A/N: I know you've seen that sometimes I put song lyrics at the beginnings or ends of chapters if they fit the mood or conflicts, but a couple times, the structure of something has a single song or idea in mind, and this chapter is one of those. I would like you guys to hear the song 'Matriarch' by Light Bearer, as I think it's just really good and really interesting. That song sort of hangs over this entire chapter, if that makes any sense. If you're interested, you can find it on youtube or the band's bandcamp.

Chapter 7 - Matriarch

About an hour later, Bathory found himself back in the building where his temporary residence was. He had gone over to the mess hall in there, and sat down at a small table in the middle of the layout. This hall was almost identical to where he had met Erio earlier, but this one was much more crowded, and the room began to quickly fill itself up with people of all ages as they met to eat. Bathory wasn't hungry, though, and so he just sat there, idling, waiting for Satel to finish getting ready and finish doing everything he had gone back to his room for.

Just like that, Satel arrived and sat down across from Bathory at the small table. He had changed back into the red uniform of the A.A.S, and he looked like he had tried to make himself look as presentable as possible. As he was sitting down, he was already shaking his head, and he motioned across the table to the ground mage.

"You're going to go meet her looking like that?"

Bathory stared back at him and held his arms out to the side.

"I don't really have anything better than this, okay? I can't get my uniform back until, well, until I'm back on the TSAB. Any suggestions?"

"You could borrow Negati's" said Satel.

Bathory rolled his eyes.

"Then this is it. Let's get going - I can't really guide you outside of the complex."

"Not yet. I don't know if I'll have time on the way to do this."

Satel brought his arms up and rested his elbows on the table. His lower arms were facing up into the air, and he clasped his hands together in front of him. He closed his eyes and sat there silently for a bit, only looking out again briefly to see that the ground mage across from him wasn't following suit.

"Are you going to join me?" said Satel.

Bathory shook his head and looked off to the side.

"I've never been all that religious. You go ahead."

"Really? You've got nothing to say to her?"

"Well, I - I'm looking forward to it, I guess."

Satel chuckled and closed his eyes again. He paused again, this time to take a breath and get his words right.

Next to the two Sibans, there was one other empty table, which was quickly and silently taken by two girls, one who was very short with silver hair and an eye patch, and one who was taller and had short brown hair. The taller one carried a box with her, and the girls silently opened it up, pulling several things out of the box and placing them on the table. None of this was acknowledged by the party next to them, as those two were either deep in thought or looking off to the other side.

"Oh, Kaiser," began Satel, "I will be meeting you soon. I shall tell you of everyone you have carried and everything you have done since you departed. There are those who have kept your legacy, your spirit, and your power alive across this time, and Belkan still boasts power and prosperity that will hopefully please you, though this planet may not lead you to believe that. I will kiss your hand and show you how you have led us, even through your absence, and I hope you will guide me into the future, just as you have been. There is no better honor than to be in your presence and be heard."

Again, there was silence from the table, though the noise that came from the rest of the hall was certainly overwhelming it. Slowly, Bathory looked back up and coughed.

"I...I didn't know that you were so..."

"Shhh," said Satel, silencing both of them again. He rested even longer with his eyes closed and his hands held together. Bathory was slowly starting to look away again when he felt a small hand tapping him on his shoulder.

"Excuse me" asked the girl.

Across the table, Satel moaned in annoyance and looked over at the interruption. There were the two girls from the next table, and their things were still occupying it. Bathory looked over as well.

"Oh, hey. Cinque, isn't it? And...uh..."

He looked up at the other girl, but her name wasn't coming to his head. He knew the face, but there were a lot of Nakajimas back when he met them all at once, and some of them just ran together. Finally, he thought the name came back to him.

"...Deed, right?"

"Dieci."

"Oh, right, right. So what's up?"

"It seems that there are many things which we still do not fully understand and require assistance for" said Cinque. "We are hoping to find someone with experience who could explain the reason and way that you may interact with these games - the 'point', that is, as you may call it."

Bathory was slowly starting to get absolutely confused, and he quickly glanced over at Satel for help. The air mage's hands were still held in front of him, and his eyes had opened up slightly. They were staring across the table, practically begging to be left alone in peace.

"Oooooooookay," said Bathory, looking back. "Let's see what I can do."

