Deliberations

Anya settled down back at the cabin, starting to organize a meal as she gave some thought to what she and Avery might go about next. She had talked to two people, both of which had seen a group matching some basic descriptions of Avery's father and Anya's parents. That wasn't necessarily proof that they had been through Manot, but Anya was leaning to that being the case.

The issue with that being that it made no sense to her. Evidence suggested that they had been traveling through Manot about a week ago, logic suggested "why the hell would they do that." With her assumption that her parents had left because raising children generally led to issues with some of the Mad King's laws, an assumption she'd held for two years, they should've settled down in some other mountain town. They were both trappers, and tended to be sedentary rather than traveling much. Anya's uncle, Avery's father, had more of a reason to travel, having a couple centuries experience as a mercenary. But if Renihyn was on mercenary business, Anya's parents wouldn't have been traveling with him. So if it was them, what were they doing traveling? And especially traveling through Manot?

And if it was them, and they were traveling through Manot, why hadn't they come up to the cabin to talk to her or Avery?

Avery would undoubtedly want to follow them south. It was the whole reason he'd been asking around Manot ever since they'd been on their own. Anya was... unsure. Answers would be appreciated to have, but the entirety of her life was at the cabin. All she had ever known was right here. Leaving would mean leaving everything behind. And another thought occurred to her -- neither Avery nor herself had any experience in traveling, and the roads were dangerous. They wouldn't last a week.

---

Avery thought about what his pitch to Anya would be as he made his way up the mountain trail towards the cottage. He wanted to find his father, and find out why he and Anya's parents had left two years ago. He refused to believe it was something as simple as they just... left them. And this was his opportunity to do that. But he didn't want to leave without Anya, and she wouldn't want to leave, of course. That would be the biggest issue. How to convince her that following their parents would be worth it, he wondered. Avery wanted to in order to get answers as to why they left, but Anya didn't care why they left. Did she care what they were doing on the road, though? His father had a fair reason to be moving about, and could handle himself -- he had spent 250 years as a mercenary, after all -- but his aunt and uncle doing something like that was harder to believe. Surely that mystery would be enough to get Anya moving? She was motivated by information, or the lack thereof. Would the question of what her parents were doing traveling past Manot be enticing enough?

He sighed to himself and continued moving, reaching the door of the cottage shortly. Anya wasn't anywhere outside, so the natural assumption was that she was inside. He plastered a smile onto his face and opened the door, stepping inside.

---

Anya glanced up from her hands, which she had placed evenly on the table, and saw Avery coming through the door.

"Good news!" He said, smiling.

"That's a matter of opinion."

Avery just shrugged, and sat down in the chair next to her. "Well, I think it's good. Shall you propose your findings first, or shall I?" He was still smiling.

"I may as well start." Anya sighed. "There's a halfling woman near the fields who saw them, or a group matching their description, passing through. And Sern..." She sighed again, louder this time. "Sern saw them, and he was actually lucid for some of the time while I talked to him. Remembered my parent's names, even. It was... weird. Kind of unnerving, actually."

Avery's smile slipped, just a bit. He tried to hide it, but Anya had been living with him and only him for two years straight, and knew his tells.

"Told you Sern saw them, didn't I?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. What'd you get?"

"Most of the vendors saw them passing through. I think it's actually *them*, Anya. We have a real chance here."

"Avery... I know you want it to be them-" She was cut off by Avery slamming his hands into the table.

"No, Anya, it is them. They match all the physical descriptions, and you said Sern actually recognized them, instead of just noticing three strangers walking through Manot. Whether you like it or not, your parents and my father were here, and they didn't come to talk to either of us. Don't you want to follow them and get some answers?" His signature smile was completely gone by now.

"I..." Anya rubbed her forehead and sighed, yet again. "Let's say, for the purpose of argument, it is them." Avery sat back in his chair, clearly frustrated. "What reason do we actually have to follow them?"

"Information. I want to know why they all left, and you want to know what they were doing in Manot, don't you?"

"Is information worth leaving behind everything we know? And you're forgetting something, Avery. Neither of us have any experience with traveling, or fighting. We would need to get very lucky, or we would die."

"You're a trapper -- you know how to follow tracks. We can travel through the forest, out of sight, and you can look for any sign of which direction they went if we reach a crossroads. And I'm the son of a mercenary, I can handle myself in a fight."

"That's an awful lot of unearned confidence, Avery. Practicing a sword fight with your father and defending yourself from a group of bandits are two very different things."

It was only then that they each heard the knocking at the door.