He snorts.
Frederic: "My job is to keep her safe, Gram, and I take it quite seriously. Thank you for helping me track her back down, though.
Now then. Karina."
She flinches at him speaking her name.

Frederic: "Do you understand what you're doing, exactly? If you ran off now, it wouldn't be like the trip we just had. No safety net, no home to come back to, no free ship to ride or allowance from papa. You'd be on your own, with just you and Gram.
And I'm sure your father will be livid this time. Hell, he probably already is. After a direct order to stay put, you immediately sneak out to go run off with some strange boy. You're doing exactly what he's tried to protect you from.
In fact, you'd be worse than on your own probably, you'd be hunted by trackers, and likely have a bulletin at any Adventurers Guilds to watch out for you. And then, when they finally caught you, they'd take you back here.
I'm sure by that point your room would have iron bars on the windows and a sturdy lock on the outside of the door."

Karina's silent again, staring down at the ground, fists balled and lightly trembling.

Frederic: "You know, if you come back with me now and apologize sincerely, he'll probably forgive it. I'm sure you could get him to, anyway.
Or I could just, take you back. I don't think he'll be very convinced if you're acting like a captured runaway though."

Karina's breathing roughens, shifting more ragged and halting. You think you see a few drops fall from her face in the dim light, then she looks up straight at Frederic.

Karina: "You're.... the worst...
You're supposed to... to...

I won't go back... and apologize...
This is, this is what I want."





Frederic: "Good. Then I'll join you."

Karina: "what?"
Frederic: "I said I'll come with you. On the road. Exploring the world. Making sure Gram doesn't get devoured by wolves jumping in front of you."
Karina: "wha. L-liar! What, what was all that just now then! You just tried to make me go back!"

Frederic: "It'd be a lot safer at home. And I didn't try to make you go home, I told you the truth. The truth is it'd be a lot easier for you to stay home.
This is going to be a big, messy, problematic trip."
Karina: "So... so then why the hell didn't you just drag me back. You just said you would, that wasn't a bluff!"
Frederic: "Because I said it before, my duty is to keep you safe. Iron bars and a sturdy lock and whatever else your father set up wouldn't stop you forever. You'd be miserable, soon you'd find a way out, and then you'd run off without me and be in even more danger, alone."

He pauses, and Karina seems to be speechless.
Frederic: "If you're not willing to stay home, then this is the best way to fulfill my duty."

Karina is busy sniffling and wiping her eyes, so Frederic chimes in for her.
Frederic: "Yeah, probably should. Won't have much magic firepower without him, and he's a lot better than some new mage."
Katrina: "But... *sniff* but, there's no way he'd run off with us, with papa so mad..."
Frederic: "Mm, maybe. Maybe not. Let me give it a shot. Can you call him here?"
Katrina: "Um... yeah, gimme... gimme a second."

Karina zones out for a moment while you do some quick calisthenics to get the blood flowing and try to sober up a bit.
To be honest you're feeling a lot clearer since you got here and started talking to Karina, but just in case you go through them anyway.

Karina: "Ok... yeah, he's on the way. Not being followed this time. Made sure."
She rubs her eyes and sniffles again.

Your eyes wander while you wait, and you notice that Frederic came prepared. Got his breastplate and armor on, sword on his back, and a pretty hefty pack on the ground next to him.
He also has an, epaulet? On his left shoulder, the missing arm. Seems like an almost ornamental steel pauldron, thick polished metal with engravings running around the rim, specially shaped to cover his whole shoulder joint. More noticeable than that though is the long green cloth hanging straight down all the way to his hip, attached along the entire rim of the pauldron so that it covers his entire left side and some of his chest. At a glance, it would look like the arm isn't even missing, just hanging at his side loosely.
You also notice Karina is gripping tightly onto the cloth with one hand as she stands next to him, still battling her post-cry sniffles.

You wait for a bit.

Maybe 10 minutes later, you hear someone approaching at a run, and a moment later Leon rounds the corner. Seeing the three of you, he stops his run and leans over panting, hands on his knees.
It takes another minute for him to catch his breath. You wonder if he ran all the way here.

Leon: "Karina! What, the heck, are you doing?
Why are you all the way out here! An- wait, Frederic?!
Karina your dad is furious, you need to come home!"
Karina: "No. I was serious about the adventurer thing. I'm not gonna go back home."
Leon: "What. But. What."
Karina: "Leon, come with us. Please. We need you and your power. It's not a team without you."

Leon: "But. But. Karina, your dad is practically screaming back there, and the academy, I can't just-"
Frederic: "Yeah, figured. C'mere Leon. Quick guy talk."

Karina lets go of Fred's arm cloth, and he walks over into a nearby alley with Leon.
You and Karina just wait while they talk for a bit. Nice night out.

A few minutes later, they return.
Leon: "Okay. Okay. Let's go."

Frederic: "Well if you're looking to run off, then probably Bartusis. Alphonse's business is mostly in Belus, he'll have a more difficulty reaching out to connections in other countries.
And Bankes is just, kinda boring compared to Bartusis.
We could stop at the tree on the way by too, we'll need provisions and it wouldn't hurt to get our situation as a party fully ironed out. Maybe tell the guild not to respond to inquiries on our statuses."

They're open at all hours, but at night it's minimal staff, mostly just a skeleton crew for emergencies.

Frederic: "Meant the guild branch at Gratchfeland. It'll be bigger and better equipped, and also won't be in town. Frankly the Belusi branch is probably the first place they'll look for Karina.
Tch. Wish I could've left a letter about all this, but no time. We should leave soon if we're going to, at least get away from the city for the night."


[Get going - Skip to Gratchfeland]
[Get going - Skip to ?]
[Other]

~~~

The next week is a new experience for you.
You set out that night along the roads towards Gratchfeland, and after a few hours camp off behind a hill. The next day, your group picks up a cache of supplies nearby that Frederic knew of from his days before Karina, stocking up on provisions for the rest of the trip to Gratch.
The going is rougher and slower from there, staying off the main road to avoid being spotted by any search parties. Frederic says that it should be fine to use roads again after Gratchfeland, but for now anyone looking for your group are most likely to be on them if they're anywhere.
The fourth and fifth day it rains for the first time since you got to Belus. You don't have any waterproof coats, but it turns out that the shield magic you all learned makes for a pretty solid umbrella. You and Karina cover just yourselves, while Leon covers Frederic as well. Unfortunately, using the spell like this also steadily chips away at your mana supply. The rain is coming down fairly hard, and despite just being rain, it does end up eating more mana than you can passively regenerate. Eventually you and Karina have to take down your own shields, at which point Leon makes one for each of you.

The day after the rain, you're setting up camp at the end of the day a ways south of the road. Gratch has gotten big on the horizon, and you've started to have to look upwards to see the top despite it still being miles away. You're definitely in the tree's domain by now, you can feel the stronger magic in the air and every so often you see a silvery leaf on the ground, somehow taken by the wind across this huge distance from Gratch itself.
You and Karina are currently setting up the tents, while Leon tends the fire.

Karina: "Hey, um, Gram? I forgot before but, you're, not going to tell anyone about my, magic. Right?"