The light drizzle was picking up to where the droplets stopped freckling the dirt road and coloured it darker. The sun was still out so Stella figured it would clear up soon, but it didn't hurt to take shelter under the little roof outside the town walls. She stood there clicking her boots against the post to shake off loose dirt. Every few seconds she would glance at the horizon.

This is stupid. Why would she wait at the gate? They already know to find her at the tavern when they arrive, but waiting at the tavern didn't feel right. She sat there earlier as staff's eyes felt heavy the more time she spent there without a purpose. This felt better. A warm welcome into Nectar Village. It is the least she can do. I mean they are coming to help her find her sister. Why would they be coming to help her find her sister? Who are these people? They had 6 months to think about it, but the letter said that they will be arriving today. She didn't understand why she felt so nervous. This is stupid. She should go back to the tavern...in a couple of minutes.

She wasn't sure how much time had passed but the sun sat alone in the sky and the flowers that spread all around the outside of the village glistened with drying raindrops. She saw three familiar figures appearing into view on the dirt road. Jack was pointing at all the flowers. His mouth wide open, matching his eyes. Ace and Tenny spotted her first as they were waving with all their strength. Ace stopped Tenny and mumbled something. Jack shook his head and the three of them started waving with extravagance, but this time in complete sync from left to right. They are so stupid.

"Long time no see," Jack said with his bright smile. Stella felt her nervousness end. They were already here, and they seemed glad to be.

"You have gotten a lot bigger. You have been training hard, good Sir. How was your journey here?" Stella greeted. Tenny decided he would climb onto her shoulder for now. Jack's face fell flat.

"We ran into bandits on the way here. Twice it happened! Groups of three and BOTH times, Ace ran off and left me to fight them."

"Miss Stella! I was so scared! They looked so mean, but you should have seen your boy Jack here. He was like pow, whapow, whoosh, boom. He was so cool. We even took their stuff." Ace re-enacted a drama filled performance.

"I don't think robbing the bandits was the right thing to do, but after I fought them, Ace would reappear and take their stuff and run off again." Jack continued in his disappointed tone.

"Yea let's not dwell on that subject too much. What is the gameplan Miss Stella?" The two decided not to get into his criminal behaviour.

"Well, what is done is done. We can take that to the town hall and get your new ledgers and trade in the stuff you got to fill it out a bit. After that I am thinking we try and get information about the mercenary group and plan further at the inn tonight."

"I like the way you think," Ace said as he drives away a bee.

***

The town is busier than Jack was accustomed to, but much of it felt like home. Kids played in the streets, citizens pleasantly carrying about their day. He knew there wouldn't be a large military force in this town, but it still felt off from the familiar. The constant reminder of being in Nectar Village came in the architecture. The structure of the buildings was very similar to home, but only in structure. Jack imagined this is what an ant in a flower bed would feel like. Colours spilled everywhere. The variety was mind blowing. Houses had vines, some had specific arrangements of swatches, while some just looked like they picked every flower outside the village and planted it in every location they could. It was a spectacle for the eyes and the nose. Each footstep came with a different fragrance, which was a bit much for their Mystical friend.

Jack's head was on a swivel. He wanted his eyes to capture as much as it could. He knew he had to be looking for something, but he really couldn't help being distracted. "Where should we start?" Jack asked without making eye contact.

"We are looking for any word on a mercenary group that calls themselves Eclipse. They have been operating for quite some time under the radar. I am not sure what makes them so difficult to track down, but people in the village genuinely have no idea about them. The only suspicious activity was that over the last few weeks, small groups carrying weapons came here, but no one is sure that they left. I know it is a flimsy lead, but I am guessing a group with that number of members might be them, or someone that knows about them."

"That's not bad. This village is ideal to hide," Ace said while scratching his chin. "Nectar village is well known, so a lot of people pass through here regularly. If they are hiding in the crowd, then it will be difficult for citizens to find any clues about specific individuals."

"Okay, that makes sense. We could try our best to ask indirectly then." Stella decided. "If they are gathering in this town, then there must be a reason. We should probably figure out if anything is happening."

"We should do that. Great idea but be careful not to ask too much. We should be patient, so they don't catch wind that we are looking for them, then things can get dangerous. Did you ask a lot of people already?" Tenny and Jack followed the conversation with their ears while they looked for anything suspicious.

"Yea, I asked quite a few people before you guys arrived. I am sorry, I didn't think it would be this difficult." Stella looked down. She had to be more careful this time.

"That is okay. I am sure we would have known if they left in that time frame. You should continue to ask around. Ask bluntly and as much places as you can. Tenny, you stay with her so you can find us if anything happens. Jack, you should go and check out the blacksmith shop and see if you can find out anything about recent repairs or new items. Talk casually and don't let them know you are looking for something. I am going to check around the tavern for any suspicious behaviour." The trio looked at him with doubtful eyes. "I won't over do anything. I know how important it is, but you also can't stop the town from existing, so sight see a little. If we get too caught up, we will be drained, or we can make mistakes. It is important to relax and stay calm. We will meet at the inn after sunset."

