Chapter 3: Pity

As Lucere guided her through the forest towards their destination, Aria couldn't help but think over and over again about the things she had seen during her descent into the child's memories, about how little her predicament even made sense, the questions of why were they even there to begin with on their own refusing to be answered in any capacity. It was baffling in the most unnerving way- and with how thoroughly terrified Anne was in her recollection, the scout couldn't help but to feel protective for her, much more so than she ought to for someone that would ideally never even meet her face to face.

Guess a child is a child in the end, and being protective towards those who couldn't protect themselves was her innermost nature in the end, even if that child also happened to be a human.

Don't worry Anne, we'll get you back home safely.

Before Aria could ponder on it all anymore, she had sensed Lumi's presence nearby and started to slow down, Agility as tiring as ever, though she'd managed to keep her breathing down from being too audible lest the subjects of their shared attention were to notice. Though even that wouldn't be an issue for too long, a shimmering barrier of the Safeguard kept any sound from escaping as the Luxray approached, stepping down from the small hill on the side of the forest path and down behind it.

"Two with a Growlithe on a leash, seem to be following the trail that the human had left on their way over before they crashed." - Lumi spoke matter of factly, thankfully having enough self-awareness to keep his snark down at the potential seriousness of the situation.

The Gardevoir nodded in affirmation as she caught her breath, responding telepathically for the time being-

"^Any chance they're just using the same path and not outright following her?^"

"Very doubtful. They're having the Growlithe track her scent it looks- came close to picking mine a couple times earlier."

Well, that pretty much settled it outright, Aria already beginning to concentrate to be able to approach undetected like she had done earlier that day- at least until Lumi's follow-up comment caught her attention again.

"They're moving very slowly for some reason though." - The Luxray clearly had no idea what could be the reason for that, the human weirdness getting a one up on him in the end.

"Can confirm!"

With Lucere's chirped affirmation from the overhead branch, the psychic could reconsider her plan, though eventually didn't end up changing much- no matter how fast they were walking, their purpose here was clear enough, as was the need to stop them. They all needed answers though, and she'd be damned if she didn't use the opportunity to try to pierce together just what in the world had happened to the girl in the first place.

"Alright. I'll try to follow them for a bit, and see if I can put any of this together. Lucere, fly back over towards their town in case of reinforcements, Lumi, be on your guard in case I'll need backup."

"Okie dokie!" / "Aye aye."

After Altaria had flown off, the Gardevoir finally went for it, sensing and effortlessly breaching into the three minds on the other side of the hill as she slowly approached, taking their appearance in while brushing through their surface thoughts.

Their appearance was very bulky, though much of that was no doubt their clothing, making them look much larger than they would otherwise. Most of it was either black or a very dark blue, with the exception of a sleeveless outermost garment on their upper half, colored a very distinctive and eye-catching shade of yellow with a couple of silver stripes. She could tell there was some sort of a symbol on their backs made out of that same silver material, possibly even some human writing, but of course, figuring out what it was exactly was impossible at the moment.

Underneath the yellow vest, they wore thick, padded jackets, especially in the chest area, the belt area in particular having several satchels or other small elements hanging off from it, most of them hard to make out due to lack of contrast. As many layers as they wore though, picking up their coldness wasn't exactly a hard feat, Aria internally grateful at how much more effective the thin Safeguard sheen surrounding her body was at keeping her from freezing compared to human clothing, even if the end result was still only around bearable.

The sight of the Growlithe pup made her expression narrow, the little one likely only a couple years old at most, constantly trying to outrun the reach of the leash their collar was attached too, small jolts of pain clear to notice every time they tried to do what they were supposed to and follow the scent. In any other moment, she would have considered teaching them a lesson or at least giving the pup some much-needed reprieve- but unfortunately, not this time, not with so much at stake.

