While Roun and Rueben had been making their way towards Shin’s office, Jorna and Zadavia were traveling downwards towards the centre of the building. Thankfully, given the lateness of the hour, the building was not very heavily populated; allowing the two to make the trip without any stops at other floors, but even then traversing almost forty floors still took some time in the old building.

“So…” Zadavia’s voice pierced the uneasy silence and once again drew an annoyed side-glance from Jorna. “What’s the story with you and Rueben?”

The young woman’s eyebrow tipped upwards slowly, before her gaze narrowed in on Zadavia. “There is no story that involves Rueben and I.”

“Really?” Zadavia pressed. “Cause I was sensing… something between you two.”

“Well your senses are off.” Jorna shook her head. “We work together, and that is unfortunate enough.”

Zadavia just laughed lightly at that particular reply. “You’ve worked together long then?” She continued, much to Jorna’s chagrin.

“Too long, if you ask me.” Jorna scoffed. “We both came to work for Shin once we finished school. For me, that was seven years ago – for Rueben it was five.”

“Five years is a pretty long time to know someone I guess.” Zadavia shrugged.

“Unfortunately I’ve known him even longer.” Jorna added, much to Zadavia’s confusion.

“I thought you said that you met when you started working together?” The young woman just looked puzzled.

“I said no such thing.” Jorna scoffed once more. “I said that we worked together, and that it is unfortunate. I’ve known that fool for longer than I’d care to admit.”

Zadavia’s curiosity just grew at the sound of her cryptic statements. “So how did you two meet then?” She pressed.

“Shin and Naomi are fond of strays it seems.” Her reply was accompanied by a light sigh and only served to make Zadavia even more curious about Jorna’s mysterious past; but before she could press the young Security Director any further, a low tone signalled that the elevator had come to a stop.

Instinctually, their attention was drawn towards the exit of the elevator, which slowly slid open as the lift came to a complete stop.

“We’re here.” Jorna announced as the door opened up into a massive cathedral-like area.

“Wow” was all Zadavia could say as she stepped out of the lift and onto the marble tiles of the expansive, open-plan floor within Masamune.

As she looked up towards the ceiling, she noticed that on this floor it was significantly higher than the one in the penthouse where Roun and Rueben had gotten off. In fact, this floor on its own seemed to occupy the same amount of space as ten regular floors of the building. But the height of the ceiling was not the only unique thing about this particular room.

One of the most jarring differences was just how warm it was within this ‘cathedral’ when compared with not just outside, but even with the rest of the building. The environmental regulator on this particular floor seemed to emulate an extremely tropical climate. Such settings were complimented by the lighting array installed in the ceiling, which did a much better job of replicating sunlight than those mounted in the elevator or even the penthouse. As Zadavia continued to put her enhanced senses to use, she realised that this single floor exhibited a number of properties that she was not even aware were possible up until this point. The tiny hairs on her body stood on end as she focused in on her surroundings, detecting substantial shifts in air pressure that generated light breezes around the expansive cathedral. She could also sense that the air in this room was particularly moist, and interacted with the dynamic climate control features to create thin, almost cloud-like mists near the ceiling.

Her gaze narrowed at these observations; it was as if someone was trying to recreate a tropical habitat within one of Genaisa’s largest skyscrapers; and soon she would set eyes on the culprit. As her gaze drifted towards the centre of the room, she watched as the marble tiles that lined the walls of the cathedral gave way to constructs that simulated natural rock formations and these in turn gave way to soil from which a grassy field had sprung forth. At the centre of this sprawling field was a single massive tree, no doubt the reason that this spacious floor stretched upwards as far as it did. But what drew her attention was a comparatively small figure hovering around the outer branches of the massive piece of flora.

“Alright enough gawking kiddo; let’s go.” Jorna prompted as she rested her hand on Zadavia’s lower back and nudged her forward.

Zadavia stumbled forward before catching her stride and closing in on the target of their visit. As they moved closer, the floating figure came into view, revealing itself to be what appeared to be a young woman with flowing black hair.

From this distance Zadavia could already make out facial features, and this woman’s were particularly distinctive. Her skin was dark and smooth, almost unnaturally so due to its jarring lack of blemishes or even the slightest unevenness in complexion. Her eyes were narrow, with deep purple irises, long lashes and thin eyebrows; all of which were highlighted by her high cheek-bones. As Zadavia’s gaze moved towards the woman’s chin, she noticed that her face tapered sharply, while in the centre of her face a round nose gave way to full lips. The woman’s face was also framed by a mass of curly hair that expanded to shoulder width and flowed from the woman’s head all the way down past her hips.

