As a project that happened, to mend the bond that was broken or the bond that never existed because of secrecy, Alice had to go on a quest. It was nothing with what she was used to, she had gone to many more dangerous things but that was not allowed at this time. Something something about not being mentally stable enough to do so and she had almost flipped a table because of that, probably only to prove the point that they were right.

She was stable! She had been able to take care of herself, her kids, she had been able to keep her distance. What more did they want from her to allow her to go on! She was waiting for the Rune Knight to show up, she knew his name somewhere in her brain but as he was not on her list of needing a rescue attempt or on her list of hatred people, it was somewhere deep down. When he would say it or when she would see him, it would probably jump in her mind. She was waiting near the shop of Marlee, having just spoken to her about the issue. She had clenched her hands into fist, as she dug her nails again in the palm of her hand. Careful. No blood needed to be spilt.

She was dressed in her normal attire, having lost her armour during her hostage period, she had not found a new one that she liked and this one, well it wasn't the best but it was something. Natheal's sword on her left hip. She was ready for whatever to come, but first the Rune Knight needed to be here.

Ren came walking down the grassy street of Orchidia, the sight of their meeting point coming into view. Ren was admittedly a tad nervous. For multiple reasons in fact. Firstly it was his job to try and help console the injured relationship between the Holy Knights and the Rune Knights. Not an easy task to do, especially for such a young Paige. Secondly the person who had been chosen for him to meet was an outstanding woman. Towering above Ren in power, intelligence and almost every other aspect that he held himself in high regards of. Lastly though, this would be his first ever C ranked mission in Fiore. A mission that was usually seen as casual to some, and most definitely seen as casual to Adelaide Sokolov, it was a steeping stone for the Rune Knight for many reasons. This would be the starting point in his ascendance in the Rune Knights and hopefully in his family's vision also. Before the boy knew it he was stranding before his partber for today's mission.

"Good Morning Miss Sokolov. Are you ready for today's mission?"

He asked keeping a rather dull and monotone sound to his voice hoping to hide his nerves. Ren wanted to tread lightly when speaking and acting around Adeliade. Not only for the sake of the Rune Knights, but also because Adelaide seemed to have this air about her that Ren could not exactly figure out. Not particularly skilled in reading other's emotions he thought it best to act as formal as possible. Ren himself was wearing his usual attire also, woth the except of his Rune Knight pendant hanging from around his neck, sitting against his white top. His long dark hair was toed into a loose pony tail. He awaited Adelaide's response before contuning doing anything else.

wc": 307

It wasn't that Ren was late, she was just extremely early. The good thing was that she had her people in Orchidia or well not her people but people she knew and that remembered her and that she had contact with so she could leave her children in the capable hands of people she maybe dared to trust. Which was a very short list at this point.

"Goodmorning to you."

Casual, airy, could she still do that as she did before. Was she even herself or was she mentally changed just as she was physical? She gave a wry smile, not able to smile normally at this point, this Marlee annoyed her so much because of her stupidity. A Month!? How much did you care about someone if they disappeared for a month! Not on a quest, not on a hunt, not on an adventure, no. In a house that was close by. She wanted to scream at their customer but she did not. "I spoke to the woman, she gave me the address of the manor and we are looking for her husband, so let's go." She pointed in the direction of the manor and they arrived soon enough.

After walking around the thing twice, she had no idea how to find a way to enter until she found out that the door was simply unlocked and she let Ren go in first and followed, her left hand on the hilt of her sword in case she needed it. When she closed the door behind her it made a loud thud sound and the click of the lock. She pushed with all her strength against it but it wouldn't budge. "Of course." Time to find the needle in this haystack and find another way to get out. No time to panic.

Ren would mimic Adelaide, giving her a wry smile back. He was not sure exactly how to act in front of a Holy Knight such as herself, so the naive Rune Knight thought it best simply to copy her in every way he could as to not annoy her.

After he had asked if she was ready to start the mission, tge Holy Knight explained that she had already been speaking with the client. She also gave Ren a very very short summary of the details.

"Oh I am sorry. I did not realoze I was so late that you would feel the need to go in without me."

