Chapter 21 - The Rest of Them

Finding the northern hunting grounds wasn’t difficult. Just go north. Pretty simple all things considered.

There was concern in the young plant’s heart as she came across the hunting ground in question. Was it even the same thing as Pietri? Holly had no real way of knowing. But she had to meet Cris again! Even if the chance was small, she had to know more about him.

The way he moved around, how relaxed he was out in public; he was a zalavan who had made it. One who was integrated into Riterran society. She had so many questions for him, she didn’t know where to start when she did find him.

After wandering some more, she did discover nearly the exact same set-up as the hunting grounds in Pietri. There was a line waiting for the person at the booth to check everyone in and dole out their assignments for the night.

Holly, being one of the hunters at this point, joined the rank and file waiting for her turn. Her focus remained forward, unable to wander. Well, that wasn’t necessarily true. She was lost in her mind, thinking about the lycoris boy who stole her attention even in his absence. A wistful sigh escaped her mouth as she wondered where he was from; what was his story? Surely it would be better than hers. As composed as he was, he probably had such a smooth escape from…

More questions arose. Where was he from? She didn’t know of any lycoris in Inverna. Was he from another settlement that was like Inverna? Holly had to find him, her curious rhythm would not allow her peace until she had her growing list of inquiries satiated.

“Next!” The commanding voice of the MA Office registrar snapped her from her musings.

Just like her first night in Pietri, the booth attendant looked around for a Maestro. “Here, they said I need to give this to you!” Holly beamed, handing over her bracelet.

An appraising look was given to the device. “One moment.”

Holly rolled her eyes as soon as the registrar’s back was turned. She knew how this was going to end.

The registrar returned. “Okay, sorry about that. You’re fine to go on your own?” asked the booth attendant, scanning the bracelet and handing it back to its owner.

Were they following a script? Holly swore that was the same thing the Pietri attendant said the first night she hunted. She’d return the practiced phrasing with some of her own. “Mhm! I brought lots of seeds! Even then I see plenty of good-looking trees, I’ll be fine – Promise!” the zalavan said cheerily.

“I see. You’ll be in the east flank. Go that way and find the group over there,” the registrar pointed in the direction Holly needed to go.

It was almost beat for beat the same, except she was heading east this time instead of west. How strange. Maybe that was just something that came with repetition. Either way, Holly had her assignment, so she departed the line to allow the next person to go.

Normally she would have allowed her curiosity to run amok – she was in a new locale, so surely the vendor booths here must have offered different food and wares.

However, she was here on a mission. She’d only be able to find out if she drew the correct lot in this game of straws when she got to the fabled east flank.

Her heart hammered not from exertion, but anticipation as she made her way through the deep jungle towards her assignment. There was light ahead. Her chest tightened as she found it harder and harder to push herself towards the gentle glow.

She so desperately wanted to avoid the disappointment of anyone but Cris being there. Crossing the border of trees into the light, she closed her eyes, not wanting to bear the weight of the truth.

“Huh?” That voice wasn’t Cris.
“A zalavan?” A second, still not him.
“Hey, just like you, Cris!”

Upon hearing the third, Holly’s eyes snapped open. The other three didn’t matter, only he mattered. She was grateful his brilliant reds weren’t sullied by fading memories. His smile was just as vibrant as she remembered.

Holly shook her head – what was wrong with her?

“Hey, Holly.” He waved.
“H-hi.” She meekly waved back.

The group of four appraised the foreign zalavan in their midst.

“Where’s your Maestro?” questioned Cris.
“Uh, I don’t have one,” Holly admitted.

The other three muttered amongst themselves.

“Are you lost?” asked the Maestro of the group. He wasn’t anything to write home about. Short black hair, average build for a human, basic clothes. Holly had seen a dozen other humans exactly like him in Pietri and Ralevi.

“She stumbled in here with such gusto,” said the fire element of the party. She had triangular ears and a long fluffy tail curled behind her – a cat, just like that little boy she saved in the mountains.

“The thing on her wrist looks like a weird tuner,” observed the water element. Another male, the largest of the group by a sizable margin. His defining trait as a Resonator was the long tail covered in thick armor-like scales.

Holly finally shook off her whatever that was keeping her locked up. “Hi! I’m Holly and I’m here to get rid of the mean Scherzando!” she introduced herself to the group with all the bubbliness she could muster.

The Maestro spoke for his team. “Well, hi there Holly. I’m M̶͍̅ī̷͖c̸̰̅ḱ̵͖, this is K̷̻̈́a̸̧͠t̶̔͜h̸̻͂ṟ̴̍ỳ̸̬n̶͓͝, the big guy is R̷̠̈́o̶̯͊b̵̰͂e̶̙̾r̸̠͛t̵͊͜, and it sounds like you’ve already met Cris.”

Gibberish, all of it was gibberish except for Cris.

Cris raised a brow. “You really out on your own?” he questioned.

Holly nodded, though she held her breath for a moment, wondering if he’d judge her poorly for that.

