(chapter 5)
Elsewhere
Clemene was worried. His spies in the city of Red Lake reported that the mayor was frantically working with the Merchants' Guild, and the owner of 'The Emperor's Flame' inn, for some sort of big meeting. Other spies around the land mentioned that mayors from the neighbouring towns and villages, including ones populated by non-humans, were going to be in attendance.
"It's just like that Chaos scum to court disaster, by letting centaurs and the like into a city," said one of Clemene's subordinates. "They are nothing more than animals, yet the Emperor of Demise insists on giving them the same 'rights' as the humans in his domains."
"We could 'encourage' that disaster," said another subordinate. "A few silver coins could arrange it."
===/===
Geosynchronous orbit, Dragon Homeworld, above Red Lake City
"We are parked at the specified location," said a voice. "Placing reactors into cool-down mode. We nearly blew the FTLs with that stunt, Captain."
"Thanks, Seamus," said Freya. "I'll have to get Odin and Ivan to run some diagnostics and repairs."
"Answer this for me," said the person next to Freya. "How did you get something this large over here without using magic?"
"Six antimatter reactors and realigning three FTL drives," replied Freya. "Most of my crew will remain on board."
"Not much choice, since most of us are SHIPs," interjected Seamus. "Stormcloud and her brother, Deathbolt, are the only non-holographic crew you have. Hikari's fangirl doesn't count."
"Stormcloud? Deathbolt? Really?" asked Magatsuchi.
"Yeah," replied Freya, slightly embarrassed. "Technically, they're my little brother and sister. They're what you would call ...chuunibyo?... They'll meet us in the hangar bay."
===/===
Town Square, Red Lake City
Hans was both proud and worried. Proud, because the Emperor of Demise chose his city for an important summit. Worried, because it was only his first term as Mayor, and his future is riding on the results of the summit. The local Duke and his Barons had already commandeered almost every inn and tavern, many of them making outrageous demands of their owners. The 'mystery diplomat' they were expecting, surprisingly, had very few demands. They weren't even demands. The letter he was given just specified special furniture for their retinue's rooms.
Hilda, his sister, and the owner of 'The Emperor's Flame' nearly fainted. They only requested three rooms, and didn't just demand the entire inn to themselves, and asked for king-size beds in each of the bodyguards' rooms, and that there wasn't to be any wooden furniture in the diplomat's room. The diplomat even paid for the rooms and the furniture with a bag of gemstones, included with the letter.
===/===
Hans' retinue, consisting of the Captain of the Watch and leaders of the local guilds, nervously waited near the fountain at the centre of the Town Square. The local watchmen were keeping people from straying into the area. At the northern end of the Square, he could faintly hear Baron Freidric demanding that they move aside. Obviously, the vacuous glory hound was trying to take over the proceedings. How did he find out the diplomat's party was coming early?
Suddenly, a collective gasp went through the crowd, as four people appeared, surrounded by rings of emerald-green runes (except for the Baron, who was too busy trying to assert his authority to notice his surroundings).
Hans immediately recognised Archmage Magatsuchi. Just behind him was a six-foot-tall red haired woman, wearing commoner's clothes, and flanking the two of them were what looked like Dragonewts, except they were 10 feet tall. For a brief second, he thought the Archmage was the expected diplomat, until the Archmage stepped to one side and addressed the welcoming party. "Mayor Wainwright, allow me to introduce Artificer Captain O'Reilly. She is the duly appointed representative of the Galactic Defence Command. This is Captain Cartwright, he's in charge of the city watch. His wife Hilda owns the inn you'll be staying in."
"Mr Magatsuchi," said Freya. "Thank you for introducing me. Do you need me to Gate you home, or do you have further business in the area?"
"My business is concluded here," he replied. "I need to go back to the office. I'll see myself off." A portal then opened behind Freya's group, and Mr Magatsuchi made his leave.
"Now I know why you requested the beds," Mrs Cartwright said, looking up at the Dragonewts. "But why the 'no wooden furniture' request?"
Freya looked towards a nearby flowerbed. "Mayor Wainwright, Captain, this is for Mrs Cartwright's eyes only. Understood?"
She then led Mrs Cartwright to the flowerbed, removing one of her gloves as she walked. Mrs Cartwright noticed the flowers were actually turning to face the O'Reilly woman as they got closer. She then placed her bare hand onto a patch of empty soil.
Flowers sprouted up immediately on contact. "I developed a slight curse, from suppressing my magical abilities when I was a child," whispered Freya. "If I slept on a wooden bed, you'd have a forest growing out of your inn before sunrise."
"Oh dear," whispered Mrs Cartwright. "How will you sleep?" Such a terrible curse, she thought.
"Get your staff to remove the furniture from my room. Buy or hire a boat sail, for the floor, and string a hammock above that, or put a mattress on top of it. I'm not fussy."
"But, you're a diplomat."
"So? I'm not going to ruin someone's livelihood for my own personal needs."
Freya replaced her glove, and returned to the welcoming party.
"I don't know about the rest of you, but I think we should continue these formalities over lunch," declared Freya. "Preferably, somewhere the Rupert on my six will not barge in."
"The what?" asked Mayor Wainwright.
"I understand," laughed Captain Cartwright. "The cook at the watch house is pretty good. No Rupert would be caught dead in our building. It would harm their reputation. Your bodyguards should be able to enter through the coach house doors."
===/===
Elsewhere
"What? Magatsuchi wasn't the person they were expecting," said Clemene.
"We don't know who it is," replied one of his spies.
