Separate Missions Accepted

A few days later, Macha received word that her friends wanted to hunt an aswang that supposedly haunted a farming village. In the past two months, two of the villagers had been killed. Now, the small village requested aid in finding the monster that plagued them. Until help arrived, they refused to send goods to Marseille, stating that their village was on lockdown.

Tyr considered the mission to be a good choice for the group's skill level and gave her a few articles to read that would assist her. He had been busy preparing for his own mission and catching up on the paperwork, so he did not have much time to spend with her.

The older streets which lay in the areas owned by the Obsidian Dragons were becoming dilapidated. Many shopkeepers complained that the cobblestones were coming loose and that the ground shifted too much. The quotes on repairs had been quite high, so Tyr decided the upcoming mission's profits would be allocated to resolving the issue.

He chose to hunt a large pack of hellhounds which roamed the lands to the south of Marseille. Hellhounds were not too troublesome to kill, but tracking them could be difficult. Most adventurers could not hunt this creature because they required expensive specialized equipment. The reward for this pack was higher than usual because while the war raged, they had time to gain in numbers.

Tyr and Macha sat eating their breakfast before they both had to leave for their missions. Now he began regretting his decision to let her leave. It would probably be about two weeks before he saw her again.

He squeezed her knee with his hand, "If I finish before you, do you want me to meet you?"

This question left her torn. Of course, she would miss him, but it was also time for her to grow as a fighter and adventurer. If he came, it would possibly undermine the whole point of her going off on her own.

She leaned over and gave his shoulder a quick kiss. "I don't think that would be a good idea. You would probably make everyone else nervous."

She noticed that her comment caused his hopeful face to fall with disappointment. To appease him, she squeezed his hand and added "I would love it if you came back and worked on all the paperwork that will have piled up. Then we can spend quality time together when I return."

This made him chuckle. "I bet you don't want to do the office work and are just trying to shoving it on me."

He turned his palm up so he could hold interlock his fingers with hers.

A cheeky smile spead on her face. She was worried that he would have insisted on meeting up with her if he ended early. She was elated that they would not part on a bad note. "You know how many hours I put in, especially late at night. I always thought the Captain was pleased with my perfomance. I work hard... or do you disagree?"

He gave her hand a playful squeeze and kissed her cheek. In a soft voice, he conceded, "I agree. You make me exceedingly happy."

After breakfast, Tyr helped Macha with her armor. Today his team planned to depart in the afternoon, so she would be the first to leave. Not wanting to let the guild witness him see her off, he stayed in the apartment.

While he understood he could not hide his feelings for her all the time, he still tried to maintain a cold exterior when possible. To him, it was important for him to keep the persona of a strong leader who seemed larger than life.

****

In the past week, the sun began to warm up the world. The once beautiful white snow that blanketed the fields, now melted in circular patches as the grass peeked out from beneath the white carpet.

Aierim and Zian rode together, her legs dangled to one side as she snuggled up against his chest. Ever since they started going out the two had been inseparable. Sometimes their intimate affections made traveling with them awkward for the others, but it was something everyone was getting used to.

Lately, Aeson had been practicing how to balance while standing on his mount. He wobbled but had a large smile on his face.

"Macha, look!" he beamed.

She turned her head to the side and smiled. "Bend your knees a bit more," she suggested.

While he was a good healer, his physical capabilities were lacking. Whenever she could, she tried to give him tips to help him along.

Castel roared with a deep laugh. "You're gonna fall," he warned. His warning came just as Aeson tumbled off his boar and into the snow.

They all laughed as the young man dusted the wet snow off of his rear.

"Aww, I only fell cause you distracted me!"

He loved going out with the gang and always had a good time. They had notified him of this trip at the last minute, so he did not have a chance to do any research.

As he hopped back onto his mount he confessed, "So anyone know what an aswang is? I didn't have time to look into it."

Zian spent his time finding out more information about the village. "I don't know about the creature, but the village is a farming village that the King owns. They supply most of the grain for Marseille. The village elder was the one who put them on lockdown and sent an A.E.M. to the King to request help."

He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a wrinkled paper. Reading it, he continued, "It looks like they reportedly had two attacks in the past two months."

One of Palila's black eyebrows rose, and she pointed out, "Isn't that common for the places in the Outer Reaches?"

She grew up in Marseille, so she did not know much about the lands outside of the city. Despite this, one attack per month sounded pretty reasonable.

Zian raised his shoulders and tilted his head to one side. "Supposedly the village is guarded well. On average, they only experience one attack per year. They claim these attacks only happen when the children leave the safety zones while playing."

Before they left Tyr had given Macha a few articles to read, so she understood what to look for when searching for an aswang.

Volunteering her information, she raised her hand, "I did some reading before we left." Her voice beamed with pride at being prepared for this adventure.

Reciting from memory, she explained, "The aswang are shape-shifting creatures that look like people. They prefer to eat children and when they are not taking a human form, they are thin enough to hide behind a sword. Supposedly they are fast and silent as well. The most important thing is that they can only be killed by decapitation."

"Oh ho ho... look at you. Aren't you the little encyclopedia of knowledge here," Minh mocked while rolling her grey eyes.

Zian gave Aierim a kiss on her cheek and she pushed him away. They were trying to have a serious conversation, and he kept distracting her.

She leaned in the saddle so she could see Macha, "I appreciate how you consistently research the monsters ahead of time. In my opinion, it's really helpful."

The recognition caused Macha to blush. "It's nothing. I wouldn't even know where to look, but Tyr always forces me to sit down and read up ahead of time."

She recognized her modesty was over exaggerated, but she knew Tyr helped her a lot. The earlier remark from Minh bothered her. Ever since they first met, that woman seemed to have a problem with her. It seemed as if whatever she did would elicit a snide remark from her.

"But we all know while he was away in the war you still came just as informed. You're being modest," Aierim countered.

This comment silenced Macha's modesty. She drew in her lips and bit them, unable to say what was really on her mind concerning that.

While Tyr was deployed, Freyr forced her to use the palace libraries before she went on missions. He always provided her with the best books and maps of the area. This secret had been something she did not wish to admit to her friends because she did not want them realizing how close she was with the King.

Her relationship with Freyr remained odd because he still loved her, but she did not feel the same for him. While the war had been going on, he held back his affections, but it was still obvious in the way he looked at her.

It had been difficult to shut her heart off to him while Tyr was away because she had seen him and Ullr every day. The distance and lack of communication made having the long distance relationship with Tyr trying, but she always kept a friendly distance from both men.

In reality, she was thankful that Freyr came around every day. He was always amicable and charming, but best of all, he kept Ullr in line.

Wanting to change the subject, Macha brightened up, "All of you work hard as well. I'm just trying to pull my weight. I love coming out with everyone and want us to all have fun."