Jadis stared at the ominous figure standing in the open door to her guild hall for a frozen moment. Around her, the rest of the table was just as still. She really shouldn’t have been surprised that Magistrate Vraekae would come storming down from the city hall to drag her by the ears to her office. But she had hoped that maybe the news Willa would have no doubt delivered to the magistrate would have won her a little consideration, at least enough for a night’s peace.
Before Jadis could respond to the interruption, she was startled all over again as both of Aila’s uncles, Gerwas and Ludwas, jumped to their feet so fast that their chairs clattered to the ground behind them.
“Magistrate!” both men shouted as they saluted the blue-skinned elf.
Vraekae ignored the two mercenaries as she stalked forward, slamming the door behind her to shut out the cold and snowy wind of the night. She was wearing a heavy fur cloak, her usual military uniform partially visible underneath. The glowing red sphere that followed her everywhere hovered over one shoulder like some mockery of a pet bird. Jadis eyed that globe cautiously. She’d seen Vraekae wield it in battle and she knew it was a thousand times more deadly than any war hawk or eagle.
As she strode up to the table, Vraekae’s blood red eyes flitted over the gathering. Her icy expression didn’t change, but when she met Noll’s gaze, she did incline her head slightly in some form of familiar acknowledgement. She didn’t speak again until her feet had brought her to a stop in front of the target of her ire. To Jadis’ surprise, Vraekae didn’t stand in front of any of her selves.
“High Priestess Vita,” the magistrate spoke in a voice that cooled the room by several degrees. “I believe I requested that you do not leave your quarters without escort for the duration of your brief stay in Far Felsen. I remember asking this of you personally not two days ago. I did not think your memory would be so short.”
So, Vraekae wasn’t here for her, but for the high priestess. That made a lot of sense, Jadis realized. Vita was here in her guild hall without any kind of visible escort. Sure, her CLR was past the one hundred mark so she was probably able to take care of herself, but her level didn’t necessarily translate to combat prowess. Jadis was certain that even if Eir was level one hundred, she’d still be an easy mark for a maligned thug at half her level, just because her skill and stats weren’t geared towards combat. She didn’t know what classes Vita had, but Jadis doubted a priestess of the goddess of hearth and farming would have classes meant for fighting.
“Oh, fi,” Vita purred in a dismissive tone, her tail lashing once to the side. “You are being unnecessarily restrictive, Vraekae my dear. I have no doubt that I am as safe in your city as I would be back in the capital. Besides, you are being rude. Dare you chide me in front of our hosts without even greeting them?”
At the priestess’ reproach, Vraekae’s eyes narrowed to near slits. Her attention shifted then towards the Nephilim in the room, a fact that Jadis did not thank Vita for. Jadis had always bristled like an angry hound whenever she’d butted heads with the magistrate. But tonight, with how Vraekae was looking at her, Jadis found that her normal attitude was curbed slightly. She wasn’t exactly cowed by the elf, but she did feel a bit like a child who had tried to sneak something past their parent and had got caught red-handed.
“Good evening, Jadis,” Vraekae coolly greeted her, revealing that at the very least Willa had reported the nature of her class to the magistrate. Of course, Vraekae had already known that fact about Jadis, but now she was making it clear that she wasn’t making an effort to keep her secret for her anymore. “I am gratified to see you returned safely from your expedition. I had hoped we would be able to discuss the details in my office.”
“Good evening, Vraekae,” Jay said back to the obviously pissed elf. “Glad to be back. We had planned on reporting to you, we do actually have a lot to discuss. Just, in the morning.”
“Since it’s, you know, late,” Syd added.
Syd didn’t exactly droop under the withering glare that Vraekae shot at her, but she did squirm slightly in her seat.
“Would you care to join us, cousin?” Eir spoke up abruptly, rising from her seat in a polite gesture. “We were just sitting down to a late dinner. We can make room for you.”
“No thank you, I already dined this afternoon,” Vraekae rejected Eir’s offer, though her stiff tone was far less icy towards her younger cousin.
