I had to admit that I didn't see this coming. In the literal sense, I mean. Tajana's back home, while Crowy was staying at Castle Nergal, so I didn't have anyone with a Far Sight mark amongst the upper echelons of House Inanna anymore. I naturally marked a few people during my scouting expeditions, but none of them was in regular contact with the woman sitting in front of me, so I got completely blindsided by this development. Think fast, Leo. What options did I have? Should I just deny her accusation? Doing so would've been a bit unsightly at the best of times, but if she had hard evidence, trying to play dumb would've only made things even more awkward. Normally I wouldn't have cared about such things, but with my Phasing ability being restrained, I couldn't just remove myself from the situation any time I wanted to, so I had to be a bit more thoughtful about my response. For now, I decided on a more conservative tactic and played the Refuge in Audacity card. "Was I too obvious?" I asked her in a jovial tone, and she all but scoffed at me in return. "Don't try to play mind-games with me, 'Archon'." Her warning sounded dire, but her expression barely changed. Though again, she had an unfortunate case of the resting bitch face, so maybe I shouldn't judge too hastily. "Your ploy couldn't have been more self-evident." "Was it?" I asked back, maintaining the same laidback attitude, and I reached for my half-empty glass. "Which part?" The Matron's glare deepened, but after glancing at my drink and then back at me, her expression grew just a hint more curious, and she decided to humour my question. "I've received numerous confusing and preposterous reports over the past week concerning 'ghost sightings' around the Chasm of Desolation. The 'ghost' of a young man wearing an oversized top hat, coming and going as he pleased, not only understanding but speaking of the dialect of the Faun, and capable of deceiving their minds into believing that they were bested by their so-called Dominating Rites." "Rites of Dominance," I corrected her, and I was just about to ask if my hat really was too big, but she didn't give me the opportunity. "Not long after, an unknown man looking for a Spirit Pearl appeared in Eanna, something only a Celestial would know about or could, indeed, utilise in any fashion. Coincidentally, all of these happenings started after Bel of the Abyss captured the infamous Polemos, the so-called 'Peacemaker' and locked him away at the very bottom of the same Chasm of Desolation, forbidding anyone to even approach the lower floors, saying that doing so would be too dangerous. A Celestial known for his unusual powers and mastery of illusions." "Such a fascinating coincidence," I noted while trying to sound as disinterested as possible, and I was just about to take a sip from my drink when she hissed at me. "I told to not to play mind-games with me. You have gone through all this trouble to arrange this meeting, so say your piece." This time, I completely froze up for a second, then put my glass down without it ever touching my lips. "What makes you think that?" I wasn't being facetious or using Refuge in Audacity this time; I was genuinely, one hundred percent sincerely curious about how she came to that conclusion. Of course, I wasn't sure she would tell me right away, yet after a derisive scoff, she straightened her back, put one hand over the other on the table, and launched into an explanation anyway. "You're still at the bottom of the Chasm of Desolation even as we speak. If you weren't, you would've already left Eanna, or the Abyss altogether. The fact that you're here tells me you can't leave, so you have sent this…" She paused to look me over. "This 'avatar' of yours instead. I have no idea how you managed to conjure such a convincing illusion while trapped in the mana-syphoning belly of the Chasm, but after witnessing the Abilities of Bel of the Abyss, I have long since accepted that there are beings out there whose peculiar powers do not conform to our common sense." She paused again, this time to point at me. "You have dispatched this avatar, but its range is obviously limited. Otherwise, you would've contacted your allies in the other Noble Houses. You fabricated numerous incidents to draw attention to your presence instead, and then you purposefully spread the rumor about the Spirit Pearl, knowing that it would reach me and that I would realize the connection between these incidents." She paused for the third time, only to rest her right hand on the back of her left again, and she levelled a piercing glare at me. "I could not leave such glaring provocation unanswered, but I reckon you already accounted for in your ploy. So, here I am. What do you want?" It took me an embarrassingly long time to get my thoughts in order, and