"Yes?" Emil responded simultaneously with the warning that he shouldn't, rendering it a bit too late. He recognized both of them, naturally--if one of their kin had a terrible memory, he was at the opposite of the spectrum: he rarely had trouble recalling anything.

"Oh, why not?" he asked curiously, despite the fact that he'd already made it kind of a moot point. It was an odd order, to be sure--the reason for giving it must have been interesting.

"Illorex is acting weird!" the youth proclaimed dejectedly.

Which was a bit of an understatement, considering how Illorex was. Emil would certainly be able to remember that. Illorex took up to a thirty seconds to a minute to respond sometimes, and every so often, his responses were very surprising--sometimes even offensive. More often than not, he spoke in sentences that were less than five or six words long. He rarely ever said more than that, but a lot could still be said in such short sentences. Nonetheless, to many, it was extremely strange.

". . . weirder than usual," he corrected.

This had been uttered during Illorex's moment of thought, which generally occurred after any point when he was prompted to respond to someone or something, lasting anywhere from five to forty five seconds.

"There is a task for you," Illorex replied as he began to walk again.

"That's all he's said the whole way! There is a task for Emil," the youth remarked, his feminine voice cracking a little as he tried to mimic Illorex's voice, "But he didn't even tell me what he meant by it. You should really just ignore him, Emil! It's probably for the best!"

Nonetheless, Illorex stopped again--as did his companion--once he stood before the table at which Emil sat.

Emil leveled a kind of blank look at Milos before he corrected himself; he wasn't the kind of person who liked to classify people as odd or strange--they all could easily be classified as such, after all!--but Illorex's habits definitely made him stand out, even around here.

"A task? What kind of task?" Again, this was almost at the same time as Milos's response.

"But I'm curious!" he protested. He was one of the few people who seemed to like to read and be among the books, so he spent most of his time reading--after all, there could be useful knowledge buried in this library! It was probably impossible for someone to read it all in a lifetime, but he was certainly going to try.

The youth, Milos, frowned again, just moments before pouting. Illorex and Emil were both quite impossible, indeed! Milos had a horrible feeling about this, like just about any sane person should, but Emil could only react with the utmost curiosity. That was the kind of curiosity that could get a person hurt, Milos had concluded. Curiosity killed the bat! Or something along those lines.

"It's-- it's a really bad idea, though," Milos protested.

"A task in the real world," replied Illorex shortly after Milos.

"Wh-what?" Milos reacted before Emil would even have the chance, with Milos practically stepping back in exaggerated surprise, "N-not you, too, Illorex!"

It wasn't the first time those words had been spoken. The first time, perhaps, that Emil may have heard them, personally, but clearly not the first time that Milos had . . .

"The real world?" Emil echoed, heedless of Milos's fretfulness. On one hand, there was still much knowledge to take in and categorize in the library, and he was the only willing to to do it. Not that he minded, but it meant it wouldn't get done if he wasn't there!

"What kind of task in the real world?" Really, he wished Illorex would have come right out and said it; it was almost as though he was teasing him, stringing him along with just enough information for him to ask another question! He wanted to know what was going on!

For once, Illorex narrated a sentence over six words long; it appeared as if he was simply reciting it from memory, though; nonetheless, he replied, "The task of Emil's is to deliver the package within his living quarters to the heart of Hillcrest, north of Galaens, and document the effects upon the Dusk Remnant from a strict distance."

"The . . . Dusk . . ." Milos couldn't even finish his sentence.

He set both of his hands over his lips to contain all urge to gasp, shout, and scream; his face became white, almost akin to the reaction of seeing a ghost. Although he said nothing, he looked to Emil and shook his head quickly and with much urgency.

"Akizetsumei, Hugh, Kyla, and Oboreru are currently on location in the area of Galaens, Algeroth," Illorex continued, "Emil is to disregard them and subordinate to documentation no matter the circumstance."

