For a while everyone was stunned to silence. Pende alone stood with a self assured smile on his face as Zack looked at him in shock.
"Wha-"
"What do you mean exactly?" Poison Bloom said, interrupting Zack.
Pende began laughing. "Ah you made a mistake Ms Bloom. You hesitated a second, a moment too much and allowed me to confirm my hypothesis."
"Your hypothesis being..?"
"Come now do we really have to pretend to be idiots here? My hypothesis being of course that you are the daughter of Fermi Ja."
Again there was silence. This time however Zack was able to finish his question, "How the hell can you say that with such certainty??"
"Intuition of course. It just makes sense. This vigilante is obsessed with protecting the town. She kills the Mayor's soldiers when they come to pick up some poor guy, almost as if she already knows where they will go that night.
She kills foot soldiers while refusing to ever, ever, ever go after the root cause. The Mayor himself has never been attacked by Poison Bloom despite the fact that killing him is much more efficient than killing his soldiers.
But more than that, much much more than that was her reaction right now. Tell me old man if I accused you of being the son of Fermi Ja, what would be your reaction?"
"I would laugh at you of course."
Pende nodded towards Poison Bloom. "Well she ain't laughing."
In fact Poison Bloom was doing much more than just not laughing. There was a dark aura around her and her eyes were burning with malice. Zack instinctively took a step back, just at the right time, as she lunged towards them her sword extended.
Pende, however, was ready. He twisted around the sword and kicked her in the head throwing her back towards the wall. Poison Bloom struck the wall with a thump, but almost immediately was back up. Now she started slowly circling around them, almost looking like a feral cat.
Pende was unperturbed. He continued to keep an eye on her but his casual mannerism made it apparent that he didn't see her as a threat at all.
"Now now why don't we calm down Ms Bloom. Or should I say Ms Ja?"
Fuck do you really need to be antagonising her further?
Poison Bloom let out a feral roar and once more leapt towards them. This time, she piroutted on one leg and threw her sword in a spinning motion. Pende dodged down, and as the spinning sword came back towards him like a boomerang, he kept low, kicking once more with devastating speed at Poison Bloom's ankle.
Again he made contact and Poison Bloom came crashing down to the floor. Once more she stood up, this time it seemed she was more frustrated than livid.
"Want to continue this little pointless dance?" Pende asked.
"Don't you dare patronize me outsider." Poison Bloom replied through gritted teeth.
Pende shrugged. "Your behaviour does make it easier."
Zack was afraid she would strike back again, but this time she stood up and sheathed her sword. Then to his utter amazement, she started laughing.
"Well I do agree on that point, but I am prone to mood swings. And as you correctly guessed who my father is, you know that I have it in my blood."
Saying this Poison Bloom removed the black mask on her face. She would have been a beautiful, serene woman if not for the maniacal smile pasted on her face, which made her look as psychotic as she actually was.
"I am Isadora Ja, the only daughter of the Tyrant of Odania."
.XX.
Once more Zack found that his small room at the Travelling Inn had become their defacto headquarters.
Isadora, along with the still unconscious daughter of the Count (who was named Clarisse, Zack learnt), sat on the small bed, crossed her legs and looked around the room.
"Quite a barebones room, don't you think old man?" She said.
Of course a small inn cannot compare to your palace princess.
But he said nothing and merely grunted in response. On the road to the Inn, Isadora had completely done a 180 on her previous hostility and had become quite amiable. They didn't discuss the palace invasion on the road, but as soon as they came inside the room, she demanded more details.
"So outsider," She began addressing Pende, "you mentioned something about killing my father. I assume you said it with a concrete plan on mind and not just to rile me up?"
"Of course. Now that you have decided to join us, it is much easier." Pende said smiling.
"Easy there, I never said I will join you." Isadora returned his smile but on her face it looked terrifying. Zack still felt the tingle of electricity in his hand. This time he was prepared to strike back if Isadora attacked.
"Hey now, let's not repeat the spectacle in the alley."
"I don't intend to repeat anything. You are suggesting murdering my own father. Why do you think I would go along with it?"
"Because you came with us."
Isadora fell silent and the smile on her face faltered. For a second, for a moment, Zack felt he saw something else in her face which made her look pitiful. But it vanished almost as soon, replaced with an even more terrifying grin.
"True I did. But maybe I did it just to report you to my father's soldiers? After all you did just lead me straight to your hideout."
"No, you won't do that."
"And why not?" Even though outwardly calm, Isadora's voice had a tone of irritation.
