Nelly had gained full control of her extremities again, her foot was working perfectly and there were only a few off-color spots of skin left. Most would probably think her make up was a bit off, but that was a small sacrifice to pay, she needed to be out there and get people to know she exists.
With the Walsh having clearly set up this whole thing, the idea of Nelly not being heiress had been thrown away. Her stepping down hadn't been declared officially, so it was a small matter to return to a more visible position.
Nelly and Lina sat in an Arbore marked shuttle, one of many that were taking care of their security in the now partially unsafe landscape of their own tower—Block 21X. It didn't seem to hamper the spirits of Lina in the slightest, she was just glad to get out of the house. After over a week of tight scheduled lessons to bring her up to speed, officially enlist her as a ruling member of the family.
"You think we will meet up with the Walsh Duke again in there?" Lina said hope shining on her face. She punched the air demonstratively and continued. "I'd go all like pow pow, and he would be down. No fancy word things required."
Nelly thought for a moment, the Duke was worthless to the Walsh family, in all regards except as a sacrificial pawn on which to start trouble with. They could simply claim the Arbore wanted to get rid of him as a slight to their name, and even if the public opinion wasn't strictly along those lines. It was enough that no one would question their follow up moves.
"If you pow pow him so fast the cameras can't see and he disappears completely in a mysterious fashion, maybe its possible," Nelly said, but Lina didn't seem perturbed.
"Maybe if you make me a vampire I can do that." Lina said and hissed at Nelly, who smiled and ruffled the hair of the silly one.
"Even mother would have trouble with that, so how would a brand new one do it?" Nelly said and and took a sip of water.
"Maybe I am the chosen one, the legendary super vampire!" Lina said, and Nelly wasn't entirely sure how much she was joking. Nelly played along for the rest of the trip, it was enjoyable to be with Lina. Lina played in to her role as the youngest sister and tried her best to keep her childlike dynamic going. The change from a regular sixteen year old to a pivotal leader in the Empire was a rough one and Nelly was only happy to bring normal family relations in to the mix.
They soon arrived at Salon Orchard, and Viscount Perenboom herself was out there to meet them. Official visits were quite different. A neat row of attendants lined the small paved path to the front door. A small crowd was forming from passerby's on the street, when they had noticed the Arbore shuttle's coming by. Nelly was a bit wary if anyone was going to yell anything from the crowd, but for now it was only their own murmurs.
Nelly followed Lina who had launched in to a big hug on Nadia. A heartbeat after the hug had ended Lina was excitedly showing Nadia her own identity crystal. It had been upgraded with her rise to the official ranks of the family. Nelly supposed it was time to have a party at the end of next month. They would have to invite all who were anything, basically Nelly's wedding guest list, minus the Walsh. It was time to reveal Lina and subdue any rumors that they were weakening.
The three walked in with Nadia barely getting in a word with Lina flinging of sentence after sentence of unstoppable mayhem. The salon was almost exactly as it had been before, the only change was that a table had been moved to a more central position, given an extra helping of room. A custom made engraving of the Arbore tree lining the entire table. Nelly thought it was a great idea by Nadia, to reserve them a permanent table, but more than that show everyone that the Arbore was backing this establishment.
They were seated and they all shared kind words, as soon as Lina had ran out of steam. She had been prattling on for almost ten minutes, before suddenly falling silent at the end of a sentence. Then she dropped the line: "I'm done talking now, how are you doing?" the two others laughed at her quirkiness.
"It is quite excellent timing for both of you to visit" Viscount said after the prior pleasantries had died out. "Some of the customers seem restless, mostly the unsavory types I was vary of to begin with, but there were few surprises whom I thought didn't partake." Nadia continued and Lina's eyes lit up. Nelly enjoyed how easy it was to read Lina, and she vowed to protect that side of her sister.
A yell of some sort rang from outside, she didn't hear what was said, but turned in time to see one of her guards push a man to the ground. Nelly turned around to look at Paco, but another face greeted her in his usual spot. The man held a hand behind his ear and gave Nelly a quick thumbs up that they were good to continue. She nodded in thanks, but was internally miffed that it wasn't Paco.
Paco had returned to the roster this morning, but had changed to a rearguard position. Even back at work he was avoid her, and it rubbed her in all the wrong ways. The current guard of hers wasn't as much of a pleasure to the eyes as Paco.
"Tell me more Nadia, spill everything, tell me who do I put on my new shit list." Lina said and dug out her phone. Nelly saw that she indeed had a notebook on her front page named shit list. Hiding her smile behind a hand, Nelly wondered if it was just an elaborate joke or she genuinely was gathering names.
"Don't rush I will get to them, but first let me tell of the important details." Nadia said and moved a loose strand of hair away from her face. "There will be an event soon, a Black Market meetup. An event set up with speed to let some of the clientèle get out of the game."
"That is worrying and good to hear. It means the problem isn't as deep rooted as it could have been" Nelly said pondering, and added more details for Lina who was looking at how could she know. "If they were more seasoned in the trade they wouldn't be so worried to get rid of their products the second something happens. You could think of them as kids who overheard their parent say 'A lot of chocolate cookies are gone, we should check their pillows if there are any stains.' And all the guilty children run to hide their pillowcase"
"Oh and then the teenager or adults would know its better to not do anything" Lina said excited to catch on.
"Exactly Lina," Nelly said and turned to look at Nadia. "Where and when?"
"It will be in three days at the old opera on floor 309." Nadia said, and handed over a small memory chip. Nelly accepted it and gave it to the guard behind her.
"Nellyyy, I don't understand why the Doves are so useless? How come Nadia—who is awesome of course—knows stuff they don't" Lina said grabbing on to Nelly's shirt with both hands.
"Excellent point Lina, you will be in charge of Auditing the Doves a day before the event. Also take Cathrin with you if she is in shape, she'll teach you a thing or two."
"Yes! My first mission." Lina said and clapped the table excitedly. She abruptly stopped. "Although it is quite weird to kill a bird with two women."