As we walked through the main gate, I was able to sense the curiosity that pulsed off of Sylvia as she sat on my shoulders. She looked at everything: her wonder was apparent even though she didn't say a single word.

Simon looked at her, a slight glitter in his wispy pale blue eyes: "I have never understood the concept of wonder. Sure, you can look at something with curiosity, but to look at something with a certain interest that far surpasses regular curiosity? I am simply baffled."

"That's because you're a tin man, Simon," Soren replied with a grin: "You can't comprehend such emotions."

Sylvia looked at Soren, then shifted her gaze to Simon, "Tin...man?" She mused, speaking the syllables carefully. She then looked back at Soren with a question in her eyes.

A grin of pure evil appeared on Soren's face as he nodded his head and pointed at Simon, "Yes, Simon is a tin man."

Sylvia's face lit up joyously, and she laughed gleefully, "Tin man!"

Simon sighed deeply, "This is so underwhelming. You're the worst, Soren."

"Why thank you, Tin man." Soren replied with an innocent grin on his face.

Simon groaned, "In Helix's words: fuck you man."

"F-?" Sylvia began, only for her mother to groan.

"No! Simon!"

Luna slapped Simon's head off of his shoulders, "I will state this once more: No swearing around my child!"

Simon bent over to pick his head up from off the floor where he proceeded to place it back onto his shoulders, "My sincerest apologies. If it weren't for Soren, I wouldn't have used such crass language."

"N-No problem Simon," Luna stammered as Simon righted his head on his ghastly neck, "I'm still not used to that-your head being able to be removed and whatnot."

Simon shrugged nonchalantly, "I have no physical body, so it does not affect me."

Dorrian appeared to be having a hard time keeping himself together as I overheard the giggling fit that was currently overwhelming him.

Stefan chuckled, then looked at Sylvia and smiled. She smiled back.

"If you don't mind my asking, what brought you to work beside Soren?" I asked Stefan.

"I used to be a prisoner of Thaleous'." He began, eyes guttering as he recollected on memories of years past: "For as long as I can remember, Thaleous tried to corrupt me, but I fortunately-or rather, unfortunately had a natural immunity to the toxins he tried to use to convert me. Instead, He raised me to be an inquisitor hunter. If it weren't for Soren and Tanis, I would be dead."

"How did they help you?" I asked him.

"Well, Soren and I wanted to kill each other at first, but it was Tanis who got us both to calm down and listen to reason. I didn't listen at first, but the kindness Tanis showed me eventually broke Thaleous' influence on me. I'm still grateful that they spared me." His jaw tightened, "We all have our reasons for wanting Thaleous dead, but I get to crush his head after it's been cut off."

I grinned, "I call cutting his dick off."

Sylvia looked at me in bewilderment, but her mother was much faster on the draw. She punched me in the gut, which caused Sylvia to erupt with laughter. I didn't double over in pain. (Thankfully) I merely stood up as straight as I could manage and laughed my pain off.

"My appendix," I squeaked, "Dear gods woman, you hit hard."

"What did I tell you about swearing around our child?" Luna replied in a sweet, lilting voice.

"I'm sorry!"

Luna huffed, "you are not."

"I really am sorry!" I repeated.

She chuckled, "Whatever you say."

It took us about ten minutes to reach the Inquisitor's tower. Luna occasionally poked me in the ribs to get Sylvia giggling. (Damn, she has nails. Not only did she break skin a few times, she also found the spot that I'm most ticklish: my ribs/my sides. I could've sworn I was about to piss myself laughing.)

When we finally did enter the tower, Theo bid us welcome.

"Heather is waiting for you upstairs," he informed us.

I nodded, "Thanks."

"Heather? Who's that?" Nova asked me.

I grinned, "You'll see."

Nova huffed, "Really bro? Gonna keep me in the dark, eh?"

"Yep. You'll see." I repeated.

We went up the spiral staircase leading to the second floor. All the while, Nova continued to bug me about who Heather was: "C'mon bro! At least give me a hint, a-hole!"

"Nope," I replied.

"Please?" She begged.

"Nope."

"Why are you so persistent?" Dorrian asked her.

"Hey, I'm a curious person so f-gah, screw off," Nova retorted, correcting herself as Luna gave her the stink eye.

"Good job Nova." she remarked, "I'm really proud of you."

Reaching the second floor, Nova's inquiries didn't cease until I opened the door to the parlor room and motioned for everyone to enter.

"Happy now?" I asked her.

"Huh-?"

Her jaw dropped when she caught sight of Heather, "A...A treant? Amazing..." She pulled a notebook out of a satchel she had at her side and began jotting down notes and possibly an illustration or two. Pip flew out of Nova's shirt and silently observed Heather.

"Yep, she's a treant." He mused, "Who knew?"

Heather smiled, "You seemed surprised to see me. I take it you've never seen a treant before?"

