'Or is it?' Entoma had to ask, recalling her fight against Evileye before, it had been hard fought but 'that spell' gave her a clear victory. 'She took my voice and made it ugly, she took my mask and made me show…' Entoma stopped that train of thought as best she could, but it was an imperfect effort with imperfect results, leaving old anger still simmering just below the surface.
That anger lingered on when the masked magic caster opened a thick wooden door and stepped aside, holding it to allow Entoma within before shutting it behind them both. Entoma didn't wait for the invitation to sit, she sat in the chair on the visitor side of the desk, and a moment later Keeno took her own seat.
The two stared at one another's false faces, masks for the both of them. The quiet held, and Keeno finally broke it, "You've come a long way to see someone you dislike."
"Nothing is a long way with the Gate spell." Entoma pointed out and went silent.
"Right. Of course." Keeno said and began tapping her foot on the floor.
The silence held again.
Keeno once again was the one to break it.
"Could you tell me, why?" Keeno asked. The voice altering property of the mask did nothing to alter the discomfort she felt, and she shifted in her dark wooden chair while she waited for the reason for Entoma's visit.
"Bertra's idea. I never once was without my mask, until she and I became friends. Except for the day… you took it from me." Entoma answered.
That returned the room to frosty silence so cold that it would have made Cocytus long for the sun.
That too, stretched out.
"I-I see." Keeno replied and subconsciously, her hand went up to touch the smooth white of the mask in front of her face.
"You don't need that anymore, do you?" Entoma pointed out.
Keeno's hand lingered on it, realizing only just then that she was touching her mask at all. "No, no I suppose I don't."
"Then why do you wear it?" Entoma asked a little sharper than she herself intended.
"The truth?" Keeno answered with a snort, "I'm terrified of public speaking."
Entoma laughed out loud, the youthful voice went out over the room, filling it briefly and replacing for at least a little while the frosty atmosphere. "You faced monsters, fought a war, but standing in front of people and talking to them is too much?"
Keeno chuckled and smiled with amusement at her own absurdity, "I know, it seems strange, but the thought of standing up in front of all those students staring at me, hanging on my every word, judging me or hanging their lives on what I say? It's terrifying."
Entoma took that in, it was an unexpected answer, and admission. 'A peace offering?' She wondered.
"So… you have a different voice from when we first met." Keeno said, it wasn't 'quite' an accusation.
"It belonged to a thief. They tried to kill our master. She had no need for her voice in death." Entoma replied, and Keeno quietly took that in.
Entoma waited for the animosity, but felt none. 'The sentiment about thieves is something we share, at least.'
"So you don't hide your face because you're afraid of being judged evil as a vampire?" Entoma pressed back to her original subject.
"Right… I'm just a wimp about public speaking." Keeno chuckled again, "But vampires live openly now, there aren't many of us, perhaps a thousand from the far west of the Roble Holy Kingdom to as far northeast as the edge of the Baharuth Empire. But we can live in public, we hold normal jobs, most of us. Some work with adventurers, a few are teachers. We feed from volunteers who sell their blood and we don't 'turn' anyone without official permission, which has only been granted once so far."
"So what's it like, to live without the mask on?" Entoma asked, "Is it different?"
"Very." Keeno said without hesitation.
"Really?" Entoma asked and leaned forward.
"Vastly!" Keeno exclaimed and leaned forward herself, "I spent most of my life being afraid of being exposed for what I was! And when I found comrades, I lived in fear of losing them, that only got worse when I began to think of them as more, as sisters. I'm forever grateful for the changes that let me be who I am, what I am… and be accepted for it."
"Would you have changed if you could, back before, or later?" Entoma asked, and at that, Keeno sat back.
"Some days yes, early on especially. After a while though, no. Even for all the risks, it was 'me', a part of 'me'. If I wasn't hurting anyone, why did I have to change? I was bitter about it, sometimes. But I still liked being who and what I was. I can't help but think that is why there aren't many like me. The constant loneliness and isolation, the 'pretending' not to be what we are… who knows how many of my kind just took their own lives rather than go on being what they couldn't change?" Keeno looked away toward the wall then, the bug mask in front of her was still too human after saying something like that.
Without looking back at her 'guest', Keeno went on to ask, "Is that why you're here today? To talk about masks?"
"Sort of." Entoma replied, "The other maids and their…" 'Can I say Solution and Nua are 'friends'? Close enough.' She reasoned, and said it, "friends, went on a short trip to the shore at Queen Calca's oceanside residence and…"
Entoma went on to explain it, what she saw, how she saw it, and what she spoke with Bertra about later after it was all over. When she was done, Keeno felt she had a solid grasp of why it was suggested that she come here.
