Esben Mathiassen and Miina Malina
Two weeks. If she had just gotten looking sooner, or picked up the pace… she had been so close to finishing her journey, or maybe with everything else going on she could have gotten her brother to help them? No point thinking about it, though she hadn't done much else tonight. Go shopping with Rudolf, talk with Izayoi, get something to drink…
There must be someone who could help, right? Oh, they were going back to Drana Asnaeu soon so she could pick up the trail there, but then it might already be cold, especially if they were going to go through the forests… and she obviously knew a few people by the coasts who might be able to keep an eye out, but could she possibly get a message to them? And "hey, someone's in this entire country" wasn't a good way to look, they'd gotten so lucky being close this time.
So… right, that meant asking Esben after all? Something about him was a bit scary, so she'd avoided it earlier, but that shouldn't be a problem now, and that might be needed… and he was prooooobably fine despite the head injury. It wasn't like this would involve having to go anywhere or do anything tonight, just… listen?
Now, she'd memorised what rooms various people had to not wander into the wrong one, which meant… this one!
"H-Hello? I need some help with f-finding someone," Miina said, gesturing with a bottle in the vague direction of outdoors. Probably not illustrative.
"That's probably the most words I've heard you say to me at once since the day we met." Esben turned back towards the sliding door of the room, frowning slightly at the short Mystrel girl that had stumbled in. "Are you feeling alright, Miina?" he asked after a moment, keenly aware of the incongruity behind him being the one to ask her that question, given recent events.
"Y-Yeah?" she wondered, scratching her head. Was something wrong…? Well, she'd left her boots and everything in her room… but they were inside, so that shouldn't seem all that weird even up here? Oh, maybe he thought that she wanted to go looking now! "I d-don't mean l-looking here, um… my b-brother's in D-Drana Asnaeu again and I d-don't want to miss him again…"
She took a swig from the bottle, still standing awkwardly in the door.
Esben resisted the urge to sigh. "Not how I meant that," he muttered, half to himself, before pointing at the mattress on the floor where he'd been about to lay down. "Sit down and tell me whatever you want to tell me, and drink some water. We don't need you making yourself sick."
Miina dropped bonelessly onto the mattress, propping herself back up into a seated position and ignoring the suggestion of water. Or maybe she had simply discarded the thought of it after not immediately spotting any.
"So… my b-brother had b-been in Osprey for m-m-months, and I'd gone t-to ask around with Rudolf earlier," she started, now frowning over how unfortunate the timing had been. "Some p-p-people didn't really want t-to talk about him even if they knew, since t-that meant g-getting all tangled up in organised c-c-crime, b-but we found someone and…"
It was definitely the loudest Miina had ever been. "He's j-j-just left! He was heard t-talking about it a few weeks ago, b-b-but this… uh, Mizutane T-Tine? Tane? She's only b-been looking a few d-days!"
She took another drink, grumpily.
Esben listened closely, letting the fact that Miina still held her drink be for the moment. They'd barely missed her brother, evidently, as he'd left not long before they'd started their trek back from the deep desert. He'd put the matter of her brother further back in his list of priorities given the amount that was happening as soon as they arrived in Kugane, but given that half of their work now would be a search, likely avoiding any further rebellions, there was no better time than the present to start thinking on that matter again.
And those thoughts weren't entirely hope-inducing. Organized crime was no laughing matter, even for some of the top Seeds to come out of the Garden. Usually they were recommended to stay as far away from such things as possible. Of course, usually they weren't sent off entirely alone, or find themselves embroiled in a rebellion against an invading force; he'd already moved somewhat far outside the realm of normal Seed operations by any metric.
So, names: Mizutani Tine (or Tane) was the one she gave him, the local crime lord of some sort. Hopefully her brother hadn't gotten embroiled with her in all the possible ways he may have, as the entanglement there could prove almost impossible to untie. Rudolf had been involved in their first investigation, so he may have more details and be far more sober...and whoever had finally spoken to them, he would at least need a description to get working.