For a while, the pair of humans didn't speak, Aria cursing herself at managing to arrive just late enough for them to have just finished their recent conversation topic, the Gardevoir getting ready to dive deeper into their thoughts before the Growlithe perked up in her direction, making her freeze. Fortunately for her, their human handlers didn't get the significance of that right away-

"~What is it now?~" - The first voice was gravely and unamused, glancing over their shoulder in Aria's direction and seeing nothing but snow and trees, grumbling towards the puppy afterwards.

Even if their handlers' senses were too limited to spot her, the Fire-type's most definitely weren't, the little one attempting to bolt in her direction only to find themselves thrashing against the limits of their leash, the other human holding it steadfastly all the while.

"~Get back here, you dumb fucking dog.~" - The second voice was tired and exasperated, the hangover tainting both how they spoke and their actions, the Growlithe's leash getting harshly yanked on out of spite to get the puppy to get back to them as Aria made sure they couldn't smell her anymore.

"~Even it's going nuts at this pointless shit.~"

The second voice chuckled at the remark, breaking into a harsh cough before shaking it off with a low groan, the Fire-type under their ownership thankfully seeming to have found their way afterwards once more.

"~It's just a straight path isn't it.~"

"~It is!~"

"~So why the fuck do we have to track that kid all the way over to Lillywood!?~"

"~Fuck if I know!~"

"~Of course that bitch is in Lillywood, where fucking else. C'mon, let's get back and write it in and be done with it.~"

As unenthused as the second voice was at the prospect of them being here in the first place, such a blatant disregard of the procedure made them pause and second guess themselves, looking over at the unending path ahead and then back at the other human, Growlithe yanking at the leash in their hands all the while.

"~You sure?~"

"~Course I am! Where else could she be?~"

"~I don't know, Lillywood guys apparently couldn't find her.~"

"~Didn't fucking look hard enough is what it is, not our fucking problem.~"

The second voice was rather unnerved by that, some of them agreeing with the first one and about ready to just turn tail and get out of there... but not all of them, the remote possibility that that dumb kid did somehow manage to get herself hurt on an almost completely straight road and didn't make it to Lillywood in the end haunting them.

"~Besides- the fuck are her bum parents gonna do, throw a bottle at us?~"

The remark was finally successful at breaking through the second one's better judgment, making them mumble out a quiet 'yeah' before starting to follow the first voice back down the path, the Fire-type thrashing against the leash extra hard for a few moments before one stronger, painful yank finally made them follow the group with a painful whine. As stunned as Aria might've been at that entire sequence of events, this one she wouldn't let slide, watching completely unnoticed as the band passed mere meters away from her, the human holding the leash suddenly losing his footing and falling down onto the snow-covered dirt, the first one offering only spiteful snark-

"~Speaking of bottles, you'd do well to skip on one or two.~"

"~Shut the fuck up, ugh- no idea how I even slipped there.~"

As the second voice slowly picked itself back up and got back to following the first one, now with a slight limp, Aria backed off towards Lumi, her expression flat and dumbfounded, the quadruped scout offering quiet appreciation.

"Nice work- as far as I'm concerned that douche deserved worse, but I'll take what I can get."

"I didn't do anything."

Aria's quiet admission caught the Luxray off guard, Lumi having no real idea how to interpret that-

"What do you mean?"

"They backed off on their own, all I did was trip one of them over."

"T-they did? Why- were they not looking for the girl after all?"

"They were, it's... I-I don't know. They wanted to do that, but then at some point, they just... decided to not bother for some reason. Just go back and lie about her having made it all the way over to the town on the other end of the forest."

"That's..." - Lumi was speechless- sure, he already had very low expectations as far as humanity was concerned, but this was somehow even worse than anything he could've imagined when it came to them, his head shaking in place. Despicable as it was, it didn't fully answer the immediate question that followed-

"Are they just not gonna search for her anymore?"

"It would seem so, yeah. They mentioned something about her parents maybe doing that, but weren't taking that idea seriously either."

"Humans just keep finding ways to sink even lower, eh?"

"I don't know if I can even argue with that, I..."

"Take your time Aria, at least this threat is averted- I'll spread the news around so we're all on the same page."