Cinque and Dieci moved back to their table and sat down across from each other. Bathory got up from his head and walked a couple steps over, pausing at the table to look down at it. On the table was a cardboard box with its top opened up, and inside were several sheets of paper, a couple pencils, and five dice. Bathory's eyes went wide and his confusion disappeared for a moment.

"Oh, okay! Games like...like board games. I...I guess you never played a board game before..."

He mumbled that last part as he reached down to grab the cover of the box. Flipping it over, he was immediately confused again, as he had never seen the name of this one or had heard of it.

"Y...Yah...Yahtzee?"

"Ah, I should explain" said Dieci. "After Cinque became interested in finding out what others do for fun, we asked Subaru and Ginga for assistance. Subaru asked Nanoha, and she brought several things from her world in for us to try. This is part of what we were given."

Bathory flipped the cover back onto the table.

"Alright, then. I'll just...figure it out as well."

He grabbed the instructions next, which was printed onto a sheet that unfolded as he brought it back. He held it up in front of him, and immediately realized that he couldn't read a single word that was on the page.

"Uhhhhhhhhhh..."

"You are reading the wrong side" said Cinque. "Our language is on the back."

Bathory turned the page over, and saw the same things printed in a different language - one that he could actually read. He got to work looking through the directions, trying to go quickly while also trying to understand them correctly. At the end, he folded the paper pack up and looked down at the two sisters.

"Okay. So - you get a scorecard, and a pencil, and one of you starts off."

As Bathory handed the supplies out to the two, Satel finally got up and went over to the group.

"So, what do they want?" he asked.

Bathory looked back at him.

"Have you, by any chance, heard of 'Yahtzee'?"

"What the hell is Yahtzee?"

The ground mage shook his head and looked back at the table.

"Yeah, me neither."

Everything was mostly ready, except the dice were still lying in the middle of the table. Bathory quickly looked back at the instructions, and pushed the dice over to Cinque's side.

"Okay," he said, "Cinque, go ahead."

Cinque took the dice in her hand and closed her fist around them. She stared at her hand, almost like she was analyzing it, and then moved her arm out, opening her hand and letting the dice bounce across the table. When the five of them settled, all of them were facing the same way, with a single black mark showing on top of all of them.

Bathory breathed in.

"Wow, okay. So, you got a 'Yahtzee', apparently. Put that in the row that-"

He looked down at Cinque's paper, but she had already added the dots and had written the number five up in the very top row, which showed a picture of a die matching the ones on the table.

"Oh, umm, no, I don't think you have to put-"

"But this is my first target," she said. "As such, I must accomplish it first. Dieci, you may take your turn now."

The other girl took the dice in her hand, paused for a second, and rolled. They moved across the table as well, also landing with the same side facing up on all of them - the side with one mark.

Bathory shook his head slowly. Cinque may have accomplished her role with an extreme amount of luck, but there was absolutely no way that Dieci could have gotten that too. As Dieci looked down and filled out her scorecard, Cinque took the dice, shuffled, and rolled them back across the table.

And rolled twos on every single one.

Dieci followed up again, doing the same thing, and the sisters quickly and silently continued, doing the same thing and continuing to roll perfectly every time. Next to them, Bathory slowly began to back away, rubbing his head with both hands. He stopped when he backed into the table he had taken earlier.

"I must be dreaming" he said. "Feel free to hit me right across the face."

"I would," replied Satel, "but I'm thinking the same thing."

The sisters continued to motor their way down the scorecard, and once they completed the top section, they immediately moved onto the next rows. Both Sibans were still watching this unfold, but Satel tapped Bathory on the shoulder and motioned him to turn around. The ground mage complied, and Satel leaned in, lowering his voice almost to a whisper.

"How do you know these two, again?"

"They're both Nakajimas. Sisters. Like Nove - like the one we met earlier."

"Wow," said Satel, "so how many of them are there? Four now? Five?"

Bathory took a glance back over his shoulder, lowering his voice as well.

"There's so many of them. I'm not even kidding. Like, ten, minimum. And I...I guess some of them are battle experts, and the others are dice-throwing experts..."

Satel shrugged. "Huh. Anyways, so you're 0 and 4 now, right?"

Bathory backed away and stuck his arms out in defense again.

"What? How is this a victory for them? How is this a defeat for me?"

"Well, it's certainly a mental defeat. Look at you."

"And why are you still keeping track like that?"

