"You are Mr. Krios correct? My lady will see you now."

Thane blinked in surprise, he hadn't even sat down in the lobby yet before he was being called in.

Walking up to the receptionist, one of the smaller Alliance species, referred to as a 'fairy', and said. "I thought I had arrived early, I apologise if I have kept the ambassador waiting."

"You are early, but My lady's schedule was clear for today, so she requested you be brought in the moment you arrived, this way please," the fairy said cheerfully.

Thane quickly glanced around the lobby as he was led away, noting that it was indeed empty besides him.

The fairy opened the door, and announced him. "Thane Krios has arrived Lady Flandre."

Thane quickly scanned the room, it was quite simply an office, with a desk, console, random potted plant that Thane couldn't tell if it was fake or not, and a cabinet of some description in the back. It seems offices are the same no matter the species. The only unusual addition was Flandre's bodyguard, leaning her chair against the far wall, seemingly having a nap, her posture suggested to Krios however that she might be more aware then she appears.

"Thank you Mei, you are excused," Flandre said.

Then there was Flandre herself. Thane was already quite familiar with her, having already scoured both his sources and the extranet for anything he could on the infamous bloodsoaked alliance ambassador. The one thing Thane did note that the vids did not do justice to the glint in her eye. To thet rained assassin, it felt predatory.

"Good morning Mr. Krios. I must say I don't meet many Drell, at least not in an official capacity."

"Unsurprising, there aren't that many of us, unfortunately," Thane said politely, taking a seat opposite Flandre. "Also, no need for the honorific, Krios will do, I am no one of note."

"If You insist." Flandre said, "Now how can I help you 'no one of note'?"

A playful, almost childish, response, but that only masked the innate danger she presented, so far to be expected.

"Lady Scarlet-" Thane began, but Flandre cut him off.

"Call me Flandre, please, Lady Scarlett is my sister."

Thane wasn't aware Flandre had a sister, probably valuable information to somebody, but that was not Thane's business, nor was he really interested with info brokering. His job was already dirty enough.

"Lady Flandre?" he tried instead, and Flandre nodded for him to continue. "Lady Flandre, if I may properly introduce myself, I am a freelance mercenary, currently investigating a missing persons case, and my investigations have led me to believe you can help me in my inquiries."

"A Mercenary hmmm? I must say you are quite well-spoken for a hired gun, polite even."

"I was in the service of the Hannar government, before entering the private sector for personal reasons. I also tend to cater to well off clients. I am also of the opinion that civility costs nothing, especially when you are asking for assistance," Thane said in explanation.

"Ah, of course, Hannar," Flandre said, pausing for some errant thought, before presumably dismissing it.

Unless he was misreading it, after all he was basing his observations on what he understood of Asari physical cues, but from his limited observations he was finding them to have oddly similar body language, perhaps due to their similar physiology.

"But I have sidetracked, haven't I?" Flandre continued. "So, a missing person's case? I hope you are not accusing the Alliance of kidnapping are you?"

"I have no evidence to explicitly suggest such so far, but the individual in question was last seen boarding an Alliance shuttle, so I was hoping that you might be able to assist me in locating her." Thane said Diplomatically.

In truth the Alliance was the most likely suspect, but he could not rule out fringe elements in the alliance itself, or even council races who were also at the new years celebration. It would not help to throw blame at this time regardless, just leave the suggestion in the air, so they might be more inclined to assist if for nothing else then to clear their own name.

"Hmmm…" Flandre seemed to size up Thane for a moment. "Can you give me more details?"

"Of course," Thane said, lifting the photograph out of his pocket and placing it on the desk. Slowly of course, no sudden movements. "The individual in question is one Isika Valao, a pre-maiden Asari. She went missing from The City state of Caava on Thessia, over a year ago. After pursuing multiple lines of enquiry, I was eventually hired. By chance I had run into Isika roughly six months ago on the citadel while on another assignment. After doing some investigation, a reliable source informed me that she had boarded a shuttle to Reitaisai, however, she was not on any of the return shuttles. This leads me to believe she is still in alliance space."

Flandre had started frowning in the middle of Thane's explanation, and before he had finished, she was already typing on her console. "Isika was it?"