"Good call, thanks Lumi. And-"

The follow-up caught the Luxray right as he was about to bolt off towards the others, light blue arcs of electricity jumping around his black fur as he looked over his shoulder, ready to take off on a whim.

"Let's meet again at the medic tent at the same time tomorrow morning."

"Gonna dig through more memories after all?"

"Not sure if there's a way to avoid that anymore I'm afraid."

"Hah. Sure thing- take it easy today."

Much as she didn't want Lumi to end up being right in the end, she didn't see another way forward out of this quandary, stuck with her own thoughts as she watched the Electric type blitz off in an instant, the winter cold stinging particularly hard at that moment. The sheer attitude with which these humans had treated not just a missing one of theirs, but a missing child was harrowing, only one of them had seemed to even consider that they could have potentially doomed her by backing out, and even then only briefly.

Was that just how humans were deep down? She sure hadn't felt anything near as despicable from her previous interactions with them, finding only minds not too different from her own, but these two... Aria had no idea whether they were uniquely despicable somehow, or whether that's just how humans were deep down ultimately. Her train of thought veered towards the first option as she slowly made her way back to the area of her patrol, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get the doubt all the way out of her mind, the whole topic eventually just making her feel ill. Maybe the potential for indifferent cruelty like that lied in her too, but she couldn't imagine herself ever resorting to that, the mere idea feeling like it went against everything that made her, well… her, everything that made her a Gardevoir.

What she knew for sure though, was that after several more hours full of her thoughts running in circles around that idea and ultimately getting nowhere, the only thing she wanted to do was to go home and fill her body and soul alike with something much warmer.

__________________________________________

The one advantage of winter was much shorter scouting shifts- nothing stopped humans from trying to sneak over in the dark of course, but very few were as foolish as to ever attempt that, especially in the winter. Sprout was able to count all the instances where she had to actually give some potential intruders a scare on her talons over many years of scouting.

Especially after what she had witnessed earlier today, Aria certainly doubted that any humans would feasibly come looking for the injured child overnight, if ever.

With the entrance to her home in sight, the Gardevoir could finally let go of mulling over that unpleasant topic again and again, feeling drawn to the large burrow inside a larger hill underneath an even larger oak that crowned its peak, the door that acted as the entrance to the dwelling puny, downright miserly at a glance. Unassuming as the sight was, light peeking out from the gaps between the door and its frame gave away its homeliness, Aria closed her eyes as she stepped in, the warmth and the pleasant smells making her shudder as she dispelled the light shimmer around her body, making her way down the well-worn steps.

"Good evening honey~"

As harsh, downright angry as his voice was on the surface, the Gardevoir knew her husband well enough to tell that it was his happy voice, his species unfortunately giving him a rather limited vocal range, and what he had of it for the most part came off as intimidating to an ear that wasn't used to him. And alas, his expression suffered from much the same issue, the always visible fangs in particular unnerving in a vacuum.

"Hey, sweetie."

Regardless of how he came off to strangers though, Aria knew the person underneath the demonic Grimmsnarl facade well enough to feel as comfortable around him as she got, walking over to pull him in a weak embrace while he worked on the dinner, one hairy arm wrapping around her as the other continued to stir the stew, adding the chopped up ingredients intermittently.

"Long day?"

"Very."

The squirmy sensation of his individual hairs moving around was equal parts ticklish and comforting, Aria letting herself get effortlessly moved into a closer embrace, nuzzling into her husband's shoulder. Part of him wanted to ask about all the murmurs about a human in the village he'd heard earlier, but there was no need to rush, his head leaning on hers as they both basked in the hearth's warmth, the Gardevoir's lithe body getting warmed up fast.

"Smells delicious."

"Thank you~. Holly's advice doesn't ever fail, hah."

"Indeed it does not. She recommended some new ingredients?"

"Spices- a bit less pepper, a bit more salt, and to try out a bay leaf or two. Aroma wise I have no complains so far, and I doubt flavor is gonna be disappointing either~"

"Nothing you ever make is~.

