134. Moonlit Rendezvous

Another day, another night, and another appearance from the pale-jade moon—waxing gibbous on this occasion. The outrealmers made their way to a remote part of the Southern Bough—a sandy ridge pushed up by the currents on either side—where they met Petter for an exchange of information.

First order of business: safety precautions. To that end, Serac and Zacko took pains to ensure that the trio was hidden from view from any reflective surface—including the moon in the sky and the water that rushed past on either side of the sandy ridge.

Luckily, there was a small depression in the sand that provided the perfect starting point. After a bit of digging, the Wayfarers had a makeshift bunker for all three of them to squeeze into. A tight fit, and perhaps a little overcautious… but better safe than sorry.

"It's an anti-Eddur-Lokksen measure," Serac—armed with a week's worth of knowledge about her fellow Kronvakt members—explained for the benefit of a bewildered Petter. "Not only is the man himself a bit of a weirdo, his powers are also pretty weird… and kind of spooky. You ever catch him at the Hubstation, staring straight up at the night sky? It's because his eyes can see 'reflections' cast from far away, and the moon happens to be the biggest 'mirror' around. The central Bulb gives him the best angle and vantage point. Zacko and I reckon Eddur could spy on pretty much the whole palace from there, as long as the reflections connect back to the moon in some fashion."

"In other words, he's a long-range Peeping Tom," Zacko took it from there. "And if that weren't creepy enough, he can also teleport from mirror to mirror. Never seen it in action, but it has something to do with that kitchen knife of his."

Petter's round eyes grew even rounder as he took in the information. But rather than being put off, he was downright giddy with excitement—a return of the 'old' Petter and his Wayfarer worship.

"But… if that's true," the mackerel man asked, seeming to rein in his excitement with some difficulty, "should we postpone our meeting? Perhaps wait for a moonless night?"

Zacko glanced up at the nearly full moon, then at Serac. The Rakshasa, on the other hand, already had her mind made up.

"It'd be at least another week before the new moon," she remarked. "We don't know if our friends can afford to wait that long… and we can't afford to risk finding out. Especially after what almost happened to you, Petey. Don't worry; this place is perfect. It's too out of the way for anyone to stumble onto, and there's even this sandy covering for us to hide in. Let's just go ahead."

Petter appeared to consider this for a moment, then offered a suggestion:

"In that case, Miss, let me add a precautionary measure of my own."

With that, he equipped his SHAKER and ran a lap around the perimeter of the island, thus drawing a creamy-orange 'circle'. But the crystals retained their distinctive appearance for only a second, before fading and blending into the sand.

[Auxiliary Technique: SPICE RUB]

"There," Petter said, uncharacteristically pleased with himself. "Mr Eddur might have his mirrors, but I have my crystals. This way, if anyone disturbs the sand in any way, even from the water, I'll be the first to know about it."

Serac and Zacko beamed at each other, looking for all the world like proud parents. Look at all these new tricks our man's added to his bag! Speaking of new tricks…

Second order of business: gift exchange. As soon as the three Wayfarers hunkered down in their sandy bunker, Serac produced a slice of cooked [Ulvknall Liver] from her satchel.

"I've been meaning to learn how to cook," she explained, "then ended up letting you cook for me for two whole months. Well, no more excuses. Here it is: my first dish. It ain't pretty, and I think I went a little overboard with the seasoning… but I'd be honored, Chef, if you could be the first soul to taste it."

Only then did it occur to Serac that she might've put Petter in an awkward position. She couldn't imagine a world where the [Liver] would be anything but a burnt, tough, overseasoned mess. She was just about to retract her offer, when—

"The honor is all mine!" Petter exclaimed in a quivering voice, even as his face shone with fresh tears. "Th—th—this is the nicest thing anyone's done for me!"

With that, he ripped the [Liver] from Serac's hand and stuffed the whole piece into his mouth. His eyes bulged, and his jaws worked furiously as he negotiated the burnt, tough, overseasoned mess. After what felt like an eternity for Serac, Chef Petey swallowed, nodded, then proclaimed with authority:

"No notes."

Zacko, as always, was the first to burst into laughter. Petter joined in soon after, dabbing his teary face as he did. Even Serac managed a nervous chuckle or two, before giving herself fully to the shared joy. New digs, new tricks, and even new powers… but some things stayed the same.

Finally, onto the third and most important order of business. Serac and Zacko kicked things off with a brief retelling of the royal family's sordid past. And with Petter well and truly won over to the cause, the newest Wayfarer explained how he'd sussed out Renate's location—starting with the bag of tricks that had allowed him to do so.

"SHAKER's crystals are kind of like… solid ripples. When I activate them—like you saw me do earlier—I can get their signals to feed into me directly, even from a distance, so I know exactly when they change and how."

"Is that how you managed to stay undetected all this time?" this from curious curious Zacko. "Like… sending out tripwires around yourself, so you always know if someone's coming?"

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Petter shook his head.

"No, Mister, that would require far too many crystals and far too much MP for my current level. But luckily, I found that I could also use the crystals as a 'muffler'. You see, even in their inactive state, the crystals send out so many ripples in so many different directions that they end up canceling each other out. Unless a soul knew specifically to look for it, they wouldn't read the crystals as anything more than a natural part of the environment."