"Oh yea, this is the first time you have ever travelled. You should definitely take it all in. I am sorry, the pressure was probably getting to me too. Thank you again guys. I will see you all later."

"Don't worry guys, I will look after her," Tenny said while finding a spot on her head.

"Be careful everyone," Jack chimed in before they all split up.

***

Jack took a stop at the library for a second. They said it was okay, and it was killing him to see all these flowers and not have any idea about them. He continued walking through the town slowly, looking at people, his book, then the flowers. He was on a loop, but nothing was out of the ordinary. Wait that flower can put people to sleep. Valerian. That is so cool.

Jack stood outside the blacksmith workshop. How to do this? He can't just ask him about his recent work without them asking their own questions. Damn, it is his first mission, and he is already at a loss. Don't mess up, don't get in trouble. Casual. He slowly opened the door.

"What can I do for ya?" the grizzled bald blacksmith bellowed from his anvil. He wiped the sweat from his brow and continued clanking waiting for Jack to say something. There was a thick set man with combed back dirty blond hair standing at the anvil as well. He seemed to be a couple years older than Jack and was wearing a military undershirt. Jack held his breath. Was this good or bad? Could he ask the military? Would that cause word to spread? Would that make him suspicious? He decided to play it safe and stick to the plan. It would seem he was stuck in his head a bit too long because they both were looking at him now after he failed to reply.

"Ya okay kid?" the blond soldier asked in a warm tone.

"I'm sorry! I was waiting for you to finish, and I zoned out. Umm I have a weird request. See what happened was, on my way to this town, me and my friends got robbed by some bandits. We put up a fight, but it didn't really go so well. They managed to steal a sword that was important to me. I was hoping that it made its way here, or if they happened to stop to repair some weapons, any lead so I can track them down," Jack said nervously.

"That is some tough luck kid, but I can't help ya. Billy here is the only weapon work I have done in a couple of weeks. Billy, can't ya ask some of yer comrades if they've seen anything?"

Billy walked up to him and offered his hand. "I'll try my best to retrieve yer goods." Jack took his offer of a handshake with a smile. This might be a good thing, but he should be careful until he meets with the team tonight.

"Thank you very much. My name is Jack."

They walk out back in the town. Jack wondered if he would lose his hair as he got older. Is it a blacksmith thing? More importantly, if they didn't visit the blacksmith then they must have stocked up before coming here. Eclipse clearly knew what they were doing. He wondered if the others were making any progress.

"... can be pretty dangerous," Billy said while waving his hands around.

"I'm sorry I didn't hear what you said."

"Ya really zoned out today huh. That sword must really mean something to ya. I was saying that you shouldn't chase bandits by yourself because it can be dang... Hey! Stop!" Billy took off sprinting. Three guys knocked over a vegetable vendor and bagged a fairly large amount of goods. They were at least a hundred feet away from them while already running. Billy's vigilance was exceptional to have spotted that from where they were.

Jack leaned forward a bit and slightly raised his hands behind his back. Green blasted him towards a nearby rooftop. He began running at top speed while occasionally using Wind Walk to gain on the villains. Billy was still running through the crowd when he saw the green path dash ahead. Jack landed on the back of one of the thieves slamming him into the ground. He kept his body low while pushing off his back foot. The two thieves were in the process of turning around but one was stopped halfway by Jack's fist plunging into his stomach. A fist came towards him from the other thief, but Jack's elbow was flowing from the punch he just threw. It was quicker. He planted it directly on the nose of the last thief, before swinging a left hook directly into his jaw. Jack pointed his palms at his first two targets. A red orb beginning to form in each.

"You guys can stay down. Please." Jack finally exhaled.

"Wow, that was impressive. Three of them at once, and in no time. Those bandits must have been tough to get one over on ya," Billy said after pinning down the first one. He took out some straps that looked like a roll of bandage but thicker. He tied it around their wrists and then tied their palms together. That makes sense. Wisps cannot pass through solid objects to form so there always needs to be at least an inch away from anything. This had caused Jack trouble because using earth mimics required you to be at most two inches away from the earth, and the margin was tricky when he was being chased by a rhino or moustache.

"It was just a couple of veggies man. Is all this necessary?" the broken nose thief argued.

"Ya break the law and ya get punished. It's as simple as that. The Three say not to harm anyone for your curiosity and ya did some harming there. Ya know ya was wrong," Billy answered back.

"That is a bunch of garbage. Don't worry, we will be out soon and get you back," a different thief replied.

"Yea yea, I heard it already. Let's go. Jack come with me, I owe ya for catching these chumps." Billy signalled as other soldiers arrived at the scene.