“Luke, there you are! Took you long enough!”

“Sorry for the wait,” Luke replied, offering a casual wave toward Gavon and Selind as he approached. Selind was dressed in the typical desert robes of Tresnon, while Luke and Gavon each wore their organization’s respective field uniforms; as always, Selind had her laser sniper strapped to her back — while Luke and Gavon carried their guns in cases. Luke quickly made note of this as he joined them, at which point the three turned down the street and began walking. “Hope you weren’t waiting too long.”

“It’s hardly like we had a hard-and-fast meeting time arranged,” Gavon remarked. “Selind and I had only just arrived, anyways.”

“It’s a busy day,” Selind commented, glancing idly about at the crowds mingling in the streets. With the sun now well on its way through its march toward the western horizon, the smells and aromas of many different types of dishes were filling the air, as citizens the town over were buckling down on their preparations for the upcoming evening feast. The smell of fish, in particular, seemed to dominate the air — the nearby Mirage Lake was Tresnon’s largest source of fresh meat, after all — though the scent didn’t have as much of a foul edge as the fishy smell Luke was familiar with from Earth. Stews and cooked vegetables could also be sensed in the air, offering an aromatic cushion to the fish that ultimately produced a rather appetizing scent, made all the stronger by the fact that none of the three had eaten lunch.

A low rumble emanated from Luke’s stomach, causing him to grimace and begin rubbing it. “Oof… starting to wish I’d had lunch,” he lamented.

“What, is just a few hours without food too much for you to handle?” Gavon taunted.

“I can handle it, doesn’t mean I want to,” Luke retorted. He then glanced over at Selind, and sighed in resignation. “But, on Earth, we have a saying: ‘when in Rome, do as the Romans do.’”

“I like that attitude!” Selind replied with a grin. “Trust me, skippin’ lunch will just make the feast taste that much better!”

“You aren’t just messing with me, right? This is really a Tresédian tradition…?”

“I’ve never lived in Treséd before, myself, but I have heard of their Hunger’s Bane fasting,” Gavon said.

“Wow, so even outsiders have heard of this tradition?” Selind questioned. “Didn’t expect that.”

“Well, to be fair, I only heard of it because I did some research on Treséd before coming here,” Gavon replied. “Even so, this tradition of fasting during the day just to gorge yourself on food come evening… it sounds rather decadent. I’d have expected it from Tekdecé or Nimaliaka, but not Treséd.”

“’Decadent’?” Selind echoed, a clueless look on her face.

“Uh… think overly luxurious, or self-indulgent,” Gavon explained.

“Put simply, something that rich people do,” Luke added.

“Huh? I don’t see it that way at all,” Selind declared. “Time for a history lesson, I guess. I’m sure you know this, Gavon, but Luke, Hunger’s Bane wasn’t originally a Tresédian holiday.”

“That’s right,” Gavon affirmed as he passed a glance toward Luke. “Hunger’s Bane originated in Nimaliaka, as a harvest festival. It’s autumn up there right now, after all; they’re coming off of a season of growing. Relédiaka and Treséd, as nations entirely in the southern hemisphere, have little fundamental basis for celebrating Hunger’s Bane at this time of the year. Relédiaka only celebrates Hunger’s Bane because they used to be part of the nation of Nimaliaka, and as I understand it, the denizens of Treséd simply picked up the holiday as an excuse to eat good food.”

“Heh, damn straight,” Selind remarked with a smirk.

“I figured the holiday had global origins, so that explains a lot,” Luke commented, “but what about the fasting?”

“It’s a sort of compromise,” Selind explained. “You should know us Tresédians by now; there’s little most of us hate more than outsider influence, and what reeks of outsiders more than one of their holidays? Especially ‘cause Treséd never really has any harvests to celebrate, even in our fall. Place is a damned wasteland, after all. So, when Hunger’s Bane was first adopted in Treséd — which happened here in Tresnon, in fact, a few generations ago or so — we put our own touch on it.” Selind paused for a moment as her stomach growled, to which she responded with an amused chuckle — only to then frown and sigh. “…Many Tresédians don’t have the kinda food security that Tresnon has,” she continued, “hell, that’s half the reason we have so many former Bleeders here, honestly — comin’ here is one of the best ways to make sure they have somethin’ to eat for every meal, every day. So to remember that fact, and not get carried away with piggin’ out on food, Tresnon added fasting to the holiday.”

“I think I get it…” Luke nodded in understanding. “So, by making yourselves hungry, you remind yourselves that not everyone has it as good as you do?”

“That’s the idea,” Selind remarked.

“When you put it that way, I suppose I understand,” Gavon said. “But — and excuse my candidness — if you’re concerned about the food security of others, wouldn’t it be better to send them your excess food, instead of ‘pigging out’ on it today?”