At Thanes nod, she went back to typing before stopping, seemingly reading something on the screen, squinting in concentration. "...It seems your source is correct, there is a record of one Isika Vaalo on the passenger manifest to Shanxi, but I cannot find her name on the return journey."

Thane studied Flandre's expressions during her fact checking. From what he can tell, Flandre seems genuinely vexed by this information, Hopefully this means this was not an official Alliance action, unless Flandre is a better actor then Thane gives her credit for.

"In fact…" Flandre said, her brow further creasing. "I can't find her on 'any' return journey. It seems that indeed she never returned to council space, at least in any official capacity."

"I see, I had hoped otherwise, but my sources are rarely wrong about comings and goings on the citadel." Thane said. "Would you be willing to assist me in this investigation?"

"And what kind of assistance would you require?" Flandre said, her eyes narrowing ever so slightly, possibly searching for hidden motives.

Thankfully, Thane had none. "I was hoping for passage to Shanxi, and perhaps cooperation with local law enforcement if that would not be too much to ask. I was also led to believe that her lodgings were pre-booked, so any records you have on that front would be helpful."

Flandre seemed to think for a moment, drumming her fingers on the desk, an action Thane could not help but compare to the recent tick Lintora had picked up.

"Very well," Flandre said finally as she began typing again, "I am willing to give you temporary visas to Shanxi, as well as limited investigational powers as long as they are related to the investigation at hand. However you must respect local authorities and law enforcement, and you are not allowed to enter any restricted areas without permission from myself or said local authorities. Also if you do locate Isika, but find she is being held captive, or not somewhere you can immediately access, report it to me, or if time is of the essence, local law enforcement. If she has… passed away, report it to me, and I will see her remains, if any, will be returned, as well as whatever reparations deemed necessary to her family, if you find nothing report it to me anyway, and I will see what other avenues of inquiry can be found."

She then gave a pointed look at Thane. "Do you understand Krios? No matter what you find, you must report it to me, and I will see it dealt with through official channels. No cowboy antics, no off the books justice, and certainly no wandering where you shouldn't be. These are my conditions, and I cannot give you these visas unless you are willing to abide by them."

Thane considered these stipulations. They were strict, but quite reasonable from Flandre's position, this was probably more faith than most people were willing to put into a random mercenary. In his instance, it was honestly more than he could have hoped.

"Very well, I will abide by these conditions." Thane said.

"Good." Flandre said, smiling again, before a small printer quickly disgorged a laminated card. She gave it a once over, before passing it to Thane, "This is your temporary visa, your shuttle departs tomorrow, from the Alliance loading dock. Don't lose it, I will not be pleased if I have to issue another, and I may rethink your involvement in the investigation."

"Of course." Thane said, taking it. "Thank you for your assistance, and your time."

"Oh, think nothing of it. Despite being an ambassador I don't get as many visitors as you might think." Flandre said, a tone of playfulness re-entering her voice. "For some reason people don't seem particularly keen to see me. It's quite baffling."

Thane allowed himself a chuckle. "Truely a mystery."

All in all, Thane thought as he was led out, This meeting didn't go nearly as bad as he had worried, Despite her fearsome reputation, Flandre was quite affable provided you treated her with respect.

Back in Flandre's office however, Flandres vexed frown had returned, and she stood up from her desk.

"Was it really alright to give that guy a visa like that, the man's clearly a killer," Mokou said, without opening her eyes."

"So are we, Mokou. However I trust my judgement, he is a man of integrity, not your common or garden thug." Flandre said, who had opened her filing cabinet, and was rifling through documents. "Besides if there really is a missing child, it would not sit well with me to leave it be, and letting him investigate personally will throw less doubts on the investigation by his clients, especially if the worse has come to pass."

"So why are you so agitated then?" Mokou said, cracking an eye open in Flandre's direction.

"It's that damn name!" Flandre pouted, "I could have sworn I saw that written down somewhere!"


Isika sighed, as she drifted through the air, upside down. She was currently in the Final sparks training hall, the gravity was off, and she was learning that most exciting of magics, flight.

Trying too, anyway.

"Problem, my apprentice?" Marisa said, lazily performing the backstroke as she drifted by.

