Maria stood next to Noel, while Kokoso and Noel were working on the day's special and most popular menu item: Salmon.
"After everything that happened, not sure I can look at salmon the same way again." Maria sighed.
"You mean the golden one?" Noel thought for a moment before giving a reply, "I guess it could have been magic, but you know what Autumn said about food, it could have just been a salmon with extraordinarily high concentrations of magic, which is why that yeti was after it."
"I guess the yeti was Autumn...she knew what status she was after, it probably made her ice attack stronger." Maria mused, "We could speculate for hours."
"Or I could just tell you," Spring fell into the desk next to them, "the salmon she ate gave all her magic effects a boost, from resistance to attack, Autumn told me all about it at the inn before we fell asleep."
"That's where you were, I thought you went back to the Refractory Construct."
"That would be nice, the magic of the Wilds is strong there, steeping in that kind of magic would be ideal, but it's a wreck, Autumn trashed that place well, it's best to wait until we find Summer and Winter before trying to make it livable...I think I saw a molded...former plum in a corner." Spring thought back to it and shrugged, "Anyways, until then we're living in the inn, the only problem is that I can't be sure if that's Autumn snoring across the hall, or Noel who's next door to me."
"Hey, what's going on with this soup, is it supposed to stick to the bottom of the pot?!" Kokoso cried from the kitchen.
"Oops, got to go back there, my soup's burning!" Spring darted back to the kitchen, where Kokoso jokingly accused her of abandoning him.
As the day dragged on, Maria noticed two costumers who she hadn't seen before, a woman in a green suit, blue tie, red tented glasses, carrying a notebook with her, and a young man who came in after, wearing a plain yellow shirt, he immediately went to a table in a corner, while she sat at a table on the side, "So, they're traveling alone, then."
She turned to Noel, who turned to the dining area, "I'll take his order, you take hers."
Noel nodded and started towards the table.
"Hello," Maria greeted, "welcome to the Sea Side Wolfe-"
"Something feels off." he suddenly remarked, looking around curiously.
"Eh, this was a ship, that's probably why."
"Not in the geometrical aspect...just fundamentally...off."
"Oh, it's probably the Wilds, the energy here is...hard to explain."
"As though it has filled a void in my soul...like an empty battery suddenly given power." he looked up at her and frowned.
"Um, is something wrong?"
His reply was a question, "You have chocolate cake here?"
"U-uh, no...we don't, now that you mention it, we haven't stocked up on any desserts."
"Well...that's fine...I can wait...I've got a little while."
"Y-you'd wait for that? We still have to find the ingredients and compute prices-"
"I can wait...I'd show up every day for some cake."
"Alright...well, until then, do you want to order anything else?"
"Uh, I'll just have a salad for now."
"Alright, I'll bring one out."
She got back to the kitchen to find Noel bringing out single coffee, "Mine wants chocolate cake, since things seem to be slowing down-"
"Got it, just have Kokoso hold onto the funds for ingredients." Noel continued on her way and Maria absentmindedly wondered where the others were, before continuing to the kitchen to burden Kokoso and Spring with yet another order.
Byrd waited behind Cathryn, axe upright to guard against the pack of wolves rushing up to them, Autumn running from them, luring them in close.
"Shocking Guard!" Cathryn roared, waiting for yellow sparks to run through the pack, springing from one to another, stunning the pack.
She then swung her axe through the group and Byrd flew off to the side, then raised his spear, "Piercing Gale!" he cried, before charging across the wolves.
Autumn took the pack out with regular claw attacks, then stepped away from the vanishing monsters to address the others, "We can forge new armor with what we've collected, right?"
"Byrd, what's on our shopping list?" Cathryn inquired.
"Wolf pelts, iron, gorgons' bane, eagle beaks...is there even a monster that drops eagle beaks?" Byrd turned to Autumn, who nodded.
"Don't worry about the iron," Autumn assured, following Cathryn to the Mosaic Rosetta, "I collected some before the wolves saw me, as for the eagles, there's a mountain beyond the Fall waterfall's source, monster eagles should live there, plenty of bears, too."
"I have a question." Cathryn turned to Autumn and continued after the spirit nodded, "Why did Spring attack as a phoenix, and you were a yeti? It doesn't...doesn't make sense to me."
"Yeah, it's crazy, huh? The thing is that it does make sense, if you're thinking one season in advance, Spring gives way to Summer, I prepare the land for Winter, Spring's element is wind, so you have an airborne monster, yet Summer comes next, and sense one thing becomes another, the airborne beast is cloaked in flames, thus the phoenix, a symbol of rebirth, a bearer of fire borne aloft the winds." Autumn snickered, and sang out merrily, "I just plagiarized Historia!"
"Wait, that means Summer's going to be fiery and earthy, and symbolize life?" Byrd racked his brain for a monster that would fit that description, but came up empty.
"And how could Winter manifest as chilly and airy, and...deathly?" Cathryn fell into contemplation as she continued leading the group back to the Mosaic Rosetta.
"That's the thing...I don't know, for instance, instead of a yeti, I could have been a snowman, that wouldn't have been fun...and I'm sure there's another symbol of rebirth that Spring could have been...I just don't have an example prepared...it could even just be a symbol of new beginnings, like...an ash tree?" Autumn frowned and shook her head, "Yeah, that's the best I've got...because ash, fire, Summer."
"That would be a good name," Byrd decided, "and I see where the wind figures in, it'd attack with leaves."