"To be fair to Bertra… I doubt she knew we'd tried to kill each other before. I'm sure she wouldn't have suggested me if she'd known that." Keeno pointed out, turning her full attention to her guest, she then raised a finger and pointed something out. "However, we are on the same side now and… you were trying to kill my sisters."
"They attacked me first." Entoma pointed out in turn, "I even tried to avoid fighting, but your big friend wouldn't have any of it. If you wouldn't have lain down obediently and died when someone tried to kill you as a vampire, don't expect the same out of me."
Keeno ground her vampire teeth a little bit, but it was hard to argue the point, particularly since she knew that Entoma was telling the truth. "All I can say is I was protecting my loved ones from danger."
"So was I." Entoma said, and the two leaned forward again, "Before the Sorcerous Empire, we were both just monsters in disguise, now we're both just people, and I'm coming to you for help. I wouldn't have if I'd known who you were, but I'm here now… so what do you do?"
"I suppose I owe you one, don't I?" Keeno reluctantly acknowledged. "If you ever do want a rematch… of the nonlethal sort, I'll grant you that. But for now, why don't we start by removing our masks and speak face to face."
Like archers facing one another with drawn and ready bows in a standoff, the pair reached up very slowly and removed their masks, then gently set them down.
Entoma's face began to crawl, only for her to immediately smack the tip of her arm down and stop it after a single set of multi legged steps.
"Now what?" Entoma asked, crossing her arms in front of herself on her lap.
"Now… I honestly don't know. I thought I'd have some idea when I looked at the real you again, but… I don't." Keeno replied, her shining blood red eyes looked almost regretful. "All I can tell you is my experience. My friends who loved me, who stayed my friends. They didn't care what I was, I fell in love with the Dark Hero and… well that's not gone anywhere. But still," Evileye let out a forlorn sigh, "the greatest thing about living so openly is being able to freely love and be loved without fear. But… does that apply to someone like you?"
Entoma tapped the tip of her arm on the desk, "I'm an arachnoid/human hybrid. When my creator made me, he gave me the full range of human emotions. Why do you think I was so angry when you said nobody would want me to serve them? For one of us, there is no greater insult."
Keeno uncomfortably scratched her short blonde hair, "It was combat… but given where we are now, I feel I should apologize as an act of good faith."
"I was trying to kill you. Call it even? After a duel, at least." Entoma asked.
Keeno brought her hand down, started to extend it, then stopped, and held it out the rest of the way. "Alright."
The two shook on the bargain and leaned back in their chairs.
"So, if you're capable of everything that everybody else is, maybe what you really need is a change of scenery. Meet some new people, go around without your mask somewhere else in the Empire then if it doesn't go well, you can leave without regret. A little confidence boosting… it is a risk, but demihumans and heteromorphs are everywhere now, the younger generation treats it as normal, and the rest-" Keeno stopped dead at the end of her sentence, bitterness overflowing with the final word.
Then she spat the rest out, "-can run off and hide with the Theocracy holdouts in the woods and borders until they're finally hunted down."
It was a crisp nod from both of them at that which settled the matter of their common ground.
"Where would you suggest?" Entoma asked, her voice much friendlier, and she opened her arms, setting them at ease on the desk.
Keeno gave it some thought, rubbing her little chin, "Hmmm…" Then a smile ran over her face as she said, "I have it! The Baharuth Empire has a magic academy! They're also short handed, you're an entomancer, I guarantee they'll have a spot for you. Give me just a moment."
She then reached into her desk and yanked out a blank sheet of paper, ink and quill came out next, along with a seal which Entoma recognized as belonging to the school they now sat in. Evileye's hand flew with vampiric speed, scratching over the paper until she signed with a flourish and then affixed a seal to the base.
"And that is?" Entoma asked while Keeno lightly blew on the damp ink stained page.
"A teaching certificate. Improvised, but it states that an instructor of the school here has tested you in combat magic and found you fit to instruct others. This will get you a spot in the academy in Baharuth as soon as you walk through the door." Keeno said and slid the document across the desk.
"You didn't have to do that," Entoma pointed out, slowly drawing it over to where she sat. "Lord Ainz would have just told them to take me."
"I'm sure. But see it as a peace offering from me." Keeno said, "I'm glad you found your way into His Majesty's service and out of Jaldabaoth's. And whatever Supreme Being created you, if they really were Supreme, they made you as they wanted you to be."
Entoma looked down at the document, then up at her former enemy, then down at it again. She then slowly stood up and said a quiet, "Thank you." before picking up her mask and replacing it.
Keeno stood up at the same moment, and a moment later the gate appeared, and Entoma vanished through it. "You're welcome." Keeno said to the empty room. 'Now that I've got the rest of the day to myself… what do I do with it?' Keeno asked, and of course, there was one clear answer. 'See if Lakyus would like to join me for lunch.' She thought, and walked out of her office, leaving the empty room behind.