Bathory was stopped by Cinque again calling for him from the table. He composed himself, put his arms back by his sides, and walked over.

"Yes?" he asked. Cinque looked down at her scorecard and looked back at him.

"Dieci and I have both completed the objective. We have achieved the maximum score possible. In conclusion, this game provides a challenge of medium difficulty in testing our abilities to control objects and-"

"No, no, nonononono, stop" said Bathory, rushing to grab the dice for himself. "You're not supposed to get a perfect roll. Like, literally not supposed to. You're supposed to just...go."

He rolled them across the table, and as they settled, he got a very normal and vey random combination. Two of them showed five marks on their top sides, but the other three were scattered across the other values. He breathed in, but realized that knowing that they were real dice didn't actually give him any relief.

"So yeah" he said. "Do that. Try that. See how it is."

The dice had landed closer to Dieci, and she picked them up. She paused again and tossed them into the middle of the table. This time, they came up without any noticeable pattern. Next to the table, Bathory looked back and forth between the two sisters.

"Okay. Do that. Do you get it now?"

"Understood. I have achieved an output with the maximum amount of variance that could appear to be, and could be assumed to be, a random choice."

"No! You - you don't - you -"

Bathory stumbled heavily over his words before just deciding to give up. He placed everything he was holding down of the table in front of Dieci, and held his hands up in surrender.

"Congratulations on your powers to absolutely, completely bend these to your will. I...maybe someone else can help you. But I'm sort of in a rush. We need to get going anyways. Good luck."

Bathory walked off, leaving the table and the two Nakajimas behind. Satel followed, and when the two of them exited the mess hall and stepped into the hallway, Bathory grunted in frustration.

"I...I couldn't keep watching. That's how Arin is going to be, isn't it?"

"Who?" asked Satel.

"Former teammate. He was there at the Meridian with me. The other one from Breach Team 03 that isn't dead. He got messed with, too, but not as much as Kaisa. He hasn't done anything suicidal yet. Or maybe he was affected more. Who knows? I'm trying to figure that all out. But...but what am I supposed to say to THAT?"

He motioned back to the hall, where Dieci and Cinque were surely still in there.

"Because I know he's going to be like that. And that was confusing and frustrating and...you don't really want to hear about this, do you?"

Satel shrugged, but it was pretty obvious what he meant by that.

The two of them reached the door leading out of the building and turned right instead of left, follow the path that the other Lieutenant, Negati, took earlier that morning. After a bit of a distance, this led them to the outskirts of the facility and to the train station that ran many citizens to and from the place each day. After a small wait, one of the trains arrived and the two Sibans boarded it, heading up north to the Belkan Area.

Their progress up north was halted, however, by the many stops that the train had to make. Satel slowly began to get more and more annoyed, and as the train slowed to the halt at yet another station, he shook his head and looked over at Bathory.

"One more stop..." he said. "One more stop and I'm just getting out. I'll fly there myself."

"You can't" replied Bathory.

The air mage groaned and rested the back of his head against the wall behind him.

"Why not?"

"Low flying aircraft, or something like that. That's the best I could tell you."

"Who's going to pilot something twenty feet off the ground? That's all I'm asking for."

Bathory shrugged, as he didn't have an answer to that question. Thankfully, the train began to pick up speed again, and this time, it was a straight shot to the next stop up in the Belkan district. Both Sibans looked out the windows of the train as it entered through the middle of the district. Many of the buildings around them had the same aesthetic of the building in Cranagan proper, but a few stood out as tributes to an older time and of influences from far in the past. A church was a church, and the Saint Church stood out as a proper tribute.

The train began to slow again, and Satel and Bathory stood up. The air mage's energy and enthusiasm was renewed, and the ground mage was at least glad that he could stand up again.

"Finally..." muttered Satel as the doors to the train opened and they departed.

Immediately, the front gates of the church stepped into view. Across the road from the station, the church was the very heart of the district that had built itself around it. Behind the open gates and at the end of a short path that pushed through the gardens in front of it, the building itself stood tall, open, and inviting. The two humans had paused back at the gates, and Bathory leaned against one of them. Both had been pushed all the way open, leaving the entire path clear for travel. Next to him, Satel made sure that everything on his uniform was in order. He looked back up at the church and took a deep breath. Looking quickly over at Bathory, he stepped onto the white path, and the younger mage followed.

