The palatial home of Hypnos was, to say the least, impressive. It was modern and angular, yet seemed regal all the same.
Ananke Nilos, however, did not seem cowed.
Her steel-tipped footsteps echoed off the polished hypersteel walls, and her head was held high, her gaze ahead and impartial. The Senghi that escorted her kept his posture the same as hers, back straight as a ramrod.
They came to a junction in the hallway, and stepped into the throne room. The great hall was simplistic, yet, in a strange way, ornate.
There were two octagonal columns on either side of the throne, each one sheathed in a burnished mirror. As they passed by, Ananke could see her own face, blue deep-set eyes like a brilliant sky, peering out from either side of a hawkish, triangular nose.
The columns framed the throne, a simple steel chair wrought with iron vines. Upon it sat a majestic Astral in a grey cloak, embroidered with silver vines and leaves. A shining coronet dripped black pearls onto his forehead.
Ananke and the Senghi guard fell to one knee, though she kept her gaze up, while he directed his down. The guard proclaimed, "I present Ananke Nilos!"
His steel eyes serene, Hypnos bid them rise.
Ananke folded her hands into the wide sleeves of her box-shouldered, high-collared coat. "You ask for my service, Hangu?" Her voice sounded like sandpaper on gravel, echoing in the cavernous room.
He gave an imperceptible nod. "Correct." He slowly began to pace around his dais. "It has come to my attention that, despite your... origins, your devotion to justice is unparalleled in all of Emberguard."
Ananke stayed impassive. "I am ill-deserving of such praise, however, I will do my best to fulfill whatever duty you expect of me."
The high lord looked down at her with a hint of curiosity in his gaze, as if no-one has ever rejected praise from him before. "An admirable prospect, Nilos-Venandi."
Ananke willed herself not to flinch at the use of her surname by such a powerful Astral. Generally speaking, "Nilos" was an insulting term.
It meant "Less Than Nothing".
She met his gaze. "What is it that you have called me here to do?"
He turned and picked up a holo-projector, the little black cube throwing light up above his palm. "One week and three days past, a man evaded our security systems, assaulted a well-known Stylist, and escaped with six of our finest synths."
The light emitted by the projector morphed into the image of a raven-haired man with a soul patch and green-and-violet nekomimi, wearing a cocky half-grin like a cat who'd just eaten the neighbor's pet bird.
"This is the perpetrator, a Voc by the name of Ciderus Lycaon. He was assisted in his robbery by a Stylist named..."
He paused to pull up another billet of text.
"Sylphy. He proceeded escaped in a podship piloted by another Voc, Zephyros Demonax."
Silently, Ananke unlatched her datalink from around her wrist and offered it to the Senghi guard. He took it and plugged it into a terminal in the wall.
"I will offer a reward of 10,000 credits in return for Lycaon, and 2,000 each for the other two. However, the capture of Lycaon-Voc, unlike his companions, is non-negotiable once the contract is signed."
He handed her a document tablet.
She handed it back to him, her expression set.
"Take your contract, and take your money. I don't need either. I will travel to Clockhaven, capture Lycaon-Voc, and if possible, Sylphy-Fidelias and Demonax-Voc."
Hypnos furrowed his brow concernedly.
"Peace, Nilos-Venandi. At the very least, allow me to provide you with transport."
She bowed slightly.
"As you wish, Hangu."
Outwardly, Ananke was the very picture of calm. But on the inside, her mind was processing the information from her dataport, flicking through calculations, records, and lines of thought like the pages of a zoetrope. Once she was out of Hypnos' presence, she allowed herself just the slightest of smiles.