“You might as well just tell us now,” Jade said as she balanced on the two back legs of the dining chair, her tongue stuck out in concentration. “Nina’s going to tell us when she gets back anyway.”

Sitting on the sofa in the corner of the room, Trim frowned. The glass of wine in her lap was a rarity, but nobody was about to raise any eyebrows considering what had happened last night. Unfortunately, it did little to diffuse the unpleasantly sombre atmosphere. Jade was trying to be positive at least, but so far her attempts at spreading the enthusiasm had been futile. Her chances at success wouldn’t improve unless Reina’s mood did either, so they were at least thankful that she’d also opted for the bottle. A few glasses certainly wouldn’t do her current attitude any harm, although they might have to be wary if she went any further than that.

“Ask her then,” Trim finally said, taking a sip of the wine with a wistful expression. “Maybe she’ll fare better than expected.”

“I doubt it,” Reina scoffed. Sitting across from Trim, she sat with her feet on the coffee table as she turned her attention to the glass in her hand, swirling her wine with disinterest. “They’re always the same, so mired in tradition that they’re blind to the bigger picture. Society moves on without them, yet instead of embracing change, they try to take the easy route by holding everything back. The unknown is frightening to them because it suggests a future where their power eventually wanes, and dragging everyone else through the dirt in the process is an unfortunate by-product of that rejection. Not that it makes it acceptable, but they develop at a glacial pace.”

What little work Jade had done to improve the atmosphere was wiped away as silence descended. It wasn’t particularly awkward, but the four of them who sat in the Westworks apartment proved to be more of an unlikely group than perhaps they had first thought. If any of them could even recall the last time the four of them had done something together as a group, they certainly hadn’t said so. Svanda’s absence was the biggest contributor to that, but factionalism also played a role that they were all acutely aware of.

“Even you?” Aline asked. Sitting beside Reina on the couch, she picked up a half-empty bottle which sat before her. It wasn’t the first bottle that the three had made their way through, and it almost certainly wouldn’t be the last either. Jade had decided to abstain for reasons that she kept to herself, although having someone that was sober was certainly never a bad idea. Refilling her glass before offering the bottle to Reina, she leaned back into the cushions before yawning. None of them had slept well after Reina had been alerted to Svanda and Nina’s flight, while Saela’s role in the whole ordeal was still unclear. Did Reina feel outsmarted, or was she simply regretting her carelessness? None of them knew if she would see it as betrayal or not, but none of them were brave enough to ask her either.

“She doesn’t get dragged through anything,” Trim said with a frown, a slight trace of bitterness in her tone. “You really think that she would let someone treat her as a servant?”

“A servant, huh?” Jade mused, a light smile forming on her lips their progress. “But they can’t actually make you do anything, can they? You aren’t actually servants.”

“They’ll test you for weakness, the one-peaks especially,” Reina offered with a shrug. “Svanda is pretty good at keeping everyone under her wing while she can, but there are times when she can’t. Meals and the Evening League are the two standouts, but if you can get through them, you’re fine.”

“Are you going to explain this all or not?” Aline asked.

“Maybe if some more wine manages to find its way onto the table,” Reina replied, nodding to the now almost empty bottle before her. “That’s unless Trim wants to answer your questions, of course. I don’t mind. There’s no point keeping secrets if it’s all going to be revealed in the near future, and it’s an effective way to pass the time if nothing else.”

“We could always try to find another pass out,” Trim offered. “You haven’t even looked.”

“I haven’t looked because there’s no point in looking,” Reina replied before looking up, smiling while Aline sighed. Jade was already out of her chair and halfway across the kitchen floor, the few remaining bottles of unopened wine clearly in her sights. “We don’t have enough clout to get another one. Passes issued inside the quarantine zone defeat the purpose, don’t they? The only people who would be able to organize something like that are way above us, and there wouldn’t be a shortage of people who would be willing to part with a small fortune to escape from here either. Unlike them, we don’t have our lives on the line.”

“I’m guessing Svanda knew that too,” Trim conceded. “How did you let the pass out of your sight anyway?”

“I have to shower every now and then,” Reina grumbled, taking the bottle from Jade’s now outstretched hand before opening it and pouring Trim another glass. “I’ll admit it though; I didn’t think she’d be that rash.”

“Back on track please,” Jade said as she flopped down on the couch beside Trim. “You asked, and you received.”