"No ma'am." Nova replied, "Only in illustrations. My colleagues thought that all of the treants were gone from the world. I'm glad they were wrong."

Heather chuckled, "Please, call me Heather. Well, I'm glad I proved your colleagues wrong. May I have your name?"

"Nova," She replied without looking up from her notebook, hurriedly scribbling down more notes.

"Holy..." Dorrian began, "Uh, tree lady-I'm seeing a tree lady, right?"

I sighed, "She's a treant, Dorrian." I corrected him.

"So...a tree lady?" He repeated

I facepalmed, "Forgive my friend Dorrian, Heather. He's...special."

She laughed, "Fear not Helix. I understand most people don't even know what a treant is."

She continued to talk to the people that had come along before she looked at Sylvia and smiled at her. Sylvia was still on my shoulders, so I couldn't see the expression on her face.

"Hello, child," Heather greeted her.

"H-Hi," Sylvia stammered

Heather kept the smile on her face as she looked at me and Soren: "So, how did the mission go?"

We looked at each other: "Uh..." I began, shuffling my feet, "Where do we start...?"

We explained what happened, and Heather's smile promptly crumbled.

"I should've known Thaleous was stringing us along." She murmured, "I knew this seemed too easy..."

"Hey, don't beat yourself up Heather." Soren began, passing her the documents he'd liberated from the stronghold, "This mission wasn't a complete failure."

Heather silently read through the documents Soren handed her before loosing a deep exhale.

"Good...so Alan wasn't lying..." she murmured, "Alright, here's the good news: these documents confirm what Alan found yesterday."

"What did he find?" Soren inquired.

"An outpost located north of this location." Heather explained, "It's located in the mountains, and it appears to be the same stronghold listed in this document that also happens to contain something important."

"Any idea what that important something is?" Dorrian asked.

"Well, Alan told me he sensed her aura, but it sounds too good to be true." She continued.

"Who did he find?" Soren prompted her.

"If Alan is correct, then we've finally found Kybris," Heather replied.

"Oh," He managed to get out.

"Who's Kybris?" Luna asked curiously.

"Kybris is the goddess of Mareth." Soren explained, his face ashen in fright, "She ensures that the entire realm is running smoothly and without trouble. Of course, with Thaleous and his lackeys running around, there certainly has been trouble as of late."

"You sound as if this Kybris lady doesn't like you very much." Dorrian pointed out, "Any reason why?"

Heather cringed, "Kybris is...livid with my inquisitors because it was our lack of action that caused the goddess to be captured by Thaleous's forces and taken away from her origin of power. Because Thaleous has kept her from returning to the heart of Mareth, Kybris has been slowly dying."

"And why is he doing this again?" Nova demanded, face slack with shock.

"As far as we know, Thaleous is trying to get Kybris to destroy Vastiin." Soren replied, "Thankfully, she hasn't yet."

"Yet?" Nova echoed, "I'm really comforted by your words."

"So we break into this outpost, free Kybris, and lay waste to the demons within said hideout." I stated, quelling the current conversation before it could continue any further, "Will that be our next move?"

Heather nodded, "To a degree, yes. I cannot stress to you how careful you must be. Thaleous has already tricked us once, so I don't think we'll get lucky again if this turns out to be another trap. If anything seems off, retreat. I don't care how 'normal' things look. If your gut tells you that you're about to walk into a trap, follow your gut and get out of there before someone dies."

"Okay...so say we break Kybris out." I began, "What then?"

"She will help you get to Thaleous."

I frowned, "How?"

"Kybris is mysterious in her ways," Heather began, "Break her out and get her back to her point of origin, and she will help you one way or another. Fortunately, she doesn't despise humans-she just doesn't like inquisitors. However, she is known to kill those she deems unworthy, so be careful and don't piss her off."

Soren chuckled, "We'll try not to irritate her."

Heather sighed as she leaned back in her seat. "Good...Please be careful. I will not be able to live with myself if any of you die on this mission."

"Don't worry Heather." I assured her, "I'll make sure no one gets hurt. You have my word on that."

She sighed, pausing as she sensed my aura, "Very well."

I'd noticed that Heather was currently the only other inquisitor that sat at the table.

"Where's everyone else?" I asked her.

"They're still asleep."

"Oh, okay," I replied, "I'm an early bird, so I'm used to waking up at the crack of dawn."

A pained smile appeared on Heather's face: "I'd be lucky if they woke up three hours after sunrise. None of the other inquisitors are morning people." 

I chuckled, "One of my team members, Analise, loves to sleep in. I'd be lucky if I could get her up before noon."

Heather chuckled, "Well, no matter. I wish you the best of luck, and may the gods be in your favor. You are all dismissed."

I grinned, "Have a lovely day Heather."

