ToT: Insert Witty Title Here

In the middle of the training area, Marble stared at David, not quite believing what she’d just heard but also not believing anyone would make something like that up. “You fought off a group of bandits… with Prier.”

The newly evolved Lucario leaned against a post. “Yep.”

“And we’re talking about the same Prier here? Dandolo’s kid? The fluffy Absol with the snotty attitude who keeps mistaking everyone he sees for a family servant? That Prier?”

“The very same.”

Marble struggled to process the idea in her mind. “And he contributed in a meaningful way?”

David shrugged. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’d probably be dead if Prier hadn’t been around.”

“Does this mean no more fistfights in the Keeper’s halls?”

“I have no idea” chuckled David. “And ‘fistfights’ is really overselling it.”

Marble wondered whether she’d be able to get a definite answer without revealing the ‘how long before it happens again’ bet she’d made with Resin. She decided not to risk it. “I’m guessing you’re here to break in the new body?”

“Pretty much.”

“Well, you know where all the equipment is.” Marble glanced at the schedule she had pinned near the entrance. “I’m going to be testing a new arrival in about half an hour, but until then you’ll have the place to yourself.”

______________________

Samara looked up at the Bank of Tabira. Largest bank in Tabira, nexus of its commercial district, the grease in the wheels of the fair town’s economy.

That was what Samara had always kept hearing about it, anyway. She was pretty sure it was supposed to be a more impressive way of saying ‘Tabira’s only bank’. It was a medium-sized building with polished stone walls. The double doors were made of imported (and probably very expensive) wood. Tasteful and impressive, sure, but Samara thought it looked completely out of place next to the Great Tree.

Dandolo was in the lobby, trying to talk down a Mightyena. “I deeply regret the delay, sir. I’ve people working on the problem at this very moment.”

“It’s been this way for two weeks!” said the customer.

“We are doing all that we can” said Dandolo, soothingly. “Perhaps you might speak to one of the clerks. If the transfer is not too large, we may be able to assist you in spite of the snag we’ve hit.”

The Mightyena grunted and headed for the front desks.

Dandolo turned his attention to Samara. “Greetings, young lady. You are one of the newer guild members, as I recall. I believe, however, that we have not been introduced?”

“Samara.” She reached into her bag. “I think this belongs to you.” She held out the key to him.

The Furfrou did a double take. “My word, where in the world did you find that?”

“In a barn in Rivercross Acres” replied Samara, completely deadpan.

Dandolo stared at her for a moment, and smiled. “I suppose it doesn’t matter where you found it. Thank you so very much. You’ve just lifted a serious burden from my shoulders.”

“Why? What’s the key for?”

“It is the key to the main vault!” said Dandolo, waving over one of the clerks and handing him the key. The Patrat headed for one of the back rooms. “It went missing weeks ago! We’ve a backlog of frustrated customers!”

“There’s only one key?”

The banker grimaced. “That key is designed for a custom-made lock. It’s irreplaceable. I assume that this is another one of these odd thefts I’ve been reading about in the news? I do hope the guilds will soon put an end to this.”

“Yes, but… wait” said Samara. “Someone stole this key and then didn’t use it to steal money from the bank?”

“Barking mad of whoever did it, I agree” said the Furfrou. “But it seems that is what they did. Had they taken anything, we would certainly have noticed the next time we checked the… vaults?” Suddenly, a look of fear spread across the manager’s face.

Samara got it too. “Except you had no way to check them without the key.”

Dandolo ran for the back rooms, or at least came as close to a run as dignity allowed. Samara decided she probably wouldn’t be allowed to follow him, so she just waited where she was.

A few minutes later, Dandolo came back. He was clearly relieved. “Nothing seems to have gone missing, although we’ll need to do a full accounting to be sure. We did, however, find this.” He handed Samara an old book, labeled as being from the Keepers’ library. “It was in the wrong vault for Madras to have put it here herself, so I suspect it was one of the recent thefts. You may wish to return it.” Dandolo gathered his composure. “Samara, I wish you luck at finding whoever did this. Now, if you’ll excuse me, the aforementioned frustrated customers really need to be attended to. Good day.”

___________________

Aveline stood at the edge of the training yard, and braced herself.

Her application had been accepted without incident, and she’d been told to head for the training ground for assessment. Just one last thing she needed to do, and she was in. So, of course, she was more nervous than ever.

Taking a deep breath, she stepped in.

