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https://subscribestar.adult/kiroberos-entertainment", "writing": "Finding me tied to Yimir and Exir tied to Niva when she got back from training, of course Exia's first instinct was to laugh hysterically. Then want her own turn. By then Exir, Niva, and I were playing a low-key PEC game, and Yimir had fallen asleep again against my chest. She'd rotated around on my knot after the fun and cuddled sleepily, after all. I covered her with the sheet and my tail, and she was out like a light with her head tucked under my chin...\n\nMom had really started running Exia ragged the last few days, ever since Estrus had gotten over with. She was usually so tired by the time she got back that she didn't even want sex, which was definitely an oddity for the Inaga female. Now though, with both her and Exir in the same room, they'd finally decided to fully explain things.\n\nCalien had been making arrangements. Thanks to the timing with Estrus, my own `coronation' of sorts had been put off until everyone was sane again. Biology was an asshole, sometimes. A lesser-known aspect of the coronation however was that my guards would be picked and also represent that day. Exir and Exia both had jumped at the chance to become my own honor guards. Officially, I needed at least two with me permanently. Though that made me wonder why Chronak didn't have any. Had he left them behind too when he fled the capital?\n\nRegardless, Calien had been able to pull some strings and arrange for both of them to be my honor guards, but only under the stipend that they'd be able to pass one of the basic guard programs each. It wasn't an issue for Exir, who'd completed most of his barrier guard training already. Nobody however acknowledged Flickerpaw as an official training, and Exia didn't have anything else to fall back on. Which meant she was now trying to cram in and train up being a spear guard. Not to say they didn't [i]know[/i] what Flickerpaw was or was capable of. No, some official somewhere was just being a smug asshole about it, ulterior motive speculation aside. \n\nIt was a lot... heavier training than she was used to as a Flickerpaw. Not only learning at least the basics of using the spear as a weapon, but also making sure she knew how to wear the armor and equipment, haul it around, and still use Flickerpaw with it. It was... completely annihilating her, which explained quite a bit. But they only had another week before my official coronation, and she had to be ready by then.\n\nWell, four days now. I exhaled softly, reading more out of Chronak's journal he left me. Well, I guess I should just start calling it a lesson plan. I should have guessed better, given I knew the paranoid coot pretty good. After he made sure I could successfully [i]do[/i] True Alchemy, his next lessons dove right into defensive measures, protections, and if it came down to it, [i]fighting[/i] using True Alchemy.\n\nIt... concerned me. Significantly. This Keyhole on my chest was, theoretically, the only possible means for someone to engage in using True Alchemy, I'd thought. But the way Chronak tackled defensive measures seemed to be with the assumption that I might need to defend directly against True Alchemy in the future. Had he known something I don't? Well, no, he probably had known a lot of stuff I don't, which is why I was cramming so hard.\n\nI rubbed at my temples, head throbbing still. Three new words and it wasn't lunch yet. But I now had the basics of understanding involving... defense against reality overwriting itself. One preemptive in the form of the Counter. It was an interesting word usage that involved either hanging it ahead of time on myself, to trigger if something tried to affect me, or my surroundings. It would then `counter' the release of Aether energy, matching it pattern for pattern in the exact opposite flow, until entirely nullified. Of course, if it ran out of energy before it was entirely nullified, part or all of the effect might still go through. I got to choose how much energy to dump into it on creation, of course.\n\nCounter could also be used to counteract an effect that was already in place, but it might be too late at that point. There was also an `always on' sort of defense that could be used. Stasis normally `froze' everything, but there was a meta flag you could use with it in order to make it freeze the `concept' of everything. In other words, it normalized reality around me, trying to make sure it remained `flat', in the words of Chronak. I took that to mean, `unaffected by True Alchemy'. Unfortunately, it was a constant drain on energy, and more useful for things such as warding when you wanted to do a particularly dangerous True Alchemy operation and preferred not getting exploded or rearranged in a way otherwise detrimental to your health.\n\nLastly, he taught me a much more powerful version of Rewind. Rewind had the caveat of only functioning on things that were caused by True Alchemy. To function, it needed a direct connection to the effect that caused the action you desired to rewind, [i]or[/i] a traceable path back to the effect. It didn't have to technically be [i]my[/i] effect I was rewinding. But I did need a connection, or traceable path. If someone created a force shape and stabbed someone with it, I could rewind that and undo the damage caused. But if someone levitated a sword with True Alchemy and stabbed someone with it, there was fuck all I could do to rewind [i]that[/i].\n\nThat's where `Reset' came in. Blazingly more expensive than Rewind. But it took a single object and `reset' them to a basic template at a prior point in time. For people, this was a perfect snapshot of them prior in existence. Well, almost perfect. To save energy, it didn't affect the soul. The notes horrifically mentioned I'd have to target someone's soul separately if I wanted to reset [i]that[/i]. Given memories were stored with the stream of consciousness in the soul, the person would actually keep their memories of everything that happened, despite being reset. Useful! Or... less useful if I was undoing them say, getting stabbed with a sword.\n\nStill, I got excited for a second, until I got to the part where `dead was dead'. Even if I rewound someone who was killed by True Alchemy, or reset their body to a point before they died... It [i]would[/i] come back to life... briefly. But because neither effect targeted the soul, it wouldn't reconnect it to the body, and they'd remain dead, with their soul wherever it went to afterwards.\n\nBut I had protections I could use. I started reading the next chapter, which was significantly more promising on top of that, of making storage capacitors for True Alchemy effects. [i]Those[/i] I knew about already from learning magic. Capacitors were storage tanks of a sort for mana that you connected to a spell or enchantment in order to give it duration. It only stood to reason that True Alchemy effects had something similar in concept.\n\nSighing, I flipped the page, closing my eyes for a moment after and rubbing above them and over the bridge of my nose. I'd already taken pain medicine, but they were taking their sweet [i]fucking[/i] time kicking in. I guess the stresses of learning eldritch knowledge wasn't something the original alchemists had in mind when they made the formula for it a bajillion years ago. Maybe I should revisit the formula one of these days... Of course, I could only imagine the string of overdosed corpses left behind who'd also thought to try tweaking it in the past. ...or the pile that it probably took before it was `just right'. But then again, most medicine could kill you if you took it in high enough doses.\n\nThe words felt a bit blurry still when I opened my eyes, and I shook my head, just closing the book again. The library around me was mostly quiet, with a few people studying here and there, and only one journalist over in the far corner with a long-lens, probably trying to get shots of what I was reading. Annoying fuckers... But they soon got something a bit more interesting, as the door opened on the right side of the room and Kada scampered in, wearing his butler outfit.\n\nI smiled to him as he hopped up to me, and gave a nod. He grinned himself, suddenly getting a little blush before focusing again and coughing. ``Duty this time, heh. I was sent to let you know that the Queen requests your presence in the throne room. You have official visitors.'' My ears perked at that, and I slowly nodded to him. Great. I was intrigued, but the first and only time this happened prior, it was just representatives from the Academy wanting to officially arrange my classes, and get an impromptu image shoot in with the journalists they'd brought.\n\n``Oh? Any clue who it is?'' I slid around in my seat, dropping the journal back into the front part of the suitcase before grabbing it in my right paw.\n\nKada peeked about before slowing nodding. ``Not supposed to say directly yet, but representatives from Keldonia and Koramir. I recognized the royal crests.'' Oh boy. ``...and they have a lot of paperwork with them.'' And fuck.\n\nI instantly got flashbacks from the tribe. Being the medical mage generated stupid amounts of paperwork. Health filings were tracked by the capital, so I literally had a file for every tribe member. Every. Single. Operation. It didn't matter what I was seeing someone for. It was documented. Female's sexual awakening. Documented, and we'll need more suppressants this season. Female considering having a kit and requests counseling. Documented. One less suppressant this season. I explain all the brutally traumatic things she's about to do to her body. She changes her mind. Documented. Rescind that. Prolonged constipation? Documented. Food poisoning. Documented. Some male comes in after deciding it would be awesome to [i]fuck a cactus[/i]. Documented. Even how many fucking needles I had to remove from his scrotum. Aaaaaaaah!\n\n``Uh... you okay, Exes?'' I snapped out of my thoughts to Kada looking concerned, and coughed.\n\n``Uh, sorry. Paperwork flashbacks...'' He shuddered in horror at that, then nodded rapidly.\n\n``I thought I was signing my soul away when I registered for the Academy dorm, so I hear ya there!'' We shared a moment of mutual sympathy before I exhaled and nodded again.\n\nWell, I'd probably need it by tonight, I suspected now. ``You doing anything after work? It's the weekend starting today, so...''\n\nThe little Illan perked and grinned. ``Eee! Can I stay over again?'' I smiled and nodded to him, and he gave a little happy bounce, clapping his paws together. \n\n``All weekend if you'd like. Let's have a real marathon gaming session.'' He went from bouncing to almost vibrating in place with that, flushing and nodding rapidly.\n\n``Y-Yes! Definitely! I'll be over after work!''\n\nHe seemed somehow even [i]faster[/i] as he scampered off, tail tuft bobbing every which way in excitement. After comparing to female Illan also working in the palace, I had to admit, the males were somehow [i]more[/i] adorable. They seemed more passive and gentler, really, overall. But ah well. I couldn't procrastinate this any further...\n\nI dropped my suitcase off and checked in with Yimir in the room first and foremost. She was sleeping though, so I just checked her vitals and made sure she was tucked in before taking off again. Her eyes had started to look better, and she reported less stiffness and pain at least in her limbs. A good sign. I'd checked her more ethereal bits this morning too, and her mana pool was nicely formed, with the `skin' of it solidified now. She'd healed the damage to her own vita quite nicely, and now it was just a matter of resting to recover the lost supply, while letting her body adjust to the new features.\n\nThe floor lightly vibrated under my paws as the elevator reached the ground floor. Turns out I wanted the ground floor specifically, and not just the lowest button on the elevator. Made that mistake the first time I'd used it and wondered why I was suddenly in with all the laundry. The palace had basements. Shock. The stairs were still agony to use, even with my heavily improved stamina over the weeks here. I just... couldn't get my leg to do the range of motion required for them.