"Look at it" said Satel. "An island in the middle of this ocean. A little piece of...of actuality."

"Actuality?" Bathory asked.

"You know what I mean. This is the only exposure to anything non-Midchildian that lots of people here will get. All they know is that Midchilda found it somewhere in their hearts to let Belkans carve out a little bit of land to claim for their own. I don't know how many people have been out to a planet like ours and seen the real thing, but I'm guessing 'not that many'."

As Satel made his speech, the two of them walked further up the white path. Ahead of them, the doors to the church opened, and a very familiar, very well-known Instructor in her white and blue uniform walked out of it, holding hands with a small child. As the parties approached each other, Satel looked off in the opposite direction and sighed.

"Ahh, great. I was wondering when Nanoha would show up."

"Okay?" sad Bathory. "Just...just keep walking."

The two Sibans stuck to the right side of the path, and Nanoha moved herself and the girl out of the middle of the path and out of the way. The parties were almost about to get by each other when Bathory looked down at the girl and noticed something very unique and already fresh in his mind.

One red eye, and one green.

"Hold on, hold on" he said, pausing where he was and sticking his left arm out to block Nanoha as well. She paused as well, and Bathory stepped in front of her, staring down at the girl. Above his field of vision, Nanoha smiled lightly.

"May I help you?" she asked.

Bathory ignored her and continued to stare down at the girl, processing not just her eyes but the rest of her face as well. She was looking up at him as well now, and it wasn't long until the ground mage had fully confirmed his suspicion. He slowly looked up at Nanoha, and his eyebrows raised up as well.

"I see now" he said, looking back down at Vivio quickly. He stepped back out of Nanoha's way, making one last remark as he walked past her.

"Okay, I got it, I got it. Have a nice day."

He caught up to Satel, who moved a couple steps further up the path. Satel looked up as Nanoha and Vivio began walking as well, though both of their heads lingered on the ground mage for a bit. Bathory started walking even faster, and as Satel matched his pace, the younger man leaned in and began to whisper.

"That was the girl!" he said. "She kicked me off the couch this morning. I was wondering why she was going around with a Wolkenritter - she's Nanoha's kid! That just figures, doesn't it?"

Satel sighed again.

"I didn't know Nanoha had a kid" he said. "You'd think everyone in the universe would be talking about it."

"And that girl wasn't born yesterday. You'd really think that part of this story would've spread to Siba. Or - wait, does she have a kid? I didn't think so."

"We were doing pretty well with not being consumed by everything Midchilda, weren't we? Something made us falter at the end of last year, but for quite a few years there, we were doing just fine."

Bathory nodded. "Yeah, the last big spike I remember was...uhh...when Nanoha got injured, wasn't it? Heh, that was never-ending."

The two Sibans reached the doors to the church, and now Satel stopped in his tracks. He put one hand on the door and looked over at Bathory.

"Okay. Quit talking about Nanoha. I don't want to hear anything about Midchilda. I want this moment to go unbroken."

Bathory nodded again, but looked back at the path. Nanoha and Vivio were in the distance now, leaving the grounds of the church for the train station. Under his breath, Bathory started to mumble.

"Well, if it's not her kid, then the girl is certainly of high importance to get this treatment."

Satel put his other hand on the large door, and pushed it open. He could feel its weight as he had to use a bit of force, but that was all part of the experience to him. Everything had to be, or should be symbolic of weight. Of the weight he placed on this moment now, and for the weight of the Sainkt Kaiser on all of the older and newer Belkan empire. Once inside, he walked into the middle of the large room and stood in place. He looked around the room in another planned and intentional moment, but as the seconds went on, his movement became more unplanned, and he looked to be very confused.

"Do you know where you're going?" asked Bathory.

Satel shook his head.

"I thought it would be obvious."

He sighed and looked around for someone to point him in the right direction. Out of one of the hallways came a girl with short pink hair, dressed in the standard uniform of a church member. Satel walked back towards where she would be heading, and as he got close, her eyes looked over and met his gaze.

"Excuse me, Sister..."

"Schach," replied the girl. She smiled lightly and held her hands together down in front of her.

"May I help you?" she asked.

"I am here to see the Sankt Kaiser" said Satel. "Could you please take me to her?"

"I'm sorry," said Schach, "but you just missed her."

"Damn," Satel muttered, looking away. His well-rehearsed moment had faded away, at least for this current visit. He took a deep breath, and then a thought came to his head and he quickly looked back at Schach.

