Gilda wouldn’t even have noticed she had been teleported across half of the world if it wasn’t for the bang and flash followed by a slight tingling. It almost made her worried something had gone wrong. Some unicorns teleported trivially, and she couldn’t grasp how they managed the sudden wave of nausea that followed. It was her first time, though. Maybe they got used. It also washed away in less than a second and as she simply stared at another pony. Another unicorn, though a female, pink and blonde, wearing the company’s uniform and significantly cheerier than the one on Griffonstone. Smiling and waving, but also wearing a similar wristband of iron links.

A simple room housed the platform. White marble floor and masonry walls, artificial magical lights. Nothing remotely as impressive as the rooms in Griffonstone, but not bad either. It looked clean.

Next to the unicorn mare by the desk sat a griffon guy, tan and soft cyan, with blue eyes, also waving, although less enthusiastic. Normal-like, not as a pony trying too hard.

“Miss Gilda. Welcome to Baltimare. Wild north TP thanks you for your patronage! Come back whenever you need our services.” He grinned as Gilda walked off the platform and Grunhilda followed.

“I feel tingly!” Her companion giggled, but Gilda paid attention to the male griffon.

“Hey. How do I get to Haybale?” She stopped next to the griffon while the pony fiddled with her desk. No doubt readying the teleporter for the next job.

“Ah. Airship!” He raised a finger. “It is a bit far off to the south. You could fly, and find it easily… It’s a small city in the middle of a sea of corn and wheat. Can’t really miss it… With the large red barn they use for bar. Although I don’t recommend pawing or winging it there. Unless you are an experienced wayfarer, with adequate supplies.”

“Awesome… So, airship then.” Gilda nodded. “Could get expensive…”

“We don’t have money, Miss Gilda!” Grunhilda walked to her side and Gilda nodded. She thought of sarcastically thanking her for the reminder, but she surely Grunhilda didn’t mean ill.

“No money?” The griffon guy rose an eyebrow. Then coughed into his fist. Douche.

The male griffon wasn’t impressed. “Anyways, the airdocks are outside of the city. You know… Better not to crash your expensive airship into someone’s expensive building.”

He thought for a second rubbing his jaw. “It’s a big town, Gilda, but you can walk, or fly, all the way to the airdocks… And they have nice prices on some of the simpler models… You know… Lots of simple farm folk need to travel around to a city like Haybale. There should be an airship leaving every two hours. So, getting there should be easy if you got some money.”

“Yeah. Thanks.” Gilda gestured for Grunhilda, unworried. “Come on, Grunhilda. We’re gonna figure something out on the way.”

“Okay.” The other followed and they left the teleporter’s room after the griffon guy opened the door for them.

Baltimare’s teleporter facility had little of the luxury from Griffonstone. No corridor with creepy statues, just a door leading into the shared open space of the building. Not even a fancy sitting area. It did have the glass stand plaque with the logo and name of the company though.

She guessed the teleporter in a pony town wasn’t so hot with the ‘cool griffons’. Or maybe it they wanted to avoid attention. Eh… Fair enough. They just wanted a presence there to support their operations, she supposed.

A lot more movement with the other companies, however. Ponies going everywhere, cute and colorful signs and even some cutesy music coming from a kiosk in front of one of the entrances to the actual teleporters. A group of mares all dressed the same and with similar colors playing live.

Grunhilda squinted at the sight and whined. “I think I’m going cross-eyed at all these colors moving everywhere! It’s giving me a headache!”

Gilda chuckled. Not likely the poor girl had spent a lot of time in a pony city. “Chill. You’re gonna get used to it. Come on.”

“Okay.” She followed Gilda out and, much like the teleporter facility on Griffonstone the one on Baltimare sat next to a large plaza. But the pony plaza had its differences.A festive atmosphere, none of the homeless, nothing of the grime, and a lot more color. Ponies coming and going everywhere outside too, pegasi flying low over the plaza surrounded by tall buildings and streets where ponies pulled carts in a mostly organized manner. Kiosks selling ice cream, cotton candy, fruits, some magazines and newspapers.

A band of colorful ponies played a cheerful song in a bandstand in the center, next to a fountain and birds ate popcorn the foals threw for them.

Giggling all around, happy ponies talking. Squeaking and squealing. Music. Many trees and decorative gardens around the plaza. Clean and fancy storefronts, a large hotel tower and several yellow and black coaches. Most definitively, a pony city, and an earth pony one.

