Creative Thinking Is Everything I Have 88 One Of Us

"STOP IMMEDIATELY!" a vaguely familiar voice rang through the surroundings.

Raj of Inquisition squad stopped his hand midway towards Orisa's head and turned his questioning gaze towards the source of the noise. Followed closely by Iten, Tiana jumped from her horse and rushed at the scene, ignoring several pairs of eyes and two guns pointed at her.

"Missy, it's none of your business. We are in the middle of a police operation to apprehend a dangerous criminal," said Gajef tiredly.

"From this moment on, there are no more criminals here, sir," Tiana went straight to him, waving a paper.

"Hey, chick, stop messing and get lost before you get yourself hurt," Raj yelled angrily, but everyone ignored him.

"Who might you be, little lady, to declare such things?" Gajef asked a little bit more politely this time.

"My name is Tiana, and I'm here on behalf of my father, the Supreme Commander. Here is an order of pardon signed and stamped by his hand," she said, carefully avoiding words that would cause her to stutter.

A stunned silence dawned upon the square. Exchanging confused gazes, the Inquisitors straightened themselves and stopped aiming at Tiana. They didn't let go of their weapons, though, and relaxed only a little. The leader of the group, Gajef, took the paper, checked the stamp, and skimmed through the text.

"Hmm, falsely accused of a lethal a.s.sault of a n.o.ble? I wonder who that n.o.ble was and what happened to him. And why didn't we hear about it before our departure, Lady Kavenfenn?" he said after returning the doc.u.ment, still in doubt.

"That n.o.ble is me, sir. Now you understand the situation and how ridiculous is this charge? As for your second question, my father signed it yesterday."

"And how did you know where to go, then?"

"My father asked his a.s.sistant to find out. This is all I know about the origin of this information, I'm sorry."

"So, you rushed here just like that?"

"But of course, captain. It is natural to aid your best friend. And setting that aside, imagine how distressed my father became after learning of this false conviction? I simply had to make haste to correct such a mistake. The honor of our system and our family is at stakes."

"The honor, indeed..."

While talking to the captain, Tiana tried her hardest not to look at her friend and to hide her distress. Orisa was still on the ground, unconscious, and blood slowly dripped from a light wound on her temple. She was also borderline panicking, trying not to stutter and quickly wrap up the conversation so that the Inquisitors wouldn't start suspecting anything.

"Now, please, let's correct the mistake and treat my friend's injury," she pressed the matter, looking Gajef in the eyes.

"s.h.i.+nkan, come treat the girl," the captain ordered one of his healers and stood up from the ground as the shock that Orisa had inflicted earlier wore off.

"Hey, old man, hold up!" Raj turned to him and grabbed his shoulder. "The h.e.l.l are you doing? So, what, we'll just leave after what this s.h.i.+t did to Mika!?"

Another healer arrived, carrying the girl in question on his hands. She was sleeping, and only two green coc.o.o.ns in place of her palms remained as proof of the battle. Everyone turned their gaze to Gajef.

"What did you expect? It's not like she attacked us, right? Everyone's alive, and Mika will soon be back good as new. You got your share of punching already. Moreover, from what I saw, she did go easy on us all, especially on your beloved Mika. So the case is over, we are leaving. If you have anything to say, go to the Supreme Commander and argue with him."

"The h.e.l.l!? Gajef, you old b.a.s.t.a.r.d, how-."

"Shut your trap, kid. You are too young to see the picture." Upon saying that, he turned to Tiana and said: "We are leaving, young Lady. Next time, would you mind sorting your n.o.ble mess before it turns violent?"

"Thank you for your understanding, captain. Stay safe and have a nice trip."

The Inquisitors began to gather around the car while Iten came and picked up Orisa. At this very moment, the sound of gla.s.s breaking announced the arrival of another partic.i.p.ant. Kanai rolled on the ground, covered in glittering shards of the broken window, and an angry yell followed from inside the inn. Quickly getting back to his feet, he turned around, ready to fight. Everyone on the square and even enraged inn clerk that was leaning from the broken window were staring at Kanai silently. The only thing that was missing was the sound of crickets.

Gajef was first to react - he shrugged and went to the car. It wasn't his first time seeing something so out of place. The rest of the Inquisitors followed shortly after. Iten with Orisa in his hands quickly strolled to Kanai, and Tiana followed him.

"Iten? Tiana? How is Orisa?! What the h.e.l.l-."

"Be quiet," hissed Iten and nodded towards the inn.

"h.e.l.lo, Kanai. Orisa should be fine now. W-w-we w-w-will explain everything later. For now, don't any suspicion, please," whispered Tiana.

"Um, Tiana?" Kanai gave her a worried look.

"Please, just a moment."

When they entered the inn after breaking Orisa's wall that was still in place and blocking the door, the enraged staff a.s.saulted Kanai.

"I told you I'd pay for the repairs," he said tiredly and took out a purse. "It was a life-threatening emergency. And, by the way, why does this d.a.m.n place has only one exit?"

"I'm extremely sorry for the mess our friend had caused you, miss," Tiana politely addressed the clerk. "I understand that my request is rather unreasonable, but please, can we rent a room for several hours? Our friend is injured, and w-w-we need to take care of her."

The clerk eyed Tiana with suspicion, then directed her gaze to a still unconscious Orisa. She rolled her eyes and let out a sigh before saying to Tiana:

"Your tag. We can lend you a small conference office on the first floor."

"That w-w-would be much appreciated, thank you!" Tiana handed her tag to the female clerk. After glancing at it, the clerk's face changed abruptly. She went through the tag once more before addressing Tiana with a different expression:

"I'm sorry, my Lady, this very moment. Please, take a sit. Would you like something to drink?"