Picking out a blush on the fiercely green skin of his cheeks wasn't the easiest thing if one didn't know what they were looking for, but Aria most definitely did, the sight filling her exhausted expression with a soft smile.

"Where's everyone?" - As much as she appreciated a moment of peace and quiet in the moment, it was unusual to see their dwelling be so calm after dark- she could sense a couple of likely suspects playing in one of the rooms, but that still left a few more that were completely absent.

"I know Cadence and Autumn went out to grab something, haven't seen Marco all day, Bell and Elric-"

Before he could finish, the door to the kids' room was flung open with a pink blur quickly scrambling out of it, his every motion filling the subterranean space with rattling noises as he was being persistently, yet futilely chased by a teeny Ralts. His best efforts in catching up to the Gligar only managed to make the latter laugh even more as he shook the rattle, the light taunting making the little fairy try even harder, a brief glow beginning to surround the rattle before it was yanked out of his mental grip again and again, the little one soon growing frustrated.

"Give it back!"

As amused as the Gligar was at hearing that, his mirthful expression washed from his face immediately at seeing the tyke's mom having made her way back into their shared home, her unamused expression telling it all, distracting him for long enough for the Ralts to successfully psychic the rattle out of the grip of the scorpion's tail, squeaking happily at his success.

"Elriiiic..."

"I'm sorry Mrs. Aria, I-I just got carried away with it-"

"I know, I know, you're not in trouble sweetie. I just want you to be careful and know when to stop so that it's fun for you both."

She couldn't even pretend to be upset at any of this- Bell managed to snatch the rattle in the end, showing off his spoils by excitedly waving it around as he looked around the room- before finally spotting that his mom had made it back home, shaking it harder as he dashed over.

"Mom!"

"Hey sweetie."

The tyke giggled happily as he was telekinetically lifted up into his mom's arms, her tired expression softening further before she looked back at the Gligar, wanting to make sure he didn't think he was in any trouble. Soon after, she moved her little one to one arm and outstretched the other one for a hug. The boy thankfully accepted the invitation and flew over for a hug of his own, thankfully supporting himself mostly on her husband's arm and not her body, pincers carefully wrapping around her.

"Sorry..."

"It's okay Elric, it's okay. He really likes you, you know?"

"M-mhm."

"I just don't want that to change because you went too far by accident."

"Y-yeah. H-he's not angry a-at me, right?"

"Oh no no, not at all, just for the future you know. You've already grown up a lot this winter, your dad is gonna be really proud of you once he wakes back up."

The comment did wonders at lighting the scorpion's spirits back up as he held his temporary guardian, hoping his dad would finally snap out of his hibernation soon with the spring equinox steadily approaching.

"Y-you think?"

"Absolutely Elric~ I remember how scared you were most of the last winter, and look at you now, you're taking it like a champ!" - The Grimmsnarl's comment was similarly appreciated, the Gligar growing flustered at the light praise, settling into the affection as the dinner was quickly getting wrapped up.

"T-thank you M-Mr. Garret..."

Comfy as the scene was, Aria realized it'd get comfier soon, letting go of her husband and carefully lowering both kids down on the floor, a quick remark telling everyone what to do-

"Everyone's on their way, let's lay things out for dinner~"

"Yes ma'am!"

As the Gligar swooped to grab a handful of wooden bowls, the Gardevoir pulled the short table from the corner of the room to its center and whisked a handful of pillows from her bedroom, some of the Whimsicott fluff leaking out from between the slowly tattering handknit fabric as they were laid out around the table. The bat wasted no time laying all the bowls and spoons around for their entire dwelling, the seven of them placed haphazardly and without a set pattern for the most part.

Bell helped by clapping and squeaking at the sight of so much motion happening around him.

They were done with the preparations just in time no less, the front door opening shortly after Elric had set down the final spoon, the gust of cold wind it brought with itself briefly chilling down the atmosphere in the burrow before Cadence excitedly running down the steps reignited it again, the Kirlia not even taking the time to take her scarf off before asking-

"Mom mom mom is it true with the human!?"

