When they made it back to Lagrand Clothiers, Gregory led the others into the shop.
“Welcome back,” Sophia Lagrand greeted them with a smile. “Oh, you brought more people. I appreciate the increased business. What can I do for you?”
Yukiko stepped forward. “My friends and I would like to purchase a couple of outfits. I will need more for Elsa, and then a dozen clothing sets near her size.”
Elsa’s eyes nearly bugged out, but she didn’t try to speak against Yukiko.
“For her to grow into?” Sophia asked.
“No, for friends of hers. Male and female. Elsa will be able to give you approximate sizes, but err to the larger size so they can grow into them.”
Sophia looked confused, but nodded. “Very well.” She selected two bells, giving each a ring separately. “Just let my staff know what you’re looking for.” A minute later, the same man who’d helped Gregory before came out of the back, followed by a woman. “See to our guests.”
“If you will follow me, sir,” the man said, motioning to the door he’d come from.
“Did you wish to be together for this?” the woman asked Yukiko, Jenn, and Elsa.
“Please,” Yukiko said. “We’d like to talk while we get fitted.”
“Of course. Please follow me.”
“See you in a bit,” Gregory said.
~*~*~
Gregory was having a cup of tea in the front when they came out of the back. Standing up, he gave Elsa a smile and bowed to her. “Young lady, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Elsa giggled and gave him a curtsy in the new dress she was wearing. “Thank you, sir.”
“I told you he would like it,” Yukiko smiled. “Let me settle the bill and we can go to the next stop.”
Yukiko quickly paid for the clothing, and the four of them were climbing back into the carriage in no time.
“Thank you,” Elsa said when they started moving. “I don’t know how they’ll respond to this generosity, but I want to thank you for them.”
“They’ll probably be suspicious,” Yukiko said, “which is the right reaction. When most people want to give you gifts, you should be suspicious as to why. Don’t get upset if they are, okay?”
Elsa nodded. “Okay.”
“Alvis is next,” Gregory said. “Elsa, the rest of the day is going to be boring. Do you want to go back to Gin’s?”
“No,” Elsa said. “I want to stay and learn.”
“There won’t be a lot of learning,” Yukiko smiled, “but you can stay with us for a bit.”
Entering the alchemy shop, the scent of herbs brought a smile to Elsa’s face. “It smells good in here.”
The receptionist gave Elsa a grin. “I agree. Not many enjoy being surrounded by the scents for long, though.”
“I would.”
“Novice Warlin,” the receptionist greeted Yukiko, “how might we help you today?”
“We’re about to break into the apprentice rank, and I was wondering if there are extra supplements we should be taking. Jenn also reached the tenth rank today, so I was hoping to find out if there was a way to accelerate her in the short term. Safely, that is.”
“Any form of pushing aether too fast is dangerous,” the receptionist replied. “As it is, your supplements are only about half of what we could do. Alvis doesn’t ever want to be to blame if someone goes too far.”
“Can we increase Jenn’s a little bit, then? We’d like her to catch us.”
“I’ll speak with Alvis, but he’ll likely be fine with a small increase. As for you and him, we’ll prepare the supplements for the apprentice rank, though we’ll need to be told when you make that jump. We’ll include a purifier with that shipment, too, because a shift in rank normally comes with a detoxifying of the body.”
“That’ll be fine, then,” Yukiko said.
“Your clan must be very proud of you,” the receptionist said. “You’ll be two or three ranks into the apprentice tier when the next tournament starts.”
“That’s what we hope for.”
“Is there anything else we can help you with today?”
“That’s all we came for originally,” Yukiko said. “Can we get an extra boost for Jenn before we leave?”
“Let me go speak with Alvis. I’ll be right back.”
Gregory had stayed out of the conversation, as he knew better than to interject into it, so he watched Elsa instead. Elsa knew she wasn’t needed for the discussion, so she’d been looking over the different plants.
“You really like it in here?” Gregory asked softly when the receptionist left.
“Yes. The scents are soothing.”
“We could ask Baylyss to find an alchemist that could use some help,” Yukiko said.
“No!” Elsa said quickly. “I’m fine with her, and serving all of you.”
“Then we won’t ask,” Gregory said to calm Elsa down.
“It was just an idea, since you like it here,” Jenn said.
Elsa was clearly having negative thoughts, so Gregory went to a knee next to her. “We’re happy with you taking care of us, Elsa. We just want you to be as happy as possible. That’s all we meant.”
“You’re not trying to get rid of me?” Elsa asked. Her lip was trembling and she was not meeting his eyes.
“No. We’d never try to get rid of you.”
Sniffling, Elsa nodded. “Okay.”
“If you want to take a day off work and see about working with an alchemist, let us know. We might not be able to make it happen, but we can find out.”
“Okay,” Elsa sniffled again, glancing at him and seeing his concern. “Sorry.”
“No need for sorry,” Gregory said, patting her back gently. “Come on, now. Cheer up or they might think we’re not nice.”
Elsa nodded sharply. “Okay!”
The receptionist came out of the back. “This is for you, Novice.” The receptionist held out a single flat white disk to Jenn. “It’ll take a few minutes to dissolve completely, and you need to hold it under your tongue.”
Jenn thanked her and placed it under her tongue. Her lips curled down in distaste, but she didn’t speak or spit it out.
“The flavor is something he’s still working on,” the receptionist apologized. “It will give you a boost, though.”
