Well, it looked like they had somewhat of a working plan after all. The ship, with the help of EDI, had the skill of tracking down a bomb. She made no mention that she had to practically force Anhur to lead the way by way of mental command. That little detail was best left unsaid or brought up any further. The lion spirit was very unhappy. Helping out a pair of fools play a scavenger hunt game for a ship had not been on his agenda for the day. Of course, he was already in a very bad mood as it was because he was dragged to the Ishgar Symposium as if anything that happened that day would matter in the long run. He was an avatar of a god of war. If he knew anything it was that peace never lasted, and signatures on a piece of paper were not going to magically make it so. There were much better ways to spend time. Like dealing with more important things than Ishgar politics or being a part of some security team dealing with rebels. The Rune Knights existed for a reason and yet there he was with Samira doing their work. The whole day was just a stupid waste of time.
'If you are so negative about the treaty you did not have to come at all.' Samira telepathically told Anhur, using her magical link with him in order to do so. Although he could read her mind it didn't quite work in reverse, although, she did not need that ability to see that he disapproved. He was more grumpy and less tolerable than usual. To Kite and Victoria, it would appear that Samira was just silently following along despite having an actual conversation between the minds of Anhur and herself.
'This was the lesser of two evils, or as I have heard the phrase go. To not come would mean that I would never hear the end of it from the others. I still have my duties and I cannot neglect them every chance I get. I remind you that helping those that do not have the foresight to recall their parked transportation for future use is not a part of my ancient contract to your line.'
'Noted and appreciated all the same. Thank you for leading the way.'
Anhur just lowly growled, resisting the urge to roll his eyes or say anything more. It wasn't as if he had much of a choice in the matter so the gratitude meant nothing. He continued to lead the way. Silent, as was his usual way, but also alert and on guard. He cared little for the well-being of the two foolish mages, but he supposed he could at least make sure they didn't find a new distraction to run off to and once again get hopelessly lost. He'd just take care of any new rebels that made themselves known along the way. Fortunately or unfortunately none appeared. They were in a different sector of the city by then perhaps.
The walk after that conversation had been quiet with Samira just sticking with her own thoughts and solitude. She had been expecting Kite and Victoria to talk to each other at the very least, but in a strange surprising way she found herself being forced into a conversation instead. One that she did not expect or think was needed given the context of it. Upon hearing her name her attention was drawn towards Kite, her glance looking over in his direction for a moment so he'd know she was listening. An apology. The scene was memorable since he had done that very same thing the last time. Although, she supposed the current one was less entertaining. It lacked the qualities that had made her laugh before. Thankfully. She did not want Victoria to get the wrong idea about them.
She allowed him to finish before taking her gaze off of him and putting it back to doing the work of seeing what was straight ahead of her. Her expression was neutral. There really was not anything that could be gained from an apology years later. Truth be told she didn't even think one was required at all. It had happened years ago. They both survived that day and had moved on. Getting an apology for his reckless actions had never been on her mind. After all, he had paid for those decisions already. "It has been years so I am surprised you remember that well enough for it to trouble you so, but then again you have done this before because another transgression bothered you. You say you do not intend to make this a habit but I am convinced this is just how you are. Not that I consider it a bad thing." At least he was someone that apologized, even if a bit late. There was some wisdom in that old phrase of "better late than never", Samira guessed. Until the apologies became too common and lost their significance. Kite was not quite there yet. At least not with her. Samira hoped he was speaking truthfully and would work on the apologies no longer being necessary in his mind. Starting with not repeating the mistakes of their last mission.
"Your apology is unnecessary though. I am not angry with what happened back then or even hold it against you. Your injuries from that day were more than sufficient to strike that pride of yours. If you want my forgiveness so you can feel better about the past and move on then you have it. Just know that this day, or any time in the future, I will not be giving you the five minutes to fight on your own as I did back then. That was a mistake on my part and for that, I am the one that is sorry. We had our roles to play and as the more responsible one, I should have known better than to allow it. The whole thing could have ended quite differently." Granted, Kite would not have suffered the injuries to learn his lesson about being prideful and reckless. It was difficult to know which was the most important thing. His mental well-being, or his physical. Sure in the end it all had worked out, but there was a high chance he could have become a corpse instead. Such were the complexities of life. Samira felt no guilt any longer over it. She had accepted the consequences of what happened a long time ago. Still, she had to acknowledge that while the apologies were being passed around she had her own mistakes to make up for. "If this conversation is to continue it really should wait until later. We have different priorities, and I am afraid of what Victoria will have to apologize for just so she does not feel left out of the conversation entirely." Samira sent an apologetic smile Victoria's way. It was never her intent on having such a conversation with her around and therefore making her seem or feel like a third wheel to whatever history or friendship Kite and herself had.