\n\nThinking about it made me a tad self-conscious of the light clicking my brace was making with each step now, as I walked out and down the hall, to the double doors leading into the central throne room. Who'd I even contact to get a new brace? This one was a kit I'd put together myself, with simple adjustable parts. Still, it was expensive enough that I had to save up for almost nine moons for it. Well, that was before I started up mass producing alchemy for the tribe.\n\nThe thoughts fluttered out of my mind though as I went through the double doors. It was quite clear that the standard court had been suspended for the moment. Instead of the long queue of people to see the queen and council during court hours that I normally saw present, there was a cluster of clearly foreign dignitaries of some sort, chatting with various council members. Two different outfits they wore, and they were primarily Keld and Vulkus. Kada was spot on, it would seem.\n\nThe queen herself was leaning against one of the side pillars instead of on the throne, chatting with two other females. Her ears perked up, and she gave a wave as she spotted me, however, which caused everyone in the room, guards included, to look my way. I froze for a moment, suddenly feeling like someone dropped a huge spotlight down on me from overhead. No, not shined down. Just dropped the entire mana projection unit on my head. Not that I'd ever been to a theatre.\n\nThe guards at least quickly resumed their stoic, disinterested posture. I slipped to the left, willing my legs to move again, and now even [i]more[/i] self-conscious of my limping gait. Tch. There was a burst of talking again, and I saw more than a few of the dignitaries eyeing me up with anywhere between curiosity and amusement. I flushed lightly, trying not to pay attention to them as I went around behind the council's desks and over to where Calien was, instead.\n\n``You, um, summoned, Queen Calien?'' We were clearly in proper company, so I didn't dare just use-\n\n``Just Calien, Exes. These are friends.'' Oh. Okay! I flushed harder, it felt like, and turned to look... up... at the two other females. I was immediately struck by a very odd sort of perceptual confusion. As a medical mage, there were some things I noticed above and beyond others, at least at first glance. And side by side, these two looked... remarkably relative to each other. One was a Vulkus and the other a Keld, but there were similarities in certain facial features, it felt like. They came from... different countries?\n\nThe slightly taller one on the left, by just a little bit, was a Vulkus. Her coat was a pretty white and gray in color, and her eyes were an even brighter blue than mine. She wore a leather sort of cuirass over a dark blue civilian blouse-tunic, and had an extended skirt down to just slightly above her knees. It was split in the front, and I saw at least flashes of long shorts beneath, with leather thigh pads. Light armor, and definitely of Vulkus make. It complimented the rough yet light boots she wore with knee socks, giving her a rough alchemic rubber and steel paw reinforcement, by the looks of it. Overall, her outfit felt feminine, yet practical. Tomboyish. An elegant wooden staff rested at a slight angle on her back, which would have told me a lot had I not already detected a... significant amount of mana within her. She was a very skilled mage, by feeling alone. And she was absolutely beaming down at me, looking overly excited to see me as her fluffy tail wagged furiously behind her, and all four of her ears rotated my direction.\n\nThe Keld female next to her was shorter, and far more diminutive. Her fur was, surprisingly, absolutely white in color, almost to a silver sheen, with no fur patterns at all that were visible at least. She wore a straight up dress, of whites and yellow trim. It ended just above her ankles, revealing a far more elegant pair of traveling boots. Gloves were on each arm, with a diamond-shaped raised emeralds on the backs of both paws. She felt far more feminine, with a touch of nobility. But... her eyes! They were the most brilliant gold I'd ever seen. A far lighter gold than Mom's Flickerpaw infused eyes, they were practically [i]glowing[/i] in the light of the throne room. She gave a softer smile that made me... feel a lot calmer, oddly. Relaxed, as she smiled down to me, twin tails bobbing gently behind her. She wasn't judging me.\n\n``Anyway, as you two have undoubtedly already surmised, this is Grandmaster Alchemist Exes, officially to be promoted in a few days. Exes, this is Princess Lilita of the Keld, and Princess Annah, of the Vulkus.'' Ah! Princesses. I gave a polite bow to both of them, and Lilita returned it immediately. Princess Annah gave me a partial one, tail still a blur, before instead shifting a paw downwards. Oh!\n\nHer grip was surprisingly strong as she gave me an energetic shake. ``Nice to meet you, Exes!'' Her voice was crisp and energetic, like her behavior, and I smiled a little at the earnestness anyway. Princess Lilita gave a gentle giggle as she watched, then shot the other princess an amused eye raise that she was seemingly oblivious to.\n\n``Ah! Uh, l-likewise, Princess Annah.'' I immediately inwardly winced at my own stiffness, but the princess just grinned wider.\n\n``Just Annah. Like Calien said, we're friends.'' Oh! Princess Lilita gave a relaxed nod to that as well.\n\n``Just Lilita here, too. We've both come to meet you today and officially welcome you, on behalf of both nations.'' She gave a small paw gesture extending towards Annah with that, and my ears flicked lightly. The way she said that made it sound like they'd been traveling together. Although, if she was the princess... that meant she was Queen Morrigan's daughter? I looked her over a bit more closely with that, and she smiled again, causing me to feel my cheeks heat up a little. She felt so calming, and pretty at the same time.\n\nI snapped myself out of it, at least. ``Um, r-right. I'm Exes. Just Exes. The title is uh... a bit of a mouthful and awkward.'' I gave a little shrug after, and both females relaxed and nodded. What exactly did one do when `meeting representing nations' exactly?\n\nThankfully Calien was right there to aid me. ``Why don't we go into the parlor to chat. Quieter there. You're probably not aware, but the nations not hosting the Grandmaster Alchemist directly typically arrange for agreements with them instead. Lilita and Annah are here to do that today with you.'' Oh! So... sort of like a service contract then? I imagine that would make sense, as I'd probably at least be doing a lot of traveling to help in the three major countries. Apart from the work on the essence patches, I knew that the Grandmaster Alchemist was also responsible for a large amount of highest-tier overhead in various production facilities all over Aion. I now understood that quite a lot of things in Aion were made using True Alchemy.\n\nSo, I didn't have to be everywhere, I could actually make enchantments that would use True Alchemy [i]for[/i] me, so long as sufficient mana was provided. Huge factories had enchantment plates that would do this, in order to construct things. Usually complicated, highly specific things. Of course, as far as I knew, [i]nothing[/i] had been repaired, updated, or built using it in at least ten years. Chronak kind of raised his middle finger to the rest of Aion. I'd... probably have quite the backlog of work to do.\n\nThe parlor was just off the throne room, and just as overly gaudy and grandstanding as I anticipated it to be. A rich purple carpet spread out under my paws, and dark wood paneling adorned every wall. There were two main, large windows with heavy, dark-red curtains framing them, with golden ties. Cabinets lined the one wall; with various bottles I had no hope of identifying on display. Probably filled with all sorts of content to mentally hamper and impair before important decisions were made. Three or four servants scurried forth in a practical wave away from Calien as she entered, quickly shooting off and grabbing trays and cups and snacks, by the looks of it. I was rather impressed by their coordination, and almost tripped over my own paw as I watched them go.\n\nThankfully I was last, and nobody noticed as the guards closed the doors behind us. ``Anyway, please, have a seat and relax.'' Calien gestured to the main seating arrangement in the room, which was a collection of extremely plush-looking overstuffed armchairs around a tea table. Just looking at the extremely detailed upholstery of the seat I was about to plant my furry butt on kind of made me dizzy. But it would probably be considered extremely crass to vomit all over the tea table.\n\nI was a bit concerned when I sunk into the chair and just kept sinking. Thankfully it stopped before I was more than ten degrees lower than my knees, and instead I just wobbled there slightly while the other two sat down across from me. Calien rested in the chair at the side of the table, diagonal to both sides, then gave a nod to all three of us. \n\n``As I was telling them before you got here, due to the way you were trained away from the capital, there's a lot of aspects of being the Grandmaster Alchemist that you're probably unaware of. Things that would have been explained properly, had you actually even been told what you were being trained [i]for[/i].'' She rubbed her right temple with a paw while reclining into the chair. Both princesses looked over at each other with an uncertain expression, and I gave a little sigh.\n\nSlowly, I nodded to that. ``I... yeah. Master Chronak didn't exactly tell me he was planning on making me the next Grandmaster until uh, well, the day we had to flee the village. Uh... assuming they know about the mob bit...'' Lilita winced lightly, and Annah gave an awkward cough to that.\n\n``Uh, yeah, all of Aion's heard about what happened now, due to who it happened to more than anything. There are... a lot of very angry people in Koramir, too, thanks to how you were treated...'' Annah explained. Oh. Well, that made things easier to explain, anyway.\n\nCalien's expression tensed a little, and she rubbed her forehead with a bit more enthusiasm. ``I still can't believe they literally tried to shoot you. It's... no, it's done with. The important part is you're safe now in the capital and we can hopefully get things progressing smoothly again.'' My ears lowered a little at that, but she took several deep breaths and steadied herself again.\n\n``Your basic education is set to be completed at the Academy. Given the trifle number of courses you have to finish thanks to your placement tests, it's not expected to take you more than two semesters, so you'll be graduating considerably early. After that, you're free to do pretty much anything you desire.'' Huh? I looked to Calien as she explained, more than a little uncertain as to what she meant by that, but she gave me a gentler smile instead. ``The Grandmaster can live wherever they want so long as they perform their duties. Where they reside is considered their host nation. It doesn't have to be Larid even. The host nation covers any and all overhead of living and basic expenses that the Grandmaster has, while paying a standard salary to them. It's considered... prestigious to host the Grandmaster, and most nations are willing to go above and beyond those basics by far for the honor.'' Oh, so I [i]would[/i] be getting a salary. I was... ecstatic when my yearly earnings in the tribe reached three digits, and wondered how it would compare. Maybe that economics course would be helpful after all?\n\nLilita nodded, smiling to me as she folded her paws over her lap. ``Indeed. Once you complete your basic studies, you can move anywhere you want. Though you'll have a lot of travel regardless. Completely covered by the nation you're traveling to, of course. I can tell you now, there's going to be a [i]lot[/i] of people very happy to have things repaired and maintained again.'' Well, that answered that `backlog' bit.