[Author's note: ~ Gabrace 4/4 - hope you like it! ;)]

As if she'd heard me, she murmured something like 'thank you' and jumped on my knees. I felt the palms' press on my back, the breath on my neck, and the tears falling down against my chest – I knew they were the last tears of the day, if not of any encounter we'd have. I hugged her back, and eventually felt her heartbeat return to normal. Her natural smell was extremely pleasant; I wanted it around me forever. Herbal fresh reassurance.

'It is alright, Lady Drace. Put yourself at ease. This room is convenient. I bet you spend a lot of time here while I do in the other one. We are safe. The Palace is well guarded. Our colleagues and ourselves can intervene if needed. It is our duty. But for now, we can rest a little more. You will be better up there', I said, showing the couch.

'Aye.'

She got up, and each of us returned to their place. There was a long peaceful silence, that she broke with a much more serene voice:

'I had asked the Viera to join Petra in Landis. It… it must have been extremely difficult for you.'

'My mother is all I have left', I sternly summarized. 'I am sometimes still scared by that day, just like you are by your own numerous ordeals. Sometimes I wonder… how I am even alive, especially because I am here.'

Would she consider my guilt as treason?

'It is totally understandable', she sighed. 'We each have our load to carry, once we reach this place. Zargabaath has not been spared either.'

The Urban Units decimating his friends as a teenager, and Masayuki living in misery. Thanks, Dandun.

'Take care of your mother. Maybe my fate would have been different, had I still mine…'

Her dreamy voice made me feel so comfortable that I wanted to sleep.

'So the Viera obeyed', she pursued. 'using Sentia's mare, the flamboyant Mallicant. She had the mission to support Petra's troops with protective and healing magic, as well as civilians. I explicitly asked her to help some escape, if they couldn't do it on their own. What I hadn't anticipated was that she would let Mallicant guide you until the core of Archades! Sentia was even angrier at me that night than she usually was. Fortunately, the Viera had a gift to calm people's nerves, and Sentia didn't see this through to find your trace.'

'Was the Viera close to the Empress herself…?'

'Why, she knew her before I did. Despite the Viera joining my division, Sentia made sure she was more often in the Thirteenth than here. As a non-Hume member of the army… she had a household remit while in the Palace. It wasn't hard for her, though; she could do everything. She told me that the risk she took in Landis was worth it, as well as her choice of saving you in particular. I tried to dismiss her words at first, but today I see them in broad daylight: "I have 200 years of mankind analysis, and I can assure you that this boy will grow up into the steel window of the Empire's next version".'

That rang deep inside my ears. We spent another moment in silence. Then I chose to ask:

'My Lady… Is there any other matter you think I should know?'

She sighed again, got up, and put her hands on her chest, then hips.

'Yes, Gabranth. That body you see here… is not mine.'

'What do you mean?'

She sat back and closed her eyes.

'This body… has been modified. A few of us Judge Magisters have made the choice to freeze our physical condition, when we took our charge. The goal was to keep our muscle mass, tendons, Mist abilities and neural capacity exactly like they were the day they captured our data – which was considered our optimal shape –, without adding any improvement. It was somewhere in our thirties. But I am not in my thirties, Gabranth. As you must have calculated when hearing about past events I was a part of, beginning with the civil war… I am 57 years old.'

I blinked in… disbelief, despite the obvious evidence she gave. Maybe I secretly had hoped for time travel to have brought her to this age?

'I witnessed too many proceedings from this century. Ephedrine's rise, Ephedrine's fall. Sentia's rise, Sentia's fall. And here I am, lost in the intricate corners of my mind, feeling those eras as if they're still present while they have been taken from us… long ago. His Excellency's reign had fairly started when I joined the army – as a plain soldier just like you, despite ranking first at the Law Akademy's 10-year curriculum... being a woman helps just as much as being a foreigner. But our dear Zecht was already in office at the start of Lord Gramis's rule. The first emperor he dealt with was not Gramis; it was Wennie.'

