Kaiji approached the place where her goddess slept. ‘She hasn’t emerged, last night must have been… something else. Normally she’d have already summoned either myself or Priceless to her.’ The thought weighed heavily on the demon-elf, and she reached out with a trembling hand to the door.

The very small clicking noise of the latch turning was all that broke the silence as she drew open the door. She closed it quietly behind her, ‘Should I wake her?’ It wasn’t her first time asking that question, but the answer she reached was the same.

Kaiji’s footsteps were small, noiseless even to her long, sensitive ears. Still, they brought her to the bedside of her lady. She put her hands together, as if in prayer. Nua was laying stretched out, her hands together on her chest. ‘Still as death.’ Kaiji thought, and lowered herself closer over Nua’s face.

She raised a hand and slowly brought it to touch Nua’s shoulder. The warmth of flesh was lesser in her than Kaiji had felt in any living person, and the cool breath haunting to feel on her cheek. “Mistress… the sun rises.”

Blue eyes flew open, and Nua slung herself over the side of the bed as she sat up. Kaiji felt her heart suddenly race as she was forced down, only for it to virtually stop when she was pulled to her lady’s bosom and felt arms wrap around her. “Kaiji… are you alright?” The deadly hand ran through long black strands that hung down Kaiji’s back and caressed the warmth of her body, it was a welcome affection but Kaiji could only raise her brow in confusion.

“My lady… why wouldn’t I be? I saw to the Prince and Tir as you wished, everything went well… too well, I think the maids responsible for cleanup will say.” Kaiji tentatively let her arms wrap around her lady, “I’m really alright, everything is fine.”

“So… Prince Rasgen, my orders? He didn’t… ah, take advantage of my hospitality?” Nua asked, tilting Kaiji’s head back so that the red eyed demon-elf was looking up at her from where she knelt on the floor.

“No, mistress. He was very occupied with Tir, and had no interest in me.” Kaiji huffed a little at that, “Was I supposed to press myself to him rather than wait? If so…” Kaiji sighed lightly, “I swear I was prepared for it, but the only things he called for were wine and food and fresh linens.” Kaiji stopped speaking when Nua put a finger to her lips.

“No. Kaiji, you are a treasured servant, the orders I gave were poorly spoken, I never intended to cast you to him like one would throw a bone to a dog, and would never…” Kaiji raised her own finger and boldly put it to the lips of her lady.

“You westerners, so fierce, so proud, so… prudish.” Kaiji chuckled a little, “Things are different here, everyone desires only happiness, however momentary. At least in this city that is the case. Besides, you are my lady, if it would advance your position, I would happily imitate Diana. I’m no untouchable statue. I… I’m moved that you worry for me.” Kaiji swallowed her rising emotion, “But I am committed, I will help you rise, using every gift I have. Nothing will bar your way to the top if I can remove it, by any means necessary.”

“Kaiji, you make me think I may have to add ‘god of luck’ to the way in which I worship the divine. Now, has Priceless returned?” Nua asked as relief let her heart beat normally again.

“Yes, my lady. She returned early this morning, she is asleep now, I can wake her if you wish. But may I ask… you are taking me with you this time, aren’t you? I really do not look forward to whatever punishment I’ll bear for disobeying by chasing you all the way to Kai’sen.” Kaiji winked playfully up, but her face was a mask of worry.

Nua released her most trusted servant, and gave her orders in a quick, clipped fashion. “No, I won’t leave you behind this time. Make sure you’re ready to go when I am. Let Priceless sleep for now, she will act in my stead while Freyjin manages my household and my other projects. There isn’t much Priceless will need to do really, just maintain the status quo and be ready to crush any rumors our new Lur’Gin ‘pets’ try to start about me while I’m away. Even not quite seasoned, her broad experience should lend itself well to what is expected of her.”

“My lady, Priceless is loyal, but this is a lot to ask of someone like her…” Kaiji said tentatively. “She loves you for saving her, but she will fear failure a great deal.”

“I will give her a little pep talk before I go, something to reassure her that I don’t expect perfection from a novice. Plus she will have help, Freyjin will remain as Steward, Solution will remain as a guard. She is free to ask them for advice, and I’ll ask Rasgen to let her consult with him if she is in doubt.” Nua released her hold on Kaiji and let the woman slowly rise.

