To Explore Oneself, to Explore One Other

by I He She

Viviana's peaceful reading session in the library of Rhodes Island gets interrupted by a certain sankta, one she wasn't sure she'd have ever really seen again. The two have a rather brief conversation and, on her way out, Arturia leaves a rather puzzling gift for Viviana, one which ends up landing the knight in an even more puzzling situation later on. Arturia/Viviana.

To Explore Oneself, to Explore One Other

Viviana was being observed.

She rarely took notice of such things, in truth, and some would argue for that to be one of the reasons why the constant onslaught of tabloid journalists never bothered too much. At the same time, the years spent in Kazimierz had gotten her used to brushing off the gaze of other people even on those occasions she did become aware of them. In a certain sense, one could even say that being able to ignore people staring was a fundamental skill to have for a competition knight fighting for an audience of hundreds, thousands or even more spectators.

If nothing else, the gazes Viviana had caught aimed at her ever since coming onboard Rhodes Island's landship were decidedly less unpleasant. No photographer thirsting for a compromising shot had shown up, for example. And besides, she had more than enough self-awareness to know that some people would turn her way mostly anywhere anyway. Elafia were a rather rare sight outside of Sami and Leithanien, even the tribes living in Ursus and in the northern regions of Kazimierz were small and relatively secluded. And Viviana's antlers in particular were quite a rarity even among her kind, thus it wasn't surprising at all for people to cast at the very least a curious glance at her. Their size made it especially hard for them to go unnoticed, too.

Most people would have a thing or two to say about her beauty as well, in truth, but Viviana herself was much more concerned with her antlers. If nothing else, those were the one thing she always had in mind whenever she had to walk through a door.

Then there were the fans, yes. Being asked for an autograph aboard the landship had surprised her a little bit, admittedly, but such interactions somehow felt exceptionally spontaneous -almost natural, even- outside the borders of the Grand Knight Territory.

With all of that said, nobody really bothered her when she was sitting at a chair reading a book at Rhodes Island's library. Not a special treatment by any means, that one, but rather simple common courtesy, one she equally enjoyed and offered to others in turn.

On that particular day, however, it was rather difficult to not notice the pair of eyes lingering on her. Mostly because the person in question had made no attempt whatsoever at hiding. Viviana would've simply kept reading while ignoring the gaze, normally, but things were a little different on that particular occasion.

Or rather, the one observing her was a very particular person.

She kept her eyes on her book for a while, but her mind was not quite on the pages anymore, and only partially because the scene had just changed allowing her a mental break. She sorted out her thoughts, collected them, found the right words, and only then did she look up from her book to meet her gaze. As if taking that for an invitation, and being arguably right on it, the sankta who had spent the better half of the last hour observing her stepped away from the wall she had been leaning against and walked up to her, her feet stopping right before she could invade the elafia's personal space.

"Good afternoon, Viviana. I see that you are doing well"

The elafia collected her thoughts. The library was supposed to be quiet, but... there were not many people around, that day. And she happened to be sitting in a somewhat secluded corner too.

"I would've thought" she replied "For you to still be in Leithanien. Or perhaps in Laterano"

"Describing my presence here as a secret might be somewhat of an overstatement, but I do believe there is a desire for this information to remain somewhat confidential for the time being. On most official documents I am currently spoken of through a codename"

"Shall I use this codename aboard the landship then?"

"The situation doesn't require it, but your question makes me wonder if you wish for a certain distance to remain between us" she replied with a smile.

Then she moved to the side a little, drawing a fragment of a circle around the table with her steps.

"Oh, forgive me. Do feel free to call me Virtuosa, if that is what you desire. I would rather hear my own name, personally. I believe you have chosen yours as your codename, after all"

The elafia paced her breaths.

"I believe this is our third meeting, isn't it? ... Arturia"

Her voice wasn't cold, nor did her words contain traces of hesitation. But the sankta felt some small droplets of uncertainty interwoven within her words. Having completed a semicircle around the table, she turned around and retraced her own steps.

"Face to face, it is. Do you have something you wish to ask me, perchance?"

Viviana briefly looked down. Just the time to slide a bookmark between the pages and close the tome, leaving it to rest on her lap. There was a slight chance she'd have done so either way, in truth. The book had just suddenly introduced a rather peculiar scene with little foreshadowing, and while Viviana was rather... interested in that sort of activities, she wasn't quite entirely sure about reading one in such a public place, no matter how secluded her corner might've been. It also made her wonder whether that book should't have been in a different section, in truth.

But all of that could wait.

And so she brought her attention back to the sankta. She considered replying that she was not the one who had spent over thirty minutes staring and then approached, but a mere second thought was all she needed to realize that such words would have been little more than an exercise in futility.

"... I had... considered reaching out to you, before leaving Zwillingstürme. But, having refused the position of Empresses' Voice, the details about your whereabouts lied outside my reach. I find it rather... perplexing, in truth, your presence aboard Rhodes Island"

"An interesting vessel" the sankta replied, drawing a slightly longer arc on the floor with her steps "Hosting a surprising abundance of peculiar individuals, is it not? And yet holding a concert here is a much more arduous task than one might be led to suspect"

Perhaps because the sankta hadn't had her instrument with her on both their two previous meetings, Viviana hadn't paid too much attention to its absence on the third one either. However, the way Arturia had just waved her arm as she spoke made the elafia's eyes wander past her, to the other sankta watching over them. Or rather, over Arturia.

"You are under custody then?"

It was... not surprising, in truth. After all, she had expected Arturia to be either still roaming free or in prison, if not... if not executed. The exact details of her involvement with the Witch King's loyalists eluded her, but Viviana knew for certain that Arturia had worked with them. As for which of the three options she would've been happier about, all she could tell was that the third one would have left a rather bitter taste in her mouth.

For rather egotistical and decidedly irrational reasons, she would say.

"Not quite correct, Viviana, although it is true that my freedom is restricted at the moment. But my current situation is of rather little interest, very few stories could be woven around it, and even less inspiring tunes. Especially" she added as she turned around once again, continuing her slow circling of the table -of Viviana- as her smile grew more curious and yet less intense "Especially after you brought up a decidedly more intriguing fact yourself. You said you failed to contact me before leaving Zwillingstürme, but now here you are, and here I stand"

Arturia stopped walking, turning that little bit she needed to fully face her, but said nothing else, silently holding both hands behind her back and tilting her head slightly to the left. Viviana felt her hand begin to clench into a fist, and found herself unable to either relax it or fully close it.

She breathed in, then out. Her fist unfolded.

"It was but a mere curiosity. I wished to know what had become of you, that is all. And I believe we should not disturb the library's silence any more than we already have"

"Have you heard of the lottery, Viviana?"

The elafia blinked. Arturia's change of subject had been so abrupt it took her a couple of seconds to fully process her question, and then a few more still to figure out what to say.

"I've never been fond of gambling of any kind"

"Me neither, I'd say. However" she added as she reached for the pouch at her hip while leaning forward, then resting her hand on the table, her fingertips just barely violating the border of what Viviana perceived as her personal space while holding something against the cold, wooden surface "I have been offered a ticket recently, and the draw decided to select the very same ticket for a small prize"

Somewhat to her own surprise, Viviana found herself in need of a small degree of effort to move her gaze away from the sankta's eyes and down to her hand. As if in response to it, Arturia offered the folded paper within her grasp to the elafia. Curiosity blending together with a little bit of confusion, not to mention a couple of other, slightly conflicting feelings, Viviana accepted it and looked back up.

"I fear that, at least for the time being, finding me aboard this landship might prove not as easy as one might think" Arturia said, showing off the back of a smaller slip of paper which didn't look like a lottery ticket in the slightest before putting it back away into her pouch "Think of this as a temporary compass towards me, for you to use or discard at will. Now, if you'll excuse me, I believe my presence is required elsewhere" she concluded, her gaze moving past the elafia as if to gauge the size of her shadow, her lips softly curling into a pleased smile.

With those words, the sankta turned around and walked away. Viviana heard her and Federico say something, but the relatives' exchange remained as background noise to her, her gaze falling instead on the paper still in her hands. She stared at it for a while before finally deciding to unfold it, finding another slip of paper identical to the one Arturia had shown off before leaving.

Focusing on the larger paper first, Viviana was surprised to find it a sort of pamphlet about the lottery prizes, with one being a paid stay for one night at an hotel, dinner and breakfast included. There were even some informations about things going on in the city the hotel was located in during those days. The names written on it didn't sound familiar at all, but she could tell they were yanese. Thinking about it, the landship was rather close to Yan at the moment, wasn't it? The date written for the booking wasn't far off either, almost exactly two weeks from then actually. Bringing her attention back to the ink underneath her fingers, Viviana kept reading. That was one of the prizes of the lottery Arturia had mentioned, unsurprisingly. What startled her was the fact that the reservation was for two people. At that point she decided to take a better look at the smaller paper and, as she had come to suspect, that was the reservation slip for the hotel room. She wasn't sure why there were two copies of it though, since the booking was for a single room with two beds rather than for two separate rooms.

Many other questions popped up in her mind the longer she pondered about that slip of paper, or rather about the way it had ended up in her hands. But... before worrying about any of those, she figured it would be wise to settle a specific doubt she had about the entire ordeal.