\n\nCalien gave a chuckle at that, then nodded. ``Your master was a bit... troublesome to work with, I'll admit. A lot of that is going to unfortunately be passed to you, as he neglected many things in the... decade or more proceeding his death. But you're definitely not going to be without support. Thanks to the circumstances, I imagine even more people will be going out of their way to try to help you catch things up again. Especially the essence patches.''\n\nLilita reached to the side at that, then dug into the fancy yet rather tough looking case I hadn't realized she had on that side of her. Annah perked, spotting her, then reached behind herself, sliding an equally tough looking backpack of sorts to her right side. Both of them produced... a lot of paperwork. Both stacks looked about equally large, at maybe sixty or seventy pages apiece. [i]Fuck[/i].\n\nThen, Calien produced her own stack, and I wanted to cry, eyes glazing over as they were all set down on the table in front of me. This was just the introductory paperwork?! There was enough here for a small [i]novel[/i]! She paused however, then waved a paw further into my vision, in front of my probably traumatized-looking face. Huh?\n\n``Exes, snap out of it. Almost all of this will be taken care of by the palace legal staff. Don't worry... For this, they shift over to working directly for you and will explain everything about the paperwork.'' Oh...\n\nMy whiskers wiggled, and I nodded a little, feeling dizzy. Annah gave a soft giggle as she watched, then shook her head. ``You haven't even been paid yet, and you're brand new to this, so there's no way we'd hold you liable for that much on your own. Don't worry.'' She carefully avoided use of the phrase `just a kit', I noticed.\n\nCalien nodded to that, however. ``It's very true. The countries who don't host you will be arranging their own yearly contracts with you, of course. Your duties as Grandmaster are... significant however. You'll be expected to construct and maintain things consisting of True Alchemy, as well as the yearly essence patches. There will be a lot of traveling for you, and you're considered an important asset for all of Aion. Much rarer, but still important, is that you'll be expected to investigate into anything that's of a True Alchemy nature. Sometimes the odd Demon ruin is discovered even to this day, and there's nobody else in the realm that can do that.'' Right... I was going to be busy. I gathered that much. Lilita smiled again while watching me, and I looked her way, feeling relaxed again just by looking at her.\n\n``Don't worry, Exes. You'll be... generously compensated for the amount of travel and work you'll be expected to do. Plus, Aion [i]will[/i] be handling any overhead and expenses you have, especially to do your job. Negotiating that is part of the reason Annah and I are here. We'll be staying at least a week, and later on, we'll put you into a communication conference with Queen Morrigan and King Kormir, to discuss more with them.'' And back to my head swimming. She smiled again though, having such a... relaxing expression as she locked eyes with me. I nodded softly to that, suddenly not really all that concerned about it all.\n\nAnnah looked to Lilita for a moment before switching to looking to Calien instead. ``Kormir was hoping to come personally after hearing that Exes was one of the Inaga with possible Vulkus instincts, but...''\n\nMy ear flicked, listening to what she said, while Lilita gave me a perk and warmer smile, seemingly almost curious as to why I was still staring at her. I felt my cheeks flush, but found I couldn't look away. She was so gentle and pretty to look at, and I felt... warmer and relaxed just being in her presence. It was strange, wasn't it? She kind of reminded me of how my mother could be sometimes, when I was upset or stressed out and she just held me close and comforted me. It would feel like I had no worries in all the realm, and knew that I was safe and protected. Idly, I wondered if her mother was just as pretty and comforting to be around.\n\n``...definitely something to consider, from the political...'' Calien was talking about... my instincts still or something but I wasn't really paying attention now. Instead, I watched as Lilita crossed her paws in her lap again, her twin tails bobbing slowly behind her as she gave me a little nod and smile. It was sort of like I fell into her pretty, golden eyes. They seemed like they were brightening the room around us, and I wanted to just... look at her all day. Just keeping calm and relaxed and resting here in the comfortable chair, bathing in their golden... light and... light...\n\nThe sunlight was on her face where she sat, smiling to me. No... it was... They were actually glowing. But she wasn't a... I didn't feel anything from her at all. Not... anything... I blinked once, then again, slower this time. There was... that warm sensation and... I could feel mana [i]inside[/i] me. That was... normal right? I was a mage and...\n\nI gave a jolt and pulled back suddenly, leaning back in the chair and widening my eyes. The glow from her eyes faded, and I could feel foreign mana sliding out of my head, withdrawing like a gentle breeze. What the [i]fuck[/i]?! She... she was suppressed! She suppressed her mana almost completely and... She was a mind mage!\n\nA smaller burst of calm drifted against me, and a... ghostly image of her arm lifting up and putting a finger to her lips faded into my vision. Fuck! She left... She left a hook in me! Annah and Calien were still talking, however, with the queen nodding slowly. ``It's to be expected. Eventually we're going to have to address that the Grandmaster is a... different kind of Inaga, instinct-wise. Though admittedly, having your father talk to him would be most beneficial.'' Annah smiled and nodded happily to her with that. What... She was... intentionally distracting Calien!\n\nI heard her in my head, however. Pristinely, in Lilita's voice. ``Please, Exes, relax. We had to do this, because Calien isn't in on many secrets. You tried to contact my mother half a week ago, however.''\n\nI froze at that, eyes widening a little more again as I looked back to Lilita. Chronak's old comm...? The ghostly version of Lilita nodded to that, while the real one relaxed back in her chair. She sent me another calming suggestion. Just a suggestion this time, and I relaxed a little. Chronak had... dealings with Morrigan that were under the table, then...?\n\nI knew she could hear my surface thoughts with a hook. The ghost image of Lilita nodded. ``Yes. He was part of a group that my mother leads, also under the table. Based off the Queensguard of old. We call ourselves Realmsguard. With the objective of eliminating any and all forms of corruption in Aion.'' Realmsguard? Chronak was a part of it...\n\nAnnah nodded to that. ``I understand. Father does want to speak with him more in private about it, and planned on a trip in a week or so. Just with the issues with Nulidia, it's slowed things down a bit. But the problems with your people are indeed on his mind as well.'' I turned to listen instead, deciding that if this was secret, I might as well pretend to be paying attention to the two talking.\n\nLilita seemed to appreciate my efforts and gave a ghostly nod. ``After his death, we disconnected Master Chronak's line, but left it hooked up to a dummy redirect. When you tried to contact Queen Morrigan, she knew you must have access to his equipment and were interested in talking. I was instructed to find out what your intent was...'' Ah... She blissed me out into a trance, then went poking around inside my head for memories and feelings...\n\nThe ghost of her gave a wince at that, then sighed and nodded. ``I'm sorry, Exes. I know this was a poor first impression. But... there's a lot of risks and she couldn't just contact you. But now I know that you have no ill intent towards us. And about the book incident.'' I mentally sighed at that, then tried my paw at giving her a mental `nod' back. She seemed to react, perking her ghost ears anyway and looking a little surprised.\n\n``No, I guess I understand. I don't exactly like being violated without permission and you're breaking... so many laws... No, if anything, I'd rather work [i]with[/i] Queen Morrigan. On the book if she can help, or... I guess anything else she was working with Chronak for. I don't know what you mean by corruption, but...'' I was a tad distrustful of her at this point, but she could probably already sense that much.\n\nCalien shook her head at that. ``No, I understand. On that short of notice, I'd be glad enough for the visit. Plus, it will let my people see that we really are trying to address their concerns. Helping Exes especially will show that.''\n\nIt was weird just idly listening to their conversation while having one of my own in my head. Lilita relaxed a little and nodded however, as her ghost self. ``I understand that I set a poor precedent, but I won't invade your privacy anymore. A... friend visited this room already. I'll cover your movements. Please take the crystal cartridge that's taped under the table directly in front of you. When replacing the cartridge in Master Chronak's comm unit, it will give you a new identity all of your own and let you re-establish with the Realmsguard comm network. My mother wants to speak to you directly instead.''\n\nUh... right under...? I looked down at the tea table, then reached forward and under it. I could... [i]see[/i] an image of my arm still where it had been before, while I moved it. Wow. Okay, so Lilita was a powerful mage too. Calien didn't seem to even notice as I felt under the table, then peeled off a crystal cartridge about the size of my paw, sliding back into a seating position and pocketing it in the same motion. That was... How'd her `friend' know I was even going to be sitting in this exact chair?!\n\nGhost Lilita smiled to me, giving a giggle. ``That I don't know. Kyry is... extremely talented. She's the captain of the Bloodstalkers, if you're familiar with who they are. Once you slot that cartridge, we'll be able to speak with you without concern of being listened to, and we'll tell you everything, then.'' I mentally nodded to that, but she continued, expression softening after. ``Again, I'm really sorry that I tricked you like that, Exes. I... don't like doing that to anyone, especially not a boy as sweet as you. But we have... enemies. You'll know more tonight if you want. Use the cartridge.''\n\nWith that, I was suddenly aware of a distinct, tingling absence, and the ghostly image of her overlapping the real image just vanished. She'd pulled the hook, then. She was just smiling and quietly watching Calien and Annah talk. I... still didn't detect any mana from her at all. She was in this Realmsguard group then. And they had some seriously talented individuals. Was Annah one too?\n\n``Yeah, with a boy as sweet as Exes is, I can see why helping him would be a boost to public relations, even not including his title.'' Annah smiled to me as well with that, then shot me a wink. I'd consider that a coincidence, but fuck that. She was definitely Realmsguard then. And probably in mental communication with Lilita too. Why... wasn't Calien then?\n\nCalien gave a chuckle to that and nodded, also looking back to me. ``As much frustration as Chronak gave me over the years, yeah. He taught one amazing apprentice. Genius level by all the aptitude tests and Chronak himself claimed he'd be the best Grandmaster Alchemist Aion's ever seen...'' And back to sweltering cheeks and neck again, as my ears lowered. She grinned of course. I swear, some people just liked to intentionally embarrass me to see me change colors...\n\nAnnah grinned too as she looked my way, tail swishing now again. ``Oh, I know. I read quite a lot of his dissertations back when he was just `Grandmaster Chronak's mysterious apprentice'. I think your work is amazing, Exes! In fact, I wish you'd written more on the transmutative properties of mana! Would have made my own Academy graduate thesis shine all the more I think!'' My ears perked up at that. Okay, despite really hoping that wasn't the name Chronak submitted my papers under, I was surprised at how much exposure the papers I did have gotten. Though now I was curious what she'd used it for.