In the back of that ambulance, Kaira felt like the most selfish Resonator in the world. She shared the racing vehicle with her unconscious Maestro and her supposed "new teammate", the Blaze Lyre.

How in the world did Colette of all people get selected to be an Ethereal's Maestro?

Such a position was fraught with danger. The jackal was an adept fighter, not as good as someone like Rebecca, but she could hold her own. Yet against that man, Desmond, they were all nothing. Even the Blaze Lyre got taken out with ease. It was horrifying to think such powerful Resonators existed.

Yet Kaira's thoughts remained on her future. What would happen to her? Certainly any chance at becoming something more with Colette was dead at this point. She wouldn't be surprised if Colette just let her go since she had an Ethereal for a Resonator now. What use was a sad jackal when you had the immortal phoenix of legend on your side?

"Gosh I hope she's okay…" fretted the Blaze Lyre.

Kaira offered no reciprocation for the conversation attempt, she just remained stoic and silent.

The paramedic that rode with them was not so petty. "She'll be fine, from what that young man told us she just fainted from shock after being assaulted. An understandable reaction, we're going to make sure everything else is okay," they assured the phoenix.

"Thank goodness!" beamed the bird.

Kaira was certain she hated this little girl.

"WAIT wait wait… An ETHEREAL?!" Emily screeched from the other end of the phone.

"Sahji fucking loooooves me," Shouri droned. "But she said what she said," he stated carefully, in case there were any nosy listeners nearby.

Shouri and his trio sat in the ER at Lyreann General Hospital. Even with Taika's healing, they were pretty roughed up by the supposed vampire, Desmond. A second opinion didn't hurt, just in case.

"You certainly don't know how to do anything in half steps," Emily giggled. "You're friends with me after all."

Pacifica placed a hand on his shoulder, serenity imparted into her frazzled love from her touch.

The guildmaster took a breath. "From what I understand, this Desmond character was behind those disappearances in the news. I guess part of vampire magic is he can like mind control people or something?"

"Scary stuff. I've never even heard of a vampire before," said Emily.

He could hear her shift her tuner around; she must have gotten antsy and started doing something while she talked.

"Apparently, it's an old legend from Unis-Résonne--they're Maestros who forsook their race and meddled with ancient lunar magic to become Resonators. They lost their ability to be Maestros in exchange for overwhelming power as a Resonator," Shouri explained.

"I didn't even know it was a thing, but of course it's 'evil lunar magic'." He could practically hear the lunar princess rolling her eyes.

"It's attributed to Luna because according to legend they're extremely sensitive to the sun and by proxy solar magic," he clarified.

"Right, that's why you made a skylight," Emily recalled from Shouri's retelling of the battle.

"Exactly. I know this shit was set up by Sahji because Rebecca just happened to get Raggia Del Sahara at that exact moment," Shouri complained.

"Convenient," was all Emily had to offer.

"It took them bringing in a Resonator like Pacifica for them to believe me about the vampire," Shouri groused.

"Can you blame them? If you weren't complaining so much I wouldn't believe you," retorted the princess.

Shouri leaned back in his seat. Both Pacifica and Rebecca rested a hand on him. He allowed his gaze to hang with the overhead lights for a bit too long. "Anyway, as soon as we get out of here with Colette, we'll register her new friend and head back."

"Alright, anything else you want us to do while you're away?" asked the vice guildmaster.

"Yeah, see if you can set up getting the solar ossias for all of our Resonators. I want that in my back pocket if that fucker shows up again," he decided.

"I'll ask around the hunting grounds. We can just have Zephyr pick them up and distribute them across the guild members," Emily replied.

"Sweet, see you soon, Ems."

"Talk to you later!"

Shouri stared at the call timer as the call ended. Nearly an hour had passed in conversation and the doctors still hadn't returned to give them their clean bill of health.

"So we're getting the solar ossias?" asked Pacifica, to break the tension.

"Yeah, the way he reacted to the sun makes me think it'll either deal boosted damage to him, or kill him outright. Given how he was ready to kill all of us, I don't feel bad for him. Next time, we're going to put him in the dirt," growled the Maestro.

None of the three Resonators could disagree with him. Frustration boiled in the room after their performance earlier in the day. They got thrown around like rag dolls, plain and simple.

"Thanks Taika," said Shouri.

"Huh?" the vixen perked up.

"If you didn't tell us how to drive him off, we probably wouldn't be sitting here."

"Yeah! Yeah!" Pacifica nodded eagerly.

"How did you even know what a vampire was?" Rebecca wondered. "I never even heard the word before today."

"It was in some old books I read," Taika replied.

