It had been a fair amount of time since Octavia had been forced to walk such a long distance--although it was substantially more preferable than the alternative of riding the rails in every conceivable direction over the continent. In a way, walking so far was almost nostalgic, her humble travels to Minuevera and Coda respectively not quite as long ago as she'd begun to believe. The temperate weather helped, sparing them from the sting of the summer sun that she would've dreaded traversing beneath weeks ago.

Of more interest was the way Mina had led them off the beaten path in earnest, her navigation guiding them well out of the structure of civilization and into an environment far more natural. It had only taken roughly an hour, from her house, to formally exit the limits of Selbright. The next several were entirely crowned by plush grass, ample foliage, and blue skies overhead. It wasn't at all uncomfortable, distance be damned. True to her word, Mina at least attempted to fill them in.

"It's hard to explain. Long story short, it's a sort of…settlement, I guess you could call it. It was the last Ambassador's idea. My dad helped her throw it together."

Even in passing, the mention of Priscilla made Octavia's heart swell. It took everything in her power not to gush. "I saw it in…passing, briefly. People live there, right? Maestros?"

Even with her eyes firmly forward, Mina nodded. "Lots of them. There's no way they could get all of them to agree to stay, but they got enough. It's a start. For the most part, all of them have stayed over the years. A few new ones came in. A few left and moved somewhere we're aware of. We know where a lot of Maestros are, even if we aren't physically close to them."

"I forgot the exact numbers your dad said," Octavia admitted, embarrassed.

Mina rolled her eyes with a smirk. "That's a River question, not a Mina question."

Octavia tilted her head. "What?"

She chuckled. "You're about to meet a lot of interesting people, Miss Ambassador. Keep an open mind."

The thought was somewhat daunting. Fidgeting was becoming a nervous habit, slowly but surely. "I'll…do my best."

"We're gonna make so many friends!" Madrigal exclaimed, her eyes practically sparkling. "I can't wait to meet all of their partners! Do you think there's gonna be other Spirited Maestros? Do you think we'll all get along really well? We're all gonna have matching legacies, so I'm sure we're gonna be amazing together! It'll be like a little club! Do you think--"

"At least someone's excited," Viola whispered. Octavia giggled.

From the look on Mina's face, she herself was just as privy to meeting interesting people today. She cleared her throat. "The whole place was made specifically to help the Ambassador. Hopefully, it can finally do what it was supposed to this whole time. We were all kind of wondering who ended up taking the job. Couldn't figure it out."

"You guys knew there was an Ambassador?" Harper asked. "Did one of the Muses tell you?"

Mina tipped her hand back and forth. "Sort of. If the Heartful ones can use their gifts in the first place, the Ambassador's gotta be around somewhere. Plus, there was an issue with…well, there were a few other ways we could tell, is the gist of it."

"Issue with what?" Josiah pushed.

Mina bit her lip uncomfortably. "Not my place to say. The point is, we could tell an Ambassador had been chosen."

She cast her eyes over her shoulder to Octavia. "Have you performed the Witnessing at all yet?"

Octavia nodded. "A lot, actually. You guys know about that, too?"

"I promise you, we know everything about what you're supposed to be doing. We know what we're supposed to be doing, too. There's some pretty talented Maestros in this place, and they're all competent enough to fight on behalf of the Ambassador."

"Oh my God, you have an army," Renato teased.

"Don't need one. I thought a certain someone was supposed to be my 'soldier'," Octavia muttered with a smirk.

He blushed somewhat. "Could you please just forget I ever said that?"

"How many tolls?" Mina continued.

"Harmonial Instruments? Let's see. One, two, three, four…seven," Octavia counted. "Tolls themselves? A fair amount more than that."

"Did you guide any of the Muses?"

"Two of them."

"Who?"

"Ethel and Breileneth."

When she paused for a moment, Octavia pressed her. "Do you…know them by name, too?"

Mina chuckled. "We know a lot, but we're not that good. Just…wanted to see if they sounded familiar at all. I don't think I've heard their names yet, though."

"Do some of the Muses know each other?" Harper tried.