\n\n``The transmutative properties? What was your thesis on? I'm... sorry, I don't actually know your mage specialization. I'm trying to catch myself up to the rest of Aion as fast as I can...'' The downsides of growing up in the tribe, I guess.\n\nHer tail wagged even faster, and she nodded again. ``Oh! My thesis was on the transmutative thermal properties of mana when interacting with accelerating and decelerating kinetic localized fields. It's sort of my specialty ever since I was a little pup!'' Accelerating and decelerating... oh. Oh! She was a thermal mage. But if she was concerned about transmutative mana efficiency, and was using localized fields...\n\nI perked. ``Oh! You're a combat mage?'' More specifically, one specializing in fire and ice. I smiled a little at that, my own tail starting to wag, even as she perked up and nodded rapidly. That explained the armor. Though if she had combat training too, that put her older than I initially estimated her to be. Nineteen or twenty maybe? Well into young adult territory. Lilita... I had no idea.\n\nCalien gave a snicker as she looked back and forth between us. ``There will be time for just socializing later. For now, we really should focus on going over all of this with Exes, so he's not caught off guard later.'' Oh, right, the paperwork... My muzzle scrunched as I looked back down at it all with no small amount of disdain. Right, in order to contact the Queen tonight, I'd need to stay [i]sane[/i] until then. This might be... taxing...\n\n[center]~ ~ ~ ~ ~[/center]\n\nIt felt... weird being so secretive. As it so happened, Yimir needed more medicine anyway, and everyone knew I had an alchemy lab inside the suitcase. I just explained after supper, which was the time coinciding with the simple number written on the cartridge, that I was going to go make her some more medicine before we started gaming again.\n\nWhich, well, I was actually making her more medicine. It was cooking up right now, next to me on the workbench. I slid the old cartridge out of the bottom of the comm unit and sighed, looking it over. Chronak's identification cartridge, it would seem. I simply set it aside next to the black book on the side table, and slid the new cartridge up into the comm device.\n\nAfter toggling it back on, I immediately saw that it was loading new data now. It greeted me a moment later with ``Welcome Exes!'' instead, and my ears flicked. I couldn't help but feel that now, yet another torch had exchanged paws. The main menu popped up afterwards, and I hit the contacts button, discovering only Morrigan in it this time. Huh. I was about thirty seconds late now, so I just immediately hit the button and watched it start to create the security key thing. If this group was an under the table as I was now led to believe, it made sense that they'd have secure communication. \n\nIt connected through, and I swallowed uneasily. This was really happening now. The dots barely got a chance to do one rotation this time when the screen flickered, and suddenly cleared, revealing a rather simplistic, nondescript background. The `camera' adjusted for a moment back and forth, and suddenly she slid into view, clearly sitting down in front of it.\n\nQueen Morrigan. The Keld female was quite beautiful, with a strikingly large number of colors to her fur. Her primary color appeared to be a rich, chocolate brown, but she had `splotches' in chaotic, random pattering over her chest and face, of darker blacks and creamier tans. Her eyes were a brilliant emerald in color, and locked onto me with a sharp intensity as her whiskers twitched. I was surprised that she was wearing simple yet stretchy civilian night clothing, and sat cross-legged on what seemed to be just a bare floor. Where... was this? She relaxed a moment later however, with a softer, almost playful smile shifting over her muzzle.\n\n``Ah, Grandmaster Alchemist Exes. Annah and Lilita passed on mental images of you already. I'm Queen Morrigan, of the Keld. Though please, just Morrigan. I'm hoping that we can establish a much warmer relationship from here on out.'' That was... yeah.\n\nI'm... not sure why but something about her last statement... annoyed me. I exhaled, then slowly nodded. ``Rather than have your daughter sneak into my head, you mean?'' That... had definitely bothered me. I'd never experienced mind magic like that before, and... it had... scared me.\n\nShe didn't flinch, however. Instead, her expression just relaxed a little, and she gave me a nod. ``Ideally, yes. You have my apology as well, for ordering her to do that. But it was a precaution that we unfortunately had to take. And even more rightfully so, given your book concerns.''\n\nMy ears lifted again and I looked back up to her at that. Lilita said she'd seen the memories of the book. Morrigan seemingly noticed she had my attention again and reached down to the floor in front of her, where I saw she had several images laying there that I hadn't spotted before. She lifted one up afterwards, showing that robed figure in the darkened hallway, then a second of a zoomed up closeup of the book. Both were immensely detailed, to my surprise. The third she lifted up... The inside cover of the book was visible, along with the Grandmaster Keyhole on it. I see... Each one she gave a paw motion to the left to, and they `appended' themselves to the side of the screen, sticking there as she relaxed backwards again, setting the physical copies back down.\n\n``Lilita saw quite a lot then...'' I swallowed after I said it, maintaining my tone of voice anyway.\n\nMorrigan gave a small sigh before nodding. ``She did. The color of the robe, dark purple, is new. We're familiar with nondescript black or gray, or a dark green for officers. Chest plate vest over the robes covers any gender identification. Height distance compared to the nearby furniture indicates a taller species. Vulkus, Keld, or Jakatar. No other identifying marks are visible except for the clasp on the robes.'' Eh? I looked at my own image of the cowled figure, and indeed there was a clasp there.\n\n``An... eye with squiggly lines coming off it?'' I tilted my head, then squinted to try to see it better. The pupil was slitted and sideways instead of up and down. I didn't know of any species that had pupils like that.\n\nShe nodded while watching me. ``The Crimson Mark, The Realm's Awakening, Dominion over Blood... The symbol has a lot of names. It's the mark of the Cult of the Shattering. Heard of them?'' I looked back up at her with a frown. That was... a cult? I shook my head, and she closed her eyes, resting back against the chair behind her.\n\n``It doesn't surprise me. They haven't made much in the way of headlines, and public information on them is minimal at best, ending with their name and a few incidents they [i]might[/i] have been tied to. [i]Our[/i] information on them is significantly greater, however. That is, the Realmsguard.'' That much I nodded to.\n\n``Lilita mentioned the name, and that your goal is to eliminate corruption in Aion. Whatever that means...'' I watched her carefully as she smiled a little again, then nodded, opening her eyes once more to me.\n\nThere was a brief pause as she studied me before continuing. ``In a way, I'm glad you're distrusting of us. We need to you start being more paranoid. If there had been any other way to contact you in the short amount of time I desired, I would have gone for it. The Realmsguard was founded from the old Queensguard. A public group I disbanded after certain pressure was applied to it. We started off just trying to beat back rampant trade corruption and slavery issues. But since the charter change, we've become aware of even more dangerous elements of Aion.'' Well, so far, I had nothing against a group that wanted to wipe out corruption with trade or slavery, that was for sure.\n\n``Before, I didn't give any cult much merit. We worship the four Gods, after all, which is technically considered a cult all the same. I believed people were free to believe whatever they wanted to. These guys though are something entirely different. They're secretive to the point of rivaling us. They have an agenda, and everything we've linked to them so far has pointed to us not liking the end results. I know for a fact that they've killed at least four people.'' My blood chilled a little at that. Oh... fuck. Murder was...\n\nThat was the worst possible thing you could do in Aion, was taking someone else's life. Intentional, premeditated murder was the absolute worst legal charge one could have. Not only were you guaranteed a black collar for life, they'd probably slot you for total memory obliteration and reeducation. Ego death, essentially. Then you'd spend the rest of your days as technically someone else, usually a public servant until your real death. Priests and Priestesses then stated your rehabilitation continued well into your afterlife in the Great Beyond. The Gods didn't approve of murder either, after all.\n\nIf that cowled figure was linked to this cult, then the book was bad news. I reached to my right and grabbed it with my paw before holding it up in front of the comm unit. ``So, the book is probably really bad, then. Can you... see it?''\n\nMorrigan frowned, then shook her head. ``No, you're just sitting there with your arms to your side.'' Well, that was slightly worse than anticipated. She sighed afterwards, then shook her head. ``I'm not sure what we can do about the book. To my understanding, we know almost nothing about the Grandmaster Keyhole itself. There's [i]some[/i] leftover text from all the way back as far as the Demon War, but the primary facility we suspect was responsible for making the Keyholes was also their primary weapon production. That made it a priority target during the war, and it was almost completely destroyed. If some sort of manual for the Keyholes exists, we've never seen it before.'' Great... Still, this was the single-most exhaustive amount of information that I'd ever gotten as of yet.\n\nShe sat up fully again however, then smiled softly. ``But now you know why we took so many precautions on contacting you; an entirely unknown variable. With Lilita doing her mind magic on you however, your character and motives are no longer even slightly in question. You have my sincere apologies for having to resort to this, but we didn't have any other choice. I'd like to work more with you, however, Exes. Chronak helped us for decades. If you could help us investigate things using True Alchemy, we'd be beyond grateful. You'd of course have the full support of the Realmsguard, and all our agents.''\n\nI frowned at that. ``Investigate what, exactly?''\n\nQueen Morrigan smirked at that. ``The Cult of the Shattering. True Alchemy that they use themselves. Corruption that's warping the very core of Aion. You know, help us save the realm. No pressure.'' Oh, was that all...? Something about the way she said it though, as she smiled at me... It made me want to actually [i]believe[/i] her. Chronak had, after all.\n\nI exhaled, ears flicking above my head. Save the realm, huh? ``Well, I suppose I only have twenty-five years. I might as well make a difference before this thing claims me. Alright... Tell me more.'' Her grin widened, and I couldn't help but return it a little. At least I was getting answers now, finally... and things I suspected would be very interesting in the future...\n\n", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "Finding me tied to Yimir and Exir tied to Niva when she got back from training, of course Exia's first instinct was to laugh hysterically.  Then want her own turn.  By then Exir, Niva, and I were playing a low-key PEC game, and Yimir had fallen asleep again against my chest.  She'd rotated around on my knot after the fun and cuddled sleepily, after all.  I covered her with the sheet and my tail, and she was out like a light with her head tucked under my chin...

