If traveling in the dead of night wasn't enough, doing it alone and half-asleep would top it off. Each whistling branch and half-seen shadow gave her chills. The start of the night that truly began after Aureum fled Felixia was not a pleasant one.
The journey was on foot, and Aureum was a tiny being beneath the massive dark. Fear is not always backed by truth. Nothing jumped out to eat her.
After a few hours, she was too tired to be afraid. It was almost soothing. The dark quiet of the night was her companion in every direction. She stopped to take it in.
Beautiful, in its own terrible way.
Without the speed of the cloak or years of mana, she could not make it back to the Nix tonight. Though the most direct road she could take led back through the city, it was not convenient for her to go back there at all. So she didn't.
Aureum took the first dirt road that led in her general direction and became intentionally lost. Her bedroll lazily spread under the first random tree. The next few nights in her tent.
There was no hurry to get anywhere, with how much her body ached. Aureum also hadn't bothered or rather hadn't truly had a chance, to plan out her stops according to inns and taverns.
This is why in the following days, Felixia, despite being so quick, could not find her. She ran past the road her sister took and spent the first few days barging into inns. When the innkeepers rejected her questions, Felixia flustered the patrons. No efforts fulfilled her hopes, and she could only return home in vain.
Upon which Calces and Simila both gained their share of gray hairs once they read Aureum's letter. They notified the authorities, quietly asking for any information they heard from her. A reward was promised, but not announced. They would not have every bandit after Aureum.
What they had instead was every guard and soldier of Nix directed to inform on her if she was seen.
While this sounds intimidating, these arms of the Lord of Nix were limited in their spheres of influence. The guards belonged to the city, and the soldiers could not act without every other city-state turning their gaze on Nix. And besides.
The Zizans didn't have the influence to force either arm on a manhunt.
Only Aureum's name and description fell into a long list that included criminals and other missing citizens. All they gained was this skippable information being spread to every list Nix had, instead of just the main city.
As Nix was a city-state, that meant that influence was not far at all.
A real solution to the nightmare lay elsewhere for the Zizans.
In the meantime, Aureum got along just fine. Fine having varying levels as the days went by.
Her new bags slowed her travel speed, especially since she chose to travel mostly by foot.
Aureum did not see her actions as running from home. She saw it as striking out on her own if one must ask. But, signboarding her location with antiquated magical equipment wasn't in her best interest so close to Nix. The slow pace did turn to her benefit.
Her sour throat and headache demanded it, for one. Yet, there was a peacefulness in the travel for her.
No difficult questions or worried stares. It made silence feel like a luxury.
Unlike the suffocating silence she'd been forced into in her past, this silence had moments of song brushed throughout it. Birdsong, the rustling of leaves, and every wild cry she didn't recognize. The days passed by much more cheery than the first haunting night.
Feelings she had not touched in years only to be remembered on these paths cutting through fields to nowhere important.
However, the scenery was not enough to alleviate the lack of company.
Four days going slow was enough to make Aureum feel better. She'd been pretty fit at this age, just to keep up halfway with Felixia.
But just one day was enough to make her feel bored with the monotony of it. It's not like going slow kept her from getting blisters either.
If she walked all the way, it would take her about a week to get to Triviis, a town that existed in its use for getting to four of the major city-states. From there, Fluentem was another week by foot. If she took the most direct roads, which she was not.
"Ohhhh, I'll get to Fluentem someday~! Some freaking day~! SOON!"
After leaving the lands of Nix, she took up singing sporadically when the silence became too boring.
"You're a terrible singer."
Aureum stiffened. She'd forgotten about the possibility of other travelers, mostly because she chose all the roads closer to forest paths. Of course, hunters and farmers were the original owners of such paths.
Though spring was not a popular season for hunting, there must be some who had to.
She turned around expecting the man, for a man had spoken, to have either a bow or traps. But he had nothing.
He looked quite like a thug.
Aureum squinted at him.
"…are you a fisherman?"
"Yeah."
He didn't even have a fishing rod. Aureum cocked her head in confusion. The stranger's face broke out in a malicious grin. The edge of a knife shone as he pulled it out.
"Of money! Give me all you've got or your life is mine!"
Should I be grateful that all he wants is money?
Now, it should be stated that Aureum was weighed down by her bags of travel. The tent, her basic necessities, her few changes of clothes, and even all the wealth she currently owned. Not a single item was a light burden. Even More so after a few days of carrying them.
The man was tall, with muscles that gave off an intimidating presence, and a pearl with the mana of stone on his shoulder.
If it's on his shoulder, does he reinforce his arms while trying to maintain some of the benefits of being close to his heart?
His clothes were ratty and dirty like a bum, and his hair was greasy and tangled. She didn't know what had led him to not care for his appearance. His eyes didn't read only desperation.
Not that Aureum was exactly pristine at this point, but she still tried.
In the midst of Aureum's observation he jumped.
"I said it was your money or your life!"
As he swung the knife down Aureum was gone.
He looked up to see her only a step back, her skirt still fluttering from her movement.
He sneered.
A surprising reaction for someone just out for cheap money. As Aureum's eyes widened, he took a step forward to swing again.
Again, she was not there. She was a small step to the right. Then she took a step to the left.
