The Chapterhouse was the large castle in the middle of the city.
Anko, Ferro, and Malz were guided straight there, all the while being stared at by people on the way. Even with a mostly direct path, Malz could tell the city was a maze. Perhaps that was intentional, a ans to foil invaders who would likely have superior firepower and want to enslave them again. Heaven’s operational doctrine was to avoid large conflicts inside of cities, relying on proxies if they weren’t going to just level the city with magic.
Malz started to notice a the as they walked. People with green sashes seed to be druids or those associated with farming, while those wearing yellow seed to be craftsn or rchants.
Those were the most common colors the closer they got to the docks, but there were also people with patterned scarves who seed to be associated with each other but with no definite role. Perhaps they were other militias or even street gangs - Ayther had street gangs, right? Malz seed to rember street gangs were common antagonists in fiction about the world.
Had she been at her full strength, she might have enjoyed such a tropey encounter, but without the suit, she was horribly weak. She could heal people just fine, a little, but it had never been her strong suit. Information was where her true strength lay, making the tactical and strategic judgents that would minimize the amount of work she and others needed to do.
Her lesser seraph manifestation had even reinforced that, but achieving that form felt as distant as Hell. Having achieved that height was part of why she felt so powerless now. Part of why she froze.
Because she didn’t know how to handle herself anymore. Torture, starvation, and captivity had robbed her of confidence and strength in equal asure. And combat brought out the spectre of death that she’d spent years avoiding, hoping that what she went through would an sothing.
This could not stand.
I need to recover... not just rest, but actually dig down and figure out why I’m so fucked up right now... Echoes of those other Aikos rose in Malz’s thoughts. So many lives... maybe there was sothing there that could help.
She saw them in dreams. In flashes and half-rembered whispers. Feelings of deja vu.
I need to look at them...
She was scared to. Each dream made her feel less like herself and more like... Aiko. And behind all those mories, she felt it, sothing looming and latent. A sense of mory so distinct it had to be the source of why so many Aikos in the past considered themselves an extension of it... of her.
Of the original.
Because they had all been incomplete. And she needed to understand why.
Yet still, she feared to.
"Ma- Aiko, we’re here. Aiko!"
Malz looked up to find Anko tugging her up the street to the castle. She’d crossed the drawbridge without thinking, barely even seeing the deep moat that surrounded the star-shaped castle for about five ters on each side.
No, it’s not ters. It’s asures. ters were her way of asuring things.
Malz didn’t know how she knew the approximate span of the moat, but she felt like if she wanted to, she could asure most things with just a look. Like how Ferro was almost 150 centiters, not counting his ears, almost the sa as Anko, who was taller by...
Stars dammit.
They were led to the bailey and told to sit on stone benches while Jian spoke with a guard. After a few minutes of waiting, during which Anko asked a few annoying questions of the elf, a pair of individuals walked into the sunlight.
One was a hulking beastkin, unevolved but with wolf-like ears and a tail that looked a little short on him. The other was an elven woman with an artificial left arm and right leg. She had white hair and a strong blue aura. Like a century or perhaps even a millennium mage.
"It’s good to see you, Jian," the elven woman greeted. Her voice has a raspy, smoky quality, and the mont she spoke, Malz noticed the scars on her neck, like a hangman’s noose.
"More strays?" the wolfkin man rumbled. "And what are they wearing?"
"Councilor Avasar. Councilor Bardoulf. These are Ferro, Anko, and Aiko." Jian pointed to each of them. "They say they ca from the Duat."
"Oh? When did you escape?" Councilor Avasar looked at them.
"I believe... it’s been a week or two," Ferro answered truthfully. "Three, maybe? I-"
"We," Malz corrected.
"-haven’t gotten used to surface ti yet."
Councilor Avasar touched her artificial elbow as she pondered them. "The teller, Wolzek."
The wolfkin man grunted an acknowledgent and reached into a pouch on his waist. In short order, he produced an artifact Malz recognized. A simple truth-telling cube. It would change colors depending on if a person was telling the truth or not - or more accurately, if they spoke what they believed to be true.
"I trust you’re willing to allow the use of this for our interview?" Councilor Avasar asked, taking the cube with a gentle hand.
Sothing clicked in Malz’s mind. Titles like "Councilor" weren’t just handed out to everyone. They had to be important to the city if they were working in its most fortified structure.