Mom had really started running Exia ragged the last few days, ever since Estrus had gotten over with.  She was usually so tired by the time she got back that she didn't even want sex, which was definitely an oddity for the Inaga female.  Now though, with both her and Exir in the same room, they'd finally decided to fully explain things.

Calien had been making arrangements.  Thanks to the timing with Estrus, my own `coronation' of sorts had been put off until everyone was sane again.  Biology was an asshole, sometimes.  A lesser-known aspect of the coronation however was that my guards would be picked and also represent that day.  Exir and Exia both had jumped at the chance to become my own honor guards.  Officially, I needed at least two with me permanently.  Though that made me wonder why Chronak didn't have any.  Had he left them behind too when he fled the capital?

Regardless, Calien had been able to pull some strings and arrange for both of them to be my honor guards, but only under the stipend that they'd be able to pass one of the basic guard programs each.  It wasn't an issue for Exir, who'd completed most of his barrier guard training already.  Nobody however acknowledged Flickerpaw as an official training, and Exia didn't have anything else to fall back on.  Which meant she was now trying to cram in and train up being a spear guard.  Not to say they didn't know what Flickerpaw was or was capable of.  No, some official somewhere was just being a smug asshole about it, ulterior motive speculation aside.

It was a lot... heavier training than she was used to as a Flickerpaw.  Not only learning at least the basics of using the spear as a weapon, but also making sure she knew how to wear the armor and equipment, haul it around, and still use Flickerpaw with it.  It was... completely annihilating her, which explained quite a bit.  But they only had another week before my official coronation, and she had to be ready by then.

Well, four days now.  I exhaled softly, reading more out of Chronak's journal he left me.  Well, I guess I should just start calling it a lesson plan.  I should have guessed better, given I knew the paranoid coot pretty good.  After he made sure I could successfully do True Alchemy, his next lessons dove right into defensive measures, protections, and if it came down to it, fighting using True Alchemy.

It... concerned me.  Significantly.  This Keyhole on my chest was, theoretically, the only possible means for someone to engage in using True Alchemy, I'd thought.  But the way Chronak tackled defensive measures seemed to be with the assumption that I might need to defend directly against True Alchemy in the future.  Had he known something I don't?  Well, no, he probably had known a lot of stuff I don't, which is why I was cramming so hard.

I rubbed at my temples, head throbbing still.  Three new words and it wasn't lunch yet.  But I now had the basics of understanding involving... defense against reality overwriting itself.  One preemptive in the form of the Counter.  It was an interesting word usage that involved either hanging it ahead of time on myself, to trigger if something tried to affect me, or my surroundings.  It would then `counter' the release of Aether energy, matching it pattern for pattern in the exact opposite flow, until entirely nullified.  Of course, if it ran out of energy before it was entirely nullified, part or all of the effect might still go through.  I got to choose how much energy to dump into it on creation, of course.

Counter could also be used to counteract an effect that was already in place, but it might be too late at that point.  There was also an `always on' sort of defense that could be used.  Stasis normally `froze' everything, but there was a meta flag you could use with it in order to make it freeze the `concept' of everything.  In other words, it normalized reality around me, trying to make sure it remained `flat', in the words of Chronak.  I took that to mean, `unaffected by True Alchemy'.  Unfortunately, it was a constant drain on energy, and more useful for things such as warding when you wanted to do a particularly dangerous True Alchemy operation and preferred not getting exploded or rearranged in a way otherwise detrimental to your health.

Lastly, he taught me a much more powerful version of Rewind.  Rewind had the caveat of only functioning on things that were caused by True Alchemy.  To function, it needed a direct connection to the effect that caused the action you desired to rewind, or a traceable path back to the effect.  It didn't have to technically be my effect I was rewinding.  But I did need a connection, or traceable path.  If someone created a force shape and stabbed someone with it, I could rewind that and undo the damage caused.  But if someone levitated a sword with True Alchemy and stabbed someone with it, there was fuck all I could do to rewind that.

That's where `Reset' came in.  Blazingly more expensive than Rewind.  But it took a single object and `reset' them to a basic template at a prior point in time.  For people, this was a perfect snapshot of them prior in existence.  Well, almost perfect.  To save energy, it didn't affect the soul.  The notes horrifically mentioned I'd have to target someone's soul separately if I wanted to reset that.  Given memories were stored with the stream of consciousness in the soul, the person would actually keep their memories of everything that happened, despite being reset.  Useful!  Or... less useful if I was undoing them say, getting stabbed with a sword.

Still, I got excited for a second, until I got to the part where `dead was dead'.  Even if I rewound someone who was killed by True Alchemy, or reset their body to a point before they died...  It would come back to life... briefly.  But because neither effect targeted the soul, it wouldn't reconnect it to the body, and they'd remain dead, with their soul wherever it went to afterwards.

But I had protections I could use.  I started reading the next chapter, which was significantly more promising on top of that, of making storage capacitors for True Alchemy effects.  Those I knew about already from learning magic.  Capacitors were storage tanks of a sort for mana that you connected to a spell or enchantment in order to give it duration.  It only stood to reason that True Alchemy effects had something similar in concept.

Sighing, I flipped the page, closing my eyes for a moment after and rubbing above them and over the bridge of my nose.  I'd already taken pain medicine, but they were taking their sweet fucking time kicking in.  I guess the stresses of learning eldritch knowledge wasn't something the original alchemists had in mind when they made the formula for it a bajillion years ago.  Maybe I should revisit the formula one of these days...  Of course, I could only imagine the string of overdosed corpses left behind who'd also thought to try tweaking it in the past.  ...or the pile that it probably took before it was `just right'.  But then again, most medicine could kill you if you took it in high enough doses.

The words felt a bit blurry still when I opened my eyes, and I shook my head, just closing the book again.  The library around me was mostly quiet, with a few people studying here and there, and only one journalist over in the far corner with a long-lens, probably trying to get shots of what I was reading.  Annoying fuckers...  But they soon got something a bit more interesting, as the door opened on the right side of the room and Kada scampered in, wearing his butler outfit.

I smiled to him as he hopped up to me, and gave a nod.  He grinned himself, suddenly getting a little blush before focusing again and coughing.  ``Duty this time, heh.  I was sent to let you know that the Queen requests your presence in the throne room.  You have official visitors.''  My ears perked at that, and I slowly nodded to him.  Great.  I was intrigued, but the first and only time this happened prior, it was just representatives from the Academy wanting to officially arrange my classes, and get an impromptu image shoot in with the journalists they'd brought.

``Oh?  Any clue who it is?''  I slid around in my seat, dropping the journal back into the front part of the suitcase before grabbing it in my right paw.

Kada peeked about before slowing nodding.  ``Not supposed to say directly yet, but representatives from Keldonia and Koramir.  I recognized the royal crests.''  Oh boy.  ``...and they have a lot of paperwork with them.''  And fuck.

I instantly got flashbacks from the tribe.  Being the medical mage generated stupid amounts of paperwork.  Health filings were tracked by the capital, so I literally had a file for every tribe member.  Every.  Single.  Operation.  It didn't matter what I was seeing someone for.  It was documented.  Female's sexual awakening.  Documented, and we'll need more suppressants this season.  Female considering having a kit and requests counseling.  Documented.  One less suppressant this season.  I explain all the brutally traumatic things she's about to do to her body.  She changes her mind.  Documented.  Rescind that.  Prolonged constipation?  Documented.  Food poisoning.  Documented.  Some male comes in after deciding it would be awesome to fuck a cactus.  Documented.  Even how many fucking needles I had to remove from his scrotum.  Aaaaaaaah!

``Uh... you okay, Exes?''  I snapped out of my thoughts to Kada looking concerned, and coughed.

``Uh, sorry.  Paperwork flashbacks...''  He shuddered in horror at that, then nodded rapidly.

``I thought I was signing my soul away when I registered for the Academy dorm, so I hear ya there!''  We shared a moment of mutual sympathy before I exhaled and nodded again.

Well, I'd probably need it by tonight, I suspected now.  ``You doing anything after work?  It's the weekend starting today, so...''

The little Illan perked and grinned.  ``Eee!  Can I stay over again?''  I smiled and nodded to him, and he gave a little happy bounce, clapping his paws together.  

``All weekend if you'd like.  Let's have a real marathon gaming session.''  He went from bouncing to almost vibrating in place with that, flushing and nodding rapidly.

``Y-Yes!  Definitely!  I'll be over after work!''

He seemed somehow even faster as he scampered off, tail tuft bobbing every which way in excitement.  After comparing to female Illan also working in the palace, I had to admit, the males were somehow more adorable.  They seemed more passive and gentler, really, overall.  But ah well.  I couldn't procrastinate this any further...

I dropped my suitcase off and checked in with Yimir in the room first and foremost.  She was sleeping though, so I just checked her vitals and made sure she was tucked in before taking off again.  Her eyes had started to look better, and she reported less stiffness and pain at least in her limbs.  A good sign.  I'd checked her more ethereal bits this morning too, and her mana pool was nicely formed, with the `skin' of it solidified now.  She'd healed the damage to her own vita quite nicely, and now it was just a matter of resting to recover the lost supply, while letting her body adjust to the new features.

The floor lightly vibrated under my paws as the elevator reached the ground floor.  Turns out I wanted the ground floor specifically, and not just the lowest button on the elevator.  Made that mistake the first time I'd used it and wondered why I was suddenly in with all the laundry.  The palace had basements.  Shock.  The stairs were still agony to use, even with my heavily improved stamina over the weeks here.  I just... couldn't get my leg to do the range of motion required for them.

