"Maybe we should talk about this somewhere else!" Sorey says, suddenly getting up, pushing the table a little and making lot of tinkering little noises with the tableware.

"It's not like anyone will hear us," Edna observes.

"They won't hear us but they will hear Velvet," he says "and I don't think any of this should be public knowledge."

"We're in a house, Sorey," Edna explains like she's saying something really obvious "I wouldn't call anyone hearing us here public knowledge."

"Maybe so, but I still think—!"

"I agree," Velvet interrupts then "we shouldn't talk about this here, I don't think your friend the Chancellor likes me that much."

"Why not?" Sorey frowns.

"Because she's sketchy," Edna deadpans "pay attention, Sorey."

He scoffs, but then both Edna and Velvet start getting up and he decides that's good enough.

"Where should we go?" Velvet asks.

"The Aqueduct?" Sorey suggest as they make their way to the door.

"I think the Sanctuary would be better," Edna offers "there isn't much people about at this hour and no one will look funny at her if she's talking alone."

Sorey nods.

"Should we just leave this here?" Velvet says, eyeing the table, itching to clean it up.

"Someone will take care of it," Edna dismisses.

Velvet doesn't say more but still feels kind of terrible for not cleaning after herself.

Edna guides them through the hallways of the manor and they don't encounter anyone on their way out until they come to the front door and the butler opens it for them.

"Are you leaving now, Miss Crowe?" the man says, expression unreadable.

"Yes, we're stepping out for a while, please thank the Chancellor for his hospitality."

"As you wish, Miss, have a nice day."

They get out of the manor and start walking towards the Sanctuary.

"Maybe we should've leave a message for Aurik," Sorey comments "tell him where we are going."

"It's not like we won't come back," Edna tells him "and I'm sure he must be busy at the Palace, let's let him focus on his work."

They walk in silence after that. Velvet has stopped looking at Edna like she's trying to crack a puzzle and Edna seems relaxed enough, but Sorey is feeling somehow uneasy. He had made his own conjectures already, about the Eizen Velvet mentioned before being Edna's brother, but now that he has the confirmation he's dreading the conversation they will have to have.

Eizen is dead, and by their hand no less.

He thinks Edna has probably move on, Velvet's mention of her brother moments ago didn't seem to faze her, but he doesn't know how Velvet is going to react to hearing the terrible news, if Maotelus was as cryptic with her as with him on the subject of their old companions she probably doesn't know.

They make it to the Sanctuary in a matter of minutes and, just how Edna said, the place is mostly empty. There's only an old woman at the middle of the spacious hall, deep in prayer, and a priest.

Edna guides them to the back of the precinct and when they get close to the altar she eyes curiously the multiple offerings left there.

"What do you even do with these things?" Velvet asks suddenly, whispering to don't call attention to herself.

"Nothing," Edna answers "but I don't need to, it's not what's offered what is important, but they sincerity of the giver's intent. I have the priest do what they see fit with them."

"Can the priest see you?" Sorey asks.

"No, I had Aurik told him that."

Edna tells them it will be best to speak at the backyard. When she opens the door the priest turns at the sound and looks inquiringly at Velvet, but doesn't stop her for going forward, especially when he notices the door is moving seemingly on its own.

Outside they're welcome by a big patch of grass and another building at the other side it. There's no one here and no sounds from the streets reach them. There, Edna invites them to sit down.

Velvet sits closer to the Sanctuary, choosing the firm stone floor rather than the grass, leaning her back against the wall, one leg outstretch and the other bend, with her hand resting over it. Sorey sits cross-legged on the grass and Edna sits over her heels, folding her legs under her and keeping her knees firmly closed, she also opens her umbrella and rests it on her shoulder, protecting herself from the morning sun.

Velvet watches her, with less intensity than moments before, but still curiously. She looks a lot like Eizen, and not only because their hair, skin and eyes are pretty much the same shade, but because she carries herself with the same confidence Eizen did and her gaze is as heavy as his. Velvet can easily imagine her becoming as intimidating as her brother was, if she wishes so.

"Sorey told me of the circumstances of your awakening, Lord of Calamity," Edna starts after they get comfortable "though I guess it's a little inaccurate to call you that anymore."

"You can call me whatever you like," Velvet says "I may not be a deamon anymore, but that doesn't change what I did."

"Deamon," Edna repeats with a smile "that word really takes me back, does it the same to you? Are you planning of the terrorizing any towns now? Or killing the current Shepherd?"

"Edna!" Sorey exclaims, this is SO not where he wants this conversation to go.

"Not without a reason," Velvet answers without missing a beat, ignoring Sorey's outburst "but I don't think that will happen, I'm trying to get out of all the killing, burning towns business."

"That's good to hear," Edna smiles politely. She stays silent for a moment and her smile slips slowly away from her face as she thinks over what she's gonna say next "I think my brother would be happy to hear that too."

"As long as I decide it for myself, I guess he would be."

Edna looks at her for a long while, with the same old, inquiring eyes she measured Sorey up last night, like she's seeing something they can't, like she's appreciating a certain quality in them only she can see.

The air is still around them, and in the solemn silence of the Sanctuary Velvet can really appreciate how old she is.

"Shortly after you killed the Shepherd," Edna says then, slowly "my brother actually came to see me."

"He did?" Velvet is more surprised with the choice of subject than with the statement itself. She had thought Edna would have wanted to know about her intentions, or her friendship with Sorey, her reasons to travel with him, not this.

In any case she can't say she dislikes Edna's approach, she wants to know what happened to Eizen and where he is, now.

"He came and talked to me about all that had happened, your travels with him and about other, more personal matters," Edna continues and Velvet nods, guessing what those matters could be "I guess I should thank you for that."

Velvet frowns.

"How so?"