---

As it turned out, that one fundamental doubt she had to clear up first ended up requiring around three whole days to resolve. That's how long it took Viviana to manage to get to talk with Amiya, at least. She hadn't quite expected to have to go all the way to the very head of Rhodes Island in order to talk about Arturia's current situation, admittedly, but at the same time she wasn't all that surprised either. And so there she was, knocking at the door of the cautus' office. Right on time for her appointment, because Amiya was a busy person and Viviana didn't want to keep her from her duties, much less from her free time.

Having received an answer, the elafia excused herself in, finding the cautus sitting at her desk behind half a dozen stacks of neatly ordered documents, a computer screen slightly moved to the left to further hide her from sight, if only partially. Behind all that stuff, the cautus appeared a bit smaller than she was, and she was already rather short for her age.

"Miss Viviana" she greeted as she moved a pile of documents out of the way and gestured to the chair on the other side of her desk "Please, take a seat"

"Thank you for your time, director" Viviana said back, bowing softly before sitting down.

"There's no need to be so formal, you can just call me Amiya. I've been informed you wanted to talk about Arturia, right?"

Viviana had a strong hunch it wasn't simply to avoid formalities that Amiya had referred to the sankta by her given name instead of using her codename. There and then, however, she decided to focus more on the slight bags under the cautus' eyes. Getting to the point and taking her leave as soon as possible seemed like an even more appropriate course of action now that she had seen the amount of work the cautus was facing.

"I have heard that Federico Giallo -operator Executor- is currently tasked with the surveillance of Arturia Giallo"

"The situation is a little... complicated" Amiya replied, casually hitting a couple of buttons on her keyboard without averting her gaze from Viviana "I know you got involved directly with Arturia during the events at Zwillingstürme, but I'm afraid there are... political matters which prevent me from freely talking about the details of her situation with -and I mean this only on a technical level- ordinary citizens, be them from Leithanien or Laterano or... well, anywhere else"

"I suspected as much. In that case, I shall take my leave"

"No, wait" Amiya interrupted her right away "You might have questions I can answer without risking a diplomatic incident" the cautus replied, the upbeat tone of her voice and the smile on her face giving off the strong impression of having just greatly overstated the actual danger she might be running into "And I'd like to hear them, if possible"

"It is much appreciated. I fear the only way I can return your courtesy, however, is to be as brief as possible. Is Arturia truly allowed to leave the landship for a vacation?"

Amiya blinked. One of her ears bent to the side a little bit.

"I don't know what you're talking about?" she asked back, the surprise in her words either genuine of masterfully faked.

Viviana believed it to be the former. Perhaps because she had just gotten rather startled herself by that question.

"Arturia told me she has won a one-night stay at an hotel at a lottery"

"Oh, that one! Closure sometimes sets up stuff like this, yes. But Arturia's freedom of movement at the moment is a little... how do I say this... she can't quite leave the landship at her own discretion, formally speaking"

Does this mean that she has been under arrest for two of our three meetings? ... but why "formally"?

"I don't think it's unreasonable to grant her a short leave for this though" Amiya added.

This time the one to blink was Viviana. Admittedly, her personal experiences with Arturia had been all rather... peculiar. Somewhat like stumbling upon a singing fowlbeast in the middle of an arid desert. An odd encounter, mysterious even, but rather pleasant somehow. At the same time, however, she couldn't simply ignore what she knew the sankta had done and been involved with.

"You look surprised" Amiya commented, or rather pointed out, making Viviana wonder if her silence hadn't protracted for too long.

"I am" she admitted readily "If I were to take into consideration what informations I have, I would've expected her to be under a stricter surveillance"

"Executor is with her at all times, though that's a rather... complicated matter on its own right. And I don't believe she truly wants to leave Rhodes Island already"

"... that is a rather dangerous bet you are taking"

"I won't claim to know what Arturia truly wishes for or what she is looking for at the moment, but I believe her and I have come to a certain degree of... let me call it mutual understanding. But why did she tell you about the hotel reservation?"

"I believe she wants me to go with her. The room can host two people, if the informations provided by the lottery pamphlet is correct"

Amiya smiled, for some reason. Viviana's confusion grew a little bit larger.

"This makes things easier, doesn't it? You have worked as a professional competition knight in the Kaizmierz Major for years, even reaching the highest brackets of the tournament, then briefly served directly under empress Ewigegnade, and you have prior personal experience with Arturia herself. I'm sure I can appoint you as additional security personel for her temporary leave without problems. ... oh, but then that wouldn't be much of a vacation for you, so maybe... "

"No, that... that is fine, I believe"

Is it?

"Great! The booking was for... " she then added as she turned to her computer, quickly running the mouse and typing something, whispering something about Closure needing to organize some files "I'll get this sorted out in time, but it'd be better if you brought the documents to Executor yourself once they're ready. I'm sure he will want to discuss it a little bit with you beforehand. If nothing else, he'd rather have the paperwork in order if possible"

"By all means. Once more, I thank you for your disponibility" Viviana concluded as she got back up "And I hope to not have stolen too much of your time"

"It's fine!" Amiya reassured her before waving goodbye and returning to her work, taking a thermos out from her desk and drinking a generous gulp of hot coffee as soon as Viviana had left.

As for the elafia, that whole exchange had answered her original question while leaving her even more confused than before.

---

A few more days had gone by since then. The landship was approaching a border town of Yan, a moderately sized mobile city which had been lucky enough to not need to relocate for the past ten or so years. Rhodes Island in itself wasn't scheduled to dock there, but it would stop nearby in order to allow the people onboard the chance to drop by for a couple of days without having to worry about getting left behind.

As for the situation at hand, Viviana was once again standing in front of a door and waiting for an answer to her knock. She didn't have to wait long, however. Not even half a minute.

"Operator Viviana" Executor said, as collected as ever, his words being in perhaps equal part a greeting and a simple aknowledgemente of who was standing in front of him.

She kept the faint curiosity telling her to look past him and into the dormitory room at bay in the back of her mind. She had... almost expected to see Arturia there, in truth. But she supposed Federico wasn't actually keeping an eye on her on his every waking hour. A little surprising, in truth.

"Operator Executor" she returned the greeting while taking a small plastic folder from a bag and handing it to him "I was asked to pass on these documents to you"

The sankta grabbed it and pulled the surprisingly thick stash of papers out, giving them a quick scan.

"Documentations for the temporary leave of operator Virtuosa from the landship Rhodes Island, under the surveillance of operator Executor with the temporary aid of operator Viviana. At a first glance, the forms appear to be in order"

He looked up. His expression was remarkably neutral.

"I am aware of the hotel reservation won at the recent lottery" he said "However, Arturia hasn't requested any temporary leave to make use of it. For what reason did Amiya compile the necessary documents?"

Viviana blinked.

She only then realized what had just happened. Had Arturia just used her?

... no. No, that felt wrong. Completely wrong. But what then?

"Do we have a visitor, Fede?" a familiar voice then spoke, one that perhaps shouldn't have sounded as familiar as it did given how few times Viviana had actually heard it.

She really is here, then.

Arturia and Federico did not, in fact, share the same room, but neither relative decided to correct Viviana's mistaken assumption, albeith for wildly different reasons.

"This was your plan"

"It most definitively wasn't, my little brother" she replied as she silently asked for the stash of papers "But I won't deny that I appreciate the chance to breathe a different air. You should take the chance to relax too"

Much to Viviana's surprise, if not perhaps shock, Executor seemed to actually ponder those words, even if just for a split second.

"Would you like some tea? I was just about to brew some" she then added, looking past her relative to meet the elafia's gaze "As a small thank you for the invitation. Although I cannot guarantee for the quality of the flavor"

"I appreciate the offer" Viviana replied, almost taking half a step back already "But I cannot stay"

"Is that truly the case? Oh, don't mind me" she added immediatly "What about you, Fede? You like it with milk and sugar, right?"

"I will review the documents to ensure everything is in order" Federico told Viviana "If you have other commitments to attend to, I will not keep you any further"

"By all means"

As the door closed in front of her, a small part of Viviana wished she could've heard Executor's full answer about his tastes in terms of tea. For the most part, however, she was thinking about the way she could've -probably- stopped Amiya from authorizing that outing at any moment during their conversation, and about how she had effectively invited Arturia out by not doing so.

The following days went by as if nothing was amiss, in truth, flowing neither slowly nor quickly. Viviana tried to get in touch with Arturia again at one point, admittedly, but just as the sankta had warned it was rather difficult to get a grasp of her. Her presence aboard the landship seemed to be halfway between a secret and an unspoken matter, which only made their meeting at the library that much more puzzling. Eventually, the elafia found herself preparing a small suitcase for her upcoming, brief stay in town without having ever gotten the chance to talk with her again. Not that she... truly had much to tell her, in truth. As for her luggage, there was very little to bring along for such a short leave, but she packed a few extra things she wasn't actually expecting to need or even use in an attempt at making the entire thing appear...

... more normal, perhaps.

---

The car ride from Rhodes Island to the town had been somewhat awkward, Viviana would say. Executor was not the best partner for idle chat, and Viviana herself had a few too many questions swirling around in her mind to strike up a casual conversation anyway. Arturia, on her part, made some casual remarks about the scenery, but nothing more. Thankfully, the trio had to spend just a little more than half an hour in that car before making it to their destination -no speed limits out of town-, albeith finding a decent parking spot required a little longer still. The plan for the rest of the day was rather simple, if only because there wasn't really one to begin with. They had already had lunch before leaving the landship, and the only thing Viviana knew for sure was that they'd check in at the hotel at around half past seven in the evening and dine there.