“Do you trust the Prince, then?” Kaiji asked with hesitant reproof, “His friendship with Sado didn’t stop him from besieging our city. His friendship with me didn’t stop him from letting the Lur’gin company have me. He is dedicated only to his city, everything else is secondary.”

“I do, actually.” Nua answered, “You are right about his loyalties, but he is alone now, he’s dismissed his council, Sobella is dead, Ulmin is dead, Leaman is exiled and dead, and his lover is my personal property, reunited with him by my generosity. He is isolated, economic chaos hasn’t settled yet, and another season of war is coming on fast. He needs strong allies, and he’s proposed to me. I’m the best chance he’s got for everything. He will not risk all that by giving Priceless bad advice. Especially knowing I’d learn of it when I return.”

“It’s like Pas’en is already yours…” Kaiji said breathlessly as Nua laid bare the cold facts of recent events.

“No, not yet it isn’t. But it won’t be long, Rasgen is smart, he’ll realize sooner or later that I’ve trapped him, hopefully I won’t have to kill him…” Nua’s eyes shut and she looked away, “I watched one good man die that didn’t have to, I don’t want to be the one to kill another.”

“What about Vargas…? If he survived the night, do I have him healed and released to rejoin his unit?” Kaiji asked tentatively, glad of the chance to change the subject.

“Yes, I want him within reach of my knife. My twenty-five are skilled, but out of all of them, well, Sado has essentially taken Freyjin’s place as she is now my Steward… only he or I could expect to best the man. He survived a fight with the Dark Savior, that isn’t something just anyone could do. From what he said, it was on the retreat, so he would have been half starved and badly weakened at the time. To survive under those conditions is impressive to say the least. I don’t trust him, but I don’t have to trust him to use him.”

“Keep your enemies closer than your friends… I understand, but there’s more, isn’t there, mistress?” Kaiji gave a cocky smile at Nua’s look of open mouthed surprise.

“Don’t be surprised, I am Kaiji of Komestra, iron will of the city and guiding hand of generations of Princes. As your servant, it is my job to know your mind. If you don’t want to say…” Kaiji trailed off, but the request was there nonetheless.

The weight of unspoken words was heavy on Nua’s spirit, and the request, or offer, was too much to refuse. “The good man who died… was once probably worse than Vargas ever was. Despite that, though, he became the best of men in the time I knew him. When I look at Vargas, I feel the same hate I felt when I first met that man. If that one could be something else, maybe Vargas can too. If he does, I want to see it happen. If he doesn’t? Then I want to put him down myself and enjoy the dying light in his eyes.”

“There is no losing for you then, is there my lady?” Kaiji asked in a quiet, serious voice.

Nua’s answer was steel clad and steel cold. “No. There isn’t. I may be killed, but I will never be conquered. Now go. And when Priceless wakes before we leave, tell her all of the relevance that I’ve told you, and that she’ll find all the notes I’ve been compiling, in the second drawer of my office desk. She can use it while I’m gone.”

There was a knock at the door, and Nua said simply, “Enter.”

The door opened just enough for someone to slip through, and Diana closed it behind her as soon as she was inside. “My lady, you wanted to see me?” She said as she swiftly approached and took position behind where Kaiji stood.

“As you wish, My Lady.” Kaiji said, then bowed and departed.

Nua looked Diana over in an instant, it was more formal than the woman usually was with her, and the woman’s face was both neutral and lovely. She’d obviously bathed herself again and done her makeup in anticipation of coming to her lady’s chambers. ‘Worried I might have decided she overstepped her bounds after all. At the end of the day, she is still a slave and has to be worried about the consequences of my displeasure, or potential displeasure.’

“Yes, come closer.” Nua said, resting her hands on her thighs.

Diana inched herself to within reach, and waited patiently with downcast eyes. “How did things go last night after I left?”

Diana’s answer was spoken only a hair faster than her customarily measured cadence, rattling off her accomplishments from the previous evening and the early morning. “Very well, my lady. I questioned the hired courtesans about what they learned from pillow talk, and gathered it into written notes sorted by category of ‘opportunity’ or ‘potential threat’.

Diana went on, “In addition, I have kept an ear open to the whispers of your servants. The forethought you exerted, they are grateful for. Their loyalty to you has redoubled.” Diana took a deep breath, “Still, I acted on my own…”

“No. Initiative like that is valuable.” Nua extended her right hand, allowing Diana to take it and offer her reverence. “You did well.” Nua said as ruby lips touched her palm.