"It appears you told him once, something about how the person he cared about was still a live, so he should take the chance to say what he needed to."

Velvet remembers that, while they were looking for the nor dolls so Eizen could send them to his sister. She had an outburst when she heard Eizen making excuses as to why he didn't just simply tell his sister why he didn't return or what he was doing out in the world, it had made her angry, so angry that Eizen still had his sister there and he didn't do the minimum effort to be with her, to clarify things between them. She couldn't help but recriminate him for that.

"It didn't seem like he took it to heart at the moment." Velvet decides to say, remembering Eizen's silence at her words.

"He did," Edna assures, looking at the floor "I think all you did together had an impact on him."

Velvet is glad to hear that. She always tried to play it tough, back then, like she didn't care about what happened to any of her companions, like she was indeed merely using them and staying at their side because it was beneficial for her, and maybe it was like that, at first. Now she feels strong enough to admit how much she came to care about all of them. How much she still cares about all of them.

That's why, when she notices Edna looks strangely dejected, Velvet feels a pressure building up in her gut, a bad feeling, a warning.

"He went out to the world afterwards, again" Edna continuous "but we actually exchanged letters then and he came back a few more times. He never stayed long, however, until…" She stops herself and looks at the grass, searching for the right thing to say.

Sorey had thought Edna was over it but it's clear the final fate of her brother still pains her greatly. Sorey guesses it will never really stop hurting. He prepares to tell Velvet what happened to Eizen, taking a deep breath and opening his mouth, but he struggles too, to say what he needs to.

Velvet watches them and the feeling in her gut gets worse, but not wanting to be left in the dark for long she speaks:

"He's dead, isn´t he?" Velvet finds herself saying, very quietly.

Edna lifts her gaze, eyes full of worn out sadness and tempered resignation. She nods, small and elegant as all she does, and Velvet can tell this is something that probably happened a lot time ago.

"He is," she answers, and there are not tears in her eyes, not wavering in her words, it's just the simple yet melancholic confirmation of a fact "how could you tell?"

"A hunch," Velvet says, looking at the side "he always did have terrible luck."

As did all of us, she thinks. She guesses it could've been way too good for Eizen to still be around and with the life he leaded, this was probably the only possible outcome. He wanted it that way, after all.

"What happened?" Velvet inquires after a moment.

Edna swallows.

"He became a dragon," she responds solemnly "I don't know the specifics, one day he just came back to the mountain where I lived, already fully transformed. I knew it was him but…he was still a dragon."

Velvet sighs deeply, closing her eyes. Of course, what other way could've Eizen gone, he knew it was going to happen, the subject came out more than once and he talked about his eventual fatal destiny without fear. Still, she hears this and a hole opens in her heart.

"And then?" Velvet pushes, never one to shy away from the truth.

It takes some long seconds for her to get an answer, and it's Sorey the one who takes the word.

"We killed him," he says, to spare Edna the pain "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Velvet says immediately, looking alternately at both of them "it's what he wanted."

Edna lets out a breath.

"It's what I've heard," Edna says "I think that, at the end, it was really the right thing to do but…I don't think I ever knew Eizen as well as you did." That belief obviously hurts her more than his death.

Velvet shakes her head.

"He was your brother," Velvet says with confidence "of course you knew him. And I bet you knew him in a way I never could."

Edna stares at Velvet, her eyes getting slowly warmer.

"You're surprisingly empathic for a deamon Lord," she offers after a moment.

Velvet smiles, not really knowing what to say to that.

She suddenly wants to be alone.

They stay for some time there, in silence, each of them deep in their thoughts. At some point Sorey decides to fully lay down and he sprawls himself over the smooth grass, watching the sky. Edna remains sat all the while, her posture changing ever so slightly from time to time. Velvet stays the same too, her eyes transfixed in some indeterminate point on her lap.

She wants to say something but she's not sure what, it's a small yet pressing feeling in her chest that extends to her throat and mouth, like there's something that needs to get out, but she can't tell what it may be.

She can't tell either if she had wanted to Eizen to still be around. What could she say to him if he were, anyway? It's not like there was something untold between them, not like there was anything to repay or to retrieve. Nothing at all.

Perhaps that's the reason of her unease. What they had simply was and there's nothing left between them. There could've been something to build, however, if he were still alive and Velvet thinks, she would've like that. She really would.

"Hey, Velvet," Sorey calls, interrupting their thoughtful silence as he sits up. "So, what's with the new sword?"

His voice pulls her out of her ponderings and she stares at the longsword at her hip.

"I'm borrowing it," she answers "from a girl named Adeline. She's the daughter of Cecily, the woman that took us in."

"Her daughter?" Sorey inquires.

Velvet nods and finds convenient comfort on the excuse to don't keep thinking about Eizen. She tells him of her conversation with Cecily about her daughter here at Ladylake, and how worried she was.

"I happened to run into her yesterday and it turned up the girl is neck deep in some shady business with a trader guild."

"Oh, so you were staying with her to protect her from the guild?" Sorey guesses, putting the little information he has together.

"For the time being, but I'm actually looking for a way to get her out of the whole mess."

She tells him the Adeline's story and what she plans to do to get her the money. Sorey hadn't thought Velvet could be this considerate.

"Do you really think you'll be able to hunt those beasts?" Sorey says, a little skeptical "And even if you do, it sounds like the guild could be able to pull something like this again."

"Yeah, I've been thinking about that too," Velvet nods "I may have a plan, but I'd like to have the security of giving Adeline the money first, in case anything happens."

"With kind of plan?"

Velvet stares at him.

"You may not like it."

"We're not doing anything rash." Sorey points firmly.

Velvet scoffs a little and he tries to don't get too caught up in that, he doesn't even know what she plans and she hasn't done anything yet, after all.