"Oh, they know each other, alright," Josiah mumbled under his breath.

"They all seem to recognize one another, at least a little bit. Some of them get along. Some don't," Mina explained. "I mean, if you were to put ninety-six people in one space forever, it makes sense that you'd get to know them all, right?"

"Who's your partner, then?" Madrigal asked happily, hands clasped behind her back.

When the girl didn't answer, Madrigal tried again. "Mina?"

"I'll…introduce you later. For now, let's just focus on getting you where you need to go. We're almost there."

"It literally looks like we're in the middle of nowhere," Renato said bluntly.

Mina smiled. "That was the point."

"You've had so many Maestros in one place for years and you weren't afraid of anything happening to them?" Josiah pressed. "It sounds like you guys had a big target sitting on your backs. If someone really wanted to screw you over, it would've been easy."

Mina scoffed. "Who do you think you're talking to? Remember who we are. Remember the things we can do. With the strength we've got, and with the numbers we have, nothing can touch us. What's your legacy that you're talking like that?"

Octavia wasn't going to say it. She was definitely going to think it. For whatever reason, Josiah went along with her question. Technically, even now, he wasn't wrong. "Born with a bit of lightning in my blood. You know how it is."

Mina grinned. "Essenced, then. Figured as much. Welcome to the club."

He raised an eyebrow. "You're the same, then?"

"I've got a soft spot for my legacy siblings. You and I should get along pretty well."

If anyone was going to point out the glaring problem in their interaction, they declined to do so. Octavia side-eyed Josiah. He did the same right back. In his defense, he was only being partially dishonest about his status as a former Maestro. As to why, she was still unsure.

"You sound like you put a lot of faith in the whole legacy thing," Renato observed, crossing his arms comfortably.

"You can tell a lot about a person by their legacy. I can't always guess everyone's on sight, but talk to me long enough and I'll usually figure it out."

"Oh, what's mine, what's mine?" Madrigal challenged, waving her hand excitedly.

"If you're not Spirited, I'm quitting being a Maestra," Mina said with a smirk.

"Wow, that's right! You're amazing, Mina!" she cried.

"Okay, even I could've done that one," Harper muttered with a grin of his own.

"It's gonna be kind of strange meeting other Maestros from the same legacy," Viola admitted. "I've never met another Maestro with a soul of ice before."

"I wonder what the other Heartful Maestros are like," Octavia said with a smile.

"Hey, Ambassador, don't get your hopes up too high on that one."

Octavia cocked her head. "What do you mean?"

Mina tucked her hair behind her ear delicately, ruffled by the breeze as it was. "You don't exactly have as many siblings as the rest of us."

She hesitated. "There's…not a lot of Heartful Maestros? Do you mean in this place, or in…general?"

"We're here."

"Here" was every bit as beautiful as Octavia had seen secondhand.

It really was her truest mental interpretation of a settlement, should such a mental image be crowned by the splendor of nature. Their grassy path suddenly dipped low, a plain giving way to more varied topography. What was once flat suddenly erupted into a picturesque assortment of soft, rolling hills and abundant meadows, stretching in nearly every direction. True to Renato's words, it was more or less the literal middle of nowhere.

Of most note were the quaint houses that speckled the landscape, cottages that looked overwhelmingly cozy even from afar. They were small and yet plentiful. Octavia didn't bother counting, far more engrossed in the sweet splashes of color they blessed the greenery of a silent landscape with. From her current vantage point, the canopies of forests she couldn't quite make out in full from this far away were at least semi-observable.

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Octavia blinked. She rubbed her eyes, too, and still it was here. For all the cities she'd taken refuge in, for all the nights she'd spent surrounded by the hustle and bustle of civilization, to be back in the arms of nature left her heart singing. It was breathtaking beneath the afternoon sun, humble as it was. Should her soul not belong to Silver Ridge, she would've wished to live here forever. She didn't need to so much as set one foot within its borderless borders to make that decision.

"I haven't seen you make that face in a while," Viola teased in a whisper. "The tourist-y one."

There was a time and a place for embarrassment. Now wasn't it. Octavia was conscious of the sparkle in her eyes and unashamed of its glimmer. "It's beautiful," she breathed.

