Teresa really was a fast learner.

Li Mei nodded in approval as the girl adjusted her grip, bringing down one end of the staff onto the head of an illusory lizard easily three times her size. With practice came confidence, and Teresa no longer shrank like a violet in the face of a snarling (fake) beast.

But as always, Hana ducked in and cut the lizard's throat before Teresa could land the final blow. With a small but definitely sassy smirk, Hana twirled the daggers around her fingers and barely rustled a feather on her tiny wings when Teresa let out a soft cry of indignant rage.

Seeing her second little protege glancing over at her with pitiful eyes, Li Mei could only change her nodding to a short shake of the head. "Just gotta be faster."

Teresa huffed at the unfairness of it all. As someone used to such unfairness, however, she recovered quickly. Gripping her staff, she charged off ahead of the gloating Hana to find another enemy.

And set her first foot outside the maze.

Pa-PAN!

Teresa froze in place, as a few pretty folks wearing feathered garb tossed colorful paper flowers gently over her head. Hana, close on the other girl's heels, also froze in confusion and disappointment. They'd both obviously forgotten the maze was just a little party entertainment, and were taking it as genuine training.

Especially since Li Mei kept bypassing all the treasure chests. A few steps behind her friends, Li Mei flicked her fan open and gave a knowing smile to a woman standing some ways behind the flower-throwing attendants.

The same woman who'd been watching their progress through a very conspicuous brass spyglass. An eye-catching woman with a curvaceous figure, skin beautifully tanned by a lifetime in strong sunlight, dark doe-like eyes and perfectly white teeth bared in an eager grin that sent shivers crawling down Li Mei's spine.

"Congratulations and well done, my ladies." An attendant approached them, bowing so low his brow scraped the grass underfoot. "If you'd follow me to the winner circle, you can there await the rest of the party guests to complete their attempts as well."

Nodding, Li Mei and friends followed the attendant to a flowery pavilion overlooking a small stage, both standing a short ways outside the maze's one and only exit. Those leaving the maze would have a full view of the people who beat them to the punch, earning their jealousy and ire.

'These people lack subtlety,' Li Mei sighed to herself, narrowing her eyes as she took a seat on a cushioned bench. Each of the pavilion benches were meticulously placed just far enough apart as to make it obvious they weren't there to facilitate conversation, and as more guests filed out of the maze, those seats were taken up by well-dressed ladies eying each other warily while whispering to their companions.

Li Mei ignored the pointed stares sent her way, choosing instead to maintain an aloof and unconcerned persona beside the stiffly uncomfortable Teresa and genuinely disinterested Hana. Forcing her body language to remain relaxed was a conscious effort, a familiarity to the exertion providing an odd sense of relaxation.

She could look relaxed and uncaring because of how often she had to fake it in her past life. Li Mei gently waved her fan in front of her face and closed her eyes. 'Is it irony or just fortuitous happenstance? ...Ugh. I've been around these pompous louts so long even my thoughts are getting pretentious. I wanna go home...'

Once the maze was emptied of contestants, the illusory walls, beasts, and masks all dissolved in a shimmer of countless iridescent particles that rose into the skies, blending with the fireworks that finally fizzled out after one large grand finale.

Fanfare played as the last dying embers winked out amongst the stars. The music, too, faded into a soft and uplifting melody as Duchess Marilyn took the stage.

To Li Mei's surprise, the duchess merely introduced the feathered woman as The Feather Troupe's leader, the illustrious Madame Seagale, then left the stage to the feathered woman and her similarly dressed assistants.

The duchess didn't even bother to look at the winner's pavilion, pointedly ignoring the existence of her own daughter. Teresa, seated on the bench beside Li Mei, seemed to wilt after seeing her mother adamantly avoid her gaze.

"I thought... She might be proud of..." Teresa mumbled, almost inaudible even to the girls sitting on either side. Li Mei's grip on her fan tightened, but she contented herself for the moment with a clenched jaw and vividly imagined vengeance.

She shot a vicious glance at the back of the duchess, before calming herself enough to Scan the 'Madam Seagale' who'd watched her with such interest for so long.

-----

[Aolani Heiau Kahananui]

Aliases: Madame Seagale (Brittalund), Furen Haifeng (Mu Republic), Almah Margola (Zion), Matron Brise de Mer (Reynes Monarchy)

Sea-Blessed Human (Afflicted)

Female

Rank 2 (71%)

Mood: Content

A wealthy and powerful Hawaikian woman blessed by spirits of the sea and tide. The smell of saltwater hangs thick in the air around her. She wields absolute authority within The Feather Troupe, and even Duchess Marilyn seems unwilling to fully offend her.