"Relax. One step at a time," Velvet dismisses, doing nothing to dismiss his worries "first I need to figure out a way to get the hunting permit, I could try to hunt without it but if someone catches me it'll just cause more trouble."

"Aurik may be able to help with that," Edna suddenly says "I'm sure he could get you whatever papers you need."

"I don't know," Sorey says "I wouldn't like to abuse his kindness and if he doesn't trust Velvet at all, it'll just make him more wary of her."

"Let me ease his worries," Edna says with confidence "he may not trust her, but he trusts me, he will get her the documents."

"I'm fine with that," Velvet perks up, ready to use Sorey's and Edna's influences to her advantage "maybe he can get me some kind of identification and a traveling permit too, so we won't have to sneak into others towns."

"I guess it is the most viable solution," Sorey concedes "but let me ask him for it, if he's doing a favor to my friend I think—"

"No way," Edna interrupts him "how are you going to explain to him that she doesn't even have an identification? How you two got into the city without a permit?"

"Well…I guess I would have to lie to him."

"Exactly. No offense Sorey but you really suck at lying."

"None taken," he says, in a tone that suggest he may have taken some "it's not like being good at lying is a good thing!" he defends himself.

"Being completely incompetent at it is taking your values a little too far, though," Edna argues.

"That's truth," Velvet agrees.

"You two are just terrible people," Sorey jabs.

"You got me there," Velvet says, a half smirk adorning her face. Edna seems amused by it too and Sorey can't help but laugh a little.

They don't spend much time at the Sanctuary after that. Velvet wants to go check on Adeline but Edna has to stay at least for a while since, unlike them, she says, she has actual things to do. They decide to meet at Aurik's house sometime after noon and then Sorey and Velvet are off.

Both of them walk in easy silence for a while, transiting the streets that are already bustling with activity.

Velvet seems fine after the news they just gave her and Sorey thinks she seems perhaps a little too fine. He may not know how the relationship of Velvet and Eizen really was, how close they were, but he had expected her to be a little more…sad, with the whole thing. In his case, he already knows that from his companions the only ones that can be alive are the seraphim, but he doesn't think he would take well to hear that any of them were dead. The mere idea sends a shiver down his spine, even with all the thoughts that have plagued him since he woke up. He steals a sideways glance at Velvet.

She's walking in the same confident, quick pace he has got to know in their brief time together, eyes in front of her, expression somehow stern. Nothing in her face betrays any particular emotion and she looks as well as she did earlier today, before hearing about Eizen. It puts him a little off, how she was the one to suggest that Eizen was dead and how quickly she was to comfort them about the circumstances of his death.

He had thought maybe she was going to be mad at hearing what happened but she was so…calm about it, so ready to accept it. He doesn't understand but maybe it is because he didn't know Eizen, or because he still feels guilty about not being able to find a way to bring him back, as he said he was going to when he first met Edna.

Guilt. Of all the old feelings from his past life that he's not sure still linger, it had to be guilt the one to carry over.

Or maybe it's not guilt at all, he muses, maybe it's just that he still wishes some things would've been different.

He wonders if Velvet wishes so too, just looking at her it's impossible to know.

They eventually arrive to a less busy street, though still filled with shops of many kinds. It's not hard to pin point where they are going, since there's a guard standing right beside the door.

"Your friend the Chancellor doesn't half assed anything, huh?" Velvet comments as they get closer to the shop.

"It would appear so," Sorey says, lamenting Aurik's lack of discretion. Even he can tell that putting a guard right outside someone's door is not that good of idea.

The door has a 'Closed' sigh hanging from it and the curtains are drawn too.

"Hey, you," Velvet calls to the guard "do you know if Adeline's home?"

The guard stares at her long and hard, like trying to intimidate her but Velvet barely blinks. The guard grunts, but doesn't answer and Velvet scoffs.

She goes to knock the door and the guard keeps a vigilant eye over her, but does nothing to stop her.

"Maybe she's out?" Sorey suggest after a few moments of utter silence.

"Maybe," Velvet murmurs "or maybe she doesn't want to come out because there's a guard at her doorstep." She takes a few steps behind to get a better view of the house and the upper floor window "Hey, Adeline!" Velvet calls "Are you home?!"

By this point she has called the attention of some passersby and other shopkeepers, but all of them keep their distance.

Eventually the window opens and Adeline sticks her head out.

"Velvet?!" She says with surprise "Wait, I'm coming!" then she scampers inside the house.

After a short wait Adeline opens the door. She urges Velvet to go inside the house, intently not looking at the guard. Sorey has to enter first to don't risk Adeline shutting him out after Velvet goes in.

Once inside Adeline closes the door with sigh, leaning on it.

"Looks like you're being kept in good company," Velvet comments. Adeline shakes her head.

"I assume this has something to do with what happened last night," Adeline answers, sounding a little recriminatory.

"Was he a problem?" Velvet questions before answering anything. She is gonna have to say something to Aurik if it turns out the guard did something to Adeline and considering how things went with her last night, she wouldn't be surprise that the guard would use 'unclear instructions' as an excuse.

Adeline shakes her head again.

"Not exactly," she starts explaining "I'm not sure when he got here, but he has been standing there since I woke up and I saw that a couple of the Silverflags men came and turned tail when they saw him, but he hasn't let me leave either."

Velvet nods. That's exactly what she wanted sending someone to keep an eye on her, except for the last part.

"Did he say why?"

"No. Just that his job was to keep me safe and it would be easier if I stayed inside." She says "I also tried asking him if he knew anything about you."

"And did he have anything to say about that?"

"Of course not. It was the royal knights who took you, it was obvious he wasn't going to know anything, but it was still worth the try."