“Is that Mrs. Itami?” She questioned in disbelief, laying eyes on a channeler rumoured to be in her late sixties.

“Yeah.” Jorna just nodded casually. “She spends a lot of time in her trimming that stupid baobab.”

Jorna’s statement drew the attention of the heroic-tier channeler, who was still quite a great distance away; causing her to cease her activities and descend towards the two young women.

Zadavia watched as she floated towards them, only sensing the faintest zeta signature given off by Naomi’s abilities when the woman halved the distance between them. Moments later she was touching down in front of them with a small shear in one hand and the train of her long lavender dress in the other.

“I will have you know Ms. Medin, there is nothing stupid about Daaji Uwa.” Naomi scolded before she even greeted the two young women but Jorna just rolled her eyes in response. “In fact, weren’t you supposed to help me trim her today.”

“Firstly, I never agreed to that.” Jorna waved her finger as she quickly delivered her retort. “In fact, I distinctly remember telling you that ‘Daaji Uwa’—” Jorna raised her hands and motioned inverted commas “—was a big piece of kindling and I’d rather not lose my job for burning the Masamune down.” She replied with annoyance, much to Naomi’s amusement.

The heroic just laughed lightly at how easily it was to get Jorna flustered, while Zadavia observed their interactions with wonderment.

“I’ve told you on a number of occasions that I can teach you to control your flames.” Naomi continued to push Jorna’s buttons. “I did train Master Tamherun after all.”

“—and I told you on a number of occasions that I don’t need you messing with my braver-form.” Jorna quipped, her almost permanent scowl now intensifying into a growl.

What Zadavia found interesting however was that Jorna’s interaction with Naomi was rather different from her interaction with Rueben. With Rueben, she could almost see Jorna restraining herself from physically brutalising the younger braver, but with Naomi – while she displayed genuine annoyance – there was significantly less malevolence. Their interactions seemed almost playful. It was a familiar feeling but one that for some reason Zadavia just couldn’t place.

“I’ve got an idea, how about you take a break from tormenting me and introduce yourself to your guest.” Jorna finally suggested with exasperation, drawing a look of disappointment from Naomi.

“Introduce myself?” She pouted slightly. “I thought you would have introduced me on arrival – I’m disappointed, Char.” She shook her head, much to Zadavia’s amusement.

“Ms. Moreno I presume?” She inquired, causing Zadavia to nod. “I’m Naomi; it’s nice to finally meet you.”

“Zadavia.” She replied, extending her hand to shake Naomi’s. “It’s a pleasure to meet you as well.”

“The pleasure is mine.” Naomi smiled. “And thank you, by the way.” She added somewhat deviously.

“For what?” Zadavia looked someone puzzled, much to Naomi’s amusement.

“You thought I was beautiful – I could sense this radiating off of you while you were on your way in.” She smiled as Zadavia’s cheeks reddened.

“Oh my God Naomi, how many times do I have to tell you that is super rude?” Jorna rolled her eyes, but Naomi just dismissed her.

“Char, you worry too much.” Naomi simply waved off the statement with the hand that once held the train of her dress, instead reaching out and resting that hand on Jorna’s head.

By now the annoyance building within Itami Enterprises’ Director of Security had caused her zeta signature to intensify, resulting in the faint but visible display of her own unique energy type.

“You two act like mother and daughter.” Zadavia was finally able to pin down what their interactions reminded her of – those between herself and her own mother, albeit when she was somewhat younger.

“Char’s—” Naomi started only to be cut off by Jorna, who’s energy signature was now manifesting as small cinders dancing along her skin.

“Naomi!” Came the interjection that caused Naomi to pause before rephrasing.

“Sorry, ‘Jorna’ is a lot like a daughter to me.” She corrected herself, causing Zadavia to smile at Jorna’s reaction to Naomi’s pet name for her.

“Yeah well I don’t think mothers are supposed to be this annoying to their kids, nor should they take as much pleasure in tormenting their children as you do.” Jorna retorted, but Naomi just smirked deviously.

“My sons would probably disagree with that.” Naomi smiled, but Jorna just shook her head at the statement.

“Well those poor bastards just don’t know any better—” She quipped “—they’re victims of Stockholm syndrome.”

“Now now, I won’t have you talking about my boys like that.” Naomi scolded her, before turning her attention back to Zadavia. “Speaking of which: how is Roun?”