§
“Welcome back, Lhan,” Fan Li greeted me.
I blinked in confusion, realizing I was suddenly seated at the table in the Tea Pavilion. The previous moment, I had been patrolling the woods outside the bivouac perimeter.
One of the semi-solid ‘servers’ placed a tea cup before me and poured. Still stunned, I accepted it with a weak ‘thank you.’
Then, quickly recovering, I demanded, “What happened to my effigy?”
“I had Sirth take it over temporarily,” Rhea stated.
Nobody would have seen the switch, but it is still disconcerting to suddenly get jerked across worlds like that.
“Why?” I demanded, growing annoyed. These seniors just love doing this, don’t they?
Fan Li cupped her fist and gave a deep bow, nearly putting her nose in her tea cup.
“This small one deeply apologizes,” she stated, still facing down. “You are indeed justified in your displeasure. We decided it due to the urgency of the situation.”
The thoughts leak across between personalities, so I knew that Fan Li was apologizing because I did not have the standing to demand that the august personage next to her take the blame. And I suppose her way of thinking wasn’t wrong, entirely. The me who first revived in this new existence certainly would never have dared expect any kind of apology.
“No,” Rhea stated, refuting both of us. “Raise your head, Scholar. Lhan is fully in her right to blame me. I’m the intruder here, after all. But this is an emergency. I am unable to read the apsara, so I can’t predict what her intentions might be.”
I wasn’t sure what ‘unable to read’ meant. Unable to read her mind? Unable to read her actions. Or see her future through deduction?
“All of the above,” she told me. “Not only is her Will on a par with an Immortal of the First Harmonic, her soul is cultivated not far short of the point of Bodily Ascension. She’s in some ways a peer of Erebos, the Ascendant who keeps Astaroth trapped under the Green Tower. Alwain is as powerful an entity as you can meet in the Mortal Realm, at least in a world of Huade’s spiritual density.”
Fan Li frowned. “If such a being is loose in the world, she poses a considerable danger, doesn’t she?”
“Well, yes and no,” Rhea answered with a wry smile. “She’s to the point she’s at least somewhat aware of the Rules of Heaven, and that a being like her could be held liable for breaches of those rules and judged on the standards of an Immortal.”
Both Fan Li and I gave her blank stares. The goddess shook her head. “Becoming an Immortal does not grant freedom from judgment. Quite the opposite. A being who will live for millions of years lives in continuous peril of bearing the consequences of her sins for all those millions. No death is imminent for us, to grant release. That’s quite an onerous prospect, don’t you think?”
It was a strange way to see things, but of course, I knew my mortal point of view, however much I had apparently once been an Immortal in the distant past, was simply the wrong perspective.
The goddess smiled and nodded, then stated, “The Rules of Heaven exist first and foremost to protect Immortals from becoming twisted in an endless torment of guilt. However, those same rules restrict us terribly, when it comes to interfering in the Mortal Realm. It is very likely that Alwain limits herself to shepherding her domain out of some nascent awareness of this concept.”
She took a sip of tea, then commented, “I am in conversation with her through my priestess right now, preparing them to receive Alwain at Narses Castle. I want you to go there as insurance.”
“Take the effigy away from the Highlands?” I asked,
“No. We will send out a second effigy. Lady Tiana can bear it for a short time.”
I and Fan Li exchanged worried glances.
“If it becomes troublesome to her, we’ll have Sirth drop the first effigy. We can fly the second effigy out to replace it, once it has done its job in Narses. Fan Li, if you would please?”
§
And with that, I emerged from Tiana as an immaterial [Blood Effigy], under cover of [Vampire Cloak]. I immediately dashed to the door leading to the central corridor, a point as far from the royal family and Alwain as I could be and still remain in the room. I didn’t want to alarm anyone with my sudden appearance.
Lady Benedetta, standing with the maids near the wall, looked straight at me immediately. Ladies Alwain and Tiana were facing each other, exchanging greetings, with Lady Mireia and Prince Roderick framing Tiana, and showed no awareness of my presence, but I was willing to bet Alwain knew I was there.
Benedetta’s dark glare prompted me to appear as soon as I could. I materialized my usual projection standing with my back to the door.
With all eyes now turning toward me, I dropped into a Dorian bow and stated, “Your Highness, My Ladies, Hiléa has returned at the request of the goddess to join this conference. Please pardon my sudden intrusion.”
Lady Tiana immediately protested, “You should be with the expedition!”
“My Lady, Sirth is keeping watch while I am here,” I answered as I rose.
Of course, Alwain already knew me, and I had met the other three before as well. I had no need to introduce myself.
The Lady of the Red Tower looked from me to Tiana, her lip curling in a wry smile. She then gazed for a moment at Benedetta before speaking again.
“Did you come here to confirm for me clearly the thing I came here to see, or is it to add defenses surrounding the Lady of this castle?”
Sen asked, <Shall I borrow your mouth again?>
But I knew what she wanted to say, and said it. “If we were to have a battle here, the casualties among the mortals would be terrible. Let’s not talk of such frightening things, My Lady. I came to show myself to you, side by side with Lady Tiana. That was the purpose for your visit, was it not?”
She nodded. “So her projection in my domain carried no lie. You do indeed possess the same aura. Further, I saw this construct emerge from Lady Tiana. Is that how you exist in this world?”
“She, our current living incarnation, is our portal to the mortal world, My Lady,” Sen or I said. I think I was relaying her answer for her, instead of having her speak through me. It’s difficult to say. “This construct, as you call it, is a magic she is not capable of, hence the difference in effect between our magic and the spell she used.”
“Indeed,” Alwain nodded. “I cannot discern the mechanics of this magic at all. I can frankly believe that it is not of this world.”