"Well, that happens sometimes." Autumn shrugged.
"W-wait, this happened more than a few times before?!" Byrd exclaimed.
"Yeah, it's never easy, one year Summer was fine, the next hundred years we tried to find her, she was crazy, destroying so many farms and forests, once she was a whirlpool monster...but there are four patterns: Forward, reverse, flip, standard, forward is what's happening, reverse is what like...if Summer was a phoenix, and flip...when flip happened, Summer became a Charybdis and wandered the ocean like an idiot, it took a couple of decades to snap her out of it...of course, I was a dragon, so...yeah, it wasn't fun for the kingdoms at the time."
"Why did you turn into monsters last time?" Cathryn wondered.
"Ha, ha, um, well, Spring told you about Unseason, right? Well, she has minions, some were magicians, some were alchemists, some were...other spirits, we're most vulnerable without a body, but then, if we're along, we're more vulnerable than spirits without a body, and thus, wandering alone, become monsters, but Unseason wasn't supposed to be able to do anything this time around, we thought we were safe, her magicians shouldn't have had power, and yet...somehow someone could use the chains we cast upon Unseason to curse us, turn us into monsters, it's torture to be a monster, during the time, it feels like a nightmare, except there's no waking up."
"Alchemists turning spirits into monsters?" Byrd shook his head, "I know you're not kidding me, but I wish you were."
"I do have a terrible time refraining from humorous indulgences, but I'm afraid I'm sober this time...somber, I meant somber!" Autumn grinned as Byrd closed his eyes and lowered his head, a toothy grin on his face while Cathryn gave her an amused hum, "Oh, and I remember once, I think it was one of the last three or four times, Spring was a shadow on a horse, she had ravens that attacked...her monster was Valkyrie, she raised spears that could cut your defense, and if she mortally wounded someone...she made them fight for her...raising them as her puppet."
"So, what was that occasion, standard," Byrd inquired, "or-"
"It was reverse, her mortal wounds bound victims in ice, her lances were chilly gales, and she could swoop over her enemies to freeze them."
"I guess I see how Valkyrie is rebirth." Cathryn sighed, "Even if it's not actual life, there's still the theme of death, it's really perfect."
"It is," Autumn agreed, "and I can't wait to break the cycle...but we can't necessarily 'kill' Unseason, just bind her again...with a better hiding place, I hope."
Cathryn used the Mosaic Rosetta to travel back to Historia's gates outside the Refractory Construct, and they continued the journey in silence.
Noel returned from the store, Spring waited outside a side door and gestured her over, "This one leads straight to the kitchen."
Noel nodded and took the groceries inside, after fitting them in the refrigerator, she went back to the front to find Maria nodding as the woman with red glasses spoke to her, she heard something about pentameters and synonyms, her eyes drifted back to the journal and she realized that the woman was a poet.
She turned to the man sitting alone with his salad, besides the two here, the place was void of customers.
"Hello, Miss," the poet greeted, "Maria and I were just discussing my new poem. My name is Re."
"I'm Noel." Noel turned to Maria and nodded her head to the kitchen, "Maria, does he still want chocolate cake?"
"Yeah, I think so." Maria turned around but Noel was already headed that way.
"Don't worry, I've got it." Noel promised.
"So, Maria, have you heard the news in he city?" Re asked, smiling.
"No, I haven't, what's going on over there?"
"Apparently the king and his science team are mobilizing, something about a missing android."
"A missing android, aren't those things hard to make? Why would an android just go missing?"
"Oh, this one, they say, is special, mobile and coordinated as a gymnast, with all the fiery might of a phoenix born aloft the winds."
Maria's brows furrowed as she stared at the smiling author, "Are you-"
"If you know, you needn't speak my name, but if you do, know that my...resources are limited and that all I can do is write under my pen name, that of an author you and your bunny friend have read much of." Re stood up and took a final sip of her coffee before turning away, "Ciao, and good luck with managing your battles and your store."
"Thanks." Maria watched as the woman left, it made sense that she was the spirit Historia, but only Historia would know about her and Kokoso's favorite author, "So, she writes as Relia Cordelia? I don't see how that makes sense...Spring suggested she was calling herself Record, but she cut it to Re...she's a strange one, for sure."
"Maria?" she turned to find Kokoso watching her, "Noel told me about an author that didn't seem affected by the Wilds, one named Re...Spring suggested that that was," Kokoso turned to the last costumer in the room, "well-"
"I know, I think so, too...she cut Record short, and is apparently our favorite author...despite not having met you she knew."
"She could probably tell us where the last two are."
"She...probably could." Maria shook her head, "For some reason, I get the feeling she can't, either that...or she's interested in seeing what kind of destruction either side can do to the other."
"You know, at first I thought there were three regulars here, looks like it's just Noel and that guy who ordered chocolate...is he wearing yellow?!" Kokoso hurried off to speak with the customer and Maria turned away.
"What's gotten into him?" Spring laughed.
"I think he's going to go and extol the virtues of yellow." Maria shook her head thoughtfully, "Oh, well, if he embarrasses himself, I'll just be...taking his place in the kitchen."775Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeu5J0OCVnh
Spring giggled and watched Kokoso, who seemed to be in a deep conversation with the cake fan, "I keep forgetting how much fun humans can be to watch."775Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFXwWHfz6Oo
Spring smiled and started for the exit, she wanted to be the first to know when the hunting team came back with the gorgons' bane.775Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDoSBP0BGZT
