All the usual people were gathered in the Command Car, in most ways it was just another meeting about their next step, except this time there was one more person than usual.

“Egregius Jonah, of the Tal. I thank you for your presence at this meeting. There is much I wish to ask you about. I was hoping that the wise and knowledgeable Tal would have answers for some questions which have been tormenting me.”

The old man bowed before Lia and responded in a respectful tone.

“I thank you, Princess Lia Freiburg, for your mercy and assistance to my people. I will answer to the best of my abilities any questions you might have, so long as doing so does not put me at odds with my Goddess.”

The room tensed up, with Franz even putting a hand on his sword’s grip. Chelsea put her hand on his and shook her head at him.

“There’s no need for that.”

He whispered back at her, irritated.

“He spoke directly to her, and even refused to answer anything she asked!”

Lia looked coldly at him, which made Franz look down, slightly shamed. She continued on as if nothing had happened.

“I thank you for your cooperation. I understand that this might be uncomfortable for any citizen of the Empire, but, I am aware that the Tals have a series of… ‘quirks’ when it comes to answering questions and teaching. So, in the interest of practicality, I would like for everyone here to think of me as your student right now, Egregius Jonah.”

A faint smile could be seen in the old man’s face as he bowed even lower before Lia.

“Well, that is a great honor, I have never taught anyone of even comparable status before. I hope you will not find my instruction lacking in anyway.”

Lia smiled back at him.

“So do I, your and your people’s lives were not bought at a cheap price. I hope to obtain something other than feeling good about my actions.”

The smile was gone now, Jonah looked completely serious.

“I understand. Ask and I shall give you an answer.”

Lia paused for a moment to consider. She had planned for this ever since they had gotten through the Death Ridge. The Tals were renowned throughout the Empire as a very wise and learned people, even if their different religion attracted the ire of many. They also were famous for often giving cryptic answers, with meanings that were not obvious at first sight. She did not have much time to ponder on the answers she might be given, as ever since the surprisingly weak attack by the Infected at the Death Ridge she was taken over by a very bad feeling. She had to be careful about the way in which she would ask the questions.

“During my journey, I have gathered compelling evidence that the Infected are not simply mindless creatures. They have their own kind of intelligence. What do you think about this? And what do you know of how they organize themselves?”

She nervously gripped the armrests of her throne. Lia wasn’t sure if that was good enough. Was she about to get a useful answer?

“I think I understand where you currently are with your knowledge of the Infected. So I would like to start with a short quote from the Book of Lies, from the time when those who would later become the Tal fled the Lost Lands, during the Fall: ‘So the plague spread throughout the land, consuming flesh and spirit alike. Born of the failure of mankind, it nested in the wombs of great mothers, making all of the stricken their children.’ Does that help clarify things a little, Princess Lia?”

Lia’s heart sank. It was far from the kind of answer she wanted. What was she supposed to do with that kind of information? Why was it so vague and dramatized? Perhaps she had made a big mistake by asking to be treated like a student, a mistake that she couldn’t really get away from immediately, but she could make it slightly better.

“Everyone else, leave. I wish to do this alone with Egregius Jonah.”

Everyone but Jonah seemed surprised.

“Huh? What do you mean?”

Franz particularly seemed uncomfortable with it. Lia was merciless with her reply.

“I mean exactly what I said. Now, leave.”

Franz was struck speechless.

“Come on, an order is an order. Just be sure to tell us about what you find out, okay Lia?”

Lia nodded at Chelsea as she left. She and Franz were followed by everyone else but Lia and Jonah. Once they were the only ones left, she felt like maybe the place was way too spacious.

“Are you comfortable now? Can you give me an answer princess?”

Lia couldn’t help laughing at her own foolishness. Looking down at her own feet, somehow it felt like she couldn’t have avoided this.

“I have made a huge mistake, haven’t I?”

Alone with this old man, who she barely knew, she somehow felt like she could show a modicum of honesty and weakness. It was strange.

“I don’t think seeking knowledge is ever a mistake. So I would, unfortunately, have to disagree with you, princess, even if it might cost me my life.”

She let out a sigh as she looked up once again.

“Please, spare me, I desperately need all the information I can get, yet it seems like all I will be able to get from you are games.”

Jonah had an expression of disapproval.

“There is nothing ‘game-like’ in the way I teach. If you want to learn dry facts, you might as well ask one of the children you have saved, or read a book. There is no need for me then.”

His tone grated Lia, but she managed to keep her irritation under control.

“I am asking you precisely because this book you just quoted from doesn’t seem to be very useful as a direct source of information. In the past, when I was still living in the Gilded Cage, I have read some of the Book of Lies as well as the Book of Truths, both of them seemed like overly dramatized, vague, fairy tales. Do you even truly believe them to be true?”

For some reason, she let out more irritation in her voice than intended. Jonah was unflinching.

“Are you asking if they are literally true? Because, the answer is obviously no. The Goddess herself has said that the books speak in allegories because that facilitates its comprehension in the deepest sense to those prepared to learn from it.”

She didn’t realize it, but she was opening and closing her right hand, a clear sign of irritation from her. Like she just wanted to crush that man’s skull. She should have known that this would happen, one of the main precepts of Tal teachings is that a teacher is always in a superior position to a student.

“Well, it clearly taught me nothing beyond what the fiction born of anyone's mind could.”

