Tales of the Pearly City (Pearly Tales Vol.1) [Completed]

72. Flamel's little favor

No one in the room was expecting the morbid news Flamel brought to light.

"All those children, and I didn't even know. No worse, I did know. Diana mentioned it in passing once, and I spent more time trying to cheer her up then I spent actually looking into it." Sinder, was the gossip Queen, and was in competition with Fauna for intel gathering. Even with all her sources she hadn't don't anything and kicked herself.

"None of us knew, Sinder. This is hard news for anyone to hear." Clera tried to comfort her but she couldn't stop Sinder's tears.

"Hey, there is hope." Flamel took Sinder's hand in an act of sisterly comfort. "First, there is Ophelia who we all know. But Calloway introduced me to another one, a beautiful little girl. She is surrounded by a family that loves her, and would do anything to protect her." She let out a dry chuckle. "Both Gisel and I met them, and they are passionate eccentrics. In fact, when we told them of the situation they looked more eager for a full out brawl than actually protecting their daughter."

"Who is she?" Sinder asked.

Flamel shook her head. "In the interest of keeping them safe, most of the information about them is classified. But it seems there was another clan of elemental right under our noses this entire time too?"

"The Nuts from Kadoka's fluffy dragon?" Sinder asked.

"You knew?"

"Nothing official, but after that show with Dakota and the lightning clan out front, and them being siblings. It doesn't take much brain power to guess." Sinder surmised. "Wait, if it's classified and they are twins, does that mean Kadoka's a dual savant as well." She gasped excitedly, "That means lil' gumdrop is-!" She covered her mouth with both hands but her very being twinkled with excitement.

Flamel sighed, she couldn't blame her after all, not after she nearly squeezed the life out of the poor thing.

Fina perked up, "Wait, if the Kfd, are elementals, how do they make those extended trips to the Empire across the sea?"

"Flamel, what was that stuff I drank earlier? You know, the stuff you had in this shady flask?" Gisela asked.

From out of the front of her shirt Flamel produced another flask identical to the one Gisela was holding, "You mean this one? HEY!"

Sinder grabbed it and pulled the top off to smell it. "There's a shit ton of mana in here, where did you get this?"

Flamel snatched the flask and stuck it back into her shirt. "I have a supplier down at the docks. They make it with the city water and ferment them in buildings near the edges of the city were the mana is the most turbulent."

"Sounds plenty shady to me~" Sinder accused.

"It's not!" Flamel crossed her arms. "They are a legitimate business and I buy it with my own money. They just happen to give me a discount because they appreciate the Valkyries who protect the walls as well as they do, that's all."

"That's enough." Fauna interrupted them. "Where does this little favor come in? As much as I regret it, I don't have the man power to spare to play white knight for every lost child in the city. Unfortunately."

"You don't have to. Just listen to my sobriety for a spell. Ophelia is an infamous half-breed of sorts, right? And Calloway is too busy to pull something out of his hat at the moment, but he is constantly looking for members. If they've lived this long on our streets they have to have some kind of survival skills. Just, if you find them, spread a little rumor about said guild being so desperate for members that they are even taking half-breeds like a certain infamous oracle. You're good at information manipulation, I figure this is right up your alley."

"... That does seem like a very pragmatic approach for sober Flamel, I'll admit that much. But do you really think he'll be able to do anything?" Fauna rubbed her chin thoughtfully.

Flamel bit her lip nervously. "I don't think he'd turn them away, when I told Calloway about the massacre he was..." Flamel couldn't find the words.

"Hell set on vengeance, would be an understatement." Gisela added. "He was like a man over a chessboard ready to flip the board and reset the pieces for a new game."

Fauna gasped. "You don't mean?"

"Genocide," Flamel put her hand on her chest as if to grab her flask but then put it down. "But he caught himself, he spun around and demanded Shayley slap him. After she did he froze for a second than screamed "That's it!" It nearly scared the life out of us and then he tongued her right there in front of us until the Princess melted into a pile of blissful goo."

Fauna rolled her eyes at the last part.

"I see they're finally getting along again." Clera giggled.

"A little too well if you ask me, they are worse than drunk Flamel! They're like pubescent teenagers learning about anatomy for the first time." Gisela argued.

"Get over it Gisel, it's not like you don't like learning about anatomy either." Flamel winked. But before Clera could do anything about it she turned to Fauna. "Back to my point. Think about it this way, Calloway is going out of his way to make more work for you, you could always go out of your way to make more work for him. Two birds with one stone, what do you think?"

"I forgot how devious you could be when you put your mind to it." Fauna smiled wickedly holding up her glass.