“In their wise leadership the Grand Council at that time realized they couldn’t just go to war at a whim. So we, the Veiled, were created to enact the will of the Grand Council to uphold the Order's charge of protecting the Veil. This was all so they could maintain their benevolent appearance. In many ways we are the difference between all 4 quadrants of Gaia being at peace or in war or completely annihilated. Take that in, your responsibility is to keep the entire world safe and that’s why tools like espionage, blackmail, enterprise, theft, torture and murder are at your disposal. The stakes are too high for petty morality to get in the way.”

~ Carmen Verite, Former Director of the Veiled

Kouki

The morning after is my least favorite time. All of our trysts inevitably end with duty calling. Whether it’s some new mission for me or some new literal or figurative fire that she’ll have to put out. No point in dwelling on it, I took the job and the faster it’s finished the faster I can come back to paradise. Doesn’t mean I can’t help her start her day off right though. Left to her own devices, she’ll eat garbage food if I’m not around or, even worse, drink a solitary cup of coffee. It’s like she doesn’t realize those hips I like to kiss need nourishment. So as always, I’ll leave her with a good breakfast: eggs with cheese soft scrambled, sweet toast (my favorite), bacon and sausage with syrup, freshly brewed coffee and the juice of a special fruit called the Zakirin. Its juice is a vibrant orange with a perfect combination of sweet and sour, almost as if peaches and grapefruit had a perfect baby. It’s rare to come by because the fruit has several medicinal purposes like being a powerful antitoxin and for us naturalists it helps our spirits recover from fatigue. Of course for me rare is just a word. I have a property on a remote island off the coast of south Gaia where the inhabitants’ only job is to care for its sacred Zakarin orchard.

Now that her breakfast is finished I place a note expressing my undying love for her, take my tax for cooking (a kiss on the cheek) and leave for my next destination. Next stop is the snake pit, Crota, a city built over a hole in the desert. The dedication to depravity in that place can be understood just by knowing the reason they’d put it over a giant sinkhole in an uninhabitable desert. Literally it's so that if the Order or another interested party tries to come for them they could collapse the city into that very hole. See, it’s not a bug, it’s a feature. Their leader would rather kill the tens of thousands that live there than possibly have to submit to a higher authority. Ironically, it’s the safest place I’ll get to visit on this journey since it's one of the few places in all of Gaia that the Veiled have no eyes or ears in. That means I have to accomplish as much as I can while I’m there.

Have to keep in mind that safest isn’t the same as safe. In fact, in order to retrieve the item I need I’ll have to bargain with an incredibly dangerous woman. I fully expect the cost to be steep and yet I’m certain that it will be worth it. It takes a week of casual travel to get there and as I enter, my spirit sense picks up more eyes than in a nest of spiders observing me. Fine, that just means announcing my arrival is unnecessary. Walking down the street there are more than a fair share of pirates of the sea, land and even sky variety just hanging around. It’s crazy that there’s little to no actual law here and yet almost no real crime like murder or even theft. All due to it’s one rule, “Don’t displease the serpent's eyes” the punishment for her displeasure is permanent petrification. It's very clear why no one breaks it.

That brings me to who I’m here to see: Aida Lars, the sacred naturalist of Earth, aka the Majestic Serpent. That’s why this place is so dangerous for me. She’s incredibly powerful as a full fledged naturalist and that’s before we even get to talking about the power she wields as this place's leader or as a master of a sacred spirit. On top of that, I’m at a unique disadvantage since women hold all higher offices, own all business, own all property and all assets here. Make no mistake though, this system works well for the men who live here. Almost all of them are former criminals or descendents of former criminals who came here to dodge the law and the services here are cheap with a lot of variety. Bonus points go to the women here who, along with running things, are extremely attractive. It’s the ultimate retirement destination for honorable and successful criminals. For a man to live here there’s a hefty tax or if you’re a woman you have to go through an intense naturalization process then be voted on by Aida for admission. This system was cultivated long before Aida came here and I have to say it's not a bad way of running things. Of course, I’d like it alot more if I wasn’t married.

My fortune is quite considerable and the waves in my hair make all the girls swoon. I turn into a narrow side street and from there it doesn’t take those observant eyes too long to leap out and surround me. Ten women of varying sizes wearing revealing green uniforms all wielding whips and stilettos, along with an eleventh who’s shorter and wearing an emerald robe with gold trim. I can tell she’s the leader by the lance she’s holding. My spirit senses that it’s constantly absorbing ambient arcana and shaping it into wind arcana. I figure I might as well break the ice before I have to break the wind that lance produces.

“Ladies, I know I’m popular in some corners of the world, but I’m also property of one powerful ice naturalist who happens to also be a captain of the guardian police. It’s in all of our best interests to treat me with care instead of facing her wrath.” They all look to the small one.

“Kouki Kanshiki, the Tether. We’re well aware of who you are and who you’re married to. However, if you think that gives you permission to freely walk through our city, you are mistaken.” I can’t help but smirk.

“Trust me. It absolutely does. Not that I need it in the first place. Let me make your job easy for you. Take me to Aida and we’ll all have a very pointed conversation about what I need permission to do here.”

Don’t think she liked my response. She shifts back, expertly handling her lance behind her with precision. A difficult feat in a narrow street. She then charges forward, lance pointed directly at my face. The tip of the blade gets within half a millimeter before I make my move, both effortlessly and casually weaving under and around both the blade and the others. As far as I’m concerned, they’re so slow they might as well be statues. I lean against a nearby wall checking my fingernails waiting for them to catch up. For the sake of flexing, now that I’ve asserted my dominance, I have to end this conversation with a small word jab.

“You may have a hard time believing me, but I just saved your life twice. Once from my own hand that could have ended you with an insignificant flick of the finger and once from Aida’s who would have killed you herself if any harm would come to me. So if you’re done trying to see if you can measure up maybe we can get to the point?”

End~