"I've never left town. It must be so exciting to be a mage and be able to travel all the time."
Lie after lie after lie.
I used to be a terrible liar.
I've had lots of practice.
"Yes. It is quite interesting."
Polite but closed off.
You have to get them to open up just a little bit. That's when you know they trust you...as much as a stranger can.
"It gets lonely here sometimes. Everybody is fine staying here but I want to get away. I know everybody here but sometimes I feel like I'm the only one."
Erza frowns slightly and smirk in my head.
Gotcha.
"It's not alway great to be able to travel around. Everywhere you go are strangers. Sometimes I wish I didn't travel so much and I stayed where I'm at with my family."
My smugness disappears.
"Your family?"
She smiles softly.
"Yes. Not my blood family but my guild. They're the ones who raised me and they're my family."
I force a smile.
"Must be some guild."
"Oh yes. Fairy Tail. It's rowdy but it's home. I've been there since I was only a child. They took me in and I couldn't be more grateful for it."
My smile slowly falls and I stare at the table.
"You must be pretty special for them to take you in."
Scorn leaks out of my voice uncontrolably.
What was it?
What did she have that made them want to take her in.
My hand clenches under the table.
No.
I'm getting distracted.
I let my feelings get the best of me.
Just get this over and done with. It's already dragged on long enough.
I look up to Erza and throw all of the previous emotions away.
"How is it going? Catching the thieves I mean?"
She sighs.
"That doesn't sound good."
She shakes her head.
"I can't figure out where their camp is. I've been out in those woods several times for hours at a time but I just can't find them. They've been hitting this town periodically for almost a month. They have to be camping somewhere nearby."
Oh Erza.
You'll never find us if you think we're that close.
That's why our guild is so successful.
They can never catch us.
We set our eyes on a town or place and eventually they start to think that we're camped somewhere nearby because of our frequent visits.
But we've got something most guilds don't...teleport mages.
Very rare.
Two of them.
An old man who crossed the master back in the day and a young boy I happened to find all alone in a small town we had our sights on a year into my being here.
They're both stuck pouring out their magic into lacrimas for us to use only when the situation is dire and someone is getting caught. The main source is into a big lacrima we use to teleport the whole lot of us.
You never even had a chance, Fairy Tail.
I feign a look of sudden shock.
"I think I have an idea of where they could be!"
She raises an eyebrow.
"Where?"
"There's this huge cave outside of town I stumbled into one time. It's perfect for fittting a huge group of people but hidden unless you know exactly where it is."
She puts her hand on her chin.
"That could be it. I haven't found anything like that all the times I've been out there."
I clasp my hands together.
"Wow this is so exciting! I could take you out there and show you where it is?"
"I couldn't do that. I wouldn't feel comfortable taking a civilian out there."
I smile through clenched teeth.
"Of course I understand. I don't know what I'd do if we ran into them."
Of course that wasn't going to work.
"Well I can at least give you a map. I wrote down the location on a map at my house."
She nods.
"That would be great, thank you."
I smile cheerily and throw some money down onto the table.
"Let's not waste any time then."