Much to her relief, he smiled. “Well, look at you! Quite the entrepreneur arent’cha?” Cris’ bright grin outshone the tiny balls of fire that illuminated the clearing.

She could only nod, his visage too luminous to take on directly. What she wouldn’t have given for a distraction right now.

“Alright, I think we should get going then. The flanks usually don’t get as much support as the main group does, so let’s make sure to keep on the move,” said the Maestro. “Cris, Rilevare l’intenzione, Lento.”

Thank Sage Lanvi for the Maestro moving the show along.

The group of five began to walk, Holly sticking close to Cris in the middle while the fire and water elements took the front and back of the group respectively. The Maestro was in the middle of the formation overall, being the squishiest of the formation.

“So, Holly, how’d you end up in Ralevi?” asked Cris as they walked.
“Oh! Well, I uh-” she paused, panicking as she tried to get her story straight, “-wanted to see the world. There’s lots of pretty stuff and tasty food.” She decided to leave out the details of her kidnapping.

“Admirable, brave even.” Cris patted her back. She didn’t hate the feeling. It was nice.
“I’m assuming the watch thing lets you work as a solo hunter?” asked the Maestro.
“Mhm! The nice manager said they usually give them to Naturals,” Holly said.

Cris and his Maestro looked between each other, before sharing a shrug. “Didn’t know that was a thing, to be honest,” said Cris.

“Maybe I should keep a careful watch on you, Holly. You might give her ideas about running away,” the Maestro joked.

Holly furrowed her brow. “Her?” she asked, her eyes flicking to the fire element, the only girl in their group.

“Cris – if she knew she could strike it out on her own, she might not have given us the time of day,” said the Maestro.

Now Holly was beyond confused. Why was he referring to Cris as a girl? He was obviously a boy; he had flowers. She didn’t see fruits in his hair, so he wasn’t a hybrid. How utterly baffling.

She opened her mouth to ask why but found no power in her voice. Was it too smart to notice a slip of pronouns like that? She didn’t want to be hated. She didn’t want to make them mad. Especially not Cris.

The next her voice allowed her to speak, it was to change the subject. “You said there was calabash out here.”

“Oh yeah, you were looking for sound magic, weren’tcha?” the lycoris boy recalled. “They actually grow down the path we’re taking. Mick, if we see some-”

He didn’t need to finish his ask. The Maestro nodded. “Yeah, definitely.”

“There ya have it!” He really needed to stop smiling at her like that, Holly didn’t think her heart could handle it.

“Eheheh…” she giggled stupidly instead, turning away from him.

She didn’t really get it herself. Boys had been nice to her when she was in Inverna, but she couldn’t understand what made Cris so different from any of them. It wasn’t his flowers; he could have been a holly just like her and she didn’t think that would change anything.

He was just nice. She’d need to sleep on this and really figure out what was going on with her brain.

For now, there were beasts to hunt. The travel party grew quiet, tense with anticipation.

“Cris, what do you think?” asked the fire element.
“Lots of water elements. Might want to hang back Kat. Me, Rob, and Holly would be better here, stick with Mick,” he told his fellow Resonator.

Holly watched with an almost proud smile. They were deferring to him for advice? He did use the Rilevare l’intenzione, so he would have an idea of how many Scherzando were about.

“Is that okay with you?” Cris asked Holly.
“Oh! Yes! I have lots of lightning spells,” she chirped.
“Good, was worried you might be low on seeds,” said the other zalavan with a short nod. “Didn’t see a bag on you, so I wasn’t sure.” He patted the green bag at his waist. Upon further observation, it had a yellow ribbon that went up his torso, slung on the shoulder opposite. It was cute, Holly liked it.

“R̷̠̈́o̶̯͊b̵̰͂, keep them covered,” Mick instructed of the large water element.
“Easy,” replied Rob.

The large water element stepped forward first, motioning for the two zalavan to follow his slow advance.

Holly reached into her jacket and drew out her modest seed satchel. She kind of wished she had a bag as nice as Cris’. Perhaps she’d go shopping for a similar one. She wondered if he’d like it. The solo zalavan shook her head. This was a battlefield; she had to focus.

Shifting the seeds around in her satchel, she found the bundle of cacaos. Her eyes scanned the battle line, seeing a couple dozen of the shadows. Now that she was actually getting a good view of them, she noticed some had ice at their joints, jutting off like armor almost. Others had water that defied gravity and held together despite remaining liquid.

Scherzando were just like that – defying logic and reason. That made them all the scarier.

Holly was no weak sprout. She had thorns. The girl smirked. Without waiting for her allies’ consent, she cast.

“Fulmine a Catena, Fortissimo.”

The lightning irradiated the forest, outshining the modest little balls of fire that were their guiding lights before.

As Holly directed her violent electricity between the tightly packed Scherzando, she realized something. There was a second Fulmine a Catena hopping from beast to beast opposite of her own spell.

She met Cris’ confident gaze, and he spoke. “Great minds think alike, right?”

It wasn’t the Scherzando that killed her that evening, it would be that damn grin of his.