[center][color=darkgray][b][sub]C H A P T E R  T W O : MISTLE MISTERY  [/sub][/b][/color]
[b][color=Indianred][sup][h1]THE CROW'S NEST[/h1][/sup][/color][/b][/center]
[center][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PGv4sf9r7s&t=1089s]AMBIENCE[/url]
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[COLOR=Indianred][INDENT][B][SUP][SUB][H3]THE BRIDGE[/H3][/SUB][/SUP][/B][/INDENT][hr][/COLOR][INDENT][INDENT][sup][color=darkgray]February 24[sup]rd[/sup], 2057  |  08:46am[/color][/sup][/INDENT][/INDENT]
Poppy watched the retreating backs of the Provisional Government agents. It was a similar scene to the morning prior. The difference being that Ionna was now walking between them, towards a new purpose and place to live, and the two agents that had arrived for the exchange that morning had been different from the last. One of them had been rather unremarkable in their features and seemed green around the gills. During the entire discussion, he'd kept mostly quiet and remained a step behind his associate, only moving when it was time to make the trade. The second was very obviously a Revenant. Pale skin and a deep red coloration of one of his eyes marked him as such, but the more striking feature was the severe scarring of his face. It was obvious that some extreme trauma he'd sustained had healed so grievously as to leave him grotesque and it was far too easy to dismiss him as nothing more than a man with ill intention. However, his natural charisma and pragmatic attitude painted him in a very different light and ended up doing most of the persuading.

The Commune was no place for a young girl. Children were the safest under the close watch of the government. There was little to no freedom but at least they were protected. Turning a child into a Revenant was cruel. Poppy didn’t agree with it. They would eventually mature into adults, but their bodies were trapped in time. Ionna should have never been allowed to exist as a Revenant but as one, and more importantly as a recently awoken child revenant, she was in better hands with the Provisional Government than theirs.

And it wasn't like other options weren't discussed or that their own competence as caretakers wasn't explored. The agent, who had introduced himself as Ducard, had also spent time expressing his admiration of the Commune and their skill. Retrieving the sample was by no means an easy task and the group's success was telling. Erik and Ajax specifically were met with some flattery as he shared how both of their skills were still widely acknowledged at headquarters. He was quite pleased to have finally met them. However, despite the worship, it was agreed upon that ultimately it was better this way.

After some final exchanges and a dodged question about the fate of the rest of the mistle, the two agents took their leave and Poppy watched them walk out of view. She looked at the companions to her side, gauging their reaction to Ionna’s departure. Erik and Ajax both had history with the Provisional Government. They knew where they were sending her off to.

Their commission was sitting inside two large wooden crates. Arguably more valuable was the mistle they recovered. It was decided to only hand in a sample. They didn’t tell them they uprooted the entire mistle from its original location. They would simply think it eventually died off.

Little did they know the Commune’s resident scientist was tinkering with the plant inside the safety of the Crow’s nest.

[i][b]Some hours later....[/b][/i] 

Preparations for the karaoke night were in full swing. After their confrontation with the Tsar Bomba everyone had been knocked out cold, too tired to celebrate their victory. So they moved the party to the day after. Everyone took on a task, some out of their own volition, others were ordered to. 

Against all expectations even Poppy had managed to free up some time from her relentless personal schedule to whip up a cake. It had actual sugar in it, berries, lemon peel and unlike everything else she normally cooked up, it tasted great. The cake was where her involvement ended. The medic had better things to do. 

In the peaceful silence of the medical area she worked undisturbed, enjoying the stillness. The only sounds came from the distillation unit behind her. She was extracting essential oils from opium flowers and simultaneously making preparations for Amelia’s bed bath.