Thinking about it made me a tad self-conscious of the light clicking my brace was making with each step now, as I walked out and down the hall, to the double doors leading into the central throne room.  Who'd I even contact to get a new brace?  This one was a kit I'd put together myself, with simple adjustable parts.  Still, it was expensive enough that I had to save up for almost nine moons for it.  Well, that was before I started up mass producing alchemy for the tribe.

The thoughts fluttered out of my mind though as I went through the double doors.  It was quite clear that the standard court had been suspended for the moment.  Instead of the long queue of people to see the queen and council during court hours that I normally saw present, there was a cluster of clearly foreign dignitaries of some sort, chatting with various council members.  Two different outfits they wore, and they were primarily Keld and Vulkus.  Kada was spot on, it would seem.

The queen herself was leaning against one of the side pillars instead of on the throne, chatting with two other females.  Her ears perked up, and she gave a wave as she spotted me, however, which caused everyone in the room, guards included, to look my way.  I froze for a moment, suddenly feeling like someone dropped a huge spotlight down on me from overhead.  No, not shined down.  Just dropped the entire mana projection unit on my head.  Not that I'd ever been to a theatre.

The guards at least quickly resumed their stoic, disinterested posture.  I slipped to the left, willing my legs to move again, and now even more self-conscious of my limping gait.  Tch.  There was a burst of talking again, and I saw more than a few of the dignitaries eyeing me up with anywhere between curiosity and amusement.  I flushed lightly, trying not to pay attention to them as I went around behind the council's desks and over to where Calien was, instead.

``You, um, summoned, Queen Calien?''  We were clearly in proper company, so I didn't dare just use-

``Just Calien, Exes.  These are friends.''  Oh.  Okay!  I flushed harder, it felt like, and turned to look... up... at the two other females.  I was immediately struck by a very odd sort of perceptual confusion.  As a medical mage, there were some things I noticed above and beyond others, at least at first glance.  And side by side, these two looked... remarkably relative to each other.  One was a Vulkus and the other a Keld, but there were similarities in certain facial features, it felt like.  They came from... different countries?

The slightly taller one on the left, by just a little bit, was a Vulkus.  Her coat was a pretty white and gray in color, and her eyes were an even brighter blue than mine.  She wore a leather sort of cuirass over a dark blue civilian blouse-tunic, and had an extended skirt down to just slightly above her knees.  It was split in the front, and I saw at least flashes of long shorts beneath, with leather thigh pads.  Light armor, and definitely of Vulkus make.  It complimented the rough yet light boots she wore with knee socks, giving her a rough alchemic rubber and steel paw reinforcement, by the looks of it.  Overall, her outfit felt feminine, yet practical.  Tomboyish.  An elegant wooden staff rested at a slight angle on her back, which would have told me a lot had I not already detected a... significant amount of mana within her.  She was a very skilled mage, by feeling alone.  And she was absolutely beaming down at me, looking overly excited to see me as her fluffy tail wagged furiously behind her, and all four of her ears rotated my direction.

The Keld female next to her was shorter, and far more diminutive.  Her fur was, surprisingly, absolutely white in color, almost to a silver sheen, with no fur patterns at all that were visible at least.  She wore a straight up dress, of whites and yellow trim.  It ended just above her ankles, revealing a far more elegant pair of traveling boots.  Gloves were on each arm, with a diamond-shaped raised emeralds on the backs of both paws.  She felt far more feminine, with a touch of nobility.  But... her eyes!  They were the most brilliant gold I'd ever seen.  A far lighter gold than Mom's Flickerpaw infused eyes, they were practically glowing in the light of the throne room.  She gave a softer smile that made me... feel a lot calmer, oddly.  Relaxed, as she smiled down to me, twin tails bobbing gently behind her.  She wasn't judging me.

``Anyway, as you two have undoubtedly already surmised, this is Grandmaster Alchemist Exes, officially to be promoted in a few days.  Exes, this is Princess Lilita of the Keld, and Princess Annah, of the Vulkus.''  Ah!  Princesses.  I gave a polite bow to both of them, and Lilita returned it immediately.  Princess Annah gave me a partial one, tail still a blur, before instead shifting a paw downwards.  Oh!

Her grip was surprisingly strong as she gave me an energetic shake.  ``Nice to meet you, Exes!''  Her voice was crisp and energetic, like her behavior, and I smiled a little at the earnestness anyway.  Princess Lilita gave a gentle giggle as she watched, then shot the other princess an amused eye raise that she was seemingly oblivious to.

``Ah!  Uh, l-likewise, Princess Annah.''  I immediately inwardly winced at my own stiffness, but the princess just grinned wider.

``Just Annah.  Like Calien said, we're friends.''  Oh!  Princess Lilita gave a relaxed nod to that as well.

``Just Lilita here, too.  We've both come to meet you today and officially welcome you, on behalf of both nations.''  She gave a small paw gesture extending towards Annah with that, and my ears flicked lightly.  The way she said that made it sound like they'd been traveling together.  Although, if she was the princess... that meant she was Queen Morrigan's daughter?  I looked her over a bit more closely with that, and she smiled again, causing me to feel my cheeks heat up a little.  She felt so calming, and pretty at the same time.

I snapped myself out of it, at least.  ``Um, r-right.  I'm Exes.  Just Exes.  The title is uh... a bit of a mouthful and awkward.''  I gave a little shrug after, and both females relaxed and nodded.  What exactly did one do when `meeting representing nations' exactly?

Thankfully Calien was right there to aid me.  ``Why don't we go into the parlor to chat.  Quieter there.  You're probably not aware, but the nations not hosting the Grandmaster Alchemist directly typically arrange for agreements with them instead.  Lilita and Annah are here to do that today with you.''  Oh!  So... sort of like a service contract then?  I imagine that would make sense, as I'd probably at least be doing a lot of traveling to help in the three major countries.  Apart from the work on the essence patches, I knew that the Grandmaster Alchemist was also responsible for a large amount of highest-tier overhead in various production facilities all over Aion.  I now understood that quite a lot of things in Aion were made using True Alchemy.

So, I didn't have to be everywhere, I could actually make enchantments that would use True Alchemy for me, so long as sufficient mana was provided.  Huge factories had enchantment plates that would do this, in order to construct things.  Usually complicated, highly specific things.  Of course, as far as I knew, nothing had been repaired, updated, or built using it in at least ten years.  Chronak kind of raised his middle finger to the rest of Aion.  I'd... probably have quite the backlog of work to do.

The parlor was just off the throne room, and just as overly gaudy and grandstanding as I anticipated it to be.  A rich purple carpet spread out under my paws, and dark wood paneling adorned every wall.  There were two main, large windows with heavy, dark-red curtains framing them, with golden ties.  Cabinets lined the one wall; with various bottles I had no hope of identifying on display.  Probably filled with all sorts of content to mentally hamper and impair before important decisions were made.  Three or four servants scurried forth in a practical wave away from Calien as she entered, quickly shooting off and grabbing trays and cups and snacks, by the looks of it.  I was rather impressed by their coordination, and almost tripped over my own paw as I watched them go.

Thankfully I was last, and nobody noticed as the guards closed the doors behind us.  ``Anyway, please, have a seat and relax.''  Calien gestured to the main seating arrangement in the room, which was a collection of extremely plush-looking overstuffed armchairs around a tea table.  Just looking at the extremely detailed upholstery of the seat I was about to plant my furry butt on kind of made me dizzy.  But it would probably be considered extremely crass to vomit all over the tea table.

I was a bit concerned when I sunk into the chair and just kept sinking.  Thankfully it stopped before I was more than ten degrees lower than my knees, and instead I just wobbled there slightly while the other two sat down across from me.  Calien rested in the chair at the side of the table, diagonal to both sides, then gave a nod to all three of us.

``As I was telling them before you got here, due to the way you were trained away from the capital, there's a lot of aspects of being the Grandmaster Alchemist that you're probably unaware of.  Things that would have been explained properly, had you actually even been told what you were being trained for.''  She rubbed her right temple with a paw while reclining into the chair.  Both princesses looked over at each other with an uncertain expression, and I gave a little sigh.

Slowly, I nodded to that.  ``I... yeah.  Master Chronak didn't exactly tell me he was planning on making me the next Grandmaster until uh, well, the day we had to flee the village.  Uh... assuming they know about the mob bit...''  Lilita winced lightly, and Annah gave an awkward cough to that.

``Uh, yeah, all of Aion's heard about what happened now, due to who it happened to more than anything.  There are... a lot of very angry people in Koramir, too, thanks to how you were treated...'' Annah explained.  Oh.  Well, that made things easier to explain, anyway.

Calien's expression tensed a little, and she rubbed her forehead with a bit more enthusiasm.  ``I still can't believe they literally tried to shoot you.  It's... no, it's done with.  The important part is you're safe now in the capital and we can hopefully get things progressing smoothly again.''  My ears lowered a little at that, but she took several deep breaths and steadied herself again.

``Your basic education is set to be completed at the Academy.  Given the trifle number of courses you have to finish thanks to your placement tests, it's not expected to take you more than two semesters, so you'll be graduating considerably early.  After that, you're free to do pretty much anything you desire.''  Huh?  I looked to Calien as she explained, more than a little uncertain as to what she meant by that, but she gave me a gentler smile instead.  ``The Grandmaster can live wherever they want so long as they perform their duties.  Where they reside is considered their host nation.  It doesn't have to be Larid even.  The host nation covers any and all overhead of living and basic expenses that the Grandmaster has, while paying a standard salary to them.  It's considered... prestigious to host the Grandmaster, and most nations are willing to go above and beyond those basics by far for the honor.''  Oh, so I would be getting a salary.  I was... ecstatic when my yearly earnings in the tribe reached three digits, and wondered how it would compare.  Maybe that economics course would be helpful after all?

Lilita nodded, smiling to me as she folded her paws over her lap.  ``Indeed.  Once you complete your basic studies, you can move anywhere you want.  Though you'll have a lot of travel regardless.  Completely covered by the nation you're traveling to, of course.  I can tell you now, there's going to be a lot of people very happy to have things repaired and maintained again.''  Well, that answered that `backlog' bit.

