Remian and Phoebe couldn"t help noticing. They hadn"t realized anyone was watching them earlier; there were Lydia and Sabriane sipping tea at their table on the café balcony, but they hadn"t thought much of it at first…But when a little red chick went gallivanting around the waterfront green on a wolfcat cub, chirping imperatively all the way, they just had to notice the four kids skulking around the corner.
"Where did that bird come from?" Remian asked, frowning. "I sense… a lot of things weird with it."
"Sense later." Phoebe prodded him. "Picnic first."
It was an idyllic scene, with children and elders at leisure, friends and family spying on the couple, and a red chick charging about on the back of a yipping wolfcat cub… Remian almost couldn"t believe this peaceful place was really the dangerous Frontier or that he was able to set out a picnic on the waterfront without worrying about getting eaten alive from one minute to the next. The old man fishing and the boys playing nearby were completely unconcerned about safety.
After all, why should they be concerned? There were airships on guard, patrols to root out minor threats, and every Wild in the vicinity was a friend or a Comrade. They had come a long way from the old Fort Spoas.
Oddly enough, there was someone who didn"t seem quite so relaxed.
"Remian! The cows are complaining! They"re threatening to go on a milk strike if cattle raising conditions aren"t improved by tomorrow!" Wulfgar gasped.
"The cows can"t complain, Wulfgar. They"re not Wilds." Remian pointed out. "They"re just ordinary cows."
"Really?" Wulfgar stared blankly. "But the horses…"
"The horses are Wilds."
"Still! The cows are acting funny. You should come take a look…"
Phoebe prodded Remian. "Cows later. Picnic first."
"Right." Remian agreed, and set down the picnic mat.
They chatted about how things had developed around the Frontier for a while…
Then Wulfgar came running. "Remian! It"s the cheese! There"s an absolute shortage across all of KarGoth! The warehouse staff suspect lynxmice theft!"
Remian shook his head. "That"s between George and Tim. I think the lynxmice actually own most of the cheese in the warehouse, or something like that. You"ll have to ask George about it."
"But… but the price of grilled cheese has tripled! Half the Sea People refugees won"t buy it any more because they can"t afford to!"
"That"s odd." Remian frowned. "I didn"t even know someone was selling grilled cheese."
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Phoebe cleared her throat. "Cheese later. Picnic first."
"Right." Remian said, and handed out the steamed buns.
"But…!" Wulfgar began.
"CHIIRP!" Chirpy charged into him with the full might of Vigil"s forward momentum, knocking him away to a distance of 2cm. The collision resulted in great kinetic impact (or at least, it seemed that way, based on how Chirpy and Vigil looked after the crash), and Wulfgar was immediately obliged to cart the casualties of the "accident" to the nearest emergency medic. "Help! Phoebe…! It"s an emergency!"
"Emergency later." Phoebe waved with a steamed bun in her hand. "Picnic first."
It went on like that.
"Remian! The water supply…"
"Water later. Picnic first."
They sampled the best fruits from Three Pines.
"Remian! The Eagle Lord…"
"Birds later. Picnic first."
They grilled a fish.
"Remian! Reports of giant crocodiles…"
"Crocodiles later! Picnic first!"
They had pudding for dessert. Phoebe had some of it on her nose, and Remian almost casually flicked it off with his finger and licked his finger clean. Phoebe paused for a moment, then thoughtfully decorated Remian"s nose with twice as much pudding as he cleaned off hers.
"Eh…?"
"Oh my, you"ve got something there…" Phoebe helpfully cleaned his nose off the same way he did hers.
To which, Remian could only stare blankly.
"What?" Phoebe asked. "Too weird?"
Of course, at that time, Wulfgar came running up again.
"Remian! Attacks from the neighboring Pegasi because of the horses…"
"Pegasi later! Picnic first!"
And then they had strawberries and m.u.f.fins for a second dessert while talking about their childhood foods.
"Remian! The war…"
"War later! Picnic first!"
"Remian…! Eh?! Ghwuuurkk…!" suddenly, Wulfgar was overwhelmed by mysterious masked a.s.sailants from behind while attempting to make his report. They literally pulled his feet out from under him and stuffed a sack over his head, then started to tie him up right there in broad daylight.
"Tighter!" Mindy"s voice drifted from the foremost a.s.sailant. "We can"t have him getting loose!"
"Any tighter and his wrists will break!" Darian"s voice floated from the next a.s.sailant.
"Shh! Get him out of here already!" George"s voice ushered them off from a third a.s.sailant.
"Right!" the fourth a.s.sailant"s voice was Eriane"s. Each one holding a limb, the four a.s.sailants carried Wulfgar out tied up and making m.u.f.fled sounds from under the sack.
***
Way over at the balcony of the café, Sabriane and Lydia were laughing into their tea, almost spilling their drinks out.
***
Unknown to them, at that time, Talia was actually in quite a spot of trouble.
"Mayday, mayday, we are under attack! Our airship is going down! Sky Galleon going DOWN!" Talia yelped into a crystal. "Do you copy? Wulfgar, can you hear me?!"
Bolts of fire shot through the Galleon"s envelope; their shields had long ago been torn apart, and now the hull of the airship was taking direct fire. The airship was already burning, wobbling out of control, and the crew looked to her with wide eyes and clenched fists.
"Abandon ship!" Talia ordered, and tossed a cable overboard. "All hands, abandon ship!"
It wasn"t far to the ground. People easily rappled down the cables and set foot on firm ground without too much trouble. Talia"s crew were experienced adventurers, and the escape took place fairly quickly.
As the Sky Galleon fell slowly from the sky, the airships attacking them turned and sailed away loftily.
Talia and her crew exchanged grim glances as they looked around. On the one hand, they were safe, and relavitvely unharmed.
On the other hand, they were stuck here, with no airship and n.o.body coming to pick them up, no clue whether or not their friends even knew where they were or that they were in danger.
Talia and the crew of the fallen Sky Galleon were trapped in the middle of the war zone.
***
After their picnic breakfast, Remian and Phoebe were going to do a "safety inspection" of the Encles settlement (*cough* tour *cough, cough*) and then have lunch at the new water reservoir on the hilltop of KarGoth. The site was right next to the airship docking platforms, and someone had helpfully set down benches around it…
But then Song Chen came up.
"Sorry to intrude, Remian…" Song Chen grimaced. "But Sir Ivan"s wife is up in arms and nothing I say is enough to appease her…"
Phoebe opened her mouth, but Remian forestalled her. "Not this time, Phoebe. I"m sorry, but this sounds like it really can"t wait. Why don"t I meet you for lunch later?"
"Fine." Phoebe rolled her eyes. "But it"s not a good sign, you know, that you"re too preoccupied with work to take time off to be with me."
"I know, I know." Remian hesitated, but then decided not to say anything about certain weird things Phoebe had said and done recently. "Just… order whatever restaurant takeout you like for lunch, and I"ll join you at noon. Okay?"
"Fine." Phoebe snorted.
***
The lunch bill came up to three hundred lir.