Chapter 24 - The Story of Alis

“How long are you gonna keep wearing that?”

Tea stroked the hairs of their lip, flashing a grin.

“It’s a dashing look and you know it, Gi.”

He rolled his eyes, continuing to towel off his hair. Though the dye wasn’t permanent, it was still annoying having to scrub it all out. Meanwhile, Tea refused to get rid of the stache, the pixie sitting cross-legged on the couch as they thumbed through Immy’s file. The robe had long since been replaced by another of Tea’s gowns.

“I thought you said skirts and mustaches didn’t mix,” Giu said.

“They don’t.”

He waited for the pixie to continue, but they left it at that, shoveling a cookie down their throat. He sighed. Guess I should be used to this. He plopped beside them, grabbing from the cookie bowl. Tea had made oatmeal raisin this time around.

“So what’s in there anyway?” he asked before biting into the soft desert. “Got anything big?”

“Not much so far,” the pixie said. “Most of it's stuff you probably already knew. Imona was a sellsword. She traveled a lot. Stayed neutral. I did learn she used to be a healer. She ever tell you?”

He shook his head. “Never really talked about her past. Or…maybe she did. Memories are still really hazy.”

Tea pushed over the file. “Then maybe you’d get more out of this than me.”

They moved a paw over the document, pointing out the little details they’d found. At the head was Immy’s name in bold, under which various personal details were listed. Imona Alis was 32 when she disappeared, the files marking her as missing rather than deceased. She had no next of kin. No relatives. No spouse. She’d been born in a shelter and that was where she’d stayed until she was old enough to train magic.

“Gi?” The pixie gave him a nudge. “You alright?”

He gave a small nod. “Yeah. Just…surprised, I guess. Immy was an orphan? Kinda wish she’d told me.”

“Not something you just bring up, Gi. You know how it is. Pasts are always tricky.”

“Yeah. I guess.”

He handed the file back, picking up a cookie to try to distract his mind. It didn’t help.

Tea set the file aside, finally pulling off the mustache and vanishing it into their spacial inventory. They tried to say something, but the words died under the noise of a horn blowing outside. What now? Giu groaned, moving to the window. There was a concession of paladins marching through the Villa streets below.

A white and red banner waved in the center of the crowd, trumpeters blaring in the back while soldiers raised their swords to the sky in intervals. Though they all shared the same white shine, Giu noticed three at the head of the pack with stripes of red across their shoulders. Only one of them Giu recognized. And quite easily.

Captain Anome. He had a cape attached to his armor.

“Check it out,” Giu said. “Since when do paladins do parades?”

Tea flew over, squinting at the pack. The pixie frowned.

“Crap.”

“What?”

Tea shook their head. “That’s no parade, Gi. It’s an envoy. And a pretty big one.”

Giu looked ahead of the pack, spotting what few civilians remained escaping for the safety of the nearest shops and buildings. Even the paladins on guard seemed on edge, watching Anome's envoy pass more carefully than usual. Giu pulled away, a sinking feeling in his gut

“Maybe we should speed this along,” he said. “Last thing we need is to get caught up in all that.’’

“Agreed."

They both returned to the couch, the trumpets growing more distant as the envoy departed. Given what he knew of the city, they were all headed towards the pier. He pushed any question of why aside, focus returning to the Immy investigation.

“So whatdya think, T?” he asked. “Anything we can use?”

“Maybe." The pixie thought a moment. "I guess there's a chance she has a safe house somewhere.”

“If she does, she never told me." He scratched his head. "Oh. We know where she's from now, right? We can check that out."

"I...wouldn't recommend it."

"It's worth a look, at least. Not really sure where Seladon is, though. Is it Syd or Villa?"

The pixie hesitated.

"T?"

Their nose twitched. "It's neutral. And it's right under Angelita."

“Angel- Oh.” His enthusiasm dropped away, both growing quiet.

After being around Tea long enough, he'd learned to steer clear of certain subjects. The pixie nation being the biggest. Even so, it was hard to forget Redge’s words. How he’d told him of the memory return. And the potion experts. Maybe another pixie is involved. He shifted at the thought. 

If Immy was born right under the nation, was it so strange to think she’d have allies from it? Or enemies? Someone who'd held enough of a grudge to go after her protege. It made him sick to think, but who else would go out of their way just to poison some random canine? The fact remained, someone had slipped him the potion.

“Tea?”

They didn't respond. Or so much as look at him.

“T?”

Still nothing. He sighed, finally deciding to take the hint.

“Alright," he said. "So what else we got?"

Tea was still quiet a moment, but they gradually spoke again after biting through another cookie.

“We could try one of her old contacts,” the pixie said. “She was a freelancer. Apparently, she even worked with the paladins.”

“Doing what?”

“Mostly bounty collections. She was good enough to lead her own squads, too. That's not something just any rando on the street gets offered.”

He nodded silently. Guess that’s one more notch on the Immy’s secrets belt. Geez. Did she really never tell me this stuff? He rubbed his forehead, the fuzzy haze refusing to go away. No matter how much he wanted. 

He knew he remembered a lot. His name. Who Immy was. Portions of their life together. But everything else was coming in bursts, and not just with her. He could barely remember what his hometown looked like, let alone his childhood, his folks, his old bedroom. It all came up as hazy blanks that made his head hurt the more he tried to force them. Tea gave him a nudge.

“Hey, stay with me, Gi,” the pixie said. “Don’t let it get to you, okay. This stuff takes time.” 

He could only nod at that. Why did it feel like he was missing something big? Tea took flight, suddenly tugging at his arm.

 “C’mon,” they said. “Let’s take a break from the Immy talk for now. We can go ride the train again. See that wake-up spot of yours.”

“You mean where I plopped down naked?”

Tea blinked. “Y-you were naked?”

He smirked, which the pixie responded with a groan.

“You really are a dummy.”

That did cheer him up slightly. 

Though the rest was a blur, he could recall his early days in the forest as vividly as his time with the pixie. Granted, both were short by comparison, but he was glad to have them. His life as Giu Penhair. With all the Immy stuff, a trip down memory lane did feel like a nice change of pace.

“Alright,” he said. “But no hair dye this time.”

Tea chuckled. “I promise we won’t need disguises again. No need to sneak around if we’re just taking a train ride, right?”

Tea flew into the other room, coming back a few moments later in pixie form. They had two sunhats in hand, one of which they threw to him while Tea secured the other over their head.

“We should still try not to stand out, though,” the pixie said. "No need to tempt fate."

Giu shrugged, putting on his hat. Given how much Tea stood out in general, he doubted it’d help much. But who was he to argue with the brains?