Calien gave a chuckle at that, then nodded.  ``Your master was a bit... troublesome to work with, I'll admit.  A lot of that is going to unfortunately be passed to you, as he neglected many things in the... decade or more proceeding his death.  But you're definitely not going to be without support.  Thanks to the circumstances, I imagine even more people will be going out of their way to try to help you catch things up again.  Especially the essence patches.''

Lilita reached to the side at that, then dug into the fancy yet rather tough looking case I hadn't realized she had on that side of her.  Annah perked, spotting her, then reached behind herself, sliding an equally tough looking backpack of sorts to her right side.  Both of them produced... a lot of paperwork.  Both stacks looked about equally large, at maybe sixty or seventy pages apiece.  Fuck.

Then, Calien produced her own stack, and I wanted to cry, eyes glazing over as they were all set down on the table in front of me.  This was just the introductory paperwork?!  There was enough here for a small novel!  She paused however, then waved a paw further into my vision, in front of my probably traumatized-looking face.  Huh?

``Exes, snap out of it.  Almost all of this will be taken care of by the palace legal staff.  Don't worry...  For this, they shift over to working directly for you and will explain everything about the paperwork.''  Oh...

My whiskers wiggled, and I nodded a little, feeling dizzy.  Annah gave a soft giggle as she watched, then shook her head.  ``You haven't even been paid yet, and you're brand new to this, so there's no way we'd hold you liable for that much on your own.  Don't worry.''  She carefully avoided use of the phrase `just a kit', I noticed.

Calien nodded to that, however.  ``It's very true.  The countries who don't host you will be arranging their own yearly contracts with you, of course.  Your duties as Grandmaster are... significant however.  You'll be expected to construct and maintain things consisting of True Alchemy, as well as the yearly essence patches.  There will be a lot of traveling for you, and you're considered an important asset for all of Aion.  Much rarer, but still important, is that you'll be expected to investigate into anything that's of a True Alchemy nature.  Sometimes the odd Demon ruin is discovered even to this day, and there's nobody else in the realm that can do that.''  Right...  I was going to be busy.  I gathered that much.  Lilita smiled again while watching me, and I looked her way, feeling relaxed again just by looking at her.

``Don't worry, Exes.  You'll be... generously compensated for the amount of travel and work you'll be expected to do.  Plus, Aion will be handling any overhead and expenses you have, especially to do your job.  Negotiating that is part of the reason Annah and I are here.  We'll be staying at least a week, and later on, we'll put you into a communication conference with Queen Morrigan and King Kormir, to discuss more with them.''  And back to my head swimming.  She smiled again though, having such a... relaxing expression as she locked eyes with me.  I nodded softly to that, suddenly not really all that concerned about it all.

Annah looked to Lilita for a moment before switching to looking to Calien instead.  ``Kormir was hoping to come personally after hearing that Exes was one of the Inaga with possible Vulkus instincts, but...''

My ear flicked, listening to what she said, while Lilita gave me a perk and warmer smile, seemingly almost curious as to why I was still staring at her.  I felt my cheeks flush, but found I couldn't look away.  She was so gentle and pretty to look at, and I felt... warmer and relaxed just being in her presence.  It was strange, wasn't it?  She kind of reminded me of how my mother could be sometimes, when I was upset or stressed out and she just held me close and comforted me.  It would feel like I had no worries in all the realm, and knew that I was safe and protected.  Idly, I wondered if her mother was just as pretty and comforting to be around.

``...definitely something to consider, from the political...''  Calien was talking about... my instincts still or something but I wasn't really paying attention now.  Instead, I watched as Lilita crossed her paws in her lap again, her twin tails bobbing slowly behind her as she gave me a little nod and smile.  It was sort of like I fell into her pretty, golden eyes.  They seemed like they were brightening the room around us, and I wanted to just... look at her all day.  Just keeping calm and relaxed and resting here in the comfortable chair, bathing in their golden... light and... light...

The sunlight was on her face where she sat, smiling to me.  No... it was...  They were actually glowing.  But she wasn't a...  I didn't feel anything from her at all.  Not... anything...  I blinked once, then again, slower this time.  There was... that warm sensation and... I could feel mana inside me.  That was... normal right?  I was a mage and...

I gave a jolt and pulled back suddenly, leaning back in the chair and widening my eyes.  The glow from her eyes faded, and I could feel foreign mana sliding out of my head, withdrawing like a gentle breeze.  What the fuck?!  She... she was suppressed!  She suppressed her mana almost completely and...  She was a mind mage!

A smaller burst of calm drifted against me, and a... ghostly image of her arm lifting up and putting a finger to her lips faded into my vision.  Fuck!  She left...  She left a hook in me!  Annah and Calien were still talking, however, with the queen nodding slowly.  ``It's to be expected.  Eventually we're going to have to address that the Grandmaster is a... different kind of Inaga, instinct-wise.  Though admittedly, having your father talk to him would be most beneficial.''  Annah smiled and nodded happily to her with that.  What...  She was... intentionally distracting Calien!

I heard her in my head, however.  Pristinely, in Lilita's voice.  ``Please, Exes, relax.  We had to do this, because Calien isn't in on many secrets.  You tried to contact my mother half a week ago, however.''

I froze at that, eyes widening a little more again as I looked back to Lilita.  Chronak's old comm...?  The ghostly version of Lilita nodded to that, while the real one relaxed back in her chair.  She sent me another calming suggestion.  Just a suggestion this time, and I relaxed a little.  Chronak had... dealings with Morrigan that were under the table, then...?

I knew she could hear my surface thoughts with a hook.  The ghost image of Lilita nodded.  ``Yes.  He was part of a group that my mother leads, also under the table.  Based off the Queensguard of old.  We call ourselves Realmsguard.  With the objective of eliminating any and all forms of corruption in Aion.''  Realmsguard?  Chronak was a part of it...

Annah nodded to that.  ``I understand.  Father does want to speak with him more in private about it, and planned on a trip in a week or so.  Just with the issues with Nulidia, it's slowed things down a bit.  But the problems with your people are indeed on his mind as well.''  I turned to listen instead, deciding that if this was secret, I might as well pretend to be paying attention to the two talking.

Lilita seemed to appreciate my efforts and gave a ghostly nod.  ``After his death, we disconnected Master Chronak's line, but left it hooked up to a dummy redirect.  When you tried to contact Queen Morrigan, she knew you must have access to his equipment and were interested in talking.  I was instructed to find out what your intent was...''  Ah...  She blissed me out into a trance, then went poking around inside my head for memories and feelings...

The ghost of her gave a wince at that, then sighed and nodded.  ``I'm sorry, Exes.  I know this was a poor first impression.  But... there's a lot of risks and she couldn't just contact you.  But now I know that you have no ill intent towards us.  And about the book incident.''  I mentally sighed at that, then tried my paw at giving her a mental `nod' back.  She seemed to react, perking her ghost ears anyway and looking a little surprised.

``No, I guess I understand.  I don't exactly like being violated without permission and you're breaking... so many laws...  No, if anything, I'd rather work with Queen Morrigan.  On the book if she can help, or... I guess anything else she was working with Chronak for.  I don't know what you mean by corruption, but...''  I was a tad distrustful of her at this point, but she could probably already sense that much.

Calien shook her head at that.  ``No, I understand.  On that short of notice, I'd be glad enough for the visit.  Plus, it will let my people see that we really are trying to address their concerns.  Helping Exes especially will show that.''

It was weird just idly listening to their conversation while having one of my own in my head.  Lilita relaxed a little and nodded however, as her ghost self.  ``I understand that I set a poor precedent, but I won't invade your privacy anymore.  A... friend visited this room already.  I'll cover your movements.  Please take the crystal cartridge that's taped under the table directly in front of you.  When replacing the cartridge in Master Chronak's comm unit, it will give you a new identity all of your own and let you re-establish with the Realmsguard comm network.  My mother wants to speak to you directly instead.''

Uh... right under...?  I looked down at the tea table, then reached forward and under it.  I could... see an image of my arm still where it had been before, while I moved it.  Wow.  Okay, so Lilita was a powerful mage too.  Calien didn't seem to even notice as I felt under the table, then peeled off a crystal cartridge about the size of my paw, sliding back into a seating position and pocketing it in the same motion.  That was...  How'd her `friend' know I was even going to be sitting in this exact chair?!

Ghost Lilita smiled to me, giving a giggle.  ``That I don't know.  Kyry is... extremely talented.  She's the captain of the Bloodstalkers, if you're familiar with who they are.  Once you slot that cartridge, we'll be able to speak with you without concern of being listened to, and we'll tell you everything, then.''  I mentally nodded to that, but she continued, expression softening after.  ``Again, I'm really sorry that I tricked you like that, Exes.  I... don't like doing that to anyone, especially not a boy as sweet as you.  But we have... enemies.  You'll know more tonight if you want.  Use the cartridge.''

With that, I was suddenly aware of a distinct, tingling absence, and the ghostly image of her overlapping the real image just vanished.  She'd pulled the hook, then.  She was just smiling and quietly watching Calien and Annah talk.  I... still didn't detect any mana from her at all.  She was in this Realmsguard group then.  And they had some seriously talented individuals.  Was Annah one too?

``Yeah, with a boy as sweet as Exes is, I can see why helping him would be a boost to public relations, even not including his title.''  Annah smiled to me as well with that, then shot me a wink.  I'd consider that a coincidence, but fuck that.  She was definitely Realmsguard then.  And probably in mental communication with Lilita too.  Why... wasn't Calien then?

Calien gave a chuckle to that and nodded, also looking back to me.  ``As much frustration as Chronak gave me over the years, yeah.  He taught one amazing apprentice.  Genius level by all the aptitude tests and Chronak himself claimed he'd be the best Grandmaster Alchemist Aion's ever seen...''  And back to sweltering cheeks and neck again, as my ears lowered.  She grinned of course.  I swear, some people just liked to intentionally embarrass me to see me change colors...

