16 | Hunt (III)

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2412, Iclis 17, Jyda

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2412, Iclis 17, Jyda

Reeca rubbed her eyes, erasing any traces of sleep from it. Elred did her a favor by yanking her off her sleep that morning and she had spent the following hours glaring at the shard fairy. It's either Elred didn't notice or was pretending she didn't. It's also impossible to know with Elred.

The dining hall was filled with noises of spoons clanking against marquine bowls as the servants huddled inside this packed room. While Elred was up there exploring the Sovereign's quarters as Kalida, the shard fairy's back-up identity within Synketros, Reeca was tasked to gather information on the ground.

In hindsight, this wasn't the job Reeca would be interested in. She would rather go with Elred rather than shovel this...gray goop into her mouth.

Reeca kept all the other servants of various races and characters in her periphery. All of them ate from their bowls without question with some even going as far as tipping their bowls to their mouths and sipping the whole thing with one gulp. A shiver ran through Reeca's spine as she stared down at the bowl now laid on the floor near her crossed legs.

Ugh.

This was why this assignment sucked. Her stomach turned as she wrapped her hands around the bowl's base and imitated the other servants slurping theirs with gusto. She winced and fought the urge to gag as the soup traveled down her throat, leaving a bitter taste in her tongue. What was in this?

She'd rather be in the dining hall where the Sovereign ate her meals with the generals than in this pit that smelled like rotten vegetables, sweat, and smoke. Mingle with the servants and learn while you can, Elred said. It'd be easy, Elred said.

Reeca clicked her tongue, forcing the growl in her throat to subside. Wouldn't matter if the room smells if she's dead, right?

So, as the servants finished their meals with remaining time before the work of the day started and clumped together to talk, Reeca sidled with the closest one and pretended to be interested about a girl's fancy towards the stable master in another Synketrian base who visited Akaron to update the Sovereign.

Reeca's eyes narrowed. There were other Synketrian bases. That was valuable information.

As she listened, the talk shifted to a recent intruder that escaped the base. Interesting. Rhys told her that the number of people who made it was higher than the number who got out.

The servant girl with orange hair and dull green eyes described the intruder to be another girl with light brown hair, had a bow, and accompanied a shard fairy with yellow hair wearing white robes.

Reeca's eyes widened. That sounded a lot like Cirasa. What were the chances?

"The Sovereign has been angry about it for a while now," the servant girl shifted from her seated position and tucked her orange hair behind her ear. Rounded. Half-blood, maybe?

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