"When exactly did she leave? I can still catch up to her, can I?"

"She left only a minute ago. You may have seen her while you were coming in."

"While we came in?"

Satel looked over at Bathory, trying to remember if anything more happened on the path up to the church.

"Do you remember anyone else?" asked Satel.

"No, no, I don't remember" said Bathory, shrugging. "All I saw was Nanoha, of course, and that little...that...that little..."

His voice trailed off as that fact slowly dawned on both Sibans. Bathory's face slowly sagged down, but that was nothing compared to Satel. The air mage's eyes shot open, his head turned back around to the entrance of the church, and he began to stammer heavily as he held one arm out weakly towards the door.

"N...n...no. No way. No way."

As Satel's voice was still fairly low, Schach was unable to hear or see his expression. She continued to smile.

"She is still fairly shy, though, but Her Majesty is a very bright girl, and she's very cute, if I say so myself."

"CUTE?" yelled Satel, spinning around. His face was starting to turn red. "You can't call her reincarnation cute! And...and why is...I...anything..."

Both Schach and Bathory were able to quickly detect that Satel's mood had changed quite a bit. Schach's smile had dropped, and she had begun to hold her hands up in defense. Bathory looked back and forth between the other two rapidly, trying to figure out what to do. Sure, the little girl with different-colored eyes wasn't what he was expecting either when it came to a reincarnation of the Sankt Kaiser, but he wasn't about to have a meltdown in the church. Trying to get Satel away from the girl, he grabbed the Lieutenant's arm and began to pull him away.

"Thanks for helping us" he said to the girl. "Sorry for any inconvenience."

As Satel continued to stammer, tears slowly began to fall from his eyes. He continued staring at Schach as he was led backwards out into one of the hallways and over to one of the rooms. Bathory quickly opened the door, hoping that it would be empty, and was relieved to find that it was. It looked to be a classroom, with the desks currently placed against the walls on the left and right. A large window ran along one of the walls, letting in enough light for everything to be clear during the day. Once the two Sibans were in the room, Bathory let go of Satel to close the door behind them. Satel stumbled forwards, almost in a daze, and slumped against one of the desks, falling to the floor.

"I should have known. I should have expected something like this..."

Bathory turned back around and walked over to the other man.

"Satel, listen to me - if you think about it, it makes sense."

"No! No! How could any of that make sense?"

"Because, listen, okay? She's born - alright? The Sankt Kaiser is born again, but maybe no one knows it yet. She's a baby; she's no different from anyone else her age. And then she gets older, and starts to control her powers a little, maybe starts to channel them, and...and does something that no one else can do. I don't know what it would be, but she does something, and everyone realizes that there's something different about her. Maybe they run a few tests, maybe they check a few things, and it turns out that she's a Kaiser. Alright? Makes sense?"

Satel groaned again.

"But I thought I saw a picture of her as...well, older than that. Maybe my age, maybe yours - maybe a bit less. But still older than a little girl."

Bathory sighed and scratched his head. Again, he really didn't have answers to anything the two of them were thinking.

"Maybe you were wrong. But just give it a while" he finally said. "That's all we can do."

As Bathory finished, he heard the door being opened behind him. Both Sibans looked back over to it as two other nuns stepped into the room. Both looked similar to each other and both had brown hair, though one's was short and spiky and the other's was long and went all the way down her back.

"Excuse me" said the second one. "Knight Gracia would like if all unused rooms remained empty."

"Alright," said Bathory. He sighed again. "Come on, Satel. Get up."

The air mange continued to sit down, holding his hands up over his face. He started to slide down the side of the desk a bit.

"Can't."

The girl with short hair walked over to the two. Bathory looked at her and started to roll his eyes, but she ignored him and knelt down next to Satel.

"Is there a problem?" she asked. "Are you hurt?"

"I'm going through a crisis" Satel responded.

Bathory couldn't help but laugh. He chuckled disdainfully as he looked down at Satel.

"A crisis? Come on. Get up, Satel. You are a grown man."

Quickly, he turned to the longer-haired Sister and lowered his voice as he looked at her.

"I'm sorry, really. Sorry for taking up your..."

As he met the girl's eyes, Bathory slowly realized that he had also seen this person before. Something seemed familiar, especially with this girl in relation to the other one. He looked away, down at the other girl. They were also on the boat to Maritime, weren't they?