The place was mostly deserted, with the exception of a Lucario whaling away at one of the punching bags. Aveline cautiously walked up to him and said: “Excuse me, are you…”

He turned to look at her, and she froze. The scar on his cheek, the icy blue eyes…

He looked her up and down. “You’re the one from the farm, aren’t you?” Aveline could just barely manage a nod.

“Don’t think we got a proper introduction.” He held out his hand. “David.”

Aveline shook it. “Ummm, Aveline.”

David nodded. “Now that introductions are out of the way, if I’d known you were on your way to join the guild, I would have directed you to the carts. You could have been here two days ago.”

“I know, but…” Aveline considered. “I didn’t really want to make a bad first impression or…” She trailed off, helplessly.

David shrugged. “No damage done here. I’m not the one you need to impress.”

“You must be the newcomer” said a voice behind her. Aveline looked over her shoulder and saw a young Machoke. “Aveline, right? I’m Marble. I’ll be the one testing you today.”

David snorted. “You weren’t nearly this polite when testing me and Samara.”

Marble shrugged. “Eh. Got tired of the drill sergeant thing.” She gestured at a clear patch of ground in the middle of the training area. “Step into the sparring area with me. Let’s see what you can do.”

“Huh…? Oh… sure.” Aveline walked into the space. Marble stood at the other end; David returned his attention to the punching bag.

Marble moved towards her and lashed out. Aveline dodged the blow, countering with a punch to Marble’s chest. Marble shrugged it off like nothing and glared at Aveline. Crap. Had she screwed up already?

“Pay attention to what I say” said Marble.

“I… what?”

“You pulled that punch” said Marble. “I can tell. I’m here to see what you are capable of. I can’t do that if you try to be ‘nice’ or something. Show me what you can do, and hold nothing back.”

Hold nothing back? Aveline thought about that. Okay. I can try that…

_________________________

Samara headed towards the Great Tree and pondered. The theft of the key had made no sense. Granted, most of the recent thefts seemed completely random, but this one in particular just made no sense. Why steal a key to a bank vault if you weren’t going to use it to break in? Especially if that vault was the only thing the key could open?

Samara considered the idea that the thief had stashed the key to use later, and then discarded that theory. There was no earthly reason to hide it in a barn all the way in another town when slipping it under one’s mattress would have sufficed. There was no reason the key should have ended up in Rivercross Acres at all if whoever had taken it had intended to use it.

She was interrupted from her train of thought by a sight that she’d learned to be both amused and exasperated by: an approaching Persian in an extremely tacky checkered suit.

“Samara!” said Philip, putting his arm around her shoulders; Samara knew to just let him do his thing. “How’s my favorite customer doing today?”

Samara looked mildly up at him. His wide smile revealed a golden tooth, which Samara found to be a bit much, like the guy was going out of his way to look like a sleazebag. “Favorite customer? I don’t shop here any more frequently than anybody else.” Namely, she’d done so exactly once.

Philip did a passable job of looking hurt. “Aw, don’t be like that. Come on, it’s gotta be lunchtime by now. Have a couple of my fresh-made sandwiches!” He pointed at his market stall. Samara glanced at the sandwiches in question. She always found it interesting to guess at their contents. It was a question that was unlikely to be answered without the help of advanced scientific equipment. Their quality, however, was much easier to discern- the fact that the condiments cost almost as much as the sandwiches kind of spoke for itself.

“No, thanks” said Samara. “As a matter of fact, I’m working at the moment. So, if you’ll excuse me-”

“Ah, right” said Philip. “Guild stuff, really crucial work. I got it. You wouldn’t happen to be looking into the stealing that’s been happening lately, by any chance?” Without waiting for her to respond, he clapped her on the back and strode behind his stall. “Boy, have I got an offer for you!” He reached into a compartment and pulled out…

Samara stared at him, unimpressed. “It’s a stick.”

Philip’s voice took on an offended tone. “It is not just a stick! It and the other ones I have here were fashioned using the exact same techniques the ancient shamans all the way in Thundrun Plains used to use to make divining rods.” He beamed proudly. “Only, instead of water, these babies are designed to zero in on stolen property! And, until the stealing gets sorted out, they’re on sale to guild members! Anything to help the cause!”

“I’ll pass” said Samara. Not giving Philip a chance to continue his pitch, Samara pressed on to the Keeper’s Guild. Philip’s shoulders sagged for a moment, then he shrugged and started again on a passing Linoone with a green armband.

The archives were even more chaotic than usual, with books piled on every available flat surface. The ones on the shelves appeared to have been put there at random, although Samara was dimly aware that they were sorted according to a complicated system that only Madras seemed to understand. It made one think: If the stolen tomes had been taken from the Keepers instead of the Scholars, nobody probably would even have noticed that they were missing!

