”Unnngghh, that feels so good.” Dee made a sound of pleasure and contentment. “I’ve decided. We can keep this world around.” Her voice sounded almost sleepy.

“Was there doubt at some point?” Aurelie asked in a slightly weirded out voice.

“There’s always some doubt. But I happen to agree. This world definitely has its upsides. We can keep it.” Moirai gave her own opinion.

“Hmmmmm.” Araqiel also let out a very pleased high-pitched sound. “I’m still not quite sure why the two of us are here. I mean, we didn’t even participate in the tests.”

Moirai gave a mirthless chuckle. “That because some people here, I won’t name any names, trashed the testing center in their ardor for battle. I think I’ve earned a massage just from not killing certain someone for all the headache she gives me.”

“Hey, I don’t get to stretch my wings in such a controlled environment very often. Besides, who knew the building was so fragile?” Dee said defensively, while Araqiel mouthed an incredulous ‘Stretching her wings?’ while feeling the sting off inadequacy. Dee considered that fight simple stretching?

“You didn’t need to literally stretch your wing through an entire wall though.” Aurelie pointed out.

“Don’t you dare to start as well. I saw the hole you made just below the observation platform.” Dee deflected. “You did almost as much damage to that place as I did.”

“Uh, no. With all due respect, that’s just plain untrue.” Moirai pointed out rather acerbically. “And because of that, the two of us didn’t get to do the whole process of becoming a Lord. Only you did.”

They suddenly sensed a magical message reaching Aurelie. “Oops, I have a meeting to attend.” She got up, clad in just a towel and addressed the masseuse taking care of her. “Thank you, Min. Send the bill for all four of us to me once you’re done here.” She turned back to the trio still enjoying their own massage. “I’d say you have about twenty minutes before the representatives from various factions arrive, so I’d make the best of it unless you plan on meeting them naked.”

“That sound like a fine idea to me.” Dee stated in a half-sleepy voice. She really enjoyed the massage. Another thing to add to her list.

‘Get more massages. Noted. Updated the list accordingly. It now includes Travel, food, fun-times, food, seeing the universe, food, and massages.’ Croestia commented with silent amusement.

“You’re not going to make a pitch?” Moirai asked Aurelie with some amusement.

“I don’t have to.” Aurelie replied lightly. “I’ve been doing that for the entire time you’ve been here. You’ll either join the red faction or you won’t. It’s up to you. I can’t and won’t force you.” She then went to the dressing room without another word.

Dee suddenly perked up a little. “That reminds me. Moirai, you have some decisions to make. You followed me when I left Pantheon in order to find strength and take revenge on the Solarians. With Nyx back, the reason for your revenge has somewhat diminished. Now, I’d love to have you around, but you do have to decide if you really want to follow me and risk losing her again or even dying yourself. In the short term, you’ll have to decide if you’ll stay here and look after Nyx while I’m gone.”

Moirai got very quiet. The thought had occurred to her of course, but she had not decided. Dee was right. She still wanted to take revenge on the Solarians, but with Nyx back, did she really need to do it personally? Especially considering the time and effort it would take to grow strong enough to do it. It wasn’t’ even certain she was capable of reaching the level of strength required, and that’s even without considering the risks involved. She could leave the whole thing to Dee who would be happy to do it and already had the required strength. Or she could try to let go. “What about you? You’ve been sent off from Pantheon, but you’re pretty close to being strong enough to return no matter who tries to bar your way. Or you could stay here with us and help with Nyx’s recovery.”

“Rahmiel already said that I should keep some distance from Nyx for a while. Besides, I still have my goals, and those goals remain unfulfilled. I can’t stop midway. Taking a short rest like this is alright, but I can’t stop for too long. I want you to know that you could just ask me to take revenge in your stead if you feel like personal revenge is unnecessary or unrealistic. I’ll even leave them be if you want me to. Judging by your words and tone, you’ve decided to at least stay here for the time being.” Dee pointed out a little sadly.

Moirai chewed her lip a bit replying. “I think I should. The matter about Solarians can wait until later.” She also got up. “Come on Araqiel. If she wants to meet the representatives while naked, that’s her business. This doesn’t concern us just yet anyway. We’ll probably just end up following her anyway.”

Dee watched them go from the corner of her eye, before finally voicing her thoughts for Croestia and a very confused masseuse to hear. “I hope you’re right Moirai. But I’m afraid the universe won’t wait until you’re ready. Delaying on making a choice is in itself a choice, and it might be that there won’t be a chance to revise that choice. I sense a crossroads coming and you might have already chosen your path today. The opportunity might come again, but that might be far in the future.” She stretched a little while motioning the masseuse to continue.

