In Between The Ends

Chapter Eight

      "Falco, over there! I see him!" Gabi words had barely left her mouth before she took off full tilt into the crowd that making its way from the extended plank of a charter boat that had just pulled into harbor. She dodged and weaved through the people that stood milling about the boardwalk with one particular blonde head in her sights.

"Reiner!" Before he caught sight of her, she leapt. Throwing her arms tightly around his neck she squealed with delight, feet dangling off the ground.

"Damn Gabi, you just about took me out. Haven't lost your touch I see." Reiner laughed as he returned her embrace. He settled her back on the ground before turning to Falco, who had just emerged from the crowd behind her, and hugged him tightly. It had been much too long, for all of them. "You two seem to be getting on well. How is Cardend treating you?"

Falco smiled. "Pretty well, actually! I landed a good gig over at the shipyards a few months ago, and Gabi here is still going strong with the Eldian relations team in town."

Gobi grinned broadly. "It's a tough position, but I really think we are starting to make some headway with electing Eldian officials!"

Reiner chuckled and tousled her hair affectionately. "Only you could be stubborn enough to see something like that through, Gabs." She stuck her tongue out at him playfully. "Come on, let's go!" Taking Reiner's hand Gobi lead the trio from the busy boardwalk, down a side road and into Cardend proper.

They spent several hours of the warm and humid day walking around the city streets, exploring shops and public buildings, all which still smelled of freshly cut wood.

"Where's Pieck?" Falco asked as they passed into a teeming marketplace full of vendors of every variety. The smell of cooked meat and spices hit them like a wall as they slowed to a crawl near a large stand offering plates of assorted delicacies.

"She was caught up in a project over in Cirrane, but she sends her love. Let's eat, I'm starving." Reiner said, fighting off a mouthful of drool as they passed their money over to a vendor operator in exchange for a plate of smoked meats and bread.

"Is everyone else doing okay, though? Onyankapon said that the Veritas government was getting ready to pull the Queen out of Paradis. Has it really gotten that bad over there?" Falco had lowered his voice to a whisper by this point, though Reiner doubted anyone could have overheard them in the babble of the market.

"Onyankapon has a big mouth." He said through a huge bite of bread.

"Only because we pester him. I don't understand why you're keeping us in the dark all the time!" Gabi eyed him reproachfully. "We used to be a part of things before we came all the way up here."

Reiner sighed, setting down his plate of food on a nearby bench as they all sat. "We aren't keeping things from you because we don't trust you, Gab." He said carefully. "You both have the utmost respect from the higher-ups in Veritas. But when you two got the chance to come to Cardend last year, it also offered you a chance at a normal life. You don't have to be waist-deep in their problems anymore, you can go about life as the young ones you are."

He picked up a large piece of smoked meat and jammed it into his mouth. "Besides, it's not like you don't have your own issues to deal with. Speaking of which, how is your grumpy companion doing?" He said in a stage whisper, smiling secretively. "Not giving you too much trouble, I hope?"

The playfulness in his voice faded quickly as Gabi and Falco exchanged a look of apprehension and unease.

Reiner frowned. "He's not causing grief for you guys, is he?"

Gabi shook her head slowly, her short brown hair bobbing around her round face. "I'd almost prefer if he was giving us a hard time, honestly. At least that would make more sense. It was strange enough when he chose to come here with us instead of staying in Veritas, but now..." She looked up and Reiner, perplexed. "Something weird is going on with him."