Xhez's water bag and bringing it to a parked car.
Checking to make sure no one was inside, Rin quickly tapped its side and woke the sprite up.
"Xhez? Good morning," she greeted the girl who stretched her arms in the water. "Could you come out? I might need some help. Oh, and throw on your disguise. But, with white hair this time."
"Sure," Xhez told her from within.
This was the first time Rin had woken her up since the events at Alera. The tiredness in her voice certainly alluded to the fact that she'd been asleep for a while.
Still, she did as Rin asked, leaping out from the bag. Mechanically, almost automatically, she cast her usual illusion spell, drawing its spellsign lazily.
A shorter, thinner, version of Triss emerged then, wearing her exact same clothing albeit a lot smaller, standing before her with slightly disinterested, sleepy eyes. If anyone reached over and touched Xhez, they'd realize that those clothes weren't actually there, but Rin guessed no one would be that bold.
[... We haven't gotten to talk properly since June died. All of that exhausted her so much that she's been sleeping pretty much ever since. It sucks, but I don't think we'll be able to talk a lot here, either.]
"... There is a lot of darkness in this place," Xhez said, yawning. She rubbed her eyes as Rin looked around. "But, it is dimmed. Hidden," Xhez explained. "Or, maybe I'm just too sleepy to track it down properly."
"We have time, don't worry," Rin told her. "Just-"
Before she could say anything else, Xhez pressed her face against Rin's chest.
"H-Huh? Are you..."
A stifled, muffled cry let Rin know the answer to her question before she could finish it.
Xhez balled up her hands into fists and then tried to push herself away. Rin, however, placed a hand behind the girl's back, keeping her there.
"I'd rather you get it all out now," Rin said. "Don't worry, we've got time."