The situation still felt odd to Viviana, and in truth it only grew weirder as time went by. The town itself was as lively as one would expect from a settlement of that size, with people coming and going from the stores and bars and other establishments, but the trio remained somewhat... silent. Paying little mind to the gazes they kept attracting -two sankta outside of Laterano were still a rather unusual sight after all, even without factoring the elafia's impossible-to-miss antlers- Viviana ended up simply following Arturia along, although it didn't really look like she had any real destination in mind either. They scrolled through a park, walked in front of some shop windows without quite entering any, and at some point Viviana and Executor found an ice cream cone in their hands. There was supposed to be a fair of some kind going on during those days, at least according to the pamphlet, but be it because Arturia didn't want to walk through a crowd or because Federico wouldn't have let her to begin with due to the increased risk of losing sight of her, they always steered clear of the part of the town where said fair was taking place. The trio eventually stumbled in front of an aquarium and made their way inside, but the elafia didn't look all that much at the exhibits. Rather, her gaze was mostly fixed on Arturia herself. The sankta hadn't exactly kept quiet the whole time, and in fact what few conversations Viviana and Federico had engaged with had all been started by her, but at the same time she didn't seem too concerned with talking more than necessary. But she would cast Viviana an inquiring glance every now and then, as if she had something to ask.

They made it to the aquarium's exit without anything really happening, one of them not even having truly looked at the fishes and another one having paid them rather little attention for one reason or another, and Viviana began to wonder whether the really weird thing was her half expectation that something particular would indeed occurr at some point.

As if having sensed just that, however, Arturia called her over right before they could cross the exit.

"I was wondering if there was anything to your liking" she said, answering the unspoken question in the elafia's eyes while directing her gaze to a small stand set up in the same room "I believe Fede wouldn't want any"

"Affirmative"

"... pardon me?" Viviana answered, or rather asked back, as her eyes settled on the relatively large stash of plushies shaped after the many animals they had just seen in the water tanks, albeith for some the resemblance was faint at best.

"Shall I pick one myself then?"

"I... no. No, you have no need to"

"You should know better than most, how a life might wind up when one only does what is needed"

Viviana almost wished she could see a mockery of some kind on Arturia's face, but there was nothing on the sort on the sankta's visage.

"... there are some endearing designs there" she eventually said "I don't think there would be anything wrong with buying one for yourself"

"I am sure you are already aware of this" Arturia replied, leaning towards her a little bit "But I have no plans of going anywhere on my own"

"Your precedents make this claim difficult to believe" Federico -who had always kept within five steps of Arturia, and mostly on the opposite side from Viviana as well- pointed out.

"You could use to show some more trust, my little brother"

"We are cousins"

"How very cold of you"

Viviana had a strong hunch she wasn't truly understanding what the two were saying despite comprehending their sentences, but at the same time she didn't want to try and look between the lines for something that might not have been there in the first place. In the end, Arturia bought something small enough to fit into her pouch and the trio made its way out without anything really happening.

At least until the sankta guided them into another building.

A clothing store, and a surprisingly large one at that. There weren't very many people inside though, perhaps because they were still rather far from where the fair was being held.

... what was that fair about again?

"I have heard that Rhodes Island routinely hosts balls aboard its landship" Arturia casually commented, making Viviana realize that her gaze had appeared a little bit too inquisitive and lingered a little too long"And I believe I am quite lacking in proper attires for such evenings"

"You are rather well informed about the goings of Rhodes Island. Have you been aboard it before, by chance?"

"When Amiya denied Arturia's fourth request for hosting a concert" Federico answered, perhaps because he believed his cousin wouldn't quite be as direct about it as Viviana needed her to "She informed her of the balls as well"

"Would you like to partecipate?" the sankta inquired as they moved through the casual wear section while paying little to no attention to the garments there.

"Keeping you under surveillance is part of my current tasks. Your attendance to such an event does not conflict with the established agreements, so if you intend to partecipate, I will be present as well"

"And would you dance with anyone, my dear brother?"

"Dance requires attention. It would be unwise of me to engage in an activity which would distract me from your surveillance"

Taking the final turn needed to enter the section where evening clothes were on display, Arturia turned around.

"I wouldn't mind dancing with you, Fede"

Viviana blinked. Something inside her heart shifted a little bit in place. It felt... odd.

"According to aviable informations, you were not capable of dancing before leaving Laterano to avoid arrest. Have you learned how to dance since then?"

"I most definitively haven't, my little brother"

"... then I believe we would simply look like fools"

Well, now that was an expression Viviana hadn't expected to hear from him. Then again, she wouldn't say she knew Federico all that well in the first place. She decided to walk past the two and look at their surroundings for no particular reason while Arturia skimmed through the dresses on display, only for the sankta's voice to catch her attention soon after and prompting her to turn back around.

"What about you, Viviana?" she asked while holding a dress almost but not quite up to the elafia's neck "Could you teach one how to carry themselves to a melody?"

That felt like an invite, and for a moment Viviana wondered whether grabbing that dress Arturia was holding would be akin to accepting.

"I have some experience" she replied, grabbing the hanger before her mind could settle on the meaning of that by all means completely ordinary gesture "But I don't think I have the ability required to dance at a formal event. ... besides" she added, her gaze briefly running over the dress in her hand before handing it back to Arturia "I was once told bright shades of green don't suit me, and that's a statement I quite agree with"

"What tint would compliment you then?" the sankta asked as she placed the dress back, a faintly upbeat tune to her words, a soft spring to her steps.

"I thought you had come here to find a garment for yourself"

"I have. And while I cannot claim any sort of expertise in the field, I still believe it takes two to tango"

Viviana looked at Federico, who briefly returned her gaze before going back to staring at his cousin. She wasn't sure what she had expected to find on his face, in truth.

"Oh, this might do it" the sankta then commented as she grabbed another dress and briefly looked around, calmly walking towards a changing room once she had located one.

"... is this truly alright?" Viviana asked Federico, after having gotten close enough to not be heard by the few other customers who had come around in the meanwhile.

"Physically speaking, Arturia is healthy but not particularly fit. Given the planimetry of this building, she would be unable to reach any of the exits before I could catch up to her. She does not have any Arts unit with her at the moment, and there are preventive measures in place in case were she to secure one. I have also observed the recording of your matches in the arena after Amiya appointed you as additional security personnel for this outing. I believe you would be able to catch her more swiftly than me were she to try and run away. ... and the chances of her making such an attempt are rather low"

Arturia then came out of the changing room with all her clothes still on, a very mild disappoint on her face as she put the dress back in place, grabbed a different one and headed back in, the soft smirk she casted their way suggesting that she knew exactly what they were talking about.

"You seem concerned"

"That's not it" Viviana replied "I think I am merely... "

... relieved that she was there, perhaps. It was rather selfish of her to feel so, she believed. Perhaps even hypocritical. For all that she had not been the one to truly ochestrate it all, Arturia had nonetheless played a role in the disaster which struck Zwillingstürme, and a... not exactly benign one, albeith the exact extent of her actions and involvements eluded Viviana. Nonetheless, the elafia simply couldn't forget that the sankta had been a close friend of her father, that she had brought him at least a little comfort before his death. And then there was... the matter with Cora, in which the sankta had also played a part. Blaming Cora's fate on Arturia alone would be akin to dismissing the responsibilies of everyone else who played a part in that series of events, of Cora herself in particular, but at the same time she couldn't ignore the sankta's actions after their return from Kargereich.

She had also helped Viviana herself, when she was lost and directionless. But that seemed of rather little importance compared to everything else. She would say that the help Arturia provided after returning from Kargereich was more relevant, if anything.

A selfish feeling indeed she mused, thinking to herself that the way Arturia was being treated at the moment had to mean she had underwent some kind of judgement, even if the nature and extent of it still left Viviana rather puzzled admittedly.

She simply found it... difficult to believe that Ewigegnade truly let her leave Leithanien after all that had happened, and yet there she was.

"Would one of you help me out for a moment?" Arturia then called out from the changing room.

Viviana stepped forward. There was a chance someone might make a scene were they to see a man walk into the same changing room where a woman was currently in, and she wanted to avoid such an occurrence. Federico seemed to be of similar mind, since he said nothing. And so the elafia briefly announced herself before sliding past the curtains of the changing room, finding it to be somewhat larger than she had expected. Though she still had had to maneuver a little bit to get her horns in anyway.

"This one here" Arturia said, her back presented to Viviana.

The elafia spent a moment or two staring, but quickly brought her gaze to where it was meant to be. She had expected to see a zip, in truth, so the sight of a few buttons to be closed left her somewhat startled. That just wasn't a practical design no matter which way she looked at it.

"This dress doesn't seem comfortable" she decided to comment after having closed its buttons.

"You have a better eye than I" Arturia replied as she casted a quick glance at herself through the mirror, so quick Viviana couldn't help but wonder whether she was truly even concerned with the garment "The fabric is more tight than I had expected around the shoulders, it is quite inconvenient to move with this on"

"... I believe red doesn't suit you as a color either"

Arturia spun around on her heel in response, her wings almost grazing Viviana as she turned around to face her, her face ending up oddly close to the elafia's, her head bent a little to the side, her lips slightly upcurled, her gaze... puzzingly inquisitive.

Then she got on her tiptoes a little bit, just enough to make up for the small height difference between herself and Viviana.

And she placed her lips on hers.

Viviana blinked.

And then again.

Her ears trembled a little.