After that Adeline stays in silence for a moment, thinking over what she's gonna say next. Velvet waits patiently for her, while Sorey goes looking around the feeble shop, though listening attentively to what the two women say.

"You said you were a traveler," Adeline starts then, walking towards the counter, far away from the door and talking in hushed tones "and you said you're helping me because of my mother and I can believe that, I mean," she makes a pause and bits her lower lip, frowning a little "I mean, I can pretend I believe that, but there's obviously something bigger going on here and I'd like to know," she pauses again, looking stern "if I may end up in something worse than a millionaire debt."

Now there's a certain fire in the girl that wasn't quite there before, it must be because everything happened so fast yesterday but now she has had time to calm down and think this over. Velvet likes that, Adeline is ready to accept Velvet's help if it suits her needs but she's also ready to throw her out of her house if the risks exceed the benefits.

"You have nothing to worry about," Velvet assures her firmly "what happened last night was a misunderstanding…of sorts, "she says slowly and Sorey grimaces somewhere in the shop "and look, I even got you a personal guard." She waves at the door "Though I admit that could've been handled better."

"Is that your doing too?" Adeline asks, narrowing her eyes.

"A personal favor from the Chancellor," Velvet says with a smirk.

"The Chancellor?!" Adeline gasps "Just who are you, Velvet?"

"A humble traveler, I told you."

"You seem to be having fun with this," Sorey comments near the counter, examining a pair of gauntlets over it.

Maybe, Velvet concedes, she did develop a certain pleasure for messing with people: Magilou's fault, surely.

"The Chancellor is a friend of a friend," Velvet explains then "whatever you imagine is going on, it's not. You have nothing to worry about."

Adeline thinks this over and finally sighs, defeated.

"Well, at least things seem to be going on my favor so…I'll keep pretending I believe that, too."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night," Velvet says and Adeline makes a face "I came to see how you were doing, it seems the guild won't bother you for a while."

"As long as the guard is there, I can imagine they'd like to stay out of the guard business but he can't stay there forever and neither can I," Adeline points out.

"I'll see what I can do about that," Velvet nods "for now, it seems I'll be able to get a hunting permit, but we may have to wait a day or two."

"Are you sure about that?" Adeline asks, looking a little concern "I know I told you about it but it's not an easy task to hunt a rhybgaro and it's really dangerous, there's a reason their horns are so rare."

"I'm sure about that. I can't think of any other way to get the money you need and I won't leave you at the mercy of that guild."

Adeline looks like she'd like to argue some more but at the end she simply nods.

"I guess it's your neck, not mine," She says with resignation.

"But let's hope I don't die, if not, who will get you the money."

"I'll pray for your safety then."

"I'm sure you will," Velvet says in good spirits and then, a little more serious "can I still stay at your place?"

Sorey turns at this.

"Sure," Adeline answers, leaving behind any aggravating tone "you're welcome to stay for as long as needed."

"Thanks. I'll go see what I can do about the guard, I'll be back later."

"Okay just…try to hurry up about the guard? I really need to do the groceries."

"No problem…and, one more question: Where can I find the Silverflags?"

Adeline looks at her in confusion and after a moment of hesitation she tells her where to find their headquarters. Velvet hopes Sorey is paying attention because Adeline talks of streets' names and landmarks she can't possibly know.

Velvet thanks her once more and then they leave the house.

"Why won't you stay with Aurik?" it's the first thing Sorey asks when they're outside.

"I'm not fond of luxury," Velvet answers easy enough "and I think both he and me will be more relaxed if I'm not there."

Sorey purses his lips.

"Don't say that, I mean, anyone would be wary of a stranger, don't take it personal."

"I'm not, I just…I think it'll be best, so it won't look like I'm taking advantage of him…even if I am with the permits and all that."

"You're not taking advantage," Sorey says, crossing his arms "Aurik is just helping out a friend."

"He wants to help you, not me," Velvet continues, thinking about Aurik's suspicion earlier this morning. "It's not a big deal Sorey and I really prefer simpler accommodations."

"If you say so," Sorey drops the subject, even if he isn't too convinced about Vevet's motives.

He doesn't want her to feel like an outsider among his friends, or like she doesn't deserve their help, but he's not sure on how to convey that to her. For now, he's gonna let her do what is more comfortable for her, if she doesn't want to stay with Aurik then she doesn't have to but he…

"I'll stay with you then," Sorey perks up with a smile.

"What?" Velvet says, a little louder than appropriate and a few persons turn at the sound of her voice.

"If you don't want to stay with Aurik that's fine, I'll stay with you at Adeline's place." Sorey explains "it'll be fun."

"You don't have to do that," Velvet says, shaking her head "and Adeline's house is not big, I was staying in her couch, there'll be no place for you."

"It's okay, I can sleep on the floor, doesn't matter to me." Sorey argues.

"She can't see you," Velvet continues, a little firmer "and I wouldn't want to add 'hey, I can see malakhim' in top of everything else I've done and said."

"I guess you're right," Sorey agrees slowly, it'd be harder for Adeline to trust in Velvet if they add her high resonance to it "Okay," he finally sighs "you stay with her and I stay with Aurik."

She nods and then they keep walking, with Velvet leading the way heading in the general direction of the Silverflags' headquarters. At some point, when they leave the busier streets and Velvet has problems deciding where to go according to Adeline's instructions, Sorey steps out and points the way.

"Why are we going there?" He asks, keeping his voice casual.

"I just wanna take a look to the place," Velvet answers, her eyes in front of her, giving away nothing.

"Why?" Sorey insists. When Velvet doesn't respond he bits his lips and asks "you are not planning anything rash are you?" he sounds more worried than accusatory and he guesses that's good.

"No," Velvet says, still not looking at him "we're just gonna go and take a look to the place. See how many windows are there, how the building is positioned, if there's people keeping watch, if—"

"Why would there be anyone keeping watch?" Sorey interrupts.

