The morning following her inspection of the nearly completed wagon, Jadis was interrupted from her morning routine by a knock on the front door of the guild hall. She’d been in the middle of washing her face, putting on her pants, and pouring cups of water from the kitchen, all at the same time but from three different bodies. It was early, the sun hadn’t even fully peeked above the horizon, which made the idea of a visitor odd. Jadis knew it had to be a visitor since Hans had a key and would come through the back door, while Noll just didn’t knock at all and would generally wait out in the courtyard for her. Jadis supposed it could have been Sabina or Bridget knocking, since neither were living in the guild hall yet, but breakfast wouldn’t be ready for another hour at least so she wasn’t sure why either would show up so early.
Since Syd was in the kitchen and thus closest, she went to go check the door and see who it was. Halfway walking across the open hall, she remembered that all she was wearing was a chest wrap that left most of her upper body exposed and a pair of shorts that didn’t do much to hide the bulge between her legs.
After a short pause, Syd shrugged and kept walking. The person at the door was probably one of her new guild members, and if they were going to be joining in any rituals anytime soon, then they were going to see a lot more than just a thinly clothed bulge. And even if it was a stranger at the door, Jadis wasn’t sure she cared much anymore if they knew she was packing extra equipment. The more time she spent as a Nephilim, the more comfortable she was with her body, and the more she realized that no one really cared that much anyway. Her lovers had come from widely different walks of life and while they’d all been shocked by her dimensions, the fact that she had both male and female parts hadn’t really phased any of them. She was honestly starting to think she cared more about her dual sex nature than anyone else. So, if a stranger saw that she had something extra down there, what difference did it really make? They were all adults here, so why make a big deal of it?
Besides, at least her cock wasn’t hanging out of her shorts.
“Hello?” Syd greeted as she pulled open the door. “Can I help you?”
Putting her right forearm against the lintel, she leaned down to get a better look at the cloaked and hooded figure standing in the low light outside. The person definitely wasn’t either of her new guildmembers. She was much too short to be Bridget and Sabina would never go anywhere without her leather smith’s apron. She was a woman though, that much Jadis was sure of just based on her figure that the cloak only lightly obscured.
“Perhaps,” the woman spoke in familiar, clipped tones. “Usually you only give me trouble, but it would be a nice change of pace.”
Syd straightened in astonishment, then lowered her head down again since she couldn’t see out the door otherwise.
“Vraekae?”
“Yes,” the Magistrate of all of Weigrun answered, her blood red eyes glowing from inside the hood. “Invite me in, Jadis. I don’t have all morning.”
Even as she spoke, Vraekae confidently strode forward, pushing in past Syd who only just barely got out of the way, her movements slowed by her surprise. It wasn’t until after she was several paces inside the hall and Syd had closed the door that she pulled down her hood, revealing her dark red hair and pale blue skin. She was wearing her usual military style uniform under the cloak, which she took off as she turned to look up at Syd.
“What, uh, are you doing here?” Syd asked, nonplussed by the unexpected visit.
“I have business to discuss with you in an unofficial capacity and considering your size, it is easier for me to be discreet than you.”
“Oh. Okay…” Syd murmured as her eyes narrowed at the primly cool elf. She couldn’t be sure, but she was half certain that the way Vraekae’s sentence had been phrased had been a purposeful jab at her state of undress. “Is this something we need privacy for or can I tell the rest of my team to come downstairs?”
“The rest of your guild can hear this since it pertains to them, in part,” Vraekae allowed.
“Alright, then they’re coming down.”
Jadis hadn’t planned on hiding the details of whatever Vraekae planned on telling her from her companions, but she’d asked Vraekae if they could come down to gauge how delicate the subject she was about to discuss with her was going to be. Plus, she’d rather have everyone interacting directly than acting as some kind of glorified telephone, relaying everything the Magistrate said through one of her other selves.
In a few moments, everyone was downstairs and gathered at the table where Vraekae had taken a seat unbidden. Most of them were better dressed than Syd, even Jadis’ other selves were better dressed than Syd, except for Kerr who seemed to delight in ignoring social conventions. She was wearing nothing but one of Jadis’ shirts, which was more than large enough to cover her nakedness. A bit too much, even, since it was baggy enough on the therion that it was liable to slide off her shoulders with every movement.