Startled. Surprised. Puzzled. Bewildered. Viviana was all of that and then some, several different kinds of confusions joining together to keep her perfectly still, her mind trying to process what was happening and not quite succeeding, her body frozen in place as a single point of warmth captured her entire, undivided attention.

Arturia then leaned back, breaking their contact just as suddenly as she had initiated it, her eyes closed as if she was trying to listen on to something.

Viviana stared at her, and she kept doing so even as the sankta eventually opened her eyes, the silence surrounding her feeling surprisingly soft, tender even.

"Would you unbutton this for me?" she said as she turned back around, and Viviana found her own hands moving almost on their own accord.

"... is something amiss?" the elafia resolved to ask.

"There might be" came the answer, a relaxed and yet curious intonation to every word.

"... "

Remarkably lost, Viviana paced her breathing only to find it already regular, and thus strolled back out of the changing room. The following short while went by rather... uneventfully, with Arturia looking at the dresses exposed with what could only be described as a moderate -at best- interest. The elafia found her gaze briefly wandering at some point, and her eyes landed on an odd sight.

Far in the distance, she spotted a weird trio making its way to the exit. A pink-haired girl clad in a long coat which seemed a fair bit too heavy for the current weather, together with a blue-haired girl who was for some reason wearing a not entirely traditional maid outfit. Both aegir, if those bits poking out from underneath their clothes were truly tentacles. Given the distance, Viviana couldn't be sure. More striking was the third member of the group, however, a pythia with an exceptionally long and remarkably thick tail, with some peculiar ornament on her head which strongly resembled a pair of wings, one crafted so well the elafia could almost believe they were real.

Arturia's voice then caught her attention again, and Viviana walked once more into the changing room, not quite hesitantly but somewhat circumspectly.

If nothing else, there truly was a zip on Arturia's back this time.

"I think this might not be a good choice either" the sankta commented once Viviana had closed the zip for her, her gaze moving rather swiftly from one detail of the dress to the other on the mirror.

"... I believe something more plain might suit you better"

"I have been told that a few times in the past" came the nonchalant answer "But" she added, her hand reaching for another dress she had brought in earlier "I do think simple designs wouldn't make for a good fit for you"

Rather than on the dress Arturia had just moved up to Viviana's neck to get a general feel of how it might look on her, the elafia's gaze settled on the sankta herself. Arturia tapped her index and middle finger on the wooden hanger a few times, slowly, as if to follow an improvised tune of some sort, but stopped rather soon and stepped a little bit closer to Viviana instead.

"I find your silence rather unsatisfactory" she stated clearly, her free hand reaching for Viviana's side.

Viviana grabbed it before the palm could settle on her. A rather soft grasp, as if meant to return something in kind.

"And I find your actions... perplexing"

"I do wish I had a stringed instrument with me here" Arturia said back, her fingers tapping the hanger again following a different tune, a more reserved and yet aggressive, but still equally brief tune "That way, I might be able to fully express how vexing it is for me to share this particular feeling of yours"

Viviana blinked. She could not, in truth, tell which matter had her more confused between Arturia's words or the fact that she didn't back away when the sankta leaned into a second kiss. Her lips felt just as warm as they did a short while earlier, but their touch seemed a little bit more... inquisitive, and restrained at the same time, as if she was waiting for a reply of some kind, be it physical or verbal. And perhaps because said reply didn't come, Arturia pushed her hand forward. Viviana didn't stop her, simply keeping her own hand on it as something similar but not quite akin to curiosity made her remain still, the sankta's modest touch on her waist sending a confusing signal through her body, the slow, careful motion of her palm as it made its way to her back making Viviana wonder when exactly she was planning to put a stop to it, because if nothing else she was fairly sure she could easily overpower Arturia in a purely physical confrontation.

The sankta then pulled herself back, holding the dress against Viviana as some sort of makeshift barrier between the two, her fingers tapping a yet different tune on the hanger for barely a couple of seconds.

"You describeb my behaviour as perplexing rather than bothersome, Viviana? Was that courtesy or something else?"

"... that was merely a... "

"Is anything wrong?" Federico's voice suddenly interrupted her from outside, the sankta not all that close to the curtain separating them from the outside but still close enough to startle Viviana, the sudden reminder of where they were making a faint redness bloom on her cheeks, even if only for a few moments.

"The zip on the back got stuck" she replied, casting Arturia a quick glance and finding her seemingly listening to something with her eyes closed "That's all"

Viviana then walked back around her to pull said zip down and left, the need to bend her neck down and to the side a fair bit to get out without bumping her antlers on anything distracting her somewhat from what had just happened. Federico didn't move any further questions, and Arturia herself came out soon after as well. In the end, the sankta ended up buying nothing and the trio decided to make its way back to the car and go to the hotel with it. It was starting to get a bit late after all and the sun was already beginning to set, not to mention that the sky was starting to get covered by dark clouds when they left the store. The hotel had a private parking lot, luckily enough. As for the building itself, located near the city center, it was remarkably tall and surrounded by several other similar structures. The hotel's appearance wasn't quite plain but, for better or for worse, it couldn't really compare with a spire of Leithanien.

A silly comparison, Viviana silently reprimanded herself. A meaningless one, even. It would've made much more sense to liken it to a skyscraper from Kawalerielki, but even then the hotel in front of her at the moment would've come out hopelessly beaten, in height for starter. Even that was a rather unfair comparison however, pitting a building from a capital city against one in relatively small border town, even if of different nations.

As for dinner, that went by... unremarkably. The atmosphere in the hall was pleasant and the food was well made, but all Viviana managed to say at the table were some ultimately mundane replies to Arturia's equally casual remarks about their meal. As for Federico, he got rather close to having what could be considered a small chat with Arturia at one point, but nothing else. And so, with dinner behind them and after an exceptionally brief conversation, the trio decided to not go back into town -each for slightly different reasons admittedly- and instead make its way up to the fifteenth floor, almost but not quite the uppermost one of the hotel, carrying what little luggage they had with them. Arturia entered the room first, while Viviana stayed behind for just the time needed to exchange a few more words with Federico.

"Do you think she will try to run away?"

"Unlikely. However, the risk exists"

"... I see"

"Operator Viviana" he called her out just as she was about to turn away "You might need these"

She stared at the handcuffs he was offering her, the key lying on his palm right next to them.

She had... not expected that.

"You appear rather distressed since the visit at the clothing store. Securing Arturia to a sufficently heavy piece of furniture for the night might ease your worries"

Well, that was... awkward. For reasons Federico completely ignored though. And somewhat odd, perhaps. Handcuffing her to the bed for the night made... sense, given that she was supposedly under custody. Probably. But then again, if they were willing to go that far then having allowed her to stroll around the town for the entire afternoon, albeith while supervised, seemed a little strange.

"I shall keep it in mind" she simply accepted the offer, putting handcuffs and key into her pouch just a little bit too casually before wishing the sankta a good night.

And so Viviana walked into the room as well.

While Federico installed a portable alarm system to the door, in truth, but that was its own little story.

As for the room, it was... functional, it would seem. And somewhat large as well, although Viviana wouldn't have quite described it as spacious. Quite the opposite actually, it felt rather cramped. The beds themselves were pleasantly large, but they were positioned with the headboard facing the wall so she'd have to pull out the sheets and turn them around to accomodate for her antlers. There wasn't much else inside there, just a couple of small wardrobes, a nightstand next to each bed, a small table with a couple of chairs and a tv mounted on the wall. There were two remotes, one probably was for the lamps and possibly for the chandelier as well. There was a mini fridge too, though rumors had it that anything taken out from there would get charged during the checkout. A rather sleazy practice, that one. The furniture didn't look cheap, it was quite pleasant to the eye actually, but it did have a few marks of time and usage on it. Viviana didn't really mind such things, if anything her eyes spotted those kind of details mostly on their own precisely because she actually rather liked them.

With all of that said, there were two things which really stood out, or rather which were simply impossible to miss. One was the large window which made up nearly the entire wall facing out. The surrounding buildings were too close to not obstruct the scenery at least to a certain degree, but the sight still looked almost rural when compared to that one could enjoy from an hotel in Kawalerielki. She could see the first droplets of rain hitting the glass and briefly considered pulling the curtains close only to quickly discard the idea, if only for the time being.

The other detail, which was also the main responsible for the room feeling a little cramped despite its size, was the large bathtub placed almost in the middle of the room. Assuming the pamphlet was true, that was an hydromassage tub. Oddly positioned, as that would've made more sense in the bathroom she believed. The upper edge of the tub was rather large, enough to comfortably sit on, and the entire thing was placed in a slight depression in the floor, a measure taken to avoid accidentally flooding the room if the drain grates poking out from underneath it were of any indication. The tub itself was large enough for two people to lie down in it side by side, and it also came with an in-built seat on the upper edge, around as large as the tub itself and oddly long, so much so a child could even fully lie down on it. Was that meant for people to relax with just their legs in the water from the knees down? Such an odd design. There was also a padding covering it, a waterproof one most likely. The tub also had two little stools placed right next to it, with one hosting a couple of folded bathrobes on top.

Arturia was nowhere to be seen but, if the noise coming from the other side of the only other door present was of any indication, she was taking a shower. There surely was a window in the bathroom too but, as far as she knew, the sankta had no way of jumping down the fifteenth floor of a building and survive. Besides, she didn't really think Arturia wanted to get away anyway. Or rather, Viviana wasn't even sure what Arturia's current situation truly was. It seemed delicate enough to be kept confidential, and yet there she was having a day off in a small town, even if under surveillance.