'Emperor Wenceslas? But his reign was forgotten even at the time of my birth! Is Lord Zecht that old?'

'Yes, your lord Zecht is that old. Something like 63 as we speak.'

'How is such a feat possible?'

I began to love Judge Drace's sighs – especially when I could see a smile underneath.

'It is a heavy and irreversible process we chose, to carry on our duty as Judge Magister until our lifespan limit catches us. Once you join the Order, Gabranth, consider it impossible to leave. Were you aware of this?'

'No, my Lady', I blinked in terror.

Ignoring my reaction, she added:

'It is a knotty mix of magic and medicine.'

'White magic? Or green one?'

'No, Gabranth. Not that magic you can use in battles. Magic itself. The one you discover while getting close to the Mist. Its initial step is the one developed for Quickenings.'

"Initial step"? Quickenings were by far the strongest attacks a fighter could release by themselves, and their effect was so big that the user's Mist was completely drained! Lady Drace explained:

'There is a… sect of magic manipulators, with a branch of doctors who have studied Hume biology for generations. They cover our skin with some magic oil, lock us inside a cylindrical machine for radiation sessions under general anesthesia, and eventually put us in a cold room that makes the treatment adhere to the very cells by shooting sharp rays of Mist. Inside the cold room, your body might be strengthened but your nerves are the ones of your actual age – in other words, it hurts. They say it is to test our determination. Do you remember the price you had to pay for your mother?'

I… hadn't paid anything in the end, but:

'Yes I do.'

'That is the price I pay monthly. That torture has to take place every month – for me it's the 26th –, just so I can consume more energy and witness more horror. Just because His Excellency has difficulty trusting people, and prefers to continue dealing with the ones he already has around him instead of recruiting replacements.'

Were Judge Magisters paid a million gil… monthly? I understood better the prestige around them.

'Very well, my Lady. You have my thanks for solving this mystery for me.'

Mystery… Mist… in addition to being biology specialists, those individuals had to excel at mastering Mist. Enough Mist to stop a body, with all its countless tortuous mechanisms, from aging! That was another level of Mist manipulation – and of power. Could they be from the Mighty house which Judge Zecht and Judge Zargabaath still had not identified?

'Judge Magisters earn the majority of their pay in bonuses. You know, for basically forsaking any life of our own and solely living and dying for House Solidor. You can say that's a lot of money; and I give all of it to the center owners. Whenever His Excellency and the Senate decided to raise our bonuses over the years, they were aware; and raised their prices with the same amount. They know we are now completely dependent on their technology, and they use it at will.'

Confirmation: they definitely had to be Mighties. Pulling the strings of the ones ruling the empire of information itself.

'Which is why, Gabranth', she concluded, 'I have no spare money at the end of the month. I have to live here all the time, rely on Palace staff for food and wares, and can rarely shop for clothes.'

That was quite hard to believe. All the same, I had a question tormenting my mind:

'But, my Lady, if I might… Lord Zargabaath does not seem to have the same money issues as you do.'

She gave me a fuming look, then sighed again:

'Among the Judge Magisters you usually see, Zargabaath is an exception – for this topic and many others. He chose not to use this technology. As a consequence, he is 51 and he looks 51. Well, maybe a tad less, because he has good genetics. As another consequence, Sentia asked His Excellency to stop sending him to war a few years before her death – which is why you never see him partake. But if you ask me, he can still brandish a sword just fine.'

Unlike myself.

'Therefore', she said, 'he managed to amass an amount I dread to imagine. Some say he could buy all of Archadia if he wanted to; I prefer to think he could buy one of our provinces, and a few castles', she smiled. 'Oh, and if you had doubts about the look of Ghis, now you know that he asked the center to make him older by a decade, so people start taking him seriously; he is younger than you. Other Judge Magisters who are following the same treatment as me are Bergan and Petra. I shall make you meet Petra very soon. Very well… Clock's ticking.'

