1400 Braval
"What? What do you mean he's in Airan?" Tanaya quickly pulled out a notebook and started writing in it immediately. "What did you say his name was? Brava Castro?"
"Braval Castaro," Ning replied. "From Warfort. Although, he was originally born in Nineflags and had to move to Warfort because of the war there."
"How do you know that?" Tanaya asked after she was done writing. "You're saying you're not an accomplice?"
"I've never even heard of the dude before this," Ning said. "I only just decided to help because you seem to think I'm not capable of that."
Tanaya looked at what she had written and frowned a little. "I find it hard to believe that you just simply know this. Tell me, where did you get this information?"
"Where? Nowhere," Ning said. "I just know this."
"That girl with you, Jasmine. She was from Warfort. Is she acquainted with this person?" Tanaya asked. "Or is it that Scholar?"
"None," Ning said. "You are free to question them if you want to."
The woman thought of doing so the next time either of the two walked out. As time went on, they got closer and closer to Airan until around 4 in the evening when it was announced that they had in fact crossed the sea border of Airan and were just an hour away from the theocratic city.
Jasmine and Tim were on the deck waiting to see the sight of the island coming up ahead. They had heard so much about Airan, so they couldn't wait to see it with their own eyes.
As they got closer, they saw the sight of a large shipyard, beyond which lay a mountain full of cascading white buildings with scintillating metal domes on their roof.
The country that was also the only city was built on top of a mountain with the pope living in a large white building at the very top.
Everyone stared at the place in awe.
Jasmine got out of her stupor a few seconds later and looked at her watch. "Wait, why is it so bright at 5 pm?" she asked.
"Weird woman," Jasmine said.
"Do the police act like that? Are they supposed to follow people they think are bad for another country?" Tim asked.
"Who knows?" Jasmine said. "I always made sure not to deal with that crowd. Do you no good to get noticed by the police in my line of business."
"Let us go find a place to stay for the night," Ning said and made their way through the city.
They quickly came to understand that the island of Airan was divided into 5 levels. The higher the level you went the better the status there was but also the more expensive it was.
Ning wanted to go to at least level 3, but it appeared that everything up there was already either booked or had people living in it.
At least, he managed to find a building with two free rooms on Level 4.
After finding a place to stay, Ning wanted to go out to eat during the night, but it turned out that was nearly impossible too in this place. Restaurants had to either be booked beforehand or one had to wait hours to get into one.
Ning and the other two simply didn't know what to do at that point.
"We've come here already, so let's just wait," Jasmine said. "The other places would be the same."
Ning agreed and stood by the door with the other two. There were a few people gathered there the same way as them, so they would have to be there for a while.
As they were waiting, a group of men walked out of the restaurant, wearing brilliant white suits with the holy symbol of Zurinus etched onto their chests.
They were only a step away when one of them stopped and turned to look at Ning and the others. He slowly walked toward them and quickly took a small bow in front of Jasmine.
"Fair maiden, would you be so kind to tell me your name?" he asked.
Jasmine was surprised and panicked a little. "Uhh, it's Jasmine," she said. "Who are you?"