Right, Arturia.

What did Viviana actually think of her? She... didn't hate her, at the very least, but she wasn't entirely sure how she felt about her.

There was... little point in thinking about it there and then, probably. She would simply run into the risk of puzzling herself even further with the events which had transpired at the clothing store.

For the time being, she simply put her pouch down on the closest surface she could find -one of the stools next to the bathtub, as it would happen-, took a change of underwear out from her luggage and waited. She saw no point in taking out her change of clothes for the following day right away. The clock on the wall went largely ignored as she stared out the window, the lights of the city fending off the night and illuminating the falling rain, her thoughts wandering to the not so distant past.

The sound of a door opening eventually brought her attention back to the present, and she turned to look at Arturia, who had just walked out of the bathroom fully clothed. Some droplets of water were still dripping from the sankta's exceptionally long hair, and her skin had that pristine look to it typical of someone who had just cleansed their body. Had Viviana seen her then for the first time, her thoughts would've been completely focused on just how peculiar the sankta's appearance was. Her hair, her eyes, even her halo and wings, their shape ragged and somewhat irregular, were all black, creating a stark contrast with her pale skin and making the slight upward curve of her lips stand out that much more.

Her lips, right.

Viviana's ears trembled a little.

The curve of Arturia's smile grew a little softer.

"The shower is rather spacious" she commented as she made her way to one of the beds, pulling her own little suitcase from under it "I am sure you will find it ample enough to not cause any hindrance"

"I appreciate your consideration"

The elafia took her change of underwear with her and walked past Arturia, maneuvering a little bit to get her antlers through the door. Such things would've been truly annoying, had she not gotten hopelessly used to them long ago. As for the bathroom, it was decidedly smaller than the main room but, since its furnishing was rather essential, it appeared a fair bit more spacious. The bathtub was rather small, and in truth its very presence seemed somewhat redundant at that point, but the shower was undeniably large, almost oddly so even. Viviana didn't quite take her sweet time washing herself, but she was in no hurry either. Some familiar noises began to come in from the small window at some point, they sounded rather distant and faint through the glass but she was nonetheless fairly sure those were fireworks. It was a little surprising, in truth. She thought fireworks couldn't be used in the rain. Rumors had it that people in Yan were especially fond of them admittedly, in which case it wouldn't appear all that weird for them to come up with a way to fire them even under a downpour, but Viviana had spent more than enough time in Kazimierz to know better than take rumors for true. Besides, she had never actually looked into how fireworks really worked in the first place.

Either way, the elafia finished her shower, dried herself up and got back into her clothes as well. She had taken a nightgown with her as well, but it still seemed a little early to change into that. She figured she could read a book, or perhaps even check whether there was anything of interest on tv, albeith she found that latter option rather lacking in appeal. So she walked back into the room, only to be greeted by a most startling sight, one which made perfect sense on paper and yet had an odd sense of surreality to it.

The lights had all been turned off, with the only exception being a lone lamp in a corner of the room, one which didn't really provide much light at all either in truth. And Arturia was lying in the bathtub, filled almost but not quite to the brim with water, its surface shaken slightly by the jets, some inactive and the others working at what probably was a rather low setting. Her hair rested mostly behind her and to her right, falling onto the floor, and her fingers sometimes tapped the tub following an exceptionally slow tempo. Viviana's gaze briefly trailed past her and to one of the beds, finding a pile of neatly folded clothes and undergarments orderly placed there before tracing back to the sankta. Who, on her part, wasn't naked, no. She was wearing a swimsuit, a black one-piece upon which Viviana wanted to not let her gaze linger for any longer than needed, for two very simple reasons, one of which being that it was rather unpolite to stare.

Possibly because of that, she noticed something which had eluded her until then. A chocker on the sankta's neck, one which resembled the infection monitors in use at Rhodes Island while clearly not being one. It was a somewhat tight fit by the looks of it, not to mention that it looked rather sturdy. The sight of that odd object made Viviana realize that, in all their meetings in the past couple of weeks, Arturia had always worn shirts with an high neck, even the dresses she had tried out had something to cover it up. The elafia's mind recalled Federico's words about there being measures in place to ensure nothing would happen even if Arturia were to retrieve an Arts unit.

"It is not much of a spectacle" the sankta commented, her eyes staring at either the rain or the fireworks out the window "But it does make for a way to spend some time. Would you care to join me?" she added, turning towards Viviana at last.

The elafia didn't blink, her gaze transfixed by the bright blackness of the sankta's eyes, but she did pace her breaths.

She... did have swimwear with her, yes. The pamphlet had mentioned the hydromassage tub, after all, and as far as Viviana was aware it was customary to not go into it naked. She had taken a swimsuit along precisely to build up some sense of normality, but she hadn't actually expected to use it. And said sense of normaly hadn't quite entire followed her out of that changing room anyway.

Still, it was quite to her own surprise that she took Arturia up on her offer. The sankta casted her a soft smile, neither warm nor cold, and then turned to the outside again. Viviana fetched her swimsuit and briefly headed back into the bathroom to get changed again, coming out to the exact same sight as before. Arturia was still tapping her fingers on the tub, now humming a tune as well admittedly, her head moving ever so slightly left and right in time with the melody, but nothing else. ... was that fine, Viviana briefly wondered? It should've been. Something kept her from truly worrying about it, however. Placing her clothes on the other bed, the elafia walked around half the outer edge of the tub at half the pace of her heartbeats while dipping her fingers into the water to test its temperature. It was pleasantly warm, unsurprisingly. As for finding herself at less than an arm's length of distance from Arturia while soaking in an hydromassage tub, clad in only a two-piece pale yellow swimsuit and gazing at some distant fireworks going off in the rain, well... it wasn't quite the sort of scenario The Red Wine or other such magazines would write of on their pages, but it didn't sound all that off the mark either.

There was some kind of mild amusement to be found in that situation, Viviana guessed, but for better or for worse she had never considered herself to be a person with a strong sense of humor.

... the water jets softly hitting her back and stirring the water around her felt rather pleasant, at least.

"Do you enjoy fireworks?"

"I would say I don't" Arturia casually replied, the rhythm of her index and middle finger hitting the tub having changed somewhat "I wasn't expecting this kind of question" she added.

Viviana didn't say anything else for a while, silently choosing her words instead. Her eyes would follow one firework or the other as they made their way up through the night sky and bloomed into ephemeral sparks of bright light, but her mind was focused on what -who- lied next to her on that side of the glass.

She heard the sound of Arturia's fingertips hitting the tub again, and with it came her soft humming. It was an... almost surprisingly pleasant tune. Simple, but not mundane. Viviana reminded herself that the sankta was neither an Infected nor currently in possession of an Arts unit, and then allowed herself to appreciate the simple melody for a while longer. Having noticed this, Arturia decided to play for a bit more than she had initially meant to before speaking up, focusing on the piece she was only partially improvising.

"How" the elafia spoke up herself first, although after how long, that she couldn't quite tell herself "How shall I construe your earlier behaviour, Arturia?"

"As a question" came the immediate answer "And one aimed at myself"

"You are a frank person indeed, and yet it is quite hard to comprehend you nonetheless"

"I played many times for Werner, Viviana. And I played for Cora as well"

For a brief moment, the elafia's gaze wandered to somewhere distant, far beyond the dark horizon.

"I felt their innermost emotions, and among them was their love for you. I believed I felt... pity towards you, in the beginning. To which followed a certain sense of gratitude. But I was... made aware"

That short interruption in her words gave Viviana pause.

"I felt their love for you, but what I believed to be my own feelings were in truth... something I borrowed. I have been reflecting on the past as of late, Viviana, I have been trying to understand what my own heart tried to tell me on all kind of different occasions. To untie my own knots, if you'd allow me to borrow the words of someone else. I must say" she continued, a sudden upbeat turn to the tune of her voice "That is has been surprisingly... simple, for the most part. Straightforward. Although I believe this only makes my ignorance of myself that much more... unfortunate. However, there are some elements which still have me confused"

Arturia then got up somewhat and turned around, moving one leg across Viviana's outstretched ones to straddle her, facing her directly and placing both hands on the elafia's shoulder, touching her without grasping her.

"I was rather surprised to find you as one of those stubborn knots"

Viviana brought an hand up to seize Arturia's palm, but she didn't push her away yet.

"I trust your sincerity, Arturia. And yet I cannot help but hear your words as a riddle"

"Are the knights in the novels you delectate yourself with mysterious, by any chance?"

A soft, amused smile appeared on Viviana's face.

"To compare oneself to a knight while straddling the legs of one is quite the peculiar act for a musician"

"Music can stir many responses from the hearts of people" Arturia answered, her free hand tracing a soft line over the elafia's shoulder, slowly moving up her neck and settling on her cheek "But on this particular occasion I am still trying to understand mine"

In a certain sense, it could be said that it was precisely Viviana's lack of understanding for the sankta's words which allowed her to empathize with her. After all, Viviana herself hadn't truly figured out what her opinion of Arturia was. And in that sense, she supposed that she might... take that chance to test herself out as well, so long as she managed to not hesitate.

... or perhaps she had been reading too many novels as of late. That sudden thought nearly made her chuckle.

