“I see,” Irulon said, scratching down a few notes in her notebook. Izsha, resting in a pile of straw within the monster camp, simply stared patiently.

It was the third such interview session between the two since Izsha’s awakening. Alyssa had sat in for all three thus far, and all three had been roughly the same. Irulon had a list of questions which she posed to Izsha. Most were simple yes or no questions that Izsha could answer with a nod or shake of its head. Some were a bit more complex. How Irulon managed to distill Izsha’s intentions from the draken’s movements or occasional noises was beyond Alyssa. Even looking over Irulon’s shoulder, Alyssa couldn’t actually tell what Izsha had said to any of the non-binary questions. Irulon’s notes were all in her cypher.

But Irulon seemed satisfied, nodding to herself as she circled something she wrote down earlier and drew a line to a bit of text that she had just written.

More importantly, Izsha didn’t seem opposed to these interview sessions. Which had been one of Alyssa’s main concerns. Dying seemed like it would be a traumatic experience. Combine that with having its soul torn out of its body, placed into Alyssa, then torn out of there and put back in its normal body, and it seemed like a recipe for the ultimate version of post traumatic stress disorder. Draken body language was difficult to completely translate to something that Alyssa could understand, but she had been around Izsha enough to guess at how the draken was feeling.

At ease. Content. Even pleased with the situation. Izsha’s tail gently swished from side to side, even while sitting. Not in the predatory way that a cat might before pouncing, but in a calm, almost happy way. Perhaps Izsha was just excited that it could finally participate in conversations again instead of simply being talked to.

And Izsha had been talked to. Every word that Alyssa, Brakkt, or any of the others had said while Izsha had been comatose got through. Which was probably a big reason why Izsha wasn’t a shell of its former self. Being able to experience at least some outside stimuli, not being trapped in its own mind completely, probably helped a great deal.

Another factor was probably just how good Izsha’s body felt. Irulon had performed a full inspection before the first interview yesterday morning. Apparently, Izsha was in almost perfect health. Better than Irulon had ever seen before. That probably came from Iosefael. The angel had healed up Izsha’s body completely. It had been lying roughly still for three weeks, but that hadn’t caused so much atrophy that it had regressed beyond what Iosefael had done.

“And,” Irulon said, looking up from her notebook, “just to clarify, while you were housed within Alyssa’s body, you had no sense of anything. No feelings, no sense of sight or hearing, but also no pain or discomfort?”

Izsha started to nod its head, but paused and let out a few chirping noises from the back of its throat.

Irulon’s eyes flicked black and white as she nodded her head and started writing. “Nothing at all then? Some kind of stasis effect?” They were questions, but the way she spoke with them under her breath clearly meant that she wasn’t expecting a response. She was just thinking aloud. “Interesting. And Alyssa, you didn’t feel anything either? No changes from your usual state of being?”

Alyssa blinked. That… was the first question directed at her since these interviews began. The surprise kept her from responding despite it being a relatively easy question to answer. “There was something. A warmth. A feeling that I normally associate with coming into contact with angels or even Adrael’s staff. So you’ve probably felt it too, but it was a bit more intense than I am used to.”

“Interesting,” Irulon said, making a note. “But nothing more mundane such as double vision, hearing voices or other sounds that weren’t actually there, seeing what you might have thought were hallucinations or illusions?”

“I don’t think so,” Alyssa said after considering for a moment. “I wasn’t exactly looking out for such things, though. And I don’t suppose I would know if I had seen something unless it was obviously unrealistic.”

“I see.” After writing down a few more notes, Irulon nodded to herself and snapped her notebook shut. “I believe I’ve got all I need for the moment. I shall let the both of you know if I have additional questions.”

“Figured out what that other thing that Tenebrael gave you dreams about is yet?”

“No. Not quite. At this point, I can only assume that it was my own mind constructing something I had hoped to see that merely blended into the revelation.”

Alyssa stood soon after Irulon, brushing her pants off as she moved. The monster camp didn’t have much in the way of chairs. They had some cots, thanks to the few of them who had been working for the city prior to Yora’s arrival asking for them. But they hadn’t been able to get enough for everyone. It wasn’t a problem of the humans being stingy. Rather, the real problem was supply. None of the humans had expected needing a hundred cots on hand for emergencies like this. There weren’t any department stores around that had warehouses full of beds, cots, and blankets.

Apparently the few that had been brought to the camp were being rotated around and usually given to the elderly among them.

And Alyssa was not elderly. That wasn’t to say that one of the gremlins hadn’t offered, but Alyssa had declined. The hassle of moving it out to Izsha’s straw pile or bringing the large draken into the small tent had seemed like more work than necessary. She simply sat on a small wooden stump instead. A bit dirty, but at least it didn’t have sap oozing out from its knots.

Irulon looked over with an eyebrow raised. “You don’t need to accompany me everywhere. I’m just heading back to my quarters to organize my thoughts,” she said, waving the notebook she had been writing in. “And, while we’re on the topic, you can call off your pet mimic. I don’t need to be observed at all times.”