"It looks like they've only sent a couple of Dragonewts, and some peasant girl, to check that the accommodations are adequate," said another. "The innkeeper's maids even took out a bedframe, and brought in a boat sail and cheap mattress."
"The peasant must be the diplomat's slave," concluded Clemene. "She isn't even considered worthy of her own bed. Ignore her for now, and find out who the Dragonewts serve."
===/===
Red Lake Watch House (outside)
Baron Freidric was livid. Not only did the insolent Sergeant-at-arms fail to let him join the commoners in the Town Square, but now it seems that the three people Archmage Magatsuchi arrived with were just some advanced security detail. He stared out of his coach's window at the front doors to the Watch House.
He wanted to know what they were doing in there, but someone of his noble lineage should not be seen in such an establishment. He looked down at the cat-girl that was kneeling in front of him.
"Slave," he never bothered to learn their names. "I will excuse you from servicing me for a whole half-day, if you report to me everything the merchant's guild is discussing with that red haired commoner. Do you understand?"
He unlocked her leash, and she wrapped her raggy blanket over herself as best as she could. The coach door was opened, and the girl slunk out.
"She's entered the building," reported one of the footmen.
"It better not take too long," said the Baron. "Wait out here for her. I'm returning to my hotel. As a reward, you can use her as you please for a whole half-day. After all, I am a man of my word."
===/===
Red Lake Watch House (inside)
"You're joking! Someone couldn't be that stupid," called out one of the watchmen.
The drinks had been flowing freely for quite a while. The six-foot redhead looked them straight in the eye.
"Apparently they were," replied Freya. "They were so used to abusing their power, they couldn't accept that someone else had enough power they didn't feel threatened by them. Several good things did come out of the situation. One of them was we found out the corrupt prosecutor had been hiring criminals to kidnap girls and young women. Do not ask me what condition we found some of them in when we raided their hideout."
"Those bastards," the watchman replied.
"Never underestimate a human's ability to redefine what the word 'monster' really means," stated Freya. "Many of you will have experienced that first-hand, and I hope the rest of you never do. As for the kidnappers, they were given the choice of being dealt with by us, the local law enforcement, or the Vampire Council. Most of them chose wrong."
Captain Cartwright put down his drink. "I have to ask," he said. "Out of curiosity, why do those two call you their big sister?"
"Because I am," replied Freya.
"How do I translate this? Many years ago, my mother modified a small skiff into a racing vessel. She participated in, and won, several events. Unfortunately, her last race saw her caught in a severe storm, knocking her off course. The man, who would later become my father, found mother's wrecked ship, and broke his way in, checking for survivors. The security ...umm...spells... that were on the vessel weren't working properly, and only activated when he was carrying mother outside. There wasn't enough power, and everything went dormant not long after. Skip ahead to about 3 years ago, when I finally located where the wreck was. While I was recovering the ships logs, and seeing what parts I could salvage, I accidentally reactivated those security spells. The vessel then created those two over there, using blood samples from my mother and father. However, they weren't created properly, and didn't have any memories or behaviours installed. They may be fully-grown, but they are still basically little kids."
"Kitty!" Stormcloud's voice called out.
"Oh no," said Freya, as she saw a human-feline hybrid squirming in Stormcloud's arms.
She saw her brother reach toward the squirming girl, a look of curiosity on his face, when Stormcloud pulled her closer to her chest.
"No! My kitty!" she exclaimed.
CRAAACK!
The metal collar around the girl's neck split in two, falling to the floor. Magic sigils briefly glowed on their surfaces, before fading away. On the girl's chest, formed a symbol. It was made up of lilac, pink, and yellow lines, forming a stylised dragon's head.
It also happened to be what Stormcloud used to 'sign' her drawings and paintings.
===/===
Stormcloud was worried. Her big sister was walking slowly towards her.
Maybe she wants to take my kitty away, she thought, tears starting to form in her eyes.
"Calm down, little sister," Freya said quietly. "I'm just checking to see if your friend is okay. That metal necklace looked like it was on too tight."
She doesn't want to take kitty? That's okay.
"Hello," said Freya. "What is your name?"
No response.
"Do you have a name?"
This time, the girl shook her head.
She doesn't have a name? That's not right. Even Deathbolt and myself chose names for ourselves.
"Didn't your mummy give you a name?' asked Stormcloud.
Another head shake.
"Then I'll just have to give my new kitty a name," Stormcloud happily declared. "I'll name you ...umm... Razorfang! Yes, Razorfang is the perfect name."
Why did big sister slap her own face?
===/===
"Stormcloud," said Freya. "You're going to have to be responsible for looking after your new friend."
"Razorfang," said Stormcloud.
"Fine. ...Razorfang... She needs new clothes, and whoever put that col- necklace on her has been been hurting her, so you'll need to get either Calliope or Andromeda to have a look at her."
Freya then looked back at Razorfang. "When was the last time you ate," she asked.
"...three days ago..." came a barely-audible reply.
Stormcloud was crying. Through the tears, she could just decipher "What kind of meanie hurts and starves a poor little kitty?"
I've got to keep reminding myself, they're still little kids, thought Freya. They didn't get the same memory uploads as Hikari.
Freya looked down at the broken collar. "Captain Cartwright, can you identify who used to own her? I'm going to have to inform them that they no longer have her as their slave, and any ideas to the contrary will have to be 'discussed' with me."
"That's easy," said the captain. "The crest on that tag belongs to Baron Freidric."
"The Rupert? This will be interesting," she said, as she grabbed a helmet and cape from a passing constable. "Could you watch these two, please? I don't want them to see me deck a lolicon."