“Oh!” Elli exclaimed excitedly. Her face lit up as she appeared to recognize the man before her. “You’re—”

“Theo,” Theo hurriedly supplied. “We met once at Landen Ryker’s party, remember?”

“Ah yes, yes.” Elli quickly nodded in agreement. “Right, you’re Landen’s friend, Theo. Forgive me for not recalling your name immediately.” 

“No need to apologize,” Theo said. “It’s been some time since we last met, Lady Eliana.”

“Please, just call me Elli,” Elli said. “I’ve long forsaken my tie to nobility when I decided to leave my father’s house.”

“Okay, what is happening here?” Caelin questioned, looking between Elli and Theo. 

“That’s right,” Elli gasped, raising a hand over her mouth. “We need to go before the men come back to find us.”

“What men?” Theo asked as he followed Caelin and Elli out of the boutique and into the busy street. 

During the chase, Caelin and Elli had inadvertently left the open air market and wandered into the luxurious shopping district instead. 

“We can go to the hotel I’m currently residing in,” Elli said, leading the way. “It should be safe there, and I still owe you that tea, Caelin.”

“What men are trying to find you two?” Theo repeated his question.

“There’s these three mercenaries trying to find Elli,” Caelin explained. “I overheard them at the market earlier. They were talking about being hired by a marquess to retrieve his missing daughter. I’m assuming that's Elli.” Caelin glanced at Elli, who nodded with embarrassment in confirmation. “I was trying to tell you about them before you suddenly deserted me.”

“Sorry,” Theo apologized at Caelin’s obvious irritation. “I just thought I saw an old friend back at the market. Landen, to be exact, but I never found him. I had probably mistaken someone else for him.”

“No, you probably weren’t mistaken, because Landen is here too,” Elli said. 

“What?” Theo looked at Elli questioningly. “Why? Shouldn’t he be in Galencia?”

“He’s here primarily for business purposes with plans to expand his trades to Lunaria as well.” A light blush settled over Elli’s cheeks and her hands fidgeted before her. “And the other reason…well, it’ll probably be best to wait to hear about it at the hotel, when he’s with us as well.”

Caelin and Theo exchanged glances at Elli’s coy explanation. Judging by the large, green diamond on Elli’s left ring finger, Caelin already had a fair suspicion of what the other reason could be. 

Elli was staying at one of the most expensive hotels in Sireine, the Chateau de la Perle, directly beside the beach. Entering the hotel lobby, Caelin felt vaguely out of place amongst the Lunarian upper-class. The ladies and gentlemen felt so foreign to what she knew as they dined near the beachfront windows or drank at the bar with the hanging crystal chandelier. 

Caelin glanced at Theo, hoping to see if he looked as misplaced as she felt, but he appeared entirely unphased, smoothly assimilating into the background of high-society. His posture was always perfect and he seemed well-versed in social etiquette. Caelin wondered if being the illegitimate son of a Galencian baron had provided Theo with the natural disposition of an aristocrat. 

Leading them into the hotel’s elevator, Elli instructed the attendant to take them to the top floor, twelve. Caelin watched the bronze gears turn in the stucco walls and the steel cords vibrate as the elevator quickly shot up. Her ears lightly popped from the sudden pressure change. In a matter of seconds, they arrived at their destination.

“It’s apparently the newest model from Diaskia,” Elli said in a low voice once they stepped out of the elevator and onto the twelfth floor’s carpeted hallway. “They had it imported a month ago and just installed it last week. Now, I’m not saying that their intentions were in the wrong place, but…” Elli made a skeptical face as her green eyes flitted towards the elevator shaft. “Personally, I think some things are better left untouched.”

There were only two rooms located on the hotel’s top floor, and Elli stopped before a wooden door labeled “1201”. She brought out a gold-painted key from her small handbag and inserted it into the lock. With a click, Elli opened the door, revealing her temporary lodgings.

The door led directly into a parlor room with floral teal wallpaper. A young man with thick, dark brown curls atop his head currently sat beside a tea table while reading a newspaper. Hearing the door open, he looked up in delight as his brown eyes met Elli’s.

“I’ve brought you some surprise guests, Landen darling,” Elli said, bending down to greet him with a kiss on the cheek. “One of them is your friend, Theo, remember?” 

“Yes, Theo, of course,” Landen said with a bright smile as he pulled Theo into a hug, patting him firmly on the back. “It’s been a while, old chap. Glad to see you again.” 

Pulling back from the hug, Landen noticed Caelin standing behind Theo. He gave Theo a questioning look before turning to address Caelin. “I don’t believe we’ve met before. My name is Landen Ryker. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

“I’m Caelin,” Caelin said. She held out her right hand for him to shake. “Caelin Lucerne. It’s nice to meet you too.”

Expecting him to just shake her hand, Caelin was caught by surprise when Landen took her hand and kissed the back of it instead. Caelin silently withdrew her hand and wiped it on the back of her jacket. She just couldn’t understand high-society. 

Landen took no offense to Caelin’s action and gestured to the tea table, where there were exactly four seats around it. “Please, come in and have some tea.”

Eliana had brought over a ceramic teapot from an adjoined room, and the four of them sat in silence around the table while the tea leaves steeped. 

“So what brings you two to Sireine?” Theo spoke first. 

“Well I’ve been looking to expand my business for some time now,” Landen said. “I was originally in Balsum when I happened to reunite with Elli. The deal fell through, but I did find the love of my life.” He and Elli smiled gently at each other as he grasped her hand. “One thing led to another, and now we’re here in Lunaria together as I hash out a deal with a potential business partner.”

