Lila and Azariah have finally left the room. I listen to their footsteps carefully to make sure they're actually gone. After I think they're out of earshot, I glance at Esobel, who nods at me.
"Alright, Helen, you can come out now." I say, resting my feet up on the table.
A corner of the ceiling is dyed black, and like a contortionist, an old looking woman in my mercenary uniform stretches their limbs out of the darkness. She climbs down to the floor like a spider, before standing up. She cracks a couple of her joints a few times, then looks at me.
"You know, Amiel… even with what Esobel told me, I was not expecting that to work… For a man, maybe, but…"
"She's a member of Kari's cult."
"Never mind, that makes sense."
"A disgusting woman, definitely. But I guess we have no choice but to work with her." Esobel groans, not sounding very delighted at all.
"Are you referring to Lila, or Azariah?" I ask.
"Both of them. Azariah needs to keep it in her pants, and even after all the years I've known her, I haven't gotten any closer to understanding just what the hell Lila likes so much about being stared at."
"Your job is not to understand, just to tolerate, and I think you've done a good enough job at that. For instance, the reason you asked Lila to do this, was your reward to her for doing such a diligent job lately, right?" I ask.
"Well, yeah, but even if it wasn't she's obviously the best one for that job. I guess we could have had Helen show up in disguise, but it would have been way worse, just because of how much Lila enjoys it. It disgusts me to say it, but Lila would always put way more passion into that role than Helen would."
"Alright, enough about Lila. Helen, just how much information were you able to glean from Azariah that whole meeting?"
"I got that her mind was so clouded in lust, it was difficult to tell anything more about her. Beyond that? Not much."
"Right, I apologize. I should have informed you beforehand, but I was busy."
"Hm? You being too busy to give me critical information isn't very good. What happened?" Helen looks at me with an experienced look of concern.
"I got a reading that didn't make any sense. Amiel was writing to Suzreth and Neriah about it."
"Huh? A bad reading? From Azariah?"
"No, from me. I'm set to die here in a few days, in a situation that makes no sense given the current conditions." Esobel says.
"Yeah, Esobel's and Lila's spells are interfering with each other again. Lila's hasn't come through yet though, so we're patiently waiting for that."
"I see… you must all be pretty on edge then."
"Yeah, I told Lila about it just before this meeting, and she understood that that wasn't good. It appears being around Azariah has a calming effect on her though. Even if that is for a rather… not innocent reason."
"Should I monitor Lila's reactions and intercept her if I think her spell's activated?"
"Go ahead, but you need information on Azariah first. She's going to be important in the future."
"Huh? How important?"
"Esobel, begin your report."
"Right, so basically, Lila's reading up on a whole bunch of your guys' reports. She tells Amiel to go and make contact with that girl, so I can use my spell on her. So we get a cover story ready and go and find her. It's super difficult, because she went and holed herself up in some cove no one's been able to find even though she's only been here a few days.
So I use my spell on her, and the first thing I get is super bad news. She has a pretty solid life path, and that life path causes Amiel's goals a fair bit of trouble in the future. Our relationship with Neriah and her lot, specifically.
I look into ways to stop this, but nothing works. Not even death stops her for some reason. My guess is she's managed to curry up favor with a major death spirit, but I'm not sure yet. So I started looking into ways to reduce damage, and figured we'd need to slowly incorporate her into our camp to do this."
"Huh? Just what's she supposed to do that you start considering assasination? I know you're quick on the attack, but considering murdering a random girl is beyond you… unless you had good reason, of course." Helen's expression turns grim at the last part of her statement.
Esobel explains to Helen just why Azariah's going to be such an issue for us in the future. As she says more and more, Helen's expression grows more and more worried. For the normally calm and collected Helen, that says a lot about the situation.
"Are you kidding? That girl? No, that would make sense… I get why she's such a problem now though. And even death won't stop that? That's really bad. Is there any way my men and I could watch her from the shadows, and-"
"Thought of that already. That never works, no matter what orders I give you. Some other group's already tailing her, although that doesn't affect the outcome at all. I don't know who's following her, or why, just that they keep you from getting close." Esobel says.