"Adeline said they've done the same thing they're doing to her to other people, I wouldn't be surprise if they got a number of enemies."

"Okay, but…" he sighs, because he knows where Velvet is getting with all this "why do we need to know that?"

"Calm down," Velvet says, almost amused at the resignation in his voice "right now were just gathering info, nothing more."

Sorey doesn't ask any more questions, Velvet is clearly not gonna tell him what she's planning right now.

After a while they finally make it to their destination. The building is positioned in the middle of two streets that fuse together to make a large, single one; the building faces this street, with a large sign that simply reads 'Silverflags: trader guild". The place is pretty big and it has a lot of windows on both sides, but the ones in the third and last floor are covered with wood.

The activity around it it's the same as in any other street and there doesn't seem to be anything suspicious going on.

"What do you think, Sorey?" Velvet asks, as they casually stop under the awning of a shop.

"Think of what?" He says.

"This place," she says, pointing at the building with her head "what impression it gives you?"

"Uh…" he looks at it and thinks. A lot of things stand out to him, most of it about how old the building looks, the techniques probably used in its construction and lot of historical facts but that's surely not what Velvet is asking him "the windows in the third floor are suspicious?" he offers.

Velvet shrugs.

"Maybe, but more importantly…don't you think this is a bad place to put up a trader guild?"

"How so?"

"Look, there's not place for carriages to stop, and they don't seem to have carriages of their own," she says pointing at the front of the building, where there's little sidewalk "it doesn't look like there's a back door either, I mean, there's not 'back' at all."

Sorey considers this.

"Yeah…maybe they trade a very specific product and they don't need the carriages...or maybe their actual job is to scam people."

"That's what I was thinking," Velvet nods "and I mean, I would expect they would have a guard or two with them, a merchant's job is a dangerous one."

"Maybe they don't want to intimidate the general public," Sorey offers.

"Perhaps," Velvet says, intently looking at the building.

She would've also expect the building to be closer to the center, near to the commercial district, they saw other guild's headquarters in their way here and all of them were relatively close there. She purses her lips, thinking.

"I was thinking," Velvet starts "how do you think they could replicate Adeline's signature?"

Sorey leans on the wall, watching people come and go while he thinks.

"Some kind of arte, maybe," he guesses first "though they would need a seraph for that and I don't think many of them are in the fraud business," it's not like seraphim can't do bad things, he knows, but it would strike him as really weird for one to decide to do that of all things "or someone simply copied it."

"But copying a signature isn't easy," Velvet continues "and even if they simply traced it, someone at the notary's office should've notice, they're trained to know those things aren't they?"

"That's truth, the copy should've been exact…but not too exact, otherwise they would've notice the tracing and any on purpose error," Sorey suggests in a thoughtful voice "so, there's either a seraph helping them or they have someone way too good at this copying business."

"I would like to check it out myself," Velvet says with a sigh "but I kinda kicked their butts already, they must have alerted the rest of the guild of me, I can't just go in so, Sorey, I hate to ask this of you but, would you mind?" She looks at him like she really does hate asking this favor.

"No problem," he says with a nod. He actually likes the idea of a quiet, non-violent infiltration and he will just go in to have a look "I'll be back in a moment."

"Thank you, I'll wait for you here," she says and leans on the wall.

Sorey crosses the street and goes to the building. He stands for a moment outside of it, looking it over and feeling a familiar, unwelcome pressure the closer he gets to it. He frowns, recognizing the feeling and considers not going in. However, he knows Adeline and all the other people being scammed need their help and he doesn't want Velvet to get in trouble trying to get information, he needs to get inside and see if he can learn something valuable.

He can bare the malevolence here, he convinces himself and breaths deeply before going forward.

The door is open so he has no problems getting in. Inside the place looks pretty normal, though a little empty; the lobby is pretty big and there's only a desk at the back, near the stairs, and a couple of couches near the walls. There are only a few persons too, a man and a woman are talking at the desk, and other guild members are chatting in the couches. Nothing weird seems to be going on and no one is aware of his presence and the malevolence is just there, not getting stronger or changing, so he deems it safe for him to keep exploring.

He scans the place, noticing a pair of doors behind and to the side of the desk, but it would be too weird for them to open on their own so he decides to go for the stairs instead.

There are doors at one side of the stairs, most of them close but the ones that are open appear to be storage's rooms or common lounges, he even eavesdrop some conversations but none of them are relevant to what he's looking for so he keeps going.

At the first floor there's more storage rooms, a few offices and lots of closed doors. He ignores them and goes for the second floor.

It looks like some of the guild members live here, since here most of the rooms are bedrooms and there's a kitchen too. Nothing seems out of the ordinary, however, the pressure is thicker here, enough to make him sweat a little, but still is not something he can't handle and it's still considerable less than any other he has felt before.

He breathes, slow and conscientious, heading forward among the bedrooms. A hushed conversation behind a bad closed door calls his attention:

"…I don't know man," a young man is saying "I'm liking this business with the fake loans less and less every time."

"I mean, I get you," a and even younger woman answers "that old lady we went to threatened today…yeah, it left a bad taste in my mouth but what are we supposed to do? You don't wanna go back to the streets again right?"

"Of course no, it's just…this is getting dangerous, you heard what happened to Johan and his men the other day? They had to drag Peter here after that crazy woman got in their way collecting a debt! I don't know how to fight!" he screeches "I don't want to get killed by a bodyguard or something!"

"It's either getting killed here, where I have a bed and a something to eat, or starve in some alley."

"I…I guess you're right…"

They keep talking but Sorey has heard enough so he goes back. It seems the guild's job really is to scam people but he still doesn't know how they're doing it, just they're having vulnerable people do their dirty job. With renewed conviction he heads for the stairs again and to the third and last floor.