"Damn, it really is in the middle of nowhere," Renato mumbled.

"It's so cute!" Madrigal cried, clasping her hands together joyfully. "It's so…green! So…natural! I love it already!"

Mina smiled. "It's not much to look at, but it does what it's supposed to do."

"It's lovely," Octavia added quickly, already somewhat defensive on her paradise's behalf. "I…it's wonderful."

"Glad you get something out of it, then. There's a reason I stay in Selbright. I think if I had to deal with this much grass all the time, I'd go insane," Mina admitted.

Harper chuckled. "If it's any consolation, I don't think some of us have ever had the chance to try."

"Never really had the chance to grow up surrounded by the splendor of nature, you know," Josiah muttered.

"That's your problem now," Mina said. "The Ambassador, especially. Good thing she's taking it well."

"What's it like knowing this whole place was built just for you?" Viola teased once more, elbowing Octavia gently.

The thought alone left her starstruck. "I…don't know what to say."

Mina grinned. "Ambassador, welcome to Tacell."

The further Octavia traversed, the more smitten she became. There was a relief that came with knowing she wasn't the only one captivated by the settlement--Madrigal wasn't faring much better. Granted, she expressed her delights in her own unique way, as expected. She pointed and gushed over each cottage, floral feature, and everything in between that crossed their path on the way to who-knew-where.

Octavia had somewhat forgotten the origins of most of her companions. It left her with the stark revelation that she and her Spirited friend were perhaps the only two who'd grown amongst the beauty of nature. In that way, Harper's words were true, what with the wonder of the environment somewhat lost on the four who'd instead been raised within the confines of cities. She prayed they would come to appreciate such a paradise, particularly given how long they were going to be here.

The meadows and fields of the Heaven that Mina called Tacell were only somewhat distinguishable from one another, and not at all by much. Most landmarks came in the form of trees, rocks, hills, or some combination of the three. Remembering them all was surely going to be the death of Octavia, should she find the need to in the first place.

How Mina remembered which one was which was a feat she couldn't fathom. Octavia couldn't help but wonder just how long the Maestra had been coming here over the many years it had existed. Part of her wondered if she'd ever met Priscilla, particularly given her familial associations. Still drinking in the magnificence of her safe haven, Octavia shelved the question temporarily.

The field she'd chosen didn't appear to be coincidental, nor did it appear to be empty. The waving helped to give that away, somewhat.

"River!" Mina called.

The expanse of lush grass that swayed beneath the breeze did little to conceal the myriad of faces Octavia had never seen before. Still, it took them a moment to grant their full frontal attention, turned away and seated upon the earth as they'd been. Octavia retroactively felt bad for disturbing them, unknown to her as they were.

The one offset to the gentle greens below her feet was the waves of seafoam that crashed against her eyes, striking and overpowering all the same.

Octavia forgot to acknowledge anything else about the stranger before her, as much as she knew she should've. His vibrant gaze wasn't anywhere near piercing, nor hostile in any capacity. It was warm, soft, pure tides that threatened to sweep her away should she stare for too long. She held her breath, lest she would drown. It was lovely, in a way.

"Mina?" he answered, softly and simply.

There were others, Octavia was aware. She did care. She knew she was distracted, and of that, she didn't care quite as much. The feeling was mildly frustrating. The hint of displeasure she felt when he broke eye contact first was a solid sign for her to pull herself together. Granted, she probably shouldn't have been as fixated as she was.

"I brought some people I think you'll be pretty happy to meet," Mina offered with a knowing grin.

His smile was just as soft as his eyes. Her seafoam stranger crossed his arms comfortably. "They're Maestros, then?"

"Geez, that's a lot of them," remarked a voice she hadn't yet heard. She trailed its deeper timbre to a different boy at his side, arms crossed in much the same gesture--albeit one crowned by a hint of audible confusion. "All at once? Where'd you find this many?"

"We're kind of a unit," Harper joked with a shrug.

"I mean, don't get me wrong, we're happy to have you. Briar, by the way," he offered, one hand extended politely. Harper obliged his introduction with a smile and a firm grip of his own.