I could only hope that I didn't look too slack-jawed while doing so. Her whole explanation was preposterously self-centred, but what truly stumped me wasn't that, but the feeling of abject déja vu it elicited. That thought process was… eerily familiar, and I couldn't help but try to confirm my hunch. "Spoken like a dyed-in-the-wool Celestial." Thᴇ link to the origɪn of this information rᴇsts ɪn Nove1Fire.net I observed her closely to catch even the most minute of reactions, but I shouldn't have bothered, because she confirmed it with yet another scoff and a quiet, "You already know, so what is the point in playing coy about it?" It required inhumane effort to still my face and stop myself from face-palming, but I managed to tune my response down to an exasperated 'Of course you bloody are…' whispered under my breath. I sorted my thoughts in record time and drew three conclusions right away: First off, if she were a Celestial, then overthinking everything and seeing multi-layered schemes everywhere might've really been genetic. That wasn't a productive observation, so I shelved it right away. Secondly, I was pretty sure that if the CIN infiltrated the inner circle of Crowy, there would've been some evidence of that on the Hub. I might've missed that, but Judy wouldn't have, and seeing that she never mentioned anything about this Matron person, it meant she not only wasn't an infiltrator, but her being a Celestial was a secret so tightly kept not even the biggest intelligence network in the World of Mystics knew about it. Which brought us to the third conclusion: if it was a major secret, her confirming it like that meant that she was not only convinced that I already knew, but it was the premise on which this whole meeting was based. Meaning, it was something I could use to my advantage. I centred myself right after collecting my thoughts and shifted my style of Refuge in Audacity from 'confidently nonchalant' to 'mysterious mastermind', and adopted the usual finger-tenting pose for further emphasis. "You're right. Still, I didn't expect you to come in person on such short notice." I inclined my head forward a bit and added, "Were you afraid I would spread the secret?" I purposefully worded that a bit ambiguously, just in case I was mistaken, but it seemed that I hit the nail right on the head. "We both know the answer to that question, but it was only one of the many reasons I wished to take this opportunity to meet you in person."  That was already intriguing, but then she dropped another bombshell on me by stating, "An enemy of an enemy might prove to be a useful ally after all." "You do realise that I'm not exactly on good terms with C— Excuse me… The Head of House Inanna, right?" She eyed me with profound disapproval, but her response remained entirely professional. "I understand that you and Noir share some personal grudges, but I'm sure you're more concerned with Bel of the Abyss right now." "Oh? So that's why you weren't calling him the 'emperor'," I noted with just a hint of a smirk. I already had an inkling that Crowy and his cronies weren't nearly as enthusiastic about serving Bel as they showed on the surface, but I didn't expect any of them to approach me this directly. Meanwhile, she kept glaring at me, so I changed the topic. "In other words, you don't like the way Bel uses House Inanna and wanted to see me face-to-face to decide whether or not you want to bet on me instead?" "In crude terms, yes," she admitted on the spot. "Meaning you're acting on your own, without telling Bel or Noir about it," I noted, and as always, it took some mental effort not to accidentally call him Crowy again. "That explains the lack of guards." We would've continued right away, but then we got interrupted by the younger man in the cloth armour returning to the table and delivering a cup of coffee to her. This place didn't serve any (surprisingly enough), so he must've gotten it from somewhere else. I was almost tempted to wonder whether this was some kind of signal or part of some psychological trickery, but I quickly shook it out of my head. Let's not descend into Celestial paranoia; maybe she just wanted a coffee. Sometimes a pipe was just a pipe, after all. We both waited for him to leave our table, and only after taking a sip did the Matron say, "Are you sure I'm here without guards?" I jerked my head towards the retreating back of the young man and said, "Excluding that fellow. It makes sense, I suppose; doing something would technically count as treason." Her expression remained unchanging, but she did incline her head a bit. "Such things are of little concern to me. Conversely, were you to spread my secret in public, it would've put both Noire and House Inanna in a delicate situation, so I had little choice but to come and meet you. If