Malefacorum sat inside the carriage as it pulled up to the Duchessa's home. He glanced out the window of the bright white conveyance and looked through his veil as if he'd seen a steaming pile of dung. "I don't like this." He said without looking at his companion.
"Who does?" A pair of hands came from beneath the robe that were as wrinkled as his own and went up when the man shrugged.
"The one being set free, I'd imagine… foolish, and so do the rest of them. Setting slaves free is a waste, most of the time at least." Malefacorum groused.
"Maybe so, maybe so, but it does have its uses. A slave that thinks they have a chance, they don't rebel. Hope comes in many forms, seeing one of their own go free? None of them will think of rebellion." The old Questioner replied with quiet patience and, Malefacorum was sure, a taunting grin.
"Still. The one ruling here hasn't once visited any temple in the city. She hasn't once donated even a single of her coins to our coffers, and with the rumors of foreign gods and death worshipping… I haven't forgotten the veiled threats Kaiji made to me on my visit." Malefacorum answered while the people began to part ways.
"You're a bitter one, for the fifth time, Kaiji was warning you, not threatening you, and she was right. That's a foreigner there, and we don't know how she'll react. Kaiji may have saved your life." Malefacorum's companion was disgustingly reasonable, and that only made it harder to swallow.
"Then judge for yourself, she may shit platinum and wipe her ass with leaves of gold, but that doesn't make anything better. Besides, she can't refuse the temples." Malefacorum replied while the carriage came to a slow halt.
He felt the hand on his shoulder as he moved toward the exit, "Where she comes from, she perhaps could refuse us, but she might not recognize the difference between that, and this." His companion warned him quietly before the door opened.
Malefacorum shook off the grip and stepped down when their slave opened the door. The mistress of the estate was long gone by the time they exited their carriage, and predictably, a young boy dressed in simple black and white clothing, wearing a collar of silver, stood at the door at the top of the stairs leading to the great interior.
Malefacorum was the first to speak, "We are here to speak with your mistress, take us to her."
"Masters, if you care to wait…" The boy was pale enough that his red, nervous flush was obvious.
"We don't." Malefacorum answered, an icy stare sent a shudder through the boy, even through the veil Malefacorum wore.
"Ah, v-very good, m-masters. Please, come in, I'll find out where she is right away and see you brought to her." He opened the door, looking in fear at the pure white robes and the places where veils hid faces, giving the pair of priests the appearance of ghostly spirits, and led them into the house.
"Take position." Solution ordered, and, no sooner than everyone was out of the way, Nua attacked.
[Assassin Strike][Endurance of Unlife][Undead Strength][Speed of Death] Nua uttered the martial arts and was moving like flowing water, or more aptly, a raging flood. Her short hair bounced wildly but her ice blue eyes were narrow, focused, and full of killing intent.
"Good!" Solution shouted, "Fair fights are for idiots. Never lower your eyes to your enemies." She deftly parried Nua's blow and swept out with a vicious kick intended to shatter the wood elf's ribs.
Nua's hand came up and rather than stopping it, she raised it up at the ankle, spun beneath it, and flipped her dagger around to stab into her teacher's kidney with that vicious serrated blade.
Instead Solution grabbed her wrist and flung her body against the wall… only for Nua to hit it feet first, give enough to bend, and then spring back with blade flashing like lightning.
The two began bobbing in and out of one another's seemingly lethal attempts on each other's lives. While the wide eyed and silent Pain Children didn't have the experience to know the truth, for Sado it could not have been more obvious. 'Student and Teacher, she really wasn't kidding, the way she moves. Sliding like moonlight over water, her eyes never leaving her target. The same as that monster.'
Over years of training, Sado had seen many, many lethal fights and many, many drills and practices. Experience, he thought, had taught him how different the two were. Yet as he watched blows hit Nua that should have shattered bone, and Nua's knife only barely miss her Teacher's throat, he found the line blurred. As near as he could tell… 'They're really trying to kill each other…'
The dreaded left hand easily stopped the blows of the teacher's blade, and it served as a kind of small shield along the way, Solution avoided it with deft motions that seemed more like complex acrobatics than combat, regularly ending up behind her student, only for Nua to twirl to face her again. A dance, a mockery, or a lethal conflict, whatever it was, the children could not look away from a fight between monsters.
