(A/N: Before I start, I'd like to apologize ahead of ti, I have good news and bad news.
For the good news: the previous eight chapters were kind of off, my pc had problems so I had to resort o posting from my phone and it ended up scattered, but my pc is back and everything's back to normal.
As for the bad news; The relentless publishing might have finally caught up to . I made an error with the characters. Irelle is a scholar Division graduate not combat division, my interest on integrating her into the group made miss that, so the chapter where she noticed Orion's distraction shouldn't have happened, I deeply apologise. Big thanks to 'Gar Cat' for the call out. So no Irelle in this arc.")
Orion forced himself to look away.
He wasn't ignorant of cultural differences, nor was he particularly delicate when it ca to unsettling sights, but what sat before him still disturbed him on a visceral level. A Sylgrid adolescent—clearly past childhood—suckling openly, with no sign of embarrassnt or hesitation from the female holding them.
It was… wrong. To him.
But that was the point.
This wasn't his race. Not his customs. Not his place to judge.
Still, the image lingered unpleasantly at the back of his mind. He didn't know whether to be offended, unsettled, or simply confused. The fact that neither Sylgrid seed to think it strange made it worse.
Orion recalibrated.
Whatever they practiced—be it sothing benign, biological, or outright repulsive by human standards—was irrelevant. He wasn't here to moralize. He was here to achieve an objective.
The male Sylgrid gestured calmly toward a set of cushions made from woven plant fibers and cured hides. They were simple but clean, arranged opposite the Sylgrid pair.
"Please," the male said evenly.
Orion, Erevan, and Seris sat.
Orion's mind imdiately began structuring the conversation. What information they needed. What they could reveal. What angles to probe without triggering suspicion or hostility. He was just about to speak—
When the male Sylgrid beat him to it.
"What reward do you wish to collect?" the Sylgrid asked, bowing slightly as he spoke. "If it is within our power, I will do my utmost to grant it."
Orion paused.
Reward?
He hadn't frad it that way. To him, the monster had been an obstacle, nothing more. Sothing that interfered with his mission and was therefore removed. He hadn't even considered compensation.
He opened his mouth—
And felt Seris' hand rest lightly against his forearm.
A single, subtle pressure.
She was taking this.
Orion closed his mouth and leaned back slightly, giving a small nod. He trusted Seris. More than that—he understood why she wanted control of the conversation.
Seris smiled.
It wasn't bright or overdone. It was warm. Gentle. Disarming.
"Please, raise your heads," she said softly. "It truly was no problem to us. And I assure you, what we seek will be well within your boundaries."
The male Sylgrid straightened slowly.
The tension in his shoulders eased almost imdiately.
Orion noted it.
Tone mattered here. Far more than authority.
"We are grateful," the female Sylgrid said, her voice quiet but sincere. "That abomination has plagued us for far too long."
"I can imagine," Seris replied, her expression sympathetic. She very deliberately kept her gaze away from the adolescent in the female's lap, as though nothing about the situation was strange.
It was an impressive adjustnt.
Seris continued smoothly, "I'm curious… why didn't you send for help from the Capital?"
The effect was imdiate.
The male Sylgrid's expression tightened.
His jaw set.
"We tried," he said, his voice hardening. "We received no response. They left us here to rot."
There was real anger there.
Not resentnt. Not bitterness.
Anger.
"Tala," the female Sylgrid said sharply, cutting him off before he could continue.
The male grimaced and fell silent.
Orion's focus sharpened.
That wasn't a casual interruption.
Seris caught it too. Orion could tell from the slight shift in her eyes.
Fear.
Not of outsiders. Not of monsters.
Fear of the Capital.
The scout they'd captured earlier had shown only reverence when speaking of it. Respect. Almost devotion.
These two were different.
They knew sothing the others didn't.
"So," the female Sylgrid said after a brief pause, forcing her tone to soften, "what is it you wish to request?"
Seris didn't hesitate.
"Help," she said.
The simplicity of it carried weight.
"We're looking for soone," Seris continued. "A close friend of ours. The best lead we have is that he was last seen sowhere in the Jade Forest. We've been searching for days, but the forest is… overwhelming."
She let a note of exhaustion slip into her voice. Just enough.
"After hearing about the Capital from your scout, we believe that's the most likely place to find information. Or at least soone who could help us narrow things down."
Orion was stunned internally.
The story was tight. Too tight. Every detail flowed naturally, every emotional beat landed exactly where it should. It was the kind of lie that didn't feel like a lie because it wasn't overexplained.
Seris wasn't fabricating randomly.
She was mixing deception with truth.
Forest. Search. Difficulty. Capital.
All real.
Just rearranged.
Orion revised his internal assessnt imdiately.
This wasn't just social competence.
This was practiced deception.
He had never seen Seris at work before, she always just got the job done. Then there was the chance that she'd also fooled him too in the past.
The male and female Sylgrid exchanged a look.
Sympathy surfaced almost instantly on both their faces.
"If that is all," the male said, "then we can certainly help you. We can assign an escort to the Capital. I also know soone there who may be able to assist you."
Seris tilted her head slightly, as if hesitant.
"Are you sure?" she asked. "We don't have much information to help with the search."
The male waved the concern away.
"Hmmm. Information can always be found," he said. "What clues do you have?"
Seris frowned lightly, as though thinking.
"Well," she said slowly, "there was sothing about the Jade Forest… and a special kind of jade. I'm not sure how he's connected to it."
Orion's pupils contracted.
Perfect.
He almost laughed.
The phrasing was vague enough to be aningless to soone uninvolved—and devastatingly precise to anyone who knew more than they should.
The reaction was imdiate.
The two Sylgrid leaders froze.
Just for a second.
But Orion caught it.
The way their breathing shifted. The way the male's fingers tightened against his knee. The way the female's eyes flicked—not to Seris, but to each other.
A look passed between them.
Quick.
Loaded.
Orion felt a slow smile forming in his mind.
These two knew.
Not rumors. Not guesses.
They knew sothing concrete.
Seris, to her credit, didn't press. She simply let the silence stretch, her expression open, hopeful, unaware.
The male Sylgrid cleared his throat.
"That… may complicate things," he said carefully.
Orion leaned forward slightly.
Just enough to signal interest.
Whatever the Sylgrid Jade truly was, it wasn't just another mineral.
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