Chapter Text
It was probably about time I gave up.
The sunlight pressing down on the back of my shoulders made it so that, even if I could find a comfortable position to fall back asleep in, it’d become uncomfortably warm, which would lead to my clothes and hair becoming damp with sweat. If there was anything that could make this journey less bearable, it’d be that sensation dogging me through what remained of it.
To say nothing of the fact that I’d have to drape a book over my face just to keep the sun out of my eyes. Midday was maybe an hour away, and the trees casting shade along the road were becoming inconveniently sparse as the coach neared my destination.
Accepting my fate and sitting upright, I glanced first at the pile of exhausted reading material in my lap, then at the other passengers on board. There were four besides myself, which made the ride a bit crowded.
Up to this point, there had been relatively few others riding with me for the week-and-a-half journey. There was one man – a fellow with graying hair and a prickly aura – who had boarded not long after myself, and stayed on for long enough that when he got up at our most recent stop, I was surprised, and maybe even a bit disappointed.
Not because he was good company, but because I couldn’t think back to a moment where we exchanged words the entire time. He kept to his own collection of reading material, and left me to mine. There was a certain camaraderie in meeting-without-meeting someone who knew how to mind their own business.
Conversely, when the current set of passengers replaced him, I found them eager to stare at me in bewildered fascination; stares that would dart away when I met their gaze. I suppose that was understandable, given I was dressed in a full set of armor.
My business in Iorys was of a sort that required such peculiar paraphernalia, and while I didn’t wish to draw attention to myself, the coach did not have nearly that much room for personal effects, and the next best option was to simply have it on my person.
◄—•—►
“Iorys, South Gate! 10 minutes ‘til arrival!”
The coachman’s call came as something of a surprise, as I had mentally steeled myself for a longer few hours than what had ostensibly just passed. In tune with his words, though, the muffled clopping of horse hooves on dirt turned into stony clacking, signifying the beginning of Iorys’ cobble roads.
A handful of the other passengers scrambled to peep through the tiny windows on either side of the carriage, letting out awestruck “oohs” and “ahhs”, presumably at the sight of the gargantuan tree, Yggdrasil, to which Iorys arguably owed its existence.
My intent was not sightseeing, however.
I kept a blasé mien to the front of the carriage to assure the other passengers as much. As the minutes passed, excited chatter over what element of the city to experience first mingled with the noisy grinding of the wheels and growing roadside chatter from outside. Then, at last,
“South Gate! Explorer’s Guild, Twilight Tavern! Lodgings!”
The carriage came to a halt. I waited to allow everyone else to disembark who would. A couple of expectant glances passed me on their way out the door, while more still remained in their seats. This was the moment of truth. Was she an explorer-to-be, venturing into the labyrinth at the very heart of the city? Or was she just some loon on a joyride in plate armor?
Well, perhaps I was playing up the captiousness of their stares in my head. Nonetheless, I was not a loon nor looking to seem as one, and so I stood to my feet, granting my onlookers eye contact for the first and only time as I passed them, offering a slight nod.
I walked up to where the driver sat. Seeing me coming, the short-haired Brouni flashed a grin of acknowledgment, then leapt off his seat and lifted the cushion to reveal the chest underneath. Gingerly, he lifted my musket and delivered it to my hands. "Come t' give Yggdrasil a run for its money, I take it?"
"In a manner of speaking, yes," I confirmed as the driver handed me my ammunition bag.
"Explorer's Guild building's down that way," Pointing behind me in the direction we had come from, he continued, "Once you go under the bridge, take the third left and keep going, you'll see it plain as day. Looks like a big ole stone fortress. Good luck to ya."
"Mmh." I watched the driver hop back on his seat, check the window to his back to see that no one had boarded, then take off once again.
My intent was not sightseeing, however... Iorys was undeniably a fascinating city to behold.
That the city had been built around Yggdrasil both literally and as a figurative statement on its raison d'être seemed, upon observation, as true as the reverse idea that the massive tree's roots grew around and stretched across a city that had been there first. Roots cascaded down from above the highest tier of the city and snaked around roads, traveling over and under and, in some areas, through the brickwork. Bridges were made of the roots that arched high over the buildings below. Benches and rest areas located themselves in the shade of an overhanging wooden tendril, while playgrounds and gardens were made of the clusters of Yggdrasil's arms that had simply flopped onto the ground with no particular direction.