After saying this Ren have a small bow. Although to most this could be seen as a snarky comment, Ren was genuinely apologetic. Although this was partially done to keep their relationship good it derived primarily from his upbringing. He wouldn't bring this up however without being asked.

"Prehaps you could tell me more information on the way there? If you would not mind, Miss Sokolov."

He asked once again in a genuine way. He honestly hoped he was being as polite as he could and not causing any issue for her. After all he was a lowly Paige while she was a high ranking Holy Knight. There could only be a short limit on the woman's patience for a noy such as himself.

After they had reached the Mansion and scanned it's exterior twice, Adelaide made the bold move and simply tried the front door. Luckily enough it opened with minimal effort. Ren offered to go inside first which Adelaide agreed with. Entering the large manor reminded Ren of his own home, although one hundred times more filthy. Stepping in after Ren, the door slam shut on Adelaide and gave a resounding click. From the Holy Knight's reaction Ren could only assume the door had locked itself.

"Well no matter. The door should not stop us from finding the client's Fiance."

Ren said hoping to lighten the mood slightly. As the words left his mouth a small duck came waddling into the main entrance hall where the two knight's stood. Ren looked to Adelaide perplexed, hoping she would know what to do in this bizarre situation.

wc 382+307=689

"Don't worry about it Ren, you weren't late. I was just extremely early."

She waved away his apology and felt even more uncomfortable when he bowed at her than actually relieved. She did not say that and tried to keep her face as stone cold as she could to not show the perplexion of it. Instead, she would try to smile, a habit that she had forgotten to use.

As they made their way towards the manor, she explained as much as she could, but first, she asked him to call her Adelaide. She had not had the courage to tell that it should be missus because well who cared at this point if she was the only one who knew. Try to explain that to all your guests at your wedding. In the end, she explained that the fiance had been missing for a month, only able to pronounce this by gritting her teeth and not even trying to show no annoyance. She did not even mind if he would ask.

As soon as they arrived a the manor and it shut the door behind them, she looked around the hallway, her thumb underneath the grip as to push it up when needed to grab it with her right hand. However, no one came, even if she suspected a mage around because of the lock. Instead, what did show up was a duck. She stared at it and looked back at Ren and shrugged, "It looks fed, someone should be home or visits every day. Let's look around." She whispered as to remain silent as much as possible and she carefully put one foot in front of the other to avoid making harsh noises.

Like a professional she checked every room and mentioned it was clear when there was no one there, the manor was, of course, big and it would take a while before they would be done as she suspected the guy to be on the first floor. However, she did not want to run into random thugs. There was no one downstairs and she looked at the stairs and turned over her shoulder when she heard another quack... That duck had been following them the whole time. "I wonder what it does here in this manor." she couldn't help but say out loud.

Ren's apology was simply brushed aside which he was thankful for. That seemed to happen quite a bit these days. First with the Lamia Scale's Elf Kerii and now with Adelaide. Prehaps he was apologizing too much. Regardless it seemed as though Adelaide appreciated the gesuture as shown by her smile. All the same Ren would think about contacting his family to get another opinion and possibly permission to not apologize so much.

Walking to the manor and having asked his question Adelaide was nice enough to reply. But first she wished to be addressed by her first name. Maybe this was because she wanted a better relationship with Ren and in turn the Rune Knights. Ren did not mind calling her either but would abide to her wishes. Now onto the important stuff. Adelaide told ren more about the quest. Mentioning how their Client waited a month to put up the quest Ren look puzzled.

"A month? Really? Sorry it is not my place to pass judgement."

Ren said as he let Adeliade continue on. As a Rune Knight he couldn't let his emotions get in the way of his work and as a Holy Knight he imagined Adelaide would feel the same. Probably thinking only the divine could pass judgement on other people. But to be fair ot was a rather long while to wait to send help.

Now currently in the manor Adelaide was prepared to fight. She jad a stern yet calm face on her, poised to strike any intruder who would dare cross her path. Even while in that mindset she gave great insight as to why the duck was there and how it was treated. As they both checked the rooms and yelled clear the duck even followed them.

