A tension Jadis hadn’t even known was within her eased at Severina’s words. Hearing someone she loved and trusted implicitly tell her that everything was okay did wonders for her in a way that made her knees weaken. Jadis did her best not to let the momentary vulnerability show on her Dys self’s face, but her other selves couldn’t help but hug her sleeping lovers a little tighter.
“Please, have a seat,” Aelius said as he came from around the table. “You are a guest in my home and your safety is assured. I beg you to be at your leisure.”
Maybe Jadis hadn’t done as good a job at hiding the relief that had overcome her as she had hoped, but she appreciated that the man was being gracious in the moment, rather than being awkward or uncomfortable.
Aelius pushed a large, cushioned seat with no back into place at the table, making room for Dys to sit. When she gratefully sank onto the sturdy piece of furniture, she noted that Alex was on her right and Severina was seated to the right of the Demon, which meant Aelius was on Dys’ left. As she made herself comfortable, Dys took a second to examine the male Seraphim who before then she had only seen as a distant figure with a flaming sword.
Aelius was an older man, with mostly gray hair that showed just enough pepper in the strands to prove he had once had dark locks, in his youth. His hair and beard were both intensely curly, and while they weren’t cut short, they were well trimmed and shaped so that he looked well-kept and presentable rather than wild or barbaric. With his patrician nose and sun-wrinkled skin, he reminded Jadis strongly of ancient Greek sculptures she had seen in museums in her past life. If the Seraphim started talking to her about featherless bipeds and Pythagorean theorems, she would not have been surprised.
Disappointingly, Aelius was not wearing a toga. However, his long blue tunic made of light cloth was of a different design than she had seen worn around the capital. Jadis guessed that the people of Glanum had a different fashion sense than those who lived further south, since they were in a much warmer climate up north. Even in the shade, Jadis could feel the heat of the day strongly coming through the open wall of the sitting room. That heat was somewhat lessened by the cooling effect of the splashing fountain. Even better, before sitting, Aelius poured her a cup of the tea that he had already served to Alex and Severina. The drink turned out to be a fruity iced tea, which cooled and refreshed her the moment it touched her lips.
“So, this is your home?” Dys asked, catching onto the phrasing Aelius has used. “It’s beautiful.”
“Thank you,” the Seraphim smiled kindly as he leaned back in his seat. “I regret to say that I cannot take credit for its decoration. All praise must go to my lovely wife, whom Lyssandria blessed with a sense of style, unlike myself.”
“Oh, is she here?” Dys looked around the room, spotting no one else. “I didn’t mean to—”
“No, no,” Aelius interrupted her with a gentle motion of one hand. “Thais is still at the temples, tending to the wounded. She is no combatant, but she is a skilled healer and is quite dedicated to her craft. She will go where she feels she is needed, and I cannot stand in her way. She likely won’t be back for some hours yet, not until her magic is exhausted once more.”
Dys nodded in understanding. She could easily empathize with the feeling of wanting to do more when there were people in need. In fact, even though Severina had assured her that all was well and she didn’t need to do anything, Jadis couldn’t help but ask a question to reassure her own sense of duty.
“Are we, ah, sure that we aren’t needed as well?” Dys asked, her eyes flickering between Aelius and Severina. “There were a lot of Demons that got into the city.”
“Everything is under control,” Severina answered, her voice composed despite her clear exhaustion. “General Voss has the military sweeping the city for any lingering threats, and Magistrate Lodovico has ordered all of the citizens who remain in the city to stay in the second and third tiers, safely away from any and all remaining threats. Your assistance is not needed at this time. Please, Jadis. Rest.”
Jadis didn’t fail to note Severina’s phrasing. Her assistance wasn’t needed, at this time, which was a good indication that she was going to be called upon for help at a later date. However, running herself ragged wasn’t going to do anyone any good, much less herself. So, taking good advice when it was given, Dys relaxed into her comfortable seat. It was time to take a break.
“Alright,” Dys grinned at her angelic lover, making sure that Sev saw that she was listening to her. Then, turning to look at Aelius, she changed the subject. Or rather, turned it back towards what it had been before she had intruded on the conversation. “So. What were you all talking about? Status sheets? I didn’t mean to interrupt, so if you want to continue…”
“Ah, yes,” Aelius responded with a nod towards the Demon in the room. “Alex very kindly allowed me to view her status sheet with my True Sight spell. A truly enlightening experience.”