Nua's eyes and face didn't register the blows, and to Sado's surprise, she avoided many of them, but it was clear that the student had farther to go, and bruises began to add up. Solution's beautiful blonde hair flew about like fishermen's nets cast through the air, smooth and flowing, and on her face, she wore a look of amusement. A look she wore until after repeated blows failed to bring down her student, she increased her speed to a level Sado had not thought possible, snatched the elf by the throat, and brought her down on her back with force that shook the floor and walls around them… twice.
Only when Nua relaxed and flashed a satisfied smile at her teacher, did Solution stand back up.
"That was… something." A creaky old voice said from the hall leading toward the room in which the sparring match had taken place.
Nua craned her head back and 'upside down' she saw two white garbed Questioners.
The one at the rear looked around and touched the walls gingerly. "This won't fall in, will it?" He asked with mild concern, and Nua shook her head from on the floor.
"No, it's fine." Nua said as a wide eyed old healer doddered over and began to cast his spell. "Who are you?" Nua asked while the glow of magic swallowed her.
The one at the fore of the pair stepped forward, seemingly intending to speak only for the creaky voiced man to do so first. "First Questioner Arachna. And this is seventeenth Questioner Malefacorum."
Nua's frown, being upside down while she lay on her back, appeared like a smile, however neither of the veiled men seemed to take it other than as it was intended.
When the healing glow faded, Nua arched back and pushed her fingertips off the floor and sprang herself away from them and up onto her feet. "That, by the way, was teaching, a practice in my faith. My name, I'm sure you know, is Duchessa Nua Calen Aiwenor, welcome to my home."
"You fight… for what?" The one who called himself Arachna asked, though his face was hidden, she could see he'd cocked his head in idle curiosity.
Nua glanced over to the maid demon, "Teacher, some water… and wine for our guests, and thank you for the match."
"My pleasure, little elf, I was happy to do a number on you again." Solution gave a cackling laugh as she made her way out, the perfect obedient servant once again.
"Forgive my servant." Nua said with a winsome smile as Sado brought her a towel to wipe the blood and sweat from her body. "She is my teacher, and you know how it is with teachers, they never stop seeing you as their student."
"Mhmmm…" Malefacorum grumbled, but it seemed Arachna understood as he nodded beneath his clothing.
"I recall." He answered with his nod.
"Now, to answer your question," Nua said after vigorously wiping her face and turning her eyes to her guests again, "The Dark Savior passed to us the message of the one god, that weakness is a sin, therefor combat training is an act of worship for us, it teaches discipline, will, power, and resolve. You can tell a great deal about a person by how they fight. Do they strike first and without warning? Do they wait for you to strike first? Do they pull their punches out of a desire not to hurt you, or focus on protecting themselves?" Nua asked the questions one after another in rapid succession while the four little heads stared on.
"I suppose." Arachna replied, "But aren't you going to ask me what we are doing here?"
"No." Nua said, showing them her back as she went and picked up the blade her teacher had gotten loose from her. "I assume you're not here on a social call, which means you'll tell me."
Malefacorum's body tensed beneath his shroud, but the 'first' did not.
"You're right, we're concerned about heresy and apostasy. You've been with us for some time now, and of course word is out now that you'll be marrying our Prince. You know you'll be expected to convert to the faith of your new city." Arachna said it almost gently, unsure if she actually knew what he was telling her or not.
"I understand, of course I will respect your traditions and marry the Prince under your laws…" She gave them both a polite nod of her head, "But I can't abandon my faith, not for you or any other."
Malefacorum glowered from behind his veil, his fists clenched, "You come to our City… you come to Mict'aratz… and dare to reject our faith while adopting us as your home…"
Solution returned with a silver tray bearing a bottle of wine, three cups, and a pitcher of water. She held the tray in one hand and poured the cups of wine, then poured water for the Duchessa, each one took up their vessel and Nua held her cup aloft. "A drink to peace and to war, may they both be profitable."
"As the stars will it." The priests raised their cups and drank, Arachna kept an eye on the watching students and the gold collared slave who tended to them.
"Yes, esteemed Questioners, I bear my god with me wherever I go. He is part of me." She put her hand over her heart and bowed her head, "I carry his sacred doctrine in my heart, and I strive, in my weak way, to live up to what is expected of me. If your stars wish me to convert, let them tell me themselves."
"Shouldn't you adopt the ways of the place to which you travel?" Arachna asked in a reasonable voice as he put a hand on his seething counterpart's shoulder.