"I was wondering the same thing. I presume it's a pet-" At the mention of the word pet the duck began to quack loudly as if in protest before waddling off to a back room where muffled noises were coming from. Ren looked increasingly perplexed at the poultry. At the door Ren would suggest he go in first again while Adelaide covered him. What would be behind this door?

wc:368+689=1057

The rooms were cleared very quickly because there was no one there and before Alice had time to step on the first step of the stairs, she was distracted by the duck. She was sure that the whole charade was upstairs but there was no time for that. Not now, she looked up but did not hear anything and thus turned around. As she hunched down to observe the duck, it seemed to get angry at what Ren said and she raised her right eyebrow and looked up at the Rune Knight. That's right before the duck took off and she stood up to follow it as silently as she could. For some strange reason it looked like the duck understood the Fioran language that they were talking. As they were following the duck, Alice turned to Ren to show her idea which was putting her left index finger against her lips to tell Ren to be quiet as well without making a sound of a word. No hush, no whisper and no noise. Especially when she heard voices, whispering, uttering, muttering. It came from a back room, so it was not upstairs, that meant that the duck saved her from spilling time on something impossible. The needle was here not in the higher part of the haystack but very low.

She eyed the duck as it seemed to point at the door and she wasn't sure. Apart from the fact that the duck seemed to know the language that they spoke as well as the signs, for it did not make another quack. Not only did it know how to read signs it also knew to make pointing with its wing towards the door, she was sure after looking a second time. She nodded at the suggestion that Ren would go but she moved up her hand first as an indication to wait for a second and she pulled the sword from its scabbard and stood ready with it in her right hand. She wanted to keep her left free. In case of a hoard of people she would be able to pull Ren back and close the door. However, the sound was not like a conversation but more or a one man show. She got very curious for as much as she allowed it. Ready to actually protect him or see what would happen. With the door open she noticed at first the person strapped to a chair and it must be the fiance, it was the same description by Marlee. "That's him." She took a scan across the room, noticing the medical equipment but quickly took rapid steps over to the fiance to take the gag off. But instead of talking he quacked at her and she took a step back and held her sword with both hands. What the hell? She looked at the duck, back at the guy, back at the duck and stared with a pale face at Ren. "I think the duck is him and this thing is the duck." a thumbs up at the human body. She felt insane because that was ridiculous but she had seen so much also with her dad that is.

She groaned and went to look through the room, holding her sword still ready but a tad lower and only with her right hand again, there must be someone in this manor because they look well-taken care off. "There must be an idiot around." She looked at the open door on the left and the closed on the right and took a deep breath, "Keep that duck here and try if you find a solution." She did not even try to whisper anymore. The door looked solid enough to drown out their voices. This would mean that she was going to take a soft approach. She was done. She went to the closed door and kicked it in and stared at the hunched man who seemed to be laughing at a set of bottles with strange liquid. As he seemed to be more in his head with his giggles, she was quickly at him and took his shoulder and held the sword right underneath his chin. "Look, we can take the long road or the short one but the end will be the same. Fix. It." She wasn't really polite or anything but why did it need to be. She pulled him to the door and kicked him through with her sword at the small of his back.

He muttered things she did not hear and shortly looked at Ren who was of course in that room. The man took the duck and put him on the other empty chair that she had missed before and muttered something, something that he could not work like this but she only hissed at him that he had to hurry. He seemed to know what he was doing but she didn't trust him, "Any mistake and you get to meet my weapon even closer." Which made him switch to another liquid but it seemed to fix the problem and switch it back. Which was a very weird show if she had not seen a lot of things in her life already. She looked as if she checked upon the duck but hit the scientist with the back of her blade on the back of his head. To which he fell to the ground. "Oh, and I forgot to say you are arrested." but she let Ren fix the other things. The rights. It was with the massive headache that he probably did not hear it as he was basically knocked out. She shook her head and made sure Marlee's fiance was alright. "Would you reunite them?" She lifted up the scientist over her left shoulder and tucked the duck under her right arm, petting it softly so it knew it was okay and she would make sure it would get a good place to stay.

She made her way out of the manor, but waited for the other two and walk with them mostly before dropping the scientist at the station.