Things were getting increasingly off-topic. This was useless.

“Well, I suppose the reason is that at the time you were incapable of understanding what any of the books meant.”

That froze Lia. If anyone else was present, they would surely be livid at this point. It was the first time in Lia’s life that anyone had called her, even if implicitly, incompetent at anything. Her right hand was now completely closed into a fist, with which she struck and cracked the throne’s armrest.

“You watch what you say, old man!”

At the very least, it was the right choice to ask everyone else to leave. Nobody else needed to see her lose her temper like that. Still, Jonah seemed completely unaffected, even though he must certainly know that she could easily kill him, even by herself.

“Princess, I am well aware that you hold my life in your hands, but that does not change the fact that you know nothing of teaching and I know very little, but at least something, of it. Does being the King make one capable of anything? What do we need engineers for if we have the King then? Let the King design machines! Let the King build walls and protect them! If being the King makes one sovereign over every single aspect of the kingdom, what does the king need subjects for?”

It was a good thing that the Command Car was acoustically isolated. Lia was getting more and more agitated and her voice as getting louder and louder.

“I do not need a lesson in humility right now! Just tell me about the damned Infected!”

Jonah scoffed at her directly, something else that had never happened to her before.

“And what use would such knowledge be to you? Without a shred of humility you could never truly understand what the Infected are, let alone defeat them. As you are right now, you might as well have left me to die in Oostburg, because when you run into the true might of the Infected, you will lead us all to a fate worse than death.”

That should have been enough. In the past, she had been the target of disrespect before for being a woman. She was way past the point of caring about it, and instead learned to make use of the opportunities it afforded her. She did not consider such shallow insults to reach her true character. That man, however, spared no words of criticism for her entire being. The sort of disrespect he showed for the position of the Imperial family could easily earn him an execution. In fact, Lia was fairly certain that any of her brothers would have not hesitated for even a moment before sending him to the afterlife. Not her though. Might makes right was all well and good, but that could only go so far when convincing other people of one’s authority. If Lia killed Jonah right then, what would she gain from it? Nothing except for shame and a defeat that she could never take back. Did the man in front of her say what he said because he had seen that deep into her, or did he make a bet with his life on the line? Either way made him quite impressive. Lia became strangely calm.

“I can see how your wit is enough to make you one of the wisest among the wise people. I shall humor you then, for a chance to grasp some of that wisdom: The plague that the book refers to is the Infected, is it not?”

Jonah’s attitude did not change; it was as if Lia had not ever lost her temper.

“I thank you for not striking me down for these disrespectful words I offered, even if I cannot say I regret them, as they afforded me the chance to truly have your attention. Now, you would be right and wrong to say that the plague refers to the Infected.”

“What do you mean?”

“To be more precise, it refers to that which turns people into Infected, the Infection itself, you could say. So, what could the rest mean?”

Lia took a moment to think. Following the logic of allegory…

“It consumes the spirit because it turns people into these flesh eating things, which in turn is self-explanatory.”

Jonah nodded.

“Good. Now, the rest should give you a pretty good insight to the true nature of the Infected. Can you unravel what it is?”

The rest wasn’t that obvious, however. If she could think about it in light of what she already knew, then she might have an answer. The strange way the Infected cooperated. The existence of a leader-like thing for them. The strange girl, the bridesmaid, who Chelsea could not match. What was it that Chelsea had said about her? It felt like she was multiple people, overwriting each other’s mistakes, making sure that no vulnerabilities would show.

“The girl, the Bridesmaids, they lead the Infected! They are the great mothers and the Infected are their children!”

This time, Jonah showed quite a lot of surprise in his face. Perhaps he had underestimated how much Lia already knew.

“Close, very close, a very good guess, but bridesmaids? You must be talking about the young girls wearing that ancient style of dress from the east, which one of the wives of the first emperor and her sister wore. They are mere heirs, holders of a fragment of individuality. No, for that group of Infected, their leader, their current Matriarch, the nexus of, the holder of, the manipulator of millions of souls, of so many who have fallen, is Wu, sister to that wife.”

It was a shock to Lia. She had considered that the person in question had been in some way been absorbed and her knowledge remained within the ranks of the infected. But that she herself was leading them?

“How can that be? Is that how they knew exactly how to attack a fort when they truly wanted to take it?”

Jonah also seemed disturbed, but for another reason it seemed.

“She is sending her Heir Maidens to the front lines now? This is not good, she is serious… I told you we might be going to our doom to provoke you, but now… It just might be true…” He clutched his tattooed shoulder. “Goddess guard us.”

The seriousness of what Jonah said got to Lia. She stood up and walked to him, a growing despair clutching her heart.

“What do you mean?”

Sweat started pouring from Jonah’s forehead.

“Until now, it is likely that Matriarch Wu did not have complete control over her Swarm, nor was she able to easily keep the other Matriarch’s Swarms at bay. Now, if she is safe enough to send Heir Maidens to the offense, then she must be in a secure position. Forget your journey, you should stop in the nearest city and defend it. An unbelievable flood is coming, and this one threatens to take away not only the lives, but the souls of all men and women, righteous and wicked.”

The fear in his voice was clear. Lia could feel the gravity of what he just said. This wasn’t just not lying. It was as if he had simply accepted the coming of a great catastrophe.

“I must think of how I will convince Alexander.”