Gilda groaned, not in the mood. Grunhilda didn’t look too happy either.

A couple of ponies in leather barding with the city’s emblem patrolled around the plaza, not very worried with anything. Still, they carried magical batons and wheellock pistols too. But those didn’t seem to disturb Grunhilda as she simply looked around with a frown.

Gilda grimaced. Big girl could rip one of those apart if she acted up, and she seemed to be a bit overwhelmed, but not like she wanted to create trouble. Better not to tempt fate, though.

Gilda poked a nearby pony walking by. A dark-orange and blonde earth pony stallion with a brown suit and top hat, an umbrella for cutie mark. He turned around, all cheery. “Hello there, ma’am! Can I help?”

“Yeah. Which way to the airdocks?” She asked as directly as she could and Grunhilda just stared curiously at the pony.

“Oh! It’s simple enough!” He pointed a hoof to a wide street with two lanes both ways and a central line of trees. “That way! Just follow the signs and they’ll tell you the right crossing to take, then it’s straight ahead again! It’s a bit of a walk, though. Put those wings of yours to work! Or hire a cab! They can take you anywhere! Are you and your friend visiting?”

“Nah. We’re just going through.” She cut the conversation but did it politely. Ponies were usually nice as a rule, at least. No need to make a scene just because the guy tried to strike a little chat. “Thanks! Come on, Grunhilda.”

She took flight and the other followed. “Bye, Mister Pony!”

Pony cities differed from griffon cities. They were better cared for in general and in the sense of winds and flight safety. Under clear skies they were much safer to fly around, and their weather departments took closer care of the air currents. Gilda didn’t know why. Maybe Baltimare was a larger city than Griffonstone and needed that sort of thing? It allowed them to traverse quickly without worrying a draft would smack them against one of the tall buildings.

They flew above the street and had to be mindful of the other fliers, mostly pegasi. An unspoken rule stated one should fly in the same direction as the street below went. Grunhilda just followed her and stayed out of trouble.

Gilda kept looking for the signs indicating the direction to important places, such as city hall, some international class theater, and eventually the airdocks. She flew a little higher and turned left, following the street below. Another unspoken rule. You flew predictably, kept your distance so you didn’t crash into the others and if you had to take a turn, you flew above.

Pony parents taught such things to their kids and Gilda only understood because she spent so much time living with ponies. Fortunately, Grunhilda mimicked her.

Gilda supposed someone who knew the city could just fly above the buildings and just get straight to where they wanted, as they did on Griffonstone.

Anyways, they arrived at their destination. Much like the teleporter facility in both cities, the airdocks had a plaza in front of it. The building itself looked a lot like a train station’s front, with a large door, a giant clock and one wing on each side. Not a lot of security and from the air she could easily see the berths where the airships docked into.

The flying magical machines approached flying low over the shorter buildings of the area. Skimming the flat ground around the ‘station’ and fit themselves into place. Different sizes and styles of berths for blimps, zeppelins, converted seafaring ships with the modern magical engines adapted into them. Several of the modern airships followed in the style despite being built from scratch. The ponies loved those, with all sorts of cute adornments and stylish ornaments.

Closer to the main building docked the passenger crafts and to the far end, the cargo bearers. Gilda had to admit… It was rather impressive and awe-inspiring. Grunhilda seemed to agree, given the way she stared with her jaw hanging when they landed in the middle of the plaza.

Gilda also took note of the signs urging all creatures not to fly in that area.

The plaza itself made Gilda remember the one by the teleporter facility. Stands sold several wares everywhere, and ponies went into or out of the building, mingling about the plaza.

Gilda sighed when Grunhilda stopped close to her. “We’re gonna need money. I doubt we can just keep expecting to get help out of nowhere.”

The other simply whined nervously.

“Don’t worry… We’ll figure something out.” Saying so, she started towards the building and Grunhilda followed obediently.

“Okay.”

Inside it reminded Gilda of a train station. In the end, the idea remained the same, anyway. The floor had a brown, black-spotted granite which looked quite nice. The walls had some sort of sandstone of similar colors. A high-arched ceiling showed decorative masonry and large candelabra of enchanted crystals giving off internal light in addition to several windows. It also had the typical pony decoration with hearts and such, a couple of statues of important ponies Gilda didn’t care for.