“Hey, don’t think we’re just bein’ greedy,” Selind countered. “All the Compounds in transport range of Tresnon have enough food to be safe. Not quite as much as us, sure, but we make sure that they have enough. Beyond that, though…” She released a wary sigh as she turned her attention skyward, taking in the bright blue cloudless skies above. “…We don’t got the equipment to transport food more than a few hundred kilometers from here, not in large enough amounts to matter. And even if we did, we don’t even have that much extra food. For dirt’s sake, half the food we have, we only have because of Chaotics. So Compounds outside of Tresnon’s influence still have to go without.”

“Wait…” Luke passed her a doubtful look. “Are you saying that Tresnon singlehandedly supplies every other Compound within a few hundred kilometers?”

“We are one of the only Compounds on the side of a lake,” Selind pointed out. “’Sides, not like there are a lot of Compounds around, anyways. There’s less than ten within reach of us, and even then, there’s only so much we can do to help ‘em. Goresan was on the very edge of Tresnon’s reach, and look at what happened to them.”

Luke fell silent for a moment as he recalled the fate of Compound Goresan, as he had heard it from Austin and the other Keys: it fell to a Bleeder attack, and all of its citizens seemingly disappeared into thin air.

“…My apologies,” Gavon eventually spoke up, offering a bowed head toward Selind as the trio continued down the streets of Tresnon. “I didn’t realize the extent of your troubles. I didn’t mean to insinuate that you weren’t already doing all that you could for your fellow Tresédians.”

“Ah, it’s fine, it’s fine!” Selind remarked, overwriting her dreary expression with another grin as she slapped Gavon on the back. “You sayin’ ‘sorry’ is more than I can expect from most outsiders. That you even thought to say it means you’re a pretty good guy, in my book.”

“Either that, or a master manipulator,” Luke commented with a smirk.

“You wound me with your accusation!” Gavon exclaimed, making a show out of clutching at his chest. “…But, having brought that up, I’m surprised that you’re so quick to call me ‘good’, Selind. Many people would hesitate to say that about a member of the Black Suns.”

“If I cared so much about organizations and shit, do you think I would be goin’ shootin’ with a SERRCom soldier and a Black Suns officer?” Selind questioned. “Or that I would support the Bleeder Reformation Program? C’mon, Gavon, give me some credit. I like to get to know someone before I judge them.”

“Uh, I’m an officer, too…” Luke pointed out.

“That’s right, let’s not shortchange poor old Luke, here, either,” Gavon remarked.

“That said, now that you’ve brought up the Bleeders, I have a question,” Luke said, turning his attention to Selind. “Those two Bleeders you took in a few days ago… are we really letting them wander the city, unsupervised?”

Selind side-eyed Luke, her expression uncharacteristically blank. She then glanced to and fro, as if taking in the groups of people that they passed on the street, before turning back to Luke and Gavon. “…Well, we can’t watch ‘em forever,” she eventually stated, her voice low. “Gavon, you and Ralak have other jobs here, after all.”

“I could still keep an eye on them, if so desired,” Gavon replied. “I have training in trailing, after all.”

“No, it’s fine.” Selind shook her head. “Even if I trust you, the fact is, you’re still an outsider. Havin’ you watch a former Bleeder ain’t gonna put many locals at ease. Otherwise, as suspicious as the newcomers are, we just don’t have the numbers to keep eyes on ‘em at all times.”

“You don’t have the numbers to watch two people?” Luke questioned incredulously.

“When you put it that way, of course it sounds dumb,” Selind countered, “but think about it. That newcomer with the robes — the one called Shade? She claimed not to have any Chaotic ability, but what that really means is that she might have any Chaotic ability. If she’s tellin’ the truth, great, but if she ain’t, then we can’t exactly plan around that. There’s too many different kinds of Chaotics. So, instead of watchin’ her and potentially losin’ her, we chose to increase security around the key parts of the city. Easier to watch a building than a person who may or may not be a Chaotic, after all.”

“Is it really that difficult to plan around an unknown Chaotic ability?”

“I can personally attest that it is,” Gavon stated. “Depending on the Chaotic, they could teleport, run faster than you can see, turn themselves invisible, or even make you forget that you saw them just by touching you — and those are just examples. You’d have to be prepared to deal with all of those possibilities, unless you have a CENT generator that you can just carry around, at least. And it’s my understanding that Tresnon doesn’t.”

“We only have a couple of portable CENT field generators, and we have to save those for emergency use,” Selind said. “We can’t just bring one out ‘cause we think someone might be a Chaotic. Those things are pretty big and obvious, anyways, despite being portable. Wouldn’t really help with trust building, which is an important part of a former Bleeder’s first few weeks here. To help them actually reform, we need them to trust us, and the best way to do that is to trust them.”