"Is there any way we can help?" asked the kneeling Sister. "Do you need someone to talk to?"

Finally, Satel pulled his hands away. However, he had a very resigned, very annoyed look on his face.

"Nope. Nope, nope, nope. Nothing. He's right; we'll get out of here."

He stood up, pushing the girl away. His eyes were turned towards the door, and he motioned for Bathory to follow him.

"Come on, Bathory. I've seen all I want to see."

"Just a secondl. Hold on."

Satel stopped, even more annoyed, and slowly turned back around. The ground mage was standing in place, looking at both of the girls in front of him. He held his hand up and began to speak, but paused again, as if he was still trying to get his thoughts in order. He began again.

"Now, I've been wrong every other time, which has actually narrowed this down quite a bit. So I've got a 50/50 shot of getting this right."

He looked between them one more time, and settled on the girl with short hair. Slowly, he spoke to her.

"Then if I remember right, YOU are Deed."

"Incorrect" said the other girl.

Bathory sighed again, but he shook his head after that. At least he had finally gotten the girls' names all figured out again.

"Do you need to speak to me?" asked Deed.

"No. No. This was just...just bugging me. Then, I guess, you have to be Sein" he said, looking at the other girl.

"Incorrect" replied Deed again.

Bathory's brain froze in place, and he stared awkwardly at the girl with spiky hair.

"If you would like to speak to-" she began.

"No, wait, wait" said Bathory, holding his hands up and cutting her off. His eyes lowered down to his hands, and he tried going back and remembering everyone else who was crammed into the back of that transport with him. He counted them up using his fingers, remembering Subaru first, on the basis of her punch to the face still stinging slightly, even a day later. Then there was that other one, and those other ones, and the prodigies of dice rolling, and then...there were these two, but if he had her name wrong...

He sighed once again, but this time he sounded much more defeated. He looked back at the girl.

"I'm sorry. I was bound to forget one of you. What's your name?"

"Otto."

"Oh, yeah, yeah, okay. Alright. I think I got it all set."

He backed away from Deed and Otto, turning around to leave. As he did, he mumbled to himself.

"Then maybe I just made one of them up..."

While Bathory was talking, Satel had slowly made his way over to the door, and was out in the hall by this point. He was leaning against the far wall, but as Bathory walked out, both Sibans started to head back down the hall.

"So what was that about?" asked Satel.

"That? Oh, they were just more Nakajimas, I think."

Satel's eyes opened again and he looked over at the ground mage.

"More?"

"I told you. I told you that there's, like, fifteen of them at the least. I don't think I've ever seen a family this big."

"Maybe they're not a family. Maybe they're all just 'members'."

"Members?" asked Bathory. "What do you mean?"

"Maybe it's like a cult."

"A cult, Satel? A cult? Are you sure you're using the right word?"

"I thought I was. What do you think I mean?"

"It might be more like a clan than a cult, honestly."

"Right. That's what I meant."

This conversation got the two all the way back to the door of the church. Unlike before, when Satel entered the church, he left a disappointed man, and he just shoved the door open on the way out. He wasted no time and continued to walk down the path, back to the train station. Next to him, Bathory continued to think this over.

"Maybe it's like 'to become a Nakajima, you must defeat a Nakajima'. Maybe that's how it works."

The two of them were both silent as they waited and then entered the next train to arrive. Bathory hoped that this would be the end of the issue - that he could make it back to the facility without being swarmed by questions he couldn't answer. As the train departed, he watched out the window as the church receded back into the distance again. Next to him, Satel, who had been looking forward blankly, dropped his head and took another deep breath.

"And why is she on Midchilda even? There are so many other worlds out there that could give her a better treatment. Better representation."

"Why did I work in Siba Capital instead of heading off to your city?" asked Bathory. "Because I live there. Maybe she's the same; maybe she was born here."

"Hardly," replied Satel. His confusion and disappointment was finally starting to be replaced by bitterness.

"She could have come from anywhere. This planet probably saw her and snatched her right up for themselves. They've got enough of a hold on everyone else. They've got the Aces. They've got the Wolkenritter. And now the single most important figure in our recent history has been taken under siege by this planet."

For not wanting to talk about Midchilda, Satel sure talked a lot of shit on Midchilda, and Bathory felt himself starting to get annoyed. There had been one question he had been thinking about the entire time he was with the air mage, but now, it felt like something that had to be asked.