"It seems she is feeling perturbed, Marisa." Mima said, as she swooped past.

"You two are doing this on purpose aren't you?" Isika said, grumpily.

"We've already told you all you need to know." Marisa said on her second pass.

"Just charge yourself with magic," Mima said.

"-and let it surround your being." Marisa added.

"Then you must will yourself into floating by-"

"Making yourself an exception to the laws of physics."

"There is very little actual mechanics, just mostly willpower and-"

"Belief, so no real recourse just to keep trying until you-"

"Get the hang of…"

"Alright Alright!" Isika said. "Jeez did you two rehearse this?"

"Well when you've been master and student for so long-" Mima said.

"You tend to pick up on each others-"

"Seriously please stop, that is really distracting!" Isika pleaded.

"...Spoilsport." Mima said, before floating off.

"Hey just look at it like this Ise," Marisa said wryly. "Whenever you get an apprentice some time in the future, you can do this too."

"Joy." Isika said dryly.

"Look, honestly the most important part is not to overthink this, flight isn't as hard as you might think. Now less talking and more trying."

With another sigh, Isika continued trying to get some locomotion in the zero-g environment. Her latest attempt let her spin in place, but not much else. "It certainly feels hard."

"Just be thankful we got this fancy anti gravity tech, back when I was a student we learned to fly the hard way." Marisa said.

Isika stopped her attempt and looked at Marisa quisically. "What was the hard way?"

"Why, do you want to try?" Marisa said, grinning.

"Is it faster?" Isika asked.

Mima re-entered the conversation. "I'd say so. I think this anti-gravity nonsense is nothing but coddling."

"Can we try that then? I feel like I'm not making much progress here." Isika said.

Marisa and Mima then shared a knowing look. Marisa then smirked, "Your wish." and snapped her fingers.

Isika felt gravity reassert itself, she had a small moment to regret her life choices before she immediately started to plummet, falling to the floor.

She barely had time to scream when as she was about to smack into the ground, she hit an invisible rebound net, bouncing a few times before settling down, and then dropping lightly to the floor with a small 'oof'.

"MARISA!" Isika called indignantly at the two cackling figures above her, who hadn't moved from their position.

Isika then felt the gravity deactivate again, and she was magically pulled back up to their level again.

"Sorry, couldn't resist." Marisa said. "I'd feel like I'd fail as your master if I didn't pull that at least once. But that was the 'hard way'. Instead of willing yourself to fly, the goal is to will yourself to stop falling."

"Yeah, I figured as much." Isika pouted.

"Ok, while that was partly just messing with you, Mima is probably correct, this will be faster. It's much easier to get a feel about what you are doing when in freefall, and much easier to sort failure from success. It's a little bit more dangerous, which is why anti-gravity has become a more popular teaching method. So how do you want to do this, anti-gravity or freefall?"

Isika didn't really need to think about it too long. "Freefall, the faster I get this, the more magic I can learn quicker."

"Good answer." marisa said, raising her hand to snap again. "Get ready, drop in three… two…"

*Snap*

Isika was ready this time, so instead of wasting time panicking, she instead focused on trying to stop her fall. Her magic flared, and she thought she felt a significant drop in her velocity, and she hit the rebound net with much less force.

"Hey, not bad." Marisa said, as she brought Isika back up with a wave of her hand. "Ready for another?"

"Yes Ma'am!" Isika said, already feeling better about this.

Isika was dropped again, and she managed to slow her descent further, not even triggering the rebound net as she gently landed on her feet.

The third time, she didn't even touch the ground.

"Marisa I did it!" Isika said, as she hovered gently on the spot, under her own power, ecstatic.

"Good work, that was quicker then I was expecting," this time Marisa lowering herself to Isika's level. "But don't forget the next bit."

"Next bit?" Isika said, tilting her head.

"What you are doing right now, Ise, is floating. To actually fly, you've gotta get somewhere." Marisa said in clarification.

Isika looked down, and tried to move, and started spinning on the spot.

"...I'm right back where I started aren't I?"

Marisa laughed. At least you are floating on your own power this time. Come on, one last push."

Isika couldn't help but giggle. "Yes sensei."


