I Built This City Chapter 85: Chapter 85

Leona Vinton The morning was largely uneventful, compared to the evening. Leona barely heard Theodore’s words, largely mumbling agreement with everything he said. His thoughts were on what was needed to set up a permanent location here, and she didn’t really disagree with him on most of that, so she let him figure things out. “Are you even listening?” Theodore finally asked, glowering at her. He tapped his finger lightly on the table, making a loud enough noise to draw attention to it while he scowled. The elder mage wasn’t used to being ignored. Leona just lifted an eyebrow at him. “Yes, but I also have other things on my mind. You know the needs of a new branch starting out better than I do, I thought I would just let you flex your superior experience and soak it in.” Flattery was something Theodore enjoyed, she knew… but she also knew he was sharp enough to see when it was being done to avoid a problem. He scowled again, but his eyes were thoughtful. After a moment he sighed and pushed himself upward, deciding not to pursue the matter for now. “It looks like the adventurers are going to make a run on the dungeon,” he declared. “I am going to go observe how the entry is handled. Perhaps you could make yourself useful and scout out a place for our new branch.” “I think they’ll want to pick that for us, but I’ll see what I can do,” Leona answered with a sigh. He was right though… the eager cluster of five youths were already gathering their things and eying the door. She wasn’t worried about them, as they looked decently-equipped and well-balanced, if wet behind the ears. She hadn’t realized it had been time for a new group. Leona knew that the dungeon had a schedule so they could wait for it to respawn, but since she hadn’t planned on going in there herself she hadn’t checked on what it was. Seemed inconvenient to her, but as an academic she wasn’t well-suited for dungeon delving, and hadn’t gotten a full grasp on how that part of them usually worked. Leona let them all leave, considering how to talk to the ones she’d seen last night. She couldn’t very well pretend not to have seen anything, as the two had laid eyes on her without any invisibility or disguise. She presumed they lived in that little outpost she’d found, and from the way they said things there were others. Why had they been concerned about being found out, though? The common room emptied and Leona pushed her bowl away. Leaning back in her chair, she rubbed at her temples and let out a long sigh. Everything about this situation was deeper and more complicated than it appeared. Gaspar was not going to be happy to hear about this. Before Leona could stand, she was joined with a heavy thump by the redheaded waitress she’d spoken to before. “Someone had a pretty adventurous night, didn’t they?” Bea asked with a smile, her face warm and eyes twinkling. Leona could swear she looked more energetic and flush with life than she did even before, almost as if she were excited to confront her. Leona stiffened, but given that the conversation she’d heard had clearly been aware of what was going on with her request, she had to assume that this girl knew everything. Not that Leona would admit anything that easily. “I went out for a bit, it was a beautiful night,” she said as casually as she could. Bea smiled. “Yes, and you ran into two more of my sisters. Hunter and Scout, wasn’t it? What did you think of them?” Giving the girl a slow blink, Leona considered the question. “Pragmatic, but not unpleasant. I can tell you want to remain hidden, but I’m not sure why… yet…” She trailed off, an inkling of an idea in her head, but it was so ridiculous she wasn’t sure. Yet the smile Bea had on her face lit up those bright blue eyes underneath the coppery bangs, and the feeling of familiarity hit hard enough that she managed to place it in her memory. An impossible answer but it was an answer. “Hunter said we’d be revealed eventually,” Bea pointed out, unwittingly providing further evid