Still the main area had a cavernous lobby with a few stores, a bank, a cafeteria, a gift shop, newspaper stand. And a really shady-looking loan shark. How did she know it was shady? It was a griffon inside the little shop called ‘Quick Cash’. The companies had small rooms of varied sizes according to their prices along those. Mostly the building’s wings with the accesses to the airship berths housed cafes, restaurants, small snack stores. Gilda supposed it came from the different needs of the different companies and their airdocks. They needed a lot of space for more practical reasons than catering to costumers’ whims. More importantly, just to be sure, Gilda looked for a ‘Wild North Airships’, or something, but no luck.

But she put the cart in front of the pony. First order of business demanded finding a cheap company with a line to Haybale and figure out their price. She mntally slapped herself for not asking the guy in the teleporter the name of the company, but his douchery at her having no money annoyed her too much. Yeah, definitively his fault. Decided.

The problem remained. She sighed again. “Come on, Grunhilda.”

The pair of griffons walked around the among the mass of creatures, mostly ponies, as she looked for signs and plaques of company names or prices. She supposed the company with the lowest prizes would advertise them right in the patronage’s face and she had it right.

Among the little kiosks of different sizes and number of employees, not to mention decoration, there was one with the Royal House’s crest for decoration. A winged shield painted in blue and white with Celestia’s and Luna’s cutie marks, with a pair of horned barding under their crowns and under a freaking phoenix with her wings wide open. Because why not put Celestia’s damn pet in their house’s crest?

Beneath it, the prices. A neat list of prices next to the pony glyphs for each city. Practical and still with all sorts of sprucing up with cute hearts and stars. Even if Gilda’s knowledge of pony glyphs stopped at daily needs, a rectangle and bunch of hay could only be the name of the city she wanted. The list said twenty-five Bits. Indeed, a very low price, but too much for her. But she knew how to get the money.

“Come on, Grunhilda. Let’s get us the money.” She told the other, grabbing Grunhilda’s attention from all the ponies and noises. A little distracted, Grunhilda took a second before she caught up with Gilda but walked close to her.

“Let me do the talking.” Gilda reminded Grunhilda and the other simply nodded and acquiesced.

“Okay. Are we gonna steal from somepony?” She grinned a little too much.

“No!” Gilda did her best not to cry at the other. “We’re gonna loan it. We can’t steal just because we need it! We’d draw too much attention, not to mention it is wrong to just take from some pony that has nothing to do with our problems!”

“Okay.” At least she accepted whenever Gilda told her to do anything.

A quick walk took them back to the main lobby and Gilda went straight to the kiosk named ‘Quick Cash’, knowing full well she would likely regret it. Still, no other options. The big banks would ask too many questions.

She walked into a small room with a desk behind which sat a smarmy tan griffon. Long neck and no plumage on his head other than a black ‘hair’ and thick eyebrows. Proper curved beak of a vulture. Yeah… Regret.

But she couldn’t see the two goons by the door from outside. Big and mean griffons with ‘security’ caps. Probably a couple of thugs the vulture had taken off the streets rather than trained security. Probably cheaper, or something.

Grunhilda was larger, though, and she glared at them like she was Gilda’s own security. Cute, but Gilda worried more about the guy on the other side of the desk.

“Greetings!” He grinned. “How can I help you ladies?”

She sat on the floor across the desk from him. “I need thirty Bits to travel to Haybale.”

Shit... She shouldn’t have mentioned the actual name of the city… She barely kept from wincing at her own stupidity.

The griffon hummed at her and stared malevolently. “You know, missy. Two things make me distrustful of a client. When they ask for too much money, and when they ask for too little money. That is when I ask questions.”

He quieted, waiting for her to explain and she thought it a better strategy not to create problems. “It’s a bit of an emergency. I need to wait for the money from my house’s insurance to come through. Meanwhile I’m going to stay at my friend’s home.”

“And your friend?” He pointed at Grunhilda and didn’t seem too convinced.

Crap! “She’s her sister. Came to help me.”

“And brought no money?” He definitively didn’t believe her.

“Listen dude.” She let her temper get the best of her again and kicked herself. She never gained any prizes for her patience, though. “I’m asking for some money. You make a living off lending creatures money. I don’t see why this is a problem.”