“Thank you,” Yukiko said. “What’s your name, miss?”
“Rhea,” the receptionist replied.
“Thank you for all your hard work, Rhea,” Yukiko said. “We’ll send word when we break through to apprentice.”
“We’ll begin the preparations and hope that it’s soon.”
“Have a good day.”
“You, as well, Novice.”
Leaving the shop, Gregory helped the women into the carriage, but before he could climb in himself, someone called out to him.
“Excuse me, Novice. Have you seen the urchin around?”
Gregory turned to find the guard who had twice accosted him about Elsa approaching. “Is there a problem?”
“Not a problem, but a mystery. It appears that the urchin girl who sold flowers has been missing. She was last seen with you.”
Gregory froze in place as visions of the future flashed by him. Shaking his head when the visions faded, he met the guard’s gaze. “She’s employed as a housemaid.”
Brow wrinkling, the guard’s lips pursed. “A housemaid? And how do you know that?”
“Because she works at Armsmaster Gin Watashi’s home. He is our sensei.”
The guard took a step back. “Ah, I see. Very well.”
Gregory frowned as the guard started to leave. “Sir, what’s your name?”
The guard slowed before turning back to Gregory. “Thompson. Why?”
“I just wanted to commend you on your worry for the girl, Thompson,” Gregory said. “Elsa, step out here for a moment, please?”
Else looked out of the carriage before she stepped out. “Yes, Greg?”
“Thompson here said he was worried about your well-being.”
Looking at the guard, Elsa’s lips thinned. “He doesn’t care about me. What he cares about is that I no longer have to give him a cut.”
The guard paled before flushing. “Are you implying I took bribes?”
“I’m sure she isn’t,” Yukiko said, poking her head out the open carriage door. “To accuse a guard without proof would be stupid, and I can say without reservation that Elsa isn’t that.”
“No, I didn’t mean to imply that,” Elsa said, taking the way out Yukiko had given her.
Thompson sneered, then turned on his heel and stormed off.
Gregory exhaled. “Well, that’s over with for now, at least.”
Elsa exhaled, her hands shaking. “I’m sorry… I didn’t think, and—”
“It was true,” Yukiko said softly. “Come on, we’re going home now.”
Gregory helped Elsa into the carriage before telling the driver to take them back to Gin’s.
~*~*~
Baylyss greeted them at the door. “Welcome back. How was the celebration? Ah, I see Elsa has a new dress.”
“Her old one and more will show up later today,” Yukiko said.
“Elsa, want to show me your favorite flowers?” Jenn asked.
“Yes,” Elsa said, taking Jenn’s hand and leading her away.
Once Elsa was out of earshot, Yukiko exhaled. “Baylyss, we need to talk about her.”
Baylyss’ lips thinned and she led them to the front sitting room. “What did she do?”
“It’s more what happened to her,” Yukiko said.
Yukiko explained what they’d learned, and what they wanted to do to help the other children Elsa knew. Gregory added in some points to the story, and the bit with Guard Thompson.
“I see. I knew about her leaving things out, and I’d seen some of the ones who came to collect. It’s been odds and ends, nothing that was a problem. If you’re going to help, though, I’ll make sure that better things can be given. The clothing might be a problem if we just leave it out for them… I’ll wait for it to show up, and then Elsa and I can take it to them.”
“Very well. Now that you know, I don’t feel bad about it,” Yukiko said. “We can’t help everyone, but we can help those of someone we care for.”
“Yes. I do know people who could offer small jobs, too. Trustworthy people, but that will have to wait until they trust me a bit more. If I try to do too much too soon, it could drive them away.”
“Understood,” Gregory said, rising to his feet. “We should get going.”
A knock on the door came just before Elsa opened it and led Jenn inside. “Sorry I dragged her off,” Elsa said.
“It’s fine,” Gregory said. “We’re done talking, and were just about to come find you.”
“Back to the academy already?” Elsa asked.
“We have other things to do, and there’s a birthday meal waiting for us,” Yukiko said. “We had a good day, Elsa.” Turning to Baylyss, Yukiko pulled out a handful of vela. “For the kids.”
“Oh, yes,” Jenn said, going over and adding more.
Gregory gave her some, too. “There, that should really help. I hope you have a good day, Elsa.”
Elsa’s eyes were bright and she bowed to them at the waist. “Thank you so much.”
They each gave her a hug as they said their goodbyes. Baylyss and Elsa saw them out, and the driver took them back to the academy.
~*~*~
“Did you notice?” Jenn asked as they walked away from the postern gate.
“Petak? I saw him,” Gregory said.
“He was surprised to see us,” Yukiko said. “We did come back earlier than normal.”
“It means that they’re still keeping tabs on the gate,” Jenn said. “Might not just be us they’re looking for.”
“I would doubt it’s just us,” Yukiko said. “That’ll be a problem in the future, I’m sure.”
“We can vary our return times,” Gregory said. “Yes, it’ll mean cutting our days shorter now and again, but it would keep them uncertain.”
“Agreed,” Yukiko nodded.
“They’ve been unusually quiet as of late,” Jenn said.
“Must be plotting something substantial,” Gregory muttered.
“Against us or someone else,” Yukiko sighed. “Worry about it tomorrow. We’re almost home, and there’s a birthday feast for tonight.”
Jenn smiled. “I wonder what they made?”