Annah grinned too as she looked my way, tail swishing now again.  ``Oh, I know.  I read quite a lot of his dissertations back when he was just `Grandmaster Chronak's mysterious apprentice'.  I think your work is amazing, Exes!  In fact, I wish you'd written more on the transmutative properties of mana!  Would have made my own Academy graduate thesis shine all the more I think!''  My ears perked up at that.  Okay, despite really hoping that wasn't the name Chronak submitted my papers under, I was surprised at how much exposure the papers I did have gotten.  Though now I was curious what she'd used it for.

``The transmutative properties?  What was your thesis on?  I'm... sorry, I don't actually know your mage specialization.  I'm trying to catch myself up to the rest of Aion as fast as I can...''  The downsides of growing up in the tribe, I guess.

Her tail wagged even faster, and she nodded again.  ``Oh!  My thesis was on the transmutative thermal properties of mana when interacting with accelerating and decelerating kinetic localized fields.  It's sort of my specialty ever since I was a little pup!''  Accelerating and decelerating... oh.  Oh!  She was a thermal mage.  But if she was concerned about transmutative mana efficiency, and was using localized fields...

I perked.  ``Oh!  You're a combat mage?''  More specifically, one specializing in fire and ice.  I smiled a little at that, my own tail starting to wag, even as she perked up and nodded rapidly.  That explained the armor.  Though if she had combat training too, that put her older than I initially estimated her to be.  Nineteen or twenty maybe?  Well into young adult territory.  Lilita... I had no idea.

Calien gave a snicker as she looked back and forth between us.  ``There will be time for just socializing later.  For now, we really should focus on going over all of this with Exes, so he's not caught off guard later.''  Oh, right, the paperwork...  My muzzle scrunched as I looked back down at it all with no small amount of disdain.  Right, in order to contact the Queen tonight, I'd need to stay sane until then.  This might be... taxing...

~ ~ ~ ~ ~


It felt... weird being so secretive.  As it so happened, Yimir needed more medicine anyway, and everyone knew I had an alchemy lab inside the suitcase.  I just explained after supper, which was the time coinciding with the simple number written on the cartridge, that I was going to go make her some more medicine before we started gaming again.

Which, well, I was actually making her more medicine.  It was cooking up right now, next to me on the workbench.  I slid the old cartridge out of the bottom of the comm unit and sighed, looking it over.  Chronak's identification cartridge, it would seem.  I simply set it aside next to the black book on the side table, and slid the new cartridge up into the comm device.

After toggling it back on, I immediately saw that it was loading new data now.  It greeted me a moment later with ``Welcome Exes!'' instead, and my ears flicked.  I couldn't help but feel that now, yet another torch had exchanged paws.  The main menu popped up afterwards, and I hit the contacts button, discovering only Morrigan in it this time.  Huh.  I was about thirty seconds late now, so I just immediately hit the button and watched it start to create the security key thing.  If this group was an under the table as I was now led to believe, it made sense that they'd have secure communication.

It connected through, and I swallowed uneasily.  This was really happening now.  The dots barely got a chance to do one rotation this time when the screen flickered, and suddenly cleared, revealing a rather simplistic, nondescript background.  The `camera' adjusted for a moment back and forth, and suddenly she slid into view, clearly sitting down in front of it.

Queen Morrigan.  The Keld female was quite beautiful, with a strikingly large number of colors to her fur.  Her primary color appeared to be a rich, chocolate brown, but she had `splotches' in chaotic, random pattering over her chest and face, of darker blacks and creamier tans.  Her eyes were a brilliant emerald in color, and locked onto me with a sharp intensity as her whiskers twitched.  I was surprised that she was wearing simple yet stretchy civilian night clothing, and sat cross-legged on what seemed to be just a bare floor.  Where... was this?  She relaxed a moment later however, with a softer, almost playful smile shifting over her muzzle.

``Ah, Grandmaster Alchemist Exes.  Annah and Lilita passed on mental images of you already.  I'm Queen Morrigan, of the Keld.  Though please, just Morrigan.  I'm hoping that we can establish a much warmer relationship from here on out.''  That was... yeah.

I'm... not sure why but something about her last statement... annoyed me.  I exhaled, then slowly nodded.  ``Rather than have your daughter sneak into my head, you mean?''  That... had definitely bothered me.  I'd never experienced mind magic like that before, and... it had... scared me.

She didn't flinch, however.  Instead, her expression just relaxed a little, and she gave me a nod.  ``Ideally, yes.  You have my apology as well, for ordering her to do that.  But it was a precaution that we unfortunately had to take.  And even more rightfully so, given your book concerns.''

My ears lifted again and I looked back up to her at that.  Lilita said she'd seen the memories of the book.  Morrigan seemingly noticed she had my attention again and reached down to the floor in front of her, where I saw she had several images laying there that I hadn't spotted before.  She lifted one up afterwards, showing that robed figure in the darkened hallway, then a second of a zoomed up closeup of the book.  Both were immensely detailed, to my surprise.  The third she lifted up...  The inside cover of the book was visible, along with the Grandmaster Keyhole on it.  I see...  Each one she gave a paw motion to the left to, and they `appended' themselves to the side of the screen, sticking there as she relaxed backwards again, setting the physical copies back down.

``Lilita saw quite a lot then...''  I swallowed after I said it, maintaining my tone of voice anyway.

Morrigan gave a small sigh before nodding.  ``She did.  The color of the robe, dark purple, is new.  We're familiar with nondescript black or gray, or a dark green for officers.  Chest plate vest over the robes covers any gender identification.  Height distance compared to the nearby furniture indicates a taller species.  Vulkus, Keld, or Jakatar.  No other identifying marks are visible except for the clasp on the robes.''  Eh?  I looked at my own image of the cowled figure, and indeed there was a clasp there.

``An... eye with squiggly lines coming off it?''  I tilted my head, then squinted to try to see it better.  The pupil was slitted and sideways instead of up and down.  I didn't know of any species that had pupils like that.

She nodded while watching me.  ``The Crimson Mark, The Realm's Awakening, Dominion over Blood...  The symbol has a lot of names.  It's the mark of the Cult of the Shattering.  Heard of them?''  I looked back up at her with a frown.  That was... a cult?  I shook my head, and she closed her eyes, resting back against the chair behind her.

``It doesn't surprise me.  They haven't made much in the way of headlines, and public information on them is minimal at best, ending with their name and a few incidents they might have been tied to.  Our information on them is significantly greater, however.  That is, the Realmsguard.''  That much I nodded to.

``Lilita mentioned the name, and that your goal is to eliminate corruption in Aion.  Whatever that means...''  I watched her carefully as she smiled a little again, then nodded, opening her eyes once more to me.

There was a brief pause as she studied me before continuing.  ``In a way, I'm glad you're distrusting of us.  We need to you start being more paranoid.  If there had been any other way to contact you in the short amount of time I desired, I would have gone for it.  The Realmsguard was founded from the old Queensguard.  A public group I disbanded after certain pressure was applied to it.  We started off just trying to beat back rampant trade corruption and slavery issues.  But since the charter change, we've become aware of even more dangerous elements of Aion.''  Well, so far, I had nothing against a group that wanted to wipe out corruption with trade or slavery, that was for sure.

``Before, I didn't give any cult much merit.  We worship the four Gods, after all, which is technically considered a cult all the same.  I believed people were free to believe whatever they wanted to.  These guys though are something entirely different.  They're secretive to the point of rivaling us.  They have an agenda, and everything we've linked to them so far has pointed to us not liking the end results.  I know for a fact that they've killed at least four people.''  My blood chilled a little at that.  Oh... fuck.  Murder was...

That was the worst possible thing you could do in Aion, was taking someone else's life.  Intentional, premeditated murder was the absolute worst legal charge one could have.  Not only were you guaranteed a black collar for life, they'd probably slot you for total memory obliteration and reeducation.  Ego death, essentially.  Then you'd spend the rest of your days as technically someone else, usually a public servant until your real death.  Priests and Priestesses then stated your rehabilitation continued well into your afterlife in the Great Beyond.  The Gods didn't approve of murder either, after all.

If that cowled figure was linked to this cult, then the book was bad news.  I reached to my right and grabbed it with my paw before holding it up in front of the comm unit.  ``So, the book is probably really bad, then.  Can you... see it?''

Morrigan frowned, then shook her head.  ``No, you're just sitting there with your arms to your side.''  Well, that was slightly worse than anticipated.  She sighed afterwards, then shook her head.  ``I'm not sure what we can do about the book.  To my understanding, we know almost nothing about the Grandmaster Keyhole itself.  There's some leftover text from all the way back as far as the Demon War, but the primary facility we suspect was responsible for making the Keyholes was also their primary weapon production.  That made it a priority target during the war, and it was almost completely destroyed.  If some sort of manual for the Keyholes exists, we've never seen it before.''  Great...  Still, this was the single-most exhaustive amount of information that I'd ever gotten as of yet.

She sat up fully again however, then smiled softly.  ``But now you know why we took so many precautions on contacting you; an entirely unknown variable.  With Lilita doing her mind magic on you however, your character and motives are no longer even slightly in question.  You have my sincere apologies for having to resort to this, but we didn't have any other choice.  I'd like to work more with you, however, Exes.  Chronak helped us for decades.  If you could help us investigate things using True Alchemy, we'd be beyond grateful.  You'd of course have the full support of the Realmsguard, and all our agents.''

I frowned at that.  ``Investigate what, exactly?''

Queen Morrigan smirked at that.  ``The Cult of the Shattering.  True Alchemy that they use themselves.  Corruption that's warping the very core of Aion.  You know, help us save the realm.  No pressure.''  Oh, was that all...?  Something about the way she said it though, as she smiled at me...  It made me want to actually believe her.  Chronak had, after all.

I exhaled, ears flicking above my head.  Save the realm, huh?  ``Well, I suppose I only have twenty-five years.  I might as well make a difference before this thing claims me.  Alright...  Tell me more.''  Her grin widened, and I couldn't help but return it a little.  At least I was getting answers now, finally... and things I suspected would be very interesting in the future...

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