"Satel, why are you even here? Why are you even on this planet right now? If you wanted to, I'm sure you could go right back to Siba whenever you wanted. I'm sure Parkensine would absolutely let you. Why are you staying here if you hate it so much?"

Satel spent a couple more seconds looking down at the floor, but eventually he looked back up at Bathory.

"It's for Negati."

His bitter tone was gone, and the anger had left his face. He looked away, but he was just trying to gather his thoughts.

"Back home, she's gotten a lot of shit for her little confrontation with you. That day we fought you in Victamius, and that day that Fate dragged you off..."

"I remember" said Bathory. "Well, most of it."

"She was supposed to kill you. She had a couple squads lined up, ready to take the shot...and...and she hesitated. She was supposed to give the order, but..."

"And I'm glad she did. I'm very, very glad that she waited."

"But she had an order! And she was supposed to carry that out right then and there."

Bathory shifted in his seat.

"And you're defending her, right?"

"Afterwards, Parkensine asked a lot of questions about her, and he made sure that everyone else did too. She tried taking it in stride, but it's really starting to wear her down. Once you were proclaimed innocent, it backed off a little, but not much. And I hate to see her like that. She should have followed the order, but I hate to see her like that."

The two were silent again for a bit after that. Bathory thought back to meeting Negati last night and this morning, and he realized it had been the first time he talked to her off of the battlefield. She seemed fine, and he wouldn't have assumed anything was wrong, but maybe things were. That also got him thinking of his battle with Fate again, and while it was still a very touchy subject, there was something he wanted to ask.

"Satel," he said, "if you were there instead of Negati, would you have done it?"

"Done it?"

"Taken the order. Told everyone to kill me. And NOT hesitated to do so."

The air mage laughed nervously.

"Well, you were guilty at that point. I'd have every reason to do so."

"If there's one thing I'll say that I probably shouldn't say, it's that killing someone is a lot harder than you think. A lot harder. Have YOU ever gotten that order?"

"No, I haven't" said Satel. "You were an interesting case. That was a direct order from the General. We all thought, up until then, that you'd just get arrested and sent off to wherever was chosen."

"Well, just know that I agree with you here, and I'm in support of Negati as well. It's not her fault she paused. It's not her fault she waited a second or two. It's just a part of...of being put in a very tough situation and being human - not thinking like something like a psychopath or a cyborg would. And...and if Fate hadn't been able to intervene, then another few seconds wouldn't have mattered."

"Funny you mention cyborgs" said Satel. He sat up as well. "One of the Uninhabited Worlds is fairly close to Siba - well, 'close' in the whole grand scheme of things. Number 6, I think. And it has a couple orbital prisons surrounding it."

Bathory let his head drop, and let out a long sigh.

"I know. We sent a couple people there over the years in Siba Capital."

"My city doesn't get that option. I guess that's something Parkensine has to authorize himself. But anyways, up until Negati was ordered to shoot you, we all thought if we caught you, we'd arrest you. Standard Procedure. And then you'd be sent off to wherever was chosen. Somebody mentioned that there are a few empty spots on those prisons."

"He was going to send me to Gerda if I was caught, wasn't he?" asked Bathory.

"One of them, probably. Maybe he'd have kept you on-planet. Maybe not. But the reason I bring them up is because one or two of the combat cyborgs who did that whole thing on Midchilda is stationed in them. They're a couple of the really bad ones, apparently. One of them was named...uhh...like...well, it started with a Q, I think, and it was some kind of weird name. I don't remember what they look like, but it's...it's sort of one part cool and another part scary. Cool because they could have been sent anywhere in space and they were sent near us. Scary because, well, how do you contain a combat cyborg? I don't know if there'd be a way. I'd just disassemble them."

"Anyways, going back to Negati," said Bathory, "tell her again that I support her. I won't treat her badly about anything she's done for me."

The conversation ended there, and the train kept riding along its tracks. As the city of Cranagan came back into view, Satel felt his device buzz in his coat pocket. He reached down and took it out, and a small screen phased into view above his hand. He read the words that were on the screen quickly, then put his device away again.

"Speaking of Negati," he said, "she's done with her little visit. She'll meet up with us when we get back."

