Offer and Discovery

After that Vyral could barely stop herself from laughing, hiding giggles behind her hands or just having to pause and step into an alleyway to let loose. Raen was a good sport about it however, knowing it was a ludicrous thing to tell someone who had only known him for a short while.

Aside from laughing at Raen's earlier comment, Vyral continued to pepper him with questions, many of which he was forced to dodge since he had still not told anyone that he was from a different realm. If playing at being a hero, as the pretty demihuman had put it earlier, was getting this reaction he could only assume that Vyral wouldn't be able to stop.

In between her curiosity Raen did find time to sate his own, learning a little more about the demihuman. Her tribe didn't have much of a history but they had in the past fifty years managed to change their status to free rather than being seen as slaves. Sadly not enough time had passed for the change to have taken great effect but Vyral was going to be the first of her people to join in with the Guild, which should do wonders for her home.

She herself was quite different than what he imagined she would be considering she tried to hide herself all the time. To be fair he understood why but it didn't keep him from being shocked at her forwardness and almost childlike curiosity. She was truly insatiable, another round of questions pouring from her mouth.

By now the two were actually back near the center of town, passing temporary food stalls and shops which still had a steady stream of new guild recruits coming in and out. Vyral had no interest in trying to find a different blade as she had been specially trained to use the one she came with and Raen was content to wait, thinking he should keep the gifts Juin gave him rather than turn them into a new lance.

What the two did realize after passing a few food stalls was that they could use something to eat. Raen let Vyral pick since he wasn't familiar with the dishes and Vyral pretended to know what she was looking at, ending up at a stall selling fish from the S'ral coast. The two continued to chat as Vyral headed back with the extra portion she had bought for Melinda, though Raen paused at the edge of the middle class section for the caravan. He remembered the last time he tried to deal with those who belonged here but Vyral only huffed and drug him along by his hand, muttering about how silly it was to care what others thought.  A bit ironic Raen thought to himself since she was still hiding the fact that she was a demihuman.

" Hey Mel, I brought you a snack. " Vyral shouted at a driver who looked awfully familiar to Raen. When the woman turned to look at Vyral she noticed Raen and sat straight up, pointing a finger at him.

" Hey didn't we already talk about you snooping around? What are you doing with my little Vy? " She of course wasn't actually surprised to see Raen but Melinda still had to put on a show. Raen by now was looking between the two women, Vyral looking between the Raen and Melinda, and eventually the two both faced the driver and blurted out in unison.

" Wait, you know each other? " Vyral tossed Melinda her fish and pulled herself up onto the bench seat while Raen eyed Melinda warily. After the earlier incident in the woods he guessed that most drivers were actually part of the Guild so Melinda was likely more than she seemed. On top of that Vyral was rather forward with her, so did this mean the two had a deeper connection?

Melinda gratefully took the fish and dug right in, looking back and forth between the two recruits while trying not to laugh at the looks on their faces. A few moments of silence ticked away before she sighed contently and then poked Vyral on the side of the head. " So what am I to think, you bringing some strange man back with you? " She leaned in and whispered. " He is cute I guess but I don't think there will be enough to go around. "

Vyral tilted her head before suddenly bristling and falling into a coughing fit. She refused to look at either of the two as Melinda only chuckled to herself and faced down Raen. " Jokes aside I am surprised you came back, and with Vy here to boot. Suppose I should actually introduce myself then. " Melinda hopped down and sized up Raen before offering out a hand. " Melinda Vorst Hellik, local district captain at your service. "

Raen took her hand but didn't know what to say. Melinda didn't look overly impressive but in actuality she was a fairly important person! He fumbled over his words for a few moments before managing to get a few out. " A pleasure, ah sorry for poking around earlier. " 

Melinda waved it off and turned back to Vyral who was glaring at her, smiling coyly at the riled demihuman. " Its fine, honestly I wish I didn't have to chase you off then but you saw how things turned out. Your world is not yet the same as mine, but when it is no one here can look down on you for where you came from. " She spun around and ignored Vyral's glare. " Speaking of which, any thoughts where you want to be stationed? Vyral here will be working in my district and since she trusts you it might not be a bad idea to try and partner the two of you up. "

Raen honestly had been planning to seek out the explorer's captain for recruitment so he could look for problems on Synecca but Melinda's sudden offer came as quite a shock. He wasn't even Awakened yet, meaning no one knew how strong or weak he would be, not even himself. If Melinda wanted to pair him with Vyral then she must think highly of them both, but why? His face must have been betraying his thoughts because Melinda went right back to talking.

" Look its not common to be requested by a captain so lets start there. I can help you more than anyone who you ask to work for, or at least at the start I can. I don't know what you want to accomplish but my district is actually an all rounder. We deal with explorations, defense, hunting, research. Anything you want to do, I can find a spot available to you. "

There were no words for Raen. Of all things, this was certainly far from his expectations. Juin had told him that captains would sometimes pick out potential recruits but the reasons were always vague. It could be power, political ties to an area, or even personal feelings. Raen himself was an absolute nobody on Synecca, going by a given name. Was it then that Vyral was the important one and Melinda just wanted a team mate for her?

Before Raen could even reach for Melinda's hand Vyral had come back to her senses and shoved against Melinda. She started speaking in a language that Raen didn't understand and Melinda joined in, laughing here and there. Eventually they both calmed down and the town started to grow dark around them. Melinda shook her head but continued to wear a light smile as she turned back to Raen. " Sorry that was a bit sudden. Look, my offer will stand so why don't you just relax and get some rest? Tomorrow we will be in Mardove and the both of you will be Awakened. After that we still have to go to our headquarters for your testing. That should be more than enough time to decide. I'll just ask you to do one thing for me alright? Watch out for Vy here if you can. "

This time Raen readily took her hand, a hint of a smile on his lips as he heard Vyral mutter about not needing anyone to babysit her. She had let slip that she managed to kill a Maraq in the woods so right now she was certainly more capable than Raen who could only stay hidden in his carriage with his practice lance.

They parted ways soon after and Raen made his way back to his own carriage, pulling himself into the mass of bodies already sprawled out and sleeping. Elise was the only one awake but she seemed to be reading and said nothing to Raen, so he quickly joined the others and went to sleep.

In truth Elise was only pretending to read. Neither Vyral or Raen had noticed when she came across the two, right at the point where Vyral's hood had shifted. She had noticed right away that Vyral wasn't human and snuck away to watch the two. But the two had gone towards the middle class carriages and she was forced to turn away. Could this mean that Raen wasn't who they thought he was or was it possible he just didn't view demihumans as most others? She would wait to speak with Ceres and Aldrich before doing anything.