Cinnamon Bun

Chapter Four Hundred and Eighty-Seven - This Sounds Like a Job for Broccoli's Bunch

We arrived at the Exploration Guild to find it way less busy than it had been the last time we poked our noses in. The guild's front doors were propped open by a small wooden doorstopper, letting some fresh mid-day air in and letting Explorers and curious busy-bodies slip in and out with ease.

We ambled in as a group, but soon split into two smaller groups. Awen, Calamity and Desiree stuck by the front where there was a small historical display. Desiree pointed to various maps and old artefacts and asked the others questions about them. Awen read the plaques and tried to answer as honestly as she could.

Calamity gave his own commentary--ridiculous tall tales that I was pretty sure he was inventing on the spot.

Unfortunately, Desiree was nodding to everything he said, and I was a little worried that Desiree would start to have some strange opinions about local history. But Amaryllis tugged me forwards before I could do anything about it, and soon we were at the counter at the far end of the room and Amaryllis was flipping the mission book open.

"Let's see," she muttered. "There's... less of a selection than I expected."

The secretary behind the counter who'd been happy to let us look at the book, glanced up at that. "Oh, there's an increase in the number of Explorers at the guild. I'm sure you noticed? A lot of them were pulled back from long-term missions nearby and now they're taking on any local mission we have."

Amaryllis hummed. She didn't look happy about it. "And now we're out of work too, I presume?"

"The Guildleader has increased mission payout while... discouraging Explorers from taking on work too far from the city. We did have a lot more potential missions than usual come in, however!"

Amaryllis grumbled some, but leafed through the book all the same. I looked at it from over her shoulder. She passed a mission to hunt for some ancient artefact, then another to protect a caravan going to the capital, then a third that seemed to be asking for someone to camp next to a lake for a week and take frequent notes about its disposition. "These aren't great for us," she said.

"The camping one's too long, otherwise it might be a nice vacation," I said.

"Not at the rate they're offering, it's not," she said.

"Ah, just the women I was thinking of," a familiar voice said.

I looked up to find the Guildleader standing by the corridor leading to one of her offices. "Hi!" I said with a happy wave.

Mathilde nodded to the both of us. "So, you're back. How did it go? And before you speak, Miss Bunch, is the answer to my question something that should be delivered in privacy?"

I blinked and thought about it, but Amaryllis beat me to the punch. "It went well, Lady Mariejoy," she said with a slight bow. "Lady Booksie is back home, safe and sound as of less than an hour ago. She's grown a little as well."

"Good," Mathilde said with a stern nod. "Now, what kind of trouble are you bringing to my guild this time?"

Amaryllis sniffed. "Please, while we happened to deliver some bad news a few times, the delivery of said news was a boon to you and the guild."

Mathilde smiled a froggy smile. "I suppose so. Are you looking for a mission, then?"

"We are," Amaryllis said. "Ah, and I wish to deliver this, as well. It's a report on the condition of the dungeon we visited with our VIP."

"VIB," I corrected. The B was for Bun or Booksie, either way worked. Oh! Maybe VIF? For Friend!

Amaryllis ignored me, which she was frustratingly good at and pulled a small set of folded papers from her coat and held them towards the guild leader.

Mathilde regarded the papers for an awkward moment, before raising her eyebrow. "I'm not the secretary, Miss Albatross," she said.

Amaryllis cleared her throat and turned to hand the report to the secretary rather stiffly. "Yes, right. It's not so important, I suppose. While I have your attention, however, I was hoping we could discuss having the guild... sanction our ship."

"The Beaver Cleaver, correct?" Mathilde asked.

"Yes," Amaryllis said. "What other ship did you think I meant? Our skiff?"

"There's Abraham's Shady Lady," Mathilde replied. "Which is a ship I will never sponsor or sanction. The World itself could beg on its hands and knees and I'd refuse."

I decided not to question that. There was some history there that all of my social skills told me I didn't want any part of. "But you'd think about it for the Beaver?" I asked, hopeful.

She considered us both, then our friends further in. "Hmm. Perhaps. You'll still be around Port Royal for some time, correct?"

"Until sometime after the marriage, at least," Amaryllis said.

"Good. Here, I was about to add this to the mission book." Mathilde turned a page around and handed it to Amaryllis and I. I scanned the paper, then tried to keep up as Amaryllis leafed through it. Did she have a Speed Reading skill? I couldn't recall.

"This is for two missions," she said. "But the area overlaps?"

"As might the subject matter," Mathilde said. "Give it to the secretary, she needs to file it in any case, but it'll be yours to take if you think yourselves capable. It's... not a delicate matter, but it's one I'd like handled with some courtesy."

Mathilde spun on a heel... did she have heels? I looked at her feet, and they were stuffed into surprisingly large shoes, mostly because her feet were wider than I was used to seeing. Did grenoil need their own special shoemakers? I supposed that made sense. I recalled seeing a lot of them barefoot as well, which also made sense if their feet were particularly suited to swimming and travelling on muddy terrain.

"Broccoli?" Amaryllis asked, snapping my back to the moment. "Are you alright?"

"Sorry, thinking about feet."

"I refuse to even think about the implications," Amaryllis said.

"What do you mean?"

"Nevermind that," Amaryllis said. "Did you see what the mission was for?"

I shook my head. "I saw a bit, but you skimmed through it too quickly. It's two missions, right?"

"Yes, two missions," Amaryllis said as she handed the file to the secretary who took it with a kindly smile. "Both to the west of Port Royal and down within the Dark woods. A dangerous place to go gallivanting, but one I think you've explored."

"Only a little," I said.

"In any case, the first is a cavern that needs inspecting, and the second it an Exploration Guild member who needs to be found. They were supposed to report back in some time ago and failed to do so, Mathilde is worried."

I smiled. "A rescue mission, then!" I said. I did recall seeing a sketch in the file of an older grenoil man.

"Something like that," Amaryllis said. "Once I have a copy of the file, and the attention of the others, I'll go over it in more details. We won't be needing the Beaver for this one. It's not that far."

"We could use the Redemption. It's been a while since we took it out."

She considered it, then shrugged. "We'll see."

The secretary took a minute or two to copy the file over. She worked with both hands at the same time, copying two pages at once, drawings and all, with what had to be a skill. That, or she was very, very talented. Soon enough, the mission book was updated, a copy was stored in a file folder behind her, the original was set aside in an OUT box, and a fresh copy was placed on the counter for us. "Here you go, dearies. Be safe now! Find something spectacular!"

I giggled. "We will! And we'll try!" I said.

"Which answer was for which prompt?" Amaryllis asked.

"Hmm, both to both, maybe?" I said with a laugh as I skipped back to the others. "We have a job!" I cheered.

"Ah, we do?" Awen asked. "What's the mission?"

"Inspecting some cave and finding a lost explorer," I said.

"And mapping the cave out within reason," Amaryllis said as she read the page. She frowned. "We might want to pick up a book on geology. A field-guide, at least. We're not prospectors, but we might as well take a reference."

"Are you hoping to find silver and gold?" Desiree asked.

"Not in this mountain chain, I don't think," Amaryllis said. "I just want to have a detailed report at the end."

I nodded. "She wants a good grade in Explorer 101."

"There's no such thing," Amaryllis said.

"Anyway, it'll be fun! A bit of camping, some trekking through the Darkwoods, and then back to Port Royal!"

"The Darkwoods... the very dangerous ones that are known for being dark and dangerous?" Calamity asked. "Because I'm in. That sounds like a blast!"

Next to him, both Awen and Desiree shared a look. Neither seemed quite as enthused.

***