Once again, she noticed my trouble, and did not act on it.

'Alright, Your Honor', I said, getting up and heading to the bedroom to exit.

'What are you doing, Judge Gabranth?'

I took my time to turn back, slightly bend my head to the side, and blink.

'Yes, my Lady? I am going back to the antechamber to rest before I have to leave.'

She gaped at me and giggled:

'Look at yourself! You are so proud of that little room of yours, as if you'd bought it yourself! Did Zargabaath also entrust you with his money without my knowledge?'

I couldn't help laughing with her. I hadn't been aware of my attitude before she mentioned it, and looked away in confusion.

'Nice!' she added with a huge smile. 'You are getting more confident than when you first arrived in Archades! I like it!'

Had she been observing how I spoke ever since I arrived in the Empire…?

'You see, Gabranth; I need to rest as well. But by the look of it, my arms and legs don't function anymore after all these confessions. Can you do something about it?'

My brain worked hard to interpret that initiative. Ascendency? More. Audacity? More… Whim. Yes, Drace was a pure capricious lady, and that unexpected fact pleased me more than it should have.

I walked to her couch and looked at her face; she had closed her eyes with an irritatingly silent smile. I slid both my arms under her body, took a deep breath and lifted. I knew she wasn't massive, but it was much lighter than I had expected. Since she was keen on not using her arms, I had to pull her tightly against my own body, which was giving me strange signals. My breath was getting irregular. I proceeded to her bedroom and then faced a dilemma: which side of the bed was her favorite? I certainly did not want to be target to a Judge Magister's wrath because I was unable to answer that strategic question. I suddenly remembered she liked to be at the best angle to see the maids – or myself – coming, and also that she always slept where the zenith sun shone: the furthest side from the exit was the best observation spot, and also the one currently steeped in warm rays of light: the left of the bed. I made a few steps back – almost falling in the process – before slowly getting down and leaving Lady Drace on the soft sheets. She had not moved nary a finger.

I wanted to say something, but no words came.

Eventually, I saw her eyes look for a blanket, so I got up immediately, arranged the sheets below her, and pulled the white blanket to cover her from feet to neck. I came back to my knees and put my forehead against the edge of the bed. I could not leave that place easily. It was the universe of a woman who had so much more resources than meets the eye. Who was stronger than all the men I knew. Who trusted me enough to tell me things that could instantly take her to the gallows. I was praying a silent goddess blessing me with courage, protection, and other life lessons.

At some point, I stood up, and only had warmth and contentment to see. Was she sleeping? The blazing sun abruptly moved away from her face, and I discovered she had been watching all along. I felt confused again, and troubled, but still could not leave easily; so I put a knee down and took her arm out. It was the same arm which touch calmed her in the little room. I caressed it the same way, slid to the bare hand and delicately held the small graceful fingers. Looking at her eyes, I pressed my lips against it for enough time to receive the fierce signal from my loins.

As soon as I put back the arm under the blanket, the amber eyes fixed on me took another meaning. I felt my heart knocking harder and harder against my torso. The thin lips opened right in the middle, forming a tantalizing circle of doubts. The hidden chest breathed in. What would she say? My brain imagined a thousand possibilities, and at last:

'Congratulations, Gabranth. Now you are ready for your future meeting with your jurist in the making.'

At that precise moment… the world made no sense to me. I felt like yelling, hitting the walls, jumping out the window. That thing was way too complicated for me to follow.

'My Judge Magister status and Palace etiquette forbid me from teaching you what's next', she added with a carefully neutral smile.

I let out an exasperated sigh, which she caught with great delight, then I shrugged:

'I'd rather discover it on my own. It's far in the future anyway.'

There were a few seconds during which the signals switched on and off many times, before being frozen by Lady Drace's gentle and energic voice:

'Remember, Gabranth? We are perfect.'

I restored my own energy by holding her tender expression up and replied, before calmly leaving the floor:

'Yes, Your Honor.'