Just as I was about finished taking in the view, a sudden and heavy impact to my right shoulder nearly threw me off-balance. I looked over to see what had assailed me.
"Gorgeous city, isn't it?" At my side was a taller woman who had rather obnoxiously perched her left arm on my shoulder. She stared ahead at the view I had been admiring with beady, olive green eyes, and a self-assured grin. Tresses of bright orange hair toppled messily over her shoulders, topped with short cat-like ears that distinguished her as Therian. At her hip was a single katana in a dark purple sheath, with a matching tassel on the end of a golden hilt. Similar tassels hung from hairpieces that she wore on either side of her head.
"Supposing I agreed," I shoved her arm off my shoulder, taking great care to make my irritation apparent in my voice, "Wouldn't you think it a better conversation starter to grant someone your name instead of, say, using them as an armrest?"
The Therian woman looked down at me, her expression unchanged. "Xinyi."
"Well, Miss Xinyi... what do you want?" I asked flatly.
"You just so happened to catch my eye. 100 ental says you're here to be an explorer!"
"Your deductive prowess has me swept off my feet," I gestured to my armor-clad body, testing how much sarcasm I needed to throw into a statement for this woman to pick up on it, starting with 'as much as possible'.
"Well, listen! You're in luck, because ole Xinyi here's willin' to find you some guildmates absolutely free of charge!"
A waste of my time, as I expected. "I don't need any. I'm doing this myself. Alone."
I didn't make it more than a few steps away before hearing the annoying persistence I dreaded: "Hey! You need guildmates."
"I just said, I'm climbing Yggdrasil on my own."
"Okay, let me rephrase: you need guildmates."
I stopped and spun around. "What do you mean?"
"The Explorers' Guild doesn't let you register a guild with less than five people anymore," Xinyi explained, "Something about an increase in casualties and odds of survival— I dunno, the reason's complicated. Point is, you wanna enter Yggdrasil, you gotta be a part of an official guild. To do that, they're sayin' five people minimum now."
The color must have visibly been draining from my face, because Xinyi's impatient frown turned into one of concern as she looked on at me.
No, no, no. This was entirely against the point. I hadn't heard of this before. To come all this way only to be forced into... working with other people? It seemed too cruel to be a joke.
"Hey, you good?" Xinyi assured me. "It's no big deal. I just said I'll help you find guildmates."
I pinched the bridge of my nose and let out an exasperated sigh through gritted teeth. "Fine. I'll go along. So, what exactly was your plan for helping—"
"Hell yeah! So first off, I know the perfect guy straight away. He's, uh... somewhere in the city, fuck if I know. We'll find 'im. Come on! Let's go!" A terrifying burst of energy possessed Xinyi in an instant, and she shot off down the street nearly at a full sprint.
"Hey! Wait!" Calling after her was predictably ineffective. Confused about her motive for helping me as I was, there was no denying I'd have an easier time letting this woman handle recruitment than doing it myself, so I had no choice but to run after her.
◄—•—►
By the time we found our nebulously defined destination, even Xinyi herself had tired of running, and I was able to catch up to her. The comprehensive constitutional of Iorys' southeast district had led us to a marketplace where a variety of stalls occupied both sides of an alleyway, and overhanging tree roots offered a means to clutter the space with rugs, paper lanterns and the like which sellers wished to display.
If not for intermittent breaks in the roots that let patches of sunlight in, they would practically have qualified as a ceiling. We stepped through a gnarled arch from which hung a sign: "Syrik's Adventurer's Prep— Your Ascent Begins Here!"
A young, bright-eyed Brouni boy in flashy gear was immersed in conversation. Xinyi pointed my attention to the other member of the conversation: A tall, svelte figure with a knuckle to their lip and the other arm crossed under the first, in a gesture of intent listening, though their mouth moved and smiled as if the exchange were light and pleasant. A well-combed mane of striking pink fell all the way to their hips in a fashion that seemed as if they had long since done away with the hassle of styling it, and simply let it grow out.