The other three nodded in understanding. There were things Taika just knew that none of them did--this was yet another of those things, and they left it where it lay.

Finally, the answer to their prayers came in the form of the doctor returning. She held a clipboard and scanned it one more time before addressing the room.

"Mr. Tomoshibi, you and your Resonators are free to go--your healer did an amazing job," the doctor said with a smile.

"What about Ms. Severine? She's a member of my guild, so I'm responsible for her safety," said the guildmaster (with a nudge from Pacifica's etude to help in his civility.)

"Oh yes, I do have here that you're part of a guild. She just woke up if you would like me to take you to her."

"Please."

"Right this way."

The nurse led the quartet out of the room and down the hall to another part of the ICU. The hustle and bustle around this part of the building was much greater than the part they came in. Shouri figured they go triaged to low priority. Probably just got checked for rhythm burn or something.

They weaved through the nurses, doctors, and medical equipment and found their way into another copy of the room they were just in. The difference here was who occupied the room--Colette, Kaira, and the Blaze Lyre.

Kaira sat away from the bed her Maestro was in, while the Ethereal was by their Maestro's side.

"Let me get Dr. Eleison."

And then Shouri was left alone with Colette and a room full of Resonators.

Thankfully, the scholar was awake, but not nearly as chatty as usual.

Shouri approached the bed, opposite of the Ethereal. The phoenix kept a wary eye on the guildmaster as he addressed Colette.

"Once they let you out, we're going home," he told her.

The other Maestro nodded pensively, a hesitant glance at the Ethereal by her side.

"Obviously, she's coming with. I don't think you have a choice in the matter." Shouri regarded the phoenix with a nod. The Blaze Lyre returned his gesture in kind, carrying her determination on her brows.

"I'm hers, that's final," the phoenix asserted. She gripped the bed rails tighter. "I'm sorry I didn't do a good job protecting you, kind of a bad first impression--but I'm going to do my best from now on!"

The fire Ethereal was a little ball of positivity. At least she wouldn't have any issues fitting in with the rest of the guild (hopefully).

"Oh!" exclaimed the bird suddenly. "What's my name?" she asked her new Maestro.

Colette blinked twice. "Uhhh…"

"You shouldn't call me by my true title, so I let my Maestros give me a name they're comfortable with. Don't worry about me, I've had tons of names," she beamed.

Rebecca and Taika exchanged a glance and a shrug before turning back to the other pair.

"Uhhh…" Today really was too much. Poor Colette had no idea what to do. She deferred to Shouri.

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Who shook his head. "Don't look at me--she's your Resonator, if she's asking you for a name it should come from you. That's what she wants," Shouri advised.

"Ummm Nina?" she spoke the first name that came to mind.

Pacifica and Rebecca shared a look, as they thought of the very similarly named fox Ethereal under Sarayul's employ, Ninah. Small world, they both decided.

"Little girl? That's cute! I like it! Thank you, Colette!" the bird chirped joyously.

The Maestro smiled uneasily, but accepted this was her life now. She only hoped that things wouldn't be so danger filled as this morning had been.

"Shouri!"

The Maestro stopped mid-step. They were so close to leaving the hospital and yet, an annoyingly familiar voice tore him away from freedom.

He turned to find his guild's liaison, Cheryth, who flagged him down as she rushed over, her tree snake in tow.

"Who's she?" Nina whispered to Colette.

"Some guild lady," Colette whispered back.

"Oh a guild!? How exciting!"

Cheryth studied the new member among their ranks. "Come with me," the guild liaison waved for the group to follow her. They moved through the administrative wing of the hospital unimpeded; Cheryth flashed some kind of badge whenever someone tried to question her.

Needless to say, all the walking through normally restricted parts of the building began to wear on the six PTRS members (and Nina) which led to them just shutting up and following along for the ride. They finally arrived at their destination--a conference room normally reserved for doctors and other medical staff. With another wave of her badge, they were let in.

"Sit anywhere," directed the older woman.

Sit they did, the two Maestros and six Resonators found their seats and Cheryth took her place at the head of the table.

The first thing she did was produce pictures of the damage to the castle, and slid it down the table towards Shouri.

"Explain."

Shouri grunted--he didn't appreciate her tone. "A literal vampire attacked us."

Cheryth didn't budge, her expression remained stern. When Shouri didn't immediately cave under her glower, she continued. "Do you know how much damage you did?"

"It's okay!" Nina suddenly spoke. "They protected my Maestro--it was necessary!"

The guild liaison furrowed her brows, studying the small Resonator. "And who are you?" she questioned.

