As the party left Persistence, Moonwhisper ranged out ahead while Deirdre led the remaining friends after the wolf. She was able to pick up Warren's trail and continued to lead them south. The miles flew by as the hours passed, the four continued to trot south, skirting around the remains of Omaha.

  "This is ridiculous," Alice compined as the four stopped for a quick snack. Deirdre had called a halt to let them take a break, as Colin's stamina was the weak link. "How in the world did they make so much progress? They'd have to be dragging a non-compliant woman with them and they're still moving faster than us."

  "It looks like magic of some kind," Deirdre remarked as she leaned into Colin's side, munching on a sandwich. "I can't exactly say what, but they're moving faster than I could alone and their tracks are well concealed. All we can do is keep pursing them to their destination."

  Bridgette stood, brushing crumbs from her p, and gnced around snowy field. "I still don't understand how you can even figure out where they're going. I just see snow in every direction."

  "It's what she does," Colin said, smiling as he put hand on Deirdre's arm. "She's exceptional at finding folks. I know she can track him down and find Becky." Deirdre gnced at Colin's hand, but made no move to step away.

  "Yea, true. After all, she tracked you down when we were in Danville, so I guess I can't question her skills too much. I'm just eager to fast-forward to the 'we found him, now let's fuck him up' part of the story."

  Alice walked over and hugged Bridgette, "I know, patience isn't your strong suit. We'll get there."

  The four quickly cleaned up their lunch spot, stashing leftovers back into storage bags and preparing to depart. Moonwhisper bounded back off into the snow, quickly vanishing from sight as the four began following the dire wolf's paw prints through the snowy terrain.

  ---

  Two days ter, the friends came to a halt as Moonwhisper came trotting back. They'd crossed over into Kansas and were now approaching, at least based on old road signs, a disused county airport. However, it had dolr signs spray painted all over the airport's name on the road signs, which had them confused. It seemed a little more intentional than teenagers pying pranks.

  "Moonwhisper reports a significant number of buildings and inhabitants up ahead at this airport," Deirdre commented, the four of them tucked down in a frozen ditch to prevent being seen on the ft terrain.

  "Maybe it got turned into a town?" Colin wondered, peering through the blowing snow at the cluster of buildings in the distance. "Sort of like we did with your farm or Danville?"

  "Could be," Alice said, ducking back down and facing the others. "If there's people there, and we think Warren went this way, we need to be careful. Especially if Daniel is involved like the note seemed to suggest, but even if it's just Warren and his unknown other friends."

  "What do you suggest?" Bridgette asked, crossing her arms under her breasts and looking down at Alice. "It's not exactly like we're masters of disguise."

  "Well," Colin started. "If it's Warren, he doesn't know me. Only Daniel would. And nobody knows Deirdre. So ... maybe the two of us could go look?"

  Bridgette cocked an eyebrow, looking the nky mage up and down. "You're gonna be our James Bond now, mister elven superspy?"

  Colin blushed heavily, gncing at his feet. "It was just an idea."

  "I actually like that idea, if Deirdre is okay with it," Alice said. "Nobody would connect an elven couple to us, they can go get a room at the tavern, if one exists, get local gossip, and then in the morning continue heading south and then we can meet back up with them."

  Both elves blushed at the implication, refusing to look at one another. Bridgette ughed uproariously, "They're going to need to work on their chemistry if they're going to pull off being a couple. Maybe just friends? Or I've got it, a brother and his older step-sister? Bunking together for warmth as she shows him the ropes?"

  A spectral mage hand appeared floating in front of Bridgette's face, the middle finger slowly extending upwards before it vanished into the snow once more. Deirdre gred at Bridgette, still blushing, before turning away. "I will go with Colin and keep him safe," she said over her shoulder. "We will not pretend to be siblings."

  Bridgette ughed, then got serious. "Okay, so what's your pn? We should think about this and set up some guidelines so that we know when to come rescue you if there are any issues."

  Colin and Deirdre thought for a minute, before Colin replied. "Honestly, I think the best pn is to wait until sunset and walk in, looking for a tavern or anywhere to spend the night. That'll limit questions, we can say we came from somewhere up north on the other side of Toledo without being specific, and then we can just wing it over dinner."

  "How about clothing? Are you worried about the fact that you're wearing adventurer gear?" Alice asked, trying to ensure all potential problems were discussed.

  "No, it's been almost a year and a half since the vanishing. Most people are probably wearing something other than normal clothes and we can always be honest and say we unlocked csses, just pretend to be much lower level."

  "Okay, that all seems well thought out. I suppose that's fine. Moonwhisper will stay with us, I assume?" Bridgette confirmed as Deirdre nodded. "Good. It'll be easier to lie about your level if you don't have a giant wolf hanging out. What about if someone recognizes Colin?"

  Colin paused, looking stuck as he thought. Eventually, he looked back up at Bridgette and shrugged. "Honestly, not sure. The only people we know would recognize me are Daniel and Karen and we just have to hope that I'm lucky enough that neither are here, or at least neither are going to be wherever we walk into tonight."

  Eventually, Alice and Bridgette were done quizzing the two elves and grudgingly allowed them to scout the mysterious airport town with the dolr sign logo. Alice hugged Bridgette around the waist as the two elves trekked off into the darkening night, snow swirling around them and obscuring their footprints as they went.

  "I sure hope they don't run into trouble," she said. Bridgette snorted a ugh, gncing down at her lover.

  "Come on, Alice, it's Colin. The most boring but loveable guy from school. And you know how shy Deirdre is. How much trouble could they possibly get into?"

  WhimsicalLantern