There the malevolence gets even thicker. Now it's a little hard to breath and he feels the starting of a headache settling comfortably between his eyes. He swallows hard and keeps going, knowing that he must be close to something.

Here there's barely any light, with the windows in the hallway upholstered with wooden planks and the place is silent and still, unlike the other floors when there was at least some people about. There are many doors too and he dares to try them: some open to empty rooms full of boxes, some don't and one in particular is open.

He peaks inside and finds a well-lighted office. The walls are covered in tall bookshelves, all filled with parchments rather than books. There's a man hunched over the desk, carefully writing something in piece of parchment…very obviously copying something from another one. He's very thin and bony, but not unhealthy. His hair is dirty blonde, long enough to fall at the sides of his head and obscure most of what he's doing.

He gets closer silently and the man turns his head in his direction. Sorey's heart stops, thinking the man can see him, but his gaze is falling somewhere behind him.

Outside, the sound of footsteps catches Sorey's attention, he hadn't noticed them until now. He relaxes, as much as he can with the malevolence around him anyway and moves to the side, turning to see who is coming.

A bulky looking man comes marching in.

"Are you done?" the man barks.

"Almost," the thin man sneers quietly "it would be faster if you didn't push work over me like I were a machine!"

"You've been working on that for days now, Alistair" the man complains "you're delaying us."

Alistair scoffs and turns back to the desk.

"And pray tell, what exactly I'm delaying, Michael? We have enough money already." He spits.

"You know why we are doing this," Michael says firmly "it was your idea."

"But I didn't want to go this far!" Alistair exclaims "if you weren't a greedy son of a bitch we—!"

Michael gets closer to Alistair in an impetuous, quick movement that startles even Sorey. He takes the other man by his bony left wrist and manhandles him to make him stand up.

"You should watch that tongue of yours," Michael threatens "if you want to keep it."

Alistair doesn't let himself be intimidated.

"I'm too necessary for this business of yours," he says with confidence "you can't touch me."

Michael laughs.

"You think so? Well you don't need your tongue to do your job," he remarks "or your left arm for that matter." He twists Alistair wrist, hard enough to make him whimper.

Just then the malevolence gets denser, more oppressive. It's coming off from Alistair and while he tries to free himself from the other's man grips, Sorey feels lightheaded and weak.

He needs to get out of here, he decides and stumbles to the door. Alistair and Michael keep arguing, but their voices reach Sorey as if they were underwater. He struggles to keep going, leaning against the wall as he gets down the stairs over shaky knees, the tolerable malevolence than permeated the building is gone and now the presence of it is making it hard to breath.

When he finally reaches the lobby he's barely holding himself up. He makes it for the door and when he gets outside he falls on the hard stone of the street, but he doesn't feel the impact at all.

At the other side of the street Velvet sees him get out of the building in a frantic manner and then go sprawling all over the ground. She goes running to him in an instant, not caring if she looks like she's crazy or if someone at the guild recognizes her.

Once close enough she gets on her knees, slipping through the floor.

"Sorey!" she calls, putting a hand on his shoulder and shaking him "Sorey, what happened?!"

He tries to get up and fails miserably, the malevolence is slipping out of the building now and he can only guess what's happening inside.

"I have…" he mumbles, struggling to get the words out "…away from here, I—I can't…"

"You need to get away from here?" Velvet asks, Sorey nods weakly. "Okay, can you—?" no, she thinks he obviously can't stand "I'll carry you on my back," she informs and gets to it.

People look at her funny all the while she spends putting Sorey on her back but she doesn't give a damn. Once he's securely on top of her she takes him firmly by the back of his knees and starts walking towards the Sanctuary.

When Velvet arrives the Sanctuary is full of people. A priest near the altar is talking to a bunch of townspeople and they listen attentively. Sitting in the altar itself is Edna, her eyes close and her umbrella over her shoulder, it doesn't look like she's doing anything but upon closer inspection it's obvious she's concentrating on something.

"Edna!" Velvet calls without regards of the people there.

Edna heeds her voice and opens her eyes, composing a displeased expression on her face but the moment she sees Sorey half-conscious on Velvet's back she gets on her feet.

"Come here," she says, the faintest edge of worry in her voice, as she walks to one of the back doors.

Velvet goes behind her immediately, the people look at her in varying degrees of perplex, noticing the hunched way she walks and where she's headed.

"Hey!" a mature woman calls, a scowl on her face "where you think you're going?!"

Velvet shots her a cold, deadly gaze and the woman backs away.

"It's fine," the priest says then, recognizing her from this morning "please don't mind her." He tells to the crowd.

Velvet nods in thanks to him and then goes to Edna, who has already opened the door and is waiting impatiently for her.

Once in the backyard Velvet pretends to put Sorey down on the grass, but Edna tells her to keep walking and she takes them to the other building.

"This is where the priest and acolytes live," Edna explains and opens the door.

Inside Edna immediately heads to the stairs and Velvet huffs, feeling sweat trickling down her forehead. Sorey's almost dead weight is becoming harder to hold by the minute, but she makes one last effort to get him to the next floor.

There Edna opens another door, clearly familiar with the outlay. It's an office that thankfully has a long enough couch for Sorey to lay down and Velvet puts him there, slow and careful, laying his head over a cushion. He mumbles a quiet "thank you" at that.

"What happened?" Edna asks then, putting a hand over Sorey's forehead "he's got a fever."

"I'm not sure," Velvet says "I…"

"M—," Sorey tries to say then, catching their undivided attention. He takes a couple of very deep breaths before mustering the strength to continue. "Malevolence, I…the— the place was full of malevolence." He explains in dragged breaths.