"Um, no-no, thank you. You don't need to g-g-give me special treatment."

"Yes, my Lady, I'm very sorry."

Accompanied by the stream of apologies, they were led by the clerk to a private room with two comfortable sofas. After she closed the door and left the group inside, Iten put Orisa down, and Kanai started working on her health.

"What happened, and what are you two doing here? Tiana, I'm really glad to see you! What's with your voice?" he dropped a barrage of questions, making both guests smile.

"Let's wake our embodiment of misfortune first. No point in explaining everything twice," said Iten and sat on the other sofa. Tiana quickly followed him and occupied a spot by his side. Kanai eyed her with suspicion before switching back to Orisa.

"Regeneration!"

"Recovery!"

"Lifespring!"

When he was done, someone knocked on the door. It was the female clerk from the desk, who brought them refreshments and light snacks. They had been eating in complete silence when Orisa woke up. Her confused gaze wandered through the room and the guests before it focused on Tiana at last.

"Um... Tiana? Uh, my head... Tiana? Tiana?!"

Almost knocking everything on her path, Orisa jumped at her friend and enclosed her in a tight embrace. The snuggling went on, accompanied by happy squeaking and purring. Iten struggled to get away from the pair since Orisa almost jumped onto him to get closer to Tiana. He finally managed to pop out of the sofa, and together with Kanai, they kept watching the pair of beaming girls.

"Okay, that's enough. You almost squeezed the poor girl to death," mumbled pouting Kanai.

"Oh, indeed! I'm extremely sorry," Tiana swiftly apologized and distanced herself from the still clinging Orisa.

"I'm not talking to you, Tiana," he added dryly and kept glaring at Orisa.

"Dude, come on!" the girl in question protested and waved her hands. "Really? It's Tiana, you know!"

Iten and Tiana exchanged confused looks but decided to stay quiet. Some new dynamic had been born between their friends, and the two newcomers didn't know how to react or even perceive it for now. Orisa and Kanai rolled their eyes in unison and went to sit on the first sofa, elbowing each other like little kids.

"Good to see you two doing well," Iten said, and Tiana supported him with a vigorous nod.

"Oh, how glad we are to see you as well! Iten, thank you so much," exclaimed Orisa.

"Yay, man, good job!" added Kanai.

"Iten is a true hero of the day. Although, the rest of the squad w-w-were of g-g-great help, too," murmured blus.h.i.+ng Tiana.

"Um, Tiana... What's going on?" a worry crossed Orisa's face.

"I'll explain everything from the-," began Iten, but Tiana immediately interrupted him:

"No, please, let me do it. I don't w-w-want you to start blaming yourself ag-g-gain, Iten," Tiana's expression was strict, and Iten decided to let her handle the story. "As far as I know, the story began some two weeks after your escape..."

After ten minutes of a thorough recollection of Iten team's infiltration, their operation, and her partial recovery, Tiana wrapped up the report:

"And so, I took his seal and pen, signed and stamped five blank doc.u.ments, and left. W-w-writing an official paper isn't hard, so I came up w-w-with a plausible wording and presented it as your pardoning. W-w-which sadly is a lie, so it's better for us to leave as soon as possible."

Since it was the first time Iten had heard the whole origin of the paper, three pairs of stunned eyes were staring at Tiana. Astounded, the trio sat in awe, not making a single sound.

"Wow... I must say, just... Wow..." Kanai muttered.

"This is really awesome, Tiana, but..." as was expected, Orisa's attention became focused on a different thing. "I'm so sorry, that-."

"No!" outraged, Tiana abruptly jumped on her feet and even stomped the floor, shaking in rage. "It is I w-w-who am sorry! Those people that had sworn to protect me many times, people that called themselves my guardians, my family, they betrayed me, used me in their schemes, and then tossed away as a no longer usable tool. It w-w-was you who came to my aid and protected me. You and your friends saved me, and that's how these b.a.s.t.a.r.ds treated you!? I am so deeply ashamed of this and don't even know how to properly apologize for everything. But let me say just one thing - do not be sad for me since it is a minor inconvenience. Instead, rejoice for now, and then be enraged, for their vile deeds should not be left unpunished."
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Impressed by the speech, the trio shook their heads and had been admiring their cute little groupmate for some time until Orisa finally stood up and took Tiana's hands:

"I'm glad for you beyond words, Tiana. You'd grown so much from the moment I had met you, and now you even made the last step towards the freedom and healthy future without dead rotting weight dragging you down. You can move forward with your head raised proudly. You deserved it."

Orisa's warm words cooled down Tiana's rage, and the girl swayed, slumping back to the sofa as her head started spinning from adrenalin and emotions swirling on the inside. An immense sense of relief and grat.i.tude that Orisa had inflicted upon her accidentally drained the remnants of Tiana's strength.

"I w-w-would like to move forward, indeed. But I don't know w-w-where to or how," began Tiana weakly. The thoughts that she had been pus.h.i.+ng to the back of her head now cornered her. "I despise the man, of course. I hate him so much. It's true, but there is another side to this. It w-w-w easy to follow his orders, to simply obey. I did not need to decide for myself, to chose my path, to think of the future. Now... Now I don't know. Honestly, I'm lost."

Tiana raised her pleading eyes and looked at Orisa, whose heart sunk from such a view. Kanai nudged her, sending a telepathic message made of winking, a raised eyebrow, and a nod towards Iten. The boy in question also nodded approvingly, and a predatory grin appeared on Orisa's face.

"You see, Tiana, we here actually have a somewhat peculiar proposition in regards to your near future."