"None of them is quite close to us", Elijah tells the woman.
Sitting tightly in her chair, she seems to want to disappear. A woman of contrasts, a slayer intimidated by her peers, intimidated by their voices, by their speech, by the mere presence of a group of people. And it does make sense for her to be the way she is, solitude is the only ally that ever stayed faithful to her. Leon was different, he was harmless, he was scared. Xayan and Elijah are not scared, they're not innocent kittens willing to be domesticated, they are simply following their interests. And what if their interests will one day oppose hers?
"But they seem to be quite close to each other, which means it wouldn't be too hard to teleport from one place to another", the fallen dragon king continues, watching her straight in the eye. He is merely stating information, but his tone is saying it is too late for her to turn her back on them. A relationship started on distrust, it seems.
"There is something I don't quite understand", the woman speaks, curiosity compelling her to address the man. "Why are you all here, in this country? The Empire is almost as big as the continent, except some small territories and the free islands."
"Well, me and Asher were kept right in this area in order for them to find a way to unlock this place. Xayan and Leon were kept in the same city and the other two are also kept quite close to each other, which makes me guess... maybe they need us to be close to one another. Whatever they create through experiments, it might be a combination of... us, our powers, our affinity to magic. The other two are at a considerable distance, but you are right, still too close. "
"Where are we going first?", the woman says, realizing there are too many questions to be answered before she understands the situation she found herself in. They know just a little bit more than her and considering she knows nothing, well, it just doesn't look like they can offer her answers she can accept. "Wait", she quickly adds. "You don't have legs", she tells Elijah.
"I see you started without me", Asher grumbles, approaching the table. He seems to have just arrived, but already in a bad mood.
"Problems in Paradise?", Xayan answers sarcastically, failing to hide that Asher got on his nerves somehow. It's quite impressive how these men have just found each other again, after long years of torture and they already went back to, I assume, their old ways of loyalty combined with a bitter competition.
"Xayan, pass me the map I asked for before", Elijah spits at him, showing, without trying to, a bit of protectiveness over his friend. Clearly sharing an even deeper past, Asher and Elijah have a way of looking at each other and communicating with their looks. Maybe it is a faint memory of a long gone duty between a king and his subject, maybe it is comfort.
Xayan gets the map and opens it on the table and using his index finder, he points to an archipelago of nine small islands. The wizard has a talent of easily ignoring every potential starting point of a conflict, which is probably normal for someone who can sometimes be double faced. A former Red Light worker, there is some charisma even in his sarcasm.
"I suggest we go here first", the man with the map continues. "Our last target, the last of us, should be here", he informs the woman and shows her a point on the continent, this time, somewhere in the Southeastern part, very close to the ocean.
"As for me", Elijah speaks, "I'm going to join you, I have one week until I will be getting my dear legs back and I don't think we will manage to teleport to the other part of the continent before that anyway. Since we do not have any real knowledge about the world as it is right now, we depend on you to choose the intermediary locations we will stop in", he informs her. A relationship started with distrust and yet, trust needs to be forced or faked, since they are depending on her.
"Is Xayan the only one able to teleport us?", Otilia asks, expecting a negative answer anyway.
"I think I am the only one indeed", the wizard answers. "I chose the shortest possible way, but we will still have to stop five times until we reach our destination. I need you to tell me if the places marked on the map are safe."
"It seems fine, with two modifications", the woman replies staring closely at the shape of the continent, painted on a paper. "There are several unmarked military sites around the city of Loth, which means we will have to stop straight in the city, preferably at night. The opposite is true for Ado, the city center is packed with armed forces. Not only that, but you need a permit to enter it and you need to wear an identification tag on the street, otherwise you will be jailed", she tells them.
"Why do they have unmarked military zones?", Asher asks, unsure of the validity of this information. "And how are you aware of them? Is everyone aware of them?"
"No, not everyone is. I used to hang out with the wrong type of people, maybe. And when you do that, you find out what you shouldn't know. But to answer your first question, the Empire is not as stable as it seems on the outside. Multiple protests and revolution attempts have been annihilated. The slaves stopped running away when the areas where they found refuge became a hot spot for military exercises", she informs him. "When do we leave?", she says changing the subject.
"We leave tomorrow?", Leon speaks after a long time. "You need to rest. We also need to discuss about what weapons we can use. These two are unarmed", Leon continues.
"I have something in mind, we can get them tomorrow", she answers ambiguously. Her 'friends' in the Underworld would be happy to get her to pay them a visit, no doubt about that. Now that the situation is more or less cleared, she takes her leave with Leon following her.
"Following me like a domesticated cat", she tells him while they are walking down the stairs together.
"Cats domesticated themselves", he replies. "So as long as it's my choice, I don't have any reason to complain. They are also pretty cute", he adds and then takes a few seconds long breath. "Where did Asher take you?"
"Just at the lake. We should go there, it wasn't bad."
She returns to the same place she had the brief discussion with the blue-eyed dragon rider, together with another man this time. Before she manages to say something, Leon opens his mouth.
"Xayan was joking around before you woke up, he said that you'll have an ally once we rescue the man on the island", he says.
"How so?", she asks with a confused look.
"You killed a dragon. The man we are going after now is a creature of the night, a vampire", he adds. "They say the dragon riders are not native of this land and it is true. The vampires kicked them out of their original country over a thousand years ago. Since the dragon riders are a very closed, conservative community, the hate for vampires stayed with them. I guess Asher got scared at the thought of you and him forming some sort of alliance and tried to befriend you", Leon says with a smile on his face.
"Oh, so now it makes sense. He tried to manipulate me into siding with hm for some... childish conflict?"
"So I assumed it right, you wanted to speak with me because you didn't understand why Asher was so friendly", Leon laughs. "Asher is a diplomat, gaining support was his job long before we met him. And he has all the reasons to try to make you stick to him. He said the other day that the vampire did not spend much time with any of us, the vampire was a loner, meaning we cannot guess what he thinks, we are not aware of his intentions. We want to save him because we feel like it, but what if he betrayed us?"
"I am a loner too", the woman says with a faint voice, brushing away Leon's worries about the loyalty of the vampire. Not her business to characterize an unknown man.
"Even more of a reason to try and convince you to stay with us. It's for practical and selfish reasons maybe", Leon sighs. "I wish everyone would just be honest, though."
"Do you remember anything about the night creature?", she wants to know.
"Yeah. His fangs."