"She's not in front of the altar nor on top of the bed."
"Where could she be?"
"Should we look in the bath?"
"You do that. I'll go look in the closet."
Words were exchanged, albeit calmly, considering that the situation was not the sort to be taken lightly. Their franticness was purely flaunted in the clumsy conduct of investigation they were conforming to.
It simply took them a single glance alone at each area to deduct that the Empress was truly truant. Their demeanour was questionable, the one where they couldn't be bothered to put the effort in a search beyond a mere look. Once they were finished fiddling around, the twins had a rendezvous in the middle of the room.
"The Empress couldn't have possibly eluded our watch."
"Of course! We were on guard right outside the chamber's door, the whole time until the knights dropped by even."
"Well, her existence cannot be sensed inside the palace."
"We know that already."
The handmaidens stared at each other's eyes, both of them wearing an uncanny grimace on their faces.
"Hmm, Tara is troubled."
"Sura is troubled too."
"We should tell the Countess and the Duchess."
"Yes, we should."
The maidservants stepped out of the room, carefully closing the door to their backs. They leisurely made their way to the main entrance, unperturbed of possibly incurring the wrath of the noble ladies.
Latterly of a few seconds, Tara and Sura bellied up to their guests and initiated the conversation.
"We are back, Countess Lukan, Duchess Tristan."
"We apologize for making you wait."
"That much is fine. Thank you for listening to my selfish request." Lauviah responded with false modesty. She did want to express her gratitude but was galled of continuously wasting time. "So, what did the Empress say?"
Without missing a beat, the twins bowed their heads apologetically before stating their supposed findings.
"We ask for your forgiveness, Countess."
"Forgive us."
"Is there something wrong?" Lauviah asked, hoping that it was not the unfortunate picture she was thinking of.
The knight was in anguish that she might have to spend the Nasha in such a dilapidated palace.
"The Empress is in a deep slumber."
"We should not disturb the Empress' repose."
"Oh, is that so?" Lauviah's shoulder drooped, utterly dissatisfied of the outcome as she profusely thought about her successive course of action. 'What do I do? What do I do?!'
Countess Lukan detested the idea of staying in an unfamiliar place, the Empress' palace to boot. However, the Countess had a greater concern. She was a knight that had a lot of responsibilities to fulfil. To her lament, she could see Duchess Haniel exercising superiority over her if she ever attempted to disobey the Emperor's command.
The twins observed the varying degrees of consternation flashing across Lauviah's face. It was none of their interest, though they still decided to ease her anxiety.
"Do not worry, Countess Lukan."
"Yes, there is no need."
"We will inform the Empress of your request to apologize to her personally."
"Her highness personifies the word altruism. She'll recognize that your intentions venerably befit her welfare."
The twins then put a smile on their face to show charity.
"She will reach out to you when her schedule allows it."
"We know that the two of you are occupied with your duties. We, ourselves, cannot entertain you, esteemed knights."
"Willingness is a form of apology in itself."
"It is alright to let the Countess free of this minor burden, Duchess Tristan."
After the lengthy speech of Tara and Sura, Haniel entered a moment of contemplation. She tried to find a justification to consider the twins' suggestion.
'If the Empress' attendants say so, then I'll take their word for it.' As stubborn as she was, Haniel acknowledged that there were things that just refused to be resolved in the instant you want them to.
"Very well, I will treat this as temporarily done. Howbeit, please visit the Knights' palace once the Empress agrees with the arrangement."
The tension in Lauviah's body dissipated when Haniel vocalized her consent to the maids' proposal. She thought for a second that she'd have to camp outside of the Sortis Palace, seeing the Duchess' furrowed eyebrows.
"We'll take note of that."
"We thank you for coming by."
Tara and Sura Kishnar gripped the edges of their dress of a uniform and curtsied towards the noble ladies. It was a custom decorum to show that they wanted to wrap-up the discussion. Lauviah and Haniel readily returned the gesture.
"We also thank you for welcoming us this late. Farewell for now. I hope to see you soon." Duchess Tristan said her goodbyes. She then urged the Countess to begin walking.
The two maids monitored the physiques of the knights as they fetched their horses. They retained an eerie silence between them up to the point when the scene of galloping horses faded in the horizon.
A sigh of relief first broke the quietude, then the voices of the siblings.
"Good riddance."
"You said it."
The twins bolted the double doors. Following that, they headed back to their post outside the Empress' chambers.
Once more, Tara Kishnar exhaled a long trail of breath prior to speaking.
"Whoo! I would have had a heart attack if this was the first time that this happened."
"I agree, sister. Experience honestly pays off. It's the fourth instance that the Empress did this after all."
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Greetings to the both of you."
Mikhail and Sarakiel suddenly turned towards the source of the greeting. It was from someone, or rather, a creature standing a few meters away from them.
'What? Has the barrier worn off already?' Mikhail thought, reasonably alarmed.
Originally, he expected the barrier to last a couple more minutes. No creature could get a sight of them in that window, then here came this deviant who was looking at them. It even had the temerity to start a discourse.
On the other hand, Sarakiel's panic was of a different thread as he contemplated, 'I didn't notice its aura despite remaining vigilant the whole time. Who is this?'