‘Or I might be wrong and everything will be alright. That’s been such a common occurrence in my life so far.’ She thought sarcastically.

-----

The next two hours were spent with the slightly confused representatives of every faction making their pitch to the half-naked Dee still lying on the massaging table. Getting her wings massaged was an especially surreal experience. As a result, Dee enjoyed the ministrations of the masseuse so much that she had her continue through the whole affair. Despite her garb and seemingly disrespectful behavior, Dee treated every representative with respect and politeness. She made no commitments and simply allowed them to make their case. After their pitch, she asked them several smart questions before telling them she’d think about it. The last one to make her case was of course Mit-Amen.

The white councilor burst out laughing as soon as she saw Dee lying on the table with her backside bare. “Have you really been meeting with everyone while naked?” She asked incredulously, yet clearly amused.

“Why, yes I have. It’s alright, they can’t really see anything important. The table covers my front and my tails cover everything critical on my back.” Dee replied while waving her tails for emphasis. She had never been too concerned about showing her body and that had not changed even when her form did.

“Well, the table covers most of your front.” Mit-Amen corrected while taking a look at Dee’s chest meaningfully. Pushing against the table had a very obvious effect on certain parts of Dee’s body after all.

Dee waved the masseuse away finally and placed a holy spell around them to prevent eavesdropping. “I don’t want to hear that from a fellow Fallen.” She commented as soon as the spell was in place.

Mit-Amen’s smiled turned into a slight grimace. “There are many ways for one to become a Fallen, and not all of the reasons are selfish. I still don’t know how you can see through my defenses by the way. You’re only the third to be able to do that.”

“That’s probably because I was taught how to do it by one of the other two.” Dee replied with a rather obvious observation. She had figured out that her eyes were a little special a long time ago. While the other powerful Lords could see a lot, they didn’t see as much as she did.

“So how is Selvaria? I thought she was imprisoned by the angels.” Mit-Amen made the obvious connection.

“As you probably know, I haven’t seen her for a long time. You’ve already made it clear that you’ve been looking into my past, and it shouldn’t be too difficult of a path to follow.” Dee tossed the question back.

“I suppose this explains your sudden appearance at Pantheon.” Mit-Amen nodded, another piece of the puzzle falling into place. Her puzzle was looking rather complete by now.

“You’re well informed.” Dee stated, her tone showing her feelings of being impressed.

“The reds are known as the faction most interested in the secrets and information, but you of all people understand the need for our kind to have good sources of information.” Mit-Amen smiled, rather pleased with herself. “Besides, I’m also stealing from the best. Why gather all your information yourself, when you can have the reds do most of the work for you, allowing you to just get the information from them instead.”

“Are they aware of this free sharing of information?” Dee asked with amusement.

“To an extent. They allow some of it just so they can feed me false information when necessary. A known spy is better than an unknown one. They just don’t realize how much I have access to. I’d tell them if they bothered to ask, but they never do for some reason. It’s like a game for them. Speaking of, I’m going to go ahead and assume the reds are my biggest competition for your future faction?” Mit-Amen knew that she was right, she was just making sure just in case she had missed something.

Dee replied with amusement and sarcasm clear in her tone. “I don’t know, the grey representative did just make a rather lucrative offer. And the gold representative was making a rather impassioned plea to my sense of justice and order.”

“Bah! I’m sometimes ashamed of the other factions. Why would someone think that money would sway you? And appealing to the sense of justice and order of the Champion of Umbra? That’s a joke!” Mit-Amen was genuinely upset over the stupidity of the other representatives.

“Well, I got the distinct impression that most of them knew they had no real chance and made the effort mostly because it would be negligent to give up without at least trying.” Dee replied with a certain amount of seriousness. “So. Why would I want to join a pro-angel faction led by a Fallen Angel of all people? And a rather powerful one at that if my sight isn’t failing me. You weren’t just a random Fallen were you?”

Mit-Amen nodded. “Good eyes. I suppose some explanations are in order. Truth be told, the Fallen have long had their fingers in the affairs of the Assembly. We never quite felt at home with the demons and the hells, even though we were essentially both aiming for some mutual goals. However, the Eternal Dragonflight and Paradisia naturally were not viable options, and the Assembly has its own downsides. So we had a foot in both camps while on the surface being part of the hells. There is also another factor, which has to do with the reason why some of us fall in the first place.”

“Let me guess. Some of the Fallen actually didn’t want to oppose Paradisia, even though they became Fallen due to their actions?” Dee threw out her theory.