"Yes… people skilled enough to understand why that girl is such a threat would pose a threat to me if I were to watch her… what if I were to trail the people following her?"
"I don't know, I didn't get to check that far. Given what I saw, I was running through a whole lot more scenarios in my head than I normally do."
"That's understandable."
"As for tailing her pursuers… more than anything I'm worried about the attention that would draw to Amiel, if you'd get caught."
"I agree with Esobel, although for different reasons. I believe that preparing for whatever situation is causing Esobel's and Lila's spells to clash is more important than what Azariah will do. Prioritizing a matter that's happening soon, rather than one a few years from now at least."
"Right, I understand. I'll keep track of Lila then. I'll talk about Azariah later, after we've passed whatever issue is about to come up."
"Right, you do that. I'll hurry up and get that contract finalized to keep up appearances. As for Esobel, you're going to be looking into major Death Spirits, right?"
"Yeah, I am, but that's just a theory I have for why death doesn't seem to affect her. It could be a whole bunch of different things."
"I should have a whole bunch of books about them ready, you could look at those." Helen says.
"Yeah, I will. I'll try to have all the information I get on a paper for you and Amiel to read by the end of the night."
"Thank you. I will go after Lila now."
Helen proceeds to walk up to one of the corners of the room. The corner becomes covered in complete darkness, which she pulls her arms out of socket in order to fit into. She wriggles into the hole like a snake, and after her feet disappear. No matter how many times I watch Helen work, it doesn't get any less creepy.
"Right, I'll be heading off then. No one's here other than some stupid nobles, and I'm not fated to die until tomorrow, so you should be able to handle yourself." Esobel tells me.
"Yes," I begin as I get up. "I'll write that contract for Azariah too. I'll try and meet back up with you when I try to get her to sign it."
"You keep talking about keeping it up appearances, but isn't it going to be a bit weird for you to just disappear for half the party?"
"Eh, this whole thing was just for me to keep the whole noble act up, even if it did provide a convenient meeting place for Azariah. I have an eccentric reputation, so we could easily spin this as me preparing this whole thing just to try and get Azariah into my camp. That's probably what the rumors will say, anyway."
><><><><
I walk through the party hall with Lila, and… practically everyone is passing glances at her. It's making me incredibly nervous, but Lila looks extremely pleased with herself. She knows full well everyone's staring all over her body, and she's enjoying it. I mean, I understand the appeal, but there's no way I could do this and not die of embarrassment…
Also, inexpressive?! What about her is inexpressive?! She's posing in ways to reveal as much skin as possible and has that stupid smug grin on her face! I don't think she's doing this just to fluster me any more, I really think that she's enjoying herself. Yeah, I guess if Amiel wanted to keep me flustered, he would put an exhibitionist in the room.
Oh, and Lila's picked up some sort of hard shell with cream in it from the food table. She's licking at it really… she's looking me right in the eyes as she does it too, there's no way that isn't intentional. Damn it! I have a boyfriend! I can't be feeling this way towards Lila, even if her tongue reeks of experience…
"Um… Lila? You're meant to show me other members of Amiel's camp, right?" I ask.
Lila stops licking at the shell, and looks kind of annoyed at me. She turns her head away and hands it off to me. Not thinking, I just grab the food that Lila had her whole tongue inside of. She turns around and waves at me to follow her.
So I follow her. I look down at the thing Lila was licking to try and seduce me, even ignoring what she was doing to it, it does look quite delicious. I mean, she did hand it to me, and she was only eating it to get a reaction from me. It would be fine if I ate it, right?
Just a little lick wouldn't hurt, right? Oh, it is delicious. There's no way I can resist eating the rest of this. I just hope the fact Lila's saliva is all over this doesn't excite me too much.
"Hm? Lila, just who is this?" Someone says, snapping me out of that whole line of thought.
I look up, and Lila's led me to two different people.
One is a woman with long, frizzy purple hair with tints of pink in it. Judging from her eyes and her expression, she seems to be in a world of her own. She's dressed in what I think is a religious outfit, but I'm not sure. She has gold and silver jewelry all over her. Two necklaces, at least ten diamond rings, and at least five bracelets. She's holding onto a staff with some metal symbol on the top.