Isika: All in all, the whole thing took a lot less time than I was expecting. I expected flight to be super advanced, but I blew through it in one morning, I spent way more time on bullets.

Ajū: Well flight is a deceptively simple magic. A child could easily learn to fly. The only reason we don't do that, is because a flying toddler is what we call a parenting nightmare.

Isika: I could imagine.

Isika: Idk though, it's just so surreal, I can fly now, honest to goddess fly, and it's not even that impressive.

Ajū: I can see what you mean, I still remember when flight was a rare talent.

Ajū: on an unrelated note, the beta version of the App has been finished, I have not finished populating it, but I have most of the important entries, or at least the drafts. I'll send you the download link.

Isika: ohh, thanks, can't wait to have a browse. Is Marisa on it by any chance?

Ajū: Of course, she may be human, but she's too unusual not to be included.


Heroic Legends

Ordinary Magician

Marisa Kirisame

Occupation: Magician, Operative, Headmistress of the AOS Final Spark

Ability: Use of Magic

Residence: New Gensokyo village, AOS Final Spark

A very Unusual Magician of some renown within the Alliance.

More specifically, She is a magician by occupation, not species, she is human.

She is clad in mostly black clothes, blonde, and is mostly found aboard her personal capital ship and magical academy, the Final spark, when not on assignment.

She has a humble background, as the only daughter of the proprietor of a general store/second hand shop in her birth village, however relations were somewhat rocky with her father (*1).

She spent most of her younger years living in the forest of magic in Gensokyo, where she ran a small magical goods store called the "Kirisame Magic shop".

Today, she is now a high ranking operative, one of the first, along with her close friend and lifelong partner (*2), Reimu Hakurei, as well as a teacher and headmaster of her own magical Academy The Final Spark.

Her personality can be somewhat condescending, and she tends to find fun in the mockery of others, and she can also come across as unsympathetic and callous at times, however she is a well liked and popular figure, and is quite personable regardless.

Ability

She has the ability to use magic, to a level rarely seen in humans.

Her speciality is magics centred around light and heat.

She has a well known catchphrase, "It Ain't magic if it Ain't flashy. Danmaku is all about firepower."

The source's of her magic are twofold.

Her first source is a wide selection of magical mushrooms she forages, or cultivates, which she uses as fuel.

Next, she has a peculiar way of preparing them that involves boiling them for several days in a concentrated soup.

She'll create blends of many kinds of soups and dry them into a solid mass over the course of a few more days.

At that point they're ready for magical experimentation.

She will run all sorts of experiments, including throwing the masses, heating them or submerging them in mountain stream water.

Very rarely, she'll discover a truly magical reaction in the course of these experiments.

She'll record both failures and successes in her records, and then begin gathering mushrooms once again.

The second source, is utilising her emotions, specifically her strong love and passion (*3).

By using such potent emotions as a catalyst, she is able to command huge amounts of power for her spells.

Her magic is extremely flashy, and indeed quite beautiful, but it's backed up by a considerable amount of nothing but her own effort, which she goes to great lengths never to show others.

She herself has also attributed her magical growth to growing up in a high magical environment like the forest of magic.

Still, it's quite unusual for a human to be able to use magic to this extent (*4).

Some have suggested this might also be another reason why her ship has so many reactors.

The AOS Final Spark

Her primary occupation and place of Residence.

Note to self: visit Final Spark then revisit this entry before public release. I don't actually know how she runs her academy.

Hello Isika.

Her Magic

Her considerable years of magical studies and practice have gone mostly into one area, combat.

Her magical skills are mostly focused on destruction, and her skillset is comparatively limited outside of fighting.

However, her powers generally have few weaknesses, and have the same effect regardless of their target, be they human, Lunarian, youkai or any of the various council races, so there are few who can match her in terms of sheer destructive power (*5).

She is rarely deployed on operative assignment directly due to her teaching obligations, but has a habit of inserting herself into other operatives missions whenever the mood strikes her.

She likes competing with others, both to keep them on their toes, and to keep her own skills sharp.

Her favourite target is Reimu Hakurei, however she is also rarely on assignment, so Marisa occasionally drags her along to her own assignments.

History of Kleptomania

Another noteworthy trait is her rather relaxed attitude to other people's property.