“Allow me to explain then.” He joined his paws above the desk, staring at her like he talked to a stupid five-years old. “Two griffons, out of nowhere, just appeared in my little establishment asking for money after a group of griffons hijacked the freight teleporter. They brought in a military airship and departed in the direction you want to go. Do you see the problem already or do I need to draw the sort of trouble this could turn out be for me?”

“It’s not my fault!” Not very clever, but the best she thought on the fly. It should’ve been easy! Get in, get money, travel. “All I need is some money for the travel, and you get whatever profit you will have. Come on! Help a gal out!”

“From a thirty Bits loan? It’s not worth the trouble.” He said simply.

“Awesome. I can ask for more if you want.” She grinned sarcastically at him, but it didn’t amuse him at all. “How about one hundred Bits?”

“Fine.” He finally relented. “But I’ll take your names and if anything is out of the ordinary, I will call the local militia. In fact, I will be checking your names and your identification numbers. Which are?”

“Gilda.” She said with a less than friendly voice. “Two-four-five, five-nine-five, thirty-nine dash four. Griffonstone.”

He quickly noted it down and stared at Grunhilda.

“Hum…” She started with a helpless frown. Fuck… “I’m Grunhilda…”

“Yes, and your ID number?” He insisted.

“I don’t know…” She admitted sheepishly.

“Get out.” The griffon on the other side of the growled and pointed at the door.

Gilda huffed and walked out, followed by a dejected Grunhilda. “I’m sorry, Miss Gilda.”

“It’s alright.” She sighed and sat in the middle of the lobby, rubbing her beak. “We’ll figure something out.”

They had nowhere to spend the night. It was still rather early in the day, but getting money without getting into trouble would be a problem. She started wondering if just taking from some pony loser wasn’t just easier.

She wandered around the place, and Grunhilda followed dutifully. Unsurprisingly, the accesses to the airship berths were under close watch and she saw no way they could sneak onboard one of the airships. Maybe if she had slept at night and wasn’t so tired, she could have thought of something, but the solution eluded her.

Then she saw one of the loan guy’s thugs pointing at her, flanked by two ponies wearing the Baltimare’s local militia barding. “Fuck… Shouldn’t have stayed around.”

One beige earth pony with a brown mane male and a female unicorn with a short blue mane and a cyan coat. Not only both used the militia’s tan barding with the city’s blazon, but also had the magical stun batons and the same wheellock pistols she’d seen earlier. Probably standard issue all over the confederation.

“Miss Gilda…” Grunhilda didn’t seem scared as she had been with the locals in Griffonstone and it worried Gilda more than the other way around.

“Don’t do anything. We should try to avoid violence in the middle of a crowded place.” She whispered to the other.

“Okay.” Grunhilda focused on the two militiaponies.

The unicorn mare approached them, and the earth pony kept a little behind. She greeted them, but not in the friendliest greeting Gilda had ever seen. “Hello.”

“Hi.” Gilda smiled. Hopefully, it was convincing enough.

“Ma’am. You two need to come with us for questioning. We have reasons to believe you may have been involved in the terrorist attack to the freight teleporter.” She spoke clearly and directly. “Please, don’t resist.”

“I didn’t know travelling somewhere was a crime.” Gilda complained.

“In my district it is, if you are a griffon trying to get money to travel to where a warship your kind flew to, especially after being teleported here by hijacking a teleporter.” The unicorn scowled at them. “Don’t make me beat you two senseless with this thing.”

She drew her stun baton and waved it at Gilda and Grunhilda. “You come with me and spare me the headache, we sort this quickly, and you two can be on your way. How about that?”

Grunhilda tensed up and Gilda thanked whatever the heck was the voice in her head and her dreams the ponies didn’t notice. Speaking of which, it had been curiously silent.

Part of her wanted to see Grunhilda ripping that jerk in a few pieces, remembering what she could have done with the much bigger and stronger griffon militia back in Griffonstone. Griffons, in general, were larger than the typical pony, and Grunhilda was larger than a typical griffon. But then again, it would put them in a really, really bad situation from which it would be a lot more complicated to come out of. Even if she could ‘summon up’ her skills again, she doubted she and Grunhilda could get away with fighting the whole Baltimare local militia.

“Let’s go, Grunhilda. We gotta go with the ponies.” She decided to play nice for the time being.

“Okay.” Grunhilda relaxed and spoke calmly, following Gilda as she followed the pony.