The other is a somewhat short boy with ginger hair and freckles. He's dressed in a suit that looks like he just bought it from a thrift store to meet the dress code the day before this party. Of course, with Lila's getup, I seriously doubt that there is a dress code, as long as you're working for Amiel…
Lila starts making several hand signs again, which they both seem to understand. Umm… I'm not going to have to learn Lila's sign language, am I? Not that there's anything wrong with that of course! It just seems like a bit of a commitment to talk to one person I don't particularly want to be around…
"Right, I see." The ginger begins, "My name is Cameron ___, I'm one of Amiel's advisors, like Lila is. Although Lila's field revolves around forecasts and the like, while I deal with foreign relations. This is Charlotte, she's a bishop and a priest of Adad's cult, as well as an extremely hard hitting mage. She's a huge idiot."
"Yes, most people think I'm stupid, but also useful when they need me to be. I'm happy about that. Now, what's your name?"
"Azariah." I say.
"Oh? A pretty name, but hard to pronounce… Asarya?"
Huh? I might be being stupid here, but I can't remember a single person who's had any amount of trouble being able to pronounce my name.
"Be prepared to repeat that a lot with her. She had a hard time even remembering Lila's name." Cameron says.
Well, I certainly find that issue relatable, but even I wouldn't have a hard time remembering "Lila." Well, since I struggle with names too, I shouldn't act with too much animosity if Charlotte ever needs me to repeat it.
"As for her job… well, she's mostly here for moral support, that and a strong connection with Adad's cult. She also has an insanely strong connection with Adad, and an absurd mana capacity for a human."
Oh? Really? Now I'm starting to get really curious. "Charlotte? Just how strong is your connection? Mana Capacity?"
"Oh, my connection with Adad is strong enough to hear her voice."
"Huh?!"
"Yes, I do not hear it much, but she speaks to me sometimes, when it's important. It's definitely a woman's voice, but it's loud, deep, powerful… Like a… like a… divine beast. Yeah, that sounds about right…"
Charlotte's looking up into space now. But assuming she's telling the truth this is the first time I'm speaking with anyone who's capable of hearing an Archon's voice (Ctothis doesn't count). It was a while ago, but I did really want to become a strong enough wind mage to be able to hear Kari's voice. Maybe that dream isn't as far away as I originally thought?
"Um? Charlotte? Do you have any advice on how I can hear Kari's voice?" I ask.
"Oh? You're a member of his cult? That explains why you're coming onto Lila…"
"Um, I have a boyfriend."
"Yes, I know about Kari's cult's practice of polygamy…"
I should just drop this subject "Um, Kari's voice?"
"Yes, yes… I don't really have any, hearing an Archon's voice just happens. For Kari, it happens when someone who understands their deepest desires, but it really does have a lot to do with luck. This isn't going to make any sense, but the best advice I can give you is to want it more. Just keep applying yourself, and you should eventually hear his voice.
If you do keep trying though and don't think there's any progress you need to start thinking about yourself though. Who are you? What are you trying to do? What do you want? If you really aren't making any progress, it's probably because of a block in your mind keeping you from the answers of those questions."
Uh… who am I? That's what Kiaran's asking, isn't it? Do I know the answer to that question? Kiaran said it was that I was obsessed and driven, towards magic and all sorts of other things. Yeah, that is who Azariah is, the one who keeps pursuing all the things she likes.
It's just that I get too easily distracted, and wind up doing something entirely different than working on my connection with Kari. All the other advice Charlotte gave me is pretty much the magic version of "just practice more," and I'm inclined to agree with that point.
As for blocks in my mind keeping me from making progress? I don't think I have any. It's just that I'm an idiot with the attention span of a goldfish, that's the main problem. I'll practice more wind manipulation as soon as I get the chance, maybe even pick up a book about it. Yeah, that's the solution here.
Lila, for an extremely brief moment looks absolutely dead terrified, but then instantly goes back to normal. Uhh? What was that? She makes more hand signs to Cameron, and when she does he looks extremely concerned.
