She smiled at me and made eye contact, trying to get her message across without words, but seeing my blank face, she spoke up.
"I don't like Laveki Jensu, I think it would be better if it were Laveki Meiung."
My Spectacles of Insight gave me a notification.
[Laveki Jensu's second name is fading!]
'Wha- sh- wha-' I couldn't complete a thought, let alone a word.
"Sorry Ingen, but I think your shocked face is so cute."
She got closer and took hold of my beard.
"I call dibs."
She kissed me roughly and quickly, like a teenager's first kiss.
"I think the lesson is over Mr. Meiung, I'm going back to my dorm."
She left the room.
'Wha- sh- come back!'
I lost concentration on the Quiet Zone long ago, but no sound came from the workshop for minutes. Needless to say, I got very little work done the rest of the day and I couldn't possibly use a Thinkwrite.
--------
Meanwhile in Gluaze
"Gina, did you bring the shipment? We have to be prepared for when Eiovi attacks." The masked Gluazian was flanked by two golems and had an air of superiority about him.
"I did. This is for the uprising, right?" She opened her carriage doors, showing a collection of compression spheres. As each one was removed the carriage rose higher until it's springs fully extended and it was six feet off the ground.
"Yes, the Eneru boosters should give us the extra bump to beat Insopr and Erald." The masked man floated a compression sphere on an ice plate. "The golem husks should help with our Golemancers and the Super Telespeaks should allow us to hijack Eiovi's communications to get us the support we need."
He reached into his bag for a sack of gold.
"No need for that, I'm not interested in your gold, I want in. The government has already taken everything from me. I've got nothing to lose but my life."
"What about your money? You're rich."
"Not anymore, the black market isn't cheap."
"So be it, follow me."
The man spun his hand, revealing a Spatial Glove. He quickly stepped through his unnaturally stable portal."
When Gina followed she was shocked at the sheer size of the operation.
"Wasn't the rebellion completely crushed like a year or two ago?" she asked
"Never was, the King convinced the entire country because he sent off Ingen with some founding members. I'm just a low-ranking member myself, but I'd like to say that I'm pretty important."
With that, the masked man revealed his face.
--------
In the royal court.
"How is the expedition going, quartermaster?" The queen addressed him using his title to emphasize the point that he could be replaced.
"Not well your Majesty. Just like the last three, as soon as they get near the center of one of the arrays, they die inexplicably."
"So, have you changed tactics or come up with a different approach?"
The quartermaster started to sweat and weakly replied. "No, we were just getting a feel for the tunnels."
"Getting a feel for the tunnels? Really? I'll give you one chance to be innovative, but if you fail me or flee..." She swiped down her hand in a chopping motion. "Begone."
The quartermaster scampered out of the room with his figurative tail between his legs.
"Insopr, could you come to the great hall? I have to speak with you."
"Yes sweetie." He opened the door and walked in.
"We have to do something about Eiovi's invasion, there is simply no way we can repel it in our state. They will definitely return with several dragons."
"Call them airships for Knowledge sake, they look nothing like the Dragon skeletons our paleontologists have found, and according to the scout's reports, they looked like flying ships."
"Whatever, back to the topic at hand, what do we do about it? We've laid our hand but we know nothing of theirs."
"Simple. We rule as normal, but our slaves will make anti-airship weapons. We will never be able to cover the entire border with them, but they will likely assault the capitol without stopping, so we will cover it with high security."
"Confer with the generals, we need to work out the details."
--------
Back in Eiovi.
I laid on my floor with my legs on the bed swinging up and down.
"What do I do? Laveki's pretty trustworthy, but am I really ready for that? What's with her last name disappearing? Was that me? Did I cause that? UUUGGGHHH!"
I shook my head and slapped both sides of my face.
"This is where idiots have an advantage, they don't have to think. I'll just be an idiot."
I stood up and left my room, only to realize that it was the middle of the night at this point.
"I'm already in character." I laughed and went back to bed.
********
The next morning.
I got out of bed and prepared myself for the day.
"Alright, remember, idiot, idiot, idiot." I talked to myself in the mirror until I was satisfied.
Then I walked down to my workshop.
'My beard feels kinda sore, maybe Laveki pulled on it too hard.'
I pushed the random thought out of my mind and replaced it with a more important one.
'Where is Spirit?'
'Oh, yeah, I'm right here. This is your thing, not mine.' It sounded like he was eating popcorn between words somehow.
I opened the door to the workshop and, as expected, Laveki was there, waiting for me.
"Hey there girlie, come here for a second."
She got off of the counter she was sitting on and weaved through the chaos that was the workshop.
'Spirit, you'd best not be watching.'
She got close, but slightly out of arm's reach.
"Come a bit closer than that."
"Alright, if you say so." She put on a flirty voice.
She stepped a bit closer, now within arm's reach.
"Just a bit closer."
"Only for you."
She took one big step closer and wrapped her arms around my neck, we were almost the same height.
Her breath warmed my face as I wrapped my arms around her waist.
"You called dibs, right?"
"Yeah."
"Don't say anything if I'm your boyfriend."
Before she could react, I kissed her. I don't know how long we stood there, but I do know that my spectacles gained a new entry.
[Laveki has been removed, Laveki Meiung has been added.]