Fortunately, the train seemed to stop at fewer stations going back through the city than it did when leaving it. Satel hadn't been vocal about his displeasure in a while, and Bathory hoped it would stay that way. There were a few things he just didn't want to be assaulted with, and he welcomed the idea of having someone else back in their party. Especially since the air mage would probably turn his opinions on his fellow Lieutenant and give Bathory a break.

The familiar outside of the facility came into view, the train began to slow, and the two Sibans silently got up. Acting in a pair, they waited by one of the doors and exited as soon as they were able to. Here, Satel looked around for his red-haired companion, and Bathory simply followed him. The air mage saw her waiting at the back of the platform, carrying something under her arm, and the three of them met up.

"Hey" said Satel, and he almost seemed to be smiling. "Anything interesting?"

Negati laughed.

"I feel like I spent a whole week in there. And I did get a little souvenir."

She took what was folded up under her arm, and as she unfolded it, it turned out to be a white shirt with a cartoon picture of Midchilda and the words "Midchilda #1" above it in a big, blocky font.

Satel stared at the shirt, dumbfounded, and then looked up at Negati.

"You are NOT bringing that back to Siba with you. No way."

Negati sighed and began to roll the shirt back up.

"It was just a fun little thing, Satel. I'm a tourist. I bought something tourist-y."

"Negati, you bought something that would get you-"

He stopped himself, feeling the girl's deathly glare bearing down on him. She finished rolling her item up and put it back under her arm like it was before.

"No harm done if I don't use it. I don't know if I would have anyway. Now, how was your visit? What was the Kaiser like?"

"It was different" Bathory said quickly, trying to cut in before the inevitable barrage by Satel. "She was...not exactly what we thought she'd be."

"She's a child, Negati" said the air mage. "Just that. Nothing more."

"Well, she's still the Sankt Kaiser" said Negati. "And I knew what she'd look like, at least."

"Then I was lied to. And I still might be. The Sankt Kaiser is this...this figure of leadership. Power, strength, beauty - achieving what no one else could achieve. Not this little thing that...that falls over if she walks too fast."

He looked away momentarily, and in that little bit, Negati and Bathory shared a small moment as they both understood the others' annoyance. It ended as soon as Satel looked back up and continued. At the end of his opinion, Negati took a breath.

"See, I heard that she did something or activated something that only she could have done. I think she's the real thing."

"Exactly!" shouted Bathory. "She's only five or so years old. Give her twenty more, and she'll fit your description."

"Alright" said Negati. She stood by Satel's side and started walking through the station towards the exit. Her arm was around the air mage's side, and she guided the party across the floor.

"What now?" she asked. "Is there anything else going on?"

"Depends," replied Satel. "Did the General say anything to you?"

"No. Nothing yet. Have you heard anything?"

"He had last night to think it over. It should be early morning for Siba Capital. If we don't hear something, then I guess he needs longer to decide."

"I had a feeling we'd be here longer than a day" said Satel, looking back and addressing Bathory as well. "But I don't want this to be too long. You'd be sick of me, I'd be sick of you, and Negati would run out of things to see."

"Oh, if I was here for a week..." said Negati. "If I was here for a week, I'd probably never end up leaving. You can really get sucked in if you're not careful."

"True, isn't it..." replied Satel, already looking off and thinking about something else that drove a thorn in his side.

The group had left the station, and the cluster of buildings was there in front of them again. Bathory moved around the two Lieutenants, and stood partly in front of Satel as he talked to him.

"We could go get Minasa now, if you wanted to. Her training would be done soon, I think."

"Isn't that who you two went and saw first?" asked Negati.

"Correct, but it turns out she's missing a very, very significant part of every Siban's culture."

"Oh? And what's that."

"She hasn't seen SCDU" said Satel.

"What?" asked Negati. Her eyes went wide, and she looked rapidly at the two men. "She couldn't have!"

"Exactly. So we're going to fix that."

"Alright" said Negati. "I would love to watch an episode or two. I am a little scattered from my trip. Where do we find her?"

"That is the easy part" said Bathory. "Her instructor is, of course, Instructor Takamachi, so you just look for the pink lights..."

On cue, the three heard the sounds of battle from the other side of a wall of trees. Above the tops of them, pink orbs of magic shot up and back down, forming their own paths and hinting to the activity found at their origin. Bathory watched them sail about for a bit, and then stepped off the path onto the grass, heading for the trees.

"...And then, you go from there."