"Because it was much easier for you to raise that alarm when we were outside. Because you can't afford to have your father find out that you are the vigilante killing his soldiers. Because in your garb, the soldiers are more likely to kill you than arrest us. Do you want me to continue?"
"Who the hell are you outsider?" Isadora almost spat out the words.
"Who I am is not your concern. What I can offer you is."
"And what you can offer is the salvation of Odania?"
"Nothing as grand as that. I can just offer to help you in killing your father. What happens later is up to you."
Isadora sat silently. She was seriously considering the prospect, which made Zack shiver. He wondered truly how tyrannical the Mayor must be for her own daughter to consider killing him.
"But what is your plan?" She said after a long pause.
"Well me and Zack here will sneak into the inner region of the palace. You will be in charge of distracting the soldiers on the outer region, allowing us to sneak in. Once we sneak in, we will kill Fermi Ja and escape."
"Just like that?"
"Just like that."
Isadora, formerly Poison Bloom, began to laugh, a true genuine laugh not ones with malice like she had before. She laughed so long and so hard that soon there were tears in her eyes.
"You have no plan do you?" She finally said once she had stopped laughing.
Pende shrugged again. "Plans never work in the first place. It's better to have a general outline rather than a detailed plan."
"Well Mr. Outsider, your outline is too general."
"Well Ms. Princess, do you have a better plan?"
Isadora was taken aback at being addressed as a princess, but quickly returned to smiling.
"Can't say I do otherwise I would have done so before you two arrived."
"Doubt it, you cannot kill your father yourself. That's why you need others to do it for you."
Isadora stood up, her eyes burning with rage.
"And what do you know outsider what I can or cannot do?"
"Easy there." Zack interrupted for the first time, stepping in between Pende and Isadora.
"Let's not squabble before we actually try to infiltrate." He said, as reasonably as possible. Isadora scowled and went back to the bed where Clarisse was lying down. Pende simply smiled and turned towards the window.
"Wouldn't the Count send a search party when her daughter doesn't return tonight?" Zack asked, trying to shift the focus of the conversation.
"I'll have her back in bed before sunlight." Isadora replied.
"But, you know she has been-"
"Raped? Of course, and when she wakes up so will she."
There was an uncomfortable silence. Zack didn't know how to proceed so Isadora was the one who continued.
"She will be traumatized of course. Maybe she will even stop going outside for a while. Maybe she will urge her father to take them back home."
"Since she was unconscious, isn't it possible that she won't realize it if you bathe and clean her up before she wakes up?"
"For what purpose? You think it is kinder to allow her to remain oblivious to her defilement?" Isadora's voice was quiet but Zack could feel the rage boiling within it.
"Isn't that better than traumatizing her forever because of an incident she couldn't stop?" Zack said, trying to be as gentle as possible.
"She will feel the pain. That monster certainly wasnt gentle."
"We can try from our end to spare her from the pain the knowledge will bring. But if she realizes it on her own after that, then we cannot do anything, we will just have to accept it." Without realising Zack had slipped into an advisory role.
Isadora sat quietly, mulling the proposal for a bit, before slowly nodding. "It would be kinder. If a lie can preserve her smile then so be it." She said quietly and then stood up, carrying Clarisse in her arms.
While leaving she shot an angry look at Pende and said, "We still have to decide the date for the infiltration. I will meet you guys here next week and we can finalize those details. The outsider over there is too casual with it."
Pende didn't acknowledge the jibe and continued staring calmly out the windows. Scoffing, Isadora left the room.
"Are you sure this is the correct choice? Weren't you one who said we can't use Poison Bloom directly?" Zack asked after she left.
"I did. But that was before my suspicion that she is the tyrant's daughter got confirmed." Pende said slowly.
"You didn't mention anything about the key."
"And I don't intend to. Don't forget Zack, our primary purpose here is the key. I talked about killing the tyrant only to bring Isadora aboard."
Zack stared agape at Pende.
"You have no intention of killing the Mayor?" He asked incredously.
Pende shook his head. "That's not what I am saying. I am saying that my priority is the key. If I had to choose between killing the Mayor and taking the key I would choose the key every time."
It seemed to Zack that Pende had a wistful look in his eyes as he continued, "Of course we will leave Isadora to handle the town afterwards, but we will not hinder our mission to help her more than necessary. And if she gets herself killed or captured, I am not going to risk the mission trying to save her."
Pende didn't say it then, but Zack knew and understood that the same applied to him as well.