"Cadence sweetie, one thing at a time."

"Okay, grandma!"

The fairy-shaped bundle of energy almost bounced into the kids' room to drop the scarf off before running back in and over to her mom, the elderly Indeedee slowly making her way down the rest of the stairs just chuckling softly at the sight, slowly undoing her shawl.

"Is it true mom!?"

"What's true?" - Bell asked confusedly, looking up at his sister and her red cheeks, the Kirlia just groaning quietly under her breath at him not following along-

"The human!"

"Human?"

"We can talk about it over dinner sweeties, now get yourself seated."

"Okay mom!" / "Okay ma'am!"

With the three squeaky voices responding nearly simultaneously, Aria could only chuckle as they took their seats, herself lowering herself down onto the pillow next to Bell as she watched her mother-in-law take a seat next to Cadence- and her brother to slowly walk down the stairs, closing the door behind himself, his expression focused even more than usual.

"Evening Marco, something on your mind?"

The Gallade chuckled weakly, the subject of his thoughts obvious enough- though even he knew better than to rush a topic like that ahead of dinner, setting himself down as Garret lifted the whole pot up with one arm and carried it over to the table, the other hand carefully operating the ladle and pouring everyone their portions. The wooden spoons got to eating almost immediately afterwards, Bell's under his mom's careful watch, everyone else wholly focusing on the warm, rich flavor rejuvenating their bodies, the Indeedee noting the change of flavor-

"^Hmm. More salt this time?^"

As used as she might have been to mentally communicating with her Dark-type son his entire life, she couldn't deny that that feat grew more and more difficult as the years kept coming. No matter how much Garret lowered his mental guard around his family, letting them mentally link up to him to begin with, it was still incomparably harder than linking up to anyone else, even Cadence still having some difficulties doing so reliably. Thankfully, this was just a fallback, normal words more than sufficient most of the time, but Autumn still felt a bit down at the realization of just how much her own ability was slowly slipping season by season.

Garret nodded firmly before swallowing the current gulp, responding quickly-

"Mhm! Holly's recommendation."

-and immediately getting back to his portion, the only sounds around the table the scraping of wood on wood for a couple solid minutes afterwards, even Cadence waiting until most of her portion was emptied before bringing up the topic of the day up again-

"^Is it true with the human mom?^"

"^You'll have to be more specific than that sweetie.^"

"^Is there really a human in the village?^"

"^Yes, yes there is.^"

As obviously true as the news was to her, Aria saw her husband, his mom, and the boy they were keeping a watch over all pause at that revelation, looking up over at her in surprise at the incredulous-sounding rumor being confirmed, the Kirlia herself giddy at the fact.

"^Eeeee- what's their name? Are they scary? Can I meet-^"

"^Cadeeeence.^"

"^Sorry grandma.^"

"^Don't be sorry sweetie, just take your time, your mom isn't running anywhere and neither are we. Now, what was that with the human Aria?^"

The Gardevoir chuckled at even the elderly Indeedee getting interested in the rumors, continuing to empty her bowl at a steady pace as she went into details-

"^Her name is Anne. Sprout found her before dawn, she had gotten hurt near their road that cuts through the forest to the east and was in a very rough state.^"

"^Ooooh... was she mean to someone so they hurt her-^"

"^No sweetie, no, it was an accident.^"

"^How come she was there in the middle of the night in the first place?^"

"^That is a good question Autumn.^" - The Gallade that had been quiet up until know finally joined the conversation himself, a knowing tone of voice catching the attention of his sister, the two locking eyes as the rest of the table ate on, communicating directly without anyone else overhearing-

"^Do you know something more about it?^"

"^Followed the trail back to that village of theirs while you dealt with the group they sent, and I think I'm rather sure which of their buildings it started from.^"

"^Any finds there?^"

"^Whole place reeks of spoiled wine and is missing half its windows, basically every other building has all of them intact.^"

Aria had no idea about the exact significance of that, but it sure didn't sound pretty in the slightest, the Gardevoir nodding deeply and following along that lead-

"^Found anyone there?^"

"^Regrettably, no. The whole place had a miserable aura and there was a lot of human attention around it so I didn't stay long.^"

"^Makes sense. Could her family be being ostracized in their own village?^"

"^Not impossible, but... something tells me that's not quite it.^"

The Gardevoir nodded in acknowledgment as she continued with her meal, the mystery seeming to refuse being neatly answered or to even have any real progress made on it, at least not without looking through some more of the girl's memories.