"What?" Edna exclaims, barely rising her voice and turning to look at Velvet, ready to have her explain what the hell is going on.

She silence any of her questions, however, when she notices how distraught Velvet seems looking at Sorey.

Velvet isn't even conscious of how still she suddenly is, how her breathing has gone ragged, the sweat in her palms or the itching in her eyes. She has carry another boy like she carried Sorey, she has seen another boy break in a fever, she has seen another boy gone pale as a ghost and breath like it hurts. She has seen another boy affected this much for malevolence before.

She wonders if this is her fault.

"Will he turn into a dragon?" she finds herself asking, and it's the second time today she speaks what she dreads the most, and maybe she's the one dooming her own fate, again.

"He won't," Edna says firmly and Velvet tears her eyes from Sorey to look at her "I can't feel any malevolence around him at all, he'll be fine, however…" she kneels besides Sorey and touches his forehead again. He tries to smile at her and fails "it shouldn't affect him like this, especially if he's away from the source."

Velvet sighs deeply and looks at Sorey again. He seems less unconscious now, but he's still choosing not to talk, still looking terribly tired. She gets near him and touches his face too, to see how bad the fever is: she can gladly declare it's not bad, and she knows what bad looks like.

"I'll go get something for his fever," she announces.

"There's a kitchen in the ground floor," Edna tells her "you should find everything you need there, and if someone tries to stop you tell them Priest Sean allowed you in."

"Got it."

She leaves the room and goes to look for the kitchen. She finds it fairly quickly and then goes through cupboards and drawers looking for what she needs. It's terribly familiar, putting in the stove rosemary tea with a bit of verbena, getting a basin full of cold water and a clean cloth to submerge in it.

She's calmer than a moment before, however, a mild fever is something she can manage and Edna said, sure of herself, that Sorey wasn't turning into a dragon. That's good, that's…that's very good.

Velvet waits for the tea to be ready and then puts everything she needs in a tray and heads back to the office. She encounters no one on her way there.

When she's back she finds Edna standing up, looking pissed.

"I tried to ask him what happened but he's not talking," Edna says, turning to Velvet "so you are going to tell me."

"When I'm done with this," Velvet answer, passing beside her to put the tray over a table. She pours a cup of the tea and leaves it to cool off, then squeezes the cloth and goes to Sorey.

"Here," she says, putting it over his forehead. "How are you feeling?"

"Good," he rasps, closing his eyes and enjoying the coldness of the cloth.

"Once the tea is colder you can have it."

"I—"

"I don't care if you aren't 'comfortable' around food, you're gonna drink it and that's final." She says with not room for objections.

"O—okay," he mumbles.

After one last intimidating glance towards him, Velvet turns to the table and starts passing the tea from a cup to other one, to cold it faster. While she's doing that she starts telling Edna what she knows.

When Velvet is done Edna turns to Sorey.

"You felt the malevolence, didn't you?" She says accusatorily to him. Sorey looks away "if you did why you went in, anyway? You don't have a vessel."

"It wasn't that much," he answers quietly "I— we've felt stronger malevolence." He manages.

Edna narrows her eyes.

"You weren't a seraph back then," she says flatly "and we had a very strong vessel. It was reckless of you."

Sorey doesn't grace that with answer, it's hard to say if that is because he doesn't want or because talking is still too much of an effort. Edna sighs and looks away.

"We'll talk once you're feeling better." Edna declares and goes for the door "I'll be at the Sanctuary, if you need anything." She says to Velvet and leaves.

"She's mad," Sorey says in resignation when the door is closed.

"You think?" Velvet comments, still messing with the tea "I think she's worried…but also mad."

Sorey sighs. They spend some time in silence, this place is as serene as the yard was. At some point Velvet goes to wet the cloth again and Sorey tells her she doesn't need to do that. She says she doesn't mind.

"Can you sit?" she asks after a long wait.

He nods and slowly sits up. Velvet goes to him with the cup of tea, but instead of offering it for him to take, she sits beside him and puts the cup close to his lips.

"Here, small sips," she says, soft but firmly enough to remind him she won't tolerate his antics.

He breaths deeply and don't wanting to make her mad too decides it can't be too bad to drink the tea. He takes a small sip, just like she told him; the flavor is bitter and heavy and it stays in his mouth even after swallowing. He recoils at that and feels Velvet putting a firm hand on his back, stopping him from getting away and, soon enough, tracing small circles to comfort him.

It reminds him of the few times he was sick as a kid and Gramps or any other adult would look after him. He takes a few more sips and then Velvet puts the cup down in her lap.

"Not so bad right?" She says with a smile.

"Yeah," he complies, surprised at how tender her voice is "you seem use to this," he notices.

"My brother was sick all the time," Velvet answers, low and soft, taking the cloth still stick to Sorey's forehead "I had to look after him."

"I see," he says, and when Velvet rises the cup again he stops it, taking the cup "I can do it myself." He smiles.

"Sorry," Velvet looks to the side, a little embarrassed. Sorey is not a child, after all.

"It's fine," he takes another sip and grimaces. It really tastes like medicine.

She stands and while she washes the cloth again she asks:

"You knew there was malevolence there?"

"Yes," Sorey responds "I guess Edna was right. It was reckless."

"Why did you go in, then?" She turns, looking pissed "You didn't have to, I could've find another way to get info."

"I didn't want you to find other way," Sorey says like it's obvious.

"What? Why?" Her sweet, tender voice is gone but Sorey doesn't feel like she's mad at him at all.

"I wanted to help," he explains "and I didn't want you to get into trouble, I just did what I thought was right."

Velvet huffs.

"This is not your problem, you know? I was the one that told Adeline I was going to help her, you don't need to do this."

"But I wanted to," Sorey looks at Velvet as sternly as he can "I want to help her and…I want to help you."