Diana visibly relaxed and she seemed to straighten visibly, confidence returned to her bright green eyes so that they shimmered like jewels. Nua’s blue however, were hard as steel, “So well in fact, that I think it is time we expand. Go through Priceless’s inventory of people, and get the registers for Lur’gin stock around the cities, find a few men and women of spectacular refinement, intelligence, handsomeness, and beauty. They don’t have to be Komestran, but that is preferred. Gather them to you, and present… an opportunity.”

“An opportunity, mistress?” Diana asked hesitantly as she brought her lips away from the giving hand of the Duchessa.

“Yes. An opportunity. They will ply their skills for me, as you did in Hanak’sen, and as, in her own way, Tir did last night.” Nua answered, but Diana was quick to speak up.

“My lady… I’m pleased you liked my initiative, but there is a danger here, I am loyal… I see you for what you are, I think.” Her eyes were downcast briefly, “But for those of my profession loyalty is like fidelity, it is a joke. That is why you won’t find the sort of organization you speak of, anywhere else.”

Nua gave a small nod, “I’m sure you’re right, but loyalty comes from three things, slave. Love. Ambition. And fear. Tell me, Diana, which bound you to me?”

Diana didn’t hesitate, “The last two to you, the first to Kaiji.”

Nua reached out and began to stroke Diana’s hair affectionately as one might a child, her hard voice pounding into the courtesan’s ear as she learned the inner mind of the beautiful monster. “As Teacher once told me, one bond is fragile, two is steel, three surpasses death. The slaves on my estate, my warriors… their ambitions are fulfilled through service to me. Some want freedom for themselves, or their loved ones. And this has made them love me, seeing that I shed blood and take risks for them, and seeing that I keep my word and set free the loved ones of those who perform well. Moreover, having seen the way I had that orc killed, nobody wants to cross me. Triple bound, they will follow me into the mouth of hell.”

Diana felt her view of her craft expanded as concepts that she had never truly described despite having some comprehension of them, were defined decisively and clearly.

“Acquire the sort I speak of. Do not remove their collars, but promise them a chance to earn coin that they will be able to keep and use as they see fit. Promise them a chance at freedom, and… acquire a pretty criminal who has been sentenced to die.” Nua’s left hand turned palm up, “Then I’ll show them what happens if I am crossed or betrayed.”

The cold breath sent chills down Diana’s spine, but she forged ahead anyway, “My lady, that profession leads itself to cynical views, they hear many promises on many pillows and none are ever kept.” She could not keep her own cynical smile off her face, against her best efforts, it rose at one corner of her lips, “I can attest to that many times over.”

“They’ll believe it if it is demonstrated, won’t they?” Nua asked rhetorically, and Diana gave a slow and thoughtful nod.

“Yes…” Diana replied.

“Then when I come back, if you have succeeded, if you wish, I will set you free, Diana of Komestra. You will belong to no one but yourself. The house of your former mistress will be yours as I promised, on the day of rededication.” Nua stated calmly as if she hadn’t just offered the world.

Diana did not know what to say. She stared up at Nua as if seeing a divine light shine down from the heavens. Diana’s mouth moved, but no words came out. “Do you doubt me?” Nua asked, cocking her head slightly.

“I- my lady… you were serious about giving me her home… I didn’t… I don’t, I… my freedom? But aren’t I too useful to let go? You have no intention of setting Kaiji free, so…” Diana’s heart was a whirlwind of emotions, an unlooked for prize was suddenly dropped into her lap, a disbelieved reward was within arms reach, and the last task was almost trivial for her skills to manage.

“Of course, once I set you free,” Nua said, ignoring her last question, “you will have to leave my service, I will provide you some funds to start yourself off with so you don’t starve in an estate. But I am sure Kaiji hid some treasures nobody found, I’ll order her to reveal them to you, sell off the last of her things, and you can retire to wealth and comfort for the rest of your life.”

Nua’s followup hit Diana like a rockslide. Her eyes blinked fast as a leaf blown by a hurricane, “Mistress, you would… you would get rid of me?” Diana asked in a tiny voice that surprised even herself.

Nua touched Diana’s cheek as softly as a guiding mother might a child with hurt feelings. “Of course. For the same reason I do not trust the nobles and merchants and mercenaries who are still passed out drunk in the many rooms of my estate. Freedom means you act on your own will, not mine. There is only one will in the House of Aiwenor. Those who would serve me closest, must have no other will but mine.”