“That’s the basic gist of it. Sometimes we have to do things we are not proud of to protect things that are important to us. Yet, that doesn’t spare us from the fate of a Fallen. To make things worse, it extends to our children, as we increase our number the old fashioned way and those children start out as Fallen as well. As a result, these Fallen that don’t actually aim for the downfall of the angels became a secret part of the Assembly, and those that did want to take revenge or right some perceived injustice went to the demons. No matter if we are talking about the Assembly or the Fallen, some people can only see a violent solution to any problem and only death can right any grievance. Now things are a little different though. After the hells had their ignoble end, many of our kind were left alive but hunted by our angelic brothers, who decided to thank us for our peaceful and non-peaceful efforts by imprisoning every Fallen they could get their hands on. Some were caught, some came under my wings. Some found their own way.” Mit-Amen explained. The divisions between the different Fallen had also dissolved as the peaceful people had seen the consequences of inaction, and the warlike Fallen no longer had the strength to oppose the angels.

“So the obvious question is, how big of a part of the white faction do the Fallen constitute?” Dee posed the question she had been considering since she first saw Mit-Amen. She knew the whites weren’t all Fallen as she had spent time with another member of the faction not long ago, Sareash. That woman was not an angel of any kind.

“Not all. I’d say about half. And not all Fallen are part of the white faction either. Some other races in the Assembly genuinely support the angels, hence why their members choose our faction. Some of the Fallen in turn are either too young, too weak, or just don’t want to have anything to do with the angels anymore, even in name. Understandable, as many of our race are simply tired. Many of the towers owned by the white faction house other Fallen that are in hiding. We have some of our number in other factions as well, obviously.”

“Well, I suppose I am glad that at least some Fallen have found at least a temporary safe haven. Still, that’s not going to draw me into the white faction. Despite the fact that I helped two archangels, I’m pretty far from a person who favors their kind. To add to that fact, I’m not exactly going to consider all Fallen my kin either. Despite the affinity I share with your kind, the hells created me and those like me for their own purposes, mostly as a weapon. That does not make me see you as family. I don’t carry a grudge either, but that’s not enough to draw me in. Just in case I should mention that I’m also the type that likes to solve things with death, in case it wasn’t obvious already. So we might not be a match when it comes down to it.” Dee explained clearly.

“Hmm, I suppose it would have been too much to ask for my earlier words to be enough. Still, your ties with the reds are not exactly unbreakable either. There are two ways to convince someone. Either making your own case strong or by weakening the competing offer. I was hoping to avoid this since I’d rather see the factions come together rather than drive them apart, but we are where we are. Besides, I think it’s better if you find out now rather than later. This way at least you won’t hold a grudge against the entire Assembly.” Mit-Amen was visibly not pleased with the path she was about to take.

“Alright, you have my attention.” Dee looked sharply at the other woman.

“Did Aurelie tell you why she had to suddenly leave?” Mit-Amen asked carefully.

“She did not, besides mentioning a meeting, but I sense you’re about to tell me.” Dee narrowed her eyes.

“I believe the name Hassan-i-Sabbah is familiar to you.” As she posed the question, Mit-Amen felt as a very heavy and dominating air pressed down on her. Even she was almost forced to her knees, and the air became extremely sharp. Then the pressure suddenly vanished.

“I would ask how much do you know, but it is quite apparent that you know a lot. Your sources are very good indeed. Yes, that name is familiar, and yes that does give me pause. However, there are many reasons why such a meeting could be taking place. And I think you might be overestimating my hostility towards him just a bit.” Dee slowly opened the fist that she had suddenly made with her hand.

‘Not that you wouldn’t kill him given half a chance.’ Croestia commented to the silent agreement of Dee. She tolerated the existence of that man just enough to not hunt him down, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t kill him if they ever met. Or at least make him suffer.

“True. And I must confess that even I’m not entirely clear on the nature of their affiliation. I got the distinct impression it was not hostile, but that’s not much to go on by itself. However, I have given my warning and you can do with it as you choose. Now that I found out that you’re related to Selvaria though, I can sweeten the deal a bit. If you join us, I can help you in freeing her.” Mit-Amen had saved the best for last.

“How?” Dee asked with her eyes narrowed.

“Well, let’s just say that I wasn’t always a Fallen. And I happen to have very detailed information on the methods that Paradisia uses in these kinds of cases. You could try to break that seal with power, or even with the help of your new Archangel friends. Even so, it would be beneficial to have someone along that make the process easier. I can assure you that there are very few that can rival my skill in the field. Even the two Archangels can’t compare to me.” The leader of the white faction had made an intriguing offer.

“I will take what you’ve said under advisement.” Even with all that, Dee gave her the same answer as all the others. She did not dismiss the possibility entirely, but she didn’t make any promises either. The reds had some explaining to do first. After all, if the reds truly were connected with her old tormentor, then this might be an opportunity to draw the man out.