anything, you have forced my hand, something I do not appreciate during the best of times, let alone these days." She put her cup down and sent another chilling glare my way. "Which brings us back to the start of this conversation, and I'd welcome it if you were straightforward with me for once: What. Do. You. Want?" "I think I already made clear what I want," I responded glibly and flashed a smile. "Just a Celestial communicator orb." "Is that it?" She studied my expression for a while, then exhaled a soft huff. "I should've realized. It was too specific a subject for it to be just a means to an end." At this point, she reached one wrinkled hand behind her back and then placed a small, worn wooden box on the table. I was confused for a moment, as it was too tiny, but when she flipped the lid open to show its contents, the magical glow emanating from the inside made it perfectly clear what it was supposed to be. I covertly poked it with a phantom limb, just to be safe, and while it felt a bit simpler than expected, the 'pearl' inside certainly had some sort of communication enchantment on it. I figured it might've been an older iteration of the holographic orbs I was familiar with, but it was certainly in the ballpark of what I was looking for. "This is my old Spirit Pearl. It's not connected to its twin anymore, and it's quite useless here in the Abyss, but I'm sure you have your reasons for requesting one. So?" She snapped the lid over the small, cloudy glass sphere shut and was about to put it away again. "How shall we deliver this to you?" "Don't worry," I reached out in a hurry and snatched it out of under her fingers, much to her apparent shock. "I can take care of this." "… This illusionary avatar of yours is more corporeal than expected." Her voice sounded even colder than before, probably because she must've realised that if I was telling the truth, she just handed over her bargaining chip before she could put it to use. "It's but a small trick," I spoke with false modesty even as I pocketed the small box. My companion remained silent for a while, as if waiting for me to say something else, but when I didn't, she quickly ran out of patience and put her hands on the table again. "This couldn't have been the only reason why you orchestrated this meeting. Were you already aware of my disagreement with the direction House Inanna was taking under the yoke of Bel of the Abyss? Were you planning to blackmail me, or simply predicting that I would provide you with aid as long as our goals aligned?" Now that she said it outright, she really had worked herself into a corner here, and I really could use her background for blackmail, but… I was currently playing the role of the Big Good of the setting, and bald-faced extortion wasn't fitting that role. Not to mention, I was supposed to be in 'timeout' right now, and this was already skirting doing plot-relevant stuff a bit too much. "Would you believe me if I told you that I only needed this, and I don't want anything else from you?" Her expression spoke a thousand silent words, so I switched track. "Listen. I have no reason to share your secret with anyone. I was going to take down Bel either way, and we didn't exactly write a contract or make a transaction. You effectively just did me a favour, so how about you tell me what you want, and I'll see what I can do about it." The Matron was taken aback, but it only lasted for a second before she pressed me. "When your crusade against Bel of the Abyss comes to fruition, I want you to limit the damage done to House Inanna and Noir to a minimum." "… I can promise the first half, but as for the latter… I'm not exactly feeling obligated to protect that bastard, especially if he takes Bel's side." She set her mouth in a thin line and insisted, "I understand that you two share a mutual antipathy, but this is a matter that involves not only all of House Inanna, but the Abyss as a whole. I thought someone of your stature would be able and willing to put his personal grudges aside for the greater good." "Sorry, but that's a hard line I'm not willing to cross." When I told her that on no uncertain terms, her nostrils flared, and she looked like she would jump to her feet at any moment in outrage. However, after several seconds of tense silence, she ultimately only hissed, "I did not expect such unreasonable stubbornness from someone people call the 'Peacemaker'." "And I didn't expect some bastard to mind-control my sister either, but guess what? The world isn't perfect." "Some bas—!" This time, she actually rose to her feet, only for her whole body to freeze mid-motion. She sat back down, but if anything, she looked more furious than when she was about to yell at me. "Are you referring to Noir?" "And this 'sister' of yours is…?" "… What kind of