“You can train… yes, Tir. Tir will be in my service for quite some time before I release her. Teach her what she will need to know to run this little wing of my house.” She snorted and chuckled at the unintended pun, “Wing, yes, they’ll be like little birds in a way. Flying out from my nest to bring me little tweets and twitters. We’ll call them…” She paused and turned her eyes toward the window, in the distance the great temple of Pas’en caught her eye. “Starlings. How appropriate.”

“Mistress… is that a pun… it’s terrible.” Diana said, and sniffled before vigorously wiping her nose.

“Nobody thinks my puns are funny anymore.” Nua grumbled with minor discontent, and that brought a laugh to Diana, who impulsively lowered her head into Nua’s lap.

Nua continued to stroke the cheek of her raven haired possession as the slave spoke, “I don’t know what to say… I thought, maybe you’d let me go, once I was useless for what I’m best at, old and gray, if you want the truth, I didn’t believe I’d ever get that house. That either I would die first or that I would be given some little cottage as a substitute, if even that. I was just working for my city, my love of Kaiji, and… yes, I was afraid of you.”

“I know.” Nua answered, “But it is true. When I return, when you’ve built my nest of Starlings, I will set you free in front of them all, that will be the last service you ever have to render me, and then you never have to see me again, except perhaps at a distance if you watch me ride through Komestra in triumph once it has become my capital.”

The cool lap and cool caressing hand and chilled breath bothered Diana not in the least at that moment. All she heard were words that were like thunder out of a clear day. Mysterious, powerful, inexplicable. “Mistress… I have… I have to process this, may I please be excused.”

“Of course, slave, of course.” Nua smiled indulgently and let the woman rise, bow as deeply as she could, and leave the room.

When the door was closed, Nua stood up and stretched, and a voice went up from the other side of the bed.

“That went well. Very good, student, very good.” Solution said lazily, tugging the covers over herself again and not bothering to look at Nua herself. “Looks like you got another one. She’ll never want to leave you now.”

“Yes I did, Teacher. The easiest promise to make is the one that you not only won’t have to keep, but the one they don’t want you to. There is nothing Diana won’t do for me after that.” Nua bent down and touched her toes, enjoying the feel of muscles stretching out as she limbered up. “Worst case scenario, I win the certain loyalty of many while giving up one whose loyalty was less than certain, best case, I win her fully to me. She will be ‘committed’, as you say, Teacher.” Nua said with a calm and even timbre to every word.

“A test, and an effective one, much like last night.” Solution thought the better of her continued relaxation and decided to get out of bed. Nua naturally went to the dressing pose with her arms out.

Solution went to the armor and equipment in the corner, swiftly stripped Nua of her night clothes, and began to outfit her in her military gear. “Yes, Teacher.” Nua replied shakily as her body was manipulated to fit into one piece of clothing after another.

“Now that Rasgen has ‘passed’ your test and showed himself to be the man you thought, have you worked out how to answer his proposal?” Solution asked in a serious voice that held no hint of mockery.

Nua closed her lips tight.

“You can’t put it off forever.” Solution pointed out.

“I’ll answer him when I get back.” Nua said in a small voice utterly at odds with her earlier resolute forcefulness.

“Fine, but don’t take too long, and by the way, student…” Solution said and when the armor was pulled down over her head, Nua caught her eyes.

Solution’s hand pressed to her cheek and Nua felt pain shot through her as the burning sensation spread over the inside of her cheek. “You returned before the last one healed. Do the same this time, or I will be disappointed.”

Far from flinching away, Nua shot her hand up and pressed the monster hand closely against her skin, her eyes watered with tears of intense pain, but there was no hesitation in her action. “I will not fail you, Teacher. I will teach them to fear the banner of Aiwenor on the battlefield, and I will return alive before this scars over. That is a promise, and like you, I keep my promises.”

“I know, my student, I know.” Solution said evenly, looking her over to be sure nothing was missed. While not the tallest of women, Nua cut an impressive figure in her own right, particularly with the flexible black scalemail armor on, a forest green cloak secured to her back, and the smooth black boots. Coupled with the array of throwing knives she had available slung in front of her on a customized bandoleer, with extras on her belt for good measure.

Finally satisfied, she straightened Nua’s belt at the waist as a final touch, then gave a sharp nod. “Good, you’re ready. Now go.” She then stepped aside, and watched as the golden haired assassin left the room.