"Should I have eaten Sobella when traveling through the lands of the Tlalmok? I'm given to the understanding that they offer near term fetuses from human women as a delicacy to their guests. Should I have accepted if they offered me that?" Nua demanded with the utmost courtesy, putting a hand behind her back while holding her cup in front of her.
Malefacorum visibly shook, and sputtered out, "Of-of course not! How dare y-..."
"Malefacorum… be at ease, we're in her home, we must respect our host." Arachna said with tranquil ease.
Nua inclined her head toward the old man concealed by white cloth, "Thank you."
"Now can you do the same for our city, and our faith, as we do for you in your very house?" Arachna asked and raised his veil again to take a sip.
Nua laughed in spite of herself, then held up her hand to gesture for them to stop, "Forgive me, I mean no offense, but Arachna here reminded me of my days studying Rhetoric in the Dark Savior's great academy. Marvelous memories… to answer your question," Nua took a deep breath to center her thoughts and answered.
"I cannot simply adopt gods that stand at odds with my beliefs, even if they belong to my host. You are in my home, would you worship my god and abjure the stars? No, your faith tells you to stay by your stars, as mine tells me to abide by this." She put her hand over her heart, "And this." She then touched her forehead. "If your stars desire my soul, they can bargain with my god for it, or convince me themselves that they are greater than my god. But first and foremost we are accountable to ourselves, then to our family, then our community, and finally to our lord. Give the most to them who need you most, and last to I, who need only be proud of you for what you have given to those that are in need."
She felt their stares, "A teaching from a sermon based on my sacred text." Nua explained, "When I marry the Prince, I will do so in accordance with your customs, and it is prohibited in my faith to target the faiths of others. I will force my ways on none, if yours are better than mine, you have nothing to fear. If they are not, you have no reason to resist."
"Apostasy cannot be allowed to stand." Arachna replied, "The City-States all need the hope we offer, the order we bring, everything will collapse without us."
Nua held out her cup and Solution refilled it for her while the white veils went up and their cups were drained.
"If that is true, my heresy against you will be like a stick drifting on the long river, there for a moment, and then gone and forgotten the next. But with respect, your hope is like dust on the wind to me. I prefer…" Nua took up her knife and tossed it a few times lightly into the air only to catch it again, "to create my own hope."
"If you live by that blade, you will die by it." Malefacorum scolded her, and Nua nodded with a serene smile.
"I can't deny the possibility, Malefacorum. But I'm bound to die no matter what, at least this way it will be on my terms, the path I've chosen. If you're concerned with heresy… I will be blunt, I do reward my slaves for their service, I let them have coin of their own to spend. If your concern is that they're not being permitted time for services… I will permit them that time. They may attend your temple on the day you designate. If they are required by your faith to donate something of their own to you, I will ensure that they don't lie about what they can do. But I won't compel them to your faith. Is that satisfying to you?"
"And what about your faith?" Malefacorum demanded and she could feel the snarl behind his veil.
"I won't force them to mine either." Nua drank from her cup again, "My slaves are terrified of my wrath, but I have not and will not threaten them about my god. How weak is a religion that has to threaten people to draw them into its folds? Pathetic. Mine is the god of death and change, leave the god of fear to cowards." Nua gave a rough and derisive snort.
"Are you a necromancer?" Arachna asked, only to lean his head back when Nua laughed.
"Did you see that fight a few minutes ago? How many necromancers can do that?" Nua gave him an absurd silent stare.
"I… yes I suppose that was a stupid question. Consider it withdrawn." Arachna answered.
Nua went and sat down on a chair, and the pair followed after her, with Solution watching keenly as her student patiently controlled her guests. "You want permission to investigate heresy among my slaves? I refuse. I will not permit anyone to harm anything that belongs to me. They trust me to protect them, I won't have that trust taken away."
Malefacorum raised a finger and pointed it straight out at Nua. "Do you want to fight the temples of all the cities of Mict'aratz?!"
Arachna raised a hand and gently pushed Malefacorum's finger down.
"Now, now… let's not overstate things. Although… he's not wrong… this could create a serious schism between the temples of all the cities, and your house. But it doesn't have to." Arachna warned her in a gentle, grandfatherly voice.
Nua pursed her lips, and held her tongue as she gathered her thoughts. Finally, she answered in a voice lightly touched by sadness, "It can be difficult to be a good mistress. I am cruel, I terrorize them, I beat them down into the mud to make them obey. Even without meaning to make it so, their children are my natural hostages to their good behavior. But…" She glared up at them, "If you want to torture them to find their faith, then a conflict we will have."