preposterous accusation is that?" It was at this point that my head cooled a bit, and I finally put two and two together. "Hold on. Are you trying to tell me you didn't know? About the mind-control choker?" "I have no idea what you're referring to. Neige and Noir always had a close relationship." "Like fuck they did!" I burst out, unable to control my indignation. The only reason that didn't turn a few heads was because, at some point, someone must've erected one of those privacy-magic barriers, though I didn't have the time to look for the signs of one. I still cleared my throat and muttered a soft, "Pardon my french, but that's still hogwash, no matter how you slice it." The Matron eyed me for a while, unsure how to react. "Are you truly trying to convince me that I never recognized something was wrong with the children?" "With all due respect, you didn't recognize shit," I snapped back and crossed my arms. "Bloody hell… I can't decide which is worse; before this, I thought you and the rest were just ignoring what Crowy was doing to her because he's your liege or whatever, which is terrible but understandable. Now you're telling me you were completely unaware, which is slightly less terrible but infinitely more imbecilic." "I… can't accept your words at face value…" she hissed through clenched teeth, "… but if nothing else, your outrage appears… genuine." She once again looked me deep in the eye, as if trying to read my mind. "You seem to care a lot for Neige." "Of course I do. She's my little sister." My immediate response made her eyes shake. We continued to stare daggers at each other for a while longer, but eventually her expression eased up, if only a little. "I've heard that she's in your custody, but… Is she doing well?" "Right now?" She didn't respond, so I shrugged. "She's doing fine, I think. She's attending school, and her grades are above average. She's getting along with the rest of the family, and she's learning how to do digital art and design nowadays." "Is she eating well?" "Maybe too well. The other day, she told me she was worried that if she put on weight, she'd have to cut back on apple pies." "She still likes them? Does she continue to have an unhealthy fascination with servants and doing chores as well?" "Don't call it 'unhealthy', but yes, she still does her maid cosplay from time to time. It's a cute hobby, and if anything, she got my other sister interested in it as well, and…" It was at this point that I realised that we were veering wildly off-topic, so I grabbed the reins of the conversation again. "We're losing track of the original discussion." "I'm glad we're on the same page. In conclusion, we're at an impasse." "An apparent impasse, yes." Her words carried a strange sense of finality, and she finished up her coffee in one go. "Under normal circumstances, I would never leave a negotiation table while at a disadvantage, but…" She suddenly rose to her feet, though this time in a more dignified manner. "Apprehending your avatar and retrieving my Spirit Pearl would only serve to inconvenience you while cutting off any chances of more advantageous negotiations in the future. Also… if what you told me is true, then my grasp on the household's affairs was less thorough than I believed. Something I must rectify as soon as possible. Let us say that we both received a favor from the other, and leave it at that." "That's… one way to look at it." She nodded and made a circling motion with her finger towards the two men standing at a couple of tables over before turning back to me. "For today, let us part on amicable terms. Pray tell if the same would be true for our next meeting, but nevertheless, I wish you luck in your endeavors against Bel of the Abyss." "In that case, I wish you luck in uncovering just how big of a dick your Liege is before he drags all of you down with him." She clearly didn't appreciate my choice of words, but she must've long concluded that I was trying to get a rise out of her, so her poker face remained intact and she only nodded in acknowledgement. She then turned on her heel and left the salon, with Sir Armagnac and his nephew on her heels. The Matron came and went like a storm, leaving me alone with my half-finished drink. Whether she would end up as an ally was still up in the air, but at the very least, she seemed to care for Snowy in her own way, so she couldn't have been that bad. "Nah. She's a Celestial. Let's not set our expectations too high," I whispered before finishing my drink in one go and getting up from my seat. To mix my idioms a bit, the box I just received was burning a hole in my pocket, and I was itching to see if my original plan had any merit, and as for the Matron… Closing my eyes, I felt the new mark at the edge of my vision, and a smirk settled on my lips once again.