From somewhere deep within, I could feel Fan Li’s smug pride in her endeavors. Although she has a humble spirit, she does get great satisfaction in her work.
Oh dear, I seemed to have slipped fully into ‘Sen’ personality. I still wore the Lhan image. Should I switch back?
“Shall I set a place for another visitor?” Syl asked, looking at me but asking Lady Tiana.
“Eating is problematic for me,” I told Tiana. “And the negotiations are between you and Lady Alwain, My Lady. I will accept a place to sit, but I would like to decline the food and drink.”
Tiana nodded wordlessly, then gestured toward the tatami, while telling Alwain, “We can discuss the matter here, or in the Kasarene Highlands, My Lady, but you have come this far to meet with me, so please at least accept our hospitality.”
The apsara wore a nearly imperceptible, cryptic smile, as she moved toward the tatami.
As she, the prince, the acting duchess and the priestess sat, I considered whether to hand control back to Lhan.
<I don’t know which of us erred, but we need to be careful,> I told her. <Accidentally switching like that could be dangerous.>
<You handled that better than I could have, anyway,> she replied, pretending to be unbothered.
<That may well be, but the fact remains that your image is best controlled by you. It is not the body I am accustomed to, and I don’t know as well as you how to move it. That becomes important in an emergency.>
I calmly handed control back over to her, who accepted it without comment.
§
The maids had been quietly setting up a light meal as all this transpired. Now, tea cups, and plates holding red bean jelly slices and sushi were placed on tray platforms before each sitting cushion.
Mireia and Tiana sat properly in the ‘seiza’ form, while Rod sat cross-legged but upright. Alwain sat with both legs to one side, leaning on a hand, a far more casual posture, but she was neither Dorian nor obliged to act like one.
The Lady of the Red Tower waited until after her tea was poured to speak again.
“I have no issue with discussing an alliance with you, but I do have a few questions first.”
Tiana nodded. “I’ll gladly answer if I am able.”
“If you are able? Shouldn’t a being from outside our world be quite knowledgeable?”
The young acting duchess visibly colored. “I may be their living embodiment, but I don’t have the knowledge of my predecessors. I’m able to do some things a normal juvenile cannot, but I am still very limited. I suppose Miss Hiléa might be able to answer, though.”
A maid had placed a cushion for me while Genette was serving tea, so I had been in the middle of quietly kneeling. Caught halfway through as the sudden topic of conversation startled me, so I just nodded.
My sword is in a cross-mounted scabbard across my back, so it wasn’t in the way, but my skirt was on the short side for this situation, and I was across from His Highness. So, I also used the ‘seiza’ form. It’s pretty uncomfortable, but I had somehow picked up the trick to doing it right through Sen.
<You could’ve sat like Alwain, though? I believe you also get a pass as a non-Dorian.>
It was too late to adjust, so I stayed that way.
“Well, my largest question should be yours to answer, anyhow,” Alwain noted mildly to Tiana. “You’ve called yourself ‘acting duchess’ several times now, but where is your mother?”
Tiana jolted, then stared at her, taken aback.
“I… hadn’t supposed that you wouldn’t know, My Lady,” she answered, then looked at Genette.
“You and all your team, please leave the room. Only the five of us, plus Lady Benedetta shall stay.”
Genette’s mouth opened for just a moment, then she nodded, stood and lightly clapped twice. She and all the maids exited, while Benedetta mutely placed herself in the attending position near Tiana that Genette had been occupying until this.
During all of this, Lady Alwain again wore that cryptic light smile.
Tiana looked over her shoulder to address Benedetta.
“Do you have a means to secure this room from eavesdroppers?”
“I have already applied the magic, My Lady,” Benedetta stated.
I hadn’t noticed a thing, nor had Tiana, from her expression.
“Very well,” she nodded, then told Alwain, “Your pardon, My Lady. I’m certain you know the truth about Sasara of Pendor?”
“That in reality she is Princess Deharè?” she asked. “Of course.”
“Exactly thirty days ago, today, the demon god Astaroth succeeded in killing her and the late king, Owen. The goal of the expedition I sent, which is currently passing through your territory, is to retrieve her body from where it currently lies.”
Alwain stared at her, then turned to look at me, then the others, as if looking for someone to tell her it was a joke.
Finally, she noted, “Áne’s father still holds him beneath the Green Tower. You’re saying he’s once again become able to manifest such a powerful proxy?”
I’m the one who answered her.
Well, it was Sen feeding me the answer, as I quietly told her to just take over. It remained my body doing the talking though.
“He’s within a few decades of another rebirth as the Demon King, My Lady. And recently, the demons attempted an early revival, using a mass sacrifice of mortals in Oseri. When the sacrifice failed in its original intent, he must have redirected the power he gathered from it in order to create proxies instead.”
“And one of them killed Deharè?”
We nodded. She was silent for several heartbeats, as she processed the information.
“And now, you wish to retrieve her body,” she concluded, although we had already said so.
“Naturally,” Tiana replied. “I wish to lay my mother properly to rest. But it is equally vital to retrieve the body of the late king. Who knows what the rebel pretender might be able to do with the body, through his demon allies? Perhaps they can raise him as an undead to cause confusion in our ranks or even ‘abdicate’ in favor of Cullen. For the sake of the Kingdom, we need to bring their passing to a proper conclusion.”
“So, do you have proof?” she wondered.
The corners of our mouth lifted slightly as we gestured toward Tiana’s midriff. “You should be powerful enough to witness the proof. Please direct your spiritual sense toward My Lady’s womb. You can see the miracle Gaia and Rhea have wrought for yourself.”