"Do you expect to win?" Malefacorum asked with a disbelieving voice that seemed quite taken aback.
"If it came to that? No, but they belong to me, and I will imitate the Dark Savior if I must. If my slaves become targets, I will come for the ones who gave the orders. Not the common soldiers. You saw the little sparring match with my Teacher. How many warriors do you have that could protect all of you from me?" Nua gave them both a polite, knowing smile.
"My slave over there fought several headman ranked adventurers in succession," she pointed to Sado, "My teacher is more dangerous than I am, and… you already created a conflict when you sent me alone into the lands of the Tlalmok to have me killed. You didn't think I'd forgotten that, did you?" Nua asked and cracked her knuckles.
"The will of the stars… they clearly thought you were special." Arachna said placatingly.
Nua looked at him as one might at someone who had said something stupid. "We three know the truth. You sought to have me killed. We're here alone, just me, my servant, and some slaves nobody will ever believe."
Arachna and Malefacorum were very quiet for a moment, and slowly turned their bodies to trade an unspoken question.
"Alright, fine, we tried to have you killed." Arachna answered her. "But you survived."
Nua looked more than a little arrogant, "Yes, I did. I'm sorry I disappointed you." She gave a savage laugh and sheathed her blade again. "Don't worry, I see no reason to make it public… but there is a condition."
"You think you're in a position to set conditions on the Starwatchers?" Malefacorum stared at her through the veil, his face purple with rage at her impertinence.
Nua cracked her knuckles again and extended her left hand as if offering something while she spoke. "For the moment, yes. You tried to have me killed, and… I am about to marry the Prince. If our dispute became public before another round of fighting this year could begin? I'll bet the Prince's other nobles would be outraged, after all, they truly believe in your neutrality. They'll start wondering if they gave up slaves to your levies for your reasons, not because of the stars. And… I'll be the Prince's consort, goodness what a scandal." Nua covered her mouth as if shocked, before going on.
"And of course I have a responsibility as executive head of the Lur'gin slave trading company. If you oppose me, why, my organization is something I have a responsibility to. I can't very well enrich you while you try to have me killed. So…" She gave them a winsome smile, "Why… what if the slaves stopped flowing into Pas'en, what if my mercenaries should just happen to burn the fields that provide food for the temples… all kinds of unfortunate accidents happen… people die every day, it's just fate, isn't it? You can't do anything about that… can you?"
"What are you offering?" Arachna asked with a sudden fit of pragmatism.
"First Questioner you can't.." Malefacorum began to hiss.
"Shut it." Arachna spat, and despite the veil, Nua heard lips pop closed with surprise.
Nua gave an affirming nod, "Better. Thank you for shutting that one up, Arachna." She cleared her throat and explained her offer. "It's simple, all you have to do is not try to kill me, and warn me if anyone else approaches you to do so. Assuming you do that, I will never persecute any member of your faithful… and there's a city full of them I could target, as well as all the minor priests in smaller temples, not to mention… if you come for me personally, I'll come for you personally." Nua removed her knife and held the flat with the tip pointed out toward them. "Remember, Timnah died under my hand, unless you've got better than he was… this is the best offer you're going to get."
Arachna looked at her with suspicion behind his veil, it was a suspiciously good offer. "So in public you show deference to our beliefs… and don't oppose their continuation among your property and people… and don't attempt to harm us or any of our worshippers, and all we have to do in return is not try to kill you and warn you if someone asks us to help do that?"
"Right, but you also don't get to investigate any of my slaves." Nua replied.
"And none of this is in writing? How do you know we'll do what we say? Or that you'll do what you say?" Arachna answered.
Nua waved the question away, "I don't, and you don't. But it will make it impossible for us to ever deal with one another again if we break the private oaths we make here today."
The silence hung between them for a full minute before Arachna answered, "We have a bargain." He held out his hand to Nua, and the wood elf noblewoman stood and clasped him at the forearm.
"Good. You may not believe me now, First Questioner Arachna, but one day, you will thank me." Nua replied, "For now though, go, I'm afraid I stink so much that if I were to die right now, even your stars would send me back for a bath." She managed a laugh that they did not share, but they left, and Nua was left with her Pain Children, her Teacher, and Sado.
Once she was sure they were alone, Nua looked in the direction they'd come, and said abruptly, "Malefacorum will be a problem."