Free City, Truce - Fountain
A tiered fountain marks the center of Truce, water gushing from its
summit and trickling into a deep, wide basin, wrapped by a ring of benches.
Roads flow like rivers away from the fountain, and houses sprout like weeds
all around them. Not far to the east, the ocean roars in the harbor.
Ambience comes walking up the southern avenue of Truce, looking a little bit tired. His clothes are a bit on the dirty side, and an oversized, pearl-hilted blade rests slung over his back in a large sheath. His short, dark hair is damp, glistening slightly from water droplets that still seem to cling thereto.

Nearby, a couple of tiny splashes made little ripples throughout the basin of the fountain of Truce, but their creators are nowhere to be seen.

Ambience continued toward one of the benches, but instead of seating himself there, he stopped, taking a sudden interest in the fountain's water, and whatever it was that lay in it. "What in the world are you guys doin' in there? I'd expect stuff like that from Undines, but I didn't even know you guys could swim." He sounds fairly intrigued, for whatever it was he was referring to.

Ambience pulls himself up over the basin's rim, peering over and down into the otherwise-empty water. "Well, 'course not. But still, I thought you all had your quirks. Though it would makes sense not seeing any of the fire guys." The boy grins, a droplet of water falling from his hair and into the water under his face.

After a couple of moments, a portion of the water shimmers with a green glowing light, and two tiny tree-shaped maidens surface near the edge, water droplets hanging at the ends of their leaf-composed hair. Their enormous (for their size) green eyes regard Ambience curiously as they bob up and down at the water's surface, wordlessly.

Ambience has a seat on the rim, the end of his sheathed weapon clanking a bit noisily as it taps against the stone, and he sighs. "Da worries me a lot lately. Maybe I understand more than I used to, I dunno. But Mama not being here is really makin' things hard. I thought she was s'posed to be back by now. She was gonna find Variance and make things better again."

The Dryads in the water give each other a look, then return their gaze to Ambience, shaking their individual heads quickly enough to scatter tiny water bits everywhere. They blink a couple of times, still looking up at the boy without audible words.

Ambience turns his head slightly, holding up a hand to defend against tiny water beads that fly his way. "What about you guys? Do you know if she's still comin' or not?"

One Dryad gestures toward the air with one hand, but falls backward in the water in the process, submerging as the other one looks down at her sister, blinking a couple of times in apparent confusion.

Ambience places a palm over his face, giving a short sigh.

You say 'I can't understand you two like Mama can. I know there's still lots I need to practice, but it would definitely help if I could. I just wanna know what's takin' her so long.'

The underwater Dryad rises to the surface again amidst a plethora of tiny bubbles, and continues making bubbles once there, might to the apparent delight of the other. A tiny squeal of some kind could be heard if strained in close enough, and the Dryad already at the surface for sometime proceeds to grab at the basin rim, pulling herself out of the water and onto dry land.

The Dryad still in the water proceeds to pander around, kicking her tiny root-like feet as she hovers in circles at the water's surface, making bubbles the entire time in what seems to be self-amusement.

Ambience sighs, watching the Dryad that climbed out of the water with a small frown on his face. "If you don't know, you could just tell me. There's gettin' to be too much stuff goin' on here lately, I'm worried there could be somethin' big goin' on that we might need Mama's help with."

Ambience shifts his weight, pulling something from a pack on him before twisting back around, and lays out four identical-looking black crystal shards on the fountain's rim next to him, a few feet away from the landborn Dryad. "Some woman gave me these the other day. She said I was goin' to need them for when Mama came back, but didn't tell me how or why she knew Mama. They look just like the one I lost a few months ago."

At that moment, the Dryad on the fountain's rim appears frightened, backing away from the four shards nervously as she looks up at Ambience with her wide green eyes.

Ambience notices this, and furrows his brow. "What is it about these that you know? What are they for? You guys all seem to know something about this, but you won't tell me what it is! Why?"

You say 'Does Mama know what they are? Da seemed to, too. Does it have to do with Variance coming back when Mama returns? I hate being left in the dark.'

The floating Dryad in the water abruptly ceases its own activity, and bobs upright, looking up at Ambience in sudden and apparent sorrow, wading in close to the fountain's rim.

On the rim, the other Dryad seems at a loss, looking between Ambience and the other Dryad, then at the shards again, uncertainly. She gestures listlessly, flailing her tiny arms in multiple directions but apparently not fashioning any sound logic from it.

Ambience sighs again, frowning still. "I know Variance could understand you. But he isn't here anymore. I'm doin' my best, but I'm still just a kid."

The water Dryad finally hauls herself up onto the fountain's edge, pulling herself onto the stone rim on her little stomach... but right in-between the dark crystal shards. In surprise, she gives an audible squeak and flails her arms wildly, losing her balance and falling backward into the water again with a noticeable splash!

The Dryad still on the fountain's rim places a tiny hand over her forehead, dismayed.

Ambience watches this turn of events, his expression softening somewhat. "So it is apparent to me that you guys don't like these things much. I just need'ta figure out why."

Below the water's surface, a look of disdain forms on the Dryad's face there, and a shimmer of green light surrounds her form before she disappears in a forced bubbling of water, sending a bit of it splashing and gurgling to the surface in her wake.

The other Dryad looks a bit sad for a moment, but returns her attention to Ambience and the shards next to him, cautiously sidling closer toward them with obvious nervousness.

Ambience tilts his head somewhat, glancing southward briefly. "I don't remember what happened to the other one I had. I shouldn't 'ave lost it, but when I panicked that night, I think I dropped it. Someone else must've taken it before I came back. Or it might still be there."

The Dryad waves one of her arms passively, also toward the south. She stops after a moment, glancing between that direction and Ambience himself, blinking her large green eyes a couple of times.

Ambience nods to himself. "Maybe I'll take a closer look when I get home. It might've just gotten lost in the grass, but I know these things are important. You wouldn't be scared of them if they weren't."

The Dryad puts both tiny hands on her face in response to this, puffing out her cheeks in distaste. The four crystal shards glint slightly nearby, and as one of them rolls slightly onto a separate facet, the Dryad gives a tiny squeak of surprise, jumping back a few steps.

Ambience can't help but laugh at this. "Right, right, I get it. But they're just glass. I don't even feel any mana flow from them. They're empty to me."

The Dryad shakes her head, and points at the black shards before making a wide waving motion, apparently trying to indicate elsewise to Ambience's assumption. She points north, down that specific alleyway.

Ambience blinks, confused. "What? So there was a relation to the old Sanctuary? So I was right this whole time?"

The Dryad furrows her tiny brow, leaning forward heavily in a gesture of defeat.

Ambience nods, thinking on it for a moment. "I know Da won't be much help. I wish he'd have more confidence, but with Mama AND Variance gone, I know that ain't gonna happen. So I guess its up to me to try and hold out until Mama returns from the Holyland."

The Dryad nods affirmingly, and is suddenly surrounded by a brief green aura before she poofs into thin air, leaving behind a few tiny blades of grass in her wake.

Ambience gets to his feet after a moment, hopping off the edge of the fountain basin and brushing himself off, glancing skyward in apparent search for something he doesn't seem to be able to see. "If things had been different... Da wouldn't have to have suffered so much. Then maybe we could've been a real family. But..."

Ambience frowns to himself. "But we can't have everything we want. So I'll just try and help keep Da up as best I can. Maybe Mama will come back soon." With that, he heads on toward the south, leaving back the way he came only a short time earlier.

Ambience is gone after a short time, as a brief wind rolls past in his absence.