“How’s that?” Dys asked, her curiosity piqued. “Also, you have a spell that lets you see other people’s status sheets? Isn’t that extremely rare?”
“Exceedingly so,” Aelius replied with a humble nod of his curly haired head. “I only know of one other individual in the empire who possesses the True Sight spell. Though, I expect that to change soon enough if it hasn’t already. It is not uncommon for members of the Hero’s party to gain True Sight, or a similar skill. The Hero or one of his own may have such a spell already, and I simply lack the knowledge of it.”
Jadis didn’t think Wilhelm or any of his companions had a spell that could reveal a person’s status sheet, but she agreed with Aelius. She wouldn’t at all be surprised if Jocelyn gained a spell like that since she was an Oracle. Or maybe Lucia, the Paladin, would since she already had a spell that let her check others if they were cultists serving Samleos.
Though that made Jadis wonder if maybe someone in her own group would learn a skill or spell that could read status sheets. Eir was an Oracle, too, after all. And Sorcha already had a material identification skill, which had that kind of potential according to Aila. Maybe it was unlikely, since so few gained the spell, but she would bet money that her companions had just as good a chance as Wilhelm’s did.
“Rarity of spells aside,” the Seraphim continued, heedless of Jadis’ internal ruminations. “I have used True Sight to examine many Demons in my life, ever since I unlocked the ability to do so. In all that time, I have never seen one with a status sheet before.”
That wasn’t surprising news to Jadis. She had already experienced a similar discussion when the collection of high priests had visited her in Far Felsen and done their own examination of Alex. The blue-eyed Demon had also not shown any sign of a status sheet when High Priest Sholto had used an ancient artifact to view her private information, though that had changed as soon as Alex had exerted her own will to essentially translate the information from a concept she innately understood, to one that they could all understand.
“What do you normally see?” Dys asked, curious to know if the man had a different experience from Sholto’s artifact.
“Titles,” Aelius explained. “Mire Hound. Essence Leech. Dead Head Matriarch. Demon Prince Vinea. Just a name, nothing more. Usually they are more of a generic designator than what I would consider to be a proper name. However, now that I have observed Alex’s status sheet, I believe they are class names. Or, since Alex’s name is the same as her secondary class, perhaps it is both a name and a class? Names, particularly surnames, often start as simple descriptors, such as Harper or Fisher. I would surmise that most Demons simply think of themselves as the class they have, which grows narrower and more precise the longer they live and the stronger they grow. Hence a name like Demon Prince Vinea, or Twisted Desire.”
There was the philosopher. Dys hid the grin on her face by taking a sip of the cool, sweet tea she had in her hand. Aelius was really living up to his appearance, and she found that she enjoyed listening to his soft, slow, carefully worded way of speaking. However, the last part of his speech caught her attention in a different way.
“Twisted Desire? Was that a Greater Demon you killed?”
The man’s face darkened as his thick eyebrows furrowed together. Shaking his head, Aelius took a sip of his own tea before answering.
“No. Unfortunately, that Demon is still unaccounted for, per my most recent reports. I was able to scan the fiend’s name from the large portion of its body it left behind after you defeated it on the rooftop by the pit; however, there have not been any further sightings since.”
Dys’ growing good mood soured in an instant. The Greater Demon on the rooftop. The one that had nearly killed her with its well-timed ambush. The same one who had nearly killed Severina during the attack on Eldingholt.
Shifting her gaze to Severina, Jadis saw that the same angry emotions were running through the Seraphim.
“Maybe I do need to get back out there,” Dys murmured, her voice icy with deadly intent.
“No, stay,” Severina stopped her with one hand raised. “Considering that creature’s previous behavior, I doubt that it’s still in the city. No doubt Twisted Desire has already fled to the safety of Demon dominated lands across the river.”
“And should the Demon still be in Glanum, we have quite literally thousands of eyes searching every roof and basement in the city,” the older Seraphim said. “No enemy will hide in the shadows for long under our watch.”