As he looked up at her again, bent by his recent missed blow, she looked down at him. Her nose wrinkled as the smell of alcohol hit her face.
Another step back as he took an even wilder swing than the ones from before.
Who was Aureum?
A woman who'd spent considerable time trying to escape and outpace the guards of Nix, and a practitioner of the wind who'd have far too much time left to practice on her own.
It was true her pearl was weaker than before, but this trick didn't require strength. Sensitivity to the change of the wind as he moved through it, and nerves of steel to get the timing right, was all that it required.
If she moved too early, he could adjust his movements to hit. Too late, and the result was the same. It was a game of timing.
She sidestepped another blow as he screamed.
This wasn't a trick for just those of wind mana. Those of the stone could sense the tremors of the ground, and even those of water might be able to get a sense of it if it was a foggy day. Those of wood might even be able to sense the change in grass.
But it wasn't like those learning a trade spent the required time sitting still in a stagnant place, waiting for anything to move. Aureum had used such "practice" as her only form of entertainment.
Besides, there was still a problem with this trick. This level of control was almost pointless without any power behind it. Aureum, at the current level of a child with her pearl, couldn't even scratch his skin.
While Aureum pondered this problem, the man got a few strands of hair with his next swing.
As he likely trained his mana into his body, Aureum would also lose in a race of endurance.
Still, it was a bright and sunny day.
Aureum took some more distance with her next dodge, and with a small sneer of her own, she charged the man.
He hesitated for a moment, expecting some attack. Her pearl may have been small, but her movements had put him on guard.
Instead, she jumped over him, almost.
Her foot used his head as a stepping stool to greater height.
In the air, Aureum had her freedom, but her weight hadn't been enough to fully push the brute off balance.
He turned and jumped himself. Grabbed her by the leg.
And so she put all of her force into kicking him in the face. By luck, her heel hit his mouth.
"Oof!"
He let go of her and fell. It was enough distance to wind even him.
She heard his cry after he hit the ground. Aureum flew, this time truly free.
She headed into the sun for hours, hoping he wouldn't be able to follow.
Even as she landed that night, the fear of him coming again upon her sank like stones upon her heart.
Yes, an eventful journey was indeed worse than a boring one.
The next day dawned on her throwing a few practice punches. But she stopped, her gasping breaths mocking her effort.
A few ill-practiced punches wouldn't be able to stop a man twice her size.
Aureum had not neglected growing her pearl, but neither could she neglect her travel. Few had the luxury of laying their affairs aside just to focus on one goal. She'd need more time to make punching or sorcery a viable defense.
She had none.
———————————————————
Mendax saw Calces Zizan flinch as he entered the room.
Mendax stood in the doorway of Calces' office. The owner recovered quickly and gestured for Mendax to sit down. Mendax did so.
"I hear you're good at finding people," Calces said.
The conversation cut over the introductions. Both knew who the other was.
"Certainly," Mendax replied.
"Could you do it without hurting the individual in question?"
Mendax hesitated.
"I can."
"That's not very reassuring."
"Guards are for reassurances. I am for results."
Calces face was a line between a grimace and a snarl.
"I need your guarantee you won't hurt my daughter."
"Is that who I'm looking for?"
Calces glared at Mendax.
"Don't pretend like you don't know what I called you here for."
Mendax relaxed his posture.
"You want to find this runaway gold, I assume. Do all businessmen value wealth so much?"
"The name was my wife's decision. And we hoped it would bring good fortune."
There was a pause as neither spoke. It was difficult to relate Aureum's current situation with good fortune. For Aureum's name meant gold, as true or false as that rang, and she was who they were speaking of.
"So tell me, if you can bring back my daughter without hurting her."
"I can't."
Calces raised an eyebrow. This wasn't what he expected from the man selling his services.
"No one can." Mendax leaned forward before he continued. "If your daughter doesn't wish to return, whether I use force or deceit to return her to you, she will be hurt."
"And how exactly would you use deceit to bring her back?"
Mendax grinned, shiny and wide. Calces glanced away from the sight politely.
"Bring no physical harm to her. Or detrimental emotional harm."
"I could also just find her for you. Send letters on her current location. Of course, it would be… a more long-term position. With a longer contract for pay in mind."
Calces shook his head.
"First, you will find her. If she's injured or in direct harm you will bring her back immediately.
Otherwise.
Send a letter of her whereabouts. Then I will decide whether you'll remain watching or return her to her home."
"Can do." Mendax replied.
He continued watching Calces. The gears turning in the older man's mind before Mendax's eyes.
"Do you need anything further?"
Mendax held his hands together firmly as he smiled.
"Well, I'd like the first half of my pay for the commission. And I'd also like to talk to your other daughter for details."
Calces considered this, consternation barely masked.
"Is meeting Felixia truly necessary?"
"No, but it'll make it go faster. Which is necessary if you want finding her to be of any use."
"Fine, but only with my wife and myself present. You can do it tomorrow. I'll bring her here."
"Then I suppose I'm done here, unless you want me for anything else?" Mendax spoke as he stood, already halfway turned by the time he stopped.
Calces shook his head.
"Then I'm gone for now. Send a message if anything changes."
As Mendax fully turned, the easy smile on his ugly face melted away. The only expression that remained as he left was the sharp light in his green eyes.