Samara spotted Madras floating halfway up one of the shelves and tapped the side of said shelf. The Mawile looked down at the noise and waved a greeting at Samara.

“I ran into David earlier” said Madras without preamble. “He looks a lot less friendly than Gemma ever did.”

“He is a lot less friendly than Gemma” pointed out Samara. “Pretty much everyone in Tabira is.”

“True enough” said Madras, moving on to another shelf.

Samara held up the book she’d been carrying. “By the way, this is yours. Another random theft.”

“Let me see that.” Madras floated down and looked at it. “When did this go missing?”

“Why, what is it?”

“Just a bunch of old children’s stories” said Madras, putting it on a nearby table. “Not like the books that got stolen from the scholars…” She gritted her teeth. “I’m sorry, I… don’t like to think about that. I can’t believe the people in Mosswood seriously think my grandmother had something to do with it.”

“People can be idiots” said Samara, absently. A volume on the shelf in front of her had caught her eye; she pulled it out. “‘Fableton Library Catalogue’? Odd to find this in a Tabiran library.”

“Leite left it here a few years ago” said Madras. “Said it was a way for guild members to browse her books from here without having to make the long trip.”

On impulse, Samara opened the book. Her eyes scrolled down the list of titles; one in particular jumped out at her. “Madras?” she said, distantly. “This is the complete contents of her library, right?”

Madras frowned. “Yes.”

Samara could almost feel the sparks flying in her brain.

Slamming the book on a nearby table, she grabbed a pen and started underlining. There… and there! She bookmarked a couple of pages, stuffed the book in her bag, she sprinted for the door.

“Hey… wait!” said Madras. “You need to check that-”

Samara had already disappeared, yelling: “See you later, Madras!” over her shoulder.

“…out” Madras finished.

Samara sprinted for the training area, her mind racing too furiously to even notice herself getting tired.

___________________

A Sneasel ran into the training area, heading straight for David. When she reached the Lucario, she opened her mouth to speak, but instead gasped for breath, as though she’d just sprinted halfway across town.

“David…” she started to say, between deep breaths.

David nodded to acknowledge her presence but otherwise ignored her. He was looking at the sparring ring, where Marble was speaking to Aveline.

“Your technique is impressive for a rookie” Marble was saying. “A bit too impressive.”

“Is… is that a good thing?” Aveline said cautiously.

“You demonstrated several distinctive moves and combos that I happen to know can’t be learned without the help of an instructor.” Marble crossed her arms, nodding when she noticed the Sneasel’s presence. “I’ve also seen your application form. You listed field medicine and wilderness survival as being part of your skill set.” Marble looked the Buizel straight in the eye. “You’ve had military training. Official or otherwise.” It wasn’t a question.

“My dad was a soldier” said Aveline. “He… taught me a lot when I was a kid.”

“What army?”

Aveline shook her head and told the technical truth. “He doesn’t like to talk about it.”

Marble held her gaze for a while. Then, she shrugged. “Whatever. Anyway, test’s over. You passed.”

Aveline sighed in relief. “Thank you.”

“You can thank me by doing decent work” said Marble, who was heading off towards the back.

David turned. “Alright, Samara. What is it?”

The Sneasel, Samara, had gotten her breath back by then. “Are you back in form yet?”

“I think I-”

“Good enough!” said Samara. “We’re headed to Mosswood.”

“Wait, what?” said David. “What’s in Mosswood, aside from that disease neither of us have the training to help with?”

“I found something in the-” Samara paused, switching her attention to Aveline. “Wait, didn’t Marble say something about you knowing field medicine?”

Aveline wasn’t sure what to say. “Umm…… yes?”

“Ah, great! You’ll come too, then!”

“I will?”

“Cris has been asking for anyone with medical training to go help her deal with the disease” said Samara. “You can help with that.”

“I can set a broken limb or tie on a tourniquet” said Aveline. “I’m not a doctor.”

“Still more than most people have” said Samara. “Come on…” Samara paused. “Wait, what’s your name?” David facepalmed.

“I’m Aveline” said Aveline. “But could you just slow…”

“Aveline, great” said Samara. “Come on, you’ll do fine.”

“Wait just a minute, Samara” said David. “Can you explain to me why we’re dragging a total stranger all the way to Mosswood?”

“Because you and I are going to Mosswood” said Samara. “And since Aveline can help out, she might as well come too.”

“Let me rephrase that” said David. “Why are we going to Mosswood?”

Samara grinned. “Just bringing Addy a present.”