But first...
"Miina." Esben's voice was uncharacteristically stern, his expression as flat as when he'd been discussing murdering Chisaki casually enough to make the others look back at him in surprise, or outlining his plan to rescue Hien. He reached out, plucking the bottle from her hands with a speed that was utterly belied by his prior performance out in the desert, sticking it high on a shelf—and then passing the pitcher of water that had been set just past him over with an empty cup. "Water. You've had enough of whatever that is for now. Did you get a name from the one that finally spoke to you?"
The immediate response was a defeated mewl and a vain attempt at pawing at the bottle that would have been out of reach even if she had attempted to stand up first, followed by an equally plaintive, "My shōchū…"
Even though she was definitely sulking now, she hadn't forgotten why she was here, so she had better answer the question… even if she was stubbornly ignoring the water. "Uh… Hiroshi or s-something?
"A-Ask Rudi! He was with m-me, he ought to r-remember better!" she added, waving at the door as a reminder of where to go to start looking for the other member of their group.
Esben supposed he should have expected that. Between her general social struggles and the fact that she was certainly drunk by now, there wasn't going to be much useful on that front out of Miina...at least not through any direct questioning like that. "Never mind that for now, then," he mused, pouring water into the empty cup he'd set beside her.
He set the pitcher back down, before turning just as suddenly as before, pushing the girl's bangs back and laying his palm flat against her forehead, gazing critically down. As flushed as he'd expect from a small, drunk Mystrel girl; and the heat he could feel matched the redness in her face, that seemed to rapidly be trying to match that of her hair. Of course, his hand—damp with condensation off the pitcher and generally quite a bit colder—would contrast all of that heavily, though whether she'd find the coolness comforting or bothersome remained to be seen as he pushed her head back, his gaze meeting her eyes again. "Is that all you've had to drink?"
The redness only intensified, although the reason for that wasn't readily apparent… internally, of course, Miina was panicking at being shown this sort of attention, although the question snapped her back to attention (and away from a vain attempt to back away into… well, with their current positions, a wall. "Y-Yeah? It's strong."
Did he think this was her first time drinking or something? It wasn't even the first time she'd come across anything distilled! Although, undoubtedly, it was far less sweet or fruity than anything that she'd been offered in Costa del Sol. That was actually pretty useful, it made it harder to overindulge.
Not that Miina's definition of "overindulging" was probably matched with Esben's.
"Good. I'd hate to have to interrogate you about everything else you've had, and can instead get back to the first thought—water." He held the cup out to her. "Now. I'll find you something to eat soon, too. After you drain that glass you can start telling me more details about your brother and what you've found out he was involved with."
It was a good thing that Miina hadn't drained the bottle at the same speed as the cup was drained, though she was quick to point out after that the food wasn't necessary. She hadn't started drinking on an empty stomach, what was the rush? She could just sleep the rest of it off later.
As for her brother… well, she rambled. He was her teacher, her friend, and an annoyingly tall beanpole that had liked to pick her up just because he could and there had been such a massive height gap between them (and she couldn't say that it had honestly closed massively, even if he was the same height as their last meeting). He'd not been in Drana Asnaeu by the time she'd gone out looking, and finding the trail had been a long, slow one, and she'd not had a clue what sort of people she should even be talking to or where she should be talking to them.
And she'd had to get more clothes! And a proper sword, her knife was good, but the thing she'd lifted off a bandit just wasn't. So that meant she had to do more working and less asking people questions, but it worked out in the end, since Miina had met a lot of people she would never have considered approaching if it hadn't been for accidentally running jobs for them, and then shutting the worst of them down afterwards.
Anyway, they'd been able to give her some vague pointers, and she'd been able to sort of… bounce around asking, and she didn't know what her brother was doing because nobody ever seemed to want to tell her? And most of them seemed astonished to find out that he was actually a pretty good mage, as far as she knew, or a spellcaster at all. But then there were the people that weren't shady, and always did seem particularly annoyed that Zeke wasn't around to ask questions… or interested that she was trying to track him down. She even had some letters to deliver, for some reason.