They led the pair out of the airdocks building and took a left, avoiding most of the plaza and towards one of the streets that came into it, into a suburban area of the city. Down the street and past the first crossing, down the next left, and then right, they came to a parallel to the street which went to the plaza. Much to Gilda’s surprise, a group of mean-looking griffons came out of the next transversal, which seemed like a less used way.

Suddenly things seemed a lot less friendly in the nice pony town, and ponies coming the same way turned tail before they even started talking. Trouble was in the air.

“Hi there, guards. What do you have there? A pair of griffons under arrest?” Said a skinny-looking griffon, dark-tan and white plumage with yellow eyes. “I suppose they really did something really bad, did they?”

“Walk away, Grimm.” The unicorn warned and the other guard drew his wheellock pistol. Gilda thought it a dumb idea, she counted five griffons. “This is serious. We’re taking them to HQ for questioning. They might be implicated in the terrorist attack, and you really don’t want to get involved.”

“Oh. So that is how it is?” The griffon seemed like the kind of griffons who would ambush a lone female on a dark street. He had a mocking tone Gilda would be pissed had he used it with her, but since he directed it at the pony, she considered it amusing. Once again, it came down to taking sides. “Some griffon appears to be doing something that seems ‘improper’ to you and then, suddenly, they’re a terrorist?”

“Don’t start it, Grimm.” The unicorn frowned at him. “I’m just doing my job. And my job includes arresting anycreature doing something suspicious.”

“What were they doing, Street Wise? They looked like griffons too much?” The griffon sat and crossed his forelimbs. “Beat it, local. Or the Boss is gonna have a conversation with the Lord Protector again. And this time, your name is gonna show up. Unless, of course, you have any real proof that they were doing something wrong…”

“Well, we were going to take them to HQ to check on that.” The earth pony almost sounded like he needed defending himself. “Come on, Grimm. If we believe the suspect is trying to flee our jurisdiction, we’re supposed to take them in.”

“Dude, we’re traveling to see my friend. You guys literally believed some shady loan shark who only decided to ‘denounce’ us because we didn’t want to loan a large quantity.”

The griffon they called Grimm put out his paws. “Doesn’t sound like you have a very reasonable motive to bother these two ladies… Do I have to write a letter to the Boss? You know the magical parchment is expensive.”

“Fine!” Street Wise, the unicorn, hoofed at the paving stone. “But I’m checking on these chicks and I swear if their names are dirty, I’m getting the Royal Guard on your ass! It’s gonna spill on ‘The Boss’ too. Come on!”

She cried and stormed off with her partner. Only when they were a fair distance away Gilda spoke to the griffons. “Thanks.”

“Don’t thank me yet, sweetheart.” Grimm frowned. “I only got my feathers involved because your big gal friend looks like a northerner. Now, can you hear the storm?”

“Yeah.” Gilda grinned. “I can hear her cry.”

Actually, she could more than any of them, she believed. Still, they grinned and nodded at her knowing the password.

“Good call, chief.” One of the griffons nodded at Grimm. “Good thing we were keeping an eye on the airdocks too.”

“Ponies never assume there is going to be trouble. They just don’t prepare, for example, to safely escort a pair of prisoners to their neighborhood quarters.” He chuckled. “Guess the Lord Protector is finally getting an opportunity to push for that local HQ next to the airdocks now.”

“What’s up, though?” Grimm talked to her again. “We’re hearing some strange stuff from Thunderpeak, and some chatter about the Royals raiding the museum and arresting Master Gabriel and his daughter. The fuck is going on? Usual line’s gone silent.”

“Princess Luna took the Royal Guard to attack the museum.” Gilda did her best to seem like she was ‘in’. “She didn’t simply arrest him, though. I was working at the Griffonstone hospital where they took the injured locals and the prisoners. She messed up his paws.”

“Dude! The balls!” One of his griffons cried like he took personal offense.

“Man, Lady Gwendolen is gonna spit fire when she hears of this.” Grimm shook his head. “What about you two?”

“I’m going to Haybale to check on his daughter.” She didn’t even have to lie. Gladys asked her to. “But… Stuff happened, and I don’t have a Bit. I’m gonna need some help getting there.”

“Not an issue.” Grimm offered. “We can get you there, no problem.”

“Better do it quick, boss.” One of his ‘guys’ said. “Guards are gonna be a problem if we don’t hurry. If things are like that, we gotta disappear and lay low.”

He agreed. “Let’s get moving.”

