Ar'Kendrithyst

“Have you ever ventured into Ar’Kendrithyst to deliver information on Spur’s Incani population to the neighboring town of Frontier, or any other human settlement?”

Hera’s questions had gotten progressively more esoteric as the interview turned from ‘some questions’ into an hour-long interrogation, with more than a few of her inquiries asked in subtly different ways than she had before. When it looked like the interview would take more than two minutes, Erick suggested they move to the couch nearby. Hera agreed. Now it seemed like he was stuck to the couch, forever forced to answer the same damn questions over and over. Erick hoped that his torture would be over soon.

“No. I have never been in Ar’Kendrithyst or delivered information to any humans, anywhere.”

The stone in Hera’s hand glowed pink, meaning that Erick had lied somewhere along the way.

Hera eyed him.

“Uh. I have never been in Ar’Kendrithyst.”

Green stone.

“I have never delivered information to any humans in Frontier.”

Green stone.

“I have never delivered information to any humans anywhere.”

Pink stone—

“OH! Right. I probably delivered a lot of non-Veird information to many humans back on Earth through the years.” He went back to answering Hera’s question, “I have never delivered any information on any incani anywhere to any humans on Veird, except for to my daughter Jane. You know… Because they’re out to kill us.”

Green stone, throughout.

Hera wrote down notes onto a pad of paper she used for the interview. She wrote for a full minute. She straightened her back. “Final question—”

Oh thank god.

“Do you know last night’s Sewerhouse intruders, what they wanted, or anything about them, at all?”

“They attacked fast, but Savral and Bacci responded fast, too. They saved our lives. That’s all I know about what happened last night, except that the attackers used some green fireballs that caused Decay, which I already described to you. And I almost died.” He added, “The intruders might have come for the rads? I honestly don’t know.”

Green stone.

Hera put away her interview equipment, saying, “Thank you for your time, Mister Flatt. If only all my victims were this easy to talk to.”

“Victims?” Erick chuckled. He felt annoyed and angry after an hour of questions, but he wouldn’t call himself a victim. It wasn’t that bad. “You make yourself sound sinister.” But maybe she meant what she said?

“Ah. That’s not what… You’re right.” Hera moved to the back of the room, heading toward the other three interviews she had to give. “I hope Spur treats you better than it has.”

Erick laid down on the couch while Hera walked downstairs. The interview was over!

… Now he had to wait for all the others to finish.

Damn.

He almost fell asleep on the couch, right there and then, but someone cleared their throat across the room. Oh. Right. Bluescale was still there. Wasn’t he in a trance, staring at the ceiling? When did that stop?

Felair said, “[Witness] revealed you’re all innocent of any wrongdoing, and that’s what I’m telling Merit. The Mage Guild is going to bitch, claim you should have defended the Sewerhouse, but they’re idiots. They weren’t here.” He moved toward the back of the room, muttering, “And that fool child needs to [Scry] already but she can’t help gnawing on a secret.”

Erick barely watched as Felair descended the stairs. His eyes were already closed.

Naps are wonderful.

- - - -

Jane poked him awake, saying, “They’re gone and we’re done, Dad. Let’s go get lunch. Al’s buying.”

“I most certainly am!” Al said. “You all did great last night and deserve a reward.”

Erick stomach rumbled. Lunch was a great idea.

Al treated them to a restaurant meal in the Orcol District. The prices were huge. The meal was massive. The people all around him were so beautiful, and so tall, that Erick had to keep his eyes down at the food the whole time. They ate a lot, and it was quite good, but if asked to describe his meal, Erick would have flubbed something about ‘good meat’ and ‘nice atmosphere’.

Al introduced Jane and Erick to several remarkably pretty people. Jane might later recognize whoever they talked to, but Erick could only hope that he hadn’t embarrassed himself by openly staring.

Every single orcol was a physical masterpiece. Beautiful shades of cream-green, to ebony-green, to forest green, with luxurious hair, piercing eyes of every color from red to blue to black, tiny and cute fangs or big and menacing fangs, sharp jaws and firm asses, and muscles and breasts and—

When lunch was over, Erick was thankful that he hadn’t made an ass of himself. Or, if he had, that no one had mentioned his wandering gaze.

It wasn’t till they were one street away from the Sewerhouse that Erick noticed something slightly different in his Status.