If Kerr’s lack of proper attire was meant to get a rise out of the Magistrate, she didn’t take the bait. The elf remained icily calm and collected while she waited for everyone to take a seat, her fingers laced together and one leg crossed over the other.
“Good morning cousin,” Eir greeted Vraekae with a smile. “Is everything well?”
“Good morning,” Vraekae replied with no more familiar inflection than she did when speaking to Jadis. “There is nothing of dire importance taking place. Simply a circumstance that needs to be explained.”
“Yeah, we’d love to hear all about what has you at our door before dawn,” Dys said with minimal snark. “Before that, quick question: Where’s your ball of death?”
The cloak Vraekae had come wearing had been removed, revealing her normal attire, but not her ever-present red sphere of doom. Jadis had never seen the Magistrate without it, which was part of why she hadn't immediately recognized her.
Vraekae raised a delicate eyebrow at Jadis’ question. With a wave of one hand and a string of utterances that Jadis couldn’t understand, the arcane orb appeared in front of her. A second later, it floated to its habitual spot just over the elf’s shoulder.
“I can summon and dispel it when needed,” Vraekae explained patiently. “Its cost to maintain is negligible, so I ordinarily keep it summoned at all times. I dismissed it this morning for obvious reasons.”
“Right,” Jay nodded. “Obvious reasons. About those. What exactly is the reason for all this cloak and dagger shi—stuff?”
At that question, Vraekae tilted her head in acknowledgement and motioned with one hand towards the collected group.
“Fortune’s Favored is leaving on an expedition to the north in order to search for any sign of possible Nephilim survivors from your village.”
Not a question. Vraekae made her statement as fact, which didn’t surprise Jadis.
“True,” Jay nodded. “We’re probably leaving as soon as our wagon is done in the next day, maybe two. Also, not that I’m doubting your ability to figure out what we’re doing, but how did you figure that out?”
“You told High Priest Gerhardt about your expedition,” Vraekae answered. “Since he knows, all the priests in the temple know. Since all the priests in the temple know, anyone who has the least bit of interest also knows.”
Eir looked slightly embarrassed by the statement, but Syd put a comforting hand on her back to reassure her. It wasn’t as though Jadis had been trying to hide where they were going. It was, practically speaking, impossible for her to sneak off unnoticed, doubly so with the giant wagon they were leaving in. What did surprise Jadis though was that Vraekae hadn’t gotten the information from Noll. Vraekae had never explicitly said it, but Jadis was fairly certain that she was on the Second Prince’s side of the political spectrum. She figured since Noll was spying on her for the prince, that meant he and Vraekae were in cahoots somehow. Maybe she was wrong in that assumption?
That, or she just wasn’t telling Jadis the whole truth.
“You aren’t about to object to our planned expedition, are you?” Jay asked directly.
“No,” Vraekae shook her head slightly. “No objection. Continue on as planned, so long as you present me with an itinerary and a planned date of return.”
“Uh, do we have anything like that prepared?” Dys whispered to Aila, leaning in close to the redhead.
“We do,” she answered while raising up a rolled-up piece of parchment. “I was going to drop this off at the City Hall today, but I guess this saves me a trip.”
Aila passed the document over to Vraekae who took it, opened it up and glanced at the contents, before rolling it back up and putting it away in her cloak.
“Good. Though I did not come here to get your itinerary. I came to inform you that I will be sending a guard escort with you—”
All three of Jadis as well as several of the others immediately started to object, but all were silenced as Vraekae held up a hand.
“Allow me to finish. I will be sending a guard escort with you until you reach Kaltars Wall. At which point the escort will break off from you to go about their mission. They will meet back up with you at an appointed place and time so that they return to the city with you.”
“Their mission?” Jay asked, brow furrowed. “What mission? We’re not their mission?”
“No,” Vraekae said with cool precision. “You are their cover. A means for them to head north without rousing too many suspicions from certain parties.”