“So, let me get this straight…” Luke muttered, “here you have two newcomers that you don’t fully trust, but you still have to pretend to trust them, because if they’re actually being sincere, then distrust will drive them away. Right?”

“Them and others, yeah,” Selind affirmed, and then sighed. “…Well, today’s gone without a hitch so far, so maybe things’ll be fine. If the Bleeders were gonna make a move on Tresnon, today’s when they would do it, when everyone in the city is distracted by fasting and makin’ food.”

“Or tomorrow, when everyone’s recovering from eating a ton of food,” Luke suggested.

“That’s an option, too. We’ll have to see.”

“In the meantime,” Gavon spoke up, glancing at Selind before nodding toward a small building down the street. “Selind, you mentioned wanting to drop by the armory before we headed up to the walls, right?”

“Yeah, I wanted to see if there were any focusin’ crystals around,” she replied. “It’s been a while since I changed the crystal in my Lisarin, so I wanted to… …wait.”

“Hmm…?” Luke and Gavon stopped in their tracks and glanced back at Selind, who had stopped just short of them as she stared ahead at the armory. The two men exchanged a wary glance, at which point Gavon turned back to look at the armory while Luke questioned, “is something wrong?”

“…There’s no one outside,” Selind responded quietly, never once taking her attention off of the building’s door as she grabbed her gun off of her back. “There should be a guard.”

“Great…” Luke muttered, turning his own attention back to the lonely armory. “…I don’t suppose there’s a chance that the guard just got distracted?”

“There’s always a chance, but it’s best to assume the worst,” Gavon commented, and then gestured for Luke and Selind to back up as an orb of golden light momentarily enveloped his body before disappearing. “I’ll take point. Both of you, stay behind me.”

“After you,” Luke replied, more than happy to cede the leading position to Gavon. He knew well what the golden light meant, after all: Gavon had just activated energy shielding. Given that the Black Suns officer wasn’t wearing any armor, Luke could only assume that Gavon’s cybernetic prosthetics were equipped with an internal shield generator, making him far and away the most well-protected member of the trio of snipers. The fact that he was a Chaotic was merely icing on the cake.

Silently — though with surprising grace, so as to not alert the civilians who lingered on the street — the trio approached the armory entrance. Luke swapped his rifle case to his left hand and drew his sidearm with his right, while Selind gripped her sniper like a massive club, prepared to use it in close-quarters combat — the two had little choice, given that the armory had no windows and thus little opportunity for sniping. Gavon, for his part, moved with expert steadiness toward the armory door; as he moved, Luke couldn’t help but notice that Gavon’s rifle case had begun floating in the air behind him, freeing both of his hands for the task ahead.

A minute passed as a tension-filled eternity before Gavon stopped just a couple meters short of the door. He paused for a moment, his left palm held out toward the building, before pointing at the door with his right hand and then holding up a single finger. Following that was a gesture for Luke and Selind to step to the sides, a suggestion that they both promptly followed. As soon as they were clear of the door, Gavon began to levitate, moving to the side himself… and then, the door slammed open outwards. The piercing shriek of snapping metal joints filled the air for but a second as Gavon used his Gravitatechnism to shatter the door’s hinges and rip the metal door out of the doorway, sending it tumbling down the street — but none of the three stopped to pay the door any heed. As soon as the doorway was clear, Gavon launched himself toward it, followed quickly by Luke and Selind storming the armory.

Once inside, Luke’s eyes were met with the sight of a dozen shelves, all of them half-filled with a massive variety of weaponry. Guns and melee weapons of all sorts, with barely any copies to be found, lending the room the sort of chaotic, mix-mash atmosphere that could be expected from a people who had to scavenge for weapons. And amongst that chaotic atmosphere was a body laying on the ground… and a certain woman with short, scruffy brown hair, and age lines adorning her face to give her the appearance of being in her 40s.

It was Ind.

For but a brief second, Ind locked eyes with Gavon and Luke, but that moment of acknowledgment was the only moment of inaction. Immediately, Ind ducked under Gavon’s outstretched hand, managing to dodge around him and roll towards the exit. “Chaos—!” she began to shout, but Selind quickly lunged toward her and slammed her sniper into Ind’s chest, winding the Chaostechnic. Before she could catch her breath, Gavon pinned her to the ground under a field of altered gravity, and Luke grabbed a cloth off of a nearby shelf to gag Ind with.

“…Damn it,” Selind swore, a scowl upon her face as she knelt next to the other body in the room, with her fingers on their neck. “He’s dead.”

“Well, then,” Gavon remarked, his left palm outstretched toward Ind as she glared back at him, unable to speak around Luke’s makeshift gag. “That certainly answers a lot of our questions, doesn’t it?”

“I hate it when we’re wrong…” Selind muttered, standing and turning away from the body to glare at Ind before gesturing toward the armory exit. “But we need to lock her up and report this to the Defense Force and Davídrius. Now.”