"^What are you both chatting about~?^" - Cadence couldn't resist chiming in anymore at seeing her mom and uncle clearly communicating with each other like that, the latter of the two chuckling as Aria answered vaguely enough to not be lying-

"^Scouting stuff.^"

"Are other humans looking for her?" - Elric's question got the two siblings to glance at her and nod at the same time, Marco picking up the slack of explaining it this time-

"^They sent a search party earlier today, but Aria managed to divert them.^"

"^Not even. It was...^" - The Gardevoir caught herself spilling a bit more than she probably ought to, the entire table's attention suddenly being placed on her, seemingly not even her brother getting caught in the loop about what she had seen earlier that day. Suppose ultimately there was no real reason to keep secretive about that facet in particular, aside from it being possibly quite upsetting.

"^They just backed out on their own, didn't want to bother. Treated the whole thing more like a nuisance rather than searching for a lost child.^"

"^Child!?^" - Quiet as she normally was, Autumn raised her mental voice at that, expression taken aback in a mixture of disbelief, worry, and revulsion at the actions she'd just heard described, thoughts and attention glancing back over to her adoptive son, something deep inside her refusing to accept that state of things.

"^Yes, she's a child. I'm not sure how old relatively, Sprout didn't tell us.^"

"^Poor thing, to get treated like that by her own kin...^"

"^Can we visit her mom?^" - Cadence's request made her mom consider it much more than Blossom's earlier in the day, but only just- as unnerving as Anne's circumstances were turning out to be, it's not like they could just send visits to her freely, they'd figure out what was up with her eventually and get her back home no doubt.

"^No sweetie, we don't want her to know she's here- and besides, she's still comatose, so it'd be a very one-sided visit.^"

Both Cadence and Elric were deflated a bit at that, and so was Bell by proxy, even if he didn't quite get everything that was being discussed right now, just disappointed at not being able to visit a potential friend.

"^But that's just mean! She's here on her own and hurt, she'll be so scared when she wakes up!^"

"^I- I know sweetie. We'll have to figure something out if that happens while she's still here, but we're not doing this to be mean, I promise. We just want to keep you all safe.^" - Aria might've spoken for the scouts as a whole, but she couldn't deny her daughter's remarks in particular getting to her somewhat, increasingly growing less and less confident about whether they would be able to just deliver the lost child back home peacefully. She had absolutely no idea what they could possibly do instead of that when the push came to shove, but it was probably best to just not worry about that until they actually had to, no point in making herself fret more with so much about Anne's circumstances still unknown.

Fortunately, Cadence wasn't privy to her mom's doubts, just sighing as she accepted the reassurance at face value, not wholly believing it, but she knew that she likely wasn't gonna be getting anything different. The remainder of the dinner passed in mostly silence, the discussion shifting from the big controversy over to the more commonplace, daily topics, Aria not speaking up much as she chewed through all the uncomfortable facts on her own. Even once the meal was wrapped up, she was the first one to excuse herself back to her bedroom, needing all the rest she was gonna get before tomorrow's meeting and another dive into Anne's traumatized mind.

Sunroof closed, crystalline candles extinguished, their glow fading quickly, door shut, Safeguard to muffle the commotion in the living room raised-

Dreams, stubbornly not coming.