Indeed, it would appear as if Illorex was simply narrating words that had been dictated to him already. By whom, however, would be uncertain--but Emil may very well experience a sense of obligation in the task Illorex was handing to him . . .

"The Dusk Remnant..." He stared at Illorex, almost as though in a trance. "Some of us were looking for that, right? But when they found it, it was in the possession of someone named Eldridge Tsukimono, and he was unwilling to give it up. Gestahl sought him out, but he got away, but left behind a girl--and Gestahl used the girl to try and strike a deal with him, but he was killed instead by the very thing he sought." Emil sounded kind of sad at that last part--when a person died, it meant any knowledge they had was lost, but worse was that any knowledge they could have acquire was lost too.

"Yeah, the same man hurt Toushikyo. Hugh and Kyla came out unscathed, though, didn't they? So did you Illorex. That's good," he noted. "Though, I don't think you should use your power that much. Life without knowledge is life wasted, wouldn't you agree?" It was a rhetorical question, and he kept on going without hardly a pause.

"So, who gave you these orders? And what am I delivering? Though I suppose I'll find out if I go back to my room," he observed--but he was still curious! If Illorex could tell him now, all the better! "Oh, do you know something about the Dusk Remnant, Milos?" he asked, seeing his reaction to the name.

As Emil narrated the events, Milos's expression continued to fall. He went from shocked to a mixture of horrified and sad--and rightly so. Emil had spoken about the death of one of their fellows, which struck hard at Milos's heart--but then, he asked Milos specifically if he had any experience with the item in question.

"I-- I--" Milos whimpered before averting his eyes from Emil, "Th-that's . . . personal."

If Milos did, in fact, know anything beyond what Emil now knew about the Dusk Remnant, Emil wouldn't be able to tell. There was something there, yes--but it was guarded, even from someone like Emil. That may have been a feat within itself.

"J-just-- Emil-- you--" Milos looked back at him again, "You shouldn't do this. The Dusk Remnant is dangerous! A-and . . . that's for you, too, Illorex. It'll only get you hurt . . ."

Whether or not Illorex acknowledge what Milos had to say was unknown. He may have heard it and disregarded it, or heard it and considered it for a moment, but either way, when he spoke, there was no personal reaction to Milos. Likewise, there was no response to Emil's question of who had given the order, "Within Emil's quarters is an emblem depicting a forgotten shadow. When set, the Dusk Remnant in its vicinity will react. How is for Emil to document."

"Oh." Emil was disappointed that Milos wasn't sharing, but he wouldn't press him--he liked to learn, but personal stuff he understood was best left personal if they didn't want to share it. Others tended to get mad if he pried.

While he didn't directly acknowledge his concerns, for the first time Emil addressed the issue of his potential safety. Sort of. "Do you have any idea what this emblem might do? I mean, I'd rather not make this Eldridge person mad--if Gestahl couldn't beat him, then I don't stand a chance!" He wasn't much of a fighter to be sure--certainly not on that man's level at least.

"Also, who gave the order? Without Gestahl around, I didn't think anyone else would be interested in the Dusk Remnant. That was kind of his project, as far as I know." To say Emil was loyal and followed orders was...not really the best way to put it. He followed his curiosity and thirst for information, which if it coincided with an order was great--if it didn't, there wasn't any guarantee he'd carry it out.

Milos averted his eyes from Emil again. The way he talked, it was as if he was really considering it. Milos didn't know what to say. Just like he couldn't stop Illorex from coming here, knowing that it was unlikely to end well, Milos wouldn't be able to stop Emil from accepting the task, more than likely. Some people didn't listen to reason. Illorex and Emil were two prime example of such people.

The silence that persisted between them was tense, as Illorex took the longest in his range of time to decide upon an answer--a total of forty five seconds had passed between his last statement and this one.

During which, Milos had turned from the two of them. It was clear that he was tempted to leave, and debating it heavily, but something was keeping him here. What, even he didn't quite understand.

And at last, Illorex parted his lips to speak.

