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"Agreed," Earendil nodded firmly. "The question is then, where is she now? If she fled, who knows where she might be?"

The last time they had found her in the forest, perhaps she would be there again ... or at the inn ... or, for all he knew, she might have headed off to other shops to cause even more trouble!

Earendil bit his tongue to keep from retorting at Miyuki's tone. He understood that she wanted to believe in her friend, but after what they had witnessed ...

"We'll look," he agreed. "But if she's not there, we'll keep looking for her, yes?"

He turned to lead them back towards the inn, which was only a few short streets away.

By the time they reached the inn, Earendil had finished his own cinnamon roll (though he hadn't enjoyed it really, he'd eaten it out of necessity and convenience, rather than for pleasure) but Andarien was still munching away at his own, slow and steady.

"I'll sit here with Andarien," Earendil told Miyuki and Lin, sitting at one of the tables. "I don't want him to make a mess all through the inn. It looks like Iorlas isn't in this part, but maybe she's in her room or something. You two go ahead and check, all right?"

None of the travelers were in their rooms, as it was the middle of the afternoon, and Iorlas was no exception: the room which she would be sharing with Alassëa was empty, the door shut and securely locked.

There were no plans for anyone to meet up until dinner time, after all.

Earendil rejoined them, with Andarien of course, and off they went yet again in search of their fellow-traveler.

"We should keep an eye out for the others, as well," he suggested. "They might know where she is, or she might even be with some of them."

"It's not a large town, it can't be too hard to find someone at least."

Earendil pointed ahead. "There. Shiro and Kaito."

And indeed, the two nekos were just exiting a shop up the street whose sign promised Custom Books - Blank or Copied Manuscripts. Kaito was looking a bit bored, stretching lazily as he and Shiro started down the street, but Shiro was flipping excitedly through a book that he had (probably) just bought.

The nekos turned (though Shiro took an extra few seconds because he had to tear his attention from his book) and looked at the others. They both grinned and waved at the same time, though not wildly - that was a kid thing, and they were both beyond that.

"I thought you'd have been checking things out on your own," Shiro said, wondering why the three were looking for them. "It's a bit odd, you searching us out."

Usually they left the nekos to themselves while they did their own exploring. Not that he minded, of course. It was just unusual.

Kaito blinked. "An incident at the bakery?" he asked, tilting his head curiously. "What happened?"

"And if Iorlas wasn't there, then why would you need to talk to her?" Shiro put in.

Earendil blinked at Shiro. "How do you know that Iorlas wasn't there?"

"Simple," Shiro replied simply. "We only started exploring about half an hour ago, and she went off in the opposite direction with Leilani and Aric. They were first going to see the healer, I guess Leilani and Aric know him, but since Alassëa and Aethos were going there first, since he's the one who taught Alassëa about healing, they decided to give her time with him first. I think they said something about going to see someone's relatives instead."