“Knowing you, that will mean a cup of tea and perhaps a roll with jam. Please, cousin,” Eir pleaded in her most dulcet tones. “Break bread with us in this happy gathering. It is too cold outside to not accept warmth when offered.”
“I am simply here to gather my charge and take her back to her quarters. The other high priests will not be pleased once they hear of High Priestess Vita absconding in the night.”
“Pish,” Vita tutted. “If they are not here now, it is their own fault for not being as devout in their vigil. Listen to the girl. Drag me back by the scruff after dinner if you must but eat with us first. This meat pie that Hans has made is truly delicious. I’ve not had better in the finest restaurants in Eldingholt.”
High Priests? As in, plural?
Jadis’ eyes grew slightly wider at the realization of what Vraekae had just subtly communicated to them. Vita wasn’t the only high priest that had shown up in Far Felsen looking for her.
Dys’ eyes met Aila’s and she could instantly tell that her clever arcanist had picked up on the hint. Syd did the same with Eir and she had clearly noticed as well. Both had excellent poker faces and did not reveal their thoughts on the matter, but Jadis could guess well enough what they were likely thinking. Their minds had to be heading in the same direction as hers, she did not doubt.
How many high priests were there? Vita was a priestess of Ulya, but really, if any high priest were going to show up from the capital, shouldn’t it have been one from the temple to Lyssandria? The appearance of a Nephilim would have been a lightning bolt to a religious sect who was dedicated to the same goddess who Nephilim were the avatars of. And if Jadis were to pick a second high priest other than one of Lyssandria to show up, she would have chosen a priest of Destarious, not Ulya. Considering her connection to D, surely one of his high priests would have come to check on her as well. And if those two had come, and so had a priest from Ulya’s sect, who else might have come? Valtar? Villthyrial? All of them?
If a pack of high priests, possibly ones from every temple sect had come to Far Felsen looking for her, what was their purpose for coming? Surely not to just say hello. Maybe they just wanted to see the resurrected Nephilim race for themselves, to verify the reports were accurate. But they were high priests. They could communicate with the gods to at least a lesser degree, and Vita was an avatar race. She could have just sought guidance from Ulya and had her suspicions confirmed.
No, if the high priests had all come to Far Felsen in direct defiance of the hard rule to never have too many of their class in the same place during a demon invasion, then that meant they were here for what they considered to be an extremely important purpose. She could guess what that purpose was, but something told Jadis that she was probably going to be finding out soon enough. Vita had been the first to approach her, but she wasn’t going to be the last. And the fiery feline hadn’t even revealed her true purpose yet, either.
While Jadis had been distracted with her thoughts on the implications of multiple high priests showing up on her doorstep, Vita had convinced Vraekae to stay for dinner with the promise that she would return with the magistrate back to her quarters without complaint right after. Before sitting down, Vraekae had strode back to the door and spoken to someone outside.
That single someone turned into many as six soldiers wearing winter gear came into the room. They took up guard stances next to the door and in the corners of the large open room, filling the air back up with that aura of tension Tegwyn had managed to break minutes earlier. Gerwas and Ludwas both looked uncertain of themselves, like they were torn between staying seated next to their niece versus joining the soldiers along the walls.
With a nudge under the table and a quick glance, Jadis got Aila’s attention and she quickly set her hand on her uncle’s arm, urging him to sit back down.
Looking a bit harried, Hans came out of the kitchen and put down not a mug, but a glass in front of Vraekae, plus a bottle of wine to go with it. Vraekae took the offering with the air of someone who had expected it, which made Jadis wonder if maybe the magistrate had visited her guild hall a couple of times in her absence.
“Ahem,” Jay cleared her throat. “Well, the more the merrier.”