The sun had gone down hastily, and in the course of hours, Kaze had yet to return to Hillcrest as she had assured Eld she would. It was dark by then; eight o'clock in the evening, to be exact.

Eld was in his room at that point, and whatever his thoughts had fallen to at the time would be interrupted as soon as his door slowly opened. Perhaps he might have thought of it to be Kaze returning to Hillcrest and finding out where he lived or just looking him up, and coming in to say that she was back. It was possible; distinctly possible, but that also required her to return to Hillcrest, a task which may have been difficult to a person with memory problems as bad as hers.

And indeed, it was not Kaze returning-- it was Etsu.

She was a little unkempt; her hair was kind of a mess and so were her clothes, but there were no rips or scrapes or bruises or anything. She opened the door slowly and entered as if she were trying to sneak in, an act which she'd never really done around him before, but under certain circumstances, she did act a little differently than normal . . .

Kaze still hadn't come back yet, and Eld had to say he was kind of worried. With her memory, could she really make it to Galaens and back by herself? It was a one-way road, so he was pretty sure she'd get there, but if she didn't ask someone for directions and the people she was meeting didn't tell her where to go, she wouldn't be able to make it back.

Of course, she might not be coming back immediately--he couldn't blame her if she didn't, if she stayed the night in Galaens with or without the people she was meeting. Even if she did come back, she might not want to see him even to help her with finding her brother. But even so, he his attention divided between his booking and looking out the window, which faced the center of town.

He just getting to the point where he was fairly certain she wouldn't be coming back tonight when his door opened--but unsurprisingly, it wasn't her, but Etsu instead. Not that he was disappointed, really, as he was always happy to see her.

"Hey," he greeted. He didn't really notice that she was trying to sneak or anything like that; she was always quiet, after all, and while for other people it was late he was rarely in bed by this time.

Etsu was visibly surprised to see Eld, and for a moment, stared at him without moving, but after that moment, she relaxed just a bit.

"Her-ro," she replied meekly.

Etsu was always a very soft spoken person and, more often than not, attempted to speak in a proper way, even if her accent got in the way. And in most cases, if her accent got in the way too much (and either embarrassed her or made it impossible to understand her), she'd simply use a common Cizokian word in its place. This generally applied to any and all greetings, which all sounded very silly when uttered by Etsu Hikane.

However, today, she used one of those greeting in Common.

"Emma-chan invite me," she whispered, "and Mayako-san. For night."

Which was a little harsher Common than she usual. Etsu generally wasn't too terrible at speaking the language, but that was damn near unintelligible. Nonetheless, with the slightest hint of unbalance, she started towards her clothes.

"I...see..." There was something a little...off...about Etsu, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what. She wasn't acting terribly strange, but she wasn't acting perfectly normal either.

It wasn't until she started walking that he realized what was wrong. "Ah...you guys have been drinking, haven't you?" he asked with amusement. He didn't think there was anything wrong with that, so long as they were care--oh, who was he kidding. If Sarah was there, it was a small miracle Etsu had enough wits about her to walk here.

"Do you want any help?" he asked, unsure of just how she was doing. He was considering offering to walk her back to Sarah's, too.

She stopped instantly in mid-walk, freezing up as she felt the hair stand up on the back of her neck. Or would have, were it not for the fact that the back of her neck felt about as numb as the rest of her body.

"I-iie," she responded with a slight tone of nervousness, "No drink!"

Which was actually the wrong form of the word to use. She was accidentally indicating that she had not drank at all, which was obviously not the case.

"Onr-ry two drink," Etsu indicated as she lifted her hand--

--only to pause and stare at it. Two--two-- how much was two again? If she were counting it on her hand, how many fingers was she supposed to hold up? Now, for anyone else, this would have indicated a serious problem, but for Etsu, who'd never actually been formally or privately educated, it wasn't unlikely for her to forget this sort of thing.

"Two?" she asked with all of her fingers lifted on one hand--sans her thumb, which was still pressed against her palm.