We left the tower and explored the marketplace that was nearby. Since Sylvia was still in her dirty and blood-stained nightgown, I decided to see if I could buy her some new clothing. After about ten minutes of searching, I found a tailor shop ran by a middle-aged firewalker. (Luna, Sylvia, and I had entered the store while everyone else continued to wander about.)

"Hello, hello!" he greeted us in a jovial tone, "How can I help you today?"

I smiled, "I'd like you to fit the lass on my shoulders in new clothing please. A tunic and a pair of pants should suffice just fine."

The firewalker looked at Sylvia curiously, then nodded to himself: "I think I have a better idea for the young lass's attire."

I rose an eyebrow, "I'm listening."

"I can't help but notice how dazzling her eyes are." the tailor remarked, "I believe I have a dress that's about her size that'll accent her eyes perfectly. While there is a bit of detailing on it, it's still a fairly simple dress. I won't charge too much for it.

I thought over his proposal, then shrugged, "Alright, fair enough. What do you think of this, Luna?"

"It sounds good to me." she replied, "Please show us the dress."

The firewalker nodded and left us to wait in the main room of the shop. Various fabrics of different colors and textures along with simply-crafted, yet elegant articles of clothing hung from the wall. The floor plan of this shop comprised of several tables that had a few pieces of clothing in differing states of completion laying on them. A few mannequins were also present in the shop, and they displayed their clothing proudly, even if they were inanimate. (And terrifying. I hate mannequins...) Much like the other buildings in Vastiin, this shop was made of pale beige sandstone. Even though it was hot outside, the interior of the building we were in was surprisingly cool. I'm sure Nova would have a field day studying the ventilation system of this shop...

At any rate, the tailor returned to us a few moments later with a simple yet beautiful dress in his arms. When he had said there was a bit of detailing on it, I couldn't help but feel that he was understating the dress's beauty. Several flowers were illustrated in black at the bottom of the dress, which were accented perfectly by the pale silver fabric of the dress itself.

"What do you think?" the firewalker prompted me.

"That's a question you should ask Sylvia." I murmured, "Luna, can you help her get off my shoulders?"

After our daughter was on the ground, she curiously studied the dress that was handed to her. A few moments of silence went by before Sylvia looked at me with a question in her eye.

"It's for you lass-that is, if you like it." I explained, "What do you think?"

Another moment of silence passed by before Sylvia beamed at me.

"I...I l-like it." she told me.

The firewalker tailor smiled widely, "I'm glad to hear that! All I have to do is make sure the dress fits you, and you're good to go!"

"I can help her get dressed in it," Luna offered, "Where's a changing room?"

He pointed toward a curtained area on the left-hand wall of the store: "Your daughter can get changed in there."

While Luna led Sylvia into the changing room, I asked the tailor how much he wanted for the dress.

"Um...Does seventy gold marks sound like a deal to you?" he offered.

I nodded, "That's more than reasonable. May I have your name please?"

"Oscar. And you?"

"Helix," I replied, "If you don't mind my asking, how long did it take you to make the dress?"

Oscar's gaze fell a little, and I saw grief cloud his eyes, "It took a few months. I made it for my own daughter but...She's gone."

I caught his message and nodded solemnly, "My condolences."

"I couldn't help but think about the dress when you entered my store," he continued quietly, "I hope your daughter continues to shine with joy."

I could only nod as Luna and Sylvia exited the changing room. The glimmer in my daughter's eyes told me enough: she loved it. The tailor wasn't lying when he said the dress would accent Sylvia's eyes. The silver fabric went past her knees, and it seemed to flow gracefully.

I looked at Luna, "Should we consider buying a few other articles of clothing for Sylvia while we're here?"

She shrugged. "I don't see why not."

After we allowed Sylvia to pick out a few more things to wear other than her dress, we walked over to the checkout counter to pay for all of the clothing. (She picked out another simple dress, two tunics, and two pairs of trousers. I also made sure to find a good pair of shoes for her to wear.)

"Um...For everything, it'll be one-hundred gold marks." Oscar told me.

I pulled out a pouch of two-hundred gold marks I had counted out a few days ago and handed it to the tailor. (I like to carry around pouches that contain a set-amount of gold marks. It makes certain transactions easier to take care of. I don't like counting out one-hundred fifty gold marks, so it's more convenient to set aside a certain amount in advance so I don't need to worry about it.)

"Thank you for your business," the firewalker began as I handed him the pouch of marks. "Have a nice rest of your day."

"Likewise," I echoed, "Have a lovely day."

As we left the tailor shop, I saw Oscar's eyes widen as he saw that there was more than one-hundred gold marks in the pouch. I helped Sylvia get back onto my shoulders before we set ourselves to the task of regrouping with everyone else. We found Nova and Dorrian walking around, and we found Simon, Stefan, and Soren browsing a booth that sold various types of weapons a few moments after that. When everyone was accounted for, I blinked us all back to Soren's fort.