Velvet is obviously not pleased with that answer, but he isn't meet with an argument when she speaks again.

"What did you learn?"

Sorey tells her about the conversations he heard.

"What do you think?" he asks when he's done "what should we do?"

"The easier thing to do would be kill them," she says and before Sorey can express his very strong disagreement she adds "but let's not go there, unless it's absolutely necessary. I think…perhaps getting rid of all their documents will suffice."

"But then they could do it again," Sorey says "maybe Adeline won't be a victim anymore but everyone else—"

"I'm not doing this for them," Velvet interrupts "you're not gonna like hearing this Sorey, but I'm not doing this because it's the right thing to do, I'm doing a favor to Adeline, to Cecily, nothing more. I don't care what happens to anyone else."

"I…I do care." He mutters.

"I'm not going to stop you if you want to do something else," Velvet says "but this is not problem with an easy solution, and how could you confront those guys or help those people, they can't even see you. It's not your problem, Sorey."

"The Lord of Calamity wasn't my problem either, and I still dealt with him," he says, more bitter than he intended to. He shakes his head at hearing himself.

Velvet doesn't really know what to say to that.

"You know," Sorey starts, looking intently at the cup between his hands "when I was the Shepherd, at those times, there were a lot of people that needed help and I wanted to help them too…Lailah told me that my duty laid elsewhere, though, I couldn't get involved in people's daily life, I couldn't help in the war that was raging the continent because my power was too much and I would make them dependent of me and…I understood that," he says with a sigh "I understood that the people needed to see for themselves, that being the Shepherd meant something else but I…I still wanted to help. There was so much people I wanted to help."

He makes a pause and takes a sip of that awful tea because his mouth is suddenly dry. The taste is bitter and lingers in his mouth.

Velvet licks her lips, thinking carefully her next words.

"You owe nothing to this world," she says, because she really can't wrap her head about the unyielding selflessness Sorey expresses.

"It's not about that," Sorey says but doesn't know what this is about either so he doesn't say more. He takes another sip of the bitter tea.

"I won't stop you," Velvet repeats "for doing what you need to do, but I don't want to get more involved in this than I already am."

"That's okay," Sorey nods and lifts his gaze "you don't have to."

Velvet nods too and they spend a while in awkward silence. She gets close to him again and touches his forehead delicately.

"The fever is already getting better," she notices "but finish the tea just to be sure. I'll go talk to Edna."

Sorey hums in agreement and then takes another sip of the bitter tea, his eyes somewhere else. Velvet leaves him alone.

It turns out Edna wasn't in the Sanctuary so Velvet looks around for her in the vicinity. The place is eerie silent and empty, and if it wasn't for the clear signs that someone lives here laying everywhere, she would thought the place was abandoned. The quietness must be something about churches and people of faith, she guesses.

At some point, in the depths of the building, she finds a half open door that leads to a set of stairs going down, and the tittering sound of something metallic hitting the ground can be heard coming from there. She decides to go investigate, if only for the slim possibility of finding Edna.

She has luck, Edna is digging in a big wooden box, getting various objects out, and other boxes lay open around her. Edna unceremoniously tosses an old candelabra to the side and grunts.

"You lost something?" Velvet asks as she gets into the basement.

If her presences startles her Edna doesn't show it.

"Aside from my peace of mind?" she says, turning to greet her "How's Sorey?"

"The fever is going down pretty quickly and he can sit already. I left him drinking the tea."

"Good," Edna nods and turns around again to keep looking for whatever she's looking for.

"What are you doing?" Velvet asks her then, seeing how another candelabra gets thrown at the floor.

"I'm looking for something that may serve as a vessel for Sorey," she explains "I'm sure he's gonna be dumb again and get himself in the nest of a hellion or something equally stupid. He needs a vessel."

"He does," Velvet agrees and after a moment of silence says: "I wanted to ask you something."

"For what other reason would you be here," Edna moves to another box and now there are books flying across the place.

"You said the malevolence shouldn't affect him like it did," Velvet starts "that he should be fine if he was away from the source, why did it hurt him like that then?"

"I can only guess," Edna says in a troubled whisper.

"And what do you guess?" Velvet presses.

Edna leaves what she's doing and turns around.

"Maybe it is because he has never been exposed to malevolence before, as a seraph, I mean," she starts saying with a thoughtful expression "and I don't know how much it really was, he says it wasn't much but in comparison to how much it used to be in the world any amount would seem insignificant."

"You don't think it's something we should worry about?"

Edna thinks over her answer.

"No, I don't think so, for now."

"Good."

"So now that he's not dying," Edna continues, moving to yet another box "did he tell you what happened inside the building?"

Velvet tells her the story, the conversations and that the malevolence was coming from a guy named Alistair.

"And what is your plan, knowing all that?" Edna questions when she's done.

"I'm gonna sneak in the place and burn all the contracts they have, originals and copies."

"Bold," Edna comments "but efficient all the same. What does Sorey think?"

"He would like to do something more, we burn it all and they simply do it again."

"Of course he does," Edna mumbles, tired.

After that Velvet helps Edna look for something suitable to be Sorey's vessel, but even when they find a wooden charm and a ceramic bottle that, according to Edna, are very antique and blessed in some way, it's unlikely they'll work for him.

"Because he's a lighting seraph," she explains when Velvet asks what's wrong with them "we need a vessel compatible with our power, something metallic would work better for him."

They keep looking but nothing comes up so they leave…and because of Velvet's insistence, they put everything neatly back to its place.

Back with Sorey, they find him standing at the window, looking wistfully at the yard, the teacup empty in his hand.

There are things that went untold on this chapter, obviiously, but it is already way too long

the next chapter will be the last one we'll be on Ladylake

Thanks for reading!