The ever so soft pressure on her shoulder brought her attention back to the present, and it was with some hesitation still which she allowed Arturia to lean forward, to rest her lips on hers again. Her skin felt warm compared to the air but cold in comparison to the water enveloping them from the chest down. Still uncertain, Viviana slightly opened her mouth, allowing Arturia in but not quite welcoming her. The sankta seemed to have noticed this and, rather than insisting, moved her lips down, eliciting a soft, surprised whimper from the elafia as she rested her lips on her neck and planted a warm kiss on it while slowly, carefully exploring her arms, feeling the trained muscles lying underneath the thin layer of soft skin. One hand then moved to her back, sliding between Viviana's skin and the tub to trace a line up along her spine, dragging some water up to her nape as it broke the surface.

Then Viviana pushed Arturia back and moved her own legs up a bit, enough to prompt the sankta to get up on her knees. The elafia backed away a little, only to wondered whether that had been a good choice. Arturia was looking at her, but her gaze could only be described as curious, inquisitive. And so Viviana stood up and made herself comfortable on the padded seat of the tub instead. The air felt a fair bit colder now that she was immerged in the water only from the knees down, in truth, but that would pass quickly.

"That is a rather... uncomfortable place to sit down for this kind of activity, is it not?"

... "this kind of activity", is that it... ?

Arturia got up as well, her figure blocking what little light came in from outside the window and leaving Viviana just slightly more in the dark, the sankta's halo and the distant lamp providing an at most dim illumination. Nonetheless, or perhaps precisely because of it, the elafia found her gaze transfixed by what she could make out of the droplets of water running down Arturia's skin. She had... never paid it much attention, in truth, but now that she was gazing at her in a swimsuit she realized just how slim she was. The way her black hair and swimsuit blended into the dark gave her a rather... peculiar air, almost ethereal, especially when a late firework bloomed in the sky behind her, partially covered by her figure.

"My knees would have soon complained about the strain, yes" she agreed as she leaned forward, resting her hands on the elafia's shoulders and planting a kiss right above her collarbone, a warm tingle spreading around it, followed by another as Arturia slowly drew a line up along Viviana's neck, the way the sankta rhythmically tapped her fingers on the knight's shoulders feeling surprisingly soothing to the nerves while sounding ever so slightly unsettling at the same time, despite the tune itself being by all means enjoyable.

Viviana brought her hands up in turn, getting a somewhat hesitant feel of Arturia's arms, of her shoulders, of the texture of her swimsuit, her own soft whimpers at every tender kiss placed on her neck making her think of those scenes which would occasionally come up in some of the most daring novels she had happened to read.

Then something else came to her mind, mixing together with her still lingering uncertainty to produce a quite peculiar result.

She pushed Arturia away once more, softly but firmly at the same time. The sankta straightened her back and took half a step back, holding her hands behind her back as her neck bent a little to the side. She looked almost innocent, something Viviana found rather... peculiar.

"Shall I take this as an invitation to stop?"

"... no" Viviana replied, the slight delay in her words caused by an hesitation working in the opposite direction from the one which had made her push the sankta back twice.

And so she leaned to the side, reaching for her pouch which, be it by fate or by chance, had been placed on the stools next to the bathtub. She grabbed the very first thing her hand found within, sure of what it was, and went back to sitting down, something that strongly resembled surprised amusement on Arturia's face.

"On these" Viviana declared, a faint flushness to her cheeks as she brought both hands behind her own back and closed the handcuffs around her wrists "I would rather not be inquired about at the moment"

She had had... somewhat of an interest in such things for a long time, in truth, but she would have never, ever guessed for her first time actually trying out something of the sort to be in that sort of... circumstances. Much less to be with Arturia of all people.

Perhaps she should have apologized to Federico. For all that neither of them seemed to truly believe Arturia had any intention of running away, they were still supposed to be keeping her under surveillance and what she had just done seemed to be rather unconciliable with that.

"A startling development" Arturia commented, her smile a little wider than usual as she approached Viviana and sat on her lap, the dim light from her halo allowing them to see each other better now than when they were further apart, the padding underneath them making the position much more comfortable than it had been in the tub "But one I find myself most intrigued by"

"... that might make two of us"

"Then" the sankta said back, cupping Viviana's cheeks and tapping them ever so softly "Shall we spare our thoughts for when the morning comes? For now, let us simply... feel"

Viviana blinked. Her body shifted in place a little bit, feeling the sankta's weight, her warmth.

And then she pushed herself forward, that little bit needed to reach Arturia's lips and then a little bit more still.

Whether the sankta got startled by this or not, one could only guess. The slight delay in her response might've been a simple mean to feel Viviana's approach, after all. Whichever the case, Arturia slid an hand down along Viviana's neck and behind her back while the other reached behind her head, her fingers sinking between her long hair as she tenderly pulled the knight towards herself, their lips meeting and parting and meeting again between one nearly composed breath and the other, their tongues grazing each other multiple times without quite fully touching, a surprising sense of mild euphoria slowly taking rooth within Viviana.

And through their kiss Arturia's fingertips never stopped tapping the elafia's skin, their gentle, harmonious touch sending soothing shivers through her skin, a gentle tempo which could either dictate or be dictated by the rhythm of their kiss.

Viviana's hands shifted in place behind her. For as capable in combat as she was, raw physical strength had never been a distinctive quality of hers. She couldn't break free of a pair of good handcuffs with her muscles alone. And so her mind found nothing wrong with testing those restraints, a peculiar sense of freedom coming with the confirmation of their firmness.

Then Arturia broke their kiss and rested her forehead against hers, humming a soft tune which lulled the elafia to relaxation, making her heart beat a little bit more slowly. Viviana would've found herself humming along to it, had the sankta not moved an hand to the top half of her swimsuit, sliding her palm underneath the garment and running it along her skin underside it.

A breath escaped Viviana when arturia's hand came to rest on her breast, the faint redness of her cheeks growing a little more intense as the touch made her aware of the stiffness of her own nipples, a warm jolt coursing through her chest.

She let out a whimper when Arturia tenderly bit her neck, making her jolt softly, the air around her seemingly growing colder, the body pressed against hers becoming hotter.

"Ah"

"Does this position satisfy you?" Arturia asked after having accompanied Viviana down onto the padded surface, the elafia now lying down, the sankta standing on her knees above her.

"This part of the tub is surprisingly comfortable to lie on"

"Quite an odd design indeed"

Arturia's gaze then traced down, breaking eye contact with Viviana to get a glimpse of her chest as she pushed her swimsuit top up, just enough to bare her breasts. The sankta's touch was... Viviana didn't know whether that was an expert touch or not, in truth. What she could tell was that it felt calm, passionate. Arturia's palm was getting an ample feel of her chest, her fingers closing and opening up slowly, occasionally tapping her breast and even her nipple, the warmth beginning to build up within Viviana's nethers surprising her to some degree.

But, just as her ministrations would suggest, Arturia was in no particular hurry to move along and leaned down again instead, her hair cascading around them, a dark curtain to separate them from the rest of the world, if only partially. Pushing her chest up a little bit to lean into the sankta's touch, Viviana made a conscious decision to not close her eyes as Arturia kissed her again, her lips a little warmer, her tongue a little braver as it probed the confines of Viviana's mouth, respectfully sliding into it once having found her lips open and welcoming.

She had had her first kiss that afternoon, the knight found herself realizing. But the fact in itself left her almost indifferent in truth, as evidenced by all the time it took her to even notice. We could almost say it was everything else around the kiss which got her flustered.

Be it because she had noticed her thoughts briefly wandering elsewhere or for some other reason, Arturia made use of the knight's parted lips and reached for Viviana's tongue with hers, bringing her full attention back to the moment at hand and savoring the heat, the taste, small strings and droplets of saliva slowly making their way from the sankta's mouth to Viviana's.

She shifted in place a little, the added weight on her breast making her feel every tiny motion of the palm against her nipple as it tenderly caressed and groped it, a fire slowly but steadily burning brighter within the elafia, her feet beginning to sway a little in the water. And then she pushed her chest up again, leaning into that touch, the hand which once more came to grasp her nape and tap on her skin sending warm shivers down her spine. Her wrists pulled against the chain again, letting Viviana focus on the act, on the person lying above her, and keeping her more troubling thoughts at bay.

At some point Arturia broke their kiss, which had never been quite so feverish as to keep either of them from breathing, and moved down, resting her lips on Viviana's skin following a tempo which seemed to go along with the one marked by her still tapping fingers, making her way to the knight's bare chest slowly, almost excruciatingly so.

Admittedly, Viviana was left a little bit surprised by the way Arturia kept planting kisses along her chest without really stopping on her breasts, merely taking a short yet intense look at them before tracing further down, one hand still cupping and feeling the elafia's chest and occasionally giving her nipple a gentle pinch while the other slid down along her spine, settling on her lower back and pulling it up ever so slightly, as if Arturia wished to have a better taste of Viviana's belly.

The sankta had had to back away a bit by then in order to still have a good angle, enough for her legs to be once more standing in the warm water rather than being bent on the seat, her dark halo casting a captivating light on the scene of her lips and tongue paying omage to Viviana's body.

Her eyes then settled briefly on a scar, one of many the knight had gotten during her years in the arena, especially during the early ones, and she looked up a little, her eyes meeting Viviana's, an innocent, unspoken question in those black irises of hers.

"Nothing I feel shame about" the elafia said, her breath growing heavier with anticipation "But nothing to take pride in either, I confess"

Arturia bent her neck a little to the side and smiled, then looked back down at the knight's belly again, paying no mind to those scars which had just been deemed not worthy of attention, her gaze setting on something else instead.

