FORTY

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Ally and Simona left the child in the home of one Alex in a village in the foothills several miles outside Reiham Port before tracing their way back to where Camila and Lauren were taken by the serpentinas. Apparently, this Alex person knows this child's mother and took it upon herself to look after him from here on out.

The two of them, tugging three griffins with them as they go looking like lost fools, tracked their way in the forests in hopes of finding their friends and where their captors might keep them as they travel back wherever the hell Alejandro keeps his venomous ass. Only to find stinking dead bodies and a donkey trail track that led them back to the village by the foothills at the end of the day.

With that discovery, Ally and Simona quickly came up to the conclusion that Camila and Lauren managed to escape their captors. They were fools indeed to think otherwise. Either that or they're both just afraid to come into terms with the possibility that they might've just lost people they care so much about.

But after a restless night in the forest, Ally and Simona started the day by arguing back and forth whether to continue searching the village for the boss and the princess, or wait for Dinah and Normani's reinforcing presence back in the shores of Reiham Port. The two of them simply settled in that little camp they made somewhere in the forest, along with their bored griffins as they carried on arguing.

While Ally made it a point to call out Simona for hiding the truth about Laura the guest's true identity, the older woman made it a point to tell Ally what an idiotic idea it was to go after Alejandro and his multitude of criminal followers with just the four of them.

They wasted a good amount of time arguing, that by the time they exhausted themselves to the point of growling hunger and restless sleep on a tree trunk, another night passes. When mid morning arrived the next day, Camila and Lauren sneakily shows up right where they were camping by a tree hollow.

"Lauren! Thank heavens! Are you alright?!"

"I'm fine Simona, thank you for asking me too," Camila answers with a teasing smile.

Lauren hugs the older woman and tells her she's absolutely fine. The princess goes to ask the same thing about her and Ally and the traumatized child from the day prior, while Camila simply smiles at them. Simona carries on telling Lauren where they left the child, while Ally eyes Camila like a hawk.

"What is wrong with you?" She asks when the smile on the boss's face doesn't fade.

"Why?"

"You're smiling. You never smile like that,"

"Like what?"

"Like an idiot,"

Camila glares at Ally, but before she can smack the back of her head, Lauren stands beside them.

"She's just happy we're all fine . . . Now, we just have to discuss how are we all going to proceed. The four of you wanted to get rid of the lord of serpents once and for all, right? I can help you with that. Apparently, he is in Arcade city and that's where Simona and I are eventually heading. We just need to make a detour up north so we have an army to back us up,"

The princess and the bandit continues to tell Ally and Simona everything that transpired earlier. From when they left the forest the other day leading up to the moment when Taylor and her group tried to abduct Lauren but failed.

"So . . . What else happened?" Simona asks curiously, noticing the distinct change in Camila and Lauren's dynamic.

Because instead of snarking at each other, they have become this unit where they talked and moved in perfect sync with each other. They have this rhythm as they told their adventures these past few days, finishing the other's sentences and filling in words where it's needed, lingering looks and soft smiles and all.

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