It had only been a few short hours since she had arrived in Oak Town, having taken a lengthy trip herself from the heart of Fiore in Crocus on the urgency of her boss, and now she was back in a carriage already. On the bright side, she was not alone. Rather, she found herself seated across from her boss, lover, and as of recently Guild Master of Phantom Lord, Astrid Venier. That third title was one that would have taken a while for Sia to get used to, but it was not one that mattered much to her. To be able to both work for and make love to Astrid was enough to look past even the worst aspects of this woman, if any had proven to be reality. Buta s it was, this was greater of an opportunity than anything she could have ever hoped to imagine.

She looked lovingly at the woman with white and black hair focused on the view from outside the window. They were taking a more unorthodox route than one typically would, the duo wanting to both arrive at their destination promptly, but also discreetly. Travelling upon the most common roads would draw attention to them, something that Astrid certainly did not want.

Besides, taking these roads would enable them to spend sufficient time not just in each other’s company, but also to be properly debriefed and prepared for what they were to expect next when they arrived. The reality was that they would have no time once their travel concluded. Astrid expected for them to hit the ground running, and every effort taken to make sure that was accomplished was imperative to them.

Sia watched on a little bit longer, her heart racing, happy to be back in Astrid’s company once again. There was just such a sense of fulfillment being at her side. Though she managed the past several weeks alone in Crocus, it certainly was a challenge; one that she at times wished to desperately be free of and in Astrid’s arms again. Now reunited, no words could describe how thrilled she was.

“Sia,” the words brought her out of her own smitten daydreams, looking up to see Astrid’s eyes focused upon her now, “Brief me on the situation in Orchidia.”

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She looked down onto the collection of notes stored within the folder in her lap. Numerous details, reports, opinions, and other details that had been gathered surrounding their intended destination, Orchidia. It was among several that Astrid had viewed as high priority, particularly given the concerning precedent that may have resulted if they were to have dismissed the matter. They had sought to resist the orders given by the Office of the Auditor and if it was not met with force or if word were to have gotten out about such resistance, it may have meant that other cities would try to oppose her Office too.

And if so, it would also result in efforts like the one Astrid was hoping to accomplish here all the more difficult due to the likelihood of the Senate now being involved. Even something like that they were doing now, an unscheduled trip from Oak Town to Orchidia, was one that would have been significantly criticized on its own, let alone if the true reasoning was known.

“Unfortunately, it does not appear that things are improving much,” Sia began, handing the folder of documents to Astrid; she knew enough of the situation and had committed most of it to memory by this point. There was not much else to do in Crocus than read over everything, and by the seventh or eighth time going through everything, things started to simply be retained. “Orchidia’s leadership issued an outright rejection to the audit sent by your Office, citing outright refusal on the basis of and I quote, ‘vital preservation of Orchidia’. Documents A through E illustrate much of their explicit justifications, however none seem to go into much greater detail than simply outright need under that label.”

“The way you phrase that, it would almost sound like it were intended to be used for defense,” Astrid remarked, looking over the documentation. Sure enough, there was no shortage of these types of claims being made, but not in any given centralized point of focus. Much of it was coming from things like masonry budgets, importing of coal, oil, huge shipments of stone coming from areas all throughout Fiore. “Is it defense that they are addressing, or are they viewing construction as their point of emphasis? And to that, is there any actual preservation that would be to come of something like that?”

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It was somewhat rhetorical.

Preservation often could have been used to describe the expansion of a city, citing the idea that expanding and improving the quality of a population through growth translated to the preservation of society and a culture. It was a cheap answer at times, and this one was one that was no exception either. Yet, even entertaining the idea that this was a genuine instance of preservation was betrayed by something far more obvious, the simple lacking of growth in crop production or resources towards it.

“Did they provide you with any greater detail than this? I’m struggling to understand quite how they think in any sort of reality that a refusal off of these claims would stand.” It did not make sense to her, and the more she focused on it, the less sense it seemed to make then. Orchidia had invested vast amounts of the funds provided to them by the Fiorian Government in projects that had no business receiving this sort of funding. Trade skills, much like where a great deal of their funds were being diverted to, were often handled by the mercantile guilds whom dictated their prices and costs through their local Governments. Only in some situations like within Oak Town were there exceptions, but not in Orchidia. Nor should Orchidia or any other location be investing the amount of jewels that they were into trade skill professions at a rate of nearly 5 to 1.

Sia shook her head, “Not at first. At least. It took some time, but I was able to find out a bit more as to everything that was going on. Refer to Page 7, it should be listed there.” She said nothing as Astrid went through the documents, finally taking the aforementioned page and read it, her eyes widening in disbelief as it became more apparent. “Everything there is going towards some sort of defense project. And has been for months. At first, nothing that would merited any sort of focus or interest really, but as time has gone, it’s come to the point where almost a third of any funds provided to the city are being vested into measures to improve this project.”

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She kept looking through the pages, struggling to comprehend what the hell was going in Orchidia. Investing like this, it was something that she had not seen before, but for as much as Astrid found it to be foolish, there was a part of her that did understand why it may have been something like this. The sad reality was that Orchidia had been plagued in recent years by struggles and conflicts that had afflicted the northern part of Fiore, and although there had been a great deal of commotion associated with the neutral guild Paradise Dawn, it did not change that there was a considerable amount of strife suffered by the people. They may have viewed an aggressive spending budget like this a viable means to counter and prevent future matters.

Nevertheless, even if they believed it to be the best approach, it did not change the reality of the situation, especially from Astrid’s perspective. No city outside of Oak Town, and by obligation, Hargeon Town, were exempt from the Office of the Auditor. Orchidia was one of the cities that received a massive influx of wealth in the funds of Fiorian jewels and most of it were not going towards public works or other areas of focus that could potentially improve the quality of life for its people. Instead it was going to an endeavor that was invalidated by the fact that they had been unable to protect themselves for quite a long while.

“What are they hoping to accomplish with this…” She wanted to understand all of it. But it was simply too hard to fully wrap her head around. After staring at the pages over and over again, eventually she simply tossed the folder aside, frustrated that the situation seemed so awkward and confusing that even she could not quite piece it together. It did however give her reason to appreciate the woman across from her. Sia had proven to be a greater resource than anything that she could have at first expected to encounter, and her work throughout this endeavor had proven to be precisely that. It was wonderful, to say the least.

But even Sia’s knowledge did not change the fact that they were heading into a very difficult situation. Orchidia clearly had a reason for their massive allocation of funds, whether or not it made sense or was reasonable. It was evident by their resistance to any sort of proposal that had been submitted by the Office of the Auditor that they were unwilling to budge on this matter without sufficient reason. Though in her head there were several ideas that came to mind, Astrid wondered if she would have to take such measures, or if the situation could have been handled on its own.

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