Viviana blinked, the hand which had been pleasing her breast up until then moving to her side and softly grabbing hold of her as Arturia's lips came closer and closer, until-

"Ahah!?"

Viviana felt the slightly wet warmth of Arturia's mouth, the heat of her breath and the touch of her tongue on her navel, a sudden shiver running through her for a brief moment, the touch having made her entire body jolt.

She looked down just as the sankta looked up, their gazes meeting.

"Are you ticklish, Viviana?"

"I... wouldn't know. I have never been tickled before" she answered, that turn of events somehow feeling a lot more embarrassing than everything which had come before it.

Arturia didn't reply to those words, casting the elafia a soft smile instead before bringing her attention back to the knight's navel, poking it with her tongue and eliciting a neither too loud nor too soft laugh from Viviana, her body jolting again, and then once more as Arturia sucked gently on her belly button, the sankta's grasp on her body having grown firmer in response to her shivers.

"This is... ahah... a surprisingl-aaahhh-y... shameful sensation... " Viviana said, her eyes captivated by the dimly illuminated figure of Arturia tenderly licking and sucking her navel, a different kind of warmth beginning to burn within the elafia.

"A surprising sensation by all means" the sankta agreed as she adjusted her position, her fingers tapping their way over Viviana's skin and grazing the small tuft of fur which was her tail, squished between her own body and the padded surface beneath them, before gently closing on her firm rear.

Another chuckle escaped her lips as Arturia savored her ticklish spot, the sankta's tongue and lips moving along with the hands tenderly kneading the knight's butt through the bottom of her swimsuit, setting a melodic, joyful tempo, the faint, barely visible flushness of Arturia's cheeks making Viviana's heart accelerate a little bit further still, shivers warm and cold alike preventing her body from remaining still as her muscles twitched in response to the ministrations received.

"I -ah- I do not know" she managed to say, a part of her dreading what might happen were Arturia to forego the tenderness of her touch, another part feeling a special sort of excited curiosity about the prospect "How well the walls of this room have been soundproofed, if at all"

Arturia looked up, their eyes meeting once again, and for a moment Viviana believed she could perfectly understand what was going through the sankta's mind.

It felt... thrilling.

And a little odd, in truth.

"You are right" she almost casually agreed, giving Viviana's toned rear a soft squeeze before pulling one hand away, her lips drawing another slow string of tender kisses on her skin as it moved further down.

Arturia stepped back a little bit again, reaching Viviana's thighs and simply... resting her cheek on it, feeling the tender skin and firm muscles, using one hand to gently tap the knight's other leg, the soft strokes of her fingers and her warm breath on her inner thighs tickling the elafia a little bit, making her growing restlesness burn more brigthly.

Then the sankta kissed her again, eliciting a soft whimper and an equally tender giggle from her, making Viviana's wrists pull against the handcuffs out of sheer reflex, a lingering sense of shame keeping her from pushing her own hips against Arturia in search of a deeper connection. Arturia, on her part, kept feeling up Viviana's thighs, be it with her palm, with her fingers, with her lips, her tongue of even her cheek, sometimes wondering whether the wetness she could occasionally feel was water from the tub or something else, all the while kneading the knight's toned rear with her other hand and finding the way she squirmed and trembled softly in response oh so endearing.

Then Viviana felt two hands moving to her hips, sliding between her skin and her swimsuit and slowly pulling the garment down, down, to her knees, to her ankles and then past, leaving it to float in the tub, the brighter redness of her cheeks hardly visible in the dimly illuminated room, her body growing stiff for a few moments as the air touched her now bare, wet privates, Arturia's soft breaths on her entrance making her shiver and turning her own breaths heavy in turn, less out of physical sensation and more due to the awareness of having her most intimate spot gazed upon from up close.

Arturia then kissed her inner thigh again, one hand finding its way to the knight's rear once more and then to her lower back to caress the skin around her tail, the other playing another tender tune by tapping rhythmically on her belly, the touch carefully teetering on the edge of Viviana's navel, the sankta's lips approaching the knight's privates only to retreat back again, a prolonged tease which made Viviana all the more aware of the restraint she had placed upon herself, of the wetness dripping between her legs, of the growing need within her.

Then, just as she parted her lips to let out words rather than a whimper, Arturia spoke up.

"Shall I turn the lights on, Viviana?"

"If it would be fine with you" she replied, surprised at the tint of sultriness her own voice had taken "I would rather continue as we are"

"That's indeed fine by me"

Then Arturia briefly pulled herself back, her dimly illuminated figure once again captivating the elafia's gaze as the sankta seemed to ponder something.

Then she got on all fours on top of Viviana, crawled upon her a little bit and turned around, slowly placing her legs on bot sides of the elafia's head as she sat on her knees while facing Viviana's legs, careful to not hit her unusually large antlers, making full use of the seating's width, large enough to comfortably accomodate two people side by side.

"Now, Viviana" Arturia said, amused curiosity somehow still being the most prominent intonation to her words "If you would" she invited, pulling her own swimsuit aside, enough to reveal her own privates, her hips low enough for the knight to be able to reach her by just lifting her head up a little, the sankta's body leaning forward enough to allow her to rest one hand on the padding underneath them.

Viviana couldn't see all that much in that position, to be completely honest. The light from the lamp, already rather dim to begin with, was partially blocked by Arturia's exceptionally long, wet hair falling around them, some strands held up somewhat by the elafia's own antlers. She could figure out what she was staring at just fine, but making out any detail in the dark was beyond her. Had those been shadows from her own Arts thing would have been different, admittedly, but that was not the case.

It didn't take Viviana long at all to realize that it was precisely that circumstance which made her breaths grow heavier still, so much so Arturia could even feel them.

"I am glad that you are enjoying this, Viviana" she commented, resting an hand on the elafia's thigh and resuming tapping her skin while fondling her chest with the other as best as she could, the position being somewhat awkward for that particular kind of touch admittedly "I hope you'll let me enjoy it a little bit more as well"

Something in the knight's mind briefly pulsed. Her hands tested the restraints again, this time with little strength behind them, if any at all.

"... that's my intention" she managed to reply after swallong a lump of saliva, and with it something not quite as physical as well "But I wouldn't dare take the lead away from you" she added as she briefly pushed her hips up, an invitation Viviana herself could only think of as startingly obscene.

Arturia didn't really answer, unless soft chuckles be considered proper replies. But she did lean forward a little bit more, the outline of her rear taking form into Viviana's view as the feeling of a warm line drawn upon her skin by the sankta's fingers brought her focus to her own lower region.

Then, without any real warning, Arturia rested her fingers flat on Viviana's wet entrance, making her cheeks turn a little redder still and bringing an ever so soft whimper out of her, followed by a slightly louder one as her index poked the elafia's clit, gently rubbing it before beginning to tenderly tap on it, her other fingers caressing the elafia's privates and tapping either her sex or its immediate surroundings, a tempo as melodious as it was agonizingly slow.

Her breaths growing heavier still, the heat in her lower half receiving sustainment but not nourishment, Viviana realized that Arturia was awaiting.

... it had been rather... selfish of her, in hindsight, hadn't it? To return something was, if nothing else, an act dictated by basic courtesy.

And so Viviana pushed her head up, slowly as to avoid having her antlers accidentally bump into anything, her nose and lips hitting Arturia's privates sooner than either one had truly expected.

"Oh"

The soft, surprised vocalization from Arturia reached deep into Viviana's mind, softly echoing between her thoughts. She pushed her nose further against the sankta, her body having a faint, lingering aroma of what seemed to be a flower-based perfume, maybe something mixed with the bathtub's water. And the water was most definitively not the only source of wetness between Arturia's legs, the elafia's mouth finding something more sticky as her lips slowly, perhaps hesitantly reached for the sankta's entrance.

Adjusting her position a little, Arturia kept softly teasing the knight's privates and tapping her clit while focusing on the tongue sheepishly exploring her own sex, a pleasant warmth heating her up from within. Led by curiosity, the sankta looked at the scene, her gaze settling on the spectacle going on between her legs. Viviana's eyes remained out of sight given their position, but she could see the knight getting more... familiar with Arturia's privates, her lips closing over her entrance through soft kisses, her tongue shily reaching forward between her wet folds and not quite sliding past them.

Slowing down the tempo of her fingers, Arturia pulled her swimsuit a little bit further to the side to give Viviana a better access and dropped her hips ever so slightly, the elafia gasping in surprise, pulling back to draw in some air and then moving back up to meet her again, her tongue entering Arturia at last and sending soft, thrilling shivers coursing through her.

Arturia let out a soft moan, which in turn made her feel Viviana's ears tremble against her legs, a faintly ticklish sensation. The sankta's voice was at the same time sensual and elegant, spontaneous yet composed, and in an attempt to hear more of it the knight pushed her tongue further within her, as far as she could reach, exploring her thoroughly, occasionally pulling back to drawn in a deep breath or gulp down the fluids gathering in her mouth, if not both.

The heat within her rising, Arturia adjusted her position once more, her hands temporarily leaving Viviana's privates to their own dripping excitement as she moved her hips a bit.

"A little further up" she said, her breaths slightly ragged and yet perfectly controlled "That would be lovely"

"It's rather impolite" Viviana spoke back, her own breaths decidedly heavier, hot hair hitting the sankta's sex with every contraction of her lungs "To stop at this point, wouldn't you say?"