"May I ask a question?" Malz asked.
Bardoulf snarled until Avasar nodded to her.
"Why are we being t by you? Vetting slaves hardly seems like sothing soone with your title would have to bother with."
"Perceptive," Avasar said. "We are in a bit of a crisis, but one moving slowly enough that we have yet to face it fully. I trust you noticed the crystal tower on your way in?" The cube in her hand glowed green.
"Hard not to."
"That was our city’s dungeon. The main source of our food after the ocean." The cube glowed green again. "Since you say you ca from the duat, I need to ask if the sa phenonon has occurred in Aaru. If you have any information on the state of the Duat’s city, that would also be invaluable to us. As would your cooperation, should you be of a magical persuasion."
"What do we get in return?" Anko asked.
"You get to keep your limbs." Bardoulf crossed his arms.
"Wolzek, don’t scare them," Avasar slapped him ineffectually on the elbow. He grunted. "Will you answer our questions? I can offer you two rooms and food, at least for the month, while you get yourselves situated."
"I’m willing to answer your questions," Ferro volunteered. "But, um, just so you know my experiences might be a little out of the ordinary for-"
"Not you." Bardoulf tilted his head away from Ferro and towards Malz, whom he pointed at, rudely. "Her."
Avasar took one step forward. "Are you willing?" she asked.
"What happens if we don’t answer to your satisfaction? Or refuse?" Malz asked, trying to cover up for her internal recriminations at getting herself singled out.
"In the first case, that would depend on what you do say. In the second, we will have you removed from the city. Jun is a long walk to the south, but the jungles are still liveable from what I hear. If you don’t mind traveling to a city in the Syndicate’s pocket."
Malz tsked, looking at Ferro and Anko, who seed a bit nervous. "Fine. Let’s get this over with," Malz reached out her hand and accepted the cube, which flashed green once to let her know it was active.
"What is your na?" Avasar began. "And the nas of your companions."
"I am called Aiko," Malz answered coolly. "The half demon is Anko. The catkin is nad Ferro." The teller glowed green.
"Do you intend any harm to this city? Or any person within this city?" Bardoulf asked.
"No," Malz answered. The teller glowed green.
"Answer both questions," Bardoulf growled.
"No, I do not intend to harm the city or anyone within it. But I will defend myself if the need arises."
"The sa for your companions?" Avasar asked.
"Yes, to my knowledge." Green glows accompanied every answer.
"What are you hiding under your cloak?" Bardoulf asked next.
"It’s a..." Malz closed her eyes, holding hard to the last image she saw of her single wing. The missing feathers. The naked skin, paler than the rest of her. "... a limb... one that hasn’t grown right." The mont before the cube was due to light up felt like it dragged on.
She knew the trouble they could place this city of refugees and escapees in if Heaven found out an angel was amongst them.
She held onto the image, the belief in her own brokenness, with every ounce of willpower her mind could-
Green. The cube glowed green but was tinged at the edges with yellow.
"This clearly is an uncomfortable subject with you..." Avasar chewed the inside of her lip, her eyes giving away a sense of suspicion.
"She was tortured, alright!" Anko raised her voice. "Used in so sick experint by Mal- by a man who should have treated her better!"
Malz felt a strange emotional mix almost bring her to tears. She expected them to hand the cube to Anko to confirm, but they made no moves to.
"Is what the demonkin says true?" Avasar asked.
"Y-yes," Malz replied. The cube glowed a firm green. "I... would like to find soone who can put a dinsional storage on my back... removing it would be too much trouble."
"No one like that in this city," Bardoulf said, his voice only slightly softening. "But we still have so dinsional bags from the dungeon. Might be you can hang one on it just fine."
Malz nodded, eting his eyes for a tiny mont before looking away.
Avasar cleared her throat. "Let’s take a break. Jian, you’re welco to join us for refreshnts. Afterwards we can get to the questions I need to ask, about the Duat and how exactly you escaped it."
"Miss Avasar, may I report sothing before we take a break?"
"Oh?" Avasar raised an eyebrow, gesturing for Malz to give him the cube.
The mont he had it in his hands, Ferro held it up for them to see clearly.
"During our journey through the desert, we ca across sothing quite concerning. A cache of weapons and supplies. Enough to supply a small army..." Amidst the green glow of the truth-teller, he finished his report. "I believe Aaru is planning on attacking Chainsfree soon."
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