“Kasita has a name,” Alyssa said, tone a little harsh. “And she hasn’t been watching you. Rather, she’s currently on a mission. She hasn’t been around for a good two days now.”

“Mission.” Before Alyssa had a chance to explain, Irulon nodded her head. “Ah. Yora. I could have sworn that I spotted Kasita in my room last night.”

“She sent me a Message last night letting me know that she was alright and that everything was going according to plan. If she slipped away, I’d have imagined that she would have just given me an update in person…” Alyssa bit her lip, staring at Irulon. “How certain are you that you saw someone there?”

Irulon didn’t say anything for a moment. Her eyes flicked back and forth between their normal violet and the black and white of the dragon. “Why don’t we head back,” she said, already moving. “I need to check some things.”

Alyssa shot a glance to Izsha before chasing after the princess, leaving the draken. “Someone was in your room and you just ignored them? You’re Irulon! You don’t do things like that.”

“I’ve had a lot on my mind,” Irulon said without looking back.

“It could have been an assassin!”

“I think I would have noticed that level of hostile intent. We have yet to determine if anyone was there at all. I don’t suppose you saw anything amiss over the last few days?”

They were rushing through the monster camp now, probably startling half the monsters. Irulon wouldn’t do anything so undignified as break into a sprint, but her power-walking drew eyes. There had been a tension over the past few days, ever since Yora’s arrival. Alyssa and Brakkt had kept Fezzik and Rokien informed of the situation, but they had decided to keep the exact details a secret from the wider group of monsters in the hopes of preventing any incidents that might sway Illuna toward throwing the monsters to the wolves. Even still, rumors had spread. Anything strange would always breed rumors, but some were frighteningly accurate. Enough so that Alyssa had to wonder if the group hadn’t been keeping a few members secret. Ones with abilities along the lines of Volta and Kasita.

Then again, some rumors were wildly inaccurate. One of the prevailing theories that Alyssa had overheard was that the city of Illuna was in trouble with other humans because they were helping out monsters. Another posited that Illuna was only being nice to the monsters to keep them docile while they arranged to sell them off to the highest bidders. If not for Fezzik trying to dampen the more outlandish rumors—such as them being kept for live sacrifices to Tenebrael—there might actually be some conflict.

Regardless of what theory any given monster ascribed to, seeing a pair of humans rush through their camp was cause for concern. And Alyssa didn’t have time to sit about and calm any of them down.

Had she noticed anything strange? Nothing particular jumped out at her. The guild building had a number of people coming and going at just about every hour of the day. There were the actual guild members eating, accepting quests, resting, or just hanging about waiting for something interesting to happen. Then there were the customers, the people offering quests and asking tasks of the adventurers. A few administration personnel who didn’t qualify as customers or adventurers also were in and out of the place. Pinpointing one person who might have been suspicious was beyond impossible.

So Alyssa shot back with her own question. “Have there been other nights when you thought Kasita was around but she actually wasn’t?”

“That’s certainly a question.”

“One you can’t answer?”

“Hm.”

“Who has been sneaking into your room?” Alyssa practically shouted at the unobservant princess.

“Retrograde Cognition will uncover the answer to that.”

Alyssa was about to complain about how Retrograde Cognition wouldn’t even be necessary if Irulon had just looked a little harder at whoever had been in her room. Izsha running up alongside her stalled her complaints. And her running.

As Alyssa slowed to a stop, Izsha bent down just enough for Alyssa to climb on if she wanted. There was no saddle. Not at all. It wasn’t just that Izsha had been unable to equip a saddle on its own, but that Izsha’s saddle was lost somewhere near Owlcroft. Possibly destroyed, even. Brakkt had to specially commission the draken saddles, so getting a replacement wasn’t an easy thing at the moment.

Alyssa only hesitated a moment before hopping onto Izsha’s back. The draken scales were somewhat prickly, but Alyssa trusted Izsha not to skewer her backside. More importantly, Izsha had been laid up for a full month, probably hearing about various things that Alyssa and Brakkt had talked about. Things like Alyssa riding on Musca for a while.

Kasita had talked about similar things. Being unable to act while others needed help irritated and made her feel worthless. Alyssa hadn’t really been in such a situation before, but she could empathize with the feeling. If Izsha felt the same way… How could she not accept Izsha’s offer for help?

Together, they charged forward for only a split second. Irulon had not stopped when Izsha pulled up, but her little human legs couldn’t carry her fast enough to outrun a draken. As Izsha paused alongside the princess, Alyssa held out a hand.

Irulon pressed her lips together for just a moment before accepting the offered hand. She hoisted herself up and settled in right behind Alyssa.

“Do take care, Izsha. You are not equipped with a saddle.”

“Riding back to Lyria is going to be a literal pain in the ass,” Alyssa said, trying to keep good humor in her voice.