Eventually, the trio would reach their destination. Anhur stopped walking and allowed the others to take the lead. They knew their way from there. He arched a brow when Victoria thanked him and gave him the nickname "Gold Guy." He had zero clue what kind of name that was supposed to be. Still, he took her gratitude and acknowledged it with a low grunt. It was his normal "I don't give a damn" attitude. He did really appreciate her saying so though and kept it in mind for the future. Victoria had earned some brownie points with him even if she did not know it. "I will keep watch of things out here." He told Samira before walking away to find a spot to stand idle in. He didn't like those metal birds at all. Samira simply nodded in understanding and followed the others inside the airship.
The ship was at least familiar. Or from what she could recall from the other times she had been inside it. Samira didn't really understand the workings of ships like that though so she just remained quiet and stood out of the way so Kite could do whatever he needed to do to get things with EDI working.... which apparently was just talking. EDI had the same sort of attitude as some of her spirits. Samira could empathize with Kite.
The interactions between Kite, EDI, and Victoria she listened to quietly. She would have to give some credit to Victoria for her modesty. Samira wasn't sure if labeling Kite as "cool" was an accurate description, but there was some amusement in labeling a mage that uses fire with a word that was just a touch shy of cold. "If Kite had made me angry in some way as you suggest, EDI, I would not be here and he would have the mark of a slap that I would have given him." That was a thing. Samira slapped those she was angry with. Kite was mark free so the Goddess of Ishgar was very far from being pissed off about anything. "But thank you for the greeting all the same." After that, Samira followed Victoria and Kite up to the cockpit. She needed to see for herself what EDI found. If it was the location of the bomb she needed to know so she could have the spirits that she already had scouting the city get there asap and disable it or at least deal with those that were setting it up.
What the trio of mages inside the ship did not realize just yet was that they had been followed. Other members of the rebel organization were around to see the three faun-like joyans get caught and arrested. They had kept themselves hidden and blending in with the crowds, of course, but they could see everything that had happened. Hear it as well. They knew those Sabertooth mages would be trouble. A threat to their plans and grand scheme. Considering these particular two rebels had helped make the bomb they wanted to see the results. It was for alchemical science! They followed the Sabertooth trio without being noticed. They were skilled like that despite being scientists. The moment they saw the airship they stopped and stood back, watching the three get into the ship and seeing the... lion Joyan thing walk away elsewhere. They didn't know what he was. It wasn't truly one of them.
"Huh, so they do have a ship. You think it'll find anything on the bomb?" One asked curiously while adjusting the pair of glasses on his face.
"Don't know. Don't want to take the chance." The other replied coldly. "The boss won't be happy if surprised guests ruin everything. We have to take care of them now before that ship finds anything."
"Aye aye. So how do we go about this?"
"The usual. We bomb it. Slow them down. Poison them. Shouldn't be hard. If we can capture one as leverage it'll be even easier."
"Eh, I don't think it'll be that easy but it's worth a shot. If nothing else the boss and the others can stop them if things go south for us."
"We're not failing this."
And that was that. Their little plan was set in motion. They didn't even have to get close or make their presence fully known. Their magic with bombs was long-distance when it needed to be. All they had to do was toss them. So they did. It all started with the ship being struck by several of them. Sticky webbing appeared from the small eruptions, covering the entire ship and connecting it to the ground. The intent was to prevent it from taking off if anyone had the idea of leaving or buying time for the ship to find the bomb. The strong webbing was good for that. The ship wouldn't be taking off until that webbing was dealt with. But anyone that left the ship would have to have some fun dodging the next round of bombs. Of course, it was very likely these two alchemists were overestimating themselves and clearly underestimating their targets.
As for Anhur... he didn't care so he stayed out of it and remained where he was far away from the bomb tosses. Webbing was not enough to make him move or go into action. The actual mages could handle that mess.
(Word Count: 2094
Samira Total: 6001)