Esben listened intently as Miina started to ramble her way through an explanation on her brother and his known activities; he was reasonably impressed at how smoothly she managed to get through it. Except for the spot where, under the weight of his gaze, she got stuck on the word 'brother' for nearly ten seconds...but she managed to get over it without help. Thus far, it seemed that brushes with criminal elements must run in the family—though Zeke seemed far more adept at dealing with it than his sister, the way it sounded her own adventures had gone.
"So. Your brother is made to leave home, and over the course of his travels he seems to have earned the mixed ire and begrudging respect of no less than fourteen different criminal groups, from low-level gangs up to decently sized organizations, not to mention the more legitimate types he's dealt with. All with a history of never revealing his full capabilities to them, and generally disappearing after picking up some odd jobs or getting whatever he may have intended out of them otherwise. Skipping out as soon as the entanglement started looking like it might be firmer than he expected." He almost sounded slightly impressed, though when he was getting focused on another aspect of what amounted to work in his thoughts, much of his expressiveness drained away...the perils of such single-mindedness, perhaps.
Impressed or not, though, that would make Zeke difficult for them, in more ways than one. "Forgive me, Miina, but your brother sounds like a confident con artist who seems to be biting off more and more every time, and it won't be too long before he takes on more than he can handle. But I imagine that's part of what has you worried enough to come to me, ja?" She'd not spoken to him much at all, other than when he'd been wounded or when he passed lord Hien off to her, after all.
A pity. He generally tried not to intimidate the more timid types...except for when intimidating them was useful.
"If we're lucky, we'll find him before anyone else does, and hopefully be able to avoid them in the process. I don't much want us to have to add those types to our list of enemies, they are useful sometimes..." Neverminding that Miina had managed to entirely ruin her own reputation with one such group, as she was small enough to keep hidden within the rest of them if necessary. "How well do you think you can draw him for me?"
Miina waited until Esben was finished… and then started laughing, giving a small grin. "Oh, I'm sure he'll b-b-be fine, if he's n-not even having to show he has magic, and he g-gave me th-this before he had to leave for good…"
It took her a moment of fishing around to actually produce it, but that… well, it was a materia, there was that much to say about it for sure, but it was stuffed away much more quickly. "… he s-said he has two, so I'm s-sure he can escape if things g-get really bad. I j-just… don't think I can go looking if we're g-going to protect crystals? And you're g-good at that, right?"
"I see you do have a share of his confidence," Esben replied drily, utterly unperturbed about the materia.
She paused for a second, looking at her hands, and said, "M-Maybe tomorrow…? I'm not sure I can d-draw… umm… isn't 'redheaded M-Mystrel, v-very tall, n-never opens his eyes' enough? It worked so far…"
Esben shook his head. "However uncommon that combination of traits may be, there's undoubtedly going to be some others that match that description. There's a possibility that some of what you've learned has simply been due to others such muddying the waters, unless you've managed to go into further details with them and just don't remember such conversations in deep detail. If I'm going to be looking for him, I need something more distinct, especially if I end up putting anyone else to work for it on my behalf."
He refilled her glass with water, with a clear expectation that she should drink more of it. "If you can't manage a good sketch tomorrow morning, get ahold of me then and I'll see what I can manage to draw up. We may need to go through a few drafts but it shouldn't take too long. Otherwise, keep sipping on the water, and before long you ought to go to bed."
"R-Right, it is late…" Miina said, gaze drawn inevitably up to where the bottle of shōchū sat on the shelf. Esben probably wasn't going to give it back, was he? Maybe she could get it tomorrow, it'd be such a waste if she didn't get to finish it…
Nonetheless, Miina got to her feet, unsteady but seemingly no more in danger of collapsing before she got back to her room than when she arrived, and wished Esben goodnight. At least she still had the glass of water? He'd probably want to get another, though.