Xinyi drew a finger to her lips as she looked at me, and then began tiptoeing toward the Celestrian fellow, though her "stealthy" gait was better suited to conveying its intent than accomplishing it, and the tiptoes seemed unnecessary, given that it would've been difficult to pick up on regular footsteps over the persistent marketplace chatter.
Ordinarily, I think I would've stopped her, or called out to ruin her plan, but there was a small bit of me that was just too fascinated with the fact that the merchant boy also didn't seem to clock Xinyi's approach, despite the fact that he was facing her.
As she came within inches of her unsuspecting victim, she curled her fingers into crooked claws, and then: "GRAAHH!"
"AAARGH!!" The poor man's back arched forward as his entire body tensed and he let out a yelp that made me second guess if he was in on the act, and just putting on a slightly melodramatic performance. He'd have leapt into the air if his assailant hadn't gripped his shoulders as part of the scare.
Xinyi's victim spun around upon hearing her break into a fit of devious cackling. "Gods, 'Ni, what'd you do that for?!"
The onlooking Brouni didn't seem much phased by this turn of events, save for nearly jumping from fright himself. Was he familiar with the two?
"...Okay, okay, I'm a little sorry. There, feel better? Listen, I've managed to find a possible guild-mate." Xinyi looked toward me, and gestured in my direction.
The pair walked toward me. The sort of robe-like jacket the man wore – a muted dark green with gold trim – I recognized as the kind of outfit befitting a magic practitioner of Sidonia, though it was quite decorated. If it was a uniform for an academy, then it must've been a rather illustrious one. Regardless, a mage might not be a bad idea to have, as I myself knew nothing of magic.
Xinyi began introducing us. "Ash, this is— ehh... uh..."
"Perhaps it slipped your mind to ask for certain critical information before sprinting through the city?" I folded my arms.
Xinyi sneered at me, then restarted. "Ash, this is Miss Smart-Ass. Miss Sm—"
"Yulia." I shot a glare back. "Yulia Mavenroth."
The fellow Xinyi introduced as Ash hovered a hand over his heart and took a short bow. "Pleasure to meet you, Yulia. If I understand right, we're both in the market – figuratively, anyway – for somebody to form a guild with?"
"Right. Well, not entirely by my choice, but—"
"Heya!" The merchant from before interjected, "Sorry to butt in, but did I hear you right saying you were an aspiring adventurer?"
"I wouldn't say 'aspiring adventurer', but I have intent to reach and see the top of Yggdrasil," I said, careful to stay divorced from some blithe notion of Yggdrasil as an excursion to walk away from with a few new friends and a healthy menagerie of memories.
The boy continued, "Hey, all the same to me! Just wanted to introduce myself. I'm Syrik; I buy and sell armor, weapons, and various goods that adventurers – err, explorers – like you would find handy! I see you're already well-outfitted for the job, but I can always work your equipment into something new and improved with the rare materials the labyrinth has! Oh, and speaking of that— I also buy valuables off of guilds, so don't be shy!"
"Right... I'll keep that in mind, then, Syrik."
"So, not to be nosy, but it sounds like you and Ash are grouping together?"
Ash and I turned to look at each other simultaneously. He spoke, "I'm not fully apprised of the situation, but I believe that to be the case."
"Eh? What's she gonna do, say no?" Xinyi joked.
"I could." I was not joking.
Ash cut in before Xinyi could get further riled up: "Well, on behalf of my partner here, allow me to apologize for any miscommunication that has allowed for uncertainty in your decision. And, allow me to ask formally: Would you lend us your abilities, and form a guild together by which to explore Yggdrasil?"
Though they spoke elegantly, contrary to my expectations for what kind of company a girl like Xinyi had dragged me in circles around the city to recommend, I did not have a pulse on the Celestrian's capability. Plus, what Xinyi had told me was still playing on my mind: I'd be dragged down by not one, but four strangers if I wanted to even make it past the forest's entrance.
If I had answered a second sooner or later, maybe my heart would have flickered in a different direction, and I'd have given a different response. Though, really, if my conviction were that flimsy, I could never have hoped to climb Yggdrasil in the first place, alone or otherwise. So my answer came, with all the enthusiasm you'd expect of someone making a life-altering decision:
"I suppose."