Jadis didn’t like it, but she had to acknowledge that Severina and Aelius were right. There was no point in her rushing out to search the city for an enemy that probably wasn’t even there anymore. It was better to leave the task to others. She only had so much time to spare out of her day, after all. Still, she would feel a lot better about not going after the threat if she had her weapons and armor at hand. The centipede Demon, or Twisted Desire as it was apparently named, had shown that it was willing to go after her specifically, twice. She wasn’t going to assume there wouldn’t be a third attempt.
“Okay, fair enough,” Dys acceded to their arguments. “However, since that bitch is still on the loose somewhere, does anyone have any idea where my equipment is? Just in case.”
“With… Sabina…” Alex answered before either Seraphim could. “Repair and… Maintenance…”
Dys nodded in understanding. That explained why Sabina wasn’t with Jadis when she had woken up. She assumed that Sabby had to be fine when she saw Alex and Sev sitting together so calmly. It also made sense that Sabina would be working, rather than taking a tea break with the three in the sitting room. The half elf wasn’t the type to sit around idly, especially when there were tasks that needed to be done. Considering the state of Jadis’ armor, the smith was probably going crazy trying to repair the damage. Jadis wasn’t even sure if anything could be done for her Jay self’s chest armor, if it had even been recovered from the battlefield.
“Her father and brothers are with her,” Severina added. “The four of them are in the workshop behind Aelius’ home.”
“She found them? Already?” Dys asked with some surprise. “That was fast.”
“They found us,” Severina corrected. “As soon as the civilians were allowed out of the shelters, Gallo showed up at the Torre Sacra demanding to take a look at the airship anchored to the top.”
Gallo was Sabina’s father’s name, Jadis remembered. She figured he was the type to investigate curious new technologies, considering how his daughter had turned out. Apparently that assumption had proven true.
Jadis was glad to hear that Sabina’s family was safe. That had been a major fear in the back of her mind as soon as they had known trouble was going down in Glanum. Most of the civilian population of the city had been evacuated from the city after the Demons successfully invaded the neighboring nation of Volto, however, Gallo and his sons had stayed to help with the war effort since they were skilled craftsmen. A big reason why they came to Glanum was to convince Sabina’s father and brothers to move to the capital where they would be safe from attack in the Fortune’s Favored compound. Her father, Gallo, and older brother, Crispus, were both smiths like Sabina, so they would be a great help in the burgeoning airship business Jadis and her companions had started. Sabina’s younger brother, Valerius, was a fletcher, which would also make him useful since Kerr went through bushels of arrows when she was out in the field. Having someone dedicated to the craft in their corner would be of no small use. Since Sabina was already with the men of her family, Jadis hoped that meant the topic had already been broached.
As soon as she thought it, Jadis tossed away that hope. Sabina was selectively scatterbrained, so the chances of her having started a practical discussion with her father within hours of meeting him again were pretty much nil. Far more likely, she was lost in a conversation with him about armor or airships.
“How about everyone else, then?” Dys asked since the topic had strayed from status sheets again. “Where are Tegwyn and the rest of his team? Also, Violetta and Alban? Are they still up in the airship or…?”
“All of your companions are guests in my home,” Aelius assured her. “Most are still abed so far as I am aware, though I believe Galene snuck out of the manor an hour or so ago. I saw no reason to have a guard escort her, though perhaps I should have asked?”
“Galene? Who are you talking about?”
Dys’ confused question was met by a blank stare on the Seraphim’s part. It was Alex who stepped in to clear the misunderstanding.
“Maeve…” was her simple whisper as she leaned in close to Dys.
“You mean Maeve?” Dys asked after a hesitant pause. “The Fetch who was with us?”
“Ah, is that what she goes by now?” the older man lightly stroked his curly beard as he leaned back in his seat. “I did not realize. My apologies for the confusion. Yes, I am referring to your companion, the Fetch, named Maeve.”
“You know her?”
The idea that Aelius and Maeve knew each other was a bit of a surprise, but when she thought about it, Jadis wasn’t all that shocked. The Seraphim was clearly older and had probably been around for a couple of centuries, based on what she knew about his people’s lifespans. Maeve was also much older than she often appeared, and Jadis knew she was at least fifty years old based on offhand comments the Fetch had made in the past. Considering how small the Avatar populations were compared to the general populace of the empire, anyone of their number who had been around for a while had probably met at some point or another.
“We have met a handful of times,” Aelius confirmed. “Though I had not seen her for at least a decade before last night. It’s hard for those of her ilk to bypass my senses.”