She would have to find a thick slab of leather to pad the ride before leaving. Something to add to her shopping list. But for now, she just grit her teeth and bore with it.

With Izsha’s speed, they made it all the way up to the city walls in an eighth of the time it would have taken to run. And with far less sweat and exhaustion. The gate guards, being used to the draken coming and going for the past few weeks, didn’t protest their entry into the city proper. From there, it was only a few quick minutes to get to the guild hall.

Irulon sprung from Izsha’s back. Without stopping at the door, she marched inside like she owned the place.

“Thanks Izsha,” Alyssa said, hopping from the draken’s back to follow after the princess. Heading into the guild building, Alyssa started straight toward the stairs, expecting Irulon to have gone directly to her room. That was where the incident had taken place. But, halfway to the stairs, Alyssa spotted Irulon standing over the table that their little group had effectively taken over since arriving in Illuna.

Sitting in the seat, waving a small book back and forth, Kasita smiled up at the looming Irulon. She was in her usual form as Alyssa’s twin, looking like nothing was amiss.

In contrast, Irulon glared down with piercing eyes. If looks could kill…

“You were in my room?”

“Ufu~ Mad about something?” Kasita said, smile unwavering despite Irulon’s glare. “I’ve been in your room lots of times. You know that.”

“That’s my notebook you’re waving around.”

“I know. The words are impossible to read, but I recognized your handwriting the moment I saw it. Thought you might like it back.” Placing the book on the table, she hastily slid it across.

Irulon’s hand clamped down on the notebook fast enough to make a thump echo through the room. But the moment she did, her eyes softened. She took up the notebook and slowly started flipping through the pages, checking over each one fully before she moved on to the next.

Alyssa slipped past Irulon, sliding up against the wall next to Kasita. “What did you do?”

“Nothing~ Just found a little something someplace where it shouldn’t have been.”

“Yora,” Irulon hissed. “It was them, wasn’t it? They brazenly walked into my room while I was there and stole a notebook?”

“Ufu~ Maybe if you weren’t such a heavy sleeper, you would have noticed them.”

“What were they doing, stealing my notebook?” Irulon shot back, ignoring the perfectly valid criticism.

“As far as I understand things, Yora knew that there were monsters here, but were unaware of your and Brakkt’s presence. They’re trying to figure out what business the Pharaoh’s children have in Illuna.”

“And they thought the best way to do so would be to barge into my room?” Irulon’s grip tightened “I’ll see them all locked into Rigor Mortis by evening…”

“The guy who actually did the stealing is already dead.”

“Really?” Irulon said, raising an eyebrow. “I’m impressed.”

“Oh, it wasn’t me. They somehow convinced some poor local guy to do it. Offered a fairly pitiful amount of coin too, but I guess desperation can drive people to do crazy things. I don’t think he even knew who you were. They kept themselves secret at the same time too, so that if he did end up caught, it wouldn’t lead back to Yora. If not for me…” Kasita trailed off, puffing herself up in pride as she spoke.

“Yes, yes,” Irulon said, completely offhandedly. “You did very well. Did you learn anything else? Anything regarding why they’re here at all?”

Kasita’s pride deflated in an instant. Her straightened back slumped as she leaned over the table. “Not so much, no. In contrast to all your movies, they did not sit around discussing their diabolical plans with each other. Rather, they hardly spoke to one another. I think there is some station difference. The main guy views himself as so much more important than his attendants that he doesn’t bother with them.”

“So nothing at all?”

“I will say that they seem to be getting impatient with Martin’s lack of response. I almost think it would have been better to spy on him. At least he is supposedly discussing his options with his advisers. There’s actually something to spy on with him. We could change his mind or just have advance notice of what he might think about everything.”

“You can’t be everywhere at once,” Alyssa said, patting Kasita on the back. “Recovering Irulon’s book seems like a pretty good use of your time regardless.”

“There are pages missing,” Irulon said, flipping back and forth between two pages. “At least three. The contents were…” Closing her eyes, she paused for a moment. “Unimportant, as far as I can remember. This was my personal journal and contains none of my research or spellwork. I hardly even write in it at all.”

“Which is how you failed to notice it missing?” Alyssa said. At Irulon’s nod, she continued. “Might be a mistake because of asking some random person to steal the first book he saw. But they might also be able to use it still, sending them off to someone who could better break your code? Or something like that.”

“Yes. I’ve considered that option.” Lowering the notebook, Irulon sighed. “I’m going to have to rewrite all my books in a new code. Perhaps I could steal a language from your world. One of those with backwards or sideways script? I’d like to see them crack that.”

“I’ll lend you my phone, but… you should probably check over all your books. Make sure they’re still here. And do you have books back at Lyria? Will they be safe until we go back?”

Irulon let out an even longer sigh. “I’ll contact Tess after checking over my room. And then… How about we pay our friends from Yora a little visit?”