-----

'Another afflicted,' Li Mei thought, hiding her scowl behind her fan. 'And she travels a lot, judging by all those aliases. I wonder what Sea-Blessed really means, what benefits it offers? Or why she looks different from the other afflicted I've seen...'

The feathered woman gave a small speech of her own, lauding the victors and gently needling the losers, before leading up to the excitement of the main prizes. Most of the rewards were trinkets and accessories made of etherium, lightly enchanted and beautifully shimmering to reflect light from the floating orbs hovering around the stage.

Those who escaped the maze late whispered among themselves with excitement and awe at each prize reveal, but their curious gazes only grew more heated as each group of contestants left the pavilion, yet Li Mei and her friends remained.

Finally, the feathered woman announced for the three girls to descend onto the stage. Li Mei raised her eyebrows, nodding to Teresa and Hana to follow her lead before making her way on stage.

"Congratulations Lady Li Mei of the Yueluo for being the first to successfully complete our wonderful maze!" Madame Seagale spoke with a flourish to every word, twirling her wrists and embellishing each syllable. "The prizes you obtained within are, of course, yours to keep. As is this wonderful grand prize!"

She threw out her hands, and an ornately gilded chest appeared in front of her within a puff of multicolored smoke. Li Mei raised her eyebrows, but made no move to open the tantalizing container. Seeing her hesitance, the feathered woman nodded toward a couple of attendants, who lifted the chest and carried it a bit closer.

Li Mei snapped her fan shut, and tapped the lid of the chest with it once the container was within arm's reach. A dark and malevolent glow oozed around the fancy gleaming box, visible only to those with the ability to detect mana. It wasn't a strong or particularly threatening glow, but it wasn't one she was willing to risk finding out the effect of. "This is not a prize for me."

The surrounding crowd, pressing close to the stage while trying ever so hard to look less interested than they were, muttered with surprise and disdain. The child was rejecting a Rosethorne prize?!

Behind her, Teresa stuttered whispered fragments as her aristocratic etiquette fought with the desire to warn her new friend against the current course of action. Teresa's hands fluttered, halfway between clutching her voluminous skirts, and grabbing at Li Mei's arm. "Ah... I... You...!"

"How will you know whether its unsatisfactory if you haven't even glanced upon it? Surely the magnificent prize within will capture your heart!" Madame Seagale said with a wide smile, but Li Mei just shook her head.

"You are mistaken from the start. The prize does not belong to me, whether it would interest me or not is irrelevant." Li Mei smiled, flicking her fan back open and waving it in front of her face. She nodded in the direction of Teresa, who'd initially stepped out of the maze entrance several steps ahead of a hurrying Hana and a more relaxed Li Mei. "Lady Teresa finished first."

Teresa froze.

The crowd fell silent.

The grin of the woman faltered, but only for a moment. The faintest flicker of emotion across her face, gone in a flash, but it was enough for Li Mei's Interface to pick up the woman's annoyance and anger. "Are you not of the same group? As the highest ranking lady, surely-"

"I do wish you would not make me repeat myself. I will not accept a prize which I have not rightfully earned. Lady Teresa Rosethorne earned the grand prize through her own capability. I'm sure you had the foresight to keep your own maze under surveillance, so I'm sure you're aware I hardly had to lift a finger? Lady Teresa did all the work, and as such deserves the recognition."

The silent crowd held their peace for a few moments longer, only to resume their chatter with renewed vigor. Li Mei glanced askance and saw Duchess Marilyn, in her hostess pavilion, watching the proceedings with thinly veiled disgust.

The woman's teeth clicked together, her jaw clenching as she struggled not to grind her teeth in fury. Even from a distance her expression was plainly visible. Li Mei hid a chuckle behind her fan, raising her eyebrows once more at the hesitating Madame Seagale.

'You wish to ensnare me somehow with the pretense of a prize? You're 1000 years too early! But you can't pass it to little Teresa, can you? That was likely prepared by the Duchess for whoever won the maze, to either harm or spy on someone strong enough to beat the other contestants. In other words, a potential threat. It'd be wasted on Teresa, who's already under Marilyn's manicured thumb. Yet blatantly taking it back in front of everyone would be very suspicious! C'mon, Miss Feathers. What now?'

"If you're certain, then so be it! But have it be known, Lady Li Mei of the Yueluo, there's no medicine for regret!" The feathered woman sharply rapped her knuckles on the ornate chest, and the attendant holding it immediately turned to offer the box to Teresa instead.

Mana swirled from the feathered woman's fingertips, triggering some sort of enchanted mechanism inside the chest. Li Mei didn't see what happened inside it, but she could see the malignant aura replaced with something weaker and more mundane.