"Seriously?!" He exclaims.
Lila doesn't look very happy about that, and punches Cameron in the shoulder.
"Ahh, Azariah, Lila and I need to go. She forgot some important classified work we were meant to do. I'm sorry she's such an idiot."
Lila punches Cameron again. Judging from how he's rubbing the wound and his expression, it probably hurts quite a lot.
"You better get to it then. I don't think that Esobel would be very happy if you two missed your deadline." Charlotte says.
"Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm really sorry about this though." Cameron says as Lila practically drags him away.
It must have been really important if they're this worried about it. Why is Lila allowed to work for a Royal Selection Candidate if she's that bad with deadlines? Well, not that I'm in any position to talk.
><><><><
I read through the contract for the third time, skimming over everything, making sure I understand every last detail. I refuse to sign this without reading every last character of fine print. This is a contract, and if media's taught me anything about contracts, it's that if you sign one without reading them, it'll ruin your life. I know I probably shouldn't be taking advice from tv shows, but I think this specific case is valid.
Amiel's keeping his poker face up, but Esobel is not hiding her irritation at me at all. Glaring at me, tapping her feet, and stuff like that.
"Ughhhh, this is just a simple deal, make your mind up already. We have much more important things to be doing right now…" Esobel groans.
I do my best to ignore her as I repeat every last term of this in my head. I try to think of every way possible that Amiel could use these conditions to screw me over. OK, I think this should be fine.
I put the contract on the table, and sign it with the pencil Amiel handed to me. Alright, I just agreed to this deal. It's gone through, and nothing can change that. Amiel looks pleased, and Esobel looks relieved.
"Thank you for your patronage, Azariah. We'll speak again at Epallis, in two weeks."
I just nod as Amiel takes the contract from me. He bows a bit before he and Esobel start to leave. Esobel looks like she's in a hurry for some reason. I decide to do something that's a bit out of character for me.
"Hey, Amiel?"
"Yes, Azariah?" Amiel stops to ask me.
"Is Lila doing anything important tonight?"
"Lila? No, why? Have you grown that attached to her?" Amiel says in a joking voice.
"No! Not at all! Um, it's just that…" I explain just what I saw from Lila and Cameron tonight. I realize that I'm kind of telling on them, and Charlotte did say that Esobel would be angry… damn it, do I really owe an apology to Lila? Wait. Esobel doesn't look angry at all, just concerned.
"Ah, yes, that is a bad habit of Lila's. She also tends to get carried away with things like what you mentioned earlier, and she winds up leaving a lot of her work sitting unfinished. Not because of procrastination, but because she legitimately forgot about it while taking on unrelated projects…
I'm sure she'll get everything done, but she works so hard to do it it's frankly worrying. She's an extremely important person in my camp because of that, though It's why I've been so lenient with her. Giving her as many breaks as she needs and allowing her to… dress in her preferred manner."
Oh, so Lila's that kind of person? I mean, she's definitely an exhibitionist slowly wearing down my loyalty to Kiaran, but Amiel seems to have a fair bit of respect for her. Working so hard you forget other things you need to be doing? That's literally just me. Not to mention exhibitionism is also an interest of mine, but I'm too shy to do anything, really.
She's just a more confident and accomplished version of me, I think. If I wasn't so embarrassed and wasn't so repulsed by my own behavior sometimes, I think I definitely could have ended up like Lila. Hell, even if I wasn't an otherworlder, and was instead born here… the most likely life path for me would have been ending up in Kari's cult at a very young age and then ending up almost exactly like her.
"Well, I'm going to go and check on her, just to make sure she's alright. Oh, and Azariah? Since you're going to be working with our camp now, let me give you a little piece of advice. If Lila's ever really nervous, do what she tells you to do, no matter how little sense it makes. Her mind works in all sorts of strange ways, alright?"
"A- alright?"
"Alright. We'll see you in Epallis, Azariah. Do what you want until then, as long as you learn how to make teleportation scrolls." Amiel waves at me as he and Esobel leave.