That most unnerving possibility of the human child not having a place to go back to kept swirling around in the Gardevoir's head, the scenario not feeling particularly likely, but at the same time it couldn't be fully eliminated, especially with Marco unable to find any inhabitants of the building Anne supposedly came from. The elders would most likely end up deciding on her fate in that case, and no matter which possible verdict Aria considered, it didn't provide any solace to her worries. Who was to say that the girl would be alright if they just decided to take her back to the human town and leave her there, especially with how the human scouts from earlier in the day had treated her? Why would the other town on the other end of the forest fare any better? They weren't gonna kill her, but they weren't gonna let her stay either, both possibilities equally impossible, and what else was left that would guarantee her safety?

Nothing.

Aria laid like that for a longer while, only her husband's eventual arrival helping in soothing some of the swirling worries and fears, the Grimmsnarl scrambling onto the bedding behind her and holding her close. Garret's arm made for subjectively the best pillow in the entire village, his soft snores providing a calm rhythm to try to relax with, which combined with creeping exhaustion finally helped in soothing the Gardevoir's mind, at least for a while. No matter what, things were gonna turn out alright, something deep inside filled her with certainty when it came to that, and any details could be hashed down later. In the moment, just gotta breathe in, and out. And in, and out.

And in, and...

__________________________________________

As welcome as her rest was, it had to end eventually, and much earlier than she would've preferred no less.

The bedroom was completely dark as Aria came to, and the sunroof getting opened with telekinetic reach didn't help almost at all, the sky above still dark, stray starlight not enough to illuminate anything at all. Guess duty called whether the sun was up or not, the Gardevoir grunting at yesterday's exertion as she slid out of her husband's embrace, leaving his warmth making her shudder as she headed for the burrow's front entrance, remembering to apply her own Safeguard mere moments before she was about to open the front door, the cold radiating off of it reminding her of it at the last possible moment as she shook.

Onward.

Even at night, their village was far from lifeless, many Dark and Ghost types making their way around, greeting her as she passed by, drawing a couple curious looks but only by the virtue of being up so unusually early. Far from the earliest one around, even for the village's diurnal inhabitants, that honour went to her current destination, the warm glow emanating from inside the pantry piercing the night surrounding it.

"Aria darling, why in the blazes are you up so early!?" - Holly's shrill greeting snapped the Gardevoir out of the half-conscious stupor she ended up in as she made her way through the village, trying to shake the remaining tiredness aside and rub the sand out of her eyes as she answered-

"Scout meeting, we gotta discuss what to do with the human."

"Help her, that's what! Speaking of, got around to fixing something for her- oughta get her right back on her legs once she comes to-" - The Azumarill accentuated her follow up by setting down a small bundle on the counter of her pantry with a bit more force than she needed to, the quiet bang further helping the Gardevoir come to as she examined its contents.

A couple of very thick, very buttery pastries didn't exactly look the healthiest, especially with the sugary aromas that complimented the more fruity ones that emanated from them, but if anything was gonna be effective at giving the little one energy it'd definitely be that. The wooden bottle didn't exactly reveal its contents at a glance, though knowing the cook it was her a concoction of sweetened berry juices, the kind that tykes of all species adored more than any actually healthy food.

"Thanks Holly."

"Anytime darlin'- and same ol' for you?"

"Same old for me."

Alas, Aria couldn't deny having a sweet tooth herself, much to her kids' chagrin when she kept recommending them more hearty meals than Holly's sugary goods, while herself being no better. Granted- her nutritional needs were much different with how much of the day she spent on the move actively looking out around the woods, but it was hard for either herself or Cadence to see that as anything but excuses at times.

"Coooomin' up!"

If there was one advantage of getting up this early though, it was dodging the queue at the Azumarill cook's pantry, its scents alone likely helping a good chunk of the village come to, through the means of arousing hunger in their empty stomachs. As she waited for her portion, Aria glanced over up at the sky, the east starting to shift into lighter purples and darker reds, stars above them dimming by the moment. The gorgeous sunrise brought with itself as much calm as it did uncertainty, the unnerving topics of the day beginning to creep back into the Gardevoir's mind as she stared skyward, a bubbly whistle coming from her close vicinity snapping her out of the daze to the sight of Holly waving her roll around.

