Chapter 305: Blitzing the Southern Water Palace
The entire time they were on the Waterborn ship, Omilaena had to resist letting any of her amusement slip out. Zae Zin Nim was practically petrified by a little flirting and the politics of the bedroom. It was fortunate her time on Rosemount had been so focused, because she would have been horrified by some of the tribes in the Flaeren Dominion and the Carnal Court would probably have killed her outright.
In a fairly short amount of time, and without much flirting of her own, Omilaena had grasped the basics of Water Union politics. Despite all their philandering, they took their tribes and especially their elemental abilities extremely seriously. If Omilaena stuck around, she was fairly sure that she'd rack up many propositions herself.
Instead she focused on playing defense for Zae Zin Nim so the poor girl wasn't completely scandalized or taken advantage of. It didn't take very much, usually just her presence at the right times. Once when they were introduced to a large number of young men at once, Omilaena lightly touched the other woman on the back. Zae Zin Nim had stiffened a little, but when she saw how it warded off some attention she had relaxed and not pulled away.
Soon enough they reached the Southern Water Palace, which was a rather grand affair of fountains and arches of water held aloft by pure elemental craft. Allegedly there were hidden pools where young Waterborn swam wearing very little and Omilaena wondered whether or not they'd be invited.
When they touched down, however, Ivonailin seemed to have much more serious business in mind.
"My father isn't here yet," he said, "but he should be arriving by tonight. As I said, I think he'd very much love to meet you both."
"And we'd be happy to meet him," Omilaena answered for them both. "But why won't you tell us more about this strange invitation?"
"It's a state secret, so you'll have to wait. But I can tell you that it has to do with the Earth Union grasping so much power lately."
"You mean trying to ally with Irun?" Omilaena took in a quick breath, as if she cared about either place.