"Harper. Nice to meet you."

"I'm gonna take a shot in the dark that all of you are Maestros, too, then?" Josiah tried, raising an eyebrow.

In his case, "all of you" left his eyes scanning a bit further than Octavia's. The strangers before her numbered five in total, their attire varied and the faces they wore towards the Maestros equally so. At the very least, they seemed to know Mina. That was one relief. There was, conversely, a discomfort to be seen in exactly how long Josiah stared down the girl with her hand on her hip.

She was wordless, returning his stand-offish gaze with one of her own. Octavia hoped Josiah wasn't enough of a jerk to be ogling the splintering scar that climbed up her cheek. She assumed she knew him better than that. If the girl in question had any qualms about the intentions of his inspection, she didn't say so. She didn't say anything, really, content to cock her head and stare him down. He blinked first. It was awkward just to watch.

The boy who'd greeted Harper was a godsend, in that aspect, filling in where Josiah had sought an answer to a simple question. "Yeah, everyone here is. Welcome to Tacell."

"So it's…literally like a little settlement of just Maestros," Viola observed aloud. "You all live here?"

It was the boy blessed with the colorful gaze that offered her an answer instead. "Yeah. All of us live here. We've been here for a few years now, actually."

"Mina won't move in. She hates the great outdoors."

It was a voice Octavia hadn't heard thus far, from yet another boy she'd hardly given her attention to. His grin looked as warm as his cap. Really, everyone seemed more prepared for the chill of autumn than her.

Mina rolled her eyes. "Shut it."

"Selbright's a nice place," Renato defended. "Can't really blame her. Good food and all that."

"The entire eastern block has a sinkhole problem."

Renato winced. "That's still happening? Damn, they really haven't figured that out yet?"

"I'm just saying, you're not gonna have any troubles like that out here. A few bugs won't kill anybody."

"Yeah, until they do," Mina hissed.

The boy smirked, raising his eyes to Renato once more. "You from Selbright?"

"Yeah. You?"

"Yeah."

Renato grinned. If Octavia squinted, their smiles were almost similar, sassy as they were. He gave a two-finger salute. "Renato."

"Francisco," the boy offered back.

"And I'm Madrigal!" a vibrant Maestra added, sporting a brilliant smile of her own. She waved excitedly, practically vibrating at Renato's side. He side-eyed her with something endearing.

The boy opposite her was unfazed by her energy, the same unshaken grin resting on his lips. "Nice to meet you, too, then, Madrigal."

Even now, Josiah was still well into his staring match. Octavia could've sworn this girl hadn't blinked--or, if she had, it had been quick and subtle. Even Josiah seemed uncomfortable.

"I'm…Josiah. And you are…"

She didn't answer. He sighed.

"That's Mint," Mina filled in on his behalf. "She doesn't really talk much. Don't take it personally."

Josiah scoffed. "Did I really make that bad of a first impression?" he muttered.

Mina caught his eyes, Octavia's own following along out of curiosity. They flickered urgently to the scar on the girl's face before settling back onto him. Mina shook her head quickly and subtly. Josiah cringed, biting his lip and swearing under his breath. If he wasn't being a jerk before, he was really pushing it now.

"I didn't catch your name. I'm sorry for not asking."

Octavia was wrapped up in that seafoam tide yet again, almost disorienting up close. She was definitely staring. It wasn't voluntary. Why she was stammering in front of him, she had absolutely no clue.

"O-Oh, no worries, it's okay! I-I'm Octavia. It's really nice to meet you, a-and thank you for having us here."

She caught his soft smile once more. "River Cobalt. It's nice to meet you, too, Octavia."

Octavia's breath snagged in her throat. "That's such a pretty name," she murmured.

"Thank you," the boy said gently.

As soon as her own words settled in, Octavia kicked herself with all of the violence she could mentally muster. Why on earth they'd left her mouth in the first place was incredibly far beyond her.

She found her one and only reprieve in the distraction of another. "Viola Vacanti. Thank you for having us," her Soulful companion offered with a deep curtsey.