She didn’t know the deal with those guys. Maybe some street thugs who ‘were in’ enough they would be useful. Maybe the northerners promissed something. Or maybe their bosses and they were just the muscle.

Whatever. It worked in her benefit.

They rushed to a nearby warehouse next to an apartment complex. It seemed to be some sort of griffon neighborhood since she saw many cubs and several adults working on whatever went on in the place. She decided not to ask and, fortunately, Grunhilda had taken to heart Gilda’s request that she let her speak.

It didn’t take too long, and they came up with money for a trip to Haybale with a reasonable level of comfort. Gilda didn’t care for the details, and they didn’t bother her with them. A pair of their ‘muscle’ escorted her and Grunhilda back to the airdocks and kept watchful eyes while she took care of buying the tickets from one of the kiosks. The one they had contacts in and should keep things hush-hush. An inconspicuous, pony-owned company keeping a few of the daily two-way lines to haybale.

They had gotten her enough money for the trip to Haybale only, but it shouldn’t be an issue since she would talk to Gabriel’s daughter, and they had some food with them.

They stayed with Gilda and Grunhilda until the time to board came but couldn’t pass the gate with them. Fortunately, nothing went wrong, and Gilda happily boarded as the ponies didn’t want to waste time either. If the two local militias did check on her name, they would find some ‘dirt’ on her. She even wished Grimm and the others would be okay. They were on her side, after all.

Boarding the airship required they went a few flights of stairs up to the airship’s berth and she was a beautiful thing. Couldn’t compare to the larger and more luxurious one on the next berth, but it would suffice. One of the modern ones, built from scratch rather than a converted seafaring ship, she still had the hull of a ‘seaship’ and a building-like superstructure. It looked like a small flying hotel. Had a white structure above deck and the hull had been painted navy blue, with her name painted in red ‘Cloudchaser’, next to the letters and numbers of its registration.

Boarding happened quickly through a wide ramp which swung off its side to rest on the dock. Officers, ponies in the company’s blue uniform and wearing cute caps, herded the passengers aboard. Some thirty ponies, mostly earth ponies with no clothes, but saddlebags.

Past the ramp they arrived on a welcoming area which led them to the main lobby past a few stairs. Nowhere near as refined or fancy as Wild North’s lobby in Griffonstone, but certainly more than anything Gilda had the habit of partaking. It really felt like a hotel.

It had a nice royal red carpet with hearts, the walls were covered with a beige wallpaper she could do without, but she supposed she didn’t care about the decoration. Doors led to the airship’s amenities, but Gilda followed the sign indicating the cabins with the typical pony glyphs.

Grunhilda followed her, and she, as many of the passengers made their way to one of the numbered corridors and soon found their cabin. Not first class, but free, and it brought her closer to figuring out what exactly was going on with her. Maybe, getting some revenge.

It had a table between two cushioned benches. Red on the dark varnished wood with golden finish, and flowery details. Also, a window showed the berth outside, with a simple but beautiful curtain, not to mention hearts and typical pony motifs everywhere. Not big or excessively fancy at all, but good enough she relaxed as soon as she entered and Grunhilda closed the door.

She sat on a comfortable bench, and it reminded Gilda of just how tired she felt. She yawned into her fist and stared at Grunhilda, sitting next to her, like she expected a command or something.

“Gotta lie down for a while. You can look around if you want.” She supposed the big gal would be curious. She was, after all, but more tired. “Just remember we don’t have any money, don’t trust anyone and don’t get yourself into trouble.”

“Don’t you want me to stay with you?” The other mewled at her, rather than going with her usual ‘okay’ and caught Gilda a little by surprise.

“Nah. I’m cool.” Gilda frowned a little. “Just don’t get into trouble.”

“Okay.” Grunhilda said all obedient if a bit disappointed. She took off her backpack, left over the table and went out, carefully closing the door, as though to not disturb Gilda.

Geez, she was so weird. And she got so clingy in days. What was up with her? Maybe she really liked her, and she was so grateful she had gotten her out of getting sent to Shatteredrock? Did she like Gilda? Like ‘that’? Did she think she was in her debt, or something? Gladys had implied something like that, hadn’t she?

She yawned again and thoughts became too damn confused inside her head, which ached like… Well, like she had a whole night of skipped sleep to catch up with. She simply laid on the bench, content to let sleep take her.

Next Chapter: Aya Harpyia Estimated time remaining: 29 Hours, 48 Minutes