Hints for the Lost

As was often the case with Therasia, Riel stared at her without a word and wondered where this human got her guts from, because— What? Sure, he could understand his confidence, as well as that of those around him, sometimes. But he’d had the time to meet Therasia after their fateful meeting in the Arma Caeli vault. Back then, he thought she was a human enhanced by— something. Anything. In the time since their meeting, he’d come to discover she ran on spite and strong will. That just wasn’t enough.

(In turn, she frequently told him that his casual indifference and confidence in his abilities could only carry him so far. He knew this, alright, he knew this. He still relied on his magic a lot.)

“Listen,” he started, perhaps for the fifth time that day. This time, Therasia didn’t even raise her head to acknowledge him, probably because she didn’t believe he’d have anything new to say. “I’m not saying you should stop.” But he was very damn close to it, “I just don’t see what vested interest you have in this.”

That made Therasia raise her head, dark eyes zeroed in on Riel’s. Or, well— the one he had remaining. She frowned only slightly. That, probably, was a win.

“For the reward, of course,” she said like it was obvious. It probably was, a little. “You Lopilu always have interesting things on you. I can’t imagine what you hide around your lairs and such…”

“You’ve been to my home,” Riel said, still confused. “We are in my home right now. You know what I keep here.”

“Well, maybe you’re just less mysterious than your other uh—tailed brethren, or whatever,” Theasia said.

“I’m going to ignore that,” Riel decided out loud. “Let me see what you’re working on.”

Therasia made a dismissive noise, then sank into a table by the kitchen table. She seemed exhausted. Riel knew he wasn’t helpful regarding this search for the Lost— but he’d only moved back to Nightglade recently, and his time in Vinegrove hadn’t helped him keep in touch with everything. Quite the contrary— he’d lost nearly all of his contacts.

Therasia was something else, though. Riel was conspicuous because of his magic, so he used it sparingly. Therasia was conspicuous because she was human, something she couldn’t change, but she was good at playing confused and even stupid. It threw Riel off in the first weeks of their friendship, but Therasia was good at lying. It had only been a hurdle for him to accept this because he’d had a different image of her. It must’ve been the whole “saving the realm from Arma Caeli” stint that tricked him. Even as it was, he wasn’t disappointed.

Riel quickly reviewed her notes in the margins, barely even managing to connect everything else.

“This sounds like you’ll need some Lopilu help,” he said evenly.

Therasia let out a dismissive snort, and then she said: “Yeah, that’s where you come in.”

He knew he was going to get roped into the whole Hey, we’re looking for this person and here’s a hint— they’re tall. Yeah, yeah, that’s it, nothing more, you can figure out the rest— Come on! Riel was tired before the search even began. He had long since left the apartment before he realized that he could’ve easily said no to Therasia and then went on his merry way.

But that wasn’t an option, was it? He couldn’t let her roam, especially not in a flimsy disguise and, well, just how she walked could be a problem. She was tall, and while Lopilu tended to have all ranges of confidence available to them, Therasia seemed just a little too aggressive to be passed by. Or maybe it was just Riel who could see her anywhere, but he couldn’t risk that as aware as he was.

Therasia could always be mistaken for someone with bad intentions by other Lopilu, and Riel could never know when she actually had those bad intentions and he wasn’t going to let her jeopardize the stupid search they had gotten into.

…because, yes, sure. He was curious too, about the Lost.

“Alright,” a purple-haired woman spoke as soon as he found her in the backroom of her too-crowded Primascity club, “I’m dying to know how you found yourself here, of all people?”

“Svea,” he said with a nod, then sat opposite her. He didn’t think she’d throw him out, but he was still fairly surprised that she didn’t ask questions. So she probably knew why he was there and had some information for him, or she knew why he was there and thought he had some information for her. Riel hoped it was the first one. “I’ll get straight to the point. I’m looking for the Lost.”

Or maybe she didn’t know why he was there? The surprise on her face was brief but unmistakable. It lasted for only a second, however, before she schooled her expression into something neutral again, and then she shifted in her spot. She waved a waitress down — the girl only nodded before returning with two flutes of drink. Svea sipped hers slowly, but Riel didn’t have her patience or nerves. He downed his own in one gulp.

“The Lost?” She repeated over the muffled sounds of clubhouse music playing loudly in the main room. “Gosh, that’s such a waste of time.”

That’s what I said, too, Riel wanted to say, but he held it back because he wasn’t keen on explaining why he was jumping through hoops for a human. He was even less keen on explaining to Svea who Therasia was, and he was a little afraid that Svea had been swindled by his girl before. And he’d have to explain why he called her his girl when she wasn’t, and that would just be plain embarrassing.

“I’m not here to get lectured,” he said evenly, in the end. “If you don’t have information, I’ll leave you be and move on. If you do, I have payment. I don’t expect you to work for free.”

“Huh,” over the music, he wasn’t sure he’d heard her. Still, Svea leaned in toward him, interest clear in her golden eyes. “Alright. Listen carefully. Even here, the walls have ears, and I’m not repeating this for free.”