"Courtesy and politeness" she replied, her index suddenly sinking past the elafia's folds and into her hot, dripping entrance, flesh contracting around it as a sudden whimper escaped Viviana "I'd say I have somewhat of an appreciation for them, yes. But I must say, Viviana" she added, her index staying agonizingly still as her other fingers teasingly tapped the elafia's sex and circled around her clit "I do wonder which sort of etiquette asks one to handcuffs herself on such occasions. Oh, don't misunderstand me" she immediatly added, lowering her hips onto the elafia's face in response to the sudden, intense contraction she had felt around her index "You surprised me, but I can't deny that I find this particular situation thrilling"

Silently thankful for having been kept from speaking up -for three or four entirely different reasons- Viviana decided to just resume servicing the sankta straddling her, her shame growing weaker with every sticky thread drawn forth by her tongue, with every melodious note of Arturia's soft, delicate moans, sultry and yet somehow chaste at the same time, the elafia growing bold enough to pull her tongue out of her and reach for her clit instead, the soft jolt which shook Arturia's hips seemingly transmitting to the elafia herself, her body growing more stiff in response, beads of sweat slowly trailing from her skin to the waterproof padding beneath her.

Then, as if to reward her, Arturia bent her index and began to slowly move it within Viviana, her touch tender and passionate, rhythmic but not methodic, slowly getting Viviana closer to her climax, so excruciatingly slowly.

To earn her relase -subconsciously, perhaps- Viviana became a little more aggressive herself, her touch warm and intense but still not quite frantic, her tongue now poking and rubbing Arturia's clit, now sliding past her folds and running within her warm insides, second-hand experience from some of her novels sparing her from having no clue about how to conduct such an act while still leaving her ultimately unsure whether she was truly doing it right.

If Arturia had any complain, however, she kept them to herself.

And so Viviana pushed her mouth further into the sankta's privates in order to not hear her own voice, Arturia's fingers slowly stirring up her folds and tenderly poking her clit, her touch growing faster and slower, now more intense and now more delicate as if it were a composition, one Viviana equally enjoyed and wished to reach the climax of.

"Ah!"

Arturia's touch then briefly stopped. Viviana felt her own face getting wetter as a bit of fluid poured out on top of her, the sankta's halo emitting a brief pulse of slightly more intense light out of the knight's sight as her muscles grew stiff, her breathing coming to a brief halt as a warm, fulfilling sensation of soothing pleasure spread through the sankta, the realization of having just made her orgasm making Viviana's own need grow that much more intense, her thighs rubbing together, her breathing becoming slower, heavier, the air feeling even colder against her heated skin.

"That was a first for me" Arturia said almost casually as she changed position a little, her hips rising up and out of Viviana's reach, the sudden admission making the knight's heart skip a beat, the nonchalantly of it making her skip another "I hope you'll be happy to know that I thoroughly enjoyed it"

And then, as if not wishing to hear the elafia's answer, Arturia resumed moving her fingers, her other hand tapping her with either the whole palm or just the fingertips, now on her thigh, now on her belly, now somewhere else still, Viviana's own soft whimpers and half-stifled moans getting incorporated into the rhythm, a kind of melody she would've never even dreamed of filling her mind, taking over her body and leading her up, up and then further up still, until every muscle in her body tensed up at the same time, all air leaving her lungs in the form of a long, alluring moan as her hips jolted and shivered, heat spreading out from her privates through her veins and bones, reaching every corner of her body and only then beginning to abate, the pleasure slowly dying out as if following the equally slowing tempo of Viviana's tender taps on her skin, each touch sending yet another soft shiver through her.

Then Viviana took a long, deep breath, and then another, and only after the third one Arturia pulled her hand away from her privates, sticky threads stretching between her fingers and the knight's sex before breaking off.

Viviana's field of view suddenly expanded when Arturia got off her, the sankta sitting to her side and gazing at her as if she were some kind of finely crafted exhibit in an otherwise dull museum.

"Have you... sorted out your feelings then, Arturia?"

"To a degree" came the response, more swiftly than Viviana had expected "I believe I would... like to have more experiences of this sort with you, Viviana. Perhaps when you are not tasked with my surveillance as well"

The knight took another deep breath. The light was so dim she couldn't quite tell whether Arturia's cheeks were flushed or not, but she... somehow liked that.

"... I... I don't think I would... be opposed to it" she replied as she paced her breathing, her chest slowly rising and falling with every motion of her lungs.

"Now then" Arturia said as she got up on her feet "I think we should clean up, both ourselves and the tub"

Viviana's ears shivered a little.

"This is... not that sort of hotel" she replied as she got up as well "It'd be better to not leave any unwelcome surprise for the staff"

Have we left any stain?

"Shall we start from ourselves then? I believe we could fit inside the shower together"

Shall we?

"I believe we should start from somewhere else" she said instead, her wrists pulling one last time against the handcuffs "The key is inside my pouch"

Humming a tune in response, Arturia made her way to the stand on the other end of the bathtub, slowly, perhaps to avoid bumping into anything in the dark, and leaned down enough for the dim light of her halo to illuminate the content of Viviana's pouch, just barely but still enough to find the key.

"Now" she said "Do you wish me to use this before the shower, or after?"

Viviana blinked. Something within her fluttered a little bit.

"I must admit" she said "That I hadn't expected you to... enjoy such things so much"

"I am quite surprised too" Arturia confessed as she leaned forward, their foreheads nearly touching, halo and antlers almost colliding as she reached behind Viviana to unlock the handcuffs "And I wonder if you'd enjoy to further explore this sort of activities with me"

Their gazes locked on each other, Viviana noticed a very faint redness to Arturia's cheeks and realized that a brighter one had just washed over her own.

"... for the time being" she replied "Let us take care of the necessary cleanups"

---

Viviana found herself leaving the hotel room first the following morning while Arturia, who had woken up slightly later, finished getting ready. Whether the handcuffs had seen further use or not was anyone's guess. As for Federico, he was already in the hallway when Viviana got out, so she figured she could take the chance to return the aforementioned handcuffs. Partially because there didn't seem to be anyone else around. It was still quite early, that might've explained it.

"Thank you for these" she said as she handed cuffs and key to him "They truly helped me sleep more soundly"

Viviana wondered whether she should feel ashamed of what she had just said. But that wasn't really a lie, so it was... probably alright.

"I have no reason to move complaints about means of surveillance which cause neither unnecessary harm nor damage, so long as they prove effective" Federico replied, something other than pure apathy on his face, although said something was so faint Viviana could just barely notice it, let alone identify it "But I do find your chosen course of action for the night rather questionable"

"... pardon me?"

"The staff of the hotel threatened to call the local police were I not to remove the alarm system from the door of your and Arturia's room"

The... what alarm is he talking about?

"Thus the staff and I reached an agreement, and I slept here" he explained, pointing to the floor right in front of the aforementioned door as if that was the most natural thing in the world "Incidentally, I learned that while the noise absorbtion of the walls of this building reaches an acceptable level, the same cannot be said for its door"

Realization slowly struck Viviana, redness returning to her pale cheeks, her snow blue eyes making her blush stand out even more.

Before she could speak up, however, the door opened and Arturia walked out.

"My dear little brother" she greeted "I'm truly moved by the concern you show for me, but you should know better than to eavesdrop on someone's intimate time"

"You... were aware?"

"I felt him" Arturia replied with a soft smile "Much like he felt me. The distance between us was rather minimal, after all, and despite what his behaviour might suggest Fede's empathy with our own kind is functional"

"Any distress my actions might have caused you was not intentional" Federico flatly told Viviana, whatever hint of something might've been on his face earlier now gone.

"Rest easy" Arturia spoke with a soft, slightly amused smile on her face "Fede does nothing for fun on the job. Have you found any hobby for your off-time, however?"

"Your concern is irrelevant and unwarranted"

"I worry that my only brother might be neglecting himself, is that so bad?"

"We are cousins" he corrected her once again "And if you truly want to know... "

At a complete loss for words, Viviana found herself silently listening to the two sankta conversing right in front of her.

"Oh, right" Arturia then said, turning back towards Viviana as if she had just remembered something "Do you still have the handcuffs?"

"Ah-I-I returned them?" she answered more out of instinct than conscious choice.

"A shame" the sankta replied, her smile growing a little bit sharper.

Admittedly, Federico didn't quite feel completely indifferent to Arturia so casually having that sort of conversation right in front of him in the hallway of an hotel. And the soft smirk his cousin sent his way seemed to hint that Arturia herself was well aware of it.

"I suppose we will have to find a replacement then" she added "Oh, I almost forgot. Here, Viviana" Arturia changed the subject as she produced a small gift box -the one she had bought at the aquarium- from her pouch and handed it to the elafia "For your palace"

Puzzled and yet not all that surprised by the fact the sankta somehow knew about that, Viviana took the box with a little bit of confusion lingering on her face.

"I know" Arturia added then, softly clapping her hands together "Would you like to pose for a portrait with me, Viviana?"

"A portrait?" she asked back, startled by that sudden question "I... I suppose I might... try... ?"

Arturia's smile grew a little warmer still.

"I shall look forward to it then"

Viviana, on the other hand, was showing mostly puzzlement on her face.

"... I shall too... ?"

As for what she truly thought or felt about Arturia, she had managed to fully rule out some options but the exact truth of it still eluded her somewhat.

---

Thank you for reading.