As the duck quacked aggressively Adelaide soon came down to see what all tge fus was about. Once the plan was agreed upon, the Holy Knight gave the Rune Knight some instructions as to how to barge in as she took her sword fron it's leather home.

Busting in they weirdly found a man tied up and gagged on a chair. Adelaide was the quickest too him and removed his bindings. Ren was about to question him but before he could even open his mouth the man quacked extreemly loudly. Ren looked to his partner for some context. Luckily she was a few steps ahead of the Rune Knight. She first pointed out that it was the person they had come to find in this manor, the client's fiance. Or rather his body. Secondly she deduced that the duck following them was no duck at all and in fact had the mind of their client's fiance.

"Great deduction."

Ren said looking from the duck to the man. The duck waddled to the restrained man and quacked happily.

Adelaide took the initiative once more and rather rudely pointed out that there must be another near by as the man was also well fed. Ren nodded in agreement as she ordered him to try and find a solution while she went to investigate. Ren ince again agreed but had no clu3 where to start. He sheepishly looked to the duck for guidance, but it only quacked at him as he flew up on the man's lap, flapping it's wings rather comically.

Not long after the Holy knight ventured into the other room, Ren heard her voice once again speaking rudely to someone else. He also heard deranged muttering from the same room. Ren did not need Adelaide to deduce this for him. She had obviously found the culprit. A quick threat later and the man came into the room and took the duck, putting him on a different chair behind the man who quacked as the duck was taken off of his lap. The deranged man went over to the corner of the room and lifted a floor board, revealing vials of all sorts of colours. He picked one up looking rather suspicious. Once again Adelaide was  quick to throw a threat which made the man look at her sword and scold at her before he went back and picked up a different vial. Putting a drop on each of their tongues the duck and the man had their bodies returned to themselves. The man turned around hoping they would leave but neither was having it. Putting a hand out to stop him Adelaide told the man he was arrested, while Ren recited his rights. Swiftly putting the man on her shoulder and the duck under her other she instructed Ren to bring the man back to his Fiance. Ren agreed and did as he was told. He collected the reward from the client. Ren gave Adelaide her share then parted ways

Ren decided to head back to the local Rune Knight barracks to get something warm to drink as it began to snow. In the kitchen Ren now began to feel the cold. The window was somewhat frosted over, the windowsill was even a little icy. Ren wasn't fond of the cold at all, so as he waited for the kettle to boil he tapped his foot. The kitchen was always cold anyway, but on a day like today it was made way worse and making Ren far more cold. he would rub him arms to try and get some warmth into them as the kettle finally began to squeal. Sighing he'd pull out a large mug and fill it with the water, then adding some ingredients to make a strong cup of coffee. Ren would wrap both him hands around the mug, hoping to keep the cold at bay. As he sipped him hot beverage, Ren went up to the window. As per usual there was a draft that could never be obstructed, but he did not go up to it in the hopes of doing so. Instead he rubbed the steam from th window which was made by the kettle. he didn't rub it all away, just enough so he could gaze out of the window and look at the snow covered Orchidia. Ren sighed again taking another sip of him coffee, filling him spirits and indeed putting himself in a better mood. Look out the window, Ren hoped that some natural sight such as this might help evoke some of him locked away memories 9f his home or even help remind him of it. But alas life wasn't so simple and all Ren was feeling was the draft from the window. Ren set him mug aside and lifted opened the window, before slamming it shut again. The window closed with a resounding thud that made some of the other knights who had entered the kitchen stop in their tracks, stop talking and look rather confused at Ren. "I was trying to stop the draft." he explained as he picked his mug back up and left the kitchen quickly. Ren walked down the hall, wondering why he was getting so worked up. Ren took a handkerchief from him pocket to blow his nose. The cold caused his nose to run. As he finished his coffee the blood stopped. “"I might go for another walk.” he said now leaving the base. Whatever warmth the coffee had given him had all but gone as he walked along the cold concrete footpath. Rubbing his hands together for warmth once more. As he walked away from the town into the forest he thought not many would be around. Although it was rather empty it wasn't as scarce as he thought it would be. As he approached he thought he recognised the people but he was far from right. Ren would walk up beside him but wouldn't say a word and appear to look at the request board.


wc 1015+1037=2052