"No thanks needed. Thank you just for being here," he answered.

"You don't…have to answer this if you don't want to, but would you guys mind telling us your legacies? We're trying to keep track of something here," the boy with the gloves offered. If Octavia remembered correctly, that one was Briar.

Octavia did the work for them, a pointed finger wandering amongst the Maestros one by one. "Uh…Willful, Strong, Spirited, Essenced, Soulful, and…"

Hesitantly, she turned it upon herself. "Heartful."

River's eyes widened, instead. "Wait, Heartful?"

She nodded.

"You are really drawing this out," Mina said with a smirk. "Tell him."

He tilted his head at Octavia. "Tell me…what?"

Octavia gulped. Something about his gaze was putting pressure on her that she hadn't expected. She took a deep breath, fighting the urge to fidget uncomfortably.

"I'm…Octavia," she repeated. "And I'm…the Ambassador."

The striking eyes she was rapidly growing to appreciate flooded with shock. River fell silent, as did those around him. For a moment, Octavia couldn't breathe. That wasn't quite the reaction she'd expected.

"The…Ambassador?" Briar asked with equal disbelief.

"Are you serious?" came the boy with the cap--Francisco, if she recalled.

Even wordless as she was, the girl with the scar still pinned her with quiet eyes in turn. Now Octavia was fidgeting.

"Are you really the Ambassador?" River murmured.

It wasn't as though she had a good reason to lie about it. Mina defended her, for the most part. It saved Octavia the trouble of doing it herself.

"She's the real deal," Mina offered. "I can say that with 100% certainty."

"No kidding," Francisco breathed.

When River's shock collapsed into something far warmer, Octavia finally freed her internal sigh of relief. "I…that's amazing. It's an honor to have you here."

Octavia blushed, averting her eyes. "Oh, uh, it's…nothing."

Briar smiled brightly. "To finally have the Ambassador in Tacell is…perfect. It's been a long time coming."

"Did you guys ever meet the last Ambassador?" she blurted out. Whatever plans she'd had to shelve that question didn't last long.

River shook his head. "We personally didn't. None of us, at least. There's enough people here that you might find someone who did, though. We weren't here when it started, but we know how it came to be."

"We don't really know a whole lot about her," Francisco admitted with a shrug. "We just know she…well, she was the Ambassador, and she made all this. I don't even remember her name, to tell you the truth."

"Priscilla," Octavia filled in with a soft smile. "She was the last Ambassador. She's my…sister."

River paused before bestowing her with kind eyes. "I'm not surprised to hear that the last two Ambassadors were related, truthfully. If you need absolutely anything, please tell us right away."

"You've definitely got your work cut out for you," Francisco said bluntly. "There's a pretty solid mess here to deal with, you know."

"Don't sweat it," Mina countered. "She's already performed the Witnessing before. Multiple times, and she's guided a few Muses along the way. She knows what she's doing."

The scarred girl--Mint, surely--tilted her head at Octavia, raising an eyebrow. Her expressions were going to take time to get used to.

"She's got it covered," Renato reassured, waving one dismissive hand. "Our fearless leader's used to this whole routine by now. No problem."

"We'll still help with absolutely anything we can," Briar offered. "Please don't hesitate to ask for assistance."

"Like, you guys specifically, or anyone?" Octavia asked.

"River's more or less the guy who oversees this whole operation," Francisco explained, gesturing to the boy accordingly. "He's essentially our leader."

River shrugged. "It just sort of ended up that way," he responded.

"You guys seem pretty close," Viola observed. "Is everyone here like this?"

Briar chuckled. "I wish. We're…definitely exceptions."

"What do you mean?"

Francisco grinned knowingly once more. "Do you want the easy answer to this, or the complicated answer?"

"I mean, if we didn't want complicated answers, we wouldn't be here," Viola said coolly.

His grin settled into a solid smirk. "Easy answer? We're River's closest friends. We know him best, and we know how to back him up if something goes wrong."

"And the complicated answer?"

Francisco cocked his head. "We are, without question or challenge, the absolute strongest Maestros in Tacell."

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