The new threads of greenish mana were muddled, not clear or bright like her own, and moved sluggishly around the box with a sense of lackluster exhaustion reminiscent of the auras surrounding other cheap trinkets found throughout the maze.

Li Mei frowned. That mana color... Both on the previous prize and the lovely bracelet Teresa lifted out of the chest, reminded her of Keori. That gross obsessive man who murdered the former occupants of her new home. A familiar sickly greenish-gray, not leaning toward one color or the other, murky and unpleasant to look at. But where the mana around the ghost anchors was wispy and ethereal, the mana around the bracelet was...

Oozing.

Not quite solid, but giving the appearance of having liquid fluidity rather than the usual gaseous vapors or refined threads that Li Mei was used to seeing mana take the form of.

Keori was certainly dead, but that specific color, almost shade-for-shade a perfect imitation, made Li Mei raise her eyebrows at Madame Seagale once again. With a specific question in mind, she Scanned the woman again, prying for more specific information from the Interface rather than her usual generalized glance. She skimmed past the repeated information from before, and focused instead on an additional information at the bottom.

-----

Exhibits none of the symptoms other afflicted seem to share. A few very small and thin threads of highly refined mana link her to the Rosethorne Duchess Marilyn. This is probably a cause for concern, all things considered.

No such threads have been detected attached to Teresa Rosethorne.

Speculation: Along with the higher quality of her mana, it can be assumed she's somehow more important or more powerful in some way, and is either using the Duchess or being used. Possibly both. It's impossible to tell for sure, but her mana more strongly resembles the squidface's mana before it was funneled through Keori as a conduit.

-----

'More and more troublesome,' Li Mei thought to herself, purposefully relaxing her grip on the fan as she pretended to admire the bracelet now resting on Teresa's wrist. Just in case, she scanned the trinket as well, but it didn't have any additional effects aside from the base enchantment, which increased reflexes and perception of the wearer by a whopping 15% each.

Probably not a last-second switch. The trinket was much higher quality than the others Madame Seagale had given out, causing the crowd to eye Teresa with envy and greed evidenced in their heated gazes. Perhaps it was the original prize, and Madame Seagale had tried a switch on Li Mei specifically?

Because of the Duchess? Or...

Something else?

Li Mei felt an odd twinge of pain in her hand, and she thoughtlessly rubbed her knuckle to ease the pain. 'I hope I can put the fan away soon. How embarrassing would it be to get carpal tunnel from a fan?'

Madame Seagale took a step back and bowed, a wide and disingenuous smile on her pretty face. She glanced at Li Mei, a glint in her eyes, before turning to address the crowd. "May you all enjoy the rest of your evening at the Spring Gala! We, the Feather Troupe, will be providing the highest quality entertainment for the rest of the night!"

Duchess Marilyn tightened her grip on the crystal wine goblet as Madame Seagale approached her pavilion. The savage heathen grabbed a cup of her own from the attendant's tray, then had the gall to seat herself on a cushioned bench while waving said attendant away.

"You switched the prizes," Marilyn hissed, the venom in her voice completely lost on the infuriating woman drinking all her good wine. "That was not the plan."

"Plans change. You saw it yourself, she refused to take a prize. That kid's taken a shine to your daughter, I think. One of them, anyway!" Madame Seagale laughed, pointedly avoiding the sight of Alba shivering nervously in a corner. "It's fine, though. You have nothing to worry about."

Duchess Marilyn opened her mouth, only to freeze when she saw the look on the other woman's face. Something about the expression...

Even Marilyn's blood ran cold.

The duchess gathered her wits by taking a luxurious sip of wine, focusing her gaze on the ripple of burgandy liquid rather than the savage's cold eyes. "How do you mean? Will you address the problem... Elsewhere?"

"No need." Madame Seagale smiled, holding up one hand and wiggling her smallest finger about. Marilyn's eyes narrowed, only to widen a moment later in understanding. "She's marked. Black."

Marilyn sighed in relief, allowing her shoulders to release some of the tension they'd been holding on to throughout the evening. "I see. Thank goodness."

"What about her new little friend? Your other daughter."

"That's no concern of yours," Marilyn said, her expression indifferent. She glanced out over the crowds, her eyes sweeping over dozens of inconsequential faces. Inconsequential lives. Not a single one worthy of remembrance or note that wasn't already under her influence... Or, at the very least, terrified of it. She smiled, a self-satisfied smirk reminiscent of a cat who caught a canary. "Once the brat is out of the way, the child will return to being a whetstone, and nothing more. Everything will be as it should."