"There ya go. Pass on good wishes from me over to that kid once she comes to."

"No guarantee she will Holly."

"Then tomorrow, or wheneva'- I just want her to know she's got someone in here that's cheering for her is all."

Aria slowly nodded at the Azumarill's message as she picked both hers and Anne's portions up, forcing out a weak smile before responding-

"I will, thank you. We'll do what we can to make sure she's alright."

"Oh I know that silly- nursing them back to health ain't the same as treating them friendly though, and that's the thing I'm less certain on."

"I'll... do what I can to make her feel welcome."

"That's the spirit! Now off you go, you have this whole place to keep safe, don't lemme keep ya waitin'!"

__________________________________________

For once, she ended up not being the last one at the medical tent, with Lumi still missing from the side room once she made her way over, the sights of her own and the child's breakfast catching jealous attention from the rest of the assorted group, though they knew better than to let something like that ever get to their expressions. Not Lumi though, the Luxray's stomach grumbling the moment he entered the room at the scents, enhanced eyes narrowing as they watched Aria wrap her portion up.

"Lemme guess, that one's for the human?"

"Indeed~."

"Let's get this over with, that smell's gonna drive me insane without anything in me."

"I concur."

Aria rolled her eyes, levitating the bundle into the air and enveloping in its own Safeguard bubble, its scent quickly dulling afterwards, the other scouts torn between appreciating the gesture and finding their attentions drawn over to a warm meal even more than before.

"Let's get to it then. Any overnight developments Sprout?"

"None, haven't seen any humans tonight, be it on that path or anywhere else. Heard about what happened with the group they sent yesterday, despicable."

"No better words for it, are there." - Ruby concurred with a low tone of voice, trying to keep her emotions in check and not let them interfere with the discussion too much, as much as she would've wanted nothing more than to give these humans a piece of her mind.

"Marco had checked up on their town yesterday, the building the girl's trail originated from looked and smelled absolutely run down."

The group grew quieter at that revelation, the minds of most of them venturing in similar directions, and not the ones they were really keen on delving deeper into, at least not right away.

"I do not like the sound of that one bit." - The rest of the group agreed with Weavile's assessment, Aria chiming in further afterwards-

"Me neither. Really hope it won't have to come down to that, but it might be a good idea to figure out what we're gonna do if it turns out her home isn't safe to come back to."

"Well that sounds obvious enough to me- if she doesn't have a safe home outside the village, we give her one inside the village until she can go back to her kin."

The rest of the group stared incredulously at Sprout, her idea equal parts obvious and unimaginable- a human in their shelter against humanity? Was she out of her mind??

"You can't seriously be suggesting that Sprout." - Lumi's tone was deadpan, the Luxray really hoping his coworker had simply decided to fire a particularly ill-timed joke out and wasn't considering that in earnest.

"I can and I am. She's a battered child, about as dangerous as a Metapod. Denying her safety because of her kin sounds like the kind of things humans do, and we are supposed to be better than them, aren't we!?" - The Decidueye's raised tone made everyone even more uneasy, most of the group stuck in a bind between not necessarily disagreeing with what she was saying, but being instinctively opposed to what her words implied, a tense silence filling the room before Ori attempted to break it-

"Perhaps it is wise to drop the subject for the time being. For all we know, we're just entertaining a blatantly incorrect possibility."

The group took a deeper breath each at that, agreeing at a rational level, even if their hearts lied in very different directions about this specific issue.

"Aria, you had mentioned investigating further into the human child's memories. Do you still want to attempt that?"

"Yes Ori, yes, I... yeah. Probably a good idea to get that done so that we have a better idea of just what in the world is going on with-"

AAAAaaa-AAA!

The shrill, hoarse scream coming from the other room made the whole group's hearts skip a beat, the pained vocalizations soon turning into whimpers of pain as they heard the medics scramble away in the other room. The human's sounds grew quieter and quieter by the moment, but not her mind, her pain and fear intense enough to take over most of Aria's focus on their own.

"Too late."