In an effort to regain at least some of the atmosphere that had existed before Vraekae had walked in and squashed it like a bug underfoot, Jadis started up three different conversations at once. Since her selves were spread out around the table, it was easy enough to start talking to her neighbors. She didn’t ask about anything in particular, just basic small talk to get other people talking. Despite her burning curiosity concerning the high priests, she still wanted to avoid any heavy topics as much as she could. She knew she’d be caught up in only D knew what kinds of meetings in the morning. There were so many different things to talk to Vraekae about, ranging from Sorcha and the Reavers to the demon she currently had hiding in her basement, but there were also things she knew Vraekae and her holy guests were going to want to discuss with her as well. It was all a little overwhelming. Before she got into any of it, Jadis just wanted one night of solid sleep in her own bed.
“Jadis is your proper name, is it?” Vita asked Jay from where she sat to her left. “That’s quite a lovely name.”
“Thanks,” Jay smiled down at the cat woman. “It’s from a story my parents really loved.”
“I’m not familiar,” Vita mused, her little tongue licking her chops in an oddly ordinary cat way. “With the story, I mean. I should think I would remember a tale with such an unusual name. Were your sisters also named after characters from this story?”
“…Yes. Yes, they were,” Jay answered, purposefully not correcting Vita’s assumptions.
“Perhaps you will regale me with the story sometime in the coming days,” the priestess said, empathy clear in her tone. “I understand you have no other family left. You have my deepest sympathies for your loss. But should you wish to share the tales your family once told you, I would happily listen and pass those stories along among my own kin, so that they will never be lost to time and misfortune.”
Jay’s expression turned into a far more genuine smile as her eyes flickered over to her lovely girlfriends, all four of them.
“Thank you, but I’m not worried about losing those stories. I have a new family now. One that we hope to grow soon enough. I’ll have many I can pass those stories down to.”
Vita’s eyes narrowed, a cheshire grin spreading across her feline face. Just beyond her, Jay could see that Vraekae had also taken interest in what Jay had just said, her blood-red eyes focused sharply on her. Both women regarded Jay with their own odd expressions, but it was Vita who responded first.
“That is wonderful to hear!” She purred in obvious delight. “I’m certain that Aurea will be ever so pleased to hear that you have children on the way!”
“Ah, what?” Jay startled. “No, uh, not yet. We’ve been talking about it and we’re looking into it but—”
“Oh, no need to fret my dear,” Vita interrupted her. “I can see by the look in your eyes that it’s no longer a question of ‘if’ but ‘when’ you will have little ones. I shan’t press you further for details, but I want you to know that when the time comes, I would be happy to serve as midwife. Ulya will undoubtedly grant her blessings upon any births, and I have spells that can help ensure a healthy pregnancy and an easy delivery.”
With every word Vita spoke, the more attention was drawn from others around the table and the more Jay felt like crawling into a hole and dying from embarrassment. Vraekae looked like she had a hundred words sitting on the edge of her tongue. Gerwas and Ludwas were looking between a scarlet red Aila and Jadis’ three bodies, their expressions a mix of shock and panic. Sabina and Bridget were both staring at the other women of the group with their own surprised expressions while Noll had buried his nose into his mug, looking for all the world like an uncomfortable father listening to his daughter talk about sex. Tegwyn had his hand over his mouth and was holding back an avalanche of laughter. Eir was nervously glancing between Vita and Jay while Thea had gone stiff as a board, her brown eyes wide as saucers. And Kerr…
Kerr was just sitting there with one elbow on the table and her chin on her hand, grinning at the show.
“That’s a kind offer,” Jay finally forced out in response to Vita. “I’m sure we’ll keep that in mind.”
“Good, good,” Vita purred, seemingly oblivious to the havoc she had just unleashed. “Of course, should you wish to have children that are not half-breeds, you’ll have to consider incestuous copulation. A generally distasteful practice, but necessary in some circumstances such as yours. I’m not sure how necessary it would be with Nephilim, but I know of a few priests who should be able to help make sure there are no deformities in the children, should that be an option you and your sisters wish to explore.”
Suddenly, talking to Vraekae about Alex and Sorcha felt like a far better option than her current conversation.
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