"You think we'll find it here?"

Ida's remark echoed Leon's own thoughts. The trail they followed led them to this small town in the middle of nowhere. Isolated from the rest of the kingdom by a massive expanse of wilderness. The closest trace of civilization to the town was all the way across the mountains.

"We'll take a look," he said. "If we don't find anything, we'll go our way."

"Where will we go?" Ida said. "The southern border is not far from here."

"We'll see," Leon replied, calming one of the horses he led to the inn's stables.

They had found the inn easily enough. Leon thought that whoever built this town didn't have much of a vision for it.

Felix and Al, his other travel companions, went to sign them into the inn. Hopefully the service would be decent. By now, however, anything was a step above bathing in a creek and eating bland meals by fire.

It had taken them all day to cross the mountain, mainly because Felix wasn't as good a horseman as the three of them. Whenever they were close to an edge, he had to keep his horse to a painfully slow pace. Even the horse grew irritated by the end of the day.

Felix was a medic, he came along in case something happened. Leon only agreed to bringing him along because his brother had ordered it. And his brother was not a man to be disobeyed.

They had arrived at town by twilight. The main street where a market had been bustling with activity all day was closing up, merchants were busy gathering whatever was left of their merchandise and citizens were hurrying home before night fell.

Everyone, however, had paused and stared as the four of them strode along with their weary horses and garments dirty from the hard riding. Everyone gave their swords wary glances.

Leon guessed that the town didn't see much of the outside world, save for the familiar merchants. And it didn't help that he and his company stood out like sore thumbs in their heavy cloaks and clothing suited for the less warm climates of the north.

Leon's horse neighed, his ears flickering at the new environment. A boy and the smell of horses greeted them at the doors of the inn's stable.

The stable boy was younger than Leon thought suitable for the job. Ida raised her brows when the boy eagerly approached. He had a nasty bruise below his eye that was just turning yellow.

"I'll take care of them, sirs!" the boy said eagerly, his brown hair cut in jagged strands and his garbs much dirtier than Leon's travelling clothes.

"You're alone, kid?" Ida asked.

The boy, as if noticing her for the first time, nodded mutely with wide eyes.

Ida's dark skin would certainly attract attention in such an isolated area. Her mother came from the Flatlands where she married her father, one of Springwood's top diplomats. And Ida had inherited her mother's coloring.

"You're a woman!" The boy said. "I thought-" He shut his mouth quickly.

"I am," Ida smiled. "And you're a boy, I assume."

His lips twitched, still unsure. "I am. And I can take good care of your horses, my lady. You don't have to worry."

"I'm sure you can," Ida said. "Show us the way for now."

"Yes, my lady!"

The boy led the way through the smelly barn. Ida and Leon exchanged a look. Neither of them missed the way the boy looked at their swords with apprehension, nor the way he feared Ida would take offense at his comment.

"We haven't spotted a single guard," Ida whispered.

Guards were supposed to be monitoring the streets in every single settlement in the kingdom. Every city, town or village had a body of guards that kept peace and carried the local magistrate's orders, in the interest of its citizens.

They should have spotted at least one guard. Maybe they just hadn't been in the place long enough to see one.

They settled their horses in their stalls. The boy lit up candles since the setting sun's glow couldn't win over the stable's darkness.

As they were brushing down their horses, Leon stayed out of the way while Ida talked to the boy. Leon could hear their conversation clearly, and he didn't like what he was hearing.

"What's your name, kid?" Ida asked.

"Blue, my lady. They call me Blue."

"So, Blue, you're responsible for the horses?" Ida asked as a way to warm up the boy. "All on your own?"

"Yes, my lady. I work here every evening. Sometimes the afternoons, too."

"What about school? Your parents don't mind your skipping classes?"

"I live in the orphanage. I've no parents," the boy said. "And the headmaster says we have to earn our living. He can't possibly take care of all the kids on his own. So almost all of us work. Well, everyone except for Berry. He's very sick, you see."

"Is that so?"

"Yes, but his mom works, and everyone says Rotten Summer helps her out. They're friends, you see."

"I see." Ida replied though she didn't, really. Neither did Leon. "Tell me, Blue, are there any guards in town? I haven't seen any so far."

The boy hesitated, then replied in a strained voice. "There are guards, my lady. Why do you want to know?"

"Just curious."

The boy went quiet for a long time. The only sounds were the neighing horses and the distant chatter somewhere in town. The boy's curiosity got the better of him, however.

"Are you merchants? You don't look like merchants."

"Really?" Ida said. "What do we look like?"

"You look like soldiers, with your swords and-" He lowered his voice. "And your friend is huge. He must be a soldier. Right?"

Leon suppressed a smile, patting his black horse's neck. Ida snickered, "something like that. Do you get soldiers here a lot?"

"No, not really."

"Then how do you know what they look like?"

"I don't. I just thought they'd look like you and-" he lowered his voice again, "your friend. You know, big men with big swords. Bigger swords than the ones the guards have."

Leon quietly went around his horse so he could peek at her and the boy through a crack in the stall.

The boy was now perched on the side of the stall wall, he crinkled his nose when he mentioned the guards. Ida kept brushing her horse.

"You don't like the guards, much, do you?" she finally said without looking at the boy. Leon was looking at him, though, so he noticed how blood drained out of his face.

Blue stuttered. "I- that's not true! I- I d-"

"It's okay," Ida whispered. "I don't like guards much either."

Blue looked at her suspiciously, glancing towards the stable entrance. "You- you don't?"

"Well, not all guards. Some of them can be a pain in the butt."

The boy giggled, loosening again. "They are. The guards here aren't much better, my lady. Some of them are down right mean."

"Ah, no doubt I will not like your guards either, then."

"The headmaster says they're easy to buy," Blue said. "How much does a guard cost? If they're easy to buy then they mustn't be good. The cheaper things are always the first to break. I know that, you see. The other day the headmaster bought a cheap bottle of liquor, and he says it tastes like horse urine. I don't know how he knew what horse urine tastes like, but I don't imagine it's good."

"I agree." Ida smiled. "So the headmaster says the guards are easy to buy, huh?"

The boy nodded. "He always says so. He likes them, though. He invites them to dinner sometimes. I hate it when he does that. We always have to go to bed without eating. The little ones cry when they're hungry cuz they don't know any better. But the headmaster says they won't do that anymore after he beats it out of them. His blows really hurt, you know."

"Is that how you got the bruise on your face?"

"Oh, this?" he touched his eye and laughed. "Yeah, but it's healed now. It was really black at first."

Leon had heard enough. He nodded at Ida who caught the signal out of the corner of her eyes, and stepped outside. The day was ending and the streets were deserted. The weather was merciful in this part of the kingdom, even as the night fell it wasn't as cold as the capital.

Leon was on a mission to retrieve a stolen item. Their search so far had been futile. But after what he heard in the barn, he knew this town would need some attention before they moved on.

His brother, and their father before him, had worked so hard to make every part of the kingdom a safe place for all citizens, no matter their wealth or social status. Of course, it was impossible to attain perfection, but this town was broken on a fundamental level. The corruption of the town guards was an indication of a much deeper issue.

Blue reminded Leon of his son. Before. When his son was as bright and spirited as the boy in the stable.

This place was rotten from the bottom up. And it needed to be dealt with. Leon couldn't help his son. But he hoped he could help Blue before life beat all the spirit out of him. Like it did his son.

Maybe this trip wouldn't be useless, after all.