Reina frowned as she remembered where she was, taking a sip from her glass before resting it on her thigh. “The Daerx Clan uses a tiered hierarchy within the basic Daerx, Qualified, and Unqualified system. Both Daerx and Qualified badges have one, two, or three mountains which are reflective of your rank within the tier. The more the better, obviously, but a one-peak Daerx badge is still on a completely different level from a three-peak Qualified badge.”

“What badge do you have?” Aline asked.

“One-peak Qualified,” Reina said with obvious displeasure. “It’s impossible to get anything higher without being folded into a proper Qualified family, especially considering that I’m an outsider. Better than nothing, sure, but one-peak badges are generally frowned upon because in truth they aren’t much more than glorified servants. Just being born into a Qualified family will usually guarantee you two-peaks, so anything less is seen as contemptible.”

“And they know it too,” Trim added with a sigh. “At first they think they’ve finally made it as a Qualified, but soon they learn that they’ve hardly gone anywhere. They’re still looked down on despite a shiny new badge, and what’s worse is that their tasks don’t really change. If anything, they get worse. Unqualifieds can’t go to a lot of places within the castle, and so one-peak Qualifieds make for perfect attendants. The result, unfortunately, is a rather bitter group of people, and there isn’t much to take it out on besides the very same crowd of people from where they came.”

“Unqualifieds,” Aline finished.

Trim nodded but remained silent. It wasn’t hard for Jade or Aline to infer the rest of the story though, and their conclusions left them feeling rather sour. Nobody wanted to be subjected to any kind of mistreatment, and doing it under the guise of authority was particularly distasteful. The Cloud Orchestra were a proud collection of people, and so Trim’s reluctance to visit the Daerx Clan was beginning to make a little more sense. It also explained why Reina seemed to fare much better than Trim when they returned, as Reina would have been able to dodge most of the ire. What it didn’t explain, however, was why Svanda always seemed to be so drained after their visits. Why did it always seem so bad for her if she was essentially at the top of the food chain?

“Maybe I should have warned Nina about it,” Reina sighed. “I never thought that she’d be bold enough to disappear in the middle of the night. Telling her how it really is might have changed her mind.”

“Blame Svanda,” Jade said with a shrug. “We both know that Nina wouldn’t make that decision by herself.”

Reina smirked in reply as she set her glass down, clasping her hands together before leaning forward to look Jade in the eye. “You just want to get her out of trouble, don’t you? It can’t be insubordination if she didn’t make the decision or something along those lines, right? Don’t deny it; I can already see the argument forming on your lips.”

Jade sat back with a pout, but didn’t press. Whatever Reina had decided for both Svanda and Nina would be something that they would have to wait for, and nobody in the room though that they would have much success at changing her mind. If the punishment was serious or not was a different question, but they did know that Reina had to draw a firm line and then stick to it. There was no place in The Cloud Orchestra for what Svanda and Nina had done regardless of what the stakes were, and if Reina didn’t call them out on it then it would set a dangerous precedent that she couldn’t afford.

“If it’s so bad over there, isn’t whatever happens going to be punishment enough for Nina?” Aline asked. “Issue a fine, sure, but don’t kick her out or anything. I like her, and she’s still learning. I’m sure she’ll become a good asset sooner or later, don’t you think?”

Reina sat there unmoving as the rest of the group eyed her warily, stewing over her thoughts before a wry smile stretched across her lips. Reaching for her glass once more, she let them hang on her next words as she took a small sip before settling back into the sofa. Glancing at the contents of her glass, her expression was replaced by one which seemed resigned.

“I don’t doubt that her time with the Daerx Clan will be a lesson that she won’t forget anytime soon,” she said before turning her attention to Trim. “But as tough as it might be, she’s got the best guide that she could ever hope for.”

“You mean…” Trim frowned.

“You never had anyone to lean on while you were there. I’m sorry about that, but there was only so much I could do,” Reina said with a small bow of her head. “Nina, however, does have someone.”

“Saela,” Jade murmured.

“Saela,” Reina nodded before continuing. “She’s perfect for this, now that I think about it. Not only is she someone who’s got a bit of fight, she’s also someone who’s familiar with being looked down upon. The lower floors of Luem are scrappier than anything they’ll ever find in the castle, so surely she’ll ensure that Nina doesn’t get rolled over by too much pressure.”

“She will, won’t she?” Trim sighed in agreement with a shake of her head.

“As long as she doesn’t get them into too much trouble during the Evening League, I’ll be looking forward to what she has to say.” Reina smiled. “Believe it or not, Saela might actually be rather good at this.”