“So you two eloped because the Marquess was against the relationship, which also resulted in your business investment with him falling through,” Theo summarized. “Now that you’ve been socially exiled from Balsum’s high-society, you’re hoping to find a new financial sponsor for your bankruptcy problem here instead.”

“Yes, isn’t it just so romantic?” Elli sighed contentedly as she poured them each a cup of tea.

“Even though the Marquess pulled out of our arrangement, I’m not bankrupt,” Landen clarified. “My funds are just a bit tied up at the moment from the last deal.” 

“Oh so that’s why your fiancée is underselling her jewelry at the market.” Caelin took a sip of her drink. The floral notes blended perfectly with the light bitterness of the tea leaves. It was a flawless cup of jasmine green tea. 

“My darling, I told you that you needn't resort to such measures,” Landen cried, turning towards Elli in distress. 

“I know, but I thought it was better than carrying such a clunky necklace around during our travels,” Elli said soothingly. “Besides, it was the one from Duke Federic when he was trying to court me.”

“Oh,” Landen said, nodding emphatically. “Then it was probably best to be rid of it as soon as possible.”

“Not to mention, I would’ve never had the pleasure of bumping into Caelin and Theo if I didn’t sell it,” Elli explained. “Caelin is a fine bargainer, and  she even helped me acquire quite a hefty sum for the necklace. Not to mention, she helped me evade those mercenaries my father sent.”

Hearing that, Landen’s attention was piqued as he regarded Caelin with newfound interest. “Thank you very much for your help, Caelin. By the way, have you ever considered going into the trading business?”

“She already has a job,” Theo said before Caelin could answer. “We work at the same place.”

“What do you do?” Landen asked.

“It’s confidential,” Theo said curtly.

“You’re working for the monarchy?” Landen guessed.

Theo nodded vaguely in agreement.

Landen’s eyes widened. “The Lunarian monarchy? Are you out of your mind, old chap?” His expression turned concerned as he lowered his voice. “Do you need to borrow some money?”

“No, I’m fine,” Theo insisted. “I had planned on heading to Rhodir directly, but some things happened along the way, and I took a little detour. I’ll be on my way soon once things wrap up.”

Caelin caught him briefly glancing at her before immediately looking away.

“So are you two here because of your occupation then?” Elli guessed. “Is there anything that Landen and I could help you with?”

“Though we can’t provide any specifics, if you’re able to help us answer a few questions then that would be great,” Theo said. 

“Yes, of course,” Landen agreed readily. 

“To start with, have either of you heard anything about a Dr. Manton and the recent appearances of deep sea fish?” Theo asked.

“Yes, I just heard that name mentioned at my lunch meeting today,” Landen said thoughtfully. “He’s well-known amongst the Sireine merchants as an ocean expert. Apparently, he can tell which trade routes will be impacted by a storm before the clouds even form.”

“I’ve also heard of him,” Elli added. “At the market the other day, I saw this adorable fish—an anglerfish, I believe—and the fishermen said they were taking it to Dr. Manton. They said he can name and identify every single sort of fish that lives in the ocean.”

“Do you know what he wants with the fish?” Caelin asked.

“I think they mentioned that he’s studying them,” Elli said, her eyebrows scrunching up as she tried to recall. “He wants to know why they’re suddenly swimming above their natural habitat, specifically, if the cause is the appearance of a kraken.”

“What did they say about the kraken?” Caelin leaned forward intently. It was the same story that she and Theo had heard at Penn’s Fish.

Elli shook her head. “Nothing much. Just that if there truly is a kraken near the port, then they hope that Dr. Manton can get rid of it soon so that their fishing can return to normal again.”

The conversation fell into silence again as Caelin and Theo slowly digested the new information they had. Caelin could only conclude that their next step was to speak with Dr. Manton. It’d have to wait until the next day as the sun was about to set in a couple of hours, the time allotted when the team had decided to regroup at the villa. She could only hope that Lilac, Hale, and Killian had better progress.  

“There’s one more thing,” Caelin said, breaking the silence as she remembered the previous mission. “Have you two heard anything about Xero’s return?”

Landen spit out his tea, staining the white tablecloth a pale yellow, while Elli choked on hers, turning into a coughing fit. The couple became quite a spectacle with Elli attempting to dab at the tea stains on the table with a lace handkerchief as Landen patted her on the back to soothe her coughs. 

“I’m sorry, but what do you mean by that?” Landen asked after ensuring that his fiancée wasn’t about to die from choking on her own tea. 

“I thought I heard his name at the market earlier, so I was just wondering if he might be related to this incident,” Caelin said innocently. 

“You must’ve misheard,” Landen said laughingly. “After all, why would a former Astilbean soldier be here in Lunaria? Especially where they’re a wanted war criminal?”

“Plus, I had heard that he retired and makes eclairs in the countryside of Astilbe now,” Elli said. “I’d find it hard to believe that he’s causing any sort of havoc in Sireine, especially of relevance to kraken and anglerfish.”

“You guys are right,” Caelin agreed amiably. “I’m probably just being a bit overly pessimistic since this is all so confusing. I mean I used to think krakens weren’t real, and now I can't even be certain of that.”

“Perfectly understandable,” Elli assured her with a placating smile. 

Caelin returned the smile on the surface, but her thoughts were very different underneath. She hadn’t intended to mean anything more to the question, but Elli and Landen’s responses were very strange. As a close ally of Lunaria, Balsum had been heavily affected by the Dagann Wars, so Caelin had expected them to react in some negative way to the name of their enemy kingdom’s greatest soldier. However, their actual responses were much milder than she anticipated. But the most suspicious hint of all, was something that she would’ve almost missed if she hadn’t been paying close attention. For a split second, right after she had asked the question, Elli, Landen, and Theo had briefly looked at each other. 

The three of them knew something about Xero.