"Depends on who is asking," Nina snarked back.

Shouri had to admit--he appreciated the little bird's sass.

"Cheryth Arkwright, guild liaison for Pruned Trees Re-Sprout. I work as a bridge between the Riterran government and the guild system to ensure guilds perform their civic duties, and in exchange, I provide support to those guilds, whenever they need it."

That explanation was so practiced Shouri was certain this wasn't the first nor would be the last time she delivered that spiel.

Nina hummed in consideration. She looked to her Maestro who only returned confusion. Seeing how she had to make the decision here, the phoenix spoke.

"I'm the Blaze Lyre of the Orchestra of Heaven. I have sworn to protect my Maestro, Colette Severine, until her final breath," she began. The Ethereal motioned to Shouri. "Since this fellow helped me perform that task, I am willing to forgive the damage done in lieu of my former Maestro, the lord of that castle," she explained.

Cheryth pinched the bridge of her nose, shooting a dirty look at the guildmaster in the room. "I thought you were being sarcastic about finding an Ethereal before."

"You should have fuckin' known better," Shouri snipped with a huff. "Can we go now? An Ethereal gave us her blessing."

Unfortunately, it wasn't that easy. "Not yet, I need you to tell me what in the world happened out there."

With a very over-exaggerated groan, Shouri explained the entire situation from the top, with his trio interjecting where he missed details. Haruki, Cheryth's Resonator, dutifully took notes of the entire testimony.

"He's been the one behind the disappearances," Cheryth noted.

"You're welcome," Shouri scoffed, feet now kicked up on the table.

"No, we knew that already," corrected the liaison.

Shouri sat up straight. "The fuck do you mean you knew?!" he hissed. "I didn't see that anywhere!"

"Of course not. Do you have any idea what kind of panic would break out if we told the general public a living breathing vampire was hunting people in the streets? Have some common sense Mr. Tomoshibi," Cheryth scolded the guildmaster.

He ground his teeth as he scowled at the older Maestro. It was only Pacifica and Taika's desperate etude with him that kept him from saying something nasty.

"I'll behave, but I want to know whenever that fucker shows up anywhere, got it?" he asked.

"You're not in a position to make demands," Cheryth snapped back.

"The fucker tried to kill us! He's probably going to go after the guild. Do you want that blood on your hands, Miss Arkwright?"

The two maintained their stubborn glares at one another, the rest present just furniture in their argument.

"I'm not trying to be an asshole here. My guild has the literal princess of Luna AND the heir to the Klein Foundation. Do YOU want to answer to those people? I don't!" Shouri reasoned out, though he refused to dull the edge of his words. Rebecca had stood at this point and joined her fellow Resonators in trying to keep their feisty Maestro civil.

Cheryth let out a sharp exhale. "About Mr. Klein," she began.

"He's quitting right?" Shouri cut her off.

The woman furrowed her brows. "Technically yes; how did you know?" she asked.

"He disappeared awhile back and hasn't been the most up front with communicating with us," said the guildmaster.

"Well, I'm not at liberty to say, but there are some extenuating circumstances that is preventing his return to guild duties," Cheryth stated, getting the wind back in her sails. "PTRS won't be disbanded over this, especially considering who your guild members are." Her gaze flicked to the Ethereal in the room. "However, if you find someone to fill that spot, that will keep some heat off of us without having to divulge too much privileged information."

"I don't like being threatened," Shouri warned. Surprisingly, it wasn't his Resonators he felt most had his back at that moment, but the Blaze Lyre. He knew Cheryth wasn't trying to play with fire, just stating facts.

"You have plenty of time--Klein has agreed to remain on the guild registrar until you find a replacement and he can train them to handle the guild's finances," she stated. "He even agreed to have some accountants from the Klein Foundation manage PTRS from the shadows until then," she added.

"Hrmph, I guess that's fine," Shouri huffed, leaning back in his chair.

"He coulda said 'bye'," Rebecca added, pouting alongside her Maestro.

"I wonder what happened," Pacifica hummed.

"I'll call someone from the MA Office to come get her registered to Colette properly," Cheryth motioned to the Ethereal in the room.

"Oh, that has changed, huh," Nina mumbled.

"It doesn't hurt, don't worry." Colette assured her new Resonator.

"No, it just fucks you up for like three or four hours," Rebecca scoffed, remembering her own registration well.

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Nina laughed sheepishly.

Those words hung over Shouri's head. Would it be? Would it really be fine? They started the day considering the possibility of enemies, and now here they are coming up to the end of it with a fresh new vampiric foe and an Ethereal in their pocket for the trouble.

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