She has a long history of stealing various things, from friends, colleagues, strangers or enemies, without a shred of shame or guilt.

She is often quite brazen too, often entering and leaving through the front door openly declaring "I'll just be borrowin' these" and carrying them away.

Her favourite things to 'borrow' are books, and many in her personal collection probably at some point belonged to somebody else.

She does always claim she intends to return them, but is often quite vague as to when that might be.

The most puzzling thing about it, is how little people seem to mind, perhaps due to her unusual charisma, people can do naught but wearily sigh as she carries off their things.

It says something about how likeable she is, to be able to get away with repeated and gratuitous theft.

It could also be because most of her friends know where she lives and she rarely puts up a fight should you come over to take back your property (*6).

Tools

Like most magic users, she has a selection of tools at her disposal.

Tools include a magic broom, two Mini-Hakkero, and numerous handmade Grimoires.

Her magic broom is a relic from her time back in Gensokyo, where she used it as her primary mode of transport.

She used to ride stride it as she flew around, inspired by a type of traditional western spellcaster, a Witch.

It was an ordinary broom that became somewhat altered by her constant use of it in her magical rituals, it is recognisable by its tendency to sprout leaves.

While it rarely see's use in this day and age, I have it under good authority that it is still in her possession, and she does still use it from time to time, but never on assignment, due to its sentimental value.

The Mini-Hakkero are possibly her strongest weapon, having been in possession of the original one in her youth, nobody knows her way around these powerful minturaised magical furnaces better than her, possibly including their original creator.

She is able to control their immense power with her will alone, from gentle flames to powerful infernos.

It is also the foci needed to cast her signature 'Master Spark'.

The grimoires are a careful recording of the results of all of her magical experiments, regardless of their outcome.

Most are Grimoires in name only, simply a record of her actions.

She has few actual Grimoires penned by her, and fewer still have seen them.

In addition, she seems to have various other small implements that are hidden away across her person.

1: As this was a private matter the details are unclear, but it may have been related to the fact that the Kirisame family did not deal in magical items. Her Father is also deceased.

2: To make myself clear, when I mean partner, I do not mean in a romantic sense, I am blissfully ignorant of the pair's love lives.

3: It is not clear what Marisa loves so much, but considering the amount of power she can bring to bear, it must be a potent love indeed.

4: It has been long thought that she may become a youkai magician, however Marisa has shown no apparent interest in making the species transition.

5: Among humans

6: I know this from personal experience.


Authors Notes:

As usual, sorry for the delay, life stuff happened for a while, nothing serious, just some visiting relatives, family friends, and a nasty flu (not Covid, just a flu)

But yes, in case it wasn't clear, Flandre straight up forgot Isika. Not surprising really, Flandre never really met her, her only interaction was Marisa calling her up randomly to make some citizen documents for her new apprentice, Flandre didn't even know she's an Asari. As Flandre explained herself, her decision to help Krios was one of concern for a missing child, one she is going to feel silly for when she finds her copy of the citizen document in that filing cabinet.

And what did you think of my honest attempt to emulate Ajū's writing style to create a genuine updated entry to the chronicles of Gensokyo? I think I did alright. As a note to one of Ajū's notes, her note about Reimu and Marisa's relationship, it is not saying explicitly that they are or are not in a relationship, just that Ajū does not know if they are in a relationship, and neither do I. TouhouFanatic, much like ZUN himself, has not engaged in romance or sexuality in this story apart from Yuuka having a husband, and the sexual tension between Adaaya and Desolace (for legal reasons thats a joke :P ), I am saying this in case TouhouFanatic does decide they are in relationships, and I don't want this to be made incorrect by new developments. In other words, this disclaimer is to cover my arse.

By the way, I don't think I ever mentioned why I called Hieda's latest incarnation Ajū, in case anyone is curious, in cannon touhou, the Name Akyuu is in part a pun for the japanese word for nine (kyuu), as she was the ninth incarnation of the Child of Miare, so as she is now the tenth incarnation, I made her name a pun for the Japanese word for ten (jū) hence Ajū. fairly simple, but I was proud of it.

See you, hopefully sooner.

(reuploaded due to small formatting issue, fixed)