Aelius’ words were accompanied by him gently tapping the side of his eye, reminding Jadis that the man had a True Sight spell. That had to make him a frustrating person to be around for a Fetch, she realized. There probably wasn’t any way to trick him. Then again, considering Aelius had asked Alex for permission to read her status sheet, maybe there were different levels of detail to the spell.
“I didn’t know her real name was Galene,” Dys admitted to the man. “But I guess someone with your kind of magic would know better.”
“Galene is not her real name,” Aelius shook his head before putting his teacup down on the table. “The Fetch never reveal their birth names to anyone. It is their way. I am aware of her given name due to my True Sight, however, out of respect for her and her people, I use the assumed name that she gives herself for public conversation. Fetch do sometimes switch between names they prefer to go by, though, so I would guess that Maeve made a change sometime in the past ten years.”
The information Aelius politely provided was intriguing to Jadis. Not so much because Maeve went by multiple names, but instead that Fetch had some kind of culture that was unique to themselves. So far as she was aware, there was no nation of Fetch out in the world. Not even a city state. From what Jadis had read of Oros history, there had been a small country in the past populated almost entirely by Nephilim, so they had at one point had their own culture and language. Other avatar races had areas where they were the dominant population as well, or even a whole nation like the Naga in Hinansho, though most were more mixed in with the empire in general in recent years.
The Fetch didn’t follow the same pattern as the rest of the avatars. They had no unique culture to speak of, at least from everything Jadis had read. They just mixed into the rest of the world, blending in until they felt like standing out, before disappearing into the masses once more, their chaotic goals complete. However, from what Aelius implied, the Fetch did have some kind of culture; it was just hidden. An idea that made some sense, when Jadis thought about it. Their patron, Destarious, was the god of secrets, among other things.
“Well, you’re right, I don’t think you needed to send a guard with her,” Dys said after a second of contemplation. “Pretty sure she would hate to have someone try and follow her. I’m sure she’ll be back when she’s ready.”
“I’m sure she will,” Aelius pleasantly agreed. “Though, Maeve’s absence does bring up a few questions I had put aside earlier, since you were so exhausted. Your arrival in Glanum, while more than welcome, was more than just timely. What brought you here, on the very eve of one of the worst attacks I’ve seen? Did Lyssandria give you some warning? Or did another one of your companions receive a message? You have quite the collection of avatars with you.”
“No, no warning,” Dys shook her head, then corrected herself. “Well, we all got a bad feeling a couple of hours before arriving in Glanum, but we were already on our second day of travel by that point. We had no idea anything bad was going to happen here. We really just came to look for Sabina’s family, and do some battle on the front lines to help with the war effort.”
“And yet you arrived at the most vital of moments,” the Seraphim mused. “Astounding. Did I not know better, I would assume you were the Hero of this cycle, as such timely intervention is generally the Hero’s prerogative.”
There was nothing accusatory in Aelius’ comment. Just the bemused curiosity of a man who had seen the way the world worked and had come across something new and unexpected. All Jadis could do was nod along with his assessment, since she honestly agreed with it. What had happened last night really was the sort of thing that probably only ever happened in the stories told about the Heroes of past ages. At least under normal circumstances. But she was a transmigrated soul, plucked out of the ether by a mad god specifically to throw a wrench into the normal works of fate. Clearly, things had gone differently than what was probably normal for Oros.
“Spend time around Jadis long enough, and you will find that such unusual circumstances are commonplace.”
Severina’s tone was mildly scolding, though the hint of a smile at the corners of her mouth showed her true feelings on the matter.
“True…” Alex added with a sage nod. “Jadis heralds… Chaos…”
“I do not,” Dys yelped with an offended look at her smirking lovers. “I just have weird luck sometimes.”
“Oh, I’m quite certain of that,” Aelius grinned at her with a twinkle in his brown, cross-shaped eyes. “I’ve heard a few stories. And from what I saw last night, I have no more doubts about their veracity.”
“What exactly have you heard?” Dys asked, dreading the answer.
“Well, there was a story I heard regarding a fight between you and the Hero’s Bulwark for the hand of a fair maiden…”
“Motherfuck—that’s not even close to what happened!”
“Then I look forward to hearing your version,” Aelius smirked as he refilled his cup of tea.
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