What the icy elf was proposing, no, telling her would happen was sounding a whole lot like some kind of politics-related subterfuge. Jadis was pretty damn well certain that she didn’t want to get involved, but at the same time, she was curious about why Vraekae needed cover at all. Wasn’t she the one in charge of Weigrun? Who was she trying to hide the movements of her people from?
“Why do you need us for this?” Aila asked, putting voice to Jadis’ thoughts before she had a chance to. “What’s this all about?"
Vreakae’s expression didn’t change, but the room grew just a tiny bit colder.
“You do not need to know. Just follow my instructions. You do not need to be any further involved than what I have explained.”
Jay, Dys, and Syd all leaned forward, elbows on the table as they spoke in unison.
“Is that really how you want to play this? Knowing me and how things can happen around me?”
“Cousin…” Eir said a moment later, her face imploring. “I don’t pretend to have your level of skill and acumen when it comes to politics and matters of state, but some level of transparency may be advisable in this case.”
There was a silence between them as Vraekae sat still as stone. Jadis waited, not pushing any harder, but not backing down, either. Whatever the Magistrate was planning, Jadis wanted to have some kind of forewarning. There was a better than average chance that something could go wrong and if Vraekae’s people were off on their own mission that Jadis had no visibility to, then the chances of them working things out successfully were low at best.
“Fine,” Vraekae said with a slight, almost imperceptible huff. “I have received reports from reliable sources that recently there have been significant amounts of illicit mining of eleria in Kaltars Wall. The guards I am sending are loyal to me and can be trusted to search out the culprits discreetly.”
“And discretion is important because…?” Jay asked, pushing for a little more.
“Because the list of people in Weigrun capable of pulling off the kind of mining operation suspected is small and sensitive. Accusations would be imprudent without concrete evidence of wrongdoing.”
That… made sense. Jadis didn’t know all that much about the power structure in Weigrun, but anyone who was wealthy enough and connected enough to illegally mine large amounts of the one resource that kept the Empire in Weigrun during a demonic invasion had to be the kind of person who could dodge criminal charges easily enough if there wasn’t strong evidence against them. There were probably other motivations going on, but helping Vraekae deal with some, what would they be called, thieves? Smugglers? Whatever the name, Jadis was fine with acting as a cover for her investigators if that was all it was. No guarantee that there wasn’t more, but she could work with what the elf was giving her.
“Fine,” Jay finally said, leaning back in her chair. “We’ll be your cover. Just don’t ask me to be some kind of witness in a court of law or some shit like that. I’ve got no interest in getting involved in legal matters.”
“I have no intention of you becoming involved,” Vraekae said calmly. “Simply travel with them to the mountains and return with them to the city. You need not play any further part than that.”
“And I’m guessing we’re supposed to keep our mouths shut about all this too, huh?” Kerr chimed in as she picked some grit from underneath her claws.
“Indeed,” Vraekae said dryly.
“What about our two new kittens?” Kerr asked, bringing up a good point. “You’re not asking us to lie to our teammates, are you?”
Vraekae shook her head.
“As long as they tell no one of the nature of the escort and their mission before you depart, then it does not matter if they know. If you believe they have loose lips, then refrain from telling them until after you have reached the Great Southern Forest, at the least. That said, if you thought them to be indiscreet, I doubt they would have been invited to join your company.”
Jadis couldn’t argue with the woman’s logic. As always, Vraekae had a scarily good grasp of the situation. She had to have some kind of skill helping her suss out details and motivations, Jadis was all but certain. Or maybe it was just long years of experience. Who knew with an elf?
“Speaking of new recruits,” Vraekae said as she rose from her chair, preparing to leave. “At current count, your company roster is nine official members. While I did give your mercenary company provisional approval to operate in an official capacity, you still need to have ten full members for your status to become permanent. General Egilhard has petitioned for Fortune’s Favored to be disbanded as it has not yet reached minimum numbers for ratification. I can delay his petition for a time, but not indefinitely. I suggest you find a tenth member sooner rather than later.”
The sound of wood splintering was the first response to Vraekae’s information as Jadis’ hands clenched tight enough to shatter the edges of the table. The second response that came a moment after was a single sentence said with all the seething fury Jadis held within her.
“He did what?”
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