"So you seasoned yourself!" Serac blurted, then was immediately horrified by her own words. "Sorry, that came out wrong! I meant—"

"No, you're right, Miss, that's exactly what I did," Petter said with a good-natured chuckle. "Whenever I needed to sneak around, I covered myself with the crystals to mask my own ripples. One-time use, and no need to spend MP. I could even season the two of you, Miss and Mister, and it should work just the same!"

Serac smirked at Zacko, thoroughly amused by the notion. Oh, how the tables have turned! The Manusya pretended not to see her, as he pressed on with the Q&A:

"So that might let you sneak around much of the palace, but how'd you get around the security at the Apical Bough? And you still haven't told us how you broke out of your prison cell in the first place!"

"Funny you should ask that, Mister, because both of your questions have the same answer."

Petter proceeded to demonstrate, first by spreading a pinch of SHAKER crystals onto the sandy floor. He didn't [Rub] them in this time, so they kept their orange color. Next, he flicked on MATCHSTICK, filling the bunker with a greenish glow.

[MATCHSTICK Spell: HEAT SINK]

This was the same spell Petter had used at the Pasture. A sharp drop in ambient temperature, coinciding with a vibrant surge in MATCHSTICK's flames. At the same time, the loose crystals on the floor compressed into a single, barely discernible ball. And then—

[MATCHSTICK Spell: HEAT SOURCE]

The same but in reverse. MATCHSTICK's fire reduced to green embers as it 'gave back' the energy it'd stolen. The result was a momentary blaze of intense heat, one that nearly burned Serac's skin. The crystal ball broke apart and sent its individual particles flying in all directions, with enough force that—despite their minuscule size—Serac felt pricks of real pain as they bounced against her legs.

[1!], [1!], [1!], [1!], [1!]

"Sorry!" Petter yelped, mortified. "I forgot it can do damage!"

You call this damage? Serac might've teased, but she thought better of it. No need to judge a KL-1 Wayfarer too harshly. She instead showed her full approval with a big grin and two thumbs up.

"People back home did say cooking is more science than art," Zacko mused, himself wearing an appreciative smile. "Now I kind of see what they meant. So this is how you blew out that hole in your cell wall and put it back together on your way out. And I take it you also used the same trick to infiltrate the royal chambers?"

"Almost but not quite," Petter hedged, letting his humble side come to the fore. "Try as I might, I couldn't screw up the courage to actually go into the royal chambers. Instead, I hid myself inside the walls—peeking in when I could, and listening when I couldn't. If you say Mr Eddur is a 'long-range Peeping Tom', I suppose you could call me a short-range—"

"It's not a compliment, Pete," Zacko said, dead serious. "And there's no such thing as a 'short-range Peeping Tom'. That's just a… regular Peeping Tom."

"A—anyway," Serac piped up in a hurry, sensing the conversation had gone wildly off-rails, "so that's how you managed to catch sight of Inge and Munkfred. But you said you also learned something about Renate?"

Petter nodded, a little red in the cheeks. "I know you and Mister Zacko were always wary of Queen Loha, so that's who I paid special attention to. And wouldn't you know it? She had the most, erm, suspicious routine out of anyone in the royal family. Constantly writing notes and letters, and passing them off to a different servant each time. At times, she'd disappear for hours on end, nowhere to be seen in any of the chambers—and I would've known if she'd left the Apical Bough. But then the kicker is, I once saw her come back from one of her disappearing acts… with a [Pearl] in her hand, filled to the brim with a milky-white liquid."

"A [Pearl]?" Serac pressed, rapt with attention. "You mean one of Renate's potions?"

"That's it! And that's when I twigged that the Queen alone knows where Miss Renate is kept, because she's the one who put her there, and she hasn't shared the whereabouts with anyone else—not even the King."

"But how can that be?" Zacko again, frowning. "Is the layout of the Apical Bough really so complex that you could hide a whole Yaksha without anyone else knowing about it?"

"Maybe not on the surface," Petter said, putting deliberate weight behind his words, "but underneath?"

Now it was Serac's turn to frown. "Underneath? But what does that—oh!"

"The Realm-cave." Zacko had come to the same realization at the same time. "Sheesh, you mean to tell me the whole tree is hollow? From the deepest Roots to the very top of the Crown? And you think that's where Renate's held, do you?"

"It has to be," Petter spoke with his newfound confidence, which quickly faltered again as he continued, "by… what's the phrase? Pro—process of…"

"Process of elimination."

"Process of elimination," Serac cheated. "Okay, but you haven't actually seen Renate."

"No, Miss."

"Then how do we know if she's still…" Serac trailed off, unable or unwilling to finish her thought. How do we know if she's still 'herself'?

"I think the [Pearl] is a big clue," Zacko the master drift-catcher chimed in, surprisingly gentle in tone. "Pete said this one was full, which means Bubblegum either brewed or reconstituted it. Which should also mean she's still, you know, Bubblegum."

Serac wanted to believe it. But she'd already had a close call with Petter, and her anxiety couldn't be assuaged in the absence of more concrete evidence. All the more reason to put plan into action, as soon as possible.

"Okay, I guess it's time for us to decide what to do with all this information. I've broken myself out of prison before, but this is a whole different animal. Petey, you seemed to have an idea of how we might tackle this thing. Wanna tell us about it? … Petey?"

It soon became apparent that Petter was listening to—no, reading—an entirely different signal. Eyes wide and scales fluttering, he put a finger to his lips and tilted his head sideways—gesturing towards something outside the bunker. No words, but the meaning couldn't be clearer:

We've got company.

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